The City (Beautiful) of Fountains

Up we go. Just follow the stairs to the top.

And depending on the time of year, we may get to enjoy one of Kansas City’s true and unique delights: the fountain. As you ascend this switchback staircase, please note the calming, soothing ripples of water falling down the wall. The city’s interest in fountains rose out the City Beautiful movement, during the turn of the last century. It was a rare time in which aesthetic interests overtook functional concerns, and beauty became a core tenet of the city fathers and mothers. 

For whatever reason, this aesthetic stuck. All throughout Kansas City you can find fountains at intersections, within parks, at corners and even adorning centrally planned shopping centers, such as the plaza. It is a point of pride for the city, and one that has endured irrespective of the whims of commerce. Today Kansas City is proudly known as the city of fountains. 

Yet, while the wealthy pursued movements like the City Beautiful, for the rest of America the period between the rise of the railroad conglomerates and the First World War was one of mass civil unrest. Militant labor unions began forcefully pushing back against the capitalist class in the form of labor strikes. Kansas City saw its fair share of the action, and the garment district was often ground zero for that action. The first major garment worker strike was borne of desperation, at a time when factory working conditions were so bleak that militancy was less a question of dignity and more a question of survival. 

Follow the stairs to the top.