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by John M. Olinskey, et. al.
INTRODUCTION
i. e., Why This Book
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I remember Fairmount Lake. It was 1949,
and I was three. It was the Fourth of
July celebration at the Sugar Creek Ball
Diamond. The lake at night was the
prettiest thing I’d seen, except for my
mother. There was a fireworks display
after sundown, making what was left of
the lake seem to be on fire. There were
also street lights, at the place a road
cut through, where, unknown to me,
trolley tracks once unloaded thousands
of city people. Soon after, I heard the
adults excited about the lake’s dam
mysteriously giving way, bringing a lot
of water via the Sugar Creek, downhill,
into the Missouri River. A few years
later my mom and dad would talk about
the “good old days,” meaning the 1920s,
not the 1930s. Mostly they talked about
the auto my dad had won at Fairmount
Park. Mom told me her favorite ride was
the Mountain Speedway, a mile-long
roller coaster. As a little girl, it was
her last ride before going home. She and
her best friend talked about as little
girls always dancing and having fun.
Later, while hanging out at the main
Kansas City library, reading old
newspapers, I found in an 1896 Kansas
City Journal an Indian on a horse at
Fairmount Park. I was hooked.
Twenty-five years later, I’m almost
done. |
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