!ati-;«!aS\6s*'ifti.i::' YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY Purchased from the income of the bequest of WILLIAM ROBERTSON COE Honorary M.A. 1 949, for material in the field of American Studies 1853. p f>^^. =''^V.-w,,„..l^' ^lld.-. i88e. ^ ^' "•^ ft* C^% ff.\ S.ll iSl-** uU^I*^ ^f> ^ of M^m^ , ^ihi.*. HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY MISSOURI WITH ILLUSTRATIONS AND BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF SOME OF ITS PROMINENT MEN AND PIONEERS EDITED BY THEO. S. CASE SYRACUSE, N. Y. D. MASON & CO., PUBLISHERS 1888 PEESB OF D. MASON & CO. 68 WEST WATER ST., SYBACUBE, N. Y. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. KANSAS CITY BBFOES THE WAR^t- ,* Preliminary — Geology and ArchEeology — Topogranhy;;^N'ame and Aboriginal Own.ers — First Settlers, French — The Mormon EpiSfede — Rise andvProgress of Kansas City to 1854— Commerce of the Prairies-and the Old Santa Fe Trail — California Emigration — rCholera — Overland Mail and Express — Steamboats and Rivers —The City from 1854 to 1860— Municipal History Before' the War— News papers — Hotels — Banks — Railroads 13 70 CHAPTER II. THE EFFECTS OF THE CIVIL WAR. Its Effect on the City — Business Suspended — Newspapers Discontinued — "Red-Legs, ' ''f/i-' "Bushwhackers,," and "Jayhawkers" — Kansas City Remains Loyal to the ,. '', . Union^Raising of Union and Secession Flags — Van Horn's Battahon — City Finances at Close of 1861 — Contrariety of Sentiment as Evinced by Editorials in Newspapers — Mails and Telegraphs Cut Off— General Order Number 11 — Quantrell's Raid upon Lawrence,' Kansas — Price's Raid in 1864 — Battle of West- port — Declaration of Peace — Revival of Business ( TOySS CHAPTER III. - REMARKABLE PROGRESS AFTER THE WAR. Condition of City at Close of War — Leavenworth's Rivalry— The Dawn of Better ffimes — Railroad Concentration — Kansas City in 1866 — Gas Works and other Improvements — The First Bridge Spanning the Missouri — Thfe Panic of 1873 — The Old Waterworks Fight— Board of Trade and Merchants'' Exchange — The First Exposition— Pioneer Street Railways — Free Mail Dehvery — The Board of,, - , Trade Delegation Visits Texas — Texas Delegation Returrls the Visit— The City's Unexampled Prosperity — Interesting Facts and Figures — The Exposition ofi' ;•, 1887— The Trades and Priests of Pallas Parades— The President'sVisit^E^n- "•': sas City's Delegation to Mexico ' : .'..;. 83-1 Ij] Contents. CHAPTER IV. EDUCATION IN KANSAS CITY. Schools Before the War- Effects of the War— The Origin and History of the Public School System in Kansas City, 1867 to 1887 H^ 122 CHAPTER V. JOURNALISM IN KANSAS CITY FROM 1865 TO 1887. The Kansas City Journal — The Kansas City Post — The Kansas City Times — Bulletin — News — MaU — Star — Evening News — Presse — Review of Science and Industry — Centropolis — Mid -Continent — Gate City Press — Commercial — Real Estate Record — Price Current — Live Stock Indicator — Medical Index — Medical Retard, etc., etc., etc .- 122-138 c- CHAPTER VI. THE RAILROAD HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. Kansas City's Railroad System — The Missouri Pacific Railroad — The Council Bluffs Railroad— Kansas City, Fort Scott and Gulf Railroad — Railroad Bridge over the Missouri River^Kansas City and Cameron Railroad — Obtaining the Right of Way for a Railroad through the Indian Territory — Leavenworth, Lawrence and Galveston Railroad — Chicago and Alton Railroad— North Missouri Railroad — Atchison, (Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad — Kansas City and Memphis Railroad —Union Passenger Depot— The Wabash System— Kansas City, Wyandotte and Northwestern, etc., etc., etc 139-160 CHAPTER VII. RELIGIOUS, SOCIAL, SECRET, BENEVOLENT, AND LITERARY SOCIETIES. The Young Men's Christian Association— The Provident Association— The Orphans' Home — Women's Christian Association — Home for Aged Men and Women St. Joseph's Orphan Asylum— Women's Refuge and Maternity Hospital— Way side Home— Exchange for Women's Work— Home for Homeless Boys— Grand Army of- the Republic— Acadenay of Science— Art Association and School of Design— Knights of Pythias— Odd Fellows— United Workmen— Board of Trade —Merchants' and Manufacturers' Bureau— Commercial Club— Turnverein Soci ety—Kansas City Club— University Club— Loyal Legion of the U. S.— Knights of Labor, etc., etc., etc 160-108 CHAPTER VIII. MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT. First Charter Granted to Kansas City in 1853— Amendments- City Limits Extended at Different Times— List of Officers since 1865— Old Volunteer Fire Depart ment-History of Fire Department since 1871— Metropolitan Police Force- Board of Health, etc., etc. . ' ' 198-216 Contents. CHAPTER IX. PORK AND BEEF PACKING— LIVE STOCK INTEREST. Pioneer Packers, M. Diveley in 1858, J. L. Mitchener, 1859— After the War, E. W. Pat- tison in 1867— J. W. L. Slavens, 1868— F. B. Nofsinger, 1869— Plankinton & >, Armour in 1870 — Jacob Dold & Sons— Fowler Bros.— Kansas City Packing Co. ' — Alcutt Packing Co. — Kingan Packing Co.— Swift & Co. — Dressed Meat Busi ness — Live Stock Statistics 216-224 CHAPTER X. COMMERCE AND MANUFACTURES. Commerce at Close of War — Chamber of Commerce — -Gradual Resumption of Trade — Growth of Business from 1865 to 1888 — Trade in Different' Lines — Notices of Wholesale Houses — Status as a Manufacturing Centre — Advantages for Manu facturing — Merchants' and Manufacturers' Bureau — Manufactures of Different Kinds — Agricultural Implements — Cement and Sewer Pipe — Beer — Bags — Brick — Printing — Foundries — Cigars and Tobacco — Flour, Meal, etc. — Oils — Saddlery — Sash, Doors, and Bhnds — Soap — Stoves — Type — Trunks, etc., etc.. 224-263 CHAPTER XI. INVESTMENT COMPANIES. The Boundless Resources of the West — Kansas City and its Surroundings — Needs of the Settler and Farmer — Western Loans and Securities — Demand for Invest ment Companies — Prominent Investment Companies — The Jarvis-Conklin Mort gage Trust Co. — Kansas City Investment Co. — Mutual Loan and Building Asso ciation — Lombard Investment Co. — Gossard Investment Co. — Whipple Invest ment and Trust Co. — Missouri Union Trust Co. — National Loan and Trust Co. — New England Trust Co. — Dearborn Mortgage Co. — American Trust Co. — Pennsylvania Investment Co. — Union Investment Co. -^Equitable Mortgage Co. — Boston Loan and Trust Co., etc., etc 263-281 CHAPTER XII. THE BANKING INTEREST. Kansas City's Enviable Position as a Commercial Centre — Clearing House Statistics, Past and Present— History of the Clearing House— Account of Some of the Earlier Banks— The Panic of 1873— Bank Changes and Suspensions— Sketches of the Banking Houses of To-day — National Bank of Commerce— Armour Bros. Banking Company — National Bank of Kansas City— Merchants' National Bank Citizens National Bank — Union National Bank— American National Bank — First National Bank — Central Bank — German American National Bank — H. S. Mills & Son— Norton Brothers Bank— Stock-yards Bank— Bank of Grand Ave nue — The. Savings Banks— Safe Deposits, etc., etc 281-296 Contents. CHAPTER XIII. BARGE NA.VIGATION AND RIVER IMPROVEMENT. First Discussion of Barge Navigation— Action ef the Board of Trade— Attitude of the Kansas City Press— The Movement Crushed by the Panic of 1873— Revived Four 'Years Later— Tried and Found Feasible— Misfortunes and Antagonistic Influences— Improvement of the Missouri River— Appropriations by Congress in 1879 and 1882— Also in 1884 and 1886— River Convention, of 1880— Other Conventions and Movements in Favor of River Improvement 296-301 CHAPTER XIV. CHURCHES. CathoHc Churches— Father Roux— Father Donnelly— Purchase of Ground for Catholic Church in 1835— Later Catholic Churches — Methodist Churches — Baptist Churches— Episcopal Churches— Presbyterian Churches— Christian Churches- Congregational Churches— Unitarian Churches— Lutheran -Churches— Hebrew Churches, etc 301-325 CHAPTER XV. THE BENCH AND BAR. Organization of County Courts — The Circuit Courts — Criminal Court — Recorder's Court — Probate Court— Court of Appeals — Kansas City Bench and Bar — Sketches of Many of the Prominent Members — The Kansas City Law 'Library Association — List of Members 325-356- CHAPTER XVI. THE MEDICAL PROFESSION. Sketches of the Lives ot Some of the Prominent Physicians of Kansas City, Past and Present 357-36r CHAPTER XVII. MEDICAL, COMMERCIAL AND MISCELLANEOUS EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS.. The Kansas City Medical College — The University of Kansas City — Its Medical De partment — The Hospital Medical College — Kansas City Dental College — College of Pharmacy — Spalding's Commercial College — National Business College School of Elocution and Oratory — Schools of Shorthand and Typewriting Con servatory of Music — Schultze School of Music— St. Theresa's Academy Other Schools 368-378 Contents. 9 CHAPTER XVIII. THE EXPOSITIONS AND FAIRS OF KANSAS CITY. The First Exposition in 1871 — Successive Expositions to 1881 — Visited by Jeff Davis in 1875— Goldsmith .Maid in 1876— Buildings Destroyed by Fir«in 1881— .. Inter-State Fair Organized 1881 — Temporary Pair and Exposition 1882 — Inter- State Fair Opened in 1883 — The Great Exposition of 1887 — Agricultural and Horticultural Fair Association 378-387 CHAPTER XIX. THE REAL ESTATE INTEREST. Its Relation to the City's Prosperity — Early Real Estate Dealers — Wonderful Increase in Values — Values Fifty Years Ago — Account of Building "Boom" — Additions, Subdivisions, etc. — Transfers in 1886 and 1887 — Stability of the Real' Estate Market — Titles — Abstract Companies — Land Title Guarantee Co. — Suburban Improvement and Development — Prices of Lots Compared with Other Cities — Real Estate and Stock Exchange— Prominent Real Estate Firms and Dealers . . 387-406 CHAPTER XX. STREET RAILWAY SYSTEM. Horse Railroads — First Street Railway, 1870 — Kansas City and Westport line — Jack son County Horse Railroad — Union Depot Street Railroad- — Corrigan System — Fifth Street and East Bottom Line — Fifteenth Street and Prospect Avenue Line — Cable Lines — General Explanation of the Modus Operandi — Robert Gillham the Originator — His Trials, Difficulties, and Final Success — Wm. J. Smith and George J. Keating Assist Him — The Kansas City Cable Company — The Grand Avenue Railway Company — The Metropolitan Street Railway Company -Its Cable and Horse Car Lines — Peoples' Railway Company — Inter-State (Elevat ed) Rapid Transit Company — Its Several Divisions — Kansas City, Independ ence and Park Railway Company- Other Lines 406-418 CHAPTER XXI. POLITICAL HISTORY. Earlier Administrations principally Democratic — Gregory, Lykins, Payne and Maughs — Politics of Kansas City before the War— During the War — After the War — RepubUcan Administrations — Acts and Results of Various Administrations from 1865 to 1888— Objects of all the Advancement of Kansas City— Valuable Aid from Prominent Politicians and Newspapers of All Parties 418-431 CHAPTER XXII. BIOGRAPHICAL. Sketches and Portraits of Many of the Most Prominent and Influential Citizens'; . : . . 432-714 APPENDIX. Freemasonry in Kansas City • ¦ ¦ • i*714-71T lO Contents. ILLUSTRATIONS. Bainbridge, A. A facing 656 Bales, William facing 452 Bell, Dr. James B facing 148 Blake, Captain John T facing 480 Blossom, George Newton facing 124 Bauerlein, Joseph H facing 466 Brookett, 0. A facing 450 Bryant, Hon. Thomas V facing 324 Brown, P. S facing 204 Byers, Joh# W facing 216 Gary, Hon. Lucius facing 602 Case, Col. Theodore Spencer facing 460 Chadwick, Abiather facing 458 Chick, Joseph S facing 60 Chick, W. H facing 516 Churchill, H. P facing 192 Clarke, William R. . . ^. facing 304 Coates, Col. Kersey facing 52 Conklin, Roland R.. facing 312 Conover, Col. John facing 260 Crittenden, Hon. Thomas T facing 76 Curtis, M. C facing 336 Denny, Joseph S . . facing 340 Dobsou, Hon. Charles Lee facing 320 DoW, J"- C facing 488 Everhart, William B facing 288 Elston, John W., M.D facing 392 ¦ Ferree, Charles M facing 140 Fink, Joseph H facing 280 Gillham, Robert facing 512 Gossard, Alvin H facing 532 Gosnell, WiUiam A facing 584 Green, Thomas J facing 474 Grifath, Jefferson D., M.D facing 316 Grimes, William B facing 100 . Halley, George, M.D facing 272 Hammerslough, Louis facing 328 Hanna, Thomas King facing 156 Harris, T. A facing 546 Hasbrook, Charles E facing 132 Holmes, William facing 496 Holmes, Nehemiah facing 332 Husted, James D facing 504 Irwin, L. E facmg 360 Jarvis, Samuel M facing 164 Johnson, H. L jaoing 640 Johnson, William T facing 690 Jones, Major B. F facing 372 Knight, William Baker facing 428 Kump, Frank Hubbard facing 524 Latshaw, Hon. Henry J facing 116 Lester. Thomas B facing 556 Lillis, James facing 536 Lombard, James L - . . facing 558 Mayors of Kansas City, 1853-1888 .frontispiece McCrary, Hon. George W facing 68 McDonald, Witten facing 356 Meyer, August R facing 620 Moss, Hon. Charles Eugene facing 352 Munford, Morrison facing 36 Northrup, Hiram M facing 308 Pain, Henry B facing 634 Parker, Edward E facing 682 Payne, Hon. Milton J facing 364 Peake, William facing 684 Phelps, B. H facing 368 Phillips, E. A facing 588 Porter, -David R facing 92 Pullman, David facing 548 Reynolds, James I facing 580 Rice, W. P facing 376 Richards, John F facino- 404 Richardson, E. E facing 396 Ridge, Isaac M., M.D facing 252 Royer, W. H facing 424 Scott, Thomas A facing 420 Schueler, Armin L. 0 facing 348 Squier, James J facing 244 Standen, Alfred B facing 608 Stegner, Theodore facing 566 Stimson, Harry P facing 344 Stowe, James G facing 412 Strayer, John W facing 408 bwitzer, Henry facing 578 Thorne Joshua, M.D facing 636 Todd,Dr S.S facinl 296 Towers, Ma,]or Wilham A facing 638 Trueworthy, Dr. John W facing 696 Twitchell, Hon. Daniel S facing 108 Van Horn, Hon. R. T facin| 20 Vaughan, William A. M facing 172 Wallace, Hon. William H .'facinl 416 Wornall, Hon John B facing 300 Il^'-'^er Col. George W faoinS 380 Welsh, Milton facing 236 Weston, William f adnl fi7n White, Churchill J ! ! ! ! i ;f:c:n1 So Whitehead Charles W facing 228 vv se, oiitt. . . f^^^ 4QQ WiUard Levi A facinl 704 Wood, James W ' facing 388 Contents. II BIOGRAPHICAL. Adkins, Hon. Robert Snell 443 Armour, S. B 448 Askew, William 577 Bainbridge, A.' A 654 Bales, William, 453 Bell, Dr. James B . 659 Bell, Harmon 452 Blake, Captain John T 480 Blossom, George Newton 466 Bauerlein, Joseph H 466 Brockett, C. A 451 Bryant, Hon. Thomas V 491 Brown, P. S 457 Byers, John W 455 Cary, Hon. Lucius 602 Case, Ermine, Jr 463 Case, Col. Theodore Spencer 460 Chadwick, Abiather : . . 459 Chick, Joseph S 449 Chick, W. H 516 Churchill. H. P 475 Clarke, William B 543 Coates, Col. Kersey 444 Coatsworth, Jay 511 Conklin, Roland R 464 Conover, Col. John 506 Craig, Hon. Henry H 702 Cravens, John K 515 Crittenden, Hon. Thomas T 663 Curtis, M.C 500 Dean, Oliver Hayes 510 Denny, Joseph S 476 Dobson, Hon. Charles Lee 468 Dold, J. C 489 Everhart, Wilham B 470 Elston, John W., M.D 597 Ferree, Charles M 471 Fink, Joseph H 484 French, Andrew R 699 Fuller, George W 495 Fussell, Evan A 477 Gates, Jemuel C 626 Gillham, Robert 512 Gossard, Alvin H 532 Go.'snell, William A 583 Graham, George S 493 Green, 'Thomas 531 Green, Thomas J 474 Griffith, Jefferson D., M.D 478 Grimes, Wilham B 486 Guffin, Ross 472 Guinotte, Hon. J. E 704 Halley, George, M.D 575 Hammerslough, Louis 527 Hanna, Thomas King 497 Harris, T. A 546 Hasbrook, Charles B 499 Herrick, J. E. K 701 Hewes, J. H 713 Holden, Howard M 502 Holmes, Edward E ^ 574 flolmes, WiUiam fT 495 Holmes, Nehemiah 658 Hudson, M. H 703 Husted, James D 505 Ingram, D. R 533 Irwin, L.E 675 Jarvis, Samuel M 548 Johnson, H. L .«•..-'; 538 Johnson, WiUiam T 690 Jones, Major B. F ." 525 Knight, WiUiam Baker 534 Kump, Frank Hubbard 525 La Force, Felix L 534 Latshaw, Hon. Henry J 708 Leslie, Leo N 700 Lester, Thomas B 555 Lillis, James 536 Little, WUUam T -. . . . 693 Lockridge, C. R , 701 Lombard, James L 557 McCrary, Hon. George W 517 McDonald, Witten 550 Meyer, August R 620 Morse, Col. Chas. F 504 Morton, James 560 Moss, Hon. Charles Eugene 529 Munford, Morrison 440 ' Norman, Joseph L 523 Northrup, Hiram M .- . . 686 Pain, Henry B 634 Parks, Clarence A 554 Parker, Francis E 633 Parker, Edward E 682 Payne, Hon. Milton J 541 Pearsons, G. W 562 Peake, WiUiam 685 Phelps, E. H 563 PhUlips, E. A 588 Porter, David R 545 PuUman, David 549 Reynolds, James I 579 12 Contents. Rhodes, H. S 565 Rice, W. P - 581 Biohards, John F 585 Richardson, E. B .-. 594 Ridge, Isaac M., M.D 627 Royer, WiUiam H 694 Sattley, E. C 575 Sauer, Gus. L. 0 .' 584 Scarritt, WiUiam C 593 Scott, Samuel P 684 Scott, Thomas A 568 Schoen, Louis A 567 , Schueler, Armin L. 0 696 Schulte, Frederick W 694 Sloan, Dr. Alfred B 679 Soden, Peter 624 Squier, James J 592 Standen, Alfred E 609 Stegner, Theodore 566 Stimson, Harry P 572 Stowe, James G - 570 Strayer, John W 604 Strope, George W 621 Swain, Joseph W 587 Switzer, Henry 578 Thomson, David P 607 Thorne, Joshua, M.D 635 Todd, Dr. S. S.. 672 Towers, Major WiUiam A 638 Trueworthy, Dr. John W .697 TwitcheU, Hon. Daniel S 618 Underwood, Drury. .'. 683 Van Horn, Hon. R. T . .' '. . 432 Vaughan, William A. M 640 Wallace, Hon. William H 643 Wornall, Hon. John B 611 Warder, Col. George W ¦. 707 Warner, Hon. William 622 Webster, Captain Ed. H 606 Welsh, Milton '. 637 Weston, Captain WiUiam 670 Whipple, Attis A 596 White, ChurchiU J 674 Winner, WUlard E 661 Whitehead, Charles W 615 Wise, Clift 653 WiUard, Levi A 705 Winningham, Theodore 614 WiUis, T. F 660 Wood, James W 677 Woods, WiUiam S 608 HISTORY OF KANSAS CITY. CHAPTER I. KANSAS CITY BEFORE THE WAR. Preliminary— Geology and Archseology— Topography— Name and Aboriginal Owners- First Settlers, French— The Mormon Episode— Rise and Progress of Kansas City to 1854— Commerce of the Prairies, and the Old Santa F^ Trail— California Emigration, and Cholera- Overland Mail and Express — Steamboats and Rivers — The City from 1854 to i860 — Municipal History Before the 'War — Newspapers — Hotels — Banks— Railroads Before the War. STRETCHING away west from longitude 94° 30' W. to the Pacific Ocean, and extending from the Columbia River on the north to the Rio Grande Del Norte on the south, lies a vast region, now containing fourteen States and Territories, which but comparatively a few years ago was a veritable terra in cognita. Here and there, Lewis and Clarke, Pike, Fremont and others, had drawn pencil-like lines of exploration, but nothing was known of its mineral and agricultural resources and capabilities. It was only known that the moun tains bristled with rugged peaks, were scarred by mighty caiions, and were thought to be impassable except in a few places ; that the plains supported immense herds of buffaloes and other wild game, which, in turn, gave suste nance to numerous hordes of wandering savages. The restless American pio neers, with faces ever set westward, crowding close upon each other's heels, were checked for a while by the Indian domain of Kansas and Nebraska, but when the rich gold fields of California were discovered, this barrier was swept away and the living tide rolled onward to the Pacific coast, and then slowly ebbed back, filling up the intervening space and changing the whole condition of the country. The noble herds of buffaloes were soon exterminated in the white man's greed for gain; and the Indians hustled away into obscure corners, to survive or perish, as fate might determine. The once lonely canons now teem with a busy population, adding millions yearly to the metallic wealth of the world ;. fields of yellow grain and herds of domestic cattle have taken the place of the buffalo grass and the buffaloes themselves ; pleasant homes and 14 History of Kansas City. thriving cities have been built up in the place of the Indian wigwams and vil lages. But such has always been the course of events, and while we may sym pathize with the fate of these former denizens of the plains, we cannot but re joice that the " wilderness has blossomed as the rose, and the waste places have been made glad," by the industry of civilized man. In the exploration and development of this rich country, the point at the mouth of the Kansas River, where Kansas, City is now rising into commercial supremacy and greatness, has always borne an important part. It was the natural distributing point for the Indian trader, who exchanged his goods for furs, and the most convenient starting -place for the explorer about to launch out into the prairies of the Great 'West. The valleys of the Missouri and Kan sas Rivers and their many tributaries gave easy access far into the interior, up to the very foot-hills of the Rocky Mountains; and it is worthy of notice that the main lines of railroads running west, follow these old trails of trade and travel. geology and archeology. Kansas City and vicinity is underlaid by what geologists term the Upper Coal Measures. Although these measures are usually barren of good beds of coal, and none has been as yet discovered at Kansas City, they furnish the best qualities of limestone and sandstone for building ; also shales, fire clays, mineral paints and other useful products. The city has an unlimited supply of the best building stone in its limestone quarries, some beds being sixteen and eighteen feet in thickness, and dimension stone of almost any size required can be obtained. Some beds are finely oolitic and produce a very handsome stone of large size. The bluff, or loess formation, a sedimentary deposit of very- fine material, has a thickness of about eighty feet at Kansas City. It is very- valuable as a brick making material ; and as the hills and streets are being- graded away, they rise again in the form of stately buildings. The Kansas and Missouri Rivers furnish an inexhaustible supply of coarse sand for build ing and other purposes. Many of the limestones in the vicinity are hydrauhc, and cement of a good quality is manufactured from them ; and while Kansas City, like other cities, imports much stone for ornamental purposes, she has within her own boundaries all the material that is essentially necessary for the building of a great city. Natural gas has been found in five or six places, at a depth of from four hundred to six hundred feet, and utilized for various pur poses, and hopes are entertained that a supply for manufacturing on a large scale, can be obtained. The town site had originally many fine springs, bub bling out from the hillsides, but in the process of grading streets and excavating- for buildings the springs were covered over and the veins laid bare and dried up. Owing to the configuration of the ground— high hills and deep ravines,— wells were difficult to be obtained, and the inhabitants generally depended upon cisterns for their supply of water until water- works were estabHshed, in 1874. Kansas City Before the War. 15 Kansas City and vicinity once had a population which lived and passed away long before the historic period. On the summits of the high bluffs along the Missouri; River are found the sepulchral mounds of these ancient people. Trees of many hundred years growth have lived and died upon them, and their origin probably dates back to the time when the valley of the Missouri was a great inland lake or estuary, upon the borders of which these aborigines dwelt just after the deposition of the great loess deposit. In some of these mounds are found well constructed chambers of stone, not laid in mortar, but dry walls laid true to line and corners correctly squared. In these are found the de cayed bones of the former inhabitants, in some instances decently laid side by side, and the earth piled over them; in others the bones are in confusion, charred and mingled with masses of charcoal, showing that the remains had been cremated. In some of the largest mounds are found only a few broken and charred bones at the bottom, without any inclosure or covering of any kind. In none of the mounds of this vicinity have there been found any pot tery, stone axes, pipes or other rehcs, usually found in the graves of the mound builders, and from this it is evident that they were a very ancient people, dif ferent from any of the Indian tribes of whom we have any knowledge, and with whom it was customary to deposit the most valued articles of the de ceased with the body. But there have been older remains yet found than these mounds. In excavating for streets and in making brick in the city, flint implements, arrow heads and stone axes have been found scattered through the loess, and on one occasion human bones were discovered eighteen feet from the surface and ten feet from the base of the deposit. It is not probable that these bones were interred at such a depth, and the most natural conclu sion is that they and the flints were deposited at the time that the deposition of this great body of sediment was going on in the ancient lake. These re mains were discovered by Judge E. P. West, and described by him in the Kan sas City Review of Science, vol. VI, p. 461. The bones and teeth of the mas todon are also found in the loess, and were doubtless contemporary with this ancient man. In some of the old burial places, on the bottom lands, the usual pottery and flints are found in the graves, and although these are of great an tiquity, they are modern compared with the works on the hills. It is well known that this locality was thickly inhabited by the Indians when first visited by the whites. It was a place just suited to their wants. The heavy forests on the hills and bottoms abounded in wild fruits, and sheltered them in winter. On the prairies near by were the wild animals, the deer, elk and buffalo, which furnished them with food and clothing, yet not a trace of their occupation is to be found ; even their graves have disappeared, and were it not for the burial mounds of the people who lived and vanished long ages before these modern inhabitants, there would remain nothing to show that any one had ever hved here. 1 6 History of Kansas City. topography. As heretofore stated, the site of Kansas City presented a rugged aspect — high bluffs towering up from the river, seamed here and there by deep ravines, with but a few hlindred feet of level space at their bases on which to build ; it seemed as though it was almost impossible to overcome those natural obsta cles to the building of a city. Before the advent of railroads, rivers and canals were the main arteries of traffic in the interior, and town sites were located with a view to these advantages. Owing to the changeable nature of the chan nel of the Missouri River and its unstable banks, there were but few places where all the requisites of a permanent landing and deep water for boats could be found. Such places were only to be found where the current of the river swept against the high rock bluffs. The town had then to be confined to the space between the bluffs and water, or spread over the hills. Until about the year 1851 all the business of the town was done on the levee along the river front The main entrance was by way of Market street, now Grand Avenue, which followed a depression in the hills, made by a small stream of water emptying into the river at the foot of this street A wagon road had been cut to the river by way of Main street, which also followed a small ravine, but it was too abrupt for heavily loaded teams. About this time the levee began to be too narrow and contracted for the rapidly increasing business, and a few shops and stores sought locations upon the hills. A start once made, others soon followed, and it was not long until the river front was given up to the warehouses, and to the wholesale and shipping business. Main street was cut down again and graded some distance, south, and along this street and Market street the business crept away from the river. The deep cuts neces sary to make some of the streets passable gave an unsightly aspect to the town, and caused many to prophesy that the immense cost of cutting down these streets, and the work to be done in excavating for buildings, would pre vent its ever becoming a city; but, instead of being a detriment, it was in a way beneficial, as the work to be done attracted laborers who became citizens, and the sum paid out for excavating was so much extra money put into cir culation among the business men. The highest of the bluffs was about two hundred feet above low water mark of the Missouri River. There were two principal depressions or ravines with many branches through these hills on the town site ; one commencing at or near Twelfth and Broadway, ran north-northwest, cutting deep through the clay and rocks, and entered the river just west of Broadway; sections of this ravine can still be seen west of Broadway. Another valley, formed by a little stream, commenced near Walnut and Twelfth, ran north-northwest to Ninth and Delaware, thence north-northeast, crossing the public square to Fourth street and Grand avenue, where it was joined by a spring branch from the south, thence north to the river. This ravine has been utilized for the Kansas City Before tre War. 17 construction of a main sewer from Delaware street to the river. At the pubHc square the bottom of this sewer is about eighty feet from the surface. Parts of this old waterway are still visible west of Delaware, between Eighth and Ninth streets. Passi;ig south from Twelfth street, the ground slopes off to the valley of McGee or " O. K." Creek, as it is now known. It received the name of " O. K." from a grog-shop, which about 1848 stood at the crossing of the Westport road, which the proprietor called the " O. K. House." The depression of this valley is very low, extending almost around the city and connecting on the northeast with a valley running into the Missouri River. Some have thought from appearances that the Kansas River might have at one time run through this valley and emptied into the Missouri near the mouth of the Big Blue. The pubHc square at Kansas City is a reHc of the old border times, when towns were built as forts around an open square or plaza, for the purpose of defense against the wild Indians ; so our neighboring towns of Independence and Liberty were built around squares. It is also copied from the Mexican style of laying off towns and cities with a plaza in the center. The custom continued long after the cause for it had passed away. These old squares are now utiHzed for court-houses, market-houses, and other public buildings, and when sown in grass and planted with trees are v.ery ornamental as well as use ful to a city. When the town site was originally platted, a block bounded on the north by Missouri Avenue, on the east by Locust street, and on the south by Independence Avenue, was dedicated by the proprietors for a public cem etery. The cholera visitations of three years, from 1849 to 1851, rapidly filled it up, and the growth of the city soon made it apparent that however ample for the needs of a village, it was not sufficient for the wants of a city, and about i860 it was abandoned and condemned as a burial place. In the year 1879 it was graded off, the bodies removed, and the block converted into a pubHc park, now known as Shelley Park. It has since become a matter of litigation between the city and the heirs of the original proprietors of the town site, who claiim, that having been given to the city for a public burial ground and for no other purpose, and that having been converted to other uses by the city, it should revert to the original owners. Main street, as will be noticed on the map, does not run in a straight line. From Twelfth street north, it followed the valley before mentioned, commenc ing at Walnut and Twelfth, to the junction with Delaware street at Ninth, thence north-northeast to the pubHc square at Independence Avenue ; from thence it was cut through the hills to the river, the grade being aided by a small ravine from Third street to the river. Broadway, one of the finest streets in the city, being eighty feet wide, was also laid out along another of these old waterways. So rugged was the ground that the first streets utiHzed were the qnes which follpiyed these depressions, as they did not necessitate so much History of Kansas City. grading to make them passable ' and so much excavating for foundations for buildings. Grand Avenue, another fine street, eighty feet wide, was laid out in McGee's addition in 1857, and from Twelfth street south followed the old road to Westport. From Twelfth street north it was formerly known as Mar ket street, and was the street traveled by the heavily freighted Santa Fe trams. Owing to the conformation of the ground, nearly all of the streets are broken in their course. But one Or two have a continuous Hne east and west through the older part of the city. One of these is Twelfth street, which runs straight from the State line to the city limits on the east. It was at first named Ot tawa street The names of many of the streets running east and west have been changed from what they were originally named, to correspond with the numbered names of the old town. Thus Tenth street was Lancaster avenue, west of Broadway, Thirteenth street was Lykins street. Sixteenth street was McCoy street, and so on. Mr. John C. McCoy, who surveyed the city in 184S, and one of the first settlers, in a paper read before the " Old Settlers' Association," in January, . 1872, thus describes the town site as it originally appeared: "A clearing or- old field, of a few acres, lying on the high ridge between Main and Wyan dotte, and Second and Fifth streets, made .and abandoned by a mountain trap per, a few old girdled trees standing around, in the field, surrounded by a dilapidated rail fence ; aU around, on ah sides, a .dense forest, the ground cov ered with impenetrable underbrush and fallen timber, and deep^ impassable gorges ; a narrow, crooked roadway, winding from Twelfth and Walnut streets along down on the west side of the deep ravine to-ward the river, across the public square to the river at the foot of Grand Avenue ; a' narrow, difficult path, barely wide enough for a single horseman, running up arid down along the river under the bluffs, winding its crooked way around fallen timber and deep ravines ; an old log house on the river bank occupied by a lank, cadaverous specimen of humanity named ElHs, with one Wind eye and the other on a sharp lookout for stray horses, straggling Indians and squatters with whoin to swap a tin cup of whisky for a coon skin ; another old dilapidated log cabin on the point below the Pacific depot ; two or three small dwellings and cabins in the Kaw bottom, now called West Kansas, which were houses of French mountain trappers engaged principally in raising young half-breeds. The rest of the surroundings were the still solitude of the native forest, broken only by the snort of the startled deer, the bark of the squirrel, the howl of the wolf, the settler's cow-bell, and mayhap the distant baying of the hunter's dog or the sharp jeport of his rifle." The Rev. Father Bernard DonneHy, the pioneer priest of Kansas City, in some reminiscertces published in a local paper, in describing his future home in the little log church and parsonage that stood on the southwest corner of Eleventh and Penn streets, and built in 1839, says : "I strolled through the tall' Kansas City Before the War. , 19 forest of the ten acres.. The site was romantic, retired, and solitary. There was the log cab.in -yvhich afforded me a resting place after many a weary jour ney. There already was a church, a cemetery, a log stable for my horse, a spring in the hollow below, a clearing made chiefly by my own hands, the fence rails for fencing of which had peeled the ^kiri off both my shoulders %i carrying them, around. The manners and habits of the woodpeckers, paro quets, jaybirds, black and rattlesnakes, coons, and squirrels, were a source of amusing study to me." . On November i , 1 847, .the noted missionary and tr,aveler among the wild Indian tribes in the far west. Father De Smet, was a guest of Father Donnelly at this place. He had traveled all the way from the mouth of the Yellowstone River in an open skiff with only one companion, Gabriel Prudhomme. The old log church, on the west side of Penn street, between Eleventh- and Twelfth streets, was, until .removed a few years since, to make way for "advancing improvements, our oldest remaining landmark. With the cemetery, where reposed the bones' of the old French pioneers, it had been swept away by the ¦growth of the city, and nothing now remains to mark the site of one of the most interesting localities in the past history of the city. The First Ferry'. — ^In 1836, what was called the " Platte Purchase," a terri tory embracing, the counties of Platte, Buchanan, Holt, Nodaway, Andrew, .and Atchison, was added to the State. of Missouri. Previously to this, the State line ran directly north from the mouth of the Kansas River. In 1837 this tract warthrown open to settlement, and to meet the needs of the migra tion, to the new purchase, Peter Roy, a Frenchman, established a flat-boat ferry across the river at Kansas City. He laid out a road from, about Fifteenth and Walnut streets, following a ravine or valley which ran down by the pres ent junction of Main ajid Delaware, thence to Main and Fifth across the public square, and thence to the river at the foot of Grand avenue. This road was afterwards the one mainly used by the heavy freighting trains, as it afforded a tolerably easy grade to the river. After a short time Mr, Roy sold the ferry to James H. McGee, who in turn sold it to Rev. Isaac McCoy and his son, John C. McCoy, who operated it until 1854, when Mr. John C. McCoy dis posed of it to other parties. The old style flat-boat was used for many years, and was then succeeded by a horse-boat, which in turn was replaced by the modern steam ferry now in use. The First Brick House. — About 1830 James H. McGee, one of the pioneers of the county, settled on a tract of land adjoining the old town site on the south. He built a log cabin for a residence near what is npw the corner of Twentieth and Central streets. He occupied this until 1 834, when he erected a larger house west of Baltimore avenue, and north of Twentieth street. Shortly after he made and burned the first kiln of brick made west of Independence, with which he erected a brick dwehing, the first built in Kansas City, which is 20 History of Kansas City. stiH standing. The building is one story in height, of two rooms, each four teen by sixteen feet, divided by a hall in the center from front to rear. From this first kiln of brick Father DonneHy, tlie pioneer Catholic priest, obtained the brick to build the chimney of his little log church on the corner of Eleventh and Penn streets. Mr. McGee also built and operated a small grist-mill and distillery on O. K. Creek, from which he dispensed food and drink to thfe Indians and surrounding White settlers. Mr. McGee died in 1838. He ac quired, by purchase, nearly all the land between the towns of Kansas and Westport, and his name, in connection with that of his sons, has become insep arably identified -with the city. Mf-s. McGee lived to quite an old age, and died a few years since iinivei-sally respected and honored by her friends arid heighbors for her many Christian virtues. Her children arid their families still live in and about this city. The city is topographically divided into three parts, locally known as the hiH, including all that part of the town ori the highlands ; West Kansas, which includes the lowlands or bottom, lying between the State line on the west and the bluffs on the east; and the East Bottom, which takes in aH the low land east of Grand Avenue. West Kansas and the East Bottom were originally covered with a dense forest, as was the whole tPwn site, with here and there a small clearing made for cultivation by the early settlers. West Kansas remained tovered with forest trees, except in places near the: river, until about the com mencement of the Civil War. Many acres of it were cut away by the river, and the site of a saw-miH, which once stood back some distance from the river bank, is now far out beyond the channel of the stream on the other side, near the island. The great freshet of 1 844 flooded this bottom to the depth of fifteen or twenty feet, but there was little property on it then to be de stroyed — a few cabins and fences of little value, very easily replaced. Thfe advent of railroads brought this part of the city into demand for depots and switches, it being the only ground suitable for this purpose to be had conven ient for making connection with the roads in Kansas. The first improvement of any importance in this part of the town (West Kansas) was the building of a depot by the Kansas Pacific Railway Company at the State line between Missouri and Kansas, known as the State Line depot A hotel was carried on in connection with the depot, and here all the transfer of passengers and freight was made between the eastern and western roads, until the Union depot at Ninth and St. Louis avenue was built In consequence of the facilities for switching, the packing-houses were built in West Kansas, and many wholesale dealers and manufacturers availed themselves of these advantages. The business gradually spread across the Hne into Kansas, where a town had been laid off and named Kansas City, Kansas, which has given rise to some confusion, especially in post-office busi ness. Bm'ttjE.QWtMems c ^Ai/0^h^^ /^C)-y-^ Kansas City Before the War. 21 Another local subdivision of importance is techinally called McGee's Addi tion, though for years known simply as " the Addition." It was located between Twelfth and Twentieth streets, north and south, and Main and CampbeH streets, east and west Topographically, it is beautifully adapted for improvements, the ground being mostly smooth and unbroken, gently sloping south to O. K. Creek. The first public grading was done on Market street (now Grand Avenue), The contract was let to Michael Smith, who was the first contractor on our streets. The work was done in 1855, and the pity paid Mr. Smith for the work done $i,200. Much work was done in 1857, in grading and improving streets. The amount paid for public improvements this year was : On the levee, $10,387; Broadway, $4,771; Wyandotte street, $5,539; Delaware street, $715; Commercial street, $2,918; Main street, $893 ;¦ Third street, $285; Second street, $721. Total, $26,229. In this year a city hah, for a court-house and city offices, was erected on the public square at a cost of $4,637, making a total of $30,866 expended in this year by the city. The amount paid out for private excavating for founda tions for buildings in 1857, was estimated at about $16,700. Thus a total of $47,500 was paid out in this one year for. this kind of work, which furnished! labor for hundreds of men, and support for their famiHes. NAME AND ABORIGINAL OWNERS. '-'•'• Kansas City takes its name from the Kansas River, and the river takes its name from the Kansas tribe of Indians who formerly owned and occupied this section of country, in connection with the Osages, a kindred people, speaking the same language. Small remnants of these tribes are StiU Hving in the In dian Territory. The name Kansas, is spelled in many different ways by the old travelers and explorers, and in the United States treaties, thus : Konza, Cances, Konseas, Kons, Kauzaw, etc. The proper proriunciation of the word, as the Indians themselves pronounce it is " Kauzau," from whence we have the abbreviation " Kaw." A Frenchman pronouncing the word " Kansas," as we now write it, would give it nearly the proper sound. The name was prob ably copied from some of the old French explorers, and we have adopted their speHing but not their pronunciation. We think our method of pronouncing the name much more plea.sant and musical than the barbarous "Kauzau." The name has no meaning attached to it. By treaty with the Osage, Kansas, and other tribes of Indians held at Fort Clarke (afterwards Fort Osage), in 1808, the title to all the Indian territory in Missouri was extinguished, excepting a strip twenty- four mUes wide lying east ward from the boundary of the State, to a south line from Fort Clarke to the Arkansas River. The Indian title to this strip was extinguished in 1825, and in it lay nearly all of Jackson county, on the western border of which Kansas 22 History of Kansas City. City is situated. The settlers, who had been previously checked at the east ern Hmits of this tract, immediately made a general rush into the new purchase. The next year (1826) a census was taken, preliminary to establishing a general county organization. The county was organized December 15, 1826, and the first county court was held at Independence, July ^, 1827, Henry Burns pre siding, and Abraham McClellan and Richard Fristoe, associate judges, L. W. Boggs (afterwards governor), clerk. About 1833, the United States government commenced the removal of various tribes of Indians from Indiana, Illinois and Michigan, to the country set apart as an Indian territory, west of the State of Missouri. These were the Shawnees, Delawares, Pottawattamies, Wyandottes, Ottawas, Sacs and Foxes, Weas, Peorias, and remnants of other small tribes. The Shawnees were lo cated on the south side of the Kansas River, and the Delawares on the north. The other tribes were scattered along the border, south and north. The Wy andottes, having purchased a part of the Delaware Reservation, were located at the mouth of the Kansas River, on the north side. The former owners of the land, the Kauzaus and Osages, were removed farther south and west. These Indians all received annuities — paid in cash — in compensation for lands sold by them to the United States, in States east of the Mississippi River. The money paid out to these tribes by the government, amounted to a little over one million dollars annually, the greater part of which was expended in Missouri, for supplies of all kinds. From this source the new town of Kansas City drew a large and profitable trade. The fur-bearing animals were yet to be found in abundance, and a large business was done in dressed skins and robes, with the Indians. This annual influx of money supported and built up the town in its infancy ; without it it would have had to depend on the local trade from the white settlers, which would have been co'mparatively meager. In this part of the country there were no land grants from any source to the white inhabitarits. The rights and claims of the Indians to the land were reg ularly extinguished by the government, and the land surveyed and opened for sale and pre-emption through the regular channels of the United States land office. The first land office for this district was located at Franklin, Mo., and afterwards removed to Boonville. THE FIRST SETTLEMENT. It is difficult to determine who was the first white man to visit the mouth of the Kansas River. The daring trappers and fur-traders often made long trips into the interior from their headquarters at Fort Chartres, or St. Louis, following the river courses and their tributaries, but they left no record of their travels and discoveries. The earliest notice of the Kansas River we find is in the pages of the French annalist, M. Le Page Du Pratz, who says: "The larg est, known river which flows into the Missouri, is the Canzes. It has nearly Kansas City Before the War" ¦^5 two hundred leagues course through a beautiful country. From what I have been able to learn of the course of the Missouri, it flows from its source to the Canzes, from the west to the east then it makes a great elbow, which ends in the neighborhood of the Missouris, where it retakes its course to the southeast there to lose its name and waters in the St. Louis. " i Father James Marquette,' who explored the Mississippi from the Wisconsin to the Arkansas, in 1673^ mentions the Missouri in his narrative, under the name of the " Pekitanou," or Muddy River, and locates along its banks, on his map, west of the Mississippi, the Indian tribes, Ouchage (Osages), Emmissourites (Missouris), Kansas and other tribes. Campbell's Gazetteer of Missouri, says, without giving the au thority : "On July 3, 1724, M. De Bourgmont, the commandant at Fort Or leans, a French post situated on an island in the Missouri River, six or eight miles below the mouth of the Grand River, by previous appointment, proceeded to the ' Cancas,' then the site of the chief town of the Kansas tribe of In dians, afterwards Fort Osage, now Sibley, Jackson county, where the general rendezvous of the several nations was appointed, the object being to bring about a general peace of the nations that were at war" Fort Osage, or Sib ley, is about twenty miles east of Kansas City. A short sketch of the life of Daniel Morgan Boone, third son of Colonel Daniel Boone, the noted pioneer, pubHshed in the work before quoted (CampbeH's Gazetteer), says, " that when about eighteen years of age, in 1787, he crossed the wilderness alone, from Kentucky to St. Louis. For twelve years he spent his summers in St. Louis, and his winters in hunting and trapping beaver, mainly on the Big and Little Blue, in what is now Jackson county, which he declared to be the best beaver country ever known." But the first intelligible description of the country at the mouth of the Kansas River, is given by Lewis and Clarke. On June 26, 1804, their journal records: . . . " We encamped at the upper point of the mouth of the River Kansas. ... On the south of the Kansas River, the hills or highlands come within one mile and a half of the river ; on the north of the Missouri they do not approach nearer than several miles, but on all sides the country is fine. The comparative specific gravities of the two riv ers is, for the Missouri, seventy-eight, the Kansas, seventy- two degrees; the waters of the latter have a very disagreeable taste." . . . " On the banks of the Kansas reside the Indians of the same name, consisting of two villages, one at about twenty, the other forty leagues from its mouth, and amounting to about three hundred men." 2 And again on their return, under date of Monday, September 15 (1806), they say, "the river Kansas is very low at this time. About a mile below it we landed, to view the situation of a high hill which has many advantages for a trading house or fort,^ while on the ' The Mississippi, formerly.known as the St. Louis. 'Le-wis and Clarke's Expedition, Philadelphia, 1817, 2 vol. ¦ ' This high hill was north of Fifth and Bluff streets, and west of Broadway, in Lykin's Ad dition. The summit of the hill has been graded away. 24 History of Kansas City. shore we gathered great quantities of Papawa (papaws), and shot an elk. The low grounds are now delightful, and the whole country exhibits a rich appear ance." Doubtless the French fur traders had penetrated this country at a much earHer date, but Lewis and Clarke make no mention of any white settlements or trading posts about the mouth of the Kansas, as they would have done had there been any such. In 1808 a company was organized in St Louis, to trade in the Missouri Valley, under the name of the Missouri Fur Company. In 18 1 3 this company was merged into the American Fur Company, of which John Jacob Astor, of New York, was the head, and in 1819 a branch house was established in St Louis, Mo. The brothers Chouteau, Pierre and Fran- 9ois, who had been rnembers of the Missouri company, became connected with the American company. This company, having succeeded to the trade of the Missouri company, in Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska and Arkansas, Franfois Chouteau was sent into their territory to establish posts and work out the in dependent traders who were trespassing on their domain. In the spring of 1 82 1, having previously established a post about twenty mUes up the Kansas River, he was sent to this locality to establish a depot, from which their other posts could be supplied and the proceeds of trade collected. Recognizing the advantages of the mouth of the Kansas, at the southern angle of the great bend in the Missouri, as a distributing point, he located a camp in the bottoms opposite the Randolph Bluffs, about three miles from what is now Kansas City. His followers, traders, trappers, laborers and voyageurs, brought their families and settled about the mouth of the Kansas River, and thus was the first per manent settlement at Kansas City commenced. These people were mostly half-breeds and Canadian Frenchmen, and numbered fifteen or twenty families. Among them were Gabriel Prudhomme, Louis La Liberte, Louis Twombley, Louis Roi, Gabriel Philabert, Clement Lessert, Louis Berthollet, Peter Verte- foi, John Blanchette, Louis Benoist, John Lesarge, Peter Dennoye, Francis Bel- maire, Louis Farrie, Benjamin La Gutrie, Louis Tourgeon, Joseph Enneau, Joseph and Peter Rivard, Louis Cabana and Jacques Fournais, commonly known as " Pino." The last named died in this city in 1871, and was said to be one hundred and twenty-four years old ; but this is doubtful, although he claimed that he was splitting rails with his father, near Montreal, when it was captured by the French in 1760, and that they were terrified by the loud can nonading. This he stated to Father Donnelly, his pastor. These persons owned the land on which is now situated the " old town " of Kansas City and " West Kansas," and their names are familiar to all who have had occasion to examine abstracts of title to city property. Madame Grandlouis, or Berthol let, was the first white woman to live on the site of the present city. She died in this city a few years ago at a very advanced age. Shortly after her came Madame Berenice Chouteau, who is stiH living at this date (1888), a hale and Kansas City Before the War. 25 hearty woman of nearly ninety years. Many of the descendants of these peo ple are living in and around Kansas City, but few, if any, of the old pioneers themselves are left. Death and the pressure of advancing civHization crowded them away. They sold out their property in early times, and rieither they nor any of their descendants have reaHzed much, if anything, from the great rise in the value of their lands. They were a simple, hardy race, of great endur ance, faithful and affectionate to one another, fond of dancing and other social entertainments, and, though fast passing away, they have left their impress on the local history. It is not improbable that the mouth of the Kansas River was first visited by white men, who came from the west and southwest The expeditions of Coronado, in 1542, and De Penaloza, in 1662, from Santa Fe, New Mexico, to the Mischipi River, must have reached the Missouri at the most southern pro longation of the great bend as their nearest point It is more than Hkely that De Penaloza went no farther than the Missouri. Michi-Sebee, meaning "Big Water" or " Great River," is a word common to many Indian languages, and is pronounced in various ways. The Spaniards had heard of a great river to the east, and coming to the Missouri would naturaHy suppose that it was the " Michi-Sebee " they were in search of There is nothing to show that they actually reached the Mississippi, only the name Mischipi, and they make no mention of the Missouri, as they would have done had they crossed it. The history of that expedition says : " Arrived at a large river which they call Mischipi, where we saw the first Indians of the Escanxaques nation." This tribe was doubtless the Kansas or Ahkauzau, who lived on the Kansas River, or near its mouth.i The province and city of Quivera are difficult to identify from the name. On account of the barbarous speHing of Indian names in a foreign language, they become so changed that their original sound and pro nunciation are lost, or become impossible to be recognized as spoken at pres ent, as is weH shown by the name " Escanxaques." THE mormon episode. The history of the^Mormons, in Missouri, may not be particularly connected with the history of Kansas City, but as Kansas City was included in the site of the " New Jerusalem," and Independence, now one of its suburbs, was their headquarters in this county, a short sketch of their occupation of this locality is not inappropriate. In 1832, Joseph Smith, the founder of the Mormon faith, came west, looking for a situation for his people, then in Kirtland, O., who had become so obnoxious to the citizens of that place, that it had been in timated to them that they had better find some other place of residence After looking through the counties of Saline, Howard and La Fayette, he finally settled upon Jackson county as the promised land. At Independence 1 John P. Jones, in K. C. Review of Science and Industry, article. " Penaloza's Expedition to Quivera," vol. vi. No. 4, page 215. 26 History of Kansas City. he claimed to have a revelation that this was to be the seat of the new Mor mon kingdom. Several thousands of acres of land were entered, mostly west of Independence, and a tract extending twelve miles south from the Missouri River, and twelve miles west to the State line, was designated as the site of the New Jerusalem. Here the faithful were to be gathered, and here a great temple, in imitation of the one built by King Solomon, was to be erected. Smith's foHowers soon arrived from Kirtland, and occupied the lands they had secured. A newspaper, called The Morning and Evening Star, was estab lished at Independence, as the official organ of the Church, and weekly pub Hshed the " revelations " received. These revelations predicted blessings for -the Church, and woes innumerable for the Gentiles. The fiery zeal of this paper and of their preachers, soon began to make trouble between the Mor mons and the citizens. Articles on " Free People of Color," published in the Star, roused the indignation of a people especially sensitive on the subject of negro slavery. Emissaries were sent among the Indians, inviting them to join them, and claiming that they were the lost tribes of Israel. Their elders pre tended to hold intercourse with God and his angels, to heal the sick by laying on of hands, to raise the dead, to walk on water, in fact, to do aH the miracles performed by Christ and his disciples. Meetings were held, in which men, wo men and children spoke in unknown tongues, as they were inspired. One person, or several persons at a time, would rise up and jabber out for five or ten minutes, the most unmeaning and disgusting gibberish imaginable. This, they claimed, was words of holiness and praise, inspired by the Lord. AH these things, combined with the most utter disregard of the rights of property, when owned by the Gentiles, and which, they announced, the Lord had com manded them to take for spoil, at last aroused the citizens to take action against them. As it unfortunately too often occurs in such cases, the stronger party committed outrages on the weaker party, not authorized by law, and in excess of the offense committed. On July 20, 1833, a mass meeting was held at In dependence, for the purpose of adopting measures to rid the county of this ob noxious people. After reciting the causes which had led them to take such actions, resolutions were passed, declaring, " that in future, no Mormon shaU settle in this county." " That those now here, who shall give a definite pledge of their intention, within a reasonable time, to move out of the county, shall be allowed to re main, unmolested, until they shall have time to seH their property and close their business without material sacrifice." " That the editor of the Star be required, forthwith, to close his office and discontinue the business of printing in this county; and as to aH other stores and shops belonging to this sect, their owners must, in every case comply with the terms of the second article of this declaration, and upon failure, prompt and efficient measures will be taken to close the same ..." Kansas City Before the War. 27 "That those who refuse to comply with these requisitions, be referred to those of their brethren who have gifts of divination, and of unknown tongues, to inform them of the lot that awaits them." These resolutions having been unanimously adopted, a cortimittee was ap pointed to present them to the editor of the Star, the Mormon bishop, and the keeper of the Mormon store, and demand their immediate acceptance of, and compliance therewith. The committee soon returned, and reported that they could get no immediate answer, as these parties wanted first to communicate with Joseph Smith, who was then in Kirtland, O., which would require an un- •^ reasonable time. It was then resolved that the Star office should be immedi ately destroyed ; which was accordingly done, and the printing material thrown into the Missouri River. Bishop Partridge and Storekeeper AHen were seized and stripped naked, tarred and feathered, and then turned loose, with orders to leave the country immediately. On the 23d of July several hundred citizens assembled, and declared their intention of removing the " saints " by force. The Mormons were now thor oughly alarmed, and agreed to leave the country if time were allowed them. An agreement was entered into by which the Mormons were given until the first of April following to leave the country ; the newspaper was to be discon- ued, and no further violence was to be done to them pending their departure. In the mean time, the governor, David Dunkin, was petitioned by the Mor mons for aid and protection. He replied that the attack upon them was un justifiable and illegal, and advised them to stay and appeal to the courts of the county for redress. Thereupon they resolved to remain, and trust to the State authorities for protection. Legal action was commenced against the ring-lead ers of the mob, and an eminent legal firm employed to prosecute their claim for damages. On October 30 the citizens were again assembled in arms, and commenced to carry out their determination of removing the Mormons by force. Ten of their houses on the Big Blue, and four or five in the vicinity of Westport, were burned, and their inhabitants driven away. Other houses were plundered, and acts disgraceful to a civilized people were committed upon this unfortunate sect. In some instances the Mormons resisted, and in a skirmish at the Whitmer settlement, two miles southeast of Kansas City, two of the citizens were kiHed and several wounded. The militia was caHed out to preserve order, but being in fuH sympathy with the anti-Mormon sentiment, afforded no protection to the Mormons. Overpowered and frightened these unhappy people now commenced to leave in earnest On the 7th of Novem ber they began crossing the Missouri River. The weather was cold and rainy, and the plundered, half-clad women and children, suffered intensely._ The people of Clay county received them kindly, and allowed them to remain until they could make other arrangements. This ended the Mormon occupation of the Ne^ Jerusalem, as a body. Their lands, which had been seized by the 28 History of Kansas City. people of Jackson county, were finally recovered, or a price obtained for them; but few, if any, cared to return to live in a land in which they had suffered such indignities. But the devout Mormon stiH looks, with longing eyes, to wards this New Jerusalem, and believes the time wiU come when this "Zion" win be restored to them, and that here they will worship in that beautiful tem ple, which will arise in aH its grandeur and magnificence. rise and progress of the city to 1854. Kansas City is situated on the south bank of the Missouri River, at the mouth of the Kansas River in latitude 39° 61' ; longitude west 94° 30'. Its elevation above the sea level is seven hundred and seventy-five feet at the sur face of the river The land on which it is situated, in its original state, had a most forbidding aspect as the site of a great city — high bluffs cut by deep gorges, rising up from the low bottom lands along the river. But the energy and enterprise of its citizens overcame all these obstacles, and already stran gers can scarcely recognize the difficulties they had to contend with. Its situ ation at the most southern angle of the great bend eastward in the Missouri River, gave it in former years control of the great Santa Fe trade and the Indian trade of the west and southwest, and it still retains its commercial supremacy over the same region. It seems as if nature designed the place for a great city, dominating a territory unsurpassed by any other in the world for mineral and agricultural wealth. In 1833 John C. McCoy, still Hving, laid off the town of Westport, four mHes south of the Missouri River. Its merchants received their goods by steamboats, which landed at the present site of Kansas City, and which was then known as "Westport Landing." W. B. Evans kept the first warehouse, in a log house on the bank of the river, at what is now the foot of Delaware street He was succeeded in the same business by W. M. Chick and P. M. Chouteau, who were the first to erect warehouses after the town was laid out In 1838 Gabriel Prudhomme, the owner of the land at the landing, died, and at the settlement of his estate, November 14, 1838, the land was purchased by a company composed of W. L. Sublette, Moses G. Wilson, John C. McCoy, WilHam GHHs," Fry P. McGee, Abraham Fonda, W. M. Chick, Oliver Cald well, George W. Tate, Jacob Ragan, WiHiam Collins, James Smart, Sam. C. Owens, and Russell Hicks. Through the courtesy of Charies Michaux, of this city, we are enabled to insert a very rare copy of the notice of pubHc sale of this estate, which was pubHshed in the Far West, a newspaper published in Liberty, Clay county. Mo., and also in the Missouri Republican, published in St Louis, these being the only papers published likely to reach this locality, as foHows : " Circuit Court of Jackson county. Mo., at Independence, August term 1838. Kansas City Before the War. 29 in " Notice of public sale inserted in the Far West, a newspaper published Liberty, Clay county. Mo., and also in the Missouri Republican, a newspaper published in St Louis, St Louis county, Mo." After describing by metes and bounds the land now included within the city of Kansas, is the foHowing : " The above mentioned lands are situated in the county of Jackson, one and one-half miles below the mouth of the Kansas River, and five miles from the flourishing town of Westport The situation is admirably calculated for a ferry across the Missouri River, and also one of the best steamboat landings on the river, and an excellent situation for a warehouse or town site. "The terms of sale wHl be a credit of twelve months, the purchaser giving bond and approved security with interest at the rate of ten per cent, from the day of sale. " All those wishing to invest capital advantageously in landed estate, wHl do well to call and examine the premises. " Persons Hving at a distance wishing to view the above land, will caH on James H. McGee, who is guardian for the heirs. "James B. Davenport, " Peter Booth, " Elliott Johnson, " Corn's. " Sold for $4,220 to WiHiam L. Sublette, John C. McCoy, William Gillis, Robert CampbeH, and others." This company laid it off into a town and named it " Kansas," but owing to disagreements among themselves, nothing was done until 1846, when the com pany was reorganized with the following named persons as stockholders : H. M. Northrup, Jacob Ragan, Henry Jobe, William Gillis, Robert Campbell, Fry P. McGee, W. B. Evans, W. M. Chick, and J. C. McCoy, the land platted and a sale of lots had April, 1846. At this sale one hundred and fifty lots were sold at an average price of $55.65 per lot. Immediately after this the town commenced to grow, and in a few months had a population of five or six hun dred inhabitants. A. B. Canville kept the first general store, and was suc ceeded by WiHiam J. Jarboe, in 1847 ; H. M. Northrup, Walker & Armstrong, and McCoy & Martin next foHowed in the same business. Lattimore Broth ers kept a small stock of dry goods ; Charles Horning kept what is now known as a saloon, but was then termed a "grocery;" David Geer had a non descript estabHshment, where he kept a little of everything and not much of anything ; Dr. F. A. Rice had a small stock of drugs, which looked as though they had been on exhibition since the commencement of the century; Thomp son McDaniel kept a "hotel" on the southwest corner of Main and Levee streets ; John Speed ran a saddler shop ; William Christian was the tailor ; Doctors Troost, Rice, and Ridge were the physicians ; W. M. Chick kept 5 30 History of Kansas City. the first post-office. There were no churches, but occasionally a wandering- preacher administered spiritual consolation in the nearest school-house. A ferry across the Missouri was owned and managed by J. C. McCoy. A flat- bottomed boat, manned by two men and a boy, supplied the demands of travel. The warehouse business was conducted by P. M. Chouteau and W. M. Chick. This is about aH there was of Kansas City in 1846-47, and the persons above named were its pioneer business men. In the adjacent country were Hving Thomas Smart, James Johnson, Joseph Jarboe, Rufus Montgall, Walter Bales, James H. McGee, Fry P. McGee, M. W. McGee, Jacob Ragan, WiHiam GilHs, Thompson McDaniel, Robert Holmes, James Stone, David Birge, Jesse Porter, Thomas Lockridge, Benjamin Holloway, WHHam and Samuel Greg ory, and Thomas West, whose farms are now within the city limits. Many of them, unlike their French fellow-pioneers, held on to their lands untH the growth of the city so enhanced their value as to make them wealthy. The trade of the town was mainly derived from the Indians across the border in Kansas,. then-known as the Indian Territory. These tribes — the Shawnees, Delawares,. Wyandottes, Pottawattamies, and other small tribes, received several hundreds of thousands of dollars annually from the United States in payment for land sold by them in the States farther east, and from which they had been re moved to the Territory. This money was all paid in silver and gold, and was all spent in the border towns of Missouri, and materially aided in building up the young town of Kansas. It was an era of peace and prosperity. The- demands of the Santa Fe trade and the Indian trade took all the surplus the farmer had to spare of cattle, hogs, or grain, and the prosperity of the farmer built up the merchant It is true there was not the enormous accumulatioa of wealth and the grasping greed for gain and the overgrown rich men of to day, but money was plentiful ; every one had enough and to spare, and some thing to lay by for a year of bad crops. The tract of land, consisting of two hundred and fifty-six acres, purchased from the estate of Gabriel Prudhomme,. and on which the town was laid off, was bounded on the north by the Mis souri River, on the south by the section line that crosses Main street at Mis souri avenue, on the west by Broadway, and on the east by Forest avenue,. and is now known and designated on the plats as "old town." The first addi tion made to the city outside the old town limits, as shown by the records in the city engineer's office, was made by Chester Hubbard, November 29, 1855, and recorded as " Hubbard's addition." The next was " Lykins's addition," by Johnston Lykins, July 19, 1856. No more additions were recorded until 1857, in which year there was quite a "boom" in additions, which were filed for record as follows: Lawrence's addition, April 6, 1857; Swope's addition, April 16, 1857; R-oss & Scarritt addition, April 30, 1857; Coates's addition, June 2, 1857; McGee's addition, June 3, 1857; Peery Place, July 15, 1857; Kansas City Before the War. 31 Turner & Co.'s addition, August 15, 1857; Ranson & Hopkins's addition, September 19, 1857; and Swope's second addition, December 21, 1857. From this time on subdivisions and additions were made according as the increase of population and the growth of the city required, and the limits of the city have been extended so far that the "old town" is now a mere speck upon the map. COMMERCE OF THE PRAIRIES. In the year 1824, trade was established overland with Mexico, the port of entry being Santa Fe, New Mexico. It was a long and expensive journey, — the goods being transported in heavy wagons drawn by mules and oxen, — but the enormous profits obtained justified the expense. Common prints and do mestics, worth here eight and ten cents a yard, sold for a doHar in Mexico; tobacco was worth five dollars a pound ; common whisky, costing here twenty cents a gallon, brought one dollar a pint ; iron was a contraband article, but the traders would often burn their old wagons, after passing the custom house, and sell the iron parts of them at an immense profit Duty was charged by the wagon load, five hundred dollars each, no matter what it contained. But the wily Yankee sometimes got ahead of the simple Mexican by piling two loads on one wagon and doubling teams before entering Santa Fe. This mat ter of customs duty was all changed when New Mexico became a part of the United States. Starting at St. Louis, the traders foHowed the settlements up the Missouri River to wherever it was most suitable for outfitting, it being desirable to have their goods transported as far as possible by water. Franklin, Boonville, Fort Osage or Sibley, Liberty, and finally. Independence, were successively start ing points. Kansas City, being the nearest point on the Missouri River to Santa Fe, and possessing aH the advantages of a good permanent landing, and having prairies within easy reach for pasturing stock, the traders went no farther by river, and Kansas City, being without a rival, received for many years the whole of this rich trade, alike beneficial to farmer and merchant It is difficult to get any statistics of this trade in eariy times, as there were no newspapers published here then, nor records kept of the business done. But Mr Jacob Gregg, one of the pioneers in the New Mexican trade, and who is still living, in a work pubHshed by him in 1843, entitled the "Commerce of the Prairies," gives the foHowing estimate of the business done from 1822 to 1837: 32 History of Kansas City. Amount of Number of Number of Years. Merchandise. Wagons. Men. 1822 15,000 70 1823 12,000 — 5° 1824. 35,000 26 100 1825 65,000 37 130 1826 go.ooo 60 100 1827 85,000 55 90 1828 150,000 100 200 1 829 60,000 30 50 1830 120,000. 70 '4° 1831 150,000 130 320 1 832 140,000 70 1 50 1833 180,000 105 185 1834 150,000 80 160 1835 140,000 75 140 1836 130,000 70 135 1837 150,000 80 160 In 1843 the Mexican trade was temporarily suspended, by the order of General Santa Anna closing the northern ports of entry. In 1844, the embargo was removed, but the trade was embarrassed and depressed until the close of the Mexican War, when it revived and greatly increased. After the settle ment of Kansas and Nebraska, some business was done at Leavenworth, Atchison, St. Joseph and Omaha, by merchants interested in those towns, but Kansas City still retained the bulk of the trade until it was temporarily driven away by the troubles of the civil war, and was finally taken away from the river towns by the railroads extending westwardly. In 1 845 Messrs. Bent and St. "Vrain landed the first cargo of goods at Kansas City that was ever shipped from this point to New Mexico in wagons. This train consisted of eighteen wagons, with five yoke of cattle to the wagon, and about five thou sand pounds of freight to each team.^ From this time on the freighting and outfitting business, which had been done at Independence, was gradually drawn away from that tOwn, and, in 1850, was entirely concentrated here. Messrs. Bent and St "Vrain, the Subletts of St Louis ; F. X. Aubrey, Dr. Con nelly, the Armijo brothers, of Santa Fe ; Samuel Magoffin, E. C. McCarty» Whiting and Otero, were large traders and pioneers in the business. The Mexican trade was always a very profitable one, and aH the merchants en gaged in it made money, and some amassed large fortunes. Failures were very rare among these traders, and were then generally caused by obstacles over which they had no control, as it was a cash trade and the margin of profit large. In an address delivered at Kansas City, December 25, 1857, by Colonel E. C. McCarty, the speaker gave some interesting statements in re gard to the Santa Fe trade : " He had been engaged in it," he said, " as early as 1838. The Santa Fe trade was then in its infancy, from $50,000 to $100,- 000 being the amount of merchandise transported annuaHy across the plains. Spalding's Annals of Kansas City, Kansas City, Mo., 1858. Kansas City Before the War. 33 In those days there were very few trains with more than two or three wagons, and it was customary for all the Mexican traders to meet at Council Grove! organize into a company under a captain, then chosen, and proceed on their journey under his direction." . . . " I was informed, two years ago, by Dr Connelly, probably the largest trader in New Mexico, that the Santa Fe trade across the plains then amounted to five millions doHars, neariy all of which passed through the city of Kansas." . . . " In the spring of 1847, he, in company with Mr. Russell, started (outfitted) the first train from this city to New Mexico ; old Mr. McDowell went in charge of it, and was the first man to cross the great American desert in a wagon.i In the spring of 1850, his brother, then in New Mexico, came in as partner to Captain St Vrain, and through their influence and his own, the outfitting trade, previously, done in Independence, was brought to this point, and from the year 1850 dates the era of Kansas City's trade with New Mexico. Six hundred wagons started from this point that year." In i860 the Mexican trade was of such magnitude as to attract national attention, and in that year the New York Herald sent out a correspondent to write up its statistics. In his letters he gives the amount shipped that year, from Kansas City, as freight, 16,439,134 pounds, -employing 7,084 men, 6,147 mules, 27,920 yoke of oxen, and 3,033 wagons, and this after a considerable portion of the trade had been deflected to the points in Kansas and Nebraska above named, by the efforts of their citizens to build up a rival to Kansas City. In the palmy days of the Santa Fe trade, the levee at Kansas City was a busy place ; sometimes five or six large river steamboats would be lying at the wharf at the same time, discharging freight of all kinds, which would be piled from six to eight feet high, wherever a vacant space could be found. Add to this a moving mass of wagons, animals and men, mingled with the cracking of the great ox whips, the cries of the drivers in half a dozen different languages, and the braying of mules, and you have a stirring scene. Often so dense was the crowd from Grand Avenue to the point of the bluff beyond Broadway, that a wagon could not turn around, and it was with great difficulty that loads could be taken or discharged. The outward bound Mexican trains were loaded in a great part with common whisky, for which there seemed to be an unlimited demand for consumption, and a large profit on the sale. Besides this article were fancy groceries, cotton domestics, prints, notions and Indian goods. In returning they loaded with wool, buffalo robes, dried buffalo meat Mexican doHars sewed up in rawhide sacks, gold dust and occasionally a small quantity of silver ore. the old SANTA FE TRAIL. There is much of unwritten history and romance connected with the " old Santa Fe trail." It traversed a country swarming with hostile Indians, and 1 This is an error, as wagons had crossed the plains long before this time.— Ed. 34 History of Kansas City. from the time that the trader left CouncH Grove, one hundred and fifty miles west of the State line of Missouri, he was constantly on the alert to protect his Hfe and property from the savages. At Pawnee Rock, on the Pawnee Fork of the Arkansas River, there was a particulariy dangerous place. Here the Indians lay in wait to pick off any stragglers from the train, and to stampede the cattle and mules at daylight, when first turned out to graze. In this they were often successful, and the unfortunate trader was compelled to abandon his goods or remain by his property until relief could be obtained. On camping, it was customary to form the heavy wagons in a circle or " corral," within which the teams were penned during the night. These corrals made exceHent forts, and as long as their ammunition and water held out the trader and his employees could defend themselves, and many desperate fights were fought around these movable breastworks. Many lives were lost every year on the " trail," besides those killed in battle. The Indians lay in wait at the springs and watering places, or crept up to the lonely herder, in the early dawn, and the silent ar row did its work surely and swiftly. In the year 1839 a party of men, mainly composed of citizens of Jackson and Clay counties. Mo., pretending to act under a commission from Texas, which was then engaged in her war for independence with Mexico, attacked an incoming Mexican train, of five wagons, owned by Manuel Chavez. Cha vez was coming in to purchase goods and had a large sum of money with him. The attack was made while the train was camped at the crossing of Cow Creek, about two hundred and fifty miles from Kansas City. Old man Chavez was murdered and plundered, his body thrown into the creek, and a wagon broken up and piled on top of it His peons or teamsters were either released or es caped, to carry the horrible news back to Santa Fe. The robbers took their plunder somewhere down into the Indian Terrifjory, on the borders of Texas, and buried it for the time being. This, outrage caused great excitement in Mexico, and complaint was made to the American government. The pre tended Texans were in due time arrested and brought to trial, but nothing more was ever done with them. They escaped through some chicanery of the law, it being alleged for one thing that the offense was committed beyond the jurisdiction of the United States. ^ Many tales were told of suffering and endurance on the " trail," and many lives were lost through reckless carelessness., On one occasion, at the close of the Mexican War, fifteen or twenty discharged teamsters started across the plains, late in the fall. Their bodies were found in the spring by an incoming train, piled in a heap by the wayside, where they had perished from cold. Many small parties were cut off by the Indians, and never heard of again, after 'In a late " History (?) of Missouri;" this robbery and murder is said to have occurred just south of Westport, and that the driver of the wagon containing the money, put whip to his mules and drove into the Blue, where he overturned it and it was all lost. Kansas City Before the War. 35 they left Santa Fe. From Council Grove to the "Vegas, the way was strewn with human and animal bones. A government freighting train, with fifteen hundred oxen, coming in late in the season, had just crossed the plains and reached a more sheltered country about Diamond Springs, when they were overtaken by a terrible snow-storm. The cattle, weakened by travel and want of food, piled on top of each other in a narrow ravine, and every one perished, and for years the festering heap polluted the air for miles around, and gorged the foul beasts and birds of the plains. The teamsters or " bullwhackers," as they were called, were pretty much such men as the cowboys of to-day — young, strong and daring ; ready for fun or fight, but on the whole a more temperate and steady race than the cowboys. Their perversion of the Spanish names on the trail, was .quite [ludicrous. The "Jornada del Muerte," or "journey of the dead," a long dry stretch of sixty miles, strewn with dried carcasses of mules and oxen that had perished of thirst, was by them pronounced " Horn Alley " ; the Vegas was the " Bagus," the Cerillos, the " Sea Willow," the river Purgatoire the " Picket Ware," and so on. The most noted legend of the " trail" is that of the celebrated ride of F. X. Aubrey from Santa Fe to Independence, Mo. Aubrey was an enterpris ing young New York "Yankee," who came west in the latter part of 1845 and embarked in the Mexican trade in a very small way, having but five wagons on his first trip. It was the custom of the easy going traders of that time to make but one trip a year to Santa Fe, but Aubrey was not content with such slow ways of doing business, and commenced making two trips, one in the spring and one in the fall, and soon had a train of twenty-five or thirty wagons on the road. He first made a bet, so the story goes, that he would ride from Santa Fe, New Mexico, to Independence, Mo., on horseback in six days. He made the journey in five and a half He then bet twenty thousand doHars, the first being for ten thousand, that he could do it in four days. He made it in three and a half On this last trip he was followed by Indians, and had to make a long detour off the road to escape capture. When this trip was made, it was at the close of the Mexican war, and there were many incoming trains on the road. All the provisions he carried was a canteen of water and . a bundle of sun-dried buffalo meat Wherever he could get a fresh horse he did so at any price, and abandoned the other. What sleep he got was obtained as he rode along. It was a marvel of human fortitude and endurance to ride eight hundred mHes in three days and a half, and a pity it was that such a hero should have finally met such an ignoble fate. He was stabbed to the heart in a bar room brawl in Santa Fe. In the spring of 1855 Sir George Gore, a wealthy English neblenian, landed at Kansas City for the purpose of making a hunting tour on the plains. He had a splendid outfit of arms and about twenty couple of dogs in charge of a keeper or huntsman. He loaded five wagons with camping outfit and 36 History of Kansas City. provisions, also a lot of things for presents to the Indians. One wagon was loaded almost entirely with wines and Hquors for his own private consumption. He had employed the famous hunter and trapper, Jim Bridger, as a guide. He engaged a local teamster to haul his wagons out to the prairie, and on account of being heavily over-loaded several of them broke down between Kansas City and Westport He refused to pay the teamsters, and they attached his property and held it untH he settled their claim. His party consisted of about fifty persons, comprising secretaries, stewards, cooks, fly-makers, dog tenders, hunters, servants, etc. He spent about two years on the plains and in the mountains, and on his return home published an account of his travels, in which Kansas City and its people were mentioned in no very compHmen- tary terms. He was an Irish landlord, accustomed to having everything done to his will, and the people of the western frontier did not take kindly to his overbearing ways ; hence his animosity to the place. The Santa Fe trail passed through the heart of the buffalo country. The number of these noble animals was almost incredible. For day after day the traveler would see the prairies blackened, as far as the eye could reach, with a dense mass of these animals quietly grazing or moving from one pasture to another. Up to the time of the settlement of Kansas and Nebraska by the whites, the buffalo had only their natural enemies, the wolves and the Indians, to contend with ; but with the advent of the settlers and the construction of railroads, commenced a systematic slaughter, almost horrible to contemplate, which soon resulted in virtual extermination. Hundreds of thousands were killed, annually, for the hides and tongues alone, the meat being left to rot on the plains. Some idea of the havoc made, and also of a part of the trade and commerce of Kansas City, may be formed from an article on the buffalo in Hayden's United States Geographical and Geological Survey, 1875, in which are given the foHowing statistics of the shipments of products of the buffalo over the Kansas Pacific, and Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe railroads for the years 187 1, 1872, 1873, and 1874. Over the Kansas Pacific in 1871, dry hides, 13,646, meat (saddles only), 1,161,419 pounds; over the Atchison, Topeka and Santa.Fe road from 1872 to 1874; hides, 459,453, robes, 18,489; meat, 2,250,400 pounds, bones, 10,793,300 pounds. This only represents what was shipped along the lines of these two roads, and to it must be added the thousands killed by travelers, amateur hunters, settlers and soldiers sta tioned at the different military posts, so that the number annually destroyed ran up to many millions. No efforts were made to stop this wholesale slaugh ter and preserve a profitable source of trade and commerce. The Indians never indulged in such wanton destruction ; they killed only what they needed and what they could use for meat and robes, and thus preserved a sure and permanent supply of food and clothing. With the buffalo went the elk, the deer, and antelope, and with the wild Indian all the romance of the old Santa Fe trail has disappeared forever. /^^'^-»-»'»'T.-'Z,»-v> /^h^l-'T^ ' — ih^^^-^^^ii:^ Kansas City Before the War. 37 CALIFORNIA EMIGRATION AND CHOLERA. In 1849 the world was startled by the discovery of gold in California, and in the spring of 1850 a general rush was made to gather the wealth that was lying around waiting to be picked up. The route by the way of Cape Horn was long and dangerous, and the great majority of gold seekers took the over land route. The boats on the Missouri River came up packed from hull to hurricane deck with men and goods, and Kansas City was suddenly flooded with adventurers from all parts of the wOrld. This was a veritable bonanza for the young town, and money flowed like water in payment of horses, mules, oxen, wagons, and all kinds of outfitting supplies. Many of the emigrants brought their things with them or the demand could not have been supplied. Many went on to St Joseph and CouncH Bluffs. As fast as wagons could be hitched up and suppHes loaded, parties were formed and started , out on the great prairies, not having the most remote idea of the nature and condition of the country they were about to traverse. In consequence much suffering was inevitable. Some had overloaded their teams and their wagons broke down. Some had taken scarcely any provisions, supposing plenty could be obtained on the way. To add to their miseries, the small-pox, dysentery, and cholera broke out among them, and at every camp dead bodies were left with only a few shovels full of earth thrown over them to hide them from sight, and to be torn out by the wolves, and their bones scattered over the prairies as soon as they were left. StiH they pushed on, leaving a trail like the retreat of a great army, abandoning wagons and property; dead animals and human bodies strewing the way. Kansas City retained her share of the outfitting business of the overiand travel to California until the building of the Union Pacific Railroad took it away from the river towns. In the spring of 1849 a party of Mormon emigrants, who were preparing to cross the plains to Utah, encamped east of -the town while making preparations. They were all foreigners, and had brought the seeds of Asiatic cholera with them, and from them it was sup posed to have been communicated to the citizens. The dread disease raged with fearful violence and fatality, and made terrible inroads upon the inhabi tants. Persons apparently well and hearty in the morning, by three o'clock in the afternoon were dead, so swiftly did it do its fatal work. Medicines were of little or no avail, no age or condition had any immunity, young and old, the temperate and intemperate alike succumbed to this awful scourge. Many of the citizens left the town and fled to the country, in some instances spread ing the disease where they went and many farmers quarantined their farms and aHowed no stranger to enter their premises. It was a fearful time, and all business except that which could not be dispensed with, was suspended. It was something which paralyzed the energies of the people. 6 38 History of Kansas City. OVERLAND MAIL AND EXPRESS. The overland mail and express business to Santa Fe, New Mexico, and California by means of Concord coaches and mule wagons, was a prominent business in Kansas City in early times. These coaches and wagons were drawn by four or six mules or horses, and carried the mails, express goods, and passengers. At the commencement of these trips there were no stations on the roads, and the coaches or wagons went prepared with a camping out fit, and all the passengers and employees went armed to repel the attacks of the hostile Indians. Soon it was found necessary to establish stations for defense and relays of animals, which were about twenty miles apart While passing through the most dangetous part of the road, this distance was made as fast as the animals could travel, or on " the jump," as the drivers termed it. This was especiaHy the case on the Smoky Hill route to Denver, and at one time to make that trip was an exciting and hazardous undertaking. Many of the coaches were captured, and in some cases the whole party was mas sacred, but generally the Indians were content to take the animals and plun der, and leave the passengers to foot it to the next station. As early as 1849 a mail to Santa Fe was started from Independence, Mo. It was carried in an ambulance drawn by four mules. After leaving Council Grove there was no station until Fort Earned, about three hundred miles from Kansas City, was reached, and from there the run had to be made without change to Las Vegas, New Mexico. Hockaday & Hall were the first contractors to Santa Fe, New Mexico. Their time of leaving Independence was on the first and fifteenth of every month. The fare from Independence to Santa Fe was one hundred and fifty doHars from the first of November to the first of May, and one hundred and twenty- five dollars from the first of May to the first of November Provisions, arms, and ammunition were furnished the passengers. In 1 86 1 this route was in the hands of Barlow, Sanderson & Co., making daily trips, and stations had been established at proper intervals west of Coun cil Grove. The Cheyennes, Comanches, and other Indian tribes still continued very troublesome on this road, and the passengers and employees were often compelled to fight their way through. Each coach carried from twelve to fifteen passengers, and generally went loaded to its full capacity. The fare for each passenger at this time was one hundred and seventy-five dollars in gold, from Kansas City to Santa Fe, New Mexico. Forty pounds of baggage was allowed. Extra baggage and express matter was carried at the rate of one dollar per pound. The schedule time from Kansas City to Santa Fe was thir teen days and six hours, traveling day and night. AH sleeping had to be done sitting up, and a passenger once starting had to go through, sick or weH, for if he stopped off at a station it might be a long time before he could find a vacant seat again. At the stations the mules were changed and passengers Kansas City Before the War. 39 given one hour to eat their meals, for which they were charged a uniform price of one dollar each. The fare, as may be imagined, was not very luxu- rit)us, consisting of coffee, buffalo steaks, slap-jacks, with dried apples and peaches for dessert. In 1858 an overland mail was established to Stockton, Cal. On October ist it left Kansas City with six Concord passenger coaches, twelve provision wagons, and one hundred and fifty mules. These were not all required for the trip, but to stock the road. The second trip left Kansas City November 6, 1858, in charge of David McKinstry. Barron, Porter & Co., were the contractors. In the palmy days of the overland maH and expresses their headquarters were in the basements of brick buildings occupied by the Mechanic's Bank on the northwest corner of Second and Main streets. This building, which was one of our old landmarks, and intimately associated with the business pros perity of early times, was destroyed May 11, 1886, by a destructive cyclone which ravaged the city on that day. Immediately upon the commencement of the settlement of Kansas, lines of stages carrying mails, passengers, and express matter were started to Lawrence, Lecompton, Topeka, Fort Scott, Paola, and other points, and extended into the interior as fast as required. They were indispensable for the trade and travel of those times, but they have long since been superseded by the railroads, except upon a few short routes, and the picturesque Concord coach with its dashing team of mules and cow boy driver, has disappeared with the Indian and the buffalo. J. F. Ritcherdson & Co., Hockaday & Hall, Barlow, Saunderson & Co., Barron, Porter & Co., and the Kansas Stage Company were pioneers in this business. steamboats and river navigation. From its earliest history Kansas City was a noted point for steamboat traffic. It has one of the best permanent landings on the river, a rock bank with a deep current in front of it, which are great desiderata to a Missouri river town. Here were landed the goods for the great Indian and Mexican trade west of us, and from here were shipped eastwardly the wool, furs, buf falo robes, and other products of those regions. And when to these were added the immense immigration overland to California, it required a large fleet of steamers to transact the business. In those days, from 1850 up to the time when the 'railroads began to transport the freight and passengers from the river, there was an average of six or seven boats daily at the landing. The business houses of the town were then all under the bluff along the river bank, or "levee," as it was called. It was a busy and interesting scene when a boat landed. Everybody went down to the landing to see the new-comers and drum up trade for the hotels, "additions" and outfitting establishments. It was not an uncommon thing for a boat to come in with three hundred or more passengers, her hold almost bursting with freight, besides being crowded with 40 History of Kansas City. horses, mules, oxen, and wagons on the main deck, and with furniture, etc., piled on the hurricane deck as long as it would stick. Passengers slept on the floor, on the tables, under them, or wherever there was room to lie down. There was great competition between the boats for the passenger business, and they vied with each other as to which could furnish the finest accommodations and set the best table. It was a real luxury to travel on one of the old-time Missouri River packets. The Admiral, Peerless, Sacramento, Cataract, John M. Converse, Morning Star, William Campbell, F. X. Aubrey, Sultan, Emma, Silver Heels, Star of the West, Minnehaha, Colonel Crossman, Edinburgh, Ogden and Emigrant SN^xt some of the pioneer boats running from 1847 to 1857. Captains Yore, Gonsollis, Baker, Kercheval, Wineland, Brierly, Shaw, Nanson, Bart Able, Burke, Bissell, Terrill, and Boyd, were noted river men and pioneer commanders. In 1857, during the nine months of navigation, the arri vals and departures of steamboats at Kansas City were about one thousand five hundred, which in 1873 had fallen off to one hundred and thirty. THE freshet of 1 844. The year 1844 was noted as the year of the great freshet in the Missouri River. An uncommonly heavy faH of snow in the mountains, followed by heavy rains on the tributaries of the river, so increased the annual June rise that the valleys of the Kansas and Missouri were flooded from bluff to bluff to a depth of from ten to twenty feet. Where West Kansas City now is the waters of the Kansas River poured through into the Missouri, twenty feet deep, and with the rush and roar of a mountain torrent that could be heard for miles. Fortunately, at that time settlements were comparatively few on the lowlands about the city, or the damage would have been great ; as it was, all the farms and improvements in the bottoms, above and below town, were destroyed, and fences and houses carried away down the river Mr John C. McCoy, in some interesting reminiscences published in the Kansas City Journal, gives a very graphic account of this great flood, to which he was an eye witness, and from which we extract the following: ..." The records of the past tell us of only three floods that may be regarded as devastating, viz : In 1782, 1826, and 1844 (one other in 1843 only partially so, and many others, where the overflow caused little or no damage). According to my recoHections the overflow of 1843, occurring the last of May and the first of June, reached a height of about six feet lower than that of the succeeding year of June, 1 844, and the damage was correspondingly less. The winter of 1842-43 was a long, hard one, with much snow towards the moun tains. In January there was a general thaw and break up with fine weather lasting neariy three weeks, and the steamer lone ascended the river to Kansas City. On the day of her arrival it turned suddenly cold, the river froze up again and so remained until near the first of May, during which time the boat remained near the foot of Grand Avenue." Kansas City Before the War. 41 "The rise of the water in 1843 was high enough to wash away some heavy new one story log houses standing near the river bank, at the lower end of Harlem, which I had put up at the beginning of winter I stood on the levee one day and witnessed their departure with a sudden lurch and a graceful sweep of the upper end toward the river that mingled and melted them away in the boiling flood. . . I am now going to say something of another flood that far exceeded this one in its desolating effects — that which occurred in June, 1844. The water rose to a height of six feet or more above that of the previous year The Missouri River at about the thirteenth was only a few feet over the bottom lands, but the great volume of water that came down the Kansas River, madly rushing against the mighty Missouri, caused the seething waters to pile up at the mouth, no doubt several feet higher than they would have done had they met at the point of jVinction more obliquely. "On the morning of the 14th, Colonel WiHiam M. Chick, who was tempo rarily occupying, with his family, a house he owned, which stood on the east side of Turkey Creek, not far southeast of the present State Line House, was sur prised to find the waters just rising above the banks of the creek. By nine o'clock they had reached the door step, and as the ground was lower toward the hills eastward, he deemed it advisable to seek a place of safety on higher ground, which they succeeded in doing with the aid of a canoe or small boat. His daughter, Mrs. Peery, went to the hills near Twelfth street, on a horse, the water then being about mid-side to the horse, near the hills. From thence she made her way to my house, two miles south of the city. I galloped down to the ferry across the river, which I owned and ran at that time, and taking a skiff with Mr. John W. Polk, we made our way, with great difficulty and danger, up through the woods to the house, where we arrived about twelve o'clock, and found the water about waist deep on the lower floor. We secured as many articles as our skiff would carry, placed the balance out of reach of the water, and made our way back to the ferry, where I immediately secured a party of about ten persons, to take up the ferry flat to secure that which was left. " The seething, foaming flood of water was only dashing madly onward in the river channel, but it swept across the heavHy timbered bottom of West Kansas, from bluff to bluff, with a roar almost deafening. With the aid of twenty or more men, in rounding the rocky headland above the site of the present bridge, we finally reached the buHding about four o'clock P. M., where we found the water had reached nearly to the upper floor Placing the boat beside the house, we tore off a portion of the roof, the eaves of which were probably five feet above the boat ; the upper window being too small to pass out the furniture. Being now nearly dark, we held a council and decided to tie up for the night, deeming it unsafe to venture into the river in the dark. So we ran up to the smoke-house, buHt of heavy logs, in which about five thousands pounds of bacon was floating about and there spent the long dreary 42 History of Kansas City. hours of the night in roasting bacon and hams, and telling marvelous tales of blood-curdling scenes that never happened, probably. " In the morning we found that the depth of water under our boat was at least ten feet and still rising. •" I will now mention only one other episode of that eventful day in West Kansas. During the night of the fifteenth, and the next morning, from time to time, loud cries of distress were heard over at Wyandotte, in the direction of the residence of Louis Tromley, who then lived near the Missouri south bank, just east of the State line. Those who listened to those cries knew full well that the old man was in deep trouble as well as deep waters, but the im petuous Kaw forced its mad waters into the broad sea of the Missouri, with a current so rapid that it was impossible to get the ferry flat across to the oppo site woods (for there were no banks then), without cordeling the boat some distance up the Kaw, and before this could be done darkness had overspread the desolate scene. At early dawn brave hearts and strong arms were ready for the rescue. Isaiah Walker, Ethan Long, Russell Garret, David Froman and Tall Charles, of Wyandotte, soon made their way with the boat, cutting their way through the woods to poor old Tromley, whom they found perched in a tree, and a few hundred yards farther on his wife, in another tree, and a short distance further his boy, sitting astraddle of the comb of the house, which was just beginning to sway in the seething waters of the river. "Tromley had tried to make his way to Wyandotte, on a log, in order to procure a boat and help, but finding he would be inevitably swept into the Missouri, he desisted from his effort and betook himself to his perch in the tree ; and thus passed the long vigils of that dreary, desolate night to those three helpless persons ; poor Tromley trying, meanwhile, throughout its long watches, to cheer and comfort his terrified wife and boy, whom he was unable to reach. The rescuers took them to the hills, near Twelfth street, on their way picking up some others as they went. Soon afterwards, old Tromley's house, with his favorite dog perched upon its top, was seen by the hundreds gathered upon the hill sides, passing rapidly down into mid-current and poor Tromley, who had just arrived, called to his dog by name, who set up a mourn ful wail, and the old man seemed disposed to dash in to its rescue. During this day, the fifteenth, the Wyandotte rescuers were busy saving persons and property in West Kansas bottom, until darkness closed their labors, theirs being the only boat that operated on that day ; and after that none was needed, for nothing was left to save of life or property. " On the same day I went down with an old horse-boat I had, and brought up Mrs. Francois Chouteau, and her household goods from her homestead be low East Kansas, to the high ground above." Many changes were made in the river by this big flood, filling up old chan nels and cutting out new ones. About this time the current began to cut out Kansas City Before the War. 43 the great bend in West Kansas, below the mouth of the Kansas River, and about twelve hundred acres of valuable land, on which were several farms, were gradually carried away. In the year 1873 the railroads succeeded in arresting the destruction by rip-rapping the banks. The Kansas River has also eaten far into the land on the east, and Turkey Creek, which formerly ran along side of it and emptied into the Missouri, was cut off and made tributary to the Kansas by entering that river at the water works. In the history of river com merce, the navigation of the Kansas River should not be overlooked. For a time steamboats ran successfully between Kansas City and Fort Riley, Man hattan, Topeka and Lawrence. The first boat to make the trip was the Lacon, which ran to Fort Riley during the season of 1856, carrying government freight. It was followed by the George Linn, Lightfoot, Emma, and others not remembered. The construction of the Kansas Pacific Railroad along its banks soon destroyed the river trade. Had it been necessary, the steamboat business could have been madea success as high as Junction City, by the con struction of a class of boats adapted to the river, and with some improvements made in the channel. Between 1856 and 1863, several steamboats and keel boats were built and launched at Wyandotte. THE CITY from 1 854 TO 1860. The year 1854 was a new era in the growth and advance of Kansas City. In this year the territories of Kansas and Nebras'ka were partially thrown open to settlement, and emigrants from the East began to pour through Kansas City, to settle in the rich valley of the Kansas River, thus adding to her a new element of trade. Party spirit ran high at this time, and the question of slav ery was the dominant one of the day. The South was determined that Kan sas should be added to the slave States, and the North was equally determined that it should be free. It was plainly foreseen that a bitter struggle was about to ensue for possession of the new territory. Kansas City being upon the border, and one of the gateways to the new land, in a slave-holding State, and with a slave-holding population, could not remain an uninterested spectator and escape being more or less disturbed by the coming conflict While many of her citizens were of the opinion that it was but right that the people of the new territory should settle this question among themselves without any out side interference, others espoused the pro-slavery side with the fiery zeal and temper of the South, and denounced the efforts of the North to make it a free State, by a preponderance of immigration, as an outrage upon their rights. But still the stream from the North and East flowed steadily onward, and rival towns soon began to spring up ; Atchison, Leavenworth, Lawrence and To peka, aspired to be competitors for supremacy with Kansas City. The citi zens of these places appealed to the political prejudices of their people, and warned them away from the towns of slave-holding Missouri, as unworthy of 44 History of Kansas City. their patronage. But trade, Hke a current of water, is difficult to divert from its naturar channels, and Kansas City steadily improved with the immigration into Kansas, and in time her rivals became her tributaries. There being no railroads in those days, the mouth of the Kansas River was the nearest and most convenient point on the Missouri River, at which the settlers of the Kan sas valley could transact their business, and to Kansas City they came, and her merchants then, as now, took their produce and supplied their wants. But the young city had many difficulties to contend with. The border troubles soon culminated in actual warfare, and for a time business was paralyzed. The city was in the hands of the pro-slavery party, and northern and eastern men and capital passed her by. Eastern men were objects of suspicion on her streets, and in many cases were plainly told they were not wanted, and or dered to stay away. Bands of so-called " law and order men," roamed along the border and terrorized the country, making it unsafe for the people of Kan sas to reach the city, and cutting off her trade. But in the end the better ele ment prevailed, things quieted down, and by the year 1857, business had re sumed its usual course. Many, if not all, of these fiery champions of the South, and assumed dictators of what should be, and what should not be, lived to see and acknowledge the error of the course they had pursued, and became faithful friends and co-laborers with the men they had formerly abused and denounced for consorting with the " Yankees," and selHng them property. When peace came, business resumed its natural course, uninfluenced by political considerations, capital went where there was the best prospect for profitable investment, and Kansas City received the consideration that was her due. At the commencement of the immigration to Kansas, a few of the leading citizens, foreseeing that Kansas City would require an infusion of new men and new capital, in order to compete with her aspiring rivals, made efforts to induce some of the most enterprising immigrants to stop at the mouth of the Kansas, and assist in building a city. One of the first of these acquisitions was Kersey Coates, a young lawyer from Philadelphia, Pa., one whose name has, since be come inseparably connected with the history of Kansas City. Being weH known in the East as a reliable gentleman, his correspondence with New York and Philadelphia papers did much to attract attention to the new town and in duce others to locate here. In conjunction with Dr. Johnston Lykins, Colonel R. T Van Horn, \E. M. McGee, Dr Theo. S. Case, H. H. King, H.'b. Bou- ton, M. J. Payne, and others, they formed a band of indefatigable workers for the welfare and advancement of Kansas City. The Western Jourtzal of Commerce, a paper published in the city since 1857, had the following editorial in regard to the money annually expended on the border west of this town : " border money. " During the week we have obtained from reliable sources, a correct esti mate of what may most appropriately be called ' Border Money.' This is gold Kansas City Before the War. 45 and silver coin that comes directly from the treasury, or from New Mexico, and is first put into circulation on the Missouri border . . . The whole amount of the border money is $5,100,000. Of this about $2,800,000 comes directly from the United States mint, and comes here annually by virtue of statute law to that effect. The balance is from New Mexico and emigration. Here are the various funds: Annuity money, $1,100,000; army money, $2,- 000,000; mail money, $200,000; emigration money, $300,000; New Mexico money, $1,500,000. Total, $5,100,000. The annuity money is annually paid to the various Indian tribes on our border, and by them is forthwith expended with our border merchants. Not a dollar of it is hid in the earth or stowed away in old stockings. The army money is paid out to privates, to officers, and for stock and forage. The mail money is paid directly to the contractors, for the transportation of the mails over the plains, and expended on the bor der for service, feed and stores. The emigration money is brought here by emigrants to the territory, to our own State, and to New Mexico, Utah and. California. . . . The New Mexico money, amounting annually to $1,- 500,000, is expended directly with our border merchants and producers for stock, freight and supplies and outfits. This money is brought direct from Mexico, and is composed of doubloons and Mexican doHars. . . . Every workshop, mechanic, merchant, and farmer, on this border, gets some of this money. We, of course, do not lay claim to all this money, but at the same time there is no one can refute us in saying that the great bulk of it finds its way into circulation, and into the commerce of the country, through the chan nels of trade and the industrial pursuits of Kansas City." The foHowing tables, copied from "an annual review of the trade and com merce of Kansas City, Mo., for the year ending December 31, 1857," pub Hshed in the Western Journal of Commerce, January 9, 1858, wiH show the amount of business transacted in the year named. In regard to the population of the city at this time, the " review " says: " On the first of January, 1857, our population was about 2,000. On the first of June last, by the census then completed, it was 3,224. It is now estimated at 5,185, showing an increase in one year of over three thousand inhabitants." Statement showing the amount of warehouse business done in Kansas City, for the year ending December 21, 1857: Number of packages received, 381,- 628; wagons, 1,172; plows, 2,246; sacks of flour, 49,226; sacks of meal, 4,560; sacks of oats, 2,160; sacks of corn, 2,760; sacks of potatoes, 1,760; bales of hay, 336; Mexican wool, 805,000 pounds ; lumber, 1,277,200 feet; shingles, 656,000 feet; lath, 844,000 feet; kegs of powder, 1,940; dry hides, 2,280; buffalo robes, 70,400; furs and skins, 2,580 bales; buffalo tongues, 514 bags; buffalo meat, 55,000 pounds; packages of furniture, 7,768; gallons of stoneware, 5,936; carriages, 256; pianos, 32; gold and silver in boxes, $1,139,661.50; silver ore, 2,000 pounds; pound freight, exclusive of above, 7 46 History of Kansas City. 12,985,600; wagons loaded with above goods, 9,884; freight, charges and commission on above, $545,020. Live stock sold in Kansas City market for the year ending December 3 1 1857: 14,700 horses, mules and oxen, value $1,239,661.50; 52,400 head stock cattle, value $939,000. Total, $2,178,661.50. Table showing the amount of merchandise sold for the year i857> ^^s fol lows: Dry goods, $390,007.67; boots and shoes, $146,801.64; hats a.nd caps, $23,480; clothing, $96,781.50; books and stationery, $6,481.90; hardware, iron, steel nails, etc., $147,299.17; powder, lead and shot, $25,088.65; glass and glassware, $20,231.54; wooden ware, brooms, etc., $8,980.25 ; stoves, tin and hollow ware, $53,281.36 ; plows, $2,722; wagons and carriages, $44,800 ; groceries, $472,005.80; flour and meal, $382,400; bacon and lard, $102,545.- 27 ; foreign and domestic Hquors, etc., $135,915.30; cigars and tobacco, $47,- 483.85 ; robes, furs, etc., $267,253.02; hides, $58,580.96; sak, $20,575 ! suii- dries, $105,791.86; drugs, medicines and oils, $62,198.20; soap, candles, etc., $37,705; confectionery, $6,090 ; crackers and pilot bread, $18,176.41 ; furni ture, $34,602; saddles, leather and harness, $81,287.90; lumber, shingles, sash, etc., $394,965.40. Total, $3,183,502.34. Recapitulation of the trade of 1857: Merchandise sold and deHvered, $3,183,502.34; commission and for warding business, $545,020; brick, burnt and sold, $84,578; live stock sold, $2,198,200. Grand total, $6,011,300.34. During this year five hundred and sixty-six steamboats arrived from be low ; 58,704,000 pounds of freight were received ; 9,784 wagons were loaded for the interior, the "fuH-rigged prairie schooners" carrying about 6,000 pounds each. The exports of New Mexican and mountain products for this year were as follows: Mexican wool, 865,000 pounds, value $129,600; Mexican goat skins, 50,000 pounds, $25,000; dressed buckskins, 50,000 pounds, $62,500; dry hides, 105,000 pounds, $375,000; specie in boxes, $1,139,661.50; furs, skins, and peltries (estimated), $36,000 ; silver ore, one ton (value not known) ; total export $1,767,761.50. In 1857 every kind of business was progressing finely, when the financial panic of that year came suddenly and unexpectedly. Owing to the " border money" before mentioned, which was circulated as usual, the commercial busi ness of the city was not affected, but the trade in real estate was for a time paralyzed. The stream of capital from the east for investment in lands and town lots was cut off, and but few sales of importance were made to outside parties. However, in this year one of the principal additions to the city, that of E. M. McGee, was laid off and put upon the market The proprietor was a " wild westerner'' in respect to business, and advertised his property with ban ners and music at the steamboat landings in order to attract the attention of new-comers. The Farmer's Hotel was built and opened, and by holding out inducements to others to buHd, he soon had quite a town started on Grand Kansas City Before the War. 47 avenue, south of Twelfth street. A very important improvement, and one much needed, commenced in 1857 and finished in September, 1858, was the grading and macadamizing of a turnpike road to Westport. This road was a continuation of Grand Avenue South, and was of great benefit to the freight ing interest, the heavy loaded trains often making the road to Westport im passable in wet weather. About this time a company, composed of citizens of Kansas City and Westport, purchased a tract of land lying on the turnpike between the two towns and laid out a cemetery. As it was to be for the benefit of both places, it was named the Union Cemetery. At that time it was supposed that it would be many years before the living would encroach on this resting place of the dead, but now it is surrounded by a rapidly increas ing population, so that it will soon have to be abandoned for some more re mote locality The following years up to the commencement of the war, were uneventful, farther than that the city grew steadily along and made good progress, considering the hard times and scarcity of money. The increasing population of Kansas every year brought more trade to the city, requiring niore business houses and capital to supply the demand. Many new additions to the city were laid out, which are mentioned on another page, and while there was not much 'speculative trade, many lots were sold for actual occupa tion, and the city gradually extendeid its limits. In 1858 the first Hne of tele graph was finished to Kansas City, and the first daily paper, the Daily West ern Jonrnal of Commerce made its appearance. In 1 849 the first corporate banks were established, branches of the Mechanics' Bank and the Union Bank of St Louis being opened for business. Stage lines were established to vari ous points in Kansas, also a line to Stockton, Cal, and many railroad projects discussed. In 1 860 a Chamber of Commerce was organized to look after the business of the city and disseminate information in regard to the advantages of its location, and more especially for procuring charters and developing a local interest in the various railroad projects on hand. At the close of the year 1 860 the city had three banks, one insurance com pany, one daily and two weekly English newspapers, one German weekly and one bi-monthly medical journal. The churches were two Methodist one Baptist, two Presbyterian, one Catholic, and one Christian. There were also two lodges of Masons, two of Odd FeHows, one of Good Templars, a Turn verein, and Shamrock Benevolent Society, a city female seminary, a rectory school, and a German school. By the census of i860 the population of Kan sas City was 4,418. municipal history before the war. From 1846 to about 1853, the town of Kansas had been content to live along with no higher hopes and aspirations than to be a common river land ing for the country back of it, but in this year some of its property holders 48 History of Kansas City. and leading spirits began to wake up to the fact that something more might be made of it. United States Senator Thomas H. Benton had prophesied that this was to be the site of a " great commercial and manufacturing community;" and John C. Fremont, the great western explorer, had said, "This is the key to the immense territory to the west of us." With some perceptions of its ca pabilities and future greatness, they proceeded to obtain a special charter from the State Legislature, and the place was incorporated as a city ; not, however, without some protests from the older inhabitants, who could not see why the expense of a city government should be saddled on their town. In April, 1853, the first election for mayor was held in the new city. At this election Doctor Benoist Troost and William S. Gregory, were the candidates. Mr. Gregory received a majority of the votes cast, and was declared duly elected. M. B. Hedges was elected city marshal without opposition. A city council was elected at the same time, composed of the following named citizens : Johnston Lykins, T. H. West William G. Barkley, Thompson McDaniels and M. J. Payne. At the first meeting of the council the following city officers were nominated by the mayor, and duly confirmed by the council : City register, J. W. Ammons ; assessor, J. W. Wolf; treasurer, P. M. Chouteau. Council meetings were held quarterly, in April, July, October and January. After the election it was discovered that Mr. Gregory, the mayor elect, was ineligible, on account of not having been a resident of the city the length of time re quired by the charter. Dr. Johnston Lykins, the president of the council, filled his place, and in the foHowing year was elected to the office. The suc cession of mayors and city officials, to the close of the war, is as follows : 1853, mayor, W. S. Gregory, Johnston Lykins ; treasurer, P. M. Chouteau; assessor, G. W. Wolf; register, S. W. Bouton ; marshal, M. B. Hedges ; at torney, Nelson ; councilmen, WilHam G. Barkley, Thompson McDaniel, WiHiam J. Jarboe, T H. West, T. S. Wright, M. J. Payne and Johnston Ly kins. 1854, mayor, Johnston Lykins; treasurer, H. M. Northrup; assessor, HaHom Rice; register, WiHiam G. Barkley; marshal, J. P. Howe; city attor neys, John Curtis, Asa Bartlett ; councHmen, Benoist Troost J- C. McNees, Daniel Edgerton, Caleb Kerr,- M. J. Payne, T. H. West. 1855, mayors, John Johnson and M. J. Payne; treasurer, E. R. Threlkeld ; assessor, J. W. Summers; registers, M. J. Payne, S. W. Bouton; city engi neers, C. C. Spaulding, Fred. Breckenridge ; marshal, J. P. Howe ; city attor ney, Asa Bartlett; councilmen, Caleb Kerr, A. T. GHham, J. W. Ammons, John S. Campbell, John C. McNees and T. J. Wilson. 1856, mayor, M. J. Payne; treasurer, E. R. Threlkeld; assessor, J. P. Howe ; register, S. W. Bouton ; city engineer, Robert J. Lawrence ; marshal, J. P. Howe ; city attorney, S. W. Bouton ; councilmen, T. J. Wilson, John Johnson, Caleb Kerr, John S. Campbell, A. T. Gilham, M. B. Hedges, WiH iam J. Jarboe. Kansas City Before the War. 49 1857, mayor, M. J. Payne; treasurer, E. R. Threlkeld; coHector, F. M. Barnes ; assessor, S. W. Bouton ; registers, S. W. Bouton, John S. Hough ; engineers, C. P. Wiggins, Ed. O'Flaherty; marshal, J. P. Howe; city attor ney, William A. Strong ; councilmen, R, J. Lawrence, William J. Jarboe, A. T. Gilham, R. T Van Horn, I. M. Ridge, Michael Smith, D. J. Williams. ' On August 17 this council resigned, and the foHowing named persons were elected: William J. Jarboe, John Johnson, James A. Frame, T. B. Lester, I. M. Ridge, John A. Boarman. 1858, mayor, M. J. Payne; treasurer, E. R. Threlkeld; collector, D. L. Shouse ; assessors. Lot Coffman, James A. Gregory ; register, L. B. Scott ; attorney, J. W. Robinson ; engineer, J. Q. Anderson ; wharfmaster, S. M. Gil ham ; marshal, F. M. Barnes ; city attorney, J. W. Robinson ; councilmen, T. B. Lester, John W. Ammons, John S. Hough, Michael Smith, Charies Long, George W. See. 1859, mayor, M. J. Payne; treasurer, John A. Boarman; collector, D. L Shouse; assessor, S. W. Bouton; register, Daniel Geary; engineer, J. Q. An derson ; wharfmaster, S. M. Gilham ; wharf register, W. A. Pollard ; marshal, Jonathan Richardson ; city attorney, John W. Robinson ; recorder, J. W. Sum mers ; councilmen, J. B. Higgins, E. M. McGee, L. A. Schoen, E. B. Cravens, Theo. S. Case, N. C. Claiborne, i860, mayor, G. M. B. Maughs; treasurer, John A. Boarman; collector, S. D. Vaughn ; assessor, J. K. Starr ; register, Dan Geary ; city engineer, C. L. De Ham ; wharfmaster, W. V. Pulliam ; city attorney, J. Richardson; wharf register, Thomas Oliver ; recorder, J. W. Summers ; councilmen. Lot Coff man, W. V. PulHam, W. W. Ford, A. L. Harris, John Campbell, D. A. N. Grover, W. J. Jarboe, D. M. Jarboe, Dennis O'Brien. 1 861, mayor, R. T. Van Horn; treasurer, John A. Boarman; collector, S. D. Vaughn ; assessor, E. O'Flaherty ; register, Michael Smith ; city engineer, Ed. O'Flaherty ; wharf register, Thomas Oliver ; city marshal, George F. Ir win ; city attorney, J. S. Boreman ; city recorder, George W. Toler; council- men, D. A. N. Grover, Charles Long, Patrick Shannon, A. L. Harris, J. E. Snyder, M. J. Payne, B. M. Jewett N. Vincent, J. Lykins. 1862, mayor, M. J. Payne; treasurer, J. A. Bachman ; collector, S. D. Vaughn ; assessor, E. O'Flaherty ; register, Michael Smith ; engineer, Ed. O'Flaherty ; wharfmaster, F. R. Lord ; marshal, William Holden ; wharf reg ister, John Joyce ; city attorney, William Quarles; recorder, George W. Toler; •councilmen, J. Thorne, M. Dively, E. M. Sloan, J. R. Ham, John Kaney, Lewis Deardorf, Thomas Burke, P. Switzgabel. 1863, mayor, WilHam Bonnefield ; treasurer, A. B. Cross; coHector, C. F .Smith ; assessor, D. M. Jarboe ; register, B. Donnelly ; engineer, R. B. Whit ney ; wharfmaster, F. McMillan; marshal, Dennis O'Brien; wharf register, Alphonso Hughes; city attorney, William Quaries; recorder, A. Ellenberger; 50 History of Kansas City. councilmen, C. W. Fairman, P. Switzgable, W. C. Holmes, F. Timmerman, F. P. Flagler, Lewis Deardorf, Thomas Burke and Charies Dwyer. 1864, mayor, R. T. Van Horn; treasurer, S. D. Vaughn; collector, R. Salisbury; assessor, E. O'Flaherty; register, B. Donnelly; engineer, WHHam Millar ; wharfmaster, F. R. Lord ; marshal, Dennis O'Brien ; wharf register, John Joyce ; attorney, C. Carpenter ; recorder, A. Ellenberger ; councilmen, C. A. Carpenter, James Mansfield, Charies Dwyer, Theo. S. Case, Thomas Burke, B. L. Riggins, Aaron Raub, P. C. Causey, P. Shannon, P. S. Brown. 