The list of fountains in the Kansas City metropolitan area contains those now officially recognized by the City of Fountains Foundation. The trend began in the late 1800s with humanitarian public drinking water projects in Kansas City, Missouri, and this identity has influenced fountains across the Kansas City metropolitan area. In 1992, the city of Kansas City, Missouri added "City of Fountains" to its official corporate seal. [1]
Water fountains are part of Kansas City's core identity and culture, including a graphic design of a stylized fountain in the city's official logo. [1] Interest in fountains arose during the City Beautiful movement in the 1890s. In 1898, George Kessler, a landscape architect and urban planner, designed the first fountain built by the city of Kansas City, Missouri at 15th and The Paseo. Another fountain that he designed the same year is now known as The Women's Leadership Fountain, and is located at 9th Street and The Paseo as the oldest in the city. The design originally included an oval, cut limestone basin with water spraying upward from nozzles in the center of its pool surrounded by a raised sidewalk, a flower garden, gas lamps, and a balustrade above to the south. [2] The fountain was destroyed in 1941 and rebuilt in 1970 and 1990, and began its third major restoration in January 2008 planned for completion in 2009. [3] Kessler went on to include numerous plans for fountains in his urban designs of the park and boulevard system.
Typically, most of the first fountains in Kansas City served practical rather than decorative purposes. In 1904, the Humane Society of Kansas City in Kansas – established to prevent cruelty to women, children and animals – built a characteristic fountain near the west end of Minnesota Avenue at North 3rd Street. Water poured out of spigots in lions' mouths so that people could get clean water in their cups. This water fell into a granite basin at a height for horses to drink. The overflow from the basin went into four small pools at street level for dogs to drink. A street light was on top; in 1967, the fountain was given to the Wyandotte County Museum. The Humane Society went on to mount more than 100 fountains, including ones made of bronze created for people alone for sanitary purposes. [2]
Fountain building and the use of decorative statuary exploded in the 1920s after developer J.C. Nichols used them extensively in the development of Country Club Plaza. The most famous fountain in Kansas City is the Mill Creek Fountain. The figures were originally created by French sculptor Henri-Léon Gréber in 1910 for "Harbor Hill", the estate of Clarence Mackay in Roslyn, New York. The four allegorical equestrian figures reportedly represent four great rivers of the world — the Mississippi River, Volga River, Seine River, and Rhine River. [4] The work is enlivened by sculptures of little children riding dolphins in the pool surrounding the main figures.
The William Volker Memorial Fountain includes the last sculptures by Swedish artist Carl Milles. The five-piece ensemble of bronze statuary shows Saint Martin of Tours, patron saint of France, on horseback, giving his clothes to a beggar surrounded by two angels (one absurdly wearing a wristwatch) and a curious little demon in hiding. The sculptures rest between two pools of water with jet sprays along Volker Boulevard, and sits above a dramatic three-tier, 28 ft (8.5 m) waterfall into a basin on Brush Creek.
The Eagle Scout Memorial Fountain was originally part of the Seventh Avenue clock created by A.A. Weinman for the Pennsylvania Station in New York City. When the station was torn down, Kansas City petitioned to obtain the clock sculpture and replaced its face with an Eagle Scout tribute.
The Waterworks Spectacular has been dousing the outfield during baseball games at Kauffman Stadium for more than 30 years.
A fountain, from the Latin "fons", meaning source or spring, is a decorative reservoir used for discharging water. It is also a structure that jets water into the air for a decorative or dramatic effect.
The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri and Kansas. With 8,472 square miles (21,940 km2) and a population of more than 2.2 million people, it is the second-largest metropolitan area centered in Missouri and is the largest metropolitan area in Kansas, though Wichita is the largest metropolitan area centered in Kansas. Alongside Kansas City, Missouri, these are the suburbs with populations above 100,000: Overland Park, Kansas; Kansas City, Kansas; Olathe, Kansas; Independence, Missouri; and Lee's Summit, Missouri.
A reflecting pool, also called a reflection pool, is a water feature found in gardens, parks and memorial sites. It usually consists of a shallow pool of water with a reflective surface, undisturbed by fountain jets.
The Country Club Plaza is a privately owned regional shopping center in the Country Club District of Kansas City, Missouri. Opened in 1923, it is considered to be the first planned large outdoor suburban shopping center in the United States and among the first regional centers to accommodate shoppers arriving by car. The Brookside Shopping District, a nearby smaller neighborhood center, opened three years earlier. Planned in 1922 by J. C. Nichols and designed in Baroque Revival and Moorish Revival style echoing the architecture of Seville, Spain, The Plaza comprises numerous, large city blocks of high-end retail establishments, restaurants, and entertainment venues, as well as offices. The Country Club Plaza is named in the Project for Public Spaces' list 60 of the World's Great Places.
