It was a depression year. In Kansas City the
bottom dropped out of the real estate market.
But you couldn't tell that at Fairmount Park on
Opening Day, Sunday, May 14. The weather was
beautiful, high in the mid 80s and mostly sunny.
A lot of the
improvements had been made during the off season and
no more alcohol would be allowed in the park this year
(once was enough!).
The Kansas City Boat
Club had moved from Washington Park to Fairmount Park,
which was a good sign for Fairmount Park, but not for
Washington Park. A boat house was built two blocks
north of 24 Highway and 50 feet east of Northern
Blvd. $2,000 was spent on it. The 2nd
floor had a gymnasium and a club room. The lake
featured a 1/2 mile boat race course marked by buoys
and many regattas (races) were planned for the
season. Just west of what is now the tennis
courts in Sugar Creek was a lovely flower garden with
rock walls and hundreds of flowers, mainly roses,
creepers, and vines.
A new bath house had
been erected at a cost of $1,500, featuring a
subterranean tunnel leading to the beach. Across
the lake, park management had big plans for an
athletic field (now known as R. J. Roper Stadium).
A bicycle track,
baseball field, and tennis courts were planned.
The dance pavilion was newly opened and the First
Artillery Band was playing at the band
stand.
The water from the
springs was very popular and was advertised thus:
Cusenbary Spring
Water. Now ready to introduce this long
celebrated spring water for your family. No
other water compares with it for purity. Address
for lowest terms and plan for delivery. J. H.
Pickering, General Superintendent, 2nd &
Wyandotte. Telephone 2393
The area around and
leading to the spring was known as the Cascade Glen,
which was the lovers resort and led down to the
springs. Rustic seats and benches were made out
of the trees that were cleared while making the
park. A gazebo had been built around the springs
and arc light set the area aglow.
The following Friday
afternoon after opening day, the Kansas City
Commercial Club boarded three newly purchased summer
cars (open trolley cars) on the Air Line, the
electronic trolley line that ran from 2nd &
Wyandotte to Fairmount Park. They left promptly
at 2:30 pm and, after a couple of stops, arrived at
Fairmount Park in the middle of a hail storm.
Walnut sized hail rained down on the group, delaying
their tour. When the rain ceased, the party
walked over the ground, giving special interest to the
mineral spring. Below the springs a large
mineral pool had been added and was very
popular. The weeks that followed were filled
with balloon ascensions and parachute leaps.
In June, a reporter
took a trip out to Fairmount Park and was much
impressed. His trip was made mid week, mid
June. He boarded a car at 2nd & Wyandotte
early in the afternoon for the 20 minute trip along
the high ground overlooking the Missouri River valley,
"As the train pulls into this beautiful spot and
stops under the broad pavilion overlooking the
lake." His first stop was the boat house
where hundreds of boats are cared for by very
competent men. A narrow wooded path led from the
boat house to the Kansas City Boat Club Building,
which, like a lot of other things, was described as
the "best in the West." The Ladies
Boat Club had a reception room and was in the process
of being fitted out. It was located on the
second floor and from the balcony it gave a wonderful
view of the lake and the surrounding countryside.
The bathing beach was
nearing completion after much hard work. At that
time all the big-time bathing facilities were back
east and it was obvious that someone had paid a lot of
money duplicating a popular eastern resort. The
bath house was a large 2 story building, located where
now the intersections of Northern and Hink Drive meet.
A well known swimming
teacher and his wife had been put in charge of the
bathing and swimming, giving free lessons to anyone
who needed help. Suits were furnished for a
price and there
were hundreds to choose from. The ladies
dressing room was located on the 2nd floor and gave an
exclusive view of the lake. Stairs led down to
the bathing beach via a vine-covered tunnel; a white
sand floor changed into a small sand beach.
Ladies were given the privilege of having the morning
to themselves. Many bathing clubs were formed
and every afternoon the beach was filled with
society's elite. Bathing suits owned by the
bathers were cared for at Fairmount Park for free.
After a good swim the
cafe was open for business. Its location is now
the first house on the north side of Northern and Lexington
Avenue, just west of the tennis courts. It was a
large white building with a round rock patio facing
the lake and a mostly screened in English style dining
room with a fireplace. The cuisine was French
and was some of the best eating in town. In the
evening the place to be seated was on the cafe patio
which faced east toward the lake. A new electric
fountain (where the tennis courts are today) was in
place and in the evening it was turned on creating an
enchanting scene of multicolored lights in a shell of
mist. It must have seemed quite spectacular to
people, some who were seeing this new technology for
the first time.