1865, mayor, P. Shannon ; treasurer, S. D. Vaughn; collector, E. B. Crav ens ; assessor, E. O'Flaherty ; register, B. Donnelly ; engineers, William MH- lar, Ed. O'Flaherty; wharfmaster, Thomas Fox; wharf register, Samuel Quest ; marshal, Jeremiah Dowd ; attorney, T. B. Rummel ; recorder, C. A. Carpenter ; councilmen, P. S. Brown, H. L. Huhn, J. Q. Watkins, E. F. Rog ers, John Taylor, Gerhart Zucker, Thomas Burke, William Kolb. Of the above named mayors but two are known to be living and residents of the city at this date, Hon. M. J. Payne and Hon. R. T. Van Horn. The election of 186 1 was more than usually exciting, as the lines were then being drawn between the union and disunion parties Dr. G. M. B. Maughs was the leader and candidate of the secessionists, and Colonel Van Horn, that of the union party. Colonel Van Horn was elected by a fair majority (109), thus placing Kansas City squarely on the side of the Union. At the commence ment of hostilities. Dr. Maughs went South and joined the Confederate army ; and Colonel Van Horn raised a battalion of volunteers for the Union army. He subsequently became lieutenant-colonel of the Twenty-Fifth Missouri In fantry, and was engaged in the battles of Harrisonville, Lexington and Shiloh, being wounded at Lexington, and having his horse shot from under him at Shiloh. newspapers. The first newspaper published in this city was the Kansas Ledger, in 185 1, established and conducted by Mr. R. V. Kennedy. After publishing the Ledger about fifteen months, Mr. Kennedy sold the paper to a Mr. Epperson, who continued it for about the same time as his predecessor. It was a small paper, but sufficient for the needs of the business community at that time, when news was seven days coming from St. Louis, and was ably and satisfactorily conducted by both editors. But as business houses were few and the advertis ing patronage, which is the main support of a newspaper, necessarily small, Mr. Epperson became dissatisfied and sold to a party in Independence, Mo., and the Western Reporter was issued at Independence with the material of the old Ledger. With the sale and removal of the Ledger office, the city was without a newspaper office for about eighteen months. But business again required a newspaper, and M. J. Payne, acting as agent of the city, went to St. Louis and Kansas City Before the War. 51 purchased the material for a new office. With this new material the Kansas City Enterprise made its appearance September 23, 1854. W. A. Strong had charge of the editorial department and D. K. Abeel the publishing depart ment of the Enterprise. The paper was edited by Mr, Strong until the spring of 1855, when A. J. Martin became associated with him in that department These gentlemen edited the paper until August 1855, when the Enterprise was bought out by R. T. Van Horn, who assumed editorial control October I, 1855. Up to the time Colonel Van Horn assumed charge, the paper had a somewhat precarious existence, on account of the limited business of a new town of small population, but under the energy and commanding ability of his management, business was systematized, circulation increased, and the paper at once took a position in the business and political world which commanded general attention and laid the foundation of that eminent success which it has since attained under another name, the Kansas City Journal, and placed it among the leading papers of the west On the 1st of January, 1857, Mr. D. K. Abeel, who had had charge of the publishing department of the paper since its first issue, purchased from Mr. Van Horn one-half of the establishment, and in the following October the paper was enlarged and its name changed, and the Western Journal of Commerce made its first appearance in Kansas City. There is one feature that has always characterized this paper — a never-failing devo tion to home and local interests, and an unyielding faith in the destiny of the city that has made it, more than any other interest, the builder and architect of the present city of Kansas. It has furnished more information — historical, statistical, and commercial — in regard to western Missouri, the great western plains and the mountains, their trade, resources and capabiHties, than any other paper in the Mississippi Valley, and when the history of the " new west" comes to be written, it is to its columns that the historian will turn for his earliest facts and figures. It is a matter of congratulation that its venerable editor has lived to see the realization of his hopes and predictions, and while many of those with whom he was associated in the early struggles of the city for supremacy have fallen by the way, he has been spared to see the fruits of his and their labors in the great city rising at the mouth of the Kansas. About the first of June, 1858, the Western Metropolitan was started by John M. Bates and George W. Gilson, as an opposition paper to the Journal of Commerce, the editor of the Journal being at that time what was known as a "Douglas Democrat" On October 13, 1859, T H. Sypherd became editor, and J. M. Bates, publisher It was about the same size as the Journal, and was ably conducted by both editor and publisher, and received its fuH share of public patronage. In April, i860, the establishment was sold to Hodgson & McReynolds, who changed the name of the paper to The Kansas City En- quirer. April 19, i860, the first number of the Enquirer made its appearance with the name of Joseph Hodgson as editor. The editor seems to have been 52 History of Kansas City. overwhelmed with the responsibilities of his situation. The state of his mind will be shown by the following extract from a long salutatory, which also wiH show that the editors of Kansas City were not averse to taking a hand in regu lating the affairs of the world : "The Enquirer rises from the ashes of its predecessor at a time when America and the world is pregnant with events. From the old world are com ing rumors of wars ; and the whole continent is bristling with bayonets, or trembling beneath the heavy wheels of rifled ordnance. The tenth year for revolution has rolled around, and the papal thunders of excommunication presage the coming storm. In the new world the unsubstantial policies of our neighboring republic and the intricacies of international diplomacy have brought about a collision between the naval forces of Mexico and the United States. Ill blood and the ambitious projects of Spain and England have fomented disputes which may ultimately change the destiny of our continent. We are at the same time upon the eve of a presidential campaign, a more vir ulent than which no Republican government has seen in the past, or will ever see in the future ; parties divided by geographical lines and forced to abandon principles to availability; brothers urged on by crimination and recrimination to join in unfriendly strife, and to make the halls of legislation ring with angry invective. Simultaneously we are enrolling ourselves beneath our respective banners in the great campaign of internal improvements here in the noble State of Missouri. All around us, and far beyond us, the whole world is work ing out a revolution in politics, commerce, and nationalities. " It is then with a due appreciation of the present difficulties and dangers which beset the path of a journalist, that I enter upon my duties." The E7iquirer announced itself as independent in poHtics, but finally be came the organ of the true Democratic party. From the office of the En quirer was pubHshed a small weekly sheet named the Evening Star, H. M. McCarty, proprietor. From No. 3, Vol. 2, of this paper published April 24, 1 86 1, we learn that it was then the official paper of the city. It appears to have been a rampant secession sheet and pubHshed a set of resolutions which, among other things, declares : " We deem it incompatible with the interests and safety of our State for the appointees of Abraham Lincoln to possess or hold offices of honor or profit in Missouri, and would earnestly recommend all such appointees to await further developments before thrusting themselves upon the community." It probably had a very short lived existence, and was dependent upon municipal patronage for support During what was termed the "border war" between the citizens of Kansas and Missouri, in 1856, a paper named the Border Star was published in Westport by H. Clay Pate, a Southern " fire-eater" It advocated the most extreme measures in regard'to making Kansas a slave State, and its editor led a party of armed Missourians over into Kansas, and at a place called Black Jack came in collision with a ^^^¦>-iij :Q.T]uajBiistEB''^'^' Kansas City Before the War. 53 party of free-state men under command of Captain John Brown, June 2, 1856. After a sharp skirmish. Captain Pate with his whole force of twenty-five or thirty men were captured and paroled, ingloriously returning to Westport in this plight within three days after having marched forth with gay colors made and presented to them by the young ladies of the town. In the summer of i860 the Free State Republican was started by Noble T. Doane, and mainly edited by H. M. Vaile and Theodore S. Case. It was designed to be the organ of the free-state men in Kansas City and advocate free-state principles in Missouri. It had no office of its own and was printed on the press of the Enquirer, the pro-slavery Democratic paper. It was making a brave struggle for its existence when it succumbed with the other city papers at the com mencement of the hostilities and was never revived. A weekly German newspaper called the Post and Tribune, under control of August Wuerz, had been established some time before the war of the Union, but when the troubles began it was removed to Wyandotte, Kan., where it remained until peace was declared and then returned to the city ; and now under the same name still lives as a prosperous daily. CHAMBER OF COMMERCE. In 1856 the citizens of the town formed an association which they named the Board of Trade. It was an informal organization, in which they met occa sionally, to discuss matters pertaining to the general welfare and prosperity of the city. After a time it was found that a more regularly organized and authorita tive body was necessary to look after the commercial interests of the city, and the Chamber"of Commerce was chartered by the Legislature November 9, 1857. The corporators of this association were Dr. Johnston Lykins, John Johnson, M. J. Payne, W. A. Hopkins, Thomas H. Swope, S. W. Bouton, Kersey Coates, Jos. C. Ranson, E. C. McCarty, H. M. Northrup, H. H. King, J. M. Ashburn, WiHiam Gillis, Dr Benoist Troost, John Campbell and R. G. Ste phens. R. T. Van Horn and T. S. Case were prominent and active members. During its existence it was a potent factor in the development of Kansas City, and did much to encourage public enterprise and improvements. It was es pecially useful in advancing the railroad interests of the city by organizing companies, procuring charters, and publishing maps of the proposed lines, and disseminating information generally, in regard to Kansas City as a commercial center. The organization survived until gradually dissolved by the troubles of the war, and although the records have not been preserved, it has left an enduring impress for good upon the city, and its active members should be gratefuHy remembered as among those who outlined and laid the foundations for the future greatness and prosperity of Kansas City. 54 History of Kansas City. hotels. The first hotel in the city was kept by Thompson McDaniel, in 1846, in a two-story frame building on the southwest corner of Main and Levee streets. It was an old-time wayside inn, office, bar-room and sitting-room being all in one, with a stable on the premises for the accommodation of the travelers' teams and riding animals. This sufficed for the needs of the public until 1849, about the commencement of the California emigration, when Dr. Benoist Troost erected and opened a hotel on the levee between Wyandotte and Del aware streets. Many additions were afterwards made to this building, and it was operated under various names and proprietors, until it finally became his torical in connection with the border troubles between Kansas and Missouri. It was known at times as the Western Hotel, American Hotel and the GilHs House. Dr. Benoist Troost, Gains Jenkins, H. W. Chiles and the Eldridge Brothers, were its earlier landlords. It was in this house that Governor A. H. Reeder was concealed, in May, 1856, when the "border ruffians" were seeking his Hfe, and from which he made his escape in the disguise of a wood- chopper It was for some time the principal hotel in the place, and in the years 1856-1857, while it was kept by ChHes, it was said to have had 27,000 arrivals. The business part of the town has long since left this locality, and the old hotel stands lonely and desolate at the foot of the bluffs, a habitation for tramps and rats, both human and animal. Another historical hotel, and the next in order of construction, was the " Farmer's Hotel." This house was buHt and opened by E. M. McGee, in in 1856, on Grand avenue, in McGee's addition. During the border troubles it was the headquarters of the Southern or " pro-slavery " party, its proprietor. Colonel McGee, being one of the leading spirits of that party. It has survived all the changes of peace and war, only whereas it once stood on the outskirts of the town, it is now in the midst of one of the most densely populated por tions of the city. It stiH retains its old name and has entertainment for man and beast. In 1858, Thompson McDaniel, the first landlord in Kansas City, erected a hotel buHding and opened it to the public, under the name of the Union Hotel, on the southeast corner of Main street and Missouri avenue. It was a popular house and was much patronized by Mexican traders. It was kept open with several changes of landlords, untH compelled to close by the war The fine Nelson block now occupies the site of the Union Hotel. When the old hotel was being torn down, in 1884, to make way for the new building, an old citi zen remembered that one of the bricklayers working on the hotel, had im bedded in one corner of the wall a pint bottle partly filled with whisky. When the old walls were being torn down, careful search was made for this bottle, and it was found safe and sound, but the fragrant spirit within had exhaled and wasted its sweetness on the brick and mortar. Kansas City Before the War. 55 These are the only hotels of historical importance. A good view of the old GilHs House will be found in Scribner's Magazine for April, 1887, as one of the illustrations to Hay and Nicolay's " Life of Abraham Lincoln." This hotel was once owned by the " New England Emigrant Aid Society," of Bos ton, Mass., and was the headquarters of the free-state immigrants to Kansas, and was nicknamed the " Free State Hotel." When the border troubles were at their worst, it was feared the property would be destroyed in some outbreak of the Missourians, and it was leased to H. W. Chiles, a strong pro-slavery partisan. BANKS. Kansas City was without banking facilities until the year 1859, when branches of the Mechanics'j Bank and Union Bank of St. Louis were estab lished here to supply the rapidly increasing demands of business. Johnston Lykins was first president, and D. L. Shouse cashier of the Mechanics' Bank ; and H. M. Northrup first president, and John S. Harris, cashier, of the Union Branch. Previous to this, however, the firm of H. M. Northrup & Co. had done a small exchange and deposit business, on the second floor of their store, on the southwest corner of Levee and Walnut streets. These banks were sound and safe institutions, were well managed and were of great benefit to the city. It was rather precarious banking during the war, especially when the guerriHas, Quantrell and Todd, were roaming around the country, ready to take advantage of every opportunity to plunder a town. For this reason but little money was kept on hand, and little business done during the troublous times. A party of these maurauders made a descent on the town in 1861, and plundered the bank of H. M. Northrup & Co., and the Union Bank, taking off five or six thousand dollars in gold. early railroads. Kansas City, by reason of the natural advantages which gave it control of the traffic of the country when conducted by batteaux, steamboats, pack horses and wagons, combined with the energy and enterprise of its citizens, has been made a great railroad center It was a favorite dream of some of its earliest citizens, encouraged by such men as Senator Benton,' Governor Gilpin and General Fremont, that here would be a great distributing point where the products of the North would meet the tropical products of the South ; where the products of the manufactories of the East would meet the metalHc wealth of the West, and the silks and teas of China and Japan be exchanged and dis tributed throughout the worid. This dream has already been realized. Twenty lines of railroad from every point of the compass, with innumerable branches penetrating the interior, and main lines reaching the sea coast in every direction, meet in the city and exchange passengers and freight The first railroad 56 History of Kansas City. meeting held in the city was called and presided over by Dr Johnston Lykins in 1856. Its object was to raise funds to pay the expense of a preliminary survey of the Kansas City and Keokuk road, a road projected from Kansas City to Keokuk, la., and which was to be a link in a direct Hne to Chicago, and also make a connection with the Hannibal and St. Joseph road at Hudson, Mo. At this meeting Dr Lykins was appointed a committee to visit Keokuk and interest the people of that place in the enterprise and obtain their aid. Another road proposed about this time was the Kansas City, Lake Superior and Galveston road, giving Kansas City connection with Lake Superior on the north and Galveston, Tex., on the south — so grand and widespreading, even at that eariy day, were the ideas of the founders of the city. A branch from Kansas City to Cameron, Mo., on the Hannibal and St Joseph road was to be the first link in this road north. The Missouri Pacific was the first railroad from the East to reach Kan sas City. Work was commenced on the road at St. Louis, July 4, 1850, and progressed by slow degrees westward. On reaching Jefferson City a line of steamers to Kansas City was placed on the river by the company for the transfer of its freight and passengers. It was not completed to Kansas City until the 21st of September, 1865. When this road was first projected. Independence, Mo., was designated as the western terminus, and Kansas City the last place in the world thought of, but long before the com pletion of the road, so rapid was the march of events. Independence was entirely forgotten as ever having been mentioned as a terminal point In May, 1862, Congress passed the Union Pacific Railroad bill. Work was begun on the Kansas branch at Kansas City by Major Samuel Hallett and General Fre mont, on the 7th of July, 1863, and on the i8th of November, following, forty- one miles of road bed had been completed. The iron and equipment for this part of the road arrived by rail at St. Joseph about the time the river closed with ice ; and it was not until the opening of navigation in the spring that they were brought to Kansas City, arriving on the 24th of March, 1864. The engine belonging with this outfit was the first ever seen in Kansas City. This road was opened to Lawrence, Kan., on the 19th of December, 1864, and was completed to Denver, Col., in August, 1871. In June, 1864, the North Mis souri RaHroad, now the Wabash, St. Louis and Pacific Railroad, secured the franchise of the Missouri Valley Railroad from Brunswick, Mo., to Leaven worth, Kan., and at once commenced buHding a line to Kansas City. This road was completed to the city December 8, 1868. It was known at one time as the " St Louis, Kansas City and Northern RaHway." The Missouri Valley Railroad having already been built from St. Joseph to Weston, Mo., in February, 1865, the localities in interest obtained from the Missouri Legislature the needed action to extend it southward to Kansas City, and northward to the Iowa line. Work was begun and it was completed on Kansas City Before the War. 57 the 17th of February, 1869. This road is now the "Kansas City, St. Joseph and Council Bluffs Railroad." The continuation of the Kansas City and Cam eron Railroad, now the main Hne of the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad, which had been partly built before the war, was resumed in 1865 and the road was completed to Kansas City on the 22d of August 1867. In October, 1865, the continuation of the Missouri River RaHroad, now part of the Mis souri Pacific between Kansas City and Atchison, was begun, and', the road was completed to Leavenworth in July, 1866. In May, 1864, the project of a rail road between Kansas City and Fort Scott began to be agitated. This was to be the commencement of a road heretofore outlined from Kansas City to Gal veston, Tex., and a part of the great line from Lake Superior, passing through Kansas City to the Gulf of Mexico. A meeting was held at Paola, Kan., to give form to the project. A company was organized and the construction began October 14, 1865. The road was completed to Fort Scott Kan., in December, 1867, and to Baxter Springs, Kan., May, 1870. This is the road now known as the Kansas City, Fort Scott and Gulf Railroad. This is one of Kansas City's most important roads, and has done as much or more than any other of its roads in developing the new territory tributary to the city in the South, and especially to place it in connection with the vast mineral regions and coal fields of the Southeastern Kansas and Southwestern Missouri. It has since built several branches, the most important of which are the " Kansas City, CHnton and Springfield," and the " Kansas City, Springfield and Memphis," giving Kansas City direct access to the trade of the Lower Mississippi River This latter branch has now been extended as far as Birmingham, Ala., on its way to some point on the Atlantic Coast. The construction of the Leaven worth, Lawrence and Galveston Railroad was begun at Lawrence, Kan., on the 26th of July, 1865, and was built to the southern Hne of Kansas by Sep tember, 1868. This road is now connected with Kansas City and is known as " the Southern Kansas Railroad." As eariy as 1857 a railroad was projected from Kansas City to Junction City, Kan., running up the south side of the Kansas River, to be known as the Kansas Valley Railroad. A charter was obtained from the Kansas Legislature by a company composed of citizens of Lawrence and Kansas City. Nothing was done toward the construction of this road until the Kansas Pacific branch was put under construction, when the charter was allowed to lapse. The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad, which now partly occupies the route projected and built from Atchison, Kan., by the way of Topeka, Kan., to the Arkansas Valley, but finding that a large part of its business was with Kansas City it was compelled to seek a connection with this place. For a time connection was made by way of the " Lawrence and Pleasant Hill," a road which had been built by the people of Lawrence to cut off Kansas City and the Fort Scott and Gulf roads. Its own road was completed to the city 5 8 History of Kansas City. and opened to traffic in December, 1874. This is now one of the main lines of Kansas City, and it has many branches, terminating at Santa Fe, N. M,, Denver, Col., San Diego and San Francisco, Cal., Chicago, IH., and many points in Southern Kansas. The location of the Kansas Pacific Railroad, commenc ing at the mouth of the Kansas River, and the building of a bridge across the Missouri River was the turning point in the railroad future of Kansas City. In the competition for traffic other roads were compelled to seek connection with the Kansas Pacific, and the bridge at Kansas City offered the required facilities for communication. Many persons, in viewing the wonderful growth of Kansas City, aided by its splendid system of railroads, imagine it was forced into prosperity by reason of its geographical position. This position was no doubt one great advantage in its success, but it must be remembered that it was only by extreme vigi lance and a hard struggle on the part of her citizens that she obtained the advantages above mentioned, and that had the terminus of the Pacific road been located at Leavenworth and the bridge built there, that town would now hold the commercial position that Kansas City does. The facilities for con nection would have been as good at that point as this, and once having got the start, she would have held it. The citizens of Kansas City had no contracted ideas as to the future capabilities of their town as a great railroad center. In calling attention to their prospects one writer in 1858 says: "When the 'Kansas City and Keokuk road,' ' the Pacific road,' ' the Galveston road,' with its branches into the mineral regions of Southwest Missouri, the road to Santa Fe, N. M., 'The Kansas River Valley Road,' with its net work of branches over that great producing domain, • the Platte Country road,' and the great national railway from the mouth of the Kansas to the Bay of San Francisco, when all these railroads are constructed, Kansas City will then have a system of railroads as complete and more extended than that of Chicago. She will then be the center of something — and the iron horse will be bringing here the fruits and products of the plains and mountains." And again the same writer says : "The system of raHroads diverging from Kansas City when completed, will be the Pacific railroad to St Louis ; the Kansas City and Keokuk road connecting at Hannibal with two different roads to Chicago ; the Kansas City, New Orleans, Galveston and Lake Superior road, with its branches into the mineral regions of Southwest Missouri and Northern Arkansas and the stock country of Texas ; the Kansas City and Platte Country road, giving us the fur commerce of the northwest ; the Kansas City and New Mexico road entering and gleaning the great valley of the Rio Grande Del Norte and eventually stretching out to the gold and silver regions of Sierra Madre and so on to the placers of Southern California and Arizona ; the Kansas Valley road with its branches and connections in the grand domain of Kansas, so soon to become Kansas City Before the War. 59 the metropolitan granary of America ; and last, but not least, a railway to the Pacific, connecting us with the wealth and commerce of the State of gold and uniting us with the Pacific fleet bearing away to the marts of India, Canton and Jeddo." This was written in 1858, and how well these hopes and antici pations have been verified, a look at any railroad map of the United States will show. It is evidence too, that the grand system of railroads now center ing at Kansas City had been outlined and planned far in advance and labored for by sagacious and farseeing founders. The magnificent railroad system of Kansas City was not the result of chance or force of circumstances. The lines reaching to the great lakes on the north, and the Gulf of Mexico on the south, the Pacific coast on the west, and the great cities of the east, were planned and outlined from the first. To prove the truth of this assertion, some extracts are given from articles, editorial and communicated, in the local papers as for back as 1857. A correspondent of the Western Journal of Commerce, advocating a railroad west along the Kansas River valley, to be called "The Kansas Valley Road," says, (vol. i, No. 119): "It is now a conceded fact that Kansas City is to become a great commercial city, controlling for years to come the trade of the great southwest The dis covery of gold upon the mountain branches of the Arkansas and South Platte, will fix, as additionally certain, Kansas City as the starting point to those gold regions, and places our city directly upon the line of travel from the East to the gold placers." In vol. i, No, 132, of the same paper, we find the follow ing: " New York must be assumed as the great focus of commerce on the At lantic coast, and San Francisco that on the Pacific. With whatever of depart ure from these two great points we may have to contend, the main facts will be sustained, and the proper and natural effect of trade will be upon and along the thirty-ninth paraHel of latitude. To induce then, the location and construc tion of a great trunk road along this parallel, should, with us, be a matter of the first importance, and engage our most cautious and diligent consideration. . . Every effort heretofore to locate a great national railroad across the con tinent has faHed from the conflict of sectionalism, and will, from the same cause, faH for years to come; and whenever this great national epoch shaH take place (the establishment of a national raHroad), it wiH be forced upon its line by some obvious or pressing necessity for its construction. Auspiciously for us, the discovery of rich gold deposits on the thirty-ninth parallel, west of us, wHl induce a vast emigration and settlement on this line and along the pro posed route of the Kansas Valley Road. . . . These settlements, first as cending the Republican (Fork of the river), to its sources, and thence up the South Platte to the Three Forks, wiH indicate and govern the track of the great central railway to California. It is destiny — manifest as the westward march of empire. To unite, our energies and means in securing the transit of this great artery of Asiatic, European and American commerce through the 6o History of Kansas City. Kansas valley, should be an object worthy of our highest ambition and pride. This once being secured, other connections, from the Gulf of Mexico, Santa Fe and the North and Northwest would naturally seek us. Were other reasons and motives impelHng to action wanting, we should find them in the fact that next year a new territory west of us, embracing the Sierra San Juan, bearing gold ; the Sierra de la Plata, bearing silver ; the Sierra Madre, the Sierra Mim- bres, and the Sierra San Luis, with their numerous valleys, will be organized and forced into being, demanding a railroad communication to the East, and attracting to our midst — to this Switzerland of America, emigrants from all the States, and from aH the nations of Europe. . . . Expect great things, attempt great things, must be our motto. . . . Why should not we, by our wisdom, enterprise and unity, as well as others, confer benefits on ourselves, our country and our posterity, by founding a great city ?" From a memorial, advocating a central route to the Pacific coast, by the way of the Kansas valley, written by the Hon. R. T. Van Horn, and pre sented to Congress by the Chamber of Commerce of this city, we make some extracts, showing the early view of the advantageous location of Kansas City, with reference to railroad lines and the trade of the country : " The Lake of the Woods, on the forty-ninth parallel, and Galveston, near the twenty-ninth parallel, may be taken as the extreme northern and southern boundaries of the central portion of the repubHc. This would make the thirty-ninth parallel the central line, upon which parallel is the valley of the Kansas River, and an air line, drawn from Galveston to the Lake of the Woods, cuts the delta of that river From New York city to the mouth of the Kansas River is thirteen hundred and sixteen miles ; from Philadelphia, twelve hundred and eighty- five miles ; from Baltimore, eleven hundred and ninety-eight miles ; from Charieston, S. C, ten hundred and ten miles ; from New Orleans, nine hun dred and eighty miles. These distances are calculated by the most direct raH road connections, completed and in progress. By air line, the distance from the mouth of the Kansas River to New Orleans, six hundred and fifty-four miles; to Charleston, nine hundred miles; to Baltimore, nine hundred and thirty-six miles ; to Philadelphia, ten hundred and twelve miles, and to New York, ten hundred and seventy-two miles. It will thus be seen that most of our principal seaboard cities on the Atlantic coast can reach the mouth of the Kansas River by routes neariy equal in length, thus maintaining, in regard to the trade of the Pacific, the same relative positions, advantages and disadvan tages now possessed or afforded them by natural position, climate and facilities for ocean and exterior comriierce." When the construction of railroads was first proposed in Kansas City, many of its old citizens were violently opposed to the project. They had seen their town buHt up by the freighting and outfitting business ; it was the great depot for the West, and hundreds of wagons were leaving daily for the interior. Kansas City Before the War. 6i loaded with tons of freight. The railroads, they contended, would take this business away from them, and they would have nothing but a local trade to depend upon, and their town would be ruined. There was much truth in some of their arguments, and Kansas City might have shared the fate of many other towns, which have been left by the wayside by the railroads, had she not been in a situation to dominate the course of trade. Happily for her, wiser coun sels prevailed, and she had the men, who, when the opportunity came, took advantage of it, and sealed her destiny as a great railroad center. POST-OFFICE. The first United States post-office in Kansas City was established in 1845. William M. Chick was the first postmaster, but dying soon after his appoint ment, he was succeeded by his son, W. H. Chick, who is still living. Since that time to the present the office has had a succession of honest and efficient officials, and no defalcation or robbery of the public funds has ever scandal ized and disgraced its history. In the beginning the mails were necessarily small, and came but once a week, by the way of Westport. The postmaster did not, according to an old standing joke, carry the office in his coat pocket,. but he might have done so had he wished to, and no one would have com plained. The office was generally open and free to all. If the postmaster went out he left it open, and any one could walk in and help himself to his own ; or, if he found some mail for a neighbor, he would take it and hand it to him, and be thanked for his kindness and the accommodation. Those were " good, honest times," when men trusted each other. Until i860, with a short exception, the office was kept on the levee, as that was; then the business part of the town. But when the levee was abandoned to ship ping and warehouses, and the retail trade and hotels, and shops of all kinds spread out upon the hill, the office followed them, for the convenience of the citizens. The first office was kept by Mr W. M. Chick, in his warehouse on the south east corner of Main street and the levee. In 1847 it was kept by W. M. Chick, in the store of Silas Armstrong, a few doors east of the former place. W. H. Chick, now vice-president of Kansas City National Bank, deputy in charge. W. M. Chick was succeeded by Daniel Edgerton, who moved the office to the northwest corner of Main and Fourth streets, on the hill. It was kept there until he was displaced by Samuel Geer, who moved it back to the levee between Main and Walnut streets. At the expiration of his term of office, Mr Geer, who kept a small country store, moved his stock of goods to Osawato- mie, Kan., where his store was plundered in one of the border raids during the trouble between the Free State and Pro-Slavery men of Missouri and Kansas, and where he shortly afterwards died. Jos. C. Ranson was the next incumbent The office was stiH located on the levee between Main and Walnut, and was still a small affair, kept in a smaH case of pigeon-holes about three feet square. €2 History of Kansas City. George W. Stebbins was postmaster from 1858 to i860. His office was on the levee, just east of Walnut, and was an improvement in style over that of his predecessors, being fitted up with a few glass boxes and drawers. He was followed in office by Captain R. T. Van Horn, who kept it on the north side of Third street, between Walnut and Grand avenue. Colonel Francis Foster as sistant in charge. A small book and news stand was kept in the same room by Mr. Matt. Foster In May, 1861, Stephen H. Haslett was appointed by President Lincoln, but political excitement was running so high and such violent threats were being made by the secessionists against government officials appointed by Mr. Lin coln, that he declined to accept, and Francis Foster was appointed June 4, 1861, in his place. He removed the office to the east side of Main just south of Third, and had it fixed up in regular post-office style, with boxes, etc. A book and news stand was kept in the front. Colonel Foster was reappointed July 16, 1865. In 1867 President Johnson appointed A. H. Hallowell, who was succeeded by Colonel H. B. Branch, in 1868. In 1869 Colonel Francis Foster was again appointed, and the office was kept on the east side of Main, near Missouri avenue. From that place the office was removed to the south west corner of Main and Delaware streets. Mr. Foster was succeeded by John S. Harris, early in 1872, and the office removed to the northwest corner of Seventh and Main. In March, 1873, Colonel Theo. S. Case was appointed by General Grant, and was successively reappointed by Presidents Hayes and Arthur, and held the office until after the expiration of his fourth appointment in November, 1885. During his third term the office moved to the northwest corner of Sixth and Walnut, and finally, in 1884, to the new custom-house and post-office building, on the southeast corner of Walnut and Ninth streets, where it is rapidly outgrowing the accommodations provided for it During the ad ministration of Colonel Case, the business of the office rapidly increased, keep ing pace with the growing population and commercial importance of the city. It had always ranked high in the estimation of the post-office department as a -weH-conducted office, and that reputation was fully sustained. Soon after his .appointment the carrier system was established in Kansas City, and com- imenced with eight regular carriers and two substitutes. It was a new thing in the West, but the citizens were encouraged to patronize it, and soon appre ciated the advantages of having their mail promptly delivered at their homes and places of business, and it rapidly grew in favor. The great and rapid growth of the city soon called for an increase in the carrier force, and through the efforts of our congressmen the number was gradually added to, but it has always been inadequate to the needs of the service, and double the number would have been none too many for an easy and rapid distribution of the mails. The present postmaster, Hon. George M. Shelley, took charge of the office November 20, 1885, and during his administration the office has made ad- Kansas City Before the War. 63 vances in every department, including the establishment of a branch office in West Kansas City, the increase in the carrier force to fifty-two, etc. To show the great increase in the business annually transacted in the Kansas City post-office, a partial comparative statement for the time extend ing from 1875 to 1887, is herewith given: 1875. 1881. 1884. 1887. Receipts from general business, sale of stamps, box rents, etc., $ 39,768.08 $ 156.624.12 $ 217,008.15 $ 343,452.68 Total office expenses, including clerks' salaries and rents 16,756.83 24,014.73 37,340.12 50,758.64 Total expenses of free delivery, . . 9,057.02 15,660.71 24,282.77 44,327.05 Net profits of office, 13,954.23 1 16,949.68 155,385,26 248,366.99 Number of money orders issued, 6,997 18,534 27,030 65,378 Amount received for same, 93,666.37 252,960.39 306,603.75 561,027.02 Number of money orders paid,.. 18,289 59'945 120,672 204,444 Amount of same 350,012.50 872,666.32 1,328,248.73 1,532,750.21 Registered letters received 9,158 44,473 62,102 111,689 Registered letters sent 2,202 16,725 25,009 37,091 No. of pieces delivered by carriers, 2,262,620 6,649,171 12,415,529 23,183,199 No. of pieces collected by carriers, 950,739 2,504.553 4,670,529 11,151,497 Total pieces handled by carriers, 3,213,359 9,153,724 17,085,841 39,334.696 It would have been interesting if more of the personal history of the post- office in Kansas City, especially of its early days, could have been given, but it has been lost and forgotten during the troubled times and rapid advancement of the city. The office has kept pace with, and in some respects in advance of, the growth of the city. The great influx of immigration west and southwest and its geographical position as a natural distributing point, has given it more than ordinary importance, and to-day it ranks highest of any office in the country, for business done and net profit to the government, in proportion to the popu lation of the city. the MEN OF THE TIMES. In writing the history of a great city, the men who laid the foundations, and with wisdom and skill outlined the plans by which the superstructure should rise in all its beauty, should not be forgotten and passed by unnoticed. Too often, when the little town located on the hillsides and in the hollows of a river front, becomes a great and thriving city, the names of these pioneers and the work they have done are forgotten by those who have come after them and bene fited and become wealthy by their labors. Therefore, it is but right that in a work of this kind some notice should be given of these men, and their names, at least handed down to posterity. It is not intended to give a biographical history of them, but their names and what they did and accomplished in the building up of the city from its first inception. Many of them have passed away, and did not live to see the reahzation of their hopes and expectations. Some emi- 64 History of Kansas City. grated to other places, some died in poverty and distress, and a few live in the enjoyment of the wealth acquired by increase in value of the investments which they made and improved when the town was in its infancy, and are reaping the reward of their firm faith in the future of the city. And there are some who once laughed at the idea of Kansas City ever being more than a good river town, and when railroads were talked of declared that they would ruin the place, who now boast of their foresight and sagacity in selecting it as a place of business, as they always knew it would be a great city. Such men reaped benefit from the work of others, and grew rich from the force of cir- ¦cumstances. Of the original founders of the city but few of them left any impress upon it, the majority of them having died or moved away before the town began to rise in importance. WilHam Gillis was liberal in improving his property, and at his death was considered the wealthiest man in the city. John Campbell, StiH living in the city, while not engaged in business other than that of looking after his large real estate interest, has taken an active part in its local affairs, and served several terms in the City Council. John C. McCoy is the only one except Mr. CampbeH, now living at this date (1888), in the city. He was also the founder of the town of Westport, in 1833. Previous to that time he was in the government service, surveying the boundaries of Indian lands in the In dian Territory, now State of Kansas. He has passed most of his time of late years on various farms near the city, and on that account has not been so much identified with its modern improvements, but in the early times did his share in building up the town. Dr Benoist Troost has been mentioned. He built the first brick hotel, known first as the Free State Hotel, and afterwards as the Gillis House. H. M. Northrup was the pioneer wholesale merchant, and in company with J. S. Chick, did a large business, and the firm of Northrup & Chick did much to attract trade and bring the town into notice. After he retired from the mercantile business he engaged in banking, and was first pres ident of the branch of the Union Bank of St. Louis. He is now living and doing business as a banker in Wyandotte, Kansas. M. J. Payne, who came west at an early day, and was employed by Northrup & Chick, became one of the city's most noted and enterprising citizens. He was six times elected mayor, and has held many positions of trust, and forward in railroad enterprises. Colonel R. T. Van Horn, the editor and founder of the Journal, has done as much, if not more, than any one to build up the place. As editor, mayor, member of Congress, he has worked unceasingly and successfully for Kansas City. Dr Johnston Lykins was one of the first to begin the work of making Kansas City something more than a river landing. In 185 1 he left the Indian country where he had been employed in the capacity of government physician to the Pottawattomie In dians, and came to the city when he owned a fraction of sixteen acres adjoin ing the town site on the west. This was surveyed into lots and recorded as Kansas City Before the War. 65 Lykins's Addition, and was the second addition made to the old town. He also laid off Lykins's Place Addition, south of Twelfth street, between Jefferson and Broadway. He had great faith in Kansas City, from its geographical position, and soon began to agitate the subject of railroads. He studied the resources and extent of the great country west of us, and contributed much information to the press on the subject, while advocating different lines of railroads. He was first mayor of the city, first president of the branch of the Mechanics' Bank of St Louis, and was always among the first in any good work for the city. Associated with him was Colonel Kersey Coates, a young lawyer from Phila delphia, whom he had induced to settle at Kansas City. Colonel Coates in vested largely in Kansas City property, and was an indefatigable worker for the interests of the town. He was a man of unblemished character, and did much to induce Eastern men to come West and invest their money. He was engaged at different times in the mercantile and banking business. He built the Coates Opera House, and largely improved and remodeled the hotel now known as the Coates House. He laid off, and was interested in, several addi tions to the city, and lived to see the little town become a great city, and his investments make him wealthy. Dr. Lykins died in 1876, and Colonel CoateS in 1887. Another prominent actor in those stirring times was Dr. Theo. S. Case, who came to the city in 1857. He was very active in railroad matters and materially assisted in securing the location of the Hannibal and St Joseph Railroad bridge at Kansas City, which assured the supremacy over all its rivals. He built the Lindell Hotel, and made other improvements. He laid off T. S. Case's Addition, and was interested in others. He served as a Union officer ¦during the war, and at its close returned to the city and and engaged in busi ness, and has been prominently identified with it to the present time, having served twelve years as postmaster. One of the most enthusiastic of the town builders was the late E. M. McGee. In 1856 he laid off the large addition known as McGee's Addition, and immediately set to work to buHd it up. He offered liberal inducements to those who would build, and built himself He built and operated the Farmers' Hotel, famous in the annals of border warfare as the headquarters of the pro-slavery party, of whom he was chief He was an ardent advocate of railroads, and attended all meetings for that purpose. When steamboats arrived he visited the landing with banner and music, to ad vertise to emigrants his addition. He was elected and served one term as mayor in 1 870, and for many years " Colonel MHt McGee" was one of the city's most active and noted men. Among those who were active in building up the town and were prominent in its business and local affairs before the war, besides those mentioned, were John Johnson, mayor in 1855; Chester Hubbard, who recorded the first addi tion to the city in 1855 ; W. A. Hopkins, Jos. C. Ranson, who was one of the first postmasters ; Joseph P. Howe, who was first marshal of the Court of Com- 66 History of Kansas City. mon Pleas, and served the city as marshal for several terms. He was noted for his dignified manners and fearless discharge of the duties of his office. Charles E. Kearney, who was one of the pioneer merchants in the Santa Fe trade, and very active in railroad matters ; W. J. Jarboe, as merchant and councilman ; H. H. King, Thos. H. Swope, Thos. A. Smart, John R. BaHs,. John M. Ashburn, who all made additions to the city, which bear their names. Francis and Matt. Foster, merchants, and Francis Foster, postmaster, in 1861. Nehemiah Holmes was the inaugurator of the horse- railroad system in Kansas City, building the first line running from Fourth street to the southern end of * Grand avenue, and from there extended to Westport. C. C. Spaulding was the first regular city engineer, appointed by the mayor in 1855. He -was also connected with the newspapers of those times as local editor, and wrote a work entitled the "Annals of Kansas City," from which many of the subsequent his torians of the city, up to i860, have drawn their information. He was suc ceeded in office by Robert J. Lawrence, in 1856, who laid off and owned "Law rence's Addition" to the city. After Mr. Lawrence came Edmond O'Flaherty, in 1857, and J. Q. Anderson in 1858. John W. Reid was another prominent man in the early days of the city, owning a large amount of property in the city and laid off Reid's first and second additions. He took an active part in railroads and aided in securing the location of the bridge across the Missouri River at this point. In our account of the lawyers and physicians we have given the names of many who are also entitled to mention in connection with the early growth of the city, and who were worthy to be named with its most enterprising and active workers. About 1846, Mr. J. E. Guinotte, who was the agent of a colony of Bel gians who wished to emigrate to this country, purchased a tract of land ad joining the city on the east, lying along the river bluffs on the east bottoms. He was followed soon after by a number of Belgian emigrants with their fami lies, who were landed from a steamboat in the early spring, in the bottoms op posite the town of Randolph, on the old Chouteau property. Having just landed from a long sea and river voyage by the way of New Orleans, and being hungry for vegetables, they gathered the green leaves of the buckeye, a tree which grows luxuriantly on the lowlands of the Missouri River, and is the first to make its appearance in the spring, and cooked and ate them for greens. The leaves of the buckeye are very poisonous, and many of them died in con sequence. Some trouble arose, and the members of the colony scattered over the country. The land was subsequently platted by Mr. Guinotte, in 1858, and was recorded and now known as " Guinotte's Addition." THE court of COMMON PLEAS. The old " Kansas City Court of Common Pleas " is one of the historical institutions of the city. Jackson county, in which Kansas City is situated, was Kansas City Before the War. 6y organized December 15, 1826, and Independence having been selected as the county seat, the county courts were necessarily located there. As early as 1855 the increasing population and growing importance of Kansas City as a com mercial center required more convenient facilities for the transaction of their legal business, and through the efforts of some of its leading citizens a special act of the State Legislature was passed and approved November 20, 1855, establishing a Court of Common Pleas at Kansas City, Jackson county. Mo. This court was of the greatest advantage to the city, and securing it was a long stride forward to local importance and supremacy. Before this court some of our pioneer lawyers, now prominent in law and politics, gained their first laurels, and its history is permanently identified with the early progress of the city. That the city was not wanting in lawyers, the following list of names of persons practicing law here before the war will show : W. A. Strong, H. B. Bou ton, P. S. Brown, John C. Gage, L. S. Boiling, John De Witt Robinson, John C. Groom, Russell & Brewer, Routt & Claiborne, M. D. Trefren, J. J. Klein, Jacob S. Boreman, Russell S: Burton, S. G. Cato, Ramage & Withers, Jackson Smith, and Lot Coffman. Of these less than one-half are still remaining in the city, the others having died or moved away further west. The jurisdiction of this court at first extended only to Kaw township, but was subsequently enlarged to include Range 33, and for attachments the whole county. The first term was held in January, 1856, by William A. Strong, who was appointed judge. Joseph A. Finlay was clerk, and Joseph P. Howe, marshal. The court was held in a building on the Levee, between Main and Walnut streets, and its records were all destroyed by a fire which occurred shortly afterwards. Judge Strong was succeeded in August 1856, by Lot Coffman, who held the October term ; E. M. Sloan, clerk, and Howe, marshal. Judge Coffman was one of the pioneers of the city, and his name is perma nently identified with the early history of the city and county as school teacher, county and city surveyor, justice of the peace, and finally judge of the Court of Common Pleas. He was a true type of the enterprising Yankee, ready to turn his hand to anything that offered to make an honest living, and faithful in aH the trusts reposed in him. Judge Coffman was foHowed by J. K. Sheely, who held his first term April 10, 1859. Howe, who was also city marshal, was succeeded by Francis M. Barnes ; and E. M. Sloan, clerk, by John S. Hough, who was clerk to i860, when he was succeeded by Charles F. Smith, who held the office until 1863. The next in order of judges was Jacob S. Boreman, in 1 86 1, followed by J. W. Jenkins in 1867, who was the last Barnes was suc ceeded as marshal by Jonathan Richardson, and Smith, clerk, by Charles H. Vincent, who retained the office until' the court expired in 1871. During the war nearly all business of the courts was suspended, except for criminal business, and no term of the Court of Common Pleas for civil suits was held after November, 1862, until May, 1865. As before stated, the estab- 68 History of Kansas City. lishment of this court was of the greatest importance to Kansas City. WhHe it reHeved the citizens of the time lost, and expense and inconvenience of at tending court at Independence, it brought to the town much local business and trade, which would not otherwise have come. fire department. Kansas City has been fortunate in escaping the destructive effects of fire, never having been visited by any of those sweeping conflagrations which some times almost wipe out a town, especially in its wooden days. Much of this good fortune is due from the effective manner in which fires have been handled by its fire department, from the days of the old-time "bucket brigade" to steamers and water- works. In the early days, on an alarm of fire being given, every able-bodied citizen grabbed a bucket in each hand, and started for the scene. Some one of their number, by common consent, took command, lines were formed to the nearest water, and full buckets passed forward from one to another to be emptied on the flames, and passed back to be replenished. This process was continued until the fire was put out, or the building burned down, — more often the latter. This was certainly a very primitive method, but it was the best that could be done at the time. The first improvement in this matter was the building of cisterns at various places about town, which were kept filled in case of need. One very large one was built on the southwest corner of the public square. The next advance in order was the purchase of a hand- engine, and a regular company was organized to work it, but the names of its officers and members have not been preserved, and their fame lost to posterity. This answered until 1872, when two steamers were purchased, to which was after wards added a third, and a regular fire department with a chief at its head was organized by the council, and which has continued to the present time. From that time the history of the fire department of Kansas City properly begins, and it will be found in its proper place. Among the volunteer firemen of the earlier history of the city, were many men who are now prominent citizens and business men, such as Colonel Frank Foster, Matt. Foster, S. K. Green, Adam and John Long, Oliver Case, T. B. BuHene, Christ. Frank, Upton Eby, etc. physicians. In the history of our city the medical fraternity should not be forgotten. With the preacher and the lawyer they are always in the van of advancing civ ilization. In fact the doctor is one of the most important members of a pioneer community. He stands shoulder to shoulder with the minister to assist the struggling pioneer and his family to battle against the ills and accidents incident to a settlement in the wilderness. Like the ministers, much of his work is chari table, and illy repaid. But the true physician never falters or fails to respond to :¦ fBra.f''' Kansas City Before the War. 69 the calls for his services. Amid cold and heat, in storms of rain and snow, in the darkness of the night, he travels for miles through the country, following dim traHs over the rocky hills and across flooded streams and miry swamps to aid the sufferer, well knowing that his pay at the best is but meagre and uncertain. But he perseveres, and if he lives, in time he reaps his reward. He becomes an honored and respected member of the community in which he labored, be loved and trusted by all who know him. His name is handed down to poster ity in the names of the children whom he has aided into the world and has at tended and nursed through the perilous diseases of infancy and childhood. And when he passes away, gray haired and full of years, he is mourned as a personal friend and benefactor. The first resident physician in Kansas City was Dr. Benoist Troost. He was a native of Holland, born in 1786. He graduated with the highest honors in medicine and surgery. With his brother he emigrated to the United States, and located at Pittsburgh, Pa , where they established and successfully operat ed works for the manufacture of white lead. In 1 845 Dr. Troost left Pittsburgh and came to St. Louis. A year or two afterwards he left that place and set tled in Independence, but soon after came to Kansas City and commenced the practice of medicine. He built the hotel commonly known as the Gillis House, which soon after passed out of his hands, and was operated under va rious names. It was celebrated as the headquarters of the Free State Party of Kansas during the border troubles, and was the house from which Governor Reeder made his escape disguised as a wood chopper Dr. Troost married a Mrs. Kennedy, a niece of William Gillis, one of the founders of the city, and to whom he bequeathed his property. They had no children, and Mrs. Troost left the bulk of her property to various benevolent purposes in the city, among which was a fund to build the GiHis Opera House, an Episcopal church, etc. The next physician who is remembered was Dr F. A. Rice. He was a native of Kentucky, and opened the first regular drug store in Kansas City in 1848. He purchased a large amount of property in the town, having an abid ing faith in its future, notwithstanding its unsightly appearance at that time. He always said that the time would come when " the hills would be needed to fill up the hollows, and that dirt would bring a price in Kansas City for that purpose." Of course he was laughed at then as an enthusiast but time has proved the truth of his words. He returned to Kentucky about 1850, where he died. Dr Isaac M. Ridge was the next resident physician, coming here in 1848, and is still living in the city. There were other physicians who came about this time, but did not remain long enough to make their mark, and their names have been forgotten. Dr T. B. Lester, lately deceased, was a pioneer, coming here in 1856. He was held in high esteem by the community both as a citizen and a physician, and was among the foremost in all enterprises for the good of the city and works of charity. The following Hst comprises the 10 70 "History of Kansas City. names of nearly all the physicians who practiced here before the war, besides those mentioned : Dr J. Lykins, Dr J. M. Wood, Dr G. B. M. Maughs, Dr Theo. S. Case, Dr E. D. Ralph, Dr W. W. Harris, Dr J. T. Herndon, Dr G. B. Wood, Dr R. R. Hall, Dr G. N. Woodward, Dr L. A. Schoen, Dr J. T. Rice, and Dr. A. W. Bonham. Dr. G. W. Tindall was the pioneer dentist and is still living and practicing in the city. Of the above list but few are left in the city engaged in practice. They have died, moved away, or engaged in other business. Some joined the Southern cause at the commencement of the war, and went South and did not return. CHAPTER II. THE EFFECTS OF THE CIVIL WAR. Its Effect upon the City — Business Suspended — Newspapers Discontinued — "Red-Legs,"' "Bushwhackers" and "Jayhawkers" — Kansas City remains Loyal to the Union — Raising of Union and Secession Flags — Van Horn's Battalion — City Finances at Close of 1861 — Contrariety of Sentiment as Evinced by Editorials in Newspapers — Mails and Telegraphs Cut Off — General Order Number ii — Quantrell's Raid on Lawrence — Price's Raid in 1864 — Battle of Westport — ¦ Declaration of Peace — Revival of Business. THE black cloud of civil war, which had been slowly gathering, at last burst upon the country in April, 186 1, precipitated by the election of Abra ham Lincoln to the presidency. Kansas City had had a foretaste of the trouble to come, in the Border, or Kansas War, in 1854-5, and her citizens were not taken so unawares as were some in other parts of the country. They had known something of war and war's effects upon this region. But that struggle had been principally between strangers, from widely separated localities in the North and South, and her citizens mainly looked indifferently on the strife, content so long as they were not personally involved and could make a little money from both parties. Now the firebrand had fallen in their own homes. There was to be no more neutrality. In the border States sentiment was pretty equally divided for and against the Union, and neighbors, friends and relatives took sides and became at variance. The blow feH heavily on Kansas City. Nearly all legitimate business was suspended, and preparations for war usurped its place. Newspapers suspended, business houses were closed, and money commanded from one to three per cent per month, and very many citizens left the city for more quiet places, reducing the population at least one- half before May ist Immediately on the commencement of hostilities, bands of " bushwhack- The Effects of the Civil War. 71 ers," "jayhawkers," and "red-legs" sprang up on both sides of the border, whose only object was plunder, under the guise of partisanship. Her envious rivals in Kansas took advantage of these opportunities, and strove by every means, fair and unfair, to crush out the town at the mouth of the Kaw. The bulk of the Santa Fe trade was forced to Leavenworth, and Leavenworth was made the headquarters of the freighting business and the recipient of the large sums paid out by the United States government for supplies and wages at Fort Leavenworth. Her population and trade rapidly increased, and it seemed as though Kansas City could never again recover her lost prestige, and her rivals were correspondingly triumphant. But notwithstanding the disloyalty of the surrounding country in Missouri, the city had a strong and influential Union element which manfully asserted it self In the election for municipal officers in the spring of 1861, R. T. Van Horn, the candidate of the Union party, received a fair majority over Dr. G. M. B. Maughs, the leader of the secessionists. But the tide of trade and travel no longer came to Kansas City. The town was constantly threatened by the bands of guerrillas which terrorized the surrounding country, and, being in a hostile State, it was avoided by the immigration, which passed on to Leavenworth, Atchison and other Kansas towns. The last issue of the Daily Journal of Commerce, until revived in the spring of 1862, was on Sunday morning, June 16, 1861, and was a small, folded sheet about twelve by sixteen inches, of five narrow columns to the page, showing very plainly the sudden collapse of business. Besides a few standing adver tisements, and some war news, a week old — its telegraph dispatches having been cut off, — it contained a proclamation of Governor C. F. Jackson, of Missouri, calling for fifty -thousand men to repel invasion of the State by Federal forces. There is also an advertisement for a fugitive negro slave, probably the last one ¦of the kind published in Missouri, in which one W. P. Mayes offers $150 re ward for the return of " his negro man Caesar." He is described as " a sort of copper color, and extremely smart for a negro." " Can read and write, and has run off twice before, and once got from Kentucky to Indiana." Property •of this kind was becoming very fleeting and uncertain about this time, and Caesar doubtless made his way in safety to the protecting care of the " Aboli tionists " in Kansas. However, as late as March 12, 1863, a negro girl was sold at auction in Kansas City, under execution for debt for $123. The ques tion of slavery was stiH a discordant element Many of the slaveholders were loyal to the Union, and as such property was stHl recognized by law, they be lieved they had the right to still hold their slaves; but the soldiers from Kansas insisted upon setting aH the negroes free, and took every occasion to run them across the line. This action caused much ill feeling, even between the Union soldiers of the two States. It was not long after the commencement of hostili ties, until the city, and in fact the whole border, was stripped of this species of 72 History of Kansas City. property. It was but a step across the line to a land of freedohi, and nearly all took advantage of the opportunity. Wherever the Kansas soldiers found a family of negroes on a farm, they would order them to load up their master's- wagons with what they wanted, and follow after them. Owing to this removal of the negroes, there was no one left to harvest the crops and cultivate the- fields around Kansas City. Early in April, 1861, party spirit ran high, and the adherents of both par ties began to hold meetings and to raise their respective flags. The Union party having raised an American flag on the public square, the secessionists determined to offset it with one of their kind. To celebrate the occasion they invited their friends and sympathizers from the surrounding country. Inde pendence, Westport and Clay county responded liberally, and on AprH 30, the day set for the occasion, a large procession marched through the streets, fol lowing a " rebel " flag, and bands playing " rebel " airs, while at the same time numerous Southern flags were displayed from private residences and business houses. The procession moved to the top of a hill at the northeast corner of Second and Main streets, and on this conspicuous position raised their flags tO' the sounds of martial music and firing of guns. Inflammatory speeches were made which were loudly applauded. Meetings were held and resolutions passed denouncing the government for its efforts to " coerce " the Southern States to remain in the Union, and warning the officials appointed by Presi dent Lincoln, not to thrust themselves upon a people who did not want them. The United States arsenal at Liberty, having been seized by companies of secessionists from the surrounding towns of St. Joseph, Lexington, Weston, Independence and Kansas City, they were supplied with arms from this source and openly met for drill in the streets of those several cities. But as it became apparent that the government was in earnest, and its strong arm began to be felt in this locality, they began to recognize that it was dangerous to indulge in such demonstrations, and that they were liable to be punished for such treasonable language and acts; many of them secretly left the city and joined the Confederate army, while the others stayed at home and quietly accepted the situation. At the election of President Lincoln, one hundred and eighty votes were cast for him in Jackson county, most of which were in Kansas City. The city had a large German element, which here, as elsewhere, was loyal to the Union. While Governor Jackson was assembling his forces at Camp Jack son, near St Louis, matters became very unquiet in this city, and many of the Union men left, being alarmed by the threats of the secessionists. The Legis lature having passed an act creating a metropolitan police system for Kansas City, vesting the control of that force in poHce commissioners appointed by the governor. Mayor Van Horn, feeling that thus situated he could not efficiently enforce order and protect the citizens, went to St. Louis and obtained author ity to recruit a battalion of United States volunteers for the defense of the city. The Effects of the Civil War. 73 He also procured an order for United States regular troops to be sent here from Fort Leavenworth, to protect Union men while his battalion was being enlisted and armed. In pursuance of this order Captain W. E. Prince, U. S. A., occupied the city with two companies of infantry and three of cavalry. On June 24, " Van Horn's Battalion of United States Volunteer Reserve Corps," was fully recruited and mustered into service. It was organized as follows : Major, R. T. Van Horn ; surgeon, Joshua Thorne ; Company A, cap tain WiHiam Van Daun ; first lieutenant, Frederick Loos ; second lieutenant, Frederick Klingler. Company B, captain, William Millar; first lieutenant, Daniel CahHl ; second lieutenant David O'Neill. Company C, captain, George C. Bingham ; first lieutenant Henry Spears ; second lieutenant Theo. S. Case. Lieutenant Case was detailed, soon after the date of his muster in, as quartermas ter, commissary and ordnance officer at this post Upon the muster in of Major Van Horn's battalion. Captain Prince turned over the command of the place to him and withdrew. From this time on, until the close of the war, the city continued to be occupied as a military post, and no rebel force ever en tered it. A fortified camp, named Fort Union, was erected on the southwest corner of Tenth and Central streets, where the troops were quartered, and where the citizens could meet for drill and defense. About July 26, the bat talion was ordered into Cass county to assist Colonel A. G. Newgent who was in command of a battalion of Missouri State militia, and threatened by a su perior force. After participating in an engagement near the town of Harrison- viHe, which was captured, they returned home. Early in September, 1861, Major Van Horn was ordered to reinforce Colonel Mulligan, at Lexington, who was threatened by a superior force of Confederates under General Sterling Price, and who was finally besieged by him on the 6th. They participated in the severe battles around that place, and Major Van Horn was wounded and borne from the field. After the surrender, the officers and men were released on parole. In December they were exchanged and the battaHon consolidated with Colonel Everett Peabody's Thirteenth Missouri Infantry, with Major Van Horn as lieutenant-colonel. The united command afterwards became memorable as the Twenty-fifth Missouri Infantry, and distinguished itself in several battles in the South, and were with General Grant at the Battle of Shi loh, where Colonel Van Horn had his horse shot from under him, and Colonel Peabody was killed. After another reorganization a portion of this regiment remained in the United States service until the close of the war, and marched with Sherman to the sea. During 1861 nearly aH legitimate business was suspended except that con nected with military operations. Bands of armed men marching through the streets, had taken the place of the peaceful emigrant ; instead of the long, heavily-freighted train of the Western trader. United States military wagons loaded with the supplies and munitions of war, were passing through the 74 History of Kansas City. streets. Strains of martial music, flying flags, and the rumble of artiHery, had taken the place of the busy hum of commerce, painfully reminding the citizens of how the times had changed. The conversation on the streets was all of battles fought and battles to be fought Anxiety and unexpectancy was on every countenance. The " reliable contraband " brought in daily his budget of alarming reports of the doings of the " secesh ;" and with his terrible tales of fire and blood, often, alas, too true, aided to keep up the general excitement Roving bands of " bushwhackers, "jayhawkers " and " red-legs " were at aU times watching for an opportunity to pounce down upon and plunder the city : the " bushwhackers," because there were " Yankees " in the place; the "jay hawkers," because it was a " rebel" town, and the "red-legs," on the general principle of taking a good thing wherever they could find it. It was not safe to pass beyond the city Hmits, even as far as Westport, without an escort. The guerriHas waylaid all the roads to cut off travelers, consequently there was no trade from the country. The only safe road to and from the city was into Kansas along the north side of the Kansas River. Steamboats on the Missouri were fired into, trains were stopped and robbed, military executions and murders were committed by both parties, the air was heavy with the smoke of burning farm houses, and the country was involved in all the horrors of civil war. There was no demand for real estate and no sales. The taxes were unpaid, and the city was without revenues. The fol lowing statement made by the city treasurer, will show the state of the city finances at the close of 1861 : Assets (mostly available) $16,120 20 Liabilities 13,090 84 Balance in favor of assets $ 3,029 36 Cash on hand 87 73 Unavoidable expenses incurred by the city were paid in warrants worth about fifty cents on the dollar, and, as no repairs could be made on the streets and no improvements made, the town soon took on a very shabby and dilapi dated appearance. Owing to the collapse of the State banks, which had fur nished a supply of small currency, and the high premium on gold and silver practically withdrawing it from circulation, the merchants and bankers were •obliged to issue paper tickets, or " shinplasters," as they were termed, ranging in value from five cents to one dollar, for change. These served a good pur pose, and were used until the government issued small notes and fractional currency, when the private issue was withdrawn from circulation. All of the newspapers of the city had long since suspended publication, the Journal in March ; the Post in April was removed to Wyandotte, Kan., and the Free State Republican died about the same time. The last named paper fired the following farewell editorial shot in its final issue : " Union men of Kansas City ! Do you hear your ^jegt citizens nailing up their goods to depart ? The EJi-FECTS of the Civil War. 75 " Do you see the preparations making for a change of residence by all classes ? " Months wHl not repair the damage already done to our city. " Millions of circulars will produce no effect towards regaining our trade, for opposing circulars will not be spared by the towns which are reaping the harvest we have sent them. " Newspaper protestations will be of no avail. " What, then, shall we do to save our city ? "We answer nothing will do but action! action! Action! I ! prompt and vigorous Action For The Union. " Nothing will do but a UNANIMOUS ACTION on the part of the Union Men of Kansas City, which shall prove beyond doubt THAT THEY ARE STILL here and ready to ONCE more CHECKMATE THEIR OPPONENTS, THE SECESSIONISTS. " If there is a place under the sun whose whole history has been one of untiring and persevering resistance to the destructive efforts and policy of a portion of its own citizens, that place is Kansas City. From 1855 until now she has been embarrassed by the malignant and senseless conduct of a set ot men whose prejudices and narrow-minded views blinded them to every scheme of policy calculated to advance her interests and build her up into the com mercial center, which her geographical position and natural advantages, UNMO LESTED, would necessarily secure for her. " Against those efforts our good and true citizens have ever been forced to Struggle, and with what success the rapid and substantial growth of the city abundantly testifies. We have secured an immense and profitable trade with Kansas and New Mexico, a steady and valuable influx of new citizens from every direction, a vigorous population of artisans, manufacturers, merchants, and professional men ; the terminus of several important and progressive rail roads ; and the confidence of capitalists and far-seeing men everywhere. Our prospects of permanence and entire success were never brighter. A brisk trade with the rain-invigorated State of Kansas, a railroad outlet to the east under vigorous progress, with every prospect of a speedy completion ; a Pike's Peak express to attract gold seekers to this as a point of outfitting, and to bring back the shining results of their labors — a period long looked for, of profit for the heavily-taxed property holders ; business for the mechanics and laborers ; aH these were expected with certainty, and none doubted the imme diate reality of their anticipations. "But while all good. Union-loving citizens have been devoting their entire energies to the achievement of these objects, and the cultivation of friendly relations with the people of aH sections, hoping to reap their reward in the in crease of population, business, wealth, railroads, city credit, etc., this old, rest less, suicidal element has again raised its hydra head in our midst to blast our 76 History of Kansas City. prospects and ruin our citizens. Composed principally of men of little interest in the city, and mostly of newcomers, this party has proceeded from acts of minor importance to those which surely threaten the instant downfall of Kansas City, the closure of all places of business, the total depreciation of real estate, the immediate checking of all public and private enterprises ; and finally the prompt growth of grass on our streets. Can nothing be done to put an end to this state of affairs and restore to Kansas City the confidence of its old friends ? Cannot the Union men of the place, whom we know to be vastly in the major ity, assert themselves and refute the He enacted here on last Saturday, and heralded all through Southern Kansas by our rival cities north of the Kaw River ? " Have we no better answer to make to the inquiries of our Kansas friends, ' Why don't the Union men show their colors ? ' than that ' WE DON'T WANT TO CREATE AN EXCITEMENT ? ' " What is an EXCITEMENT compared with loss of trade, loss of property and loss of all we have gained in four or five years ? We know how much an excitement is to be deplored, but we also know that an excitement need not follow an adherence to law and order, and a stern reprimand of all acts of an opposite nature. If we are to countenance, by our silence, deeds which are criminal, disgraceful and destructive to all of our interests, to avoid an EXCITE MENT, we deserve the proper and inevitable penalty, Ruin. " Let us see what the Union men of this city have endured within the last thirty days to 'avoid AN EXCITEMENT.' " I. Threats of defeat to the railroad interest, if they dared to elect a Union man mayor. " 2. The insult of being called the 'Abolition' party, with other epithets equally insulting and malignant. " 3. The elevation of a Secession flag, by the assistance of outsiders, and the passage of resolutions interfering with the rights of our own citizens. " 4. The appellation, 'black-hearted traitors and scoundrels' to the Union citizens who hoisted the stars and stripes near the market house last month. " 5. The introduction of arms and ammunition from the United States arsenal for the pretended ' defense of the city,' by the only men who are at all to be feared by good citizens. " What has been the result of these acts, and of this forbearance on the part of the Union men ? " Look about you, citizens of this once thriving town, and see the deserted streets, the quiet levee, the vacant stores, and ask yourselves if it is not time to do something, EXCITEMENT OR NO EXCITEMENT. " Let a meeting be held, let the people turn out to the work of reclaiming our city from the fearful dilemma in which .she has been placed by no act of her own. Let the country know that Kansas City stiH believes in liberty of speech, freedom of the press, the Union, the Constitution, and the laws. ^''Jt'jZ'iYVJ.-jr^.ztm.VJ. ^^ ^/^p--^ ^/^^^^-z^ The Effects of the Civil War. -jy — - — ¦ ¦ ¦ . _jj _ " If we are a Union people indeed, let us show it out Our opponents have planted their usurping flag just where every traveler on the river can and must see it, while on every hill in town may be seen the fluttering of their little two-penny flaglets. On the other hand the United States flag, hoisted by our loyal fellow-citizens, is hidden by its position so as to be scarcely seen from any point, and with but a few exceptions none of our Union citizens have hoisted the banner of liberty on their houses. Let the stars and stripes float from every house-top. " Let us at least be even with the Secessionist in devotion to our own flag. We think that immediate measures should be taken for the erecting of a Union flag-staff on the bluff over the levee, so that we may not be altogether mistaken by the traveling public, and that every Union citizen ' should nail his colors to the mast,' and from this time forth let all strangers in the place know how he stands. Thus, and in no other way, can we counteract and fend off the ruin which now stares us in the face and is certain, provided a step or two more is taken by those men who have brought it so near to us already. Let us have a large meeting and have it soon. Mayor Van Horn is the man to lead off. " Everybody is interested. The city officials depend upon the stability of the place for their salaries, the bankers who have discounted notes on the strength of their customers' 'property qualifications,' will see the importance of keeping up the Union character of the city ; the real estate owner who pays his one per cent, taxes to the city and county will see it. The merchant will see it when he finds his trade confined to a Kaw township patronage. Even the Secessionist will see the value of the Union, at last when our city site can be bought at ten dollars per acre." To this article the following editorial reply was published by the Star on the following day, April 26, 1861. The two articles show the state of feeling in the two directly opposite parties at that time more correctly and pointedly .than it can be otherwise shown : " The Lincoln administration party of this city, under the flimsy mask of ' Unionism,' are meditating a reorganization of their forces here, and their call for that purpose is couched in language most offensive and insulting to Mis sourians and Southerners, and contains aspersions as false and slanderous as Yankee impudence can engender. " On Thursday evening an Extra was issued from the Black Republican office in this place calHng a public meeting for Friday night, repubHshing every thing that could be garbled from Southern papers to show that there are dis sensions in the South, glorifying in large black letters that the ' Cotton States are short of provisions,' 'No more supplies to go South,' 'The North united, the South divided,' ' no sympathy for secession,' ' Baltimore in a fix,' stating that Cairo is invested with one thousand troops, and calling it a ' good invest ment,' &c. After these extracts comes a long editorial article (the writer of 11 78 History of Kansas City. which cannot be found) caHing upon the ' Union men ' (we all know who are meant by Union men) to ' checkmate their opponents, the secessionists' — stig matizing our Southern Rights citizens as ' principally men of little interest in the city, and mostly new-comers' — saying that the people of the town and county ENACTED A LIE here last Saturday — that the men who spent their money and went to the trouble of procuring arms for the defense of our wives and children ' are the only men who are to be feared by good citizens' — ex horting the Republicans to ' DO SOMETHING, excitement or no excitement,' — proposing the erection of a ' Union pole' on the bluff over the levee, etc. After this comes an article headed " secession bluster,' in which those of us who favor the co-operation of Missouri with her Southern sisters are denominated as ' traitors !' " What has so emboldened these Northern sympathizers we know not ; whether they have been led by designing and bad men to believe that the South ern citizens of Kansas City are blusterers and gassy cowards, or whether the arms that were said to have been surreptitiously conveyed to the Republicans of this neighborhood from an adjacent free State have given them confidence in their own prowess even against Jackson county, we know not ; but this we do know that the gage they have thus defiantly and insultingly thrown down will be promptly taken up, and the States Rights men of Kansas City will prove to the satisfaction of all who doubt it that they are true to their county, true to their State, and true to their oppressed and invaded brothers of Vir ginia and the South. " We regret that this Republican fire-brand has been thus foolishly and recklessly thrown into our midst and we respectfully ask our Republican fel low-citizens to pause in their course and to withdraw in some authentic shape this incendiary document of theirs, so full of falsehoods and slanders against the best men of the city and count)'. We tell them that the people are excited — that their abolition Extra has been sent to all portions of the county, and that the blood of the sons of the soil is up. We beg them to remember that they are not in Chicago, nor Cincinnati, nor Lawrence. We are for peace and quietude, and this disposition has been evidenced by the Southern Rights men in every possible way — but there may be a point beyond which patience may cease to be a virtue." During the whole of 1861 the ordinary results of a state of war were seen in the city — deserted stores, idle men, angry discussions of principles and events outrage and violence from untrained and prejudiced soldiery in avenging pre vious wrongs, retaliation by rebels and bushwhackers — and at its close nearly every one who had the means to get away had gone elsewhere, and those who remained were compelled to depend for support mainly upon business of one kind or another growing out of the military occupation of the city. The quartermaster's department paid out considerable sums monthly for fuel for- The Effects of the Civil War. 79 age, labor, etc., and the paymaster made irregular visits to pay off the troops at the post. The amount thus disbursed aggregated a pretty large sum, and was, of course, speedily distributed among the merchants, saloon-keepers, and other classes of the people. It was also found that a community, under duress of financial straits, could get along quite comfortably on far less money and luxuries than had been ever before believed by at least a portion of Kansas City's "society people." In the beginning of 1862 matters revived a very little. The public schools were reorganized with Patterson Stewart as president of the board of educa tion, and Edmund O'Flaherty as secretary. Four teachers were employed and an appropriation from the treasury of $1,500 asked for to pay the current expenses of the year. The publication of the Journal was resumed. Its tele grams were principally copied from St. Louis and St. Joseph newspapers, for the telegraph line passed around the State of Missouri through Iowa, and reached St. Joseph first in that way. Mails were frequently not received for ten days at a time. Marauders of all classes and titles were at work on all sides. The Mexican trains, stage coaches, steamers on the river, travelers " on foot and on horseback," were fired upon and robbed indiscriminately. Men were classified according to the degree of their loyalty into the " just loyal," i. e., those who assumed loyalty to save their property; the "truly loyal," who would make sacrifices and fight for the Union, and the " super loyal," whose loyalty took the form of stealing horses and cattle, and calling their owners " rebels." There were the same degrees of disloyalty, from the honest States Rights man who took up arms in support of his belief, to the stay-at-home rebel sympathizer "who never done nothing," and further to the treacherous bushwhacker who waylaid and shot his Union neighbors to avenge former grudges, or for the mere love of bloodshed. All of these and many other vari eties of mankind existed and pursued their wonted avocations along the border between Missouri and Kansas at this time. During all this time the town was growing more and more .shabby and dilapidated. The streets were not repaired, the taxes were unpaid, the revenue uncollected, city warrants were worth from 50 to 60 cents on the dollar, county warrants about the same. State scrip from 80 to 85, gold 129-^. The news of the day was a constant repetition of something like this, " Major on yesterday killed six bushwhackers and burned three houses," and, on the other hand, " captured three Union soldiers, cut off their ears and hung them to a tree between here and Independence." Everything took on an intensely and sometimes a ludicrously military character, so much so that it was re ported of an officer of militia that when on a certain occasion a lady sent him an invitation asking for "the pleasure of his company," he responded by marching his whole command down to her house. American flags were or dered to be displayed in the pulpits of the churches, and merchants sending east for goods were required to send the oath of loyalty with their orders. 8o History of Kansas City. In 1863 the general aspect of affairs was somewhat better for the city, so far as business was concerned. Some of the Santa Fe traders, who had been scared away, returned to the city and were thereafter protected by escorts of soldiers as far out as Fort Earned, about one hundred and fifty miles. The Mexican trade for the first six months of this year was 1,385 wagons loaded with 6,482,928 pounds of freight ; the business amounting to $I,000,- 000. The Chamber of Commerce was reorganized with Colonel Kersey Coates, president; P. Shannon, vice-president; Theo. S. Case, corresponding secre tary; D. Y. Chalfant recording secretary; J. S. Chick, treasurer Some sales of real estate were made : One vacant lot on Sixth street, near Main, at $500 ; one on Walnut, near Fifth, at $305.00, and two britk stores on Main at $2,050.00 each. In June work was commenced on the Kansas Pacific Rail road to Lawrence, Kan., and the Missouri Pacific Company commenced lay ing track between Independence and Kansas City. In June, 1863, General Thomas Ewing, jr, was ordered here in command of the "District of the Border," which included several tiers of counties on both sides of the State line between Missouri and Kansas. This had become nec essary on account of the depredations committed by roving bands of guerrillas and other lawless parties. It even became necessary to declare martial law in Kansas on account of lawlessness and depredations. quantrell's raid on LAWRENCE, KAN. About this time some military prisoners, among whom were some women, were brought in aAd confined in a three story brick building in McGee's addition. The building unfortunately fell down and four of the women were killed. These women were relatives of men who were supposed to be in the " brush,'' or guerrillas, and it was reported that in revenge for the death of these unfortunates the guerrilla chief, Quantrell, made his famous raid on the town of Lawrence, Kan. With about two hundred of the most daring and desperate of his band he crossed the border some miles south of Kansas City at sundown, and at dayhght next morning, August 21, 1863, he fell upon the doomed city. The people had received no warning and were unprepared. The defenseless citizens were ruthlessly slaughtered on the streets and the thresholds of their homes until the guerrillas were satisfied that there was no chance of a rally and resistance. The city was then given over to the flames, after being plun dered of everything they could carry away. One hundred and eighty of the male inhabitants were left weltering in their blood, and the band escaped in safety to their haunts in Missouri with the loss of but one man, who had got drunk and was unable to follow his companions. Contributions were taken up all over the country for the destitute people of Lawrence, and Kansas City contributed to this fund the sum of three thousand dollars. This daring out- The Effects of the Civil War. 8i rage of the guerrillas called forth the celebrated " Order No. 1 1 " of General Ewing, by which the counties of Jackson, Cass, Bates, and part of Vernon, in Missouri, were depopulated, except some of the towns and villages. Rebel sympathizers were forbidden to sell goods, do farming or engage in any busi ness in this district All voters were required to take the oath of loyalty to the United States. Near the close of this year (1863) work on the Kansas Pacific was nearly completed to Lawrence, Kan., and on the Missouri Pacific to Independence, Mo., and on the Cameron road the grading was nearly all done ready for track laying. Colonel R. T. Van Horn, E. M. McGee and M. J. Payne were the representatives in the State Legislature, and railroad matters were energetically pushed forward. The year 1864 opened with brighter prospects; although the weather was exceedingly severe, some sales of real estate were made and preparations for building were quite active. On February 1 1 the first locomotive for the Kan sas Pacific railroad was received at Wyandotte. It was brought by steamboat from St. Joseph, Mo., and while landing it on the levee it was accidentally run into the Missouri River, from whence it was subsequently fished out with great difficulty and put on the track. The Fort Scott railroad question was just beginning to be agitated. At the spring election for municipal officers Colonel R. T. Van Horn was elected mayor, the total vote of the city being three hundred and forty-nine. Twelfth street was widened and graded from Campbell street to Santa Fe street, straight down into the bottom from the bluff, by means of a long embankment. The "bushwhackers" were still rampant and threatening, and measures were taken by the citizens to protect the town. Several companies were formed, one commanded by Captain H. W. Cooper, Lieutenants S. K. Green and C. W. Fairman. Another by Captain B. L. Riggins, Lieutenants Payne and Speers, and another by Captain William O. Shouse. The telegraph lines were cut daily by the guerrillas and all dispatches were received by the way of Omaha and Leavenworth. About July i gold had advanced to 280 cents premium, and common prints were selling from 30 to 40 cents a yard, bleached cottons 30 to 50 cents, Kentucky jeans 50 to 85 cents, N. O. sugar 25 to- 30 a pound, Rio coffee 50 cents, flour $6.50 to $7.00 per 100 pounds. Only for the large disbursement of " greenbacks " by the government, the people would have been sorely pressed to buy the necessaries of life at such prices. In the latter part of September, 1864, the Confederate General Price started on his memorable raid through the State of Missouri. His design was to sweep through the rich counties along the south side of the Missouri River, gathering recruits and supplies, up to the border at Kansas City, thence taking in the eastern tier of counties in Kansas, from Lawrence south, and pass out into Arkansas with his booty. On October 20 he had reached Lexington and S2 History of Kansas City. was advancing on the city, closely followed by General Rosecranz. Three lines of fortifications were thrown up around and across this city and preparations were made for defense. All business was suspended ; stores closed by order of the commanding officer and all able bodied citizens caHed out to drill and work upon the defenses. This lasted for three days. A paragraph in the Western Journal of Commerce of that date says : " There should be no dis position to yield the town, save in the last extremity. A couple of thousand resolute men behind these fortifications can hold Price's whole army at bay, at least until Rosecranz can come up." General Price advanced, fighting his way and driving all before him until he reached the crossing of the Big Blue, where he was opposed by General Curtis in command of the Kansas and Colorado troops. Here a severe battle was fought, October 22, known as the battle of Westport, ending in the disastrous defeat of the Confederates, who fled south ward leaving their dead and wounded behind them, and Kansas City escaped the great danger which had threatened her. The Confederate wounded left behind were humanely attended to, and quarters furnished in the Methodist church, on Fifth street near Wyan dotte, where they were permitted to receive the care and attention of their friends and sympathizers in the city. Lockridge Hall was taken for an hos pital and put in charge of Dr. Joshua Thorne, a city physician who had promptly volunteered his services. The Journal of Commerce, in compliment ing the ladies, says : " Many thanks and much praise are due the ladies o' Kansas City for the prompt, careful and unremitting attention they paid the wounded at Lockridge Hall. God bless them for their kindness ! By the low cot of the wounded patriot is the peculiar province of woman. It is her light footstep that brings comfort, her gentle hand that smooths the rough pillow, and her soft voice that cheers the sinking spirit and recalls visions of happiness and home." After the retreat of Price, business, which had been suspended during the impending danger, was resumed by a special order from the commander of the post, and the city settled down to its usual quiet, only disturbed by occasional alarming reports of the doings of the " bushwhackers," who still infested the surrounding country. At this time there was considerable destitution in the city, and a baH for the relief of the poor was held and managed by Colonel Coates. Colonel R. T. Van Horn, the mayor elect, having been elected to Congress, Thomas Burke, president of the council, filled his place for the balance of the term. December 19 the Kansas Pacific Railroad was formaHy opened to Law rence, and the railr,oad fever ran high, and many other railroads were projected, such as the " Kansas City and Leavenworth," the " Kansas City and St Jo seph," and " Platte Country Railroad." In the spring election of 1865 Patrick Shannon was elected mayor, the Remarkable Progress Since the War. 83 total vote of the city cast being 573. The post-office was removed from Third and Main streets to Sixth and Main, the removal creating quite an excitement for the time. On February 17 bills were passed by the Missouri Legislature for the Weston and Atchison, and Atchison and St. Joseph Railroad (now the Kansas City, St. Joseph and Counq^l Bluffs road) from Kansas City to the Iowa line ; and for the west branch of the North Missouri (now known as the Wabash) from Moberly to Kansas City. Business began to be good again and building was quite active. The appraised value of real estate in the city, Feb ruary, 1865, was $1,383,419. This recuperative power seems wonderful when we remember that during the previous year, or more, not a town in Johnston county, Kan., had been spared by the bushwhackers and not one in Jackson county. Mo., by the Union troops or " red legs." Within a very few weeks after peace was declared, business had resumed its former activity. Men of all shades of opinion returned to civil pursuits and worked side by side and shoulder to shoulder in smoothing over and effacing the scars left by the war, and in forming and executing plans for the future advancement and advantage of the city. In the busy times that almost im mediately foHowed the war its unpleasant features were soon forgotten or dropped by mutual consent and never revived, and this condition of things has continued from that day to the present time, although representative men from both sides have been found in all branches of business and in aH classes of society. To this fact and to the additional fact that under all circumstances our people have worked soHdly and harmoniously together in all questions of public interest is unquestionably due the unexampled prosperity and success of Kansas City since the War of the Rebellion. CHAPTER III. remarkable progress since the war. Condition at the Close of the War — Leavenworth's Rivalry — The Dawn of Better Times- — Railroad Concentration — Kansas City in 1866 — G-as Works and Other Improvements — The First Bridge Spanning the Missouri — The Panic of 1873 — The Old Water Works Fight — The Board of Trade and Merchants' Exchange — The First Exposition — Pioneer Street Railways — Free Mail Delivery — The Board of Trade Delegation Visits Texas — A Texas Delegation Visits Kansas City — The City's Unexampled Prosperity — Interesting Facts and Figures — The Exposition of 1887 — The Trades and Priests of Pahas Parades — The Presi dent's Visit — Kansas City's Delegation to Mexico. PEACE was practically restored in the country surrounding Kansas City at the opening of the year 1865. Most of the bushwhackers, who for a time had impeded progress of every kind, had gone South with Price or were 84 History of Kansas City. lying quiescent through the winter awaiting developments. As the Rebellion was manifestly drawing to a close, it became evident, even to this lawless class, that their warfare was practically ended, at least in Kansas and Missouri. En terprise, long dormant, began to throw out shoots in all directions and, fostered by a reassured people, soon took root and began to develop, slowly at first, but surely. During the war Kansas City had been retrograding in more ways than one. Her streets were out of repair ; her buildings were dilapidated ; her trade was practically gone, and her population had decreased to between three and four thousand souls. During the war, her rival, Leavenworth, had been the base of army operations, and while Kansas City had been losing ground, her popu lation had grown to about eight thousand souls, and she had become the center of the trade of southern Kansas, with a large trade in Colorado and New Mexico. To some despairing ones Kansas City seemed to be nearly out of the race for supremacy. But there were few such. The bolder hearted, more enterprising citizens had faith in her recognized natural advantages, and hoped much from the knowledge that the main line of the Union Pacific Rail way started here, and was already in operation to Lawrence, while the Mis souri Pacific was nearly completed. It was seen that one of the first requisites to success was a live, earnest patriotic newspaper, devoted primarily to the local interests. The Journal of Commerce, with a good plant and much influ ence, had done signal service in the past. It was purchased by Messrs. Van Horn and HalloweH in May, 1865, and immediately took up its ante bellum advocacy of railroads and public improvements generally, rallying the people to resurrect enterprises which had lain buried during the war In earlier days it had been the organ and advocate of the Chamber of Commerce — that fruit ful and cherishing source of enterprise during Kansas City's past period of prosperity. It urged upon the people in every possible way the importance of unity and action — prompt and decisive. Says Miller, it did more at this critical juncture "to arouse the people than all other agencies combined, and remarshaled them to the struggle for commercial development as potently as ever trumpet or drum-beat marshaled soldiers to the fray." As an example of the incisive, thrilling articles with which its columns teemed, the following editorial, which appeared August 3, 1865, is appended: " There is a tide in the affairs of men, and the same is true of cities. We are now approaching the flood. If taken advantage of, we shall be carried on to fortune. If we do not act at the tide of our opportunities, our future his tory will be a record of failure and humiliation. " The present is bright ; we can, if we wish to be, the architects of our own fortune. To be so, we must be earnest industrious and enterprising. Visions of the}future show half a dozen railroads converging at this point; it shows the river port for the plains ; a point of trans-shipment for the minerals, the wool Remarkable Progress Since the War. 85 and other products of the south, southwest and west, as also the articles from the east and foreign countries. It shows us the great central mart for the dis tribution of the wealth of half a continent — rich, powerful and magnificent. Providence never assisted a lazy man, fortune never smiled on an indolent community. The price paid for prosperity is labor, energy and enterprise. With a live policy, by throwing old fogy notions to the winds, by placing our mark high, and working up to it, we shall become in two or three years all that we have described. "The converse of this picture is easily realized. Our advantages are sought by others. Our natural advantages alone will never overcome the efforts of rival enterprise. If we rely upon them we shall become neutral ground, a passway of value to railroad corporations, but of no intrinsic power of our own. Prosperity must come from within ; it must spring from the city — from the people. Let us aH make sacrifices in order to start the impulse in the proper direction, let us all put our strength to the work. Large property owners can give sites for mHls, factories, etc.; citizens can subscribe stock to work them ; mechanics can build tenement houses for operatives. If they produce ten per cent on the outlay, don't raise the rent to twenty per cent. If houses are scarce, raising the price of rent will not increase the number. Let our people think and act promptly." Before this date the Journal had called public attention to the fact that the base of business in the city would soon be changed from its old locality on the levee to the "French Bottom," "West Kansas," and urged upon the municipal authorities the importance of opening the cross streets leading thereto. In July the city council negotiated a loan of $60,000 and appropriated it to the opening of Third, Fourth, Fifth and Ottawa (now Twelfth) streets. The South ern Kansas trade was returning to Kansas City, which was much more acces sible to the people of that section than Leavenworth. Steamers were again plying- on the Missouri, and the trade with Colorado and New Mexico had been revived, and began to assume important proportions. So rapid had been the growth of trade after the military embargoes had been raised, that as early as the 1st of June 28,000,000 pounds of freight had been discharged from steam ers at the Kansas City levee. The change of base caused by the prospect that the business of the city would soon be done by railroad as much as by river, made it apparent that the Union Pacific and Missouri Pacific, both terminating at the State line, would of necessity have to locate their depots in the bottom. To all thinking men it was plain that as between Kansas City and Leaven worth the natural laws of commerce were in favor of the former, and there was no more friendly feehng toward Kansas City among a certain class of Kansas politicians than had existed before the war. Senator Lane threw his influence into the fight, favoring Kansas towns as the center of Kansas trade, and pro jected for his State an extensive railroad scheme, elsewhere referred to, the 12 86 History of Kansas City. operation of which was calculated to take from Kansas City some of its rapidly increasing prosperity, and bestow it upon Leavenworth and Lawrence. The history of the railroad interests centering at Kansas City show how these plans resulted finally. In February, 1866, Colonel Van Horn, who had been elected to Congress, introduced a bill to charter a bridge across the river at Kansas City, and to make Kansas city a port of entry. As related elsewhere, the bridge charter was secured, as the result of considerable enterprising endeavor, as an amend ment to a bill chartering a bridge across the Mississippi, at Quincy, 111. About this time Messrs. Bernard and Mastin opened a bank in Kansas City, which was succeeded by the Mastin Bank, and the First National Bank was opened with Major G. W. Branham at its head. Early that spring Marsh, Hilliker & Co. began the construction of a bridge, which public necessity had long de manded, across the Kaw from Kansas City to Wyandotte. It was completed in the following December, and opened to the public amid heartfelt rejoicings. It was at this time that Kansas City, through the exertions of Colonel Kear ney, Colonel Van Horn, General Reid, Colonel Coates and Colonel Case, triumphed over Leavenworth, by securing the contract with the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad Company, under which that line was constructed to this city, and which resulted in Kansas City getting the first bridge across the Missouri River. Leavenworth was already regarded as the terminus of the Missouri Pacific Railroad, and had a branch of the Union Pacific, and had she secured the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad, would undoubtedly have become the railroad center of the Missouri valley. August 19 Colonel O. Chanute began a new survey of the river for the bridge. Thi;ee months later Colonel Kearney advertised for material, and December i he let the contract for the construction of the bridge. The North Missouri Railroad Company decided to terminate its western branch at Kansas City, instead of at Leavenworth, on account of the facilities which would be afforded by the bridge, and thuS' began the eventful railroad history of Kansas City, elsewhere detailed. With the concentration of railroads at Kansas City .the town began to grow rapidly, Kansas immigration, and increasing Kansas trade, necessitated the opening of more wholesale houses. Improvement of the streets followed, and in 1865-66 not less than six hundred new houses were buHt At the opening of the year 1867 the city councH appointed a committee to compile a state ment of the trade and progress of the city for 1866. It appeared that the population was 15,064; 768 buHdings were erected at a cost of $2,166,500, and the trade in all lines aggregated $33,006,827. The city contained four teen churches, two colleges, two academies, twelve primary schools, twenty- one dry goods houses, thirteen clothing houses, eight liquor stores, fifteen boot and shoe shops and stores, eight hotels, and two daily, and three weekly pa pers. Seven miles of streets were macadamized, and three railroads were in Remarkable Progress Since the War. 87 operation. March 12 the Legislature amended the city charter and defined the several wards. The city Hmits were again changed by an act passed March 12, 1867. The growth of the city during 1867 was rapid, but no reliable sta tistical report of its progress is attainable. In February the First National Bank was reorganized. In April the Journal pf Commerce passed into the ownership of Foster & Wilder, and Thomas Pratt came to Kansas City from St. Louis, and brought the franchise and charter of a gas company that had been formed, and at once began the construction of suitable works. The people voted an appropriation for Hghting the streets in July, and the gas works were completed and put in operation in October. At the close of 1868 the population was estimated at 28,000; this fact, to gether with the recorded erection of 2,000 houses during that year, mark it as one of progress. In January, 1869, the foundation of the Coates Opera House was laid, and the Jackson County and Broadway Horse Railroad Companies were chartered. The once efficient Chamber of Commerce having ceased to exist, some similar organization was deemed necessary, and in February a board of trade was organized with T. K. Hanna as president, D. M. Keen as secretary, and H. M. Holden as treasurer. April 3, Kansas City, Kan., was laid out. Three days later the last stone of the Missouri bridge was laid. This, the first bridge spanning the Missouri, was completed, and its opening celebrated July 3. During 1869 the growth of the city was rapid, and the streets were greatly improved. Water works were advocated and discussed, and a company was organized to build them. The Kansas City College of Physicians and Surgeons was founded and incorporated in November. The population had increased to 30,000, and building was being carried forward on a large scale. In 1870 the chief subjects of discussion were the Kansas City and Memphis Railroad, and the construction of the water-works. The first belongs to the railroad history of the city and is treated of therein. The de termination to build water-works strengthened with each passing month, until the council adopted an ordinance providing for raising $300,000 for this pur pose, and it was submitted to the people and approved by them June 2. Some informality in the election was soon discovered, which cast much doubt upon the vaHdity of the bonds, and the scheme was abandoned, but not until too late in the year to revive it in some other shape. In April, 1871, the city council adopted an ordinance, authorizing the construction of water-works by a company, and not long afterward a company was organized for that purpose, with Colonel Kersey Coates as president, and H. M. Holden as secretary and treasurer Locke & Walruff contracted to build the works, but did nothing until after their time had expired, and the charter was forfeited. In the winter of 1872-73 an act was passed by the Missouri Legislature authorizing the city to contract with a company for the building of water-works. Two different propositions were voted upon and defeated in the spring of 1873. In the fol- History of Kansas City. lowing November a contract was made with the National Water- Works Com pany of New York, which was approved by popular vote. In 1874-75 that company constructed the works, consisting of two reservoirs, two Holly en gines, about sixteen miles of street mains and two hundred fire hydrants. By the terms of the contract the city had guaranteed to the company net earnings amounting to $56,000 annually, until that sum should be received from the rents, when the guaranty should cease. In the winter of 1875 the company reported the works complete, and began to charge the city rents for fire pur poses and the early payments on the guaranty. A dispute arose between the company and the city authorities, which was made use of for electioneering purposes in the springs of 1875 and 1879, and the matter remained unadjusted during several succeeding years. The Kansas City Water Works. — The National Water Works Company of New York, having obtained the charter and franchises heretofore mentioned, proceeded to erect pumping works and reservoirs near the banks of the Kan sas River, about one mile above its confluence with the Missouri, and took its supply from that stream. At first the water was considered good and whole some, but as the city grew so rapidly it soon became apparent that " Kaw water," as it was called, would not suffice, either in quality or quantity, for the needs of the community. Hence it became necessary, in order to give the city an adequate supply of good, wholesome water, that the pumping works should be changed from the Kansas to the Missouri River. This was done during the year 1887, and now no city in the country has a more ample sup ply of most excellent water, derived from the melted snows of the Rocky Mountains. It is rather hard for some purposes, but otherwise it is all that can be asked. The new reservoir, having a capacity of 60,000,000 gallons, is located about five miles above the city, near Quindaro, in the State of Kansas. The best engineering skill attainable has been exercised in the construction of the new ¦works, and nearly or quite $1,000,000 have been expended since January i, 1887. The total length of pipes laid now exceeds eighty-five miles. The whole scheme is one of the most comprehensive and important in the United States, and when fully carried out, will be adequate for a city of 500,000 peo ple without any addition to either reservoirs or pumping machinery. Major B. F. Jones has been the superintendent of this important enterprise from the beginning, and has, at all times, maintained an excellent reputation for effi ciency, courtesy, and public spiritedness. The movement of Texas cattle through Kansas City to eastern markets, which had begun in 1868, had assumed such proportions as to demand addi tional accommodations, and in 1870 the railroads extending eastwardly from this point built stock-yards for the reception and transfer of stock. The Coates Opera House was finished in September, this year, and dedicated October 6, Remarkable Progress Since the War. 89 Tinder the management of Charles A. Pope. The Kansas City and Westport Horse Railroad Company, which had been organized in 1869, built the line in 1870, from the corner of Fourth and Main streets through Fourth, Walnut and Twelfth streets and Grand avenue, to Sixteenth street. The incorporators were W. R. Bernard, Edward Price, George W. Briant, Nehemiah Holmes, Colonel E. M. McGee, J. Q. Watkins, and William Dunlap. The Jackson County Horse Railroad Company was organized in 1870 to build a line from Twelfth street and Forest avenue to Independence avenue, thence to Fifth street, thence to Walnut street, thence to Fourth street and thence to Main street, with another line along Fourth street to Wyandotte, thence to Fifth street, and thence by way of Fifth and Bluff streets and Union avenue, to Mul berry street, thence to Ninth street and thence to the State line in the direction ¦of Wyandotte, but no work was done that year. The incorporators were J. Q. Watkins, F. R. Long, A. C. Dyas, D. O. Smart and C. E. Waldron. The principal objects in which the Board of Trade interested itself in 1870 were the Memphis Railroad, an effort to prevent the removal of the city post- office to the junction of Main, Delaware and Ninth streets; the collection of business statistics, at the request of Colonel Van Horn, to aid him in securing from Congress the estabHshment of a custom house at Kansas City, and an at tempt to prevent the Missouri Pacific Railroad from discriminating against the city in favor of Leavenworth, to which place its line had been extended by use of the Missouri River Railroad from Kansas City to Leavenworth. This or ganization had been brought into existence to remedy certain evils, and it had practically accomplished its mission in 1869; and beyond giving attention to these questions it was not very active in 1870. At the annual election, Janu ary 25, T. K. Hanna was elected president; General Frank Askew, first vice- president ; M. Dively, second vice-president, and H. M. Holden, treasurer The population had now increased to 32,286. At the close of the war it had been only about 3,500, and its percentage of increase during the interven ing five years was the largest that had ever been made by any city in the coun try. At the close of the year (1870), Kansas City had eight railroads and seven banks. During the year 927 houses had been built at an aggregate cost of $3,454,500, and 60,000,000 brick had been manufactured. The city's jobbing trade amounted to $8,784,693, divided as follows: dry goods, $2,511,840; groceries, $2,614,425; liquors, $618,108; other jobbing lines, $3,004,320. The total business of the city was estimated to have been $34,794,880. The Merchants' Exchange was organized in January, 1871. Its object was to maintain a daily exchange for the sale and purchase of produce, which now sought a market in Kansas City. President Hanna and James E. Marsh, of the Board of Trade, favored a consolidation of that organization and the Mer chant's Exchange, while Mr Nave and others contended that the objects of the two organizations differed so materiaHy that they would not be advanced by such an action. The movement to consolidate was defeated, and the Mer- 9° History of Kansas City. chants' Exchange, finding itself in advance of the times, became quiescent after a few months. The Board of Trade met seldom in 1 871, and did no important work. The officers were T. K. Hanna, president ; General Frank Askew, first vice-president ; E. L. Martin, secretary, and B. A. Feineman, treasurer. In June there arose considerable discussion about coal, many believing that since it had been discovered at Fort Scott and other adjacent points, there must be deposits of it underlying Kansas City and vicinity. A company was formed and the city made an appropriation for prospecting purposes. The money was unavailingly expended in drilling in West Kansas City. The com pletion of the Fort Scott Railroad, however, lessened the importance of this futile project, as it began to bring coal from Fort Scott and along the line. This coal has since become a prominent article of commerce in Kansas City^ whence the Missouri valley is supplied. August 4, 1871, an article written by Captain D. H. Porter, advocating the establishment of an annual industrial exposition, appeared in the editorial col umns of the Bulletin. Other newspapers joined in urging the adoption of such. a measure, and soon a strong public sentiment was created in its favor. A company was organized to prepare for an experimental exposition to be held the ensuing fall. Colonel Theo. S. Case was made general manager, Edward Fleischer was engaged as superintendent, and the people co-operated with the exposition company to the end that the affair might attain the greatest possi ble measure of success. Buildings were erected, arrangements were com pleted, and the grounds opened October 6. The exposition continued six days,. and was a complete success, fully 30,000 people having attended on one day. A permanent association was organized immediately afterward. Fair grounds were secured in the southeastern part of the city, and the annual expositions were held with increasing interest. Colonel Kersey Coates, who had been president of the original company, was elected president of the permanent as sociation, and D. L. Hall was chosen secretary. The year 1871 also witnessed the establishment of a long needed law library. The first officers of the law library association were John C. Gage, president ; Wallace Pratt, vice president ; John K. Cravens, secretary ; Henry N. Ess, treasurer, and Colonel A. A. TomHnson, Judge Nelson Cobb, Judge Warwick Hough, Judge F. M. Black, J. W. Jenkins, J. C. Gage, E. W. Kimball, WaHace Pratt and L. C. Slavens, directors. The history of the events of 1871 would be incomplete without mention of the generosity of Kansas City toward the sufferers by the great Chicago fire, which occurred early in October The mayor of Chicago made an appeal to the compassion of the public to prevent the suffering and starvation that must follow such an appaHing calamity were Chicago left to rely upon her own crippled resources. Among the cities of the Union, Kansas City was one of the eariiest to respond to this appeal. Mayor Warner at once convened the council, and an appropriation of $io,ooo was made and immediately forwarded Remarkable Progress Since the War. 91 to parties in the ruined city duly authorized to receive and disburse it At a public meeting of the citizens, held about the same time, a relief association was organized, with General W. H. Powell as president, which held a series of meetings and appointed soliciting committees for each ward, and established a storehouse for the reception of donations of money, food and clothing ; and a few days later gifts amounting to several thousand dollars were sent on to Chi cago, to do their part in the relief of suffering humanity. In January, 1872, the Board of Trade and Merchants' Exchange, having both become inactive, the formation of a new commercial organization was favored by many business men. On January 16 a call was issued for a meeting of members of both organizations at the court-house, which, after some discussion and against some opposition, resulted in the consolidation of the Board of Trade and the Merchants' Exchange, and nineteen names were enrolled for the new organization. M. EngHsh was chosen president pro tern... General W. H. Powell vice-president, and I. N. Hicks secretary. The following day a second meeting was held at which rules were adopted and permanent officers elected. General W. H. Powell was president; Dr. F. B. Nofsinger, first vice-president; J. A. Dewar, second vice-president; A. S. Haines, secretary, and Junius Chaf fee, treasurer. Mr. Haines resigning soon after, on account of pressure of pri vate business interests, D. Royce Drake was elected to succeed him. January, 1873, Hon. H. J. Latshaw was elected president; A. D. Simons, secretary, and Junius Chaffee, treasurer. Mr. Simons resigned in June, and was suc ceeded by W. H. Miller. In January, 1874, Dr F. B. Nofsinger was elected to the presidency. At the annual election in 1875, M. Dively was chosen treasurer to succeed Mr Chaffee. In 1876 Messrs. Nofsinger, Miller and Dively were re-elected. May 9 the board was reorganized. Up to that date it was only a voluntary association with annual memberships, securable upon payment of such fees as were decided upon at annual meetings. The idea of navigating the Missouri River with barges was first proposed April 23, 1872, in an editorial article in the Journal, written by the commer cial editor of that paper. Though it received influential support and was much discussed, no movement looking to its realization was brought about until the following year This year also witnessed the re-division of the city into wards, under an amendment of the charter enacted by the Missouri Legislature, Feb ruary 20. The Union depot project, in its early stage, and the adjustment of difficulties which had arisen between the county authorities and the Memphis Railroad, occupied the attention of the Board of Trade and the people, during the greater part of the year. The year 1873 witnessed little real improvement in Kansas City, the de pression preceding the panic of that year being felt from its opening. The population was estimated at 40,740, but a slight increase over that of 1872 ; yet the people were undaunted and public enterprise was not aHowed to Ian- 92 History of Kansas City. guish. Railway projects attracted considerable practical attention, and the es tablishment of an extensive white lead factory was talked of Early in this year the Jackson County Horse Railroad Company was organized to build a street railroad from the corner of Fourth and Main streets, by Fourth street to Wyandotte street, thence to Fifth street, thence by Fifth and Bluff streets and . Union avenue and Mulberry, thence north to Ninth street, and thence by Ninth street to the State Hne, to connect with a company that had been or ganized in Wyandotte. It proposed another line from the corner of Fourth and Main streets by the way of Fourth and Walnut to Fifth, thence by Fifth to Grand avenue, thence to Independence avenue, thence to Forest aveinue, and thence southward to Twelfth street. About the same time the Union Depot (Horse Railroad) Company was organized, to run a line from the expo sition grounds on Twelfth street, to Grand avenue, thence to Eleventh street, thence to Main street, thence to the junction of Main and Delaware, thence down Delaware to Fifth, and thence to Walnut. Another part of the line was to run from Sixth and Delaware streets along Sixth to Broadway, thence to Fifth, thence down Bluff and Union avenues to the Kansas stock- yards. Part of this line was built in 1873; also the western part of the Jackson county Hne, and in connection with it the Broadway line from Fifth street to Twelfth. In 1874 there was financial trouble which affected the depot line, and it was bought by the proprietors of the Jackson county line and both roads were put under one management, which soon afterward absorbed the Westport line. At the opening of 1873 the barge line agitation was resumed. This interest assumed such proportions that it has been deemed best to treat it at length elsewhere. The panic of 1873 was precipitated in September by the failure of Jay Cooke & Co., of Philadelphia, and Kansas City was seriously affected, as were all other towns in the country. The banks suspended payment on the 25th, and for a time nearly stopped all business by locking up the funds of their custom ers, an action forced upon them by the suspension of eastern correspondents. With the usual fall movement of currency to the west, for them to have con tinued paying would have resulted only in the disbursement of what currency they had on hand, within a day or two at most, and a consequent plunge into bankruptcy. On that memorable day the merchants held a meeting at the Board of Trade rooms, and adopted resolutions approving of the course taken by the banks, and pledging the bankers their cordial support in whatever ef forts they might put forth to remedy the difficulty. In a few days the banks opened, starting new accounts with their customers, paying new checks from new deposits, and promising to pay old deposits as soon as practicable. This plan was accepted by the business community, and enterprise moved forward again, though at a slower pace. This commercial crisis caused great depres sion in town development and local improvements. The population decreased perceptibly, and it was not until more than three years afterward that Kansas Znci'bjT i:, 11'; I' I 'T'^s 'j-BTCJl^- Remarkable Progress Since the War. 93 City can be said to have recovered its wonted prosperity. Otherwise this calamity proved a blessing in disguise, for in the depression caused in the sur rounding country it led merchants to trade in Kansas City more liberally than they had heretofore done, for in their insecure situation they saw the impor tance of buying nearer home than formerly, carrying smaller stocks and turn ing their capital oftener. The necessity for a closer market, consequent upon these conditions, caused Kansas City to come rapidly into favor with a large class of country shippers who had before found markets elsewhere. Banks were affected by the same causes, and after the panic a greatly increased num ber of banks in the adjacent country, and some in Colorado and Texas, kept their deposits in Kansas City and made it much more of a financial center than it had hitherto been. Besides these advantages, the "hard times" following the panic impelled the people to look about for some means of relief The opening of the Indian Territory was not at that time a new idea, but at that time it obtained much prominence in commercial circles. The rapid settlement of that territory would cause extensive immigration and create additional trade for Kansas City. With this end in view the Kansas City Board of Trade joined the National Board of Trade, and caused to be included in the official programme of that body for discussion at a meeting appointed at Chicago in October, the following preambles and resolution, which it was hoped might receive the sanction of the National Board, whose endorsement was relied on to give the proposition strength in Congress: " Whereas, It is the duty of the government and people of the United States to inaugurate and execute such a policy toward the Indian tribes occu pying the national territory, as will most rapidly bring them under the do minion and usages of our laws and civilization. And, "Whereas, Experience has shown that the Indian tribes may be assimi lated to the prevailing civilization of the country, and be gradually brought to a recognition of the highest social and civil relations of life. And, "Whereas, By the exclusive occupancy of the Indian territory, under tribal laws, the hand of industry and the arts of civiHzed life have been ex cluded from a large area in the midst of the continent ; an area rich in agricul tural and mineral resources, with highly favorable climatic advantages ; and whose exhaustless treasures need to be developed to supply the surrounding and incoming white population now pressing into the southwest, and thus con tribute to the prosperity of the whole country. And, "Whereas, The enHghtened and cultured among the tribes have indi cated their unequivocal desire for the presence of our civHization in their midst, as a powerful ally in their struggles for a higher social and civil life. And, " Whereas, The president of the United States, in a late annual message, invoked such legislation by Congress as wiH contribute to those high purposes. Therefore, 94 History of Kansas City. "Resolved, That Congress be and is hereby respectfully memorialized to establish, without delay, a territorial government over the country known as the Indian Territory, bringing the people thereof under the laws and jurisdic tion of the United States, on such an equitable basis as will secure, 1st, a homestead to the head of each Indian family, the title to which cannot be alienated for a designated term of years. 2d, The sale of the remaining lands on such terms as will induce the rapid settlement and development of the ter ritory, the proceeds of said sales to be held or invested by the government as a fund, the interest on which shall be distributed annuaHly and equally among the several tribes. 3d, The establishment of free schools, to the end that the Indians may learn the arts and occupations of civilized life." Hon. H. J. Latshaw and Colonel James E. Marsh attended the meeting of the National Board of Trade in Chicago, as delegates from the Kansas City ' Board of Trade, to urge the adoption of these resolutions. The matter did not come before the board at that meeting, but was reached at an adjourned meet ing held in Baltimore in January, 1874, to which Colonel Marsh and Colonel Van Horn were delegates, and the resolutions were adopted and sent to Wash^ angton to be urged upon the consideration of Congress. In the faH of 1874 Hon. B. J. Franklin, of Kansas City, was elected to Congress, and he early introduced a bill for the purpose indicated, but with no better success than had attended a similar effort on the part of Colonel Van Horn in 1868. A senatorial committee, of which Hon. WilHam Windorn, of Minnesota, was chairman, was appointed in 1873 to inquire into the transportation facihties and needs of the country with a view, it was understood, of taking necessary action for improvements. It was with most intense interest that Kansas City watched its movements, hoping for an opportunity to lay before it a statement of improvements needed in the surrounding territory ; and the Board of Trade appointed Colonel Van Horn and General PoweH to attend a session of the commission at St Louis with this purpose in view, and they prepared an ad dress to the commission, which, on account of its able and accurate recital of facts as they existed then, has considerable historic value now: " Board of Trade Rooms, "Kansas City, October 25, 1873. "To Hon. WiHiam Windom, and members of the committee of the Senate of the United States: "Gentlemen: The Board of Trade of Kansas City desire to represent to your committee the needs of the country comprehended by its commerce in marketing the products of its soil and receiving the merchandise consumed by it in exchange. "The country in question is new to the commerce of the Union, its impor tance dating from the close of the Civil War, its population in that time having increased, at a moderate estimate, over i,ooo,ooo in number. Remarkable Progress Since the War. 95 " It embraces Western Missouri, Western Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, Color ado, the Indian Territory, Northwestern Texas and New Mexico, covering twelve degrees of latitude, sixteen degrees of longitude, and comprises an area of more than 600,000 square miles. "This vast district of country has but one navigable river — the Missouri, and its lines of commerce are thus exclusively by railway, except the limited margin on either side of that river " The system of railway construction for this interior region, the geograph ical center of the United States, and of the continent, is, so far as the great trunk lines are involved, very far advanced, and are concentrated at the mouth of the Kansas River, the nearest and most available point for all the country to the navigable waters of the Missouri River, as you will see by the map. " The agricultural portion of this part of the Union embraces the portion of Missouri and Iowa referred to, the States of Nebraska and Kansas, and of the Indian Territory, and is of a more uniform character in quality and production than any equal area on the globe. The soil is of exceptional fertility, and the official report by the census of 1 870 shows it to embrace the largest and most productive corn and winter wheat area in the world. " It also embraces the only natural pastoral region in North America, where, from time beyond the knowledge of this continent, have been subsisted the countless herds of aboriginal cattle, exceeding in number the domestic herds of the globe. These are now being supplanted by the cattle of civiliza tion. The present season has brought together for market at the several points in Kansas, on the feeding grounds of the Kansas City stock market, over $7,000,000 worth of grass fed cattle alone. " In addition to this, a careful computation from the crop statistics of 1870 shows that for the year ending June of that year there was produced in this region 56,452,116 bushels of wheat; 631,353 bushels of rye; 89,236,854 bushels of corn ; 24,367,214 bushels of oats ; 1,429,946 bushels of barley; 1,856,138 tons of hay; 6,235,366 pounds of tobacco. " In live stock it produced: Of hogs, 2,566,000 ; 185,000 cattle, other than exclusively grass-fed, 533,833 of grass-fed, 2,061,343 exclusive of the Indian Territory, where there are large herds, but from which there are no returns ; of mules, 116,585 ; of sheep, 2,233,326; of horses, 835,833. " The value in soil products of the amount by these figures, at the current •market rates paid at Kansas City this season, would amount to $85,228,837, and the Hve stock at a low average per head, are in value $26,557,630. " Or in the aggregate, this portion of the Union produced in 1870, from its soil alone, a wealth of more than $128,000,000. "A country thus productive, and which has become so practically within seven years, and which has seen its three most productive years since the census figures were obtained, is, we most respectfully submit, entitled to be 96 History of Kansas City. heard on a question so vital as that for which your committee was raised to inquire into and report upon transportation. " And we approach this part of the subject with the statement that, as compared with the other portions of the Union affected by both the foreign and domestic markets, it is practically cut off from both, and in times of abun dant crops its products do not admit of shipment with profit to the producer; only when prices are high, induced by failure of crops east of the Mississippi, or in Europe, or both, can its grain be profitably transported to the Atlantic seasboard by present facilities. " From Kansas City, the converging point of the principal great trunk fines to New York, is by rail, fourteen hundred miles, being nearer to that city than from any point on the Missouri River above the mouth of the Kansas, and for this reason, taken as a standard of computation. " Taking the rate of transportation by rail, as we find it in the documents printed by Congress, to be twelve and a half mills per ton per mile, we find that the cost of a bushel of sixty pounds, from Kansas City to New York, would be fifty-two and a half cents, or eighty-seven and a half cents per one hundred pounds for all products. " This we may assume to be the rate by all rail, and for our corn and pork, which come into market after the close of navigation, rail transportation is our only dependence. As to corn, it is quoted the day on which this is written, in New York, at fifty-eight and a half to sixty cents a bushel, leaving to the farmer, the shipper, and for all expenses of getting it in the car at Kansas City, a margin of six to eight cents. Is it strange that it is burned for fuel to save the destruction of timber ? and cheaper than coal at cost of mining and deliv ery ? " It is unnecessary to lengthen the argument by paraHel illustrations as to other products, as this one affecting our great staple is sufficient, everything being governed by it. " But these disabilities can be remedied. They are artificial, and result from causes which are susceptible of remedy, and which have been in great part removed by private and corporate enterprise. " And we are before your committee to-day because it is proposed to de vise a general system of relief for the whole country, by opening up cheaper channels of transportation by the common fund of the nation. And because what is needed in this respect by us can only be done under national authority. " There are two outlets for the products we have referred to : " One by way of the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers. " One by the harbor at Galveston, Tex. " We shall consider them in the reverse order in which they are mentioned. " From Kansas City to Galveston it is now eight hundred miles as the rail roads are constructed, but which can be reduced to within seven hundred miles, Remarkable Progress Since the War. 97 or just half the distance to New York. It is, as to cost of transportation, as if Kansas City was removed east to Columbus, O. The question, as it addresses itself to us, is : " Why should Kansas City, and the country surrounding it, with its one hundred millions of annual production, be compelled to seek the market through Columbus, O., any more than that Columbus should be compelled to seek her market by way of Kansas City. " If the port of Galveston was made accessible for ocean going vessels, the wheat and corn of the Illinois valley could seek the ocean at twenty-six and one-fourth cents per bushel, and wheat the same rate it does to-day to New York, at fifty-two and a half cents, adding a quarter of a dollar to the price of 150,000,000 bushels of these crops, produced in 1870 ; or more than $28,000,- 000 to the farmers of the New West, every year. " Then the country embraced in this central portion of the nation would be, as to foreign markets, as favorably situated as the States of Indiana and Ohio, and our rich lands increased in corresponding value. " And why the national treasury should not improve this harbor equally with those of the great lakes and Atlantic seaboard is, we submit, not a ques tion for discussion. Its need is all jthat requires to be established. And this, we feel, our illustration and the facts recited must conclusively establish. " The other outlet for the upper Missouri to the markets of the world is by the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers. " There are two questions to be considered in connection with this route : "Thg navigation of the Missouri River by barges, its seasons of low water and ice ; and the low water and ice of the Mississippi River above the mouth of the Ohio. "And a connection by railway with the Mississippi, at a point below ice, and at permanently deep water. " The cost of shipping grain per bushel, from St Louis to New Orleans, may be fixed by present facilities, at a high stage of water, at eight to ten cents. It may be brought to a lower minimum, but we prefer to be within actual fig ures as demonstrated in practical transportation. " At present, as the channel is in the Missouri, it would require lighter ton nage in vessels, and thus the cost be somewhat enhanced over the same dis tances in the Mississippi. We depend entirely upon conjecture, when we put the cost from Kansas City to St. Louis, by barges, at about the same figures ; or in all about sixteen to twenty cents per bushel, from Kansas City to New ¦Orleans. " This would be a saving to ocean ports, over the present rates to New York, of thirty-two and one-half cents for all grain for European demand, and of twenty-two and a half cents to New York itself, counting ten cents from New Orleans to New York. 98 History of Kansas City. " We know it is claimed, and we believe within the limits of practical dem onstration, that these figures can be materially reduced, but we prefer to take what has been done, as it is ample to command consideration, leaving to the future and mufual enterprise to reduce the cost by both routes. The point we desire to enforce being the relative cost between the two — both being suscepti ble of further cheapening. " The Missouri River has not been tested by being navigated by grain barges in tow of steamers, as has the Mississippi between St. Louis and New Orleans. It is believed by practical men that it can be so used, successfully, and we have so considered it in estimating the cost of transportation. But frankness requires us to say that it has yet to be demonstrated. " But, conceding that it is so, it is insufficient as an outlet for the products of the vast area of country depending upon it. And for these reasons : " From August until the close of November, is the low water season, when the channel contains but from three and a half to five feet of water. From the last week in November to the middle of March navigation is suspended by ice. True, in some seasons, the interruption from this cause is more brief, but there is no safety within that period, and even by steamboats, it is seldom attempted, until the freezing season has entirely passed. And above the mouth of the Kansas River, the obstructions from ice are often some weeks later. " Thus the season of good navigation in the Missouri may be included from April to August, at its best, after its annual rise in June. " Our corn crop is never ready for shipment until ice has closed the river, and our pork crop, made from it, necessarily so, as well as most of the beef, — although a portion of this can go forward before ice is formed. The wheat, in part, may go before the close of navigation, but so far as the Missouri can be availed of most of our products must lie in store until the opening of naviga tion in the spring. " The same obstacles await us between St. Louis and Cairo — both from low water in the autumn months and ice and low water during those of the winter. " The general result arrived at by these facts and figures is, that this cen tral area of country has a common interest with the whole Mississippi valley, in the removal of obstructions to navigation in the channels of that river and its tributaries, and the removal of the barrier at its mouth, as the cheaper and most available outlet to the markets of the world. "But confined as we are to the one river, the main dependence for gather ing the crops and concentrating the products of the agricultural lands for trans port is, and for all time must be, upon the railway. And for fully one-half the year, we must use the railroad to reach the Mississippi ; and to fully utilize that river it must be reached by rail below the mouth of the Ohio, where an open channel and deep water can be found throughout the year " Private enterprise has already fixed upon the point for this connection at Remarkable Progress Since the War. 99 Memphis, and the work of constructing a railroad from Kansas City to that city begun ; the first hundred miles being well advanced, and the work going forward at this time. The importance of this connection, and the aid of your committee, and through you of Congress, will be seen from the considerations we present : " From the mouth of the Kansas River to St. Louis, by the Missouri, is 400 miles. " From St. Louis to Memphis, 450 miles. "From Memphis to New Orleans, 750 miles — or 1,600 miles in all, from Kansas City to New Orleans. " In the season when the Missouri is closed, it is by rail to St. Louis, 283 miles, and from St. Louis to Memphis, 319 miles ; 602 miles by rail from the mouth of the Kansas to Memphis, where the permanently open river and deep water is reached. " By air line from Kansas City to Memphis it is 365 miles, and can be trav ersed by rail within 390 miles — in round numbers, 400 miles. " The upper Missouri valley can thus reach the Mississippi River below ice, and at permanently deep water, by 200 miles less by rail transportation thani as now employed by way of St. Louis. " By employing 107 miles longer rail transit than at present, 450 miles of river are saved, as against the route by St. Louis; and by employing 212 less miles of railway, the same point is reached by all rail, as now. And in both cases the only obstacles now existing are completely and entirely overcome. " This obtained, and uniform freights throughout the year are secured, or, if there is any difference, the winter freights will be lower than the summer, from the fact that the boats that are driven from the upper rivers by ice, will seek the lower Mississippi for winter employment, making tonnage more abundant than in the summer. " Then with the obstructions at the mouth of the Mississippi removed, or avoided, ocean steamers could land at Memphis just as freely as at New Or leans, and grain be loaded direct from the elevators, and shipped either to New York, Philadelphia, Boston, or to Europe ; and the flour made from our winter wheat equal to any in the Union, be shipped by the shortest route to the West Indian and South American markets. " It would practically place our grain port within four hundred miles of the mouth of the Kansas, and give us, both for export and import, the lowest rates, and uniform at all seasons. " Taking the same rates of charges in freights by river and raH, as we have used above, we could, by this proposed route, place grain in Memphis at fif teen cents, in New Orieans at twenty cents, New York at thirty cents, and Liverpool at thirty-five cents per bushel ; or even by rehandling at New Or leans, in addition to Memphis, it would only make the cost of our grain at New loo History of Kansas City. York and Liverpool, thirty-five and forty cents respectively ; or a saving over present rates to Europe of thirty-six and one-half cents for every bushel of grain for Western Iowa, Western Missouri, Kansas and Nebraska. " At this writing, grain from St Louis to Memphis costs twenty-two and one-half cents per zoo pounds, or about fourteen cents per bushel. To New Orleans by barge, thirty cents per lOO pounds, or eighteen cents per bushel. By barge from Kansas City, at corresponding rates to those now paid, grain at Memphis would cost twenty to twenty-two cents, and at New Orleans twenty- four to twenty-six cents per bushel. '-' But with railroad to Memphis to-day, we could save five to seven cents at the rates now charged on the Mississippi River, and this saving would hold good pro rata, on any reduction which improved facilities in transportation might give in the future. "It is thus demonstrated, not by presumptive figures and contingencies in the future, but upon actual prices, as paid to-day, that with railway connec- ' tion between the Missouri River and the Mississippi, at the mouth of the Kan sas and at Memphis, the surplus of our annual product of 146,000,000 bushels of grain can find its cheapest and most available outlet to market ¦"There is another element in this proposed route to which we have not alluded, that of time. ' " The Missouri River, down stream, is not safe for navigation by night, and has never been used by steamers descending the river; the practice always, and mS'de imperative by the rules of the underwriters, being to land and re- rnain at moorings during the darkness. It would require from three to four .days for a fieet of barges from Kansas City to reach St Louis, and longer, in proportion to distance from all points above ; while changing cargo at St Louis - and thence to Memphis, would require eight or ten days' time for our grain to reach that point " Cars could be loaded at any point on the railroads of the Upper Missouri, or from the elevators at Kansas City, and unloaded into vessels or elevators at Memphis, in from thirty-six to forty hours, thus adding largely to the profit of shipment — saving a week in time, and the high rates of insurance above the Ohio and in the Missouri River. " There is but one more proposition in this connection to discuss, and that is the point on the Missouri River at which the railroad connecting with the Mississippi should commence. We have assumed it to be at the mouth of the Kansas River, and for these reasons : "That it is the nearest and most available point for the country in question to reach navigation, as an examination of the map demonstrates. "It has been so recognized by becoming the converging point of the great trunk lines of railway already built and in operation; being to-day the com mercial center of all the country embraced in this memorial. F-^-'hyt' B .ar^its- :;:.¦¦. 23 3^~.u^Sr.s;z Remarkable Progress Since the War. ioi "The Missouri River, below the Kansas, is open for navigation later in the autumn and earlier in the spring, making a month's difference in navigation in some seasons, over points above, and,, having a large volume of water, is safer for river craft and heavier tonnage than above the mouth of the Kansas. "And it is the nearest point at which the Missouri River can be reached for all the country west and north, the distance being increased from either above or below, as the map will demonstrate. "And because the construction of this important work has already been commenced, and over one million of dollars expended upon it. "We have thus briefly laid before you the leading facts in regard to the im portant portion of the common territory of the Union, with which we are bound up in common interests and in common destiny. "We have shown that it produces nearly one hundred and fifty millions of bushels of grain annually. "We have demonstrated that as a meat and wool-producing region it sur passes any other portions of the United States, and that as yet it is in the in fancy of its development in this respect. "We have not adverted to its wealth in iron, coal and lead, for the disabilities under which its agricultural labors are immediate and pressing, but in all these mineral resources it is equal to any portion of the Union. "We have shown that by, distance and other obstacles it is practically cut off from the markets of our own nation and the world. "We have shown how by two natural and near outlets it can be placed, as to markets, on a footing with the most favored interior districts of the Union. "And we claim that if so favored, and its products allowed to reach a mar ket that the effect wiH be not only beneficial to its own people, but will open up to the industrial masses of other portions, an abundant and cheap supply of all the staple elements of food, both now and in increasing volume for aH time to come. "The rehef then asked by this portion of the people of the United States may be briefly stated: "I. The improvement of the harbor at Galveston, so as to allow of ocean going vessels to land at the wharves of that city. "2. The removal or avoidance of the obstruction at the mouths of the Mis sissippi. "3. To aid in securing a connection with permanent deep water and per manent freedom from ice with the Mississippi, as indicated, by raHway from the mouth of the Kansas River to Memphis. "The two first come under the general power of Congress, touching river and harbor improvement "As to the latter we can see no difference between connecting commercial points by raH and by canal. And we are thoroughly convinced that in all the 14 I02 History of Kansas City. projects submitted to you for the better accommodation of the different portions of the Union, there has been no one proposed conferring so large benefit upon such important interests and so large an area of country, that can be afforded at so small a cost to the national treasury as this. " Were it within the scope of this memorial, or within the purposes for whicfr your committee has been raised, we could demonstrate that what we ask, to thus connect us with the Mississippi, can be fully accomplished and that speed ily, without the expenditure of a dollar in money by the general government. "And upon a favorable consideration of the matters herein presented, and its recognition by your committee as deserving the attention and consideration. of Congress, the method by which it can thus be accomplished, will be laid be fore that body through your committee. "R. T. Van Horn, "W. H. Powell. "On behalf of the Board of Trade" May 17, 1883, the Board of Trade memorialized the postmaster-generaU. to establish a general free mail delivery in Kansas City, under the act of Con gress, granting this privilege to cities having a population of over twenty thou sand, and by means of this memorial and other efforts it was secured and went into effect July 1st eight carriers being employed. On the 3d of March the Legislature adopted amendments to the charter of the city, whereby its bound aries were enlarged ; eastwardly to Woodland avenue and southwardly to Twenty- First street. In August 1874, the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railroad began to run its trains into Kansas City. This road had been completed to Denison, Tex., and there connected with the Texas Central for Galveston. Of this fact Kansas City availed itself to make a signal effort to secure an outlet by way of Galveston to- the world's markets. In May, before the completion of railroad communica tion, Dr Edward Dunscomb presented the subject to the Board of Trade, and that organization, aided by the city press, gave it vigorous agitation. With characteristic Kansas City promptness the Board of Trade sent to Galveston and Houston, to investigate the situation, a delegation consisting of Dr. Ed ward Dunscomb, vice-president of the Board of Trade ; Colonel James E. Marsh,. Colonel R. T. Van Horn, Dr M. Mumford, T J. Bigger, A. C. Dyas, B. A. Feineman, M. Diveley and Major G. W. Branham. These gentlemen left Kansas City May 12th and were received with many manifestations of pleasure- by the people and commercial organizations of Galveston. They returned af ter a week's absence and submitted the following report to the Board of Trade: " To the Board of Trade : "Gentlemen: — Your committee appointed to visit the cities of Galvestoa and Houston, in Texas, and such other points and parties as might be neces sary to the object in view — direct trade with the Gulf of Mexico and the ex- Remarkable Progress Since the War. 103 port of the grain of this region of the West — have performed that duty and beg leave to report what has been accomplished. "We can only say that in this direction we have been successful beyond •our expectation, and beyond what we had a right to expect. "The merchants of Galveston, the ship owners, the shipping agents, the •capitalists, the harbor interests, all met us with every assurance that could be desired, low rates of freightage, facilities for transferring grains from cars to ships, adequate to fully test the capabiHties of the route, and ample capital to handle all that may be sent The facilities at Galveston now existing afford the means necessary to a full test of the advantages offered by that port. The cars run within a few feet of the ships at the wharf, and in all cases are at a higher elevation than the decks of the ships, thus unloading by gravity and rendering all cartage, or carrying by stevedores or lighterage, unnecessary. " It will require at the beginning, or in the first shipments, some care in timing the shipments, so that delay may not take place in transmitting from cars to steamers and ships, until the facilities for a large and constant grain trade are provided. " In calculating the practicability of handling our grain with profit, we laid before the merchants of Galveston the present rates from Kansas City to New York, Baltimore and New Orleans, the distances by rail and water, with all the facts and elements involved in the various routes. And taking rates for dis tance, they unhesitatingly announced not only their willingness, but their ¦ability to handle our grain profitably. And, as an earnest of their feeling in the matter, two orders were given, for a cargo each, to members of your com mittee, to be forwarded at any time. " At Houston we were met in the same spirit. The water route from Houston to the water of the Bay of Galveston is by Buffalo Bayou and the San Jacinto River, which is now navigable for boats of the class of our Missouri River steamers, and from some six miles below the city has ample water to the bay, at which point there is nearly completed a ship canal to the outer bar of •Galveston harbor, thus, when completed, making a water route of the depth of the bar from the city of Houston. " As all the freight for the gulf must go to Houston, the advantage of this •open channel must be apparent at a glance, as it gives competition at once, and a choice of routes, as weH as of increased facilities for the rapid transit and •speedy shipment of grain that may be sent forward. Not only this, but it will aid in stimulating effort and be the means of an earlier development of the trade in question, than is probable with but a single port and a single route to it "Your committee are pleased to say that they found both at Galveston and Houston only a spirit of emulation as to which should do the most to inaugu rate this important trade, the rivalry being that of enterprising men intent up on the general good of their respective cities, and of Texas, and not a local I04 History of Kansas City. jealousy that is too often found in similar situations ; a broad and generous poHcy which the committee cannot but commend to our people and our neigh bors. " And lastly, to crown all these favorable conditions and prospects, we were met by the controlling authorities of the Central Railroad with a spirit of fair ness and enlightened policy that makes all that had heretofore promised so much, an assured fact "The Houston and Texas Central Road controls three hundred and forty- one miles of the eight hundred between this city and the gulf — from Red River to Houston — and without its co-operation the difficulties would be in surmountable. They had studied the situation well and thoroughly, as we found when the conference was held with your committee, and they summed up the whole question, when vice-president Baker closed his remarks with the declaration, ' We will make a rate that will compel the shipment of your grain to the gulf This declaration was made with full reference to existing rates to other seaports, and designed to cover the whole case. " Of necessity, no rates specific at this time could be given, or asked, as a conference of the Central with connecting lines will be necessary, not only to establish through rates, but the other details necessary for the working of all lines over which the traffic is to pass, both for out-going and in-coming trans portation. But so far as the lines in the State of Texas are concerned, we are warranted in saying that all obstacles are already overcome, and business may commence at once. " It does not come within the purpose for which the committee was raised, to go beyond the simple question of grain transportation and export, nor is it necessary to enlarge upon the general advantages and commerce to flow from the successful opening of such trade. We need only advert to that question and say that at Galveston and at Houston, at Austin, and from merchants and business men from all portions of that Empire State, which we met at the State Fair, we found the liveliest interest in the establishment of more direct and in timate commercial relations with Kansas City, and could have spent a month in travel and intercourse with her cities and towns had we accepted half the in vitations pressed upon us. " This is a suggestive fact to our people. There is really no conflict in producti®ns of Texas and the Missouri valley. They want what we produce, and we need what they grow, it is an exchange of commodities that await both, not a competition in products, and we being nearer to them than any country of similar productions, can sell them. cheaper than they can obtain elsewhere, and they being nearer to us than any seaport, can supply us at the minimum cost. And the day is not far distant when Texas wHl furnish from her own soil all the sugar needed in the Kansas City market. " In conclusion your committee do not deem it foreign to the subject to advert Remarkable Progress Since the War. 105 to the early policy of Kansas City in the direction of trade direct with the Gulf of Mexico. As early as 1857, a railroad charter was obtained for that purpose, out of which has grown the Cameron Road, the Bridge and the Fort Scott and Gulf Road. In 1865 a like committee, on the part of the city was mainly instru mental in securing, atlhe great Indian council at Fort Smith, a treaty concession for a road across the Indian Territory, upon which the Missouri, Kansas and Texas road was constructed, now happily at last a Kansas City road. Many were the obstacles from the beginning that have intervened, but practical cour age and persistence have at last won the great object, the consummation of which may date from this day ; and though the struggle was long and trying, yet the results achieved are worth it all, and Kansas City may now look for ward to a future that will repay, discounting a hundred per cent, beyond any of her achievements in the past. "Congratulating your board, the people of our city and the entire Missouri Valley, upon the auspicious beginning of a new era in their prosperity, your committee ask to be discharged. "R. T. Van Horn, "J. E. Marsh, " Edward Dunscomb, "On behalf of the Delegation." Two months later a large delegation from Galveston and Houston visited Kansas City. While here they were banqueted and afterwards taken to Colo rado by prominent citizens. This interchange of municipal and private cour tesy resulted in a union of business men of Houston and Galveston with those of Kansas City in an effort to effect an arrangement between the intervening railroads, by which there might grow up a commercial reciprocity between the people of Kansas City and Texas, Galveston becoming a seaport for all the New West For several years afterward this effort was continued. Though much success attended it there were difficulties in the way that neither the cities nor the railroads could overcome, though business relations were established that continued and increased to mutual profit. In January, 1875, Kansas City was visited by a delegadon from Omaha, Council Bluffs, Plattsmouth, Nebraska City and St. Joseph, on their way to Texas to seek an opening of trade relations with the people of that State, and to give additional strength to the movement initiated by Kansas City, and they united with the citizens of Kansas City, through the Board of Trade, in a me morial to Congress, praying for the opening of Indian Territory. The invasion of Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado and Western Missouri by the Rocky Mountain locusts in 1874, was a disastrous calamity to the trade of Kansas City, but it had its compensation in the development it afforded her in fant grain market. The loss of Kansas crops made it necessary for the people of that State to import grain from Missouri and Iowa in the Spring of 1875. io6 History of Kansas City. . 