Old Red Bridge: Love Locks In Kansas City, Missouri

We have all likely heard of love locks, closely associated with the bridges of Paris. As a testament to their everlasting love, couples etch their initials or names and the date into a padlock, lock it to a bridge, and toss the key into the water below. While many associate love locks with Paris, the tradition is said to go back to World War I in Serbia. A young couple fell in love and got engaged before he went off to war. He fell in love with another, ended the engagement, and his first fiancé died of heartbreak. From then on, women in love would put the names of their beloved and their own on a padlock and lock it to a bridge. That tradition has made its way to Old Red Bridge, home to love locks in Kansas City, Missouri.

Whether you believe in the origin of love locks, the tradition has become beloved around the world, so much so that many cities, including Paris, have begun to take down the love locks, often to an uproar.

So many people have added love locks in all corners of the world that the weight of the locks often threatens the stability of the bridges on which they’re placed.

However, there’s one place in Missouri you can place a love lock, and that’s Old Red Bridge in Minor Park in Kansas City.

Bring your own love lock, or head over to the Pro Shop at the Minor Park Golf Course to buy one. Inscribe your name and the name of your beloved, and affix it to the bridge.

Instead of following tradition and throwing the key in the Blue River and thus contributing to polluting it, drop it in one of the special key drop boxes. They’re easy to spot on the bridge.

Old Red Bridge is open daily from 5 a.m. to midnight.

Find more information on the official website of Kansas City Parks & Recreation. Or, stop by the Facebook page of Kansas City Parks & Recreation.

Have you been to Old Red Bridge to see the love locks in Kansas City, Missouri? Did you add one? Share your experience in the comments! While you’re in the area, how about visiting one of these state parks near Kansas City, Missouri?

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Old Red Bridge - Love Lock, East Red Bridge Road, Minor Park North Entrance, Kansas City, MO 64131, USA

The Story Behind The Paris Love Locks Tradition That Made Its Way To This Bridge In Missouri

Beth Price-Williams

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