Kansas City Crown Center fountains were a kids’ oasis for decades. Why did the fun dry up?

Signs on the wavy metal fence outside of the fountains at Crown Center read:

“PLEASE DO NOT ENTER FOUNTAIN.”

But this ban hasn’t always been in place. For decades, Kansas City kids cooled down on summer days by running through the checkerboard of spouts shooting water into the sky.

The fountains have drawn children into their spray almost as long as they have been open.

Here’s the history of the fountains — which are still running — and why kids are no longer allowed:

How old are the Crown Center fountains?

The fountains were installed in 1972, more than 50 years ago.

“The newest fountain in a city noted for its fountains bubbled to life Tuesday … The 49 jets, lighted at night, can be adjusted to shoot up from a modest six feet on windy days to 30 feet when it is calm,” a Kansas City Times article stated the year the fountains turned on.

A Kansas City Star story detailed children’s enjoyment of the fountains on a Sunday in June 2006:

“Two-year-old Grace Johnson could not stand still … Forty-nine fountains were shooting water straight to the sky and she had to get back in there right now.

She shivered with excitement, screamed with glee and rocketed face-first into the spray.

Her big sister, Angel, 8, demonstrated a ‘trick’ she had devised to amplify the fun: Sit on top of the spray until it bursts up between your knees and right up your nose.”

When did the Crown Center fountains close to kids?

Even now, Kansas Citians can see the memories of this excitement. Walking into the Ward Parkway Trader Joe’s, shoppers can find a mural depicting children frolicking in the water spouts.

The painting shows a child holding a bucket, trying to capture the water. Another kid appears to be running, T-shirt soggy and hair plastered to his face.

Painted by artist Mark Fetty, the mural was completed in 2011, according to his website, just before the fountains closed to visitors the next year.

On a sunny Friday this February, an Overland Park mom said it would be a “huge bummer” not to let her four kids, ages 3 to 10, run through the water on a hot summer’s day.

“When I saw the sign today, I was like ‘That’s weird,’” said Shantay Henrie, sitting at a shaded table by the mall.

“It’d be annoying to try and keep my kids out of them,” Henrie said. The family moved to the Kansas City area almost two years ago and Henrie remembered letting her kids cool down in similar fountains in Minnesota and Texas. “Everywhere we’ve lived they’ve had fountains at the mall.”

Why were the fountains shut down for visitors?

The Star reported in June 2012 that the fountains closed after a test showed unsafe bacteria in the waters, according to a Crown Center spokesperson at the time, Chris Ronan.

After Legoland and Sea Life opened that April, the spokesperson said more people were cooling off in the fountains, increasing safety concerns.

Ronan was quoted in a June 13, 2012 Star story: “It’s a fountain and not a pool…It’s not designed to handle things the same way a pool is.”

Crown Center declined a request to comment for this story.

Kansas Citians reacted with outrage on social media, The Star reported in 2012.

One Facebook commenter wrote, “No. Just no. I grew up playing in those fountains and always planned on taking my kids to play in them when visiting family in KC.”

Native Kansas Citian Kia Turner remembered playing in the fountains after a Coterie show when she was a child, as she told Star columnist Jeneé Osterheldt in 2012. Turner had introduced her 2-year-old daughter to the tradition.

“I looked forward to her growing up being able to enjoy it the way I did. Now I can’t. The fountain ban hurts because it ends a tradition for many people,” Turner said.

Star columnist Mary Sanchez bluntly wrote her opinion on the matter:

“(Crown Center doesn’t) want to get sued for children slipping, falling and cracking their heads open. And they don’t want some ugly bacterial infection caused by toddler poop, or just too many humans, in the water sprays.”

How many fountains are there in Kansas City?

The Crown Center fountain is one of over 200 fountains in Kansas City, which is known as the City of Fountains. Originally, fountains were used as drinking basins for Kansas City’s horses, according to Visit KC. Each April, the city turns on the almost 50 public fountains for the event coined Fountain Day.

Do you have more long-gone Kansas City traditions you want to share? Contact the Service Journalism team at kcq@kcstar.com.