1 _ The result was that the men and the capital to make an excellent grain market in Kansas City became active as soon as the demand arose. The grain crop in Kansas that fall was unusually abundant and the capitalists who had gone into the grain trade to sell her seed and food, continued in it to handle her product, and this secured for the grain market of Kansas City a solid founda tion and a definite organization it otherwise could not have attained for years. New enterprises were not numerous in 1875. The shadow of the panic of 1873 still rested on commerce and the depression resulting from the Rocky Mountain locust or grasshopper plague was not yet removed. Many of the people were inactively awaiting better times and crops. Municipal taxes had been collected with difficulty and it was found burdensome to pay the interest on the city's bonded debt. The credit of the city was in danger. The First National Bank and the Mastin Bank, says Miller, " had tided the city over to this time by taking and holding its paper ; but the load began to be too heavy for them. Accordingly, in January the officers of those two institutions prepared and sent to the Legislature a draft of amendments to the charter, which would provide for a more economical and business-like administration •of city finances. As soon as this bill was introduced into the Legislature the people took alarm. There was, at this time, trouble brewing between the city and the Water- Works Company, in which the Mastins were interested. The people feared some scheme in the proposed biH that would give the Water- Works Company the advantage, and hence became very much excited. A copy of the bill was sent for, a public meeting was called, and it was ex amined and condemned. The meeting then appointed a committee of thir teen, of which Major William Warner was chairman, to prepare a revision of the whole charter This was done, and it was sent to Hon. S. P. Twiss, then representing Kansas City in the Legislature, by whom it was introduced into the House of Representatives. This bill, after a most memorable contest in which the dominant party of the State took sides against the people of Kansas City, finally became a law." About the time of the adoption of the new charter (March 27, 1875) an act was passed by the Legislature creating the Metropolitan Police Department of Kansas City. In July the Kansas roHing- miHs were established at Rosedale, four miles from the city. December 2 the Kansas City Academy of Science was organized. In the spring Dr. Linder- man, director of the United States Mint, was authorized to locate a branch mint in the Mississippi Valley. Kansas City at once entered into competition with other cities to secure it. A statement of its advantages for such an establishment was prepared and forwarded to Dr. Linderman, and prepara tions were made to receive and entertain him on his visit to the West He came in September, and no pains were spared to impress him more than favorably with Kansas City. February i, 1876, the board of trade sent an offer to the secretary of the treasury to donate grounds and buildings for the Remarkable Progress Since the War. 107 mint, but it was not located here. It is believed that one of the principal dif ficulties Kansas City had to contend against in this competition was her lack of smelting works, for which it was thought her command of Colorado ores adapted her. An effort to supply this defect was unsuccessful. Besides the construction and extension of horse-car lines, the fostering and agitation of railway enterprises, some efforts to secure alterations in railroad freight tariffs, and some minor matters, there were no other public movements during the year. By the opening of 1876 trade had begun to revive and merchants were pushing it into new fields embracing localities in Kansas, Missouri, Colorado, and Nebraska. There was a marked increase in population, people moving to Kansas City in large numbers, as they had done before the panic, and occupying every house. Of course this gave an added impetus to real estate and building operations. The period of Kansas City's unexampled prosperity, which has since become one of the marvels of American progress, had begun. This year witnessed a historical change in the Board of Trade, brought about by the relative locations of the Board of Trade rooms and the grain market, at which many members of the Board of Trade had daily dealings. The Board of Trade officers had, since 1872, been located under the First National Bank. The grain market, by this time an important factor in the commerce of the city, was located by accident on Union avenue, west of the depot In April members of the Board of Trade engaged in the grain business complained of the inconvenience of attending its daily meetings at such a distance from the grain markets, and advocated the removal of its rooms to the western part of the city. It was proposed to the grain dealers to remove their offices to the upper part of the city. Their willingness to do so counted for little, as suit able office accommodations cound not be found for them. At the suggestion of Dr. Edward Dunscomb and others, measures were taken to erect a suit able Exchange building, and as soon as practicable a lot on the corner of Fifth and Delaware streets was purchased for $15,700, upon which to erect such a structure. The expense of the undertaking was provided for in the reorganization of the board of trade, which was effected May 9. Previous to this time the only membership fee had been an annual assessment of $10 to $20, according to the class of business in which members were engaged. Memberships were now made permanent and transferable, and the fee was fixed at $100. The money accruing from this source was to be devoted to the erection of a building, and any necessary balance was to be borrowed on a mortgage on the property. During the summer $10,000 was borrowed of citizens of Kansas City on first mortgage bonds. The erection of the build ing was begun in September, 1876, and completed in October, 1877, though in the previous July the grain market had been removed to it. Under the former organization the Board of Trade had never attained a membership of io8 History uf Kansas City. over one hundred and eighty. Under the new organization it speedily doubled. The grain and live stock markets had by this time reached a con siderable degree of development. Their history in detail is given elsewhere. There was marked improvement in the general condition of the city in 1877. The following extract from the report of the Board of Trade thus sum marizes it : "The population of Kansas City has been increasing rapidly for the past year and a half The last estimate of population published in our city Direc tory was in 1873, when it appeared that the population was 40,740. Mr J. H. Ballenger, the compiler of our Directory, states that the population in June of the year under review was 41,786, showing an increase since 1873 of 1,046. Mr Ballenger also states that immediately succeeding the panic of 1873 the population fell off considerably — a fact attributable to the depression of indus trial interests and the cessation of pubHc improvement About July, 1876, the lost population began to come back to us, and by the beginning of 1877 the tenement houses of Kansas City were again full. Since that time several hundred additional houses have been buHt and fiHed, and aH vacant rooms over business hours have been occupied also ; so that it is estimated that the new population coming within the past year and a half does not fall materially short of 8,000 people. "The movement of real estate, likewise, shows an improvement There has not been so much improvement in the number of transfers as in the better tone of the market the higher valuation at which it is held, and the advance of rentals, which latter will average not less than fifty per cent. " There has been no great enlargement of the industrial interests of the city, but establishments previously existing are doing much more business and employing a larger number of operatives, and are generally much more prosperous. "The markets of Kansas City have experienced marked improvement during the year. The amount of property coming into them for sale has much increased, and in many respects was of improved quaHty. There has been an increase of merchants engaged in purchasing and forwarding the pro duce offered ; with the increase of men there was also an increase of money. The markets have been active during the year and have sustained their former high valuations as compared with other markets." The year 1878 was ushered in by two memorable bank failures, caused by the embarrassments of live stock and grain merchants, which made a great sensation in Kansas City and the surrounding country. The first to succumb was the First National Bank, which was the leading depository for Kansas City and for the country banks. It carried down with it the Commercial National Bank. The Mastin Bank failed a few months later, chiefly from having advanced beyond a safe limit to the Water Works Company, and par- '^''yECWiUms. iSnW. r\. ^ .^'^^iiC^^^^^^i,^^ Remarkable Progress Since the War. 109 tially because of unwise investments in mining stocks. Great as was the calamity to the business community, public sentiment was not adverse to the management of these banks and they were held blameless by those who suf fered most. The winter had been unusually mild and damp, and trade had been so dull that merchants had their winter stocks on hand unsold ; and in addition to being deprived of the assistance that otherwise would have been afforded by the banks, they were obliged to repay loans already secured. These causes produced no little embarrassment, depressed the markets, cut short the supply of currency temporarily, and stopped several enterprises which had been planned, and in some cases started, for the ensuing year. This shock to business and the depression and destruction of confidence consequent upon it could scarcely but have proven disastrous to any other place than Kansas City at the time, and would have been still more disastrous in a time of general depression, but, situated at the gate of a great and prosperous coyntry, its markets were filled with products which drew to it from the east the currency requisite to move them, and enterprise was soon going steadily forward again. That Kansas City could sustain two such financial blows in a single year, and with little other general effect than a temporary inconvenience in making exchanges, is a prouder commentary on her business and commer cial strength than words can express. The loss of banking capital and facilities thus occasioned was repaired at the time by the enlargement of existing banks, and partly by the establishment of Armour Brothers' Bank, with a capital of $250,000. Trade in all branches improved, both in character and volume;, 706 new houses were built at a cost of $1,040,000, and the population of the city increased from 41,076 July i, 1877, to 50,126 July i, 1878. In 1879 the business of the city was free from the disturbances of the pre vious year incident to the banking troubles above referred to. The banks already in existence were able to command funds to supply the demands of the rapidly growing trade, and before the close of the year the Merchants National Bank had been established. The clearings, unaffected by any changes in the number of the banks, showed an increase from $41,000,317.56 in 1878, to $68,280,251.55 in 1879. During the year ending July i, 1879, the popula tion increased 10,246. The assessed valuation in 1878 was $9,092,230; in 1879 it was $10,606,660. The total collections of internal revenue in 1878 were $60,115.65; in 1879 they were $80,680.56. The cash receipts at the post-office increased from $77,241.53 in 1878 to $98,948.04 in 1879. During the year there were 806 permits issued for new buildings to cost $1,171,512, and about 500 structures were erected without permits, swelling the cost of new buildings to about $1,500,000. Real estate transactions aggregated $1,857,178 more in 1879 than in 1878. The real estate transfers in 1880 were $1,943,350 in excess of those of 1879, and the cost of buildings erected was about $2,200,000. The post- 15 no History of Kansas City. office business grew from $98,948 to $123,953.09. The trade of the city in 1880 covered substantially the same territory in Missouri, Iowa, Kansas, Ne braska, Wyoming, Colorado and Texas, as in former years, but was consider ably extended into New Mexico, along the extending line of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad. Little effort was made to extend it in any direction, for the reason that the territory previously supplied from Kansas City caused such demands upon merchants as to tax their resources to the utmost. Kansas City still held her place as the leading market for stock cat tle as well as beeves — the place to which farmers and feeders of surrounding States, and as far east as Indiana, resorted for their supplies. One new fea ture of this trade introduced during the year was the purchase of cattle for direct export to Europe. Manufacturing, yet in its infancy, was beginning to take definite shape and to command increased attention. By the opening of mines in every direction the coal trade was assuming great prominence. The drought of the summer of 1881, wide-spread and injurious as it \j'as, was not sufficient to materially damage the trade of Kansas City, only reduc ing the percentage of increase. Merchants penetrated into more remote dis tricts in Colorado, Arizona, Texas, Nebraska and Iowa than they had entered before, with profitable results. The trade of the country surrounding Kansas City showed an augmented tendency to concentrate here. The average per centage of increase in leading lines of trade was 47.26. The percentage of increase in population was 27.17; in taxable wealth, 29.44; in internal reve nue collections, 53 32 ; in post-office receipts, 26.28 ; in real estate trans fers, 69.71 ; and in the capital invested in new buildings, 17.60. The build ings erected were of a better class than those erected in any preceding year Maintaining its reputation as the leading beef-packing city of the United States, Kansas City this year took rank as second in summer packing of hogs and third in winter packing. There were some bank establishment changes, increase of capital and unimportant withdrawals from business. The increase in clearings from $101,330 in 1880 to $136,800 in 188 1 shows how prosperous was the interest. The season of 1882 was very favorable for aH those lines of production and industry in which the people adjacent to Kansas City were engaged. With success in live stock production, except in hogs, and abundant harvests, the country could not be otherwise than prosperous, and soon overcame the finan cial stringency resulting from the short crops of the preceding year, and which curtailed Kansas City's trade during the first half of this year to an aggregate less than for a corresponding period in 1881. After harvest however, the situation was entirely changed. There were extensions of trade also, and a growth of trade in localities penetrated the previous year by Kansas City rail roads. For the whole number of cities, the clearings of which were reported, there was a decrease of 4.3 per cent, while for Kansas City there was an in crease of 43.5 per cent Remarkable Progress Since the War. i i i It is safe to say that in 1882-83 the country from which Kansas City de rives its trade had an accession to its population of fully 500,000. There was an increase in its assessed valuation of nearly $100,000,000, and a large in crease in its commercial property. Agriculture was equally prosperous in Kansas, Missouri, Iowa and Nebraska. This prosperity served as the basis of a remarkable expansion in Kansas City in 1883. The compilers of the Direc tory estimated an increase of population of 12,733, swelling the aggregate to 93>733- BuHding was active, there being 1,172 permits issued by the city engineer. There was also much building done on Additions out of the city limits. The business of the post-office, which bears a direct proportion to the city's growth, amounted to $197,605.13, an excess of nearly $20,000 over the business of 1882. The real estate transfers, without any marked changes in values, were increased $288,661. The grain trade amounted to $22,047,946 as against $15,250,917 in 1882. The Hve stock trade was about $50,000 heavier. January i, 1883, the aggregate capital and surplus of the banks of the city was $2,100,000; the deposits footed $7,275,000, and the loans and discounts $5,517,000.- January i, 1874, these items were respectively $3,000,000, $8,935,411 and $7,103,228. The jobbing trade in different lines increased from fifteen to fifty per cent. The increase in the clearings of 1883 over those of 1882 appro.ximated twenty-three per cent. Despite a wide-spread depression in business circles toward the latter part of the year, causing so much distress as to attract the profound attention of statesmen and publicists, the developing state of the country and the increase of trade resulting therefrom, in 1884, not only maintained an increasing vol ume of exchanges in Kansas City and an increase of clearings of 37.5 per cent., but insured the rapid growth and development of the city. The popu lation statistics, as gleaned from the city Directory, show an increase, June i, 1884, of 19,693 over June 10, 1883. The business of the post-office gained $29,543.92. The transfers of real estate for the year were larger than in 1883 by $3,518,604. The number of building permits increased 949, and the amount of money invested in new buildings $979,493, whHe the city's taxable wealth was augmented $7,144,685. At the same time the municipal debt was decreased $50,073.50, and the rate of taxation was reduced. The suffering in trade and collections was not serious, and failures were few and unim portant. Owing to the exceptional vigor of the country with which Kansas City trades, incident to its newness, and the influx of capital and immigration, and the development of natural resources, it had suffered less from the recent de pression than places differently located. The progress in 1874 had been very satisfactory, and that in 1875 was stiH more 50, except in particular interests affected by local causes. The clearing-house statement is usuaHy accepted as the best index to the general condition of trade. The percentage of increase 112 History of Kansas City. for the years 1880-85 inclusive, that of each year based on the preceding year, is thus shown: 1880, 48.40; 1881, 32.90; 1882, 43-So; 1883, 23.; 1884, 37.50; 1885, 26.18 ; average for six years, 35.24. It is doubtful if any other city in the United States could show as good a record for these or any other consecutive six years, and certain that most other cities did not show nearly so good a record. The population increased from 113,736 in 1884 to 128,474 in 1885, whHe the assessed valuation, that represents not over one- third the real valuation, increased from $33,900,000 in 1884 to about $39,- 000,000 in 1885. The number of new buHdings erected during the year, for which permits were issued was 2,914, costing $5,758,629, as against 2,121, costing $3,562,788, in 1884, and 1,192, costing $2,583,295, in 1883. The cash receipts at the post-office increased from $227,149.05 in 1884 to $233,- 862.95 in 1885. The transfers of real estate amounted to $17,774,700 as against $12,120,840 in 1874, and $8,601,936 in 1883. The city debt was lessened $80,128.25. During a somewhat protracted period the record of Kansas City had been one of progress. Space permits only of the showing of general results. All the details concentrating to the grand total cannot be given here nor can many important enterpises of various kinds be mentioned, though the history of the most prominent of them will be found elsewhere in these pages. Kansas City having long since distanced all local rivals for the trade of the States and Ter ritories lying to the west and southwest both her own people and the people of the East were inspired with confidence in her future growth and importance, so that with the release of money for the purposes of enterprise and investments she was one of the first places in the country to feel the improvement and has profited by it to an extent unequaled by any other city. Her trade was large ly increased by the revival in the territory which she had previously supplied and for which she had been the principal markets, and new trade began, in 1886, to pour in upon her merchants from all quarters. The people had in augurated a number of local enterprises of considerable magnitude and soon in augurated others.* Notable among them is the system of cable and motor rail ways which, when completed, will be the most extensive and effective system of rapid transit in the world. The effect upon the city of this improvement of general business, the projection and completion of so many cable and mo tor railway lines and so much new railroad centering here has been to attract very wide attention to Kansas City as destined soon to take high rank among the commercial centers of the country. Money was sent for investment from all parts of the country, and the land for two or three miles around the city was platted and sold and much of it built on. Property, in the business part of the city, advanced in value fully on^ hundred per cent, within the two years end ing January I, 1888, and residence property, favorably located, much more, while some unimproved property advanced more than one thousand per cent. Remarkable Progress Since the War. 113 The real estate transactions, for the year ending June 30, 1885, aggregated $1 1,261,781. The aggregate for the year ending June 30, 1886, was $39,181,- 732. For the year ending June 30, 1887, it was $88,302,637. While much of this business was undoubtedly speculative, it had a substantial basis in the increasing demand for homes and business places, for the population increased from 128,476 in June, 1885, reckoned on the basis of three and one-half to the name in the Directory, to 165,000 in June, 1887, reckoned on the basis of three to the name. The number of new houses built in 1886 was 4,054, costing $10,393,207. During the year ending June 30, 1887, 5,889 were buih, cost ing $12,839,868. The assessed valuation of property in the city (about forty per cent ofits real valuation) increased from $31,678,520 in 1885, to $53,017,- 290, in 1 887, without any new valuation of real estate. The post-office receipts advanced from $233,862.95 in 1885 to $31 1,949.09 for the fiscal year of 1887. That this rapid growth was sustained by a corresponding pecuniary increase was shown in the transactions of the clearing house, which from $204,333,144, dur ing the year ending June 30, 1885, increased to $353,895,458 during the year ¦ending June 30, 1887. Early in 1887 Kansas City passed New Orleans in the magnitude of her clearings and took rank as the tenth city in the United States, only New York, Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco, St. Louis, Bal timore. Cincinnati and Pittsburgh, in the order named, exceeding her in this respect, and at the present ratio of increase she will soon pass Pittsburgh and Cincinnati. Into the States and Territories commercially tributary to Kansas City, is now pouring the accumulated surplus wealth of the East and within their borders are settling many of the energetic and enterprising people of this country and Europe. With the construction of only such lines of railroads as this new population demands, and the development of the country, incident thereto, the city and its trade must continue to increase at its present rapid rate. The National Exposition, the Priests of Pallas and trades parades and the visit of President and Mrs. Cleveland, in the faH of 1887, were potent factors in attracting widespread attention to Kansas City and drawing thither many thousands of people from the East, the South and other sections of the coun try who thus became impressed with a sense of its great importance and its manifest destiny. These influences stimulated eastern investment and accom plished much toward insuring the city's uninterrupted progress through the succeeding winter. Another potent influence was exerted through the work of the Merchants and Manufacturers Bureau which did much in the way of in ducing capitalists to make Kansas City the base of their operations in trade and manufacture. Elsewhere more detailed reference to these several subjects is given. 114 History of Kansas City. CHAPTER IV. education in KANSAS CITY, Effects of War — The Public Schools — Other Educational Interests and Institutions. SOME years before the outbreak of the Rebellion a law was enacted appro priating twenty-five per cent, of the revenue of the State of Missouri an nually to the establishment and maintenance of public schools. The measure met with powerful, and in some sections popular opposition, but for a season its beneficial effects upon the cause of public education were clearly recogniz able. But when the war came, political rancor and the conflicting interests of different classes of the people exerted a malign influence upon this institution, which in time almost blotted it out, for it is a fact, to which old residents refer with regret that until after the close of the war the cause of education in Kansas City was practically abandoned. The school system of Missouri had been completely destroyed by the war, and the people were slow to reorganize it; but in 1865 the Legislature passed laws for the organization of schools, specifying the modus operandi of levying and collecting taxes for the necessary buildings and other expenses. On the 15th and 1 8th of March, 1866, the Legislature enacted laws providing for the establishment of schools in cities, towns and villages, with special privileges, which were approved March 19 Under their provisions the board of educa tion of Kansas City was organized August i, 1867, with the following mem bership: W. E. Sheffield, president ; H. C. Kumpf secretary; J. A. Bachman, treasurer ; E. H. Allen, T. B. Lester, E. H. Spalding. Immediately after the organization of the board Mr. Kumpf retired and Mr. A. A. Bainbridge was chosen to fill the vacancy thus occasioned. At this time there was not a pubHc school building in the city, and the entire educational system was in a state of provoking disorganization, there being absolutely no school accommodations and not a dollar available for school purposes. The only buildings that could be secured for school purposes were church basements, old unoccupied dwellings and tenantless storerooms. The board had before it an almost herculean task, but the members were of one mind in their determination to give Kansas City the best possible educational facilities in the briefest possible time. Such accommodations as could be secured were rented and the schools were formally opened in rented rooms in Octo ber, 1867. They were scantily provided with necessary furniture and appli ances, but for the most part the teachers were earnest and efficient, and the ball of educational progress was set rolling with a momentum that was reas suring to every solicitous friend of the cause The number of children of the school age in the city at that time was only 2,150 Sixteen teachers were em- Education in Kansas City. 115 ployed during the year. It is greatly to be lamented, from the point of view of the historian of this interesting period, that no adequate statistics of these pioneer public schools are to be found in the records of the school board. Mr. J. B. Bradley performed the dual duties of superintendent and teacher of the Central School. The rapid growth of the city brought a large addition to the school popu lation, but not a corresponding increase in the valuation of taxable property, and hence the advancement in the finances for school purposes did not keep pace with its necessities. The number of school children in 1868 was 3,287, an increase of fifty- three per cent, over the enumeration of 1867. But, not withstanding these discouragements, the zeal of the school board was un abated. Sites were purchased, bonds issued and school-houses erected as rap idly as possible. Before the close of 1868 three school-houses were ready for occupancy and schools were opened in all of them. The school year of 1868—69, with the exception of improvements in build» ings and the purely business proceedings of the board, is not statistically recorded, the superintendent having made no report; but it is known that the schools were taught and they progressed in a general way. The Central school was provided with a house purchased in 1869, and Lincoln school was opened (on Ninth street) in November of that year. The personnel of the board was changed only by the choice of Patrick Shannon to succeed Mr. Spalding. Professor E. P. Tucke \\2& elected superintendent and held the position for one year. Two changes were made in the board of education in 1869—70; Messrs. Bachman and Allen having been succeeded by Messrs. Craig and Karnes. The organization of the board September, 1869, was as follows: W. E. Sheffield, president ; A. A. Bainbridge, secretary; James Craig, treasurer ; T. B. Lester, Patrick Shannon, J. V. C. Karnes. Prior to the or ganization in September, Prof John R. Phillips was elected superintendent and he served continuously until August, 1874. The Lincoln school was enlarged in 1869. The work of the schools was now moulded into definite form. Classifica tion and grading, which had been sadly neglected, were enforced at the begin ning of the first term, and teachers were required to adhere as closely as pos sible to the tabulated courses of study. The history of the United States and the elements of physiology were now taught for the first time since the organ ization of the schools ; and, notwithstanding many disadvantages, the close of the year found the schools in a prosperous condition, with 3,034 pupils en rolled, and an average daily attendance of 1,388. The board organized in September, 1870, consisted of W. E. Sheffield, president; Joseph Feld, secre tary ; J. V. C. Karnes, treasurer ; James Craig, T. B. Lester and Henry Tob- ener The year 1870-71 was one of progress and augmented prosperity. The number of pupils was larger, the attendance more rgular and punctual. ii6 History of Kansas City. the discipline more healthy and judicious, and the instruction more exact and thorough than during any preceding year. The Lathrop school-house was completed in March, 1870. The Morse and Benton school-houses were erected in 1870 and enlarged in 1871, the Woodland school-house was finished and opened in November, 1871. In 1871-72 the school board was composed as foHows : W. E. Sheffield, president ; James Craig, secretary ; J. V. C. Karnes, treasurer ; Joseph Feld, X. X. Buckner and Henry R. Seeger. The number of children of the school age was 5,850; the enrollment 4,042 ; the average number belonging to schools 2,295, ^"^ the average daily attendance 2,036. There were fifty teachers employed. The course of study was modified this year. Geography was discontinued in the two highest grades and botany substituted and alternated with history of the United States. Drawing and music were taught with indifferent success. No report of the schools was published from 1872 to 1874, but the super intendent preserved enough statistics to indicate that public sentiment in favor of the schools was gaining ground, and opposition was rapidly dying out, and that progress in both quantity and quality of educational work was continuous. Among other innovations was an effort to teach object lessons. W. E. Shef field, president ; James Craig, secretary ; J. V. C. Karnes, treasurer ; and T. K. Hanna, Henry R. Seeger and Joseph Feld constituted the board as organized in 1872. There were then 6, 198 school children, of whom 4, 138 were enrolled in the schools. The average number belonging was 2,361, and the average daily attendance was 2,034. The number of teachers employed, including special teachers in music and German, was fifty- seven. In 1873—74 the board .was changed by the retirement of Messrs. W. E. Sheffield and Joseph Feld and the election of Major Henry A. White and Mr. C. A. Chace, the first named of whom was chosen president The total number of teachers employed was fifty-six; 6,636 school children were living in the district, of whom 4, 164 were enrolled, 2,517 was the average number belonging to, and 2,328 were the av erage attendants. In July, 1874, Superintendent John R. PhiHips resigned, and four months later he died. He had found the schools unorganized, ungraded, aiid each in dependent of the others. During his five years' superintendency he addressed himself diligently to their improvement and the reformation of abuses that had crept into them. A course of study, such as had the endorsement of the foremost educators, was adopted, embracing seven years for the ward schools, and four years for the high school department At the beginning of his term of service there was no unity in the work. As an organizer, he planned and executed well, and his administration was eminently successful. Mr J. M. Greenwood was at once elected superintendent, to succeed Mr. Phillips, and has served continuously to the present time. Upon assuming the duties of the position he arranged a syllabus of the course of study to be employed, as a •"y'tyHBUaUiSm-Jf «5I^^^^ ^ Education in Kansas City. 117 guide to the teachers, by the use of which the work was systematized in all the grades. Special attention was given to language and composition exer cises, and teachers were given special drill in phonic analysis, as a means of remedying the defects in reading. At the monthly meeting of the teachers how to teach each branch in the ward schools, and how to adapt the instruc tion to the capacity of the pupils, were fully explained. A plan which had previously prevailed, of promoting upon the final examination only, was dis continued, and promotions were made upon the mean average of the written examinations, the daily work and the daily deportment record, and self-control became an important factor in the school management. The officers of the board were unchanged for the school year of 1874-75. Mr. R. H. Hunt and Mr. James Craig were elected to fill the vacancies which occurred in September, 1874. The board thus organized was composed as follows : H. A. White, president ; J. V. C. Karnes, secretary ; James Craig, treasurer ; Thomas K. Hanna, C. A. Chace and R. H. Hunt The district had in April, 1874, 7,738 school children, and 8,144 in 1875. The number of pupils enrolled was 4,262, an increase of sixty- six over the previous year. Fifty-five rooms were owned by the district, and during the year fifty-eight ' teachers were employed. The Central school-house was enlarged to nine rooms in 1875. As organized in September, 1874, the Board of Education for 1874-75, consisted of J. V. C. Karnes, president; Henry Switzer, secretary; James Craig, treasurer ; Robert H. Hunt E. L. Martin, and C. A. Chace. The total number of school children was 7,126, of whom 4,301 were enroHed. - Sixty teachers were employed. Decided improvement in teaching some of the branches was made, notably in reading and geography. Writing, instruc tion in which on a scientific basis had been begun only the previous year, now became an important branch, and drawing and composition received much at tention. A permanent public library was estabHshed, under the immediate su pervision of the board, in aid of which three entertainments were given by the principals of the Lathrop, Humboldt and Washington schools, from which was realized $446.50, and to this was added $490, given by the ladies of the Cen tennial Association. Many other contributions were added, and the library was opened November, 1876, with 1,000 volumes. There was no change in the membership or organization of the board in 1 876- TJ. The school population had increased to 8,303, the number enroHed being 4,334. The teachers numbered fifty-eight The financial condition of the dis trict steadily improved, and 1,000 volumes were added to the library. The fame of the schools had gone abroad, and Kansas City's educational growth was considered as marvelous as its commercial prosperity. In the school year of 1877-78, the total number of persons of the school age in the district was 9,622, of whom 4,622 attended school and were in structed by fifty-nine teachers. The Lincoln school was removed to Eleventh 16 ii8 History of Kansas City. and Campbell streets, and the new Lincoln school-building, containing seven rooms, was erected at a cost of $7,000. The year was one of unusual success. So marked were the efficiency and fidelity of the teachers, that upon the rec ommendation of the superintendent, and with the concurrence of every mem ber of the board, the entire corps, without exception, were reappointed. Ow ing to a change in the school law the board Avas not reorganized until April, 1878. The only official changes were made by E. L. Martin's election as treas urer, and James Craig's, as general agent In 1878 R. L. Yeager was elected successor to R. H. Hunt. There were no official changes. The number of scholars was 1 1,325. The number enrolled was 5,259. The number of teach ers was increased to sixty-two. The rapid growth of the city necessitated in creased school facilities, and additions were made to the Franklin and Hum boldt school buildings, thus adding eight rooms at a cost of $8,640. October 31, 1879, James Craig, having removed from the State, resigned as director, which office he had held for almost a decade; and April 29, 1880,. Henry Switzer died, after having served as director, nearly five years. The former was succeeded by General Frank Askew, and the latter by }^enry C. Kumpf J. W. Perkins was appointed business agent vice Mr. Craig. Subse quently he resigned and was succeeded by W. E. Benson. The enumeration of school children increased 3,850, demanding an extension of school facilities, and for this purpose, at the spring election, a two mill tax was voted. Four teen rooms were added, by the erection of the Karnes school-house, by adding to the Lathrop, Woodland and Lincoln buildings, and by the purchase of a house in West Kansas, designed temporarily for a branch of the Lincoln school. The schools closed June 9, 1881, having completed the most success ful year's (1880—81) work since their organization. The Board of Education for this school year was organized April, 1881, and consisted of J. V. C. Karnes, president ; Henry C. Kumpf, secretary ; E. L. Martin, treasurer ; Frank Askew, C. A. Chace and R. L. Yeager, with W. E. Benson as business agent. The school children numbered 16,981, and 8,026 were enrolled in the schools. The number of teachers had reached eighty-seven, and sixteen ad ditional rooms were deemed necessary. The library now contained 3,000 vol umes, and the appointment of a librarian, in the person of Mrs. Carrie W. Judson, was found necessary. The total number of graduates to date had been 136. A tax was voted to be expended in making additions to the Ben ton, Morse and Lincoln schools, and in erecting a new building, to be known as the Chace school, and the purchase of ground for a new school building in the southwestern part of the city, and the erection of a house thereon should the fund voted be sufficient. The school term was shortened from forty to thirty-six weeks, it being deemed injurious to the health of young children to compel them to attend school during such a protracted term, necessarily be ginning early in September, before the end of the heated season. Education in Kansas City.' 119 The Board of Education was organized in April, 1882, with R. L. Yeager as president, Henry C. Kumpf as secretary, and E. L. Martin as treasurer. The other members were Frank Askew, C. A. Chace, and Gardiner Lathrop, who succeeded Mr. Karnes, who retired voluntarily after long and efficient ser vice with the good wishes of all friends of the public education. Two new school-houses — the Chace and the Switzer — were erected at an expense of $17,000 and $14,000, respectively, and additions were made to the Benton, Morse, Karnes, and Lincoln schools. The total enrollment was 8,422, and the expense for the year was $237,616.76. Evening schools were discontinued after two years' experimental existence on account of a lack of public interest in them. There was no change in the membership of the board as organized in 1883. Additions were made to Washington, Woodland, Morse, and Swit zer schools at an expense for ground and buildings of $18,629.06, and ground was purchased for the erection of a new five-room building at West Kansas, to be known as the Sumner school, and ground for a three-room building in East Kansas. Other lots were purchased immediately south of the Chace and Switzer schools, they being necessary, and the board deeming it prudent to purchase them while they could be had at reasonable figures. It was deter mined to heat the school-buildings by steam, a measure which was adopted as soon as practicable. The total disbursement was $236,104.90. There were 8,847 scholars enrolled, and the teachers numbered 123. The library had been constantly increasing and now began to assume important proportions. At its last session the Legislature had passed a law authorizing the board of education to appropriate annually from the general fund such sums for the use of the library as might be deemed prudent, not exceeding $2,500, and in 1883 provision for such appropriation was discussed and approved. Mrs. F. L. Underwood donated $200 to establish a circulating library in the Switzer school for the use of the pupils, and Mrs. Henry Switzer gave $50 to the same school. Mr. O. P. Dickinson presented the Benton school with $200 for the same purpose. In 1884 J. C. James succeeded C. A. Chace in the board. There were no other changes, officially or otherwise. Mr. Chace resigned on account of ill health, after having faithfully served on the board for twelve years. The total number of children of the school age was 22,570. Of these, 10,347 were en rolled, and the average daily attendance was 6,242. A hundred and thirty- seven teachers were required. The increasing number of pupils necessitated the addition of twenty-four rooms, and six were added to the Chace, four to the Woodland, four to the Switzer, five to the Sumner, three to the Martin, and three to the Morse school-house. The Central school building now being inadequate to the demands upon it, it was decided to erect a new building, and ground was purchased south of the old structure and the work began. It was deemed best to retain the old building as a primary school, thus affording I20 History of Kansas City. eight more rooms. Two rooms were added to the Benton, and to relieve the pressure on the Morse and Chace school buildings and accommodate a large number of patrons in the extreme southeast part of the district, ground was secured at the southeast corner of Seventeenth and Johnson streets and the erection of a building begun with a special view to its subsequent increase of capacity. Steam was introduced into the Washington, Woodland, Chace, Humbolt, Lathrop, Franklin, Switzer, and Sumner school buildings. Most of these buildings were old, and none save the Sumner had been built with refer ence to this improvement, and teachers and janitors were unfamiliar with steam heating apparatus ; yet with all these obstacles, its use through one of the severest winters known for years, convinced all concerned of its great utility, and it was decided to place the Ruttan system in the new Central building. Larger and more substantial quarters became necessary for the library, and to meet the requirements the entire second floor of the building on the northeast corner of Eighth and Walnut streets was secured, and the library and office of the board were removed to that location. Through the liberality of friends, the Karnes, Franklin, and Sumner schools were all enabled to start small libra ries. The school year of 1884—85 saw no changes in the board of education. The total number of persons of the school age in the district had advanced to 25,435. Of this number, 10,449 were enrolled, and an average of 6,738. There were 1 47 teachers. As in almost every year past, it became apparent that provision must be made for more school room. Deficiencies had hitherto been supplied by taxation. This year, with a view to relieving the people of this burden, a proposition was submitted to the voters of the district to issue bonds to the amount of $60,000, payable in twenty years with interest at five per cent, which was favorably received. The bonds were taken at a premium of 4f per cent, and the proceeds amounted to $62,850, a fact which bears wit ness to the high financial status of the district. Six rooms were added to the Woodland school and five to the Jefferson school. Ground was purchased on Cherry street between Nineteenth and Twentieth streets, upon which the Wendell PhiHips school building was erected. Another lot was secured on the northwest corner of Seventeenth and Wyandotte streets, for the location of the Webster school. By these measures twenty-five new rooms were added, increasing the total number in the district to one hundred and seventy-five. The area and population of the district was increased by the annexation of portions of two districts adjoining on the east. Without official or constituent change, in the school year of 1885-86 the Board of Education pressed forward in the grand work upon which if had been so long and so arduously engaged. The city was growing so rapidly that its inhabitants of the legal school age numbered nearly 31,000, and 12,000 of these were enrolled in the schools, and an average of neariy 8,000 attended Education in Kansas City. 121 each day. To meet increased demands, about twenty-five more school-rooms were necessary. Several were added to existing school-houses, and the Gar field school building at Wabash and Minne avenues, the William Cullen Bry ant school building at Twenty- fifth and Vine streets, and the Adams school building at Twenty- fourth and Mercier streets, were erected. The west wing of the Humboldt school building in the district was thoroughly repaired. On the morning of May 11, 1886, a terrible cyclone struck the city, destroying many buildings and killing more than thirty persons. The most deplorable result was the wrecking of the Lathrop school building and the kiHing and wounding of a large number of the pupils. Thirteen were crushed to death instantly. The Board of Education was unjustly censured for the occurrence, on the ground that the building was weak, but was completely exonerated after a rigid investigation. It was deemed best to sell the Lathrop building, and with the money received for it, purchase a lot and erect a handsome school edifice with modern improvements. For temporary use a building at the cor ner of Seventh and May streets was leased to accommodate the school until the new building should be completed. The site selected was on Central street, between Twelfth and Thirteenth streets, and upon this spot has been erected the finest school building in the city. At the April election it was voted to issue $75,000 in four per cent, twenty year bonds. These were sold at a premium of i-g- per cent. In this year 179 teachers were employed. Besides the new Garfield, Bryant, and Adams schools, additional school space was secured in 1886-87 by the addition of six rooms to the Jefferson school, and four to the Webster, and a new building, consisting of eight rooms, is in course of erection at Prospect avenue and Twenty-fourth streets. The district has been extended on the east to the Blue, and includes the district formerly known as the Oakley. About 50 additional teachers were employed, making the entire number 212, of whom 26 were men. The total number of school-houses was 25, of which 22 were owned by the district The last report of the superintendent shows the total number of persons in the school district of school age to be 35,871. The number of white children who attended school during the year was 13,933; the number of colored children, 1,975. Of the total number enrolled in the schools, 14,060 were under sixteen. The total number of graduates from the high school and from the colored high school was 46, and the number of children regulariy promoted from a lower grade to a higher was 5,946. The increase in the total enrollment over the previous year was 2,923. The report of the treasurer showed the balance on hand July i, 1886, to have been $42,368.02. The total receipts from aH sources during the school year 1886-87 were $381,614.46, while the total ex penditures for the same period for school purposes were $3SS.4i9-SS. leaving a balance on hand in the treasury, July i, 1887, of $68,762.93. The Hbrary contains about 15,000 volumes, and the number is constantly increasing. The value of school property is estimated at $1,062,620. 122 History of Kansas City. In 1888 the same question arises, how to accommodate the rapidly increas ing host of school children. Every school-house in the city is filled to over flowing, and new ones must be built at once. CHAPTER V. journalism in KANSAS CITY FROM 1865-1887. IN preceding pages of this work has been traced the history of journalism in Kansas City to the close of the late Civil War. The years from 1 860 to 1 865 offered little encouragement to journalistic enterprise. The general demorali zation which existed as a result of the war, affected every branch of industry, while the prostrated energies of the city engendered a general feeling of uneasi ness and uncertainty regarding the future. When the reconstruction and up building of the city began, in 1865, no agency was more potent in infusing courage and hopefulness among the people than the public press. With its population reduced to less than 4,000 inhabitants in 1865, Kansas City had but one daily, two weekly English newspapers, one German weekly and a bi monthly medical journal, and with the support of an impoverished community they relatively contrasted in character and vigor with their more pretentious successors of to-day. The wonderful progress Kansas City has made from 1865 to 1887, in wealth, population and commercial importance reveals a cor responding progression in its public press, which occupies a conspicuous and honorable position in American journalism. Its influence, especially in late years, has been felt in an effective and gratifying way, not only as a great fac tor in the accomplishment of the results which have made Kansas City one of the foremost of American cities, but in political policy and the counsels of the nation. The conductors of the leading newspapers of Kansas City have in such capacity won wide reputation as able journalists, and their efforts have been re warded with a degree of liberal support which has made it possible to give to the city a public press unexcelled by any city of the same size in the United States. The early history of the Kansas City Journal has already been told in the preceding portion of this work. During the period of the war it was published by T. Dwight Thacher, for many years editor of the Lawrence, Kan sas, Journal. March 23, 1865, Mr Thacher sold the paper to Colonel R. T. Van Horn and A. H. Hallowell. Under the editorial charge of Colonel Van Horn the Journal, with renewed vigor, threw all its power and influence in be half of the upbuilding of Kansas City. In August 1865, it said : "The pres ent is bright; we can, if we wish to, be the architects of our own fortunes. To be so we must be earnest, industrious and enterprising." It immediately took Journalism from 1865-1887. 123, up the old strain of i860 about raHroads and improvements, and ralHed the peo ple about the old enterprises in which the city had been engaged before the war. It urged the reorganization of the Chamber of Commerce of which it had been the organ and advocate. " It did more," says W. H. Miller, in his history of Kansas City, " at this particular time, to arouse the people than all other agen cies combined, and re-marshaled them to the struggle for commercial develop ment as potently as ever trumpet or drum-beat marshaled soldiers to the fray." In March, 1867, Colonel Van Horn, having been elected to Congress, retired from the paper, and in AprH following Mr Hallowell sold it to Foster, Wilder & Co. On the 9th of March, 1870, Colonel John Wilder, then editor of the Journal^ was shot and killed by James Hutchinson, at the city court-house, in a personal altercation. Colonel Wilder was a very popular man and an able editor, and his loss was greatly deplored by the people. Hutchinson afterward died, be fore the date set for his trial. In May of the same year. Colonel Van Horn, at the end of his third term in Congress, again became connected with the paper by the purchase of the interest of Colonel Wilder. In a few days D. K. Abeel joined his old partner by the purchase of other interests and the firm of R. T. Van Horn & Co. was formed, C. G. Foster retaining his interest and remain ing with the paper. In the fall of 1867 the Journal ^n2& moved from its location on Main street and Commercial alley and placed in a building on the east side of Main street just south of Second street. This was the first move made by the Journal in ten years, and the period covered by its residence on Com mercial alley was in many respects the most eventful in its history. In 1871 the Journal removed from Main street to No. 6 West Fifth street Each move was made necessary by the continued growth of the paper, and each time increased facilities were added to the plant and better quarters sought. In August, 1 87 1, Colonel Van Horn purchased the interest of C. G. Foster, and on February 15, 1872, the Journal Company was organized and incorporated under the State laws. In making the announcement of the change the Jour nal stated that it was for the purpose of giving employees an opportunity to take stock in the business. Colonel Van Horn remained editor-in-chief and D. K. Abeel continued as business manager untH August, 1872, when he sold his stock in the company to Isaac P. Moore, who took the business manage ment of the paper In August i877> D. K. Abeel, Charles N. Brooks, M. H. Stevens and W. A. Bunker purchased a controlling interest in the paper. Col onel Van Horn continuing as president of the company and editor-in-chief of the paper, while D. K. Abeel became vice president and business manager, and M. H. Stevens managing editor About the close of 1877 the Journal moved to 529 Delaware street and a few months after a double cylinder Hoe, the first press of its kind in Kansas City, was purchased. In the mean time the neces sity for larger and better quarters was constantly pressed on the attention of the stockholders by the increasing business of the paper. To meet this want 124 History of Kansas City. the property on the southwest corner of Sixth and Delaware streets was pur chased, upon which was erected what was at that time one of the finest and most commodious newspaper offices in the Missouri Valley. The building was completed in December, 1879. Aftermoving into the new building the prosperi ty of the paper was so rapid that the old press was unequal to the task of print ing the Journal. It was a tedious process, and any attempt to publish more than an eight page paper was accompanied by large preparations and involved great labor. To overcome this difficulty a Scott perfecting press was pur chased, and in January, 1881, was put into operation, the first of its kind used in a newspaper office in the Missouri Valley. On January 10, 1 881, Messrs. Abeel, Brooks and Bunker sold their stock in the Journal to A. J. Blethen and J. B. Lawrence. At the annual stockholders' meeting held on that day Colo nel Van Horn was elected president and editor-in-chief; M. H. Stevens, vice- president and managing editor; James A. Mann, secretary, while J. B. Law rence became connected with the editorial force. In the fall of 1880 Colonel Van Horn was elected to Congress, and during his term of service at V^'ash- ington, Hon. John L. Bittinger became an editorial writer on the Journal and a few months afterwards managing editor. In August, 1882, M, H. Stevens retired, his stock being purchased by a member of the company. J. B. Law rence became associate editor in January, 1882, and at the same time F N. Wood purchased stock in the company, was elected a member of the directory and took the position of commercial editor The latter had been a member of the city editorial force since the early part of the year 1881. In AprH, 1884, A. J. Blethen sold his stock to some of his associates and severed his connection with the paper On the retirement of Mr. Blethen it became necessary to elect a business manager, and the board of directors selected James A. Mann for the position. Mr Mann had been connected with the paper for years and had helped to carry it through some of its hardest trials when it was struggling in the interest of the city and for its own existence. Under Mr Mann's admira ble business management the Journal has made marked progress and much is due to his untiring exertions andfar seeing business sagacity. In January, 1885, Mr Bittinger resigned from the directory and retired from the position of man aging editor This responsible and important position has since been ably fiHed by J. B. Lawrence. At the annual meeting of the stockholders in 1885 Colonel R. T. Van Horn, James A'. Mann,F. N. Wood, R. C. Van Horn and J. B. Lawrence were elected directors. During this year large additions to the plant of the Journal were made and projected. On January i, 1886, a second Scott perfecting press was placed in the Journal office, and was first used in connection with the other press, in printing the annual review edition. In 1886 the Journal \i2.d outgrown its quarters on the corner of Delaware and Sixth streets and the stockholders determined upon the erection of a new build ing especially designed for its use. A site was secured upon the corner of ^"J SMSas Smu, iTm-HfK '-e '¦r-a'y£. 'Od \£;:m!!i oms dBnliT Railroad History. 149 one by way of Clinton. Work was begun at the Kansas City end July 15. In the following winter the company called on the authorities of Jackson county for money, and a dispute which arose about the amount of work done culmi nated in litigation and a cessation of work until 1873, when all difficulties were adjusted, the company securing the Jackson county bonds and disbursing the proceeds for grading, finishing the road-bed for nearly a hundred miles south ward from Kansas City. But the panic of 1873 precipitated a new trouble. The company, unable to negotiate its bonds for the purchase of iron and roll ing-stock, were finally driven into bankruptcy, and the road was sold Decem ber I, 1876, for $1,100. Meantime, in May, 1 870, the Platte Country Railroad from Kansas City to the Iowa line, and the CouncH Bluffs and St Joseph Rai road, from the Iowa- line to Council Bluffs were consolidated, having passed into the control of the Boston interests represented by Mr. Joy, and took the name of the Kansas City, . St Joseph and Council Bluffs Railroad. In June a company was organized,. with James H. Burch, of Plattsburg, as president, and Colonel E. M. McGee, of Kansas City, as vice-president to build a road from Kansas City via Plattsburg northward, but no other measures toward the construction of the road were ever taken. The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad, which had been begun in 1868 at Atchison, was this year put into operation to Emporia. The railroad up the west side of the river to Troy, and the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railroad between Sedalia and Parsons were finished. At the close of the year Kansas City had no less than eight railroads. September i, 1871, the Chicago and Southwestern Railway was completed! to Beverly, on the Kansas City, St Joseph and Council Bluffs Railroad. It passed into the proprietorship of the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Rail road Company, and ran its trains into Kansas City, over the line of the Kansas City, St Joseph and Council Bluffs Railroad until January, 1880, when, under a contract with the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad Company, it began to use the tracks of that corporation from Cameron to Kansas City. In January, 1872, the name of the North Missouri Railroad was changed to St. Louis, Kansas City and Northern. When the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad had been extended so far into the Arkansas Valley as to begin to share largely in the transportation of Texas cattle, it was found that about two-thirds of its busi ness originated at, and was destined for Kansas City, [and the company saw the desirability of securing a line of its own to that important point, and in the spring of 1872 some gentlemen in Topeka organized the Topeka and Lawrence Railroad Company, to build a road to Lawrence, and a company was organ ized in Kansas City to construct a line between Kansas City and Lawrence. The latter was known as the Kansas City, Lawrence^ and Topeka Railroad Company. Its members were Major L. K. Thatcher, Colonel R. H. Hunt, E. L. Martin, J. R. Balis, and F. R. Long; and on November 12, Kansas City voted $100,000 in its aid. 20 15° History of Kansas City. The Kansas City and Eastern Railroad was inaugurated in the summer of 1873, under the name of the Kansas City, Wyandotte and Northwestern RaH road. The course originally chosen for this road was from Kansas City through Wyandotte, northwesterly to the Kansas and Nebraska State line. Failing to secure requisite aid along the line in Kansas, the company concluded to divert the course of the road down the Missouri Valley. Kaw township, in which Kansas City is located, had voted $150,000 to aid the line as originaHy pro jected, and in March, 1873, voted to transfer the Kaw township bonds to the new line. The contract for the construction of the first section, between Kan sas City and Independence, was let in October, 1873, and work was begun in December, and finished in 1874, and in 1875 the balance of the Hne at Lexing ton was put under contract, and completed early in 1876. This was a narrow guage local line, since changed to a standard guage and operated by the Missouri Pacific Company ; of great importance to Kansas City in that it brings to its doors the product of the great coal mines at Lexington. In the early part of 1872 an effort was made to induce the railroads cen- lering in Kansas City to build a Union Passenger depot, to replace the small •wooden structure upon the site of the present Union depot, which had been erected by the Hannibal and St Joseph Railroad Company, when their road firstentered the city, and which but illy served the purpose to which it was de voted. As an encouragement to the railroad companies, a proposition to ex empt such a depot from taxation for fifteen years was submitted to the people, at the spring election, but it was unfortunately defeated. During this year the city and Board of Trade were interested in the adjust- itnent of the difficulties between the county authorities and the promoters of the Memphis Railroad. At one time an unsuccessful effort was made to transfer the subscription of $450,000 to the Louisiana Railroad and the Toledo, Wa bash and Western Railroad Company, which proposed, if sufficient aid was afforded it, to build an extension line direct to Kansas City by way of Moberly, Mo. The road between Ottawa and Emporia and between Ottawa and Burl ington was projected about this time, and mainly through the efforts of its -president, Mr W. H. Scofield, was finally built It later became known as the ^Kansas City, BurHngton and Santa Fe RaHroad operated in connection with ithe Kansas City, Lawrence, and Southern Railroad. In 1873 there was a futile effort made to secure a union of interest between the Kansas City, Wyandotte and Northwestern Narrow Guage Railroad and the Keokuk and Kansas City Company, which had projected a road from Keo- ,kuk to Kansas City ; and a road was strongly advocated from Kansas City .northward, toward Chariton, la. The panic of this year resulted so disastrously to the railway interests of Kansas City, that little progress was made in raHroad .construction for three or four years ensuing. One of the first companies to take iidvantage on any considerable scale of the revival of commerce, was the Chi- Railroad History. 151, cago and Alton, which it will be remembered had extended its line to Mexico, Mo., on the old Louisiana charter, and for some years had been making its connection to Kansas City from that place over the St. Louis, Kansas City and Northern Railroad. February 27, 1877, T. B, Blackstone, president; J. J. Mitch ell, vice-president; and J. D. McMullin, general superintendent of that road> visited Kansas City to confer with the people relative to extending that road along the route originally proposed for the Louisana road to Kansas City. Af ter this conference they returned by way of Glasgow, accompanied by General John W. Reid, who had long taken a deep interest in this road. At a series of public meetings held during the spring and summer, the sentiments of the peo ple along the route were ascertained, and in the fall a new company was organ ized for the purpose of building the road. This was known as the Chicago,. St. Louis and Kansas City Railroad Company, with J. J. Mitchell as president,. most ofits members and stockholders being Chicago and Alton men. Succes ful measures were taken to secure aid from the counties along the line. From Jackson county $50,000 in stock subscriptions and the right of- way through its territory were obtained. General Reid was prominent in these transactions.. The Memphis Railroad project, in which Kansas City and Jackson county had been so largely and so unsuccessfully interested since 1870, reappeared in 1877. April 12 the road was sold in bankruptcy, to a company of Kansas City men for $15,025. Mr. J. D. Bancroft, formerly cashier of the First Na tional Bank, became manager for the purchasers, and put forth an unavailing effort to raise the money to build the line. Other railroad enterprises were more fortunate, however, and the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad began. the construction of branches from Emporia south, since extended via Howard,, Kan., and from Florence to Eldorado, later extended to connect with the main. line at Ellinwood, Kan. Early in the year a company consisting of representatives of the different railway interests centering in Kansas City, was organized to build a Union depot — a measure which had been for some years under discussion. July 10^ the old wooden shed, which had long served for that purpose, was abandoned, and the point of interchange moved to the State line depot. The demolition of the old building followed speedily, and the erection of the present imposing structure was at once begun, and finished in January, 1878, at a cost of $225,- 000. Other additional railroad facilities were effected in 1877 by the exten sion of the Clay Center branch of the Kansas Pacific Railroad to Clifton, the extension of the Central branch of the Union Pacific to Concordia, and the con struction of the Joplin Railroad from Girard to the line of the Fort Scott and Gulf Railroad. The Central branch of the Union Pacific made its eastern ter minus at Atchison, but met with such competition in the Republican Valley from the Clay Center branch of the Kansas Pacific, that it was compelled to to make rates to Kansas City via the Missouri Pacific from Atchison, and it 152 History of Kansas City. thus became virtually a Kansas City road. About the close of the year it was proposed to extend, the Joplin Hne to the Fort Smith and Little Rock Railroad, in Arkansas, thus securing a through Hne to the Mississippi River, at Chicot, by the latter road and the Little Rock, Mississippi River and Texas Railroad, then nearly completed between Little Rock and Pine Bluff. This year (1877) occurred one of the most exciting events since the close of the war The great railroad strike extended its influence to Kansas City, and on the afternoon of July 23 freight train men refused to work further with out an advance of wages. At night meetings were held by the strikers, and ¦on the following day a mob of lawless men, chiefly idlers, paraded the streets and forbade laborers of nearly every kind to work longer. These ominous proceedings aroused the people, and meetings were held quietly and measures adopted to protect property. A company of men was promptly raised by Captain H. H. Craig, police commissioner, and sworn in as special police, and this timely provision had the effect of crushing the lawless spirit of the mob who were taking advantage of the railroad strike to inaugurate an order of anarchy and destruction such as had recently prevailed in Pittsburgh. The trouble was thus confined to the railroad men and their employees, who suc ceeded in amicably adjusting their differences, and freight business was resumed July 30. The strikers did not apparently seek a collision with the government authorities, which would have resulted from their stopping the mails, and as the passenger trains were mail trains, passenger traffic was not interfered with. In January, 1878, arrangements for building the extension of the Chicago ..and Alton Railroad were completed, except the procurement of the right of way through the city. An effort was made to find a route and procure the •right of way into the southeastern part of the city by the valley of the O. K. •Creek, but the grades were so high and the right of way so expensive, that this measure was abandoned, and about the 1st of July the route over which the iline was subsequently built was adopted. Much difficulty was experienced in obtaining the right of way from the city, owing to the opposition of a few members of the city council, who secured its formal refusal by a vote of that body July 17th. At a spirited public meeting held in Board of Trade Hall on the evening of the i8th, the action of the council was severely commented on by leading business men. On the 8th of August the matter was again brought up in the council and the right of way was granted. The construction of the road was progressing rapidly below, and on the 4th of December the work was begun within the city limits. Chief among railway extensions this year was that of the Chicago and Alton from Mexico, Mo., to Kansas City, making another through line to Chicago and St Louis. This road was neariy completed during the year and was opened for business April 18, 1879, but did not begin running passenger trains untH May 13, The next in immediate importance, if it Railroad History. 153 -was not the most important for Kansas City, was the extension of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad from Pueblo, Col., to Clifton, N. M., with a view to further extension to a connection with the Southern Pacific of California, making a southern trans-continental route more valuable than the Union Pacific. This road also built a branch to Leadville, Col., to afford rail road facilities to the rich San Juan country. The line of the Central Branch of the Union Pacific was extended to Beloit, Kan., bringing to Kansas City the trade of the upper Republican and Solomon Valleys. The Kansas Pacific extended its Clay Center Branch to Clyde and built a branch from Solomon City to Minneapolis with the same general effect as the extension of the Central Branch. The Kansas City, Burlington and Santa Fe Railroad was further ex tended from Williamsburg to Burlington, bringing to Kansas City an important addition to her trade from the southwestern part of Central Kansas. The pool that had existed since September 15, 1876, was dissolved March 16, 1878, and then followed the first severe railroad war in which Kansas City lines were involved. This fight was apparently sought by the St. Louis lines as against those leading to Chicago, and was inaugurated April i by the St. Louis, Kansas City and Northern Railroad with a cut of rates to about one- third, and raged furiously for a short time, when the pool was reorganized. Jay Gould's interest in lines leading to Kansas City was acquired this year in the following manner : He was a chief owner of the Union Pacific. By its charter that road was required to pro-rate on equal terms with the Kansas Pacific for California business, but had always refused to do so. Mr T. F. Oakes, general superintendent of the Kansas Pacific, was now able to afford his company efficient aid in its long struggle with the Union Pacific for its charter rights. Early in the year he induced Mr Chaffee, of Colorado, to introduce into Congress a bill to compel the Union Pacific to respect the rights of the Kansas Pacific, and a largely attended public meeting held in Kansas City February 8 endorsed it strongly and memorialized Congress on the subject, and similar action taken at other places resulted in the favorable reporting of the bill in March, with a good prospect of its passage. Gould could not suc cessfully oppose the measure, and in April he sent agents to St. Louis who bought a controlling interest in the Kansas Pacific, and thus withdrew the oppo sition of that company. In June the Kansas Pacific and Union Pacific Railroad Companies pooled on Colorado business, but the through rates to California which the friends of the Kansas Pacific had sought were not granted. The building and extension of railroads was revived with the opening of 1879. The Kansas City, Fort Scott and Gulf Railroad built a branch from Baxter's Springs to Joplin. The Kansas City, Lawrence and Southern ex tended its Independence Branch to Greenwood, with a view to pushing it through to Arkansas City. The main line of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe was extended from Clifton to Las Vegas, N. M., its- Cottonwood Valley 154 History of Kansas City. Branch to McPherson, its Eureka Branch to Howard, and its Wichita Brandt to Wellington and Arkansas City. The Clay Center Branch of the Kansas Pacific was extended to Concordia, and the Solomon Valley Branch to Beloit, and a branch was built from Salina to McPherson. The Kansas Pacific Com pany also bought and put in operation the unused Lawrence and Carbondale Road, and bought the Denver Pacific from Denver to Cheyenne, and the Col orado Central and Boulder Valley and Denver and Rio Grande Railroads. The Central Branch of the Union Pacific, now part of the Missouri Pacific, extended its Concordia Branch to Cawker City and built a branch to Kirwin and Stockton. The Atchison and Nebraska Road was extended from Lincoln to Columbus, and the St Joseph and Denver to a connection with the Union Pacific. The Hl-fated Kansas City and Memphis Road was sold to Boston capitalists, who proposed to build about a hundred miles during the succeeding years, and extend it afterwards as occasion might require. The Burlington and Southeastern RaHroad, then running from Burlington, la., to Laclede, Mo., projected an extension to Kansas City and made four surveys with that view. The Kansas City and Northeastern Company surveyed a line from Kansas City to Chillicothe, Mo., with a view to early construction. The Mis souri Pacific Company extended its line between Holden and Paola to Ottawa, and built the old FaH River Railroad from Paola to Leroy ; and the Lexing ton and Southern from Pleasant HiH, on the Missouri Pacific, to Nevada, on the Missouri, Kansas and Texas, had been projected. Jay Gould and his as sociates, who previously controlled the Union and Kansas Pacific and St. Jo seph and Denver Railroads west of the Missouri River, and the Wabash Road east of the Mifsissippi, early in the year bought a controlling interest in the St. Louis, Kansas City and Northern, and consolidated it with the Wabash under the name of the Wabash, St. Louis and Pacific. The roads, except the Union Pacific, were now connected. To make connection with that the Pattonsburgh Branch of the St. Louis, Kansas City and Northern was extended to Omaha. Not long afterward Gould and his associates bought the Missouri Pacific and the Central Branch of the Union Pacific, and later consolidated them, making two divisions connecting at Kansas City, They also secured an interest in the Hannibal and St Joseph Railroad during the year, and afterward bought the Missouri, Kansas and Texas. In June the Fort Scott Company bought the Springfield and Western Missouri Railroad and completed it soon afterward to a junction with the main line at Fort Scott. In November Gould bought the Kansas City and Eastern Narrow Gauge Road, and in December it was leased to and became a division of the Missouri Pacific. In December the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad Company made a contract with the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad Company for trackage rights over the Hannibal and St. Joseph from Cameron, Mo., and January i, 1880, it began to run its trains- to Kansas Citv. Railroad History. 155 In view of the early completion of the Chicago and Alton Railroad to Kansas City the pooling arrangement was again dissolved April 12, 1879, and two days later a promiscuous cutting of freight rates began. The Alton, how ever, was not opened for business until the 1 8th, and did not begin running passenger trains until May 13. The war was caused by this line's allotment of business to St. Louis, and was begun by roads concentrating in that city. June 7 the war was extended" to passenger business also, and during the balance of the season fares between Kansas City and St. Louis and Kansas City and Chicago were but fifty cents, and freight rates went so low that for a time grain was carried from Kansas City to St. Louis for five cents and to Chicago for seven cents per bushel, and at one time as low as three cents per bushel to St. Louis and five cents to Chicago. A new pool was formed Sep tember 12, which included the Chicago and Alton Railroad Company, and the rates were restored. Meantime, during the summer, the contracts between the Hannibal and St. Joseph and the Wabash Railroad Companies expired, by which the latter had used the track of the former from Arnold Station to the bridge, and had right of way across the bridge. A spirited contest be tween the two companies ensued. The Wabash Company built a track of its own and made a new bridge contract ; but the end of the trouble was reached only after litigation. Kansas City's railroad interest grew in 1880. The Lexington and South ern Railroad, extending from Pleasant Hill, on the Missouri Pacific, to Nevada, on the Missouri, Kansas and Texas, was built. Soon it was consolidated with the Missouri Pacific, and trains were run from Kansas City to Texas by that route, over the Missouri, Kansas and Texas. The Manhattan, Alma and Bur- lingame Road was built from Burlingame, on the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad, to Manhattan, on the Union Pacific. A branch of the Fort Scott Road was built from Prescott, Kan., to Rich Hill, Mo., to reach the coal fields " of Bates county. Mo. A long needed switch was built from the main line of this road, near Turkey Creek, into the southern part of Kansas City. In July the Wabash Company completed a line into Chicago, which was the fourth through line between Kansas City and Chicago. The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad Company extended its main line westward, reaching El Paso, N. M., early in 1881, and in March it connected with the Southern Pacific of California, forming a second line across the continent via Kansas City. The Fort Scott Railroad Company built part of the line between Fort Scott and Springfield, with a view to extending it to Memphis. There were some other unimportant extensions. In January, 1880, the Central Branch of the Union Pacific, west from Atchison, became a division of the Missouri Pacific, and in March was consolidated with the Union Pacific. A little later the Kansas City, St. Joseph and Council Bluffs Road was sold to the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad Company, and the Kansas City, Lawrence iS6 History of Kansas City. and Southern Railroad to the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad Com pany. In May the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railroad was leased for ninety- nine years by the Missouri Pacific RaHroad Company. In February the gen eral offices of the Union Pacific Railroad Company were consolidated and located at Omaha, and in May the long- fought- for through rates to the Pacific by this line were granted to Kansas City. The Kansas City party, by whom the old Memphis road had been bought, sold it in December, 1879, to Messrs. Lyman and Cross, of the Missouri, Kan sas and Texas Railroad, but they failed to execute the contract. In January, 1880, it was again contracted to J. I. Brooks and others, by whom, in June, it was reorganized as the Kansas City and Southern, E. L. Martin, of Kansas City being a member of the company. Some surveys were made, but little further was accomplished till early in 1 88 1, when the company was reorganized with additional capital, and measures taken looking to the early construction of the line. In January, 1880, the Wyandotte, Oskaloosa and Western Narrow Gauge Railroad Company was organized in Wyandotte, but it took no active measures. The Union Transit Company was organized in Kansas City in March. Its di rectors were George H. Nettleton, Colonel C. F. Morse, J. S. Ford, T. F. Oakes and WaHace Pratt. Its object was to take charge of switching for the various railroads centering here. Land was purchased for yards west of the Kaw River. In April the Des Moines and Kansas City Railroad Company was organized at Des Moines, Iowa, to build a line between the two cities, and surveys were soon after begun. The Kansas City Railroad Company was organized in Kansas City, in December, with T B. BuHene as president and John N. Finley as sec retary, to build a road from Kansas City to Salina, Kan., through Baldwin City, Osage City and Council Grove, and about the same time the Kansas City, Ne braska and Northwestern Railroad Company was organized in Kansas City with a view to the construction of a line from Kansas City to Falls City, Neb., by way of Oskaloosa and Valley Falls, Kan. In July the New Wabash line was opened into Chicago, and on October 16, the railway war was resumed and continued with violence for a iew days. Then came a cessation of hostilities which lasted but a few weeks, when the conflict became more spirited than ever The roads leading to St Louis were quickly involved, and later those east of Chicago and St Louis. In 1 88 1 the Memphis branch of the Kansas City and Fort Scott road, which, at the beginning of the year was completed nearly to Springfield, Mo., was finished to that old and popular trade center, opening to Kansas City merchants a larger field in Southwest Missouri to which they had not previously had access. Another road of not less importance was the Lexington and Southern completed during 1880 between Pleasant Hill and Nevada, and extended dur ing 1 88 1 to Carthage, Mo. This road was operated from the first as a branch of the Missouri Pacific, and early in the year trains were put on between Kan- ''S'ltyEG 'MJMrns 'jBtc W Z^ ^s^^it^-^J^-c^-t^-t-t^ Railroad History. 157 sas City and Galveston. This also opened to Kansas City a large trade which had been previously closed to her in Missouri, and improved her connections in Texas, thus helping her trade in that State. Another road of considerable benefit to her trade in Southern Kansas was the St Louis, Fort Scott and Wichita, constructed during the year, from Fort Scott westward to Yates Cen ter. It was operated in connection with the Missouri Pacific from Fort Scott, and the trade along the line reached Kansas City by the way of the Lexington and Southern. Another raHway change in the same locality that contributed to the advantage of Kansas. City was the purchase of the Missouri, Kansas and Colorado RaHroad, from Messer to Cherryvale, by the Kansas City, Fort Scott and Gulf Railroad Company. This road had been formerly operated in con nection with the St Louis and San Francisco, as a St. Louis road and a St. Louis feeder After this date that part of the line between Weir and Messer was taken up and the balance was operated by the Kansas City, Fort Scott and ¦Gulf Company as a Kansas City feeder. Besides these more important new roads and raHway changes, there were other changes of minor importance. Among them was a branch of the Fort Scott road from Coalvale to some coal fields nine mHes south. A new Hne was nearly completed by the Atchison, Topeka and Sante Fe company between Olathe and Chouteau, to connect the Kansas City, Law rence and Southern with the Santa Fe. Another line was completed by the Santa Fe company between McPherson and Ellinwood, to shorten the main line. The Kansas Central Narrow Gauge Railroad, from Leavenworth westward, was extended from Oak Grove to Clay Center, and some notable •extensions were made by the Central Branch Union Pacific in Northwestern Kansas. New railroads were constructed in Northwest Missouri, which it was intended in time to so connect with Kansas City as to render them ad vantageous to its trade. The Mount Ayer branch of the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy RaHroad was extended to Albany, as was the Chariton branch completed to Bethany, Mo., about a year before. At Albany both connected with the narrow gauge road running northwest from St Joseph. This latter road, having been purchased by the Chicago, BurHngton and Quincy Company, it was designed to change to a standard gauge, thus connecting these two roads and the country they traversed, with Kansas City. In addition to the large amount of railroad building in the country adjacent to Kansas City, there was great activity in railway construction in Colorado, New Mexico and Texas, which opened to the trade of Kansas City many important localities. In 1882 there were several important extensions and changes in the rail roads converging at Kansas City. The Missouri Pacific was extended to Omaha, penetrating and making accessible to Kansas City, the eastern and rich est part of the State of Nebraska. The Chicago, Buriington, and Quincy Com pany completed a line from Wymore, on its Atchison and Nebraska Road, in 21 158 History of Kansas City. Nebraska, to Denver, Colorado, and put on through trains from Kansas City to Denver, by way of this line and the Atchison and Nebraska, and Kansas City^ St Joe and CouncH Bluffs fines. This afforded Kansas City, not only a new and competing line to Colorado, but also secured it access to the whole of Southern Nebraska, which was intersected by the lines of the company. The trade ter ritory added by these changes was the best half of Nebraska. To the south of Kansas City the Missouri Pacific was extended to Carthage, Mo., and the St. Louis and San Francisco to Fort Smith, Ark. The former of these changes secured to Kansas City the trade of Carthage, and what remained unsecured of this southwestern lead-mining country. The latter, by the connection secured with the Fort Scott road, afforded access to all Northwestern Arkansas, and, by connecting with the Little Rock and Fort Smith Railroad, gave a great line •through the center of Arkansas, to Arkansas City on the Mississippi River,. only four hundred miles above New Orleans — a line susceptible of develop ment into a most important southern outlet. In the same direction the Fort Scott branch to Memphis, Tenn., was pushed steadily during the year, reaching Greenfield, Mo. The Fort Scott and Gulf Company having secured, during 1 88 1, the narrow gauge road from Cherokee to Cherryvale, Kan., this year changed it to a standard gauge, greatly enhancing its value to Kansas City. It also built a branch from Joplin to Webb City, thus reaching a large trade. The Missouri Pacific and its co-operating lines in Texas made a number of impor tant extensions, giving Kansas City access to a new trade. The Union Pacific also made a number of short extensions in Colorado, connecting with Kansas City more of the prosperous mining towns of that State, ar^d the Atchison, To peka and Santa F"e made like extensions into New Mexico, and projected oth ers on toward Guymas, and into old Mexico. The only changes that occurred to the eastward of Kansas City accomplished the transfer of the Hannibal and St. Joseph road to the Wabash system, which led to the termination of the contract between that road and the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy by which the two were made to constitute a Kansas City and Chicago line. Incidentally, one of these roads proposed to extend its lines to Chicago, and the other to ex tend its line to Kansas City. There was but one notable addition to Kansas City's railway facihties dur ing 1883, and that was one of the most important that could have been made. The completion of the Kansas City, Springfield and Memphis Railroad is re ferred to. This opened to the trade of Kansas City a rich region in South western Missouri and Southeastern Arkansas, and at Memphis connected it with the lines traversing a vast area of the south, east of the Mississippi River, which had theretofore been inaccessible to it. The prospects for future addi tions to Kansas City's railway system were very flattering. There were no less than four roads trying to reach Kansas City from the direction of Chicago, aH of which bade fair to be completed within a year or two. Another was pro- Railroad History. 159 jected from St. Louis with fair prospects, and the old original Kansas City and Memphis enterprise, after much delay and many changes, now gave promise of speedy completion, thus giving hope of two lines where only one had been so long and ardently struggled for. Three more roads from the cattle country of the Southwest were projected, and it was believed they would be built within a few years. During 1884 it was demonstrated that the Kansas City, Springfield, and Memphis Railroad, from which Kansas Cityans had expected so much, was fully to meet all expectations, as it brought to their markets Southern fruits and lumber, and furnished an outlet into the South for their provisions, flour and barnyard, dairy and garden produce, and such lines of their trade as could find a patronage in the South, began to increase rapidly in that direction. In this year and the following, railroad building went forward, some new lines being projected and begun in the country tributary to Kansas City, and extensions ¦were made to others already in operation, which have since performed their part in augmenting Kansas City's commercial importance. With the revival of business came the revival of railroad building, and the country tributary to Kansas City attracted a large investment of capital in this department of enterprise. During the year 1886 one thousand miles of new road were constructed in the State of Kansas alone, aH of which opened new trade territory to Kansas City. The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Company having purchased the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe of Texas, built a line across the Indian Territory connecting it with the Kansas system, and opened a new line through Central Texas to Galveston. This company also began the con struction of a new and independent line from Kansas City to Chicago, which was opened early in the summer of 1888, besides building a large mileage of new branches in Kansas, some of which are yet under construction. The Mis souri Pacific during the past two years has built many miles of new branches in Kansas, where it already had a large mileage, among which is the Kansas City and Southwestern, better known as the Paola branch, from Kansas City to Pa ola, Kan., where it connects with the entire Southwestern system of that com pany, and opens it to the trade of Kansas City. The Chicago, MHwaukee and St. Paul Company constructed a line to Kansas City which was opened late in 1887, crossing the Missouri just east of the city Hmits, and the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Company, penetrating into Kansas, has built a line southwest from Topeka to the extreme southwestern part of Kansas, and another to the northwest through Northwestern Kansas and Southern Nebraska, both of which wHl soon be connected with Kansas City by a line from Topeka. The Kansas City and Northwestern Railroad Company has organized and construct ed a line to the northwest from Kansas City which reached the Nebraska State line about the opening of the present year. Work was resumed on the Kansas City and Southern Railroad, penetrating into Central South Missouri, and the i6o History of Kansas City. St. Louis, Kansas and Colorado Railroad, and the Missouri Central line from St. Louis to Kansas City, were put under contract The Chicago, BurHngton and Kansas City Company determined to extend its Hne through to Kansas City, and wHI doubtless do so before the close of the year 1888, and the Chi cago, St Paul and Kansas City Company, whose lines now run from Chicago to St Paul, and from Chicago and St Paul to Des Moines, projected and began the construction of a line from Des Moines to Kansas City. The Kansas City, Springfield and Memphis Company projected two extensions which affect Kan sas City — one from Willow Springs, Mo., to Cairo, 111., and the other from Memphis to Birmingham, Ala., which in connection with the Georgia lines will open a new line to the Atlantic at Savannah and Charleston. The next two years will doubtless see all these lines completed, unless some national calamity intervenes to stop their construction, and when done, they will add nine new lines to the fifteen already centering at Kansas City, making it the greatest railroad center in the West, and greatly enlarging and extending its connections in all directions, comprising sixteen different railway interests operating twenty-four separate lines. Railway transportation facilities make commercial centers. When it is un derstood that Chicago has but twenty lines of railway, and that the area which the twenty-four Kansas City lines cover is more extended and more largely and variedly productive than the area penetrated by the twenty Chicago lines, the future of Kansas City can be no longer in doubt All these remarkable- railway developments mark an epoch of special importance in Kansas City's history, and its results are shown in the opening up of new territory to agricul ture, the building of new towns and the establishing of new industries, mak ing Kansas City the headquarters for their supplies, and the commercial center of the Southwest. CHAPTER VII. religious, social, secret, benevolent and literary societies. The Young Men's Christian Association — The Provident Association — The Orphan's. Home — Women's Christian Association — Home for Aged Men and Women — St. Joseph's. Orphan Asylum — Women's Refuge and Maternity Hospital — Wayside Home — Exchange for Women's Work — Home for Homeless Boys. _ THE Young Mens' Christian Association, one of the most practical and useful religious institutions in the country, was organized in Kansas City with a membership of forty- five, in the year i860. From an address delivered at the time of the laying of the corner-stone of the new building at Ninth and Locust Religious, Social, Secret Societies, Etc i6i streets, by President Cleveland during his visit to the city, October 13, 1887, we condense a short history of the society. The credit of starting this worthy cause is due to the Rev. W. M. Leftwitch, then pastor of the Methodist Church in this city. He was the first president elected, and the meetings of the association were held in his church, which was situated on the north side of Fifth street between Delaware and Wyandotte streets. Its membership was small, but it was characterized by energetic and successful work. Mr. W. H. Allen, who was afterwards a banker here, and in the neighboring town of Harrisonville, Mo., was the first secretary, and per formed his duties with faithfulness and earnestness. During the ensuing season, owing to the political excitement growing out of the presidential campaign, and the subsequent breaking out of the war, not much was accomplished. Few meetings were held, as members were divided in political sentiment, and many of them left the city, some going North, and others to the South. The few who remained, however, kept up the organiza tion, and in 1861, in the midst of sectional strife and warfare, held an annual election of officers. At this election Peleg Seabury was elected president; John W. Byers, vice-president; Joseph S. Chick, treasurer; and William H. Allen, secretary. During the remainder of the war not much was done, the members of the Association being scattered over the country by the vicissitudes of war and business. Occasional meetings' were held, but no record of its doings were preserved. After the war, in 1866, some of the same gentlemen who had constituted the old organization, reorganized the Association. Not withstanding the bitter experiences of the previous three or four years^ and the antagonism which in many cases had existed during their separation, they clasped each other's hands in warm friendship, and joined cordially and har moniously in the work before them. And so it has been from that day to this; neither politics nor sectional sentiment has interrupted their fraternal feeling. Owing to the unsettled condition of business affairs for several years after the close of the war, not much was accompHshed, and it was not until 1869 that it was practically revived and reorganized. F. M. Furgason was elected president, and D. A. Williams secretary, and for the first time in its history the Y. M. C. A. of Kansas City had a permanent habitation. These rooms were in a building on the north side of Missouri Avenue between Main and Delaware, owned by Mr. D. L. Shouse, a sincere and consistent Christian gentleman, long since dead- He generously gave these rooms rent-free for several years. Prof Furgason was continued as president for four years, after which General W. H. Powell was elected as his successor. In 1873—4 the association was again reorganized, the Rev. Dr. W. M. Cheever becoming prominent in it and Mr John Doggett was elected presi dent and continued in office for several years. Rooms at 720 Main street, over H. T. Wright's book store, were secured and occupied as a permanent 1 62 History of Kansas City. bome and retained tHl removal to those now occupied (1887) at 544 Main street. The first general secretary was employed while at the former rooms. His name was Walter Lewis, from Terre Haute, Ind. He was a courteous and faithful man, and afterwards became a minister of the gospel, and recently died a missionary in a foreign country. During the time that Mr. Doggett was president a move was made towards raising a fund for the erection of a permanent building, and in 1878, during the administration of Rev. Mr. Dornblazer as president, a lot was purchased on the northeast corner of Tenth and Walnut streets for $1,100. A long liti gation grew out of this purchase, on account of the owner refusing to make the deed, but it was finally decided in favor of the Association, and the lot was sold in 1887 for $50,000. With this money the lot at Ninth and Locust was purchased, upon which a building worthy of the commendable object of the Association is rapidly approaching completion. The occasion of laying the corner stone of this building will ever be a memorable day in the history of the Association. It occurred on October 13, 1887, during the visit of President Cleveland and wife to Kansas City, and the exercises were given national importance by the participation in the ceremonies of these distinguished guests. The services were witnessed by an immense crowd of people, estimated at from 10,000 to 15,000. The exercises began about noon with an anthem rendered by the Quintette Club, under the leadership of Professor Leroy Moore, followed by " America," heartily sung by the immense audience. This was followed by a historical address by Colonel Theo. S. Case, reviewing the work accomplished by the Association in Kansas City from the inception of the organization in i860, to the present time. Betore the address was concluded the presidentand his wife, in charge of the city reception committee, arrived at the building and were conducted to the platform by the president of the association, E. E. Richardson and Hon. E. H. Allen. After the singing of the doxology the president of the United States was introduced by Mr. Witten McDonald, chairman of the building committee. The president was greeted with tremendous applause and delivered the following address : "Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentleman : In the activities of our busy daily life we are apt to neglect the instrumentalities which are quietly but efficiently doing important service in molding our national character Among these, and challenging but little attention, in comparison to the objects they are accom plishing, are the Young Men's Christian Associations scattered throughout our country. All must admit the supreme importance of that honest and fixed principle which rests upon Christian resolves and purposes, and we all must acknowledge the sad and increasing temptations which beset our young men and lure them to destruction. To save these young men, oftentimes removed from famHy restraints, from ruin and degradation, and fit them for honored Religious, Social, Secret Societies, Etc. 163. usefulness, these Associations have entered the field of Christian effort, and are nobly pushing on their work. And this progress and the spread of them do great honor to the noble men who have devoted themselves to this work, and exemplify that the people of the United States are not entirely regardless of their value. " Twenty years ago but one of these Associations had a building, and that building was valued at only $il,000. To-day more than a hundred, valued at more than $5,000,000, beautify the different cities of our land and beckon our young men to lives of usefulness. " It gives me special pleasure to-day to participate in laying the corner stone of another of these edifices, and in this thriving and growing city. And I trust that the encouragement which may be awarded the Young Men's Chris tian Association here may be commensurate with its assured usefulness, and may be in keeping with the generosity and intelligence of the citizens of Kansas City." This address was received with great enthusiasm, and at its close was fol lowed by prayer by Rev. Bishop Hendrick. The singing of Coronation suc ceeded the prayer, after which Mrs. Cleveland placed in the corner stone the copper box containing a copy of the various journals printed in Kansas City, and annual reports of the industrial and benevolent associations of the city. The exercises closed with the benediction pronounced by Rev. Dr. C. L. Thompson, of the Second Presbyterian Church. This building, whose his tory has been so auspiciously inaugurated, with the lot, will cost over $100,- 000, and wiH be creditable to the public spirit of the citizens of Kansas City, and a worthy home in which to carry on the work to which it has been dedi cated. Since the expiration of Mr Dornblazer's term as president, the Association has had as such officers : A. G. TrumbuH, Witten McDonald, J. W. Byers, Er mine Case, jr, and E. E. Richardson. Of these, all except Ermine Case, who died in 1886, are now living, and are now active and valuable members of the board of directors. F. E. Hatch was general secretary nearly all of this time, and was remarkable for the energy and faithfulness which characterized his labors. To him many of the practical features of the association are due. Charles G. Darby succeeded him as acting secretary. J. W. Hansel has re cently accepted, and is now filling the position of general secretary, a position he hks filled for several years at St. Joseph, Mo. The Kansas City Association has rapidly grown within the last few years. It has at present 750 members, more than double the number enrolled last year. The present board of direc tors is composed of W. McDonald, F. L. Underwood, J. W. Byers, H. R. Gregory, W. W. Kendall, C. W. Clarke, E. A. Fussell, P. D. Ridenour, H. E. Schultze, E. S. Northrop, C. W. Whitehead, T. S. Case, H. P. Stimpson, W. B. Grimes and J. M. Coburn. The Ladies Auxiliary to the Young Men's Chris- 1 64 History of Kansas City. tian Association was organized about four years ago, and has rendered valu able aid in many ways in extending the work of the society. It numbers about sixty merpbers. Mrs. Douglass is president of the association and Mrs. J. L. Kelley secretary. The rapid growth of Kansas City as a railway center soon opened a good field here for the establishment of a Railway Young Men's Christian Association, similar organizations in other large cities having proved valuable and useful factors in accomplishing good among railway men. The first step in this di rection was made in March, 1880, the society being organized a few months after Although entirely distinct from the preceding association, there has al ways existed the warmest sympathy and harmony between the two. Rooms have been tastefully and comfortably fitted up in the south end of the Union depot, provided with a well supplied reading room, members' parlors and quar ters for social and religious meetings. W. H. Reed was its first president, and H. F. Williams its first general secretary. At present E. J. Sanford is presi dent, and A. M. Wilson general secretary. The success of this Association has been very gratifying, fully eight hundred members now belonging to the or ganization. KANSAS city PROVIDENT ASSOCIATION. This is one of the most beneficent and practical organizations in the interest of charity which at present exists in Kansas City. The idea of the Association was suggested by ,the good results attained by similar associations in many of the larger cities of the country, where there usually exists a large class of undeserving poor, street beggars and tramps, who prey to such an extent upon the generosity of the people that the benev olently disposed are apt to become callous to such caHs, and in consequence the appeals of the really deserving poor are often listened to with indifference or not at all. Because of the lack of some systematic effort to check the grow ing evil in Kansas City, some sixteen of the leading citizens, complying with the request of two of their number, met at the Coates House, November 22, 1880, for the purpose of forming an association not only to alleviate suffering and distress, but to ferret out and expose a class of beggars who constantly im pose upon the confidence and liberality of the people. Such was their appre ciation of the importance of the matter, both to the community and to the act ual sufferers from want, that within two weeks thereafter the Provident Asso ciation was organized and incorporated under the laws of the State. The first officers of the association were Colonel Theodore S. Case, president ; George H. Nettleton, vice-president; W. P. AHcutt, treasurer; C. S. Wheeler, secre tary and F. M. Furgason, superintendent. The first board of directors was composed of J. W. Byers, E. L. Martin, T. B. BuHene, Witten McDonald, M. B. Wright, W. P. AHcutt, T. K. Hanna, W. B. Grimes, K. Coates, G. H. Net- z-i^^t^-^ Religious, Social, Secret Socities, Etc. 165 tleton, C. S. Wheeler, J. Brumback, John Campbell, J. V. C. Karnes, L. K. Thacher, T. S. Case, J. M. Lee, C. A. Chace, C. B. Leach. The response to the appeal of the officers of the Association by the citizens generally, was most satisfactory, and within two weeks from its inception the society was fully organized and dispensing charity. During the first year of its existence 569 families, representing 2,132 persons, were assisted with money, $3,550 57 being expended in this manner, while 430 garments were distrib uted. In April, 188 1, the Association led a general movement for the relief of the flood sufferers that met with such hearty respon^ie that over $5,000 was raised for such purpose, and after a careful disbursement of all that was neces sary by a committee acting in conjunction with the superintendent of the Prov ident Association, over* $2,500 remained, which reverted to the society. The practical nature and efficient method of the association, as well as the zeal and fitness of its officers so impressed the city authorities that in October, 1881, it became the official agent for dispensing the city charity fund. It has since become the dispenser of the charity fund of the county within the corporate limits. The scope as well as the actual amount of work has been largely in creased each year. During 1882, $6,343.57 was disbursed, aiding 4,415 per sons; in 1883, $7,567.88, relieving 6,423 persons; in 1884 $7,006.57, aiding 6,293 persons; in 1885 over $7,000 was disbursed. In 1886 the card collec tions amounted to $5,247.35; cash contributions, $277.50; county court $1,000.00; city appropriations, $3,250.00; fuel sales, $1,030.30; assistance was rendered to 6,700 persons. In 1887 the card collection amounted to^ $7,607.50; city appropriation $4,500.00 ; fuel sales, $1,891.20, and other con tributions increased the entire amount to $15,443.48; aid was furnished to^ over 6,700 persons, 857 persons were assisted with railroad fares, employment secured for 174 men and 109 women, single meals given to 3,506 persons, and! lodging to 947. Independent of the above, during three months of last winter a Provident lodging-house was established at 205 West Fifth street, where- 3,138 lodgers were cared for, and meals furnished to 1,754. In addition to strictly charity work, efforts have at all times been made for obtaining employment for such applicants as were able to do anything for their own support Out of the efforts in this direction has grown a most praise worthy association known as the Free Labor Bureau, whose zealous and effi cient managers have been enabled to be of great service to this class of people.. At the urgent solicitation of the superintendent, the board of directors im December, 1884, opened a fuel yard at 306 West Fifth street, Colonel Coates. kindly granting the free use of ground for the purpose. Here coal and wood was accumulated partly by donation and partly by purchase. This has grown' to be an important feature of the work of the association. The sawing and splitting of the wood furnishes employment to those glad of the opportunity to- work, taking their pay in fuel or provisions. Fuel is distributed to those un- 22 1 66 History of Kansas City. able to pay for it, and is also offered for sale, and those who patronize the yard thus aid the association, the sales last year amounting to nearly $2,000. Shortly after the establishment of a fuel depot, a store-room was provided where provisions and wearing apparel, either contributed or purchased, are kept for distribution. The fuel yard and store-room were removed about .a year ago to Fourth street, nearly opposite the old quarters. Here the grounds occupied by the association are donated free of rent, by its owner, Thomas H. Swope. The fuel yard and store-room, under the efficient and discriminating management of H. C. Weaver, have been found economical and wise auxil iaries in the general work of the association. The first change in the executive officers of the association occurred in 1882, when W. B. Grimes was chosen vice-president in place of George H. l>fettleton. No further change occurred until 1884, when Colonel Theo. S. Case, who had served as president since the organization of the association, on account of the pressure of private business, requested to be relieved from such position. The following officers were elected : President, W. B. Grimes ; vice- president, M. B. Wright; treasurer. Homer Reed; secretary, C. A. Young. The same officers were chosen in 1885 with the exception of the substitution of C. W. Whitehead as treasurer. The officers for 1886 were H. F. Devol, president; Theo. S. Case, vice-president; A. N. Sadler, treasurer, and C. A. Young, secretary. F. M. Furgason has performed the responsible duties of superintendent ever since the organization of the association, and to his pains taking care and well directed efforts much of the success of the society can be justly ascribed. Of the nineteen incorporators of the association, aH save two — B. A. Sheid- ley and Kersey Coates, are stiH Hving, and aH are still active friends of the society, its most Hberal supporters and wise counselors The objects of the association, as declared by the incorporators, are twofold — " to help the desetv- ing" poor and to "expose the unworthy." That these commendable results ;have been in great measure satisfactorily attained is attested by the confidence ;reposed in the methods and managers of the association, by the repeated action ¦ of both city and county officers in making it the official dispenser of the charity ifund of both city and county within the corporate limits, while at the same time church committees and benevolent societies of aH kinds have most cheer- fuHy lent it their valued aid. At the time of the organization of the associa tion street begging had become alarmingly abundant and the sympathy and kind-heartedness of the people of Kansas City had become sadly abused. Under the wise endeavors of the officers of this society, this evil has become largely abated, while the wants and sufferings of the deserving poor have received proper and judicious care as far as possible with the means provided for the use of the association. The Provident Associadon has become a well- nigh indispensable institution of charity, and this, or something accomplishing Religious, Social, Secret Societies, Etc. 167 the same ends, will always be a necessity, and in view of that fact a committee of the board are now making an effort to secure grounds for a permanent loca tion. Money has already been donated for this specific purpose, and it is to be hoped that this object may be speedily attained. The present directors of the association are J. C. Horton, P. D. Ridenour, A. G. TrumbuH, A. N. Sadler, J. K. Davidson, L. K. Thacher, C. W. White head, J. V. C. Karnes, J. S. Ford, E. E. Richardson, C. E. Moss, W. B. Grimes, Theodore S. Case, Homer Reed, C. A. Young, T. V. Bryant, George W. McCrary. the orphans' home. At the close of the War for the Union the friendless and destitute condition of the widows and orphans of the fallen Confederates strongly enlisted the sympathies of many of the citizens of Kansas City. For thesfe unfortunates there were no pensions, and in many cases their homes had been swept away in that cruel warfare, and the friends who would have helped- them were as impoverished as themselves. A number of ladies, under the lead of Mrs. M. A. Lykins, met on August 11, 1866, and formed a Widows' and Orphans' Home Society, the object of which was to provide support and education for the widows and orphans of the fallen Confederates. At this- meeting Mrs M. A. Lykins was elected president; Mesdames S. T. Johnson,. Laura Holmes, JuHa E. Lester, and Messrs, J. J. Mastin and J. C. McCoy,. vice-presidents ; Miss Cynthia Coleman, treasurer ; Mrs. Ruckel, recording, secretary; Miss Lizzie Harris, corresponding secretary; trustees — Hon. Trusten Polk, St Louis, Mo. ; Hon. Luke W. Burrus, Liberty, Mo. ; Hon. S. H. Woodson, Independence, Mo.; John J. Mastin, Kansas City, Mo.; J. C. McCoy, Kansas City; Dr J. Lykins, Kansas City; Rev. WilHam Holmes,. Kansas City ; William R Bernard, Westport, Mo. ; and a constitution and by laws adopted. The society was supported by the contributions of the charit able, and by means of festivals, fairs, dining halls and lectures. Some of the . citizens of Colorado sent a gold brick worth five hundred dollars, and sums varying from one dollar to five hundred doHars were received from different towns in Missouri. In 1867 the society was duly incorporated by the name of " The Widows' and Orphans' Home Society of Missouri," and forty acres of land, at $100 per acre, purchased near the Westport road, about two miles south of the city. A home building, costing with other improvements about $5,000, was immediately put up and occupied, with twelve orphans and four widows under charge. In October, 1868, a monthly paper, named the Orphans' Advocate, was started by the society, under the editorial supervision of the president Mrs. Lykins, and continued until the Home passed under the patron age of the State. Previous to the mee'ting of the Missouri State Legislature in 1871-72, the ladies of the society memorialized Govornor Woodson, asking 1 68 History of Kansas City. that he recommend, in his next message, that the State take charge of the home and make it a State orphan asylum for aH destitute orphans in Missouri. A biH was introduced, and after several faHures finally passed, March ii, 1872. The State at this meeting of the Legislature appropriated $40,000 for its use, of which $25,000 was to be expended in building, $10,000 for support of the institution the first year, and $5,000 added to the contingent fund The society transferred aH its land, improvements and material, and the Home passed to the ownership of the State. In the mean time a great calamity had •overtaken the Home. On August 11, 1873, the main building of the Home -was burned to the ground, but with $2,200 obtained for insurance a temporary building was erected, and some small houses on the premises enlarged to ac commodate some of the employees. On Thursday, June 24, 1874, the Grand Lodge of A. F. M. of Missouri laid the corner stone of the new building, and an address was made by Grand Chaplain Rev. George C. Belts. It was a handsome building, of the Italian style of architecture, three stories high above a basement, the whole designed and arranged for the purpose which was intended by Architect A. J. Kelly. The officers of the Home, under the new arrangement, were as follows : W. R. Bernard, president; S. P. Twiss, vice-president; Theodore S. Case, secretary; J. J. Mastin, treasurer ; Mrs. M. A. Lykins, superintendent ; trustees, L. W. Burrus, W. R. Bernard, S. P. Twiss, J. R. Henry, and Theodore S. Case. The institution was now apparently on a firm foundation and well provided for. The word " widows " had been erased from the name and it was to be hereafter an industrial home for all destitute orphans in the State. But owing to the jealousy of other localities, and perhaps some religious and political opposition, the Legislature failed to make further provision for its support, and the prop erty was returned to the original society. Having no sure means of support, the society attempted to sustain the Home in connection with a female semi nary ; but this not proving satisfactory, the whole project was abandoned. It was much to the disgrace of the State of Missouri that the Legislature failed to provide for a benevolent institution of this kind, which they had founded, -and which would have been of so much public benefit. women's christian association. This is one of the oldest charitable societies in existence in Kansas City. It was organized in 1870 with Mrs. E. E. Branham, Mrs. M. M. Branham, Mrs. J. W. L. Slavens, Mrs. Rachael Epperson, of Kansas City ; one lady from Shawnee, and two from Leavenworth, Kansas, as members. The regular meetings were held for some time in the room of the Youug Men's Christian Association, on the south side of Missouri avenue, between Main and Delaware streets. The original aim of the organization was to found a home similar to the Leavenworth Home for the Friendless, but at Religious, Social, Secret Societies, Etc. 169 the time of its organization it was the only charitable institution in the city, and, naturally, general charity work became its field. The first practical move was the opening of a home for working women and girls, on the southwest corner of Eleventh and McGee streets, where lodging and cheap meals could be furnished. In 1876 the home was removed to the northwest corner of Thirteenth and Walnut streets, where the work was continued under great discouragement It was found that their means were wholly inadequate to the maintenance of the home in connection with general city charity work. It was then decided by the members of the association to confine their labors to a definite branch of benevolent work. For the better carrying out of this idea, the association became incorporated in 1877 under the laws of the State, with the following ladies as incorporators: Mrs. E. H. Allen, Mrs. J. W. L. Slavens, Mrs. A. S. Ingersoll, Mrs. John Doggett, Mrs. J. K. Cravens, Miss Hattie TomHnson, Mrs. Sarah W. Coates, Mrs. W. L. Ellison, Mrs. C. S. Wheeler, Mrs. Robt Moody, Mrs. Mary Silkworth, Mrs. S. B. Armour, Mrs. H. M. Holden, Mrs. E. W. Pierce, Mrs. O. C. Day, and Mrs. M. W. St. Clair. The object of the association was declared to be, first, the maintenance of an industrial home for chHdren ; and second, to afford temporary relief to suffer ing indigent women. The object appealed to the sympathy of the charitably inclined, and was awarded a hearty support which insured it success from the very start. In 1882 a lot was purchased by the association on Charlotte street, near Twelfth, and by a special subscription for the purpose, a large, comfortable brick bouse was erected and first opened AprH i, 1883. The securing of permanent quarters has greatly facilitated the work of the society, and during the first year of its establishment twenty- five children were given a comfortable home, surrounded by Christian influence and means for gaining a rudimentary education. Nine needy women were also given shelter, while seven hundred charity meals were dispensed per month, the total expenditure being more than $325 per month. For the year ending February, 1887, there were admitted to the home 121 children; forty women were aided and ten children were provided with permanent outside homes, the total disburse ments amounting to $4,225.00. The income of the association has always been variable and uncertain, yet so carefully managed that all needs have been promptly met and each year has shown a balance in the treasury. Its sources of revenue are membership fees, board of inmates, occasional assistance from country and city officers, proceeds of fairs, dinners, and other entertainments, and gifts of benevolent citizens. The association now possesses property to an approximate value of $45,000. This consists of the three- story brick buHding used as the " Home" on Charlotte street, a lot in East Kansas City and forty-four acres of land in Iowa on the ¦Council Bluffs road. Since the organization of the association in 1870, the following ladies have 170 History of Kansas City. been president at different times : Mrs. E. E. Branham, Mrs. J. G. Roberts, Mrs. E. H, AHen, Mrs. F. M. Black, Mrs. S. B. Armour and Mrs. L. R. Moore. The officers for 1887 are: Mrs. L. R. Moore, president; Mrs H. M. Holden, first vice-president; Mrs. P. D. Ridenour, second vice-president; Mrs. T, H. Ken nedy, recording secretary ; Mrs. George F. Putnam, treasurer; Mrs. H. N. Ess, corresponding secretary. The board of managers is composed of Mrs. Witten McDonald, Mrs. W. H. Reed, Mrs. M. W. St Clair, Mrs. Allen B. McGee, Mrs. M. Chalfant, Mrs J. Toles, Mrs J. K. Cravens, Mrs A. G. TrumbuH and Mrs. J. W. Merrill. THE HOME FOR AGED MEN AND WOMEN is located on Springfield avenue between Oak and Locust streets. This was originally an asylum established soon after the war for the orphan children of Confederate soldiers, and was maintained as such for several years. It then became a State orphan asylum, but remained under the charge of the State for only a short time, when it was returned to the original owners and purchased by the " Little Sisters of the Poor," about ten years ago, and has since been used as a home for aged men and women unable to provide for themselves. It is a Catholic institution of charity, but is supported by general contributions. The charity work done by this faithful band of self sacrificing, kind-hearted women, entitles them to generous support, and their appeals for aid have always met prompt response. ST. JOSEPH'S ORPHAN ASYLUM. This charity home for orphan boys and girls is one of the beneficent Catholic institutions founded by Father Donnelly, by whom the land upon which the asylum was erected was purchased in 1876 and given in charge of the Sisters of St. Joseph. Ten acres of ground are included in the premises, located on the west side of Jefferson street between Thirtieth street and Springfield avenue. An average of sixty-five children are cared for at this institution, to whom a comfortable home and school advantages are furnished until they arrive at an age when they are able to provide for themselves. It is supported by voluntary contributions and in part by the Catholic Cemetery Association. Sister Roberta is the present matron in charge. The rapid growth of the city during late years has greatly taxed the capacity of the Asylum and an effort is now being made to erect an additional building. WOMEN'S REFUGE AND MATERNITY HOSPITAL. This hospital was opened March i, 1885, and was the outgrowth of the work of the " East Side Women's Christian Temperance Union," and was under their care for the first year Desiring to broaden the work and make it entirely non- sectarian, the constitution was revised March i, Religious, Social, Secret Societies, Etc. 171 1886, and the work is now carried on by Christian ladies of the different churches. The especial mission is to lend a helping hand to friendless and erring women ; to throw around them Christian influences, and to help them to live purer and better lives. The work is reformatory in character, and only those are received who, in the judgment of the officers of the refuge, are penitent and really desire to change their mode of life. Without money, save such as a few could solicit, the work has progressed. In March, 1885, a small house was rented on Holmes street. In August the society was incorporated and a State charter secured. In October, 1885, the institution was moved to a small building, 720 Park avenue, which has since been occu pied, although an effort is now being made to secure larger and better quar ters, as the needs of the work surely require. Since the opening of the Refuge ninety-six inmates have been sheltered. Two-thirds of these were girls under the age of twenty, and all except six were motherless girls. Widows of good character, without money or friends, have also received assistance. It is the desire of the board of managers to make the Refuge, in part at least, a self- supporting institution, and to accomplish this end it is proposed to establish an industrial school. A field for such an institution as the Refuge exists in every large city, and the good work already accomplished in Kansas City by the members of this society strongly commend it to public support Since the organization of the Refuge the officers have been as follows : Mrs. F. L. Har ford, president; Mrs. H. W. MiHs, first vice-president; Mrs. E. A. Christie, second vice-president ; Mrs. S. E. Trott, secretary ; and Mrs. Anna Keil Wright treasurer. The board of managers is composed of Mrs. T G. Overly, Mrs. N. E. Long, Mrs. Dr S. E. Trott, Mrs. Dr M. F. Rannels, Mrs. F. L. Harford, Mrs. J. K. Cravens, Mrs. J. C. Greenman, Mrs. B. Stewart Mrs. D. M. McCleHan, Mrs S. Hull, Mrs E. A. Christie, Mrs. M. Chalfant and Pauline E. Canfield, M.D. The last named lady has been physician in charge since the opening of the refuge, and has not only given free medical service, but has furnished all drugs and medicines used by the patients. WAYSIDE HOME. This is a private charitable institution, designed to furnish a shelter for homeless, friendless, or penniless women. It was established October 28, 1885, by Mrs. J. Walker, in a small building adjoining her own home, 1425 Holmes street. During the first year of its existence 242 persons were cared for in the Home, and during the year ending October 28, 1887, the number was increased to 383. The accommodations of the Home were in creased last year by the erection of a new building at the rear of the old build ing. Mrs. Walker is superintendent of the Home, and Mrs. R. H. Stone, sec retary. The labors of these two ladies have been the means of providing not only a temporary comfortable home for unfortunate women, but have resulted in many cases in reclaiming them to paths of honor and usefulness. 