KC Parks News

City Opens New Walking and Biking Trail in 3 Trails Corridor

On October 25, the City of Kansas City, Mo., opened a new section of trail for cycling and walking in the historic 3 Trails Corridor. The section runs along 93rd Street from Newton Avenue to the western entrance of Schumacher Park, crossing the Kansas City Southern railway bridge. The 3 Trails Village Community Improvement District helped plan and fund the project in partnership with the City’s Public Improvement Advisory Committee (PIAC) and general obligation (GO) bonds.

Along with the new trail, additional improvements include a park bench, bike rack, National Park Service historic trail markers and interpretive signage.

Although short in distance (736 linear feet), the new section is long in history. Schumacher Park is a National Historic Trails site that highlights the Santa Fe, Oregon and California trails, with national park interpretive exhibits tracing the great western expansion of the early- and mid-1800s. An estimated 500,000 pioneers and adventurers headed west in wagons along some of the same routes that bikers and walkers now can travel.

A much longer section of the 3 Trails Corridor is expected to be completed later this year, along Bannister Road from Drury Avenue just shy of Marion Drive leaving a short stretch for a future connection to an existing trail and bike route along Hickman Mills Drive.

Since the adoption of the Trails KC plan in 2008, the City continues to expand and connect the fragmented pieces of its shared use trail system. At the time of adoption the City had 25 miles of short, fragmented trail sections constructed. Since then, the City has completed approximately 65 miles of trails, including continuous segments of the Line Creek and Shoal Creek trails in the Northland and Indian Creek and Blue River trails in south Kansas City.

More information and pictures at BikeWalkKC.

Race Affects Traffic in Brookside Area Saturday Morning

The City of Kansas City, Mo., is notifying motorists that the Allez 5K will temporarily affect traffic in the Brookside area on Saturday, Nov. 2 in the morning.

The race begins at Academie Lafayette Charter School, located at 6903 Oak St. The road closures will take place from about 8:45-10 a.m. on the following race route: west on 69th Street; north on Oak Street; west on Meyer Boulevard; turnaround just west of Valley Road and go east on Meyer Boulevard; south on Oak Street and east on 69th Street to finish at the school.For more information about this race, please visit http://www.allez5k.net/.

Please observe caution and obey all posted detours and barricades.

“Watermelon Hill” Is A Landmark

Local historian Joelouis Mattox recently presented a seminar at Southeast Community Center discussing the history of “Watermelon Hill” in Swope Park.

Once upon a time, in Kansas City, MO, blackness meant colored people (during the 30s and 40s) and Negros (during the 50s and 60s) cooling themselves, hanging-out, showing-off and having a good time on ‘Watermelon Hill in Swope Park.

“Watermelon Hill.” That picnic place in Swope Park in Kansas City, MO is still there. The configuration for Shelter No. 5  is quite different. Memories of the good times on the, hill, from the 1950s and 1960s may be gone, but they are not forgotten!

Stories about Shelter No. 5, located between the back of Starlight Theater and the front entrance to the zoo, are laced with anger and laugher.

Many Negroes thought “that place” in Swope Park, set-aside for Colored people, was degrading and a throw-back to the darkest days of Jim-Crow. The crowds made “Watermelon Hill” a side-show for white people on the way to the zoo. It was embarrassing to be seen here.

On the other hand, hundreds of residents from the “Hood” enjoyed going out to the park and on the way looking at how white people lived in the forbidden Southeast part of the city.  Swope Park was a “get-away place” from the confinement bounties of the black community which were 9^th Street to 27^th Street, Troost Ave. to Benton Blvd.

Visitors to the Bruce R. Watkins Cultural Heritage Center and State Museum recall “Watermelon Hill”  as being sort of an island (acre and a half) in “big ole” Swope Park (little over 1,500 acres at the time).

The picnic grounds for Shelter No. 5 were laid-out to accommodate maybe 400 to 500 people, but on weekends and holidays, the place could be overcrowded with a 1,000 smiling faces, many people coming by streetcar.

The spot was called “Watermelon Hill” because families brought watermelons to the park in croker sacks, duffle bags and pillow cases. Fifty pounds of ice in washtubs kept the melons cold.  And, there were watermelon-eating contest.  Baseball and Volleyball were favorite games for all ages.

Old men liked playing checkers and dominos on card tables or on the ground. Kids enjoyed flying kites. They loved sharing bottles of cold soda pop (the likes of  grape, orange and strawberry) and making homemade ice-cream.  Baseball and Volleyball were favorite games for all ages.

Like it or not, “Watermelon Hill” was popular. It was a favorite place for church outings and family get-togethers.  A great place to be out outdoors and lay out on the grass.

Oral historians at the History Table at the Palestine Senior Activity Center on Prospect Ave. say “Watermelon Hill” was a sight to be seen.  Hundreds of people dressed in bright colors could be seen for miles.  They talk about the hill with endearment. It was a fine place for everyone to have fun.

A whole-lot of people liked going to “Watermelon Hill” for a good time. Some liked to slow-dance to the loud music of “Down-home Blues”. There were dice games and young and old people enjoyed playing horseshoes.

The thing for many men was barbequing ribs, chicken and turkey legs. For others it was grilling hamburgers, hotdogs and roast-n-ears. And, there was some-undercover drinking and clowning around. But, no fights and few reports of disorderly conduct.

