Swope Park
Encyclopedia
Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...
. It is the 29th-largest municipal park
Urban park
An urban park, is also known as a municipal park or a public park, public open space or municipal gardens , is a park in cities and other incorporated places to offer recreation and green space to residents of, and visitors to, the municipality...
in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
http://www.tpl.org/content_documents/TPL_100LargestParks.pdf, and the largest park in Kansas City. It is named in honor of Colonel Thomas H. Swope
Thomas H. Swope
Thomas Hunton Swope was a real estate magnate and philanthropist in Kansas City, Missouri, His death in 1909 became the focus of one of the most publicized murder trials in the early 20th century.-Career:...
, a philanthropist
Philanthropy
Philanthropy etymologically means "the love of humanity"—love in the sense of caring for, nourishing, developing, or enhancing; humanity in the sense of "what it is to be human," or "human potential." In modern practical terms, it is "private initiatives for public good, focusing on quality of...
who donated the land to the city in 1896. In the 1769 acres (7.2 km²), it hosts Starlight Theatre
Starlight Theatre (Kansas City)
Starlight Theatre is a 7,947-seat outdoor theatre in Kansas City, Missouri, United States that stages touring Broadway shows and concerts. It is one of three remaining self-producing outdoor theatres in the U.S.-History:...
(a 8,000+ seat outdoor theater), Training Grounds for Sporting Kansas City and their reserve team affectionately namely Swope Park Rangers, the Kansas City Zoological Park
Kansas City Zoological Park
Kansas City Zoological Park is a zoo founded in 1909. It is located in Swope Park at 6800 Zoo Drive Kansas City, Missouri, in the United States. The zoo has a Friends Of The Zoo program...
, two golf course
Golf course
A golf course comprises a series of holes, each consisting of a teeing ground, fairway, rough and other hazards, and a green with a flagstick and cup, all designed for the game of golf. A standard round of golf consists of playing 18 holes, thus most golf courses have this number of holes...
s, ten shelter houses and a host of other things, including baseball diamonds, soccer fields, a swimming pool
Swimming pool
A swimming pool, swimming bath, wading pool, or simply a pool, is a container filled with water intended for swimming or water-based recreation. There are many standard sizes; the largest is the Olympic-size swimming pool...
, and a frisbee golf course.
Also located in the park is Lakeside Nature Center, which hosts many local species of animals, as well as treatment of wild Missouri native species which are brought in, that are released when they have recovered. Only a small part of the park is developed, the rest is heavily wooded
Woodland
Ecologically, a woodland is a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunlight and limited shade. Woodlands may support an understory of shrubs and herbaceous plants including grasses. Woodland may form a transition to shrubland under drier conditions or during early stages of...
. The main shelter house is located at 66th street and Swope Parkway
Swope Parkway
Swope Parkway or Swope is a major west/east and south main street that runs along U.S. Route 56 in Kansas City, Missouri. It starts at Volker Boulevard & Paseo Boulevard, goes south on Blue Parkway & Benton, and ends at 67th & Cleveland near Swope Park....
.
The park is mentioned prominently in the fictional works of Robert A. Heinlein
Robert A. Heinlein
Robert Anson Heinlein was an American science fiction writer. Often called the "dean of science fiction writers", he was one of the most influential and controversial authors of the genre. He set a standard for science and engineering plausibility and helped to raise the genre's standards of...
, who grew up in and around Kansas City. The park is also mentioned in the Tech N9ne song "Riotmaker" featuring Skatterman and Snug Brim.
Swope Park is the site to Swope Memorial Golf Course
Swope Memorial Golf Course
Swope Memorial Golf Course is a golf course that was founded in 1934 and previously designed by golf course architect A. W. Tillinghast. It hosted the 1949 Kansas City Open Invitational, a PGA Tour event at the time, which made it the only public golf in the area to do so.-Course layout:...
, a public golf course that hosted the 1949 Kansas City Open Invitational
Kansas City Open Invitational
The Kansas City Open Invitational, which played as the Kansas City Open for most of its history, was a golf tournament on the PGA Tour that was played in the greater Kansas City area in the late 1940s and 1950s. A total of four different clubs hosted the event...
, a PGA Tour
PGA Tour
The PGA Tour is the organizer of the main men's professional golf tours in the United States and North America...
event.