Loose Park Fountains

Loose Park, one of Kansas City’s largest urban parks at 75 acres + the site of the 1864 Battle of Westport, hosts several fountains across its grounds.¹² The park’s combination of historical significance (Civil War battlefield), arboretum, and family-park character makes its fountain landscape one of the most-visited in Kansas City.

History

Loose Park itself was given to the City of Kansas City in 1927 by Ella C. Loose — wife of biscuit-manufacturer Jacob L. Loose, founder of the Loose-Wiles Biscuit Company — as a memorial to her late husband, who had died in 1923.¹³ Ella Loose had bought the ground the year before, in 1926, from the estate of Hugh Ward, son of the Kansas City pioneer Seth Ward; Seth Ward had bought it in 1871 from the estate of William Bent, and from 1896 the Kansas City Country Club leased part of it as a golf course, a use that continued until 1927.¹ (Editorial correction, 2026-07-31: this page previously said the park occupies “the former site of the John Wornall farm.” KC Parks’ own chain of title runs Bent → Ward → Loose, with no Wornall interest. The Wornall House stands about ten blocks south and was used by both sides as a hospital during the battle, which is the likely source of the confusion.)¹⁴

The park was the central battlefield of the 1864 Battle of Westport (battle-of-westport), one of the largest Civil War engagements west of the Mississippi: fought October 23, 1864, with more than 30,000 troops involved, the center of the main battlefield comprising present-day Loose Park.¹²⁴

The park’s documented fountains, by installation date:

• Loose Park Wall Fountains, “Adam and Eve” — 1942. In 1941 the Works Progress Administration ran a competition for a fountain in the park; Jeanette Klein of Kansas City won the commission and modeled larger-than-life kneeling figures of a man and a woman in clay, set in semicircular niches in the south wall of a service building and unveiled at the 1942 Rose Day celebration. The clay figures were replaced in 1946 with cast concrete and marble aggregate. Each figure holds a bowl from which water trickles into a small basin. The nicknames “Adam and Eve” and “Lady and Gent” are popular, not the artist’s.⁵
• Loose Park Lake Fountain — 1964, when the park’s small lake was landscaped in the style of a Japanese garden and a fountain installed in it. In 1993, after the lake was renovated and sealed, the fountain was donated to KC Parks by the Air-O-Lator Corporation and the Cramer family in memory of Roy A. Cramer, Jr., Air-O-Lator’s founder; the company also undertook perpetual repair at no charge.⁶
• Rose Garden Fountain — the Laura Conyers Smith Municipal Rose Garden has held a water feature since the 1930s: a small lily pool at the garden’s center, built and dedicated in 1936, into which the sculpture Spirit of the Rose Garden by Kansas City Art Institute instructor Walter Rosenbauer was placed in 1939, remaining until the early 1950s. The present fountain was dedicated in August 2002 (Theis Doolittle Associates, architects; Water’s Edge Aquatic Design, engineering).⁷

The rose garden itself grew out of the Kansas City Rose Society, founded in 1931 under Laura Conyers Smith; the first garden held 120 rose plants, and today about 3,000 roses in nearly 130 varieties fill the 1.5-acre garden.¹

Architecture + features

The Loose Park fountains vary in style + era. The wall fountains are cast concrete with marble aggregate in architectural niches; the lake fountain is a mechanical aerating jet in an open water body; the rose garden fountain is a formal garden basin.⁵⁶⁷ The earlier description of “classical limestone-and-bronze designs” and “simpler concrete basins” is not supported by the inventories consulted.

Current status

All operating, with seasonal off-periods in winter.

Cultural significance

Loose Park is one of Kansas City’s most-visited urban parks — KC Parks calls it “one of Kansas City’s most popular, beautiful and historical.”¹ The fountain landscape — combined with the Loose Park Rose Garden, the Battle of Westport historical markers, the Wornall House Museum (wornall-house-museum) nearby, and the arboretum + walking paths — make the park a defining KC public-space experience.¹

The annual Battle of Westport commemorations (October) bring Civil War history into focus alongside the park’s contemporary uses.

