Skip to main content

Kansas City Scout Statue

Image
By

 


In a city known for its statues, fountains and excellent barbecue, The Scout (also known as the Kansas City Scout) is the most famous of the statues that keeps watch over Kansas City, Missouri. From the vantage point up high at Penn Valley Park, there are excellent views of nearby I-35 and the Kansas City skyline. The statue is placed in a historic area of Kansas City once known as the Penn Street Ravine, where pioneers once traversed as part of the Santa Fe Trail. So it was appropriate to place The Scout in an area that has historical significance.

The Scout is a 10 foot tall statue cast in bronze of a Sioux Indian on horseback, surveying the landscape. The statue was originally cast by renowned sculptor Cyrus Dallin in 1915 for the Panama Pacific Exposition in San Francisco. Dallin had a deep respect for America's indigenous peoples and some of his best known works were made in tribute to Native Americans. The statue won the gold medal and as the statue traveled toward the East Coast of the United States, it was temporarily installed in Kansas City. While the statue was never meant to become a permanent fixture in Kansas City, local citizens were so delighted with The Scout that they raised $15,000 to purchase the statue. The fundraising happened mostly through small subscription campaigns, with people paying in nickels and dimes to help raise funds. Once enough funds were raised, The Kansas City Scout was dedicated as a permanent memorial in 1922.

Since that time, The Scout has become a symbol and a mascot of Kansas City, Missouri. Several area institutions were named after the iconic statue, including Kansas City’s electronic traffic alert system, aptly named The Kansas City Scout. When the National Hockey League had a franchise in Kansas City during the mid-1970s, the team was named the Kansas City Scouts, finding inspiration from The Scout statue after the original nickname of Mohawks was shot down by the Chicago Blackhawks. Unfortunately for Kansas City area hockey fans, the team was not as popular as the statue, having moved out of Kansas City after two lackluster seasons. That team is now the New Jersey Devils, named for another legend in its own right. In 1992, Kansas City gifted a replica of The Scout to its sister city of Seville, Spain, sharing a symbol of this wonderful city on the border of Kansas and Missouri with the world.

Visiting The Scout statue is easily accessible from I-35 and Penn Valley Drive, the latter of which goes through Penn Valley Park. For me, it was a short walk from the tennis courts to be able to see this enduring symbol of Kansas City. It is a superb place to view the Kansas City skyline, the Power and Light District and the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts. It is a great little stopover if you are passing through the Kansas City area.

The Scout peers into the distance.

I-35 is downhill from The Scout.

Penn Valley Drive and the Kansas City skyline.

Another skyline view.


A couple of parting shots of The Scout.



How to Get There:



Sources and Links:
KC Parks - The Scout
Flatland - curiousKC | The Story Behind the Sioux Scout
Libbie Bond - Kansas City Scout
The Kansas City Public Library - The Scout
The Pendergast Years - Scout Statue
Labels:
Location: Penn Dr, Kansas City, MO 64108, USA

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Old NY 10 and Goodman Mountain in the Adirondacks

By
  Old highway alignments come in all shapes and sizes, as well as taking some different forms after their lifespan of serving cars and trucks has ended. In the case of an old alignment of what was NY 10 south of Tupper Lake, New York, part of the old road was turned into part of a hiking trail to go up Goodman Mountain. At one time, the road passed by Goodman Mountain to the east, or Litchfield Mountain as it was known at the time. As the years passed, sometime around 1960, the part of NY 10 north of Speculator became part of NY 30, and remains that way today from Speculator, past Indian Lake and Tupper Lake and up to the Canadian Border. At one time, the highway was realigned to pass the Goodman Mountain to the west, leaving this stretch of road to be mostly forgotten and to be reclaimed by nature. During the summer of 2014, a 1.6 mile long hiking trail was approved the Adirondack Park Agency to be constructed to the summit of the 2,176 foot high Goodman Mountain. For the first 0.9 mi
1 comment
Read more

Ghost Town Tuesday; Vineland, Florida; the town killed by Disney

By
Vineland is a small ghost town located in southwest Orange County, Florida near the junction of Florida State Road 535 and Interstate 4.  Vineland is somewhat unique due to it largely being squeezed out of existence by Lake Buena Vista which is the company town where Disney World is located. Vineland was founded in the late 1800s as Englewood.  The town name of Englewood changed to Orange Center in 1911 before finally assuming the name Vineland in 1924.  Much like the rest of Orange County the community of Vineland was centered around Citrus Grove.  In the case of Vineland said orange groves were centered around Ruby Lake. The end of Vineland came as the Disney Corporation began purchasing parcels of citrus grove land to build Lake Buena Vista.  Vineland fell into a sharp decline in the 1960s but the community managed to continue to exist to modern times.  Much of the street grid of Vineland still exists east of FL 535 but most of the original structures are either gone or falle
1 comment
Read more

Oregon State Highway 58

By
  Also known as the Willamette Highway No. 18, the route of Oregon State Highway 58 (OR 58) stretches some 86 miles between US 97 north of Chemult and I-5 just outside of Eugene, Oregon. A main route between the Willamette Valley region of Oregon with Central Oregon and Crater Lake National Park, the highway follows the Middle Fork Willamette River and Salt Creek for much of its route as it makes its way to and across the Cascades, cresting at 5,138 feet above sea level at Willamette Pass. That is a gain of over 4,500 in elevation from where the highway begins at I-5. The upper reaches of OR 58 are dominated by the principal pinnacle that can sometimes be seen from the highway, Diamond Peak, and three nearby lakes, Crescent, Odell and Waldo (Oregon's second largest lake). OR 58 is chock full of rivers, creeks, mountain views, hot springs and waterfalls within a short distance from the highway. OR 58 was numbered as such by the Oregon State Highway Department in 1940. OR 58 is a del
Post a Comment
Read more