Dorri Partain
Managing Editor

Generations of Northeasters have been intrigued by a large mound located in Kessler Park, known only as the “Indian Mound”. While this mound itself contains its own myths and mysteries, a small metal marker that seems to appear and disappear from its parkland location has provided a curious tale for the staff of The Northeast News.

A postcard-sized bronze marker placed decades ago, near a previous playground area, was once well-known but eventually eased into obscurity as time passed.

With the engraved inscription, “To commemorate the supreme sacrifice made by the Northeast boys in World War II, Northeast Chapter American War Mothers”, this marker was discovered as missing by August 1999, as once reported in the pages of The Northeast News.

At that time, News staff member and local historian Brad Finch asked readers for help locating the missing marker and was contacted anonymously, with the end result of retrieving the metal plaque.

Replacing this marker to its rightful spot became an Eagle Scout project for fifteen-year-old Patrick Mauk, an Indian Mound resident and member of Troop 165 at Budd Park Christian Church. Mauk contacted Finch and the June 7, 2000 issue of The Northeast News announced his project.

“I want to put the memorial back,” said Mauk. “It’s part of Northeast history and it belongs in Northeast.” Mauk was required to research the history of the marker but no information was located at that time. He also had to appear before the Parks and Recreation board for approval to replace the marker at the Indian Mound site.

Two years later, The Northeast News reported Mauk had completed the project in its July 10, 2002 issue. The plaque was mounted onto a larger piece of granite, and assisted by family and additional scouts, was cemented into place near the base of a tree on the east side of the Indian Mound.

“It seemed like a small thing to do, putting this back,” Mauk said in 2002. “It still is, I  guess,  but I’ve put all the work into it now.”

Fast forward about 15 years, when The Northeast News received a phone inquiry about the American War Mothers memorial marker. Patrick’s family, since moved to Omaha, Nebraska, had looked for the marker during a visit to Kansas City and could not locate it, his mother Julie Mauk told us.

Two staff members familiar with the marker (myself included), who thought they knew where it was located, searched near every tree on the east side of the mound and couldn’t find it either. Calls were made to the Parks & Recreation department- had it been moved? Was it placed in storage? Was the tree it was near cut down?

No one seemed to know – but a clue that explained the original purpose of this small plaque, which was placed following the long ago planting of a maple tree, was located.

Founded in Indianapolis in 1918, the American War Mothers had chapters in cities across America that planted trees and placed memorials in memory of their fallen sons. During a ceremony on Oct. 1, 1951, fifty persons attended the placing of this plaque at the base of a tree planted in April at the Indian Mound, according to a clipping from the Kansas City Star that was  provided by a Parks department historian.

But with no other clues, News staffers made the assumption that for whatever reason, the marker had gone missing as it had once before.

Unless we were all looking in the wrong area of the mound.

Just as before, with no tree nearby, the placement of this marker becomes random and difficult to locate.

News staffer Bryan Stalder was wandering the mound grounds in October and came across the memorial marker, which he mentioned in his recent short story, “Last Call for the Living”.

Stalder was not aware that other staff members thought it was missing, but luckily, he had taken a photo of it- and he remembered where he found it.

A visit to the mound on Friday, November 21 by both staff members verified that this marker, while in a very random location, was still where it had been cemented in place in 2002. A sunken area of ground nearby indicates where a tree once grew.

Contacted by phone, Julie Mauk was pleased to hear the news that the marker her son worked so hard to replace is safe, sound, and right where it should be- though not easy to locate. While Patrick is now married, father of three, and living in Florida, his parents Julie and Dick plan to be in Kansas City over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend and plan to visit this small marker that became a two-year project in his and his family’s lives.

Indian Mound Park is located at Gladstone and Belmont boulevards and is known to be associated with early Native American tribes.