On Saturday, October 11, the Central Library is open to registered Heartland Book Festival attendees only. Regular services, such as hold pickups, public computers and phones, and public meeting rooms, will not be available.
In 1917, as the U.S. entered World War I, Isaac Katz turned a challenge into an opportunity. A wartime decree prohibited stores from staying open past 6 p.m. – peak hours for the Katz brothers’ tobacco store near Union Station in Kansas City. Only pharmacies could remain open in the evening. Katz found a retired pharmacist and hired him right away, saving the business and launching a new era – the chain of Katz drug stores.
Stephen Katz tells the story of his Ukrainian-born grandfather Isaac Katz and the rise of the Katz Drug Company, the Wal-Mart of its day, on Sunday, June 21, at 2 p.m. at the Central Library, 14 W. 10th St.
Stephen Katz was a Katz Drug Company executive and is a lifelong resident of the Kansas City area.
This presentation is part of the Missouri Valley Speakers Series, a program of the Missouri Valley Special Collections at the Central Library. The series is made possible by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.
