Henry Wollman Bloch Fountain

Built in 2001 by the designers of Las Vegas's famous Bellagio Hotel fountains, the Henry Wollman Bloch Fountain features 232 water jets and performs a five minute show every 30 minutes. The fountain was given by and is named for well known Kansas City businessman and philanthrope Henry Bloch, who was the co-founder of the premier tax preparation company H&R Block. Bloch is also known for his charitable contributions and commitment to improving the quality of life in the greater Kansas City area.

This award-winning fountain was gifted to the city in 2001 by its namesake, H&R Block co-founder and lifelong Kansas City resident Henry Wollman Bloch. The circular fountain was designed by accomplished fountain engineers at WET Design, the designers of the Bellagio Hotel fountains in Las Vegas, Nevada. The fountain features 232 vertical jets arranged in three rings. Water sprays in an evolving pattern every 30 minutes, synchronized by a computer. The jets are surrounded by a Black granite ellipse in which water barely covers, creating a mirror effect to reflect the monuments to the east and west as the fountain sits in the traffic median between the iconic National WW1 Museum and Memorial and Union Station. It received the design honor award in 2003 and was honored by the Prairie Gateway Chapter for its architectural accomplishments. Bloch dedicated the fountain to Kansas City one year after he retired as chairman of H&R Block.

Henry Wollman Bloch was a Kansas City native, born in 1922. He served as a B-17 crewman over Europe in the US air force during WW2. In 1946, in the wake of World War II, Bloch and his brother Leon founded a small bookkeeping and tax services company. The company suffered through several rough and unprofitable years until, in 1955, a very successful advertisement of their tax preparation services went out in the Kansas City Star newspaper. With that success, Henry and his older brother Richard founded a new company, named H&R Block. The company became a national brand in the 1970s when it started offering professional tax services to a much wider market, growing to more than 8,000 offices at this time. It was also during this time that Henry began acting in commercials advertising for his company. H&R Block grew to become one of the largest tax services and at the time of Henry Bloch’s death in 2019, the company had over 12,000 offices.

Bloch was also well known for his vast philanthropic contributions to the Kansas City area, many of which were with his wife Marion. The Bloch's charitable work includes donations to Saint Luke's Hospital, the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, both monetarily and in an extensive collection of paintings, and the development of the Bloch School of Management at the University of Missouri - Kansas City. The Marion and Henry Bloch Family Foundation was established in 2011 to continue their philanthropic legacy.

Henry Wollman Bloch Fountain, KC Parks. Accessed June 28th 2022. https://kcparks.org/places/bloch-henry-wollman-fountain-2/.

About the Founders, Marion and Henry Bloch Family Foundation. Accessed June 29th 2022. http://blochfamilyfoundation.org/foundation/founders/.

Architectural Tour, National WW1 Museum and Memorial . Accessed June 28th 2022. https://www.theworldwar.org/exhibitions/architectural-tour.

H&R Block Founders, H&R Block . Accessed June 28th 2022. https://www.hrblock.com/tax-center/founders/.