Ward Parkway

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Ward Parkway, split by Brush Creek in the Country Club Plaza near its eastern terminus
Ward Parkway, split by Brush Creek in the Country Club Plaza near its eastern terminus

Ward Parkway, located in Kansas City, Missouri near the Kansas-Missouri state line, is one of the most famous boulevards in the United States[citation needed]. Ward Parkway begins at Main Street in the Country Club Plaza and continues westward along Brush Creek as U.S. Route 56 until it turns southward across the creek by The Pembroke Hill School's Ward Parkway campus. It then continues south for four miles, terminating at Wornall Road near West 95th Street.

U.S. Route 56 follows Ward Parkway from its eastern terminus to its southward bend.
U.S. Route 56 follows Ward Parkway from its eastern terminus to its southward bend.

Ward Parkway has a wide, landscaped median, which is decorated with fountains and statuary. Many of Kansas City's finest large homes are found along Ward Parkway in the Country Club District. Recently, the parkway was the topic of a television episode of Tour the Homes on HGTV.

Contents

[edit] History

J.C. Nichols's own home in Sunset Hill, located just off Ward Parkway
J.C. Nichols's own home in Sunset Hill, located just off Ward Parkway

Ward Parkway was created as part of developer J.C. Nichols's overall plans for the Country Club District. Desiring a boulevard that would exceed the aesthetic value of all other streets in Kansas City, Nichols hired landscape architect George Kessler, who had designed several other luxurious boulevards throughout Kansas City, Missouri.

A home at the intersection of Ward Parkway and West 55th Street, designed by Louis Curtiss after plans by Frank Lloyd Wright
A home at the intersection of Ward Parkway and West 55th Street, designed by Louis Curtiss after plans by Frank Lloyd Wright

Accordingly, as Nichols platted the District, beginning in 1906, he reserved space for Ward Parkway. The largest lots in the District were reserved for homes to be located along the boulevard. The Kansas City Parks Department added Ward Parkway into its formal boulevard system. Nichols traveled to Italy and England to buy statues and monuments to place at periodic points on the boulevard's wide median. He also placed ponds and decorative urns throughout the parkway's length. To promote his development, Nichols periodically placed photographs of the large homes being built along Ward Parkway in Sunday editions of the Kansas City Star. Nichols even built his own home just off the parkway, on West 55th Street.

By the time Evan S. Connell wrote Mrs. Bridge in 1959, the proximity of a prominent Kansas Citian's home to Ward Parkway was seen as an indication of that person's place in Kansas City society. Around that time, a sociological research study undertaken by the University of Chicago determined that Ward Parkway and its vicinity was the most desirable neighborhood in the entire Kansas City Metropolitan Area.

[edit] Notable residents of homes along Ward Parkway

A home at the intersection of Ward Parkway and West 55th Street
A home at the intersection of Ward Parkway and West 55th Street

[edit] See also

[edit] External links


The City of Kansas City
History • Architecture • Downtown • Economy • Barbeque • Jazz • Fountains • Broadcast • Film • Neighborhoods • Metro Area • Sports
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