Carl Milles was a Swedish sculptor. He was married to artist Olga Milles and brother to Ruth Milles and half-brother to the architect Evert Milles. Carl Milles sculpted the Gustaf Vasa statue at the Stockholm Nordic Museum, the Poseidon statue in Gothenburg, the Orpheus group outside the Stockholm Concert Hall, and the Fountain of Faith in Falls Church, Virginia. His home near Stockholm, Millesgården, became his resting place and is now a museum.
Garfield Park is a 128-acre (52 ha) urban park in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States. Established in the late 19th century, it is the oldest city park in Indianapolis and is on the National Register of Historic Places. The park is located at the confluence of Pleasant Run and Bean Creeks on the near Southside of Indianapolis. The 10,000-square-foot (930 m2) Conservatory and Sunken Gardens are located in the eastern portion of the park. The noted landscape architect George Edward Kessler designed the Sunken Gardens along with many of the other features of the park as part of his Park and Boulevard Plan for the city.
The Swann Memorial Fountain is an art deco fountain sculpture located in the center of Logan Circle in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States.
The list of neighborhoods of Kansas City, Missouri has nearly 240 neighborhoods. The list includes only Kansas City, Missouri and not the entire Kansas City metropolitan area, such as Kansas City, Kansas.
Windsor's Department of Parks and Recreation maintains 3,000 acres (12 km2) of green space, 180 parks, 40 miles (64 km) of trails, 22 miles (35 km) of sidewalk, 60 parking lots, vacant lands, natural areas and forest cover within the City of Windsor, as well as the Bike Trails, Bike Lanes, and Bike-Friendly Streets.
Ward Parkway is a boulevard in Kansas City, Missouri, United States. Ward Parkway begins at Brookside Boulevard on the eastern edge of the Country Club Plaza and travels west 2.8 miles along Brush Creek as U.S. Route 56 before turning south near Kansas-Missouri state line. It continues south for 4 miles, terminating at Wornall Road near Bannister Road. A short spur, Brush Creek Parkway, connects Ward Parkway to Shawnee Mission Parkway at State Line Road.
The Country Club District is a group of neighborhoods comprising a historic upscale residential district in Kansas City, developed by noted urban planner and real estate developer J.C. Nichols.
The Paseo is a major north–south parkway in Kansas City, Missouri. As the city's first major boulevard, it runs approximately 10 miles (16 km) through the center of the city: from Cliff Drive and Lexington Avenue on the bluffs above the Missouri River in the Pendleton Heights historic neighborhood, to 85th Street and Woodland Avenue. The parkway holds 223 acres (0.90 km2) of boulevard parkland dotted with several Beaux-Arts-style decorative structures and architectural details maintained by the city's Parks and Recreation department.
Main Street or Main is one of the major streets in Kansas City, Missouri and the Kansas City metropolitan area. Main Street serves as the main administrative dividing line for house numbering and east–west streets in Kansas City; for example, it separates East 59th Street from West 59th Street. Address numbers on east–west streets increase in both directions as one moves away from Main Street. This should not be confused with the Kansas City "East Side" and "West Side," a cultural distinction which has arisen from a history of racist segregation in the city, separated by Troost Avenue approximately 1 mile east of Main Street.
Volker Boulevard or Volker is a major west/east main street that runs along U.S. Route 56 in Kansas City, Missouri. It starts at Ward Parkway and Brookside Boulevard near the Country Club Plaza along Brush Creek and ends at Swope Parkway and Paseo Boulevard.
Henri-Léon Greber was a French sculptor, and medallist. His son was the architect Jacques Gréber. Active in the United States, he produced a fountain sculpture of four equestrian statues for Harbor Hill in 1910, and the copy of The Kiss in the Philadelphia Rodin Museum.
Hyde Park is a historic residential neighborhood and city park in Kansas City, Missouri.
The Gateway Mall in St. Louis, Missouri is an open green space running linearly, one block wide, from the Gateway Arch at Memorial Drive to Union Station at 20th Street. Located in the city's downtown, it runs between Market Street and Chestnut Street.
The Ewing and Muriel Kauffman Memorial Garden is a 2-acre botanic garden and part of the Kauffman Legacy Park, located in Kansas City, Missouri. It is maintained in a collaborative effort by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation and Powell Gardens. The gardens are located near Country Club Plaza and the main campus of University of Missouri–Kansas City. The Kauffman Memorial Garden is enclosed by limestone walls and has brick paths and seating areas. The garden showcases five designs.
