John Barkley Plaza Opens

Johnson County Parks celebrated the ribbon cutting of the John Barkley Plaza at Shawnee Mission Park on Saturday. The plaza features seat walls, a shade pavilion, a drinking fountain, a BikeShare rack and a bike-fix-it station along with an existing flagpole near the park entrance. Users of the plaza will have access to existing restrooms in the nearby JCPRD Administration Building, which are available whenever the park is open.

The plaza is named after John Lewis Barkley, a Medal of Honor recipient from World War I. He was the first superintendent of the county’s park district. He acquired approximately 1,300 acres for development of the first two parks in the Shawnee Mission Park District, now called the Johnson County Park and Recreation District (JCPRD).