Johnson County Parks and Recreation Expanded Far Beyond Initial Vision of Founders
When the land for Central Park was purchased by New York City and the YMCA was created in Boston, the area that is now Johnson County, Kansas was inhabited by Shawnee Indians. Explorers termed the land dangerous and desolate and early mapmakers scrawled “The Great American Desert” across most of the Midwestern United States.
In 1854, Congress passed the Kansas-Nebraska Bill creating the Kansas Territory that stretched from the Missouri border on the east to the Rocky Mountains in the west. The Shawnee saw their 1,600,000 acres bordering the Missouri state line reduced to 200,000 acres in the northeast part of the territory. The newly created county was named for the Reverend Thomas Johnson, who planned and built the Shawnee Indian Mission in present day Fairway. Settlers were caught up in fighting over both slavery and land until after the end of the Civil War in 1865. Land and railroad speculation continued for more than a decade after the war.
By the late nineteenth century, residents of Johnson County were primarily farmers. Open land was plentiful and residents engaged in many recreational pursuits. Horseback riding, picnics, ice skating, sledding, horse shoe pitching, baseball and box socials and spelling bees held at various rural schools were among the local activities. After the turn of the century, residents turned more toward truck farming and cattle raising or dairy farming. The area had abundant grass and water that made the land productive.
Progress entered the area in the early twentieth century with the completion of the Strang Line (to Overland Park and Olathe) and the Hocker Line (to Merriam). William Strang’s Missouri and Kansas Interurban Railway closely followed the route of the old Santa Fe Trail. To entice visitors and buyers to his land in present day Overland Park, Strang built a dance pavilion in 1907 and Aviation Park soon after. Thousands of Kansas City area residents rode the trolley to see these pioneer air shows or to sit in the newly built grandstand to watch baseball games. Fans also rode the Strang Line to Olathe to watch the comparatively new game of basketball played at the High School. After 1922, when the new Shawnee Mission Rural High School was built, students rode the Strang to school and community members rode to watch athletic contests — basketball and football.
By 1907, the Hocker Line (The Kansas City, Lawrence and Topeka Railway), lured visitors to Hocker Grove in Merriam. The Hocker Grove Amusement Park boasted a roller skating rink with an elaborate automatic Wurlitzer band organ that operated much in the same manner as a player piano. Dance bands from Kansas City played regularly in the 1909 dance hall. In the same year, Hocker built a large baseball diamond and grandstand, and a “Trolley League” was formed with six semi-professional teams. Camping out, company picnics and observation of air balloons were among the favorite activities at Hocker’s Grove. By 1911, high school basketball had become quite popular. Hocker would melt the park’s skating rink, and players from Rosedale used the gas-heated space for games. At the same time, some visitors invested in real estate in Hocker’s subdivision. However, by the 1920s, use of both the Strang and Hocker Lines declined and both were in financial difficulty. The Elm Ridge Golf and Country Club, opened in Shawnee in 1910 for the relatively new game of golf, also failed as it depended on the Hocker Line for the transporting of members and guests.
A Recreation Association and Park System for Johnson County
From the Depression in the 1930s through World War II, few new recreational activities were available in Johnson County. However, various civic groups formed to increase participation in local government and to bring about needed services. The primary civic entity in Johnson County was the Co-Operators and its ladies auxiliary, the Co-Operettes. Renamed Sertoma and La Sertoma in 1950, this service group stretched across township boundaries and fulfilled the need of forward-looking planning for an area that was still predominately rural. Among their many projects were community preparedness for World War II, sewer and road systems, a local courthouse and the creation of both a Recreation Association and a Park District.
Organized in 1935, members were the leaders of industry, husbandry, education and government in the northeast part of Johnson County. When Ethel Sell, president of La Sertoma and also recreation chair for Hickory Grove School, wanted to expand activities, she went with the appropriate Sertoma committee to the Community Chest for funding. The North East Johnson County Recreation Association, Incorporated, began operating in 1947. It provided six weeks of supervised activities at local school playgrounds.
The end of World War II brought a baby boom and the growth of suburbia to Johnson County. Farmers sold their land to developers and towns started to appear on the landscape. As the post-war building boom continued at a rapid pace, discussion began among Sertoma members concerning the need for park land. Each incoming president of Sertoma traditionally chose a primary civic project. G. Murlin Welch of Shawnee Mission Rural High School, president in 1952-53, chose as his project the formation of a county park system, quickly realized that there was no governing authority to cover the project. Special legislation was passed by the state to enable the formation of the Park District. It did not hurt that Gov. Frank L. Hagaman was an active member of this Sertoma Club.
