Liberty Memorial

Lore & Background

Soon after World War I ended, a group of 40 prominent Kansas City residents formed the Liberty Memorial Association (LMA) to create a memorial to those who had served in the war. For president, they chose lumber baron and philanthropist Robert A. Long. James Madison Kemper was treasurer. Real estate developer J. C. Nichols was a lead proponent, and businessman and philanthropist William Volker helped the city acquire the land.

George Kessler was the landscape designer. Thomas Rogers Kimball assisted Henry M Beardsley in selecting the architect, Harold Van Buren Magonigle. In 1919, the LMA led a fund drive that included 83,000 contributors and collected more than US$2.5 million in less than two weeks. The groundbreaking ceremony on November 1, 1921, was attended by 200,000 people, including Vice President Calvin Coolidge and several foreign military leaders.

The finished monument was dedicated on November 11, 1926, by President Coolidge. In 1961 the monument was rededicated by former President Harry S. Truman. The memorial was closed in 1994 due to safety concerns and reopened in December 2006 with an expanded facility. On December 19, 2014, President Barack Obama signed legislation recognizing it as the 'National World War I Museum and Memorial'.

Reader's Guide

Visitors enter the exhibit space within the 32,000-square-foot (3,000 m2) facility across a glass bridge above a field of 9,000 red poppies, each representing 1,000 combatant deaths. The museum focuses on global events from the causes of World War I before 1914 through the 1918 armistice and 1919 Paris Peace Conference. As of 2025, the museum’s collection includes more than 350,000 items. The tower is 217 feet (66 m) tall and rises 265 feet (81 m) above the surrounding area. The tower is crowned with four sculptures, the Guardian Spirits, each standing 40 feet (12 m) tall, representing Honor, Courage, Patriotism, and Sacrifice. On opposite sides of the main deck are Exhibition Hall and Memory Hall. Between each hall and the tower sit two stone Assyrian sphinxes named 'Memory' and 'Future'.