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J.C. Nichols' family supports dropping his name from Kansas City fountain and street

Kansas City Star - 6/30/2020

Jun. 30--The family of J.C. Nichols, together with the Miller Nichols Charitable Trust, supports renaming the J.C. Nichols Memorial Fountain and street on the Country Club Plaza, they said Tuesday.

"We have a great passion for the Kansas City spirit, and for the people in every corner of our community who bring it to life," said foundation president Kay Callison, a granddaughter of Nichols. "It is important to each of us that we publicly endorse the name change for the greater good of the city we love."

The trust is named for Miller Nichols, son of J.C. Nichols, Kansas City's storied developer who created the Country Club Plaza, multiple Kansas City neighborhoods that include Brookside and Crestwood and suburbs in Kansas, including Mission Hills and Prairie Village.

The legacy of Nichols, who died in 1950, has come under fire for his use of racist deed restrictions that for years kept Black people and other minorities from owning homes in his white developments. Critics have long said that Nichols, through his restrictions, did perhaps more than any single individual to establish a racial divide in Kansas City.

"This is a defining moment for our city," said Nichols' great-grandson Mark Callison. "Our family stands squarely behind the spirit of diversity, equality and social justice that has taken hold in our region and in our nation. My grandfather, Miller, taught us these values. The best way we knew to communicate them was to say to Kansas Citians from every corner of this community, 'Kansas City, the Nichols Family stands with you.'"

"Were he alive today," Kay Callison said of her father, Miller Nichols, "we know for sure that he would be proud to see us taking these actions. We will continue our quiet, heartfelt foundation work to ensure that we can support the values he instilled, toward the betterment of the City we all love."

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The family's statement came hours before a 2 p.m. meeting scheduled by the Kansas CityBoard of Parks and Recreation Commissioners to consider changing the name of the fountain and the J.C. Nichols Parkway that runs along the west side of Mill Creek Park.

Protesters gathered by the thousands at the fountain following the Memorial Day death of George Floyd, killed beneath the knee of a white Minneapolis police officer who held him to the ground for nearly nine minutes.

On June 4, parks Commissioner Chris Goode drafted a memo to the four other members of the park commission and to Terry Rynard, the director of the Parks Department, suggesting that the fountain and parkway be renamed.

The plan drew broad support at two community forums.

Miller Nichols acquired the fountain and its sculptures as a memorial to his father. It was dedicated in 1960, 10 years after J.C. Nichols' death.

On the heels of fountain and street debate, the University of Missouri-Kansas City also announced it was considering whether to remove Miller Nichols' name from the campus library named for him in 1989. Miller Nichols donated some $1.5 million to have the library completed.

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