In 1900 Sam
Brancato, an Italian blacksmith, arrived in the United
States.
After the
1903 flood, Sam dug through the sludge.
Besides a lot of dead cows, he found $300 worth of treasure,
whence he bought a grocery store, and played the stock
market real well. By 1920, he was a neat guy with a
lot of money. He decided to build an amusement park
out south to funnel his entrepreneurial juices.
He first
proposed to build it close to Swope Park, but the locals
were having none of it. He finally purchased 89 acres
at 75th and Prospect Avenue. The next thing was to
find the best man in town to run it. Sam Benjamin of
Fairmount Park was he.
On June 9, 700
people, some friends, VIP and the 300 locals who also
invested in the million dollar project, were given a
freebie. The money was well spent. 40 acres of
grass and trees were set aside for picnics and, like
Fairmount, had free ice water. Parking for 10,000
autos, 5,000 feet of gravel walkways, refreshment stands,
the Sky Rocket, a 5,000 ft roller coaster with 32 dips, the
Whip, the Dodge-Em, the Butterfly, the Caterpillar, a big
Ferris wheel, Fun Land, miniature railroad, children's
playground, band concerts. The wooden dance floor, which had
a capacity of 2,000 and was 118 feet by 300 feet, roughly
the size of a football field, took a lot of trees.
Pony track, merry-go-round, goat track, shooting gallery,
billiard hall, and a swimming pool that was still under construction.
A week later,
the gates were thrown open to the public. Management
hoped for 40,000, but the 30,000 that showed still caused a
traffic jam. The trolley line ended at 72nd street,
and buses were provided from there to the park, unless, of
course, you wanted to walk the three blocks. Sam
Benjamin, general manager, said it would be several weeks
before all of the finishing touches would be complete.
As Fairyland's general manager, one of Sam Benjamin's jobs
was to book picnics. After the grand opening of
Fairyland, it was announced that the biggest and best picnic
in town, being the Grocer's picnic, had been booked at
Fairyland for August 9. 40,000 were expected, a major
boost for the new park, the rat.
By then,
Fairmount and Electric parks were already going strong.
Improvements were being made in both parks.
Electric spent
money, too. A boardwalk, patterned after Atlantic
City, which includes the "New Follies". The picnic
grounds were enlarged and electric heating plates for
cooking were installed. New were a pony track for the
kiddies, the "Big House", Sea Planes, and professional
divers.
Fairmount's
new manager was A. P. McGinnis. $150,000 had been
spent on the park, most of it building a new roller coaster
called, "The Big Dipper." At 5,372 feet of track, with
a dozen dips, one 86 feet, in excess of 60 miles per hour.
Not only was it the longest in town and called, "The World's
Longest," it only took about a minute or two to ride.
It was the most dangerous, and the lines were long.
There was also a new Ferris wheel. The dance hall had
been re-named the "Venetian Ballroom", featuring a mirrored
ball that rotated, splashing beams of light through the
dancers, 50 years before Disco.
Although
Fairyland was taking picnics, there were plenty to go
around. Also, Fairmount had been there for a long
time. Some of the kids were third generation Fairmount
Park fans, and loved the place. The lake was still the
main attraction; it was simply the best place in town to
swim or fish. Ride, swim, dance, boat.
Fairmount Park
was still the "Home of Picnics." On Saturday, May 26,
the park hosted the Parent / Teachers picnic. To the
students, this could be compared to the Fourth of July and
Christmas. Kids started arriving at 7 a. m., but
weren't allowed in the park until the adults arrived.
The ladies arrived dressed in white dresses trimmed in red
with large red hats which could be seen over the children's
heads over a kilometer away. The chow arrived in
baskets lugged by ladies and gentlemen, also dressed in
white and red. Free hot dogs, ice cream, popcorn and
drinks were served until the kids had more than enough.
Ropes divided off the different school districts covering
the picnic grounds. At 9:30 the Boy and Girl Scouts,
Girl Reserves, and Camp Fire Girls marched in revue at the
athletic/ball field. Lunch baskets were served and by 12
o'clock noon, 25,000 people had entered the park and the day
was still young. The trolley cars going back to Kansas
City were going to be empty for a while.
After lunch,
competitive events between the schools were held.
Garfield and Norman schools tied for First. First
prize was a trophy. Prizes for the individual boys for
various sports included baseballs, bats, gloves, tennis
rackets, belts, hats, Kewpie dolls and handkerchiefs.