North of the cafe was
the Crystal Maze. There were only three in the
world; one in Paris, one in New York, and now
Fairmount Park. Crystal Maze was a building in
which hundreds of mirrors were placed in every
conceivable position, reflecting hundreds of times the
image of the visitor. The Crystal Maze was built
at a cost of $5,000, a tidy sum in 1893.
The springs were
manned by 4 young men with cups to accommodate the
hundreds of people that lined up to take a drink of
the famous Cusenbary Spring water, reported to be
shipped all over the known world at that time.
The Cascade Glen was magnificent. The sides were
hedged with brambles and curtained with twining vines
and honeysuckle. An outdoor gymnasium, complete
with everything, was free to all and was very popular
with both boys and girls.
In the evening as the
day merged into night, the electric lighting was quite
popular with the society set, who would sometimes take
a late trip to the park to catch the transformation of
the park into "one big bower of loveliness".
On Sunday, June 18,
Joseph Leuvenmark, champion diver of the world, set
the first of many world records that would be set at
the park. He dove 90 feet down from the tower at
the north end of the lake.
The following
Thursday was the Grocers Picnic. Now, they knew
how to have a good time! Many arrived early in
the morning and before the day was over 10,000
people were in attendance. The whole park was
leased for the day and opened to the public. The
best parts of the picnic besides the food were the
great prizes and a lot of winners. There were
five bicycle races on the athletic field (R.J. Roper
Stadium), three one mile and 2 half mile races, with
prizes like a new boys 24 in bike, food certificates,
five dollar gold pieces, a gold watch, and racing
shoes. There were 27 activities called
"other events", which included boat and foot
races, sack and fat man's races, a boxing match, cake walks, and a tug-of-war.
There was a greased pig and duck catching contest.
In the evening a
fireworks display that was to be launched from a boat
in the lake caught fire and the spectators were
treated to a spectacle that can only be
imagined. The pyrotechnician escaped with his
life by jumping into the lake as the show commenced to
blow up, burn, and sink, much to the merriment of the
crowd.
The 4th of July in
1893 came on a Tuesday and wasn't the seemingly dull
event that it is now, like sparklers and lady
fingers. There were some spectacular
fireworks. Young boys threw small bombs and the
big boys carried pistols to shoot in the air to
celebrate the nation's birthday. It wasn't a
one-day affair, either. It usually began the
weekend before and lasted until the 4th. This
year the place to go was Fairmount Park. The
crowd was believed to have been 25,000 to 30,000
people. The Air Line was "feathered
out," a term meaning the cars were not only full,
but they had people hanging off the sides. Many
people at the 2nd & Wyandotte Street depot gave up
after a few hours in frustration and never made it to
the park. The big attraction of the day was the
Crystal Maze. Somehow it was possible for a
person to sit in a small room and be seen without
being found, because a very pretty girl was seen
eating ice cream, but was never found. The park
that day had 50 ice cream stands and 6 soda stands
going and was very busy.
A baseball game took
place on the new athletic field. A high dive by
Professor Leuvenmark and a fireworks display capped
off the evening.
Towards the end of
the season, much fun with bicycles came to the
park. One attraction was a one-legged man by the
name of Kilpatrick, whose claim to fame was that he
had ridden his wheel down the steps of the White House
in Washington, D.C. Not the east steps that were
only 40 feet long, but the west steps that were 100
feet long and at an angle of 45 degrees. Each
step had an 8 inch drop and there were 82 of
them. Now he traveled the country duplicating
the feat.
At Fairmount Park the
steps built for him were 110 feet long and 50 feet
high. There were no side rails and they were
only 5 feet wide (sounds very dangerous!). He
started out a little rough but settled the bike down
halfway to the bottom. His wheel finished the
bottom half as if moving over glass, his one foot on
the peddle. When reaching the bottom he
continued to travel across the field for several
hundred feet; this done twice a day thru the weekend.
A bicycle tournament
was held there the 1st of September and featured
champion cyclist Arthur A. Zimmerman.
Copyright © 2005 John M. Olinskey
