Did You Know...

1. Kansas City ranks second in the world in number of fountains erected in the city. Only Rome, Italy, has more.

2. Some of statues located in Kansas City's fountains are 300 years old.

3. Loose Park & Memorial, one of the most beautiful parks in the heart of Kansas City, located at 51st & Wornall Road, was donated by Mrs. Jacob Loose in memory of her husband, a millionaire who made his fortune selling biscuits at the Sunshine Biscuit Co. in the beginning of the 20th century.

4. The tallest flag in the Kansas City area stands 178 feet 6 1/4 inches above ground an the entrance to Swope Park. It was donated by Jacob Loose.

5. A marker at 63rd & Paseo designates the site of the decisive engagement of the Battle of Westport, the largest battle west of the Mississippi. This battle was fought October 21-23, 1864. Another Battle of Westport monument can be found in Loose Park.

6. One of two "Avenue of Trees" is located on the east and west sides of the Liberty Memorial. The first planting was in 1932 and subsequent plantings have occurred over the years. In 1944, 24 oaks were planted. More were added in the 1940s in memory of the men killed in war. The second "Avenue of Trees" is on Ward Parkway from Meyer Boulevard to 75th Street.

7. In April, 1968, a memorial was erected in memory of Salvatore Grisafe, a 17-year-old civilian who was killed preventing the robbery of two women. The memorial, at 16th & Paseo, reads: "As an Example of Good Citizenship."

8. One fountain flows year-round and forms a winter ice sculpture. It is the Northland Fountain

9. The "Eternal Flame" is a memorial to John F. Kennedy. It was dedicated in 1965 and is located north of the Concourse Fountain at Gladstone & Benton Blvd.

10. The City of Fountains Foundation had selected 100 possible sites for new fountains by 1974.

11. Kansas City's first fountains were erected over springs to provide clean drinking water for animals.

12. As early as 1898, the public's interest in fountains had grown to such a degree that Kansas City Wire and Iron Works was listed in the city directory under "Fountains."

13. The Northland Fountain is known as the "Spirit of Cooperation" because it illustrates the unified effort of the public and private sector working to achieve a common goal. The fountain is located at North Oak Trafficway and Vivion Road.

14. The Meyer Circle Fountain, when viewed at the right direction by auto traffic, seems to have a comma near it. The comma comes from the front lawn of the home on West 64th St.

15. Massasoit, the statue located at 47th & J.C. Nichols Parkway, was sculpted by the Cyrus Dallin, the same artist who sculpted the Indian Scout in Penn Valley Park.

16. Children in the Kansas City area contributed more than $50,000 to the J. C. Nichols Fountain on the Plaza, the most prominent and most photographed fountain in Kansas City.

17. Carl Milles, a Swedish sculptor, based his memorial to William Volker on St. Martin of Tours, a patron saint of France. To add a touch of humor, Milles has an angel playing the flute from the wrong end and carved a wristwatch on another angel. The fountain is located on Volker Boulevard near Rockhill Road.

18. Bacchus is surrounded by nymphs and satyrs in the center of Chandler Court near the Swanson's building on the Plaza.

19. The Neptune Fountain was found on the top of a train car full of scrap metal by workmen at a salvage company and was purchased by Miller Nichols for the price of scrap metal.

20. The Eagle monument, located at Ward Parkway and 67th Street and temporarily away for renovation, originally stood in the courtyard of a Japanese temple and then as a guard outside the Japanese exhibit at the St. Louis World's Exposition in 1904. It was installed in Kansas City in 1935.

21. The Eagle Scout Memorial sculpture was once the Seventh Avenue entrance of the Pennsylvania Railroad Station in New York City.

22. There are two memorials to William T. Fitzsimons, the first American officer to give his life in World War I. One is at 12th Street and the Paseo and the other is at 47th Street and the Paseo.

23. The Liberty Memorial is still the nation's only major memorial dedicated solely to World War I. It was dedicated in November 1926, but was not completed with the fountains until the 1930s.

24. The Muse of the Missouri at 8th Street and Main has 200 spouts of water making up the total fountain display.

25. Thomas Swope was buried under the floor of the Thomas H. Swope Memorial near the Swope Memorial Golf Course in April 1918 about nine years after his death in 1909.

26. The J. C. Nichols Memorial Fountain has four equestrian figures that are said to represent four rivers: the Mississippi River (the one with the Indian riding the horse and beating off an alligator), the Volga River (with the bear), the Seine and the Rhine.

27. A life-size bronze sculpture of a young man sitting on a large rock, reading a book entitled "There's no such thing as a free lunch" while eating America's favorite hamburger sits in front of the old McDonald's restaurant in Seville Square.

28. Faith, who stands on top of the Giralda Tower at Swanson's on the Plaza, acts as a weather vane in the original tower in Seville, Spain. Kansas City's is a copy one-third the size of the one in Spain. In the old days, the Spaniards would ride a horse up the ramp inside the tower and turn the statue to point to direction of an enemy.

29. April, by Santa Fe artist Glenda Goodacre, is a pre-schooler with a spirit of discovery as she pours water from a watering can on a bunch of spring flowers.

30. You can sit beside Benjamin Franklin on his bench at 47th and Pennsylvania and read the U. S. Constitution. Two doves are perched on the back of the bench, as well.

31. The Boy and Frog Fountain, a bronze and Verona marble fountain, is an original by Rafaello Romanelli of Florence, Italy. It was purchased in 1928.

32. Diana, at the corner of Wornall and Ward Parkway, has one of the tallest man-made waterfalls as a back drop. Diana, the Roman goddess of the moon, is surrounded by cherubs.

33. Gus Shaefer used his own face as a model for the Wagon Master just west of the Fairmont Hotel. Push the button and listen to a tape recording about the Wagon Master and the Civil War battle which took place in the area where the hotel is now located.

34. The first residential fountains in Kansas City were usually made of cast iron or bronze.

35. The first fountains in Kansas City were designed by the Humane Society to provide water for horses and dogs.

36. A contagious disease began running rampant through the horse population, in 1904, which caused the Fire and Water Board to shut off the water supply to the fountains and the women of the Humane Society to develop a fund-raising campaign to erect more hygienic fountains.

37. When private fountains came into fashion in the late 1800s, J. C. Nichols, a prominent real estate developer in Kansas City, started buying and investing in fountains to beautify his residential developments and the Country Club Plaza.

38. After an earnings tax passed in 1964, the William Volker Memorial Fountain was restored to full working capacity after previously being turned off at 10 p.m. each night to save money.

39. The City of Fountains Foundation was organized in 1973 to obtain funds and establish a trust fund to cover the maintenance costs on the existing fountains and to help finance future fountains.

40. Tom Corbin, the sculptor who designed The Children's Fountain used local children as models. The children are: a girl named Joy; a boy using crutches called Meeting Challenges; a girl ballerina; a boy playing soccer; a boy standing on his hands; a girl with pigtails wading.