Local historians present a roundtable discussion titled Kessler, Long, and Nichols: The City Beautiful, the City Ideal on Thursday, October 9, at 6:30 p.m. in the Truman Forum at the Plaza Branch, 4801 Main St.

Kessler, Long, and Nichols: The City Beautiful, the City Ideal examines how the work of three city fathers who helped in “civilizing” Kansas City – the father of Kansas City’s Parks and Boulevard system George Kessler; planner and developer of the Country Club Plaza J.C. Nichols; and local lumber baron Robert A. Long – influenced a similar project in Longview, Washington.

The discussion will be moderated by noted historian William Wilson, author of The City Beautiful Movement in Kansas City and Coming of Age: Urban America, 1915-1945. Also participating in the panel discussion will be architectural historian Charlene Roise, author of Keeping up with the Carnegies: Robert A. Long and His Legacy in Kansas City, and Kansas City historian William Worley, author of J.C. Nichols and the Shaping of Kansas City: Innovation in Planned Residential Communities.