Hotel Quivira
By Eric R. Johnson
Many ideas and plans have been proposed at Lake Quivira, and for various reasons, usually practicality and/or financial, such plans were abandoned. This is but a small collection of schemes which were finally assigned to the trash heap.
There are no drawings or photos of the first one. It exists only in the writings of Jack Crowe, a long-time realtor at Lake Quivira. Mr Crowe came to Quivira in 1929 and early on was employed as the sales manager for the new development corporation. In a 1966 presentation to the Quivira Mother’s Club he gave the following account:
Billionaire brothers, Samuel and Martin Insull of the Insull utilities empire from Chicago, were major investors in the Quivira Lakes project. They had given the Chicago Opera House to the City of Chicago, and it was in the early plans of Quivira to concrete part of the back of the dam into steps and seats and use the picnic grounds (now the soccer fields) for a stage and to bring grand opera to Quivira. The Insull empire crashed along with the stock market, and the Insull brothers fled to Greece and Canada respectively to avoid prosecutors and issues related to their financial collapse. That was the end of grand opera at Quivira and long before outdoor theater at Starlight in Kansas City, MO.
In 1928 Quivira Lakes was going to be a resort development, so of course lodging would be a requirement. In the meeting room of the Quivira office, hanging over the fireplace, is architect Victor Defoe’s sketch of the proposed Hotel Quivira. I understand this grand structure was to be built on the east side prominence at the end of Kaw Lane. DeFoe also designed the Clubhouse and envisioned a much larger complex with wings to the east and west. Only the center section made it to completion. Economics has a way of tempering needs and modifying dreams. The architectural drawing is currently mounted on the wall in the lower level of the Clubhouse.
A 1929 map of Quivira by a city planning and landscape architectural firm places the Clubhouse squarely on top of the current No 12 green and has reserved an area on the northwest side for a school. (contact me if you would like a larger, more readable, copy of this map).
For the golfing community, perhaps my favorite project Quivira never completed, an idea probably from the forties: a short, par 3 hole of about 98 yards over the first cove on the east side, with a tee in the area of docksite # 442 and a green at the base of 350 (Madl), 360(Gilhousen) Kaw Lane. It seemed like a good idea at the time.
If you have any thoughts about future content for this series please let me know. I perhaps have another year of ideas rattling around; additional input would be appreciated.
