By Sara Wiercinski
On August 13, city council members, leaders from Kansas City Parks & Rec, local historians, Trailside Center volunteers and members of the community gathered along the Blue River at Minor Park to unveil and celebrate four new historical panels.
The installation is the result of a community partnership and common dream to extend the series of interpretive panels that dot the Indian Creek Trail on the Kansas side into Missouri.
Park visitors can now learn about the significance of the adjacent Sante Fe Trail as a trade and migration route, the native people original to the area including the Kickapoo and Osage tribes, and the role of Watts Mill as a true last chance to grind grain before wagon trains headed west.
“In the mid 1800s the United States ended at State Line Rd.,” said Becky Grady, volunteer at the Trailside Center and one of the speakers at the dedication. “Many of us today have a hard time picturing that.”
The project was funded by $23,000 from District 6 PIAC funds awarded last year, along with contributions from the Red Bridge Homes Association, Urban Trail KC and local writers Brian Burnes and Mike Sherry.
The public can view the four panels at the Minor Park Shelter, 1601 E. Red Bridge Rd, deeper along the Indian Creek Trail, at the Trailside Center, 9901 Holmes Rd, and Watts Mill.
The panels feature paintings from local artist Lisa Cowan and drone shots from Michael Hansford.
Learn more at kcparks.org/places/minor-park.
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