100 Year Old Weblog ~ News From 100 Years Ago That's New to You from Vintage Kansas City.com

September 16, 1908

WOULD DIVERT KAW'S CHANNEL.

Mayor Announces That It Can Be

Done at Cost of $10,000,000.

The old plan of diverting the channel of the Kaw river, advanced several times since it was outlined in the report of the Stickney board of engineers, is to be taken up by the Kaw river flood abatement congress. Mayor Thomas T. Crittenden, Jr., at a meeting of the executive committee in the Commercial Club rooms yesterday, announced that Ira G. Hedrick had for some time been working on such a plan, and that it would cost about $10,000,000, the money, proposed by the mayor, to be collected by a tax on land and by contributions from the industries protected.

Mr. Hedrick will attend the next meeting and outline the plan in detail. Mr. J. Hedrick will also be called into consultation with an expert dyke engineer, to be employed by the congress at a cost of $1,000. The employing of such an engineer was recommended by E. R. Crutcher, chairman of the committee on engineering.

Labels: Commercial Club, Kaw river, Mayor Crittenden, public works

July 7, 1908

SWOPE STATUE AT THE GATE.

Likeness of Donor to Grace the Entrance.

On recommendation of Member George W. Fuller yesterday the board of park commissioners decided to begin negotiaions through the Commercial Club for a statue of Colonel Thomas H. Swope to be erected at the entrance to Swope park. The Commercial Club recently became interested in a statue of the donor of the park, and has asked the board to assist in its purchase.

Labels: Commercial Club, Swope park

April 25, 1908

MEYER STATUE WILL

STAND ON PASEO.

SITE IS CHOSEN BETWEEN NINTH

AND TENTH STREETS.

BRONZE STATUE TO BE ERECTED TO THE MEMORY OF A. R. MEYER ON THE PASEO, BETWEEN NINTH AND TENTH STREETS.

After spending almost the entire day yesterday going over the boulevards and through the parks of the city, the members of the Meyer statue committee, together with Daniel Chester French, the sculptor, late yesterday agreed upon a point on the Paseo between Ninth and Tenth streets, for the location of the bronze statue to be erected of the late A. R. Meyer, first president of the park board. The statue will be near the south end of the block and will face toward the south. The immediate surroundings for the statue will be decided upon by the park board.

This will be the first public statue to be erected in Kansas City, and will be in honor of the man to whom perhaps more credit is due for the splendid park and boulevard system for which Kansas City is now noted, than any other.

The model for the monument was sent ahead by Mr. French with the request that it not be opened until his arrival. It was first opened at 10 o'clock yesterday morning in the Commercial Club rooms, in the presence of Mr. French and the members of the statue committee. The model was unanimously accepted by the committee and, on recommendation of that body, was later accepted by the city art committees. A committee composed of E. M. Clendening, H. D. Ashley and Frank A. Faxon was named to frame a suitable inscription for the base of the monument.

The monument consists of a main structure of Knoxville marble fifteen feet in height, about seven feet in width and two feet in depth from front to back, resting on a base of the same material about ten by six feet.

The monument is surrounded by an ornamental cap, and the main stone, containing the portrait of Mr. Meyer, is supported by an ornamental stone, resting on the base proper. The portrait of Mr. Meyer will be in bronze, let into the main stone of the monument, and will show a figure seven and a half feet in height. It has been the endeavor of the sculptor to suggest Mr. Meyer as the originator of the park system, and he is represented as standing out of doors with his right hand resting on an open map, which lies upon a marble Pompeian table. The left hand holds a pair of field glasses, and a tree under which he is standing is introduced at the right.

Mr. French will remain in Kansas City until tonight. He expects to have the statue finished in about a year.

Labels: arts, Commercial Club, Edwin Clendening, Frank Faxon, Ninth street, Paseo, Tenth street, visitors

December 2, 1907

DR. A. W. GOODSPEED TO SPEAK HERE.

Dr. Arthur W. Goodspeed, professor of physics at the University of Pennsylvania, will speak on radio-activity at the meeting of the Commercial club Tuesday night. The alumni of the University of Pennsylvania in Kansas City and vicinity have been invited to attend the meeting.

Labels: Commercial Club

January 24, 1907

THE DIRECTORS SKATED.

Bumps Were Frequent at Convention

Hall Last Night.

One of the most noticeable things at a skating rink is the strong attraction of the Human body and the floor. --Bill Nye.

Zip-plunk-plunk-boom.

This was heard around 8 o'clock last evening above the steady rumble of skaters gliding over Convention hall floor. It was J. A. Runyan, who, for the first time in twenty years, put on a pair of roller skates at the skating party given by the directors of Convention hall to members and the families of members of the Commercial Club, the Mercantile Club, the Manufacturers and Merchants' Association and the Kansas City Athletic Club.

There were more than 3,000 who attended this gathering and more than 900 disported themselves on the floor--some like Mr. Runyan. In the crowd were old men with bald heads, fat men, young men and boys, as well as girls and women of many ages, sizes and proportions.
An exhibition in fancy skating was given by Miss Lucille Landsdowne, a professional, and a game of broomball was played between two picked teams, neither of which scored. "Kid" Nichols, of baseball fame, refereed.

A match race between George H. Teftt, president of the Manufacturers and Merchants' Association, and O. V. Dodge, president of the Commercial Club, was scheduled, but Mr. Dodge was out of the city. The party was given as an opening event after the two weeks' cessation of skating at the hall while the Implement Men's convention and the Chicken show was in progress.

Labels: amusement, Commercial Club, Convention Hall, Kansas City Athletic Club, skating