It’s a pergola, not a colonnade. This iconic structure has been on the Paseo since 1899

The Paseo, built in 1899, was Kansas City’s first boulevard. But despite what this postcard proclaimed, there was no colonnade along it.

That structure came a few years later, and a few miles away in Concourse Park.

The roadway did however have a pergola. That’s defined as “an archway in a garden or park consisting of a framework covered with plants.”

This particular pergola was prominently placed between 10th and 11th Streets. (The first section of the Paseo only ran from Lexington Avenue to 17th Street.)

Like the sunken gardens, fountains and memorials that George Kessler also baked into his Parks & Boulevards plan, the pergola was designed to bring beauty back to an area dominated by slums and disarray.

In fact, the pergola quickly became a popular place to stroll and to be seen. It wasn’t long before land along the Paseo sprouted high-end homes and apartment buildings occupied by some of the city’s movers and shakers.

Not surprisingly, time took its toll on the wooden trellises where the greenery climbed. In 1971, the city replaced the wood with concrete versions.

Today, the pergola still sits in the median between the Paseo’s north and southbound lanes — just a short hop from the “Goin’ to KC Plaza” that commemorates the much sung about corner of 12th Street and Vine.

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