Kansas City, Missouri - 1960's
Wonderful sixties postcard photo of children playing around the brightly-colored "Noah's Ark" fountain in an open-air court at The Landing mall (or shopping center, whichever you prefer) in Kansas City, Missouri. Stuff like this is what magical childhood mall memories are made of!
Mall history: 1960 - present
Current website: n/a
Current aerial view
Previous entries: 1, 2
Oh my God, that fountain is wonderful! I would have loved playing there as a child.
ReplyDeleteQuite Disney-esque...that fountain would go well in many lifestyle centers today.
ReplyDeletethat is outside the Macy's store there (they left KC in 1985 after a buyout from Dillard's).
ReplyDeleteHere's some info I've found about The Landing:
ReplyDeleteThe Nichols Company developed this center, and it was designed by Edward Tanner & Associates. It opened in March 1961. Kansas City artist Jac Bowen created this piece as well as other figures of animals throughout the center. This is an ark, but in the form of a riverboat, obviously an important symbol for Kansas City.
The Landing was enclosed in 1968, but the animal figures remained. However, in 1978 the center was remodeled, and the animals were removed. My information states that the animal figures were donated to the zoo, and then says that the animals as well as the ark were given to the Park Department. Guessing the Park Department oversees the KC zoo, or at least oversaw it at that time.
Love the picture! Thanks!
What about the fountain??? Is that still around?
ReplyDeleteadorable fountain and happy tots
ReplyDeleteGreat photo! Notice that all the kids' clothing is perfectly coordinated with the ship. There's red, white, yellow, and even the girl in the blue dress complements the blue in the roof of the top portion of the boat. No wonder this became a postcard!
ReplyDeleteThis is either a very happy coincidence, or the photographer staged it a bit and used kids who were dressed accordingly. I'm guessing the kids in red suspenders and yellow off to the left are from the same family, so they were already matching (!!).
And every single one is blonde -- what's goin' on there? Aryan youth rally at the mall that day? :-)
Fabulous fountain!
I have lived in the KC area for over 8 years and did not know this mall existed. Yes, I live in Johnson County....bad decision, but think 1998 relocation and the propaganda the realtors spouted...Anyway, I need to go check it out.
ReplyDeleteWhat great memories - I remember when The Landing opened, it was the first of its kind in KC - we called it The Landing Shopping Center. If it was developed by the Nichols Company, that would be J C Nichols the developer of the Country Club Plaza in KC. Not really a mall, but an exclusive shopping area in midtown KC. There were other statues at The Landing, one was probably 8-9 feet high, looked like a rock formation and had a ram at the top - we would climb it! It was a nice part of town in the early 60's - the Blue Hills Country Club was across the street. The candy store Topsy's did have the best cinnamon suckers and cinnamon apples. Wasn't too good for my braces! Thanks for the pictures.
ReplyDeleteCute clothes: The Von Trapp family hits the mall:)
ReplyDeleteAnd where's Julie Andrews?