After signatures were collected for a petition to establish the district, the Johnson County Board of Commissioners appointed a park commission in 1955. Residents of the county went to the polls in 1956 and passed a bond levy for purchase and initial development of land for Antioch, Shawnee Mission and Bluejacket Parks. In December of the same year, the board appointed John Lewis Barkley manager of park properties. Barkley had come to Mission Township in 1936, one year after the founding of the Co-Operators service organization. A Congressional Medal of Honor winner in World War I, he moved to Mission when he married Marguerite Mullen, a descendant of early Johnson County pioneers – the Walmers. A dairy farmer whose property straddled today’s Johnson Drive, “Farmer John” Barkley stopped traffic on the road twice a day as he moved his cattle from barn to pasture and back. Instrumental in selecting and buying land for the park district, Barkley was its first superintendent. Under his leadership the system had a solid beginning.
Developing Parks for County Use
In January 1956, the Shawnee Mission Park Board met with members of the North East Johnson County Recreation Association and commissioned a “Master Plan Study for Parks and Recreation for the Shawnee Mission Park District.” However, the fusion of the two entities did not occur until 1967. As these two groups developed side by side for more than a decade, the priority of Barkley and the Park Board was to make the land physically viable for use by the community. Members of the board were actively involved in every decision concerning the development of the land and its usage.
Antioch Park, designated a community park, was dedicated in 1958 – the first property to be opened to the public as few physical changes were needed. Members of Sertoma and La Sertoma undertook the planning and underwriting of “Dodge Town” or the children’s playground fondly remembered now by several generations. A neighborhood park was established in Shawnee. Approximately an acre in size, it was called Bluejacket and later became the site of Old Shawnee Town.
The “large park,” later named Shawnee Mission, took the most planning, physical labor and time and was not dedicated until 1964. Combining ten separate pieces of land, most of which was originally given by the United States government to Catherine Flint, a member of the Shawnee Indian tribe, Shawnee Mission Park took years to complete. Gordon Whiffen, landscape architect with the well-known Kansas City firm of Hare and Hare, was on a permanent retainer to the Park Board and later became superintendent himself. The board considered a large multi-purpose lake essential and hired the engineering firm of Black and Veatch to survey and build a dam across Mill Creek to create the 150 acre body of water. Although work began in 1958, the dam was not completed until the spring of 1960 primarily due to unusually heavy rainfall during the period. It took several more years to fill the lake and people in Johnson County began to question not only if the park would ever open but also the wisdom of building a park so far from the population center of the county. Shawnee Mission Park was dedicated in 1964 and today has more annual visitors than all other Kansas State Parks.
Conservation and Recreation
With the 1970s came an emphasis on the conservation of land and protection of the environment. The now combined Johnson County Park and Recreation District experienced phenomenal growth in both recreational programs and the acquisition of park land. In 1961, the district purchased land for the future Stoll Park and added the Tomahawk Recreation Complex in 1973. Ernie Miller Park was purchased in 1974, and in 1979, constituents passed a bond issue for the purchase and development of the future Heritage Park complex.
The number of participants and recreational programs also increased significantly during the 1970s. The decade began with the dedication of the marina at Shawnee Mission Park and thousands of Johnson Countians now had a public lake for fishing, sailing and other small craft water sports. Theatre in the Park began at Antioch Park in 1970. The first show was Mame. Bill Oldham directed this production on a makeshift state with lights and musical instruments borrowed from Shawnee Mission North High School. The show was the first in almost three decades of memorable shows sponsored by the Park and Recreation District. When the crowds outgrew the space at Antioch Park, the musicals were moved to Shawnee Mission Park in 1973. The Sertoma Club again came forward and raised funds for a permanent stage and buildings at the site. A separate entrance was added later to accommodate the large number of theatre patrons.
By 1978, officials of the recreation program began to charge fees for the many activities sponsored by the district. This made the program self-sustaining and paved the way for future growth in the number and scope of activities offered. Today, led by Gary Haller, District Director since 1974, the Park and Recreation District co-operates with 21 cities, six school districts, 60 public agencies and over 100 private leisure providers. More than 200,000 young people participate annually in district-sponsored sports activities. Programs for the community are available for all age groups.
A large transition in recreational land development has occurred since 1955. From a focus on acquiring large pieces of land and altering them to fit the community, current leaders have moved toward planning parks while working more closely with the natural landscape. This sensitive approach preserves both the flood plain and the in-place ecosystems. The completion of the Streamway Park system along Mill Creek leading to Nelson Island in the Kansas River brings the total amount of land in the JCPR District to over 5000 acres. There has been a usage change in the parks from a community perspective. Residents of Johnson County visit parks more frequently with fewer people per vehicle. Shawnee Mission Park has changed from a destination for a day trip to a spot where people stop for much more frequent visits.
Our collective idea of and concern for the land has evolved over the decades. Kansas grasslands are as important in the America landscape of today as Yosemite and Yellowstone Parks were in the nineteenth century. Through the foresight of early civic leaders, Johnson County has benefited from the judiciously chosen and frugally developed park lands and school recreation programs and has expanded from the northeast area to encompass the entirety of the county. In 1994, the Johnson County Park and Recreation District was honored as the best park and recreation agency in the nation.
--ALBUM vol. 11, no. 1 (winter 1998)