Kansas City’s most recognizable landmark is ready for visitors again. The Liberty Memorial Tower at the National WWI Museum and Memorial reopened on October 10, 2026, after a careful renovation, returning public access to the top of the 217-foot tower.
The restoration renewed the tower’s limestone and its observation areas, so the climb — by elevator and a final flight of stairs — once again ends with one of the finest views in the city: the downtown skyline spread out to the north and the museum’s great lawn below.
The tower has watched over Kansas City since 1926, when the memorial was dedicated before a crowd of more than 150,000 people. The Egyptian Revival landmark, designed by architect Harold Van Buren Magonigle, is guarded at its base by two Assyrian sphinxes, Memory and Future, and by night its summit glows with a flame of light visible across the city.
Admission to the tower is included with a museum ticket, and access is first-come and weather dependent, so clear days go fast. Even without the climb, the memorial grounds themselves — 26 acres of lawns, fountains and exhibits — make one of the most rewarding free walks in Kansas City.
Photo: Wikimedia Commons (public domain)