172 History of Kansas City. KANSAS city EXCHANGE FOR WOMEN'S WORK. The object of this organization is to furnish a depot or market where the handiwork of women, including not only fancy work, but even articles of food could be brought and exposed for sale. It frequently occurs that women, through misfortune, left dependent upon their own exertions to earn a liveli hood, are expert needle-workers, or have an excellent knowledge of cooking, but opportunity to turn their knowledge to practical use is either impossible or hedged about by seemingly unjust barriers. To remedy this state of affairs the ladies of many of the larger cities of the country have opened establish ments, such as the Kansas City Exchange, which have proved most helpful factors in assisting women who are poor, but willing and competent to work to gain a comfortable living for themselves and families in a perfectly indepen dent manner. The Kansas City Exchange was - organized in October, 1884. The first officers of the society were Mrs. A. W. Armour, president; Mrs. Jennie Mitchell, first vice-president; Mrs. George H. Wheelock, second vice-presi dent; Mrs. J. K. Davidson, third vice-president; Mrs. H. A. Cutler, fourth vice-president ; Mrs. Emmet Phillips, fifth vice-president ; Mrs. John E. Thomes, recording secretary ; Mrs. J. C. Salmon, corresponding secretary ; Mrs. John Sebastian, treasurer The board of managers was Mrs. A. W. Ar mour, Mrs J. Mitchell, Mrs. George H. Wheelock, Mrs J. K. Davidson, Mrs. H. A. Cutler, Mrs Emmet PhiHips, Mrs John E. Thomes, Mrs J. C. Salmon, Mrs George H. Nettleton, Mrs. W. W. Perkins, Mrs. E. V. Wilkes, Mrs. C. Lovering, Mrs E. N. Blossom, Mrs Emma Mills, Mrs. W. N. Ewing, Mrs O. C. Day, Miss TiHie Scheidley, Mrs M. A. Bingham, Mrs L. R. Moore, Mrs. J. K. Cravens, Mrs James Stannard, Mrs Theodore S. Case, Mrs Henry N. Ess, Miss Hattie Tomlinson, Mrs. Virginia Lee, Mrs. M. L. Sargent, and Mrs. J. Mathews Soon after the organization of the society a sales- room was opened on the second floor of the building on the northeast corner of Main and Ninth streets, where a lunch- room was also started, which received a liberal patronage. The enterprise became self-supporting, and was successfully conducted untH July, 1885, when the improvements in the streets surrounding the building in which the Exchange was located made their quarters undesirable for the purpose re quired, and the work was temporarily suspended. Various causes prevented the resumption of the work of the society untH October, 1887, when a reor ganization was effected, and several important changes were made in the con- stHution and by-laws. The present officers of the society are Mrs H. C. Bradley, president; Mrs Dr WiHiam Jones, first vice president; Mrs J. K. Cravens, second vice-president; Mrs. W. W. Perkins, third vice-president; Mrs. O. L. Woodgate, treasurer ; Mrs. John E. Thomes, recording secretary ; Mrs. H. F. Hadley, corresponding secretary. The above officers, with Mrs. ^^'lillS eWiibms S Bro N't RELIGIOUS, Social, Secret Societies, Etc. 173 A. W. Armour, Mrs O. B. Gunn, Mrs M. A. Bingham and Mrs W. B. Grimes, four members elected by the society, form a board of directors, upon whom devolves the business management of the Exchange. In April, 1887, a series of entertainments called the " Kirmess," represent ing the dances of all nations, was given by the Women's Exchange at the Warder Grand Opera House. They proved exceedingly popular and attrac tive to the Kansas City public, so much so that the net profits amounted to nearly or quite $6,000. A building on the southeast corner of Wyandotte and Ninth streets had been leased by the Exchange, and is now used as a sales and lunch-room. The praiseworthy objects of this association commend it to public approval, and its future success seems assured. home for homeless boys. The first steps toward the establishment of this needed home in Kansas City for the homeless waifs who throng all large cities, without paternal guidance or permanent place of residence, occurred in January, 1886. Those who joined a temporary organization to that end were George J. Keating,. L. R. Moore, Kersey Coates, L. Hammerslough, W. A. Wilson, M. A. Potts, Victor Bell, Seth Mabry, Colonel A. A. Tomlinson, E. L. Scarritt, E. M. Wright E. E. Richardson, E. E. Holmes, W. S. Woods, R. L. Yeager, J. C. Morris, WiHiam Peake, L. T, James, W. H. Reed, W. W. Perkin and R. R. Conklin. The first officers chosen were Kersey Coates, presi dent; M.A. Potts, vice-president; E. M. Wright, secretary; W. S. Woods, treas urer. An executive committee was also appointed, upon whom the real man agement and care of the Home has since almost entirely devolved. This com mittee was composed of W. W. Perkins, William Peake and W. H. Reed. The society was incorporated May 21, 1886, as the Society for the Help of Homeless Boys. Temporary quarters were opened November 2, 1886, on the third floor of the building 723 Main street where during the following winter free lodg ing was furnished to about twenty- five boys. Free school instruction was given for two or three hours each day. At the annual meeting of the directors, in May, 1887, the foHowing officers were elected : M. A. Potts, president; A. A. Tomlinson, vice-president ; J. W. Perkins, secretary, and Will S. Woods, treas urer. A new location has been secured for the Home, at 1024 Baltimore ave nue, where accommodation for twenty-five boys has been provided. Mrs. A. E. Bowen has been the efficient matron of the Home since its organization. Steps have been taken by the friends of the institution to secure the erection of permanent quarters. POLICE RELIEF ASSOCIATION. The objects of this organization is to afford relief to sick and disabled offi cers, their widows and orphans. It was incorporated in March, 1883. The 23 174 History of Kansas City. present officers are John S. Branham, president; H. C. Nichols, vice-presi dent ; Daniel Ahern, secretary and Charles L. Ditsch, treasurer THE HUMANE SOCIETY OF KANSAS CITY Was organized and incorporated in October, 1883. The object of the society is to prevent cruelty to women, children and animals. The officers are F. A. Faxon, president; W. O. Huckett, secretary, and H. P. Churchill, treasurer THE MASONIC BOARD OF RELIEF Is composed of two representations from each of the local lodges. Relief is afforded to distressed brethren, members in good standing in any Masonic lodge in any part of the world. The officers are Charles S. Owsley, president, and W. O. Huckett, secretary and treasurer. Among the benevolent institutions and societies not already mentioned, and which in the cause of charity and the alleviation of suffering humanity, are do ing praiseworthy work in Kansas City, are the following : All Saints Hospital, on Campbell street, southeast corner of Tenth street ; St Joseph Hospital, Penn Street southwest corner of Seventh street, under the charge of the Sisters of St. Joseph ; Wabash Western Railway Hospital, under the charge of the Sis ters of St. Joseph, Dr. J. W. Jackson, surgeon in charge ; Emerald Beneficial Association, William J. McDonald, president; James J. Duggan, treasurer ; James F. McDonald, secretary; German Immigrant Aid Society, William Brendell, president ; Henry J. Hucke, treasurer ; Carl Spengler, secretary ; German Veteran Soldiers' Beneficial Association, Charles Herold, president ; ¦Charles Sehestedt, treasurer ; William Runkle, secretary ; Magdalene Society, Madison street. WOMAN'S CHRISTIAN TEMPERANCE UNION. The aims and objects of this association of women are well known and are endorsed by the best public sentiment. The order is only a few years old, but so rapid has been its growth that to-day Unions exist in every State and Ter ritory in the United States, nearly five thousand belonging to this organiza tion in the State of Missouri. From the incipiency of the movement until the present, Kansas City has furnished some of its most influential lady work ers. Since 1884 this city has been the headquarters of the State Association, the resident officers here being Mrs. Clara Hoffman, president, and Miss Ellen D. Morris, secretary. Among the other Kansas City residents who have taken prominent part in the State Association are Mrs. J. L. Freeland, presi dent, and Mrs. Charles Hafferty, secretary of the Fifth Congressional Associ ation, while Dr Pauline E. Canfield is superintendent of the State Department of Heredity, and Mrs. Sarah E. Allen is State superintendent of work among soldiers. The headquarters of the association is in the Rialto building. There are five local unions in Kansas City, the oldest being the Central, organized Religious, Social, Secret Societies, Etc. 175 in 1879 through the efforts of Miss Frances E. Willard, president of the na tional organization ; Mrs. Rose Phillips and Mrs. Ira Lewis of Kansas City. This union has sixty members ; the officers are Mrs. Ira Lewis, president ; Mrs. Sarah E. Allen, corresponding secretary ; Mrs. H. W. Miller, recording secretary, and Mrs. Kate Rhodes, treasurer. East Side Union has about sixty members. Mrs. H. B. Harford is presi dent and Mrs. J. C. Greenman, secretary. Wallace Union has twenty-four members, the officers being Mrs. WilHam Neal, president and Miss Georgie Ward, secretary. Walnut Lawn and West Side Union have been only recently organized ; the former has twelve members ; Mrs. H. Stone is president and Mrs J. Cul ver, secretary. The latter has fifteen members ; Mrs. Alice Newby is presi dent Since the organization of the W. C. T U. in Kansas City, persistent ef forts have been made by its members to educate public sentiment up to the standard of total abstinence : more especially has this object been sought to be attained by the proper training of the young. For this purpose a kindergar ten school, sewing school for young girls, and a school for young boot-blacks and news-boys have been maintained with results highly satisfactory to those engaged in the work. For several years an entertaining and instructive lecture course has been given each winter, which has been of great assistance finan cially in carrying on the philanthropic -work of the association. GRAND ARMY OF THE REPUBLIC. In January 1876, the first effort was made at a grand army organization in Kansas City. The pioneers in the movement were R. T Van Horn, Wm. Warner, R. C. Crowell, E. H. Webster, J. T. Blake, H. E. Schaumlceffel, Theo. S. Case, H. A. Simms, L. M. Hazzard and others. They were mustered in January 6, 1876, and styled Post No. 4, Grand Army of the Republic, Depart ment of Missouri. Colonel Theo. S. Case was elected post commander. This post was maintained for a few months only, when owing to some disturbing features arising in the department organization, the whole system throughout the State was broken up and temporarily abandoned. McPherson Post No. 4. — This was the first regularly recognized post of the G. A. R. established in Kansas City. It was organized in 1880, with the fol lowing charter members : Frank Snow, S. P. Baun, George Straley, E. J. Stroud, Benjamin W. Warner, Alfred J. Hiscock, H. J. Taylor, W. H. Norris and Alfred Brant. The first commander was Frank Snow. He was followed by Joseph H. Fink, Benjamin W. Warner, Lewellyn Lindsay, Charles W. Clarke. The pres ent officers are H. C. Weaver, commander; Hiram S. Tipton, senior vice-com mander; Dr. C. W. Burrell, junior vice-commander; Thomas Brown, officer of the day; A. B. Strowger, chaplain; George W. Barrett, surgeon; O. S. Richards, quartermaster, and Jesse Jenks, quartermaster sergeant. Although this post 176 History of Kansas City. has contributed of its members toward the formation of every other post of the G. A. R. in Kansas City, it is stiH the largest in membership, having enrolled and in good standing, two hundred and thirty-six members. Meetings are held the second and fourth Wednesdays of each month, at the corner of Eleventh and Main streets. In connection with this post is a Woman's Relief Corps known as McPherson Corps No. 10. It was organized in December, 1884, and is composed of sixty members. The present officers are Mrs. Satie Knox, president ; Mrs. A. O. Whitman, secretary, and Mrs. Frances C. Weaver, chaplain. Meetings are held in Pythian Hall, northeast corner of Ninth and Main streets. George H. Thomas Post No. 8, was organized in 1882. Its first commander was Major William Warner, who was succeeded by Henry A. White, the latter being followed in order of election by C. W. Whitehead, E. G. Granville, H. F. Devol. The present officers are J. W. Jenkins, commander ; F. C. Jones, senior vice-commander ; Henry Goss, junior vice-commander; A. Spalding, (now deceased) adjutant, and M. D. Wood, quartermaster. One hundred and eighty members belong to this post. The Ladies' Auxiliary Relief Corps con nected with the post, was first organized as the Admiral Farragut Relief Corps No. II. Its officers are Mrs. Louise Greenman, president ; Mrs. Emma Wood, senior vice-president ; Mrs. Maggie Burnham, junior vice-president ; Mrs. Nat. D. Gwynne, secretary, and Mrs. Alice H. Jones, treasurer. General Shields Post No. 15, was organized July 15, 1882, with twelve charter members. The first post commander was Thomas Clowdsley, who was succeeded by Charles H. Quade. The present officers are E. A. Axtell, com mander; J. C. Greenman, senior vice-commander ; P. H. Jackley, junior vice- commander ; S. W. Midlam, quartermaster; Joseph Loeffier, surgeon; Wil liam C. Price, officer of the day ; Peter Bargman, chaplain ; Patrick Madden, officer of the guard. The present membership is about seventy- five. Meet ings are held at Armory Hall, corner of Fifteenth street and Grand avenue. Admiral Farragut Post No. 3, was organized December 30, 1882. Its first commander was General S. M. Bowman. The charter members were General S. M. Bowman, E. B. Howard, W. L. Wheder, H. N. Swift G. W. Fitzpatrick, C. M. Clark, J. H. Fink, Ross Guffin, Theo. S. Case, J. M. Nyrick, John N. Gomer, John N. Gow, N. M. Fife, Ira Vaugh, Lena Paddock, A. W. Schultz, G. W. Honey, R. M. Barnes, J. C. Bescher, A. A. Sibley, C. Carples, David Whitman, J. H. Waite, J. E. Moss, R. N. Pierce, L. L. Raymond, C. W. Scott, A. J. McCoy, C. Mailey, D. C. Strawbridge and Frank Becker General Bow man was succeeded as post commander by E. B. Howard, foHowed in the or der named by Dr. C. W. Scott, Dr. G. W. Fitzpatrick, Major Charies Car- pies and J. H. Waite. This post now numbers ninety-five members, and is in a flourishing condition. Meetings are held in Webster Hall, 918 Main street Present officers, Ross Guffin, post commander ; T. H. Jenks, senior vice-com- Religious, Social, Secret Societies, Etc. 177 ¦mander; WilHam Zimmerman, junior vice-commander; Charles Snedeker, •quartermaster ; F. Becker, chaplain. Nat M. Gwynne Post No. 265, was organized in February, 1885, with twenty-five members, and at present has fifty members. James M. Thompson was its first commander, with John R. Sullivan senior vice, and Parrington Small junior vice-commander The present officers are Wood Douglass, com mander; John Sutherland, senior vice commander; Parrington Small junior Yice-commander; D. L. Elder, adjutant; D. A. Prosser, quartermaster, and W. H. Scovill, surgeon. Meetings are held at Woodland Hall, corner of Eight- -eenth street and Woodland avenue. Womens' Relief Corps of the Nat M. Gwynne Post was organized in April 1886, and has thirty members. Its officers are Mrs. Maggie J. Thompson, pres ident; Mrs. Mattie Beattie, senior vice-president ; Mrs. Anna O'Lear, junior vice-president; Mrs. Emma Douglass, treasurer, and Mrs. Olive Hoffmaster, secretary. KANSAS CITY ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. The Kansas City Academy of Science was organized December 2, 1875, -with the foHowing charter members : R. T. Van Horn, A. R. French, Henry A. White, Dr. George Halley, Ermine Case, jr., Dr. I. M. Ridge, Philander Lucas, H. N. Ess, Harry P. Child, H. H. West, Dr C. D. McDonald, Dr. J. S. Teed, Dr G. W. Fitzpatrick, Dr John Wilson, L. Traber, D. M. McClellan, B. L. Wood son, Dr T J. Eaton, W. H. Sibert, E. P. West Theo. S. Case, W. E. Winner, James Scammon, W. H. Miller, M. D. Trefren, D. Ellison, Rev. A. M. Colver, John D. Parker, P. S. Mitchener, C. S. Sheffield, Dr. John Fee, W. P. Wade and C. N. Brooks. The originator of the academy was Professor John D. Parker, who moved to Kansas City in the summer of 1875. Professor Parker was also the originator of the Kansas Academy of Science which, like its branch in Kan sas City, has two functions : First, to increase a knowledge of science by origi nal observations and investigation, and second, to diffuse a knowledge of sci- ¦ ence. The first officers of the academy were E. H. Allen, president; R. T. Van Horn, vice-president; C. S. Sheffield, secretary; James G. Roberts, treasurer. -Shortly after its organization the office of corresponding secretary was created, which Colonel Theo. S. Case has since continued to fill by successive elections. The present officers are R. T. Van Horn, president, which office he has held since 1877; W. H. MiHer, vice-president; S. D. Bowker, treasurer; Dr R. W. Brown, recording secretary, and Sidney J. Hare curator. Locally, the academy :has been the means of giving a more systematic direction to scientific pursuits, and has assumed to a considerable extent a popular character. Many valuable papers have been prepared by its members, while some original work worthy -of mention has been accomplished, notably the discovery of the mounds in Clay county by Judge E. P. West, and their development under the auspices of the academy. The advantages arising from association in scientific investigation, 178 History of Kansas City. such as the academy affords, have largely been the means of diffusing an inter est in science in Kansas City. Meetings of the society are held monthly from. September to AprH. KANSAS CITY ART ASSOCIATION AND SCHOOL OF DESIGN. With reference to the order of the estabHshment of civilizing influences and institutions, Kansas City is no exception to the rest of the world. Necessities come first, luxuries afterward ; hence it is not surprising that an art associa tion should be of recent origin. In 1887 a number of pubHc-spirited ladies and gentlemen, desirous that Kansas City should possess at least a fair col lection of reproductions from the works of the great artists of the world, in statues and copies of the works of the Renaissance and of modern paintings, organized the Kansas City Art Association and School of Design. These ladies and gentlemen felt that this step had been too long delayed ; that their city was far behind other and rival cities in this particular. Their labors were materially aided by an organization called the " Sketch Club," a body of local artists formed about two years before. This sketch club had for some time been entertaining the purpose of organizing an art association, and the estab lishment of the nucleus of a school of design, but so far had been unable to accomplish their purpose. And although now the beginnings were small, yet encouragement was derived from the consideration that the present magnificent Art School of Cincinnati was started in a precisely similar manner just seven teen years before. The purpose of those interested was to procure a collection of works of art, place them in a suitable room, and in this way start an art school where drawing, painting, modeling, designing, etc., could be taught; thus providing the means for a thorough art education at home, and also to- collect a library of works on the subject of art, from which the history of art could be learned, which was looked upon as the next best thing to a journey abroad. The association was incorporated in the summer of 1887 by the following gentlemen : J. Brumback, E. H. Allen, Theodore S. Case, C. L. Dobson, T. B. BuHene, C. F. Morse, William M. Smith, E. R. Weeks, W. H. Winants, T. V. Bryant Homer Reed, C. C. Ripley, and H. D. Ashley. An organization was effected by the election of the following officers : E. H. AHen, president ; C. L. Dobson and Mrs M. B. Wright, vice-presidents ; C. C. Ripley, secretary ; and Homer Reed, treasurer The executive committee is composed of C. L. Dob son, Homer Reed, C. C. Ripley, and E. R. Weeks A collection of casts, groups and working-school models was ordered from Europe, in all about two hundred pieces of various sizes and designs, and also about the same number of autotypes, at a total cost of about $3,000, all of which were placed in the fourth story of the Bayard Building. The collection is an extremely rare one, and its fine character is due in large measure to the Religious, Social, Secret Societies, Etc. 179 excellent taste and efficient aid of Professor H. C. Ives, of St Louis. Some of the life-size casts are as follows : " The Spear Bearer," " Hermes with the Infant Dionysius," "Venus of Milo," "Fighting Gladiator," "The Dancing Fawn," " Bust of Ajax," and others of equal note. In order to attract the attention of the people of Kansas City to the objects of the association, Munkacsy's great painting, " Christ before Pilate," was brought to the city under the association, and was on exhibition at the Casino Hall for three weeks commencing on Wednesday evening, November 2, 1887. The School of Design was opened January 2, 1888, with the following faculty: L. S. Brumidi, of the National Academy, Rome, Italy ; Miss M. Lilian Craw ford, of the Cincinnati School of Design ; J. L. Fitzgibbon, of the National Academy, New York ; and Miss M. R. Griffen, of Spread's Academy, Chicago. The price of membership in the association is five dollars per annum, an an nual scholarship in the school is fifty dollars, and tuition is given at moderate rates. KNIGHTS OF PYTHIAS. Among the secret organizations of recent growth, none have made more progress than the Knights of Pythias. Founded in 1864 in the city of Wash ington, D. C, it has grown to be a powerful organization of more than one hun dred thousand members, scattered in nearly every Christian country upon the globe. Kansas City, the birthplace of the order in the State of Missouri, is in separably connected with the history of the order in the West. Robert Roth, the founder of Pythianism in Missouri, came to Kansas City in 1870. He had been previously admitted to the order, and soon after his arrival took steps to form a lodge in Kansas City. In February, 1870, he issued a call for a meet ing of citizens to consider the propriety of organizing a lodge, which was held at Vaughn's Diamond, a hall then located at the junction of Main and Dela ware streets, and attended by the following persons : Robert Roth, Sol Smith, Theo. Streittler, C. M. Kendall, H. St. Clair, Charles Herold, Jacob Bohlender, Henry Scheid, August Weber, P. Cooper, S. C. Define, H, S. Marvin, Samuel Hulme, James De Luce, Anton Antlander, G. W. Dyas, W. F. Marshall, Oscar Pearsons, George R. Filer, L. M. Thompson and S. Brill. At this meeting it was resolved that an appHcation be made to organize a lodge in this city, to be known as Kansas City Lodge No. i. Knights of Pythias, of Missouri. At a sub sequent meeting Robert Roth, J. E. Neal, Samuel Hulme, Sol. Bertenstein, M. H. Card, August Weber, Henry Scheid, Theodore Streittler and F. A. Taft signed an application for a dispensation to organize the lodge, which was grant ed, and on May 5, 1 8 70, Past Grand Chancellor John Q. Goss, of Nebraska, came to Kansas City, and in due form instituted Kansas City Lodge No. i, the first officers of which were Robert Roth, worthy chanceHor ; Samuel .Hulme, vice-chancellor; J. E. Neal, venerable patriarch; M. H. Card, recording secre tary; Samuel Bertenstein, financial secretary; August Weber, banker; Henry i8o History of Kansas City. Scheid, guide ; Theo. Streittler, inside sentinel, and F. A. Taft, outside sentinel. This lodge, although it had its times of adversity, is to-day the strongest lodge in the State of Missouri, and has over three hundred members. Of its origmal charter members none remain in the lodge at the present time. Robert Roth, the institutor of the lodge, remained an active member until his death in March 1884. To his ever ready willingness to aid the order, the cause of friendship, charity and benevolence, the cardinal principles of Pythianism owe much in Kansas City and Missouri. At the organization of the grand lodge of Missouri, it was desired to recognize his eminent services in behalf of the order by his elec tion to the office of venerable patriarch, but he declined the nomination. He afterwards became a past grand chancellor by virtue of service. Kansas City Lodge meets at Pythian Hall, northwest corner of Main and Eleventh streets, on Monday evenings. Present officers M. F. Campbell, chancellor commander ; E. Mormon, vice-chancellor commander; J. E. Rush, prelate; J. H. Haw thorne, keeper of record and seal ; W. H. Rogers, master of exchequer. Kansas City Lodge was represented by Thomas Phelan, Robert Roth and Joseph L. Norman, at the institution of the Grand Lodge of Missouri, at St. Louis July 7, 1 87 1. Among the first officers of the Grand Lodge was Charles D. Lucas of this city, as grand vice-chancellor. Humboldt Lodge No. 4, the second lodge organized in the State, was insti tuted June 30, 1870. It is composed entirely of Germans and has eighty- nine members. Present officers : William Lemlke, chancellor commander; F. Miller, vice-chancellor commander; Ernst Sontag, prelate; J. C. Kempf, keeper of records and seals ; J. G. Springer, master of exchequer. Meetings are held every Tuesday at 617 Main street. Sicilian Lodge No. 39 was organized February 11, 1876, with thirty-two charter members, and at present has 175 members. Present officers: Nat. C. Vincent chancellor commander ; C. A. Wasson, vice-chancellor commander ; Ted Woertley, prelate ; Frank GHmore, keeper of records and seals ; H. T. Wright, master of exchequer. Meets Friday evenings at 601 Main street. Svea Lodge No. 93 was organized October 29, 1883. It is composed en tirely of Swedes, and has a membership of sixty-seven. Present officers : John Jacobson, chancellor commander; J. F. Lind, vice-chancellor commander; Charles Johnson, prelate ; John Sumerson, keeper of records and seals ; A. R. Jackson, master of exchequer. Meets at Orient Hall Tuesday evenings. Mid- Continent Lodge No. lOO was instituted in 1884, and now has a mem bership of 74. Meets Monday evenings at A. O. U. W. HaH, corner of Eighth and Main streets. Mechanics' Lodge No. 106 was instituted in August, 1885, and has sixty-four members Present officers : D. V. Kern, chancellor-commander ; John Mul- holland, vice-chancellor commander; O. WiHiam Wilmont prelate ; W. O. Mc- Kinney, keeper of records and seals ; R. H. Maybury, master of exchequer. Meets every Tuesday evening corner of Eighteenth and Locust streets. ^'ij/ICWiBums iSraW. yL^- Religious, Social, Secret Societies, Etc. i8i Western Star Lodge No. 109 was instituted in 1885, and has 60 members. Meets every Friday evening at Forrester's HaH, 121 5 west Ninth street Woodland Lodge No. 116 was instituted March 21, 1887, with ninety-eight charter members. Officers: Dr. Eugene J. Chassagne, chancellor commander; William E. Wilson, vice-chancellor commander; James S. Boyden, keeper of records and seals. Meets every Friday evening at A. O. U. W. HaH, 1208 ¦east Ninth street. Brooklyn Lodge No. 118 was instituted June 28, 1887, with thirty-seven charter members. Officers: J. K. LiddeH, chancellor commander; W. H. Nichols, keeper of records and seals ; Peter Haase, master of exchequer; Frank Alms, master of finance. Meets Tuesday evenings at northeast corner of Fif teenth street and Brooklyn avenue. The uniformed rank in the Knights of Pythias was created in 1878, and a few years after this branch was introduced in Kansas City. Among the first •corps of officers of the Grand Division of Missouri was Sir Knight S. B. Pre- vost, of Kansas City, as quartmaster. There are four divisions of the uni formed rank in Kansas City, as follows : Kansas City Division No. 3 ; North Star Division No. 10; Davis Division No. 22, and Gate City Division No. 24. The Endowment Rank of Knights of Pythias was first introduced at the Cleveland session in 1877. This is an insurance feature of the order, and has become a strong and important element in Pythianism. There is but one division in Kansas City, known as Endowment Rank No. 52, which meets at the corner of Sixth and Main streets the fourth Thursday of each month. The Pythian representatives from Kansas City at the session of the Grand Lodge for 1887 were George Runyan, William H. Rogers, D. S. Kelley, J. H. Hawthorne, WiHiam Clough, Thomas Agan, H. W. Zurn, E. H. Jenkins, A. D. Simon, John S. Sutherland, E. R. Pederson, Lionel Moise, Alex. Ragan, John Hoffman, A. E. Ashbrook and J. L. Vanemann. Among those from Kansas City who have been prominent in the State organization of the Knights of Pythias are R. H. Maybury, supreme represen tative ; James L. Buford, grand chancellor ; M. D. Wood, past grand chan cellor ; F. R. Allen, grand chancellor ; J. F. Spalding, supreme representa tive. Charles D. Lucas, of this city, has been an especially active friend of the order. He was the first grand vice-chancellor of Missouri. He was also the originator, and started the first two lodges in the jurisdiction of Kansas. At the session of the Supreme Lodge of the World, held in Philadelphia in 1876, he was elected supreme prelate. INDEPENDENT ORDER OF ODD FELLOWS. This is the first secret organization which obtained a foothold in Kansas City, Wyandotte Lodge No. 35, having been instituted in August, 1848, by J. C. Ranson, of Weston. Among its original members were J. S. Chick, J. 24 ^^2 History of Kansas City. W. Summers, James A. Gregory and Charies Long, the latter being the only member still connected with the lodge. Its lodge room was originally located on the levee. It has at present the largest membership of any lodge of this order in the city. Meetings are held Friday evening at I. O. O. F. HaH, 531 Main street. Lincoln Lodge No. 173 was instituted soon after the close of the war. It is mostly composed of Germans and has a large membership. Meets Monday evenings at I. O. O. F. HaH, 531 Main street The remaining lodges are Kansas City Lodge No. 257; Ridgeley Lodge No. 43S- Kansas City Encampment No. 27 was organized in 1880. Officers : George Gray, C. P., C. S. Scudder, secretary; W. W. Wood, treasurer Kansas City Canton No. 14 was instituted in 1883, and is a branch of the miHtary portion of the order. Officers : R. H. Maybury, captain ; W. W. Wood, lieutenant ; C. C. Whitmeyer, ensign. Meets at Armory HaH, corner of Grand avenue and Fifteenth street ANCIENT ORDER OF HIBERNIANS. This is an organization composed of Irishmen, or those of partial Irish de scent, in good standing in the Catholic Church. It is a co-operative Hfe and benefit association, and has grown to be a powerful organization aH over the United States. Since its organization in this country it has paid over $35,000- in sick benefits and insurance. The first division of the order. instituted in Kansas City was Division No. i, organized in June, 1872. Among its charter members who are still members of the order in this city were Thomas Doyle, Andrew Vaughn, present State treasurer ; M. Regan and Y. Kavanagh. This division has no members. Its officers are James Cannon, president; P. O'Donnell, vice-president; M. Tierney, secretary; M. Donahoe, recording sec retary; Thomas Doyle, treasurer Meetings are held the first Monday of each month, corner of Eighth and Cherry streets. Division No. 2 was organized in June, 1880, with eight charter members, and has a present membership of eighty- five. Officers : Robert DonneHy, president; James O'Donnell, vice-president; D. SuHivan, financial secretary; J. J. Mullins, recording secretary; William O'Connor, treasurer Meetings are held the first Tuesday in each month at 1209 East Ninth street Division No. 3 was organized in January, 1881, and has seventy- two mem bers Officers: M. Lynch, president; Thomas Conway, vice-president; M- White, financial secretary ; A. Keating, recording secretary ; M. J. Madick,. treasurer Meets first Sunday in each month at 1401 Grand avenue. Division No. 4 was organized in September, 1881, and has sixty members. Officers : P. Hogarty, president ; Edward Doherty, vice-president ; M. Joyce^ financial secretary; Thomas Sanders, recording secretary; Thomas Glynn' Religious, Social, Secret Societies, Etc. 183 treasurer Meets first Tuesday in each month at 15 19 West Twelfth street. Division No. 5 was organized in May, 1887, and has twenty-five members. Officers : Edward Cunningham, president ; James P. Maher, vice-president ; Joseph McGrain, financial secretary; M. Walshe, recording secretary ; Edward Duffy, treasurer. Meets second Sunday of each month at 1201 East Fifth street. The county officers of the Ancient Order of Hibernians residing in Kansas City, are : Thomas McNerney, delegate, and M. Walshe, secretary. ANCIENT ORDER OF UNITED WORKMEN. Among the secret beneficiary associations of the world none have made more rapid strides or accompHshed more satisfactory results than the Ancient Order of United Workmen. The first organization of the order was perfected at Meadville, Pa., in 1868, and within two decades it has grown to number 2,500 lodges, with more than 180,000 members, and in the short period of its existence has paid to the widows and orphans of deceased members over $16,- 000,000, $1,200,000 of which sum has been paid in the State of Missouri since 1875, the date of the introduction of the order in this State. The first attempt to establish a lodge of this order in Kansas City did not prove a success. It was known as the Frontier Lodge, and was instituted in 1878. In 1879 the Excelsior Lodge was organized, but it never attained a vig orous existence. It was not untH May 7, 1880, when Kansas City Lodge, No. 185, was organized, that the A. O. U. W. gained a substantial foothold in Kansas City. From that date to the present, the history of the order in this city reveals a most satisfactory record, the result of the untiring zeal and well directed labors of its local managers and warm friends. Their efforts have made it, in numbers, the strongest secret organization in the city, having a membership of about fifteen hundred men. The first officers of Kansas City Lodge were Dr. M. L. Campbell, master -workman ; D. S. Harriman, foreman ; W. L. Pitcher, o-verseer ; John H. Krull, guide ; Fred W. Averill, recorder ; M. B. Bower, financier ; H. J. Brun- ner, treasurer ; George Lohr, inside watchman. Two months after the forma tion of this lodge. Excelsior Lodge gave up its charter, and most of its members united with the Kansas City Lodge. The present membership is about one hundred and ninety. The present officers are : J. B. Sullivan, P. M. W. ; N. B. McPherson, M. W. ; J. Stevenson, foreman ; G. W. French, over seer ; George Satterly, guide ; Dr. J. W. Norman, receiver ; D. A. Williams, financier ; E. C. Bernard, receiver Meetings of this lodge were first held in the German Knights of Pythias Hall opposite the post-office, but after a brief period at this location, the present quarters, northwest corner of Eleventh and Main streets were secured. 1 84 History of Kansas City. Summit Lodge No. 272, was instituted May 11, 1883, with fifteen members, by Deputy Grand Master Fred. W. Averill. It has now about one hundred members. J. W. Darrow was its first master workman. The present officers are: Dr Hal. Foster, M.W. ; W. A. Lohrman, recorder; F. W. Sears, lodge deputy. Meetings are held every Monday evening at southeast corner of Six teenth and Penn streets. Terrace City Lodge No. 276, was instituted May 25, 1883. The first mas ter workman was M. Cunningham. Its present officers are : Vxed. Getty, master workman ; J. H. Hough, recorder ; L. Lindsey, lodge deputy. Meet ings are held every Monday evening at southeast corner of Fourteenth street and Grand avenue. Membership 80. Steuben Lodge No. 280. This is a German branch of the A. O. U. W. It was organized July 6, 1883, and has a present membership of ninety. George Lohr was the first master workman of the lodge. The present officers are t George jH. Blumb, past master workman ; Richard F. Moore, master work man ; Fred. Hartman, recorder; Fabian Koellar, financier; Joseph Moennig- hoff, treasurer; Fred. Hulse, guide. Meetings are held second and fourth Wednesdays of each month at A. O. U. W. hall, southwest corner of Eighth and Main streets. Gate City Lodge No. 290, was instituted October 15, 1883, with J. I. Maise as master workman. Its present membership is ninety. Officers : Jerry O.'Connell, past master workman ; Dr. E. F. Brady, master workman ; E. M. Faden, recorder; H. A. Young, financier; Dr. T S. White, medical examiner; H. Miller, guide ; J. I. Maise, receiver. Meetings are held every Wednesday night at 121 5 West Ninth street Woodland Lodge No. 298, was instituted December 31, 1883, with J. H. North as master workman. This lodge commenced with twenty charter mem bers and now has a membership of about one hundred and ninety. In 1885 it erected an A. O. U. W. haH 1208 East Ninth street, which is one of the finest in the State. J. N. Barnes is master workman ; G. W. Rowley, recorder, and G. M. D. Knox, lodge deputy. Muskegon Lodge No. 303, was instituted January 31, 1884. C. J. Williams was the first master workman. The present officers are : Dr. H. O. Leonard, master workman ; W. L. Kay, recorder, and P. SmaH, lodge deputy. The present membership is about one hundred. Lodge rooms A, O. U. W. hall, corner of Eighteenth street and Lydia avenue. Bacon Lodge No. 357, was instituted August 23, 1884, with fifteen charter members, and has now a membership of one hundred and fifty. G. H. Bacon was its first master workman. Its present officers are : L. Thalman, master workman ; F. C. McCarthy, recorder, and R. W. Wright, lodge deputy. Meetings are held every Monday evening at A. O. U. W. hall, 720 Main street Bellview Lodge No. 357, was organized in 1885 with ten members Its first Religious, Social, Secret Societies, Etc. 185: officers were : R. W. Wright, master workman ; J. S. Summerwell, receiver, and Frank McCarthy, recorder. Dr. G. C. Mosher is the present master workman, the remaining officers being the same. Meetings of this lodge are held every Wednesday evening at southeast corner of Twenty- first street and Bellview Avenue. Hugo Lodge No. 247, was instituted with twelve members in 1885. It now has a membership of fifty-five. J. Davidson is master workman ; J. E. Fleming, recorder; H. C. Weaver, lodge deputy. Meetings are held every Friday night at A. O. U. W. hall, corner of Twelfth street and Flora avenue. Darrow Lodge No. 246, was instituted in 1885, and now has a membership of fifty. F. H. McLanathan is master workman ; W. W. Lysle, recorder, and William Kerr, lodge deputy. Meetings are held every Wednesday evening at the corner of Eleventh and Holly streets. Alcutt Lodge No. 241, was organized February 2, 1886. Dr. J. F. Brooks was its first past master workman. The present officers are : G. F. Laughlin, past master workman ; J. J. Huntington, master workman ; John Ailor, fore man ; John Steadman, overseer; E. J. Overly, financier; Ed. Lane, guide; Dr. O. F. Jones, medical examiner. Meetings are held every Wednesday evening at A. O. U. W. hall, East Bottom. Mutual Lodge No. 208, was instituted February 6, 1887, with ten mem bers, and now numbers one hundred. Officers : Albert Calvert, past master workman ; Silas Slosser, master workman ; J. C. Tobin, recorder, and Dr. T. J. Beattie, medical examiner. Upchurch Lodge No. 7,^6, was instituted in March, 1887, and has eighty members. Clark Jones is past master workman ; J. E. Spangler, master workman, and E. W. Severance, recorder. Averill Lodge No. 388, was instituted May 14, 1887, and has eighty-five members. Its officers are : Dr. G. A. Graham, master workman ; C. J. Lo- rella, recorder, and E. A. J. Hayter, lodge deputy. Lodge room northeast corner of Fifth street and Forrest avenue. Linnwood Lodge No. 396, was organized August 6, 1887, and has seventy- five members. Its officers are : D. G. Hewitt past master workman ; Dr. D.. T. Brooks, master workman ; Edwin Hann, recorder ; James J. Little, finan cier ; W. S. Peek, receiver, and Dr. D. T Brooks, medical examiner. There are five legions of the Select Knights of the Ancient Order of United Workmen in Kansas City. They are composed of members of subordi nate lodges and form a part of the uniformed or military portion of the order. The Kansas City legions are known as the Kansas City Legion No. 33, organ ized in 1882, Captain O. P. Smith, commander; Enterprise Legion No. 79, or ganized 1884, Captain L. P. Dederick, commander; Gate City Legion No. 80,. organized in 1884, Captain T. S. White, commander. Advance Legion No. 83, Captain H. A. Boardman, commander; Upchurch Legion No. loi, or- 1 86 History of Kansas City. ganized in 1887, Captain S. B. Griswold, commander. These five legions, with five others in this section of Missouri, from the fourth regiment of the first brigade, first division. The officers of the regiment are : colonel, T. C. ¦CaldweH; colonel, O. Guntel ; adjutant W. K. Sweet; quartermaster, H. A. Young; commissary, D. G. Hewitt; surgeon, C. W. BurreH. The first department of Missouri is under command of General Fred W. Averill, of Kansas City. The other resident officers are F. W. Sears, grand heutenant- commander, and Dr J. T. Craig, grand medical examiner In the buHding up of the order of United Workmen in Kansas City, much is due to the labors of Fred W. Averill, who, from the incipiency of the organ ization in this city, has been an earnest advocate of its principles and has de voted much time to their promotion. He is grand foreman of the Grand Lodge of Missouri and representative to the Supreme Legion. ORDER OF THE ORIENT. This is a social organization. Hellespont Council No. 1673, its first branch, was instituted May 14, 1883, by A. M. Preston. Meets every Saturday even ing at Orient Hall, 5 1 1 Delaware street Officers : J. H. Worthen, pa di shah ; George E. Runyan, grand secretary. Alhambra Council No. 1968 was instituted May 13, 1886, by J. L. Vanne- mann, deputy supreme pa di shah. Meets second and fourth Saturdays. Of ficers : George Field, grand pa di shah ; Fred Meyers, grand secretary. Cleopatra Council No. 1915 was instituted October 5, 1887, by J. L. Van- neman. Meets three times a month at the corner of Fifteenth street and Brooklyn avenue. Officers : G. E. Heydon, grand pa di shah ; W. H. Nich- •ols, grand secretary. The Supreme Council, Grand Order of the Orient, was instituted at Orient Hall March 19, 1887, by Samuel I. Osmond, supreme sultan. Officers: A. M. Preston, sr., past supreme pa di shah ; J. L. Vanneman, supreme pa di shah ; George Field, supreme vizier ; W. H. Reed, supreme prophet ; George E. Runyan, supreme secretary ; Benjamin D. West, supreme treasurer ; J. P. Knoche, supreme herald ; E. H. Ormsby, supreme wardsman ; J. T. Boland, supreme videtta. KNIGHTS OF HONOR. This is a beneficiary society, founded at Louisville, Ky., in 1873, and first introduced in the State of Missouri, at St. Louis, in March, 1874. Its objects as set forth in the constitution of the order are: "To unite fraternally all ac ceptable white men of every profession business and occupation ; to give all moral and material aid in its power to members of the order, and upon the death of a member to pay his heirs $2,000." The Grand Lodge of Missouri was organized January i, 1875, since which time the order has grown rapidly and now numbers over 6,000 members in this State. Religious, Social, Secret Societies, Etc. 187- The first lodge organized in this city was the Kansas City Lodge No. 1255,. instituted in 1877, which is the largest local branch of the order in the city. It has over a hundred members. Meetings are held the first and third Tues days of each month, at 1044 Main street J. H. Miller is dictator, and I. S. Helburn, reporter. Gate City Lodge No. 1256 is composed entirely of Germans. Meetings are held the first and third Wednesdays of each month, at 1044 Main street. Officers : E. Bischofsberger, dictator ; W. M. Gabel, reporter. Corona Lodge No. 3298, meets at southeast corner of Sixth and Main streets. Officers : E. E. McMehan, dictator ; F. W. Walker, reporter Protection Lodge No. 1024, meets in the A. O. U. W. hall, corner of Ninth street and Forest avenue. Officers : J. D. Davidson, dictator ; Fred Bohle, reporter. West Kansas City Lodge No. 2097, meets in Forrester Hall, West Ninth street. Officers : R. H. Dellehunt, dictator ; H. B. Prindle, reporter The above lodges have a total membership of about 400. J. W. True- worthy is grand dictator of the Grand Lodge of Missouri, and it is largely owing to his labors that the Kansas City lodges are in a flourishing condition. The Knights and Ladies of Honor was originally a branch order of the Knights of Honor, but is now an independent organization. The first lodge in Kansas City was organized in 1881, and is known as Riverside Lodge, No. 371. It meets in Pythian HaH, the second and fourth Tuesdays of each month. Offi cers Mrs. Augusta Nagle, protector ; A. Spalding, secretary ; J. C. Craven, financial secretary ; J. T. Reton, treasurer Kansas City Lodge No. 1024, meets at Pythian Hall, second and fourth Fri days of each month. Officers Walter Norton, protector; Mrs. Bessie E. Young,. secretary. Flora Lodge No. 1084, meets every Tuesday evening at 1803 Woodland avenue. Officers Z. M. Hobson, protector; S. B. Waters, secretary; Mrs. E. C. Hobson treasurer. The above three lodges of the Knights and Ladies of Honor have a mem bership of about two hundred. At the last annual meeting of the grand lodge of this order, Mrs. Mary Goeger of this city was elected grand vice-president.. ORDER OF THE IRON HALL. The main object of this society is for mutual aid, which is attained solely by the co-operative principle. It is an incorporated co-operative fraternity offering pecuniary assistance to all acceptable white men, by a method that is extremely simple and economical. The order was organized in Indianapolis, March 28, 1881, and incorporated under the laws of Indiana, and although it is a young institution it has already been estabHshed in twenty-eight States. During the last six years over $900,000 has been paid in sick benefits. In History of Kansas City. Kansas City the order has become especially strong, and is in a healthy and growing condition. Local Brajich No. 5 i was instituted November 30, 1 88 1, and at present has thirty-five members. G. W. Rawley is chief justice, and J. E. Owings account ant Meetings are held the first and third Thursdays of each month at Hum boldt HaH. Local Branch No. 236 was instituted March 24, 1885. Its officers are L. Mainhardt chief justice ; J. H. Shaw, vice-chief justice ; J. W. Trueworthy, cashier; J. C. Anderson, accountant; E. E. McMechan, past chief justice. This branch has a membership of fifty, and meets second and fourth Thursdays of each month, at the southwest corner of eighth and Main streets. Local Branch No. 270 was organized August 12, 1885. Dr. Stanley Fields is chief justice; S. N. Parker, vice-chief justice ; Dr A. A. Freyman, account ant; J. R. Wasson, cashier; F. A. Freeman, past chief justice. This order has a membership of one hundred. Meetings are held every other Wednesday at the northeast corner of Fifth and Forest avenues. Local Branch No. 3888, the fourth in the order of institution has a member ship of forty. W. W. Ridenbaugh is chief justice. Local Branch No. 412 was instituted November 29, 1886, and at present has one hundred members Its officers are N. W. Filkins, chief justice; Dr W. P. Cutler, accountant and medical examiner; H. D. Wilson, cashier, and S. V. Clute, vice-chief justice. Meetings are held the first and third Tuesdays of each month at the southwest corner of Eighth and Main streets. Local Branch No. A,i42 was instituted February 25, 1887, and has thirty-five members. W. E. L Patterson is chief justice; W. C. Hare, accountant; C. E. Duncan, cashier; J. L. Norman, vice-chief justice. Meetings are held the first and third Friday of each month, at the corner of Fourth street and Grand avenue. E. E. McMechan of this city, has been especially active in the organization of the order of the Iron Hall in this section. He is at present deputy supreme justice and secretary of the committee on laws and supervision of the supreme sitting. COMMERCIAL ORGANIZATIONS. The Board of Trade. — In previous pages of this work may be found a his tory of this organization up to its incorporation. May 9, 1876. The particu lars connected with the erection of the building at the corner of Fifth and Delaware streets are sufficiently set forth in these pages, and since the erection of this building the Board of Trade has been a potent factor in the develop ment of the city's commerce By January, 1885, the value of a certificate of membership had risen from $100 to $500. About this time it was found that the building was not in all respects adequate to the necessities of the board, and it was seriously questioned and discussed by tfte members whether it was Religious, Social, Secret Societies, Etc. 189 or was not advisable to erect a new buHding. In February, 1885, a committee was appointed, consisting of H. J. Latshaw, A. J. Mead and John W. Moore, to fully consider this question. It was well known at that time that there were several parties in the city desirous of giving to the board sufficient ground upon which to erect a building, upon the condition that a building should be erected upon the ground to cost not less than a certain specified sum. In the follow ing June the committee above named reported that ground on the northwest corner of Eighth and Wyandotte streets and running through to Central street, 120 feet on Wyandotte and Central streets, and 172 feet on Eighth, had been offered to the board on the condition that the board would erect thereon a building to cost not less than $300,000. This proposition was accepted. At this time, however, the board was advised that its organization was not ade quate in law to the holding of property, and that it would be necessary for it to become a stock company. A new charter was therefore obtained, and the organization became known as "The Exchange Building Association." In making the transfer from one organization to the other the Exchange Building Association accepted the property of the Board of Trade and paid for it in stock of the association, taking the memberships in the board at $500 each. The Exchange Building Association commenced operations with a capital of $208,000, which it soon increased to $250,000. Since then its capital stock has been so increased that now it is $350,000. Soon after the reorganization and the placing of the stock, a building com mittee was appointed, consisting of Edward H. Allen, H. J. Latshaw, T. B, BuHene, W. B. Grimes, and Benjamin McLean. This committee engaged Professor William R. Ware, of Columbia College, N. Y., as a professional ad viser, and together with him originated a scheme of architectural competition which was considered and pronounced the most perfect and complete of any ever known in the United States. About sixty of the leading architects in the country competed for the work, which was finally given to Messrs. Burnham & Root, of Chicago, who prepared plans and had everything ready for the letting of the contract for the construction of the building by the fall of 1886. This contract was let by competition, in a manner similar to that for the arch itectural designs, to John Pennington and his associates, of Kansas City, who entered upon the construction of the work in November, 1886, and expect to have the buHding ready for occupancy in June, 1888. This new Board of Trade building is a seven-story structure, of brick and terra cotta, and is strictly fire-proof It is 120 by 172 feet on the ground, and is about one hundred feet high. The tower rises to a height of two hundred feet above the curb. It has an open court in front, thus presenting two fronts on Eighth Street This court is enclosed in a grand entrance way, sealed and wainscoted with marble and covered with glass. The west wing of the buHd ing contains a hall 58 by 1 14 feet, and occupying the three upper stories. In 25 190 History of Kansas City. the east wing there is a smaller hall for the use of the call board. The build ing is heated with steam and lighted with both electricity and gas. The in terior is finished with hard wood and in the very highest style of architecural art. When completed the entire cost will be about $700,000, exclusive of the ground. The ground was, as stated above, donated to the board, and is now estimated to be worth about $300,000, thus making the entire property worth $1,000,000. The building contains one hundred and fifty-two office rooms, besides one of the most elegant bank rooms in the United States. It is well supplied with vaults built in stacks, so that almost every office has a vault of its own. It also has an elegant restaurant on the seventh floor. The vari ous parts of the building are now being rented. The Commercial Club, an organization similar in its objects to the Board of Trade, the Kansas City Smelting Company, one of the largest of the kind in the United States, the Kansas City Gas Company, the grain merchants, and agents of several of the railroad companies have already secured offices in this building, thus making •it the business center of the city. The building committee in 1886 was composed of E. H. Allen, Webb Withers, Benjamin McLean, L. R. Moore, and H. J. Latshaw. In 1887 it •consisted of the same gentlemen, except that H. M. Holden took the place of Benjamin McLean. The stock of the association consists of seven hundred shares, the actual value of each share, as well as its nominal value, being now $500. After the Exchange Building Association had taken the place of the Board of Trade, it was found that as a stock company it was not properly constituted for the maintenance of a daily exchange. It was therefore provided in its charter that it should maintain a commercial exchange, which it has since done by the ¦organization of two departments — a Board of Trade and a Board of Transpor tation. Each department is in a certain sense independent in itself, the busi ness in each department being managed by a committee. These two com mittees are, however, in the management of their affairs, subject to the board of directors of the Exchange Building Association. Following is a complete list of the officers of the Board of Trade and of the Exchange Building Association since 1875 : 1876. — Dr F. B. Noffsinger, president; T K. Hanna, first vice-president; W. A. M. Vaughan, second vice-president ; W. H. Miller, secretary ; H. M. Holden, treasurer. 1877. — Dr F. B. Noffsinger, president; S. B. Armour, first vice-president; C. E. Kearney, second vice-president ; W. H. Miller, secretary ; H. M. Holden, treasurer. 1878. — H. M. Holden, president; C. E. Kearney, first vice-pVesident ; S. B. Armour, second vice-president ; W. H. Miller, secretary and treasurer. 1879. — C. H. Prescott president; C. E. Kearney, first vice-president; J. M. Nave, second vice-president ; W. H. MiHer, secretary and treasurer. Religious, Social, Secret Societies, Etc. 191 1880. — C. H. Prescott and James M. Nave, presidents ; Webb Withers, first vice-president; James M. Nave and E. L Martin, second vice-presidents ; W. H. Miller, secretary and treasurer. 1 88 1. — K. Coates, president; J. S. Chick, first vice-president; T. A, Wright, second vice-president; W. H. Miller, secretary and treasurer. 1882. — T. B. BuHene, president; J. S. Chick, first vice-president; T. A. Wright, second vice-president; W. H. Miller, secretary and treasurer. 1883. — T. B. BuHene, president; J. S. Chick, first 'vice-president ; T A. Wright, second vice-president; W. H. MHler, secretary and treasurer. 1884. — J. S. Chick, president; Thomas A. Wright first vice-president; C, S. Wheeler, second vice-president ; W. H. Miller, secretary and treasurer. 1885. — E. H. Allen, president; L. R. Moore, first vice-president; J. J. Squier, second vice-president; W. H. MiHer, secretary and treasurer. 1886. — E. H. Allen, president ; Webb Withers, first vice-president ; H. M. Holden, second vice-president; W. H. Miller, secretary; W. H. Winants, treasurer. 1887. — E. H. AHen, president; H. M. Holden, first vice-president, H. M. Kirkpatrick, second vice-president ; W. H. MHler, secretary ; W. H. Winants, treasurer. Merchants' and Manufacturers' Bureau. — This is an association of about one hundred and fifty business men of Kansas City, formed in December, 1886, for the purpose of showing to the world the natural resources of the city in a commercial way, and to invite, encourage and foster the establishment of mer cantile and manufacturing enterprises. The work of the bureau has been pro ductive of great good in this direction, and has been the means of securing, in the city, many important business houses and factories which have materially added to the prosperity of Kansas City. The first officers of the bureau were E. L. Martin, president ; H. M. Holden, P. D. Ridenour, C. F. Morse, vice-pres idents, and Theo. S. Case, secretary. M. H. Crawford is the present secretary. The Mercantile Exchange of Kansas City. — For some few years many of the prominent men of the city have desired to unite themselves into an asso ciation for mutual protection against losses through the extending credit sys tem, which would, at the same time, constitute itself a safeguard for the hon est merchant in the country. So the purpose of forming an association was carried out in September, 1886, Mr. Ryerson Ritchie being appointed secretary. Some meetings were held in the Board of Trade and others in the Hotel Bruns wick, until the organization was perfected, which was done in the latter part of September, 1886, by thirty-one wholesale firms, as charter members. An of fice was secured in the Alamo buHding, corner of Seventh and Delaware, and the Exchange opened on October 2. At the election of officers the foHowing gentlemen were chosen to serve for the next year : William B. Grimes, presi dent ; William A. Wilson, first vice-president ; L. E. Irwin, second vice-presi- 192 History of Kansas City. dent ; William Peake, treasurer ; Ryerson Ritchie, secretary ; directors : Wil Ham B. Grimes, WHHam A. Wilson, L. E. Irwin, WilHam Peake, John A. McDonald, F. A. Faxon, H. W. Baker, Joseph Cahn, Niles H. Hand. From the first the distinguishing feature of the exchange has been its Com mercial Credit Bureau, through which the merchants give each other their " ex periences " with country dealers. The system is relied upon to faithfully rep resent the standing of the seeker after credit. From a membership of thirty-one, the exchange gradually increased its list until at the first annual meeting in October, 1887, there were one hundred of the representative wholesale merchants and manufacturers of the city connected with it. This number has greatly increased by the addition of new wholesale manufacturing firms, until it may be said that there is not a firm in this city doing a jobbing business which does not extend its support to the exchange. The exchange is not confined to Kansas City trade, for at its first annual meeting unanimous resolutions were passed to give all the Missouri River wholesale trade the advantages of its system. As a result the leading mer chants of Atchison, St. Joseph and Leavenworth have been admitted. Thus the jobbing trade of the entire Missouri Valley co-operate for each other's pro tection. The officers for the present year are as foHows : J. K. Burnham, president; H. W. Baker, first vice-president ; Joseph Cahn, second vice-president; Wil liam Peake, treasurer ; Ryerson Ritchie, secretary ; directors : H. W. Baker, J. K. Burnham, Joseph Cahn, J. D. Davison, WiHiam B. Grimes, L. E. Irwin, WiHiam Peake, E. D. MulhoHand and W. A. Wilson. Perhaps the most important result of the organization of the Mercantile Ex change, is the establishment of the Commercial Club of Kansas City, which is reaUy the Chamber of Commerce of Kansas City, and is its most representa tive commercial body. To explain its aims and objects, we can perhaps do no better than to give the following from its articles of association : "The objects of the association shall be to promote the progress, extension and in crease of the trade and industries of Kansas City, acquire and disseminate valuable commercial and economical information, promote just and equitable principles of trade, and foster the highest commercial integrity among those engaged in the various lines of business represented ; to increase acquaintance ship among its members and facilitate the speedy adjustment, by arbitration of business disputes ; to interchange views and secure concerted action upon mat ters of public interest, freely discuss and correct abuses, using such means as may be best calculated to protect the interests and rights of its members as business men and citizens, looking chiefly toward the commercial development of the city." The following is a list of gentlemen elected to serve until September i, 1 888 : William B. Grimes, president ; L. E. Irwin, first vice-president; E. L. Martin £nfty£QmHw.ms aEr^Vl'^' Religious, Social, Secret Societies, Etc. 193 second vice-president; W. J. Anderson, treasurer ; Ryerson Ritchie, secretary. T. B. BuHene, Joseph Cahn, George W. Fuller, A. R. Meyer, J. G. Stowe, E. M. Brannick, Kimber L. Barton, S. W. Gregory, James M. Nave, A. G. Trum bull, T. F. Willis, directors. MISCELLANEOUS ASSOCIATIONS. Caledonian Society. — This is a charitable organization composed entirely of Scotchmen, and is a body politic and corporate instituted in September, 1869, under the laws of the State of Missouri. The object of the society is to raise a fund for the purpose of assisting worthy Scotchmen or their famiHes, and to cultivate feeHngs of mutual friendship among their fellow countrymen. Among the original charter members were R. S. Patterson, Mathew Dunlop, and John Stark. The society now numbers one hundred and six members. The pres- •ent officers are David T. Keiler, president ; Thomas D. Samuel, vice-presi dent ; Mathew Dunlop, treasurer, and Robert P. McLean, secretary. Clan McLean No. 9, Order of Scottish Clans of Missouri, was organized January 24, 1884, and has a membership of sixty- two. It is a beneficiary society composed of Scotchmen or sons of Scotchmen. Officers : Robert R. McLean, chief; Charles MacKenzie, tanist ; C. A. Wasson, secretary; James Sivewright, financial secretary. Meetings are held twice a month at the cor ner of Fourteenth street and Grand avenue. This clan was named in honor of Robert R. McLean. Kansas City Turner Society. — This is one of the oldest social organizations in Kansas City, and was organized February 27, 1857, by a limited number of 'German residents of that period. The material growth of the society has kept abreast with the unparalleled development which is characteristic of the lead ing institutions of the city. On the advent of the war of the rebellion, the organization was suspended, the members formed a military company, devoted the contents of the treasury, $800, to the purchase of equipments, and joined their fortunes with the National government. Besides being in active service •around Kansas City, they took part in the battle of Wilson Creek, and finaHy with the exception of a few, enlisted for the term of the war. In May, 1865, after the return of sfeveral of its original members to Kansas City, the society was reorganized, and immediately began the construction of a frame hall south east corner of Tenth and Main streets, which was supplemented in 1871 with a brick front. In 1881 this property was sold and the present Turner Hall erected .at a cost of $60,000, the value of the site and building being now estimated at $125,000. The tendency of the society is physical and mental culture, " Mens .sana in corpore sano" is its motto. A finely equipped gymnasium is a promi nent feature of the society, where a class of over two hundred receive gymnas tic instruction. Membership is not restricted to party or creed. No political ibarriers are raised against admission save that of citizenship, every member 194 History of Kansas City. must be an American citizen. Although a distinctive German organization, its membership is not restricted to nationality. The patriotic fidelity of its members to the laws of the land has been proved by the severe test of the bat tle field, and as an organization its influence has ever been exerted in behalf of good government, both local and national. The present membership of the society numbers two hundred and includes some of the most progressive and public spirited of our German citizens Its officers are Henry J. Lampe, first speaker; Carl Beck, second speaker; Charles M. Graennsser, secretary; Charles Fuchs, financial secretary; Ernest Hoennig, treasurer; August Hachman, first teacher ; Frank Neutwig, second teacher ; Robert Uhlbrich, custodian ; Emil Woerner, librarian, and E. H. Geiss, manager. United Wheelmen. — Until a recent date there were two societies of bicy- cHsts in Kansas City, the Outing Cyclists and the Kansas City Wheelmen organ ized in 1884. They were consohdated in November, 1887, under the name of the United Wheelmen, which now numbers over forty members. Club rooms are located corner of Ninth and Broadway in the Willard building. The offi cers of the club are Dr G. L. Henderson, president ; P. H. Kent, vice-presi dent ; J. W. Ebert, secretary ; W. P. Gossard, treasurer ; Nelson T. Haynes, captain ; Harry Ashcroft, first lieutenant ; R. M. Seibel, second lieutentant ; J, A. De Tar, quartermaster. Kansas City Lodge No. 26, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, was instituted June 8, 1884, with twenty-five members. John Sebastian was the first exalted ruler The following have since filled this office : W. N. McDear- mon, E. D. Moore, and W. H. Winants. The present officers are : W. H. Winants, exalted ruler; J. L. Alden, esteemed leading knight; D. S. Twitchell, esteemed loyal knight; B. L. Woodson, esteemed lecturing knight; A. G. Campbell, secretary ; John N. Smith, treasurer ; and P. D. Starr, tiler. This lodge now has a membership of 350. Meetings are held at Elk Hall, corner of Seventh and Main streets. Kansas City Lodge No. 184, Independent Order of Bnai Brith, is a charit able and beneficiary Jewish organization, and was instituted in October, 1872,, Officers : William Baruch, president ; Lewis Haar, vice-president ; Max Isaacs, treasurer; Max Rauh, secretary; David Wallerstein, monitor. Meets north east corner of Seventh and Main streets. Membership, sixty-two. Kansas City Council No. 706, Royal Arcanum. — This is a social and bene ficiary society. Officers: John Gair, regent; E. W. Shannon, vice-regent; John S. Martin, past regent; Asa Maddox, orator; B. Ganz, treasurer; Na than Meyer, secretary; James Simmons, collector; J. S. Black, chaplain, H. G. RusseH, guide ; A. Woodward, warden ; S. W. Ruhman, secretary. This council has seventy members. Improved Order of Heptasophs is a secret beneficiary order, first organized in Baltimore, Md., in August, 1878. There are five conclaves in Kansas City,, Religious, Social, Secret Societies, Etc 195 . of which Kansas City Conclave was the first organized west of the Mississippi River. W. H. H. Frye is archon of this conclave, and H. D. Fulton, secretary. The remaining branches of the order are : Centropolis Conclave, George E. Runyan, archon ; A. Ketchum, secretary ; Brunswick Conclave, William Pick ering, archon ; A. P. Pearce, secretary ; Gate City Conclave, E. H. Ormsby, archon ; F. S. Black, secretary ; Missouri Conclave, F. W. Sears, archon ; W. F. Miller, secretary ; J. L. Vanneman and E. C. Condit are supreme represen tatives. There are about 200 members of this order in Kansas City, and it is rapidly becoming a strong order. Kansas City Gun Club. — This organization of men is social in nature and devoted to the sport of gunning. It was formed in 1879, and has a large and active membership. F. J. Smith is president, and James Whitfield, secretary. Independent Gun Club is a social society, limited to fifteen members. It was organized in March, 1887. Officers: A. E. Thomas, president; William Starne, vice-president ; Fred Meagley, secretary. The^ Belt Line Gun Club has been recently organized, and is similar in object to the Kansas City Gun Club. W. R. Kelly is president, and W. J. Baehr, secretary and treasurer. Arion Singing Society. — This society was organized in 1872, and at pres ent has 1 10 members. The object is vocal musical culture. Musical enter tainments are frequently given by its members, several of whom are recognized as leading vocalists in Kansas City. The officers of the society are : George Eyssell, president; Dr. E. Jeserich, vice-president; Gus. O. L. Lauer, treas urer; Henry Dick, secretary. Jacob Klein Lodge No. 205, 0. K. S. B. — This is a beneficiary and social organization, instituted January 30, 1887, and has thirty- three members. Of ficers : Frank March, past president; E. Benjamin, president; George Good man, vice-president; N. L. Davidson, treasurer; and Moritz R. Klein, secre tary. Meetings are held the second and third Tuesdays of each month in Orient Hall, 5 1 1 Delaware street. The Warwick Club was organized October 30, 1883, and has ninety-five members. It is a social and literary organization. Officers : C. H. Nearing, president ; R. I. Fulton, vice-president ; J. E. Thompson, secretary ; and W. A. Pierson, treasurer The club occupies rooms in the Deardorff Building, on Main street Italian Benevolent Association was organized in 1883 for the purpose of affording relief to the poor and distressed of the Italian race. It is composed of twenty-one members, all of ItaHan nationality. Its officers are Nicola Sas- sali, president; SapiHi Cossansine, vice-president; James- Solari, treasurer ; G. Farina, secretary. Meetings of the association are held the second Sunday in each month, at the corner of Seventh and Main streets. Elite Social. — This is a social and literary organization, and composed of ^96 History of Kansas City. twenty-one members. Isadore Levy is president; Adolph Hammerslough, vice-president ; Max Goldsmith, secretary, and M. A. Isaacs, treasurer. Scott Rifles, — This military organization, composed entirely of veterans of the late civil war, was organized in July, 1 88 1, as the McPherson Guards, with Nat M. Gwynne as captain, and Alfred Brant as first lieutenant ; D. V. Kern, second lieutenant; Charies Bang, S. P. Cheesman, Henry J. Taylor and C. J. Hiscock in the order named as sergeants ; J. C. Smith, George P. Straley and Ben W. Warner, corporals August 13, 1881, it was mustered into the State mHitia as an unattached company. At the death of Captain Gwynne in 1883, S. F. Scott was elected captain of the company, at which time the name of Scott Rifles was adopted in honor of Captain Scott In December, 1883, Ben War ner was elected second lieutenant in place of D. V. Kern, resigned. At the time of the organization of the Third Regiment National Guard of Missouri, Captain Scott was appointed lieutenant-colonel of the regiment, and was suc ceeded as captain of the Scott Rifles by Alfred Brant the present commander of the company. Ben W. Warner at the same time was elected first lieutenant, and H. J. Taylor second lieutenant. In the State militia the Scott Rifles is known as the Company "A," of the Third Regiment It has four times been called out for active service by the governor, and in 1884 was at the national encamp ment at Minneapolis, and in 1887 at St Louis, It has fifty six members, and in efficiency of drill is considered one of the best companies in the State milita, whHe all of its members have undergone active military service. Ancient Order of Foresters. — This is a social beneficiary order, and is rep resented in Kansas City by lodge Court Pride of the West No. 7289, which was organized February 20, 1886, with about fifty members. The present officers are James Pryor, chief ranger, and W. E. Lanphear, sub-chief ranger Meet ings are held the second and fourth Tuesdays of each month, at 720 Main street, There are two other lodges of the order in Kansas City, Kan., Court Kansas City No. 6351, Kansas City Conclave No. a,a,. The Druids is a social beneficiary organization. The first grove estabHshed in Kansas City was known as the Wildey Grove, named in honor of Thomas Wildey, the founder of the order It was organized in 1872, but a year or two after surrendered its charter It was succeeded by the Garfield Grove in 1874, the first presiding officer of which was Thomas W. Butler, who in 1885 was grand marshal of the State After a short existence this grove was consoli dated with the Oak Grove Lodge No. 30, an organization mostiy composed of Germans. The latter organization is in a prosperous condition, and has about sixty active members. Its officers are John Lepert, noble arch ; John Phdfer, secretary, and Charies Herold, treasurer There are about forty divisions of the order in the State. Meetings of Oak Grove are held the second and third Tuesdays of each month, in Druid Hall, corner of Fourteenth street and Grand avenue. Religious, Social, Secret Societies, Etc. 197 Elk- Club. — ^This is a social organization composed of members of the be nevolent and protective order of Elks. It was organized January i, 1887, with about one hundred and ten members, and has at present a membership of one hundred and eighty. The first officers were E. D. Moore, president; J. N. .Smith, treasurer ; Emmet PhiHips, secretary ; E. L. Martin, S. F. Scott and W. H. Winants, vice-presidents. Present officers J. N. Smith, president; C. G. Perrin, treasurer ; • E. C. Sattley, secretary ; E. L. Matin, S. F. Scott and W. H. Winants, vice-presidents. Board of directors E- L. Patch, T. A. Scott, G. W. Mathews, E. D. Moore, G. H. Foote, C. A. Kenyon, George Sheidley, W. G. Baird, J. A. Bachman, C. I. Waples, Morrison Munford, J. D. Cruise and J. B. Scroggs. Club rooms 622 Main street Kansas City. Social Union of the Loyal Legion of the United States. — This is a social society made up of resident members of the Loyal Legion of the United States, no matter from what commandery. Its officers are General H. F. De vol, president; Colonel Theo. S. Case, secretary, and Captain M. B. Wright, treasurer. Its meetings are held bi-monthly at the Brunswick Hotel, where a banquet is provided and the evenings whiled away with speeches, songs, nar ratives of the hour, etc. Its membership is about sixty, all former officers in the Union army. Kansas City Club. — This is a social organization in Kansas City. It was ¦organized December 10, 1882, by some of the leading citizens of the city and at present has over three hundred and fifty members. It has also a large list of non-resident members in New York, Boston, London, England, and other large cities. Present officers : Jefferson Brumback, president ; O. P. Dickin son, treasurer, and John R. Treat, secretary. Its local members, representing many of the leading capitalists and business men of Kansas City, have made the club an important factor in the development of the commercial affairs of the city. The club rooms at present are located on the corner of Eleventh street and Broadway, but a building is now in course of construction on the northeast corner of Twelfth and Broadway by the society to be used as per manent quarters, which will cost when completed and furnished, upwards of $150,000. Metropolitan Lodge No. i , Order of Chosen Friends, is a branch beneficiary organization and was instituted in 1880. Officers : G. W. Buss, president; T. H. Walton, secretary; John Shaw, treasurer It meets second and fourth Thursday of each month at 5 5 1 Delaware street. Labor Organizations. — The strongest order in the interest of laboring men in Kansas City is the Knights of Labor, which has eleven separate assemblies known as Excelsior Assembly No. 1655 / Hope Assembly No. 2294/ Persever ance Assembly No. 3894/ Plumbers' Assembly No. 3738 / Progressive Assem bly No. 3839/ United Assembly No. 3905 ,• Star of the West Assembly No. 3712/ Assembly No. 4101/ Eureka Carpenters' Assembly No. 4145 / New 26 198 History of Kansas City. Argo Assembly No. 2005, and Moonlight Assembly No. 4130. In addition to the above labor organization, there are trades unions of cigar makers, printers, painters and decorators, horse-shoers, stationary engineers, tailors and plaster ers. There has never been serious conflict between capital and labor in Kan sas City, a fact in great measure due to the uniform, fair and just actions of the leaders of organized associations. Every reasonable request of employees has been almost invariably acceded to by employers. Among the social and literary societies in Kansas City not already men tioned are the following : Catholic Knights of America, Branch 319, W. A. Kelly, president; H. T. Gilchrist, treasurer; Thomas McGuire, secretary; and Branch No. 148 of the same order, J. J. Corcoran, president; H. N. Diehl, treasurer, Ed. Devenie, secretary. Royal Society of Good Fellows, Kansas City No. 27, M. D. Vosburg, ruler; John Henry, instructor; C. McDonald, counsellor; Robert Webster, secre tary. Grutii Verein, Joe Risser, president ; Otto Isler, secretary. Kansas City Krank Inschatz, WHHam Burgdorf, president ; Frank Rosenlehner, secretary. Progress Club, B. A. Flersheim, president; D. Mayer, secretary. Scandina vian Literary Society, A. T. Hesell, president; J. Ledine, secretary. Welsh- American Society, Henry Harris, president; William P. Hughes, secretary. Western Yale Association, J. D. Brewer, president; A. C. Coates, secretary.. Gate City Guitar and Mandolin Club, C. J. Sutorius, president ; C. L. Rich mond, secretary. German Educational Society, C. Spengler, president; F. Muehlschuster, secretary: East Side Literary Club, Union Club, St. Cecilia- Club and Adelphic Club. CHAPTER VIII. municipal government. An Incident that Showed the Desirability of a Charter— The City and Ward Boundaries and their Alteration and Extension— The City's Civil List — The Fire Departments, " Vol unteer" and "Paid "—Their History and Statistics— The Police Department— The Recorder's Court— The Board of Health. . THE municipal history of Kansas City began in 1853, up to which time peace had been preserved, and difficulties had been adjusted by a town ship justice of the peace and constable ; and it is probable no municipal organ ization would have been effected for several years later had not an event oc curred which hastened its establishment In December, 1852, a man was arrested for some sHght offense. Upon his trial the fact was]_developed that the commission issued to the authorities was Municipal Government. 199 for the next congressional township, east, and that under it their jurisdiction was located at least six miles from where they had been exercising their au thority. Of course, justice so administered was little better than a farce, and steps were at once taken to effect a municipal organization. February 22, 1853, a charter was granted by the Legislature of Missouri, under which a municipal government was set up the foHowing spring, with W. S. Gregory as mayor, P. M. Chouteau as treasurer, G. W. Wolf as assessor, S. W. Bouton as register, M. B. Hedges as marshal. Judge Nelson as attorney, and WiHiam G. Barkley, Thompson McDaniel, M. J. Payne, William J. Jar boe, T. H. West Johnston Lykins and T S. Wright as councilmen. The land embraced in Kansas City under the original charter, was bounded by the river on the north, by Summit street on the west, by Ninth street on the south, and by the alley between Holmes and Charlotte streets on the east, including much land that was not yet laid out in town lots, for all that was platted at that time was the old Prudhomme estate. An amendment to the charter was procured January 29, 1857, which ex tended the city Hmits west to the State line and south to Twelfth street, and made the half section line which runs along the alley between McGee and Oak streets the eastern boundary. February 12, 1858, the Legislature again enlarged the corporate limits of the city, extending them southward by the State line to Twenty-second street ; eastward along that street to Troost avenue ; northward along Troost avenue to Twelfth street ; eastward with Twelfth street to Lydia avenue ; northward with Lydia avenue to Independence avenue ; thence to the quarter section line a. little west of Lydia avenue, and thence along said line to the river. This act divided the municipal Legislature into two branches, a Board of Aldermen and a City Council, and authorized the division of the city into three wards. March 5, 1858, an ordinance was passed making aH that part of the city east of Grand avenue the first ward ; that part between Grand avenue and Delaware street and Main street south of the junction of Delaware and Main streets the second ward; and all that part west of Delaware street and of Main street south of the junction of Delaware and Main streets the third ward. In December foHowing the provision creating the Board of Aldermen was re pealed. By an act of Legislature passed March 12, 1867, the city limits were again changed, the State line from the river south to Twenty-second street becoming the west line; Troost avenue north to Twelfth street, thence east to Lydia avenue, thence north to Independence avenue, and thence by the quarter- sec tion line to the river, the east line ; Twenty-second street from the State line east to Troost avenue, the south line, and the river constituted the northern boundary. 200 History of Kansas City. This act divided the city into four wards. The first embraced that part of the city east of Main street between the river and Tenth street The second embraced that part east of Main street and south of Tenth street The third embraced that part south of Tenth street and west of Main street The fourth embraced that part west of Main street and north of Tenth street February 20, 1872, the Missouri Legislature so amended the charter of the city as to divide the city into six wards. By this enactment the first ward em braced all that part of the city between the river and Ninth street and east of Walnut street ; the second all that part between the river and Tenth street and between Walnut street on the east and Lincoln and Bluff streets and a line from the junction of Bluff and Fifth streets north to the river ; the third that part between Ninth and Fourteenth streets east of Walnut ; the fourth that part south of Fourteenth street east of Walnut ; the fifth that part south of Tenth street and west of Walnut to Lincoln and Dripp streets ; and the sixth all that part west of Dripp, Lincoln and Bluff streets, north to the river The city charter was again amended by the State Legislature March 3, 1873. The city boundaries were enlarged and the Hmits fixed as follows; Be ginning at the river at the intersection of the State line ; thence running south ward along the State Hne to Twenty- second street ; thence east along the half- section line dividing sections seven, eight and nine to Woodland avenue ; thence north by Woodland avenue to Independence avenue ; thence west to the half-section line dividing section thirty-three; and thence north to the river. The wards were established as foHows : The first ward was made to in clude all that part of the city east of Main street and north of Independence avenue ; the second all that part east of Main street between Independence avenue and Thirteenth street east to Campbell street and from thence to the east limits, all between Independence avenue and Twelfth street; the third all east of Main street and south of Thirteenth, and of Twelfth street east to Campbell, to Twentieth street, and from thence all east of the quarter section line which runs along the alley between Main street and Baltimore avenue ; the fourth that part lying west of the third and extending to the city limits on the south and to the State line on the west its northern boundary being Thir teenth street from Main west to Summit street, then Mulkey west to Dripp street and Twelfth street from Dripp street to the State line ; the fifth all that part north of Fourth and west of Main street to Penn street and a line in con tinuation of Penn street from Fifth street to the river ; and the sixth all that part west of the fifth and north of the fourth. Under authority of " an ordinance in revision of the ordinances governing the city of Kansas," approved March 24, 1875, the corporate Hmits of the city were extended so that they included "aH that district of country in the county of Jackson, State of Missouri," described as foHows : " Commencing- at a Municipal Government. 20 r point where the western boundary line of the State of Missouri intersects the center Hne of the main channel of the Missouri River ; thence south to the southwest corner of the northwest quarter of section seven, township forty- nine, range thirty-three ; thence east with the line dividing sections seven, eight and nine of the same township and range to the center of section nine ; thence north with the center line of sections nine and four to the north line of section four ; thence west to the southwest corner of the southwest quarter of section thirty-three, township fifty, range thirty-three ; thence north with the center line of said section to the main channel of the Missouri River ; thence west to the place of beginning." Section fourth of this act divided the city into six wards, the boundaries of which were described as follows : First. "Commencing at the intersection of the center of Main street with the Missouri Rver ; thence south along the center of said street to the line dividing townships 49 and 50 ; thence east with said line to the eastern limit of the city; thence north with said eastern limit of the city to the Missouri River ; thence westward with said river to place of begin ning." Second. "Commencing at the intersection of the center line of Main street with the line dividing townships 49 and 50; thence south with the center of said street to its intersection with the center of Thirteenth street ; thence east with the center of said street to the center of Campbell street ; thence north with said street to the center of Twelfth street ; thence east with the center of Twelfth street to the eastern limits of the city; thence north with said eastern limits to townships 49 and 50; thence west with said line to the place of beginning." Third. " Commencing at the intersection of Main and Thirteenth streets, thence south with said Main street to the center of Twentieth street ;. thence west to the west line of the east half of the west half of section 8 ; thence south with the line dividing said half section to the southern limits of the city; thence east with said Hmit to the line of the eastern Hmits of the city, - thence north with the eastern limits of the city to the extension of the center line of Twelfth street east ; thence west with said street to the center of Camp beH street ; thence south on Campbell street to Thirteenth street ; thence west on Thirteenth street to the place of beginning." Fourth. " Commencing at the intersection of Main and Thirteenth streets ; thence south as above de scribed for the third ward to the southern limit of the city; thence west to the said State line ; thence north with the State line to intersection of Twelfth street ; thence east with the center of Twelfth street to the center of Dripp^ street , thence south with said street to Mulkey street ; thence east on Mulkey street to Summit street ; thence north on Summit street to the center of Thir teenth ; thence east on Thirteenth to Main." Fifth. " All that portion of the city bounded on the south by the fourth ward, on the east by the second ward and first ward, on the north by the Missouri River, and on the west by Penn street and its extension north to the Missouri River" Sixth. "All that :202 History of Kansas City. portion of the city bounded by the fourth ward on the south, by the fifth ward ¦on the east, by the western limits of the city on the west and by the Missouri River on the north." The act provided that the legislative functions of the city should be vested in a common council to consist of two aldermen from each ward, one of whom ((from each ward) should be elected at the general election of each year, to hold office for two years. The foHowing ordinance, entitled " An ordinance to extend the corporate limits of the City of Kansas, and defining the territory within the limits of said city" was approved July 21, 1885. " Be it ordained by the Common Council of the City of Kansas : " The corporate limits of the City of Kansas are hereby extended so that they shall include all that district of country in the county of Jackson, State of Missouri, described as follows : Commencing at a point where the western boundary line of the State of Missouri intersects the center line of the main channel of the Missouri River ; thence south along the western boundary line ¦of the State of Missouri to the southwest corner of the northwest quarter (^) of section eighteen (18), township forty-nine (49), range thirty-three (33); thence east with the center Hne through sections eighteen (18), seventeen (17), -sixteen (16), fifteen (15), said township and range, to the southeast corner of the west half (-5-) of the northeast quarter (x) of section fifteen (15), said town ship and range ; thence north with the center line of the east half (-j) of sec tions (15), ten (10), and three (3), said township and range, to the north line ¦of said section (3) ; thence north, paraHel with the center line, through the east half (-5-) of section thirty-four(34), and sections twenty-seven (27) and twenty- two (22), township fifty (50), range thirty-three (33), to the center Hne of the main channel of the Missouri River to the place of beginning," By an ordinance approved by the mayor January 7, 1886, the city was ¦divided into ten wards, as follows : First. Beginning where the western State Hne intersects the center of the channel of the Missouri ; thence south along the State line to the southwest corner of the northwest quarter of section 7, township 49, range 33; thence east to the center of Allen avenue; thence northerly along said avenue to the center of Franklin street ; thence northerly along Franklin street to the center of Seventeenth street; thence northerly, on a direct line, to the center of Franklin street, in Payne's addition ; thence northerly along Franklin street to the center of Bluff street ; thence northerly •along Bluff street to the center of Fourth street ; thence north to the center of the channel of the Missouri ; thence westerly along said channel to the place of beginning. Second. Beginning at the northeast corner of the First ward ; thence southerly along the east line of said First ward to the center of Seventh street ; thence east along Seventh street to the center of Grand avenue; thence northeriy along Grand avenue to the center of the channel of the Missouri ; Municipal Government. 203; thence westerly along said channel to the place of beginning. Third. Be ginning at the intersection of the centers of Seventh and Bluff streets ; thence- southerly, following the eastern line of the First ward, to the intersection of the centers of ^Fourteenth and Franklin streets ; thence east along Fourteenth street to the center of Broadway ; thence north along Broadway to the center line of Fourteenth street (east of Broadway) ; thence east along Fourteenth street to the center of Grand avenue; thence north along Grand avenue to the center of Seventh street ; thence west along Seventh street to the point of beginning. Fourth. Beginning at the intersection of the centers of Fourteenth and Franklin streets ; thence southerly along the eastern line of the First ward to the southwest corner of Morse's second addition ; thence eastwardly along the south line of said addition to the center of Holly street ; thence south along Holly street to the center of Twenty-first street ; thence along Twenty-first street to the center of Broadway ; thence east to the center of Grand avenue ; thence north along Grand avenue to the center of Fourteenth street ; thence westwardly along the southern line of the Third ward to the place of beginning. Fifth. Beginning at the southwest corner of Morse's second addition ; thence southerly along the eastern line of the First ward to its intersection with the south Hne of the northwest quarter of section 7, township 49, range 33, to the western State line ; thence south along the State line to the southern city limit; thence along the southern city line to the center of the Grand Boulevard ;. thence northerly along the boulevard and Grand avenue to the southeast cor ner of the Fourth ward ; thence westerly along the southern line of the Fourth ward to the place of beginning. Sixth. Beginning at the northeast corner of the Second ward ; thence southerly along the eastern border of the Second ward to the center of Eighth street ; thence east along Eighth street to the center of Charlotte street ; thence north along Charlotte street to the center of Sixth street ; thence east along Sixth street to the center of Troost avenue ; thence north along Troost avenue to the center of Independence avenue; thence west along Independence avenue to the center of Troost av enue, north of Independence avenue ; thence north along Troost avenue to the center of the channel of the Missouri ; thence westwardly along said chan nel to the point of beginning. Seventh. Beginning at the northeast corner of the Sixth ward ; thence southerly along the east line of the Sixth ward to the center of Sixth street; thence east along Sixth street to the center of Wood land avenue ; thence south along Woodland avenue to the center of Ninth street ; thence east along Ninth street to the eastern city line ; thence north along said line to the center of the channel of the Missouri; thence westerly. along said channel to the point of beginning. Eighth. Beginning at the inter section of the center lines of Eighth street and Grand avenue, thence southerly along Grand avenue to the center of Thirteenth street; thence east along Thir teenth street to the northwest corner of Gordon's first addition; thence east 204 History of Kansas City. along the north line of said addition to the center of Vine street ; thence north along Vine street to the center of Thirteenth street (east of Vine street) ; thence east along Thirteenth street to the center of Prospect avenue ; thence south along Prospect avenue to the center of Blue avenue ; thence along Blue avenue to the eastern city line ; thence north along the city line to the south east corner of the Seventh ward; thence westwardly along the southern bound ary of the Sixth and Seventh wards to the place of beginning. Ninth. Beginning at the intersection of the centers of Thirteenth street and Grand avenue ; thence southerly along Grand avenue to the center of Twentieth street ; thence east along Twentieth street to the center of Woodland avenue ; thence east to the eastern city line ; thence north along said line to the south east corner of the Eighth ward ; thence westwardly along the southern border of the Eighth ward to the place of beginning. Tefith. Beginning at the inter section of the centers of Twentieth street and Grand avenue ; thence southerly along Grand avenue and the Grand Boulevard to the southern city line ; thence along said line east to the eastern city line ; thence north along the eastern city line to the southeast corner of the Ninth ward ; thence west along the -southern border of the Ninth ward to the point of beginning. Under the provisions of an ordinance approved March 9, 1886, the First ward was divided into two voting precincts ; the Second ward was constituted one voting precinct ; the Third ward was divided into two voting precincts ; the Fourth ward was divided into three voting precincts ; the Fifth ward was divided into two voting precincts; the Sixth ward was divided into two voting precincts; the Seventh ward was divided into three voting precincts; the Eighth ward was divided into three voting precincts ; the Ninth ward was •divided into three voting precincts, and the Tenth ward was divided into two voting precincts ; total, twenty-three. CIVIL LIST SINCE THE WAR OF THE REBELLION. 1866. — A.L.Harris, mayor; S. D. Vaughan, treasurer; Charles Long, collector; B. Donnelly, assessor ; D. O'Brien, register; Edmund O'Flaherty, engineer; H. G. Toler, wharf master; Philip Ott, wharf register; Jeremiah Dowd, marshal ; Charies Carpenter, attorney ; C. A. Carpenter, recorder ; councilmen, Charles Dwyer, John Bauerlein, Robert Salisbury, F. A. Mitchell, N. Vincent Henry Tobener, Thomas Burke, David Slater, John R. Balis. 1867. — E. H. AHen, mayor; J. W. L. Slavens, treasurer; James Lee, as sessor; Dennis O'Brien, auditor ; Oscar Koehler, engineer; E. B. McDHl, wharf master; A. T Hoover, wharf register; J. T. Brougham, city clerk; J. B. Brothers, marshal ; William Warner, city attorney ; P. Lucas, C. A. Carpenter, recorders ; Edmund Keller, market master ; councilmen, John Campbell, Her man Hucke, H. W. Cooper, E. A. Phillips, H. L. Huhn, E. H. Spalding, J. W. Keefer, Henry Speers. -^^^.E5E2n-,!£s'-j,JSi "S - Municipal Government. 205 1868. — A. L. Harris, mayor; George Sweeney, treasurer; J. B. Drinkard, assessor ; Dennis O'Brien, auditor ; John Donnelly, engineer ; A. T. Hoover, wharf master ; L. Dragon, wharf register ; D, E. Dickerson, city physician ; T. B. McLean, F. J. Brougham, Mell H. Hudson, city clerks; J. L. Keck, mar shal ; H.P.White, attorney; C. A. Carpenter, recorder; Edward Keller, market master ; councilmen, William Smith, M, English, Junius Chaffee, J. W. Cook, H. Hucke, John Campbdl, H. W. Cooper, E. A. Phillips, A. H. Wat erman. 1869. — F. R. Long, mayor ; George Sweeney, treasurer ; Dennis O'Brien, auditor ; C. F. Smith, assessor ; John DonneHy, engineer ; A. T. Hoover, wharf master ; Mell H. Hudson, city clerk ; J . L. Keck, marshal ; D. S. Twitchell, attorney; W. H. Sutton, recorder; D. E. Dickerson,, city physician ; council- men, Junius Chaffee, C. J. White, J. W. Cook, M. English, J. H. McGee, A. H. Waterman, T. J. Wolf, R. W. Hilliker 1870. — E. M. McGee, mayor; George Sweeney, treasurer; P. M. Chou teau, collecter ; Robert Salisbury, assessor ; John J. Tobin, auditor ; John Donnelly, engineer; A. T. Hoover, wharfmaster ; Daniel Geary, city clerk; Thomas M. Speers, marshal ; H. P. White, attorney ; C. A. Carpenter, re corder ; H. F. Smith, market master ; D. E. Dickerson, city physician ; coun cilmen, Junius Chaffee, John CampbeH, C. J. White, P. J. Heim, J. H. McGee, John W. Keefer, D. ElHson, J. Lykins, T. J. Wolf, Thomas Burk, R. W. Hil liker, James E. Marsh. 1871. — William Warner, mayor; Samuel Jarboe, treasurer; P. M. Chou teau, collector; O. Chanute, J. J. Moore, engineers; John J. Tobin, auditor; Robert Salisbury, assessor ; Daniel Geary, city clerk ; J. W. Dunlap, city at torney ; D. A. N. Grover, recorder ; T. M. Speers,- marshal ; W. C. Evans, city physician; R. C. Gould, market master; John C. Gage, J. Brumback, counsellors ; councHmen, Junius Chaffee, John Campbell, William Weston, H. T. Hovdman, P. J. Heim, J. W. Keefer, David EHison, J. Lykins, Joab Toney, Thomas Burk, James Hannon, James E. Marsh. 1872. — R. H. Hunt, mayor; H. C. Kumpf, auditor; Samuel Jarboe, treas urer; O. G. Long, recorder; William Shepard, marshal; John C. Campbell, attorney ; H. B. Toelle, supervisor of registration ; Daniel Geary, J. Enright, city clerks ; J. M. Silvers, chief of fire department ; Sam. Winram, inspector of weights and measures ; W. C. Evans, physician ; H. L. Marvin, engineer ; P. M. Chouteau, collector ; R. C. Gould, market master ; Robert Salisbury, assessor ; J. Brumback, counsellor ; W. A. M. Vaughan, wharf master ; J. Y. Leveridge, wood inspector ; Charles F. Quest E. H. Russell, superintendents of the work-house ; councilmen, Michael Flynn, WiHiam Weston, Lyman Mc Carty, M. Hoover, E. L. Martin, H. T. Hovdman, M English, D. H. Porter, D. Ellison, Patrick Kirby, Patrick Fay. 1873. — E. L. Martin, mayor; D. H. Porter, recorder; H. C. Kumpf, audit- 27 2o6 History of Kansas City. or ; William Weston, treasurer ; G. G. Neiswanger, marshal ; H. M. Withers, attorney ; D. L. Hall, supervisor of registration ; M. McCormick, superinten dent of work-house ; Web. Withers, coHector; H. L, Marvin, engineer; John Phillips, market master ; John T. Blake, Robert Salisbury, assessors ; E. H. RusseH, sanitary sergeant ; J. M. Silvers, chief of fire department; A. M. Crow, physician ; A. Mayer, city clerk ; James Sweeney, inspector of weights and measures ; Thomas Clowdsley, T. McLean, wood inspectors ; J. Brumback, counsellor. 1874. — S. D. Woods, mayor; James Farrow, recorder ; H. C. Kumpf, auditor ; P. M. Chouteau, treasurer ; J. C. Tarsney, attorney ; J. M. Ekdahl, supervisor of registration ; F. M. Black, J. W. Dunlap, counsellors ; E. O'Fla herty, engineer ; J. O. Day, physician ; W. B. Napton, comptroHer ; M. E. Burnet chief of the fire department ; F. Fitzpatrick, superintendent of the work-house ; M. Ranahan, market master ; Robert Salisbury, assessor ; John Ryan, inspector of weights and measures; A. Mayer, city clerk; Thomas Fox, license inspector ; Thomas M. Speers, chief of police; councilmen, John Camp bdl, Joseph M. Beach, F. B. Noffsinger, A. C, Moffat, D. A. N. Grover, Dennis Levy, Charies A. Ebert, W. W. Payne, O. H. Short E. H. Webster, P. Kirby, Edward Kelley. 1875. — Turner A. GiH, mayor; P. M Chouteau, treasurer; H. C. Kumpf, auditor ; W. H. Sutton, recorder ; W. Adams, attorney ; J. M. Ekdahl, super visor of registration ; D. A. N. Grover, comptroller ; John C. Gage, J. Brum back, counsellors ; James Dowling, superintendent of the work-house ; alder men, J. M. Beach, John CampbeH, A. C. Moffat B. A. Feineman, Dennis Levy, G. W. Lovejoy, W. W. Payne, P. McAnany, E. H. Webster, J. W. Reid, E. Kelley, H. A. Simms. 1876. — Turner A. Gill, mayor ; P. M. Chouteau, treasurer; L. J. Talbot •auditor; W. H. Sutton, H. R. Nelson, recorders; W. Adams, attorney; J. M. Ekdahl, supervisor of registration ; J. Brumback, counsellor ; D. A. N. Grover, comptroHer ; Robert SaHsbury, assessor ; A. A. Holmes, engineer ; Patrick O'Reilly, market master ; WiHiam C. Morris, physician ; J. W. Wirth, super intendent of the work-house ; John Kelley, inspector of weights and measures; A. Mayer, E. R. Hunter, city clerks ; F. Foster, chief of fire department ; Thomas M. Speers, chief of police ; aldermen, John Campbell, W. S. Gregory, B. A. Feineman, D. R. Porter; Edward Lynde, G. W. Lovejoy, Denis Levy, P. McAnany, James M. Buckley, J. W. Rdd, WilHam Holmes, H. A. Simms, David P. Bigger. 1877.— J. W. L. Slavens, mayor; L. J. Talbot, auditor; P. M. Chouteau, treasurer ; D. ElHson, recorder ; James Gibson, attorney ; John M. Ekdahl, supervisor of registration ; J. M. Dews, comptroHer ; H. N. Ess, counseHor ; Robert Salisbury, assessor ; W. C. Morris, physician ; F. M. Furgason, inspector of licenses, weights and measures ; Joseph Porter, marketmaster ; W. L. Shep- Municipal Government. 207 ard, superintendent of the work house ; W. E. Benson, city clerk ; A. A. Holmes, engineer ; Thomas M. Speers, chief of police ; F Foster, chief of fire department ; aldermen, W. S. Gregory, Philip Casey, E. Lynde, R. H. Dren- non, Dennis Levy, C. C. Whitmeyer, James M. Buckley, W. B. Robinson, Wil liam Holmes, W. H. Winants, David P. Bigger, H. A. Simms. 1878. — George M. Shelley, mayor; A. C. Walmsley, treasurer; William Vincent, auditor ; Hamilton Finney, recorder ; James Gibson, attorney ; Eras- tus Johns, supervisor of registration; Robert Salisbury, assessor; W. E. Ben son, city clerk ; W. L. Shepard, William Kelley, superintendents of the work house; Joseph Porter, marketmaster ; J. M.Trowbridge, engineer ; H.C. Kumpf, comptroller ; W. W. Payne, inspector of licenses, weights and measures ; S. P. Twiss, counsellor ; A. M. Crow, physician ; Thomas M. Speers, chief of police ; F. Foster, chief of fire department ; aldermen : Philip Casey, P. D. Etue, R. H. Drennon, H. C. Morrison, C. C. Whitmeyer, T. W. Butier, W. B. Robin son, L. A. Allen, W. H. Winants, Louis Dragon, H. A. Simms, A. H. Glasner. 1879. — George M. Shelley, mayor; A. C. Walmsley, treasurer; William Vincent, auditor ; Hamilton Finney, recorder ; Thomas King, attorney ; M. K. Kirk, supervisor of registration ; T. A. Gill, counsellor ; H. C. Kumpf, comp troHer ; Robert Salisbury, assessor; W. E. Benson, city clerk; C. H. Knick erbocker, engineer ; John Donnelly, assistant engineer ; D. R. Porter, physi cian ; William Burk, marketmaster ; Benedict Waibel, inspector of licenses, weights and measures ; F. R. Allen, superintendent of the work house ; Thom as M. Speers, chief of police ; F. Foster, chief of fire department ; aldermen, P. D. Etue, George W. McClelland, H. C. Morrison, J. N. Dubois, T W. Butier, R. H. Maybury, L. A. Allen, John Salisbury, Louis Dragon, T. B. BuHene, A. H. Glasner, Patrick Hickey. 1880. — C. A. Chase, mayor ; A. C. Walmsley, treasurer; WiHiam Vincent, auditor; H. Finney, recorder; Thomas King, attorney; M. Burk, supervisor of registration, W. Adams, counsellor ; John Donnelly, engineer ; Nathaniel Grant comptroller; T. D. Callahan, city clerk; Thomas M. Speers, chief of police ; F. Foster, chief of fire department ; Robert Salisbury, assessor ; C. J. Jenkins, physician ; Adam Johns, inspector of licenses ; J. J. Granfidd, market- master ; F. R. Allen, superintendent of the work house ; aldermen, J. A. Mc Donald, T. B. BuHene, John Salisbury, George W. McClelland, W. J. Ross, J. N. Du Bois, Patrick Hickey, J. N. Moore, R. H. Maybury, W. G. Duncan, Louis Dragon. 1 88 1. — Daniel A. Frink, mayor; A. C. Walmsley, treasurer; M. L. Sul- Hvan, auditor ; J. W. Childs, recorder ; W. J. Strong attorney ; M. H. Bass, supervisor of registration ; D. S. Twitchell, counsellor ; Nathaniel Grant comp troller ; Robert Salisbury, assessor ; T. D. Callahan, city clerk ; John Donnelly, engineer ; A. A. Holmes, assistant engineer ; John Fee, physician ; John J. Granfidd, marketmaster ; B. Waibel, inspector of licenses, weights and meas- 2o8 History of Kansas City. ures ; Thomas C. Clary, superintendent of the work house ; Thomas M. Speers, chief of police ; F. Foster, chief of fire department; aldermen, W. J. Ross, J. M. Ford, J. A. McDonald, D. H. Porter; John W. Moore, James Anderson, L. A. Allen, John SaHsbury, L, Dragon, B. A. Sheidley, W. G. Duncan, M. Gafney. 1882. — James Gibson, mayor; L. B. Eveland, treasurer; M. L. Sullivan, auditor ; Charles M. Ingraham, recorder ; W. J. Strong, attorney ; Otto Salts, supervisor of registration ; H. P. Langworthy, city clerk; W. B. Knight, city engineer ; D. H. Porter, president of council ; John Fee, city physician ; Na thaniel Grant comptroller; George C. Hale, chief of fire department; alder men, W. J. Ross, Charles Brooks, sr., A. G. Kesler, Jefferson Brumback, S. M. Ford, C. A. Brockett; Thomas M. Speers, chief of police. 1883. — T. B. BuHene, mayor; A. C. Walmsley, treasurer; M. L. Sulli van, auditor ; George R. Jones, recorder ; W. Adams, attorney ; Otto Salts, supervisor of registration ; H. P. Langworthy, city clerk ; William B. Knight, city engineer ; John Fee, city physician ; Nathaniel Grant, comptroller ; George C. Hale, chief of fire department ; aldermen, W. J. Ross, Martin Regan, Charles Brooks, sr, A. K. Sweet A. G. Kesler, H. T. Hovdman, Jefferson Brumback, J. M. Patterson, S. M. Ford, John H. Rdd, William Duncan, M. Gafney; Thomas M. Speers, chief of police. 1884. — L J. Talbot mayor; L. B Eveland, treasurer; Benjamin D, West, auditor; Charles M. Ingraham, recorder ; John J, CampbeH, attorney ; George SeHman, supervisor of registration ; George C. Hale, chief of fire department ; W. Adams, attorney; aldermen, Martin Regan, Patrick O'Rourke, A. K. Sweet J. K. Davidson, H. T Hovdman, A, G. Kesler, J. M. Patterson, John Salisbury, John H. Reed, J. M. Ford, Michael Gafney, John McClintock; Thomas M. Speers, chief of police. 1885. — John W. Moore, mayor ; George W. Jones, treasurer; Benjamin D. West auditor ; J. H. Worthen, recorder ; John J. Campbell, attorney ; B. Wai bel, supervisor of registration ; H. P. Langworthy, city clerk ; B. R. Whitney, city engineer; John Fee, city physician ; Nathaniel Grant, comptroller; George C. Hale, chief of fire department; aldermen, James A. Finlay, Wiley O. Cox. C. C. Whitmeyer, George W. Tourtdotte, Charies E. Moss, John J. Granfidd Thomas M. Speers chief of police. 1886, — H. C. Kumpf, mayor; Benjamin Holmes, treasurer; Benjamin Wesb auditor; Joseph J. WiHiams, city attorney; Joseph H. Worthen, recorder; W. L. Hendershot supervisor of registration; H. P. Langworthy, city clerk; George C. Hale, chief of fire department ; Thomas M. Speers, chief of police ; alder men, Maurice Huriey, John Keenan, William J. Looney, D. P. Thompson, J. M. Patterson, Wallace Love, John H. Burke, Martin Regan, Cornelius Maloney, H. D. Train, J. K. Davidson, E. W. Hayes, WiHiam E. Ridge, Frederick How ard; John Fee, city physician ; John Donnelly, city engineer; Nathaniel Grant comptroller. Municipal Government. 209 1887. — Henry C. Kumpf, mayor; Benjamin Holmes, treasurer; Benjamin D. West, auditor; J. J. Davenport, recorder; W. K. Hawkins, attorney; John Dolan, supervisor of registration ; aldermen, John Grady, William J. Looney, George W. Lee, M. Welsh, A. W. Love, James A. Finlay, Cornelius Maloney, W. O. Cox, M. D. Wood, Frederick Howard, Maurice Hurley, John Keenan, D. P. Thompson, J. M. Patterson, J. H. Burke, Martin Regan, H. D. Train, J. K. Davidson, E. W. Hayes, WiHiam E. Ridge; R. W. Quarles, coun sellor ; John Donnelly, engineer; A. E. Thomas, comptroHer ; T.H.Edwards, assessor ; H. P. Langworthy, city clerk ; Frank Sturdevant, city physician. At the municipal election held April 3, 1888, the foHowing officers were elected: Mayor, H. C. Kumpf ; treasurer, Benjamin Holmes; recorder, Joseph J. Davenport ; auditor, S. B. Winram ; attorney, W. K. Hawkins ; all Repub licans except the treasurer, who is a Democrat, and the recorder, who was an Independent. The various aldermen elected were : In the first ward, Harry L. Pague (R.); second ward, John May (R.), and W. J. Looney (D.); third ward, John McCHntock (R.); fourth ward, W. T Payne (D.); fifth ward, Wal lace Love (R.), and D. H. Bowes (Ind.); sixth ward, Martin Regan (D.); sev enth ward, C. W. Keith (R.), and J. J. Green (R.); eighth ward, Robert Cary (D.); ninth ward, F. A. Faxon (R.); tenth ward, E. H. Phelps (R.), and J. H. Ingram (D.). Six members of the old council held over, three of whom were Republicans and three Democrats. The hold-over Republicans were James A. Finlay, M. D. Wood, and G. W. Lee ; and the Democrats, John Grady, Milton Welsh, and W. O. Cox ; so that the present council is composed of eleven Republicans, eight Democrats and one Independent. The Annual Election for city officers is held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in April. The fiscal year begins at noon on the second Monday after the day of election. Prominent Pioneer Fir e^nen. — Hon. T. B. BuHene, Colonel Frank Foster and his brother, " Matt." Foster, S. K. Green, Oliver Case and Joseph Smith and one or two others were the leading pioneer firemen of Kansas City. They paid little attention to organization, but were always on hand at fires, working hard. The Old Volunteer Fire Department. — The first fire company in Kansas City was the old John Campbell Company, organized in 1867, and named in honor of Councilman John Campbell, who was a liberal contributor toward its establishment, and the purchase of its apparatus. Its engine, which was the first " steamer " brought to the city, was delivered by the Silsbys of Seneca Falls, N. Y., in August 1867. Colonel Frank Foster was chief; Hon. T. B- BuHene, foreman ; S. K. Green, assistant foreman ; W. O. Huckett, engineer of the steamer; and George Huckett, fireman of the steamer. The steamer was quartered in the east end of the old market house on the public square. The company, which had a membership of sixty or seventy, was in service until about 1869. 2IO History of Kansas City. About 1869 the McGee Hook and Ladder Company (named in honor of ex-Mayor McGee), was organized, and had quarters on Sixteenth street and Grand avenue. The officers were Haight St Clair, foreman ; John King, assistant foreman. The Washington Hose Company was organized about the same time, and the German Hook and Ladder Company about 1 87 1. The Washington Company had about fifty members, and John Conlon was fore man. Chris KHngman was foreman of the German Hook and Ladder Com pany. The next company, and the last formed of the volunteer companies, was the Phcenix Hook and Ladder Company, organized in January, 1872- Michael Burnett was foreman. In 1870 James McMenimin was appointed chief, and these four companies served under him untH AprH, 1872, the paid fire department having been intro duced in 1 87 1, and placed under his chieftainship. At the date mentioned, when McMenimin was superseded by J, M. Silvers, all the volunteer com panies took offense at the change. So strong was the feeling that the German Hook and Ladder Company raised a black flag over their headquarters, and a majority of the members of the several companies refused to serve longer. Colonel R, H. Hunt then mayor, called a meeting of the volunteer firemen at Turner HaH, and while he was delivering an address which he hoped would induce them to modify their extreme views somewhat, a fire broke out in the southern part of the city, which threatened to destroy much property. The mayor urged the volunteers to respond to the alarm, but they persistently refused. The " paid" men went and with the aid of citizens succeeded in sub duing the fire. The council, with the concurrence of the mayor, promptly dis banded the old department. Fire Departrnent of Kansas City. — The history of this department begins. with the organization of the first "paid" company in August, 1871. It was known as Steamer Company No. i, and worked with the volunteer companies until they were disbanded. Its officers were James Bewsher, engineer ; John Cravens, fireman ; John MulhoHand, driver, and Richard Beadle and Joseph McArdle, hosemen. Upon the disbandment of the volunteer department, the city authorities organized a paid department, consisting of thirty-six men, with Colonel Francis Foster as chief Two steam fire engines, a large Babcock fire extinguisher, and a hook and ladder truck were purchased. In 1877 the use of the engines was abandoned, the hose being attached to the hydrants, and the water being supplied from the water system of the city, but they are kept in reserve for use should the waterworks fail at any time. In 1882, when Chief Hale succeeded Colonel Foster, the department con sisted of three hose companies and one hook and ladder crew, aggregating- eighteen men. The city owned only one engine house, a poor building on the site of the new structure at Eighth and Walnut streets. Since that time nine Municipal Government. 211 new engine houses have been buiU, six new hose carts, two hook and ladder trucks, a chemical engine, two supply wagons, and a water tower have been added, and they are now manned by seventy-five paid men. The apparatus in use at the close of the year 1887 was as follows : One hook and ladder, drawn by four horses ; one hook and ladder drawn by two horses ; ten hose reels drawn by two horses each ; one Hale water tower drawn by two horses ; one chemical engine drawn by two hosres ; one hose wagon drawn by two horses ; three steamers drawn by two horses each ; 1,100 feet of hose and a full supply of ladders, axes, lanterns, etc. Thirty-four horses are employed. For alarm purposes there are in use 2,500 telephones and 212 fire signal boxes. The department has ten engine houses, as follows: No. i, a two-story frame building on Union avenue, between Mulberry and Hickory streets. No. 2, department headquarters at 807 Walnut street, a handsome three- story brick building with cut stone trimmings, forty-eight feet front by a hundred feet in depth, erected in 1887. The ground floor is occupied by Hose Reel Company No. 2, Hook and Ladder Company No. i, the water-tower and a steamer. The second floor contains the chief's office, bunk rooms, bath and store rooms, and a repair shop. The third floor is a hall the full size of the building, used for drills and meetings. Including the bell tower in the center of the fafade, the building is one hundred and ten feet high. A great portion of the skilled labor required in its erection was done by members of the department thus much reducing its cost, which reached $17,000. No. 3, a two- story brick building on Walnut street, between Eleventh and Twelfth streets. No. 4, a two- story brick buHding fronting on Penn street, three stories stone and brick in the rear. No. 5, a two-story frame building on Eleventh street and Troost avenue. Chemical Engine No. i is in a two-story brick building adjoining Engine House No. 5. No. 6, a two-story brick buHding on Fifth and Bluff streets. No. 7, a two-story brick- building on Liberty street between Six teenth and Seventeenth streets. No. 8, a two-story brick building at Sixteenth and Locust streets. No. 9, a two- story brick building at Twenty-fourth street and Southwest Boulevard. Ground has been bought at Eighteenth and Vine streets for Engine House No. 10. Captain J. M. Silvers was chief until April, 1874, having held office since 1872. He was succeeded by Michael Burnett, who resigned in 1875. His successor was Colonel Frank Foster (the first chief of the volunteer depart ment), who served until the spring of 1882, when George C. Hale was ap pointed. The latter had been assistant under Foster, since 1880, and it was upon Foster's recommendation that the council unanimously appointed him chief He had also seen active service as a fireman as engineer of a "steamer" No statistics of the fire department were kept until 1872. The following figures showing number of alarms, and amounts of fire losses and annual ex penditures for the department since that date are interesting, not alone as 212 History of Kansas City. showing the progress of the department, but also as indicating, in a measure, the gradual growth of the city : Year. No. of Alarms. Losses by Fire. Expenditures. 1872 97 $ 95,200 $27,562.05 1873 92 87,214 28,509.25 1874 61 10.347 27,086.26 1875 92 55,656 21,103.58 1876 51 8,355 17.470.84 1877 48 1,780 14,021.12 1878 74 8,847 12,403-93 1879 93 73.025 13.580.42 1880 118 342,310 16,243.85. 1881 123 34,765 23,638.60 1882 86 89,770 27,989.88 1883 152 123,705 38,406.07 1884 186 255,926 43,620.83 1885 208 193,603 45,178.61 1886 268 98,827 57,814.31 1887 437 227,586 22,611.05 The reputation of the fire department of Kansas City and its efficient chief is national in extent Mr. Hale, a practical mechanic and inventor, has origi nated many useful devices for facilitating the work of the firemen. By his de votion to official duty, and the exercise of his executive ability, he has made the department one of the best As organized at the time of the chief's last annual report the department was made up thus : Headquarters : George C. Hale, chief ; Joseph McArdle, assistant chief; Edward Trickett, second assistant chief; William B. Dowley, secretary. Hose Reel Company No. i : T. Gaffney, foreman ; D. Cavanagh, driver ; T Sullivan, J. O'Donnell and T. McGovern, hosemen. Hose Reel Company No. 2 : Joseph T. McGuire, foreman ; D. Donovan, driver ; W. H. Marquis, jr, and E. Brauninger, hoseman. Hose Reel Company No. 3 : N. Byrne, foreman ; J. E. Hughes, driver ; P. Leonard and J. Gorman, hosemen. Hose Reel Company No. 4: John Malone, foreman; H. Hilliker, driver ; Fred Dwyer and C. Linden, hosemen. Hose Reel Company No. 5 : M. Clarkin, foreman ; E. Clarkin driver ; J. McNeilus and S. E. Nelson, hosemen. Hose Reel Company No. 6: A. BueH, foreman; J. O'Hare, driver; Joseph Glenn and B. McBreen, hosemen. Hose Reel Company No. 7: M. Mahoney, foreman; G. S. Sawyer, driver ; J. Leonard and T. Davy, hosemen. Hose Reel Company No: 8 : L. E. Hale, foreman ; J. Rayburn, driver ; W. McCutchen and Charles McCutchen, hosemen. Chemical Company No. i : Joseph Forquer, foreman ; M. Kesler, driver; J. Denahy and L. G. Snow, hosemen. Hook and Ladder Company No. i : A. Henderson, foreman ; J. C. Woodward, driver ; F. Rick- ard, tillerman ; T. Gorman, Frank Love, W. H. McDonald, William Glasser and H. T. Spencer, laddermen. Hook and Ladder Company No. 2 : Edward Hoyt foreman; George Cassidy, driver; J. O'Shea; D. Hennessey and Will- Municipal Government. 213 iam Vaughn, laddermen. Water Tower No. i and supply wagon, B. F Martin, driver. The monthly salaries were as follows : chief, $208.33 ; assistant-chief, $125; second assistant-chief, $100; secretary, $75; foreman, $80; drivers and hosemen, $75. There were six watch-boys at a salary of $15, and one at a salary of $25 per month. By order of Chief Hale the fire department has lately been making a series of tests, and has demonstrated that Kansas City can produce the fastest hitching in the world. The record made is as follows : Hose Reel No. 6, horses in stalls fourteen feet from end of tongue, hitched in one and one- fourth seconds from tap of gong. Same company, men in bed, complete hitch in seven seconds. No_ 2 Hook and Ladder, horses fourteen feet from end of pole, hitched in one and three-fourths seconds. No. I Hook and ladder, men in bed, lead team sixteen feet from collars, wheel team twenty feet from end of pole, hitch made in seven seconds. The floor hitch was made in three seconds after men came down the pole, the four seconds being required for dressing. No. 3 Hose Reel made a floor hitch, the horses running thirty-six feet, in two and one-half seconds. The Metropolitan Police Force. — The Metropolitan Police Department of Kansas City was organized in the spring of 1874, with a total force including officers, of about twenty-five. Prior to that time the police regulations were similar to those of large country villages. A marshal was elected each year, and his deputies were appointed by the council, often as a reward for some po litical service. Under the present system no member of the force is permitted to participate in political work beyond the mere casting of his vote. Appoint ments are made by a board of police commissioners, consisting of the mayor, as ex-of[icio president of the board, and two members appointed by the gov ernor, sworn not to appoint any applicant for political or other reasons aside from his proven eligibility and efficiency. The appointments are made for a term of three years, and the law provides that at the expiration of this time men in service must be given the preference in the matter of reappointment, so that the positions may be held, practically, during good health and good behavior. The numerical strength of the force is now one hundred and twenty-five men and officers. As this is only one officer to every 1,500 inhabitants, and only one-half of the number are on duty at a time, it is apparent that each officer is practically the guardian of the interests of 3,000 persons. London (Eng.) has a policeman to about every 375 inhabitants ; New York one to about every 500 ; Philadelphia one to about every 800 ; St Louis one to about every 800. In view of these facts it would seem that at low estimate, Kansas City should have one officer to every 1,000 inhabitants. Thomas M, Speers, the present chief of police, was appointed to the position at the organization of the department and has filled it continuously since, under the repeated reap pointments. He had previously served two years as marshal, and has practi cally been at the head of Kansas City's police department sixteen years with- 214 History of Kansas City. out intermission, making him one of the oldest chiefs in the country if not the oldest Chief Speers has under him three captains, seven detectives, nine ser geants and one hundred and two patrolmen. The office of roundsman was es tablished in 1880 and recently abolished and superseded by that of sergeant. The largest number of roundsmen serving at once was seven. The department has, besides its principal station at " headquarters," a station on Grand avenue and another in West Kansas. One of the great needs of the department is a police signal system. The patrolmen report by telephone when practicable, but this is not always convenient and delays are unavoidable. A signal system and other improvements are promised at an early date. There is an impor tant auxiliary police force, consisting of about two hundred special officers em ployed by corporations and business houses. This includes the merchant po lice, on duty at the large stores and warehouses throughout the city. To be eligible to appointment on this police force, a man must have the fol lowing qualifications in addition to that of citizenship : He must be between the ages of twenty- one and forty years, not less than five feet ten inches in height and of proportionate weight. The average age of the patrolmen now on the force is thirty-four years, their average height is a trifle over six feet, and their average weight is one hundred and ninety pounds, and physically they are a fine lot of men. The first board of police commissioners (1874) consisted of Hon. George C. Bingham, Hon. H. J. Latshaw and Hon. W. N. McDearmon. Hon. H. J. Latshaw was chosen president of the board April 15th and resigned May nth, when Mr Bingham was chosen to succeed him. Mr McDearmon was the treasurer, chosen April 15th. Thomas M. Speers was made clerk AprH i6th, but did not serve. The present board is constituted as follows: Henry C. Kumpf,. president; Watson J. Ferry, James LiHis, commissioners ; W. O. Huckett, sec retary. The salary of the chief of police is %i66.66 per month ; of captains, $100; of sergeants, $75 ; of patrolmen, $60 the first year and $75 the second ; police- commissioners (exclusive of mayor) $300 per annum ; clerk of the board, $125 per month; recorder, $1,200 per annum ; clerk of the Recorder's Court $900- per annum. Until a recent date the duties of clerk of the Recorder's Court de volved upon the clerk of the board of police commissioners. The first and only incumbent of this office appointed to date (February i, 1888) was E. L. Green wood, now serving, who was appointed in 1877. Recorder's Court. — Previous to 1859 the mayor had jurisdiction over all prisoners arrested by the marshal or his deputies. By legal enactment April 19, 1859, all judiciary powers heretofore vested in the mayor, were declared to be vested in the city recorder. The foHowing named persons have served as city recorder in the years des ignated: Municipal Government. 215 1859, John W. Summers (resigned) and L. S. Boiling ; i860, John W. Sum mers; 1861, G.-W. Toler; 1862, G. W. Toler; 1863, A. Ellenberger ; 1864, A. Ellenberger; 1865, C. A. Carpenter ; 1866, C. A. Carpenter; 1867, P. Lu- •cas ; 1868, C. A. Carpenter; 1869, W. H. Sutton; 1870, C. A. Carpenter; 1871, D. A. N. Grover; 1872, O. G. Long; 1873, D. H.Porter; 1874, James Farrow; 1875, W. H. Sutton; 1876, W. H. Sutton (died), H. R. Kelso; 1877, D. Ellison; 1878, Hamilton Finney; 1879, Hamilton Finney; 1880, Hamil ton Finney ; 1881, John W. Childs; 1882, George R.Jones; 1883, Charles M. Ingraham; 1884, Charles M. Ingraham; 1885, Joseph Worthen ; 1886, Joseph Worthen; 1887, J. J. Davenport; 1888, J. J. Davenport The list of successive city attorneys is as follows : 1859, John W. Robinson ; i860, John W. Robinson ; 1861, J. S. Boarman; 1862, WilHam Quarles; 1863, William Quarles, John C. Gage ; 1864, Charles C. Carpenter ; 1865, Thomas B. Rummel ; 1866, Charles C. Carpenter ; 1867, William Warner; 1868, H. P. White; 1869, D. S. TwitcheH; 1870, H, P. White; i87i,J. W. Dunlap; 1872, John T. CampbeH ; 1873, H. M. Withers; 1874, J. C. Tarnsey; 1875, Wash Adams; 1876, Wash Adams; 1877, James Gibson; 1878, James Gibson; 1879, Thomas King; 1880, Thomas King; 1 88 1, W. J. Strong; 1882, W. J. Strong ; 1883, OrweH T. Knox; 1884, John J. Campbell ; 1885, John J. CampbeH ; 1886, Josiah J. Williams ; 1887, W. K. Hawkins; 1888, W. K. Hawkins. Violaters of city ordinances, if unable to pay fines imposed in the Record er's Court, are sent to the workhouse to work them out. They are allowed ninety cents a day for their labor, and charged thirty cents a day for their board, leaving them an allowance of sixty cents net. The superintendent of the work house is Thomas Phelan, and the conduct of the institution is creditable to the city. The Board of Health. — May 8, 1878, an ordinance was passed by the Common Council creating the board of health of Kansas City, to be composed of six persons (one from each ward), to be appointed by the mayor, with the Council's approval, and to hold office one year without fee or compensation. August 10, 1878, an ordinance was framed defining the duties of the board of health and providing for a record of births, marriages and deaths. The first board of health was constituted as follows : Drs. J. M. Wood, D. R. Porter, J. W. CadweH, J. O. Day, J. D. Elston, A. B. Taylor May 27, 1879, the membership of the board was increased to seven, one to be from the city at large and to serve as president ; all to be regular physi cians in good standing and to possess all the qualifications of aldermen. On the 4th of August following, an ordinance was approved providing that the board of health should consist of the mayor, as ex-officio president ; the chief of the fire department ; the chief of police ; the city physician, to be sanitary superintendent ; and another to be appointed by the council, to be assistant 2i6 History of Kansas City. sanitary superintendent. Dr D. R. Porter was the first sanitary superintend ent At present the board consists of the mayor, the city physician, the chief of poHce, chief of the fire department, the city chemist a clerk and two sani tary surgeons, one appointed by the sanitary superintendent (the city physi cian) and the other by the chief of police, and xV-, personale \nc\^ides H. C. Kumpf mayor ; Dr John Fee, city physician ; Thomas M. Speers, chief of police ; George C. Hale, chief of the fire department ; R. R. Hunter, city chemist, and Dr. H. B. Wood, clerk. The first clerk of the board of health was H. H. BuHene, appointed in 1882. In 1884 an ordinance was passed adding duties to this office, which made it obligatory upon the incumbent to be a graduate of some medical col lege. Dr. Wood was appointed when this ordinance went into effect, and has served continuously since. CHAPTER IX. industries. pork and beef packing — LIVE STOCK INTEREST. IN no branch of commercial industry has Kansas City made more rapid strides than in that to which a brief consideration is given in this chapter. Although it is comparatively but a few years since pork and beef packing was commenced at this point, such has been the success of this undertaking that at the present time Kansas City ranks as the second largest pork packing cen ter in the world. The causes which have contributed to this gratifying result can be easily explained and understood. Kansas City is situated in the cen ter of the greatest corn raising section in the country, and as the supply of marketable hogs is regulated almost entirely by the supply of corn, it can readily be seen how naturally it became a market for the hog product. The railroad facilities radiating from Kansas City through Kansas, Missouri, Iowa and Nebraska, four of the most important corn growing States in the Union, make this market the receptacle of nearly all their hog and beef products. The packers here can afford to pay better prices than their competitors at more eastern points, for the reason that the latter have to pay freight on the live stock, and freight back on the manufactured product, in order to get into the territory where Kansas City packers ship most of their goods — namely, the South and Southwest The packers here can place their products all through the South, including seaboard points, at the expense of Chicago, Cincinnati, St Louis and Louisville. The same is true of the West and Northwest The ^^K 1 IP IH^ 'jHII > { ^ i i^^wyp" 1 >¦ ' •^, i^' f y'b^i cwmums aa-oM' Industries. 217- bulk of the product manufactured here goes for domestic consumption ; the exports, however, especially of beef, sum up no inconsiderable amount. The rise and progress of this now great industry in Kansas City is the de velopment of natural causes. As soon as events demonstrated that a supply of cattle could be found on the western prairies, packers were attracted to the frontier The first pioneer in this field was Edward W. Pattison, who in 1867 established a packing-house at Junction City, where he formed a company, and during 1867 packed about one thousand cattle. Acquaintance with the country soon satisfied him that Kansas City possessed the best commercial facihties near the frontier and offered the best advantages for his business. Hence, in 1868, in company with J. W. L. Slavens, he built the first packing house — the one now occupied by Jacob Dold & Sons. During the first year of their operations here, they packed about 4,209 cattle, the first beef packing done in the city. The same year Thomas J. Bigger, formerly of Belfast Ire land, came here and began the packing of hogs for the Irish and English markets, the first enterprise of this kind started in the city after the war. Pre vious to the war, about 1858, M. Diveley and a few others had packed a few hogs, and in 1859 J. L. Mitchener opened a packing-house on the east levee, but his business was stopped by the war. In 1868 Mr. Bigger built a small store-house on St Louis avenue. West Kansas City, where he packed away his meat the slaughtering being done for him by Pattison & Slavens. In 1869 Mr. Slavens sold his interest in the packing-house of Pattison & Slavens to Dr. F. B. Nofsinger, and formed the co-partnership known as Ferguson, Slavens & Co., by whom was built the packing-house now owned and occupied by the Morrison Packing Company. The firm of Ferguson, Slavens & Co. was succeeded by Slavens & Oburn, who sold this plant to the present pro prietors. In 1870 Plankinton & Armours came to Kansas City, and during the first year rented the packing-house of Pattison & Nofsinger, but in the following year built their own house. Plankinton & Armours had already two large houses, one in Milwaukee and one in Chicago. From the date of the estab lishment of their business here the steady and rapid progress of the great inter est they represented may be said to have commenced in Kansas City. Up to that time it had been conducted on a comparatively limited scale. About three years ago John Plankinton retired from th.e firm of Plankinton & Armours, when the world-wide known corporation of the Armour Brothers Packing Company was organized. Their slaughtering houses and storage ware-houses in Kansas City, immense five and six story structures, cover an area of over six acres, and to keep up with the increasing demand for the company's pro duction, additions are constantly being made. Fifteen hundred to two thou sand men are employed, the capacity of the institution being six hundred cat tle and seven thousand hogs per day. Last year about 1,000,000 hogs and '2 1 8 History of Kansas City. 125,000 cattie were slaughtered by this house. Two hundred and twenty-five railroad cars are owned by the company and used in the transportation of their products all over the United States. Their trade is domestic and foreign, large ware-houses in New York being required to facilitate their immense European trade. The extent of one branch of their business, the canning of beef, can be best reahzed from the fact that 35,000 boxes of tin are annually used in making tin cans. The company have a similar institution in Chicago, which is the only estabHshment in the world which excels their Kansas City branch in the extent of its business transactions. The company is composed of S. B,, A. W., P. D., H. O., K. B. and C. W. Armour In the summer of 1880 Jacob Dold & Sons, one of the largest packing firms in Buffalo, N. Y., came to Kansas City and purchased the packing house of Nofsinger & Co. They opened business in the fall of 1880. The new ven ture was a success from the beginning, and soon outstripped the parent estab lishment in the quality of its productions. The leading spirit of the concern here is J. C. Dold, under whose management an immense business has been built up. Besides the estabHshment at Kansas City and Buffalo, the firm has a large distributing house at Harrisburg, Pa, This establishment has a capac ity of 6,000 hogs, 1,250 cattle, and 1,000 sheep per day. In 1886, 350,000 hogs and 40,000 cattle were slaughtered. Six hundred and fifty to seven hun dred men are employed, to whom semi-monthly $12,000 to $16,000 are paid. The trade of the house extends nearly all over the world, an immense business being done in the shipment of beef in car loads and by express, packed in boxes of from one hundred to five hundred pounds in weight, including ice. In 1 88 1 the extensive beef and pork packing and lard refining firm of Fowler Brothers, with packing houses in Liverpool, New York, and Chicago, began operations in Kansas City. Early in 1884 George Fowler purchased his brother's interest in the establishment here, and conducted it alone until January i, 1886, when his son, George A., became a partner under the pres ent firm name of George Fowler & Son. This plant near the junction of the Kaw and Missouri Rivers, is one of the largest and best equipped packing houses in the city, covering an area of seventeen acres. At present their daily slaughter averages 4,000 hogs and 200 cattle, affording employment to from 800 to 900 men. This firm makes a specialty of refining lard, their produc tion in 1886 reaching 40,000 tierces. Extensive consignments are made to European ports, this export trade amounting to nearly five million dollars an nually, about one-third of their entire business. The Morrison Packing Company is a branch of the well known Cincinnati packing house of James Morrison & Co., established in 1845. Operations were commenced in Kansas City in 1884, as successors of Slavens & Oburn. Their attention is given exclusively to the hog product During the winter season they kill from r,ooo to 1,200 hogs per day, and about half that number Industries. 219 during the summer months, furnishing employment to from 125 to 300 men. Their trade extends to the South and Southwest. The officers of the com pany are Thomas Morrison, president ; James K. Morrison, secretary ; W. P. Morrison, treasurer, and F. M. Schirmer, general manager. The Kansas City Packing Company began operations in Kansas City in 1884. This institution is conducted by A. J. Morris and S. W. Bull, who also have an extensive establishment in St Louis. The concern here packs both pork and beef, but lately have confined their operations principally to the pre paring of dressed beef, slaughtering from forty to fifty head of cattle per day. Employment is furnished to 150 men. The AHcutt Packing company was organized in November, 1885, and is composed of W. P., C. T, G. P., and E. H. AHcutt, and D. C. Smith. Their operations are confined solely to hog packing. The capacity of their estab lishment, covering two and one-half acres of ground, is 800 hogs per day, over 100,000 hogs being packed in 1886. Two hundred men are employed. W. P. AHcutt president of the company, was superintendent of the Armour Packing Company in this city for fifteen years prior to the organization of the AHcutt Packing Company. The Kingan Packing Company has recently begun the packing of pork in Kansas City. It is a branch of the mammoth establishment of Kingan & Co.,. of Indianapolis, with a distributing house at Richmond, Va. The headquar ters of the company is in Belfast, Ireland. Their packing establishment in this city embraces six large buildings covering a space of six acres with a capacity of killing 3,000 hogs per day. The resident managers of the company in Kan sas City are W. J. and J. S. Reid. In an advanced stage of completion in this city is the large dressed beef house of Swift & Co., of Chicago, which when completed, in addition to the increased facilities lately made to the establishment already in operation here by the erection of new buildings, will make the capacity for handling hogs and cattle in Kansas City unexcelled by any city in the United States. Although Kansas City became a packing point before it had a stock mar ket, it was not until the creation, in 187 1, of a cattle and hog market, that the packing interest began to rapidly grow. In 1 872 the city had attained great importance as a packing point, and in 1874 was the principal source of supply for packed beef, and since that time has retained nearly a monopoly of the trade. The total number of cattle killed at Kansas City during the twelve months ending March i, 1887, was about 100,000 head. The shipment of dressed beef was about 1,075 cars, representing the beef of about 30,000 cat tle. The other beef product was distributed about the country in the form of canned meats, barreled beef and less than car load lots of dressed beef Pre vious to 1872 there was no summer packing worthy of mention, but since that time business has been continued throughout the year by all the large packing 220 History of Kansas City. houses of the country. Among packers the year is divided into two seasons — summer and winter — the former extending from March i to November i, the latter from November i to March i. The year just closed completes the twentieth year of the packing business in Kansas City. From 13,000 hogs and 4,200 cattle handled in 1868, the business has advanced, step by step, during the lapse of a score of years, until almost 2,000,000 hogs and 170,000 cattle are annually converted into meat products and distributed to the consumers of the world. Thus it is shown that twenty years brings many changes, even to those more actively engaged in the business. The advancement made in this particular industry since its inception has been of such magnitude that in 1887 it was considered a poor day's work when 13,000 hogs and 4,200 cattle were not killed in the great -white packing establishments which skirt the Kaw and Missouri Rivers. The change since 1886 is most remarkable, and is characteristic only of a wonder ful metropolis like Kansas City. And yet packers and meat men here, at Chi cago, Boston, Cincinnati, and other great commercial cities, agree that as yet the packing industry in this city is only in its infancy. As showing the progress of the packing business since its inception in this •city, the following table is given : Years. Cattle. 1868 4,200 1869 4,420 1870 21,000 1871 45.543 1872 20,500 1873 26,549 1874 42,226 1875 26,372 1876 26,765 1877 27,863 1878 18,756 1879 29, 141 i88o 30.922 1881 46.350 S2 65,116 83 - 74.314 34 66,250 35 • 78,963 36 101,489 37 160,551 Hogs. 13,000 23,00036,000 83,000 180,000 175,000 70,30074-474 114,869 180,357 349.097366,830539.097857,823 749,083 1,056,1161,114.451 1. 529.415 1,701,903 1,889,054 1 1,102,909 Total, twenty years 947,290 From the first day of the year until the last there has been such a demand upon the local market that with every possible exertion, the packers and dressed meat men have not been able to supply the new trade that has been constantly added by the rapid increase of new territory. As a natural conse- Industries. 221 quence, there has been a great deal of remodeling and improving to increase the packing facilities of old houses, while two of the largest and most complete establishments have been erected and put in operation by outside men of wide experience. A careful estimate places the amount of money invested in this manner since January ist at $1,500,000, making a total of nearly $8,000,000 invested in packing houses in Kansas City ; while the number of men em ployed has been increased from 6,000 in 1886 to 9,000 at the close of 1887. The cost of operating these great establishments is simply enormous, aggre gating $12,000,000 annually, $4,000,000 of which is paid for labor. The product of the packing houses also furnishes some interesting figures, the ag gregate value of beef, pork, mutton, lard and all packers' goods produced, being fully $55,000,000 annually. The causes which have led to such a wonderful increase in this important industry are similar to those which have distin guished Kansas City as one of the most remarkable cities on the continent. The constantly increasing territory tributary to the home markets, with the vast net-work of railway lines reaching out in every direction and affording di rect communication with all the leading towns and cities within a radius of 1,000 miles, are among the factors which have been instrumental in placing Kansas City before the world as the coming meat center of the continent. The product of the packing houses has increased frorri $36,700,000, as given last year, to $55,000,000 for 1887. The details of this business are summarized as follows : Number of Hogs Packed. 1887. 1886. January and February 287,564 242,903 March I to November i 1,110,250 969,000 November and December 491,240 490,000 Total for year 1,889,054 1,701,903 Number of cattle slaughtered 165,736 102,868 Number of sheep slaughtered 72,349 29,159 Average weight of hogs 239 241 The purchase of a large tract of land at Armourdale, and the erection of a magnificent packing house, with a capacity of 3,000 hogs daily, by Kingan & Co., of IndianapoHs, created a decided boom in the pork-packing business. The establishment was not completed until late in November, and it has only been running at about one-fourth its capacity. The Swift Dressed Meat es tablishment, which was erected during the summer season, has also created a demand for about 1,500 hogs daily, which are worked into fresh pork and dis tributed throughout the country. Several of the old establishments have been improved and the facHities increased fully 35 per cent, The purchase of hogs on the local market has almost completely checked the actual shipments to other points, thus showing that Kansas City packers are capable of handling the bulk of the hogs entering her stock market 39 222 History of Kansas City. dressed meats. In the dressed meat industry there has been a general increase in all the different branches, except in mutton. The number of cattle slaughtered during the year was 165,736, as against 102,868 in 1886, an increase of 62,868 head, or 60 per cent At the stock yards the receipts of cattle have been enormous, and the prices lower than for years. With a heavy demand the year round for beef produce, the dressed meat men have had all the business they could attend to. The erection of the great Swift establishment, with a capacity of 1,000 cat tle daily, together with the new beef house of Jacob Dold & Sons, will add materially to the volume of the business during the coming year. It is also expected that the Western Dressed Beef Company's plant will soon be put to use, after the unfortunate failure of the Marquis de Mores scheme in New York and Baltimore. The improved slaughtering process, as well as the re frigerator car system, has had the effect of doing away with the old method of butchering, and it is really surprising to note the demand upon the market from the smaller cities and towns in the East, West, North and South. Dur ing a recent visit to Florida, the writer hereof found depots of Kansas City dressed meats at Memphis, New Orleans, MobHe, JacksonviHe, St. Augustine, and Tampa, and learned that nearly all the cities of the South were similarly provided. THE LIVE STOCK INTEREST. We glean the foHowing figures, showing the immense live stock business of Kansas City, from the seventeenth annual report of E. E. Richardson, esq., secretary of the Kansas City Stock Yards. The total receipts for the year 1887 ^"d 1886: Cattle. 669,224490,971 Hogs. 2,423,2622,264,484 Increase.. 178,253 158,778 •I 7 years 5,384,428 14,809,747 Total shipments for 1886 and 1887 : Cattle. Hogs. 1887 609,062 2,423,546 1886 490,906 2,264,323 Sheep. 209,956 172,659 37.297 1,419,678 Sheep. 209,491 172,397 Horses & Mules. 29,690 33.188 Dec. 3,498 223,028 Horses & Mules. 29,61833.098 Cars. 67,752 58,924 Inc. 8,828 496,781 Cars. 31.489 27,050 Increase 168,056 159,223 37.094 Dec. 3,480 Inc. 4,439 To show the immense area of country which sends these vast herds of cat tle, hogs, sheep, horses, and mules to Kansas City, we give the following list of railroads, with the number of each class of stock handled respectively dur ing the year 1887 and the previous sixteen years, viz., from 187 1 to 1877 in clusive : Industries. 223 Cattle. Hogs. Sheep. B orses and Mules. Cars. i887, H. &St, Jo.... 3,111 42.533 3,182 1,204 918 i6 yrs. " " 28,998 422,053 42,886 9.451 9.893 1887, Wab.West.... 3.185 2>.545 1,777 716 568 16 yrs. " '• .... 33.751 99.136 31,623 14,325 4.315 1887, Mo. Pacific 100,791 793,125 51.354 8.776 16,790 16 yrs. " " 337.658 3.161,435 156,695 47,335 70.452 1887, U. Pacific .... 114,156 408,953 50,963 1,976 12,394 16 yrs. " " .... 1,218,215 1,790,029 193,190 7.210 94,410 1887, Southern Kan.. 109,348 209,412 20,304 802 8,020 16 yrs. " 916,695 1,754,636 137,744 4.799 83,788 1887, K. C„F. S.&G. 38,430 162,487 7.254- 988 4,396 16 yrs. 346.975 1,261,698 56,808 - 5.308 37,885 1887, K.C.,S.J.&C.B. 10,203 285,040 10,589 852 4.790 16 yrs. " 60,091 1,627,580 36,692 5.737 28,016 1887, A., T. & S. F. 263,394 354,842 50,154 3,824 17.787 16 yrs. " " 1.553.563 1.938,991 366,520 14,070 113,590 1887, C. & A 3.561 38,513 3,080 1.457 845 16 yrs. " 32,559 146,958 21,425 5.532 4.254 1887, C, R. I. &P.. 1,603 10,566 692 604 272 16 yrs. C. R. I. & P. 28,439 51,799 16,752 3.673 2,099 1887, C. K. & N.... 8,652 37,166 708 63 900 1888, C. M. &S. P.. 183 3,692 80 9 72 7 yrs. M., K. & T... 2,960 7.233 746 620 325 1887, Driven into yds. 12,607 25,388 9,819 8,419 16 yrs. 267,907 5,384,428 360,326 14,809,747 158,460 1,419,678 83.997 223,028 Total 17 years, 496,781 shipments. The shipments for the same periods, by all of these lines, were as follows : Cattle. Hogs. Sheep. Horses & Mules. Cars. 1887 483,372 524,492 103,136 21,352 31.489 16 yrs 4,180,500 3,824,158 787,436 162,235 276,151 4,663,872 4,348,650 890,572 183,587 307,640 DRIVEN OUT OF YARDS FOR PACKERS' AND CITY USE. Cattle. 1887 185,690 16 yrs 1,117.256 Hogs. 1,899,054 9.084.595 Sheep. 106,365 525,196 Horses and Mules. 8,266 51.349 1,302,946 10,983,649 631,561 59.615 This final footing shows the actual consumption of these animals at the packing houses and in various lines of business at Kansas City. During the winter season of 1886-87, 768,257 hogs were packed in Kan sas City and during the summer ending November i, 1887, 1,120,691 were packed, showing an increase over the two seasons of 1885-86 of 334,843 hogs. The pork packed in Kansas City for the winter of 1886-87 showed an increase 224 History of Kansas City. of 1 1 2,430 hogs, while for the same period a decrease of 548,863 hogs was shown in the Chicago production over the winter of 1885-86. A greater increase for the summer of 1886-87 appears in the Kansas City production over the corresponding period of 1885-86, while in Chicago it was relatively less. The dressed meat industry for the present year show a gratifying increase of thirty- five per cent over last year's business. The above figures forcibly demonstrate how rapid has been the growth of the beef and pork packing interest of Kansas City. No other city in the world can show an equal exhibit in this respect. Chicago, Cincinnati, St. Louis, In dianapolis and other leading packing centers have as steadily declined in the aggregate of their output as Kansas City has steadily increased in hers. The future outlook for this source of material prosperity is exceedingly bright, and that Kansas City will soon take the first place among beef and pork packing centers there seems no reasonable doubt. CHAPTER X. COMMERCE AND MANUFACTURES. Commerce Prostrated by War — The Chamber of Commerce — Gradual Resumption of Trade — Growth from 1865 to 1888 — Trade in Different Lines — Notices of Wholesale Houses — Kansas City's Status as a Manufacturing Center — Her Advantages for Manufac turers — The Merchants' and Manufactures' Bureau — Manufactures of Different Kinds — Mention of Establishments in all Lines. A CITY'S commerce and manufactures are so inseparably connected, so mutually dependent and '" some lines so intermixed that it is impossible to treat them separately. COMMERCE. At the close of the war, it may be said with almost literal truth, Kansas City had no commerce. She had been the theater of political and warlike contention. Capital had been withdrawn from enterprise by its timid owners, and an era of personal inactivity and commercial stagnation had existed, and still existed, which, even after peace was an assured fact was slow to give place to more prosperous times. Leavenworth, Kansas City's ante-bellum rival, had been the base of military operations during the war and had grown to a city of about 18,000 population and gained the undisputed commercial supremacy. Nevertheless, with characteristic spirit and courage, railroad building was resumed early in 1865, but was retarded by the attacks of bushwhackers who did not cease their depredations untH May. Then the Southern Kansas trade Commerce and Manufactures. 225 began to return to Kansas City, the residents of that section realizing, as they had done before the war, that Kansas City was more easily accessible to them than Leavenworth. In May Colonel Van Horn and Mr. Hallowell bought the Journal of Commerce of T. D. Thacher, and it immediately took up the old strain of i860 about railroads and improvements, and rallied the people around the old enterprises in which they had been engaged before the war. In July the Chamber of Commerce, which had had a spasmodic intermittent existence through the war, was re-organized and became again a most potent promoter of municipal and railway enterprises. The history of the gradual resumption and progress of railroad construction throughout the territory tributary to Kansas City is given elsewhere in these pages. So also is that of the bitter opposition Kansas City received from her Kansas rival and later from St. Louis. The general progress of the city from the close of the war to the present year is given elsewhere. We have here to deal with her commerce and manufac tures independently. At the beginning of the year 1867 the city council appointed a committee to compile a statement of the trade and progress of the city for 1866. This committee soon after reported as follows: Population 1 5 ,064 Buildings erected, 768, costing $ 2,166,500 Total trade, all lines 33,006,827 There were at that time in the city twenty-one dry goods houses, eighty grocery houses, thirteen clothing houses, eight liquor dealers, and fifteen boot and shoe stores and shops. No mention was made of manufactures, and it is not probable there were any of any account. At the end of the year 1870 the city had a jobbing trade as follows: Dry goods $ 2,511,840 Groceries — 2,614,425 Liquors 618,108 Other jobbing lines 3,004,320 Total $ 8,748,693 The whole business of the city, including all lines, was estimated to have "been $34,794,880. The city passed safely through the financial crisis of 1873, there being ¦comparatively few failures and no serious restriction of trade. The progress ¦during succeeding years was steady and uninterrupted. In his general re view of the year 1877 the secretary of the Board of Trade said: " The general trade of the city has been improving during the year. No attempt has been made to compile statistics of the jobbing trade, as was annu- .aHy done by the city press in former years, because such statistics are but esti mates, and not sufficiently accurate for the purposes of official report. I am in- 226 History of Kansas City. formed, however, by gentlemen engaged in the various lines of trade, that sales have been larger during the past year than during any previous year. The ex tent of territory embraced within the trade limits of Kansas City has increased in equal ratio to former years, while there has been a larger number of mer chants in former trade limits doing business with us. Our merchants buy their merchandise at first hands, on equal terms with the jobbers of other Western cities, and by the saving of through rates of freights over short routes, and by acting upon the principle of 'large sales and small profits,' are able to make it to the advantage of merchants in the cities and towns around us to buy their merchandise here instead of other western cities. The stocks kept in the city are likewise large and varied, and merchants around us can obtain what they want so much quicker of us, that it is not necessary for them to carry so large stocks as if trading further from home, an,d they are thus enabled to maintain more varied lines with the same capital. "These facts create a tendency to concentrate trade at Kansas City, a tend ency which cannot but increase with coming years, and the improvement and enlargement of stocks resulting from improvement and enlargement of trade. Therefore, while we now enjoy a large and satisfactory trade, embracing a large proportion of that arising from the States and Territories around and west of us, it is but a question of time when Kansas City will be the undisputed metrop olis of a larger extent of country than any other city west of the Allegheny Mountains. "During the year Kansas City's commercial position has been materially advanced. Not only has her trade and commerce been larger, but it has at tracted more attention abroad. The Associated Press has sought and secured daily reports of quotations by telegraph. It has been put on the list of grain markets reporting stocks to the New York Produce Exchange, and latterly the Gold and Stock Board have made arrangements for weekly statements of the grain stocks held here, the stocks having become sufficient to affect the calcu lations of merchants. In this respect she has ranked about tenth among the grain markets of the United States and Canada reporting to the New York Pro duce Exchange." About this time Kansas City received from her great competitor for west ern trade — St Louis — a significant recognition, when the Globe Democrat in discussing the rivalry between St Louis and Chicago for western trade made the following admissions : " The Kansas Pacific, the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe, the Leavenworth,. Lawrence & Galveston, the Missouri River, Fort Scott & Gulf roads receive freight and passengers with sublime impartiality, and deliver them with equal indifference alike to St. Louis or to Chicago. They have neither interest nor affiliation east of Kansas City, which is the pivot on which the trade hinges, the key which opens or closes the door. Hitherto we have held the key, and before Commerce and Manufactures. 227 we lose possession of it, it is worth while studying the situation, to find out where we will be when Chicago has the direct connection which is now reason ably assured." Again, it says: "A glance at the map shows that from this center roads are pushing out Hke the leaves of a fan, and extending themselves to follow the march of civilization, and to help the growth of business in the new grazing and mining regions beyond." And, again : " It is no part of our purpose to deny or to evade the facts, even if the facts should be disagreeable, but there could hardly be any more pleasant mission than to proclaim to all the world that the chief city of the west ern border of our State is not only an active, energetic young giant, but that it holds a position which is not likely to be shaken by any future changes in the business growth of the country. We do not hesitate to say that the position of Kansas City and its future are quite as well secured as those of any other city of three times its size, and the country west of it cannot grow without aiding its development." During 1878 the general trade increased. Incident to the large immigra tion into the country and the opening and extension of farms, several agricul tural implement houses were added, and some of the older firms enlarged their ware-rooms. The tendency of business in the Missouri VaHey to concentrate at Kansas City was very marked, and among other acquisitions to the list of local business firms were two large establishments from Lawrence, and one from St Joseph. Trade grew satisfactorily during the following year, and in 1880 was from thirty to fifty per cent heavier than in 1 879. In 1 880 there was an in crease of thirty to sixty per cent, and there was a steady growth during 1881. Owing to short crops the general trade did not aggregate as much during the first six months of 1882 as during a corresponding period in 1881 ; but after harvest the situation was changed, trade was brisk, and the mercantile aggre gates for the year were larger than for 1 88 1. Mercantile interests advanced in 1883. Kansas City jobbing trade was growing rapidly, and the district covered by it was rapidly extending. Progress in 1884 was satisfactory, and in 1885 still more so, except in particular interests affected by local causes. In 1886 the wholesale trade aggregated $52,100,000. In its annual review of the year 1887, the Kansas City Journal said : "To the already large business, wholesale and retail of the city, was added in 1887 a total of i, 100 new firms, bringing here a capital of $10,000,000. The city is each day becoming more and more the distributing point for the entire Southwest The jobbing trade is assuming grand proportions. The wholesale grocery houses alone represent a capital of $2,000,000, and their sales during the past year amounted to $23,000,000. The wholesale dry goods sales footed up $7,000,000, while the transactions in hardware increased from $3,000,000 228 History of Kansas City. to $4,000,000. The wholesale drug business reached a volume of $2,000,000, and that of boots and shoes $3,000,000. Jobbers in clothing had a business '^gg^'sgating over a million and a half And so in all the different branches, there was a gratifying increase in the volume of business. The territory cov ered is being steadily extended, and trade is coming here to-day from many places which before never thought of Kansas City. But it has been demon strated that as good goods can be bought here as further east, and at cheaper prices. The tide in this Hne of business has also turned toward the great city of the Southwest " In the retail trade such a rapid advance was never before recorded, and trade has been of the most satisfactory character. The increase has been a steady and continuous one since the opening of the year, and this best teHs of its permanent character." The Merchants' and Manufacturers' Bureau in its report for 1887, gives the following comparative tables, showing the wholesale business of the city : 1886. 1887. Groceries $11,000,000 $23,000,000 Dry Goods 2,700,000 7,000,000 Agricultural Implements 14,000,000 18,000,000 Lumber 2,400,000 3,000,000 All other 22,000,000 27,000,000 $52,100,000 $78,000,000 Agricidtiiral Implements. — Kansas City is the greatest depot for agricul tural implements in the worid. This is due the fact that almost every manu factory of machines or tools for farm use has established an agency here. The firms engaged in this business aggregate more than one hundred. The buHd ings occupied for this trade are very extensive, the storage room required covering many acres. A glance at the figures below will afford an idea of the magnitude of the business: Capital (including buHdings) $ 6,000,000 Volume of business for last year 1 5,000,000 Number of firms engaged, including transfer houses 27 Number of factories represented 468 Number of employees ^Sq Square feet of floor space occupied 1,800,000 The entire product of the various manufactories of implements in the United States for last year is estimated at $60,000,000, of which Kansas City alone handled about $18,000,000, or more than one-fourth. The implement trade of Kansas City is far-reaching, extending from Iowa on the northeast, to Colorado and Arizona on the west covering the States of Nebraska, Missouri, Kansas, Texas and Colorado and portions of Iowa and Arkansas. A remark able fact in connection with this trade is the decrease in prices. Ten years Commerce and Manufactures. 