August R. Meyer: Father of the Parks and Boulevard System

Gardens at 13th and The Paseo. Courtesy Missouri Valley Special Collections, KCPL

Kansas City’s extensive park and boulevard system would not have been the same without the vision and the power of a man whose passion involved embracing nature. When August Robert Meyer made his home in Kansas City in 1881, the 30-year-old quickly rose to the upper echelon of society. He used his words and wisdom to later convince the city to make its roadways more than thoroughfares- he wanted to make the city beautiful.

August R. Meyer (1851-1905)

August Robert Meyer was born August 20, 1851 in St. Louis, Mo. to Henrich Peter Meyer (1818-1861) and Margaretha Kraft (1815-1885), both immigrants from Hamburg, Germany. His father was a very successful businessman in St. Louis and upon his death in 1864, he was one of the wealthiest manufacturers in the city. 

After his father’s death, fourteen year old August was sent to Europe to continue his schooling. He first attended school in Zurich, Switzerland, and later when he found mining to be of interest, he transferred to the School of Mines in Freiburg, Germany.  He graduated in 1872. 

After graduation, August spent a few terms continuing his studies in Berlin and later traveled around Europe visiting some of the most prominent mines there. After gaining some of the best education offered in the world, August returned to St. Louis in 1873. Seeking his fortune in the mining business, August moved for a short time to a coal mining operation in Illinois and  landed in Colorado one year later.

He struck gold.

Or I should state he struck silver.

The Healy House in Leadville, CO, was originally built by
 Meyer for his wife, Emma. Courtesy of Healy House Museum

In 1875, August Meyer started an ore-crushing mill in Alma, Co. and struck it rich in the silver industry. He along with “Silver King” Horace Tabor founded Leadville, Co. in 1877. In 1878, he married Emma Hixon of Denver, Co. and built her a beautiful home in the heart of Leadville. This home, known as the Healy House, still stands as a museum and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. August sold the home in 1888 to Daniel Healy who used it as a boarding house.

Meyer was always attuned to the future, and when he studied the commercial prospects and the advantages of the newly-extended railroads, he saw Kansas City as the heart of industry and growth. In 1881, he moved to Kansas City and established the Kansas City Smelting and Refining Company in the Armourdale area of Kansas City, Ks. At the height of its existence, Meyer employed over 1,000 people at his company.

In 1880, the population of Kansas City was around 55,000. By 1890, the city exploded to a population just shy of 133,000. With this incredible growth in the 1880s came some serious challenges. Population was not an accurate measure of a city’s health, Meyer and others argued. There was more to it than that.  “A city must attract with more than just tax concessions and columns of figures,” Meyer said. 

 Kansas City Smelting and Refining Company in Armourdale area
 Courtesy Missouri Valley Special Collections

An avid outdoorsman and nature lover, August Meyer would oftentimes escape the congestion of Kansas City and his residence in the heart of the elite northeast area to take horseback rides in the rolling hills to the south. These escapes into nature inspired him to push the city to add beauty within the growing commercial, industrial and residential areas being built in record time. August spoke passionately at meetings, promoting his “How to Build a City” paper that outlined what growing cities needed to do in order to include nature.  

Many metropolises were beginning to see the necessity for integrating nature within the cityscape, and August R. Meyer embraced this “City Beautiful Movement.” Along with parks pusher and Kansas City Star publisher William Rockhill Nelson, Meyer begged city officials to add more parks and start planning a boulevard system. “Life in cities. . . has a tendency to stunt physical and moral growth.”

In March 1892, Meyer got his wish when mayor Benjamin Holmes appointed him as the first president of the city’s new Park Board. Holmes and Meyer worked together to hire renowned landscape architect George Kessler so that Meyer’s vision could become a reality. 

The Pergola along The Paseo

The first meeting occurred March 15, 1892 on the second floor of the Livestock Exchange Building inside August Meyer’s office. The first report released in 1893 promoted its central parkway, aptly named The Paseo, as the main artery of the parks and boulevard system. Meyer’s extensive travels were critical to some of the designs implemented; in fact, he personally named “The Paseo” after Paseo de la Reforma in Mexico City and was the designer behind Penn Valley Park. These main features of the parks and boulevard system were laid out under the supervision of August E. Meyer and executed by George Kessler.

In the Kansas City Star in April 1893, Meyer outlined some of the details of the boulevard system. He proclaimed, "The project is a grand one. It will produce something characteristic; something that will go a long way to call attention to the natural beauty of our surroundings, and to the excellence of our climate."

The idea was complex, but the results would be critical in how Kansas City grew. The new parks and boulevards would highlight what was once a major problem in the city- the hills.

Cliff Drive, a part of North Terrace Park (renamed Kessler
Park in 1971)

Kansas City was built on a grid system, which is why, in my opinion, it's one of the easiest cities to navigate. Numbered streets from the Missouri River increase as the city moves south; named streets, for the most part, are reserved for north-south streets and continue from one end to the other. Even with this easy grid system, the city was congested. There was a need for beauty and for ease of travel.


As I've written before, the boulevards were the main arteries to our system of roads. They were the thoroughfares- our highways- at the turn of the century. And, my goodness, were they made to be beautiful.

When a proposal for a special property tax was discussed in order to fund this large system of parks and roads, people protested the costs associated. However, the power of the Park Board, including the influence of Nelson and Meyer, were able to calm fears and have the tax pass in 1895.

With the help of landscape architect George Kessler, Meyer was able to have plans drawn up to perpetuate the parks and boulevard system. Roads were built with beauty in mind, and they were meant to lead you to something beautiful. The creation of the first three parks, North Terrace (now Kessler Park), South Terrace and Penn Valley Parks gave the city some elegance in midst of the congestion of downtown.