A lot of good memories go back to “Watermelon Hill.” Today, “Watermelon Hill” is a mythical place that connects the past to the present.

Two Races Affect Traffic Near City Market, Liberty Memorial

The City of Kansas City, Mo., is notifying motorists that two races will temporarily affect traffic downtown near the City Market and in the Crossroads Arts District near the Liberty Memorial on Saturday, Oct. 26.

The Monster Dash begins in front of City Market Park. Rolling road closures will take place from about 6:15-8:30 p.m. on the following race route: east on Third Street, north on Grand Boulevard which turns into Riverfront Road and Front Street, U-turn just west of the I-35 overpass to head west on Front Street and Riverfront Road, south on Grand Boulevard, west on Second Street, south on Delaware Street and east on Third Street to finish at City Market Park.  For more information about the Monster Dash, please visit www.kcmonsterdash.com.

The Making Strides Against Breast Cancer 5K walk begins on the north lawn of Liberty Memorial. Rolling road closures will take place at 8-11 a.m. on the following route: north on Kessler Road, west on Pershing Road, north on Broadway Boulevard, northeast on Southwest Boulevard, east on 19th Street; north on Main Street, east on 17th Street, south on Grand Boulevard and west on 27th Street to finish on the east side of Liberty Memorial.  For more information about the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walk, please visit www.facebook.com/msabckansascity.

Please observe caution and obey all posted detours and barricades.

The Civil War in Missouri exhibit comes to Museum in Swope Park

The Monnett Battle of Westport Fund is thrilled to announce the “A State Divided: The Civil War in Missouri” exhibit will be on view at the Battle of Westport Visitor Center and Museum from October 26 – December 22, 2013, Saturdays from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. and by appointment. The Grand Opening will be held on Saturday, November 2, from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.

“A State Divided: The Civil War in Missouri” is a joint project of the Missouri History Museum and the Missouri Humanities Council. The traveling exhibit tells the stories of Missourians during the defining conflict of our country. The Battle of Westport Visitor Center and Museum will also feature exhibits on the Battle of Westport, African American soldiers in Missouri, and the stories of families struggling to survive.

There will be a Hands on History room with a tent, items to try-on and try-out, and other activities.

Throughout the run of the exhibit there will be programs for families including a story time with a regional storyteller with a set of books for each participating family to take home. Presentations will be made by historians and scholars on African Americans, the role fraternal orders played in the Underground Railroad, the Civil War in Jackson County, and fiddle music in Missouri.

Admission to the exhibits and the programs is free. Funding for the exhibits and programming is through a grant from the Missouri Humanities Council and the Monnett Battle of Westport Fund.

The Battle of Westport Visitor Center and Museum is located at the Meyer Boulevard entrance to Swope Park at 6601 Swope Parkway in Kansas City, Missouri. For more information, visit www.battleofwestport1864.org.

Early Penguin Exhibits in KC Didn’t Succeed

Helzberg Penguin Plaza opens Friday at the Kansas City Zoo.  

Here is an  interesting history of penguins in Kansas City by Matt Campbell with the Kansas City Star.

Kansas City was basically winging it with early attempts to keep penguins alive in the 1940s and ’50s.

The parks department would spend a few hundred dollars for a handful of birds. Kids would get excited, suggesting names for them. Then the birds died.

“A doctor from the Smithsonian claims we keep them too clean,” zoo director William T.A. Cully said on one such occasion. “But what else can we do in the children’s zoo?”

All the early attempts involved temperate-climate penguins. The first four got the royal treatment when they arrived from New York at Kansas City Municipal Airport in July 1946. A newspaper called them “their right laughable excellencies.” They cost $275 a pair.

The zoo placed them in a former duck pond and fed them smelt. Hundreds of kids from as far as Nebraska submitted names. Thirteen-year-old Dick Lamb of 4215 Spruce Ave. won with Pat, Mike, Molly and Polly.

The penguins even made a hospital visit to cheer up a 6-year-old leukemia patient.

But by fall the birds were dead of their own disease, aspergillosis, which affects the respiratory system.

The zoo tried again in 1952. Linda Moore, 9 and recovering from polio, 133 N. Quincy Ave., won the naming contest this time: Gus, Gertie, Wilbur and Wendy.

Zoo officials panicked when the penguins swelled up and their feathers fell out. But everyone relaxed after a long-distance call to an expert at the Bronx Zoo told them the birds were molting.

Still, those birds did not last long either.

In 1958, park officials ordered more penguins. One was stolen from the zoo and later found in the pond at Loose Park. It took zookeepers using a rowboat four hours to catch it.

In 1959, the zoo designated a penguin house with a ventilating fan. There was discussion among park commissioners about whether to air-condition the house, but it was decided not to spend $2,600 on $900 worth of penguins.

The zoo installed cold water sprays instead. But those birds also died.

Kansas City was not alone in having a poor penguin track record. Scholarly papers have documented that early attempts to keep them in captivity were often unsuccessful because keepers didn’t understand the birds’ needs.

In recent decades, however, zoos have made great strides in reducing penguin mortality, said Tom Schneider, chairman of a North American penguin advisory group.

Though each species is different, penguins typically live 15 to 20 years in the wild and can live a little longer in captivity.

“They live a long time,” Schneider said. “The husbandry is pretty good.”