The Fountains of Eastern Jackson County

Eastern Jackson County, Missouri — encompassing Independence, Lee’s Summit, Raytown, Blue Springs, and surrounding municipalities — holds a distributed array of fountain installations across its communities. Four are documented by the City of Fountains Foundation: the Eubank Memorial Fountain in Raytown (1987), the Adams Dairy Parkway Fountain in Blue Springs (1997), and two in Lee’s Summit — the Station Park Fountain (1998) and the Kids at Heart Fountain (2009).¹²³⁴⁵ A thorough inventory of the region’s fountain stock requires dedicated site-survey research.

Summary

The Fountains of Eastern Jackson County span several communities and land-use types.

Documented installations:

• Eubank Memorial Fountain, Raytown — a triple fountain on a traffic island in front of Raytown City Hall at Raytown Road and E 59th Street: three brick basins, one water jet in the center of each, with a small path winding between them. Dedicated to Dillard M. Eubank, M.D., a community leader and doctor. 1987; City of Raytown.²
• Adams Dairy Parkway Fountain, Blue Springs — a gateway fountain at the southwest corner of NE Adams Dairy Parkway and NE R.D. Mize Road, a couple of blocks south of I-70, welcoming travelers to the corridor. Irregular pool with multiple water spouts, dedicated to the historic Adams Dairy Farm that once occupied the site. 1997; City of Blue Springs.³
• Station Park Fountain, Lee’s Summit — a small fountain in a low brick basin in William B. Howard Station Park, 228 SE Main Street, downtown Lee’s Summit, fronting the city’s Veterans’ Memorial. 1998; City of Lee’s Summit.⁴
• Kids at Heart Fountain, Lee’s Summit — the city’s first public art installation: a bronze by Kansas City artist Kwan Wu of three children playing in a creek with fish and frogs, centered in an octagonal brick basin with jets along the edge streaming water at the sculpture. Hartley’s Plaza, 107 SE 3rd Street. Dedicated April 1, 2009; City of Lee’s Summit.⁵

Asserted but not documented — none of the following was found in the City of Fountains Foundation’s inventory or in the relevant municipal or federal sources consulted on 2026-07-31:

• Independence Square historic-area fountains — no fountain on or around Independence Square was located in any source. (Searches surface Clinton’s Soda Fountain, a soda counter on the Square, which is not a water feature.)
• Truman National Historic Site and Truman Presidential Library area fountains — the Truman Library courtyard is documented as the Trumans’ burial place; no fountain there is documented.⁶
• Longview Mansion historic fountains at the Lee’s Summit Longview Farm site — commercial venue listings mention “an ornate fountain” on the grounds, but no institutional or estate source documenting a historic fountain was located.
• Further Lee’s Summit municipal and commercial fountains beyond the two above
• Further Raytown municipal fountains beyond the Eubank fountain
• Further Blue Springs municipal fountains — the City of Blue Springs reports 6 water/fountain features across its 18-park, 678-acre system, but does not name them; only the Adams Dairy Parkway fountain is individually documented⁷
• Other eastern Jackson County municipal and commercial installations

Background

Eastern Jackson County fountain installations developed across various decades alongside the region’s municipal and residential growth. The four documented fountains all date from 1987-2009 — the era of suburban municipal placemaking, not of the historic civic core.²³⁴⁵ Independence, as the county seat and a historic city in its own right, carries the longest civic tradition, but no Independence fountain was documented in this pass. The Truman-era commemorative landscape and the Longview estate’s ornamental grounds are named on this page as distinct fountain contexts — civic memorial and historic private estate — but neither context has a documented fountain behind it.

Long-term significance

Extension of the KC fountain tradition

The eastern Jackson County fountain collection carries the City of Fountains tradition beyond Kansas City proper into the broader metro — the City of Fountains Foundation, though Kansas City-based, catalogues fountains owned by Raytown, Blue Springs and Lee’s Summit alongside the city’s own.¹²³⁴⁵ Independence’s historic civic core and the Truman commemorative landscape are asserted here as a distinctive layer of fountain history tied to national as well as local memory, but no fountain in either has been documented.