229 ago an ordinary plow cost a farmer $21. The price now is $12. Five years ago a twine-binding harvester cost $350. The price now of improved ma chines is $125. In view of this decHne in prices the increase in the volume of business is especially noteworthy. Below are given figures as to the amount sold in some of the principal lines last year : Walking, sulky, breaking and listing plows 100,000 Cultivators 30,000 Hay rakes 10,000 Corn planters , 7,000 Windmills 5,000 Harvesters 4,200 Mowers 7, 5'oo Wagons 15,000 Jobs of spring work 1 2,000 The history of the development of this branch of trade in Kansas City is •entertaining. In the spring of 1865 Mr. E. A. Phillips, representing L. G. Pratt & Co., plow manufacturers of Peoria, III., opened out with a small stock ¦of implements in a building near Second street, on Main, which is now occu pied as a blacksmith shop. The first year he sold 400 plows, one carload of wagons, six threshing machines and other goods in proportion. The securing of the carload of wagons was due to an accident. They were shipped by Studebaker Bros., of South Bend, Ind., to their branch house at St. Joseph, which city was then the center of the trade. In some way they went astray and finally landed in Kansas City. One of the Studebakers came to this city hunting for them, and rather than ship them to St. Joseph offered them to Mr. Phillips at the exceedingly low figure at that time of $125 per wagon. Mr. Phillips bought them, and in less than twenty-four hours had sold every one of them for $162 each. From this small beginning the business has increased rapidly from year to year until it has attained its present gigantic proportions. The headquarters and factory of Bradley, Wheeler & Co. are located in Chicago. The house was organized in 1864 by the David Bradley Manufac turing Company (formerly Furst & Bradley), of Chicago, and C. S. Wheeler, who has been engaged in the jobbing implement trade in Kansas City for many years The business of the Smith & Keating Implement Company was begun in 1 866 by W. J. Smith and George J. Keating. The Smith & Keating Implement Company was incorporated in 1880, with Mr. Smith as president and Mr. Keating as secretary and treasurer, and has a capital of $600,000. The house of Deere, Mansur & Co. is composed of Deere & Co., of Moline, IH., and A. Mansur of St Louis., Mo,, established its Kansas City branch in 1869. In 1870 the Moline Plow Company established its large jobbing house in Kansas City. The firm of Hoover, Rhodes & Co. was founded in 1877. Mr. J, E. Rhodes, a member of the firm from its organization, died in 1885, 30 230 History of Kansas City. and as now constituted the firm consists of F. K. Hoover and H. S. Rhodes. The local branch house of the Sandwich Manufacturing Company (of Sand wich, 111.,) was opened in 1878. The Standard Implement Company was incorporated in 1882 by the Grand Detour Plow Company, of Dixon, III, Emerson, Talcott & Co., Rockford, III.,. the Newton Wagon Company, Batavia, IH., and A. G. Bodwell, of Kansas City, to furnish direct from this market the products of the different factories mentioned, and other agricultural implements. The officers of the company are O. B. Dodge, president; A. G. Bodwell, vice-president, treasurer and gen eral manager, and H. K. Wolcott, secretary. The firm of Trumbull & Rey nolds was orginally founded in 1871. The members had been for years in the agricultural implement trade in Ohio. In 1873 Mr. AHen became a partner, and the firm (composed of A. G. Trumbull, J. I. Reynolds and J. N. Allen) has since been known as Trumbull, Reynolds & Allen. In 1883 they built a factory at Armourdale. They are extensive manufacturers of hay machinery, deal heavily in a general line of implements and take high rank as seedsmen. D. M. Osborne & Co., of Auburn, N. Y., established their branch house in Kansas City in 1883. R. L. Buchanan, long connected with their St. Louis house, took charge in 1885. The factory of the Parlin & Orendorf Company, of Canton, III., was established in 1842, and the company has large branch houses throughout the west That at Kansas City was opened in 1884. Dur ing the same year the southwestern branch of the Case & Willard Thresher Company of Battle Creek, Mich., was established here. The factory of the Flint & WaHing Manufacturing Company was estabHshed at Kendallville, Ind., in 1864, and their branch house in Kansas City in 1885. The officers of the company are David C. Walling, president ; Rufus G. Marcy, vice-president, and Henry I. Peck, secretary and treasurer. This and other western branches are under Mr. Marcy's management The home office and factory of George W. Brown & Co., are at Galesburg, III, where their business was started in 1858. Their Kansas City house was opened in 1885. The Eagle Manufacturing Company of Davenport Iowa, have had a branch house in Kansas City for some years. The Buford & George Implement Com pany is closely allied to the Rock Island Plow Company, of Rock Island, 111., and the Farmer's Friend Manufacturing Company, of Dayton, O., and was in corporated here to handle their manufactures and other agricultural implements, wagons, etc. Among other houses prominent in the trade may be mentioned J. F. Baker & Son, the Challenge Corn Planter Company, the Easteriy Har vesting Machine Company, Frick & Co., the Harrison Wagon Works Company, the Jackson Wagon Company, the Keystone Manufacturing Company, Mast,. Foos, & Co., P. P. Mast & Co., the McCormick Harvesting Machine Company the Milwaukee Harvester Company, the Minneapolis Harvester Works, Nich ols, Shepard & Co., the Pitts Agricultural Works, the Winona Harvester Works,. Commerce and Manufactures. 231 the Whitman & Barnes Manufacturing Company and the Walter A. Wood Mower and Reaper Company. The exigencies of business demand such frequent changes of location in a young and growing town like Kansas City, that it has not been deemed best to designate the location of business houses in this chapter, and lack of space has forbidden the mention of the names and kinds of implements each house above mentioned deals in, but it is safe to say that any well known make of farm im plements, wagon or carriage can be bought at one or more of them. Boots and Shoes. — There are eight wholesale boot and shoe houses repre senting a capital of fuHy $1,500,000, whose aggregate sales amount to several millions of dollars annually. Barton Brothers, successors to V. B. Buck & Co., conduct a large jobbing business in everything pertaining to the boot and shoe trade. They were form erly associated with V. B. Buck & Co., and, dating from its establishment, their house is one of the oldest in their line. Their trade extends throughout most of the territory tributary to Kansas City. The Wm. W. Kendall Boot and Shoe Company's business was established in 1867. Mr. Kendall has has had an experience of thirty- three years in this line, over twenty of which he has passed in this city. The goods handled by this house are of standard quality and manufacture. Twelve commercial trav elers are constantly on the road, in the interest of this company, in Missouri, Nebraska, Kansas, Texas, New Mexico and Colorado, and fourteen salesmen and clerks are employed in the store. J. A. Cooper & Co. entered the wholesale boot and shoe trade in Kansas -City in 1873. In 1882 they were succeeded by Patterson, BeH, & Co., and in 1885 the present firm of Patterson, Thomas & Co., succeeded to the enterprise. This concern has been successful from the outset, and has an extensive trade throughout the West. It employs a large number of clerks and salesmen. R. G. Wallace & Co., manufacturers, agents and commission jobbers, rep resent the leading Boston factories and transact a large and constantly grow ing business in every kind of footwear. Messrs. Wallace & Sloat, of Chicago, and R. G. Wallace comprise the firm. The latter is the resident partner. Weaver, Jones & Co. is the Kansas City wholesale representative of a large manufactory located at Columbus, O., and having stores at different points in the West. The house was established in 1887, under the management of H. H. Kimball and C. B. Hall, and is rapidly building up a good trade. A full line of the goods manufactured at Columbus, O., as well as a general assort ment of jobbing goods, is kept in stock. T. W. Cosgrove & Co., R. B. Green & Co., and Lederman & Marks are also engaged in this trade. Broom-corn. — Johnson & Perry Brothers established a business in broom- corn and broom-manufacturers' supplies in March, 1884. In the September 232 History of Kansas City. following Hugh E. Thompson bought Perry Brothers' interest, and the style of the firm was changed to Johnson & Thompson. In April, 1885, Mr. Thomp son bought Johnson's interest, and has since been sole owner and manager of the business. An idea of the growth of this interest is afforded in the state ment that in nine months of 1884, the business of the house aggregated only $6,000; in 1885 it amounted to $21,000; in 1886 to $36,000; in 188710 $40,000. Cigars and Tobacco. — The following named houses are engaged in whole saling cigars and tobacco, and some of them are manufacturers: B. Alexander, J. A. Bachman & Brother, Boyd M. Balston, Belmont & Van, Frank W. Boyd, D. C. Curtis, & Co., George M. Foley, Hopkins & Woodbury, O. G. Hull & Brother, Solomon Isaacs, B. B. Jofifee, Julien Haar, Manning & Mann, Gus Rus, Carl Spengler & Rompel, Ben Spitz & Co., E. E. Whiting, WiHiam A. Wilson & Co., N. Wolfson, the Globe Tobacco Company, Nathan Ottenberg, J. N. Stortz & Son, William C. Watson, J. C. Mitchdson and James Love. The house of J. A. Bachman & Brother (J. A. & J. G. Bachman), was estab lished in 1864. It does a wholesale business in tobacco and cigars, and in for eign and domestic wines throughout the Western and Southwestern States. In 1887 a trade of over $200,000 was secured. The " Malta," " Guatemala" and other favorite brands of cigars are specialties. Three traveling men are em ployed. Carl Spengler in 1871 began the business now of Carl Spengler & Rompel. It is principally a wholesale Hquor business, but the firm also deals in tobacco and cigars, of which it sells large quantities in Kansas City and surrounding country. William A. Wilson & Co., importers and jobbers of teas and cigars, spices, etc., came to Kansas City from St Joseph about ten years ago, and established his business here. He has a trade over the West extending from Portland,. Ore., to Galveston, Tex. Manning & Mann, who have been in the wholesale trade in Kansas City since 1879, though directing their energies principally to handling confectioners' and bakers' supplies, are large dealers in this line. J. C. Mitchdson & Co. (J. C. Mitchdson and C. A. Hibbard), dealers in leaf tobacco, estabHshed this warehouse in Kansas City in October, 1880. They sell stock from the tobacco packing-house of A. Mitchdson & Sons, at Tariff- ville, Conn. They have a trade of $225,000 per annum, extending over a wide area west of the Mississippi. Hopkins & Woodbury, wholesale dealers in fine cigars, began business in 1 88 1. They employ twelve salesmen, and in 1887 disposed of 12,000,000^ cigars, their business reaching $235,000. Julien Haar succeeded L. Mainhardt & Co., January i, 1887. He has two salesmen on the road, and sells about 2,000,000 cigars a year, his business ag- Commerce and Manufactures. 235 gregating $50,000. His local trade is good, and his principal brands are pop ular; among them "241 1," "Our Leader," "Our Key West" "Rose of Cuba," "Queen," "Marie Antoinette," "Monte Cristo," and "El Principe de Gales." Coal Miners and Dealers. — The list of well known coal miners and dealers comprises the following names of individuals, firms and corporations : the Bo- len Coal Company, Bovard & Dickson, the Garnett Coal Company, Lawrence Johnson, the Kansas & Texas Coal Company, the Keith & Perry Coal Com pany, J. Q. A. King, N. Miller, jr., W. F. Metzker, the Rogers Coal Company, Wood Brothers, and Vogel & Agnew, N. Miller, jr., dealer in all kinds of coal, has been in the trade here since 1872. His business in 1887 amounted to $200,000. Keith and Henry began dealing in coal in 1874. In 1882 the latter was succeeded by John Perry, and the style of the house was Keith & Perry until the Keith & Perry Coal Company was organized, with R. H. Keith as president, John Perry as vice-president and general manager, J. C. Sherwood as auditor, and E. E. Riley as secretary and treasurer. Under the management of Messrs. Keith and Perry this business has been brought up from one of 2,000 car loads of coal annually, to one of 50,000 car loads. The company own extensive mines which require the services of from fifteen hundred to two thousand men, and twenty-five men are employed in the local trade and re-shipment. The cash aggregate of the business of the company in 1887 was $2,000,000. Rich Hill, Cherokee, Weir City, Deepwater, Minden and Fort Scott Coal are mined, and coke is manufactured in large quantities. Wood Brothers handle Lexington, Garnet, Rich HiH and a general line of coal, and are also extensive dealers in ice. They control the products of sev eral coal mines, and do a large local and outside trade. Bovard & Dickson are heavily engaged in the coal business, and are doing a rapidly increasing trade which bids fair in time to rank with that of some of the older and heavier concerns of the city. Another extensive coal business is done by the Kansas and Texas Coal Company, miners and wholesale dealers. J. Q. A. King is a heavy dealer in coal and coke in this market, and is favor ably known to the trade in all directions. Wholesale Clothiers. — Joseph Cahn & Co., and J. Haar are extensively en gaged in this branch, and both houses are favorably known to the trade of Kansas City and its tributary territory. Both establishments are large, both carrying immense stocks of the latest and most stylish goods. Crockery and Glassware. — T M. James & Sons, importers of and dealers in crockery and glassware, French china, table and pocket cutiery, silver-plated ware, lamp goods, chandeliers, etc., did a business of $400,000 in 1877, having a large local trade, and a general trade throughout Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado, Texas, Missouri and New Mexico. The house was founded in 1863. The members of the firm are T. M., J. C. and L. T. James. :234 History of Kansas City. The Irwin and Eaton Crockery Company was organized and began busi ness in July, 1 88 1. The house imports queensware, china and glassware, and carry a full line of pocket cutlery, table cutlery, lamps, chandeliers and plated ware. It does a large local trade, and has six commercial travelers constantly visiting the principal towns in all directions from Kansas City. Its business in 1887 amounted to $200,000. The officers of the company are L. E. Irwin, president ; J. E. Eaton, vice-president, and J. R. Irwin, secretary. Commission Trade. — Among dealers in commission goods are George H. Althouse & Co., Biddle & Co., E. H. Chamberiain & Co., A. L. Charles & Co., I. D. Clapp & Co., CleTnmons, Cloon & Co., B. F. Coombs & Brother, Cullars & Henry, Disbrow & Allen, Robert B. Evans, Henry C. Garth, the Gate City Stor age and Commission Company, A. S. Haines, William Hardman & Son, the Kansas City Storage and Commission Company, H. Kesting & Co., A. Lea & Co., John P. Loomas, Loveless & Dean, Missouri Commission Company, Gus O. L. Sauer, V. Scalzo & Co., D. E. Smeltzer & Co., Benjamin M. Tanner, and Westfall & Conrad. A. L. Charles & Co., general commission merchants, have been in business since 1867. Their trade approximates $200,000 annually. I. D. Clapp & Co., wholesale commission merchants and dealers in fruit and produce have been in this trade since 1882, and their annual business has in creased from $50,000 to $100,000. Cloon, Clemmons & Co., are a well established firm doing a general com mission business, which is increasing from year to year. Dry Goods, Notions and Mens Furnishing Goods. — Of these lines of trade the principal representatives are BuHene, Moore, Emery & Co., G. Y. Smith & Co., the W. B. Grimes Dry Goods Company, Burnham, Hanna, Munger & Co., Hingston, Coy & Peak, Emrich & Newhouse, Max Isaacs & Son, T. W. Over all & Co., James L. Horner, Bernheimer Bros., and the New York Notion and Fancy Goods Company. BuHene, Moore, Emery & Company's immense business is the outgrowth of an enterprise in the dry goods line established in 1863 by Kersey Coates and T. B. BuHene. In a few months Colonel Coates withdrew from the ven ture and it was carried on by BuHene & Brothers until 1867, when W. E. Em ery purchased an interest in the business and the style of the house became BuHene Bros. & Emery. In 1868 L. BuHene retired from the firm and L. T. Moore was admitted, and the firm became known as BuHene, Moore & Em ery. Two years later, by the admission of L. R. Moore, the firm became Bul- lene, Moores & Emery. In 1886 L. T. Moore retired and J. T. Bird and W. B. Thayer came iiito the firm, which has since been caHed BuHene, Moore, 'Emery St Co. Besides those mentioned; J. Doggett has an interest and the members are now T. B. BuHene, L. R. Moore, W. E. Emery, J. T. Bird, W- B. Thayer and J. Doggett Besides its wholesale trade this house has a large Commerce and Manufactures. 235 retail trade. Its business has constantly increased from the first. Its increase in 1887 was fully forty per cent. Its wholesale trade includes Kansas, Ne braska, Colorado, Texas and New Mexico. The business of Burnham, Hanna, Munger & Co. was established in 1868 by Milton Tootle, Thomas K. Hanna and Richard Leach, under the style of Tootle, Hanna & Leach. In 1873 Mr. Leach died and the firm became Tootle, Hanna & Co. Early in 1887 Mr. Tootle died, and in April, 1887, the name of the firm was changed to Burnham, Hanna, Munger & Co. The first year's business of the company amounted to $200,000 and its present annual business reaches $750,000. Six men were employed at'first and seventy-five are now necessary to carry on the business of the house. The W. B. Grimes Dry Goods Company ^2.=, incorporated January i, 1883, and is one of the most widely known wholesale houses of Kansas City. Its president, Mr. W. B. Grimes, is a native of Hartford, Conn., who has lived in the West many years. For thirty years he was engaged in the cattle business in Texas. He came to Kansas City in 1877, and with ample capital at his command and great native enterprise, he has become identified with many of the leading interests of the city. The business of the W. B. Grimes Company extends over Missouri and into Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado, New Mexico and the Indian Territory. A feature of the dry goods trade of this section is a manufacturing depart ment, in which are made duck and denim clothing, flannel shirts and jeans, and cassimere suits, for which there is a great demand. Burnham, Hanna, Munger & Co., and the W. B. Grimes Dry Goods Company have such fac tories, in which hundreds of persons find employment. Linens, Hats, Caps and Millinery. — Patrick Callaghan and Charles Mc Neills & Co., are wholesale dealers in linens ; Bennett & Bean, Heer Brothers & Co., and Lieberman & Manheimer, in hats and caps; and B. Liebstadter & Co., in millinery. Drugs. — The wholesale drug house of Woodward, Faxon & Co., began business in 1878. The first year's business amounted to $200,000, and its annual business now approximates $1,000,000. Its trade lies mostly in West ern Missouri, Kansas, Colorado and New Mexico. It employs seven com mercial travelers, and fifty men in the house. This firm began business on Delaware street, but in 188 1 removed to the bottoms for better facHities. It has been twice burned out, in 1881 and again in 1884. The Meyer Brothers Drug Company is a branch of a house which was es tabHshed in Fort Wayne, Ind., in 1857. In 1865 a second house was opened in St Louis. This establishment was the third, and it was opened for business in 1882, when the Meyer Brothers' Drug Company was incorporated with C. •' F. G. Meyer as president, F. W. Schulte as vice-president, and George T. Lynn as vice-president and secretary. The treasurer is F. W. Sihler. F; W. 236 History of Kansas City. Schulte and George T. Lynn are the resident directors. The paid-up capital stock of the company is $175,000, and its average annual business is $1,250,- 000. The first year's trade was $400,000. Eight commercial salesmen and seventy-five men in the house are employed. The company's field is the tri butary territory of the city, but its sales extend into Arizona, Southern CaH- fornia and other remote districts. The house of EH Lilly & Co. was established in Indianapolis, Ind., in 1876, and incorporated there in 188 1. In the last mentioned year the Kansas City branch was established, and James E. Lilly is its manager. The goods made and sold by this house include medicinal fluid extracts, gelatine and sugar- coated piHs, elixirs and other preparations employed in compounding physi cians' prescriptions. The house has a large and increasing trade, covering an extensive territory. Theodore Egersdorfif is also a wholesale druggist. Paints and Glass are manufactured and sold by the Kaw Valley Paint and Oil Company, the Lewis Paint and Glass Company, Campbell & Cutler, John A. McDonald & Co., and George M. White & Co. John A. McDonald & Co., manufacturers and jobbers of white lead, mixed paints and fine colors, and dealers in paints, oils, glass, brushes, and painters' materials generally, began business in 1867. Their business in 1887 amounted to $350,000. The Lewis Paint and Glass Company, manufacturers of mixed paint and colors, and wholesale dealers in paint, brushes, glass, oils, varnishes and dry colors, established its business in 1879. In the first year the trade aggregated $20,000; in 1887 it was three times that amount. Chemicals. — Manufacturers of or wholesale dealers in chemicals. The Leis Manufacturing Company, the Marsh and Grassdli Chemical Company, the Progress Chemical Company, the Times Chemical Company, the Wheeler Chemical Works, Frederick A. Holton, and Randall R. Hunter. Hides and Pelts and Leather and Findings. — Dealers in hides and pelts : B. McLean & Co., M. Lyon & Co., Smith, Biggs & Co., M. Hirsch & Sons, John Nelson, and Oberne, Hosick & Co. The house of Benjamin McLean & Co., dealers in hides and wool, is proba bly one of the largest concerns, if not the largest concern in the country, hand- Hng hides and pelts. It was established in 1865, and has branch houses in South Pueblo, Durango, Gunnison City, and Alamosa, Col.; Butte City, Mont, and Santa Fe and Socorro, N. M. It sells its hides in Canada and the English provinces, in the South and East, and wherever there are tanneries. It han dles nearly all of the packing and butcher hides of the city. Seventy men work night and day receiving and shipping hides, and doing other work re quisite to the transaction of the business, and six traveling agents are em ployed. Leather and findings are handled by Askew Brothers, A. Brandenburg & Commerce and Manufactures. 237 Co., M. Hirsch & Sons, Frank B. Lewis, and the Merriam & Robertson Saddlery Company. Of these houses, that of Askew Brothers is the most important. The Merriam & Robertson Saddlery Company also does an ex tensive business. Groceries. — The leading wholesale grocers are Beckham, Mercer & Co., Eby, Dowden & Co., the T. Green Grocery Company, the Gregory Grocery Company, Long Brothers, the McCord & Nave Mercantile Company, Ryley & Wilson, the Ridenour- Baker Grocery Company, Smith, Heddens & Co., Charles D. Ward, and Woodson, Todd & Co. Long Brother's wholesale grocery business was established in 1861. The trade has increased until in 1877 it aggregated $2,500,000. The firm employ twelve traveling salesmen and thirty men in their store. Its trade is princi pally in Kansas and Missouri. The McCord & Nave Mercantile Company, wholesale grocers, was estab lished in 1867, and its trade is in the entire country between the Mississippi River and the Pacific Ocean. A large branch establishment has for years been operating at St Joseph under the style of the Nave & McCord Mercan tile Company. The firmjof Ridenour, Baker & Co. consists of P. D. Ridenour, S. Ridenour, H. W. Baker, A. A. Baker, and E. P. Baker. Its business was established in 1878, and in 1887 the style of the house was changed to the Ridenour-Baker Grocery Company. It has a good local and outside trade, the latter chiefly confined to Kansas, but the company has customers all over the West. It keeps eighteen salesmen on the road, and forty men in the store. The house of Eby, Dowden & Co. was established in 1886. The propri etors are Upton Eby, M. S. Dowden, and L. W. Bates, men of long previous experience in the trade. Their goods are sold throughout the West and Southwest, and their yearly sales exceed $800,000. They employ eight men in the house, and five salesmen travel constantly in their interest. The Gregory Grocer Company, wholesale grocers, jobbers of Havana and domestic cigars, and proprietors of the Bijou coffee, is one of the largest gro ceries in the city, and has been established many years. The goods in stock comprise a full line of everything necessary to completely supply a jobbing or retail store. The company's trade extends over the West and its annual trans actions represent a large item in the aggregate of the city's wholesale grocery trade. Fish and Oysters are handled by Samuel Morledge, A. Booth & Sons, I. D. Clapp & Co., and Piatt & Co. Confectionery and Crackers. — The Corle Cracker and Confectionery Com pany was incorporated in 1880, with a paid up capital of $50,000. Its officers are Joseph S. Loose, president, and J. L. Loose, secretary and treasurer. The business had been founded some years before by J. F. Corle. A complete line 31 238 History of Kansas City. of crackers and confectionery is manufactured, and the trade of the company is large and far reaching. Its business affords employment to hundreds of men and women. The Huggins Cracker and Candy Company was established in 1883. Its founder was Louis Huggins. When the Huggins Cracker and Candy Com pany was organised, Mr. Huggins became its president ; W. G. Fairlie its vice- president and secretary and treasurer, and H. F. Vories an active partner in the concern. The business of this company, long, successful and increasing, was suddenly terminated in 1887 by the complete destruction of the establish ment by fire. Manning & Mann (W. H. Manning and Morris Mann) are manufacturers of and dealers in confectioners' and bakers' supplies. Their house was estabHshed in 1879 by W. H. Manning & Co., and the name was changed to Manning & Mann in April, 1885. The concern does a large jobbing business, employing nearly fifty persons, besides five traveling salesmen, and its trade extends throughout Missouri, Kansas, and adjacent territory. W. A. Mount & Co. are also extensively manufacturing and trading in this line. Their business is large and increasing yearly. The house of the late James A. Morton and Graham & Co. are well and favorably known to the trade. Hardware. — The Hall & Willis Hardware Company, jobbers and importers of hardware and cutlery, was organised in 1881. The officers are T. F Willis, president; W. H. Hall, vice-president and Selby Jones, secretary and treas urer. The business was established by J. L. Kelly in 1867. In 1869 Mr. Kelly was succeeded by K. Willis & Co., and they in turn by this company. The house employs fifteen traveling salesmen and forty-five men in the store. The Richards & Conover Hardware Company, wholesale dealers in hard ware, turners' stock, cutlery, iron, steel and nails, was organized in October, 1875. Its annual business amounts to $1,250,000, and is steadily increasing. The house has a large jobbing trade and one of the largest local trades in the city. Ten traveling men and over forty other assistants are employed. The Kansas City Hardware Company was organized late in 1886 and be gan business January i, 1887. A complete stock of shelf and buHders' hard ware, cutlery and house furnishing goods is carried and the establishment is represented in the territory tributary to Kansas City by a competent force of traveling salesmen. Hay and Feed are de^lt in by E. S. W. Drought & Co., the Kansas City Hay Company, W. H. Lockwood and the Nelson & Birch Commission Com pany. Tea and Coffee. — Extensive dealers in tea and coffee are F. Menown & Co., Charies D. Webster & Co. and William A. Wilson & Co. T. Lee Adams & Trumbull, Reynolds & AHen are well known seedsmen. J. R. WiHiamson Commerce and Manufactures. 239 deals in laundry supplies. The Kansas City Syrup Company manufactures and sells syrups. Jewelry and Jewelers' Supplies. — In these lines of manufacture and trade all of the following named houses are well known : Frank G, Altman & Co., J- H. Barr & Co., Alexander R. Brattin, Cady & Olmstead, M. Gross & Brother, Hacker & Kennedy, S. Hershfidd, J. Niles KimbaH &. Co., Jacob J. Miller, the S. D. Mills Jewelry Company, Hugh Oppenheimer, H. Oppenheimer & Co. and M. B. Wright. The business of Cady & Olmstead was established in 1870 by Burt & Cady. In 1872 the present firm took possession. In 1883 C. N. Olmstead died and was succeeded by George P. Olmstead. The trade of this house is large and increasing. Another well known representative of the jewelry interest is M. B. Wright, who carries a large and complete stock and has a liberal patronage among the jewelers of Kansas City and the surrounding country. The house of H. Oppenheimer & Co. was established in 1880 by Herman Oppenheimer and is one of the oldest exclusively wholesale jewelry stores in the city. Mr. Oppenheimer had an extended experience in the trade, acquired in traveling for eastern jewelry houses and the business has been a success from the start, and in 1887 was larger than in any previous year. The Mills Jewelry Company and J. Niles Kimball & Co. are widely known in the trade. Liquor Dealers. — Prominent in this line are Frank Callahan, Chapin %l Gore, John Dornseif, B. A. Feineman & Co., Fible, Crabb & Todd, B. S. Flersheim & Co., W. S. Frazier, William C. Glass, S. Hirsch S: Co., M. Hoffman, the Kan sas City Distilling Company, Theodore Kasyen, S. C. Lang & Co., the Mc Cormick Distilling Company, Martin, Perrin & Co., Robert S.Patterson, Thomas D. Samuel, Carl Spengler & Rompel, Straub & Co., Wiley Brothers, WiHiams & Marks, Nathan Wolfson and White & Oliver. Some of these are manufact urers and importers. This trade represents a large amount of invested capital. The oldest liquor house in the city is that of Martin, Perrin & Co., which was established by E. L. Martin in 1868. C. G. Perrin became identified with the business in 1872 and in 1874 entered into partnership with Mr. Martin. The firm then became E. L. Martin & Co. Upon the admission of Mr. T. E. Gaines to an interest in the concern the company took the name of Martin, Perrin & Co. This house has been one of the foremost in pushing Kansas City trade into new territory. It has a large corps of travelers covering the entire territory and makes consignments to Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Ar kansas, Texas, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Wyoming and Dakota. William C. Glass established his business in 1873. He has an extensive trade requiring the services of several traveling men, besides numerous em ployees in his warerooms. 240 History of Kansas City. The Kansas City Distilling Company was incorporated and began business in 1880. The officers are E. L. Martin, president; William J. Smith, vice- president ; J. K. Davidson, secretary ; Web Withers, treasurer. The products of the distillery are fine whiskies, spirits and alcohol, and the company's trade covers a wide field and has assumed large proportions. From the inception of this enterprise Mr. E. L. Martin has been its leading promoter. The house of B. A. Feineman & Co. has been some time established and en joys much popularity with the trade, not only in Kansas City and vicinity, but throughout an entensive territory. Robert S. Patterson is favorably known to the trade and has a large and complete establishment. Lumber. — The large amount of building in Kansas City furnishes a grow ing demand for lumber of all kinds. The amount of capital invested in the trade is large and the annual sales reach a high figure. Following is a list of the principal lumber merchants : The Badger Lumber Company, A. H. Caryl & Co., Chapman & Dewey, Chicago Lumber Company, Daniels & Dewey, Frank M. Deardorff, Charles P. Deatherage, Charies A. Dunham, George M. Griffin, jr., & Co., Harmon, Rugg & Co., the Henry & Coatsworth Company, W. C. Jones & Co., the Kansas City Lumber Company, the Kansas City Southern Lumber Company, Lain Brothers, MerriH & Co., C. B. Leach & Son, the McDonald Lumber Company, John W. Merrill, the Missouri VaHey Lum ber Company, Rogers, Binnian & Co., Joseph H. Rippell, L. L. Schutte, G. B. Shaw & Co., the Standard Lumber Company, Swartz & Graves, E. B. Watts, Western Anthracite Coal and Lumber Company, C. C. Whitmeyer and the Wisconsin Lumber Company. Show Cases, Furfiiture and Store Furnishings. — Among the houses man ufacturing and deaHng in these lines, one or all, may be mentioned the Aber- nathy Furniture Company, T. B. Laycock & Co., Prdss & Lorie, Brown Lowe Manufacturing Company, L. J. Johnson, the Burns Charde Store Furnishing Company, the Brunswick Balke Callender Company and the Kansas City Showcase Works. Paper. — There are three houses dealing in paper. These are the Wittich & Penfidd Paper Company, the Kansas City Paper Company, and the Graham Paper Company. The first of these was established in 1877, and in 1887 did business amounting to $300,000. The others are large concerns and their trade covers Kansas, Nebraska and Missouri and contiguous territory, where their traveling salesmen sell largely to printers and stationers. Rubber Goods. — The W. C. Harding Rubber Company began business in Kansas City in 1882; and the local branch of the Goodyear Rubber Company was established in 1885 and does a large wholesale and retail business. Wagons and Carriages. — Kansas City is the center of a large trade in wagons and carriages, thousands of which are handled by the agricultural im- Commerce and Manufactures. 241 plement warehouses. The following list embraces the names of individuals and firms other than those referred to, who are manufacturing or selling these goods : The Birdsell Manufacturing Company, James Borrowman, James W. Bradley, W. J, Brown & Co., William H. Brundage, Fred Buehler, The Colum bus Buggy Company, The Cortland Wagon Company, James Cunningham & Sons, Thomas Conway, Easton & Clark, Henry C. Elberg, George Enger & Co., Fuller & Leech, Joseph M. Gephard, Daniel I. Gesley, The Grand Avenue Carriage Works, The Grimes Wagon Manufacturing Company, Alfred R. Hardisty, George B. Kayle & Co., Hubert A. Kendall, John Kimple, Morris M. Langan, James I. Meiges, Pierce Naigle, Christian Ridenger, Henry Ruckle, Russell & Son, Schosten & Kassen, Stewart & Co., Studebaker Brothers Man ufacturing Company, Calvin Toomey, John F. Weber, Williams Brothers, and Wilson, Hanson & Nelson. The Grimes Wagon Manufacturing Company manufacture farm, freight and lumber wagons and other vehicles, which have a large sale. Its factory was removed from Ottumwa, Iowa, in 1876. Thirty to fifty hands are em ployed, and the annual business averages $75,000. The company also has a good trade in brick- yard supplies. Wooden Ware, Etc. — The George T. Webb Wooden Ware Company, of which J. A. Allen is president, and W. B.- Bowling, secretary, was established in 1872, and handles wooden and willow ware, cordage, twines, paper, paper bags, brooms, notions, etc., and has a large and rapidly growing trade. It employs twenty-five men in its ware- rooms and eight commercial travelers. manufactures. Kansas City's status as a manufacturing city, her needs as a manufactur ing city and the advantages she possesses for manufacturing enterprises were very fully set forth in an address delivered by the secretary of the Merchants' and Manufacturers' Bureau at the Kansas City National Exposition on " Ex hibitors' and Manufacturers' Day," November 7, 1887. In a somewhat con- ¦densed form we present it here : " In attempting to discuss the subject of manufactures before an audience of this kind, I find myself at a loss how to treat it, from the fact that I am oc cupying, to a certain extent the position of an advocate who is expected to uphold and defend opposite sides of a question. I am to show Kansas City -people that they can not do without manufacturers, and also to demonstrate to manufacturers that they can not do without Kansas City. I may be wrong in one of my positions to-day, but I am sure I shall be right in the other, and I leave it to my audience to decide which is which. No one can dispute that almost any city is better off for a certain amount of manufacturing done with in her borders. I do not mean that every city should be a great manufactur ing center, even if it could be, because where there is a great preponderance 242 History of Kansas City. of any class of society over the others, republicanism in its broader, better, non partisan sense, is endangered. But I mean, that the nearer a town or city or community or even a State or a nation can come to comprising within itself all of the elements of self-support the better off will that city or community be, especially in these times of commercial revulsion which overtake all communi ties from time to time. " A city that devotes itself altogether to mercantile pursuits of any kind cannot stand up against a stagnation of business from any cause, like one where the actual requirements of life are manufactured or produced. In such times- people can get along without silks or broadcloths, but they cannot do without clothes, breadstufTs and plows. And where such articles are produced from the material that nature furnishes, convenient for use, very little money is needed to keep the community in at least a condition of comfort. The crude- material is exchanged for the manufactured article direct without the interven tion of much money. The moderate wages of the mechanics and laborers are paid weekly, expended by them for actual necessities only, in the stores ; by the storekeepers in turn paid back to the manufacturers ; by the manufacturers- to the operatives again and so on, in an endless but beneficial round. Five families that spend upon their living fifteen dollars each per week, are of more direct and permanent benefit to a city than one family that expends seventy- five dollars per week. Because the first buy home-made linseys and flannels,, while the other buys imported silks and cloths. The first patronize the hum ble shoemaker around the corner, while the second wears kid slippers and pat ent leather boots from New York and Boston. In short, the seventy-five dol lars per week in one case remains in Kansas City, while in the other it goes as. far away as possible for the benefit of manufacturers in foreign lands, or in dis tant cities of our own land. " If you have never figured it up you would be surprised to find how much money an establishment working one hundred hands pays out in the course of a year. If these hands average only $1.50 per day for three hundred days, their wages alone wiH amount to $45,000; and when we add to this the cost of raw material, rent, fuel, repairs, freights, insurance and taxes on almost any business requiring so many men, the amount will run up astonishingly. We may safely state it at $100,000. If there are ten such establishments in a city we can count upon an outlay of not less than $1,500,000 and all this money is- paid out directly to persons who spend it again in our midst and who thereby keep times comparatively easy, even if dry goods are dull, real estate sales- light and building permits reduced to a minimum. " It is unnecessary to pursue this Hne of argument further. It is a self- evident proposition that manufacturers enrich any town or city ; not merely by the means already referred to, but also by developing the natural resources,, the hidden wealth of the locality such as coal, iron, lead and other minerals' Commerce and Manufactures. 243 also the timber on the surface, and further by furnishing a cash retail market for the products of the soil, wheat, corn forage, garden stuff and whatever else the farmer can raise. Merchants and professional men of every class also reap pecuniary benefits from the aggregation of large numbers of mechanics and ar tisans in any community. " Now the application of all this is that Kansas City needs more manufac turing establishments, not only for the purpose of securing the benefits alluded to already and many other similar ones, but because she never can become a fully developed and equipped city without them. Until she can readily re ceive and properly dispose of, by manufacturing and distributing, or otherwise utilizing the mineral wealth, i. e., the iron, lead, zinc, coal, etc., with which the surrounding country is underlaid ; the wheat, corn, sorghum, flax, hemp and tobacco grown in such immense quantities in every State and Territory tra versed by her railroads ; the wool, hides, horns, bones and hoofs — even the bristles — of the vast herds of sheep, cattle and hogs raised upon the prairies and farms of Missouri, Kansas, Texas, Indian Territory, New Mexico and Col orado, until she can manufacture not only all the brick, lime, cement, house- finishing material, nails, oil, white lead, woolen goods, leather goods, rope, tobacco, etc., that she needs herself, but all that are needed in the wonderfully expanding markets of the region west, southwest and northwest of us ; until she can do all these things, and thus absolutely control the trade of the vast region necessarily and naturally tributary to her, she need not claim to be the ' Metropolis of the West' " Kansas City has, by hard work and persistent effort, done much for her self Even in manufactures, she has exceeded the most sanguine expectations of those who have attempted to ' encourage and foster ' them. During the year 1887 she has added not less than twenty-five or thirty important manu facturing enterprises to her former list Some of these are already at work converting raw material into salable products ; some are rapidly placing their machinery ; some are erecting their factories, and some have merely secured their ground, and will put in their plants during the winter or in the early spring. This is an excellent result and the fruits wiH as certainly follow as the yellow harvest of autumn follows the seasonable planting and cultivation of spring. But we have not done enough yet ! We must double, treble, quad ruple our present manufacturing facilities before we can take much credit to ourselves for building up a manufacturing center, or as having done anything very remarkable in the way of developing the resources of aH we hope, expect and intend to control. " It is an unanswerable proposition that manufacturers must, if possible, locate themselves where they can obtain crude material abundantly, power and labor cheaply, and where they can, at the same time, get their products to profitable markets readily. Most of the conditions named as essential, or at least desirable, are present. 244 History of Kansas City. " First — We have coal, iron, lead, zinc, timber, gold and silver, grain, cattle, hogs and sheep in abundance, and close at hand — all within a radius of 300 miles. " Second. — We have the Missouri River, navigable for nearly 3,000 mHes, and twenty-two railroads diverging in aH directions. By means of these we may reach readily, i. e., directly and cheaply, all portions of the vast region west of the Missouri River, the sources of thesfe various valuable mineral products. This immense stretch of country comprising Kansas, Nebraska and Dakota on the west and northwest Colorado, New Mexico, Indian Territory and Texas on the west and southwest, though perhaps not yet orfe-tenth part developed; already make commercial demands upon Kansas City and other cities along the Missouri valley, which they can by no means meet. They can neither purchase the products of this vast domain, nor can they supply the manufac tured goods required by it. If this be the case in 1887, what may we expect will be the condition when Kansas and the Indian Territory, Nebraska and Dakota are filled, like Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, with the mil lions of busy citizens, who, within another decade, will be attracted thither, and to the territory beyond them by their marvelously productive soil and ad mirable climate ? The question seems to me not to be, ' Is not Kansas City outgrowing the country ?' but rather ' Can Kansas City or any other city keep up with the country ?' Railroad men see and comprehend the dimensions of this problem and are making haste to enter and possess the country, as though they recognized it as the veritable promised land of modern days! More miles of railroad were built in Kansas in 1886 than in any other State in the Union, and the sister States and Territories just mentioned were not far behind. " To show that laborers are plentiful and weH satisfied with their condition, I may state that notwithstanding the influence of the Knights of Labor and trade unions, which have produced such serious results in many of the cities of the country, no ' strike ' has ever blocked the wheels of business in this city for more than a day or two. And I may also state that in no case has there ever been a riot or even a disturbance on our streets that was not easily controlled by the police. "Thus are all the necessary conditions for successful manufacturing fully met. Abundant and convenient raw material of all kinds, a peaceful, contented and weH-goverened population, cheap and direct transportation from the sources of these materials to the place of manufacturing, and thence to markets ever improving in extent and in purchasing power. And it so happens that the shortest routes from the wheat and corn fields of the North, and West to the cotton plantations of the South ; from the gold and silver regions of Col orado and New Mexico to the money centers of the East ; from the cattle and sheep ranches of Nebraska and Dakota to the lead and iron mines of Southern Missouri, Arkansas, Tennessee, aH lead through Kansas City. In short that Sn-^^iTQMW.^.rj-s 'jBn.t>tr (^/yCtcy" Commerce and Manufactures. 245 -nature herself has selected this city as the natural metropolis and mart of ex change for all the varied products of all the prolific country surrounding her. Now a few figures in support of all these claims. " Take the article of coal to start with. The mines at Rich Hill, Mo., alone, which are only eighty miles east of here, furnished in the months of January, February, March and AprH, 1887, nearly 250,000 tons,]or about 750,000 tons for the year. This was all fhandled by two roads, which, by combining, have been enabled to charge such rates as they saw fit for hauling. Under present laws in Missouri freight rates will hereafter be under better control, and coal dealers can make lower prices to manufacturers, although even now they are no higher than in Chicago or St Louis for the same quali ties. I have only referred in this statement to Rich Hill coal. Equally good coal is also to be found in abundance at Lexington on the Missouri River, and in fact on the line of almost every single railroad that enters Kansas City from any direction. " In the matter of lead and zinc the production of the mines at and around JopHn, Mo., and Galena, Kan., about 150 miles south of us — saying^nothing •of those at Frederickton, Mine la Motte and Granby — will amount for the year 1887 to more than 100,000 tons, principally zinc. " The amount of iron ore within 100 to 150 miles of Kansas City, in the State of Missouri, is absolutely illimitable. It underlies no less than eight or ten counties in Central Missouri south of the river, besides being heaped up in great mountains of almost pure iron in the southeastern portion. We have also a new line of road just completed by capitalists largely interested in Kansas City, giving us direct communication with the massive deposits of Tennessee and Alabama. "The mineral output of Colorado for the year 1880 was: Silver, $16,- .450,921; lead, $5,123,296; gold, $5,987,901; copper, $132,570, or a grand total of $26,794,688. Of this 49,943,175 pounds were received at Kansas ¦City for smelting and reshipment " When we investigate the question of timber, we find vast forests of un- ¦culled pine and oak in southeastern Missouri and northern Arkansas, and im mense quantities of walnut, hickory, linn and cotton wood remaining yet unutil ized in the river valleys of Missouri and Kansas. One railroad — the Kansas •City, Fort Scott and Springfield — in 1886 handled nearlyj 100,000,000 feet of lumber from its own line, besides 9,000 car loads of ties, and over 400 car loads of cooperage stock. The amount for 1887 is much greater, but I have no exact figures. No timber or combination of timber can be found in any section of the country better than this for the manufacture of wagons, agricul tural implements or furniture, and it is being to-day shipped past our own doors to far distant points for these purposes. " As for the advantages of Kansas City for manufacturing leather, and then 32 246 History of Kansas City. shoes, boots, harness, etc., it would seem impossible that they could be in creased; More cattle are slaughtered here than at any other place in the world, and hence hides in large quantities are always at hand. Besides this source, according to Captain Miller's report for 1886 more than 10,000,000 of them were received here from twelve different lines of railroad, and more than half of them by the two main fines leading west i- e., the Union Pacific and the Santa Fe. As to the facihties for tanning, there are millions of acres of land in Missouri and Arkansas covered with the best of oak timber for the purpose, and on the prairies of Kansas and in all the western States and Ter ritories, sumach grows in almost inexhaustible profusion. Why send these hides and other materials to the seaboard to be converted into leather and shoes and returned to us for consumption ? The same argument applies to the immense quantities of wool shorn from the countless flocks of sheep raised on the plains of Kansas, New Mexico, Colorado, Texas, etc. More than 30,- 000,000 pounds of wool are received at this city annually, and yet scarcely a ton of it is manufactured within our own borders. The amount of woolen goods sold by our wholesale merchants is enormous, and much of it is manu factured from the very fleeces that we receive and ship away without any ap preciable profit therefrom. " It is unnecessary to go into further details. I have shown you that all of the essentials in the way of raw materials are close at hand, that our trans portation system is adequate and admirably adapted to accommodate both those who supply these raw materials and those who consume them ; that the Missouri River is a check upon extortionate railroad rates ; that the railroads themselves are necessarily competitive; that labor is abundant; that the city government is strong and capable of protecting both employers and employees against the unlawful acts of either; that the surrounding country for hundreds. of miles in all directions is wonderfully fertile and healthful, that it is already — though only sparingly developed — so far ahead of its own cities that they can not nearly supply the demand for the ordinary necessities of life; that it is growing in population and wealth with unparalleled rapidity, and that hence the markets rfeached by our railroads are becoming better and better year by year. Now, then, it only remains for me to point out a few local special ad vantages that Kansas City possesses as a manufacturing center, and I am done. " First. — Kansas City is the geographical center of the country I have been describing, and I may stop right here to assert that around no other city in the United States, of her size, can a circle of one hundred, or two hundred or three hundred, or five hundred, or six hundred miles in diameter be drawn that will include so much fertHe grain, grass and fruit-producing land, so much and such varied mineral wealth, so many cattle, sheep and hogs ; so attractive and healthful a climate throughout the whole area, and so few competitors for its. trade. Commerce and Manufactures. 247 " Second. — She is the commercial headquarters of at least two-thirds of it, since no other city within that area has her population, her wealth, her rail road system, her activity and enterprise, or her prestige. Of the twenty-two railroads now in operation within her borders, the greatest number are owned by capitalists who are among the largest taxpayers of Kansas City. I mean individual taxpayers, aside from their railroad interests. These roads are trunk lines, beginning or terminating at Kansas City. But one of the twenty- two roads runs any of its passenger trains through the city. Passengers on all the other lines change cars at our union depot. " Third. — As to traffic lines, I beHeve I am correct in saying that the rule or the practice of all eastern and western roads at present, is to base freight tar iffs and contracts upon Kansas City, either as a terminus or a starting point : New York to Kansas City, Baltimore to Kansas City, Chicago to Kansas City, St. Louis to Kansas City. Then Kansas City to San Francisco, Kansas City to Denver, Kansas City to Galveston, Kansas City to Memphis, etc. And when the Santa Fe Company gets its steamships running from Galveston to Guymas, and the Kansas City, Fort Scott and Gulf Railroad Company reaches the Atlantic coast at Charleston or Savannah (all of which lines will surely be put in operation in the near future), it will be Kansas City to Liverpool, Kan sas City to Rio Janeiro, and Kansas City to Hong Kong. " Fourth. — As the amount of the city debt, the rates of assessment and of taxes are always important factors with manufacturers, I wish to call your careful attention to the fact that our city debt is only $723,444.93, about one- half of what it was in 1875 ; that our rate of taxation has been reduced from twenty-six mills on the dollar in 1878 to fourteen mlHs in 1887, and that this light rate is based on a forty per cent valuation. " Fifth. — The interstate commerce act. It has proved a benefit to Kansas City, at least by calling the attention of manufacturers and shippers to the im portance of establishing their factories and wholesale houses closer to the mar kets where they sell their goods. Within the past year, as secretary of the Merchants' and Manufacturers' Bureau of the city, I have had scores of manu facturers inform me that this was one of the strongest arguments in favor of Kansas City as a manufacturing center. Only a few days ago a manufacturer from St Louis, whose trade is principally west of the Missouri River, told me be should have to move to Kansas City because his freights are now from seven and a half to twenty cents on one hundred pounds more from St. Louis to Omaha, St. Joseph, Denver, Wichita, etc., than from Kansas City to those points, and that he could manufacture equally cheap here, thus saving the excess on freight rates. " Sixth. — Our capitalists and property owners are alive to the importance of securing manufactures as another most reliable, certain means of solidifying real estate values, and are making liberal offers to induce their coming. I now 248 History of Kansas City. have upon my books numerous offers by men owning property within and on all sides of this city, of donations of ample grounds, of sales at half price, of leases on long time, of the erection of buildings, of subscriptions of stock, etc.,. to any class of manufacturers who will do fairly and reasonably on their part. " Manufactures are now coming into and close about Kansas City rapidly. We have six or eight immense packing houses, huge breweries and distilleries* large iron foundries, furniture factories, mills, smelters, sewer pipe and cement works, etc., etc., all of which are doing well. It is estimated there are between four hundred and five hundred manufacturing establishments of all kinds, large or small, now in operation in Kansas City. But in view of the facts I have given you, and comparing this number with those of most cities of the east^ especiaHy, it must be very evident that there is abundance of room for many many more." Until recently Kansas City has never ranked as a manufacturing city, sim ply because attention had not been turned in that direction and its opportuni ties and advantages pointed out In this respect the city has taken a decidedly new departure — in which she has started well in 1887 and made a decided advance. The most potent agency in bringing about this desirable result has been the Merchants' and Manufacturers' Bureau, under the direction and per sonal management of some of Kansas City's wealthiest and most progressive citizens. The Merchants' and Manufacturers' Bureau. — At a meeting of the Mer chants' and Manufacturers' Bureau, held in the hall of the Real Estate and Stock Exchange, on the evening of December 23, 1887, the secretary read a brief report of the work of the bureau during the year 1887, which constitutes- so complete a history of this useful institution that it is appended almost en tire : "About the ist of December, 1886, this bureau was organized by the election, at a meeting held in this hall, of Messrs E. L. Martin, P. D. Ride nour, C. F. Morse, H. M. Holden, S. F. Scott, A. A. Whipple, C. W. White head, M. F. Simmons, and Theodore S. Case, as directors for the first year. The object of the organization was declared at the same meeting to be the •encouraging and fostering of mercantile and manufacturing enterprises at Kansas City.' " The board of directors elected E. L. Martin, president; Messrs. Ridenour,. Morse, and Holden, vice-presidents ; A. A. Whipple, treasurer, and Theodore S. Case, secretary. An office was secured at No. 127 West Sixth street for $25 per month, furnished at an expense of $68, and the secretary's salary fixed atj$200 per month for one year. The membership fees were established at $25 per annum, and in the course of the year 181 members subscribed and paid in this 'amount respectively, making an aggregate of $4,525 from this source. From other sources $34.25 were received, making a grand total of $4,SS9-2S- Commerce and Manufactures. 249. " The first work of the secretary was the compilation of a little pamphlet of sixteen pages containing, as near as practicable, the names and addresses of all of the wholesale merchants and manufacturers of the city. " The object of this publication, as stated in the preface, was to inform many of our citizer^s and retail dealers ' who now send to other cities for goods, that they can supply themselves as well at home, and can at the same time do their part toward encouraging and fostering enterprises that will thus be enabled in turn to aid in giving our city that prominence which alone can come from such mutual support" Of this pamphlet 5,000 copies were printed and distributed, the distribution being confined to the principal families of the city and to the retail dealers of the city and neighboring towns. " The next considerable work of the secretary was the preparation of an octavo pamphlet of 116 pages, entitled 'The Advantages of Kansas City as a Mercantile and Manufacturing Center.' The objects sought to be set forth in this publication were : first, the unequaled natural resources and productions of the country immediately tributary to Kansas City ; second, the means and cost of transporting these raw materials and products to this city, manufactur ing them (including the prices of labor, fuel, etc.), and sending them to mar ket; third, the immense, desirable, rapidly increasing, and readily accessible markets for all classes of goods manufactured or sold at Kansas City ; fourth,. the prospective, logical, and rapid increase in products, wealth, population, and. commercial importance of Kansas City and the surrounding country. " The preparation of this pamphlet required a vast amount of research,. correspondence, and clerical labor, since it was very difficult to obtain the nec essary facts except by direct and repeated application to the proper State officers in Missouri and Kansas, federal officers in Washington City, and muni cipal officers in our own city, and those of Wyandotte and Kansas City, Kan. ,* also to railroad officials, bankers, the very efficient and affable secretary of the Kansas City Board of Trade, merchants and manufacturers in all lines, coal dealers, real estate dealers, engineers, miners, etc., etc. " Five thousand copies of this pamphlet were published and distributed as judiciously as possible among the manufacturers and wholesale merchants of the Eastern and Middle States, partly by the real, estate dealers and bankers of the city, principally however, by the bureau itself Accompanying this pamphlet were maps of Kansas City and its environs, showing the location of the numerous suburban towns on both sides of the State line and on both sides of the Missouri River, with their railroads and other advantages fully and fairly set forth. " Circulars were sent to all the local capitalists and owners of suburban property, requesting them to notify the secretary of such property as they wished to offer for manufacturing purposes or to wholesale merchants, with any inducements they might be disposed to hold out in the way of donationsf 250 History of Kansas City. reductions in prices, favorable leases, subscriptions of stock, etc. To these cir culars many liberal responses were made, which were duly numbered and recorded in a book kept for the purpose. These offers were also published in bulletins issued from time to time — about every other month — numbered to ¦correspond with the entries in the book. The wants of local manufacturers in the way of additional capital, partners, book-keepers, etc., were also num bered, recorded, and made public in the same way. These bulletins were dis tributed to all inquirers, whether their inquiries were made in person to the secretary or by mail. " The distribution of all of these pamphlets, maps, circulars, and bulletins, and the frequent notices of the Bureau in the daily newspapers of this and other cities, speedily aroused inquiries from every direction, and within a very few days it became no small task to answer the letters and attend to the visi tors who called at the office. All of these inquiries were duly recorded and responded to. They were also given to the daily as well as to the weekly real estate and commercial newspapers of the city. These publications, reaching as they do, hundreds of thousands of readers, have been of infinite service to the bureau, and to the community at the same time, by calling attention of real estate owners and capitalists at home to these inquiries and enabling them to promptly meet them, and also by inciting investigation into the advantages and inducements offered here, by hundreds of people at a distance, who might never have heard of the Bureau or its work. " In further explanation of the methods adopted, it may be stated that when ever a merchant or manufacturer has made an inquiry for a location either by letter or in person, he has been supplied with one of the printed and numbered lists of offers and wants. If he found anything therein that attracted his notice he has been given a card of introduction to the party whose number he has selected and aHowed to make his own bargain. Quite a number of estabhsh ments now doing business here have been secured in this way. Not a name has been given to any inquirer until after he had selected the corresponding num ber, and the utmost impartiality has thus been exercised towards every pro prietor who has made offers of property. Not a letter has ever remained un answered and not a visitor ever neglected. In all cases aH the information de sired has been furnished, although frequentiy it has taken considerable time and trouble to look it up. Printed matter has always been supplied in addition to written replies and personal information, and in many instances this has been complimented as especially valuable and comprehensive. " The amount of such printed matter distributed during the year has been ¦quite large, amounting to not less than 25,000 pamphlets, maps, circulars, bul letins, postals, etc. Aside from the publications issued by the bureau, it has been the practice, from time to time to purchase for distribution, extra copies of the different newspapers of the city when they contained matter considered especiaHy worthy of dissemination. Commerce and Manufactures. 251 " The members of the Bureau have at all times been allowed the use of its records, and quite a number of the more enterprising real estate owners have thankfully availed themselves of its large list of names of inquirers and corre spondents for use in sending out their own circulars. This privilege has, for obvious reasons, been confined to the paying members. " The expenses of the Bureau have been as follows : Expenses of the office, including rent, salary and assistants $3,323.20 Printing of pamphlets, circulars, advertisements, etc 857.20 Postage, expressage, and telephone service 284. 10 Furniture and carpets, signs, etc 94.75 Total $4,559.25 " Number of letters received and answered, 705 ; number of personal visits at least twice as many more ; from New York, Indiana, Ohio, Iowa, Georgia, Missouri, Illinois, New Jersey, Kentucky, Kansas, Colorado, Minnesota, Penn sylvania, Wisconsin, Connecticut, Michigan, Mississippi, Tennessee, Rhode Island, North Carolina, Maryland, Massachusetts, Indian Territory, New Mex ico, Canada, Manitoba, England, Denmark, and Sonora, Mexico. " The results of this expenditure of money and labor may seem to the care less observer somewhat meager, but when it is remembered that a wholesale or manufacturing establishment can not be picked up like a peddler's pack or a traveling bag and carried from one point to another, that such concerns are usually the outgrowth of years of slow accumulation, and that their removal involves primary loss, delay and extra expense, with a large element of uncer tainty as to final success, it is not to be wondered at that their owners are slow in acting, even after they are convinced that their interests demand a change of location. Hence it is that some of those persons and firms that were earli est in applying to this Bureau for information and co-operation, are yet unde cided when to start, while others who applied later are now closing up business preparatory to a move. Others again have secured their locations and are building upon them, while still others are actually at work and employing large numbers of hands in converting raw material into useful products. " The number of heavy mercantile and manufacturing concerns that have been induced more or less directly, by this Bureau, its officers, or its individual members, to locate in or adjoining this city within the past year, and that are now in one or another of the stages of progress just described, is not less than fifty, while the whole number, large and small, as stated by the mercantile agencies, is more than ten times as many. " It is estimated that these various establishments when completed and in operation, will have cost not less than $1,500,000 and that they will give steady employment to something Hke 5,000 men and support nearly or quite 25,000 people. This is probably an underestimate rather than an overestimate. At all events these establishments will bring wealth and population to our city,. Z-'Q''ij}jEG:mhims ifa-c W: Commerce and Manufactures. 253 time established in St. Louis. These firms manufacture or handle, or both, sewer and cement pipe, Michigan, New York and imported plasters, black and white lime, fire-brick, fire-clay, white sand, river sand, English and German, Portland, Louisville and other cements, black and red mortars, etc., and are agents for French's Peerless Mortar Colors. The Kansas City Stone Company, Harris & Jennings, John W. Frazee, William H. Decker and others are engaged in similar lines of manufacture and trade. Bags. — Bags are manufactured by the Kansas City Bag Manufacturing Company and Kurtz, Blanchard & Co. The first of these concerns began busi ness in 1873, and the two factories turn out millions of bags annually, for which sale is found in the large grain producing country tributary to Kansas City. Barbed Wire was manufactured by the Kansas City Barbed Wire Company until recently, when the factory was destroyed by fire. E. L. Bruce, the mana ger of the company, had been for many years associated with the Consolidated Barbed Wire Company of Lawrence, Kan. Barbers' Supplies are made and dealt in by Candrian & Co., and G. R. Springer. Ferd Classen is a manufacturer of baskets and John E. Waite & Co. manufacture bath-tubs. Bed Springs, Mattresses, etc., are made by Orrill G. Welch, Joseph Bailey, John B. Batt Alfred H., and Vallete K. Sammons. Beer. — The Muehlebach Brewery was established by George Hurd in 1866, and purchased by George and John Muehlebach in 1870, and greatly enlarged. In 1880 they built the present large establishment John Muehlebach died that year, and his son, J. G. Muehlebach, succeeded to his interest in the business. About 15,000 barrels of lager beer are made annually. Helm's Brewing Company of Kansas City is a branch of the company of the same name in East St. Louis. The company here obtained control of what was known as the Kump Brewery in 1884, remodeled and enlarged it, also of the Glucose works, and began the manufacture of the Heim beer, and the capacity of the establishment has since been quadrupled. The company has laid the foundations for an elevator to hold three hundred thousand bushels of barley and malt The Anheuser-Busch Brewing Association, the Philip Best Brewing Com pany, Val Blatz, the Green Tree Brewing Company, and the Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company, all have bottling establishments in Kansas City under the management of competent agents, who sell large quantities of the products of their several breweries. It is estimated that the brewers and bottlers of Kansas City have a trade aggregating nearly $3,000,000. Boxes and Tubs are made by Michael Dowijey and Samuel Inman. Blank Books, Printing, Lithographing and Binding. — The Berry Printing Company, Bishop Brothers' Printing Company, MacDonald & Spencer, Kim- 33 254 History of Kansas City. berly & Hudson, the Union Bank Note Company, Ramsey, Millett & Hudson, Rigby & Hinds, the Tew-Lyle Printing Company, and P. H. Tierman all man ufacture blank books, for which there is an unusually large local demand in Kansas City, and most of them do a general printing business. The printing house of Ramsey, Millett & Hudson was established in 1873, and does a large printing and lithographing business. It prints several publi cations, including the Live Stock Record and Farmer, the Dental Journal, the Missouri and Kansas Farmer, the Western Advocate, the Kansas City Imple ment and Farm Journal, and the Kansas City Horseman. Its business in 1887 amounted to $150,000. The Union Bank Note Company began business in 1877, and has facihties for fine printing and engraving of all kinds. Its stockholders are John F. Nau- gle president J. W. Swain, W. H. Seeger, H. P. Stimson, W. J. Anderson, H. P. Churchill, R. W. Hocker, F. N. Chick, C. L. Dobson, S. C. Douglass, Sdby Jones, A. A. Whipple, Jos. S. Denny, S. F. Scott & Co., E. H. Phelps, J. Q. Watkins, W. N. Davis, and A. O. L. Shuler. Peter H. Tiernan, railroad and commercial printer and binder, established bis business in 1876, and it has been so successful that in 1877 it aggregated $125,000. The firm of Wimbush, Powell] & Harrington was organized in 1880, and was changed to a stock company — the Wimbush- Powell Printing and Litho graphing Company, in 1884. In 1885 the name of the concern was changed to the Kansas City Bank Note Company. In January, 1888, the business was sold out and was bought by Kimberly & Hudson. O. S. Kimberly was con nected with the CampbeH Printing Press Company for six years, and with the Duplex Printing Press Company as secretary, one year. He came to Kansas City in 1887. His partner is S. R. Hudson, well and favorably known in the city. The establishment of this firm is the second largest in the city, com pletely stocked with machinery for each department — printing, binding and lithographing. Kansas City compares more than favorably with many of the older Eastern cities in the elegance of its typographical and lithographic work, much of which would do credit to any of the celebrated establishments of New York, Chicago, Cincinnati, Philadelphia or Buffalo. Brick. — The large amount of building during the past few years has led to the estabHshment of extensive brick manufactories. A few years ago the city was dependent on Chicago and St Louis for a large portion of its bricks, and now it not only supplies its own demand but has become a source of supply for other Western cities. The McCleHand, Stumpf & Peltzer Brick Manufacturing Company had its origin in the business established over twenty years ago, by George W. Mc CleHand, who, with different partners, conducted it until the organization of Commerce and Manufactures. 255 this company, with Theodore Peltzer as president; George W. McClelland as treasurer and C. Stumpf as secretary. This establishment employs thirty teams and two hundred men, making 100,000 bricks a day, or about 30,000,- OOO.a year, having grown from an output of 10,000 bricks a day in 1868. The business for 1887 amounted to $225,000. Henry Schrage began business in 1877. He employs twelve men and makes about 1,000,000 bricks a year. F. W. McLaughlin manufactured bricks from 1877 to 1886, when he was succeeded by the Harris Brothers' Brick Company, which employs twenty-five men and makes yearly about 3,500,000 bricks. Mdchoir B. Behney began brick-making .in Kansas City in 1877, em- . ploys twenty men and manufactures annually about 3,000,000 bricks. The brickyard of Benjamin F. Wilkinson was established in 1880 and pur chased by Mr. Wilkinson in 1885. About twenty- five hands are employed, and the annual output is 3,000,000 bricks Drury Underwood, who began the manufacture of bricks here in 188 1, gives employment to fifty men, and turns out 10,000,000 bricks per annum. The firm of Taylor, Sedden & Edwards has existed since 1883. Taylor, Sedden & Co. had carried On business from 1880 to that time. About 12, 000,- 000 bricks are made annually at their yards, where seventy- five men are em ployed. The Calorific Brick Company was formed in 1881. Its officers are : D. W. Campbell, president and treasurer ; Thomas Edie, secretary ; J. H. Thalman, superintendent. It manufactures besides ordinary bricks, ornamental pressed bricks, fine front bricks and similar products, and its annual capacity is 8,000,- 000 front bricks, 1, 000,000 moulded bricks and 20,000 common bricks. Its trade extends throughout Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska, and into Iowa and Min nesota. Much of its machinery is covered by its own patents. The specialty of this company is the production of the finest pressed front bricks, and it is conceded that its products are equal in every respect to those of the best es tablishments of Chicago and St Louis. Gates & Brooks, whose firm is now known as the Gates & Brooks Brick Company, taught the business of Sibley Brothers & Howard, in 1882. They manufacture building and stock bricks, of which they turn out several milHons annually, employing fifty men. McBride & Patterson have manufactured com mon bricks in Kansas City since 1882. Their working force numbers thirty- five, and they make about 2,500,000 bricks a year. George W. House manu factures about 2,000,000 common bricks annually. He began in 1885, and has done a constantly increasing business. He employs twenty men. Raymond Andlauer also established himself as a brick manufacturer in 1885. Pie em ploys fourteen men, and the annual output of his yards is 1,000,000. Robert Murdock bought the brick yard of Kay & Ringler, in 1884, and manufactures about 3,000,000 building and stock bricks yearly. Thirty men are employed. 256 History of Kansas City. Mense & Patterson employ forty men and send out 4,000,000 hand-made bricks per annum. They began in 1877. Among other manufacturers, all doing a large business in this line, are De Hart & EHiott John Downing, Thomas F. Durham & Co., the Excelsior Brick Company, James Graystone, the Gate City Brick Yard, the Kansas City Brick Company, John Kay, D. Underwood, and Michael Vengden. The Kansas City Terra Cotta Lumber Company was organized in 1886. Its officers are : George D. Ford, president ; Edmund D. Bigelow, vice-pres ident ; Thomas C. Lee, secretary and treasurer; William A. Towers, auditor, and John C. Gage, who, with the others named, constitute the board of di rectors. John Gildea, the superintendent came from Pullman, III., where he was in charge of the factory of the Illinois Terra Cotta Lumber Company. In taking the lead in the West in the manufacture of an article of such utility, this company has displayed great judgment and enterprise. Its works turn out seventy-five tons of terra cotta lumber per day, with a capacity to do much more, and one hundred and fifty men are employed in the different processes of manufacture. Some of the product of this company has been utilized in the erection of the Board of Trade building, the New England building, the Mid land Hotel, the American Bank building and several smaller structures in Kansas City, and quantities of it have been sent to Omaha and other cities. The demand for building material of this kind is steadily advancing. Iron Bridges are manufactured by the Kansas City Bridge and Iron Com pany and the Wrought Iron Bridge Company. Brooms. — The Kansas City Broom Works was established in 1883. The proprietor is J. B. Cummings. About twenty men are employed and forty dozen brooms are turned out daily. James W. Abbott and Andrew Larsen are also manufacturers in this line. Brass, Iron Work and Machinery. — There is a large amount of capital in vested in these lines of manufacture, and Kansas City's products rank with those of any city in the country. It is probable that the factories of the kinds indicated by the above heading are increasing faster than those of any Other description. ; G. G. Moore, dealer in machinery, is one of the oldest foundry men in the city, having for twelve years successfully conducted the Novelty Iron Works, which he disposed of about four years ago. The King Novelty Manufacturing Company manufactures experimental and special machinery, patterns, models for the patent office, does general black- smithing and repairs machinery, and is manufacturers' agent for engines, boil ers and engine supplies and machinery of all kinds. It was incorporated in July, 1885, and began business August 1st with six men. To-day five times that number of skilled workmen are employed. Mr. P. F. King, the superin tendent, had a long experience in the same line in St Louis. He is the in- Commerce and Manufactures. 257 ventor and patentee of the round screw door and safe and the automatic time lock, and the noiseless nail puller and other useful appliances and devices. He built the vault works of the Safe Deposit and Savings Bank, the Bank of Com merce and the Kansas City Savings Bank, and remodeled the vaults of the Bank of Kansas City, and has done much similar work in surrounding States. Others interested in the King Novelty Manufacturing Company are John Bayha and A. S. Woolf The business of the Witte Iron Works Company, manufacturers of and dealers in presses, dies, engines, pumps and power machinery, was established in 1870. The trade of this company is mostly local. Its business in 1887 amounted to $20,000. D. M. Jarboe & Co., nearly twenty years ago, established the business which, by an act of incorporation in 1882, passed to the proprietorship of the Keystone Iron Works Company, which manufactures hoisting, automatic, slide- valve and Corliss engines, boilers and machinery, ornamental iron and brass work, steam pipe fittings and brass goods. The Cookson Iron Works Company (H. Bradley, president ; C. L. Cook- son, manager, and T. J. Cookson, secretary), manufacturers of steam and hy draulic freight and passenger elevators, and dealers in steam engines and their accessories, is an incorporated concern organized in 1883. The original capi tal of the company was $3,000, which has been increased until it marks this as one of the substantial concerns of the city. The Cookson elevators are in op eration in many of the large buHdings of Kansas City, and the company's trade is gradually extending all over the West and Southwest. Last year this con cern put in an elevator plant for the San Antonio Electric Railway Company. Its business demands more extensive facilities which will be supplied by a new and large factory now being erected. The Kansas City Elevator Manufactur ing Company manufactures the Kansas City hydraulic, steam and hand ele vators and is doing a large and growing business. It also deals in wire cables for elevator construction and repairs. Elevators are also made at the factory of J. W. Reedy. The Kansas City Wheel Scraper Company was organized in 1884. It turns out about twelve machines per. week, now employing eight workmen. The trade is largely among railroad and other contractors on public improve ments, and is increasing so rapidly that manufacturing facilities are to be speedily augmented. The Union Iron Works of Decatur, 111., was founded about a quarter of a century ago, and makes a specialty of shellers, cleaners, elevators and elevator, supplies. Its western branch was located in Kansas City a few years ago, under the management of H. R. Scott This company's agricultural machinery is well known. In elevators it supplies anything from a bucket to the complete elevator. Other manufacturers of machinery or brass, or iron work are John P. Ger- 258 History of Kansas City. anty, Goff & FiHmore, the Armourdale Foundry Company, the Kaw Valley Iron Works, the Novelty Iron Works, the Kansas City Hay Press Company, Samuel C. Frink, the Lloyd Foundry and Machine Works, James Doiley, H. C. Darby, Jordan & Leas, E. E. Palmer & Sons, the Industrial Iron Works, the Kansas City Brass Foundry, the Pioneer Iron Works and Anten Prier, some of whom are extensive dealers, as well, in goods in their several lines. Caps are manufactured by the Kansas City Cap Company. Among those who are engaged in the manufacture or sale, or both, of corsets and costumes, are the Coronet Corset Company, Meriam J. Dale, Emma J. Mayers, Charles Pringle & Co., Archer & Co., and T. E. Warren. Corrugated Iron, Metal Cornices, etc. — The availability of corrugated iron and the beauty, durability and economy of metal cornices has popularized this class of building material and created a large demand for it among builders everywhere. The firm of Zahner & Weis began the manufacture of galvanized iron cor nices in 1875, and in 1880 Henry Weis became sole proprietor of the business. In 1884 T. S. Ridge bought an interest in the enterprise, and the style of the firm has since been Weis & Ridge. They employ about forty men, and have furnished the galvanized iron parts for many large buildings, their business amounting to some $40,000 per year. They have also an extensive hardware store, and make a speciality of the sale of furnaces. B. H. Niehaus, who came to .the city some years ago from Evansville, Ind., is a large manufacturer of plain and ornamental metal cornices, metallic sky lights, tin roofing and guttering. He employs twenty men, on the average, and has done his part in the construction of notable buildings, one of which is the large hotel building at Grand and Missouri avenues, the front of which is wholly galvanized iron. Zahner & Battell, who are also hardware merchants, are largely engaged in manufacturing galvanized iron cornices of all descriptions, and they do a large business as slate and metal roofers. W. E. Zahner, the founder of the house. came from Kentucky about fourteen years ago, and his partner, George S. Battell, from Illinois, about eight years ago. Jerome Twitchell & €0. (Jerome Twitchell and W. F. Norman), manufac ture corrugated and standing seam iron roofing, corrugated iron siding and roofing, corrugated iron doors and shutters, and in fact every kind of corru gated iron building material, and are agents for the Cincinnati Corrugating Company, the Dodd Manufacturing Company of New York, the Fred J. Myer Manufacturing Company of Covington, Ky., the National Sheet Metal Roofing- Company of New York, and other similar houses of prominence. John Smith, who has for many years been identified with local manufac turers, began the manufacture of corrugated iron and similar products in 1880. January 1887, he succeeded the Kansas City Corrugated Iron and Ventilating- Commerce and Manufactures. 259 Company. His business amounts to $100,000 a year, and he employs seventy- five men. He has just completed a contract for the erection of a corrugated iron factory building in Argentine, covering two acres. A. K, Sweet began the galvanized and slate roofing business on a small scale, employing two men. The demands upon him increased until at this time sixty to seventy men are required, and in 1887 his business aggregated fully $150,000. The firm of A. K. Sweet & Co. was formed in January, 1888, its members being A. K. Sweet, T W. Butler and M. J. Sweet. Cigars and Tobacco. — There are many individuals and firms engaged in the manufacture and sale of cigars and tobacco, and there is considerable capital invested jn the interests. Many Kansas City brands of these goods are very popular and have large sales, among them the " H. S." and " Golden Crown" cigars ©f H. Switzer, who has been making cigars and wholesaling tobacco since 1868. Following is a nearly complete list of houses in this line, some of which do an extensive business, and nearly all of which have satisfactory local or general patronage : Horace N. Bedwell, George Bergman, Nicholas Boos, Breman & Gunckle, John P. Callahan, Emanuel Cohen, Edward J. Collins, the Cuban Cigar Company, Gustav Davidson, Christ. Doerr, Thomas Freeman, Charles M. Geiss, Lizzie Davidson, Sol. Greissman, Guerra & Soleras, James A. Hatch, John Hoffman, Henry Kamsler, George Klingveil, Frank MacRey- nolds, Joseph Madick, Mahoney Brothers, Michael Pracht, Ruf & Teske, Christ Schock, Herman W. Siegler, Strause Brothers, F. Thalman, Tuchman Broth ers, Wagner & Neff, Waldauer & Baer, Fred J. Warmholz, Kansas City Tobacco Manufacturing Company, Globe Tobacco Company, Nathan Otten berg, J. N. Stertz & Son., William C. Watson. Auxiliary to this line is the manufacture of Cigar Boxes by A. Hood & Son, and Anton Wagmuller. Cider, Vinegar, etc. — These goods are made by I. D. Clapp 8: Co., who began business in 1876 ; the Kansas City Steam Cider Mill, which has been in operation since 1878; A. Steinhorst & Co., who began in 1886; the Barrett & Barrett Company, which began in 1886; Zaiss Brothers & Co.; and the Buecking Vinegar and Cider Company. The last named enterprise was estab lished by Messrs. Buecking & Co. in 1875. This firm was succeeded by a stock company named as above, in 1884, of which George H. Buecking is president John Dickson, secretary, and Charles Joss, treasurer. The company employs about twenty hands, and has facilities for manufacturing five hundred barrels of cider, and one thousand barrels of vinegar monthly. A few years ago table delicacies were added to the company's trade. Much vinegar is sold to packers and to the government for use at Fort Leavenworth. Many goods are shipped to the jobbing trade of Texas and New Mexico, and the company has a steadily increasing trade in all the territory surrounding Kansas City. Gloves are made by John Bolefahr and Saltsman & Manlove ; Hats, by William J. Brown, Samuel F. Gelhaar, Michael McCrystle and Karl Morris ; 26o History of Kansas City. and Shirts by Edward Lyman, Lyman & Flagg, Woolf Brothers, and the Castle Shirt Factory. Extracts, Baking Powder, Spices, etc. — The firm of C. A. Murdock & Co., composed of C. A. Murdock, J. A. Ebert and W. F. Kirchmaier, began busi ness in 1 88 1. In 1886 it bought the business of the Hewson Chemical Com pany. Since its establishment its business has grown twenty-five per cent per annum, untH in 1887 it amounted to $350,000. The company has a large local jobbing trade, and an extensive shipping trade all over the West and South west. It employs forty men, eight of whom are traveling salesmen. Beaham & Moffatt, manufacturers of and wholesale dealers in spices, blueing, flavoring extracts and baking powder and importers, and jobbers of tea, coffee, cigars and spices, succeeded the firm of Smith & Moffatt, which began business in 1879. Mr. F. O. Smith was killed by a cyclone which destroyed the estab lishment in May, 1886, and Mr. Beaham took his place in the firm. The busi ness of this house has increased from $50,000 in 1879 to $300,000 in 1887. Thirty men, including seven commercial travelers, are employed. Others in this branch of manufacture and trade are the Cox Chemical Com pany and the Welcome Manufacturing Company. Flour, Feed, Hominy etc. — The Zenith Milling Company, manufacturers of winter wheat flour by the roller process, was estabHshed in 1879. It employs twenty men and does an annual business of $506,000. Its best known brands are the " Golden Wedding," the " Vienna," the "Victory " and " Zenith." L. M. MiHer is president, C. A. Young secretary and treasurer, and L. S. Mohr, superintendent of the company. The Kansas City Milling Company dates from 1882. Its officers are G. L. Brinkman, president ; Joseph Miles, vice-president ; C. H. Spilman, secretary and treasurer. This company have extensive mills, with the roller system, having a capacity of 650 barrels per day. Last year 90,000 barrels were made and the business amounted to $750,000. Another large milling business is conducted by J. F. Corle & Son, who make a specialty of goods of a fine grade. Their yearly business reaches a high figure, and in 1887 exceeded in amount that of any previous year. Other manufacturers and dealers in these goods are Henry Albers, the Blue Spring Milling Company, J. D. Bowersock, the Red Cloud Milling Company, the Western Flour Company, the O. K. Feed Mills, the Star Mills and the Penn Street Mills. Linseed and Castor Oil. — The Kansas City White Lead and Linseed Oil Company was incorporated in 1884, but its business dates from 1870. It has a capital of $250,000 and its officers are W. N. Marsh, jr., president; F. C. Marsh, secretary. Its products are white lead, linseed oil, castor oil, ground oH cake, ground flax seed, etc. It employs about seventy-five hands and its large and increasing trade extends over the West and Southwest. £'/ir^'l/u£i!ln/'uiWf''S ^ Sl'Ov-i- Commerce and Manufactures. i6i Patent Medicines of different kinds are manufactured and sold by John Sterling, the Pinon Medicine Company and George H. Elder; Refrigerators by Charles G. Weisner and the Gate City Refrigerator Company; Rubber Stamps by Leipsner & Essex, Edward Allen, Truman B. Perrine, the Scotford Manu facturing Company and the Novelty Rubber Stamp Works ; Scales and Balan ces by Griffin Brothers ; Shot by the Continental Shot Works ; Soda Water by M. & G. Dougherty, Horn & Eschbach and W. L. Schmidt & Co. and Wring ers by the Adams Manufacturing Company. Saddles and Harness. — The following are manufacturers of and dealers in saddles and harness: Edward Cartwdl, the Dimmitt Harness Company, John Dolan, John J. Foster, David F. Hartman John R. Hutchinson, Riehl Brothers, Henry M. Stahl, F. Weber & Sons, Peter T. Bradley, Askew Brothers Jacob Hebel, Alfred Kelley, H. F. Lang & Co. and H. Thilenius. Roofers. — Ed. H. Bartis, John Dalton & Co., the Kansas City Granite Roof ing Company, the Kansas City Slate Company, the Sherwood Slating Com pany, A. K. Sweet & Co., Samuel D. Warner & Co. and Fred C. White. Sash, Doors and Blinds. — The Western Sash and Door Company began business in 1883 and its business has been conducted under the management ¦of W. Huttig, sr., its president; F. Huttig, its treasurer and W. Huttig, jr., its general manager, all from Muscatine, Iowa. The trade of the company ex tends all over the West and Southwest, and a large number of men are em ployed, besides the several traveling men who attend to the outside trade. A -full line of sash, doors, blinds and mouldings is manufactured. The Roach & Welker Manufacturing Company makes a specialty of the manufacture of sash, doors, blinds and superior inside blinds and fine front -doors. It was established in 1885. F. Welker is its president and treasurer and W. L. Roach its secretary and manager. Its trade is heavy and widely extended. A feature of it is the sale of window glass and mouldings. Show Cases. — The Kansas City Show Case Works manufactures and sells all kinds of show cases. The business was originally established in 1873 and was continued untH 1879. In 1884 it was revived by A. R. Jackson, of the firm of A. R. Jackson & Co., the present owners. Twenty men are employed. The business for 1887 was $45,000. Soap. — Peet Brothers & Co. (Peet Brothers & J. W. White), manufacturers of laundry and toilet soaps, began business in 1 872. They employ thirty hands and their trade extends through Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Texas and New Mexico. Much of their soap is sold in Kansas City. They have facilities to manufacture 5,000,000 pounds annually. Their leading brands are their " Ruby," ¦" White Eagle," and " Saxon " laundry soaps and their " Cocoa Oil," "Cocoa," ¦" CastHe," " Honey " and " Glycerine " toilet soaps. The Charter Oak Soap Company, manufacturers of the "Grand," "Ladies' Friend," and " Chippers " laundry soaps and the "Japanese Boquet," "Sea 34 262 History of Kansas City. Moss Bath," " Cocoanut OH" and " Hand Crystal " toHet soaps, in 1885 suc ceeded J. W. Bowen & Co., who had begun business in 1880. In 1887 the business and title passed to the ownership of Alexander Majors, Samuel Poteet, G. W. Bryant, J. B. Robinson and John D. Swan, the present members of the company, who increased the capital from $10,000 to $20,000 and more than doubled the manufacturing capacity of their works. The Kansas City Soap Company was organized in 1880 and is managed by G. W. and C. R. Haller, its president and secretary and treasurer respectively. The company's works are supplied with improved machinery and soap of a fine quality is made among the most popular brands being the " Swan's Down," " Silk," " White Crown" "Fern" and "Water Queen." About thirty- five hands are employed and several commercial travelers are kept busy. Stained Glass. — Manufacturers of and dealers in stained glass are Berry & Bose, the Kansas City Stained Glass Works, the Missouri Valley Glass Works the Carter-Davis Company and Thomas Allen. Stoves, Ranges etc., are made by the Kansas City Stove Works (Duncan & Masters, proprietors) and Remmers and Whittaker. The products of the these factories take high rank in the trade. Stove furniture and parts are also man ufactured and dealt in. Type and Electrotype Foundries. — ^The Kansas City Type, Electrotype and Stereotype Foundry and Printers' warehouse was established in 1872 by Mr. J. T. Reton, a skillful type-founder of thirty year's experience, and has remained under his active control. The premises are three stories high, with basement,. and 25 by 80 feet in size; the main floor being used for office and salesroom, the basement for stereotyping and dectrotyping purposes, and the top story for a type foundry. Mr. Reton was born in New York city, and at an early age began to learn his trade. He left New York to take the management of a Milwaukee foundry, and remained there for some time. With very little capital he came to this city, started a small place, and announced himself as an experienced type founder. From his little investment he has developed business with aggregate sales in 1887 amounting to $25,000. His trade ex tends to Missouri, Kansas, Iowa, Texas, New Mexico and the Territories, and is constantly increasing. The Great Western Type Foundry was incorporated January 19, 188 1. It is a branch of the Great Western Type Foundry of Chicago, III. (Barnhart Brothers and Spindler proprietors). Increased accommodations were re quired at the end of the two years and a new building was erected. The business has grown until eight men are now employed in taking care of stock, filHng orders doing the necessary clerical work. A. M. Barnhart is the presi dent of the company and S. A. Pierce secretary and treasurer. The trade ex tends over Western Missouri, Southern Nebraska, Kansas, Colorado, New Mexico and Northern Texas. Investment Companies. 263 Trunks. — Trunks, valises, hand-bags, satchels and similar goods are man- iifactured by the Kansas City Trunk Factory, the New York Trunk and Toy House and Nicholas M. Freeling. Varnish. — ^The Kansas City Varnish Company, manufacturers of varnishes, woodstains, hard oils, Japan dryers, etc., was organized in January, 1886. Its incorporators were William Peet O. H. Brown and D. G. Howey. It has a paid-up capital of $16,000 The business has grown rapidly and amounted to $60,000 in 1887. The works are manned by ten hands and have a capacity of 10,000 gallons a day. Closing Remark. — The foregoing comprise the principal manufactures of Kansas City proper. Many more, some of them very important, are located in its surrounding, or suburban towns, and still others are about to be located in and contiguous to the city, induced hither from various eastern points by the Merchants' and Manufacturers' Bureau, the press of Kansas City and other influences which it is impossible to designate. There can be no doubt as to the future of the city as a manufacturing center. Time only is required for its manifest advantages to be recognized by interested capitalists. CHAPTER XI. investment companies. Peculiarities of the West — Kansas City and its Surroundings — The Needs of the Settler and the Farmer — How the East Has Helped the West — Western Loans and Securities — The Demand for Investment Companies — The Facilities they Afford Borrower and Lender — Statistics — Historical Notices. THE development and growth of the "boundless West" offers to the trav eler passing through its domains a never ending exhaustless field for en quiry, and the close observer finds fruitful subject for study. As one passes through the great State of Kansas it is difficult for him to realize that a quarter of a century ago the resources of this State were almost undeveloped. To-day he sees every evidence of solid, permanent growth. He passes through cities not at all unlike those of the East ; cities that have grown rapidly, it is true, yet which have been built substantially. The buildings are in large part of brick or stone. The streets are paved. The modern conven iences of water works, gas and electric light are in nearly all. The merchants and professional men are active and industrious. The residence portions of these cities are well built up with handsome and comfortable homes. The farms throughout the State are well cared for, and yield bountiful harvests. In the 264 History of Kansas City. central and eastern portion one might well imagine himself back in Illinois, Ohio or even New York. But Kansas is only a portion of the country tributary to Kansas City. As of old, when it was said that all roads lead to Rome, so Kansas City, with her railroads radiating in every direction, has long enjoyed her proud position as the financial and business center of the great West What has been said of Kan sas appHes, more or less, to Nebraska, Missouri, Iowa, Colorado, New Mexico,. Texas, Indian Territory, Arkansas and the whole rich country penetrated by the Kansas City system of railroads, and the demand for capital to develop and improve this vast territory is increasing from year to year, and the security available for its loan is augmenting as improvement advances. So long as set tlers and farmers can obtain money for the improvement of lands or the pur chase of stock at advantageous rates of interest, just so long must their course be marked by advancement; and, with that assured, the material growth and progress of the country must inevitably follow : The West acknowledges its debt to the East It has received men and money ; men who have seen in a newer country, with growing values, better chance to accumulate and quicker rewards for labor ; men of ambition and keen business foresight. Eastern money has been a necessity in the West. With out it the marvelous growth could not have been obtained in such Hmited time;. so much wealth could not have been produced on the soil in a quarter of a century. Much of this capital from the East has come in the hands of its own ers to stay;|much has been loaned at a rate of interest advantageous to both the borrower and the lender. There are many reasons why Eastern investors prefer Western loans. When obtained through reliable agencies, Western loans represent greater security than Eastern loans, on account of simple titles, larger margins, and rising values of lands. The safety of such investments has been determined by the satis factory experience of the savings banks of New Hampshire and Vermont and the life insurance companies of Hartford, Conn., with investments aggregating more than $200,000,000. As the demand for Western securities has increased, a consequent demand has arisen for greater facilities for bringing the accumulated capital of the East and the financial needs of the growing West into closer relationship. This has been supplied by the organization and establishment in Kansas City, as the nat ural center of the great territory designated in a preceding paragraph, of a number of corporations formed with a special view to investing capital in farm mortgages and securities. These afford facilities for obtaining in these rapidly growing States and Territories, the best possible investments, at a rate of in terest as high as is consistent with absolute security, and with their Western offices in Kansas City, and Eastern offices in Eastern money centers, and effi cient negotiators between the borrowers of the West, and the lenders of the Investment Companies. 265; East For their own protection the investment companies have been instru mental in securing the passage of an admirable set of laws in the different Western States, the wisdom of which is shown by the resultant increase of con fidence in Western investments by the more conservative elements of the East. The amount of capital represented by the investment companies of Kansas City aggregates $7,773,000, which is almost double the amount of capital shown by such companies in 1886. This advance has been effected largely by necessary increases of capital stock, as the demands of rapidly growing busi ness have become pressing. All of these corporations are legitimately con nected with the real estate interest, but some of them have banking depart ments, and many of them exercise some of the functions of banks. FoHowing are historical sketches of the most important of these companies. They have been placed in the order of their organization without regard to the amount of their capital, or the magnitude of their transactions. The Jarvis-Conklin Mortgage Trust Company. — Prominent among other institutions of its kind, is the Jarvis-Conklin Mortgage Trust Company, allied on the one side with the banking interests of the city, and on the other with. the negotiation of long time real estate mortgages in the country surrounding and tributary; filling an important position in the financial circles of Kansas City and the Western States generally. The business was established in 1876, at Winfidd, Kan., by Mr. Samuel M. Jarvis, Mr. Roland R. Conklin becoming a member of the firm two years later. Up to the year 1880, there was no firm or company in Kansas City making the negotiation of mortgages on real estate its exclusive business, and in that year Messrs. Jarvis & Conklin, recog nizing the need of a strong and responsible institution in this line of business,. and greatly impressed with the opportunities awaiting a carefully managed company with Kansas City as a base of operations, removed their office and business from Winfidd ; consequently, theirs is the oldest institution of the kind in Kansas City. Their first office was located at the corner of Fifth and Delaware streets, but they were soon compelled to seek larger quarters, and on the completion of the Walworth building they moved to West Sixth street where they remained five years, in the later years occupying two floors. In 1886 the growth of the business had assumed such large proportions that, to secure its permanency, it was in November of that year incorporated under the name of the Jarvis-Conklin Mortgage Trust Company. In order that it should take rank with the largest and strongest financial institutions of this country, a number of well-known investors and financiers were invited to participate, and the paid up capital was increased to $1,000,000. There are few companies so fortunate in its list of shareholders, not only in the distribu tion, but in the unusually strong representation of moneyed men and financial institutions which make up the list. Over thirty savings banks in New Eng land, and more than one hundred other public institutions, corporations and :266 History of Kansas City. individuals of national repute have lent their aid to its success by subscribing to its shares ; in addition to which a considerable portion of the stock is also held by eminent investors and capitalists of England, having more or less frnancial interest in America. Mr. Samuel M. Jarvis was elected president; Henry P. Morgan, vice- president ; Roland R. Conklin, secretary ; Wm. F. Shelley, treasurer, and Hon. George W. McCrary, counsel. A strong directory was formed, consist ing, in addition to the officers, of John M. Shrigley and William Hacker, of Philadelphia, Pa. ; Jonathan L. Barnes, of Lawrence, Kan. ; Pearl J. Conklin, -of Kingman, Kan., and George R. Peck, of Topeka, Kan. An advisory board was organized consisting of Craige Lippincott, James Schleicher, R. W. Clay, .S. Robinson Coale, R. L. Austin and W. P. Bement of PhHaddphia; Hon. A. C. Barstow, of Providence, R. I., and Hon. J. M. Pendleton, of Westerly, R. I. With the incorporation came such an increase of business that to secure more commodious quarters the company moved into the new brown stone building, at the corner of Ninth and Wyandotte streets, erected by the New England Mutual Life Insurance Company, where they are now domiciled in elegant offices. It has branch offices at 239 Broadway, New York, and No. ¦95 Gresham street, London, England. The company is the fiduciary agent of several insurance companies, and is the sole American agent of the Yorkshire Investment and American Mortgage Company, of Bradford, England. While its principal business is that of in- ¦ vestments in mortgages on productive and improved real estate, it has added a banking department and is fully prepared to act as trustee for the adminis tering and execution of trusts, or for the settlement and care of trust funds, .and acts as administrator for the execution of behests, the settlement and care ¦of the estates of deceased persons, and, in general, offers its services as the fiducial agent of all persons or corporations desiring the services of such a trustee, and will receive deposits, and make investments, and sell foreign ex change when so requested. Most people are familiar with the business of the negotiation of mortgages in a general way, but very few are at all familiar with the care taken in the placing of these mortgages by a conservative and strongly managed company, and the number is even less who are acquainted with the safe-guards adopted to protect the company and its investors from the evils of fraud, chicane and bad judgment. That every reasonable care and precaution may be taken, the management of the affairs of the company is placed in the hands of a finance committee of five members, consisting of the officers of the company and such •other member or members as may be elected by the stockholders, whose busi ness it is, at its daily meetings, to carefully consider each application for a loan before said loan can be made by the company. Every application is signed Investment Companies. 267- and sworn to by the applicant which is corroborated and confirmed by state ment of a local agent, or appraised by two disinterested freeholders, and is then- personally inspected and examined by a salaried employee of the company, who has no interest in the loan, and finaHy is submitted to the finance commit tee for approval or rejection. Having been approved the papers are made up, and when executed the money is paid out, and the mortgage is then ready for the investor. These mortgages bear six per cent, interest, and run for five years. The principal and interest are guaranteed by the company, and they are placed in the vaults of the Mercantile Trust Company of New York, which acts as trustee,^ and debenture bonds, being direct obligations of the company, are issued in denominations of $500, $1,000 or $5,000, all certified to by the Mercantile Trust Company as being secured by an equal amount of mortgages held in trust by them. Many mortgages are sold also to investors direct, the investor in such cases holding all the papers, the company attending to the collection and remittance of interest as it matures, without expense to the holder. The important bearing that a large business of this nature has on a commu nity cannot easily be estimated. From a recent business statement published by the company, a few figures are taken as tending to show the wide extent which its business covers, and the magnitude of its transactions. Number of mortgages negotiated 14.449 Total amount " " $14,275,030.38 " Interest paid 3. 97I.451. 77 Total number of foreclosures unsettled 65 Percentage of foreclosures to number of mortgages nego tiated 45-100 of I per cent. The small percentage of foreclosures shows the ability of the great majority of borrowers to pay their interest and ultimately get out of debt It indicates also what prudence and care, when united with integrity and capacity, can ac complish. It is very evident that the investment of this large amount of money has contributed greatly to the rapid and permanent settlement and improvement of the city, and the immense farming districts tributary. Both the investor and the borrower have been greatly benefited by having so responsible a medium through which, on the one hand, surplus earnings and trust funds could be in vested without care or risk, and in many cases bearing a higher rate of inter est than could be obtained at home; and, on the other hand, through which a freeholder could be assisted in erecting buildings and other improvements, or investing in cattle to consume the products of the farm. The South Park Improvement and Investment Company (of Kansas) has a branch office at 809 Delaware street. This company was organized in July, 1 88 1, and has a paid up capital of $160,000. Its object is the purchase of lands for town sites. It has purchased four hundred acres below Rosedale, on the 268 History of Kansas City. Fort Scott and Gulf Railroad, upon which it has graded seven or eight miles of streets, and made other improvements. Lots have been sold, many houses have been erected, manufactures have been established, and South Park, as the viHage is known, has bright prospects of soon growing into a beautiful subur ban town. The officers of the company are S P. Twiss, president; O. H. Queal, vice-president; D. B. Dyer, treasurer ; D. D. Bliven, secretary. Kansas City Investment Company. — The Kansas City Investment Company was organized in March, 1882, with a capital of $50,000, one-half of which was paid in. The balance of the capital was soon paid in full, and it was sub sequently raised to $100,000, and later to $200,000. The company was formed for the purpose of negotiating real estate loans, investing capital for individuals and corporations and handling real estate, cattle and other stock, the latter branch comprising the purchase and management of cattle ranches. Its business has been chiefly confined, however, to the negotiation of loans and real estate investments. The system of this company is of the simplest kind. It loans its own money on farms, city and suburban real estate, or furnishes means for the erec tion of buildings and sells the mortgage bonds or securities representing such loans in the eastern and foreign markets. Its principal facilities for such trans actions consist in the advantageous location of its principal offices in Kansas City under the management of its president, who was for many years a resi dent and an extensive operator in real estate and farm loans at Emporia, Kan., where he acquired an intimate knowledge of values of western farm lands, and the fact that it has an established office in Portsmouth, N. H., under the super vision of its vice president, from which the securities representing the loans made by the Kansas City office are disposed of This company had the contract for platting Dundee addition ; has built some of the finest structures on Delaware street, and in other ways has done its part toward the development of Kansas City. It has also handled large amounts of money for Scotch capitalists. Its loans aggregate a number of millions of dollars. Its officers are Edward E. Holmes, president and treas urer ; WiHis G. Myers, vice-president, and George M. Van Evera (successor to A. C. Buckner), secretary. The Western Mortgage and Investment Company {limited) is a corporation organized in 1883 for the purpose of investing money on real estate securities only. Its capital is $2,500,000, and its operations extend over Missouri, Kan sas, Texas, and the Western States generally. The principal feature of its business is that it loans its own funds for the revenue derived from interest, and does not sell any of its paper. A great advantage to the borrower is the fact that by this plan the company is at aH times able, and is equally disposed, to release a mortgage for his convenience in case of his wishing to dispose of the whole or any part of the property on which the mortgage is held, or in any Investment Companies. 269 similar emergency that may at any time arise. The borrower, therefore, can at all times negotiate extensions and repayment and changes direct with his mortgagee, thus avoiding the delays and annoyance incident to finding his paper owned by some small capitalists in the Eastern States. Where securities are disposed of to other parties, as is usually the custom with investment com panies, any such concession or accommodation as this is of course rendered impossible, and the transactions of this company have been greatly facilitated whenever this advantage was understood. The company charges a straight interest, varying with the money market, and no commissions are charged. Its resident general manager is Mr. Paul Phillips, successor to Mr J. A. Forbes. The Kansas City Alutual Loan and Building Association. — This association was formed in 1884, and has yielded a profit to shareholders of over twenty- five per cent, per annum. The officers and directors are George W. McCrary, president; E. L. Martin, vice-president ; C. J. White, treasurer; C. M. Ferree, secretary; Theodore S. Case, H. T. Wright and J. M. Greenwood. The last series of the stock of this association was sold December i, 1887. The success of the association and the high standing of its managers insure its stock ready sale wherever it is offered. Lombard Investment Company. — The Lombard Investment Company is in corporated under the State laws of Massachusetts and Kansas, having its west ern headquarters in Kansas City. Previous to May, 1885, the head western offices of the company were at Creston, la. The business of the company is the loaning of money on first mortgage on improved farming and city prop erty in the States of Missouri, Nebraska and Kansas. It has a cash capital and surplus of $1,400,000, and its operations are conducted in the most meth odical and systematic manner possible. In making each loan every detail is as minutely examined as if the purchase of the property were contemplated. The greatest care of the company is the absolute soundness of the security. This carefulness and the precautionary system of the company are appreciated by borrowers in the West, and cause its securities to be eagerly sought after in the East and in Europe. That Kansas City is deriving great benefit from the location of the Lom bard Investment Company's principal western office and the other interests with which the Lombards are identified (notably the First National Bank, a history of which is given elsewhere) is evident to all. Through their intimate acquaintance and extensive associations with the moneyed interests of the East, the Messrs. Lombard have influenced an enormous amount of capital in this direction for investment and secured the complete recognition of the soundness of the class of securities in which they deal ; and particularly with regard to mortgages on Missouri property their efforts have contributed largely to dispel the unfair and mistaken notions that had so long hung like a 35 270 History of Kansas City. cloud over the fair fame of the State. They have brought under the direct notice of Eastern financiers the fact that Missouri is probably to-day the most rapidly improving State in the Union, that her laws of foreclosures are highly favorable to lenders, and that the permanent character of the improvements renders real estate in Missouri a very desirable long time investment. Beyond this they have, by extensive advertising throughout the East, directed the at tention of a large number of the better class of emigrants from other countries and many enterprising Eastern capitalists to the advantages offered in Kansas City and surrounding country, and by this means have induced many to in quire into the facts and ultimately to locate here. The large amount of cap ital the company has loaned on Kansas City property covers more recorded mortgages on city property in a year than the aggregate transactions of any other corporation or firm. The Lombard Investment Company has the strongest financial connections throughout the West and is a large stockholder in the following banks which act as its special agents in the various localities named : The National Bank of America, Chicago ; Capitol National Bank of Galesburg, III.; First National Bank of Creston, la.; First National Bank of Humboldt Neb.; First National Bank of York, Neb.; First National Bank of Earned, Kan.; First National Bank of Lincoln, Kan.; First National Bank of Garden City, Kan.; State National Bank of Wichita, Kan., and the First Na tional Bank of Kansas City, Mo. The company has direct financial relations with the moneyed centers of Europe, having its own offices at lOO Leadenhall street, London, England. Its Eastern offices are at 12 and 13 Sears's build ing, Boston, Mass The officers of the company are Benjamin Lombard, jr., president; James L. Lombard, vice-president and Western manager ; Lewis Lombard, second vice-president; Wm. McGeorge, jr., second vice-president; WiHiam A. Lombard, secretary ; J. W. Gish, superintendent of the farm de partment; G. W. Mathews, superintendent of the city department; and H. W. L. Russell, cashier. The American Investment Company was incorporated in May, 1885, and its specialty is the making and negotiation of farm loans in Kansas, Iowa, Minne sota, Nebraska, Dakota and Washington Territory, upon which it gives its guarantee of payment or coHection to purchasers. It is also authorized to pur chase and hold real estate and personal property, whether for its own use or for other purposes, and to seH and convey the same ; to purchase and seH mortgages, stocks, bonds and other securities ; to invest money in real estate for corporations or individuals ; to borrow money and issue its own obligations therefore and to execute trusts. It is doing a rapidly increasing business and becoming weH known throughout the West Its home office is at Emmets- burg, Iowa, and its principal eastern office at 150 Nassau Street, N. Y. Its Kansas City branch was established in May, 1887, with office at No. 22 Beals buHding, under charge of Frank B. Gregg as manager. Its capital is $1,000,- 000, of which $600,000 is paid in, and it has a surplus of $75,000. Investment Companies. 271 . - : li . . The Gossard Investment Company was incorporated under the laws of Mis souri, May 15, 1885, and succeeded to the business of A. H. Gossard & Co., one of the oldest and largest in its line in the West and well and favorably known in the East The company is practically under the same management that controlled the affairs of the firm. The officers are A H. Gossard, presi dent ; S. A. Lovejoy, vice-president ; T. R. Bryan, secretary and W. P. Gos sard, treasurer. The stockholders are among the strong financial men of the West and the capitalists and savings and national banks of the New England States. The company began with a paid-up capital of $50,000 which has been in creased from time to time until it is now $500,000 and the company has a sur plus fund of $75,000. The company lends its capital upon improved farm and city property and other good securities and negotiates with them, and deals in municipal and other bonds. For the convenience of its business it has estab lished offices in Boston, New York and other cities, in charge of proper repre sentatives The business done by the company and its predecessor covers the careful and successful investment of many millions of dollars, and many estates, capitalists and financial institutions of the East have large amounts invested in its securities. No company possesses a more complete and thorough system for the safe conduct of its business or is more conservative in the selection of its investments. Its field of operations is strictly limited to prosperous cities and the most accessible country tributary to them, and more immediately to this city. Its past success indicates wise and able management The fact that its stock and investments occupy a conspicuous place in finances east and west is sufficient evidence of the company's stability. Whipple Investment and Trust Company. — This company was first incor porated in June, 1885, for a period of fifty years, under the name of the Whip ple Investment Company. Its incorporation was effected under the laws of Missouri, upon a basis of $50,000 capital stock, all of which has been paid in. The original articles of the company empowered it "to loan funds upon real es tate and to buy and sell real estate so far as it becomes necessary in conduct ing the business of a loan corporation, and to buy and sell bonds, bank stocks and notes secured by real estate, such other securities to be dealt in and such brokerage business upon commission, transacted as may from time to time be authorized by vote of the directors," and located the chief offices of the company in Kansas City, Mo , and Boston, Mass. In 1885 the Legislature of Missouri passed an act authorizing the organiza tion of trust companies. In 1887 the act of 1885 was amended enlarging the power of such companies. The business of this company from its organization has been very prosperous and has increased in volume until the company's capital has become inadequate for the transaction of the business for which it was formed, and as the rapid growth of Kansas City and surrounding territory 272 History of Kan.sas City. V ¦ ¦ — ¦ with their varied and extensive financial interests both local and foreign, cre ated a demand for trust relations founded upon reasonable assurances of soHd- ity, the stockholders deemed it advisable to increase the company's capital stock and extend its business to that of a trust company. This was done August 17, 1877. The capital stock was increased to an authorized capital of $500,000, of which $125,000 was subscribed and paid in. The officers of the company are A. A. Whipple president Kansas City ; A. J. Whipple, vice-president 17 Milk street, Boston, Mass.; G. W. HoHinger, secretary, Kansas City; B. T Whipple, treasurer, Kansas City. Missouri Union Trust Company. — This company was incorporated under the laws of the State of Missouri relating to trust companies, and its articles of association were signed September 12, 1885, by Charles W. Whitehead, Ed win F. Waters, Hazen Clement William H. Winants, Erskine Clements, Attis A. Whipple, Charles L. Dobson, and Gus P. Marty. The authorized capital is $400,000, which is being caHed in as required, untH now $100,000 has been paid up. A surplus of $25,000 has accumulated. This corporation is duly au thorized to act as trustee, executor, administrator and receiver, and to invest moneys in agreed-upon securities, and negofiates town, city, and county bonds and those of water works and similar enterprises. A specialty is made of care fully selected mortgages on improved Kansas City real estate for investors. Funds are received, and interest paid on time deposits. The first directors of the company were Charles W. Whitehead, Edwin F. Waters, Hazen Clement, William H. Winants, Erskine Clement, Attis A. Whipple and Charles L. Dobson. The present officers and directors are C. W. Whitehead, president; Edwin F. Waters, vice-president; David T. Beals, sec ond vice-president; Erskine Clement treasurer; Charles L. Dobson, Attis A. Whipple and Hazen Clements. The offices of the Missouri Union Trust Company are at the northwest cor ner of Ninth and Wyandotte streets, and a feature of its business is its safe de posit vaults, under the management of WHHam E. Gowdy, which afford abso lute protection from fire and burglars. The Mount Washington Investment Company was incorporated February 19, 1886. The capital stock was $10,000, divided into 100 shares, which were taken by Harry L. Nicol, Sidney A. Butler, Charies Manhart, WilHam V. Lip pincott jr., and Annie E. Hedges. The president of the company is Charles Manhart ; the secretary, Annie E. Hedges ; the cashier, W, V. Lippincott, jr. The company is empowered to buy and sell bonds, bills, notes and other secu rities and evidences of debt ; to loan money on real and personal property ; to negotiate loans and sales upon and of real and personal property for others; and to buy, sell, encumber and improve real and personal property. The National Loan and Trust Company. — This company was organized in March, 1886, with a capital of $100,000, which was increased in May, 1887, to ;',•'¦/-'"/''-<"- Investment Companies. 273 $500,000. It loans money in large and small sums, on bonds and mortgages amply secured upon farms in Missouri, Kansas and Nebraska, and upon im proved city property in Kansas City and other large and prosperous cities in those States. No loans are taken until they have been personally inspected by some one in the employ of the company, been appraised by two disinterested persons under oath at at least two and one-half times the amount of the loan, and been passed upon by the executive committee, consisting of five members from the board of directors, which meets weekly and inspects every loan offered, and examines the business of the company. The bonds and mortgages of the company are placed in the vaults of the Knickerbocker Trust Company of New York, in blocks of $102,000, and the company issues $100,000 of debenture bonds, which draw interest at the rate of six per cent, per annum, payable semi-annually at the office of the Knicker bocker Trust Company. Thus the purchaser has the National Loan and Trust Company, with its ample capital, and also the bonds and mortgages secured upon real estate worth two and one-half times their amount, to secure the pay ment of the debentures. The directors and officers of this company are J. S. Chick, president; W. W. Kendall, vice-president ; G. F. Putnam, general manager ; F. C. Wornall, secre tary ; F. N. Chick, treasurer ; R. H. Keith, M. A. Potts, John Reding, W. A. Bunker, T. J. Green, W. J. Anderson, John F. Richards, L. O. Swope, J. B. Ma son and George H. Holt. Such names as these furnish the best possible guar antee of the company's high standing, strong credit, and able management. Its president has personally managed the business of the National Bank of Kansas City since its organization, with such skill as to gradually increase its capital from $50,000 to $ 1, 000,000. The other officers are well known and highly respected for their ability, experience and judgment. Metropolitan Investment Company. — This company closed its second fiscal year in February, 1888. It is organized on the assessment plan, with two hundred shares of capital stock, each assessable five dollars monthly ; but as sessments may be stopped at any time on a two-thirds vote. The present amount of capital paid in is $24,000, and the company has a surplus and undi vided profits to the amount of $15,000. It is incorporated for five years, and its officers are W. A. Bunker, president; J. S. McCrum, vice-president ; H. N. Garland, treasurer ; D. Bowes, secretary. H. O. Crane is agent for the com pany, and H. P. Jaques, J. M. Jones and V W. Bagley constitute its auditing committee. This corporation buys and sells real estate and other property ; builds, improves and rents ; buys and sells notes and other securities ; and re ceives money on deposit for investment. The Interstate Investment Company was organised in May, 1886, with a capital of $100,000, to handle real estate and make investments. Its president is J. I. Reynolds ; its vice-president is W. A. Bunker. Its capital has since been increased to $500,000, all paid up. 274 History of Kansas City. Since its organization this company has been a factor in Kansas City's development having brought into the market business and residence property valued at from $2,000,000 to $3,000,000. It was instrumental in the pur chase of the famous Spittog tract, one of the most valuable properties in the market owned by the Riverside Improvement Company, of which the presi dent of the Interstate Investment Company, is president ; Hon. T. B. BuHene, vice-president; W. Freeman, secretary, and H. P. Stimson, treasurer, and which has a paid-up capital of $500,000. The Interstate Investment Company also organized the Boston Land and Park Company, with a capital of $280,000, which owns residence property on the Riverview Cable Railroad ; the West Side Land and Park Company, with a capital of $350,000, one-third paid up ; the Silver Springs Investment Com pany, with a capital of $100,000, one-half paid up, and the Stover Investment Company, with $80,000 capital, one-half paid up. The aggregate value of the property controlled by the Interstate Investment Company is over $3,000,- 000, and a large amount of money is being expended in its improvement. It is claimed that this company has brought more valuable property into the market during the past year than any other real estate concern in the city. New England Trust Company. — The New England Trust Company was incorporated and began business June 16, 1886, with a paid up capHal of $250,- 000. It succeeded to a loaning business that had for five years been carried on by the New England Loan and Trust Company of Des Moines, la., through a branch office located in the James building and under the management of H. B. Leavens. The new company occupies the banking room in the Security building. Its business is largely the making of long time first mortgage real estate loans in the older and better portions of Missouri and Kansas. These securities are sold to Eastern capitalists and savings institutions, and the repu tation of the mortgages offered by this company is second to that of none in the market. County and school bonds and unexceptionable municipal securi ties are also handled. In another department the company takes deposits, and it is a noteworthy fact that it was the first concern in the city to adopt the satisfactory method of paying interest on daily balances. The company also handles trust funds and executes trusts of various kinds created under wills, agreements, orders of court, etc. The officers of the New England Trust Bompany are ex- Governor T. T. Crittenden, president; Walt Webb, vice-president ; D. O. Eshbaugh, treas urer, and H. B. Leavens, secretary. Mr. Eshbaugh lives in New York, where he has charge of the Eastern office of the company at 160 Broadway, through which are negotiated the securities the company offers and in which its busi ness has been so successful and satisfactory. The local office is in the imme diate control of Messrs. Webb and Leavens, who are present daily and give to. all the details of the business their personal attention and supervision. Investment Companies. 275 This large and successful institution has grown by gradual enlargement from a small loaning business begun at Des Moines, la., ten or twelve years ago, and attracted to Kansas City by the superior inducements offered by the city and its surrounding territory for the investment of money. Its officers and managers have learned their business by long experience in it, and to this fact, no doubt, may be justly attributed the high regard in which the " New England" securities are held wherever they are known in the Eastern and New England States. The Dearborn Mortgage Company was organised in October, 1886, with a paid up capital of $50,000. It handles short time real estate loans, carries deferred payments, makes or buys good first or second mortgages and makes loans for investors. The officers are Fabius M. Clarke (Kansas City), presi dent; E. T. Merrihew, (Boston, Mass.), and W. E. Everett (Turner's Falls, Mass.), vice-presidents; A. E. Barnes (Kansas City), secretary. The American Trust Company was organized October 16, 1886. The orig inal capital was $50,000 and the earnings for the first year, amounting to $10,- 000 were added to it increasing it to $60,000 fully paid. It is the intention of the compainy to call in the remainder of the stock and raise the capital to $200,000 or $250,000. The business of the American Trust Company consists principally in mak ing and deaHng in loans on improved city property and farms, and handling inside real estate for syndicates and individuals for a share of the net profits. It is under the management of Edwin L. Browne, its president and treasurer ; George E. Wittich, its vice-president and J. B. Parker, its secretary. The di rectors of the company are Benjamin F. Wood, Edwin L. Browne, J. B. Parker, Henry W. Hart jr., and George E. Wittich. The president has for ten years been prominently identified with Kansas City's real estate and other impor tant interests. The Pennsylvania Investment Company was incorporated November 9, 1886, under the laws of Missouri. The stock of the company ($300,000) however, is almost entirely represented by Eastern capital. The list of stockholders in cludes the names of many of the most successful business men of Eastern Penn sylvania. The object of this company is the safe investment of capital on real estate in the West, affording the stockholders and other investors higher rates of in terest than prevail in the East. The States of Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska and Iowa have an area which for fertility of soil, general growth, thrift and improve ment stands unrivaled. The western office of the company being at Kansas City, is centrally located in this favored territory. The methods of the company are such as have been suggested by long ex perience and its connection with a loan never ceases until it is paid in full. Its management is as follows : officers, George Brooke, president ; D. Owen 276 History of Kansas City. Brooke, treasurer ; H. A. Needhara, secretary; Joseph V. KendaH, vice-pres ident and Western manager ; H. T. Kendall, assistant secretary and treasurer and Eastern manager ; directors : George Brooke, H. T. Kendall, H. A. Du- pont J. H. Sternbergh, J. W. B. Bausman, WilHam D. Smith, A. B. Grubb, Jacob Fegley, Hugh M. Maxwell, D. Owen Brooke, Cyrus G. Derr, Daniel R. MHler, and Joseph V. Kendall. Its Eastern office is at Reading, Pa., and it has an office in Philadelphia. The Missouri Valley Investment Company was organized February 5, 1887, with a capital stock of $70,000 for the purpose of deaHng in and improving real estate. Its officers are F. W. Schulte, president ; Charles Rollert, vice- president; Gus. O. L. Sauer, treasurer; Frank Muehlschuster, secretary. The Fidelity Trust Company handles municipal bonds and commercial and collateral secured paper. Municipal bonds are selected with great care and only such issues are dealt in as will reflect credit on the company. Those of districts employing the funds in permanent improvements are chosen and those of localities having excessive indebtedness are avoided. Only the best commer cial paper is dealt in, after the most searching investigation. Approved re-dis counts from well managed banks are handled. The capital stock of the com pany is $100,000 and its early increase to $250,000 is contemplated. The of ficers are James A. Blair, president ; George Sheidley, vice-president ; James H. Frost, secretary. The directors are John I. Blair, B. L. Lombard, jr., Lewis Lombard, O. C. Ewart, George Sheidley, James L. Lombard and James A. Blair. The United States Security Company was incorprated April 12, 1887, with $30,000 capital fully paid up, to negotiate loans, invest capital and buy and sell notes, bonds, stocks and real estate. The stock is all held by the officers of the company. J. W. German, president ; George Carman, vice-president and secretary, and Matthew Butler, treasurer, who have been identified with the commercial interests and growth of the city for the past ten years and have a capital of more than $200,000, outside the capital stock of the corporation, mostly invested in desirable inside business property and stocks. The com pany does a conservative and rapidly growing business, profitable alike to lender and borrower, which is attracting the attention of prominent Eastern capitalists and investors. The German American Loan Company ^ — This corporation began business November i, 1887, handling real estate loans, notes and other evidences of indebtedness. Its officers are P. C. Hall, president ; Clarence P. HaH, vice- president; M. Trauerman, secretary; directors: P. C. Hall, Arthur C. Hall, D. M. Hackman, Clarence P. HaH, M. Trauerman, F. T. Fuller. It has a capital of $100,000. The Suffolk Investment Company wa.s incorporated April 4, 1887. The in corporators were Leo N. Leslie, George C. Emery and James H. Harkless, of Investment Companies. 277 Kansas City, Hiram H. Logan, James Simpson and Edwin H. Pope, of Bos ton, Mass., and Clarence Hayward, of Salem, Mass. The capital stock is $50,000, divided into 100 shares, owned as follows : Leo N. Leslie, president of the company, loi ; George C. Emery, secretary, 294; James H. Harkless, attorney, 10; Hiram H. Logan, 20; Edwin H. Pope, 30; James Simpson, 20; Clarence Hayward, 25. The stockholders are also the directors of the com pany. The purposes of this corporation are to buy, sell and improve real estate ; to loan money on real estate and personal securities ; to buy and sell deeds of trust, mortgages, promissory notes and other evidences of debts ; and to perform other functions not inconsistent with the general objects of its char acter. The operations of the company have thus far been confined chiefly to real estate, in which it has achieved success. Argentine Redl Estate Investment and Loan Company. — This company was organized in May, 1887, under the laws of Kansas, with a capital stock of $500,000, divided into shares of $100 each, for the purpose of buying real estate and making investments and loans. Its principal office is in Kansas City, and it has a branch office in Argentine, Kan. Its first board of directors was constituted as follows : Goerge Sheidley, Lysander R. Moore, Reuben W. Ludington, Nicholas McAlpine, David N. Carlisle, William J. Anderson, James M. Childs, Robert P. McGeehan and Charies C. Adams. The company owns 266 acres of land in the Kaw Valley bottoms at Ar gentine, Kan., extending from the Kansas River to the slopes of Argentine, well adapted for manufacturing and residence purposes, on which it has already located many important manufacturing enterprises, besides selling a large number of residence lots. Most of the capital stock has been issued and paid for at par. The direc tory consists of some of the best known business men and investors of Kansas City, and others, as follows : George Sheidley, capitalist and investor, Kansas City; N. McAlpine, capitalist and investor of Wyandotte county, Kansas; Hon. T. B. BuHene, and Lysander R. Moore, of the firm of BuHene, Moore, Emery & Co., of Kansas City ; W. J. Anderson, cashier of the National Bank of Kan sas City; R. W. Ludington, capitalist and investor, Lawrence, Kan.; C. C. Adams, retired merchant Warren, O.; R. P. McGeehan, capitalist and investor, Kansas City. The officers and representatives are George Sheidley, president; N. McAlpine, vice-president; W. J. Anderson, treasurer; W. L. Powell, sec retary ; T. B. BuHene, R. P. McGeehan and F. B. Mitchener, executive com mittee ; C. C. Adams, manager; W. H. Osborne and W. L. Powell, Kansas City, and Augustus T. Kerr, Toronto, Canada, financial agents. The Woods- Mellier Real Estate and Investment Company was incorporated in June, 1887, with a paid up capital of $50,000. William S Woods is pres ident and A. J. Lackey, secretary and treasurer. The directors are E. E. Parker, WilHam S. Woods, A. A. Mellier, jr., J. W. English and E. L. Scarritt 36 278 History of Kansas City. The company is a large stockholder in the Brunswick Hotel, the Gill Block, and other fine buildings, and has syndicated much valuable property, notably (since the large buildings mentioned) Lewellyn Place and later Lewellyn annex. The Boston Loan and Trust Company was organized in October, 1887, with a capital of $50,000, for the purpose of buying and seHing real estate and negotiating loans, mortgages, deeds of trust, notes and commercial paper. In February, 1888, the capital stock was increased to $100,000, aH paid in. There are about twenty stockholders, a majority of whom are wealthy and prominent residents of Kansas City. Mr. A. P. Smith, the president, recently removed to the City from Massachusetts. Mr. Charles E. Hendrickson, the vice-president is a resident of New Bedford, Mass., Mr. O. F. Page is the treasurer, and Mr. John K. Jones the secretary. This company has begun business under favorable auspices and achieved a good measure of success. The Baldwin Loan and Trust Company was incorporated November 28, 1887, to loan money and handle securities. Its officers and directors are Harry Baldwin, president; Henry C. Keller, vice-president; A. P. Fonda, sec retary and treasurer ; ex-Governor Thomas Carney, Edward Fenlon. Its capital stock is $1,000,000, and it has offices at Kansas City, Leavenworth, New York, and London. The Simmons Investment Company was organized in October, 1887, with a capital stock of $600,000, divided into 6,000 shares of the par value of $100 each. The incorporators and first board of directors are M. F. Simmons, W. W. Kendall, Eli S. Young, Charles W. Whitehead, T. J. Green, James Hew son, E. H. Phelps. The officers are W. W. Kendall, president; James Hew son, vice-president ; Eli S. Young, treasurer ; Milton F. Simmons, secretary and manager. The company has power to buy and sell real estate, stocks, bonds and notes, and otherwise deal in securities and commercial paper, to loan capital, invest money for others and improve real estate. It owns 1,269 acres of^findy located land just northeast of Independence, Mo., and has projected a dummy line to render it accessible to Kansas City, to run from Independence to Court ney, and to connect at Independence with the Independence and Park Rail road, the Missouri Pacific and the Chicago and Alton, and at Courtney with the Santa Fe line to Chicago and to St. Louis. The plans of the company further embrace the improvement of this land by parks and boulevards, render ing it one of the most desirable residence suburbs about Kansas City. The Security Investment Company was incorporated in September, 1887, and has a paid up capital of $150,000. The president is Charles E. Hasbrook ; the vice-president Morrison Munford; the secretary, Albert E. Hasbrook, and the treasurer, B. F Jones. This corporation owns the Waterworks buHding, at Sixth and Walnut streets, a seven story fire-proof office building, and is authorized to deal in real estate and loans and perform other functions com mon to investment companies. Investment Companies. 