Fire heavily damages historic Green Duck Lounge and Grill in Kansas City
A fire that sent black plumes of smoke billowing into the sky Sunday evening heavily damaged the historic landmark Green Duck Lounge and Grill in Kansas City, a fire department spokesman said.
A police officer reported the blaze shortly before 7 p.m. at the building at 2548 Prospect Ave, said Battalion Chief Michael Hopkins of the Kansas City Fire Department. The tavern sits on the corner of 26th Street and Prospect.
The first firefighters to arrive reported heavy fire and smoke coming from the two-story unoccupied building, Hopkins said.
Firefighters entered the building using multiple hand lines, but were pulled from inside the structure due to the intensity of the blaze, Hopkins said. Firefighters then fought the fire defensively, using multiple ladder trucks to spray water onto the fire from above.
Firefighters contained the fire to a single building. No injuries were reported.
While firefighters battled the blaze, Prospect was closed in both directions between 26th and 24th Street and 26th was closed between Prospect and Brooklyn Avenue.
The cause of the fire was unknown and is being investigated by the Kansas City Fire Department.
Kansas City designated the Green Duck Tavern a historic landmark in 2015 for its ties to the city’s civil rights era and Freedom Inc., the influential Black political organization. The tavern was once owned by Leon Jordan, a former Kansas City police detective, state lawmaker, and Freedom Inc. co-founder, who was assassinated outside the building in 1970.
Businessman James “Jimmy” Townsend rescued the Green Duck from foreclosure and later restored it.