Longview Farm and estate fountains

The Longview Mansion grounds in Lee’s Summit represent the estate-fountain tradition — ornamental water features integrated into a historic farm and mansion complex — offering a different register than the civic plazas and street-corner installations typical of the urban core.

Sites associated

• Independence, MO — Independence-area fountain locations, including Independence Square
• Truman Presidential Library — Truman-area commemorative fountain locations
• Longview Mansion — Lee’s Summit Longview Farm area fountain locations
• Raytown, Blue Springs and Lee’s Summit — the four documented fountains above²³⁴⁵

Sources

Footnotes

1. City of Fountains Foundation — “The Fountains of Kansas City” (fountain index) and the “KC Zoo, Swope Park, Kauffman Stadium” regional gallery, which is where COFF files its eastern-metro entries. https://cityoffountains.org/fountains-of-kansas-city/ and https://cityoffountains.org/swope-park-zoo-kauffman/ — asserts: the Foundation’s catalogue of area fountains, including four owned by eastern Jackson County municipalities (Eubank Memorial, Adams Dairy Parkway, Station Park, Kids at Heart). COFF’s index contains no entry for any fountain in Independence, at the Truman Library, or at Longview. ↩ ↩²

2. City of Fountains Foundation — “Eubank Memorial Fountain.” https://cityoffountains.org/eubank-memorial-fountain/ — asserts: a triple fountain on a traffic island in front of Raytown City Hall, Raytown Road and E 59th Street, Raytown, MO; three brick basins, one water jet in the center of each, with a small path winding through; dedicated to Dillard M. Eubank, M.D., community leader and doctor; date 1987; owner City of Raytown. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

3. City of Fountains Foundation — “Adams Dairy Parkway Fountain.” https://cityoffountains.org/adams-dairy-parkway-fountain/ — asserts: a gateway fountain at the southwest corner of NE Adams Dairy Parkway and NE R.D. Mize Road, Blue Springs, MO, a couple of blocks south of I-70; irregular pool with multiple water spouts; dedicated to the historic Adams Dairy Farm formerly on the site; date 1997; owner City of Blue Springs. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

4. City of Fountains Foundation — “Station Park Fountain.” https://cityoffountains.org/station-park-fountain/ — asserts: a small fountain in a low brick basin in William B. Howard Station Park, 228 SE Main Street, downtown Lee’s Summit, MO, fronting the city’s Veterans’ Memorial (two dedicatory plaques, commemorative bricks, a flagpole and service medallions); date 1998; owner City of Lee’s Summit. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

5. City of Fountains Foundation — “Kids at Heart Fountain.” https://cityoffountains.org/kids-at-heart-fountain/ — asserts: the City of Lee’s Summit’s first public art installation; a bronze by Kansas City artist Kwan Wu of three children playing in a creek with fish and frogs, centered in an octagonal brick basin with jets along the edge; Hartley’s Plaza, 107 SE 3rd Street, Lee’s Summit, MO; dedicated April 1, 2009; owner City of Lee’s Summit. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

6. Harry S. Truman Library and Museum (National Archives) — “Burial Places.” https://www.trumanlibrary.gov/education/student-resources/places/burial-places — asserts: Harry S. and Bess Truman are buried in the Harry S. Truman Library courtyard, 500 West U.S. Hwy 24, Independence, MO. No fountain is documented in the courtyard or elsewhere on the Library grounds by this source. ↩

7. City of Blue Springs, Missouri — “Parks, Trails & Facilities.” http://www.bluespringsgov.com/1037/Parks-Trails-Facilities — asserts: the Blue Springs parks system comprises 18 public parks (4 undeveloped) plus an 18-hole golf course across 678 acres, and includes 6 water/fountain features. The individual features are not named. ↩