279 The Continental Trust Company was organized October i, 1887, and has $100,000 capital. It makes loans on improved city property, buys and sells bonds, handles money for investments and receives deposits and pays interest on daily balances subject to check. Its officers and directors are G. W. Toul min, president; H. S. Lynn, vice-president; J. E. Toulmin, secretary and treasurer ; E. F. Kirk and H. D. Kirk. The Missouri, Kansas and Texas Real Estate Trust Company began busi ness in Kansas City, December i, 1887, loaning money on improved farm and Kansas City property at current rates. The following are the names of its directors : H. A. Lloyd, A. A. Mosher, Wendell P. Mosher, Charles M. Hays, Frank Obear, H. G. Buckingham, C. N. Hammon, E. V. Preston, George C. Smith, Charles E. Hasbrook, L. E. Davison, Clifford F. Hall, J. F. Richards, Robert Adams, A. E. Stillwell, T. H. Wicks, N. N. Norton, Charies A. Dean, T. H. Beettman, B P. Waggener, J. B. McKeighan, L. G. McNair, Henry C. Lambert. The Southwestern Land and Investmefit Company was organized in the fall of 1887, and the following first officers and directors were elected November 23 : L. C. Garrett, president ; George H. English, vice-president ; Fred W. Fleming, secretary ; Charles Wilson, treasurer ; Milton Moore, James K. Riffle, J. H. Parrott, C. H. Lamb. This company has a capital of $20,000. Its managers are well known in the business circles of the city. The Citizens Investment Company was incorporated December 6, 1887, un der the laws of the State of Missouri, with a paid-up capital of $100,000. Ex. Stockdale, president, Elihu Park, vice-president, John W. Norton, secretary and treasurer ; A. J. King, general manager ; directors, Ex. Stockdale, John W. Norton, A. J. King, Elihu Park, George S. Hardy, Norton B. Anderson, and C. E. Norton. Mr. Ex. Stockdale, the presiding officer, is from Russdlville, Ky., and is well known as a successful business man and conservative finan cier. Mr. John W. Norton is a thorough lawyer and member of the firm of Norton Brothers, bankers of this city. Mr. A. J. King is one of the best posted real estate men of Kansas City, thoroughly acquainted with values and loca tions. Mr. Stockdale, after long investigation of this city, and having full con fidence in its future, selected it as the home office of the Citizens Investment Com pany. The company does a careful investment business, thorough in all its branches. It handles real estate, first mortgage bonds, municipal bonds, bank tax bills stocks, and first class business, residence and addition property and owns some of the most valuable property in the city. It also negotiates loans and makes investments. It will be responsible for all money committed to its care for investments, which wiH be made with the same care and intent as its own. The Guarantee Loan and Trust Company. — This is a corporation organized about January i, 1888, to make and sell first mortgage loans and debentures 28o History of Kansas City. and otherwise exercise the functions of investment companies. Among its stockholders are John Hall, president; L. F.Wilson, treasurer, and William A. Wilson, M. B. Abell and W. S. Woods. Some eastern men are interested in this company; Mr. L. F. Wilson resigned the vice-presidency of the National Bank of Commerce to give his individual attention to it. Mr. Hall, recently from New York, is a stockholder in several large banks and is a financier of experience and great ability. Equitable Mortgage Company. — The Equitable Mortgage Company was organized in February, 1884, with a capital of $100,000, which was shortly afterward increased to $300,000. At the close of 1885 the capital of this com pany was again increased to $600,000, and in July, 1887, it was advanced to $2,000,000. The general office of the company is at 208 Broadway, N. Y., under charge of Charles N. Fowler, president and L. B. Brainerd, secretary. The company has other offices, as follows : Boston, 23 Court street under the management of H. H. Fitch, vice-president ; Philadelphia, corner of Fourth and Chestnut streets, under the management of C. B. Wilkinson, vice-president; Kansas City, Alamo building, H. J. Page, manager, and T. J. Ijams, of the western department. The company has located branch offices at Garden City, Kan., Oberiin, Kan., Jackson, Miss., Dallas, Tex., Denver, Col., Walla Walla, W. T., and Sioux City, la. The Equitable Mortgage Company was incorporated for the purpose of making and dealing in loans secured by mortgages on improved farms in the States of Missouri, Kansas, Iowa and Nebraska, and for the negotiation of loans on improved city real estate. The location of the western office at Kan sas City in the center of the company's field of operations, and equally acces sible to every part of the field gives it unsurpassed facilities for examining the lands upon which its loans are based and carefully investigating each transac tion. The care ej^ercised by this company in making loans is evidenced by the fact that it has negotiated loans aggregating millions of dollars, and in no instance has a customer failed to receive principal and interest when due ; and its loans are eagerly bought in financial circles. Union Investment Company, organized March 14, 1887. Its capital, orig inally $300,000, has been increased to $1,000,000, fully paid in. It does a general investment business, buys and sells bonds, loans money on collateral security, deals in commercial and short- time paper, acts as agent for the pur chase and sale of real estate, and to a limited extent loans money on Western farms, chiefly in Kansas. The managers have had a long and successful ex perience in such business and have an extensive acquaintance of long standing among leading business men and financial institutions of the West. The business and good will of the Security Investment Company of Cawker City, Kan , have been secured and will hereafter be controlled by this com- Eng^iy 33.SdiU Sons. JiTew '^^'^ The Banking Interest. 281 pany. The business thus obtained was established in 1878 and has been wholly confined to loaning money on farms in Northern Kansas and on collat eral security. The managers of this company own one- fourth of its capital stock and their personal interest requires the closest supervision of their busi ness. August I, 1888, the company wHl remove its offices to the New Amer ican Bank buHding. Its officers are W. P. Rice, president ; H. P. Stimson, vice-president ; O. F. Page, secretary and treasurer ; R. L. CaHahan, assistant secretary and treasurer. CHAPTER XII. THE BANKING INTEREST. Kansas City's Enviable Position as a Commercial Center — Clearing House Statistics, Tast and Present — History of the Clearing House — Some Early Banks — Effects of the Panic of 1873 — Bank Changes and Suspensions — Historical Sketches of the Banks of To-day. THE functions and offices of banks are well understood. There is little dan ger that the banking capital of Kansas City will exceed the requirements of its business for many years. There is a strong, healthy demand for money with which to carry on her rapidly increasing business and develop and improve the surrounding country. Kansas City has become a depository for government funds and is practically the clearing house for Kansas, Colorado, New Mexico and Western Missouri, the larger portion of whose banks keep their balances with her banks. During the past few years, Kansas City has made a decided advance in her position and prominence as a financial center. The following table shows the amount of her monthly clearings for the years 1886 and 1887: COMPARATIVE BANK CLEARINGS. 1886. 1887. January $ 17,902,433 $ 28,469,055 February 17,113,546 28,740,449 $35,015,979 $57,209,504 282 History of Kansas City. COMPARATIVE BANK CLEARINGS— Continued. 1886. 1887. Forward $35,015,979 $57,209,504 March 20,881,563 32,352,705 April 25,065,088 34,499,889 May 25.675,866 39,253,466 June 24,963,441 37,687,912 July 22,605,687 33,186,641 August 21,983,524 31,342,623 September 23,267,138 30,596,179 October 25,993,961 29,792,991 November 27,384,656 33,561,447 December 32,101,459 30,764,354 Total $284,938,362 $388,731,532 Per cent, of increase 37.2 Total clearings for 1885 $223,789,419 Total clearings for 1886 284,938,362 Total clearings for 1887 388,731,532 The clearings for the year ending April 30, 1888, exceeded those of the previous year by more than $60,000,000 ; and that this rate of advance still continues and is not dependent upon real estate sales, as has been charged, is shown by the fact that the clearings for the week ending May 19, 1888, were the largest ever known in the city, amounting to $9,665,647, or $500,000 in excess of the highest week of the year 1887, when the real estate sales were at their maximum. The eight National Banks of Kansas City at the time of their last statement showed that they had a paid up capital of $5,975,000 and a surplus fund of $437,000. The total deposits amount to $9,543,734.67. In the early part of the year Kansas City was made a reserve city. The law requires reserve banks to hold atj least 25 percent, reserve. The closing statements of the above banks for the year 1887 show that they have a reserve of over 50 per cent. When it is considered that this state of affairs exists in a city that has not been on the reserve list for more than seven months, it is all the more note worthy. The increase in banking capital during the'year has been from $4,- 765,000 at the close of 1886 to $7,087,000 at the close of 1887, being $3,322,- 000 increase — over 69 per cent, increase. To this must also be added the surplus as exhibited by the different banks, which amounts to $983,400. That the creation of more reserve cities in the West created a good deal of trouble for Wall street men there is no doubt All the leading papers in that eastern city complained for several months of an immense falling off in the amount of ready funds, and some of these journals assumed that the market was in a most panicky condition. There has been nothing of the kind experienced in the West. It took the eastern capitalist and banker about three months to The Banking Interest. 283 fuHy conceive of the importance western funds were to the making up of their balance sheets and the carrying out of their gigantic operations. They were compelled to assume a more conservative course and they finally accepted the situation for which they had no remedy. The fact of Kansas City being a reserve city has proven of immense benefit to the country banks all through the States of Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and even as far south as Texas and Ar kansas, with about all the banks in the States and Territories of Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona and Nebraska. By having their funds closer at home they find that they can facilitate operations most decidedly. The Clearing House. — The Kansas City Clearing House Association was organized in 1885 and consists of the following named banks: The Citizens' National Bank, the National Bank of Kansas City, the National Bank of Com merce, Armour Brothers' Banking Company, the Merchants' National Bank, the Kansas City Stockyards Bank, the German-American National Bank, the First National Bank of Kansas City, the American National Bank, and the Post- Office. It is under the immediate direction of J. S. Chick, president of the association; A. W. Armour, vice-president, and Cyrus L. Hawley, manager. The object of the association is to facilitate the exchange of checks between the banks composing it, which is accomplished by an admirable system. The importance of the clearing house reports is augmented by the fact that banking statistics are accepted as the truest indicators of the condition of trade, and it cannot be doubted that Kansas City has been advertised and benefited more through her clearing house reports than by any other one agency. Early Banks. — ^The first banking establishment in Kansas City was opened in 1856 by Messrs. Coates & Hood in connection with their real estate business. It continued in operation for several years. In 1857 Messrs. Northrup & Co., afterward Northrup & Chick, established a banking house which, in 1864, they transferred to J. Q. Watkins & Co. This became a branch of the Union Bank, which was organized in July, 1859, and opened for business in August follow ing, and had the following directors: H. M. Northrup, C. E. Kearney, Thomas A. Smart W. H. Chick, Thomas Johnson, N. T. Wheatley, Joab Bernard, Al exander Street and Edward Peery. The president was H. M. Northrup, the cashier, John S. Harris. A branch of the Mechanics' Bank of St. Louis was organized May i, 1859, and began business in June following. Dr. Johnston Lykins was president ; Colonel E. C. McCarty, cashier ; Lewis Ramage, at torney. J. P. Wheeler, Kersey Coates, Dr. Johnston Lykins, Joseph C. Ran som, F. Conant WHHam GilHs, J. C. McCoy, J. Riddlesbarger and W. J. Jarboe were the directors. In February, 1866, Messrs. Bernard and Mastin started a bank which was succeeded by the Mastin Bank ; and the old First National Bank was estab lished about the same time with Major G. W. Branham at its head. Two years later the First National Bank was reorganized with Mr. Howard M. Holden as 284 History of Kansas City. cashier. It speedily entered upon a career of prosperity and its capital grew from $100,000 to $500,000. The Panic of 1873. — The financial panic of 1873 was precipitated in Sep tember by the failure of the banking house of Jay Cooke & Co. of Philadelphia, and immediately spread to all parts of the country. The following account of its effects in Kansas City is given by Captain W. H. MiHer, in his " History of Kansas City " : "The banks of Kansas City suspended payment on the 25th of September, and for a time nearly stopped all business by the locking up of the funds of their customers. This action of the banks, however, was rendered necessary by the suspension of their correspondents East At that season of the year the movement of currency was to the West, and for them to have continued would have resulted only in paying out what currency they had on hand, which would have been done in a day or two, when they would have inevitably gone into bankruptcy. The merchants held a meeting at the Board of Trade that day and adopted resolutions approving of the course taken by the banks, and pledging them their cordial support in whatever efforts they might adopt to remedy the difficulty. In a few days new accounts were opened by the banks with their customers, and new checks were paid from the new deposits, the banks promising to pay old deposits as speedily as possible. This arrange ment was acquiesced in by the people, and soon business was resumed, though on a much restricted scale. " The First National Bank was at this time the one of chiefest interest to the people. At an annual election in the winter of 1872 Howard M. Holden, esq., had been elected president, having previously been its efficient cashier. By his enterprise and liberal management he had advanced the bank to a lead ing position, and at this time it was the chief dependence of the live stock, packing and grain interests, which were now considerable, for money with which to move the products of the country. It was accordingly determined by the stockholders, who were all business men of Kansas City, to strengthen it, and to that end its capital was increased from $250,000 to $500,000. " The effect of this panic was to cause great depression in local im provements and town developments, attended with a decrease of population, and the city did not recover from these effects untH 1876 ; otherwise it was an advantage, for in the depression caused in the surrounding country it led mer chants to trade here much more largely than they had done before. In their depressed situation they felt the importance of buying nearer home than they had been accustomed to do, so that they might not have to carry such large stocks, and so that they could turn their capital oftener. For the same reason a closer market became desirable to country shippers of all kinds, which caused Kansas City markets to be more liberally patronized. The same causes affected banks, and after the panic a much larger number of banks in the adjacent parts The Banking Interest. 285 of the country, and some in Colorado and Texas, began to keep their deposits here. Hence, the effect of the panic was to cause a development of trade and the markets, and make Kansas City much more of a financial center than she had ever been before." Chatiges and Suspensions. — The "Watkins Bank," as the old bank estab lished by H. M. Northrup & Co., in 1857, had come to be known, was consoli dated with the Bank of Kansas City, December 8, 1877. When Messrs. North rup and Chick had disposed of this bank to Watkins & Co., in 1864, they had gone to New York, where they were banking successfully until 1873, when the effects of the panic induced them to return to Kansas City. Mr. Chick became cashier of the Kansas City National Bank which had been established in 1872, and which was afterward reorganized as a private bank, under the name of the Bank of Kansas City, with Mr. Chick as president. Thus, with the consolida tion of the Watkins Bank with the Bank of Kansas City, he again assumed con trol of the original bank which he had aided to establish twenty years before. The mild, wet winter of 1877 and 1878 retarded the movement of grain .and depressed pork- packing, the live stock market, and nearly every other important interest. Merchants and other customers of the banks could not meet their paper promptly and had not only to ask for extensions but for fur ther accommodations. On the 29th of January, 1878, the First National Bank, which had been a great promoter of the markets and had come to be regarded as the great bank of Kansas City, closed its doors almost without warning, its -commercial deposits at the time amounting to about $800,000; and it was followed a day or two later by the Commercial National Bank, whose commer cial deposits amounted to $76,000, weakened by the same conditions that affected all business and overborne by the drain that usually results to other banks by the suspension of one so prominent as the First National. In a manner the First National Bank had become the clearing house for the banks of the adjacent country, of which it had for some time been the principal depository, and was -to a peculiar extent the financial heart of both country and city. Its loss was therefore a severe blow, not alone because of the large amount of commercial funds locked up thereby, but because of the loss of financial strength and the disturbance of the course of business. The Commercial National was a bank of similar character, but of less magnitude. These events caused a great sensation in the city and surrounding territory, and the blow was an especially severe one to Kansas City. To any other place it must have proved disastrous, and it would have been much more dis astrous to Kansas City at a time when tangible wealth was less abundant with the people ; but situated at the gate to a great and populous country, its mar kets were filled with products which soon drew from the East the currency requisite to move them. Merchants had been unable to dispose of their win ter stocks, and products were still unmarketed, and in addition to being de- 37 History of Kansas City. prived of such assistance as might ordinarily have been expected of the banks,. they had to repay loans already secured, which caused embarrassment, de pressed the markets, depleted the currency and stopped sundry enterprises which had been begun or projected for the coming year. Yet the officers of the suspended banks were the recipients of an almost universal sympathy, far different from the sentiments usually engendered by important bank failures, which found expression in resolutions of confidence and offers of aid from the live-stock commission merchants, the grain merchants, and merchants and business men generally. Mr. Holden, president of the First National Bank, had recently been elected president of the Board of Trade. Actuated by a sense of delicacy, on the day following the suspension he sent in his resigna tion to the board. In reply, a committee duly appointed by the Board of Trade bore to Mr. Holden a note of which the following copy further exhibits the sentiment prevailing in business circles : "Kansas City, Mo., February i, 1878. " H. M. Holden, Esq., President Board of Trade : " Dear Sir : At a meeting of the Board of Trade to-day, your resignation as president was tendered, and the undersigned were appointed a committee to return it to you with renewed assurances of our confidence and respect, and to inform you that it is the united wish of the membership that you reconsider your action and withdraw your resignation, and that you continue in the office to which you were unanimously elected. " We indulge the hope that you will cheerfully comply with this request. " Yours very respectfully, " E. R. Threlkeld, " H. j. Latshaw, (Signed) " C. E. KEARNEY, "J. D. Bancroft, "Web. Withers." The city had scarcely rallied from the effects of the failure of the First National and Commercial National Banks when, on the 3d of August, the Mastin Bank closed its doors, with deposits amounting to about $1,300,000,. of which sum about $800,000 belonged to the commerce of the country, the balance being commercial deposits. The Mastin Bank had ranked for years next to the First National Bank, and when the latter had failed in January had at once taken a leading position, and in a great measure occupied a field formeriy occupied by both, though other banks, notably the Kansas City and Kansas City Savings Association, had been brought into greater prominence by that event and after the failure of the Mastin Bank these became the two leading banks. For a time there was considerable embarrassment in business circles for the lack of currency, but the situation of the market remaining about the same as in The Banking Interest. 287 January the property on hand and that arriving commanded the currency from abroad, and business went forward with but slight disturbance. That Kansas City could sustain two such financial shocks in a single year and with no other effect than a temporary inconvenience in making exchanges is a prouder commentary on her business and commercial strength than words can express. The loss of banking capital and banking facilities occasioned by the suspension of these banks was partly overcome at the time by the enlargement of existing banks, notably the Kansas City Bank and the Kansas City Savings Association, and partly by the estabHshment of Armour & Co.'s Bank, Sep tember 16. This institution opened in the Board of Trade building, in the room formerly occupied by the Mastin Bank, with a capital of $250,000, with A. W. Armour as president and C. H. Prescott as cashier, and at once took a prominent position. The failure of the Mastin Bank has been attributed to unwise investments in mines and extensive advances to the Water Works Company. Early in 188 1 the bank of Whipple, Cowherd & Co. was opened. It was successfully and creditably managed until its reorganization as the Citizens' National Bank. In September the Bank of Missouri was removed to Kansas City from Arrow Rock, Mo., where it had been established in 1865. It went into liquidation August 19, 1882, and its stockholders and depositors were paid. The capital of this concern was $100,000, all paid in. William B. Sap- pington was its president until succeeded by Richard Gentry. H. S. Mills was its cashier. During 1881 the Missouri Valley Bank, a smaH concern of less than $20,000 capital and Httle business, went into liquidation. Its sus pension affected but few people and the city not at aH. Two prominent banks added $650,000 to their capital during the year Two new banks were estab lished in 1884, the Union Avenue Bank of the stock yards and the Grand Avenue Bank in the southern part of the city. National Bank of Kansas City. — Through its presidents this institution traces its history direct from the pioneer banking house of Kansas City, that of Northrup & Chick, established in 1857. The Bank of Kansas City was incor porated in 1875 and Mr J. S. Chick, one ofits most active promoters, became its president. The career of this bank is an epitome of the growth of Kansas City. In January, 1 881, it had a capital of $200,000, and in the following May it was found necessary to increase this to $300,000, and in December of the same year active employment was found for double that amount, and the capital was increased to $600,000. In the early months of 1886 the increased aggregate amount of business transacted in the city demanded a stiH further increase of the capital of this bank to $1,000,000 and on the 23d of March the stockhold ers voted to enter the national system. The bank was accordingly reorganized, received its authorization from the History of Kansas City. banking department at Washington, and became the National Bank of Kansas City. Mr. J. S. Chick, the president, is probably one of the best known and most highly esteemed bankers of the West His record in New York, where he was at one time engaged in business, and in the West, where he has spent the best j'ears of his indefatigable energy and sterling commercial integrity. The policy of the bank under his guidance has been directed solely to the trans action of a legitimate banking business, the faithful maintenance of which re sulted most happily, when, during the panic of 1873, the strength of the bank was severely tested and its prudent and conservative management triumphantly vindicated. The repeated increase in capital fairly indicates the progressive and enterprising character of the management, which has at all times kept pace with the ever increasing demands of what is probably the most thriving and rapidly growing city in the country, and this institution has ever been an active factor in promoting the development of the city itself and its most prominent business interests. The operations of the bank to-day are conducted on a thoroughly metro politan scale, its transactions amounting to more than $1,500,000 daily. It has more than three hundred correspondents among the country banks and bankers of the West and Southwest and enjoys special facilities for making col lections in Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Texas, Colorado and New Mexico.. Fully realizing the necessities of a growing community, the bank extends tO' its customers the most liberal accommodations that are consistent with sound judgment and safe banking principles. Its facilities for transactions which en tail foreign or eastern exchange are of the most perfect description, as it draws its own exchange direct on London and aH the more important continental cities and financial centers of Europe. Its New York correspondents are the First National Bank of New York and the National Bank of Commerce. The officers of the bank are J. S. Chick, president ; W. H. Chick, vice-president ;. W. J. Anderson, cashier ; F. N. Chick, assistant cashier The board of direct ors, which consists of some of the most prominent capitalists of the city, is con stituted as foHows : J. W. L. Slavens, J. S. Chick, L. R. Moore, W. H. Chick, H. C. Harper, B. Donnelly, J. W. Byers, W. J. Anderson, J. C. James, F. N. Chick, William Ryley, R. H. Keith, Adam Long, T. F. Willis, Clem. Stude baker. National Bank of Commerce. — The Kansas City Savings Association was organized in March, 1865, with a capital stock of $10,000. Mr C. J. White was cashier and general manager In 1875 the capital was increased to $50,- 000 and Mr. L. F. WHson became connected with the institution as vice-presi dent In the spring of 188 1 Mr W. S. Woods was elected president This gentieman was then and for a year afterwards a member of the firm of Grimes, Woods, La Force & Co., wholesale dealers in dry goods. On his retirement '/T/^Cr The Banking Interest. 289. from the dry goods trade in the spring of 1882 he became an active manager of the bank. In July that year the capital of the Kansas City Savings Asso ciation was increased to $200,000 and its name was changed to the Bank of Commerce. Messrs W. S. Woods, L. F. Wilson and C. White were respect ively re-elected president, vice-president and cashier, and Mr Henry Schwitz- gebel, who had been paying teller, was elected assistant cashier. The policy of the Bank of Commerce has always been a conservative one. It keeps its business at all times within its control and its resources available for any emergency that may arise. It has withstood the storms of severe cri ses and panics, never closing its doors and always coming forth with its honor untarnished and its reputation unsullied. During its entire history it has had the same cashier. Mr. Woods, the president, has had a banking experience of twenty- five years, having managed successfully a stock bank in Central Mis souri for twenty years before he came to Kansas City. Mr. Wilson's experi ence is large also, he having managed a national bank in Flora, III., for many years prior to taking up his residence in Kansas City. Two years after the reorganization of the bank its growing business de manded additional facilities and accommodations and the bankhad specially built for its own occupation a structure which is probably the most unique in the country in both design and construction. Before adopting any plans for its construction the officers of the bank, accompanied by their architect, visited every important city in the Union and minutely inspected many bank build ings with a view to obtaining the most perfect design for a banking establish ment The building was occupied by the bank in April, 1885. Armour Brothers Banking Company was organized in 1878, and its bank was opened for business in September of that year. Its incorporators were A. W. Armour, S. B. Armour, K. B. Armour and C.W. Armour of Kansas City;; P. D. Armour and J. F. Armour of Chicago; H. O. Armour, of New York, and John Plankinton, of Milwaukee, Wis. Its original officers were A. W. Armour, president; S. B. Armour, vice-president; C. H. Prescott, cashier, and W. H. Winants, assistant cashier. In 1880 Mr. Prescott resigned, and Mr. Winants became cashier, and L. E. Prindle assistant cashier. Mr. J. F. Armour died and P. D. Armour, jr., became a stockholder. The present directors are A. W. Ar mour K. B. Armour and S. B. Armour. The bank has a capital of $250,000^ and a surplus of $500,000. The policy of its management has always been of the most conservative character, confining its operations to a purely commer cial business. Merchants' National Bank. — The Merchants' National Bank of Kansas Citv was organized November 11, 1879, and began business in the following December Its stockholders number about two hundred, including prominent Kansas City capitalists, and others whose names are familiar in financial circles as representing the great moneyed interests of New York and New England. 290 History of Kansas City. The bank began its career with a capital of $250,000, which in July, 1881, was doubled, making its present paid up capital $500,000, in addition to which it has earned a surplus of $60,000. This institution is the oldest national bank in the city, and does a very large and conservative business. The New York Life Insurance Company is erecting a large and elegant building at the corner of Ninth and Wall streets, in which the Merchants' National Bank is to have commodious and convenient offices. Banking in all its branches is embraced in the business of this institution, and its depositors are among the leading business men of Kansas City and vi cinity. The president, Mr. W. B. Clarke, has been engaged in banking in Kan sas City, and at Junction City, Kan., where he owns the First National Bank, for nearly twenty years, and he also conducts his Kansas Bond Bureau for in vestments, an enterprise in which he has been eminently successful. This bank, under his immediate care, is regarded with the greatest confidence. The di rectors are W. B. Clarke, John Long, W. A. M. Vaughn, C. S. Wheeler, John C. Gage, J. M. Coburn, A. A. Tomlinson, Walton H. Holmes, and O. P. Dick inson, cashier, who has held the position the past five years. Citizens' National Bajzk. — This bank, incorporated in 1882, has a fully paid up capital of $200,000, and a surplus of $100,000 which has accumulated from its earnings after a dividend of five per cent, semi-annually has been paid its stockholders. Since its organization its line of individual deposits has averaged over $2,000,000, which affords a clear illustration of the high esteem in which it is held by merchants and the general business public. The business of this bank has kept pace with the increased commercial prosperity and enterprises of the city, having nearly doubled during one year. Its strong cash reserve, sight exchange, and United States bonds indicate its conservative management and demonstrate how justly it is entitled to pubHc confidence. It is a designated depository of the United States and handles all the government funds collected and disbursed in Kansas City. It has corres pondents in all the principal cities who facilitate its large collection business, and it draws its own exchange upon all the chief cities of Europe, and through the American Exchange in Europe, issues letters of credit good in almost any part of the world. The policy of the Citizens' National Bank has always been very conserva tive, and it has done a purely commercial business, declining to lend its aid to any scheme, however flattering its prospects, seeking alone the best interests of the commercial community of Kansas City and its tributary territory, and for these reasons its success has been sustained, and the satisfaction of stockholders and depositors secured Its officers are closely identified with Kansas City's commercial advancement Mr J. J. Squier, its president and one of its origi nal organizers, is a well known capitalist whose transactions in live stock and real estate in the Kansas City markets have been very large. Mr Phil. E. Chap- The Banking Interest. 291 pel, its vice-president, is an ex-treasurer of the State of Missouri. Its second vice-president is Mr. R. W. Hocker Mr. W. H. Seeger, its cashier, has been a resident of Kansas City for nearly thirty years, and has had a banking experi ence here of fifteen years, and is well acquainted with the resources and needs of the city; he was one of the most active projectors of this institution. The fol lowing are the names of the directors, all of whom rank among the most influ ential capitalists and merchants of the city : S. McWilliams, Phil. E. Chappel, James B. Bell, Milton Welch, Thomas K. Hanna, W. H. Seeger, Frank J. Baird, John Conover, Charles B. Leach, R. W. Hocker, J. J. Squier, M. W. St Clair and George P. Olmstead. H. S. Mills & Son. — The house of H. S. Mills & Son, bankers, began bus iness in Kansas City, January i, 1883. The junior partner, Mr. E. Scott Mills, who had an exceptionally thorough training in mercantile and banking pur suits, died April 6, 1886, at the age of twenty-five years. The style and title of the bank have remained unchanged. This bank transacts a general banking business and buys and seHs bills of exchange on all foreign countries, as well as United States government bonds, and pays interest on all time deposits. Among its correspondents are the Hanover National Bank, New York, and the Boatmen's Savings Bank, of St. Louis. Kansas City Safe Deposit and Savings Bank. — This institution was organ ized AprH 15, 1883, with H. P. ChurchiH as president; W. P. Moores as vice-president, and H. P. Stimson as cashier. Its first board of directors was constituted as foHows : F. W. Schulte, H. P. Stimson, H. P. Churchill, W. P. Moores, William Bales, W. W. Kendall, H. E. Marshall. The original capital was $50,000. This bank has grown to be one of the representative institutions of Kansas City's financial circles, and in its particular line of business stands without a rival. It confines its banking business solely to the receipt and care of savings deposits, doing no commercial business whatever It also has large safe-de posit vaults for the custody of valuables. It is the pioneer safe-deposit com pany of the West, and its savings bank and safe-deposit business is far larger than that of all the other similar establishments of the city combined. Since its establishment it has opened more than 3,000 accounts yearly, and it now has over 13,000 accounts on its books, and has $900,000 on deposit, upon which it has paid depositors over $60,000 interest. In seeking investment for its funds, the bank displays the utmost care. No commercial paper is bought, no matter how good the names it may bear unless i^s payment is absolutely secured by real estate or equally good security. No Speculative element is permitted to enter into any feature of the business, and in all cases where money is paid out the security must be of actual and indis putable nature. Its managers believe that the savings entrusted to them should not be subjected to any commercial risks, and that their safe investment 292 History of Kansas City. should receive their exclusive care and attention. An important feature of their business is the investment of trust funds and assuming the functions of trustee for estates and individuals. They also invest money in real estate for non-residents, either by purchase or in first mortages on improved property. The capital of this bank was increased from $50,000 to $100,000 in 1886, and to $200,000 in January, 1888. The present officers are H. P. ChurchiH, president; W. S. Moores, vice-president; E. C. Sattiey, cashier August i, 1888, the Kansas City Safe Deposit and Savings Bank will occupy the first floor of the new American Bank building. Kansas City Savings Bank. — The Kansas City Savings Bank was incorpo rated in 1883 for the purpose of doing a general banking and savings bank business. Its capital is $50,000, and its surplus $8,500. In its commercial or general banking department it handles coHections for eastern correspondents and has an extensive business in eastern and foreign exchange. In its savings department it pays interest on time deposits and issues interest-bearing certifi cates for the same, affording the industrial classes an opportunity for the safe keeping of their savings, while the amount is being constantly increased by accruing interest. Its officers are J. Feld, president ; J. N. Allen, vice-presi dent ; T. W. Mather, cashier. Abraham Mann, long cashier, resigned Decem ber I, 1887. The directors are J. Feld, J. N. AHen, D. R. Porter, H. H. Craig, V. W. Mather Dr. Feld, the president and most active promoter of the bank, has been a resident and medical practitioner in Kansas City for the past twenty years, and is a large real estate owner. Mr. Mather, also a physi cian, is recently from the South. The Union National Bank. — This bank is the successor of the Travelers' Bank which was incorporated in 1883, and had a capital of $600,000, with James T. Thornton as president, Seth Mabry as vice-president, M. W. St. Clair as cashier, and W. R. Thornton as assistant cashier, and James T. Thorn ton, George Sheidley, Seth Mabry, C. C. Quinlan, Nathan J. Hale, W. R. Thornton, W. H. Lucas, A. J. Snider, William J. Smith and M. W. St Clair as directors: There can be no doubt the change of management and the incorporation of this bank with the national bank system have strengthened it and brought it added public confidence. The change was made March i, 1887, upon which date the Union National Bank opened its doors to the public, with a capital of $600,000. December 7, 1887, it had a surplus and undivided profits to the amount of nearly $30,000 and deposits aggregating nearly $850,000. The official list of the Union National Bank is as foHows : David T. Beals president; Charles H. V. Lewis, cashier, and H. J. Rosencrans, assistant cashier The directors are David T. Beals, George R. Barse, W. R. Thornton, Joseph A. Suydam, William E. Thorne, Felix L. La Force, Henry J. Rosencrans, C. C. Quinlan, George Sheidley, Charles L. Dobson, James T. Thornton, Charles W. Whitehead and George D. Ford. The Banking Interest. 293 The Stock Yards Bank was organized about four years ago, and has a cap ital of $200,000. The following corporations are stockholders in and virtuaHy owners of this institution: The National Bank of Kansas City, Armour Brothers' Banking Company, the National Bank of Commerce, the Citizens' National Bank, and the Kansas City Stock Yard Company. Its officers are C. F. Morse, president ; J. S. Chick, vice-president, and Peter Connelly, cashier The Bank of Grand Avenue was established August 25, 1884, and is re garded as one of the safest financial institutions of the city. It has a capital of $50,000 and a surplus of $17,000. Its list of depositors includes many of the most prominent business men and firms of Kansas City. Exchange of any desired amount is effected at this bank, collections are made promptly. United States bonds and other securities are bought and sold, and in all the details of its transactions with customers the bank is liberal and obliging. The officers are L. A. Lambert, president ; H. Stubenrauch, vice-president, and Henry C. Lambert, cashier. The bank has correspondents in New York, Boston, St. Louis, and other important commercial centers. The Home Savings Bank began business February i, 1886, with a capital of $50,000. It now has a surplus of $15,000 and its early increase of capital to $100,000 is contemplated. It is a private bank, doing essentially a savings bank business, paying the highest current rates of interest on deposits, and in addition it does a general banking business. Mr. John Reid, the president, occupied a like position with the Farmers' State Bank of Augusta, Kansas, in which city he was for fifteen years engaged in law practice and the loan and banking business ; and Mr. T. F Emerson, the cashier, was for several years associated with him at Augusta. Norton Brothers, Bankers, are the owners of a private bank which was opened AprH i, 1887. These gentlemen — J. W., G. E., C. W. and W. F. Nor ton are favorably known in financial circles, and the bank is meeting with suc cess under the direct supervision of W. F. Norton, cashier. First National Bank. — The present First National Bank was incorporated March i, 1886, and opened for business with James Lombard as president, Witten McDonald as vice-president, and C. H. V. Lewis as cashier The only official change has been by the election of E. F. Swinney to succeed C. H. V. Lewis as cashier January 14, 1887. The directors are J. L. Abernathy J. F. Richards, R. L. Yeager, James A. Blair, E. D. Fisher, Witten McDonald, George H. Nettleton, James L. Lombard, George W. McCrary, B. Lombard, jr., J. S. Loose and E. F. Swinney. The capital of this institution is $250,000. It has passed over its earnings to the surplus fund, which is now $60,000, its policy being not to declare a dividend until its surplus equals its capital. It has an average deposit of $1,- 250,000 to $1,500,000. This bank succeeded to the business of the well established banking firm of Lombard Brothers, these gentlemen taking an 38 294 History of Kansas City. active interest in its organization and one of them becoming its president. The extended monetary operations of the Messrs. Lombard through the num erous banks in the States of Missouri, Illinois, Kansas and Nebraska, in which they are large stockholders, and the Lombard Investment Company, com bined with the financial solidity and strong local membership of the director ate secure to this bank the utmost confidence of Kansas City's commercial and manufacturing circles. The business of this institution is that of regular commercial banking, the sale of bills of exchange on the principal European cities, dealing in foreign ex change, handling approved commercial paper and making collections through out the United States and Canada. Through its close European connections it is enabled to furnish banks and bankers with blanks on which they can draw their own drafts on forty of the principal cities in England, Scotland, Ireland and the continent, and it has been designated by the government as a depos itory of the funds of the United States. Among its eastern and foreign cor respondents are the National Bank of America, Chicago ; the National Bank of the Republic, New York; the First National Bank of Boston, Mass.; the Merchants' Bank, St Louis, Mo.; Martin & Co., London, England; British Linen Company Bank, Edinburgh, Scotland; and the National Bank (Hmited), Dublin, Ireland. The policy of the management is guided by sound conserv ative banking experience. American National Bank. — This is one of the youngest, but by no means the least important of Kansas City's monetary institutions. It has a capital of $1,250,000, a surplus of $50,000, and undivided profits amounting to $73,000, and is efficiently officered as follows : President, H. P. Stimson ; vice-president, E. E. Parker; second vice-president, H. P. Churchill; cashier, D. V. Rieger; assistant cashier, M. C. Curtis ; directors, T. B. BuHene, H. P. Churchill, W. B. Grimes, H. P. Stimson, W. P. Moores, E. E. Parker, A. Drumm, M. C. Curtis, J. I. Reynolds, W. P. Rice, C. A. Brocket and D. V. Rieger The active organizers of this bank were Messrs W. B. Grimes, H. P. Churchill, and H. P. Stimson, of Kansas City; W. P. Rice, of Clyde, Kan., and E. E. Parker, of Cawker City, Kan. These gentlemen, originally from the East, have for years been intimately identified with the financial affairs of the West, and they have founded and built up several of the most flourishing banks in Kansas and are associated with a large number of banks and other financial institutions in the territory tributary to Kansas City. This extensive western connection has proved an important factor in placing the new bank in a position to secure a vast amount of western business, greatly increases its Hne of deposits from country banks and enables it to afford unsurpassed facih ties for makinj^ collections throughout the entire West The directors of this bank are some of the most prominent and representa tive business men of Kansas City, who command the entire confidence of the public. The Banking Interest. 295 Its promoters have equally strong connections in eastern monetary circles, as was clearly shown by the fact that, in response to notification of the opening of the books of the bank for subscriptions to its capital stock, the stock was so eagerly sought that applications were received for allotment of shares amount ing to three times the sum required for the entire capital of the institution. While a large amount of stock is held in Kansas City, the greater portion is divided among representatives of influential banking and other financial insti tutions of New York and New England (notably the latter), who command unlimited capital. The American National Bank began business in elegant offices in the Alamo building, August 9, 1886. August i, 1888, it wiH remove to the new American Bank building, now nearly completed. This building is lOO by lOO feet in size and eight stories high, exclusive of the basement. The first story is of red sandstone, and the remainder of the fronts are executed in St Louis pressed brick and carved red terra cotta. The interior appointments are first class in every respect, halls, corridors, and entrances being paved and wains coted in white marble. On the first floor will be located the Kansas City Safe Deposit and Savings Bank, and on the second of the principal banking floors will be the offices of the American National Bank and of the Union Invest ment Company. The Central Bank. — This bank was organized January 14, 1887, with a capital of $50,000. On September i, foHowing, the capital was increased to $100,000, fully paid up, and at the same time a dividend of seven per cent. was declared. At that time the bank had deposits to the sum of $135,000. The officers are J. W. Trueworthy, president ; Thomas S. Ridge, vice-presi dent, and J. M. Hamilton, cashier They, with P. C. Hall, P. C. Cowling, J. T. Snediker, Thomas A. Scott C. T. CoHins, Robert Hamilton, and Theo dore Stegner, are the directors. The Security Savings Bank was organized January 17, 1887, with a capital of $50,000, and now has a surplus of $2,000. It does a general banking bus iness, and in the savings department pays four per cent interest on deposits of $1 and upward. Its officers are George W. Sedgwick, president; Willard P. Holmes, cashier, and Alonzo C. Buckner, assistant cashier. Its directors are J. W. Cravens, John Conover, J. A. Gallagher, George W. Sedgwick, W. W. McFariand, Willard P. Holmes, and Alonzo C. Buckner The German American National Bank. — This institution is the latest or ganized of the banks of Kansas City, having opened for business September, 26, 1887. It is the successor of the German American Bank which was organ ized under the State law. The organizers are some of the wealthiest and most progressive men of Kansas City. Its directors are J. K. Burnham, J. W. Swain, C. G. Perrin, M. B. Wright A. H. Caryl, A. G. Trumbull, W. C. Glass, C. L. Barton, B. M. Tanner, W. A. Bunker, W. F. Wyman, and H. C. 296 History of Kansas City. Jay. The officers are J. C. Burnham, president; J. W. Swain, vice-president; W. F. Wyman, cashier, and H. C. Joy, assistant cashier. This bank has elegant quarters in the New England building. The Continental National Bank, with a capital of $500,000, is being or ganized by prominent Kansas City capitalists, and will be opened, it is said, in the summer of li CHAPTER XIII. BARGE navigation AND RIVER IMPROVEMENT. First Discussion of Barge Navigation — The Board of Trade Takes Up the Subject — The Project Favored by Colonel Chanute and Captain Eads — Attitude of the Press of Kan sas City and St. Louis — Efforts and Failures — The Movement Crushed by the Panic of 1873 — Revived Four Years Later — Barge Transportation Tried and Found Feasible — Mis fortunes and Antagonistic Influences — Improvement of the River — Appropriations of Con gress in 1879 and 1882 — The River Convention of 1880 — 111 Advised Expenditures and Consequent Disappointments — Other Navigation Movements. THE history of the persistent and long continued attempts of leading citi zens and capitalists of Kansas City to secure to the town the benefits of barge navigation is interesting, not alone on account of its importance, but as illustrating the patient perseverance which characterizes many of the efforts which have been put forth for the enhancement of local commercial interests. The idea originated with Hon. W. H. MiHer, who first gave it pubhcity in an article which appeared editorially in the Journal K^xW 23, 1872, at which time Mr Miller was commercial editor and writer for that paper In this arti cle it was urged that quick transit by rail, and the difficulty and uncertainty of navigating the river during the latter part of the summer, had rendered steam- boating unprofitable ; that Kansas City was compeHed to receive and ship its freight by the various railroads, and that, although it was favorably situated in that respect, it could not offer the inducements necessary for the shipment of the products of the surrounding country, nor to merchants of neighboring towns to supply themselves in Kansas City with what they wanted for their cus tomers ; that local advantages in freights East were not sufficient to render it entirely impossible to load grain on the cars in Kansas, Nebraska, Western Mis souri, and Western Iowa, for the markets to which grain from Kansas City was shipped, and in consequence, the smaller places in the district named, having access to Kansas City railroads, became collecting centers for the grain around them, and shipped it direct to Eastern markets ; and that a barge line would ^i9'i"iE,aimM.ms nmosx. (l/f^ fer^— M^...^ Barge Navigation and River Improvement. 297 remove these conditions, and for obvious reasons secure to Kansas City benefits such as could not accrue from any other enterprise. This article excited deep interest among the merchants, and was followed by others presenting more in detail the benefits it was proposed thus to secure. The Board of Trade took up the subject and referred it to a standing commit tee on internal improvements consisting of Colonel James E. Marsh, Junius Chaff"ee, J. A. Dewar, General W. H. Powell and E. R. Threlkeld. April 29th this committee addressed letters to Colonel Octave Chanute, then superintendent of the Leavenworth, Lawrence and Galveston Railroad, and Captain James B. Eads, long foremost in engineering enterprises in the West, Southwest and South, both of whom strongly favored the proposed measure, concurring in an opinion as to its feasibility and advantages. With the beginning of 1873 there was a more determined effort made to secure barge navigation, and it was proposed to put the matter to a practical test. The Board of Trade appointed a committee to ascertain if barges could be secured, and, if so, what guarantee would be required. Correspondence'with the Mississippi Valley Transportation Company of St. Louis, then the only users of barges on the Western rivers, elicited little satisfaction, but a subscrip tion guarantee of $5,000 was provided for About this time St Louis parties were arranging for a convention of west ern congressmen, to be held in that city May 13th, to awaken a more general interest among them in the improvement of western rivers. Kansas City was invited to send delegates, and the Board of Trade appointed Colonel R. T. Van Horn, Colonel James E. Marsh and Hon. H. J. Latshaw to attend. Colonel Van Horn could not serve, and W. H. Miller, the commercial editor of the Jour nal (pi w^xicb paper Colonel Van Horn was editor), was appointed in his stead. During his three days' stay in St. Louis Mr. MHler wrote and secured the pub lication in the St Louis Globe of three editorial articles on barge navigation and transportation on the Missouri from a St Louis point of view, favoring it as a St Louis enterprise. Other St. Louis papers which had a year before ridi culed the idea, now commended it and the Kansas City press, which (the Jour nal excepted) had opposed the enterprise, now feH into line and urged the move ment already on foot to secure a practical test. The Board of Trade committee was soon afterward enabled to make a con tract with the Mississippi Valley Transportation Company to make a trial trip ¦on a guaranty of $2,700. It was proposed to load the barges with grain. The season of the year was unfavorable, and grain was so scarce that it was only with considerable difficulty that a cargo was secured ; and no sooner had this object been attained than it was found impossible to secure proper insurance of the grain, and its owners refusing to assume the risk themselves, the project was necessarily abandoned. After this failure came the panic of 1873, which crippled enterprise for some 298 History of Kansas City. years, and it was not until 1877 that another important movement to secure barge transportation was made. On March loth of that year, at a meeting of grain merchants, the subject was referred to a committee consisting of Messrs. M. Diveley, H. J. Latshaw, E. R. Threlkeld, T. J. Lynde, W. A. M. Vaughan, C. E. Kearney and A. J. Gillespie, who conferred with the Great Central Dispatch Company, which proposed to put barges on the river. But nothing came of this effort. On the evening of January 17, 1878, a meeting was held at the Coates House, at which H. J. Latshaw, C. H. Prescott T. J. Lynde, R. W. Quade and F. J. Baird were appointed a committee to further the barge navigation project, for the grain business had now attained such proportions that the absolute ne cessity of this facility was quite generally admitted. This committee reported at another meeting held two days later, recommending the organization of a Kansas City company, with a capital of $50,000 to own and operate barges. This proposition was so favorably received that $4,500 was subscribed then and there. Resolutions were adopted asking Congress for appropriations to re move snags and other obstructions from the river channel, and a committee of twenty was appointed to place the stock of the company. This committee met at the Coates House on the 20th and perfected plans, and on the 23d a large public meeting was held at the Board of Trade rooms, which was addressed by Colonel Kersey Coates, Hon. H. M. Holden, Hon. Stephen A. Cobb, James M. Nave, H. J. Latshaw, Captain A. J. Baker, T. K. Hanna, John Freeland and Captain McClelland. The coTimittee of twenty had placed about 20,000 shares of the stock and secured promises to take about 10,000 additional shares, when the bank suspensions of 1878 occurred, after which further progress was impossible. But it seeming probable that the bal ance of the stock could be placed .during the spring, at a meeting held on the 1 2th of February the subscribers decided to proceed with the organization of the company and H. J. Latshaw and T. J. Lynde were appointed to prepare the necessary papers. At a meeting held February 14th, the company elected the following directors for the first year : Kersey Coates, B. A. Sheidley, T. B. BuHene, T J. Lynde, H. J. Latshaw, John Freeland, J. M. Nave, H. M. Hol den, Thomas Corrigan, S. B. Armour, C. H. Prescott, D. B. Powers and John J. Martin. Finding it impossible in the existing state of financial affairs to place the remainder of its stock, the company never filed its papers but it partly accom plished its objects in another way. March 20th, Messrs. Coates, Latshaw and Freeland went to St Louis to learn if barges could be obtained. They could buy none, but they came in contact with the Babbage and Mississippi Val ley Transportation companies, both of which became so interested in the pro ject that they sent fieets of barges to Kansas that year. The first of these fleets to arrive was that of the Mississippi Valley Transportation Company, consist- Barge Navigation and River Improvement. 299 ing of the steamer Grand Lake, and three barges. It left Kansas City for St. Louis July 5th, takingout 83,540 bushels of corn, and though hampered by some inconveniences, made the trip in safety. The next fleet was the first of the Babbage Transportation Company, consisting of the steamer A. J. Baker and three barges, which made three trips during the season, leaving Kansas City July 27th, carrying 62,038 bushels of corn; August I2th, carrying 50,938 bush els of corn, and August 31st carrying 44,198 bushels of wheat, aH three trips proving highly successful. The cost of the freight to the shipper by these bar ges was five and one-half cents per bushel, including insurance, the railroad rates being about eight cents per bushel on corn and thirteen on wheat It cost the barge companies about two and one-half cents per bushel to carry the grain to St. Louis, and it was estimated that grain could thus be carried from Kansas City to New Orleans at a cost to shippers of seven cents per hundred weight and afford a fair profit to the carriers, which facts and deductions were accepted as proof of the availability of barge transportation on the Missouri. One of the first acts of the Committee of Commerce of the Board of Trade in 1879, was to memorialize Congress on the improvement of the Missouri River In May a party of United States engineers, under J. W. Nier, arrived in Kansas City and began work on the improvement of the river a few miles north of the city, an appropriation of $30,000 having been secured for that pur pose, but the navigation of the Missouri by barges, which had been so success fully begun in the preceeding year, was abandoned because of the railroad war, which temporarily reduced railway freight transportation to a cost less than even barges could afford. Before this occurred, however, the Star Packet Line had made arrangements to run one barge with each packet and other parties had caused a tug and tow to be built especially for the Missouri River trade. Near the close of the year 1880 a barge line company was organized in Kansas City with a capital of $100,000, and one boat and four barges were pur chased for the Missouri River traffic of the ensuing year, but owing to causes purely commercial the barge fleet was not put in operation on the Missouri, but it was employed on the Mississippi and held in readiness for transfer to the Missouri whenever its use should be demanded. Growing out of this re vival of the movement for barge navigation was an interest in the subject which influenced the Board of Trade to invite the people of Missouri, Kansas, Ne braska and Iowa to meet in their hall in September, 1880, to discuss the im provement of the river by congressional appropriation. The attendance was large and the proceedings were harmonious and satisfactory. In October, 1881, a general River Improvement Convention was held in St Louis, which was participated in by Kansas City and the whole Missouri Val ley, and in November another convention specially in the interest of the im provements of the Missouri River, was held at St. Joseph, which was largely attended and very enthusiastic. In pursuance of the vote of this convention 300 History of Kansas City. Hon. E. H. AHen and Hon. W. H. Miller were sent as a delegation to Wash ington to present the subject and urge upon Congress a large appropriation in bulk for that part of the river between Sioux City and St. Louis. To this end Mr. Miller prepared an elaborate memorial and Mr Allen made the principal argument before the committees. The result of this effort was the adoption by Congress of the policy urged and the voting of an appropriation of $850,- 000 for the part of the river specified. In the early part of the year 1882 the hitherto disjointed and independent efforts of different localities for river improvement became united in one gen eral movement, and a committee was appointed by the co-operation of the dif ferent commercial exchanges in the Mississippi Valley known as " the Execu tive Committee on the Improvement of Western Waterways," under the aus pices of which all subsequent efforts have been made. Mr. Miller and Mr. Allen, who had rendered such signal service at Washington iij the beginning of the year, became members of this committee and still remain so. In all its movements Mr. Miller has taken a prominent part and has rendered much sat isfactory service at Washington and elsewhere. In 1882, the barge company having met with misfortune in the operation of its barges on other rivers and in the death of Captain Poe, upon whom much dependence was placed, resolved to sell its barges and withdraw from the busi ness. It was believed by those interested in the movement for river improvement that later appropriations would be secured if the people were vigilant, and the desired improvement ultimately secured and barge transportation on an exten sive scale be an assured fact but substantiaHy nothing was done to this end during 1883. Ahhough a large appropriation had been secured from the last Congress for this purpose, given in bulk for that section of the river between St. Louis and Sioux City, in place of all local appropriations which it had been the previous practice of Congress to grant there was done scarcely enough work on the river to maintain improvements previously made upon local ap propriations, a condition of things due chiefly to the fact that the engineer in charge regarded the appropriation made as a committal of the government to the policy he had recommended in making large general appropriations and confidently expecting like future appropriations and not having the machinery and appliances on hand to make an economical use of so considerable a sum, he expended the bulk of it in procuring the requisite plant upon which to carry forward improvements rapidly and economically under the expected future appropriations. He and the public were disappointed, however, by the failure of Congress at its next session to make any appropriation whatever, hence he had no funds in hand for the actual improvement of the river. At this time public interest in river improvement was stronger than ever before and it was hoped that the next and future Congresses would take liberal Churches. 301 action toward insuring the desired result An appropriation secured in 1884 was disbursed in the improvement of Kaw Bend ; another, granted in 1886, was expended on Quindar's Bend. There have been no appropriations since and beyond local work nothing has been done toward the improvement of the river. The condition of the Missouri is so unfavorable to barge navigation that it is estimated that $10,000,000 will be required to pay for sufficient work to make it practicable between St. Louis and Sioux City, but continuous and well directed effort will surely yet accomplish this object so long desired and earn estly striven for. In January, 1888, Messrs. T. B. BuHene and Thos. S. Case were sent to Washington city as delegates to the Western Waterways Convention, and to urge upon the House Committee on Rivers and Harbors an appropriation suf ficient to place the Mississippi river in a permanently navigable condition. They performed these duties faithfully and satisfactorily to the people of Kan sas City, and it is believed that before the close of the present session of Con gress a suitable bill will be passed providing for this great and essential im provement. CHAPTER XIV. churches. Catholic Churches — Father Roux — Father Donnelly — Purchase of ground for Catholic Church in 1835 — Other Catholic Churches — Methodist Churches — Baptist Churches — Episco pal Churches — Presbyterian Churches — Christian Churches — Congregational Churches, Etc., Etc. IN 1825, when all this section of country was still in the possession of the In dians, composed of Wyandottes and other tribes, Jesuit fathers from St. Louis, pursuing the customs, and following out the Christianizing and aggress ive spirit of the order, organized a mission near the mouth of the Kansas River. At that time but few white men had ever penetrated this wilderness. They built a small log house near the foot of Troost avenue just below the Bluffs, in which they worshiped for several years. Father Roux came in 1830. He had charge of the congregation, and in 1835 purchased of a Canadian-French man, named Pierre la Liberte, a tract of land of forty acres upon the hill ad joining the present site of the Catholic Cathedral and the bishop's residence. In 1839 Father Roux sold to the church ten acres of this tract located between Eleventh and Twelfth streets, and extending from Broadway west to the Bluff". A part of this tract was cleared of the heavy timber which then grew upon it, and a log church erected thereon. It was built on the west side of Penn street 39 302 History of Kansas City. between Eleventh and Twelfth streets. It was about 20 by 30 feet in dimen sions, and to erect it the congregation raised about $300, which was mostly subscribed by Francis Chouteau, father of Captain P. M. Chouteau, late of this city. The $300 was given to James H. McGee, father and grandfather of the McGees of the present day in Kansas City, and he erected the building de scribed, together with a log parsonage about 16 by 20 feet. Father Benedict Roux remained several years, and his congregation wor shiped in the little log house on the hill for nearly twenty years. This congre gation, composed mostly of French-Canadians and Half-Breeds, was scattered over a territory twenty miles square and at that time little dreamed of the tide of civilization that was in a few years to set in and crowd out of existence their primitive and romantic customs. The church records antedating 1834, were kept in the Jesuit Mission on the lowlands, near the foot of Troost street, and were swept away in the great flood of 1844. The earliest record now extant is of a baptism performed by Father Verrey, in February, 1834. But beyond all doubt the two churches thus briefly sketched were the first established by any denomination in Kansas City. A portion of the old log house at the cor ner of Eleventh and Penn streets was still standing in 1882, but the rapid march of improvements has obliterated all traces of this primitive church edifice, and its site is covered with handsome and costly modern residences. Father Bernard Donnelly, the first duly appointed stationary pastor of Western Missouri, came in the summer of 1845 to take charge of the Missions at Independence and Kansas City, the latter then called Westport Landing. All Western Missouri south of the river of the same name, east as far as Osage Mission, and south to the Arkansas line was his mission. To-day fully one hundred priests are laboring in this vast field. He resided at Independence untH 1855, when he removed to Kansas City. Previous to that time he held services in the Church of the Holy Cross at Independence, three Sundays in each month, and on the remaining Sunday officiated in the church at Kansas City. The discernible growth in Kansas City justifying the erection of a large and substantial church, he accordingly built in 1856 a brick church on the cor ner of what is now Broadway and Eleventh streets, to which was given the name of the Church of the Immaculate Conception. Upon the completion of this church. Father Donnelly resigned the charge of the church at Independ ence and the out mission, and became resident pastor of Kansas City. During the years from 1857 to 1880 Father Donnelly continued in active pastoral charge of the Church of the Immaculate Conception, and during this period the rapid growth of this church and its various branches in Kansas City can be more truthfully ascribed to his watchful, ceaseless, weH directed labor, than to any other cause. In 1880, feeling the weight of his seventy years, many of which had been passed under circumstances of peculiar hardship, amid the exposure, privation and dangers surrounding a frontier parish priest, he asked Churches. 303 and was granted retirement from active duty. His life work ended, he lived but a few months to enjoy the rest he had so well earned, dying December 14, 1880, full of years, and beloved by all who knew him. His far-seeing judg ment and belief in the future of Kansas City, caused him to acquire much of the property now owned by the denomination in this section, and to him the church owes much of its present prestige and prosperity. In the long period of his pastoral duty the work he accomplished in the erection of church and ¦charitable institutions, has left an imperishable monument to his memory. His charity was unending, and knew no denominational line. Schools, colleges, hos pitals and every institution of charity that love for mankind could suggest, were created by his far-sighted business sagacity, and fostered by his unceasing labors. Love and respect for the man was universal among all who knew him, of every creed and religious belief Simple in manner, unselfish in nature, pure in heart and mind, actuated by the loftiest conception of his duty to his Maker and to mankind, he lived a long life of singular usefulness to his church, and the general good of his fellow-men. We should be untrue to history, unjust to the record of one who has left a deep and lasting impress of his personality as a religious teacher and promoter of every good cause upon the earliest and later history of Kansas City, should we fail to accord this slight tribute of praise to the gra cious memory of Father Donnelly. For several years preceding the death of Father Donnelly, with the rapid growth of the city and surrounding country, and the consequent increase of Catholic parishes, the needs of a bishopric here became strongly manifest. This was called for both by the clergy and laymen of the church, and resulted, after years of waiting, in the creation, September 10, 1880, of the Kansas City dio cese, cojnprising that part of the State of Missouri south of the Missouri River, and west of the eastern boundary of the counties of Moniteau, Miller, Camden, Laclede, Wright Douglass and Ozark. Bishop John J. Hogan, who from the formation of the diocese of St Joseph in 1868 had been its bishop, was ap pointed bishop of the new diocese. With a thorough knowledge of the needs of his new charge, he immediately began work with an energy and earnestness which have resulted in the accomplishment of beneficent results. At the time he assumed charge no suitable Catholic Church adapted to the wants of a large congregation existed in the city, the necessity for which had been long felt In consequence, the first work to which he gave his attention was the securing of funds for the erection of such a church edifice. So successful was he in this direction that the corner-stone of the present Kansas City cathedral was laid May 15, 1882, and it was opened, though still in an unfinished condition, with appropriate ceremonies on May 20, 1883, but was not completed until AprH, 1886. This building is located on the south side of Eleventh street, between Broadway and Washington street, on a portion of the original ten acre tract 304 History of Kansas City. already alluded to, and west of the site formerly occupied by the Church of the Immaculate Conception, erected in 1857 by Father Donnelly. The latter edi fice, no longer necessary, was torn down in 1887. The cathedral is of the Ro manesque style of architecture, 170 by 70 feet in dimensions. The audience room and gallery have a capacity to hold four thousand five hundred people standing, and will seat comfortably about two thousand persons. Back of and adjoining the cathedral, facing on Twelfth street, is the bishop's residence. This completed church edifice cost about $125,000, and with its massive size, bold and original design, standing four hundred feet above the low water mark of the Missouri River, one of the highest points in the city, it is one of the most conspicuous objects within the corporate limits. To the foresight of Father Donnelly in securing the site upon which it is located, and to Bishop Hogan, who was the originator of the building, and the main spring of its existence, is due the erection of the cathedral, which is not only of great value to the church, but an ornament to the city. This is but one of the important services ren dered the church by Bishop Hogan. Under his labors, at first against adverse and discouraging circumstances, the entire diocese has rapidly grown and ex panded, and in no place is this more true than in Kansas City, facts attesting his faithful guardianship, judicious and careful management of his important trust. St. Patrick' s Church. — This parish was created in 1870 and given in charge of Father J. Halpin, who was succeeded by Father James A. Dunn. Through the latter's efforts, St. Patrick's Church, corner of Eighth and Cherry streets, was erected and first occupied in an unfinished condition, on Christmas Day, 1875. It is a large and handsome building and represents an original outlay of $25,000, the voluntary contribution. of the friends of the church. The con gregation worshiped for several years before taking possession of their present building in a small structure at the corner of Sixth and Oak streets. In 1883 this parish erected a school for boys and girls on the north side of Eighth street between Cherry and Locust. This building has five school rooms a,nd a large lecture room. Nearly all the Catholic societies in Kansas City hold their meetings in this building. The school has an average attendance of about three hundred pupils, under the charge of the Sisters of St. Joseph and several lay male teachers. St. Patrick's Church has of late years been re-modeled and im proved in various ways. In 1885 a new pipe organ, the largest in the city, was placed in the church. A rectory adjoining the church on Cherry street was erected in 1878. In the original territory embraced in St Patrick's par ish, five new parishes have since been created. Father Dunn still remains in charge of St Patrick's parish, and at present is assisted by Father James F. Walsch. St. Peter's and St. Paul's Church. — This is a German Roman Catholic Church and was the second Catholic Church erected in Kansas City. It is lo- Churches. 305 cated on the southwest corner of McGee and Ninth- streets and was built on the petition of the German Catholic residents, in 1867. Father M. Gross was sent from St. Louis to establish the parish and secure the erection of the build ing. He remained three years and was succeeded by Father Andre, who re mained nearly two years, when Father E. Zechenter took charge and he still presides over the congregation. Attached to this church is a well attended and prosperous school known as St. Joseph's School Society, which was es tablished in 1872. The Church of the Annunciation was the third Catholic Church organized in this city. Father William J. Dalton, the present pastor, was appointed in 1872 by the archbishop of St Louis to establish the parish, and with the as sistance of the people, most of whom belonged to the laboring classes, he erected during the first and second years of his labors here a temporary church on the corner of Wyoming and Fourteenth streets, at a cost of $3,000, and a parsonage costing $4,000. This parish was somewhat embarrassed during the panic of 1873, but is now in a prosperous condition. A new church building was erected and completed in 1882 at a cost of $20,000. In number of par- ishoners this is one of the strongest of the Catholic Churches in the city. Two schools are connected with the church, one for boys and one for girls. There is also a Young Men's Benevolent Society attached to the church which num bers over one hundred members. St. John's and St. Joseph's parishes were both organized in 1882. The church of the former is located on the north side of Independence avenue, west of Highland avenue, and is under the pastoral charge of Rev. James Phelan. The latter has a house of worship at 1907 Harrison street. Rev. James Ken nedy is pastor In 1886 the parishes St. Aloysius, and Holy Name were cre ated. The first named parish has a church building, i loi Prospect avenue, in charge of Rev. H. A. Schrappman. The church of the Holy Name is located on Twenty-third street, near Agnes avenue. Rev. J. A. O'Dwyer is pastor of this church. The parishes of St. Francis and Sacred Heart were formed in 1887. The church of the former is under the charge of Rev. WHHam McCormack, is lo cated on Heim avenue. Sacred Heart Church is located on the corner of Twenty-sixth street and Bdleview avenue. Rev. Michael J. O'Dwyer has been pastor of this church since its organization. METHODIST CHURCHES. Walnut Street Methodist Episcopal Church (South). — This is one of the pioneer churches of Kansas City, being organized as early as 1845. Colonel WilHam M. Chick, father of J. S. Chick, Mrs. Chick and James Hickman were three of the five original members, none of whom are now living. Services were first conducted at the residence of Colonel Chick and afterwards in an 3o6 History of Kansas City. ¦old log school- house on the corner of Missouri avenue and Locust street. Shortly after organization the society purchased a lot on the south side of Fifth street near Wyandotte, and erected a house of worship which was com- .pleted and dedicated by Bishop Paine in 1852. Rev. Nathan Scarritt still living, was its first pastor. This was the first Christian church built in Kansas City, and for several years was used by various religious denominations for organization and worship. The church edifice on Walnut street, now occu pied by this society, was erected in 1879 at a cost of $35,000, and wiH accom modate an audience of 800. During late years this church has rapidly extended its influence by the organization of new churches and large annual contribu tions for benevolent and educational projects. The Washington street Holms Street Mission, Brooklyn Avenue Centenary and Garland Avenue Methodist Churches have been the result of the missionary efforts put forth by the Wal nut Street Church. Among the pastors who have labored in this church are Rev. G. T. Peery, Rev. M. Pugh, W. M. Leftwich, D.D., J. W. Lewis, D.D., C. D. N. Campbell, D.D., S. S. Bryant D.D. and John Matthews. Rev. Will iam C. Morris is the present pastor of the church. It may be here stated that the Methodist Church (South) has about 1,500 members in Kansas City. Washington Street Methodist Episcopal Church (South). — The Tabernacle, as this church was formerly called, was a private enterprise of W. B. Barber, a Methodist layman. He buHt it during the fall of 1877 and conducted the services as an independent institution f9r about six months, 'when a society of the Methodist Church having been organized, he deeded the church property to them, and continued pastoral charge for two years longer, when he resigned in March, 1880, and Rev. A. C. WiHiams became pastor and continued in charge until Rev. John R. Eads was caHed to the position. During the lat ter's pastorate the society became unable to pay either interest or principal on a mortgage of $3,000, and in consequence the property was sold under fore closure and bought by Mr Barber, its originator, who sold it to some mem bers of the Walnut Street Methodist Episcopal Church. The church was then organized by this denomination with about twelve members, and placed under the pastoral charge of Rev. Nathan Scarritt, until the meeting of the Confer ence in the fall, when Rev. George Meredith took charge of the work. He was followed by Rev. D. C. Braune, who was succeeded' by the present pastor. Rev. Claude L. Chilton, formerly a member of the Alabama Conference. This society now numbers two hundred members. Centenary Methodist Episcopal Church (South). — This church was organ ized in 1881 as a mission enterprise of the Walnut Street Methodist Episcopal Church. The first pastor of the church was Rev. L. P. Norfleet The church building at the corner of Lydia avenue and Ninth street is in the Gothic style of architecture, and is valued at $37,000. This church has grown very rap idly and now has a membership of 300. Rev. Charles O. Jones is the present pastor. Churches. 307" Holmes Street Mission Methodist Episcopal Church (South). — Another off spring of the Walnut Street Methodist Episcopal Church was organized itt 1884. During the same year a church building was erected at a cost of $10,- 000. Rev. Thomas Watts is pastor of this church, which now has a member ship of one hundred and fifty. The Brooklyn Avenue Methodist Episcopal ChurcJi (South) was organized in 1884. During the same year the church building corner of Brooklyn av enue and Thirteenth street was erected at a cost of $5,000. Rev. J. M. Clark was the first pastor of this church. He was recently succeeded by the present officiating clergyman. Rev. Mr. Huggins. The Garland Avenue Methodist Episcopal Church (South) has been but lately organized. Its church edifice was dedicated by Bishop Hendrix in October, 1887, this society has forty members, over whom Rev. Mr. Pyke officiates as pastor. Grand Avenue Methodist Episcopal Church. — This, the largest and oldest church of this branch of the Methodist denomination in Kansas City, was or ganized by Rev. Mr Wesley in 1865, with about thirty members. For about a year the society worshiped in an old frame building on Walnut street, be tween Twelfth and Thirteenth streets. An unsuccessful attempt was pre viously made in 1863 to establish a church of this denomination in Kansas City by Rev. A. H. Powell, and even a site for a church has been purchased, but during the war this society was broken up and the lot sold. Rev. S. G. Griffis succeeded Mr. Wesley as pastor in 1866. During this year a lot on Walnut street was secured, but was afterwards disposed of and the present church site was purchased, and the foundations of a house of worship com menced, but work' was suspended for lack of funds. In the spring of 1867 Rev. J. N. Pierce took charge of the society. Under his labors a wooden tabernacle was built on Baltimore avenue, near the English Lutheran Church, in which religious services were held until the basement of the present church on Grand avenue was so far completed as to admit of occupancy, and for two years following meetings were held in this room. In the spring of 1869 Rev. Mr. Pierce was succeeded by Rev. J. W. Bushong, who continued as pastor untH 1872. During his pastorate the building was completed and it was dedi cated in 1870. Extended improvements and alterations were made in 1882, and a general refurnishing and refitting occurred in 1886. It is a large com modious brick structure, with a seating capacity of one thousand. By the rapid increase in the value of real estate in this city since 1866, the property held by this church has become very valua"ble. This church has been unusual ly prosperous and has grown to be one of the strongest religious bodies west of the Mississippi. It has one thousand members, and in the work of church extension and contribution to missionary and benevolent objects has been the means of accomplishing great good. Last year (1886) $52,000 was raised and 3o8 History of Kansas City. expended for such purposes, outside of the regular church expenses. It con tributed freely of its membership and funds towards the establishment in Kan sas City of the various Methodist Churches which have come into existence during late years, and is justly regarded as the foster mother of them aH. Especially true is this of the First German Methodist Episcopal Church, organ ized in 1883 and which has grown to be a vigorous self supporting organ ization, having a brick house of worship on the northeast corner of Fourteenth and CampbeH streets which cost $15,000. The present pastor is Rev. John H. Hilmes.The Howard Memorial and the Arlington M. E. Churches have both been established during the last year by the Grand Avenne M. E. Church. The former has a frame church building on the corner of Springfield and Cherry streets, erected at a cost of $9,000, and an enrolled membership of about sev enty-five. Its pastor is the Rev. C. J. W. Jones. The Arlington Church, located corner of Prospect avenue and Seventeenth street is a brick edifice, and cost $14,000. This organization has one hundred and forty members, and a regularly stationed pastor. Rev. F. B. Price being the present officiating clergyman. The Independence Avenue M. E. Church Chapel is the last result of the efforts of the Grand Avenue Church to extend the influence of the Methodist denomination. A lot on the corner of Independence avenue and Olive street has been recently purchased, upon which a chapel to cost about $25,000 is in course of construction. These various organizations, of which the Grand Avenue Methodist Church has been the foster mother, only in part gives proof of the material assistance rendered in the creation of new churches. The generosity of the members of this church to missionary and benevolent objects has become widely known. Since 1872 Rev. Gilbert De Lamater, D.D., Rev. H. R. Miller, Rev. P. P. Ingalls, D.D., Rev. R. N. Barnes, and Rev. Charles W. Parsons, have served the society as pastors at different periods, the last since 1884. The Dundee Place M. E. Chiirch. — This society is the outgrowth of the Sixteenth and Eighteenth street missions, founded by the Grand Avenue M. E. Church, and which were consolidated into the present organization in 1883, principally through the efforts of Rev. L. R. Carpenter, W. H. Craig, A. Zart- man, and J. R. Houston. Its first pastor was Rev. L. R. Carpenter, under whose ministration the house of worship corner of Fifteenth and Troost streets, Avas commenced in 1883 and dedicated May, 1884. It is a brick structure, has a seating capacity of six hundred, and has been enlarged and improved in many ways since its erection in 1884, its present estimated value being $35,- 000. The pipe organ used in this church cost $3,000, and was the gift of L. W. Crane. A parsonage adjoining \the church on Fifteenth street was erected in 1887 at a cost of $4,000. From the first the condition of this organization E--.C- i bv-KTs.Kall & Sons:i?j5cL, Churches. 309 has been prosperous. It is now out of debt ; has three hundred and fifty enrolled members and a Sunday-school with an attendance of over three hun dred. Mr. Carpenter was succeeded as pastor by Rev. O. J. Cowles, and the latter by Rev. J. S. Bitter Since March, 1887, Rev. W. H. Reese has been the officiating pastor. Liberty Street Methodist Church. — In the spring of 1 869 R. G. Siess, A. G. Allen, W. H. Barnes, Charles Vogt, Joseph Sweeney, Catherine Siess, Mrs. Vogt, and Miss Mollie Cozad organized the society of the church. Rev. Matthew Lorson was at that time the presiding elder of the district The organization was completed with Rev. Thomas Walcutt as missionary preacher. Meetings were first held in a school-building ori the corner of St. Louis avenue and Mulberry street The church building, corner of Liberty and Thirteenth streets, was commenced in the autumn of 1869, and in the spring of 1870 Rev. A. Waitman took charge of the work. He was the first regular pastor con nected with the church. During his pastorate the church was completed, the Rev. Dr. George, of St Louis, presiding at the dedication services in 1871. Since its organization there have been eleven pastors connected with the church, among them were the Rev. Wesley Johnson, J. P. Dew, and the pres ent pastor, WiHiam T. Lewis. The society numbers about forty members. African Methodist Episcopal Church. — The society of this church was organized in October, 1866, by Rev. John R. Leving, with nine charter mem bers, and was the first colored church of this denomination in Kansas City. Two years from this time the first church building was erected on the south east corner of Tenth and Charlotte streets, and dedicated in 1871 by Rev. J. C. Embry. This building, which cost over $1,500, was destroyed by fire in 1876, and replaced the same year by a substantial brick edifice at a cost of $8,ooo_ The church has a membership of two hundred and fifty. The present pastor is Rev. William A. Dove. During recent years the following colored churches of the Methodist denomination have been organized in Kansas City, and in which religious services are still regularly held. African Methodist Episcopal Church, 204 Holmes street Rev. Barr W. Stewart, pastor ; St. John's African Methodist Episcopal Church No. 927 State street. Rev. Cephas W. Preston, pastor; Asbury Chapel, 1920 Cherry street. Rev. Calvin M. Keeton, pastor. A Swedish Methodist Church was organized in Kansas City in 1887. Ser vices in the Swedish language are held at 1622 Summit street. The society is in charge of Rev. Peter S. Berg. BAPTIST churches. First Baptist Church. — This church was organized April 21, 1855, with twelve members, whose names appear in the church records as follows : Rob ert Holmes, Mary A. Holmes, T. M. James, Sarah J. James, A. J. Martin, Ehzabeth M. Martin, D. L. Mimms, Martha Lykins, Dr. J. Lykins, Julia M. 40 3IO History of Kansas Citv. Lykins, Rev. R. S. Thomas, Elvira Thomas. Before the erection of a church edifice, services were held in the old court-house, school-house, or in some of the different churches. In i860 a brick building was erected on the northeast corner of Eighth and May streets, on a lot donated by Dr Johnston Lykins, at a cost of $3,000, and occupied until the completion of the present house of worship on the southwest corner of Baltimore avenue and Twelfth street •This building was built by Mrs. W. H. Harris, of Cleveland, O., as a memorial of her father, StiHman Witt It was dedicated by Rev. Dr Bowker, February 15, 1 88 1, and donated to the society free of all incumbrance. The church is built in the Elizabethan style of architecture, and has a seating capacity of over four hundred. Since the organization of the church eleven pastors have been connected with it. Rev. Robert S. Thomas being the first, followed by R. S. DuHn, J. B. FuHer, J. W. Warder, J. C. Maple, F. M. Ellis, J. E. ChambHss, J. C. Bonham, C. Monjeau, J. E. Roberts, and D. S. MacEwan, who has recently resigned. His place will be filled by Rev. C. E. Vassar of Newark, New Jersey, who has been elected pastor and accepted the call. The church has steadily increased in numbers, the present membership being three hun dred and fifty. The Sunday school is in a prosperous condition, having an average attendance of over two hundred. The annual contributions of the church amount to $6,000. Calvary Baptist Church. — This church was organized February 7, 1876, with thirty-eight members. The brick building now occupied by the society on the northeast corner of Grand avenue and Eleventh street, was erected at a cost of $3,000, and dedicated December 2, 1877, the pastor, Dr J. E. Cham- bliss, officiating, assisted by Dr. A. W. ChambHss, Dr. J. C Bonham and Prof. C. S. Sheffidd. The society has at the present time (1887) a new church building in course of construction, on the corner of Ninth and Harrison streets which when completed will cost fully $60,000. Rev. J. E. ChambHss, formerly pastor of the First Baptist Church, had charge of Calvary Church for six years. He was succeeded by the present pastor. Rev. J. O. B. Lowry. The church is in a prosperous condition ; has increased its membership to three hundred, and has a Sunday-school with an average attendance of two hundred. Charlotte Street Baptist Church (colored). — This was the first colored church of the Baptist denomination established in Kansas City. It was organized in 1864, the charter members being Rev. Clark Moore, Michael Jones, J. Wiggins, Thomas Stewart, James AHen, Mrs. Prude Anderson and Mrs. Grace Beel. A church building on Charlotte street, near Tenth, was erected in 1872. At this time the condition of the church was not prosperous, but under Mr. Rob- erson's labors it has greatly advanced in all its relations and now numbers six hundred and seventy-five members. Mr Roberson was born a slave in 1839, near Charlottsville, Va., and was brought to Saline county. Mo., by his master when about two years old, where he lived until 1863. He was or- Churches. 311 dained to the ministry in 1869 and soon after took charge of the Second Bap tist Church at SedaHa, Mo. He subsequently became pastor of a Baptist Church at Lexington, Mo., where he remained until called to his present charge. In 1885 the erection of a new church was begun on the site of the original Charlotte Street Church, the basement of which has been completed and in which religious services have been held for nearly two years. Lack of funds has temporarily delayed the completion of the building. Olive Street Baptist Church. — This church is the outgrowth of a Baptist mission started in November, 1883, by Rev. WiHiam T. Campbell; January i, 1884, a church organization was effected. A chapel was erected on the south east corner of Ninth and Olive streets, at a cost of $6,000, and dedicated No vember 19, 1885, free of debt. Rev. William T. Campbell has been pastor of the church since its organization. The society now numbers one hundred and fifty and is contemplating the erection of a new house of worship. Emanuel Baptist Church. — This church owes its origin mainly to the la bors of Rev. Dr. R. S. Dulin, who in April, 1885, established a Baptist mission near the corner of Troost Avenue and Eighteenth street, which in the follow ing June resulted in the organization of the Emanuel Bapti-st Church with thirty- four members. Religious services have since been held in various halls, but the society is now building a $4,500 church building on the east side of Wood land avenue between Eighteenth and Nineteenth streets. Dr. Dulin resigned pastoral charge in September, 1885, and was succeeded by the present pastor. Rev. C. N. Wester. This church has a membership of seventy- five. First Swedish Baptist Church. — This church was organized in 1880. Services were held in the Calvary Baptist Church until the completion of the Swedish church in 1885. It is a brick edifice located on the north side of Fourteenth street, and cost $8,000. The society now numbers about one hundred members. Rev. C. A. Sandvall has been in charge of this congrega tion ever since the organization of the church. William Jewell Mission (Baptist) Church. — The society of this church was organized November 18, 1886, with nineteen members. It was the outgrowth of a mission Sunday schdol started in May, 1886, by N. J. Smith, State Sun day-school Secretary and Prof A. J. Emerson of William Jewell College. A lot on the west side of Madison avenue, between Twentieth and'Twenty-first streets, has been purchased for the society by the Baptist City Mission Board, upon which a church is to be erected. The society has fifty members and al though no regular pastor has been secured, services are held every Sunday conducted by Prof Emerson or some of the ministerial students of Jewell Col lege. One of the most efficient agencies of the Baptist Church in Kansas City in extending the home missionary work of the church, is the Kansas City Baptist Union, an organization composed of members of the various Baptist Churches 312 History of Kansas City. of the city. The pastor, deacons and three selected members from each church constitute an executive committee. This body has been very active in the estabHshment and fostering of missions and has rendered important service in the general advancement of church work. Charlotte Street Mission, Walnut Grove Mission, Springfield Avenue Mission, St Louis and Mulberry Streets Mission, Armourdale Mission and Riverview Mission were all established with the aid and co-operation of the Kansas City Baptist Union. Mt. Nebo Baptist Church (colored).— This church was organized by the Rev. H. Roberson in 1876 with seven charter members and was first named the Mount Olivet Baptist Church. The first pastor was Philip T. Tolliver. He was succeeded by Hamlove Moore and C. C. Burnett The present pastor is Rev. H. Mayfidd. This society has about fifty members and a church building 810 Santa Fe street. Pleasant Green Baptist Church (colored) was organized by its present pas tor. Rev. John Morgan, in 1880 and has become the second largest colored Bap tist society in the city, having about four hundred members. The society has a substantial frame church building on the south of Belvedere, between Forest and Tracey avenues. Within the past few years the following colored Baptist Churches have been organized, each having a regularly stationed pastor and a house of worship : First Baptist Church, 1343 East Eighteenth street. Rev. James Swiney, pas tor ; Mount Pleasant Missionary Baptist Church, south side Twentieth, be tween Genesee and Wyoming streets. Rev. William M. Johnson, pastor ; Morn ing Star Baptist Church, southeast corner of Holmes and Nineteenth streets. Rev. William Bannigan, pastor ; Mount Zion Missionary Baptist Church, south side of Eighth, between Mulberry and Hickory streets, Rev. Charles Watson, pastor, and Mount Carmel Baptist Church, 1322 East Eighteenth street, Rev. G. A. Turner, pastor None of the foregoing churches have a membership exceeding one hundred. episcopal churches. St. Mary's Church. — This parish is the oldest of the Episcopal denomina tions in Kansas City In 1857 Rev. J. I. Corbyn first began his labors here and in December of this year organized the society known as St Luke's par- ish. Although the communicants were few in number, they soon commenced operations for building a house of worship. A lot was donated and the foun dations of a building were laid, but further work was abandoned and Mr Cor- byn resigned his pastorate. In i860 Rev. C. M. Galloway was caHed and took charge of the work already begun. After his arrival services were regularly held in a hall on Market street until the beginning of the war, when the mem bers became scattered and regular services were suspended for a period of near ly four years. In the spring of 1865 efforts were made to gather the scattered Churches. 313 members together, and in the fall of that year Rev. Joseph Wood, of Cold- water, Mich., was called to take charge of the rectorship. He began his labors in January, 1866. At this time services were held in the Methodist Church. Under Mr. Wood's efforts this organization became thoroughly united, and on Easter day, April i, 1866, for the first time in five years the full service of the church was rendered. On this occasion an organ was used by the choir, be ing the first instrument of the kind ever used in a church in Kansas City. In 1867 a frame building was erected at the corner of Walnut and Eighth streets and first occupied in August of this year, but the consecrating ceremonies were not performed until April 29, 1869, when Right Rev. C. F. Robertson, liishop of the diocese, officiated. The church was enlarged in 1871, giving it a seating capacity of five hundred. Rev. Van Antwerp succeeded Mr. Wood as rector, and he was followed by Rev. George C. Betts. The latter was suc ceeded by Rev. M. E. Buck, whose pastorate continued but a short time, when -death brought his labors to a close. Rev. H. D. Jardine then took charge of the work and remained rector from 1879 until the close of 1885. During his pastorate St Mary's Seminary, a school for girls, and St Mary's school for toys was estabHshed, and efficiently conducted. All Saints' Hospital is an other monument to his zeal and energy. He died in January, 1886, and was succeeded by the present rector. Rev. John Sword. In April, 1886, the lot on which the church stood was sold, and a new lot purchased on the corner of Holmes and Thirteenth streets, where a new building is nearly completed which will cost about $75,000. St Mary's chapel, a mission church under the -charge of St. Mary's Church, was organized in 1879. Grace Church. — This Episcopal parish was first called St. Paul's parish, and organized August 29, 1870, with about forty communicants. The year after the first organization the name was changed, and it has since been known as Grace Church. Religious services were held in the basement of Coates' Opera House the greater part of the time up to the winter of 1874-5, when the frame building on the southeast corner of Tenth and Central streets was completed and ready for occupancy. This church edifice originally cost the society about $5,000, but in 1 88 1 $2,000 was expended in its enlargement, and at various times since considerable money has been spent on exterior and interior im provements. The rectory No. 1,830 Penn street, was built in 1881 at a cost of $9,500. Grace Church was consecrated by Bishop Robertson, April i, 1883, and at present has four hundred communicants and the Sunday-school two hundred and fifty members. In 1886 the society contributed nearly $21,000 for benevolent and incidental purposes. Grace Church has now in process of erection a stone church on Thirteenth street, between Broadway and Washington street, which, when completed, will be one of the finest church buildings in the State. Its estimated cost will be $200,000. Since the ¦organization of the church the following rectors have filled the pulpit : F. R. 314 History of Kansas City. Haff", Algernon Batt J. E. Martin, H. C. Duncan and Cameron Mann. The latter's ministration has continued since the spring of 1881, and during this period great prosperity has foHowed his labors in behalf of the church. St. Augustine Episcopal Mission Church. — This church was organized in 1882 by the aid of the several Episcopal Churches in the city, as a mission for the colored people. The chapel on Troost avenue, between Tenth and Elev enth streets, was built the same year and cost about $3,000. Rev. C. E. Cum mings, under whose ministration the church was organized, remained in charge as pastor untH his death, July 8, 1887. This congregation, which now num bers forty communicants, has since been without a regular rector, but services continue to be held every Sunday. This church is supported mainly by con tributions from the Episcopal Churches in the city and the Missouri diocese. St. Mary's Episcopal Church. — The organization of this church occurred in 1879, the charter members being C. W. Freeman, J. W. Dunlap, J. F. Ram age, L. B, Austin, G. W. Dunlap, J. M. Lee, F. C. Lee, J. O. Bradenbaugh, P. M. Austin, C. S. Lee, W. H. Lee, Mrs B. B. Kerr and Mrs. L. B. Austin. A neat frame building was erected in 1880 on the corner of Locust street and East Missouri avenue. For about four years Rev. F. R. Holeman was rector of this church, and for a year following it was under the pastoral charge of Rev. Mr. Wells. For the last two years services have been discontinued. Trinity Episcopal Church. — The first meeting for the purpose of organiz ing this parish was held April 23, 1883. In the following month the parish was admitted into the diocesan convention. On December i, of the same year. Rev. Robert Talbot, the present rector, was called to take charge of the church. The first service was held in January, 1884, in a haU No. 1208 East Ninth street, with twelve communicants. In January, 1884, 'a lot was pur chased at a cost of $3,480 on the southeast corner of Tracy and Tenth streets, and during the following summer the erection of a $15,000 basement church was commenced. Only one-half of the basement was first built, but as soon as sufficient funds were secured the entire basement was finished. In the spring of 1887 the congregation had grown to three hundred communicants and larger quarters were needed. The walls of the original building were torn down, and the erection of a new church edifice was commenced, the corner stone of which was laid June 20, 1887. The building now in course of erec tion will cost, when completed, about $80,000. The rapid growth of this parish is almost entirely due to the well directed labors of its pastor, and the present prosperous condition of the church indicates a bright future. PRESBYTERIAN CHURCHES. The First Presbyterian Church. — This church is the mother of Presbyteri- anisni in Kansas City. It was organised by order of presbytery May 25,. 1857, with fourteen members, by R. S. Symington and F. A. Bracken, minis- Churches. 315 ters, and Mr Grant an elder Rev. R. S. Symington, now in California, be came its first pastor and continued to hold services alternately in the court room of the old city haH and the Fifth Street Methodist Church, now used as a Hvery barn, until the summer of 1858, when J. C. McCoy, at his own expense, erected a chapel on his own grounds on the north side of Third street between Main and Walnut streets, which was used for its house of wor ship until after the breaking out of the Civil War, when, like its Fifth street neighbor, it was changed into a barn. Rev. Mr. Symington was succeeded by Rev. John Hancock, in June, i860. In January, 1863, Rev. George MH ler, now of Nevada, Mo., became stated supply. In the meantime services were held part of the time in the First Christian Church, then on the corner of Main and Twelfth streets, and part of the time in the First Baptist Church on the corner of May and Eighth streets. Mr. Miller was succeeded by Rev. Dr. Yantis. During his ministry Long's Hall on Main street, near Fifth street, was occupied. In 1866 dissensions occurred among the members of this church, which arose out of certain deliverances of the general assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America made during the Civil War, enjoining upon the membership loyalty to the government, and which brought into existence in the border States a party in the Presbyterian Church known as the declarative and testimony party. Some of the members of the First Church adhered to the General Assembly, and some went with the declaration and testimony party. The same issue divided the Presbyteries and synod of Missouri, and out of this dissension sprang the Central Presbyte rian Church of this city. Dr. Yantis was succeeded in the First Church by the Rev. George Frazer, in June, 1866. A brick church was erected on Wyandotte steeet in 1866, and was at that time the finest church edifice in the city. In 1867 the building was wrecked by a cyclone, the congregation promptly rebuilding the house. Mr. Fraser was succeeded by Dr. William L. Breckenridge and Rev. Dr. J. W. Allen, now of St. Louis, who at different times supplied the pulpit, until Rev. Dr. Irwin, now president of Lindenwood College, became pastor in May, 1869. While Dr. Irwin was on his way from the east to take charge of the pulpit, the church building was totally destroyed by fire. Money was promptly raised, lots purchased, and a frame chapel erected on Grand avenue, between Tenth and Eleventh streets. Dr. Irwin was succeeded by Rev. H. C. Hovey, in March, 1873. The latter was fol lowed by Rev. A. W. Colver in 1875, and in 1877 by the Rev. Dr S. B. Bell, who is StiH a resident of this city. In February, 1882, the Rev. D. Schley Schaff entered upon his work as pastor of the church and still continues to hold that office. During his pastorate a new location has been purchased at the corner of Forest avenue and Tenth street, and a brick and stone building erected thereon, which was dedicated free of debt in February, 1886. The present value of the property is $65,000. The church has an active member- 3i6 History of Kansas City. ship of three hundred persons, a flourishing Sunday-school, a Chinese school, and the other usual departments of church work. The First Church has con tributed freely of its membership in the organization of other Presbyterian organizations including the Second Presbyterian, United Presbyterian, and the Fifth Presbyterian. The officers, January, 1 88-, are: Elders, P. S. Brown, J. L. Freeland, Morris M. Jones, Albert C. Ramsey, H. H. Winchdl, and Wil Ham Young; deacons, John Leininger, J. S. Martin, A. McEwen, M. F. Sar gent ; trustees, T Lee Adams, George D. Ford, J. S. Harrison, J. S. Martin, H. Munger, F. B. Nofsinger, and J. P. Townley. Second Presbyterian Church. — The work of establishing this church was attended with all the vicissitudes incident to the pioneer settlement of the country. To the labors of Rev. A. T. Morton, D.D., sent by the New School Presbytery, can the founding of this church be justly ascribed. An organiza tion was completed in 1865 with ten members, consisting of T. W. Letton, C. F. Smith, Mrs. Seth Coleman, Mrs. Dr Arnoldin, Mrs. Sarah A. Waterman, Mrs. J. K. Cravens, Mrs. Q. N. Smith, Mrs. I. N. BouteH, Miss Mary E. Smith, and H. R. Crowell. Three of these original members are still con nected with the church. The first house of worship was erected in the spring of 1866, on the east side of Wyandotte, between Eighth and Ninth streets, and the four thousand dollars needed for this purpose was mainly secured by the efforts of the first pastor after the organization of the church. Rev. Timothy Hill, D.D. In 1869 Dr Hill rehnquished the pastorate to undertake the work jn behalf of home missions in Kansas and New Mexico. He was followed by Rev. C. D. Nott D.D., and he by Rev. W. M. Cheever, whose labors in behalf of the church Were terminated by his death in 1878. Rev. C. C. Kimball, D. D., was next installed as pastor. He was succeeded in 1882 by the present pastor. Rev. Charles L. Thompson, D.D. Soon after Dr. Kimball became pastor, steps were taken to secure a location on which to erect a more commo dious church building to meet the demands of a rapidly increasing congrega tion. Such object was greatly advanced by the donation of an eligible site on the northwest corner of Central and Thirteenth streets, by Mr. S. B. Armour. On this lot a brick church in the Gothic style of architecture was completed in 1882 at a cost of about $75,000. It has a seating capacity of about one thou sand and is one of the largest and finest church edifices in Kansas City. It has an actual membership of six hundred and fifty, while the Sunday-school, under the efficient management of Dr E. W. Schauffler, has an enroHed membership of four hundred. Not only within its own congregation has great good been accomplished by this church, but its members have given substantial aid and assistance in building up other churches of the same denomination. The Fourth Presbyterian Church is one of the offspring of the Second Presbyterian Church in this direction. It was established as a mission in 1881, and became an independent church under its present name in 1882. In 1883 / -^¦'^-i^^J.^^. 37//Z<77 .-.>* df ^-'"^'^ Churches. 317 the frame church buHding, 1747 BeHeview avenue was erected, having a seat ing capacity of four hundred. Since the organization of this church Rev. J. H. Miller, D.D., has been its pastor It has a membership of one hundred. The Fifth Presbyterian Church is the outgrowth of a mission established in 1882, under the auspices of the Second Presbyterian Church, by Rev. Charies L. Thompson, Rev. Timothy Hill, and Rev. J. H. Miller A chapel was built on Lydia, south of Fifteenth street in 1883. The present church building used by this congregation on Twelfth street, northwest corner of Brooklyn, was recently erected at a cost of $5,000. It is a brick structure, and has a seating capacity of three hundred. The first pastor of this church was Rev. J. W. Sanderson, who was succeeded by Rev. J. C. Taylor who resigned in 1866 and was followed by the present pastor. Rev. Charles H. Bruce. This church is in a flourishing condition, and now has a membership of over one hundred. The Hill Memorial Presbyterian Church is an organization which owes its existence to the Men's League of the Second Presbyterian Church. It was organized in May, 1887, with twenty members, and was named in honor of Rev. Timothy HiH, D.D., who died in 188 1. A lot has already been pur chased on Brooklyn avenue, and the foundations for a church have been laid for a church building to cost $i 0,000. Religious services are now held in a hall on the corner of Eighteenth and Woodward streets. First Cumberland Presbyterian Church. — This church was organized March 21, 1868, as a missionary congregation under the care of the Lexing ton Presbytery of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. The charter mem bers were Mrs. Love, J. Sharp, Miss J. T. Smithers, Mrs. E. A. Shoemaker, Mrs. O. Q. Mosely, Mrs. Tryphena Venable, Miss Jennie Longworth, Mrs. Caroline Arnold, Mrs. M. M. Harber, Mrs. Jane Lea, Judge R. C. Ewing, William Arnold, W. J. Shoemaker, Thomas Harber and Rev. J. E. Sharp, the missionary, A Gothic frame church building was built in the fall of 1869 at a cost of $2,000. This building was used until 1884, when the present house of worship corner of Thirteenth and Oak streets was erected. It is a brick edi fice and cost about $14,000. Rev. James E. Sharp was the first pastor and served the congregation about four years. Rev. Walter Schenck succeeded him and remained about six months, when he resigned. The congregation was without a pastor until 1877, when Rev. C. P. Duvall was sent as a mis sionary and served one year and a half Nearly six months afterwards the presbytery called Rev. B. P. Fullerton, who has since remained as pastor. The church suffered many reverses in the change of pastors, and in the inter regnum between the different pastorates. Under Mr. Fullerton's pastora\ charge the church has had a strong tide of prosperity and has been self-sup porting for several years. Central Presbyterian Church. — The organization of this church dates from il 3i8 History of Kansas City. 1866, the members composing its original organization having seceded from the First Presbyterian Church at the time mentioned in the history of the lat ter church. Rev. J. L. Yantis, D.D., became the first pastor of the society. Religious services were held in a small frame building on the corner of Grand avenue and Ninth streets. In 1870 the brick edifice now occupied by this congregation, on the southwest corner of Grand avenue and Eighth street, was erected at a cost of about $25,000. In 1868 Dr. Yantis, having resigned,. was succeeded by Rev. J. M. Cheney, D.D., now vice-president of the Kansas City's Ladies' College, at Independence, who, with others, supplied the pulpit untH August, 1869, when Rev. A. D. Madeira, D.D., was called and installed as pastor, continuing in that relation nearly twelve years. He was succeeded in March, 1881, by Rev. H. B. Boude, D.D., who remained until March, 1883, when he was succeeded by Rev. W. F. Bishop, who has recently resigned on account of prolonged illness. The growth of the church has been rapid, the congregation now numbering about four hundred members. United Presbyterian Church. — The origin of this church is primarily due to Rev. Randall Ross, a well-remembered war correspondent and member of the United Presbyterian Church, who visited Kansas City in 1866. The interest awakened by his visit resulted in a report to the presbytery which secured the first preaching by this denomination in Kansas City. In 1867 the West Mis souri Presbytery appointed Rev. Mathew Bigger to canvass the city in the in terest of the church, and his report induced the presbytery to establish a mis sion station here in April, 1868, which was supplied for a time by the presby tery, but was turned over to the executive committee of the Board of Home Missions in June of the same year, William C. Williamson being the stated supply. The mission grew rapidly, and on March 12, 1869, the United Pres byterian congregation was organized with twenty members. Up to this time the services had been held in a school-house, but during this year an appro priation of $5,000 was granted by the general Assembly, with which a lot was purchased on Walnut street between Ninth and Tenth streets, and a church buHding erected. It was completed and dedicated the third Sunday in Feb ruary, 1870, by Rev. Robert Irwin, pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Kansas City. Mr. Williamson was succeeded by Rev. J. K. Martin, who re mained until 1874, when the present pastor, Rev. D. M. McCleHan, assumed charge of the congregation, and under his ministry the society has had a pros perous career. In December, 1886, the church property on Walnut street was sold, and since that time a lot on the corner of Holmes and Sixteenth streets has been purchased, upon which it is proposed to erect a large and commodi ous church building. The church has at present a membership of one hun dred and fifty. A prosperous mission established in November, 1885, is sup ported by this church. Third Presbyterian Church. — This church was organized mainly through Churches. 319 the efforts of Rev. Timothy Hill, T. S. Reeve, G. W. Goodale and Dr. O. S. Chapman, through whose labors a lot was donated at the corner of Fourteenth and Hickory streets, and in March, 1869, a frame edifice was erected and ready for occupancy. After the completion of the building the church was organized and given the name of the Third Presbyterian Church, and the or ganization placed under the charge of the Lexington Presbytery, then known as the new school. Rev. J. H. Byers was the first pastor called to preside over the church. He remained in cljarge until 1872, when Rev. D. C. Milner became pastor In 1875 Rev. L. Railsback accepted a call to the church and successfully labored in this field for eight years, when he was succeeded by Rev. Mr. Mack, who was followed by the present pastor. Rev. A. B. Martin. The old church building was sold in 1886 and the present house of worship, 141 3 and 141 5 Genesee street, erected. christian churches. First Christian Church. — This church was organized by Elder Francis R. Palmer in the year 1858. It was composed of members who had lately moved into the town, some of whom had been members of the church at the village of Westport Among the charter members were Judge Thomas A. Smart and family. Dr. I. M. Ridge and wife, Willoughby Thomas and wife, R. C. White and wife, John G. Heydon and wife, Alexander Johnson and family, and Levi Bradley and family. The first church building was erected at what is now the northeast corner of Twelfth and Main streets, on a lot of ground donated for the purpose by Judge T. A. Smart The house was dedicated by Rev. T. P. Haley, the present pastor of the church, in the fall of 1859, Elders Palmer, John O'Kane and H. H. Haley assisting in the services. Elder H. H. Haley was chosen the first pastor and served the church until 1862, when the deso lation wrought by the late civil war drove him to other fields of labor. At the close of the war he was recalled and remained as pastor until the fall of 1870. Elders G. W. Longan, Alexander Proctor and John W. Mountjoy each served as pastor for a short time, when Rev. John Z. Taylor was called and remained six years. In the fall of 1879 a second church was organized under the pastoral charge of Rev. David Walk. In the fall of 1881, the pastors of both churches having resigned, the two churches were consolidated under the name of the First Christian Church, and the present pastor assumed pastoral charge. The lot on Twelfth and Main having been sold, the present church building at the northwest corner of Locust and Eleventh streets was com menced and completed in April, 1884. It was dedicated by the Rev, Isaac Everett of Cincinnati, O., May i, 1884. Second Christian Church (branch). This church was organized by the First Christian Church, and a lot purchased and a house of worship erected at 1735 Summit street in May, 1886. Elder A. R. McAIHster was the first pas- 320 History of Kansas City. tor of this church. He was succeeded in the faH of 1886 by Elder C Mon roe. . , Third Christian Church.— The congregation of this church was organize in 1885. Elder J. H.- Hughes has been its pastor since. A lot has been pur chased at the southeast corner of Fifteenth street and Lydia avenue which it is proposed to erect a church building. . _. Christian Church (colored).— This church has been recently organize . Services were first held at the corner of Sixteenth and Washing o During the past year a neat and comfortable house of worship has been Rev. Edward Hays is pastor. In the year 1886 a Sunday-school was organized by members of the Chris tian denomination, corner Independence and Brooklyn avenues. This under taking has met with such success that arrangements are now being made to- place a pastor in charge. The aggregate membership of the Christian Churches in Kansas City is about one thousand five hundred persons. Lutheran churches. First English Lutheran Church. — This church was organized April 4, 1867, in connection with the general synod of the United States and the district syn od of Kansas. The charter members were Edward Stine and wife, J. S. Schell and wife, J. W. Keefer and wife, S. Tholander and wife, Edward Diveley and wife, A. Raub, Daniel Schroll, Melinda Henricks and Mary Miley, of whom Jacob W. Keefer and wife, Edward Stine and wife, and Mrs. Mary Schell are still living. The organization was effected by Rev. A. W. Wagenhals, now of New York city, who served the mission over two years. A neat brick edifice was erected in 1867 at a cost of about $8,000, on Baltimore avenue between Tenth and Eleventh streets. Rev. Mr. Wagenhals was succeeded by Rev. W. H. Steck, who remained about three years. On the 1st of June, 1874, Rev. T. F. Dornblaser took charge and labored during the hard times caused by the panic of 1873, when the organization, being heavily in debt, came near failing and was only saved by a loan of several thousand dollars by the General Synod. In June, 1878, Rev. S. S. Waltz became pastor and remained five years. During the last year of his pastorate the congregation was declared self-sup porting, declining to receive any more mission funds. The congregation, how ever, became greatly discouraged and were not able to pay any ample support to a minister May i, 1884, Rev. J. M. Cromer accepted charge of the church. Under his energetic and well directed labors an era of prosperity began. The church debt was paid and the general affairs of the society were advanced in every direction. Steps were soon taken toward a new church building. The old property on Baltimore avenue was sold and a lot on the southwest corner of Fourteenth and Cherry streets purchased at a cost of $9,000. Upon this site a new church building is now in course of construction, which will cost Ei^'ljyEiWUimms nBr f. Churches. 321 when completed about $55,000, the corner stone of which was laid November 6, 1887, the Rev. Dr Ort, president of Wittenberg CoHege, Springfield, O., officiating, assisted by the pastor and Revs. Troxell, Thompson, Hopkins and Jones, city ministers, and Robert Wiedensall, international secretary of the Y. M. C. A. A parsonage has been completed adjoining the proposed new church on Fourteenth street. The membership of this church has more than doubled during the past three years and the prospects of future growth and influence are highly encouraging. Swedish Evangelical Lutheran Church. — The organization of this church occurred in the year 1870. Among the original members were P. Nelson, N. Johnson, A. Bergquoist, P. J. Youngquoist J. A. Johnson, W. Eriandson, S. E. Spencer, J. C. Spencer and A. W. Lonquoist A frame building was erected in 1 87 1 on West Fourteenth street, between Broadway and Washington, at a cost of $2,000, and was dedicated the same year. Rev. A. Anderson from Sweden, III, conducting the ceremonies. The first pastor was S. J. Osterberg. He was succeeded by Rev. A. Rodell, the latter followed by Rev. J. P. Nean- der, who remained in charge of the congregation until the spring of 1884 when he was succeeded by the present pastor. Rev. C. J. E. Haterius. The church building now used by this society, 1236 and 1238 Penn street, was begun in 1886 and so far completed in December, 1887, that the building has since been used in which to hold religious services. It is a handsome brick building and when completed wiH cost about $25,000. A pafsonage was built at a cost of $6,000 in 1886 on the lot adjoining the south side of the church. This church has a membership of three hundred communicants and a Sunday-school of over one hundred members. Servi:es are conducted in the Swedish lan guage. Three months of each year a day school is conducted for the purpose of teaching the children the doctrines of the gospel. The Children's Memorial Lutheran Church was organized with twelve members in June, 1884, in a store room chapel at the corner of Independence avenue and Harrison street. The Sunday-school of which the church is the outgrowth, had been operated some time previously under the direction of Rev. S. S. Waltz and the council of the First Lutheran Church. The organization of the church was mainly effected by contributions received from Sunday-schools throughout the Lutheran Church, and was named in honor of the chHdren's efforts. By means thus obtained a lot was purchased in June, 1885, on the northeast corner of Tracy avenue and Sixth street, upon which a substantial chapel was soon after built and dedicated December 8, 1885. The member ship of the church has increased from twelve to sixty. Rev. Millard F. Troxell has been its pastor since its organization. Immanuel German Evangelical Lutheran Church. — This church was or ganized in January, 1883, and purchased as a house of worship, the mission chapel on the corner of Sixteenth and Cherry streets, founded by the Grand 322 History of Kansas City. Avenue Methodist Episcopal Church. It has at present about thirty members over whom Rev. Ernest Jehu has served as pastor ever since the organization of the church. It is in part supported by the mission synod of the Lutheran Church. congregational churches. First Congregational Church. — The early efforts to establish a Congrega tional Church in Kansas City were attended with difficulties. The conditions of the society were not only unfavorable, but the principles of Congregational ism were Httie understood at that time. StiH, during the border strife and the Civil War, Rev. R. D. Parker, then pastor of the Congregational Church of Wyandotte, did much missionary work in Kansas City and sowed the seeds which subsequently gave rise to a powerful church organization. Rev. Lea- vitt Bartlett in 1866 came to Kansas City under the auspices of the American Home Missionary Society, for the purpose of establishing a Congregational Church. Under his labors a church was organized Januajy 3, 1866, with the following members : Rev. Leavitt Bartlett, Mrs. Emily Bartlett, Mrs. Caroline C. Scales, Edward Vaugh, Mrs. Mary C. Vaugh, W. P. Winner, Mrs. Mary Winner, Mrs. D. A. WiHiams, M. B. Wright and Jonathan Copdand. A church structure, a frame building, was erected at a cost of $4,500 and was dedicated June 24, 1866, Rev. E. R. Turner of Hannibal, then home missionary agent of Missouri, preaching the sermon. The building was enlarged and improved in 1879 at an expense of $2,000. In 1884 the church building on the corner of McGee and Eleventh streets was erected at a cost of $85,000. The following named persons have in the order given been pastors of the church : Rev. Lea vitt Barrett, Rev. E. N. Andrews, Rev. James G. Roberts and Rev. Henry Hopkins. Under Doctor Hopkins's pastorate this church has had a vigorous growth, and is now one of the strongest in the city. Clyde Congregational Church — This church was the outgrowth of a Sun day-school established by the members of the First Congregational Church. A church organization was perfected in June, 1882, with nine members. Dur ing the summer services were held in a grove on Garfield avenue. In Novem ber, 1882, a brick church edifice was completed on the northwest corner of Brooklyn avenue and Seventh street, costing $6,000. In 1886 it was enlarged to double its original size, and now has a seating capacity of five hundred. For several years this church was in part supported by the American Home Mis sionary Society, but for more than a year has been self-supporting. The affairs of the church are in a prosperous condition, and the present membership is over one hundred and seventy-five. Rev. J. H. Williams has had pastoral charge of the church since its organization. Olivet Congregational Church. — This church was organized in the fall of 1883 with fifteen members, and has been a very successful missionary enter prise. Religious services have been conducted in the old German Evangelical Churches. 323 Church on the corner of Eighteenth and Lydia streets, which the society pur chased soon after its organization. This property has since been sold, and a church building has been commenced on the corner of Woodland avenue and Nineteenth street, which when completed will cost about $12,000. The soci ety now numbers about one hundred members. The success attained by this church is largely due to its pastor. Rev. Henry C. Scotford, who was one of the organizers of the church. The Fourth Congregational Church was organized in the summer of 1884, with nineteen members. The following fall the church building now used by the society, on the corner of McCoy avenue and Howard street, was completed and dedicated free of debt. The society has a membership of seventy, and its future prospects are bright. Rev. C. J. Sage was pastor until November i, 1887, when he was succeeded by Rev. John N. Brierton. evangelical churches. German Evangelical St. Peter's Church. — This organization belongs to the German Evangelical Synod of North America. The society was organized in 1865 with a membership of only twelve persons. A church building was erected in 1866 on the east side of Walnut street, between Tenth and Eleventh streets, at a cost of between three and four thousand dollars. The church was dedi cated in 1867 by the present pastor. Rev. John C. Feil, who organized the soci ety and was the first pastor of the church. He was succeeded by Rev. Henry Kirchhoff", who fiUed the pastorate until Mr. Feil was again called to take charge of the work. In 1885 a brick church edifice was built on the corner of Oak and Irving streets, costing $30,000, but was completely destroyed by the memora ble cyclone of that year, the second Sunday after its dedication. It was rebuilt during the same year. The services of the church are conducted in German. Zion's Church of the Evangelical Society was organized in 1878, with eleven members. The society expended about $3,200 in the erection of their church on Oak street, a brick structure capable of seating three hundred persons. It was completed in 1879. Rev. Mr. Kurtz organized the church and was its first pastor. He was succeeded by Rev. Henry Mattill. Following him Rev. S. B. Brown, Rev. J. Schmedlie and Rav. S. Miller officiated as pastors at dif ferent periods. The present pastor is Rev. C. F. Erfifmeyer The membership- is now about fifty. Services are conducted in the German language. Emanuel Church of the Evangelical Association of North America. — This is a mission church organized in March, 1883, with seventeen members. A frame church building was erected for the society on the corner of Highland avenue and Nineteenth street in 1884. The first pastor was Rev. J. Kurtz. He was succeeded by Rev. A. J. Voegddn, who was followed by the present pas tor Rev. WHHam F. Wolthausen. The society is composed of sixty members. The church expenses are in part defrayed by the missionary society of the Kan sas Conference of the Evangelical Association. 324 History of Kansas City. unitarian churches. First Unitarian Church. — This church was organized in the summer of 1868 with Rev. Henry N. Smith, Agnes Smith, E. D. Parsons, Amos Towle, G. S. Morrison, Alfred Pirtle, Ross Guffin and Henry A. White as charter mem bers. The first church building was erected on Baltimore avenue in 1871, and continued to be used until the completion in 1887 of a new brick house of wor ship on Tenth street near Broadway. Rev. W. E. Copdand was the first pastor who had charge of the congregation. He was succeeded by Rev. C. E. Web ster, Rev. Enoch Powell and Rev. W. S. King. For some time after the latter's pastorate there was an interruption in the regular services. In May, 188 1, Rev. D. N. Utter took charge of the society, and under his labors the church increased in membership, and its financial condition became greatly improved. He remained three years and was succeeded by Rev. Robert Laird Collyer, D.D., who was followed by the present pastor. Rev. Mr. J. E. Roberts. At present this church is in a prosperous condition. It is now known as All Souls Cliureh. REFORMED CHURCH. St. Paul's Reformed Church. — This is a branch of the Reformed Church of the United States, and the only one of the denomination in Kansas City. It was organized by Rev. R. Leighton Gerhart, January 14, 1886, with fourteen members. Services were held in the old Unitarian Church on Baltimore ave nue for about a year, and were then continued in Keefer's Hall, on the corner of Penn and Sixteenth streets until the completion of a house of worship on Central near Seventeenth street, in February, 1887. It is a brick edifice cost ing $5,000, and has a seating capacity of two hundred. The society now num bers over fifty members, and is still under the pastoral charge of Mr. Gerhart HEBREW CHURCHES. Congregation B'nai Jehudah. — The first Jewish synagogue in Kansas City was erected in 1875 on the corner of Wyandotte and Sixth streets at a cost of about seven thousand dollars. It was dedicated in 1876, the services being conducted by Rev. Emanuel L. Hes^ In 1884 the present synagogue now used by this congregation was erected. It is a substantial brick building lo cated on the corner of Oak and Eleventh streets, and cost about $20,000, From twenty-five original members the congregation has increased to more than one hundred and fifty members. The pastors who have been connected with the church since its organization are Dr. N. R. Cohen, Emanuel L. Hess, David Burgheim, Dr. I. Grassmann, Dr E. Eppstein and Joseph Krauskopf The last named rabbi was recently called to a new field of labor, since which time the church has had no regular pastor. The present officers of the church are B. A. Feineman, president, and J. Helburn, secretary. ^-^¦-'^'•ii "L?"^' S-Bmms Sans. JTsw'Xof'': Ct<^ The Bench and Bar, 325 The Universalists, Friends or Quakers, and Latter Day Saints are each rep resented by a society in Kansas City, but services are not regularly held by any of them. CHAPTER XV. THE BENCH AND BAR. Organization of County Courts — The Circuit Court — The Probate Court — Criminal Court Recorder's Court — Court of Appeals — Sketch of Some Prominent Members of the Bench and Bar. THE various courts which are held in Kansas City are the County Court the Circuit Court, the Probate Court, the Criminal Court, the Recorder's Court, and the Kansas City Court of Appeals. Some of these are exclusively city courts, while others are exclusively county courts. Other courts still have had an existence, both in the city and in the county, which under the exi gencies of changing circumstances and conditions have been abolished by legal enactment ; but as even the exclusively city courts have, in most cases had their origin in or been developed out of some county court it seems not only appropriate but even necessary at least briefly to incorporate into this chapter as an introduction to and as a basis for what is to follow upon the lives and character of the various judges and attorneys, who have from time to time sustained the honor and dignity of law therein, an account of the establishment of each of the courts to which the people of the city, no less than of the county, look for the proper management of their affairs, and for the protection and maintenance of their rights. The county itself was defined February 16, 1825, and organized Decem ber 15, 1826. By this latter act the courts to be holden in the county were to be held at the house of John Young, until the tribunals transacting county- business should fix upon a temporary seat of justice for said county, and it was especially provided that the Probate Court should be held in the county on the second Mondays of March, June, September, and December The first County Court was begun and held at the house of John Young, May 21, 1827, and was composed of Abraham McClelland, Richard Fristoe, and Henry Burris, esqs., who were appointed by John MiUer, governor of the State, May i, 1827. On May 18, 1827, Abraham McClelland took the oath of office before Joel P. Walker, a justice of the peace, and on the 21st of May each of the other two justices of the court took the oath of office before Abra- 42 326 History of Kansas City. ham McCleHand. Abraham McClelland was then appointed president of the court, and Lilburn W. Boggs, clexk pi'O tern. February 22, 1849, an act of the General Assembly was approved provid- irig for twelve terms of this court each year, each term to commence on the first Monday in the month except that held in August which was to com mence on the second Monday. At the present time this court meets at Independence on the first Monday in January, and at Kansas City on the first Monday in February, and continues so to meet on the first Monday in each month, alternating between Independence and Kansas City. The judges at the pres ent time are J. A. McDonald, H. Lynch, and William Chiles. The clerk is M. S. Burr, and the sheriff W. P. Hickman. The Circuit Court. — By an act of the General Assembly approved January I, 1827, the Circuit Court of Jackson county was required to be held on the first Thursday after the fourth Monday in March, July, and November On January 17, 1831, the time was changed to the third Mondays in February, June, and October On February 9, 1833, the time was again changed to the fourth Mondays of the same months. January 21, 1837, the time was changed to the first Mondays in April, August and December, and on February 13, 1841, to the second Mondays in the same months. February 24, 1843, the time was changed again, this time to the third Mondays of March and Septem ber, and on September 5, 1849, to the second Mondays of the same months. Changes were made from time to time as seemed necessary, until now the court meets at Independence on the second Mondays in March and Septem ber, and at Kansas City on the second Mondays in January, April and Oc tober. Samuel L. Sawyer was elected judge of this court March 14, 1871, and commissioned by Governor B. Gratz Brown, on March 18, following, as judge of the Twenty-fourth Judicial Circuit Judge Sawyer was succeeded by Samuel H. Woodson, whose first term in this court was held in April, 1876. In 1880 the work of this court had become so laborious that two judges were required to perform it, and Francis M. Black was appointed additionally, and Judges Woodson and Black served together, hearing cases according to their mutual convenience until April 11, 1881, when an agreement was entered into by which the two circuit judges of the Twenty-fourth Judicial Circuit, in the presence of Wallace Laws, clerk of the Circuit Court of Jackson county, deter mined by lot the divisions of said court over which they should respectively preside. Division number one fell to Samuel H. Woodson, and division num ber two to Francis M. Black. Since this division of tiie court, all the odd num bered case-; have been heard and determined in division number one, and all the even numbered cases in division number two. The Hon. Samuel H. Woodson died June 23., 1S81, and was succeeded by tlie Hon. Turner A. Gill, who by election in 1880, and re-election in 1886, has since presided in division The Bench and Bar. 327 number one of this court Wallace Laws remained clerk of this court until 1883, when he was succeeded by the present clerk, L. F. McCoy. Division number two was presided over by the Hon. Francis M. Black until January i, 1885, when he was appointed to the supreme bench of the State, and J. W. Dunlap was appointed by Governor Crittenden to fiH the vacancy. Judge Dunlap died within two weeks of his appointment, and the Hon. James H. Slover, the present judge of this division, was appointed by Gov. Marma duke January 16, 1885. L. F. McCoy has been clerk of this division also since April, 1883. The Kansas City Criminal Court was established by an act approved March 23, 1863, which provided that the judge of the Jackson County Probate and Common Pleas Court and ex-officio judge of the Kansas City Court of Common Pleas should hold two terms of this court annually for the trial of criminal offenses and violations of criminal law, in Jackson county, except in cases of capital punishment, and that the judge should be possessed of the same powers and authority and be governed by the practices regulating proceedings in courts of record in criminal cases; the terms of the court for criminal business to be held in Kansas City on the fourth Mondays of June and December each year. The clerk of the Kansas City Court of Common Pleas was to be ex- officio clerk of the Kansas City Criminal Court, and the marshal of the Kansas City Court of Common Pleas was required to serve processes of the Criminal Court. The judge was required to appoint a prosecuting attorney, to hold his office for two years. A Probate and Common Pleas Court in Jackson county was established by an act approved February 13, 1855. It was a court of record and named as above. A probate judge was to be elected in 1857 to serve six years. The court when constituted was to have exclusive origin:ll jurisdiction in all mat ters pertaining to the estates of deceased persons and of minors, and was to appoint guardians and curators, and was to have concurrent jurisdiction with justices of the peace and the Circuit Court upon all actions upon notes or ac counts for the recovery of money where the amount claimed exceeded $300, and did not exceed $1,000, exclusive of interest; and judgments of this court were to be Hens upon real estate situated in this county, in like manner and with Hke effect as judgments of the Circuit Court It was provided that there were to be four terms of this cpurt annuaHy, commencing on the third Mondays of February, May, August and November ; common pleas business to be trans acted only at the May and November terms. According to an act approved November 15, 1855, the Common Pleas Court was to thereafter hold two terms annually and as many adjourned terms as might be necessary to transact com mon pleas business ; and the Probate Court was to commence on the second Mondays in June and December By an act approved January 14, i860, this court was given original concurrent jurisdiction with the Circuit Court except 328 History of Kansas City. in the township of Kaw, andby an act approved February i, 1871, the Pro bate and Common Pleas Court was abolished. A Court of Law and Equity in Jackson county was established February 18, 1873, the judge of which was to exercise aH the powers of a circuit judge in civil cases, and to be elected at the general election of 1874, and afterward once in six years. The governor of the State was by this law required to ap point and commission a judge to act in this Law and Equity Court until the general election aforesaid. The salary of the judge of this court was to be $2,000 per annum. There were required to be held four terms, two of them at Independence, commencing respectively on the first Mondays of May and November, and two of them at Kansas City, beginning on the first Mondays of March and September. The clerk of the Circuit Court of Jackson county was to be ex-officio clexk of this court By an amendment of January 14, 1875, the two terms held at Independence were to commence on the first Mondays of June and December. Robert E. Cowan was appointed judge of this court February 18, 1873, by the governor, Silas Woodson, and the first business of the court was transacted March 3, following. Judge Cowan was the only judge of this court, which continued in existence until December 31, 1880, this being the date of the last entry upon the records. Wallace Laws was the only clerk of this court. The Probate and Common Pleas Court abolished as above narrated Feb ruary I, 1 87 1, was succeeded by two separate courts — the Criminal Court of Jackson county, and the Probate Court of Jackson county, both established February 2, 1871. The judge of the Criminal Court was made ex-officio judge of the Probate Court, and the clerk of the Criminal Court was likewise made ex-officio clerk of the Probate Court This arrangement was continued until 1880, when the two courts were made entirely distinct, each having its own judge and clerk. The judges of the two courts were : First, the Hon. Robert C. Ewing, from 1871 to 1874, when he resigned, and was succeeded by the Hon. Henry P. White, who was appointed in the spring of 1874 to fill the vacancy caused by Judge Ewing's resignation, and who was elected in the fall of 1874. When the two courts were made distinct in 1880 Judge White was elected judge of the Criminal Court, and was re-elected in 1886. Thomas Phelan was the first clerk of the two courts, serving from March, 1 871, to 1873, when he was succeeded by W. H. Winship. John H. Thompson became clerk in January, 1875, and was succeeded in November that year by John T. Wil son, who remained clerk of the Criminal Court after the separation until Jan uary I, 1883, when he was succeeded by Charles H. Vincent, the present clerk, who was elected in November, 1882, and re-elected in November, 1886. The judges of the Probate Court, since it became distinct, have been the Hon. O. P.W. Bailey, from January, 1881, to January, 1887, when he was suc ceeded by the present judge, J. E. Guinotte. James H. Smith became clerk of this court in January, 1881, and is still serving in that position. ^S' *y SS Balls Sans irH»~.S* The Bench and Bar. 329 The Kansas City Court of Appeals was established in 1884 by an amend ment to the constitution of the State. The language of the amendment was : " There is hereby estabHshed at Kansas City an appellate court, to be known as the Kansas City Court of Appeals, the jurisdiction of which shall be co extensive with all the counties of the State except those embraced in the St. Louis Court of Appeals. There shall be held in each year two terms of said Kansas City Court of Appeals, one commencing on the first Monday in March, and one on the first Monday in October. The Kansas City Court of Appeals shall consist of three judges, who shall be elected by the qualified voters of the counties under the jurisdiction of said court, and shall be residents of said ter ritorial appellate district" The above is section 2 of the concurrent resolution submitted to the voters of the territory in which the proposed court was to have jurisdiction in case ^ the amendment should be adopted. By section 4 of the same resolution the governor was required to appoint three judges, each to serve four years from January i, 1885, and by section 10 of the same concurrent resolution the sal aries of the judges were fixed at $3,500 per year. In Kansas City this amend ment received at the general election in November, 1884, a vote of 3,328 as against 404 cast in opposition. The governor, in accordance with this amend ment as adopted, appointed as judges of this court, John F. Philips, James El lison and W. P. HaH. The court first met in Chambers, February 9, 1885. Finis C. Farr was appointed clerk of the court, John W. Booth, marshal, J. W. Raithel, janitor, and H. H. Crittenden, deputy clerk. Mr. Crittenden resigned his position May i, 1887, and S. K. Farr was appointed his successor on the same day. J. F. Mister was appointed court reporter May 4, 1885. The -same officers still hold their positions. An act of the General Assembly was approved February 3, 1885, which provided that at the general election of 1888 the voters are to elect three judges of this court, who are to determine by lot the duration of their several terms of office, which shall be respectively four, eight and twelve years, and every four years thereafter one judge of this court is to be elected who shall serve twelve years, his term to begin on the first Monday in January after his election. The judge having the oldest license to practice law in the State was to be the presiding judge of the court This court was established for the pur pose of relieving the Supreme Court of the State, whose docket was over crowded, and about six hundred cases were transferred to this court immedi ately upon its establishment It has original exclusive jurisdiction in civH cases where the amount involved does not exceed $2,500, and also in aH crim inal cases except felonies. It has original jiirisdiction to issue writs of habeas corpus, quo warranto, mandamus, certiorari, and other remedial writs, and to hear and determine the same, and has superintending control of all inferior courts in the fifty-nine counties composing the District throughout which it has jurisdiction. 