Few buildings in Kansas City can claim a history as fascinating as the early 1900s Benton family home in Hyde Park.
Known today as the Justice and Dignity Center (3114 Paseo, KCMO), the home serves as a bustling community center, hosting events such as Feed the Community, a program that serves meals to more than 5,000 people each week.
Still, little details such as the exterior’s scale-like wood trim, a bow front window from the early 1900s and a back stairwell with exposed brick hint at the building’s past lives.
“The front of it looks like a house, and then the rest of it looks like a giant building,” says current owner Bishop Tony Caldwell, the founder and CEO of the Justice and Dignity Center. “So it’s kind of deceiving.”
Built by C.G. Benton, who ran the Benton Grain Company, it was originally used as the family’s home. The Bentons sold the 11-room structure in the ’20s and it was converted into a dance hall and union meeting space, complete with a ballroom and a giant auditorium that was more than 100 feet long.
At that time, it was referred to as Carpenters’ Hall. Throughout the ’20s and ’30s, the building did double duty, serving as not only a union space but also a speakeasy and nightclub. The nightclub ultimately shut down, but the building continued to be used by unions until New Landmark United in Christ Church took over in the 1980s.
About four years ago, Caldwell realized this space would be the perfect home for the Justice and Dignity Center and took ownership.
“We had outgrown our Justice Center on 29th and Indiana,” Caldwell says. “Within one year, we were maxed out. In the Paseo space, Caldwell has been able to grow and host dozens more community events, especially for youth.
“I’m very proud of the city coming together and the youth coming together in the building,” Caldwell says.
