Pioneer Mother Group Penn Valley Park



This haunting bronze work by sculptor Alexander Phimister was gifted to Kansas City’s Penn Valley Park by local Howard Vanderslice. Penn Valley Park stands where once did a ravine, but with the settlement of man the wild land surrounding had been transformed into neighborhoods, homes, a city. The Pioneer Mother represents the old pioneer Santa Fe Trail route through the land, as well as the countless courageous women that walked or rode the path and brought their descendants to our city. The Pioneer Mother Group is inscribed: “Whither thou goest, I will go and wither thou lodgest, I will lodge. Thy people shall be my people, and they God, my God.”