330 History of Kansas City. It will be noticed from what has been said above, that the year 1871 was a kind of turning point in the history of the courts of the county and of Kan sas City. The acts of that year were designed to abolish and did abolish all courts within the county except the Circuit Court and to institute a new era in the county's judicial system. In pursuance of this plan it was provided that Jackson county should constitute one judicial district, and that two terms of the court should be held annually at Kansas City. The Criminal and the Pro bate Courts were created and terms of each were to be held at Kansas City as well as at Independence. These acts also provided that clerk's offices should be opened and kept at Kansas City. By this legislation was commenced the experiment of a dual county seat, and in it every one supposed there was suf ficient to meet the demands of the city and county. Very soon, however, it was found necessary to increase the facilities of the courts. To accomplish this object the Special Law and Equity Court was es tablished, and given exclusive jurisdiction in cases of appeal from justices of* the peace in civil cases, and concurrent jurisdiction with the Circuit Court ex cept in cases involving the title to real estate, and in such cases was given ju risdiction only when the circuit judge was disqualified. This Special Law and Equity Court went out of existence in 1881 by constitutional provision, and a second division of the Circuit Court was established to take its place. It is be- Heved this brief statement will make more clear the history and relations of the various courts in the county and in the city. The Recorder's Court was known, previously to 1859, as the Mayor's Court. In that year the Recorder's Court was established, and the first entry upon the city records relating thereto was made AprH 9. This entry consists of a copy of an ordinance, divided into eight sections, prescribing the duties of the recorder, these duties consisting in the punishment of offenses against the city ordinances. The provision in the ordinance establishing the Record er's Court was that all the judicial powers and duties previously vested in the mayor were henceforth to be vested in the city recorder, and in all trials under the ordinances of the city, the recorder's court was to be governed by the rules in force previously and applicable to the mayor in similar cases. The "Amended Charter," adopted in 1875, requires the recorder to issue warrants for the arrest ofany offender, when complaint is made on theoath or affirma tion of any person competent to testify, or upon information in writing by the city attorney ; the warrant to be directed to the chief of police, and he is re quired to try the offender forthwith, except in cases of a proper continuance, which can not exceed ten days. The powers of the Recorder's Court may be stated thus: It has original and exclusive jurisdiction in aH matters coming under the ordinances of the city. Section 10, chapter 36, of the Revised Ordinances of the city provides that any person accused before the city recorder, shall be entitled to have his case The Bench and Bar. 331 tried by a jury of six competent jurors, upon depositing with the clerk of the recorder's court a sum sufficient to pay the fees of the jury, the fees to be ap plied to that purpose in case the accused be convicted ; but to be returned in case he be acquitted. Appeals are allowed defendants upon their giving bonds and making affidavit, as required in cases of appeal from justices of the peace- The term of the recorder is one year, and since 1859 the recorders have been: John W. Summers, 1859 and i860; George W. Toler, 1861 and 1862; A. Ellenberger, 1863 and 1864; C. A. Carpenter, 1865 and 1866; P. Lucas, 1867; C. A. Carpenter, 1868; W. H. Sutton, 1869; C. A. Carpenter, 1870; D. A. N. Grover, 1871 ; O. G. Long, 1872; D. H. Porter, 1873; James Far row, 1874; W. H. Sutton, 1875 and part of 1876; H. R. Kelso, the rest of 1876; D. ElHson, 1877; HamHton Finney, 1878, 1879 and 1880; John W. Childs, 1881 ; George R. Jones, 1882 ; C. M. Ingraham. 1883 and 1884; Jos eph H. Worthen, 1885 and 1886, and Joseph J. Davenport 1887 and 1888. THE KANSAS CITY BENCH AND BAR. The Hon. Abram Comingo, one of the most distinguished members of the Kansas City bar, was bprn in Mercer county, Ky., January 9, 1820, His edu cation was received in the common schools and at an academy in that State. He read law in various offices and was licensed to practice in 1848. He com menced the practice the same year at Independence, Mo , in partnership with Hon. William Chrisman, under the firm name of Chrisman & Comingo, this firm lasting until 1849, when Samuel H. Woodson was admitted to partner ship, the firm then becoming Woodson, Chrisman & Comingo. This firm lasted until 1856, when Mr. Woodson retired. The firm of Chrisman & Co mingo then continued until 1862 when it was dissolved. In 1861 Mr. Comin go was elected a member of the Missouri State Convention, in which he was a steadfast friend of the Union, and served until it was dissolved. In 1863 he was appointed provost marshal of the sixth congressional district by President Lincoln, under the enrollment act, and served until the close of the war, then resuming the practice of the law at Independence. Pie was elected to Con gress in 1870 and again in 1872 ; the first time from the sixth District, and the second time from the eighth District, thus serving in the Forty-second and Forty- third Congresses. In 1876 he formed a co partnership with James H. Slover, which lasted until 1882, he in the meantime having moved to Kansas City. In the year last named John F. Philips was admitted to the firm, which then became Philips, Comingo & Slover, and continued until 1883, when Mr PhH- ips was appointed to the Supreme Court Commission. Emmet Philips, son of the retiring member, was then admitted to the firm which became Comingo, Slover & Philips, and lasted untH 1885, when Mr Slover was appointed judge of the Circuit Court Since then Mr. Comingo has been engaged in the prac tice of the law, but without partners. 332 History of Kansas City. John W. Reid, formerly a member of the Kansas City bar, was born in Lynch burg, Va., June 14, 1820. In 1841 he removed to Missouri, and was for some years engaged in teaching school, at the same time reading law in Saline county. In 1846 he was admitted to the bar and practiced a short time, but when the Mexican War broke out he entered the United States army, and served as a captain through the war in the regiment of Colonel Doniphan. In 1847 he settled at Independence, Mo., and was there engaged in the practice of the law until 1853, when he was elected to the State Legislature, and re-elected in 1855. Mr Reid was the author of the Constitutional Amendment under which the State's indebtedness could never exceed $30,000,000. In 1855 he was appointed, together with C. H. Hardin and Thomas C. Richardson, to revise the statute laws of the State. In 1858 he was a candidate for Congress, but was defeated; in i860, however, he was elected and served during the portion of the extra session of 1861. Toward the close of the war he went to Liberty, Mo., and lived there about two years. In 1866 he removed to Kansas City and commenced the practice of the law in partnership with William B. Napton under the firm name of Reid & Napton. This partnership lasted about a year, when Mr. Reid retired entirely from the practice of the law, devoting his time after ward to his own real estate interests, which after the panic of 1873, became very important and valuable. Besides giving his attention to his own private affairs, he also devoted much time to building up the City of Kansas, and his labors in this direction were of great value. To him Kansas City is largely indebted for being what she now is — the great railroad and commercial center of the West Mr Reid, though of Scotch-Irish Presbyterian ancestry, was not a member of any church, his opinion being that a man's religious views were of but little moment provided his life were guided by honest motives, and with reference to a future life his position was simply that he did not know. He was always highly honored by the bar of which he was a member, and by the com munity in which he lived. His death occurred November 23, 1881. J. W. Dunlap, once a leading member of the Kansas City bar, was born in Monroe county, Va., March 13, 1845. His early education was obtained in the common schools of Virginia, but his pursuit of learning was interrupted by the breaking out of the Civil War At the age of sixteen he became a mem ber of the famous Lowrey Battery which formed a part of Stonewall Jackson's brigade. Upon the return of peace he ardently devoted himself to study, and in the faH of 1865 entered Emery and Henry College. One year afterward he entered the academical department of the Washington and Lee University, at Lexington, Va., where he remained one year and then became a student in the Law School of the same university. In 1869 he received the medal for being the best debater, and soon afterward graduated from that school, receiving his diploma from his old commander. General Robert E. Lee. He was married October 7, 1869, to Miss Mary A. Freeman, daughter of Dr J. H. Freeman ^'.i%f £M!/(ims a Bt^- f!'^ The Bench and Bar. 333 ¦of Lexington, Va., and immediately afterward removed to Kansas City. He soon became warmly attached to the city of his adoption and was rewarded for his devotion to her interests by frequent election to official stations. In 1 87 1 he was elected city attorney; in 1874 he was appointed city counselor; in 1 88 1 he was made police commissioner, and in 1884, he was reappointed to the same position. On December 30, 1884, he was appointed to the judge ship of the Jackson county Circuit Court, to succeed Judge F. M. Black, who had just been elected to the .Supreme Bench of the State. Almost immedi ately upon arriving in Kansas City in 1869, he formed a law partnership with Henry N. Smith, jr., which lasted about a year. In 1874 he formed a similar partnership with Charles W. Freeman, his brother-in-law, which lasted until January i, 1885, when it was dissolved in order to enable Judge Dunlap to take his place upon the bench to which he had been appointed, but which he was not permitted to do, for on January 6, 1885, he was accidentally shot by the explosion of his own revolver falling upon the floor, and on the 15th of the same month died from the effects of the wound thus inflicted. Judge Dunlap spent sixteen of the best years of his life in Kansas City. Here he was always a public spirited citizen, a faithful official and an honest lawyer, and no one was to be found more earnest than he nor more active in the performance of the duties that came to his hand. Judge Dunlap's nature was b)oth sincere and vigorous. He was a successful lawyer, a strong speaker, a popular leader and a true friend. The chief element of his power as a speaker, before a jury, a court or a popular assemblage, lay in the fact that he was known to be sincere. His life was one of usefulness and loyalty to the trusts reposed in him, and from his full and accurate knowledge of human nature, and his rapidly increasing comprehensiveness in knowledge of the law and of general literature, his life was full of promise when suddenly and sadly cut short by death. Samuel Lock Sawyer, formerly one of the judges of the Circuit Court of Jack son county, was born in Mount Vernon, N. H., November 26, 18 13. He was frtted for college at Kimball Union Academy, Meriden, N. H., entered IJart- mouth College in 1829, and graduated there in 1833. He commenced read ing law with his father, Aaron F. Sawyer, and was admitted to the bar in his native county in 1836. He moved to Cleveland, O., in 1837 and to Lexing ton, Mo., in 1838. In 1839 he formed a partnership with Charles French, a noted lawyer of that day, which continued until 1855 when Mr. French retired from the practice of the law. He then formed a partnership with F. C. Sharp, which continued two years, and in 1857 he formed a partnership with Lee J. Sharp, which, like the one immediately preceding, was terminated by his part ner removing to St Louis. In 1848 Mr. Sawyer was the Whig candidate for circuit judge of the Sixth Judicial Circuit and was elected, and was re-elected in 1852. In 1861 he was chosen as a Conservative Unionist to the Constitutional 43 334 History of Kansas City. Convention in which he opposed secession and heartily endorsed the Critten den Compromise, but as this Compromise failed he thenceforth favored the South. In February, 1863, he formed a partnership with William Chrisman, of Independence, and in 1866 moved to the latter place. In 1 871 he was elected judge of the Twenty-fourth Judicial Circuit, composed of Jackson county. In this position he displayed much abiHty and gave such unquaHfied satisfaction that he received the endorsement of and nomination by both political parties and was elected to be his own successor in 1874. On account of ill health he resigned March i , 1 876. As judge of this court he was so highly esteemed and admired that the Jackson county bar passed a series of resolutions expressing sympathy for him in his failing health and speaking of him as "one whose courtesy, urbanity and patience, and whose equal and impartial justice to all had never been excelled in their knowledge of professional or judicial expe rience. " The patient industry, the untiring devotion and legal acumen exhibited by him in disposing of the unparalleled number of cases on his docket, involv ing thefmost complicated and intricate questions of law and of the greatest pe cuniary importance, giving satisfaction to all parties concerned, command our unqualified admiration of not only his conscientious discharge of duty, but also of his abilities as a lawyer and a jurist." Samuel H.Woodson, formerly one of the judges of the Jackson County Circuit Court, was born in Jessamine county, Ky., October 18, 1815. He attended col lege atjBardstown, Ky., and subsequently at Center College, Danville, Ky., where he graduated in 1835. He studied law at Transylvania University, Lexington, Ky., from which institution he graduated in 1839. He began the practice of his profession at Nicholasville, Ky., the same year, and in 1840 he removed to Jackson county. Mo., where he resumed the practice of the law. He formed but two partnerships in his profession, the first being with William Chrisman and Abram Comingo, which terminated in 1856, when Mr Woodson was elect ed on the Whig platform to congress, and what is still more surprising he was re-elected in 1858, his term of service expiring at the beginning of the war After the war he formed a partnership with Judge J. K. Sheley, of Independ ence, Mo., \Yhich existed until his appointment as judge of the Twenty-fourth Judicial Circuit vice Samuel L. Sawyer resigned, in March, 1876. In Novem ber, 1880, he was elected to the same position,and held it untH his death, which occurred June 23, 1881. Francis Marion Black, at present a judge of the Supreme Court of the State, and formerly judge of Division No. Two of the Circuit Court of Jackson county, was born in Champaign county, O., July 24, 1836. He was educated at the common schools, and by teaching school himself until he was twenty-two years of age, when he entered the Farmers' CoHege, New Cincinnati, O., remaining The Bench and Bar. 335 three years and taking the scientific and mathematical course. After graduat ing he read law two years at Urbana, O., and was admitted to the bar at Co lumbus, O. In the spring of 1864 he came to Kansas City, where he was con tinuously at the bar until 1880, a portion of the time as partner of William Holmes. In 1880 he was appointed to the Circuit Court Division No. Two to succeed J. W. Dunlap, who had been a short time previously appointed, but who died before performing any of the duties of judge. Judge Black remained on this bench until 1884, when he was elected to his present position as judge of the Supreme Court He has always been a hard worker, has a splendid mind and is recognized as one of the best judges in the State. Robert C. Ewing, the first judge of the Criminal Court of Jackson county, and ex-officio judge of the Probate Court was a son of the Rev. Finis Ewing, one of the founders of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, was born in Todd county, Ky., March 16, 18 16. He was educated at Center College, Danville, Ky., and at Princeton College, Ky., and in addition to the college course he learned to read with facility the French, Spanish and Italian languages. He commenced the study of the law in 1838 with his eldest brother, W. L. D. Ewing in Illinois, but after a short time removed to Missouri and completed his law studies with Attorney General S. M. Bay. In December, 1840, he was admit ted to the bar, and established himself at Richmond, Ray county. Soon after be made a tour of South America for the benefit of his health, and returning to Missouri resumed the practice of the law in partnership with his brother, E. B. Ewing. In 1856 he was a candidate for governor of Missouri, and received 40,859 votes against 46,993 for Trusten Polk, and 27,618 for Thomas H. Ben ton. In 1869 he came to Jackson county and was elected judge of the Crimi nal Court, and ex-officio judge of the Probate Court After holding the office nearly four years he resigned early in 1874, and accepted a law professorship in Lincoln University, Illinois. This position he resigned soon afterward on account of ill- health, but afterward accepted a similar professorship in Trinity- University, Texas, which after about a year he was obliged to relinquish for the same reason that compelled him to retire from Lincoln University. He then went to Silvfer City, New Mexico, but soon returned to Missouri whence he started for Helena, Montana, but died before reaching his destination. Judge Ewing was a man of fine intellectual powers, but through most of his life he had to struggle with IH-health and a feeble physical constitution, which to a great degree prevented the realization of his ambition. Turner A. GiH, judge of Division Number One of the Circuit Court was born in Kentucky in the fall of 1841, and at an early age came with his father, Mar cus GHl, to Jackson county. Mo. Turner A. Gill was a student in the Univer sity of Missouri up to the breaking out of the war, when he entered the Con federate Army, and attained the rank of captain. At the close of the war he came to Kansas City, and for a few months was engaged in mercantile pursuits. 336 History of Kansas City. He then went into the office of his former schoolmates, Karnes & Ess, and read law with them about a year, at the end of which time he entered the law de partment of the Kentucky University, and graduated there second in a class of seventeen. He then returned to Kansas City and engaged in the general prac tice of the law ; at first as a partner of A. M. Allen, now State Senator from this county. He was elected mayor of Kansas City in 1875, and again in 1876, at the close of the most heated canvass ever known in the city. In 1878 he was appointed city counselor, which office he held for one year. In 1880 he- was appointed judge of the Circuit Court to succeed Judge Woodson, and has since been elected twice to that position. He is one of the most satisfactory judges in the State, and is a candidate for judge of the Kansas City Court of Appeals. J. H. Slover, judge of Circuit Court Number Two, was born in Towanda, Brad ford county, Pa., December 31, 1838. He received his education at the com mon schools and at the Chicago University, from the law department of which he graduated in June, 1866. He was admitted to the bar in Jackson county, Mo., in the following fall, and practiced law in this county and in Kansas City until January, 1885, when he was appointed one of the judges of the Circuit Court, and was elected to the same position in 1886. Henry P. White, judge of the Criminal Court of Jackson county, was born at Potsdam, St. Lawrence county, N. Y., June 13, 1841. He attended the St. Lawrence Academy at Potsdam three years, and studied law in the office of E. and W. Crary, afterward Crary & Vance, at Potsdam, being in the office three years, teaching school at intervals. He was admitted to the bar in October,. 1865, and coming west remained a few months in St Louis, and reached Kan sas City February 22, 1866. He opened an office in partnership with William H. Sutton, the firm being Sutton & White until 1869, and then, after some years, formed a partnership with Frank Titus, the firm being White & Titus. He was city attorney in 1868, and again in 1870, and in 1874 was first appoint ed, and then elected judge of the Criminal Court, and ex-officio judge of the Probate Court In 1880 he was elected judge of the Criminal Court and was re-elected in 1886. Robert E. Cowan, the only judge of the Special Law and Equity Court, was born in Staunton, Va., in 1830, and Hved in the vicinity of his birth-place until the breaking out of the War of the Rebellion. He served in the State Legislature, and was afterward a member of the Secession Convention. Dur ing the war he served in the Confederate Congress, and also in the Confeder ate Army under StonewaH Jackson. In 1868 he came to Kansas City and formed a co-partnership with Colonel John T Crisp. He was next associated with Warwick Hough, and after Mr. Hough was elected judge of the Supreme Court of the State he practiced alone about a year, and then entered into part nership with B. L. Woodson. Early in 1873 the Special Law and Equitjr -l>iftnjECWmm5 t/Bro.H"^ The Bench and Bar. 337 Court was established, and he was elected judge of this court, and presided therein until the court was abolished by constitutional limitation in December, 1880. He remained in Kansas City engaged in the practice of the law until 1883, when he was elected by the Grand Lodge of the Knights of Pythias, keeper of its Grand Seal, when he removed to St. Louis, and there died July 14, 1887. Judge John F. Philips, presiding judge of the Kansas City Court of Ap peals, was born in Boone county. Mo., December 31, 1834. He attended the Missouri State University until the close of his Sophomore year, matriculated at Center College, Kentucky, in 1853, and graduated at that institution in 1855. He read law in the office of Gen. John B. Clark, at Fayette, Howard county, Mo., and was licensed as an attorney-at-law by Judge William A. Hall, of that circuit. He began the practice of the law at Georgetown, Pettis county. Mo., in 1857, and continued in practice there until the breaking out of the war in 1861. He then became a member of the Constitutional Convention, which met to determine the relations of the State to the Federal Union, and served in that body during its continuance. In 1861 he recruited the Seventh Cav alry, M. S. M., and served as colonel of that regiment during the war for the Union. Upon the return of peace he returned to the practice of the law at SedaHa, Mo., in 1866, and formed a co-partnership in the practice of the law with Judge Russell Hicks and George G. Vest, the latter one of the present United States Senators from Missouri. Judge Hicks retired from the firm in 1869, and the firm of Philips & Vest continued untH 1878. In the meantime Judge Philips was elected to and served in the Forty-fourth and Forty-sixth Congresses, and Mr Vest entered the United States Senate at the beginning of the Forty- sixth Congress. Mr Philips, at the end of his last Congressional term, returned again to the practice of the law at Sedalia, where he remained until 1882. At this time he removed to Kansas City and formed a co-part nership in the practice of law with the Hon. A. Comingo and J. H. Slover, the latter being now one of the Circuit Court judges of the city. This partnership continued untH March, 1883, when he was appointed by the Supreme Court of the State one of the judges on the Supreme Court Commission. This office he held untH January i, 1885, when he was appointed by the governor one of the judges of the Kansas City Court of Appeals, of which he has since been the presiding judge. Judge James Ellison, one of the judges of tlie Kansas City Court of Ap peals, was born in Monticello, Lewis county. Mo. He was educated, in part, at the Christian University, Canton, Mo., and he then attended the Christian ¦ Brothers' College at St. Louis, Mo. He read law in the office of his father. Judge James EHison, sr, at Canton, Mo., where he was admitted to the bar in 1867. Heathen went to KirksviHe, Mo., and entered into a law partnership with his brother, Andrew Ellison, the present judge of the Twenty-seventh Judicial 338 History of Kansas City. ¦Circuit of this State, and remained in partnership with him until he (Andrew EHison), was elected judge in 1876. He then continued to practice law throughout the northeastern portion of the State, with his office at Kirksville, until January i, 1885, when he was appointed one of the judges of the Kansas City Court of Appeals, which position he still retains. Judge Ellison was prosecuting attorney of Adair county in 1874 and 1875, and was a Cleveland elector for the First Congressional district in 1884. Hon. Arnold Krekel was born near Coeln, a village on the Rhine, Ger many, March 12, 1815. In 1832 he came with his parents to America, and settled near Augusta, St. Charles county. Mo. He was engaged on a farm till the age of 25. At the age of 26 he was elected a justice of the peace and served two years. At the close of his term he entered St. Charles College as a student and pursued a two years course. He then entered the law office of a Mr Bird, at St Charles, and in 1844 was admitted to the bar From 1846 to 1850 he was the official attorney of both the county and city of St. Charles. It 1850 he established the St. Charles Democrat, a Benton paper, which he edited for about two years. In 1852 he was elected to the Legisla ture as representative from St. Charles county. In 1856 he was a candidate for Attorney General on the Benton ticket. Until the slavery question be came the dominant issue he was a Democrat, voting for every Democratic Presidential candidate from Van Buren, in 1836, to and including Buchanan, in 1856. ' In 1858 he became a Republican. He was a delegate to the Chicago convention in i860, which nominated Abraham Lincoln, and was one of the Lincoln electors in Missouri that year. In 1861 he raised a battalion of Union Home Guards, and served as major and colonel in the Missouri State Militia for two years. In 1863 he was one of the unsuccessful radical Republican candidates for Judge of the Supreme Court. In 1864 he was elected to the State Constitutional Convention. Upon the organization of that body he was chosen its president, and in that capacity signed the ordi nance of emancipation by which slavery was abolished in Missouri. While presiding over the convention he was appointed by President Lincoln to his present position, that of Judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri. His commission bears date of March 31, 1865. In a preceding chapter may be found the names of most of the lawyers worthy of note who came to Kansas City previous to the close of the war, in 1865. Of this number there now remain in practice in this city but four, — these four being William Holmes, P. S. Brown, M. D. Trefren and John C. Gage. Following are the names, so far as can now be ascertained, of those who came to Kansas City in the year 1865 : John K. Cravens, Ermine Case, jr, WiHiam Douglass, Henry N. Ess, J. W. Jenkins, J. V. C. Karnes, L. C. Slavens, C. O. Tichenor, A. A. Tomlinson, S. P. Twiss, D. S. Twitchell and William Warner. Others, of more or less prominence, doubtless came during The Bench and Bar. 339- the same year; and in 1886 there was an influx of attorneys, many of whom yet remain at the bar. As might naturally be expected, the morale of the profession has under gone a steady improvement and elevation. The members of the bar in Kansas City stand at least as high as do the members of any other profes sion, in professional honor. They constitute one of the features of the city's life of which she may well be proud. On account of the large number of these lawyers now in practice it is manifestly impracticable to give even brief sketches of the careers of all in this work. And no matter how carefuHy a se lection may be made, there will be omissions which will tend at least to sub ject the compiler to the charge of favoritism, where no such intention was en tertained. Below wHl be found such sketches as it was practicable to prepare for this work, in which but scant justice is done even to the dead, in whose cases only was any attempt made to delineate their characteristics. The sketches introduced are given as nearly as may be in chronological order. William Holmes was born March 2, 1 814, in Harrison county, Ky. He was educated in the common schools of Kentucky, and during the years 1838 and 1839 read law in the office of Samuel P. Glover, in Palmyra, Mo. He commenced the practice of the law in Shdbyville, Shelby county. Mo., in 1839, where he remained until 1 841. In 1842 he was licensed to preach by the Methodist Episcopal Church, and preached for eleven consecutive years in Clark, Lewis, St Charles, Howard, Buchanan, and Scott counties. Mo. In 1857 he moved to Shawnee, Johnson county, Kan., where he resumed the practice of the law, and was for two years assistant prosecuting attorney of the county. In 1861 he was commissioned by Governor Robinson, probate judge of the county, and in 1862 he removed to Kansas City, Mo., where he formed a partnership with F. M. Black in 1866, the firm being known as Holmes & Black. The partnership was dissolved in 1 871, and Mr. Holmes retired from the practice of the law on account of ill health. In 1872 he formed a partner ship with O. H. Dean, which continued until 1879, under the name of Holmes & Dean. During the same year he formed a partnership with W. J. Ward, under the name of Holmes & Ward, which still continues. Philip S. Brown was born in Bedford county. Pa., October 14, 1833. He was educated at the public schools of Blair county, and at the academy at Holli- daysburg. Pa., under the Rev. Dr. John McKinney, a celebrated teacher, and a brother of the Rev. Dr. David McKinney, a most prominent Presbyterian divine. He studied law with John W. Thompson, a leading lawyer of Daven port, la., at various times from 1850 to 1857. In the latter part of this year he removed from Davenport to Kansas City, Mo., and in March, 1858, opened a law office here, and is thus the oldest resident attorney in the city. He continued in practice here alone until September, 1865, when he received into partnership Ermine Case, jr., one of the brightest lights of the Kansas City bar. 340 History of Kansas City. who remained with him untH about January i, 1865, when, on account of HI health he was obliged to retire from the active practice of the law. Upon the retirement of Mr Case, Mr Brown admitted to partnership E. M. Wright who had for some years been connected with the office, in charge of the collec tion department. The firm. Brown & Wright, continued until i88o, when Mr. Wright retired on account of ill health. In June, 1883, Leonard Daniels became a member of the firm, remaining in it about a year, when he retired to settle up his father's estate. In September, 1884, Benjamin H. Chapman, and a little later W. H. Brown, a son of Mr. P. S. Brown, entered the firm, which since then has been known as Brown, Chapman & Brown. M. D. Trefren was born at Lancaster, Coos county, N. H., February 9, 1822. He was educated at Vermont University, BurHngton, Vt., graduating in 1840, and studied law with John Manner, at CHnton, N. J. He was ad mitted to the bar at Trenton, N. J., in 1 850, and practiced law in that State until 1858, when he came to Kansas City, arriving here March 17 that year. He has been engaged in the practice of the law here ever since, except two years during the war, when he resided in St. Louis. When Mr. Trefren first came to this city there was but one court of record here, viz : the Kansas City Court of Common Pleas for Kaw township. John C. Gage, one of the oldest members of the Kansas City bar came to Kansas City in 1859. He graduated at Harvard College in 1856, and read law in the office of Abbott & Brown, in Lowell, Mass. He went to St. Louis in 1858, and came to this city in 1859. In i860 he formed a law partnership with William C. Woodson, and in 1866 with William Douglas, the firm name being Douglas & Gage. This firm was dissolved in 1869, and in 1 870 Mr. Gage and S. B. Ladd formed a co-partnership by the firm name of Gage & Ladd. In 1878 Mr. Small became a member of the firm, since which time it has been Gage, Ladd & Small. L. C. Slavens was born in Putnam county, Ind., August 13, 1836. He was educated in the classical department of the Asbury University, now known as the De Paw University, at Greencastle, Ind., graduating in 1858. He deliv ered the Master's oration in 1861, and at that time received the degree of Mas ter of Arts. He graduated at the law department of that institution in i860, and began the practice of the law at Greencastie, Ind., with Miles J. Fletcher, -under the firm name of Fletcher & Slavens. This partnership lasted until i860. At the outbreak of the war he removed to Covington, Ind., and formed a partnership with W. H. Mallory, under the firm name of Mallory & Slavens, which lasted until 1865, when he came to Kansas City, and has been in the practice of the law ever since, alone except for five years of the time. Stephen Prince Twiss was born in Charlestown, Mass., May 2, 1827, and received his education at Leicester Academy, Worcester county, Mass. He then entered the law school at Harvard University May i, 1850, and gradu- '¦'WtiyZ&.WrJuvruii The Bench and Bar. 341 ated there in the summer of 1852. He was admitted to the bar in March, 1853, and practiced law in Worcester, Mass., untH March, 1865. In the faH of 1856 he was elected to the Massachusetts Legislature and served one term. He was elected to the Common Council of Worcester in 1862, and in 1863, after a long and exciting contest, he was elected by the Board of Aldermen and the Common Council on a joint ballot, city solicitor, by a majority of one. In 1864 he was re-elected without opposition. In December, 1865, he came to Kansas City, opened a law office, and practiced law until December, 1880, when he was appointed by President Hayes Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the Territory of Utah. In the meantime, however, he had been elected to the State Legislature of Missouri in 1872, and re-elected in 1874 and 1876. In 1878 he was appointed city counselor, and in the fall of 1880 he was a Republican candidate for judge of the Twenty-fourth Judicial Circuit, a,nd was beaten by a majority of about 450, the circuit usually giving about 2,000 Democratic majority. After serving as judge in Utah until 1885 he re turned to Kansas City and resumed the practice of the law. After a year or two he retired from the practice and has since been engaged in the purchase and sale of real estate. A. A. TomHnson was born in Harrison county, O., in 1838, and was edu cated at Hopedale, in that State. He read law in Kentucky, and commenced the practice of the law at Catlettsburg, Ky., in 1861. At the breaking out of the War of the Rebellion he joined the army of the Union and served as colonel of the Fifth West Virginia Infantry until the rebellion was suppressed. In the fall of 1865 he came to Kansas City and entered into a law partnership with John K. Cravens, the firm name being Cravens & Tomlinson, which part nership continued untH 1869. Colonel Tomlinson and Edward H. Allen then formed a partnership which lasted until 1872 as Allen & Tomlinson. At this time a new firm was formed, known as Tomlinson & Ross, to which Mr. Dew was admitted in 1883, since when it has been known as Tomlinson, Ross & Dew. J. W. Jenkins was born in Warren county, N. Y., January 28, 1835. He was educated at Glens Falls Academy and at the New York Normal School at Albany, N. Y. He attended the Boston Law School, and was admitted to the bar at Schenectady, N. Y. He then moved to Iowa, and practiced law at Dubuque, and at Maquoketa, remaining at the latter place until 1862, when he joined the Thirty-first Iowa Infantry and served as colonel of that regiment through the War of the Rebellion. He came to Kansas City in 1865 and engaged in the practice of the law in partnership with F. A. Mitchell, the style of the firm being MitcheH & Jenkins. He was afterward a partner of H. B. Johnson untH 1868, when Mr Johnson was elected circuit attorney, and Mr. Jenkins was appointed judge of the Kansas City Court of Common Pleas. This position he retained until the court was abolished in 1870, when he re- u 342 History of Kansas City. turned to the practice of the law. In 1871 he formed a partnership with D. S. Twitchell, which lasted until 1880, since when Mr Jenkins has been alone. The only political office Mr. Jenkins has held was that of State Senator in Iowa from 1856 to i860. Nelson Cobb was born in Windham, Greene county, N. Y., March 19, 1811. He attended a classical school in Genesee county, N. Y., and afterward studied Latin and mathematics under a private tutor. His law studies were pursued in the offices of several reputable lawyers, and he began the practice of the law at Portageville, now in Wyoming county, N. Y., in partnership with Miles Moffit esq. He next practiced in Franklinville, Cattaraugas county, N. Y., his partner here being James Burt, who not long after went West, and who has for many years been circuit judge at Dubuque, la. Mr. Cobb's third place of practice was Ellicottville, Cattaraugas county, N. Y., in partnership with Ad dison G. Rice, for about one year. He then moved to Lawrence, Kan., where he formed a law partnership with Edward Clark, which however was dissolved within three months, about February i, i860. He then practiced alone until January i, 1863, when he went upon the bench of the Supreme Court of Kan sas, and served one term, at the expiration of which he resumed the practice of law in partnership with Charles Chadwick, esq. This partnership lasted until he came to Kansas City, December 25, 1867. Here he formed a partner ship with John D. S. Cook, which continued several years. In 1832 Mr. Cobb was elected commissioner of common schools of Portage, Livingston county, N. Y., and he was constable of the same town one year. He also served as justice of the peace in Portage three years, and afterward as county judge and surro gate of Cattaraugas county nearly four years, resigning his office three months before the four years expired in order to move to Kansas. In this latter State he served as chief justice one year, having been appointed by Governor Charles Robinson to fill a vacancy caused by the resignation of the Hon., afterward General Thomas Ewing, jr. Mr. Cobb was one of the Democratic electors for president in 1864 in Kansas, but of course failed to be elected. Daniel S. TwitcheH is one of the prominent members of the bar of Kansas City. He graduated from the law department of the Michigan University with high honors, and practiced law at Ann Arbor, Mich., five years. In 1865 he removed to Kansas City, where he has since resided, and where he is recognized as one of the leading members of the Kansas City bar For a full biographical sketch of Mr Twitchell the reader is referred to the biographical department C. O. Tichenor came to Kansas City in October, 1865, and formed a law partnership with William Warner, the present member of Congress from this District This partnership continued until 1883, since which time Mr Tich enor has been alone. Mr Tichenor is recognized as one of the substantial members of the Kansas City bar. The Bench and Bar. 343 J. V. C. Karnes was born in Boone county, Mo., February 11, 1841. He graduated from the University of Missouri in 1862 with the first honors of his class, receiving then the degree of Bachelor of Arts, and in 1865 the degree of Master of Arts. In the faH of 1862 he entered the law school of Harvard Col lege, and while there was caHed to a tutorship of Latin and Greek in the Uni versity of Missouri. While thus engaged he continued the study of the law, and in 1865 resigned, and in company with Henry N. Ess, who was a tutor of mathematics in the University, came to Kansas City and opened a law office in August, 1865; Messrs. Karnes and Ess were together as law partners twen ty-one years, when Mr. Ess retired from the firm and L. C. Krauthoff took his place, since which time the firm has been Karnes & Krauthoff. In 1869 Mr. Karnes was appointed a member of the Board of Education, and was continuously a member of the board for thirteen years, resigning in 1882. In 1874 he prepared a resolution establishing the Kansas City Public Library, which is now a permanent and valuable institution. In 1880 Mr. Karnes was the Republican candidate for judge of the Supreme Court, buf failed of election. Henry N. Ess was born in Audrain county. Mo , in March, 1840. He was educated at the University of Mjssouri, graduating in 1863 with the degree of Bachelor of Arts, and receiving the degree of Master of Arts in 1 866. From 1863 to 1865 he was a teacher of mathematics in the University, and both while a student and teacher showed great aptitude for mathematical studies. He read law while a teacher in the University and came to Kansas City with J. V. C. Karnes, August i, 1865, and was his law partner until July i, 1886, when he retired from the firm, desiring to devote himself thenceforth to a special line of real estate practice, and since then he has been thus engaged. William Douglas was another of the old attorneys of Kansas City, who is yet weir remembered by many still at the bar. He was born January 14, 1822, in WheeHng, W. Va. He commenced the practice of law in BooneviHe, Mo., and was for some time the senior partner in the law firm of Douglas & Hayden. He removed to Kansas City, Mo., in the summer of 1855, and was law partner of John C. Gage, of this city, for a short time, afterward practicing alone. On account of iH health he removed to California in the spring of 1875, and died in San Francisco August 2, 1876. He was married October 19, 1863, to Florence W. Barrow, youngest daughter of J. A. Barrow, esq., of Woolden Hall, Lancashire, England. Only one son survives, Percy, born Oc tober 4, 1866. Mr Douglas was one of the most able lawyers ever in the city, He was a fine scholar, both classical and legal, and was also an accomplished orator He delivered the oration at the opening of the railroad bridge across the Missouri River, at Kansas City. He was in the habit of delivering political speeches, and was very popular in his address. He was a member of the State Convention in 1861, and in that convention madea number of strong speeches 344 History of Kansas City. in favor of the Union. He was of commanding presence, stood about six feet high and weighed two hundred and twenty-five pounds. As an orator his style was terse, strong, forcible and impressive. Occasionally he indulged in wit and humor, but not so much or so frequently as to detract from the dig nity of his utterances before a court or jury. Henry B. Bouton was born in Cattaraugus county, N. Y., February 22, 1815. His parents moved to Trumbull county, O., when he was quite young, and he obtained his education in the common schools there and at Farming- ton Seminary, in the same county. He sei^ved for some time in the record er's office and also in the auditor's office at Warren, O., and then, having stud ied law somewhat in the meantime, he moved to Kentucky or Tennessee, where he supported himself by teaching school, and at the same time contin ued the study of the law. He afterward moved to Missouri and practiced law in Springfield, this State, six years. He also practiced in Harrisonville, Mo., some time, but how long is not known. In 185 1 he moved to Kansas City, and in 1852 was married to Miss N. J. Peery, daughter of Edward T. Peery, by whom he had six children, three of whom still survive. After settiing in Kansas City he formed a law partnership with B. P. Putnam, which lasted only a short time, and in 1859 or 186.0 he became the head of the firm of Bouton, Otter & Reid. This firm, however, was broken up by the breaking out of the rebellion, Mr. Reid joining the Southern army and Mr. Otter going away, where is not now known. After this Mr. Bouton had no partners, practicing alone until his death, which occurred in the fall of 1868. Mr. Bouton is well remembered by many of the present members of the Kansas City bar on account of his peculiarities as a lawyer, one or two of which may with propriety be here introduced. Lawyers well know, that in cases of appeal, the appellant is required to state that the appeal is not taken for vexation or delay. On one occasion Mr. Bouton found it necessary, in or der to gain time, to take an appeal, and in drawing up his papers he made the statement that the appeal was not taken for vexation, "but for delay." The case was continued from term to term with this language unnoticed, but finally his attention was directed to the peculiar wording of the appeal, and he was inquired of as to whether he intended it to be that way, and if so, what defense he had to make, to which" he repHed that the only reply he had to make was that the papers as drawn, expressed the truth, whereupon the case was imme diately thrown out of court. On another occasion Mr Bouton was pleading a case in the court of a Jus tice Howe. In the course of his remarks he was very severe on certain rulings of the justice, previously made in the case, and this severity continued so long that the justice became very angry. He therefore ordered the constable to " adjourn the court while he whipped Judge Bouton." At this Mr Bouton, perhaps becoming alarmed, began expostulating with the justice, saying.' J'lisfijyeemiaansS:^'-- '1^ The Bench and Bar. 345 " Why, Justice Howe, you don't mean that ! You know I don't mean any thing. My language was nothing but gammon !" etc., etc. The justice being satisfied with this explanation, said : " All right, Mr. Bouton. Constable, open court, and Mr. Bouton, you may proceed with your argument." Not withstanding his many peculiarities Mr. Bouton was universally regarded as a very able lawyer, and was at all events a self-made man. Robert W. Quarles was born in Indiana, in 1842. His uncle, Robert Wal pole, was one of the most distinguished lawyers ever known to the bar of In diana. Mr. Quarles was brought up principally in Kansas City, and in 1866 entered the law office of Karnes & Ess, reading with them about a year. He then commenced practice for himself and has been in the general practice ever since. He has always been a great student and is one of the best informed men in general history of any at the Kansas City bar. In 1886 he was ap pointed city counselor, an office he has since held. For ten years or more he has been distinguished as the lawyer politician, and though holding no office himself, other than the one mentioned above, he has been influential in mak ing and unmaking other men. He was chairman of the city Republican Ex ecutive Committee for a number of years. As a lawyer he stands high, and has a very fine personal character. John D. S. Cook was born in Ulster county, N. Y. He was educated at Delaware Academy in Franklin, Delaware county, N. Y., and at Union Col lege, graduating from the latter institution in 1859, and from the Albany Law School in 1861. He commanded a company in the Twentieth New York State MHitia (Eightieth New York Volunteers), for three years during the war. Upon the return of peace he moved to Missouri and practiced law in Caldwell county, from 1865 to 1869, removing to Kansas City during the latter year. From 1874 to 1878 he was in partnership with Nelson Cobb, and since 1885 he has been the leading member of the law firm of Cook & Gossett. Arthur M. AHen was born in Fairfax county, Va., in January, 1836. He was educated at a private academy taught by Patrick Renny, graduating in 1852. He studied law with WHliam H. Delaney, of Fairfax county, Va., and practiced in that State until 1856, when he was appointed United States dep uty surveyor for Kansas and Nebraska. He was admitted to the bar in 1861, and began the practice of the law in Kansas City in 1866, and has been here ever since. He was in partnership with Turner A. Gill from [869 to 1874, otherwise he has been withoyt partners. He was elected representative in the Legislature in 1 880, serving one term, and in 1884 was elected State senator, which position he now holds. T. V. Bryant was born in Jessamine county, Ky, in 1838. He was edu cated at Bethany College, West Virginia, and read law with the firm of Chris man & Sawyer, at Independence, Mo. He was admitted to the bar in Jack son county and commenced the practice of the law in 1866, as a member of 3 46 History ot Kansas City. the firm Woodson, Sheley & Bryant Mr Bryant having his office in Kansas City, the other members of the firm being located at Independence. Some years afterward Mr Bryant formed a partnership with Meade Woodson, under the firm name of Woodson & Bryant which lasted until the summer of 1873, when he formed a copartnership with D. B. Holmes, which lasted until July I, 1887, since which he has been alone. Mr Bryant was elected to the State Senate in 1880 and served one term. Sanford B. Ladd was born in Milford, Mich., September 11, 1844, and graduated from the University of Michigan in June, 1865, in the classical de partment He read law in the office of George V. N. Lothrop, Detroit Mich., during the years 1865 and 1866, and was admitted to the bar by the Supreme Court of Michigan, at Lansing, in August, 1867. He came to Kansas City December i, 1867, and in 1869 became a partner with John C. Gage, the firm name being Gage & Ladd. Gardiner Lathrop was born in 1850 in Madison, Wisconsin. His father, John H. Lathrop, LL. D., was chancellor of the University of Wisconsin, had been previously chanceHor of the University of Missouri and came back to the latter institution in i860. Gardiner Lathrop graduated at the University of Wisconsin in 1867, taking the first honors of his class. He then went to Yale College remaining two years and taking the second honors of his class there, the same honor that his father had taken in the same institution just fifty years before. He then came to Kansas City and read law in the office of Karnes & Ess three years. In the fall of 1873 he entered Harvard Law School where he read law two years. He then returned to Kansas City and commenced the practice of the law as a partner of W. M. Smith, the name of the firm being Lathrop & Smith. Mr Lathrop is attorney for the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad Company, and also for the Chicago & Alton Railroad Company, and is considered one of the most successful lawyers at the Kansas City bar. Hon. Warwick Hough, once a prominent member of the Kansas City bar, was born in Loudon county, Va., January 26, 1836. He graduated with honor at the State University of Missouri, in 1854 and studied law during the years 1857 and 1858 in the office of General E. L. Edwards, at Jefferson City, Mo. He was admitted to the bar in January, 1859 and in i860 formed a law part nership with Hon. J. Proctor Knott then attorney- general of Missouri, which. partnership lasted until the spring of 1861. In 1865, the provisions of the Drake Constitution operating against his practicing law in Missouri, he opened an office in Memphis, Tenn., but in 1867, upon the abolition of the test oaths for attorneys in Missouri, he removed to Kansas City, where he was engaged in the practice of the law until 1874, when he was elected one of the judges of the Supreme Court of the State. In this position he served until January i,. 1885, when he removed to St Louis and there became the senior member of the firm of Hough, Overall & Judson. The Bench and Bar. 347 R. L. Yeager was born in Shelby county, Ky., August 26, 1843. He was educated at St Paul's CoHege, Elmira, Mo., graduating in 1861. He afterward attended the Law University at LouisviHe, graduating there in 1867. He was admitted to practice the same year and opened an office in Kansas City in the spring of 1868. He formed his first law partnership with John T. Campbell, the firm name being Campbell & Yeager, which lasted until 1877. He then formed a partnership with John L. Peak which still continues. He has been for many years a member of the Kansas City School Board, and is now its president. G. F. Ballingal was born in Louisville, Ky., in 1844. He was educated at the Ohio University and at the Asbury University, Greencastle, la. He then attended the Law University at Louisville, Ky., and was admitted to the bar in that city. He immediately opened an office there and after some practice removed to Kansas City in the fall of 1868, and has remained here ever since. He was at one time a partner of William Douglas and for several years a part ner of Colonel Nicholson. From 1874 to 1876 himself and Nat Gwynne were partners. In 1876 he was elected to the State Senate, in which body he served four years, and in 1880 made the race for nomination to Congress in a convention by which no nomination was made on account of a split in the con vention itself for which reason the Democratic party lost control of the district and it has since been represented in Congress by a Republican. Mr. Ballingal has since devoted himself to the practice of the law in both the State and Fed eral Courts. Jacob S. Boreman was born in what is now West Virginia, and came to Kansas City about 1859 and served for some years as judge of the Kaw town ship Court of Common Pleas, retiring from that position in 1868. For about a year he was editor of the Evening Bulletin, and in 1872 was appointed by President Grant associate justice of Supreme Court of the Territory of Utah. He was reappointed in 1876 and served until 1880, when he was succeeded in that position by Judge Stephen P. Twiss. During Judge Twiss's term on the supreme bench of the Territory, Judge Boreman occupied himself with the practice of the law at Salt Lake City, and when Judge Twiss retired from the bench Judge Boreman was again appointed to the position, which he now holds. C. J. Bower was born in Ross county, O., April 27, 1843, He removed to Kentucky in boyhood and was educated at the Des Peres Institute in St. Louis county. Mo., and at Wittenberg College, Springfield, O. He graduated at the Cincinnati Law School as a member of the class of 1868, having previously served in the Confederate army. Fourth Kentucky Cavalry, during the War of the RebeHion. He came to Kansas City September 2, 1868, and has been here continuously ever since, engaged in the practice of the law, most of the time alone, but from 1870 to 1875 he was in partnership with Robert W. Quarles, the name of the firm being Quarles & Bower. 348 History of Kansas City. WaHace Pratt was born in Vermont October i6, 1831. He removed to New York when very young, prepared for College at Canton Academy, St. Lawrence county, and graduated at Union College. He was admitted to the bar in Chicago, IH., in 1856, removed to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in 1857, and commenced the practice of the law. In January 1859 he formed a copart nership with Hon. John W. Cary, under the name Cary & Pratt, which con tinued for many years. In May, 1 869, he removed to Kansas City and in 1872 formed a partnership with Hon. W. S. Rockwell and Watson J. Ferry, under the name of Pratt RockweH & Ferry, which continued until January, 1872, when Mr. Rockwell withdrew. The other partners continued business under the name of Pratt & Ferry untH the spring of 1875 when the firm of Pratt, Brumback & Ferry was organized by the addition of Judge Jefferson Brum back. This firm continued untH January i, 1887, when Judge Brumback with drew and the Hon. George W. McCrary took his place, the firm name being changed to Pratt McCrary & Ferry. On December i, 1887, Mr Frank Ha- german was admitted as a member and the firm name changed to Pratt, Mc Crary, Ferry & Hagerman. Mr. Pratt is the general counsel of the Kansas City, Fort Scott & Gulf Railroad Company, and of the Kansas City, Memphis & Birmingham Railroad Company. O. H. Dean was born in Pennsylvania, December 7, 1845. He was fitted for college at Tuscarora, in that State and went thence to the University of Michigan, where he was graduated from the classical department in 1868, and from the law department in 1 870. He then came to Kansas City and entered the office of Holmes & Black, afterward entering into partnership with Mr. Holmes, the name of the firm being Holmes & Dean, which continued untH 1880. He then became a member of the firm of Tichenor, Warner & Dean. Mr Tichenor retired in 1883, and the firm became Warner & Dean, this ar rangement lasting untH 1886, when James Hagerman was admitted to part nership, since when the firm has been Warner, Dean & Hagerman. Mr Dean confines himself exclusively to practice in the civil courts, his business being mainly with corporate and commercial interests, yet he also has a large amount of practice connected with real estate. John 'A. Ross, for seventeen years a member of the Kansas City bar, was born in Greenup county, Ky, in 1850. He graduated at Yale CoHege in 1870 and began the study of the law at Ashland, Ky., removing to Kansas City in 1 87 1. Here he finished his law studies in the office of A. A. TomHnson and was admitted to the bar in Kansas City in 1872. The next year he formed a law partnership with his preceptor. Col. Tomlinson, which has continued until the present time. W. J. Ward was born in Lafayette county. Mo., and received his education at Masonic College and at WiHiam Jewell College, Mo. He came to Kansas City in the fall of 1 872 and was elected Hbrarian of the Kansas City Law Li- C^J^rvud^^U^ O^^ The Bench and Bar. 349 brary Association the same fall, a position which he resigned in 1875. While retaining this position he read law and upon resigning it he formed a partner ship with E. A Andrews. Subsequently he became a member of the law firm of Holmes, Dean & Ward and upon Mr. Dean's retirement Mr. Ward con tinued with Mr. Holmes, the firm being at the present time Holmes & Ward. Watson J. Ferry was born at Oxford, N. J., March 27, 1844, and removed immediately afterward to Albany, N. Y. He was educated at Albany Acad emy and at St. Lawrence University. He read law with Attorney- General Leslie W. Russel, and with Messrs. Murray & Miller, of New York City. He was admitted to the bar in St Lawrence county, N. Y., in October, 1867. He commenced the practice of law at Carter, N. Y., and remained there until January, 1872, when he came to Kansas City and entered into partnership with Wallace Pratt and Hon. William S. Rockwell, under the firm name of Pratt, Rockwell & Ferry. The firm continued until January i, 1873, when it was dissolved by the removal of Mr. Rockwell to Colorado. The history of the firm maybe traced down to April, 1888, in the sketch of Mr. Wallace Pratt Mr. Ferry was appointed by Governor Hoffman, of New York, special county judge of St. Lawrence county in 1870 to fill a vacancy, and held the office two years. In 1885 he was appointed by Governor Marmaduke, of Mis souri, a member of his staff", and held the position until December, 1886, when he was appointed by the same governor one of the police commis sioners of Kansas City to fill a vacancy occasioned by the resignation of Hon. George M. Shelley. In February, 1887, he was reappointed to the same office by Governor Marmaduke, and still holds the office. He was a member of the House of Representatives of the Legislature of Missouri in 1883. John L. Peak was born in Scott county, Ky., April 5, 1839. He was educated at Georgetown College, graduating there in 1858. He entered the Law School at Louisville in 1859 and graduated there in i860. He came to Kansas City, Mo., in 1868, and established himself in the real estate and insu rance business, in company with Joseph N. Rodgers, now of Chicago. He commenced the practice of law in 1872 with Caldwell Yeaman, now one of the judges of the Circuit Court of Colorado, the firm of Peak Sz: Yeaman continu ing until 1875. Mr. Peak then formed a partnership with R. O. Boggess, which lasted until 1876, when he was elected prosecuting attorney of Jackson county, and entered upon the duties of the office January i, 1877. He was re-elected in 1878 and served untH January, 1881. He then entered into partnership with R. L. Yeager, which continued until 1887, when R. E. Ball was admitted to the firm, since when the firm has been Peak, Yeager & Ball. D. B. Holmes was born March 17, 1850, in Lexington, Ky. He graduated at the Kentucky University in June, 1870, and at the Harvard Law School in June, 1872. He was admitted to the bar in December, 1872, in Kansas City^ and has been in continuous practice of the law here since then. From July i, 45 350 History of Kansas City. 1873, to July I, 1875, he was in partnership with T. V. Bryant, but since then has been alone. Richard O. Boggess was born in Kentucky in 1833. He read law in the office of Judge Charles Eaves, of GreenviHe, that State, and was admitted to practice in 1855, at that place. After remaining there a short time he opened an office at Harrisonville, Cass county. Mo., in 1856, in partnership with Judge WiHiam P. Wood, and remained there in practice, with the exception of the four years of the war, until the fall of 1873, when he removed to Kansas City. Since that time he has been engaged here in the practice of the law, a portion of the time as a member of the firm of Boggess & Sloan, with John L. Peak during 1874 and a part of 1875, and with John K. Cravens the rest of 1875 and all of 1876. In 1881 he formed a partnership with MHton Moore, who has been in the practice of the law in Kansas City since 1872, the firm name being Boggess & Moore. Mr. Boggess's practice has been almost exclusively in the civil courts. Charles E. Small was born in Madison county. 111., July 27, 1854. He was educated at McKendree College, Lebanon, III, from which institution he graduated in June, 1874. He read law in Kansas City with Gage & Ladd during the years 1876 and 1877, and was admitted to the bar in 1878. He became the law partner of R. H. Field that year and remained with him until 1 88 1, when he became a member of the firm of Gage & Ladd, the name being then changed to Gage, Ladd & Small, as it still remains. Henry Smith was born in Clay county. Mo., October 28, 1845. He was educated at William JeweH College, and at the University of Michigan, taking the degree of Bachelor of Arts in June, 1866, and the degree of Master of Arts in 1870. He was admitted to the bar in 1867 in Kansas, and opened an office in Liberty, Mo., the same year, in partnership with Henry L. Routt the firm name being Routt & Smith. Afterward he formed a partnership with Thomas McCarty, which lasted untH 1873, and he then practiced alone untH 1877, stiH remaining at Liberty. He then came to Kansas City and formed a partner ship with N. M. Gwynne, which lasted untH 1883, since when he has been alone. Mr. Smith was elected to the Legislature from Clay county in 1870, serving two years, and in 1884 he was elected from Kansas City, and in 1886 he was again elected, and is the sitting member at the present time. W. H. Watts was born in HuntsvHle, Randolph county. Mo., March 18, 1843. He graduated at Central College, Howard county. Mo., in 186 1. In 1869 he entered the University at Beriin and remained until 1870, when he entered the University at Heidelberg, where he remained one year, and then entered the University at Dresden, where he remained two years, pursuing in all of these European institutions both classical and legal studies. After re turning to Missouri he practiced law one year in Howard county, and came to Kansas City in 1877, where he has since remained in the practice of his pro fession. The Bench and Bar. 351 John W. Wofford was born in Georgia in 1837. He was educated in the common schools of his native State, and studied law with General William T. Woffbrd, of Cartersville, Ga., where he was admitted to the bar. He remained there in the practice of law until 1877, when he removed to Kansas City, where he has ever since remained in the practice of his profession. Jeremiah T. Dew was born in CHnton county, IH., November 5, 1847, and was educated at McKendree College, Lebanon, III, graduating there in 1874. He studied law privately about a year, and during 1876 read law in the office of Martin & Case at Topeka, Kan. He was admitted to the bar at Kansas City, Mo., in the spring of 1878, and practiced alone until 1883, when he became a- member of the firm of Tomlinson, Ross & Dew. Marcus T. C. Williams was born August 14, 1841, at Washington Court House, O. He was educated at the Ohio Wesleyan University, Delaware, O., and read law at Washington Court House with his brother, MarshaH J. Wil liams, now one of the supreme judges of the State of Ohio. He was admitted to the bar at Hillsboro, O., in September, 1865, and immediately began the practice of the law at Carrollton, Mo., where he remained until October, 1877. In January, 1876, he became county attorney of Carroll county, and from 1876 to 1877 he was assistant United States district attorney. He was a member of the State Senate from 1872 to 1876, and was Republican member of the judiciary committee of the Senate during the whole time of his service in that body. He and Mr. Botsford came to Kansas City together, and have since then practiced law here under the firm name of Botsford & WHliams. James S. Botsford was born June 10, 1844, near Waukesha, Wis. He was educated in the high schools of Wisconsin and northern Illinois, and studied law in the office of John P. South worth, at Morris, III., during the years 1865 and 1866. At the conclusion of his studies he was admitted to practice law upon an examination by the Supreme Court at Ottawa, 111. He then came to Sedalia, Mo., where he practiced law until June, 1872. During his residence there he held the office of city counselor of Sedalia, Mo., and in 1871 was appointed by the president of the United States district attorney for the West ern District of Missouri, and thereupon removed to Jefferson City. In 1875 he was reappointed district attorney for a second term, and held the office until March, 1877. ^^ 1879 he removed to Kansas City, where he resumed the practice of law, in partnership with Marcus T. C. Williams, who had become his partner in 1876, while he was residing at Jefferson City. These two gen tlemen have since 1879 practiced law in Kansas City under the firm name of Botsford & Williams. The Hon. George W. McCrary was born in Indiana, August 29, 1835. He was educated in the common schools, and in an academy in Iowa, and read law with Hon. Samuel F. Miller, now justice of the United States Supreme Court He afterward received from Iowa College the degree of LL. D.,"was admitted 352 History of Kansas City. to the bar at Keokuk, la., in 1856, and commenced practice then and there. He has since practiced in the courts of Iowa and Missouri, and in the Supreme Courts of the United States, except as interrupted by official duties as stated below. From 185610 1861 he was in partnership at Keokuk with General John Bruce, now judge of the United States District Court for Alabama, the firm name being McCrary & Bruce From 1862 to 1868 he was a member of the firm of Rankin & McCrary of the same place, and from 1868 to 1872 of the firm of McCrary, Miller & McCrary, also at Keokuk, la. This firm was succeeded by that of McCrary, Hagerman & McCrary, which continued untH 1877. His partners in this firm were Colonel John W. Rankin, Hon. Daniel F. Miller, A. J. McCrary and James Hagerman. Mr McCrary was a member of the lower house of the Iowa Legislature from 1857 to 1859, a member of the Iowa Senate from 1861 to 1865, representative in Congress from the First Dis trict of Iowa from 1869 to 1877, secretary of war in the cabinet of President Hayes from 1877 to 1880, judge of the Circuit Court of the United States for the Eighth Circuit from 1880 to 1884. He came to Kansas City in 1884 and formed a law partnership with Wallace Pratt and W. J. Ferry, under the name of Pratt McCrary & Ferry, and has since been a member of that firm. He was appointed general counsel of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad Company in March, 1884, and stiH. holds that position. Henry Clay McDougal was born in Marion county, Va., December 9, 1844. His education was received in the common schools, and he studied law in the office of Judge Robert L. Dodge, at Gallatin, Daviess county. Mo. He was admitted and licensed to practice law in all the courts of Missouri, at Gallatin, November 6, 1868; was admitted to practice in and enrolled as a member of the bar of the Supreme Court of the United States at Washington, December 14, 1886; entered into partnership with Marcus A. Low, in December, 1874; formed a co-partnership with Colonel John H. Shanklin, of Trenton, the firm name being Shanklin, Low & McDougall, January i, 1876, and continued the practice of the law with offices at Gallatin and Trenton until January 20, 1885,. when the partnership was dissolved by the removal of Mr. McDougal to Kansas City, where he practiced alone until October i, 1885. At this time he formed a partnership with ex-Governor Crittenden, and on January i, 1886, they formed a co-partnership with Hon. Edward H. Stiles, late of Ottumwa, la., which co-partnership still continues under the firm name of Crittenden, McDougal & Stiles. Mr. McDougal was mayor of Gallatin from 1870 to 1872, and was judge of the Probate Court of Daviess county, from 1872 to 1876, but has never held any other office. Thomas T Crittenden was born in Shelby county, Ky, January 2, 1834, and was educated at Center College, Kentucky. He studied law at Frankfort,. Ky, in the office of his uncle, John J. Crittenden, and was admitted to the bar by Chief Justice Simpson of the Supreme Court of the State, at Winchester in ^¦'3 ^ Ty SBSall'S Sons. Xw ^' ' ^^ -/^-^^^ r The Bench and Bar. 353 1856. In the summer of 1857 he moved to Missouri, locating at Lexington, where he began the practice of the law. At this place he formed a partner ship with Judge John A. S. Tutt, and was cordiaHy received by Judge Ryland, and other men of that class, and soon attained a fine practice. He was com missioned by Governor Gamble lieutenant-colonel of the Seventh Regiment Missouri State Militia, which was commanded by Colonel John F. Philips of Sedalia, now presiding judge of the Kansas City Court of Appeals. In 1865 he was mustered out of the service and located at Warrenburg, where in 1 867 he became associated with General F. M. Cockrdl, at present United States senator from Missouri, and soon commanded an extensive practice. In 1872 he was elected to Congress from the Seventh District, and in 1876 was again elected. In 1880 he was elected governor of the State, a position which he held until 1884, when he was succeeded by John S. Marmaduke. He then re moved to Kansas City and formed a law partnership with Judge H. C. Mc Dougal. The Hon. Edward H. Stiles afterward came down from Iowa to be come a member of the firm. Benjamin H. Chapman was born in Green county. III, October 28, 1856. He was educated at McKendree College, Lebanon, 111., graduating from that in stitution in 1873. He read law a year at Springfield, III, in the office of Rob inson, Knapp & Shutt, and entered the law school of the State University of Iowa, graduating from that institution in June, 1875. He then entered the Un ion College of Law at Chicago, graduating from that institution in June, 1876. In August following he commenced the practice of law at Vandalia, III., and re mained there until July, 1884. He then came to Kansas City and entered into partnership with P. S. Brown, and is still a member of the firm. James Hagerman was born in Clark county, Mo., November 26, 1848. He was educated at the Christian Brothers' College, St Louis, Mo., and moved to Keokuk, la., in 1 864. At Keokuk, he read law with Rankin & McCrary, the latter of whom was secretary of war under President Hayes, and later judge of the United States Circuit Court. Mr. Hagerman was admitted to the bar in Missouri in 1866, and remained with Rankin & McCrary untH 1869, when he began the practice of the law at Palmyra, Mo., and remained there one year, returning to Keokuk, la., in 1870. Judge Rankin having died, Mr Hagerman became a member of the law firm of McCrary, Hagerman & McCrary, the lat ter gentieman being a nephew of the leading member of the firm. When Mr. McCrary went upon the Circuit Court the firm became Hagerman, McCrary & Hagerman, the latter being a brother of the leading member of the firm. In 1884 Judge McCrary was appointed general counsel of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad Company, and Mr Hagerman general attorney of the same company, retaining that position until 1886, when he came to Kansas City and entered the law firm of Warner & Dean, which has since been War ner, Dean & Hagerman. 354 History of Kansas City. L. C. Krauthoff", law partner of Mr. Karnes, was educated at Washington University, St. Louis, Mo. He received his education in the law principally in the office of Ewing & Smith, and was admitted to the bar when he was eight een years old, at Jefferson City, by Judge Dillon of the United States Circuit Court Upon the retirement of Mr Ewing from the firm of Ewing & Smith, Mr. Krauthoff took his place, and remained a member of that firm until July I, 1886, when he came to Kansas City to form a partnership with J. V. C. Karnes, since when the firm has been Karnes & Krauthoff. The Hon. Edward H. Stiles is one of the recent acquisitions to the Kansas City bar, but from his great ability and large experience he at once takes a prominent position among her many able lawyers. He was born in Granby, Conn., October 3, 1836, and began the study of the law before removing to Iowa, in 1856. He was admitted to the bar at Ottumwa, la., in December, 1857, and during his residence in that city, which continued until 1886, he was elected to various official stations, all of which he filled with credit to him self and satisfaction to his constituents. He served in both the lower and up per house of the Iowa Legislature, and two terms as Supreme Court reporter, and while in the latter position prepared and pubHshed sixteen volumes of Re ports which rank high among the law reports of the country. In 1886 he re moved to Kansas City, to become a member of the law firm of Crittenden, McDougal & Stiles, and as a member of this firm he is now engaged in the practice of the law. John W. Henry was born in Cynthiana, Ky., January 27, 1825. He was educated at Transylvania University, Lexington, Ky., graduating in 1844 from the law department. He practiced law a short time and moved to BooneviHe, Mo., in 1845. He was soon afterward elected attorney of the branch of the State Bank at Fayette, Mo., removed there and remained until 1857, when he moved to Independence, Mo., and practiced until 1863, when he returned to Fayette, and in 1865 went to Macon City. In 1871 he was elected circuit judge, and in 1876 he was elected to the Supreme bench of the State of Mis souri, serving in that capacity until the expiration of his term in 1887, when he came to Kansas City, where he has been engaged in the practice of the law ever since. Frank Hagerman was born in Clark county. Mo., April 27, 1857. He graduated at the high school in Keokuk, la., June 5, 1874, and studied law for two years in the office of Hon. P. T. Lomax, at Keokuk. He was admitted to the bar in the Circuit Court of Lewis county. Mo., and soon afterward in the State and Federal courts of Iowa. On January i, 1881, he began the practice of the law as a member of the firm of Hagerman, McCrary & Hager man, at Keokuk, which firm continued until January i, 1884, when James Hagerman removed to Topeka, Kan., at which time the firm name was changed to McCrary & Hagerman. On February i, 1886, Mr. Hagerman be- The Bench and Bar. 355 came associated with Joseph G. Anderson and James C. Davis, under the firm name of Anderson, Davis & Hagerman. This firm continued until December I, 1887, when he removed to Kansas City and became a member of the firm of Pratt, McCrary, Ferry & Hagerman. Mr. Hagerman is at present general attorney of the Kansas City, Wyandotte and Northwestern Railroad Company. The Kansas City Law Library Association. — The first preliminary meet ing looking to the incorporation of this Association was held September 6,. 1 87 1, at the office of John C. Gage. The members of the bar present were Warwick Hough, E. W. Kimball, C. O. Tichenor, John C. Gage, J. V. C. Karnes, J. W. Jenkins, Wallace Pratt A. A. Tomlinson, L. C. Slavens, F. M. Black, E. Case, jr, John K. Cravens and WHliam Sims. L. C. Slavens was chosen chairman of this meeting, and A. A. Tomlinson, secretary. A resolu tion was adopted to the effect that it was expedient to organize an association under the general corporation law of the State for the purpose of purchasing and maintaining at Kansas City a law library, " and that we associate our selves together for that purpose." John G. Jennings, who was agent of the Hon. A. C. Baldwin, of Pontiac,. Mich., offered the association a complete set of the American Reports to that date, together with the statutes and digests belonging thereto, in all about 3,000 volumes, the property of the Hon. Mr. Baldwin, for the sum of $13,500. The proposition was accepted and Wallace Pratt appointed to complete the contract. And thus was established the nucleus of a library. Articles of association were adopted September 12, 1871, by which it was declared that the association was formed for fifty years, for the purpose of founding and maintaining a law library. The capital stock of the association was fixed at $25,000, divided into one hundred shares. The first board of di rectors consisted of L. C. Slavens, John C. Gage, Wallace Pratt, Warwick Hough, F. M. Black, Nelson Cobb, E. W. KimbaH, J. W. Jenkins and A. A. Tomlinson, and the entire number of members was nineteen. The organiza tion of. the association was effected October 4, 1871, by the election of War wick Hough, chairman, and John K. Cravens, secretary. The first regular meeting of the board of directors was held October 5, 1 871, J. W. Jenkins was chairman and E. W. Kimball, secretary ; Henry N. Ess was elected treas urer, and library rooms were selected in the new court-house on the corner of Second and Main streets. On October 7, 1871, a permanent president, vice- president and secretary were elected, in the persons of John C. Gage, presi dent ; Wallace Pratt, vice-president, and John K. Cravens, secretary. James Gibson was elected librarian January 27, 1872. The library was kept in the court-house untH about May 15, 1886, when its removal was rendered neces sary by a severe storm which occurred on the eleventh of the month, having damaged the building to such an extent that it was no longer a suitable place for it to remain. It was then removed to its present location, room 226 Nel- 356 History of Kansas City. son building, on the southeast corner of Main street and Missouri avenue. The library at present consists of about 7,000 volumes valued at $40,000. The several librarians have been : James Gibson, W. J. Ward, J. J. Campbell, W. O. Thomas, T. S. Denison, Charies L. Dougherty, Will A. Smith and W. J. Custer, the present incumbent who was elected AprH 19, 1884. The pres ent board of directors and officers are : James Gibson, president ; W. J. Ward, vice-president ; P. S. Brown, treasurer ; Amos H. Kagy, secretary ; R. L. Yeager, auditor ; C. O. Tichenor, A. Comingo, J. V. C. Karnes and J. E. Gui notte. There are at present seventy-four stockholders in this association, each of whom pays into the treasury as an annual assessment, fifteen dollars. Other resident attorneys are admitted to the privileges of the library by a vote of the board of directors on the payment of twenty-five dollars annually, and non residents have access to the library when properly introduced to the librarian by a stockholder in the association. Of recent years the Legislature has been more liberally disposed toward this Association than formerly, donating to it now, annually, five copies of the Supreme Court Reports, five copies of the Reports of the Kansas City Court of Appeals, and five copies of the session acts of the Legislature. The stockholders of the Association now are as follows : A. M. Allen, Washington Adams, Robert Adams, jr., J. Brumback, Frank L. Brumback, Herman Brumback, L. Bacon, G. F. Ballingal, R. O. Boggess, Francis M. Black, T. V. Bryant, P. S. Brown, W. H. Brown, Nelson Cobb, A. Comingo, J. D. S. Cook, John K. Cravens, C. W. Chase, J. T. Dew, O. H. Dean, Leonard Dan iels, Henry N. Ess, George H. English, R. H. Field, James Gibson, E. P. Gates, Turner A. Gill, John C. Gage, J. E. Guinotte, D. B. Holmes, R. J. In graham, J. W. Jenkins, T A. F. Jones, Amos H. Kagy, J. V. C. Karnes, L. C. Krauthoff", S. B. Ladd, J. H. Lipscomb, Gardiner Lathrop, Milton Moore, T. R. Morrow, James F. Mister, J. L. Peak, Wallace Pratt, F W. Perkins, John F. Philips, R. W. Quarles, John A. Ross, J. C. Rieger, J. N. Southern, Samuel L. Sawyer, J. H. Slover, Henry Smith, L. C. Slavens, C. E. Small, C. O. Tichenor, A. A. Tomlinson, Frank Titus, L. Traber, S. P. Twiss, D. S. Twitchell, W. O. Thomas, W. J. Ward, William Warner, Henry P. White, B. L. Woodson, Ed. H. Webster, James R. Waddell, William H. Wallace, R. L. Yeager. ..../.w The Medical Pro,fession. 357 CHAPTER XVI. THE medical profession. Sketches of the Lives of Some of the Prominent Physicians of Kansas City, Past and Present. THE allopathic physicians who were in Kansas City at the close of the war were the following: T. B. Lester, Alfred B.Taylor, J. H. Bennet Samuel MiH- igan, Joel Morris, D. Y. Chalfant, Joseph M. Wood, D. R. Porter, S. S. Todd, Isaac M. Ridge and Theodore S. Case. Of these the first six are dead, and the last five still remain, though Dr. Wood, Dr. Ridge, and Dr. Case have aH retired from the active practice of the profession. Below may be found brief professional sketches of most of those who are dead, and of a few of the lead ing physicians who are now actively engaged in practice. Many others might have been added to those thus given had it been the design to exhaust the list of those who stand high in the profession as honorable and skillful practitioners, but on account of the large number of those who properly come within the limits of such a category, it is manifestly impracticable to present such an exhaustive list. It will be observed, however, that some of the younger physicians as well as the older ones have been given space, thus it is hoped making the chapter more of a representative one than it would otherwise have been. With refer ence to the physicians of the city as a class, it can be said of them that they are devoted to their profession, and are animated by a high sense of personal and professional honor, and that the city may well be proud of this class of her citizenship. Below follow short sketches, first of some of those who are numbered among the dead, and then of some of those who are living, the lat ter being arranged very nearly in the chronological order of their arrival in this city. T B. Lester, M. D., one of the ablest physicians ever in Kansas City, was born in Charlotte county, Va., June 24, 1824. He commenced the study of medicine with Dr. M. W. HaH, of Salem, 111., and attended a course of lectures at the Missouri University, now the Missouri Medical College at St Louis, dur ing the sessions of 1 845-46, and attended a second course at the same institu tion in 1849-50. After his experience in Illinois and in the army during the war with Mexico he came to Kansas City in 1854, and practiced medicine here untH his death. At the organization of the Kansas City College of Physicians and Surgeons (now the Kansas City Medical College), in 1870, Dr Lester was elected to the chair of principles and practice of medicine. He was made president of the faculty in 1877, and president of the Medical Association of Missouri. He was delegate to the American Medical Association in 1872, 46 358 History of Kansas City. 1873 and 1 877. He was also vice-president of the same association for the State of Missouri, for one year. His death occurred in January, 1888. Alfred Bryan Taylor, M. D., was born in Uniontown, Pa., November 2, 1847. His early education was received in the common schools of Ohio, and afterward at Marion College, Indiana. He began the study of medicine at Wabash, under the preceptorship of Dr. L. J. Dickens, but graduated at Rush Medical College, Chicago, in 1859. He afterward took an ad eundern degree at the Ohio Medical College at Cincinnati. After serving his country in vari ous parts of the Union Army during the war, he came to Kansas City at its close, and with Dr. Todd organized the College of Physicians and Surgeons, in which he became professor of anatomy. He was afterward appointed to the chair of surgery, and was at the same time lecturer on clinical surgery at the City and the Sisters' Hospitals. Dr. Taylor's attention was confined al most exclusively to surgery, he having made a specialty of surgery of the bones. In the treatment of chronic diseases of the joints by astringent inject ions, he was very successful, and proved that this is the only effective treat ment for this class of diseases. His death occurred in 1879. Isaac M. Ridge, M. D., one of the oldest practitioners of medicine in Kan sas City, was born in Adair county, Ky., July 9, 1825. He entered the med ical department of the Transylvania University at Lexington, Ky, where he graduated in 1848. During the same year he located at Westport Landing, now Kansas City. For about twenty- five years he practiced his profession in Kansas City, and during that time passed through three severe epidemics of cholera and two of small-pox. He retired from the general practice of medi cine about 1875, but has since then continued to attend a few of his old per sonal friends and the members of his own family. A. B. Sloan, M. D., one of the oldest medical practitioners in Kansas City, was educated for his profession at the Transylvania University at Lexington, Ky He practiced in Bates and Johnson counties. Mo., during the years 1848 and 1849, and from that time untH 1865 had a greatly varied experience. In the year last mentioned he settied in Kansas City, and has been engaged in the general practice of medicine ever since, meeting with excellent success. A full biographical sketch of Dr. Sloan will be found in another part of this volume. Calvin D. McDonald, M. D., was born in York county, Penn., January 23, 1835. He attended the University of Michigan and the StarHng Medical Col lege of Ohio. He came to Kansas City in 1871, and soon became a member of the Medical Association of this place. He has served as county coroner of Jackson county, and as a physician has met with more than ordinary success. Simeon Seymour Todd, M. D., was born near Vevay, Switzeriand county, Ind., March 10, 1826. He received a good common school education, his first teacher being a Mr Baker, a superannuated EngHsh barrister, the father of General Edward D. Baker, a distinguished Union officer during the CivH War, The Medical Profession. 359 and who fell at BaH's Bluff. Dr Todd took a course in the languages under a private tutor, and then entered the office of Dr William Davidson, of Madi son, Ind. He afterwards graduated at the Indiana Medical College, then lo cated at La Porte in 1849 "^ith the highest preferment of his class. In 1854 he went to California, and the beginning of the Civil War found him practic ing his profession in San Francisco. He was appointed surgeon of the Second, and afterward of the Fourth Regiment of California Volunteers, and served throughout the war In September, 1865, he came to Kansas City, and in 1869 was one of those who founded the College of Physicians and Surgeons, now the Kansas City Medical College. He was for many years the presiding officer of the faculty of this institution, and stiH fills an important chair in the corps of teachers. In 1872 he was elected vice-president, and in 1873 presi dent of the Missouri State Medical Association. Dr. Todd is still in vigorous health and an active member of the profession. Joseph M. Wood, M. D., was born in Mercer county, Ky., March 27, 1810. After the completion of his medical education he located in Clay county. Mo., in 1832, where he remained most of the time until 1857 when he removed to Kansas City. In the early days of medical practice in Western Missouri, he was regarded as second to none as a surgeon, and had a very extensive repu tation as such throughout the western country, and his success as a lithotomist won for him a wide reputation. Dr. Wood is now retired, but while in active practice he enjoyed, as a professional man, as he now does as a man, the re spect and confidence of all. D. R. Porter, M. D., served as assistant surgeon of the Fifth Kansas Cav alry during the war, and immediately upon its close came to Kansas City and established himself in the practice of medicine. He is a graduate of BeHevue Hospital Medical College of New York city, and has ever since his location in this city been engaged in the general practice of medicine, and is looked upon "as one of i*s most successful practitioners. He is professor of diseases of the skin in the Kansas City Medical College. ;, George W. Fitzpatrick, M. D., was educated at the Ohio Medical College at Cincinnati, O. He entered the Union army as assistant surgeon, and in that capacity attended upon the prisoners of war at Camp Chase. At the close of the war, in 1865, he located at St Joseph, Mo., remaining there until the following December, when he removed to Kansas City and entered upon the practice of medidne and surgery, at the same time giving attention to dis eases of the eye and ear. He pursued this course until about 1878 when he discontinued the general practice of medicine and has since then limited his professional attention to diseases of the eye, ear and throat. During the years 1 88 1 and 1882 he was medical director of the Grand Army of the Republic, Department of Missouri. A. L. Chapman, A. M., M.D., was educated at Bethany College, Virginia, 36o History of Kansas City. graduating in 1849. After several years of successful school teaching his Alma Mater conferred upon him the degree of Master of Arts in i860. In 1853 he attended a course of medical lectures at Charleston, S. C, and in 1855 gradu ated from the medical department of the St Louis University. He com menced the practice of medicine almost immediately, in Clay county. Mo., and remained there until 1868, when he came to Kansas City, and in the same year erected the building at the southwest corner of Twelfth and Walnut streets. Ever since arriving in the city he has been engaged in the general practice of medicine. In 1883 he pubHshed Tlie New Medical Era, a maga zine which attained a circulation of two thousand copies per month. John Fee, M. D., graduated at the University of the City of New York in 1865. He served as surgeon in the United States Army and Navy for several years, and then located at Macon, Mo., where he practiced medicine for a short time, and in 1869 came to Kansas City, where he has been ever since, most of the time engaged in the general practice of medicine. In 1881 he was appointed city physician and sanitary superintendent and by annual re-ap pointment held the positron until the spring of 1887, when he was succeeded by Dr. Frank Sturdevant, but in the spring of 1888 Dr. Fee was again appointed to the position, and is now the incumbent. In this office Dr. Fee has been exceptionally efficient, and Kansas City is largely indebted to him for her present excellent sanitary arrangements. Henry F. Hereford, M. D., was educated at McKendree College, Lebanon, III., and graduated from the medical department of the St Louis University in 1849. He commenced the practice of medicine at Westport, Mo., in 185 1, and was located there until 1873, with the exception of two years spent in California. In the year last mentioned he removed to Kansas City, and for a short time was in partnership with Dr. J. R. Snell. With this exception he has practiced medicine alone, and always with great success. Dr. Hereford organ ized the medical department of the University of Kansas City, and was presi dent of the faculty and professor of obstetrics up to 1886, when he resigned on account of failing health. He was, however, immediately elected emeritus pro fessor of obstetrics and diseases of women, which position he still retains. Dr. Hereford has been eminently successful as a phj'sician and is now, of the physi cians in Kansas City, the oldest continuous practitioner of medicine in Jack son county. John W. Elston, M. D., was educated at the Transylvania University, Lexington, Ky, and graduated at the BeHevue Hospital Medical College in 1 87 1. He served then as surgeon in the United States Navy until 1873, when he came to Kansas City, where he has ever since been engaged in the general practice of medicine, and during four years from 1882 to 1886 he was profes sor of materia medica in the University of Kansas City. John Wilson, M. D., was educated at the St. Louis University, graduating ^^tys'smnis Sor,s >"Si'^'"^ V xy ' ^^y7^>C The Medical Profession. 361 in 1866. He commenced the practice of medicine in Platte county. Mo., re maining there until 1868, when he moved to Humboldt Kan. Here he re mained two years, and then went to Sumner county, same State, remaining there until 1874, when he came to Kansas City, where he has been ever since engaged in the general practice of medicine, with much more than ordinary success. He was professor of dermatology in the University of Kansas City during the years of its existence. William C. Tyree, M. D., was educated at Westminster College, Fulton, Mo., and graduated at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, at Kansas City in 1876. He served as demonstrator of anatomy in that institution until 1 88 1. He was appointed adjunct to the chair of ophthalmology that year, and was cHnical lecturer on that subject until 1887, when he was elected to the chair of professor of ophthalmology. In 1878 he graduated in the Post Grad uate School of the University of New York, and secured special instruction in •diseases of the eye and ear, in the New York Ophthalmic and Aural Institute, under Dr. Knapp. Since 1878 he has given his exclusive attention to diseases ¦of the eye and ear. He spent a part of the last year in Europe in the pursuit of medical knowledge. James P. Jackson, M. D., was educated at the Michigan University, leaving there in 1866. He then went to St. Louis and attended a course of lectures at the St Louis Medical College during the years 1866-67 and 1867-68. He graduated at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, in 1873. Before this time, however, he had practiced medicine at Holt county. Mo., having located there in 1868. In 1877 he removed to Washington, Mo., and, remained there two years, when he went to Garnett, Kan., to take charge of a hospital for the Missouri Pacific Railway Company. In 1880 he came to Kan sas City to accept the professorship of clinical surgery in the medical depart ment of the University of Kansas City, a position which he has held ever since. Dr. Jackson has always been engaged in the general practice of medicine, and has met with great success. F. Sturdevant M. D., graduated at the Albany Medical College, now known as the medical department of the University, in December, 1869. He commenced the practice of medicine at Deposit Broome county, N. Y., where he remained until 1879, when he removed to Wamego, Kan., and on July 5, 1880, came to this city, where he has ever since been engaged in the general practice of medicine. He was surgeon for the Missouri Pacific RaHway Com pany from 1882 to 1887, and was city physician and sanitary superintendent in Kansas City from May i, 1887, to May i, 1888. John T. Eggers, M. D., attended the Wesleyan University at Mount Pleas ant, la., leaving there in 1876. He then attended Rush Medical CoHege, Chicago, and graduated from that institution in 188 1. He came thence di rectly to Kansas City, and during the year was appointed demonstrator of 362 History of Kansas City. anatomy in the medical department of the University of Kansas City, and re tained that position until 1888, when he was appointed professor of anatomy in the same institution and still holds the position. He has been engaged in the general practice of medicine ever since coming to this city. Jefferson D. Griffith, M.D., was born in Jackson, Miss., in 1850. His early education was received in the common schools, and his medical education at the BeHevue Hospital Medical College, N. Y., and at the University of New York, from the latter of which institutions he graduated in 1871. From the time of his graduation to October i, 1873, he was surgeon in BeHevue Hos pital, at which time he came to Kansas City. In 1874 he was appointed lec turer on physiology in the Kansas City Medical College, and occupied that chair until 1877. He was demonstrator of anatomy during 1877 and 1878, since which time he has been professor of anatomy in the college. Dr. Grif fith's practice was of a general nature until January, 1887, since when he has been engaged in the practice of surgery and consultation work. J. R. SneH, M.D., was born in CaHaway county. Mo., November 8, 1841. He received his literary education in the common schools of Callaway county,. and graduated from the Missouri Medical College in 1871. He had, however, previously practiced medicine four years in Texas and three years in Missouri. After his graduation he resumed his practice at Knob Noster, Mo., remaining there until January, 1877, when he removed to Kansas City and has been en gaged in the practice of his profession here ever since. His practice has al ways been of a general nature, and he has been without partners except dur ing the years from 1878 to July i, 1884, during which time he was in partner ship with Dr. H. F. Hereford. He has been professor of clinical medicine in the medical department of the University of Kansas City, and also dean of its faculty ever since its establishment in 188 1. R. R. Hunter, M.D., was educated at the Kansas City High School, and afterward was connected with the city hospital one year, the year 1874—75. He then attended the Jefferson Medical College at Philaddphil', graduating from that institution in 1876. He immediately came to Kansas City and en tered upon the practice of medicine, and was thus engaged until August, 1878,. when he joined the Howard Association of Memphis, Tenn., and served in connection therewith in Memphis, during the yellow fever epidemic of that year. In 1879 he went to Edgerton, Kan,, and practiced medicine in that State about two years. In 1881 he returned to this city, and in 1882 aban doned medicine for chemistry, to which he has ever since devoted his atten tion. He was elected Professor of chemistry in the University of Kansas City,. in 1884, and in 1886, when the college of pharmacy was established, he was elected to the same position in that institution, a position which he has since retained. He was appointed city chemist in April, 1887, and again in Aprih l^ The Medical Profession. 363 Eugene R. Lewis, M.D., was born June 7, 1853, in Randolph county. Mo. He was educated at Central College, this State, where he graduated in physical science. He then attended medical lectures at Jefferson College, Philadelphia, graduating in 1874. He at once removed to Kansas City where he began the practice of his profession. Soon after locating in this place he was appointed surgeon of the western division of the St. Louis, Kansas City and Northwest ern Railroad Company. He was one of the originators of the University of Kansas City, and upon its establishment took the chair of surgical anatomy and clinical surgery. He is secretary of the Board of Regents of the institu tion at the present time, and stands very high in surgery. George Halley, M.D., was born at Aurora, county of York, Ontario, Can. After taking a course of private lessons in the classics and mathematics he matriculated at Victoria College in 1865, and entered the medical department in May, 1869. In 1870 he came to Missouri and was elected assistant dem onstrator of anatomy in the College of Physicians and Surgeons in Kansas City that year. In 1872 he was elected professor of anatomy in the same college, and held also surgical clinics with the professor of surgery. He performed his first operation of ovariotomy in 1873, and was completely successful. Since then he has devoted much time to surgery of the visceral organs. Having perfect knowledge of anatomy, he is always bold in operating and pains-tak ing and laborious afterward. This is the key to the marked success of his operations. He has had a lower percentage of deaths than any operator out side of special hospitals. His fine constitution gives him ability to study and work more than most men, and he is still in vigorous health. He is now pro fessor of surgery in the Kansas City Medical College. N. J. Pettijohn, M.D., commenced his college career at the Michigan Uni versity, but left there in 186 1, in his senior year, in order to enter the Union army as a private soldier In 1863 he was discharged on account of disabHity, entered the medical department of the army, and was stationed at Washing ton, D. C, in charge of the hospitals on Mason's Island, until the close of the war He then established himself in the practice of medicine at Brookfidd, Mo., where he soon had a large and lucrative practice, and where he was also local surgeon of the Hannibal and St Joseph Railway Company. In 1878, on account of failing health, he gave up his practice and traveled through the Western States, for several years, and then with health regained he settied in Kansas City, where he has been ever since. In 1883 he attended a course of lectures at the Kansas City Medical CoHege, and graduated that year from that institution. Afterward he was appointed chief surgeon of the K. C, Ft S. and G. R. R. Co., and since then he has been appointed to the same position on the K. C, Wy. and N. W., and on the Metropolitan Street Railway Company of Kansas City, all of which positions he now holds. John H. Duncan, M. D., was born at Columbia, Mo., August 16, 1852. ^'''A'nE.QWm.m': iSTctrf The Medical Profession. 365 cal College and at the Kansas City Medical College, graduating from the lat ter institution in 1881. He immediately entered upon the general practice of medicine and remained thus engaged until 1884 when he went to Vienna, Aus tria, and for one year attended the General Hospital there for the purpose of increasing his knowledge and skill in the treatment of diseases of the skin and allied diseases, and since his return to Kansas City, in 1885 he has devoted himself exclusively to the treatment of the above classes of diseases. Andrew L. Fulton, M. D., graduated at the BeHevue Hospital Medical College in March, 1 870, and at the Victoria University in Canada, in April, 1870. In May, the same year he estabHshed himself in the practice of medi cine at Fort Scott, Kansas, and remained there until 1883, when he removed to Kansas City for the double purpose of continuing his practice and of pub lishing the Kansas City Medical Record. This publication, under his manage ment has attained a circulation of about 3,500 copies per month. In 1888 Dr. Fulton was elected professor of anatomy in the Kansas City Medical CoHege, a position which he stHl retains. As a physician Dr. Fulton enjoys a large and lucrative practice. John W. Jackson, M. D., graduated from the West Virginia Academy, at Charleston, W. Va., in 1853, from the St. Louis Medical College in 1863 and from the College of Physicians and Surgeons, N. Y., in 1873. He began the practice of medicine with his preceptor. Dr. George Johnson, in Franklin county. Mo., in 1862, and after his graduation in 1863 he entered the Union army as surgeon of the Fortieth Missouri Infantry, serving in that capacity until the close of the war. In 1865 he located at Labadie, Mo., and practiced his pro fession throughout Franklin county until 1876. In 1872 he was appointed chief surgeon of the Missouri Pacific Railway Company and organized the first railway hospital in the United States, at Washington, Mo. In 1880 he moved his headquarters to Sedalia, Mo., and organized the hospital department of the Missouri Pacific Railroad, its jurisdiction extending over the M. K. & T. R. R., the T. P. R. R. and the I. & G. N. R. R. and built a hospital at 'Fort Worth, Texas, and also one at Sedalia, Mo. He remained at SedaHa until 1883 when he removed to Kansas City, his jurisdiction having been extended over the W., St L. & P. R. R. In 1885 he resigned his position with the M. P. Railway Com pany- and has since been connected only with the W., St. L. & P. Railroad Com pany, as chief surgeon. In 1880 he was elected professor of the theory and practice of surgery in the medical department of the University of Kansas City. Besides the important positions held upon the various railroads of the West, Dr. Jackson has always enjoyed a large and lucrative practice of medicine and surgery. J. W. Bowman, M. D., received both his classical and medical education at the University of Toronto, Canada, graduating from that institution in 1867. He then removed to Williamsport, Penn., and practiced medicine there and in 47 366 History of Kansas City. the vicinity until 1875 and while there was one of the surgeons of the Pennsyl vania & Erie RaHroad. He then removed to the western portion of the Prov ince of Ontario and was engaged in the general practice of medicine there un til 1884. In 1879 he was appointed an associate coroner of Lambton county, and in 1883 he was appointed a member of the Board of Health for the same county. In 1884 he came to Kansas city and has been here engaged in the general practice of medicine ever since. W. Jackson, M. D., was educated at Elm Grove School, at Farmington, Mo., and graduated from the medical department of the University of Kansas City, in 1885. He then formed a partnership with Dr J. W. Elston, which continues to the present time. He at once attained a large and successful prac tice which he still retains. S. Emory Lanphear, M. D., received his collegiate education at the Kansas State Normal School and graduated from the Missouri Medical College in 1880. He practiced medicine at Hartford, Kansas, untH 1885 in which year became to Kansas City and has been here ever since engaged in the general practice of medicine. In 1885 he purchased the Kansas City Medical Index, a journal which was started in 1879 at Ft. Scott, Kansas, as the Kansas Medical Index and which was removed to this city in 1884. It was then consolidated with the Kansas City Medical Era and. Sanitarian and soon afterward purchased by Dr. Lanphear as above stated. The Index at the present time has a circu lation of about 6,000 copies per month. Dr. Lanphear is at the present time professor of diseases of the mind and nervous system, in the Universitj' of Kan sas City and professor of materia medica in the Kansas City College of Phar macy. John H. VanEman, M. D., graduated at the Medical College of Ohio, at Cincinnati, March 4, 1868. He afterward practiced medicine in Ohio one year and then, 1869 removed to Leavenworth county, Kansas, where he remained engaged in the practice of his profession until 1877 when he came to Kansas ¦City. Here he has remained ever since engajjed as previously, in the general practice of medicine. In 188 1 he was elected professor of clinical medicine in the Kansas City Medical College and has been retained in that position up to "the present time. The history of homeopathy in Kansas City properly begins in March, i860, when Dr Joshua Thorne opened his office on Third street betw^een Main and Walnut streets, as a homeopathic physician and surgeon. At that time few knew anything even of the claims of homeopathy, and a still less number of its advantages. Circumstances .soon threw Dr Thorne into prominence, and in a short time his capacity was taxed to the utmost. In i860 he gained from the old school ranks Dr Peter Arnoldia, who for many years had been a successful practitioner in Kansas City. This gentieman, now dead, was a man of large and Hberal views and a strong defender of the homeopathic law of cure. The The Medical Profession. 367 rebelHon of 1861, and the events incident thereto, called Dr Thorne to the charge of the United States General Hospital in Kansas City as chief surgeon. He remained in charge of that institution from June, 1861, to February, 1864, when it was abolished. His first assistant was Dr. Arnoldia. The method of treatment pursued in this hospital being for the most part homeopathic, thou sands of its patients went away from it confirmed in the faith and created in the community a confidence in its methods which remains even until the pres ent day. Dr Joseph Feld came to this city from Colorado soon after the close of the war and for many years was so successful that he has now quit medicine for finance. Dr Peter Baker came to Kansas City in 1867, and he was very suc cessful, both professionally and financially, untH his death in 1886. Dr Will iam H. Jenney came to KansasCity in 1869, and at once secured a large practice. His influence as a man and as a physician in this city has been strong and bene ficial. Dr. Henry C. Baker came to this city in 1876 and at once secured a large practice. Few men have the physical endurance possessed by Dr. Baker, and his practice is so extensive that even his great endurance is often taxed to the ut most. Dr. Samuel Anderson came here from Lawrence, Kan., in 1880, and now has a fine business. Dr. Theodore Kimmel came to Kansas City from Pennsylvania, about 1878, and has succeeded in building up a fine practice. Dr. E. S. Northrup came in 1882, and his practice is very large. Dr. F. F. Casseday has, within a few years, built up a practice in the homeopathic treatment of diseases of the eye and ear, of which any man might be proud. Dr. Casseday's success in this department of medicine is in reality phe nomenal. Dr. William D. Foster for several years had charge of Dr. Jenney's prac tice, but he now has enough of his own to occupy all his time. Dr. Moses T. Runnels, in the field of homeopathic gynecology, is proving to a large clientage the advantages of his methods of treatment. He has done more in a few years as secretary of the Missouri Institute of Homeopathy to unite its members and to advance medical knowledge than any other man in the State. Dr. Henry A. Barber is located on the west side of the city. He has a very large business and a growing reputation Dr. S. E. Trott in a few years has built up a splendid practice. Dr. William A. Forster has a rapidly growing reputation as a surgeon, and Dr. Edward A. Brady is building up a fine prac tice near the State line. At this time over thirty homeopathic physicians are in successful practice in Kansas City, and this school of medicine now has a college and hospital under its control. 368 History of Kansas City. CHAPTER XVII. MEDICAL, commercial AND MISCELLANEOUS EDUCATIONAL INSTITU TIONS. The Kansas' City Medical College — The University of Kansas City— Its Medical Depart ment—The Hospital Medical College — The Kansas City Dental College — The Kansas City College of Pharmacy — Spalding's Commercial College — National Business College — School of Elocution and Oratory — Powell's School of Short-hand — Dickson's School of Short-hand and Type-writing — Kansas City Conservatory of Music — St Theresa's Academy — Other Schools. KANSAS CITY MEDICAL COLLEGE.— This institution, formerly the College of Physicians and Surgeons, was founded and incorporated in November, 1869, and entered upon its nineteenth annual session September 14, 1887. The coHege building, situated at the corner of Seventh and Wash ington streets, is the property of the college association and is entirely occu pied for college purposes. Having been erected expressly for the use to which it is devoted, this building furnishes facilities which go far to render the work of teachers and pupils mutually agreeable and satisfactory. The earnest wish and intention of the management of this college has ever been to build up a strictly reputable school, and the success of efforts put forth to this end has long been recognized by the medical profession at home and abroad. The course of instruction comprises a full series of lectures with daily examinations on the subjects taught, clinics, and practical work in the dis secting-room and laboratory. Exceptional opportunities are afforded for the clinical study of both medical and surgical cases. The college is only one block from the Sisters' Hospital, many of the inmates of which are always under the professional care of members of the faculty. The City Hospital, recently doubled in capacity, affords abundant material for bedside instruction which is made useful under the direction of Professor Van Eman and other members of the faculty. A large number of the faculty belong to the regular staff" of All Saints' Hospital, and a number are included in the German Hos pital's complement of visiting physicians and surgeons. The clinics in the coHege building give daily opportunity to the city's poor to obtain gratuitous advice and treatment, and afford to the student facilities for acquiring knowl edge of diagnostic methods. A healthy emulation is encouraged by the offer of prizes. The most im portant of these is that provided for by the Holden Prize Fund — the generous gift of Mr Howard M. Holden, made with the stipulation that the annual in terest amounting to $100, shall constitute a cash prize to be awarded at each annual commencement to that student who shall, on his final examination. ^•"^i- e c- mmams & »« ^^ Medical and Educational Institutions, Etc. 369 show the greatest degree of proficiency in his studies. The faculty offer a second prize of $25 to the student passing the second best examination, and other prizes are offered from time to time. In 1883 a school of dentistry was organized as a department of the coHege, and has met with success. It numbers, in its faculty, part of the teachers in the medical department and some of the best dentists in this and neighboring cities. A dental infirmary in the college building affords students all they re quire in the way of practical experience. The degree of Doctor of Dental Surgery is conferred on graduating students. The officers of the Kansas City Medical College Association are : E. W. Schauffler, M. D., president; F. M. Johnson, M. D., secretary; D. R. Porter, M. D., treasurer. • The faculty is thus constituted: S. S. Todd, M. D., emeritus professor of obstetrics and professor of the diseases of women; T. B. Lester, M. D., and E. W. Schauffler, M. D., professors of the principles and practice of medicine ; G. Halley, M. D., professor of the principles and practice of clinical and prac tical surgery; D. R. Porter, M. D., professor of diseases of the genito-urinary organs, and dermatology; J. D. Griffith, M. D., professor of anatomy and operative and clinical surgery; J. Block, M. D., professor of physiology ; J. H. Van Eman, M. D., professor of clinical medicine; F. M. Johnson, M. D., pro fessor of obstetrics and diseases of children ; J. H. Thompson, M. D., professor of otology; Theodore S. Case, M. D., professor of chemistry and hygiene ; C, W. Tyree, M. D., professor of ophthalmology ; Joseph Sharp, M. D., professor of materia medica and therapeutics ; Charles H. Lester, M. D., lecturer on anatomy; J. A. Lane, M. D., lecturer on histology; O. M. Schindd, M. D., demonstrator of anatomy ; T. J. Beattie, M. D., assistant demonstrator and prosector to the chair of surgery ; William Jones, instructor in practical chem istry. The University of Kansas City. — The founding of this institution is the re sult of earnest, united efforts on the part of many prominent members of the medical profession of Kansas City. The medical department has a college building that is not simply a hand some structure, but having been specially designed as a medical college is the most commodious and convenient building occupied for a similar purpose in the West. It has seating capacity for a large number of students, and its lec ture halls, operating rooms and patients' waiting rooms are all large and con venient. The museum is ample and contains a large collection of curious and instructive objects. The dissecting room and laboratory are modern in every respect. Professors of the highest medical and surgical learning and practical skill are always in attendance. The medical and surgical services of the Kansas City General Hospital are rendered in great part by the faculty of this college. 370 History of Kansas City. its corps of clinical lecturers being in attendance twice each week, and its stu dents having free access to all the valuable experience to be gained there. The medical staff of All Saints' Hospital is represented by members of the faculty of this college, which also suppUes the Sisters' Hospital largely with its medi cal attendance ; and both of these hospitals afford an ample field for the indus try of students. A free dispensary is connected with the college at which aH deserving indigent persons may obtain medicines. The course of instruction of this institution embraces everything usually taught in medical colleges, and covers two collegiate years which must be stu diously employed to secure its diploma, and by availing himself of the advan tages afforded by a third session the graduate who passes the necessary winter terms will become, necessarily, a more accomplished physician than he who is satisfied to obtain his degree in the usual way. The University of Kansas City is under control of a Board of Regents,. composed as follows: Nathan Scarritt, D.D., LL.D., president; John R. Snell, M.D., vice-president; Flavd B. Tiffany, M.D., secretary ; Edward L.. Martin, treasurer ; Hon. Robert E. Cowan, Hon. Thomas B. BuHene, John W. Jackson, M D. The officers of the medical department are : John W. Jackson, M.D., president; John R. Snell, M.D., dean; George W. Davis, M.D., treas urer; James E. Logan, M.D., secretary. The faculty is constituted as fol lows : Henry F. Hereford, M.D., emeritus professor of (obstetrics and diseases of women; John W. Jackson, M.D., professor of the principles of the practice of surgery; J. M. Allen, M.D., professor of the principles of the practice of medicine; John R. SneH, M.D., professor of cHnical medicine; Eugene R, Lewis, A.M., M.D., professor of general, descriptive and surgical anatomy; John H. Duncan, A.B., M.D., professor of diseases of the skin; James E. Lo gan, M.D,, professor of physiology : James P. Jackson, M.D., professor of clinical and operative surgery; Flavd B. Tiffany, M.D., professor of diseases of the eye and ear and histology ; Hon. Henry P. White, professor of medical jurisprudence; J. B. Jones, M.D., professor of materia medica and therapeu tics; S. Emory Lanphear, professor of diseases of the mind and nervous system; Charles W. Adams, A.M., M.D., professor of gynecology and adjunct to ob stetrics ; W. H. Wilkes, M.D., professor of obstetrics and diseases of children ; Albert P. Campbell, A.M., M. D., professor of diseases of the chest and throat; George W. Davis, M.D., professor of diseases of the genito-urinary system; R. R. Hunter, M.D., professor of chemistry; John T. Eggers, M.D., adjunct professor of anatomy and demonstrator; W. O. Wilkes, M.D., and K. P. Jones, M.D., assistants to demonstrator of anatomy. The seventh annual session of the medical department of the University of Kansas City opened September 13, 1877, for twenty-six weeks, and the spring term March 20, 1888, for ten weeks. Kansas City Hospital College of Medicine was founded in 1882, and was Medical and Educational Institutions, Etc. 371 the outgrowth of what was called "Liberal Medicine." It was a protest against " codes " and prejudices. Its founders were allopaths, homeopaths, and eclectics ; and each system of medicine was taught to all the students. The school aimed to teach medicine, not " pathy," to educate physicians, and notwithstanding the fact that the professors were of various schools of medi cine, the most perfect harmony prevailed upon medical questions and has been maintained up to the present time. The original faculty consisted of the following physicians : D. E. Dicker- son, M. D.; F. Cooley, M. D.; Joshua Thorne, M. D.; S. D. Bowker, M. D.; John Stark, M. D.; H. C. Baker, M. D.; J. W. Coombs, M. D.; R, Arnold, M. D. ; W. H. KimberHn, M. D. ; and T. S. White, M. D. Of these, six were of the allopathic school of medicine, three of the homeopathic, and one of the eclectic. At the end of six years most of the old faculty remain. The an nouncement for 1887-88 gives the full faculty as follows: Joshua Thorne, A. M., M. D., emeritus professor of anatomy and diseases of the nervous system; Frank Cooley, M. D., professor of the principles of surgery and gynecology ; D. E. Dickerson, M. D., treasurer, and professor of orthopaedic, military and clinical surgery; S. D. Bowker, A. M., M. D., professor of obstetrics and dis eases of women and children ; J. Stark, M. D., professor of the theory and practice of clinical medicine ; F. F. Casseday, M. D., dean, and professor of homeopathy, therapeutics, theory and practice ; W. H. KimberHn, M. D., professor of diseases of the eye, ear, nose and throat; T. S. White, M. D., professor of eclectic materia medica and clinical medicine ; E. F. Brady, M. D., professor of anatomy and diseases of the nervous system; G. W. Bock, M. D., professor of materia medica and medical botany; W. A. Forster, M. D., pro fessor and demonstrator of anatomy ; J. W. McKee, professor of physiology and histology ; W. H. Steil, M. D., professor of venereal and skin diseases • L. S. Osborne, M. D., professor of chemistry; and B. H. Chapman, M. S., LL. B., professor of medical jurisprudence. In six years one hundred and six students have matriculated and fifty-three physicians have been graduated from this school. Twelve of the graduates have been ladies. In the spring of the present year (1888), owing to the won derful progress of homeopathy in Kansas City, the college passed into the en tire control of homeopathy. A faculty, with Dr. Casseday at its head, assisted by many of the old corps, together with some eminent physicians not hereto fore, connected with the institution, is now forming. A large hospital will be an adjunct to the college, and all will be under homeopathic management. Tlie Kansas City Dental College was established in 188 1 as a department of the Kansas City Medical College. Its aim was and is to establish and main tain a standard in dentistry which should be recognized and endorsed by thor ough and progressive dentists ; and all students, whether of dentistry or of medicine, are taught anatomy, physiology, chemistry, materia medica and gen- 372 History of Kansas City. eral surgery. The professors in the Dental College for the first year were A. H. Thompson, D.D. S., professor of operative dentistry; W. T Stark, D.D. S., professor of mechanical dentistry; Dr. J. D. Patterson and C. L. Hungerford, D.D. S., of Kansas City, assistants to the chair of operative dentistry; Dr. L. C. Wasson, of Ottawa, Kan., and Dr. A. C. Schell, of Kansas City, assistants to the chair of mechanical dentistry ; Drs. C. B. Hewitt, E. N. La Veine, J. K, Stark, R. I. Pearson, of Kansas City, and Dr. J. R. Boyd, of Leavenworth, Kan., demonstrators of operative dentistry ; and Drs. H. S. Thompson and W. A. Drowne of Kansas City, and Dr. W. H. Buckley of Liberty, Mo., demonstra tors of mechanical dentistry. For the year commencing in 1883 the professors of the coHege were: J. D. Patterson, D.D. S., professor of dental pathology and oral surgery; W. T. Stark, D.D. S., professor of mechanical dentistry; C. L. Hungerford, D.D. S., professor of operative dentistry; R. W, Brown, D.D. S., lecturer on dental anatomy and histology ; Drs. C. B. Hewitt, A. C. Schell, E. N. La Veine and H. S. Thompson, demonstrators, and T. T Aitkins, D.D. S., demonstrator of continuous gum. For the year commencing in 1884 there was no change in the faculty except that A. H. Thompson, D.D. S., became professor of dental anatomy and his tology, and for the year commencing in 1885 Dr C. B. Hewitt was demonstra tor of operative dentistry, and W. L. Campbell, D.D. S., was demonstrator of mechanical dentistry. For the year beginning in 1886 C. L. Abbott D. M. D., was also a demonstrator of operative dentistry, and Dr. H. W. Howe, one of the demonstrators of mechanical dentistry, and for the year commencing in 1887 the faculty remained the same. The number of matriculates in 1881 was four; in 1882, five; in 1883, nine; in 1884, eight; in 1885, fifteen; in 1886, twenty-two ; in 1887, twenty-three. The number of graduates in 1883 was three; in 1884, one; in 1885, four; in 1886, two; and in 1887, eight; total number of graduates so far, eighteen. The Kansas City College of Pharmacy was established in 1886 as the phar maceutical department of the University of Kansas City. Its first faculty was as foHows: J. Schweitzer, M. P. S., F. C. S., professor of pharmacy; R. R. Hun ter, M. D., professor of chemistry; S. Emory Lanphear, M D., professor of materia medica ; F. A. Holton, B. S., professor of botany. This faculty is still retained with the exception of Professor Holton, whose place is now filled by Julius G. Kiefer, Ph. D., druggist of Wyandotte, Kan. The first regular ses sion of this coHege commenced in October, 1886, and lasted until March, 1887 ; and the second term commenced in October, 1887, and lasted untH March, 1888. The course of instruction in this college embraces pharmacy, chemistry, materia medica and botany, and each branch is taught according to the most approved methods. The board of regents is composed of the foHowing gentle men : Nathan Scarritt, D.D., LL. D., president; John R. SneH, M. D., vice- president; E. R. Lewis, M. D., secretary; Edward L. Martin, treasurer; E. M. I'l^E.EWittmms HBm.Hy^ 07^. '4f^ Medical and Educational Institutions, Etc. 373 White, A, M., Hon. Thomas B. BuHene and John W. Jackson, M. D. The col lege is located at the corner of McGee and Twelfth street, but a movement is under way for the erection of a building especially for its use at the corner of Tenth and Campbell street, to cost $12,000. This college at once upon its establishment takes rank as one of the valuable institutions of the city. Kansas City being a commercial city, it is not strange that special at tention has been directed to the education of youth in matters directly connected with commercial, manufacturing, banking and general business ac counts. The movement in this direction began when the city had hardly ad vanced beyond infancy. Spalding' s Commercial College. — This institution, located in the Commer cial Block, was opened by Professor J. F. Spalding, A. M., October 25, 1865. It was incorporated July il, 1867, and for nearly a quarter of a century has been performing its functions as a business educator. Many of the most suc cessful merchants and business men of Kansas City and of Missouri and Kan sas and adjacent States and Territories received the rudiments of their business training under the tuition of Professor Spalding. The course of instruction in this institution is general in its character and embraces every useful and practical branch of study calculated to aid in giving young and middle-aged men and women a thorough and practical preparation for the active and responsible duties of business life. The full commercial course was specially prepared and arranged for it by men of large and varied experience as teachers and accountants. It is systematically arranged upon a comprehensive basis in which theory and practice are happily combined. The full course of instruction embraces seven departments, viz. : English, preparatory, theory, actual business, banking, phonography and type-writing. Each department is under the immediate supervision of an able and experi enced teacher. In addition to the collegiate and commercial course, pupils may study the various branches belonging to an ordinary school education. The faculty is constituted as follows: J. F. Spalding, A; M., president and professor of the science of accounts and business and ornamental penman ship and lecturer on the science of accounts and business customs ; Pierre S. Brown, B. Ph., professor of the science of accounts, commercial calculations and commercial law ; S. C. Williams, pen artist, professor of business and orna mental penmanship, the science of accounts, mercantile correspondence and English branches; Vincent A. Crandall, B. S., M. D., teacher of English branches and book-keeping ; George E. Spalding, teacher of book-keeping ; Willis H. Leavitt, LL. B., practical short-hand court reporter, professor of phonography and type-writing; Hon. Henry P. White, judge of Jackson County Criminal Court, lecturer on commercial law ; James M. Greenwood, A. M., superintendent: of the Kansas City public schools, lecturer on commercial ethics and political economy ; Peter Connelly, esq., cashier Kansas City Stock-yards 48 374 History of Kansas City. Bank, lecturer on banking, finance and general laws of trade ; Francis M. Furgason, A. M., lecturer on insurance ; Edmund De Vernie, linguist, pro fessor of German, French, Spanish, Italian, Swedish and Danish, and of Eng lish for foreigners (night school). The board of trustees is composed as follows: J. F. Spalding, A. M., president and treasurer ; Charles D. Lucas, secretary ; C. J. White, Colonel Theodore S. Case, J. R. Snell, M. D., L. Hammerslough, William H. Seeger and B. Donnelly. Professor Spalding has from the first been the leading spirit of the college, and the principles of his system have been adhered to with the best results. Nearly one hundred students are in attendance. National Business College. — The National Business College of Kansas City was established in 1874 by Professor Henry Coon, its president. As its name implies, it is an institution founded for the purpose of affording a practical commercial education, embracing all branches of daily utility in business life. Among these are penmanship, book-keeping, arithmetic, business practice, correspondence and commercial law. Short-hand, type-writing, mechanical drawing, architecture and the German language receive special attention. Professor Coon is a man of progressive educational views, indefatigable in his efforts for the welfare and progress of students. He heads the faculty of the National Business College as president and expert accountant, instructor in commercial law, commercial arithmetic and business customs ; T. B. Flack, penman, is instructor in penmanship, book-keeping, arithmetic, correspondence and English branches ; J. C. Powell is instructor in short- hand, correspondence, etc. ; Ambrose J. Russell is instructor in mechanical drawing and architecture ; and J. W. Doehring is instructor in practical German. Among lecturers and distinguished and well-known persons who give practical talks to students are William B. Grimes, Hon. James R. Waddill, Witten McDonald, Colonel Theodore S. Case, Professor J. M. Greenwood, Hon. George M. SheHey J. H. Reed, Dr F. F. Casseday, Dr D. E. Dicker- son, Dr. W. H. KimberHn, William H. Woodring, R. W. Middlebrook, and Captain W. H. Miller This college is located at the corner of Ninth and Main streets. The aver age attendance is about fifty. School of Elocution and Oratory. — This institution, now in its seventh year, was incorporated in 1882 under the laws of the State of Missouri with the Uni versity of Kansas City, and is located in the Deardorff building. It is the outgrowth of a general demand for thorough and practical instruc tion in the science and art of expression, and for a diffusion of a correct knowl edge of the vocal resources of our language. One of the most prominent feat ures of this school is the preparation of teachers of elocution who will assist in establishing a correct system in our institutions of learning, experience having Medical and Educational Institutions, Etc. 375 taught that those who are graduated from an established school of oratory possess superior advantages over those who receive their instruction at ran dom, from traveling teachers. In recognition of the manifold wants of such a school, all the branches per taining to the study of English have been added, and it is the aim of the con ductors of this institution to make it a conservatory of the art of spoken lan guage worthy the support of all cultured people. The faculty is constituted as follows: Robert I. Fulton, A.M., and Thomas C. Trueblood, A.M., associate founders and directors, teachers of vocal culture and the science and art of do - cution and oratory ; Preston K. Dillenbeck, secretary and first assistant ; E. C. F. Krauss, M.A., teacher of grammar, rhetoric, logic and English literature ; A. Burton, A.M., teacher of fencing and physical culture; Flavel B. Tiffany, M.D., lecturer on the anatomy, physiology and pathology of the vocal organs ; James E. Murdoch (winter terms of 1881 and 1883), Hon. B. C. Hobbs, LL.D. (winter term of 1882), Robert Collier, D.D. (winter and spring terms of 1885 and 1886), special lecturers on English literature, Shakespeare, the drama and oratory. In the spring term of 1880-81 the school enjoyed a two weeks' course of Bible, Shakespearian and miscellaneous recitals by the veteran orator and elocu tionist, Mr. James E. Murdoch. These readings and those given by Mr. Mur doch in the winter term of 1882-3, were by many pronounced the most re fined and instructive series of entertainments ever given in the city. In the winter term of 1881-82 Hon. B. C. Hobbs, LL.D., gave a satisfactory and en tertaining course of ten lectures on English Literature and other subjects kin dred to elocution and oratory. In the spring term of 1885-86 the Rev. Rob ert Collier, D.D., gave a similar course of lectures on Shakespeare, and the modern drama. It is proposed to continue this branch of the work, perhaps in a more didactic form, for the instruction of the pupils of the school rather than for the entertainment of the general public. At a meeting of the class of '87, on Wednesday, June 29, 1887, an alumni association was formed. Marshall A. Pursley was elected president, Franklin A. Peake, secretary, and Rev. Charles A. Young the orator for 1888. The founders of this institution are the authors of " Fulton and Trueblood's Chart Illustrating the Principles of Vocal Expression," and of " Choice Read ings from Popular and Standard Authors," which bears the marks of the work of experienced teachers, and has been in such demand that it has reached its fifth edition. Powell's School of Shorthand. — Powell's School of Shorthand (Sheidley building) was established in 1874. Its purpose is to prepare students to fill any important position as correspondent, secretary and amanuensis. The sys tem taught was founded by Mr D. P. Lindsley and includes shorthand writing, longhand writing, type writing and aH other details necessary to the conduct and care of business correspondence. 376 History of Kansas City. The practical nature of the instruction is exemplified in the fact that by special arrangement with the seventy-five business offices in the Sheidley build ing daily access is afforded pupils for the purpose of taking down in shorthand from dictation the repHes of the hundreds of letters received daily and furnish ing the same in type-written form to the offices, thus affording real participa tion in actual business transactions. Dickson's School of Shorthand and Type-ivriting (Deardorff building) was opened by Mr and Mrs. W. B. Dickson in September, 1887. Besides short hand and type- writing the course embraces punctuation, paragraphing, orthog raphy, proper construction of sentences, memory lessons and all knowledge necessary for correct and rapid business correspondence. Mr. and Mrs. Dickson possess special knowledge of their work and have practical ability to present it gained by six years' experience in business and teaching both in shorthand institutes and public schools. Prof J. George Cross's " electric " system of shorthand is taught. Kansas City Conservatory of 3Iusic. — This institution, located at 1 1 20 Main street, northwest corner of Twelfth, was opened in 1887, with Miss Lee M. Reipenkroger as principal, Miss May J. Riepenkroger as secretary, and Prof Edward Blitz as musical director. Its purpose is to impart a thorough musical education superior to any attainable elsewhere in the Southwest. A staff of competent teachers has been secured and no pains is spared to develop growing talent and make musicians worthy of the name. The method of in struction is that of the Paris, Brussels and Stuttgart conservatories and it re ceives the commendation of the most prominent musicians of the city. The conservatory affords every facility for the formation of a correct stand- ard'of musical taste and pupils have frequent opportunities of hearing the best compositions rendered by artists of the highest talent. The mode of instruc tion excites emulation and the ambition of the learner to become an accom pHshed musician instead of a mere performer. The following branches are taught : salfeggios, the conductor's art voice culture, alto viola, trumpet and cornet, oratorio, harmony, dramatic elocution, piano-forte, violoncello, trom bone, orchestra, counterpoints, modern languages, or|an, flute, French horn, symphony, fugue, etc., history of music, violin, zither, chorus and chamber music. The faculty is composed as follows : Edward Blitz, violin and viola ; George A. Smith, vocal music ; Miss Lee M. Riepenkroger, piano and voice ; Mrs. E. BHtz, piano and harmony ; Miss Kate Lilly, piano and voice ; Mrs. L. A Den ison, vocal music ; Alice Dodge, piano ; Miss Viola Steccki, lyric and dram atic opera ; W. Best, guitar ; Miss May J. Riepenkroger, piano ; Mrs. George C. Gray, piano and voice ; Henry Matthiassen, violoncello and trombone ; Wal- denear Papenbrock, violin ; A. Winklen, cornet ; Ludwig Bredouw, zither, and Edward Blitz, French language. '¦-^- Medical and Educational Institutions, Etc. 377 Reading at sight, notation and harmony are taught without charge under certain conditions and students have free admission to all concerts, matinees and lectures of the conservatory. The Schultze School of Music, located at the northwest corner of Main and Twelfth streets, .was established in 1869 by Professor H. E. Schultze, who came from Lexington, Ky., July 22 of that year His first pupils in Kansas City were Mrs. J. A. Mann, Miss Annie Irwin and Miss Hannah Brown. Other pupHs soon came to his school, and before being in Kansas City many months his time was fully occupied. From the first it was his earnest endeavor to in troduce to his pupils only the best music ; music that would make them inde pendent readers and performers, thus giving them a taste for music of the highest grade. By persistently following this course he retained his pupils several years. He then determined to prepare a normal course on the piano, and from this Normal School have gone out teachers to a large number of places — as Holden, Pleasant Hill, Marble Head, Butler and Trenton, in Mis souri ; and to Topeka, Paola, Fort Scott, Florence and Dodge City, in Kansas. A few also have gone to each of the States of Iowa and Illinois. In fact so great has been the demand for teachers from the Schultze Normal School that it has often been impossible to furnish a supply. Prof Schultze has always endeavored to give his best efforts to his pupils, not for show, but for thorough, conscientious work ; and by following this course his efforts have gradually come into higher appreciation, and his influence more and more widely felt. After some years it became necessary for him to engage other teachers, they being added one by one as needed. The first one employed regularly took charge of voice culture ; the next of the violin and other stringed instruments, except the piano, which the professor continued to teach himself; and finally one for harmony was employed, and thus at present this school has a full com plement of teachers in every department of music. For the mutual benefit and pleasure of those sufficiently advanced to read music at sight, the "Csecilia Society" was formed, and has been in existence eight years. Essays, biog raphies and musical history claim attention, and the opportunity to perform in the presence of others is afforded twice each month. St. Theresa's Academy. — St. Theresa's Academy is the outgrowth of the parish school of the Church of the Immaculate Conception, established by Rev. Father B. Donnelly in 1859. It began its present existence in 1867 when it was taken in charge by the Sisters of St. Joseph, Father Donnelly donating for its use the square bounded by Eleventh and Twelfth, Washington and Penn streets. Sister Fidelia is principal and eight teachers are employed. There are in attendance 175 day -scholars and 32 boarders. All means are employed to excite a laudable emulation in the minds of the pupils. Strict attention is paid to the religious instruction of CathoHc children. Pupils of all denominations are admissible and their religious opinions are not 378 History of Kansas City. interfered with, but for the sake of good order they are required to attend the public religious exercises with the other inmates of the institution. The course of study of this institution is as follows in the several depart ments : Primary department — languages, object lessons, drawing on slates, arithmetic, oral grammar, geography, spelling and reading ; junior department — reading, spelling, geography, grammar, history of the United States, ele mentary history of Rome, elementary history of England, common school arithmetic and mental exercises, drawing, composition and health ; senior de partment — analytical grammar, astronomy, mythology, physiology, classical geography, sacred history, arithmetic, algebra, geometry, botany, philosophy, chemistry, ancient and modern history and elocution ; graduating department — rhetoric, English literature, logic, mineralogy and geology, geometry, bo tanical analysis, criticism of English authors, mental and moral philosophy, a general view of grammar, geography, history, physiology and mathematics, penmanship, composition, elocution, shorthand and typewriting. St. Patrick's Parish School, on Eight street, near Locust street, is also un der the charge of the Sisters of St. Joseph. It was established in 1882. About 200 pupils are in attendance and four teachers are employed. St. Peter's and Paul's (German) Parish School (Ninth and McGee) was established in 1877. It has four teachers and 220 pupils. St. John's Parish School on Tracy avenue was opened in 1877. About lOO pupils attend, necessitating the employment of four teachers. Other Schools. — There have from time to time been other educational en- ' terprises set on foot by private individuals. Some of them were pretentious and some so insignificant as to be unworthy of note. The impracticability of attempting to give any detailed history of such defunct institutions is obvious. In this chapter mention is made of every important educational interest aside from the public schools. Scattered about the city, here and there, are several small private schools, principally for infants and young misses, which enjoy more or less patronage. Prominent among the schools of the past were the Kansas City Female Seminary, a rectory school, a young gentleman's semin ary and a German school, which were flourishing about thirty years ago, and many successors with similar objects have from time to time been established. At present the female seminary of Miss Brand is the most prominent of the select female schools in the city. Expositions and Fairs. 