The lake along The Paseo, cir. 1900.

Meyer wrote, "Strangers coming to our city will then have some objective print for their drives and rides, and our own citizens will no longer be compelled to limit their outdoor enjoyments to the mild and dry seasons, for the boulevard will be enjoyable alike to those who ride and drive, or walk, during all seasons of the year."

August R. Meyer got what he wanted. Within the first few years of the development of the boulevards, specifically The Paseo, postcards donned the images of beauty seen. People visiting Kansas City made a point to visit these incredible boulevards and purchase postcards to send home.

Kansas City was turning beautiful under August R. Meyer's leadership.

In 1896, August E. Meyer and his family moved from 2806 Independence Ave., once the richest area of the city, to an eight and a half acre estate designed by the architectural firm Van Brunt and Howe. This stunning, three story, 35-room Queen Anne mansion made of brick and stone featured a grand staircase and entrance hall. His neighbor was none other than his longtime friend, William Rockhill Nelson.

August Meyer's home "Marburg," now the home to the Kansas City Art Institute

This move from the northeast to the Rockhill neighborhood is said to have sparked an exodus of the rich moving west into the edifice of the blossoming parks and boulevard system that was linking the city to beauty while also creating thoroughfares that joined the city together.

His mansion, named “Marburg” at 4415 Warwick stayed in the Meyer family until 1927 when it was sold to Howard Vanderslice. It was then donated to the Kansas City Art Institute. Today, it’s called Vanderslice Hall, serves as the KCAI’s administration building, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

On December 1, 1905, August Meyer died at the age of 54 from “a lingering illness” after developing a severe cold a month prior. He served on the Park Board for eight years and oversaw the development of the complex boulevard system we see today. He negotiated with landowners to get Swope, Penn Valley and North Terrace Park.

In June 1909, a memorial at 10th and The Paseo known as “the square” was erected in honor of August E. Meyer, the first Park Board president. Its placement along The Paseo shows us even today the importance of this boulevard to our area’s history. An 18-foot high bronze marker reads:

Houses and shops are man’s

But grass and trees and flowers

Are God’s own handiwork.

Undaunted this man planned and toiled

That dwellers in this place might ever

Freely taste the sweet delights of nature. 

The August R. Meyer memorial at 10th and Paseo. Courtesy of Kansas City Parks and Recreation

August Meyer knew that boulevards stimulated growth and attracted upscale residences, so it was no surprise when the Parks Board set to honor August Meyer with his own boulevard. In 1910, The Board of Park Commissioners began planning Meyer Blvd. after acquiring land to the south. Meyer Blvd. is the southern link even today of the historical parks and boulevard system -  the western portion links Ward Parkway; the middle section links in The Paseo; and the eastern section picks up the traffic and leads to Swope Pkwy. By 1913, the grading was finished, and in 1920, Meyer Blvd. was completed.

Once standing at 63rd and Meyer Blvd. was an interesting tract of land owned by William L. Rock (1865-1954), Kansas City's most well-known florist. Rock had come to Kansas City and established his first floral shop at the corner of Morton's Confectionary at 1024 Main in 1897. As his popularity developed, so did his land holdings. In 1901, Rock decided that buying flowers from Chicago and New York was quite expensive. In turn, he bought 18 acres between Troost and The Paseo.

Rock Lake on William L. Rock's land.
Courtesy of Missouri Valley Special Collections, KCPL

At the time, the land was two miles to the south of the city limits. He built twenty greenhouses that at one time had 180,000 square feet of glass. He dammed up a small creek and created "Rock's Creek," built a windmill, and added a water tower since city water at the time didn't reach that far. For just shy of 50 years, William L. Rock, "Kansas City's grand man of flowers," opened the Rock Building at 11th and Grand Blvd. where the building stands today. It was known for "windows of fine flora" where the flowers were carefully grown at his tract of land with greenhouses.
The lake and dam were destroyed to make way for Meyer Blvd., but many of the greenhouses stood when J.C. Nichols bought his land in 1946 for $95,000.

At Ward Parkway and Meyer Blvd. stands one of the most iconic fountains in all of Kansas City. In 1922, this circular artery linking Ward Parkway with Meyer Blvd. was named “Meyer Circle.” In 1924, J.C. Nichols offered to donate a fountain in its center and pay for the installation if the city would pay for the landscaping.

The Meyer Circle Sea Horse Fountain in 1930.
Note the landscaping around the fountain.
Courtesy of Missouri Valley Special Collections, KCPL

The city eagerly said yes to the proposition; in turn, Nichols donated a 17th century sea horse sculpture that had stood in a Venetian square for over 300 years that he had purchased a few years earlier. Nichols hired architect Edward Beuhler Delk to create a fountain featuring this incredible sea horse sculpture made of Carrara marble. In 1925, the Sea Horse Fountain at Meyer Circle was turned on, featuring 28 sprays of water in a 100-foot circular park centered on an 80-foot pool where it has remained a central feature of beauty along the boulevard system.

Today, the landscaping around the fountain, much like the landscaping throughout our parks and boulevard system, has disappeared.

A prominent Kansas City businessman and civic leader, Meyer used his experiences in other cities across the nation and the world to transform Kansas City. His visions inspired real estate builders such as J.C. Nichols who continued the objective of adding physical beauty while building and constructing the city’s suburbs. 

Working alongside William Rockhill Nelson and landscape architect George Kessler, these pioneers of city improvement worked to promote the need of a parks and boulevard system. 

August R. Meyer’s planning at the turn of the century has deeply impacted the way in which our city is seen today, and his ideas greatly influenced the residential character of our city for decades to come.

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