Postcard of Fairyland Park, once located at the southeast corner of 75th Street and Prospect Avenue. This vantage point faces south near the entrance to the park.
1932 photograph of Thamon Hayes’ Kansas City Rockets group posed in front of the Fairyland Park stage at the southeast corner of Prospect Avenue and 75th Street. From left: Ed Lewis, Baby Lovett, Jesse Stone, Richard Smith, Herman Walder, Thamon Hayes, Vic Dickenson, Woodie Walder, Harlan Leonard, Booker T. Washington, Vernon Page.
Circa 1931 photograph of the Bennie Moten Orchestra posed in front of the Fairyland Park stage at the southeast corner of Prospect Avenue and 75th Street. Pictured in bottom row are Count Basie, Hot Lips Page, Ed Lewis, Eddie Durham, Woodie Walder, Leroy Berry, Harlan Leonard, and Jack Washington (second, third fourth, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, and twelfth from left, respectively). Top row, from left are Bennie Moten, Bus Moten, and James Rushing.
Group photo of Bennie Moten's Victor Recording Artists taken at Fairyland Park by Cresswell's Photo Studio, Kansas City, Missouri; band is seated with instruments, ca. 1930. Source: Herman Walder.
Thamon Hayes’ Rockets on stage at Fairyland Park, ca. 1930. Fairyland Park was located at the southeast corner of Prospect Avenue and 75th Street. Pictured from left: Harlan Leonard, alto sax; Vic Dickenson, trombone; Herman Walder, alto sax & clarinet; Hayes, trombone; Woody Walder, tenor sax & clarinet; Richard Smith, trumpet; Booker Washington, trumpet; Ed Lewis, trumpet; Charles "Crook" Goodwin, banjo & vocals; Samuel "Baby" Lovett, drums; Vernon Page, bass & tuba; Jesse Stone, piano, arranger & conductor. Source: Claude Williams.
The souvenir program for the Irish-American Societies of Kansas City, Mo. Thirty-Seventh Annual Picnic, held in Fairyland Park in Kansas City, August 17, 1924. The program includes a list of activities, sponsors, and advertisements. Activities include athletic events divided into nine groups, including a "Fat Ladies' Race", of which the first prize is a five-pound box of chocolates. Portraits of Judges Henry F. McElroy and Harry S. Truman are included in the program. The back cover shows sponsorship by T. J. Pendergast.
Pianist, band leader, composer, and vocalist Jay "Hootie" McShann is recognized as one of the most influential blues and jazz artists of the twentieth century, with a career that spanned over 60 years. A bluesman at heart, McShann helped shape the Kansas City sound which was heavily influenced by blues and swing.
