An Architectural History of the Liberty
Memorial in Kansas City, Missouri
1918-1935

At that time I had been well along on this thesis, which I was to complete in 1988. The following year when my husband and I were in Paris, I did present a copy of the Liberty Memorial architectural history to the French Secretary of State des Anciens Combattants, André Meric, to be held in their archives.

As a native Kansas Citian, I had grown up with the Liberty Memorial. It had been an important part of my heritage--a part in which I took pride. In the beginning of my academic study of the Memorial's conception, creation and ongoing history, I had little idea of the story's complexity and real drama with New York architect, H. Van Buren Magonigle and Kansas Citians R.A. Long and J.C. Nicols in their starring roles. My history covered the birth of the grand idea in 1918 to its physical finish in 1935. The symbolic pillar of fire has embodied the "spirit of Kansas City." In later years the Liberty Memorial has come to be a unique world-class World War I museum.

Over the years, this masterwork has fascinated American visitors as well as tourists world wide. Of course, this monumental edifice had seemed the epitomy of permanence. Appearances to the contrary, however, in November 1994 the Liberty Memorial was closed because of serious physical problems--the massive courtyard, the underlying support columns (some more than forty feet high) and pyramidal stairwells were structurally unsafe. The entire complex was in need of renovation and restoration. At the same time, it was envisioned that the huge underlying cavern standing empty for three-quarters of a century could well be transformed into a truly modern museum. Such a museum could then be worthy of displaying the matchless World War I collection which previously had been only partially accessible. Not only would this imaginative plan for renewal and expansion return Kansas City's "most cherished enterprise" to its original grandeur but also enhance its position as a magnet for public utilization and involvement.

Estimated costs to realize the project are $80 million. In August 1998, Kansas City resoundingly affirmed the effort with a 72% vote supporting passage of the half-cent sales tax to restore Liberty Memorial. Along with major state and federal funding, complete restoration of the Memorial itself is assured. Now focus turns to funding for building a museum of the caliber of the Liberty Memorial collection, one which can function also as an educational facility and public meeting place.

With the Memorial's neighbor, the 1914 Union Station, which had moldered empty for years, now brilliantly reborn, it is time to return the Liberty Memorial to its noble purposes: An inspiring monument worthy of the record of which it is the messenger--a symbol not of War, but of Peace, and the dawn of an era of Peace. There is much interest in all its facets--architectural, artistic and its potential for education.