The Meyer Circle Fountain, ca. 1950.
Even though the Nichols Company and the Parks and Recreation Department understood the heavy traffic volume carried by Ward Parkway, they attempted for decades to maintain an almost rural setting for the parkway’s centerpiece—the Meyer Circle fountain.
This view, almost unrecognizable in the 1990s, illustrates the very nearly pastoral nature of the intersection just after World War II. The most exclusive section of Ward Parkway is punctuated like a reverse question mark by Meyer Circle.

© WHMC-KC, University of Missouri