A historic landmark in the ‘City of Fountains’ known as the William Volker Memorial Fountain is located near the Kansas City Country Club Plaza, featuring five sculpted figures. But after the vandals struck, only three of those figures remain intact.
Now the city is facing a potentially hefty price tag to repair the fountain.
An unknown suspect removed the arm and fingers from one of the structures, and the leg from another, Kansas City Parks & Recreation Director Chris Cotten said in an interview with The Star. The image was defaced on May 19.
“In this particular case, I would say that this fountain, because it had a high copper (and) copper content, was destroyed for scrap, for money,” Cotten said. “That’s exactly what I think the reason for this is.”
Cotten said there would be “no other reason” to damage the statue.
“We don’t have these problems with works of art that are not made of brass or copper,” he said.
The fountain was created in the 1950s by Swedish sculptor Carl Milles, according to the Millesgården Museum in Sweden.
The five-figure statue was one of Milles’ last pieces before his death and features Saint Martin of Tours, a patron saint of France, as the central figure, according to the Parks & Rec website. Saint Martin is surrounded by four other figures, including a beggar, a faun and two angels.
The beggar and the faun were the two damaged figures, City of Fountains Foundation President Mark McHenry said in an interview with The Star.
The fountain was dedicated on September 20, 1958 and was created as a memorial to William Volker, a prominent Kansas City philanthropist, according to the City of Fountains Foundation. It was originally located in Frank A. Theis Park, but was moved to its current location in the 1990s, according to Parks & Rec.
‘It could be substantial’
The damage to the statue won’t be cheap to repair, Cotten said. They contacted the Millesgården Museum in Sweden to see if it could help repair the statue. Cotten hopes the museum has the original molds used to make the statue.
“So whether we can get our hands on molds or replicas of the molds and melt them down and recast them, or figure out a way to get a 3D scan so we can replicate it, that’s what we’re all dealing with to be busy. right now,” Cotten said. “But I don’t have any definitive answers because we haven’t heard anything from Sweden yet.”
The City of Fountains Foundation is helping Parks & Rec with the project, City of Fountains Foundation President Mark McHenry said. Anyone can donate to the repair of the fountain via a donation page on the City of Fountains website.
Because the team does not have access to the stolen parts of the statue, there is currently no estimated cost for the project, McHenry said.
“I will say it could be substantial,” McHenry said. “That’s not a number, it’s just a bit of a challenge.”
There is currently no deadline for repairs. McHenry said it “will be completed as quickly as possible, but that is easier said than done.”
This isn’t the first time a statue in Kansas City has been defaced. More than two years ago, the Children’s Fountain in North Kansas City faced a similar fate. Plaques were stolen from the fountain and had to be recreated with fiberglass material that resembled brass, Cotten said.
“So there’s no scrap value attached to them anymore, and they haven’t been tampered with since we replaced them,” he explained.
McHenry recalled another case a few years ago, when a statue of an Osage woman was stolen in Northland. Police were able to find the pieces of the statue and it was welded back together.
“There is a priority for this,” McHenry said. “The big difference here, of course, is that we don’t have the pieces.”
In the meantime, the criminal investigation into the vandalism continues.
A Kansas City Police Department detective is working to gather and process evidence about the crime and “remains hopeful that we will generate some leads,” KCPD spokesperson Alayna Gonzalez said in an email to The Star.
