National World War I Museum and Memorial

 

National World War I Museum and Memorial

The Liberty Memorial opened in Kansas City, Missouri in 1926 as the National World War I Museum and Memorial. The United States Congress designated it as the country's official World War I war memorial and museum in 2004. A non-profit organisation manages it in collaboration with the Kansas City Board of Parks and Recreation Commissioners. The museum focuses on global events beginning with the causes of World War I prior to 1914 and continuing through the 1918 armistice and 1919 Paris Peace Conference. Visitors enter the 32,000-square-foot (3,000-square-meter) facility through a glass bridge above a field of 9,000 red poppies, each representing 1,000 combatant deaths.
The museum was closed for renovations in 1994 and reopened in December 2006 with an expanded facility to exhibit an artifact collection that began in 1920.


Liberty Memorial Foundation
Soon after World War I ended, the Liberty Memorial Association (LMA) was formed by a group of 40 prominent Kansas City residents to create a memorial to those who had served in the war. They chose Robert A. Long, a lumber baron and philanthropist who had personally donated a large sum of money, as president.The association's treasurer was James Madison Kemper, who had previously served as President of City Center Bank, founded by his father, William T. Kemper, in 1919. The Liberty Monument was championed by real estate developer J.C. Nichols. The city was assisted in acquiring the land for the memorial by William Volker, a businessman and philanthropist. The landscape architect was George Kessler. In 1919, the LMA led a fund drive with 83,000 contributors that raised more than $2.5 million in less than two weeks (equivalent to $39.1 million in 2021), fueled by "complete, unbridled patriotism," according to museum curator Doran Car. This avoided the financial issues that had plagued the Bunker Hill Monument for the American Revolutionary War in Boston a century before.


Dedications
Jacques, Diaz, Foch, Pershing, and Beatty, from left to right, at the 1921 groundbreaking.
Vice President Calvin Coolidge, Lieutenant General Baron Jacques of Belgium, Admiral of the Fleet Lord Beatty of Great Britain, General Armando Diaz of Italy, Marshal Ferdinand Foch of France, General of the Armies John J. Pershing of the United States, and 60,000 members of the American Legion attended the groundbreaking ceremony on November 1, 1921. The local veteran chosen to present flags to the commanders was Harry S. Truman, a Kansas City haberdasher who would later serve as the 33rd President of the United States from 1945 to 1953. On November 11, 1926, 30th President Coolidge dedicated the completed monument Queen Marie of Romania was present. Coolidge declared the memorial "...has been raised to commemorate the outcomes of war and victory, which are embodied in peace and liberty... Today I return to bestow the official sanction of the national government on one of our country's most elaborate and impressive memorials. The magnitude of this memorial, as well as the broad base of popular support upon which it is built, cannot fail to inspire national awe and admiration."

Design
Thomas R. Kimball, a former president of the American Institute of Architects, oversaw the national design competition (AIA). Following internal conflict within the organisation, the design contract was eventually awarded to New York architect Harold Van Buren Magonigle. A disagreement over the rules between members of the Kansas City Chapter of AIA and Kimball caused nearly half of the local members to resign in April 1922. They quickly formed the Architectural League of Kansas City, which was later merged back into the AIA in the early 1930s. Unlike the AIA at the time, the Architectural League of Kansas City accepted less experienced architects and draughtsmen as members and offered social and educational opportunities. Regardless of the disagreement, Many local architects, including those who resigned from the AIA, submitted entries. Magonigle was unanimously awarded the contract by the jury.


regular hours
Tuesday through Sunday, regular hours
10 a.m. - 5 p.m.
Summer Hours: 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. daily from Memorial Day to Labor Day.

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