The Scout

The Scout, an impressive statue of an Sioux Indian on horseback looking north toward downtown Kansas City, is located in Penn Valley Park, near Southwest Trafficway and Broadway Boulevard, just off 31st Street. From 31st Street, go north on Penn Street, next to the Firefighter’s Fountain.

The Scout is a memorial to local Native American tribes. Beloved and often photographed by Kansas Citians, The Scout is more than 10 feet tall, and depicts a Sioux Indian returning from a hunting trip sitting warily astride his horse with bow in hand. In Kansas City's first sister city, Seville, Spain, is a nearly identical statue . The Scout was conceived in 1915 by Cyrus E. Dallin (1861-1944) for the Panama Pacific Exposition in San Francisco, where it won a gold medal. On its way back east, the statue was exhibited on a temporary basis in Penn Valley Park. The statue was so well received that $15,000 was raised in nickels and dimes through a campaign called The Kids of Kansas City. The statue was dedicated in 1922 as a permanent memorial to local Indian tribes. Several area attractions have been named after the iconic statue, most notably, Kansas City Scout, which is the Kansas City Metroplitan Area's electronic traffic alert system. Kansas City's short-lived NHL team was named the Kansas City Scouts, after the statue.

Imagine my dismay last week when I drove north on Penn Street past the skate park and the tennis courts only to find barricades preventing me from continuing on to the Scout. There were a lot of men sitting in their cars who were not skating or playing tennis. I didn't feel comfortable walking alone to photograph the Scout, so I returned a couple of days later with my photographer. We walked down to the Scout, along a cracked and weed-infested road, and came to the symbol of Kansas City only to find it littered with beer cans and discarded underwear with part of the bridle missing!