Ward Parkway is a 9-mile landscaped boulevard running south from the Country Club Plaza through Kansas City's most affluent residential neighborhoods toward the Missouri-Kansas state line. Designed in the early 20th century by George Kessler — the landscape architect who also designed the city's park and boulevard system — Ward Parkway is lined with mature trees, large private estates, and a series of decorative traffic circles with fountains and sculpture. It is one of the finest examples of early-20th-century American urban boulevard design remaining in the country.
Driving the length of it takes 20 minutes; cycling is possible on the adjacent trail. The neighborhood architecture along both sides of the parkway is consistently high quality — a tour through Kansas City's version of the turn-of-century wealthy suburb, largely intact. The boulevard connects several of the city's parks and terminates near the Kansas state line, where a cluster of upscale suburban retail has grown up in recent decades.