KCK working to get riverfront park ready for Lewis and Clark anniversary
By MARK WIEBE
The Kansas City Star
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascit ... 582546.htm
This is the plan: A six-acre riverfront park in Kansas City, Kan., complete with boat ramp, to honor the three days that explorers Lewis and Clark spent at what is now Kaw Point.
This is the reality: The land at the confluence of the Kansas and Missouri rivers is home to overgrown brush, trash and the remnants of the old River City USA. Railroad ties, old cars, tires and an abandoned walkway dot the landscape that the park's boosters hope to transform into an oasis where history and nature meet.
And, to top it off, the observance that will mark the 200th anniversary of the Kaw Point landing is less than 15 months away.
"Yeah, we have a lot of work to do," said Shari Wilson, chairwoman of the nonprofit Wyandotte County Lewis and Clark Task Force.
But Wilson -- who oversees about 100 volunteers -- is determined that the work will get done. Many of those volunteers have already cleared much of the debris on the Unified Government-owned land.
And on Thursday, the Unified Government's Board of Commissioners earmarked $400,000 for the $2 million project. The money will not only complement the nearly $100,000 the task force has raised, Wilson said, but will also help leverage more money.
In addition, the task force is seeking up to $1 million in federal funds and has applied for about $200,000 in grants.
About $1 million is needed to complete the project's first phase. With it, Wilson said, the task force will build the boat ramp, trails, an open-air education center and a replica of the temporary fortification that Meriwether Lewis and William Clark built on the point. Plans also call for a plaza that honors the diverse people -- from Native Americans to pioneers to present-day immigrants -- who have lived in the area or passed through on their way west.
The second phase calls for more landscaping and an overlook area and the establishment of an endowment for ongoing maintenance.
Organizers want to get the first phase done in time for the Lewis and Clark commemorative events scheduled for the Kansas City area in June and July 2004.
Those events will focus on stops the explorers and a crew of dozens made in what today are the two Kansas Citys, Leavenworth and Atchison.
The military expedition arrived at Kaw Point on June 26, 1804, for a three-day encampment. There the men hunted, repaired their pirogues (flat-bottomed wooden boats shaped like canoes) and built a temporary fort from logs and brush. Writing in his journal, Clark reported the sighting of a number of Carolina parakeets (now extinct). And he drafted papers for the court-martial of two members accused of stealing whiskey, one while he was on guard duty.
"The historical significance of this site is tremendous," Wilson said. "We have one of the only (Lewis and Clark) encampment areas that you can still get to in an urban area."
Yes, you can get to it, but it's not easy, if you haven't been there. Located in the city's Fairfax Industrial District, Kaw Point is a small triangle of land that sticks out next to the Unified Government's public levee. Getting there requires a drive through Fairfax, through a parking lot and along a concrete barrier -- with nothing to mark it.
That will change when the park is complete; Wilson said numerous signs would direct people to the site.
Organizers will need those signs come June 26, 2004, the first day of official ceremonies to mark the explorers' arrival in the area. Their hope is to attract hundreds to the site for three days of re-enactments, music and story telling.
Those events will serve as a prelude to more throughout the metropolitan area, ending with a climactic observance over the July 4 weekend.
The park, obviously, will have a use that extends well beyond the event. The boat ramp, for one, will give urban residents a much-needed access to the river.
Just as important, Wilson said, the park will serve as a reminder that the city can and should do more to promote its status as a riverfront community.
"We hope that by starting here through a public/private partnership, at least we'll have a place to bring people to show them the potential of their riverfront," Wilson said. "People don't realize what's down here."
Downtown KCK Riverfront Park
Downtown KCK Riverfront Park
That's nice! I had read that they were doing something with that site, but this sounds like it can be really special. If they link the L&C site with the riverfront trail, whioch I believe will be going into KCK, we may be seeing the development of a new historical frontier district. KCMO is working on the original Town of Kansas townsite, the Steamship Arabia is not far from the river, and there is some interst in doing work on the Quidaro ruins (not sure how much farther up the river that would be.)
Imagine a river trail starting in the Berkely Riverfront area, going under dowtown, across to KCK and up to Fairfax. Along the way you may find an aquarium, possibly Bass Pro, a spur to the River Market, the Town of Kansas, possibly with a museum and actrion thing, a walk over the bridges, taking in some of the best views of both KCs, then the museums of the L&C site. This would be a fantastic addition to the city, and fairly unique. Cincinatti has a similar thing, but these are attractions that are unique to KC.
The biggest hurdle that I can see is the public fear of KCK, which is even worse than the fear of dowtown (especially if they go to Quidaro.) Maybe this could help to end those feelings!
Imagine a river trail starting in the Berkely Riverfront area, going under dowtown, across to KCK and up to Fairfax. Along the way you may find an aquarium, possibly Bass Pro, a spur to the River Market, the Town of Kansas, possibly with a museum and actrion thing, a walk over the bridges, taking in some of the best views of both KCs, then the museums of the L&C site. This would be a fantastic addition to the city, and fairly unique. Cincinatti has a similar thing, but these are attractions that are unique to KC.
The biggest hurdle that I can see is the public fear of KCK, which is even worse than the fear of dowtown (especially if they go to Quidaro.) Maybe this could help to end those feelings!