Cave Spring is a 36-acre urban nature center and historic area located at 8701 E. Gregory Blvd., Kansas City, MO. The area includes an interpretive center building, picnic area, and scenic walking trails. The easily traveled hiking trails combined with the natural features of a cave and wildlife habitat pond allow many opportunities to pursue ecological studies.

School children and adults visiting Cave Spring are introduced to the ecology of the Kansas City area through natural history and cultural history studies. Volunteers and staff of Cave Spring have developed a series of outdoor education programs that demonstrate Native American and pioneer skills and the historical and present day use of our natural resources.

The Cave Spring Association, a not-for-profit organization, was founded in 1975 to preserve a historic Santa Fe Trail area in its natural state for the public.

The organization manages and maintains the William Klein Park and the
Art Clark Memorial Nature Center. The area is known collectively as Cave Spring.

Since it's beginnings along the Santa Fe Trail, the Cave Spring area reflects the diversity of our Kansas City cultural and natural history. During the 1840's, covered wagons traveling west passed by the area owned and farmed by the Barnes family. In later years, the property was owned by Solomon Young, the maternal grandfather of Harry S Truman. During the 1930's, the Cave Spring Club offered a respite from the city for golfers and their families.

Today, Cave Spring serves metropolitan Kansas City as an outdoor education facility. Guided hikes and educational opportunities are available for school field trips and adult and youth groups. To find out more about what Cave Spring has to offer you, your family, and your community, check out the other links on our website, or call (816) 358-2283.

History of the Park

Pre-Pioneer

The area and the original Indian trading trail was referred to as the “Osage Trace” because of its use by the Osage Indians. The Cave Spring area was also used by the Sac, Kansa and the Fox for their campgrounds.

1821 - 1872

In 1821, Missouri became a state. The Mexicans began to open trade with the Western world, especially in the Santa Fe area. Captain Becknell traveled the trail and opened the trading route to Santa Fe. In 1825, Sibley surveyed the trail and the Osage signed a treaty with the US to allow travelers to come through the area unharmed. The Osage left the area for the Kansas Territories. Until 1872, the campground was a heavily traveled junction on both the Oregon and Santa Fe Trails. Through these years, over $90 million was traded on the trail.

circa 1836

Farmer Archibald Rice moved his farm from Levasy, Mo. (another point on the Santa Fe Trail) to this area. He lived on the land and began to construct the house. Aunt Sophie’s cabin, one of three original slave cabins is still at 66th and Blue Ridge Blvd. After the emancipation, Aunt Sophie remained with the family as their cook. The Trail came across 66th street and turned south down Blue Ridge, toward Cave Spring.

1843

The Oregon Trail was opened following much of the same path as the Santa Fe Trail. This was an emigrant trail. People filled their covered wagons and traveled for six months over 2000 miles to live in Oregon.

1844

Mr. Rice built his new house at 66th and Blue Ridge. Farmer Rice provided the travelers with agricultural and food products for the trip out west and many camped on the Cave Spring property. There were many natural springs in the area providing fresh water for both the travelers and their animals. Springs were found in the areas of the Floral Hills cemetery and under the Our Lady of Lourdes parking lot.

Jesse Barnes purchased the Cave Spring land and allowed wagon trains to camp here. His home was across Blue Ridge, in the area now known as Gregory Heights. His land was known as the ‘Barnes Inclosure’ (sic).

1846

The California Trail opens.

Two firsthand accounts mention the Cave Spring area. Susan Magoffin’s diary tells of traveling with her husband, Captain Magoffin, a trader, and spending the night at the Barnes Inclosure. Also, in a letter to their sister, the Glasgow brothers, international traders on the trail, mention camping at the Barnes Inclosure. Susan Magoffin’s diary also mentions meeting these brothers along the trail.

1849

Gold was discovered in California at Sutter’s Mill and the gold rush began.

1874 - 1877

Solomon Young, Harry Truman’s grandfather, owned Cave Spring. Later, he moved to the Grandview home. Truman speaks of his grandfather in this excerpt from “Plain Speaking.”

“Grandfather Young kept buying land whenever he could get his hands on it, and at one time he owned five thousand acres out in the southwest corner of Jackson County. ... He ran a wagon train from here, from Independence and Westport to San Francisco and Salt Lake City and places like that. “

1909 - 1913

The Daughters of the American Revolution marked the trail with pink granite markers all the way to Santa Fe. The Cave Spring marker is along Blue Ridge, about one-half block south of Gregory. Our marker says ‘Cave Spring’ at the bottom and we’re told that the DAR only titled the markers where actual trail campground existed.

1911 - 1913

Two lakes and the existing dams were constructed.

The eleven stone piers west of the cave might have also been constructed at this time to support a structure which was never built.

circa 1905 - 1915

During this time, Harry Truman was a dirt farmer in Grandview. A Life Magazine article from October 15, 1945, about Truman’s life during his late 20’s (circa 1910), a photo caption reads “On a Missouri hayride, Farmer Truman... often picnicked with friends at Cave Spring in the prairies or on limestone ledges near Independence, Mo.” A standard dating custom was to take long hikes in the woods and it’s very likely that Harry and Bess spent time at Cave Spring. They were married in June, 1919.

? - 1925

An 1850’s dairy farm was located above the cave and the concrete enclosure outside the cave was a spring house where milk was stored in cans. The boy who lived here often found arrowheads while plowing the field on the corner lot. The chimney above the cave is all that remained of the house after it burned in 1925.

