Swope Park is a city park in

Kansas City, Missouri Kansas City, Missouri, abbreviated KC or KCMO, is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri by List of cities in Missouri, population and area. The city lies within Jackson County, Missouri, Jackson, Clay County, Missouri, Clay, and Pl ...

. At , it is the 51st-largest municipal park in the United States, and the largest park in Kansas City. It is named in honor of Colonel Thomas H. Swope, a

philanthropist Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives for the public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private good, focusing on material ...

who donated the land to the city in 1896. Most of the park is heavy

woodland A woodland () is, in the broad sense, land covered with woody plants (trees and shrubs), or in a narrow sense, synonymous with wood (or in the U.S., the '' plurale tantum'' woods), a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunli ...

, and the developed area includes these major destinations: Starlight Theatre, an 8,000+ seat outdoor theater; the

Swope Soccer Village Swope Soccer Village is a soccer complex located within Swope Park in Kansas City, Missouri, first dedicated in 2007 with further renovations completed in 2014. The facility is a public-private partnership between the City of Kansas City's park ...

sports complex; the Kansas City Zoo; the Lakeside Nature Center, one of Missouri's largest

native species In biogeography, a native species is indigenous to a given region or ecosystem if its presence in that region is the result of only local natural evolution (though often popularised as "with no human intervention") during history. The term is equi ...

rehabilitation facilities; and Swope Memorial Golf Course. In 1949, the course hosted the Kansas City Open Invitational of the

PGA Tour The PGA Tour (stylized as PGA TOUR by its officials) is the organizer of professional golf tours in North America. It organizes most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments also known as the PGA Tour, the PGA Tour Champion ...

, and in 1953 it hosted the United Golf Association (UGA) National Championship, in which Ann Gregory and Charlie Sifford won the women's and men's divisions, respectively. Open seasonally, the

Battle of Westport The Battle of Westport, was fought on October 23, 1864, in modern Kansas City, Missouri, during the American Civil War. Union Army, Union forces under Major General (United States), Major General Samuel R. Curtis decisively defeated an outnumber ...

Museum & Visitor Center details the largest

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

battle fought west of the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the main stem, primary river of the largest drainage basin in the United States. It is the second-longest river in the United States, behind only the Missouri River, Missouri. From its traditional source of Lake Ita ...

, in 1864. Other venues include

baseball diamond A baseball field, also called a ball field or baseball diamond, is the field upon which the game of baseball is played. The term can also be used as a metonym for a baseball park. The term sandlot is sometimes used, although this usually refers ...

s, soccer fields, a

swimming pool A swimming pool, swimming bath, wading pool, paddling pool, or simply pool, is a structure designed to hold water to enable Human swimming, swimming and associated activities. Pools can be built into the ground (in-ground pools) or built abo ...

, the Go Ape Zipline & Adventure Park, and ten shelter houses. Swope Park is featured prominently in the fictional works of

Robert A. Heinlein Robert Anson Heinlein ( ; July 7, 1907 – May 8, 1988) was an American science fiction author, aeronautical engineer, and naval officer. Sometimes called the "dean of science fiction writers", he was among the first to emphasize scientific acc ...

, who grew up in and around Kansas City.

References

External links

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Kansas City Zoo

Starlight Theatre

Lakeside Nature Center

Kansas City Community Gardens
{{Kansas City, Missouri Urban public parks Geography of Kansas City, Missouri Parks in the Kansas City metropolitan area Parks in Missouri Tourist attractions in Kansas City, Missouri