This real photo postcard of the Holy Rosary Church’s Christmas crib was taken during the 1941 holiday season. Missionaries of St. Charles founded Holy Rosary Parish, located at 911 E. Missouri Avenue, in the 1880s to serve the Italian immigrants in Kansas City, who settled near the old Market Square (now City Market) area.

Still standing after the ravages of three fires over its 125-year history, the church is active in its Columbus Park neighborhood community. According to Father JosephVicentini, the crib is always the first thing to be put up for the Celebration of the Nativity.