This iconic Kansas City fountain has dried up. No one knows when it’ll open back up
An iconic Kansas City fountain — backdrop to countless prom photos, protests and proposals — has dried up, and city officials don’t know when it will run again.
The Mill Creek Park Fountain, located just off the Country Club Plaza, is not running.
The water feature is awaiting a new pump motor, city spokesperson Sherae Honeycutt said in an email.
As to when the fountain would open again, Honeycutt wrote that the part “has no estimated arrival date.”
Called the most-photographed water feature in the City of Fountains by the Parks Department, the Mill Creek Park Fountain has been cooling down Kansas City since 1960.
Originally named for Plaza developer J.C. Nichols, the fountain was renamed in 2020 after widespread criticism of Nichols’ racist housing restrictions.
The fountain was sculpted in 1910 by French artist Henri-Léon Greber for an estate in New York’s Long Island and brought to Kansas City in 1951. According to the Parks Department, the four horses are said to represent mighty rivers: the Mississippi River, the Seine, the Volga and the Rhine.
The water feature has shut down in previous years, including $20,000 in repairs in 2018 after a water pipe burst and a $250,000 renovation starting in 2014.
Recently, Loose Park’s Rose Garden Fountain was closed as well. The Laura Conyers Smith Fountain has a chip and a crack in the bowl, but it can still run, according to Honeycutt. She said the city is waiting until the fall to make repairs.
Have more questions about Kansas City landmarks? Contact the Service Journalism team at kcq@kcstar.com.