Visiting

• Address: Loose Park, 51st + Wornall Rd, Kansas City, MO¹
• Best time to visit: Spring through fall; Rose Garden in late spring/early summer
• Public access: Free; 24-hour public space

Sources

Footnotes

1. Kansas City Parks and Recreation — “Loose Park.” https://kcparks.org/places/loose-park/ — asserts: 75 acres; “one of Kansas City’s most popular, beautiful and historical” parks; a major site of the Battle of Westport, with an estimated 29,000 people involved; chain of title — the property was owned at the time of the battle by William Bent, bought by Seth Ward in 1871 after Bent’s death, leased from 1896 to the newly incorporated Kansas City Country Club as a golf course (used as such until 1927), bought in 1926 by Ella Loose from the Hugh Ward estate (Seth Ward’s son) and given to the city in 1927 in honor of her husband Jacob Loose, founder of the Loose-Wiles Biscuit Company, who died in 1923; the municipal rose garden traces to the Kansas City Rose Society founded in 1931 under Laura Conyers Smith, first planted with 120 roses, now about 3,000 roses in nearly 130 varieties across 1.5 acres. (kcparks.org returns HTTP 403 to plain automated fetches; full text read directly via Firecrawl 2026-07-31.) ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹

2. American Battlefield Trust (formerly the Civil War Trust) — “Byram’s Ford (Big Blue River or Westport).” https://www.battlefields.org/learn/civil-war/battles/byrams-ford — asserts: the Battle of Westport, October 23, 1864; about 30,500 engaged (22,000 Union, 8,500 Confederate); estimated casualties about 3,000 (1,500 each side). (This is the Trust’s battle page for the Westport engagement; the Trust files it under Byram’s Ford. The original citation “Civil War Trust — Battle of Westport” named the same organization under its former name.) ↩ ↩²

3. Barbara Magerl — “Jacob L. and Ella C. Loose,” The Pendergast Years (Kansas City Public Library digital history project). https://pendergastkc.org/articles/jacob-l-and-ella-c-loose — asserts: the park at 52nd and Wornall Road, once the Kansas City Country Club; Mrs. Loose bought the land for $500,000 and gave it to the city in 1927 as a memorial to her husband; Jacob Loose’s statue stands near the Wornall Road driveway; her stated intent that the park be “a restful place…particularly for children.” ↩

4. Wikipedia — “Battle of Westport.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Westport — asserts: fought October 23, 1864 in modern Kansas City; Union forces under Samuel R. Curtis decisively defeated Sterling Price; more than 30,000 troops fought, “one of the largest west of the Mississippi River”; the center of the main battlefield comprises present-day Loose Park and part of the Pembroke Hill School’s Wornall campus, with the main battle monument at Loose Park’s southern end along West 55th Street; the John Wornall House was used by both sides as a hospital; casualty estimates are contested (most sources give ~3,000 total; Sinisi’s revision gives 361 Union and 510 Confederate on October 23). ↩ ↩²

5. City of Fountains Foundation — “Loose Park Wall Fountains ‘Adam and Eve’.” https://cityoffountains.org/loose-park-wall-fountains-adam-and-eve-south-plaza/ — asserts: 1941 WPA-sponsored competition for a fountain in Jacob Loose Park; Jeanette Klein of Kansas City awarded the commission; larger-than-life clay figures of a man and a woman placed in semicircular niches on the south wall of a service building, unveiled at the 1942 Rose Day celebration; clay replaced in 1946 with cast concrete and marble aggregate; kneeling figures hold bowls from which water trickles into basins; the nicknames “Adam and Eve” and “Lady and Gent” are popular rather than the artist’s; date 1942; owner City of Kansas City, Missouri. ↩ ↩²

6. City of Fountains Foundation — “Loose Park Lake Fountain.” https://cityoffountains.org/loose-park-lake-fountain/ — asserts: the land Ella Loose donated in 1927 contained a small lake; in 1964 the lake was landscaped in the style of a Japanese garden and a fountain installed; in 1993, after the lake was renovated and sealed, the fountain was donated to KC Parks by the Air-O-Lator Corporation and the Cramer family in memory of Roy A. Cramer, Jr., Air-O-Lator’s founder, with perpetual free repair; date 1964; owner KCMO Parks and Recreation. ↩ ↩²

7. City of Fountains Foundation — “Rose Garden Fountain.” https://cityoffountains.org/rose-garden-fountain/ — asserts: the Loose Park rose garden has held a water feature since the 1930s; the original design included a small lily pool at the garden’s center, built and dedicated in 1936; in 1939 the sculpture Spirit of the Rose Garden by Walter Rosenbauer, a Kansas City Art Institute instructor, was placed in the pool with sprays of water at her feet, remaining until the early 1950s; the present fountain was dedicated August 2002, Theis Doolittle Associates architects and Water’s Edge Aquatic Design engineering; owner KCMO Parks & Recreation. ↩ ↩²