J.C. Nichols’ plaque removed from County Club Plaza memorial fountain Wednesday
Less than 24 hours after officials voted unanimously to strip J.C. Nichols’ name from two Kansas City icons, crews Wednesday morning removed a plaque dedicating the fountain to the famed developer.
The Kansas City Board of Parks and Recreation Commissioners decided Tuesday afternoon to remove his name from both the fountain in Mill Creek Park and the roadway alongside it.
Nichols used racist policies to ban Black people and others from buying or living in some of the most desirable Kansas City area neighborhoods he built.
A new name for the fountain has not been chosen yet. J.C. Nichols Parkway will now be named Mill Creek Parkway, which was its original name in 1913 before it was changed in 1952.
Descendants of Nichols said before Tuesday’s meeting that they supported the name changes.
Commissioner Chris Goode introduced the idea earlier in June.
“What I know is that this is a gesture,” Goode said at Tuesday’s meeting. “This isn’t a solution. The importance of this really couldn’t be questioned, especially in this environment. We have an opportunity today to make a gesture toward what’s right.”
Mill Creek Park was the gathering spot for thousands of protesters supporting the Black Lives Matter movement and calling for the end of racial injustice and police brutality.
Protests were sparked by the death of George Floyd, a Black man who was killed on Memorial Day when a white Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck.
This story was originally published July 1, 2020 at 11:35 AM.
