Dorri Partain
Managing Editor

The final stanza of Robert Lewis Stevenson’s Requiem,”Home is the sailor home from the sea and the hunter home from the hill”, was once cast in bronze and set into a Missouri red granite pillar at The Concourse.  

The placement of that granite pillar, which seems random today, was quite intentional and is what remains of the William Reid Royster Memorial, unveiled in a ceremony on June 8, 1974, two years after Royster’s death on June 7, 1972.

Mayor Charles B. Wheeler helped Will Royster unveil the memorial to his father on June 8, 1974.

While the bronze marker bearing Royster’s name and image went missing over a decade ago, the accomplishments of Royster are well documented throughout his service to his country, state, city and neighborhood.

A descendant of Judge Edward “Lucky” Scarritt, William “Bill” Royster was born on December 30, 1914, at the 1897 Colonial Revival home built by his grandfather at 3500 Gladstone Blvd.. Following his graduation from the University of Missouri, Royster enlisted in the US Navy, earning the rank of Lt. Commander during World War II. After serving during the Korean War, Royster campaigned and was elected to the City Council’s Third District-at-Large seat, which covered all of Northeast in 1959.

While Royster lost his re-election bid in 1963, his accomplishments led to winning a seat in the Missouri House of Representatives District 8 in 1966, holding that seat until his death in 1972.

His memorial service was held at Melrose Methodist Church (200 N. Bales Ave,) the church founded by his great-grandfather Rev. Nathan Scarritt.

This six-foot-tall pillar of Missouri red granite stands on the northern side of The Concourse fountain. The memorial’s plaque, dedicated to William Reid Royster, has been missing for at least a decade.

Kansas City Mayor Charles B. Wheeler was a good friend of Royster’s and led family and friends of the late Northeaster in a campaign with the Parks Department to place a memorial at The Concourse. The unveiling ceremony was attended by state and city officials, with Mayor Wheeler assisting Royster‘s son Will with the unveiling of the monument.

Royster’s profile on the plaque was sculpted by John Ferguson of the Kansas City Art Institute and included the Requiem stanza and “In remembrance of his dedicated service to his Country and native state of Missouri and to his beloved Northeast.”

Northeast resident Will Royster, son of Bill Royster, isn’t sure what year the plaque went missing but recalled it was probably the same time the rear plaque on the Senator Thomas Hart Benton Memorial went missing and copper shingles were being stripped from the domed roofs of The Colonnade. He told the Northeast News he contacted the Parks Department several times after the theft was discovered but conversations about a replacement plaque for the memorial fizzled out.

While the City Council passed ordinances in 2018 regarding metal theft and scrap yard purchases of statues, plaques and other memorials, vandals and thieves continue to plague city monuments and erase these historical references for future generations.

Historic photos courtesy of Will Royster