Coordinates: 39°18′36″N 94°41′06″W / 39.309962°N 94.684896°W / 39.309962; -94.684896 The Red Crown Tavern and Red Crown Tourist Court in Platte County, Missouri was the site of the July 20, 1933 gun battle between lawmen and outlaws Bonnie and Clyde and three members of their gang. The outlaws made their escape, but would be tracked down and cornered four days later near Dexter, Iowa and engaged by another posse. The shootout was depicted in Arthur Penn's 1967 film Bonnie and Clyde, though the sign on the motel in the movie reads "Platte City, Iowa," not Missouri.
Built in 1931 by Parkville, Missouri banker and developer Emmett Breen at the junction of US 71 and Route 59 (now I-435), the red brick and tile Tavern included a popular restaurant and ballroom. Back behind the Tavern was the Tourist Court — just two small cabins connected by two garages. The site is just northeast of the main Kansas City International Airport exit off I-29. Today it is within the city limits of Kansas City, and an Interstate exit cloverleaf runs almost squarely through the property.
Read more about Red Crown Tourist Court: The Gang Seeks Refuge, At The Red Crown, The Gun Battle, Aftermath
Famous quotes containing the words red, crown, tourist and/or court:
“I know a little garden-close
Set thick with lily and red rose,
Where I would wander if I might
From dewy dawn to dewy night,”
—William Morris (1834–1896)
“To be a king and wear a crown is more glorious to them that see it than it is pleasure to them that bear it.”
—Elizabeth I (1533–1603)
“The modern American tourist now fills his experience with pseudo-events. He has come to expect both more strangeness and more familiarity than the world naturally offers. He has come to believe that he can have a lifetime of adventure in two weeks and all the thrills of risking his life without any real risk at all.”
—Daniel J. Boorstin (b. 1914)
“When a man’s feeling and character are injured, he ought to seek a speedy redress.... My character you have injured, and further you have insulted me in the presence of a court and large audience. I therefore call upon you as a gentleman to give me satisfaction for the same.”
—Andrew Jackson (1767–1845)