Mayor of Kansas City, Frank Cromwell, was the guest of honor
and gave a short speech. Eight special street cars
carried many of the picnickers. The parking lot was
full. Boy Scouts were employed in the afternoon,
missing mothers with their children, whether the kids wanted
to be found or not. Manager McGinnis's employees
counted a total of 60,000 tickets to enter the park.
He also donated half the money collected at the gate after 6
p. m. to the organization, in hopes that they'd be back next
year.
The weekend
before July Fourth, the WWI Veterans held their annual
picnic at Fairmount Park. The talk again this year was
the so-called Federal Bonus. Missouri and several
other states had already paid the men between $65 and $100.
Many people were against it, including people in the
government like Andrew Mellon, Secretary of the Treasury,
and the third richest man in the United States, behind
Rockerfeller and Ford.
The summer of
1923 in Kansas City reeked of fun. Besides the three
amusement parks, Electric, Fairyland, and Fairmount, there
were dozens of lakes and streams that no longer exist.
For the fisherman or swimmer, the two Blue Rivers actually
had water in them, with fish. Golf was very popular
locally. The sport started in Scotland in the 1400s.
Claims that it was started by men with wooden clubs knocking
round rocks in rabbit holes. The first US course was
in Wheaton, Illinois, just west of Chicago, in 1893.
From 1923 until 1930 Bobby Jones won 5 amateur US Opens,
three British Opens, and five British Amateur, and 4 USA
Opens. Swope Park links was the most popular in the
city, the club having 500 members. In addition there
were a dozen courses in and around Kansas City:
Oakwood, Blue Hills, Mission Hills, Kansas City Country
Club, Lockwood, Hillcrest, Meadow Lake, Ivanhoe, Milburn,
Crestwood, and Shawnee Heights being the most recent to
open. The word "GOLF" is said to be an acronym for
"Gentlemen Only, Ladies Forbidden."
The Kansas
City Athletic club moved into their new 22-story facilities
at 11th and Baltimore in 1923, in a building that stood 263 feet
high.
The KCAC started at Fairmount Park around the turn of the century,
and when the park closed in '02 they moved to the future
location of Electric Park. In 1906 they moved again to
Central street, paying $60,000 for the building and grounds,
and $16,000 for the equipment. The club's new kitchen was one of
the finest and largest in town. The main dining hall
seated 450 persons. There were six other dining rooms,
seating between 40 and 400. Other athletic clubs
across the country sent their emblems to be displayed.
Represented were the following clubs: The Missouri Athletic Club,
and the Athletic clubs of
St. Louis, Los Angeles, Olympia, San Francisco, Minneapolis,
Illinois, Chicago, Milwaukee, and Omaha.
Tennis's
popularity was increasing, with public tennis courts going
up all over town. Boating was popular. The most
popular river was the Blue, at 15th Street. At 15th
Street was the boat house. Motor boats, canoes, and
row boats crowded the Blue to the Missouri River.
But the most
popular outdoor sport was baseball. Greater Kansas
City was the home to 400 amateur and semi-pro baseball
teams. Two pro teams, the Blues and the Monarchs.
Although illegal, Muehlebach beer built a baseball stadium
at 22nd and Brooklyn Avenue by George Muehlebach, hometown
Beer Baron. Called Muehlebach Stadium, it opened on
July 3rd and seated 17,500, and was the home of the Kansas
City Blues.
Like San
Francisco, New York City, Chicago, and New Orleans, Kansas City
was considered a "wide-open town", which meant that if you
were new to town and and wanted to get a drink, you would
just ask a cop. Twenty-five cents here would get you a
cold, 12-oz draw of Michelob and a marijuana cigarette,
served by a young lady dressed only in a thin sheet and who
might just sit on your lap. The object: prostitution.
On the Fourth
of July the three amusement parks had the usual fare, topped
with a night of fireworks, and thousands attended, taxing
the trolleys to the max. The baseball game at
Muehlebach Stadium was sold out, but the most popular thing
in town was the auto races. At the end of Troost, way
out in the country, now called 95th Street, the Kansas City
Speedway was built. The oval mile track had a wooden
surface. Indianapolis was called The Brickyard.
This would have been called the Woodyard, wood being cheaper
than brick. 60,000 race fans were crowded into an area
built to hold 40,000. The race cars had evolved from a
two-seater (driver and mechanic) with a 180 cubic inch
internal combustive engine (i. e. gasoline), to a one-seater
with 122 cubic inches. A rule was that if a car didn't
average 100 miles per hour in four laps, they were
disqualified.
