Green Duck Tavern

The Green Duck Tavern, located at 2548 Prospect, is significant for the political events which were organized within its walls. The Green Duck was owned and operated by Leon Jordan, a Kansas City civil rights activist who started his career in the city when he joined the Police Department in 1938. Jordan served for 16 years and became the first African American to achieve the rank of lieutenant. He was granted an extended leave of absence in 1947 when he moved to the West African country of Liberia where he lived for eight years and where he organized a 450 man police force. Jordan left police work soon after his return from Liberia and launched his business at the Green Duck Tavern.

In 1962, Leon Jordan founded the political club Freedom Inc. with Bruce Watkins, his longtime friend and ally in inner-city political affairs. The club was established to give black voters more influence and to develop black candidates for political office. In 1963, under Jordan’s leadership and with a public accommodations ordinance on the ballot, Freedom Inc. conducted one of the most significant voter registration drives ever seen in Kansas City, and in 1964, Jordan was elected to the Missouri House of Representatives.

Leon Jordan was shot at close range in the early morning hours of July 15, 1970, as he was closing his tavern. The Leon M. Jordan Memorial Park at 31st Street and Benton Boulevard, which features a statue of the slain leader, was dedicated in 1975.

The Green Duck Tavern was listed on the Kansas City Register of Historic Places on September 15, 2015.