This north Johnson County town, just east of Shawnee on both sides of I-35 and about eight miles from downtown Kansas City, Missouri, has a comfortable home-town atmosphere. The city brochure describes it as "a vibrantly growing, yet quaint community," and it is that.
Events like a citywide ice cream social every July, outdoor summer concerts, the Downtown Fall Festival in October, the Mayor's Tree Lighting and the Turkey Creek Festival every May help maintain the city's home-town lifestyle.
Merriam offers houses of all styles and ages - from century-old homes tended well and updated carefully to traditional split and two-story plans and some newer homes built on infill properties in the last 10 years.
This town's rich history dates from the Shawnee Indians who lived here in the early 19th century and includes the Quaker missionaries and the railroads that brought prosperity in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
For a time, in the late 1800s and early 1900s, Merriam was known as "the fun capital of Kansas City" because of Merriam Park, an elaborate amusement park built by the Ft. Scott & Gulf railroad near Shawnee Mission Parkway. Merriam Park was 40 acres of walks and drives, an amusement park, a zoo and a boating lagoon, and it launched the career of George Kessler, who went on to fame as the designer of parks and boulevards in Kansas City, Memphis, Cincinnati and Dallas.
Later the trolley line brought Sunday picnickers to Hocker Grove Park, another pleasant country park around which were built some wonderful stone homes and Hocker Grove, Johnson County's first true subdivision.
Merriam has been a city of Johnson County firsts: the first Bell Telephone office, first high school (now Shawnee Mission North), first public library and first big public park (Antioch).
In 1998 Merriam Town Center opened, offering movie screens, retail stores and restaurants at the junction of I-35 and Johnson Drive. In 2001 the Downtown Merriam Partnership was incorporated to spur revitalization of the city's original downtown. New commercial/retail development is under way at I-35 and 67th Street and I-35 and Johnson Drive.
The city has 12 public parks, which include an aquatic center, tennis courts, picnic shelters, playgrounds and four miles of paved walking trail along Turkey Creek, one of the county's prettiest spots. The Irene B. French Community Center is in a renovated historic school building that houses a gymnasium, commercial kitchen, fitness center, dance studio, a historic museum, public art gallery and game, class and conference rooms.
In 2001, Merriam built Merriam Marketplace, a permanent pavilion for the town's Farmer's Market. The open-air pavilion, which houses more than 30 produce vendors from early May into early October, is also the site of summer concerts and community events throughout the year.