1926 - 1944

Around 1926, the organization of the Masons were beginning to develop a country club at Cave Spring. This fell through. Urban and Gladys Kroell then purchased the land and opened ‘The Cave Spring Club’, a private country club. There was a nine hole golf course, cabins around one of the two lakes, boating, swimming, and fishing.

The Kroells’ son was the golf pro and lived in the cabin which now has the most remaining ruins. The lake extended from the Raccoon Ridge bridge east to the paved Red Bud Road, and from just north of the cabin ruins north to the Chickadee trail ridge. The swimming area is said to have been in the southwest corner of the lake. The clubhouse was large enough to play basketball in and was just south of the end point of the paved trail.

The Kroells’ son was drafted into the Navy for W.W.II and was MIA by 1943. Distraught, they closed the club. During and shortly after the war, the cabins were rented year-around to help in the housing shortage. The Kroells tried to reopen the club in 1948 but were unsuccessful.

Around 1928, the spring pumped about one million gallons of water per day.

1930

Harry Truman included a picture of Cave Spring in the “County Planning Book.” He was then the presiding judge of the Jackson County Court.

1931

Richards Flying Field, the first airfield in Kansas City, was located across Blue Ridge to the East where Gregory Heights and Mercantile Bank are today. Charles Lindbergh flew into Richards Field while delivering the mail. The concrete enclosure, leftover from the Cave Spring dairy farm, was used to collect water to pump up to the airfield’s water tower.

Stop by to read the marker about the field over at Mercantile Bank.

1945

Harry Truman had just become President and Life Magazine (June 15, 1945) featured an article about him. The article was titled “Truman’s Missouri” and included a picture of the cave.

1948

The campground’s cave was forgotten for a number of years until 1948 when construction of a church at the corner of Gregory & Blue Ridge revealed its existence to a new generation. The construction job located a cave and spring underneath what is now the church parking lot. They diverted their spring and this impacted our spring as well. Exploration of the cave and its passages by KU scientists rated considerable newspaper coverage at the time.

1950 - 1975

A period of general dormancy, disrepair, and neglect of the Cave Spring area followed the vandalizing of the summer cabins in the 1950’s. This condition prevailed until 1975.

1951

Kansas City had a flood. The campground’s spring was used as a source of fresh water. Today, our water is no longer drinkable.

1948 - 1957

The dam had begun to break down. Mrs. Kroell tried to sandbag the gaps but vandals would destroy her attempts. Portions of the lake remained until the mid-60’s.

1957

Cave Spring was sold to William Klein as speculation for the Milton Petroleum Co. He and his father intended to put a filling station on the property but neighborhood residents fought it. At the time, Mr. Klein worked for the Milgram’s grocery store company and was married to one of Milgram’s daughters.

1975 - 1977

In 1975, Sylvia Mooney moved next door to the park. With her persistence and love for nature and history, she was able to organize and energize a group of people to obtain grants for acquiring the Cave Spring land. Clarence Baggerly and Ralph Fearon each gave Cave Spring $10 to begin the funding.

Late in 1975, the Cave Spring Association was incorporated with the purpose of turning the land into a historical area and nature preserve for the use of the citizens of Jackson County, Mo., as well as tourists from all over the United States.

The Oregon Trail Riders camped at Cave Spring on their trek to Oregon. In 1976, riders camped again while riding the Santa Fe Trail.

In 1976, in conjunction with the nation’s bicentennial, the Association sold Cave Spring square feet certificates to gain additional moneys for land acquisition.

In December, 1976, 8.2 acres were donated by William M. Klein to begin the land acquisition. An additional 8.2 acres was bought with matching funds from the Federal government. 13 more acres were bought with locally raised money. The park land was to be officially owned by Jackson County. The state conservation department laid out the trail system.

1978

The site was placed on the National Register of Historic Places.

1980

The park was named in memory of William M. Klein.

1982

The Cave Spring Interpretive Center was opened and the first wing of the building was named in memory of Art Clark. Art was a 1977 Raytown High School graduate and was a student of forestry at the University of Missouri when he died of leukemia.

The Cave Spring Association entered into a cooperative agreement with Jackson County, the owners of the land, to maintain the site as a historic and nature preserve; to maintain, operate, and manage the interpretive center; to underwrite all personnel and operating costs.

1987

The shelter house was constructed for local picnickers and reservation rental for groups.

1988

A cultural exchange program with the Soviet Union brought Russians through Kansas City. A day-long festival was held here at Cave Spring to share American history, food, and fun with these travelers.

In 87 and 88, the Kansas City Symphony offered concerts at Cave Spring.

1990

The pond was drained and restored and the National Guard re-built one of our bridges. The extension to the nature center was added which greatly improves our ability to serve youth groups and offer nature and historical displays.

The paved nature trail was created for wheelchair accessibility. Funding was received from the family and friends of Joe Ammatelli, a nature lover and friend of Cave Spring, along with a grant from the city of Kansas City (Public Improvements Advisory Council). A bench at the end of this trail is also in Joe’s memory.

The two small garden areas near the entry to the park were created by the friends and family of Ann Harrison, a young Raytown girl whose life was taken suddenly.

The Park Today

“A naturalist’s heaven” is the way one visitor described the park. Over 74 different varieties of flowers have been identified. The prairie grasses, cattail marsh, meadows and other areas of natural growth offer a constantly changing opportunity for nature study. The park is one of the favorite day-trip excursion areas in the metropolitan Kansas City area for science and nature enthusiasts and nearly 8000 school kids and scouts each year.