Among the
notables was Barney Oldfield, 1878 - 1946. He started
racing bicycles, drove for Henry Ford in 1902, where he was
the first man to exceed 60 miles per hour. In 1910 he
did 130 mile per hour in a Benz.
150 men in
white cover-alls and hats worked as ushers. There were
25 food courts, selling mostly hot dogs. The 250-mile
race began at 4:30 and ended around 7 p. m., but the parking
lot wasn't cleared out until 9. Casualties for the
Fourth in Kansas City were few. Independence was
deserted.
On the first
weekend after the Fourth the Jackson County veterans
association held it's annual picnic at the Home of Picnics.
The British/Canadian Bagpipe Band furnished the music,
dressed in kilts. Jackson County
was mostly settled early on by people from the South, mainly
Kentucky, who brought with them their great love of horses. Among
the Vets were forty from the local VA hospital, who were
either crippled or blinded for life from their service in
World War One. The program started at 4 p. m.
with speeches from former commanders titled, "Boys in Gray
Sixty Years Ago" and "Boys in Blue Sixty Years Ago,"
followed by entertainment and goodies. Many came with
family and basket lunches. One thing the old Civil War
Vets on both sides agreed upon was the fact that everyone
had cooties. Many, many vets wore their old uniform.
Between the
Fourth and Labor Day fireworks were reflected off the lake
every Sunday night, 9 p. m. sharp. Some were given
names like the City of Pyro, where a small city, nearly a
city block long gets blown to Kingdom Come. Or a huge
dragon named, "St. George."
Among the
A-type picnics were the American Insurance Company, United
Garment Workers, Irving-Pitt Manufacturing Company, Saline
County Reunion, the Oddfellows, and Postmen of Greater
Kansas City.
The Standard
Oil Company of Sugar Creek held its first annual picnic.
Much of the talk at the picnic would have been about autos
and radios. Things like the sale at C. J. Warman
Electric Company, just off the Square in Independence, where
you could buy a $6.50 pair of red head-phones for $5.35,
crystal sets for $4 or $5. Everybody needs "B" batteries, 3
for $2.65; spring aerial and stranded aerial wire for 75
cents, or a double-throw knife switch for 40 cents, besides
the local chit-chat. Also would have been talk among
the men about who had the best hooch. My mom and dad
would have been there. Mom was thirteen and dad was
drunk, like many (if not most) of the Standard Oil revelers. A good time was had by all, and there were few
if any cases of the brown bottle flu.
Laborer's
destination again this Labor Day was again Fairmount Park,
in Missouri, and City Park in Kansas City, Kansas, after the
parades. Senator James A. Reed of Missouri was the
main speaker. His topic, the immigration bill that he
helped defeat this year. Among the many speakers, but
far down on the list, was future President of the United
States, Harry S. Truman. In Germany, Hitler would soon
be locked up. Fairmount Park management shut the rides
down while the speakers spoke to 6,000 gathered in the
southwest corner of the park. Games of skill were
rewarded by prizes from lollipops to tons of coal. A
couple of days later the world's longest roller coaster
crashed. Nothing too serious, Car Two ran into Car One,
sending one person to the Independence Sanitarium and
several others with minor injuries. The strangest
thing about the accident is that no one sued. The ride
was immediately closed, and so was the park.
In the town
that Rockerfeller built, at least his people still ran it,
the mayor, Mr. Boehmer, was a plant supervisor and a
Republican in a Democratic town, but he kept on winning,
possibly because the citizens knew that if they voted him
out the goodies might stop coming, for instance a new 50,000
gallon water tower was being constructed on the high ground
in the southeast part of the city. Sewer lines were
being installed throughout. New light poles were being
added two at a time, as could be afforded at $65 per year.
By the end of the year, Sugar Creek had 41 poles.
Water was running out of pipes under pressure by the end of
the year, and bids were asked for the town's first fire
truck. Taxes were set at 75 cents for every $100 of
valuation. The refinery was worth a lot of money.
The City Hall
chambers moved from the bank building to the new Snyder
building a block south. Now there are Moose in the
basement. By now the Sugar Creek school was no longer
called "Riverview." The school graduated 15 this year.
The Red Cross, along with much help from the Sugar Creek
school, the City of Sugar Creek, and Standard Oil had
completely wiped out the infestation of trachema that had
plagued the area. It was the first Red Cross district
in the state to do so. The town reacted like it had
won the Super Bowl. Meanwhile, the school auditorium
hosted everything from concerts by the Standard Oil band to
wrestling, boxing, plays and vaudeville. 1924 is
coming, and it will be a bad year for President Truman and
the Goats.
