Formal flower gardens and the first golf course at Swope Park are shown on a post card of the early 1900s. The location was immediately east of the main shelter house. The same photograph, evidently taken from the top of the shelter house, was printed in the 1907 report of the Board of Park commissioners. Swope Park was in its first decade of operation, and only the northeast corner of the park near the entrance had been developed. One dirt road, the Hickman's Mill Road, led through the park and crossed two sets of railroad tracks. A fine nursery and operating plant had been built of native stone. W. H. Dunn's 1907 report states that 86,662 plants at an average value of 5 cents each had been planted in the beds at Swope Park. Other Kansas City parks had received 34,179 that year from the Swope propagating house.The report told of the golf course being greatly improved with the constant use of the horse-drawn lawn mowers with roller attachment and the use of a 5-ton steam roller, but added that the present location of the course (which is temporary) interferes materially with the use of that portion of the park immediately in front of the main shelter building by the general public...Regulations were adopted, eliminating the use of the golf course after 2 o'clock on Sundays. (No doubt this was the time when the crowds arrived by street cars on Sunday to see the flowers and enjoy the great country-side.) Today Swope's two 18-hole golf courses are located far to the east and south on the borders of the 1,772-acre park. Kansas City Star, August 4, 1973.
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