The Jim Pendergast Statue

Here sits Jim Pendergast, onetime ward boss of the West Bottoms and an early cog in what would later become the Kansas City Machine. Older brother of the infamous Tom Pendergast, our own mafioso kingpin. That booze runner. That speakeasy king. The construction magnate and political boss. Jim is often overshadowed by his ambitious younger brother, but Jim’s the one with the statue. And you’re looking at it. He was a personable fellow, by all accounts amiable and well liked. He built power the old fashioned way: through the working class. Among immigrants in particular, who flocked to his saloon not just for the comfort of spirits but also for financial assistance and political patronage. 

Let’s head back along the sidewalk. When it splits, turn left to walk north, towards the much larger statue you can see through the trees.

What’s curious about this, and quintessentially American, is that Jim and Tom were brothers at odds. The older rose up through the ranks by working for his constituents, while the younger plagiarized all the populist cues and settled himself down in a mansion on Ward Parkway Boulevard, financed by blood money and crimes. All of the style, and none of the substance. As soon as young Tom Pendergast learned his older brother’s lesson, he forgot it again. 

Or maybe he never learned it at all. Mark Twain would have only sighed and shrugged. 

Keep going until you reach the large statue.