Squirrels are one of the most common creatures you’ll see scurrying around Kansas City, so it may surprise you to learn that they did not move here of their own accord. In fact, the massive squirrel population is here thanks to one famous Kansas Citian importing them in and releasing them in our parks!
BREAKING NEWS: Squirrels Are The Hottest New Trend!
Park visitors were eager to see wildlife and squirrels were the perfect solution!
Around the middle of the 19th century, there was a huge push for major urban centers to incorporate more natural green spaces within them. Cities during this period were difficult to live in. They were extraordinarily overcrowded with people who couldn’t afford to live further than walking distance from the warehouses, shipyards, and factories they worked in and primitive-by-today’s-standards waste management systems left their streets extremely dirty.
The designers of Central Park wanted visitors to feel transported to the countryside.
In an effort to improve the lives of city dwellers, urban planners began to explore the idea of bringing the beauty of the countryside closer to home. Hence, parks were born. Construction for one of the most famous city parks, Central Park, began in 1858. The architects, Frederick Law Olmstead and Calvert Vaux, wanted to emulate the beauty of nature within the park’s perimeters and carefully designed and constructed the entire landscape of the park with meticulous care. To enhance the natural feel of the park, they shipped in squirrels, which were only ever found in wooded areas far from urban centers.
And the people loved them! They were one of the major attractions in parks. Watching them chase each other and climb trees was exciting and people enjoyed feeding them. Of course, visitors from other cities saw these adorable little rascals and wanted them in their own parks. Over the next 50 years, more and more cities began bringing squirrels in and releasing them in their own parks.
Over the past century, squirrels have adapted very well to urban life.
Kansas City was no different. Around 1915, real estate developer and founder of the Kansas City Star, William Rockhill Nelson, saw the popularity of squirrels in other cities and had them brought into KC and released in the parks.
When squirrels were first released in urban areas, they were heavily reliant on food from humans, which was not much of an issue since everyone was eager to feed them. Most parks had a plethora of nut-bearing trees planted in them to also provide food for the them. Squirrels also quickly learned about scavenging and finding food outside of the parks, in the trash left by people.
Over the next 100 years, the perception of squirrels slowly shifted from endearing, scampering critters to annoying, pesky varmints. Their populations exploded and they spread out far from the parks into theB areas in and around cities.
