All the way back in November 2002, the
Star's development reporter, Kevin Collison, had the oh-so-plain-and-simple yet visionary idea to put a Museum of the American West inside Union Station, where attendance has never ever come close to prerestoration projections. As the station continued to hemorrhage money, Collison laid out a string of reasons why the idea couldn't help but succeed. "No period in American history captures the imagination more than the settling of the West," he wrote, noting that "wagon trains, the great American Indian plains tribes, the Pony Express, sodbusters, railroads, cattle drives, cavalry and more, all have strong connections with Kansas City and the surrounding region." There was plenty of room within the cavernous station for hands-on displays where, he argued, kids could build sod houses or tepees or "blow the whistle on an iron horse." Besides, the region's nineteenth-century history is gory enough that the station could cash in on the prurient interest alone: "There is the bloody border conflict before and during the Civil War," Collison wrote. "John Brown, the sacking of Lawrence, Quantrill's raiders -- Americans could learn that terrorism isn't a new -- or foreign -- phenomenon." Finally, he pointed out that "a terrific museum, done perhaps in conjunction with the Smithsonian Institution and/or the National Park Service, would be a major draw for tourists traveling on Interstate 70 for that big family vacation West." So obvious. So beautiful. So not happening.
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