The Shelter House at Holmes Park

Home to Kansas City’s first fully-equipped and supervised playground, Holmes Park, located between Troost Ave. and Holmes Rd, became a popular place for families to visit in the early 1900s. In order to ensure the safety of children playing in the park, Elenore Canny became the park’s first official park monitor in 1908, but she didn’t have the power to make arrests. In order to give Canny more authority over the park, she eventually became Kansas City’s first female commissioned officer in 1910, and this was back when women weren’t even allowed to vote. It can even be argued the Canny was the first official female officer in the country. The playground included your basic kid-friendly equipment such as slides and swings. For the adults, tennis courts, baseball fields, and bathhouses that included showers, clubrooms and a gym were added in 1910. By 1920, it is said that more than 500 people, both children and adults, visited the park any given day.