There aren’t many companies in the Kansas City area that can claim roots as far back as the 1870s, but Rau Construction is a rare breed.

Riverside Red X considers itself the “store to explore.” The retailer celebrated 70 years in business in 2018 and is a family business. Ed Young founded the company as a filling station in 1948 with only $150 in inventory. Red X was the gas distributor.

Like a lot of U.S. businesses, Jack Livers’ lighting company didn’t survive the Great Depression. After the end of World War II, however, his sons found a new use for the family’s foundry and their metalworking skills: Livers Bronze Co. was born.

Philip Wang left behind a New York-based wholesale fur company he co-founded when he set up his own shop in Kansas City in 1926. Three years into his new venture, the Great Depression hit. Despite selling luxury items in a weak economy, Alaskan Fur Co. grew, moving into an expanded facility during World War II.

When Western Fireproofing opened in the 1930s, its name indicated exactly what the business offered, using plaster and gypsum blocks to make buildings safer. After World War II, the company got out of the fireproofing business and expanded into other subcontracting services, such as building roof decks and floor underlayments and installing glue-laminated timbers and […]