Michael Bushnell
Publisher

The Scarritt Renaissance Neighborhood certainly has had their share of bad luck when it comes to the longevity of its neighborhood association’s decorative and historic markers.

Over the 35-year history of the organized neighborhood association, over half of the association’s markers have been destroyed by errant or impaired motorists – most recently a cast metal historic marker sign that was located in the grassy park area just east of the Lexington Avenue bridge over Chestnut Trafficway.

On Sunday, April 10, a motorist traveling east on Lexington failed to negotiate the sharp left-hand turn at the end of the bridge, running up over the curb onto the grass and over a sign designating the neighborhood’s historic district. According to witness accounts, the sign got wedged underneath the man’s vehicle as he attempted to drive back off the sidewalk and into the road. Ultimately, the driver was able to free the sign and fled the scene. A neighbor rescued the sign so it would not be stolen for scrap.

In 1989, the Scarritt Renaissance Neighborhood Association (SRNA) received City Public Improvement Advisory Committee (PIAC) funds to construct neighborhood markers at the four corner boundaries of the neighborhood. Prominent brick and mortar markers were designed and constructed at Independence Avenue and Jackson, Independence and Gladstone, Independence and Chestnut, Lexington Avenue, Gladstone Boulevard and Elmwood and LaBelle Terrace and Lexington.

The original neighborhood marker at Lexington and LaBelle consisted of an eight-foot-tall brick center pillar with an engraved marble centerpiece, bearing the name Scarritt Renaissance at the top. Two cut limestone wings extended off the center pillar roughly 10 feet, with shorter end pillars all capped with a limestone slab and a decorative orb. All that remains of that marker is the concrete footing it was originally built on, as it was gradually destroyed by motorists, literally one vehicle strike at a time.

The brick marker at Independence and Jackson was destroyed by a vehicle crash in 2004. The engraved marble piece was saved by a neighbor, then salvaged and installed in to the marker at Gladstone and Elmwood when it was rebuilt after being struck by a driver suffering a medical emergency in 2004 or 2005.

The latest marker sign to be run over was one of four purchased by the neighborhood association in 1998 using grant funds from a federal source. The four cast metal signs and four aluminum-clad concrete poles were designed to mark the original boundary of the neighborhood association and contained a short paragraph on the area’s early history. The neighborhood association had the signs installed at Independence and Jackson, Benton at Anderson, 3900 Gladstone Blvd., and Independence and Gladstone.

Shortly after their installation, the cast metal sign at Benton and Anderson was struck by a vehicle during a snowstorm, likewise the sign at 3900 Gladstone. Both of those signs were rescued by former SRNA President Michael Bushnell and kept for safekeeping.

The sign at Independence and Jackson was also struck and rescued by another neighbor for safekeeping. Former SRNA President Leslie Caplan commented on the number of times the markers and signs have been run down.

“It’s frustrating to have them hit so many times,” she said. “I was so happy when we got them put back up, but a lot of good that did with this latest sign being run down.”

In 2018, SRNA leadership and the City’s Parks Department secured funding to purchase new sign poles for the cast-metal signs and have all the signs re-installed and landscaped. One of the signs was reset in its original location at Independence and Gladstone boulevards and another in the park area at Lexington and LaBelle, just east of the Lexington Bridge. Two signs, however, remained in Bushnell’s back yard and were never picked up by the Parks Department for resetting.

In 2020, the neighborhood association secured funding from the Local Initiative Support Coalition (LISC) to have the brick and mortar markers professionally cleaned and landscaped with perennial shrubs and flowers.

“Our focus has been to beautify and showcase our neighborhood’s common areas and parks in anticipation of increased visitor traffic from the re-opening of the KC Museum this fall,” Scarritt President Jeff Linville said.

“We are currently working with Parks and Rec to re-install the recently damaged historical marker and to add back the two additional markers in visible locations in the neighborhood.”

This September, the SRNA will be celebrating its 35th anniversary. Linville hopes to have all of the signs installed in time for the anniversary celebration and the re-opening of the Kansas City Museum at Corinthian Hall that same month.