Electric Park

Electric Park in Kansas City 1907.

 Lily Walker married John Leib in 1903 and was soon living in Kansas City, Missouri where John grew up.  John was a traveling salesman and there is at least one letter he wrote to his children on the road in the collection of documents Laura and Dorothy had collected.

These are photographs from one of Mary Grace's scrapbooks.

Electric Park 1907

Electric Park according to Monroe Dodd's 2003 book, Then & Now 2, was started by the Heim brothers who had a brewery in the East Bottoms. The park featured a roller coaster and beer garden with the beer piped directly from the brewery. The park derived its name from the massive amounts of electricity for nighttime.Vintage Postcard of Electric Park


As a member of the Methodist Church, Betsy Sharpe Walker would have been a member of the Women's Christian Temperance Union. But I'm guessing since she visited this park she would have had an open mind about the use of alcohol. I would guess she didn't partake of the beer.

But back to Electric Park - eventually the Heim brothers moved it to a larger area north of Brush Creek, but the park was destroyed by fires in 1925 and 1934.

Fred, Betsy, Lily and Eula at the Electric Park 1907.

Electric Park 1907

 My thought when I look at these pictures is I'm glad I was born and grew up in a time when you didn't have to wear you hair up. I can also tell by looking at these that I descend directly from women who considered their hair an after thought. They have their hair up but it doesn't look like they put in a great deal of time putting it up. Slap it up and go.

The Leib home on East 13th St Kansas City Missouri in 1907.