379. CHAPTER XVIII. THE expositions AND FAIRS OF KANSAS CITY. THE first exposition in Kansas City was held in 1871. Previously to the ini tiation of the movement, coupled with a strong desire to hold such an ex hibition, was a feehng of uncertainty and doubt as to its practicability, — the question being whether suitable buildings could be erected and all necessary arrangements made in time. However an opportunity seemed to present it self of overcoming the first difficulty, and a few enterprising spirits determined to hold such an exhibition on or about November 1st, as should be not only of credit but also of as much benefit as possible to the city. Their plan origi nally consisted of the raising among the citizens of a "guarantee fund," for the purpose of defraying the preliminary expenses. This fund was to be raised on the following basis : Certificates to be issued in sums of five dollars, each cer tificate having ten coupons attached, each coupon entitling the holder to one admission to the exposition. The programme proposed, which was however afterward abandoned, was, that the new court-house, then in course of con struction, should be used for the exhibition of the finer articles and the lighter machinery ; the public square for the exhibition of horses and mules, and trials of speed were to take place at the driving park in McGee's addition ; a suitable building to be erected for the exhibition of agricultural implements and heavy machinery ; a cattle market to be held in West Kansas City, and fireworks and amusements to be had for the entertainment of the crowds of people which it was confidently expected would visit the city upon that occasion. Such was the plan at first proposed, and the citizens taking hold of it were : K. Coates, Theodore S. Case, M. English, Frands Foster, E. M. McGee, E. H. Allen, D. H. Porter, Thomas H. Mastin, H. P. White, Edward Haren, jr., John W. Reid, C. J. White and John S. Harris. The above outlined course of action was de cided upon about August i, 1871. The movement from the first met with encouraging support from aH classes of the community. Meetings were held and subscriptions freely made to the " guarantee fund." At a meeting held at the office of Colonel Kersey Coates, the following officers were elected : Kersey Coates, president ; John W. Reid, vice-president; E. H. Allen, secretary; Thomas H. Mastin, treasurer, and Ed ward Fleischer, superintendent. At this same meeting Colonel Kersey Coates, General John W. Reid and E. Fleischer were appointed a committee to report at an adjourned meeting names suitable for an executive committee. On the same day the liquor dealers and saloon keepers held a meeting in Turner Hall for the purpose of selecting an executive committee to co-operate with other committees on the exposition ; each trade, business or profession having a 380 History of Kansas City. committee of its own, the duty of which was to act with other similar commit tees. Papers were circulated for subscriptions to the " guarantee fund," and an organization effected which was named " The Industrial Exposition Associa tion." The executive committee at length chosen consisted of Theodore S. Case, chairman ; M. English, C. L. White, Edward Haren, jr, and E. M. Mc Gee. Afterward Colonel Coates and E. H. Allen were added to the commit tee. The people freely subscribed to the guarantee fund, and the City Coun cH made a liberal appropriation. But while the efforts of the executive com mittee and others were met in a spirit of liberality and generosity hardly to have been anticipated, yet until the exposition was fully under way, there was of necessity a feeling of uncertainty as to whether it could be made the success for which its projectors hoped. They realized more fully than those not re sponsible for its management could do, that upon the success of this first ex position depended, in some measure at least, the success of future expositions for years to come. As was stated above, the original plan of holding the different parts of the Exposition in different places was abandoned, and buildings were erected be tween Fifteenth and Sixteenth streets, and between Campbell and Cherry streets. On this ground were erected four large temporary buildings, which were afterward removed. They were named : The Agricultural Implement and Machinery Hall, the Horticultural Building, the Main Building, and the Fine Art HaH. The main building contained textile fabrics, all kinds of goods from the merchants, needlework, etc., everything that could not easily be classified, while the other buildings were devoted to the articles, implements, etc., which their several names suggest The attendance was very large, much in excess of what was anticipated, and the results eminently satisfactory to all concerned. The managers and officers of the Exposition were tendered in spirit, where not in fact the thanks and congratulations of aH their friends, neighbors, and fellow citizens for the great success which had attended their first efforts in this direction. So gratifying, indeed, were the results, that immediately after the close of the Exposition an organization was formed and incorporated under the name of the Kansas City Industrial Exposition. At a meeting held March 9, 1872, committees were appointed to select suitable grounds for a permanent location. The officers elected for the second year were as follows : Kersey Coates, pres ident ; John W. Reid, vice-president; D. L. Hall, secretary; C. J. White, treasurer. After some difficulty, a six years' lease was secured on ninety- seven and three-fourths acres of land known as the Evans tract situate be tween Twelfth and Fifteenth streets, now known as Dundee Place, upon which large and expensive buildings were erected, a circular one-half mile track projected, and the grounds fitted up for the purposes of the association. A '--^¦m ^jtiteo} I SBro.W: Expositions and Fairs. 381 grand stand was erected 540 feet long, having a capacity of seating 20,000 people. A main haH was erected 180 by 70 feet; Machinery Hall, same dimensions; Floral Hall, 180 by 60, and Fine Art HaH, 60 by 40. Large stables and pens were also erected for live stock and poultry. The second Exposition commenced September 23, and lasted untH the 28th, and proved in every way superior to the first. But on the last day a most exciting and unexpected episode occurred, by which the association lost about $io,ooo; the episode consisting in the robbery of the principal ticket office by the noted Jesse James. In 1873 the name of the association was changed to the Kansas City Indus trial Exposition and Agricultural Fair Association, and the fair commenced on the 15th of September. At the same time there was in progress a Farmers' and Cattlemen's Convention, and a daily Hve stock sale. Twenty thousand dollars were offered in premiums, five thousand dollars for a large display of raw cotton, and seven thousand dollars for speed contests. The officers for 1873 were the same as for the previous year, except that Theo S. Case was elected the treasurer. The fourth annual fair commenced on September 15, 1874. At this fair there was a fine exhibit of farm products, of live stock, and of poultry, and the most notable speed horses in America. A new building for textHe fabrics was erected, two stories high and 180 by 70 feet in size, and large additions were made to the grand stand, and art and machinery halls. And while this was the year of grasshoppers and drought in Kansas, and of drought in Missouri, yet the display of fruits, grain, and farm products of every kind was the best that had up to that time been seen in Kansas City. However, while the ex hibitions themselves had in the main proved satisfactory, the receipts had been less than the expenses, and the association had generally suffered a loss. On August 22, 1875, therefore, a mass meeting was called by the management for the purpose of securing financial assistance in conducting the fair for that year, and their appeal met with a generous response. Once more success was assured. Main street this year was a blaze of splendor, and Jefferson Davis delivered an address on agriculture. In 1876 an addition to the grand stand was built capable of seating seven hundred and fifty people, and the minimum charge of fifty cents and twenty-five cents for seats adopted. The Exposition was held from September i8th to the 25th. The city was gaily decorated with flags, and brilliantly illuminated at night in honor of the centennial year. The officers this year were : Kersey Coates, president ; W. B. Everhart, vice- president ; D. L. Hall, secretary, and E. L. Martin, treasurer. The display of fruits, farm products, and live stock in 1 877 was exceedingly fine, surpass ing anything that had been seen at previous fairs. Goldsmith Maid that year made her famous trot against time for a purse of $2,000, which was witnessed by fully 50,000 people. The same officers served this year as in 1876. 49 382 History of Kansas City. In 1878 the Fair Association became a member of the Great Western Fair and Racing Circuit, which included Minneapolis, Dubuque, Kansas City, and Quincy. Seventy-five thousand dollars in premiums were offered, and a great baby show was a leading attraction. Every day this year public sales were held for the benefit of the yellow fever sufferers in the South, and large con tributions of both clothing and money were made for their relief The officers this year were : Kersey Coates, president; J. C. Evans, vice-president; D. L. Hall, secretary, and E. L. Martin, treasurer. Extensive improvements were made in 1879, and the fair commenced September 22. The exhibits were especially fine, while the speed attracted immense crowds of people. It was estimated that 100,000 people were present the entire week. The officers this year were the same as in 1878, except that C. H. Prescott was treasurer. In 1880 the fair was greatly interfered with by rain, and while a magnificent dis play was made in all the departments, yet nearly all the races were spoiled. The officers were the same as before except that J. Y. Leveridge was the secretary. A great calamity overtook the fair in 188 1. It opened September 12, and on the 14th it was visited by a very destructive fire, which destroyed the grand stand and the main hall — in the aggregate about $75,000 worth of property, upon which there was but little insurance. The fair was however continued until the end, according to the original programme. The only change in officers this year was that W. H. Winants became treasurer. The lease of the Evans property having nearly expired, a meeting of the directors was held November 4, 1 881, at which it was decided to close out and discontinue the fairs so far as the old organization was concerned. But in the following spring a new organization was effected, which was known as the Inter-State Fair, the officers of which were : Kersey Coates, president; E. R. Hunter, secretary, and Ed. H. Webster, S. F. Scott Wallace Pratt J. M. FuHer, W. R. Bernard, T EssHnger, A. B. H. McGee, S. B. Armour, E. H. Allen, T. B. BuHene, Ira Harris, and Emil Werk, directors. Active pre parations were begun on buildings and race course, with the intention of hold ing a fair, but delays occurred which were unavoidable, and it became evident that the grounds in preparation could not be completed in time to hold a fair that year. A number of enterprising citizens, however, held a meeting and came to the unanimous conclusion that Kansas City must have a fair. A new organization was therefore effected known as the Kansas City Fair and Ex position, with officers and directors as follows : T. B. BuHene, president ; L. Hammerslough, vice-president; E. L. Martin, treasurer; Theodore S. Case, secretary and general manager ; A, P. Fonda, W. H. Whiteside, C. D. Axman, A. R. Nelson, E. H. Webster, M. Munford, A. J. Blethen, J. K. Landis, J. A. McDonald, directors. McGee Park, now Goodrich Addition, was secured for temporary grounds, buildings erected for machinery, live stock, etc., and the race track was regraded. The Emmons building, on Delaware street, Vv^as Expositions and Fairs. 383 fitted up for textile fabrics, art and the smaHer exhibits, and the fair held from September 25 to the 30th, 1882. In 1883 the new fair grounds near Westport were completed and occupied thenceforth by the Fair Association up to and including the fall of 1886, when they became too valuable for this purpose, and the association decided to close up its affairs and discontinue. The officers of the Inter- State Fair Association were as follows: For 1883, J. H. Oglebay, president ; A. B. H. McGee, vice-president ; E. H. Webster, secretary ; M. J. Payne, general manager For 1884, Kersey Coates, president ; G. N. Blossom, vice-president ; W. H. Winants, treasurer, and E. H. Webster, secretary and general manager. These officers, in the main, served during the next two years. The great Exposition of 1887 is now reached, and as it was the greatest of all so far held, a more detailed description of it is deemed appropriate. The erection of the great building, which stands on Kansas avenue, and between Twelfth and Fifteenth streets, was commenced by James Goodin as an indi vidual enterprise. The plans were perfected and accepted May 11, 1887, and the ground broke next day. In the excavation for the foundation of the build ing, 40,000 cubic feet of earth were removed. The foundations were begun on June 18, and the corner stone was laid June 23, with great ceremony. The plan, contemplated the erection of an elaborate and beautiful edifice, somewhat after the style of the Crystal Palace at London, England. After a protracted struggle, and many vexations and delays, Mr. Goodin, on the 5th of Septem ber, called upon the citizens of Kansas City for assistance to complete the building. Not wishing to see any Kansas City enterprise fail, they promptly and nobly responded to the call by at once subscribing $200,000, and by form ing a stock company, on September 6. This stock company was called the National Exposition Company of Kansas City. The following officers were elected : T. A. Harris, president ; T. F. Willis, secretary ; H. P. Stimson> treasurer, and a board of directors was chosen, as follows : George H. Nettle ton, James Goodin, Walton Holmes, Theodore S. Case, T. F. Willis, George W. Warder, Joseph Smith, L. R. Moore, J. A. McDonald, T. A. Harris, H. P- Stimson, and Joseph Cahn. The company immediately purchased the ground and the building 'of Mr Goodin, paying him therefor $60,000 in stock of the company and assuming all outstanding obligations of the old management. An executive committee was appointed, as follows: T. A. Harris, T. F. WiHis, Joseph Smith, J. A. McDonald, James Goodin, Walton Holmes, J. T. Holmes, and W. B. Grimes, and the management of the Exposition of 1887 was placed in their hands. The first step taken by this executive committee was to employ a competent assistant secretary in the person of Albert Phenis, and Architect Tinsley was employed to finish the building ; but on account of the delays which had previously occurred, he could not promise to have it ready before the 5th of October, and therefore the opening had to be postponed untH Octo- 384 History of Kansas City. ber 6, instead of taking place on September 12, as had been the original inten tion. The various contractors in the erection of this building were : For the stone and foundation work, Paton & Jones ; brick work. Downing & Co. ; superintendent of carpenters, W. H. Wood ; tin and sheet iron work, John Smith ; machinery and mechanical appliances, David Brislin, and painting and decorating, Tipton & Co. The foundations of the building were finished August 3, and the building itself was finished, according to promise, October 5. This building, which is one of the largest and finest exposition buildings in the country, if not the largest and finest, contains seventeen acres of floor room, 10,000 perches of stone, and in the waHs 1,750,000 bricks, 2,000,000 feet of lumber ; in the dome 80,000 square feet of glass, two car loads of nails and spikes, and one car load of nuts and bolts. The building is of no particular style of architecture. It was planned in the Romanesque, but the original drafts were not strictly adhered to. It is, however, one of the most extensive and magnificent structures in the country, and will long remain the pecuHar feature in Kansas City architecture. The boiler room contains six great boil ers and two powerful engines, one a Hamilton Corliss, and the other an Atlas, to propel the machinery. Two electric dynamos, each supplying electricity to one hundred lamps, Hght the interior The entire cost of the grounds, build ings, etc., was as follows: Ground, $90,000; building, $265,000; equipments, $30,000; total, $385,000. The opening of the Exposition occurred, as above stated, October 6, at 12 M., the members of the Third Regiment Band were the first to enter the build ing. After a prayer by Bishop Hendrix, of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, an able address was delivered by the Hon. William Warner. Mrs. James Goodin, who at the time was in St. Louis, gave the signal, through the lines of the Western Union Telegraph Company, for the starting of the machinery, and other ladies in the Exposition building opened the throttle valves and thus started the machinery. The Exposition was a great success from the start, notwithstanding some of the departments were not ready for exhibition. The attendance, which was large at first, kept on increasing from day to day, until on October I2th, it was estimated there were twenty thousand people on the grounds. On Thursday, October 13th, when President Cleveland was present, it was estimated that fifty thousand people passed in review before him. A notable feature of this Exposition was what was called " special days ; " and it is doubtless true that this special day feature contributed largely to the briH- iant success of the Exposition. These special days were as follows : October 22d was "Children's Day;" October 27th, "Wyandotte County, [Kansas] Day, on which Hon, J, B, Scroggs, delivered an address; October 28th "Kansas City Day," on which Judge John F. PhHlips was the orator ; October 29th, "Tem perance Day;" October 31st, "Kansas Day," on which ex-Governor Robin son and John A. Martin, both of that State, delivered addresses; November ist. ''':^y.3SIida:s Sons. T^i^W*" CL-^T^ Expositions and Fairs. 385 " Press Day ; " November 2d, "Young Ladies' Day ; " November 3d, " Missouri Day," on which Lieutenant-Governor Moorehouse delivered an address; No vember 4, "Everybody's Day;" November 5th, "Railroad Day," on which Captain W. H. Miller delivered an address; November 7th, "Merchants' and Manufacturers' Day," address by Colonel Theo. S. Case; November 8th, "Jack son County and Independence Day;" November 9th, "Farmers' Day;" No vember loth, "Arkansas Day;" November nth, "Scotch Day;" November I2th, "Kansas City Day," repeated; November 14th, "Irish Day," and No vember 15th, "Jubilee Day." This was the closing day of the great Exposition of 1887, and upon this day a fareweH address was delivered by T. A. Harrisi president of the Exposition Company. Gilmore's Band was one of the most attractive features of the Exposition. It played first on Sunday, October 23d, and on every day thereafter until the end. On those days denominated re spectively " Scotch Day," and " Irish Day," the programme consisted mainly of Scotch airs or of Irish airs according to the day upon which they were played. Although there was a strong sentiment in favor of closing the Exposition on Sundays, yet that sentiment did not prevail on account of the large number of working people who desired to attend and who could not attend on any other ¦day but Sunday. A very popular step was taken on October 19th, in the re duction of the price of admission to twenty-five cents for adults, and fifteen cents for children. Professor A. C. Baldwin, of Quincy, III, made a balloon as cension on the 8th of November, and descended by means of a parachute from a height of about a thousand feet. It was estimated that on November 6th, when the ascension was expected to be made, there were present nearly if not quite one hundred thousand people. A Bureau of Information was a special feaure of this Exposition never tried before, and its usefulness may be judged of by the estimate that two hundred thousand people were housed and fed through the medium of this bureau. The exhibits in the vegetable kingdom were of every variety, and came from every land and from every clime. In the mechanical department the results -of man's inventive genius were perhaps never more fully displayed, and in ev ery department of art nothing was left to be desired. In every way and par ticular, the Exposition was a grand and gratifying success. From the first the interest of the people of Kansas City increased in intensity, and the more as they could more plainly see that it was a magnificent triumph for the manage ment. It was estimated that the attendance reached very nearly if not quite 400,000, and the total cash receipts were over $60,000. At the close of the Exposition the officers of the National Exposition Com pany were : T. A. Harris, president; James Goodin, first vice-president ; J. A. McDonald, second vice-president; J. W. Ryckman, manager; T. F. WiHis, sec retary; Albert Phenis, assistant secretary; H. P. Stimson, treasurer. The ex ecutive committee consisted of T A. Harris, James Goodin, J, A. McDonald, J. 386 History of Kansas City. T. Holmes, John Smith, W. B. Grimes and Walton Holmes. The executive de partment was as follows : T. B. Tinsley, architect ; David Brislin, consulting en gineer ; Daniel O'Flaherty, surveyor; Professor Charles E. HaH, agricultural exhibits and metallurgy; H. C. Orr, transportation; Mrs. Patti Moore, women's work, and W. E. Benson, scientific and educational exhibits. On the 17th of November, at a meeting of the directors, it was decided to increase the capital stock of the company from $200,000 to $400,000. The affairs of the company are in excellent condition for the Exposition of 1888. In May, 1887, a number of enterprising citizens determined that Kansas City, after having had sixteen successful fairs should hold a seventeenth in 1 887. In order to carry out this project they formed themselves into an organization which received the name of " Kansas City Agricultural and Horticultural Fair Association." This association was formed with a capital stock of $150,000. Fifty-seven of the shareholders belonged in Kansas City, six of them in Harlem, Clay county, thirty-one in Liberty, one in Bowling Green, Warren county, and one in Independence, Jackson county. The original directors and officers of this association were E. H. Webster, president ; George Sheidley, first vice- president ; D. W, Longwdl, second vice-president and general superintendent of construction ; Milton Welsh, treasurer ; W. H. Town, secretary ; T. B. Bul- lene, S. F. Scott, Bernard Corrigan, James H. Oglebay, W. S. Tough and K. B. Armour, all of Kansas City, and J. C. Evans of Clay county. This associa tion selected a fair ground in Clay county, purchased the machinery and build ings of the old Inter-State Fair, erected a grand stand three hundred feet long and two stories high, constructed new speed stables, put a new one-mile race track in good condition, erected three show barns, a grand amphitheater and a reserve seat stand capable of seating two thousand people and prepared a grand boulevard one hundred feet wide and reaching from the fair ground to the Missouri River. A contract was made with the K. C, St. J. & C. B. Rail road Company, to build a railroad track to the grounds and a gurantee fund was raised that a new bridge, to be double decked, should be built across the Missouri River to be ready for use on or before September i, 1889, and to be free for both footmen and vehicles. The fair after one or two postponements, was held from October 11 to 17 and was a great success. On the 13th of Oc tober, in anticipation of a visit to the fair by President Cleveland, which how ever, failed to be made, there were present fully 20,000 people. The race track is one of the finest in the country for speed and the chief event on this track last year was the pacing of one mile by "You Bet," with a running mate, in 2.09i. The directors and officers elected January 23, 1888, are E. H. Webster,. president ; George Sheidley, vice-president ; W. S. Tough, secretary ; George Holmes, S. F. Scott, E. L. Martin, J. H. Oglebay, Bernard Corrigan, D. W.. Longwdl, W. H. Town and Robert McClintock, all of Kansas City, J. C. Ev- The Real Estate Interest. 387 ans, of Clay county and Logan O. Swope, of Independence. J. S. Denny, the treasurer, is not a director. The association, on the day of the election of its officers decided to hold their next fair during the third week of September, CHAPTER XIX. THE real estate INTEREST. Its Relation to the City's Prosperity — Early Real Estate Dealers — Wonderful Increase in Values — Real Estate Values Fifty Years Ago and Now — Kansas City's Elegant Buildings — Additions, Subdivisions, etc. — Transfers in 1886 and, 1887 — Stability of the Market — Ab stracts — Land Title Guarantee Company — Reclamation of Lands, etc. THE history of the real estate interests of Kansas City, written soberly and without exaggeration, on the safe side of the line dividing conservative statement from even mild over-statement, reads to one not familiar with the pe culiar circumstances which have contributed to and determined the remarkable growth of the city, more like fiction than fact. The real estate market of this city has, to an unusual degree, attracted the attention of the country, and many persons have been led to think that real estate constitutes Kansas City's most important commercial element, losing sight of the fact that almost every nota ble movement in real estate must be dependent upon other influences which are at least of equal importance with real estate itself, inasmuch as those other influences often produce the demand for real estate. The so-called Kansas City real estate "boom" has not been due to wild speculation, but on the contrary, has arisen from causes both natural and healthful. Among these causes have been the rapid growth of the surround ing country and the consequent unprecedented development of the city's com merce. It is these causes which have produced a corresponding appreciation of real property values. Merchants by their own energy and by the opening up of new railroads, have extended their trade into hitherto undeveloped re gions, and now there is scarcely a hamlet in Kansas, Southern Nebraska, West ern Iowa, Western Missouri, Northern Arkansas, Eastern Colorado or New Mexico, where the Kansas City trade mark may not be seen, and it is rapidly becoming familiar in Texas and the Indian Territory. The wonderful increase in the number of manufactories and wholesale houses consequent upon the growing demands of the city's great tributary country has exerted a powerful influence in the enhancement of real estate values in and around the city, as have also the large amount of paving, sewerage, and other improvements in all 388 History of Kansas City. directions. Not the least of these improvements is the vast system of cable railways which extend in aH directions, rendering access to all the suburban districts rapid, easy, and comfortable. The beginnings in the material growth of the city were smaH, and the be ginnings in real estate transactions were correspondingly small. The first deal ers in real estate were some of the leading citizens of the time, and their deals were frequently merely incidental to their regular business, to secure a debt, or to accommodate a friend, and often greatiy against their inclinations. Yet some of these enforced deals were so profitable that those engaged therein be came immensely wealthy, in some cases, and in other cases where the acquired wealth was not so great, the operators yet pleasantly remember that they had a competency forced upon them. In what follows it is the design to present a general idea of the progress of the real estate business, and of the wonderful increase in values of property in different parts of the city. From the large number of transactions involved, even during the last few years, it is evident that a detailed account of them could not be given, even if there were any one desirous of reading such a re cital. What follows, therefore, is designed to be more illustrative and suggest ive than exhaustive. Before the war the West Kansas Land Company bought a large quantity of land in the bottoms above town, between the bluffs and the State line, and laid it off into town lots. But owing to the stagnation in business incident to the war, few sales were made until after its close. The officers of this company were William McCoy, president, and Solomon Houck secretary and treasurer. About the close of the war Case & Balis laid off" Pacific Place, which was situated south and west of the West Kansas Land Company's land. The Mis souri Pacific Railroad Company built their main line through this tract to con nect with the Kansas Pacific Railway, and soon afterward L. K. Thacher laid out Depot Addition south of Pacific Place. The present State Line Freight depot stands within the limits of Pacific Place, and Thacher's Depot Addition lies south of the Missouri Pacific Railroad and Depot Lots with a frontage of twenty-five feet sold originally in all of these tracts at about $150 per lot; but they rapidly advanced in value, and from 1868 to 1870 they were selling for about $800 per lot Soon after they reached this point, however, in conse- quenceof the panic of 1872, which caused a general stagnation in business, the price of lots naturally fell quite low, and in fact there was then little or no sale for town lots until about 1877, when real estate began to feel the effects of a general revival of business, and since then the price of lots in all these additions has been advancing until at the present time they are selling at from $250 to $300 per front foot, and in exceptional cases a lot has been sold as high as $400 per front foot. The same general remarks apply to that irregularly shaped tract of land ly- S'-ySBMdUs Sms. llc-j'^^''' The Real Estate Interest. 389 ing between the State Line and the Kaw River, known as Kansas City, Kan. It was formerly owned by General Thomas Ewing, David E. James and oth ers, and was laid off into lots before the panic, but before the panic came on only a few lots were sold. Since then it has rapidly enhanced in value, and at the present time lots are seHing at from $150 to $300 per front foot Turner & Co.'s Addition lies east of Pacific Place, and between West Kan sas Addition No. i, and West Kansas Addition No. 2. Its early history is almost precisely similar to that of those above mentioned. But in 1868 the wholesale agricultural implement dealers began to locate upon it and prices for this reason began to manifest an upward tendency. This change of loca tion on the part of the above mentioned dealers was for the purpose of avoid ing hauling from and to the freight depots, and when once inaugurated soon became general. The first firm to locate there was the Moline Plow Company in 1868, and after them soon came Trumbull, Reynolds & Co., and Smith, Keating & Co., and then others from both inside and outside the city. This vicinity soon became and is believed to be now the greatest distributing point in the world for agricultural implements, there being now located there over one hundred such establishments. The first wholesale grocery establishment to locate in this vicinity was that of Ridenour & Baker, of Lawrence, Kan. On account of these movements real estate in this vicinity rapidly rose in value im mediately after they began. From 1865 to 1872 the prices of lots ranged from $150 to $200 each, and in some cases to $300 per lot In 1875 selling by the front foot commenced on Union avenue, the price being about $100 per front foot, and in 1877 or 1878 this mode of selling became general throughout the Addition, prices off" from Union avenue being about the same as on Union avenue three or four years before. At the present time nothing can be bought in this Addition for less than from $300 to $700 per foot This Addition ex tends from Union avenue to Fourteenth street, and from the bluffs to Pacific Place. Ashburn's Addition (up town) extends from Ninth to Twelfth street and from Baltimore avenue to Broadway. It was laid out in 1858 in twenty-five foot lots, which then sold for about $150 per lot After the war, say in 1865, the best of them would seH for from $300 to $700 per lot. Some parts of this Addi tion are still sold by the lot at prices ranging from $15,000 to $40,000. On Ninth street some of the lots in this Addition seH now for from $1,000 to $2,- 000 per foot. The Coates House, the foundations of which were laid in 1858, is within the Hmits of this Addition, and the military post was also within its Hmits during the war, standing on the southwest corner of Tenth and Central streets, and running back to Eleventh street, and west to the rear foundation wall of the Coates House. What is known as the Old Town is bounded on the north by the Missouri River, on the south by Sixth street, on the east by Troost avenue, and on the 50 39° History of Kansas City, west by Broadway. In the first place the levee only was occupied for business purposes, and the remainder for residences ; but ever since then business has been gradually but surely driving residences outside of its limits. However, there are still residences in the eastern portion. What is now the most valuable busi ness portion, lying on Main street between Third and Sixth streets, and which sold in 1858 for about $600 per lot, is now selling for about $2,000 per foot A similar change in values has taken place throughout the entire district. The improvements are gradually moving southward, and the most valuable portions are in the vicinity of Ninth street on Main. Here, inside lots are worth about $2,500 per foot, but there are none for sale. McGee's Addition is bounded on the North by Twelfth street, on the east by a line one hundred and thirty feet east of Holmes street, on the south by Twentieth street, and on the west by a line 140 feet west of Main street. It was originally owned by Colonel E. M. McGee, and was laid off in 1857 i^^to lots having a frontage of forty-nine and one-half feet. These lots sold origi nally for about $200 each, and the same lots are selling now for from about $1,- 000 to $1,500 per foot. The most desirable residence lots in this Addition are now worth about $250 per foot King & Bouton's Addition lies between Sixteenth and Seventeenth streets, and between Summit street and Broadway. It contains thirteen acres, and was laid out in 1858 into twenty- five foot lots. The value of each lot at the time was from $50 to $100. At the present time the same lots are selling for from $100 to $300 per foot, the latter price being obtained for those fronting on Broadway. Reid's addition was laid off in 1858 by John W. Reid. It is bounded on the north by Twelfth street, on the east by McGee's addition, south by a line about midway between Fourteenth and Fifteenth streets and on the west by Broadway. It was laid out into lots of 25 feet front, which sold at the time at from fifty dollars to one hundred, and at the same price even after the war. It is now a very fine addition and lots in it are worth at the lowest figure, $250 per front foot, and run from that price up to from $600 to $700 per front foot, the latter price being realized for those fronting on Twelfth street. James H. McGee's addition consists of forty acres adjoining Reid's addition on the south. It was laid off" in 1858 into twenty-five foot and fifty foot lots. The smaller ones front on Broadway and are used mostly for business purposes, while the larger are off from Broadway and are used mainly for residences. The average price now for all is from $150 to $250 per foot. Ranson & Tally's addition lies in the eastern portio.n of _the city. It is bounded on the north by Independence avenue, on the east by Tracy avenue, on the south by Twelfth street and on the west by Troost avenue. It was laid off" in 1859, at a time when it was considered early to lay off property in that part of the country. No lots were sold in it until 1869 and then at from $50 The Real Estate Interest. 391 to $150 each. At that time SaHsbury & Geary bought a block in this addi tion at administrator's sale, at an average price of about $85 per lot, and buy ing four of the finest lots in the addition for $168 each. A few months after ward they sold the same four lots for $300 each and now the same lots are worth $250 per front foot. This price is now considered a fair average price for lots throughout this addition, though the best property in the addition, lo cated on Ninth street and Forest avenue, is worth about $350 per front foot. At the same time that Salisbury & Geary purchased the property above men tioned, Mr. SaHsbury purchased six acres, a part of the same estate, and lying east of the south forty acres of Ranson & Tally's addition, at $450 per acre. This property is now among the highest priced residence property in the city, ranging from $150 to $300 per foot. Dundee Place has a remarkable history. It is ;A'hat was once known as the Evans property, and for six years was leased to the "Kansas City Indus trial Exposition and Agricultural Fair Association" for exposition purposes. The association's lease expired in 188 1, and during that year it was sold to a Scotch company for $415,000. In 1877 the city had an opportunity to buy it for $200,000 but declined the offer. It consists of ninety- eight acres and is bounded on the north by Twelfth street, east by Virginia avenue, south by a line mid way between Seventeenth and Eighteenth streets and west by Campbdl street. It was laid out into lots in 1882, with a frontage of twenty-five feet North of Fifteenth street these lots sold at about $40 per front foot and south of that street at from $25 to $35 per foot At the present time all that portion of this addition lying between Twelfth and Fifteenth streets is worth $200 per front foot and is occupied by residences, all of which are built of brick. No business houses are allowed to be built in this addition for twenty years from 1881, this being according to the contract of sale. South of Sixteenth street frame houses are allowed to be built, though notwithstanding this permission quite a large number of brick and some stone residence blocks have been erected. Another remarkable thing about Dundee Place is this, that within five years from being laid out into lots it has become the most thickly settled portion of the city. East Dundee Place consists of about ten acres adjoining Dundee Place on the east. The owner of it had borrowed $3,000 on the ten acres, and for years had been unable to pay either principal or interest. He repeatedly offered his creditor the property for the debt but could not prevail upon him to accept such a settlement for a number of years. Finally, however, seeing no other method of securing what was his due, he accepted the property and cancelled the obligation. In 1886 this property was sold for $165,000. This was be fore it was laid out into lots. The lots are now worth from $125 to $150 per foot and some of them are worth $250 per foot and the gentleman who re peatedly refused to accept the ten acres for a debt of $3,000 and interest is frequently referred to as a most sagacious business man. 392 History of Kansas City. Clouser and Cole's addition is located between Ninth and Twelfth streets, and betv/een Prospect and Olive streets. It consists of twenty acres and was laid out into lots in 1882. Clouser & Cole bought it of Mrs. E. T. Peery for $28,000 and laid it out into lots having a frontage of fifty feet, which they com menced selling at twenty-five dollars per foot. At the present time the aver age price for the same lots is about $100 and some of the best bring from $125 to $150 per foot. Peery Place is located between Eighth and Twelfth streets and between Holmes street and Troost avenue. It was laid off" in 1857 but no lots were sold except a few to some colored purchasers and at a very low price, until 1 870. These colored people had lived there all through the war, and some of them live there still. The lots have a frontage of twenty- five feet and when sales commenced to be made in 1870 the prices ranged from about $125 to $200 per lot. At the present time they are worth on the average, about $200 per front foot and those on Eighth, Ninth and Twelfth streets are worth $300 per foot Goodrich's addition consists of eighty acres. It is bounded on the east by McGee's addition, an the north by James H. McGee's addition, on the west by Broadway and on the south by Twenty-first street. In 1878 these eighty acres were sold for $34,000 and in 1886 the same property was sold for $825,000, all cash, to Wilson Waddingham of New York, and several Kansas City gentle men. They subdivided it into lots and sold them at an average price of about $125 per foot At the present time they are worth about $200 per front foot From the above illustrations may be obtained a fair idea of the gigantic strides in material prosperity made during the period from the close of the war until the present time. Some of the prices offered for property and at which it is held in the business portions of the city, are now introduced. The corner of Ninth and Walnut streets is quoted at $2,000 per front foot, while inside lots in the same vicinity bring $1,200 per foot and up to $1,500. For inside lots near the corner of Main and Ninth streets, $2,500 is asked. On Grand avenue between Twelfth and Fourteenth streets, prices range from $i,ooo to $1,500 per front foot and from Fourteeth to Twentieth at about $1,000 per foot for corner lots and at about $600 per foot for inside lots. Main street lots in a corresponding location may be bought at about the same figures. A lot on the corner of Wall and Eighth streets, recentiy sold for $1,750 per foot Three years ago the same lot was valued at only $300 per foot Property on the West Bottoms, which in May, 1886, brought from $200 to $250 per foot, is now held at from $600 to $700, this increase having been caused by the im mense business done there by the Armours and other capitalists, aH rapid ad vances of the kind here noted being of course due to some improvement in the immediate vicinity. A corner lot near the Midland Hotel, on Seventh and Walnut streets, was sold in May, 1886, for $500 per foot and in August, 1887, ^'byE.amibam'sJB-oM The Real Estate Interest. 393 after the hotel was under construction, an adjoining inside lot changed hands at $1,200. Another property advanced from a value of $43,000 to $96,000 within a year in consequence of this hotel enterprise. These prices are asked and offered not only by speculators and adventurers, but by solid business men who can closely estimate the probable income from a building. It is computed that the corner of Eighth and Main streets could be made to pay eight per cent, net on a five or seven story building, valuing the land at $3,000 per foot. Many of the buildings now in existence pay from ten to twenty per cent, net and there is a scarcity of such buildings as are wanted by business men, especially for wholesale and manufacturing purposes, and any office building coming on the market has up to the present time been sure of a larger number of applicants than it could accommodate. It is, however, but fair to state that the buildings which yield an income of from ten to twenty per cent, upon their cost, as mentioned above, were erected many years ago, were cheaply constructed and bring high rents almost wholly because of their loca tion, whereas buildings erected to-day in their places would not in all proba bility, yield much more than a fair income on the cost of their construction. The increase in the demand for real estate is accurately shown by the fol lowing statistics, which are the annual amounts of transfers from year to year, commencing with 1872, it being understood that the real estate year closes June 30. It will be observed that, with an occasional backset, the increase in the value of the transfers was very gradual from 1872 even up to 1885, and that for the last three years they have been enormously increased. For the year ending June 30, 1872, these transfers were to the amount of $2,121,600 ; for 1873 they were ^1,767,667 ; for 1874, $2,020,712 ; for 1875, $1,547,575 ; for 1876, $1,370,310; for 1877, $1,303,566; for 1878, $1,692,873; for 1879, $4,634,401; for 1880, $4,589,400; for 1881, $7,853,396; for 1882, $8,713,- 713; for 1883, $7,594,183 ; for 1884, $11,403,265; for 1885, $11,261,781; for 1886, $39,181,732, and for 1887, $98,302,637. The above figures show that the year 1887 surpassed all previous years in the history of Kansas City in the volume of its real estate transactions. The transfers for Kansas City proper aggregated $98,030,529, an increase of $43,- 390,446 over the aggregate for 1886, and the aggregate transfers for both Kansas City and suburbs were $136,865,836, an increase over 1886 of $70,- 184,777, or 105.2 per cent In order to clearly appreciate the rapidity of our own progress we must compare it with the progress of others, and similarly, if we would realize the volume of real estate transactions in Kansas City, we must compare that volume with what other large cities are doing in the same Hne of business. To iHustrate, Chicago, in 1885, with a population of 700,000, did a real estate business amounting to $57,482,330, and during 1886, with a population of 750,000, the transfers amounted to $87,006,784. Hence it is evident that Kansas City suffers nothing in this respect by comparison with Chicago. 394 History of Kansas City. It may be noted here that some of the wealthiest and most conservative capitalists in the country are the heaviest investors in Kansas City real estate. Charles Francis Adams, the Thayers, of Boston, the Pennsylvania Investment Company, composed of the leading New England capitalists, John I. Blair, and hundreds of others figure prominently among the heavy investors in real es tate. Boston capital, noted for its conservatism, is more closely identified with Kansas City than with any other city in the United States. In this connection the suburban real estate business demands attention. This business did not really commence untH 1885, in which year the real es tate transfers at Kansas City, Kansas, Independence, and Liberty, Mo., amounted to $3,600,000, or about one-fifth of the amount of the business transacted in Kansas City, Mo. In 1886 the suburban business amounted to about $12,000,000, or about one-fourth of the business in Kansas City proper for that year, and in 1887 the suburban business was about $37,000,000, nearly forty per cent of amount of Kansas City's business. The estimate for 1888 is, that the suburban business wHl amount to fifty per cent of the business of Kansas City proper. This steady growth of the suburban real estate business shows, more clearly than can be shown in any other way, that residence prop erty in the suburbs is coming more and more into demand. This demand for residence property in the suburbs increases with the increased street car facil ities to and from the business center, and these facilities increase in equal pace with the fining up of the suburbs with the city's population ; thus the one acts upon, and is reacted upon, by the other, and each grows by what it feeds upon. Descending to particulars with respect to the suburban real estate bus iness, it may be stated that in 1885, in Kansas City, Kansas, the real estate transfers amounted to $2,011,461; in 1886, to $8,031,862, and in 1887 to $16,930,248. In Independence they were in 1885, $1,142,316; in 1886, $3,- 144,447, and in 1887, $IS,S99>749- There is one remarkable feature connected with the growth of Kansas City, which is not a characteristic of any other city in this country, at least not to the same extent. This is the small proportion of its area occupied by its busi ness when compared with its commercial importance and population. It is very remarkable that even so late as 1885, most of the business of the city was transacted on Main and Delaware streets. Then it extended south on Main street and spread out on to Walnut and Wyandotte streets ; and still later it reached Grand avenue and Broadway, extending southward at the same time on all these streets. But at the present time almost the entire business prop erty of Kansas City, excepting West Kansas City, is included between Third street on the north, and Twelfth street on the south, and between Broadway on the west and Grand avenue on the east, though there is a strong tendency toward expansion both eastward and southward, and considerable business is already transacted to the south and east of the limits above described, on ac- The Real Estate Interest. 395 count of lower rents, more especially in the drug business, grocery business, and other small lines of trade. The demand for real estate in Kansas City, in 1887, as compared with 1886, is shown by the following transactions: In 1886 the total number of transac tions made was 10,491, while in 1887 the whole number was 15,054; the num ber of flats constructed in 1886 was 157, while the number built in 1887 was 268, and the total value of the transactions in 1886 was $54,640,083, while the total amount of considerations in 1887 was $96,729,761 ; these last figures having a remarkably close approximation to the original assessed valuation of the city's real estate for the two years respectively. In this connection the prices paid for real estate in Kansas City and the assessed valuation of the same, as compared with the prices and assessed valu ation of real estate similarly situated in other large cities of the Union, has more than a passing interest. Such a comparison was recently made by a careful business man of this city, which showed that in September, 1887, prop erty which was commanding thirty dollars per front foot in Kansas City, was, if similarly situated in Boston, Mass., commanding $300 per front foot, while the assessed value of property in Boston, according to the same authority, was about four times as high as in Kansas City, and at the same time the assessed value of property in Boston was much below its real value. Similar investiga tions in New York city showed a still greater disparagement in favor of Kan sas City. When compared with Western cities it was found that the prices of lots, for the wholesale trade, reduced to the same depth, 132 feet Kansas City standard, were as follows : For the best corner lots in Cleveland, $1,056 per front foot; Detroit $1,980; Chicago, $2,566,66; Milwaukee, $715; Omaha, $700; Tole do, $1,056; Indianapolis, $1,056; St. Paul, $1,026; Minneapolis, $792; Kansas City, $650. The prices for the best inside lots, for wholesale business, reduced to the Kansas City standard depth as above, compared as follows : Cleveland, $880 per front foot; Detroit $1,584; Milwaukee, $440; St Paul, $517; To ledo, $640; Chicago, $1,833.33; Omaha, $600; Indianapolis, $396; Minne apolis, $402 ; Kansas City, $400. If the comparison be extended to the prices for the best corner lots for retail business, reduced to the same depth as above, the results are as follows : Cleveland, $2,800 per front foot; Detroit $2,640; Milwaukee, $2,640; St Paul, $1,056; Toledo, $1,370; Chicago, $5,940; Omaha, $1,500; IndianapoHs, $1,188; Minneapolis, $2,640; Kansas City, $2,000. And the prices for the best inside lots, for retail business, compared as follows : Cleveland, $2,262 per front foot; Detroit $1,980; Milwaukee, $i,ioo; St Paul, $749; Toledo, $1,245; Chicago, $2,262; Omaha, $1,200; Indianapolis, $1,396; MinneapoHs, $1,237.50; Kansas City, $1,500. The only other comparison deemed worthy to be made here is the prices. 396 History of K.-ns.vs City. of workingmen's residence corner lots. These when compared give the fol lowing results; Cleveland, $52.80 per front foot; Detroit $27; Milwaukee, $44; St Paul, $52.80; Toledo, $44; Chicago, $99; Omaha, $40; Indianap olis, $21 ; Minneapolis, $63 ; Kansas City, $35. The above comparisons show most clearly that in 1887, while real estate sold as high or higher in Kansas City than at any other time, yet the prices were much lower than in the large Eastern cities, and considerably lower than in most of the large Western cities. The loan and mortgage business is so intimately connected with real estate business as to form, as it were, almost a part of it. This business like the sub urban real estate business, is of recent origin and growth. In 1880 a certain firm opened a little loan office on Delaware street and commenced business, and this firm, in the short space of seven years, has so grown as to be now an inte gral part of the great interests of the city, having a capital of about $3,000,000. There are other companies of the same kind in the city, and to the loan and mortgage companies as a body of business men, is due much of the present stability of the real estate business in Kansas City, as they, with their wealthy Eastern connections, are always ready to loan money on real estate to the end that real estate may be improved. Real Estate Assessment. — Although the assessed value of real estate is not always an infaHible indication of its real value, fluctuating as it does from time to time between certain limits, these limits depending frequently upon the whims of the assessor, yet that assessed value is a more or less accurate index to the actual value of real property, and at the same time to the demand for the property, especially when all the attendant circumstances are taken into account. A careful study of the increase in the assessed value of Kansas City's realty is of importance, therefore, in connection with her remarkable growth. Commencing in 1846 and continuing down to the present time, the assessed value of real estate in Kansas City has been as follows : For 1846 it was $500,- 000; for 1858, $1,802,000; for 1861, $1,814,320; for 1862, $1,448,284; and for 1863, $1,310,890. This was the lowest point it reached during the war, indicating that the disturbances incident to that great conflict were most ef fective at that time. The next year the assessed value reached $1,698,460 ; in 1865 it was $1,922,670, and in 1866 it sprang up to $3,587,875. There was but Httle change in 1867, but in 1868 it was $5,078,068. A rapid stride was made in 1869, when it reached $8,408,111, and in 1870 it was $9,629,455. A slow but steady advance was made from this time up to 1873, when it reached $12,708,290. On account of the panic of that year there was com menced a steady decline, which did not cease untH 1876, when the assessed valuation had faHen to $8,923,190. From this time a slow advance was made untH 1880, when it had reached $13,378,950. A rapid augmentation was made during the next year, in 1881, it having reached $17,308,750, and this The Real Estate Interest. 397 was followed by a stiH more rapid increase during the next year, for in 1882 it was $24,316,020. From this time untH the present the increase is given by years: In 1883 it was $28,755,315; in 1884, $30,900,000; in 1885, $31,- 678,520; in 1886, $46,386,790; in 1887, $53,017,390; and in 1888, $90,- 701,300. The assessment for 1888, however, as also in previous years, was in some cases doubtless based upon the selling prices for property, and hence much too high when compared with other similar property. It was for this reason reduced by the State Board of Equalization to $44,961,120, and at the same time the taxes were reduced from fourteen mills to eleven mills on the dollar. An account of the buildings recently erected and in process of construction is appropriate in this connection, and as is but natural to suppose, the record in this respect has kept pace with the progress in real estate transactions and in everything else. The last few years may be called a period of new con struction, the buildings erected during this time being strongly in contrast, both as to exterior appearance and as to interior arrangements and improve- hients, with those erected say from five to fifteen years ago. According to the official report of the Superintendent of Buildings, there were erected in 1887 four thousand, five hundred and thirty buildings, of all kinds, at a cost of about $12,000,000. Many of the buildings erected in 1887, and in process of erec tion in 1888, are of the most improved and elegant styles of architecture, and are most permanent structures. A fair idea of their permanency may be ob tained from the consideration that not less than twenty of them will have cost when finished over $100,000 each, and that several of them will have cost over $500,000 each. Among these splendid buildings just referred to as recently completed, or as nearing completion, are the following with their cost : The Young Men's Christian Association Building, cost $105,000; the Warder Opera House, $100,000; the Rialto Building, $100,000; the Water Works Build ing, $125,000; the Exposition Building, $250,000; the new Journal Building, -$250,000; the Beal Building, $250,000; the Coates House, $350,000; the Keith & Peery Building, $350,000; the American National Bank Building, $400,000; the Nelson & Weller Building, $500,000; the Board of Trade Building, $700,000; the Grand Midland Hotel, $1,000,000; and the New York Life Insurance Building, $1,000,000. Many other buildings average from $10,000 to $50,000 each. As the population of the city has increased, the demand for residence lots has grown with corresponding rapidity, and a large number of additions, sub divisions and re-surveys have been filed, which cover every desirable locality in the city and its vicinity. Following is a statement of the number of these Additions,' etc., platted, the plats of which were filed in the years given — from 1839 to 1887 inclusive: In J 839, the first plat of the "Town of Kansas"; 1846, the second plat of the 51 398 History of Kansas City. town of Kansas; 1847, third plat of the town of Kansas ; 1855, Hubbard's addition; 1856, McGee's addition, the first plat of Troost's re-survey, block sixteen, old town, and Lykin's addition ; in 1857 there were eighteen additions platted; in 1858, nine; in 1859, nine; i860, one; 1861, two ; 1865, seven; 1866, twelve; 1867, four; 1868, ten; 1869, nine; 1870, eleven; 1 871, eight;. 1872, nine; 1873, four; 1874, three; 1875, one; 1876, two; 1878, three; 1879, thirteen; 1880, twenty-seven; 1881, sixty-three; 1882, forty five ; 1883, thirty-six; 1884, thirty- five ; 1885, eighty-nine; 1886, one hundred and fifty-two; and in 1887, two hundred and forty-nine. Abstracts of Title. — Purchasers of real estate in and around Kansas City are peculiarly favored with reference to the facilities enjoyed for obtaining clear and unimpeachable titles. The records have been carefully kept from the earliest days, yet errors occasionally occurred in the earlier transfers, as they have also occurred in later transactions. Errors of this kind are, however,. easy of detection upon investigation, and it is evident that such investigation can best be made by professional abstract men, who make a business of trac ing the exact history and direct chain of each title. Legal advice is necessary only where flaws are found. Where time is a desideratum it is only necessary to secure a certificate of the title from a responsible abstract firm which affords all the information of the abstract itself without its details, and the accuracy of the certificate is guaranteed by the issuing firm. It is clear that for its own security the abstract firm must make the closest examination of the title before it is safe in issuing a certificate of its correctness. Thus the same security is afforded while the expense is materially diminished. The Schueler Abstract Company's business was established in 1879, by A. L. O. Schueler, who had for some years previously been connected with an abstract company in St. Louis. This company has a complete set of abstract books tracing the direct chain of title from the United States government of all lands in Kansas City, and in Jackson and Clay counties. Mo., and Wyan dotte county, Kansas. They have offices in Kansas City, Independence and Liberty, Mo., and in Kansas City, Kansas. Norman & Robertson, who began business in 1865, have copies of and index books to the entire records of Jackson county pertaining to real estate. Dean S. Kelley St Co. have books from the earliest dates. These books passed through several hands prior to 1876, when they were purchased by Mr. Kelley. They contain abstracts of all the real estate in Jackson county. The Kansas City Abstract Company owns abstracts of all Kansas City and Jackson county real estate. Their books were completed in 1868, upon the improved survey system of W. E. Dunscombe, at that time clerk of the Su preme Court at Jefferson City, Judge Hough, supreme judge of the State, also being interested in their compilation. In 1878 they were purchased with the right to operate the system, by Colonel E. M. McGee and C. D. Lucas, ex- The Real Estate Interest. 399 recorder of deeds in Kansas City, who in 1879 sold them with all privileges to Carnett Brothers, who were instrumental in organizing this company, the of ficers of which are : C.L. Dobson, president; C. W. Whitehead, vice-presi dent ; R. B. Garnett business manager ; V. L. Garnett, secretary ; and E. P. Garnett, attorney. Among others who furnish abstracts are H. G. Algeo, Charles Michaux, Kirtley, Burkhart & Co., and the Land Title Guarantee Company of Kansas City. — This company is of re cent organization, the date of its organization being 1887, but it is already well estabHshed and well known. The capital stock is $250,000 and its di rectors and officers are as follows: Directors, A. W. Armour, F. J. Baird, R. R. Conklin, A. W. Childs, N. J. Bradlee, S. M. Jarvis, Benjamin F. Stevens, and Jefferson Brumback ; officers, S. M. Jarvis, president ; George W. Mc Crary, vice-president ; Theodore S. Case, secretary and treasurer ; J. A. Paint er, superintendent of abstracts, and Jefferson Brumback, counsel. The com pany is composed of some of the best business men of Kansas City, Philadel phia and Boston. Its manner of transacting business combines prudence and conservatism with freedom from unnecessary technicalities. It examines titles to real estate, and issues certificates of guarantee protecting against defects of title, and against any error which may be made in the examination of titles, whether the error be of a clerical nature or an error of opinion on points of law. In other words it guarantees the absolute correctness of its examinations and agrees to become liable on its guarantee in case a mistake is made. It also defends in case a suit is brought to recover property covered by one of its certificates. It guarantees title to additions, and issues certificates to each lot owner, thus saving the delay and cost of an abstract. This company is located in the second story of the New England building, at the corner of Ninth and Wyandotte streets. The Kansas City Real Estate and Stock Exchange was incorporated May 17, 1886, and like any organization of its own, or any other kind, was the result of the necessities of the day. The real estate business, previously to the incorporation of this exchange, was in a chaotic and irregular condition. There were then about three hundred agents actively engaged in selling real estate, and other property, each being a law unto himself Many of them were licensed and transacted a legitimate business, while perhaps more than half of those engaged were not licensed, and were doing an irregular business, which had a marked tendency to degrade the vocation and render liable to suspicion all who were engaged therein. Law- suits growing out of the un warranted acts of men who claimed to be real estate agents, were of frequent occurrence, and to remove the stigma from the business resting upon it, and to place it upon a plane equally high with other lines of trade were the main objects for the incorporation of the Kansas City Real Estate and Stock Ex change. This was accomplished as stated above. May 17, 1886, and a charter 400 History of Kansas City. was immediately obtained. Officers were elected, a haH rented, and a system of by-laws and rules adopted for the regulation and control of real estate trans actions. The incorporators of the exchange were Attis A. Whipple, E. H. Phelps, George F. Winter, Richard H. Cannon, George Law, Willard E. Winner, Theo dore S. Case, Samuel F. Scott Charles W. Whitehead, Bernard DonneHy, WiHiam V. Lippincott jr., Milton F. Simmons, and Edward M. Wright It was provided that the first board of directors should consist of thirteen mem bers, and the individuals named above were agreed upon as the first board. The first officers elected were Theodore S. Case, president ; E. M. Wright, vice-president ; A. A. Whipple, treasurer ; W. V Lippincott, jr., secretary, and S. E. Swanson, assistant secretary. In the articles of incorporation the objects of the exchange were declared to be the establishment and mainten ance of a real estate and stock exchange in Kansas City for the public and private sale of real estate, stocks and other property. By the by-laws of the exchange the directors were required to be licensed real estate dealers, loan, rental or stock brokers, and it was also provided that there should be commit tees on finance, on the exchange, on membership, on arbitration, and on public enterprises. The number of members at the beginning was sixty-one, count ing firms as individuals, and the capital stock of the exchange was fixed at $10,000, all of which was taken before the end of the first year. The opening of the exchange took place July 22, 1886, at the Emmons building, near the corner of Ninth and Delaware streets. This opening was a most interesting event to all who were, are, or may become connected with the purchase or sale of real estate in Kansas City. About one hundred and fifty representative business men of the city were present at the opening, and ad dresses were made by the following persons : Theodore S. Case, president of the exchange. Mayor H. C. Kumpf, ex-Governor T. T. Crittenden and Cap tain William H. Miller According to the first annual report of the secretary it became evident some time previously that a change in the organization of the exchange would have to be made, and accordingly, on January 4, 1887, in order to accommo date the numerous applications for membership, annual memberships were provided for, and at the time of making the report five of these annual member ships had been issued. The financial condition of the exchange was shown, by the treasurer's report, to be in every way satisfactory; the resources amounting to $13,033. Great credit is properly given to this organization for its work on several important occasions ; among these occasions being the election for bonds for the new court-house, and the carnival and trades parade in the fall of 1887. But the greatest benefit it has conferred upon the city is the reduc tion to a system of the real estate, stocks and brokerage business. The offi cers at the present time are the same as those first elected. ^'V^iii,£ e^mha.n.i s / '-« f- The Real Estate Interest. 401 The exchange has purchased a lot on Wall street, near Seventh, and has contracted for a handsome building, which, when erected, will be its perma nent home, and which will furnish offices for its members. The Kansas City Land Reclamation Company was organized in November, 1887, with W. S. Tough as president; H. P. Childs, vice-president; E. E. Richardson, secretary and treasurer, and L. W. Bates, manager. The capital of the company is $100,000. It has secured the exclusive use of the patent process of dredging by pumping from the bottom of the river — the same pro cess used in filHng up the Potomac Flats at Washington, and which is also successfully used on the Pacific coast, and is having built a boat which will cost $40,000, and is making other preparations for active operations. The managers have a contract with the stock yards company to fill in about four acres of land bordering on the Kaw River, which, when reclaimed, will be worth from $12,000 to $20,000 per acre. There are thousands of acres of land now useless in the vicinity of Kansas City, which might be thus re claimed, and which can be made worth millions of dollars. Those who were engaged in the real estate business prior to the war, were Coates & Hood and Bouton & King, which latter firm was however of but short duration, Mr King soon retiring and Mr. Bouton carrying on the business alone until 1883, when he went to Santa Barbara, Cal., S. D. Vaughn, who built the Diamond Building, which was popularly known for years as "Vaughn's Diamond," and in which Mr. Vaughn died in 1870, and Bernard DonneHy, who is still in the business. The firm of Case & Balis was the first to engage in the real estate busi ness after the close of the war, commencing in 1866. Mr. Balis has continued in the business ever since, with a brief interruption. Theodore S. Case was his. partner until 1875, and then for about a year. Captain Charles Brewster. Since 1884, Oliver Case has been in partnership with him, the firm name remaining Case & Balis. This firm has owned and laid out the following additions, tracts, and subdivisions : Cottage Place, Pacific Place, McGee Place, T. S. Case's Addition, O. Case & BaHs' Subdivision, Balis' Place, Balis' Addition, Broad way Addition, and T. S. Case's Subdivision. This property in the aggregate, is now worth several millions of dollars. Another of the real estate firms formed early after the close of the war was that of Munford & Fancher, in 1867. It lasted but a short time, Mr Munford retiring, Mr. Fancher, however, having been engaged in an extensive business ever since. C. W. Whitehead commenced the real estate business in 1871, and has from the first been a large though conservative dealer He has been largely instrumental in bringing to Kansas City a great deal of eastern capital, which he has most judiciously invested, and has also himself bought and sold a great deal of real estate, and by both means has succeeded in amassing a considerable fortune. F. J. Baird has been in the real estate business since 402 History of Kansas City, 1865, from which time until 1887 his firm was F. J. Baird & Co. In this latter 3'ear it became Baird, Brent & Co. This company, from the beginning of its operations has given a great deal of attention to real estate, and has been inter ested in many fine properties, both inside and outside of the limits of the city. The principal tracts in which it is now interested are Broadway Park, Hyde Park, and the Armourdale Townsite Co.'s property. Mr. Baird owns the fine office building at the southwest corner of Sixth and Wyandotte streets, and is also interested in much other valuable property. Thacher & Webster com menced the real estate business in 1865, Mr. Thacher remained in the firm but a short time, and since his retirement therefrom Mr. Webster has carried it on alone. In addition to the real estate business, Mr Webster has been for a long series of years and is now largel}' interested in insurance and in a gen eral rental business. Harrison & Piatt commenced business as a firm in 1874, The firm was originally composed of John S. Harrison and C. B. Piatt the latter of whom commenced to deal in real estate in 1868, and the former in 1871. Mr C, B. Piatt died in April, 1888, and his place in the firm was taken by Samuel T. Piatt the same firm name being thus continued. This firm has been mainly interested in buying and selling real estate on commission, in renting property and in paying taxes. Their business has been very extensive, and they have always stood in the front ranks of the honorable and energetic business men of the city. R. H. Cannon & Co. commenced the real estate business in 1869, and have since taken part in many of the most important improvements which have re sulted in developing the property in the central part of the city. The firm has loaned and invested a great deal of money for eastern capitalists, and has always been conservative and cautious in its business methods. Its advice has always been judicious and wise, and as a consequence the business it has trans acted for itself or for others has been uniformly successful. The Green Brothers' Security Company was organized in 1887. The two brothers, J. J. and T. J. Green, have always been among the most enterprising real estate men in the city. Immediately after the panic of 1873 and 1874 they took hold of outside real estate, laid it out into lots, and made several additions, meeting with great success in aH their undertakings. They origi nate new ideas in business, and exhibit remarkable enterprise in developing, advertising, and selling property. S. F. Scott is also one of the wide awake real estate dealers in the city. He commenced business in 1873, and has done much toward building up not only the real estate, but also the general interests of the city. He has always been able to perceive the tendency of things, and hence to see where money could be made in real property. He has taken hold of and has handled such property with great success. He has always used the money he has made in The Real Estate Interest. 403 buHding up the city of his adoption, and is now engaged in buHding an hotel at the corner of Fifth and Wyandotte streets, on the former site of the old Lindell Hotel. E. L. Browne came to this city in 1878, and has ever since been engaged in and prominently identified with the real estate business, under the firm name of E. L. Browne & Co. He has the honor of filing the first plat after the panic of 1873, namely that of E. L. Browne's Subdivision, and has laid out about ten additions since that time. He was the first to start the eastward movement in real estate, and has since been engaged in a general real estate commission business, in making loans, and in inducing eastern capital to come to Kansas City, in aH of which directions he has been eminently successful. He has also rendered material assistance in developing the general prosperity of the city. W. E. Winner commenced the real estate business in 1880, and in 1883 organized the Winner Investment Company, and has since then operated through this corporation. The company has a capital of $500,000, and assets worth $2,500,000. Its business in 1887 amounted to $7,000,000. It carries on a strictly trust business, investing the capital of others. It does not own any real estate, but deals largely in real estate, mortgages, and stocks. Its plan of operation is to receive the money of other people and to invest it for them, taking a part of the net profit for its compensation. E. H. Phelps commenced business in 1882 under the firm name of E. H. Phelps & Co. He has been largely identified with the development of the southern portions of the city, more especially on Troost avenue. In 1885 he purchased eighty acres, known as Troost Highlands, for $800 per acre, organ ized a syndicate, and platted the ground. This land is now held at from $4,000 to $8,000 per acre. Troost avenue is opened past the " Highlands," and the cable line is in sight from them. Mr. Phelps has in all probability been concerned in the organization of more syndicates than any other man in the city. He is connected with a number ®f different organizations and asso ciations, all having for their object the development and upbuilding of the city itself Marty, Arnold & Co. commenced business as a firm in 1885, though Mr. Marty had been engaged in the real estate business in the city since 1870, and Mr. Arnold since 1879. The former gentleman has erected a large number of residences, and has also dealt very largely in real estate. The partnership was dissolved in 1887, since when Mr. Arnold, who has himself erected fifty- seven houses, has been engaged in business alone. Mr. Marty has since then con fined his attention to his own private affairs. W. V. Lippincott, jr., commenced the real estate business in Kansas City, March 8, 1881. He has been interested largely in outside property, both as owner and on commission. He has built a large number of houses, and has done much to aid the city in her growth and development. 404 History of Kansas City. Fillmore & Co. commenced business in 1884, and have since then bought and sold a great deal of property in and about the city, in Independence, and notably at what is known as Gladstone Heights, They have always been gov erned by ideas original with themselves, and have been eminently successful. M. F. Simmons, though not one of the oldest, is yet one of the largest real estate dealers in the city. He established himself here in 1884, and was the organizer and is the secretary of the Simmons Investment Company, which was incorporated in November, 1887, and which controls large landed interests in Kansas City. Mr. Simmons has been interested in Prospect View, Green View, Lydia Avenue Place, Bloomfidd Addition, Troost Plighlands, etc., and he is now interested in outside property, notably in Washington Addition to Kansas City, a tract of two hundred and sixty acres, one of the largest addi tions ever platted, besides being one of the most eligible and desirable loca tions near the city for both business and residence purposes. ' This company also controls East Ridgeway, just outside the city limits. T. A. Harris & Wilson are among the most active and successful real estate firms in the city. They have been the means of attracting a large amount of eastern capital to Kansas City, and have had a large share in many of the most important transactions, besides having been largely interested in property owned by various syndicates. They were the originators of the Holyrood, and the Minnie G. Wilson Place, Additions to the city, and were also interested in McKinney Heights and in Belgravia Addition. 'They now have valuable locations on hand for both business and residences, and are engaged in making extensive investments of Eastern capital. W. H. Craig & Co. have been and are extensively engaged in the real estate business. They handled Dundee Place, East Dundee Place, and Dundee Park, besides a great deal of outside property, including much of the best resi dence property in the city. This has been one of the most successful firms in Kansas City. George F. Winter has always been one of the most energetic operators in real estate. He has handled several important additions of his own, has sold largely on commission, and has done much in a general way toward building up the city. B. T Whipple is one of the leading real estate men of the city, always working for the interests of the entire community as well as for his own. At the present time he has on hand a large number of tracts of land, and is also interested extensively in the insurance business, and also in the loan and mort gage business. Robert Salisbury & Co. estabHshed themselves in business in 1885, as the successors to the firm of Salisbury & Walmsley, which firm was organised in 1883. Daniel Geary in 1885 became the successor of Mr Walmsley in the firm. Both members of the present firm have long been well known as among Iiig'tyEtAVnhmv^ iSroV' ClM^U The Real Estate Interest. 405 the staunch business men of the city. Their attention is now confined princi pally to renting property. The Kansas City Investment Company was established in 1882, and at the present time has a capital of $200,000. It makes investments secured by mortgage on real estate, and sells real estate bonds. Its officers are Edward E. Holmes, president; George W. Van Evera, secretary, and Alfred N. Cos set, auditor. The Inter-State Investment Company was incorporated in March, 1886. It has a capital of $100,000, and its officers are as follows: J. I. Reynolds, president, and W. A. Bunker, vice-president This company is one of the most careful investors in the city. They were instrumental in organizing the West Side Land and Park Company, the Riverside Improvement Company, the Boston Land and Park Company, and the Silver Springs Investment Com pany, the property of which companies is among the safest in the city as an investment. The Lawrence Investment Company was incorporated March 28, 1887 with a capital of $25,000 and a surplus of $10,000. Its purpose is to deal in real estate, and to negotiate conservative mortgage loans for large or small amounts. It deals in property in Kansas City and in Lawrence, Kan., but is rapidly extending its operations to the States of Kansas and Missouri. The officers of the company are : Theodore S. Case, 'president ; E. F. Rogers, vice- president; L. G. A. Copley, secretary, and George Leis, treasurer, all of Kan sas City except Mr Leis, who is of Lawrence, Kan. The Land, Claim, and Investment Company was incorporated under the laws of Kansas October i, 1887, with a capital stock of $50,000, of which $30,000 has been issued. The objects for which this company was formed are to deal in real estate, to perfect land titles, to adjust claims and to make in vestments. Its officers and directors are : George H. White, president and acting treasurer; C. B. Pierce, vice-president; S. H. Milehan, secretary, and Frank B. Towner and John H. Parrott. There is a large number of real estate firms and companies not mentioned above, to whom equal credit is due for activity, enterprise, and public spirit, in developing the real estate interests of the city, and in attracting to it capital and population ; but it is obviously impracticable to present even a brief account of the operations of each individual and firm without devoting an entire volume to the subject Following are names of a number of the other important real estate dealers, who have been and who are conspicuous in their calling: E. H. Bou ton, Walter J. Bales & Co., Bliven & Stringer, Brown, Schoonmaker & Co., Brewster & WHson, R. H. Cannon & Co., Coburn & Ewing, Cothrdl & Whit ney, Donnelly & Fitzpatrick, D. B. Dyer & Co., Isaac d'Isay, Hayes & Truitt, J. A. Hayes & Co., Hoffman & Fussell, Walter Harwood & Stevens, F. C. Henderson, Jones & Olds, M. E. Johnson & Co., Kearney & Madden, George 52 4o6 History ok Kansas City. W. Lee, H. B. Pain, Royer & Harwood, Risley, Bentley & Co., Ridge Bros., M. L. SuHivan, L. J. Talbot, E. M. Wright & Baylor, and Wimbush & PoweH. CHAPTER XX. STREET railway SYSTEM. Horse Railroads — Cable Lines — Elevated Railroads — -Dummy Lines — Proposed Lines. THE first street railway in Kansas City was built during the year 1870, and extended from the corner of Fourth and Main, by way of Fourth, Walnut Twelfth and Grand avenue, to Sixteenth street. This line was constructed by the Kansas City and Westport Horse Railroad Companj', which was organized in 1869 by Nehemiah Holmes, with himself, W. R. Bernard, Edward Price, George W. Briant, E. M. McGee, J. Q. Watkins and William Dunlap, as incor porators. Mr. Holmes was the leading spirit of the enterprise, and but for him it would doubtless have failed. In 1871 upon the completion of the line to Westport, there was great rejoicing among the citizens of the two towns, which were now, as it was expressed, "linked together by indissoluble iron bands!" The road did not pay. The earnings at times were hardly sufficient to feed the mules that drew the cars. Mr Holmes died, and in 1874 the road was sold under a deed of trust to a reorganized company called the Westport and Kan sas City Railroad Company. This latter corporation was chartered February 5, 1874, and the incorporators were C. C. Floweree, who was president Meade Woodson, C. J. White and Henry Swindler The change of name in the style of the company was slight, and was made merely to enable the new company to succeed the old, and the change of fortune was not remarkable either for some years. In 1880 Mr Walton H. Holmes, son of the original proprietor, then a mere boy, took charge of the affairs of the line, and from that time forward it was successful. In 1886 the line -was sold to the Grand Avenue Cable Com pany, and changed to a cable Hne, which is now running successfully, both on the Fifteenth street and the Westport Division. In 1873 the Jackson County Horse Railroad Company was organized and proposed to build a street railroad from the corner of Fourth and Main, by Fourth to Wyandotte street, thence to Fifth street, thence by Fifth and Bluff streets and Union avenue to Mulberry street, thence north to Ninth street and thence by Ninth street to the State Line, to connect with another company that had been organized in Wyandotte. It also proposed to build a line from the corner of Fourth and Main, by the wa; .^f Fourth and Walnut to Fifth, thence by Fifth to Grand avenue, thence to Ii.uependence avenue, thence to Forest Street Railway System. 407 avenue, thence southward to Twelfth street. The first of these has been changed to a cable Hne, and it is probable that the other will soon be so converted. The Union Depot Street Railroad Company was organized in 1874. Its proposed line was to run from the Exposition grounds, then on Twelfth street, to Grand avenue, thence to Eleventh street, thence to Main street, thence to the junction of Main and Delaware, thence down Delaware to Fifth, and thence to Walnut. Another part of the line was to start from Sixth and Delaware and run along Sixth to Broadway, thence to Fifth, and thence down Bluff and Un ion avenues to the Kansas stock yards. A portion of this line was built in 1873, and at the same time the western part of the Jackson county line, and in con nection therewith the Broadway line from Fifth to Twelfth street. The follow ing year the Union Depot line was sold to the Jackson county line, and both roads were put under one management. Eventually these lines and certain oth ers formed what was known as the Corrigan System, whose proprietor was Mr. Thomas Corrigan. They were sold to the Metropolitan Company in 1886, for $1,250,000, and the most of them have been changed to cable lines. The Sixth and Broadway line leading from Sixth and Main streets to the southwestern portion of the city, on Madison avenue ajid Seventeenth streets near the Reservoir, and the line known as the Southwest Boulevard Line, lead ing from the junction of Main and Delaware streets to the southwestern portion of the city, near the State Line by way of Main street and the Southwest Boule vard, were among the lines above referred to, and are now part of the Metro politan System. The Fifth street and East Bottom Line, now being built, will run from Grand avenue by way of Fifth street Lydia avenue and First street into the manu facturing district below the city, known as the East Bottom. There is also a horse railroad running south on Prospect avenue from Fifteenth street to the city limits. the CABLE RAILWAY SYSTEMS, Briefly stated, the cable system of street railways is this : It is a system in which cars are impeHed by an endless wire cable which moves continuously, passing at some point in its circuit through an engine-house, where it takes sev eral turns around a driving drum propelled by the engines. The cable is placed in a conduit between the rails, and the returning circuit is generally on the same street with the outgoing, and only a few feet away. Certain of the cars are provided with a device called a grip, which reaches down through a con tinuous slot extending along the centre of the track, and grips the cable which moves the car, releasing it to stop. The car containing this device is called the " grip car," and to it another car, for passengers exclusively, is coupled after the manner of ordinary railway cars. Sometimes there is a "train" of two or more cars ; frequently, however, the gripping apparatus is situated in the for ward portion of the passenger car, in which case the " train " is composed of 4o8 History of Kansas City. but one car. The cars are provided with strong, substantial brakes, suffi cient to stop the train when either ascending or descending the steepest declivity. The cable railway system originated in San Francisco, Cal., in 1873. The Clay Street Hill Road, a mile in length, was the first in the world. In 1880 there were but sixteen mHes of cable in operation, all in the United States. In 1884 there were thirty-four miles in the United States, and one short line in London. At present (June, 1888), there are probably two hundred and fifty miles. Chicago is first San Francisco is second, and Kansas City third on the list. There are also cable roads in operation in the City of New York, in Phil adelphia, Pa., Cincinnati, O., St Louis, Mo., St Paul, Minn., Omaha, Neb., Binghamton, N. Y., Hoboken, N. J., Grand Rapids, Mich., Peori, IH., and in Oakland and Los Angelos, California. Outside of the United States the only cable roads in operation are in London, England, Melbourne and Sydney, Australia, and one in Auckland, New Zealand. The originator of the idea of the cable system in Kansas City is Mr. Rob ert Gillham, the well known civil engineer. That gentleman came to the city poor in everything save mental resources, seeking employment in his profess ion. At first he met with but little success. There was not much engineer ing to do, and there were many engineers to do it. He kept up his courage, however, and made the best of every situation. He did his work speedily and well, and those who hired him once hired him again when they had anything in his line they wished done promptly and well. He kept himself thoroughly posted in the progress of everything pertaining to the science of his profession and to the march of civilization generally. He was a subscriber to various scientific journals and read them carefully. At last he was attracted by the new system of cable railways just coming into vogue in San Francisco and Chicago, and at once saw that this system could be used to the greatest advan tage and with most profitable results in Kansas City. At that time public communication between the Union depot and other points in the West Bottoms and the main portion of the city was by means of carriages and horse car lines. It was Mr. Gillham's idea to build a cable line from the Union depot via Ninth street, into the heart of the city, shortening the distance and largely decreasing the time of transit. He conceived the scheme of a highway over a trestle work from the depot to the top of the bluff, where the cable line proper should begin. Passenger cars were to be hauled up and let down this inclined plane by a strong cable wound upon and un wound from a huge drum turned by the stationary engine on the crown of the bluff. After being drawn up the track in the manner described, the cars were to be detached from the one cable and attached to the other Fortunately, however, Mr. Gillham, upon reflection and investigation, discarded the drum and windlass plan and substituted the cable system for the entire length of his '/-nr Street Railway System. 409 contemplated line. The first method never advanced farther than the draught ing of the plans. Having thoroughly canvassed the scheme and formed his designs, Mr. Gill ham now set to work to put them into execution. Without any money of his own he conceived the idea of a company with a capital of several hundred thousand dollars, and properly chartered and officered, whose object should be the building and operating of the cable line of street railway. He began a sort of canvass among the business men and capitalists of the city to enlist them in his project. His scheme was considered chimerical and impracticable, and he came to be regarded as a "crank" and a great bore. At last Mr. WilHam J. Smith and Mr. George J. Keating, two gentiemen of wealth and influence, sound in their judgment and wiHing to back it up with their money, agreed to join Mr Gillham. " Go ahead," said they to the young adventurer, " you furnish the brains for this scheme and we will supply the money." On the 20th of April, 1882, the city council granted a franchise to William J. Smith, George J. Keating, and Robert Gillham to "construct and operate a street railway or horse railroad on and along a part of Eighth street, a part of Main street a part of Ninth street, and a part of Jefferson street" In brief the line was to extend from Woodland avenue on the east, to the western boundary of Coates's addition on the west. It was not intended seriously at this time to build a "horse railroad" over the route; the leading object was to secure the franchise. A year later the Kansas City Cable Company was •organized, and this corporation succeeded to all the interests of Messrs. Smith, Keating, and GiHham. Smith and Gillham were of the incorporators of the new company, and the latter was made chief engineer. Operations were at once begun and prosecuted with much vigor, though under adverse circumstances and in spite of serious obstacles. The estimates of the engineer, carefully computed as they had been, proved too small, owing to circumstances and difficulties which arose from time to time, and which were impossible to foresee. Some of the stockholders grew weary of the continual -assessments upon them, but nobody censured the engineer. In the main all of the incorporators acted bravely. Mr. Smith, especially, met every emergency and never for a moment lost faith in ultimate triumph and success. He gave of his means freely, to the extent of hundreds of thousands of dollars, and, without disparaging the valuable assistance of others, it was owing to his un wavering trust and confidence that the enterprise reached completion and achieved triumphant success. At last on the 24th of June, 1885, the Kansas City Cable Company ran its first train over the first division of its road, then completed, and opened a new era in the development of Kansas City, In the month of April, preceding, Mr. GiHham, the engineer, met with a most serious accident at the power 4IO History of Kansas City. house of the company, at the corner of Ninth and Washington streets, from the effects of which he was disabled for nearly a year. While in the conduit under the track, engaged in making some repairs, a " grip" of one of the cars became detached and fell upon him, crushing his skull, and for a time his life was despaired of His place was filled by the appointment of Mr Clift Wise, an other very accomplished young engineer, who completed the work in progress, built the magnificent power-works at Woodland avenue, and rendered the company most efficient and valuable service generally. In the discharge of their duties Mr. Gillham and Mr. Wise accomplished some very important and difficult feats of engineering, and made invaluable contributions to that science. They built their road up hill and down, around many sharp curves, and over obstacles pronounced insurmountable. In his specialty as cable engineer, Mr. Gillham has come to be regarded as without a superior in the country. Upon the successful completion of the line there was general rejoicing and the promoters of the enterprise were the recipients of extended and sincere congratulations. The stock of the Kansas City Cable Company soon appre ciated to more than a hundred per cent, above its par value and kept advanc ing until a one hundred dollar share was worth two hundred and twenty- five dollars in cash. Numerous schemes for the development and improvement of the city were founded with remarkable rapidity. Real estate men saw their opportunity, and with the sagacity peculiar to their class, seized upon it. They saw that ultimately cable lines, annihilating distance and removing time, would penetrate to the exteriors of the city, and additions were laid off" as fast as they could be surveyed and the plats filed. The problem of rapid transit through the city, across the ravines and over the elevations was solved. Every body could see in reality what the projectors of the enterprise had seen in the ory, and the prosperity of the city was greatly advanced. .The projectors themselves were well satisfied. Their days of anxiety and suspense were over.. Finis coronal opus. After the Kansas City Cable Company, on the Ninth Street line, as it is sometimes called, the next organization to operate a cable line was the Metro politan Street RaHway Company, in AprH, 1887 ; in September following came the Grand Avenue line. These and the other lines are mentioned subsequently. It must be borne in mind that during the year 1887, when the completion of the Metropolitan and the Grand Avenue lines was in immediate prospect, and others were pro jected and under way, the city experienced its extraordinary " boom," dem onstrating the influence of this system of locomotion upon the material inter ests of the community. There are no more popular enterprises in Kansas City than the cable fines. The value of their services in the development expansion, and the upbuilding- of the city is universally recognized. They attract the admiring attention of Street Railway System. 411 visitors and sojourners. They are the pride of the citizens. They are im mensely popular with the working classes and people of moderate means. Thousands of wage- workers, with their families daily avail themselves of the opportunities they present for harmless and wholesome recreation. They run in various directions to the beautiful parks, groves and other suburban resorts, and for a nickel at the proper seasons, the poor tired laborer at the close of his day's toil, can enjoy a delightful excursion of miles in extent and hours in du ration. The histories of the various cable lines of the city and of the steam motor railways, are as follows : THE KANSAS CITY CABLE RAILWAY COMPANY, "NINTH STREET LINE." This company was chartered July 5, 1883, succeeding by assignment to the franchise of Smith, Keating and Gillham, granted by the council in April, 1882. The incorporators were Wm. J. Smith, Nathan J. Hall, Geo. Sheidley, Victor B. Buck, Wm, H. Lucas, Robert GHlham, Philip A. Chase and D. H. Sweet- ser The last two are residents of Lynn., Mass. ; all the others are Kansas City men. Wm. J. Smith has been the president of the company from the first. The original capital was $225,000; it is now $1,050,000. The company's lines run from the Union depot to Woodland avenue, two and one fourth miles ; from Woodland avenue to Prospect avenue, three-fourths of a mile ; from Woodland avenue along East Ninth street, three-fourths of a mile ; from the corner of Eighth street and Troost avenue, via the Avenue to Thirty-fourth street, two and one-half miles, and from Ninth and Washington streets along Washington and Summit to the southern limits of the city, two and one-half miles. The line trom Union depot to Woodland avenue was opened in June, 1885; the Independence Avenue and East Ninth Street ex tensions in July, 1886; the Troost Avenue Hne December i, 1887, and the Washington street line is now in course of construction. The original power house of the company, at Ninth and Washington, was completed in April, 1885 ; it contains two Corliss engines of five hundred horse power each. The main powerhouse at Eighth and Woodland avenue, was completed in Decem ber, 1887. It contains two Corliss engines of seven hundred and fifty horse power each, and is the largest institution of the kind in the world. The Kansas City Cable Company runs one hundred and thirty cars, of the latest and best patterns. The average number of its employes is two hundred and ten. Its present officers are Wm. J. Smith, president ; PhHip A. Chase, vice- president ; Wm. H. Lucas, secretary ; Jas. T. Thornton, treasurer ; M. K. Bow ers, superintendent ; Robert GHlham, chief engineer This was the pioneer cable line of Kansas City, and Kansas City was the third city in the world to adopt the cable system of street railways, San Fran cisco coming first and Chicago second. 412 History of Kansas City. THE GRAND AVENUE RAILWAY COMPANY. The organization of this company was effected in March, 1886; the char ter is dated March 27. The incorporators were Wm. J. Smith, president ; D. B. Holmes, secretary ; James D. Thornton, treasurer ; Robert Gillham, Wm. H. Lucas, Chas. F. Moore, Joseph S. Ford, Walton H. Holmes, C. F. Holmes, Thos. Barratt, Mary R. Lockridge, Victor B. Buck, Philip A. Chase, Sidney Bartlett, Chas. C. Jackson, and Chas. Merriam. The four last named are residents of Massachusetts. The original capital of the company was $600,- 000; it is now $1,200,000. It succeeded to the franchises and the other inter ests of the Westport and Kansas City Horse RaHroad Company organized in 1874. The company operates its main line from the corner of First street and Grand avenue, on the Missouri River, south to Westport, a distance of 4.076 miles. The main branch of this line is the Fifteenth street line, from the corner of Fifteenth street and Grand avenue to Kensington, one-half mile east of the city limits, a distance of 2.753 miles. The Prospect avenue line, a horse railroad, runs south on Prospect avenue to the city limits, a distance of one and three-fourths miles. This line will soon be changed from a horse rail road to a dummy line. The company will also have in operation in the near future a dummy line from the Grand boulevard and South Main street, via the Redemptorist Fathers, to Rosedale avenue, then west on Rosedale one mile. In all, this extension, or branch of the main line, will be about two miles in length, and when built and equipped will cost about $30,000. The construction of this line was commenced in June, 1886, and the division from First and Grand avenue to Kensington (the Fifteenth Street line) went into operation September 18, 1887. Mr Daniel Bontecou was the chief engi neer. The work of construction was delayed by the lack of a sufficient supply of iron and by the slowness of proceedings in the widening of Fifteenth street between Grand avenue and Charlotte street. The Westport extension, from Fifteenth street and Grand avenue, along the avenue and the Grand boulevard to Westport, was thrown open to the public December 15, 1887, having been completed with remarkable expedition. The cost of the Westport extension was about $400,000, while the entire Grand avenue system represents an out lay of $1,200,000. The power house, at Fifteenth street and Grand avenue, was completed September i, 1887. It is equipped with two enormous Hamil ton-Corliss engines, of four hundred and fifty horse-power each. In this build ing are located the offices of the company. The company owns sixty- five cars, and the total length of its cables is 75,200 feet It has 225 employees, and its average monthly pay-roH aggre gates about $15,000. From the very first it has been in successful operation. Its lines are regarded as perhaps the smoothest and easiest in the city. It is ^'^-3?-T7yJ_SR-Lrc~v Street Railway System. 413 very popular with the people, and has carried 30,000 passengers in a single ¦day. The company owes much of its success to its talented young president Mr. Walton H. Holmes, and to his younger brother, C. F. Holmes, the boy super intendent. These young gentlemen, the sons of the late Nehemiah Holmes, who built the first street railway in the city, have won for themselves an enviable distinction in their respective positions. The other officers of the company . are Victor B. Buck, the vice-president; Daniel B. Holmes, secretary; O. P. Dickinson, treasurer, and Thomas J. Fry, auditor. the metropolitan street railway COMPANY. This company was organized and incorporated in July, 1886. Its charter is dated July 24. The incorporators were C. F. Morse, president; W. J. Ferry, secretarj'-; A. W. Armour, treasurer. Its capital was $1,250,000, for which sum it purchased Mr. Thomas Corrigan's entire system of horse railways throughout the city, and its first operations were the conversion of these rail ways into cable lines. Its present capital is $3,600,000. The first line, from the Union depot to Market Square, was opened to the public May i, 1887; the second, from the State line to Wyandotte, ran its first through train November i, following. The power house, at the corner of Ninth and Wyoming streets, was built in the winter of 1887. It contains two six hundred-horse power engines, and the total cost of the plant, including the machinery, was $153,000. The Fifth street line of this company runs from Wyandotte, Kan., to Market Square, in Kansas City, Mo., where it connects with a horse railway which extends eastward to Woodland avenue. This line has forty- two cars. Besides the Fifth street line, the Metropolitan owns and operates other lines, as follows : 71^1? Twelfth Street Line. — This line runs from the Union Stock Yards on the west to the Porter road on the east, a distance of four miles. The work of construction was commenced in March, 1887, and the line v^s completed and opened for travel in April, 1888. The power house, at the corner of Twelfth and Charlotte streets, was built in the fall of 1887. It contains two six hun dred-horse power engines, and the entire cost of the plant, including the site, was $204,000. The line operates fifty cars. The Eighteenth Street Line. — This is a horse railway at present, but is rapidly being converted into a cable road to be completed during the faH of the present year. Its engine house will be built at the corner of Eighteenth and Olive streets. Its initial point is at the "junction" of Main, Delaware, and Ninth streets, and the line runs from thence south to Eighteenth street, and from thence eastward to the city limits ; number of cars, fourteen. The Broadway Line. — This is also a horse railway. It starts at the corner of Sixth and Main streets, and runs in a general southwest direction to the 53 414 History of Kansas City. corner of Seventeenth street and Madison avenue ; number of cars, 1 1 ; length of line 1.53 miles. The Rosedale Line. — A horse railway; starts at the junction, runs thence south on main street to Nineteenth, then west to the boulevard, thence to Rose dale, Kan. ; length of line, four miles ; number of cars, eleven. The Armourdale Line. — This line, a horse railway, extends from the Union Stock Yards to Armourdale, a distance of one and one-half miles ; number of cars, seven. The Metropolitan Company employs about six hundred men, and its monthly pay roll is about $2,000. Its present officers are C. F. Morse, pres ident ; A. W. Armour, treasurer ; R. J. McCarty, secretary and general man ager ; E. J. Lawless, superintendent THE people's railway COMPANY. The organization of the People's Railway Company dates from March, 8, 1887. The incorporators were J. Foster Rhodes, president; Robert Gillham, first vice-president; Charles F. Dwight W. P. Rice, 0..H. Dean, Walter Brown, Joseph H. Rhodes and W. F. Blair. Its original capital was $600,000, which has been increased to $750,000. Work on the construction of the line was be gun in June, 1887, and completed to its present extent from Main street on Tenth, to the junction of the latter street with Brooklyn avenue in May of the present year. The first through train from Main to Brooklyn ran May 28. An extension of the main line from Tenth street south on Brooklyn avenue to Twenty- seventh street has been recently completed. The company expects to complete another branch from Tenth and Brooklyn north to Pendleton Hights, a distance of one mile. When fully completed the aggregate length of the People's cable lines will be about three and one-half miles. Its power-house is located at the corner of Tenth street and Euclid avenue. It has twenty-seven cars. The present officers of the People's Company are Robert Gillham, presi dent and chief engineer; Arthur Orr, vice-president; H. P. Churchill secretary and treasurer ; Walter Gillham, superintendent. THE inter- STATE CONSOLIDATED RAPID TRANSIT RAILWAY COMPANY. In December, 1883, the Inter-State Rapid Transit Railway Company was organized and chartered to build a line or lines of railway between Kansas City, Mo., and Wyandotte and other points in the State of Kansas. Prominent among the incorporators were D. M. Edgerton and Carlos B. Greeley, then of St Louis, David D. Hoag, of Wyandotte, Kan., S. T. Smith, Robert Gillham and James Nave, of Kansas City. The first election of officers was held De cember 15, 1883, when D. M. Edgerton was chosen president S. T. Smith vice- president and D. D. Hoag secretary. The original capital stock was $600,000. The present capital is $1,700,000. Street Railway System. 415 The work of construction was begun in May, 1886, and trains were operated between the Union Depot and Edgerton Place, in October of the same year. The long interval between the date of the company's organization and the com mencement of work on the road was partly spent in preparing, in various ways, for active operations that should insure its permanent construction, and the complete success of the enterprise. The real projector of this system was Mr. D. M. Edgerton, who has been president of the company from the first. When Mr. Edgerton first undertook the formation of a company to build this line, Wyandotte — now a part of Kan sas City, Kansas — was practically a country town, and connected with Kansas City, Mo., by a horse railway, which was not a very good one, even as horse railroads go. He believed that with proper transportation facilities, Wyan- dott'e, with its many natural advantages, might become an important city, and to him should attach the distinction of the conception of the idea of this im portant system of rapid transit. This railway was the first Kansas City enterprise of real magnitude and im portance in which Eastern capital was invested. And the splendid realization upon the investments so made have caused a vast aggregate of capital to be ap plied to the inauguration and the furtherance of other schemes which have done much, and will do more for the city's advancement and greatness. March 22, 1887, the Inter-State Rapid Transit Railway Company was con solidated with various other fines which it was then constructing, and the new organization assumed the name of the Inter-State Consolidated Rapid Transit Railway Company, which it still bears. Its principal divisions are the Elevated Railway and Tunnel, the Riverview Railway, and the Brighton Hill and Chel sea Park Railway. Work on the Tunnel division of the line, from the Union Depot to Eighth and Delaware streets, Kansas City, Mo, was begun in May, 1887, and trains commenced running in April, 1888. The tunnel through the bluffs was an un dertaking of gigantic proportions. Its length through shale and solid limestone rock is eight hundred feet. Work on the Brighton Hill and Chelsea Park Divisions was commenced in the spring of 1887, and the line was opened for travel July 4th, of the same year. On the Riverview Cable Railway work was commenced in the fall of 1887, and trains were running in May, 1888. The lengths of the various lines are as follows : The main Ijne from Eighth and Delaware streets, Kansas City, Mo., to Edgerton Place, Kansas City, Kan., is four and one-eighths miles. The;Chelsea Park Branch from Fifth and Garrett streets, Kansas City, Kan., to Chelsea Park, two miles. The Riverview Branch from Riverview Station, on the main line to the western limits of Kansas City, Kan., one and one-half miles. Total length of lines double track, seven and five- eighths miles. 4i6 History of Kansas City. The main line from Eighth and Delaware streets to the Union Depot, three- fourths of a mile, and the Riverview branch are operated by cable, making a total length of two and one-fourth miles so operated. The power-house of the Tunnel Cable Line is located at Eighth and Bluff" streets, Kansas City, Mo., and that of the Riverview Line at Tenth street, and Riverview boulevard, Kansas City, Kan. The main line from the Union depot to Edgerton Place, three and three- eighth miles, and the Chelsea Park branch, two miles, are operated by steam motors or " dummy " engines, making a total of five and three-eighths miles so operated. The company has sixteen steam motors, thirty-five coaches and twelve grip cars. The number of employes is about two hundred. The present officers of the company are D. M. Edgerton, president ; Josh ua Wilbur, vice-president ; C. E. Moss, general manager ; A. H. Calef, N. Y., treasurer ; D. D. Hoag, secretary ; Robert Gillham, chief engineer, and D. E. Tyler, auditor. The main line of the consolidated system extends from Eighth and Dela ware, along Eighth to Washington street, Kansas City, Mo., on the street grade; thence through the tunnel, under the bluff", eight hundred feet, to Bluff street; thence over viaducts and elevated structure, to the iron bridge across the Kan sas River. This bridge was constructed jointly by the railway company and the city of Kansas City, Kas. The upper part of the bridge is occupied by the tracks of the railway, and the lower part is used as a wagon bridge by the gen eral public. From the bridge to Riverview Station, the road runs over an elevated structure. From Riverview to Edgerton Place the line is a surface road run ning on the street grades, through the heart of Wyandotte, now a part of Kan sas City, Kas. The Chelsea Park line runs from a connection with the main line in the northern part of Kansas City, Kas., westwardly through a beautifuHy diversi fied country, a distance of two miles, to Chelsea Park. This line opened up for residence and occupation, a section which had previously been practicably inaccessible for business men and others desirous of making homes in this quar ter. The rapid increase in buildings and other improvements along this branch since its completion has been most extraordinary. The terminous of this line, as stated, is Chelsea Park, owned by the com- pany,"and containing thirty-six acres of land of surpassing natural beauty. The company has made a lavish expenditure to render this tract the most orderly beautiful, attractive and delightful park in the west and the great crowds of people who resort thither for rest, recreation and pleasure testify to the per fection with which the work has been done. Everything that one can reason ably desire in such a place, conducive and contributive to beauty, comfort and real enjoyment may be found in Chelsea Park. ^^ni/einj 31iBaL75 .^on.s.'-l'^^- Street Railway System. 417 The Riverview cable line has also opened up a most desirable residence lo cation and made it convenient for beautiful homes for men who do business in the adjacent cities. The development along this line will be very rapid. The railway company owns a number of very fine tracts of land along the line, which are being sold at such prices as will insure their speedy and substantial improvement. It will be only a short time until this line, the pioneer in that direction, will traverse one of the most densely populated portions of the city. The consolidated company has a charter for the construction of a line from its Riverview station to and through Armourdale. This line will be built dur ing the present year and will be one of the most important lines of the system. It will connect with the older part of the city, the new and large manufactur ing centre of Armourdale. the KANSAS CITY, INDEPENDENCE AND PARK RAILWAY COMPANY. This company was organized and chartered March 8, 1886. The incorpo rators were W. E. Winner, president ; H. E. Marshall, secretary ; J. S. Chick, treasurer; John W. Byers, Jas M. Love, A. M. Winner, and J. P. Harper The capital stock was $120,000, which has since been increased to $500,000. The main object of the organization was the building of a line of railway be tween Kansas City and Independence, to be operated by steam motor engines, or " dummies," as they are often caHed. It began work at once, and by the 15th of September, 1887, the Hne was in operation. The railway extends from Fifteenth street and Askew avenue to Independ ence, but it is still in process of extension, from Mt Vernon to Prospect avenue and from Independence to Walnut street Kansas City. The length of the line already in operation is about eight and one-half miles ; when completed it will be fully sixteen mHes. The company has eighteen passenger cars, four flat cars and five engines. Its employees number about one hundred and it saver- age monthly pay roll is $4,000. The cars are kept at Westminster, and the Kansas City depots are at Fifteenth and Askew, and Twelfth and Porter road. The present officers are W. E. Winner, president ; W. F. Sargent, secre tary ; J. W. Byers, treasurer ; C. A. Peabody, auditor ; J. R. Chapman, gen eral manager ; M. B. Mason, master mechanic. UNION DEPOT HORSE RAILROAD COMPANY Was organized June 6, 1872. Wm. Warner, F. A. WiHiams, Joab Toney, D. E. Dickerson and M. J. Payne were the incorporators. The company ob tained from the councH a franchise during the winter of 1872-3 ; in the sum mer of 1873 David H. Hendrickson of New Jersey, D. E. Dickerson and D. Edison of this city took neariy all the stock, and built and operated a road from the Public Square, west on Fifth street to Delaware street, south on Del aware and Main streets to Eleventh street, east on Eleventh street to Grand 41 8 History of Kansas City. avenue, south on Grand avenue to Twelfth street, east on Twelfth street to Forrest avenue, and in the spring of 1874 they continued their road to the Union Depot and the stock yards. In the summer of 1874 the company consohdated with the Jackson County Horse Railroad Company, and Byron E. Dye and C. C. Flowree took a con- troling interest in the consolidated stock, and the two roads went under their management, and remained under their management until purchased by Thomas and Bernard Corrigan. CHAPTER XXI. POLITICAL history. Earlier Administrations Principally Democratic — Politics Before the War — During the War — After the War — Republican Administrations — Acts and Results of Various Adminis trations from 1865 to 1888 — Kansas City the Main Plank in all the Platforms. DURING the earlier history of the city her people were mostly pro-slavery Democrats, and naturally her rulers were of the same political faith. Mayors Gregory, Lykins, and Payne were all of this party, but nevertheless they not only kept the best interests of the city constantly in view, but also frequently and respectfully consulted with such pronounced Republicans or " Abolitionists" (as they were styled in those days) as Colonel K. Coates, John Johnston, David Hood, S. W. Bouton, Franklin Conant, H. H. King, and Dr Case, on aH matters of pubHc importance. Even during "the Border War," 1854-56, when every effort was made by them to assist in making Kansas a slave State, reference was always had to the effect of the result upon Kansas City as the future commercial emporium of the then disputed territory. After this matter was settled, and before the war for the Union was immi nent i- e., between 1857 and i860, by the joint efifofts of aH citizens, without respect to party, the railroad and all other interests of the city were rapidly and energetically advanced, so that before the outbreak of the war the popula tion of the city was estimated at seven thousand, and several of the railroads now in existence as trunk lines were projected, and some of them in process of construction. During the war the city was governed by the Republicans, who at least succeeded in maintaining and preserving the railroad and other organizations, so that at its close it was an easy thing to recommence operations and push them rapidly to completion. It was also during the war that many of the most important enterprises of the city were planned, legalized, and executed. Political History. 419 and in these enterprises citizens of all classes and parties joined heartily and enthusiastically. In 1865 the city officers were generally Democrats, or "Conservatives," as they were then termed, and a number of them were Irish- Americans. The local coloring of the war was not removed until late in the year, and blue coated Federal soldiers, still in service, were upon the streets until the first snow fell. Sometimes there were embarrassing relations between the military and the civil authorities, but Mayor Shannon maintained the duties of his office with dignity and credit, and Marshal Jeremiah Dowd was an efficient conservator of the public peace. The change from military to civil rule was effected gradually. and without shock or coHision, and the work of practical restoration and regen eration progressed steadily. In May of this year the city council negotiated a loan of $60,000, which sum was appropriated toward the opening of Third, Fourth, Fifth, and Twelfth streets into West Kansas, or the " French Bottoms." This led to the general and substantial development of the West Bottoms, now one of the most impor tant divisions of the city. This improvement was brought about by the pros pect of the early completion of the Missouri Pacific and the Union Pacific rail roads. Both of these thoroughfares were to terminate at the State line, and it was seen that their permanent depots must ultimately be established in the bottoms. It now became evident that the business base of the city would be transferred from the levee, where it had always been, to its present location, and that Kansas City was destined to become a railroad center rather than a steamboat town, although from the opening of navigation to the close of the month of May of this year the steamers had discharged at the levee the enor mous quantity of 28,000,000 pounds of freight Considerable building was done, and repairs of all kinds were made in every portion of the city. Many of the soldiers who had served in this portion of the State, and who had been attracted by its fertile soil and agreeable cli mate, as well as by the commanding location of Kansas City as a business cen ter, began to reappear as citizens of both city and county, and, by their means, energy, and influence, to aid in effacing the traces of the war and building up an important city and restoring the surrounding country to its former condition of beauty and prosperity. And in this laudable purpose it can be truthfully said that all classes and parties joined with equal earnestness and zeal. In 1866 the mayor, Mr. A. L. Harris, was a Democrat. The other offices were about equally divided between the two parties. The city was really Republican, and nobody could vote without first taking the "oath of loyalty" prescribed by the "Drake" Constitution, and being possessed of the qualifications prescribed in the third section thereof But while the voters of the city elected a Democrat to the office of mayor, they gave at the November election follow ing a considerable majority for Colonel Van Horn for representative in Con- 420 History of Kansas City. gress over his Democratic competitor, Hon. James H. Birch, of Clinton county, the vote resulting: For Van Horn, 560; for Birch, 301. While the municipal administration of the city was composed of members of both political parties, and partisan spirit was running high, yet in all matters pertaining to the city's welfare there was but one sentiment First and above all. Democrats and Republicans, Johnson men and anti-Johnson men, were for Kansas City. Agreeing to disagree on questions of party politics, they were a unit on the main question, and made common cause upon that issue. The same spirit generally pervaded the entire city. In July there were serious disturbances in the county incident to the enforcement of the provisions of the "ousting ordinance," of the convention of 1865, by which certain Con servatives had been deposed from office and radical Republicans put in their places. There was also much lawlessness and turbulence in various quarters, and at last Governor Fletcher called out and sent to Independence a company of militia to assist in the preservation of the peace. This state of affairs was having a bad effect upon the development of Kansas City and Jackson county generally. Capitalists were loth to invest and immigrants were averse to set tling in a county where the maintenance of the public peace depended upon the presence of a military force. July 24 a large public meeting, composed of members of both parties, was held in Kansas City to consider the situation. A committee composed of Dr. Joshua Thorne, Theo. S. Case, A. J. Lloyd, John R. Balis, A. L. Harris, M. J. Payne, William Douglass, and E. M. McGee, reported a series of resolutions, which were unanimously adopted, pledging the meeting to sustain the laws and the constituted authorities, and requesting the governor to withdraw the militia at Independence, whose presence was a constant menace to the peace and quietude of the county rather than a conservator thereof Shortly afterward the company was withdrawn, although this action was opposed by some of the more radical citizens. At the first meeting of the council in January, 1867, a committee was ap pointed to compile a statement of the trade and progress of the city for 1866. This committee reported that the total population was 15,064; the number of buildings erected during the year 768, at a cost of $2,166,500 ; the aggregate value of trade of all lines $33,006,827. There were at this time in the city fourteen churches, two colleges, two academies, twelve primary schools, twen ty-one dry goods houses, eighty grocery stores, thirteen clothing, fifteen boot and shoe, and eight liquor stores; two daily and three weekly newspapers; seven miles of macadamized streets, and three railroads — the Missouri Pacific, the Eastern Division of the Union Pacific and the Missouri River ; the last named road connected Leavenworth and Kansas City, and is now a part of the Missouri Pacific system. The city took pardonable pride in this showing, and later in the year the ^"foj, es-mkiir^anf^ ^ XJc^^P^ ~? Political History. 421 chamber of commerce, Colonel Kersey Coates, president, appointed J. I. Moore an agent " to travel in the Middle and Eastern States to represent the interests of our city, alid especially to induce the location of manufacturing estabhsh ments here." September 25 the corner stone of the first Turner Hall, at the corner of Main and Chestnut (now Tenth) streets, was laid. The founders of the Turn Verein in Kansas City were C. Boeber, H. Kegner, A. Well, C. Thomas, F. Lansenkamp, C. Heintzdman, E. Schwanenfdd. Other incidents which occurred under this administration in December, 1867, were the completion of the Cameron Railroad, the lighting of the city with gas, and the organization by the Turners' Association of the first hook and ladder company. In March following the Neptune Fire Company was organized, and to it and to the hook and ladder company the council gave much valuable aid and assistance. In July, 1866, the first base ball club was organized. It was composed of about twenty members and was called the "Antelope Club." D. S. Twit chell, the well known attorney, was the president and W. H. Winants, now cashier of the Armour. Bank, was secretary. Other members, since promi nent in the affairs of the city and before the country, were Major Wm. Warner, Matt Foster, OHver Case, L. E. Prindle, S. K. Green, Will Wood, L. S. Daniels, now of Washington city, and C. N. Rix, a bank cashier of Hot Springs, Ark. Later in the year another club, called " Hope " Club, was organized. It was largely composed of transient residents, and the names of the members have not been preserved. It played a few games with the "Antelopes." The grounds of the latter club in this city were on Fourteenth street, be tween Oak and McGee. Here the members met for practice, forming them selves into a " picked nine" and a "scrub nine," and occasionally meeting the " Hope " Club, This season the " Antelopes " engaged to play a series of match games with the "Frontiers," of Leavenworth, a club of which Colonel Thomas Moon light (now governor of Wyoming Territory) was president. The "Antelopes" went to Leavenworth and beat the " Frontiers " by the significant score of 47 to 27. Then the "Frontiers" came to Kansas City and beat the "Antelopes." Mr. E. H. Allen, who was elected in 1867, was the first Republican mayor after the war. Major Wm, Warner, now the well known congressman, began his official career at this time, having been chosen city attorney, and served with his natural fidehty and efficiency. The following year he was elected circuit attorney. In February the First National Bank was reorganized, largely through the influence and efforts of Mr. Howard M. Holden, who was made its cashier. The bank had plenty of ready money, and its establishment was of great im portance to the community. Some of the most valuable and important inter- 54 422 History of Kansas City. ests of the city, such as the cattle trade, and the packing business, owe their inauguration and substantial encouragement to this bank. In March, mainly through the efforts of the representatives of the county, Hons. Jesse P. Alexander and John C. Gage, and the Senator from this dis trict, Hon. Minor T Graham, the Legislature amended the city charter. By the terms of the act, as noted elsewhere, the metes and bounds of the city were extended from the Missouri River on the north to Twenty-second street on the south, and from the State line on the west to Troost and Lydia avenues on the east. In May the council mad6 an appropriation of $6o,000 to insure the com pletion of the Cameron Railroad, and in July transferred its stock to Mr J'. F. Joy, who agreed to complete the road to the city by the last of November. Although it was criticised to some extent, this action of the councH proved to be wise and judicious. The last rail of the road was laid November 22, Colonel C. E. Kearney, president of the road, driving the last spike. During this administration the public schools underwent something of a reorganization, and their general efficiency was largely increased. In January of this year a public meeting was held at the court-house to take into consid eration the propriety of erecting new buildings. C. A. Carpenter was chair man of the meetings. A committee consisting of Major WiHiam Warner, Colonel D. S. Twitchell, J. J. Sampson, B. McLean and H. L. Huhn, was ap pointed to report a proper plan for establishing and putting in operation the schools so as to accommodate all of the school children in the city, said to number 2,500. At a subsequent meeting, held January 23, this committee reported in favor of a system of central or graded schools, in preference to the ward school system. t It was recommended that a " large brick building, sufficient to accommodate 600 pupils," be erected "forthwith." This action resulted eventually in much benefit to the public educational system of the city. The recommendations of the committee were substantially adopted, and public attention having been once directed to the subject it was not there after withdrawn. In 1868 the Democrats elected A. L. Harris mayor over S. P. Twiss, Re publican, by a vote of 714 to 516. The Democratic city ticket was generally elected, the other municipal officers being George Sweeny, treasurer ; Mell H. Hudson, clerk; H. P. White, attorney; C. A. Carpenter, recorder; WilHam Smith, M. EngHsh, J. W. Cook, Junius Chaffee, H. Hucke, John Campbell, H. W. Cooper, E, A. Phillips, A. H. Waterman, councilmen. On the 15th of June the council rehnquished to James F. Joy, the great ' The graded school system had previously been recommended at a meeting held in De cember, i85o, by a committee composed of C. C. [Spalding, M. J. Payne, R. S. Symington and William Bonnifield (mayor in 1863), and a $12,000 building called for. But the Civil War came on six months later and nothing was done at the time. Political History. 423 railroad builder, the interest of the city in the Fort Scott and Gulf Railroad, and in December the road was completed to Olathe, and a year later to Fort Scott The controHing idea with the council was to insure the building of the road, and its action in the premises was certainly wise' and commendable. Railroads were seeking admission to the city, and the people were striking while the iron was hot In June they voted $250,000 in aid of the Chicago and 'Alton, then called the Louisiana Road. At the close of the year the population was not far from 25,000, and the progress of the city had been quite satisfactory. September 8 the first num ber of the Kansas City Times was issued. It was then, as now. Democratic in politics, had the Democratic ticket headed by Seymour and Blair, at the be ginning of the editorial page, and then, as now, was a worker for Kansas City. The leading editorial had for its subject the "Resources of Kansas City," writ ten, as was understood, by one of the then editors, Mr. John C. Moore. In 186.9 the Democrats elected the mayor (F. R. Long), the treasurer, as sessor and engineer ; the Republicans the city attorney (D. S. Twitchell), re corder, marshal, auditor, clerk and superintendent of registration. The mixed condition of party politics continued to prevail, and the voters cast their ballots for the men they deemed the best for the places they were to fill. This year was one of the most prosperous in the history of Kansas City. In January the foundations of the Coates Opera House were laid; in February the Board of Trade was organized ; the Missouri Valley Railroad (now the K. C, St. J. & Council Bluffs) was completed the ist of March; on the 3d of April Kansas City, Kan., was laid out; the Missouri River Bridge, the first across that stream, was opened July 3; August 7th, the people voted $100,000 in aid of the Kansas City and Santa Fe Railroad ; in November the College of Physicians and Surgeons was founded ; four and a half miles of new streets were made during the year, and a company was formed to build the water works. , Mr Wm. GiHis, one of the founders of the city, who came to the site in 1838 died in July, leaving an estate valued at $600,000, nearly all of which was ac quired in Kansas City. Mr. GiHis was a native of Maryland, and at the time of his death was seventy- two years of age. He was not regarded as a particu larly public-spirited citizen, but he made considerable investments in the de velopment and improvement of his own property, and thus contributed to the upbuilding of the city, and consequently to the general welfare. In 1870 Mr E. M. McGee, a Democrat, was elected mayor, and the coun cH was composed of Junius Chaffee, John CampbeH C. J. White, P. J. Henn, J. H. McGee, John W. Keefer, D. Ellison, Johnston Lykins, T. J. Wolf, Thomas Burke, R. W. HiHiker, James E. Marsh, about equally divided politically. This was a year of railroad building. The Board of Trade — T K. Hanna president. General Frank Askew and M. Dively vice-presidents, and Howard M. 424 History of Kansas City. Holden treasurer rendered valuable assistance to the projected Kansas City and Memphis Railroad, and reaHy caused the location of that road. The city council passed an ordinance in June providing for raising $300,- 000 to be expended in the construction of water works. The ordinance was submitted to the people for ratification, but at the election numbers of disfran chised "ex- rebels" were allowed to vote, and the election was declared iHegal and without force or effect This year, too, the first street railway — the Kansas City and Westport — was opened. To the late Nehemiah Holmes the chief credit of the inauguration and establishment of this enterprise must be given. In January the Kansas City Mutual Building Association was formed. Col onel K. Coates was chosen president; General Frank Askew, vice-president; T S. Case, treasurer ; Morrison Munford, secretary ; W. A. Benton, superin tendent ; B. J. Franklin, attorney. The association enabled many a poor man to build for himself a home, and was of much benefit and usefulness generally. A terrible tragedy of the year was the killing of Colonel John Wilder, editor of the Journal, by James Hutchinson, in March of this year. The kill ing was very deliberate. Hutchinson saw Wilder about to enter the city court house and remarked to a gentlemen, coolly and dispassionately, "That is Colo nel Wilder, isn't it?" Answered in the affirmative, he walked across the street near the court-house, and approaching Colonel Wilder shot him dead. He then surrendered himself and was placed in jail, where he died of consump tion before he could be brought to trial. The killing was the result of a per sonal feud. Colonel Wilder was a man of many excellent qualities, who as editor of the Journal had done much for Kansas City. The fact and the manner of his death were greatly deplored. Resolutions of respect for his memory were adopted by public meetings, and his funeral was large and imposing. There was a divi sion of feeling regarding his murderer, and many extenuated his offense, terri ble as it was. The November election in 1870 is memorable in the history of Missouri as that at which the disloyal element were restored to all the rights and privileges of the elective franchise, which had been taken from them by the adoption of the " Drake" constitution of 1865. By the adoption of a series of amendments to the constitution this year, the "ex-rebels" and the negroes were admitted to the right of suffrage, to sit as jurors, etc., upon the broad and liberal principles of "universal amnesty and impartial suffrage." The Democrats, as a party, made no nominations, but supported the ticket put forth by the Liberal Repub licans, headed by B. Gratz Brown, of St. Louis, for governor, against the regu lar RepubHcan ticket, headed by Colonel J. W. McClurg, of Camden county. In Kansas City the vote was overwhelmingly in favor of the amendments, and largely for the Gratz Brown ticket. Hon. Abram Comingo, the Liberal Re pubHcan and Democratic candidate, was elected to Congress, '¦'ij>'l%- S:BSi2Tio Sons Sew ' Political History. 425 Many well known Republicans, even among those who supported the Radi cal Republican, or McClurg ticket, voted for the amendments, believing that the time had passed for disfranchisements and expurgatorial oaths by reason of participation in the Rebellion, and the result was an era of good feeling, at least for a time. Notwithstanding the abolition of the disfranchising sections of the constitu tion the previous year, one effect of which was to add several hundred voters to the Democratic party in Kansas City, the RepubHcans at the municipal elec tion of 1 87 1 elected Major William Warner to the mayoralty and secured a re spectable number of the other city officers. The aldermen were Junius Chaffee, John Campbell, Wm. Weston, H. T. Hovdman, P. J. Henn, J. W. Keefer, David Ellison, Johnston Lykins, Joab Toney, Thomas Burke, James Hannon, James E. Marsh. Major Warner made an excellent mayor. During his administration the council authorized the construction of water works by a company, though this company failed to perform its contract In October, when intelligence of the great Chicago fire reached the city, he immediately convened the council and an appropriation of $10,000 was made and forwarded to the stricken city. His recommendations to the legislative department of the municipality were always wise and timely, and were uniformly adopted. In 1872 Colonel R. H. Hunt RepubHcan, was elected mayor, and the coun cilmen were Michael Flynn, William Weston, Lyman McCarty, M. Hoover, E. L. Martin, H. T. Hovdman, M. English, David Ellison, D. H. Porter, Pat- ¦ rick Kirby, Patrick Fay and Michael Dively. In February, previously, the Legislature had amended the charter, dividing the city into six wards. In April the agitation of the barge line movement on the Missouri, was be gun by Captain W. H. Miller, then commercial editor of the Journal. Al though the results eventually attained did not repay the efforts extended in behalf of this scheme, yet they were worth something. They satisfied the most sanguine that steamboat navigation on the Missouri was practically a thing of the past and could never again be considered so important a factor in the sum ¦of Kansas City's commercial interests as before. There was something regretful in the departure of the glory of the "mighty Missouri " as a commercial thoroughfare. Old citizens yet recall the days when the levee at Kansas City was fairiy well filled with steamboats, magnifi cent in their proportions and sumptuous in their appointments, which were busy in receiving and discharging freights and passengers, giving to the town all of the notoriety and value as a shipping point that it possessed. It is boasted by old citizens that in the old times, when the city was a "river town," no fewer than seven steamboats, some of them first-class, have been seen at the wharf here at one time. In the decade from 185010 i860, and even subsequently, the Kansas River 426 History of Kansas City. was navigated by steamboats as high up as Lawrence and Topeka, and even to Fort Riley. The first boat up the river was the Excel, Captain Baker,. which in the early spring of 1854 made a trip from Kansas City to Fort RHey, with government freight. The Excel was a stern-wheeler, and owned by C. A. Perry. She made several trips to Fort Riley during the summer, and in June went forty miles up the Smoky Hill. The return trip from Fort Riley to Kansas City, at a good stage of water, commonly occupied about twenty- four hours. In the spring of 1855 the Emma Harmon, Captain J. M. Wing, and the Financier, Captain Morrison, went to Topeka with good passenger lists and considerable cargoes of freight. Freight rates between Kansas City and Law rence were from sixty to seventy-five cents per hundred ; fare for passengers, four dollars going up and three doHars coming down. In May, 1855, the Hartford, a Cincinnati boat when opposite St. Mary's, on a return trip from Manhattan, took "axe from prairie fires and was burned to the water's edge. In 1856-7 the boats that plied on the Kaw were the Excel, the Kate Cas- sel, the Financier, the Express, the Watossa and the Lizzie. The latter was- built at Kansas City. In 1858 the Minnie Bell made several trips up and down the river. In 1859 the Silver Lake, Captain Willoughby; the Gus. Linn, Captain Beasley ; the Colona, Lightfoot, Emma and Otis Webb ascended several times- to Junction City. In the fall of that year the Star of the West, Captain Nel son, of Wyandotte, got aground at Lecompton and was forced to remain all winter. The last trip up the river was made near the close of the civil war, by Captain Hensley, of Leavenworth. The earliest boats to navigate the Kaw, after the primitive canoes of the Indians, were the keel boats of the Chouteaus and other early traders. After Kansas was opened to settlement, merchandise and produce were frequently transported in flat boats on this river. April 10, 1856, the first flat boat from the Kaw arrived at Kansas City from Lawrence. It was laden with merchan dise which was being shipped away by the owners, who were apprehensive of its and their own safety, owing to the then disturbed condition of affairs ind- dent to the Kansas war. Eleven days later occurred the capture of Lawrence, and the destruction of the Free State hotel and other buildings by the pro- slavery forces. In 1873 Hon. E. L. Martin, Democrat, was elected mayor. The Repub licans elected Captain William Weston treasurer, re-elected H. C. Kumpf auditor, and, as usual, divided the other city offices with the Democrats. Leading events of this year were : the agitation of the barge line project, before the opening of navigation ; the enlargement of the city limits, and the reorganization of the wards, in March ; the organization of the Jackson County and the Union Depot horse railroad, completed early in the spring ; the es- Political History. 427 tabhshment of free maH delivery, in July ; the contract with the National Water Works Company, of New York, for the construction of water works, in October, and. the depression and paralyzation of certain lines of business by the memorable financial panic of the faH of 1873. In October the Board of Trade renewed the agitation regarding the estab lishment by Congress of a territorial government over the Indian Territory, and the opening of that territory to white settlement after the allotment to the head of each Indian family of an ample homestead. This idea had been em bodied in a bill introduced into Congress by Hon. R. T. Van Horn, in 1868. The opening of the Indian Territory has always been desired by Kansas City, but as yet nothing has been accompHshed in that direction. *In 1874, during the administration of Mayor S. D. Woods, Democrat, oc curred the grasshopper plague in Kansas and Western Missouri. The effects of the panic of the previous year were being felt at perhaps their worst when this new calamity came. The following winter a local association, at whose head was Mayor Woods, collected and expended considerable sums in aid of the sufferers. In 1875, Hon. Turner A. Gill, the present, well-known jurist, was elected mayor by the Democrats, although he received the support of Major William Warner and other prominent RepubHcans. The Republicans held a majority of the other offices. In March the Legislature gave to the city a new charter, which contained many most valuable features. This charter was prepared by a committee of thirteen, of which Hon. WilHam. Warner was chairman, and was largely the work of that gentleman. Its passage through the Legislature, which was ac complished only after a prolonged and heated contest, was largely due to the efforts of Hon. S. P. Twiss, then one of the Republican representatives of the county, who had charge of the measure. At the time of the adoption of the charter, March 27, the Legislature passed a spedal act creating a metropoHtan police for the city, with Thomas M. Speers as chief Prior to this time the police regulations were enforced by a marshal, elected by the people. The first marshal of Kansas City was M. B. Hedges, in 1853. He was suc ceeded by J. P. Howe, who was elected in 1854 and served four years, being succeeded in 1858 by F. M. Barnes, who became a defaulter as city collector, and fled, leaving his bondsmen to make good his defalcation. The remainder of his term was. fiHed by Simeon Kerr, his deputy. In 1859, Jonathan Rich ardson was elected. In 1861, the first year of the war, George F. Irwin was elected, but he "seceded," and Wm. Holden served out the unexpired term. In 1862 Wm. Holden was elected, and was succeeded in 1863 by Dennis O'Brien, who was re-elected in 1864. In 1865 Jerry Dowd was elected. AH of these were Democrats, except Holden, who was an " Independent" 428 History of Kansas City. In 1876 Turner A. Gill was re-elected mayor, again receiving the support of Major Warner and other Republicans. Although no incidents of special im portance in themselves, occurred this year, it has been said of it that it was the beginning of the era of prosperity which has prevaHed for the past dozen years and is stHl upon the city. In 1877 the RepubHcans elected J. W. L. Slavens, mayor, but the Demo crats obtained certain other officers, and the valuable and important features of this administration are not to be attributed to either party. In July the construction of the new Union depot building was begun, and in the latter part of the same month occurred the great railroad strike. The latter event passed without notable incident, save that during its continuance the military company known as the Craig Rifles, was formed.^ The Board of Trade building, corner Fifth and Delaware streets, was completed in August. In 1878 the mayor-elect was George M. SheHey, the present postmaster. The aldermen were : Philip Casey, P. D. Etue, R. H. Drennon, H. C. Mor rison, C. C. Whitmeyer, T. W. Butier, W. B. Robinson, L. A. Allen, W. H. Winants, Louis Dragon, H. A. Simms, A. H. Glasner. In January occurred the suspension of the First National Bank, and in August the failure of the Mastin bank, both notable events, not only in the commercial history of the city, but in the general history of the Missouri val ley. The Chicago and Alton Railroad reached the city this year after a strug gle with the City Council for the right of way over certain streets. March 8 a bill authorizing the construction of the present post-office and custom-house building passed Congress. This bill was introduced by Hon. B. J. Franklin, of Kansas City, then on his second term in the House of "Rep resentatives, from this district Its passage, at least through the House, was mainly secured by the efforts of Mr. Franklin, who also procured the enact ment of the law authorizing the holding of the United States courts in this city. Kansas City has rarely had a more faithful citizen or a more efficient helper of its pubhc interests than Mr. Franklin, who is now in the United States con sular service, worthily representing his country at the port of Hankow, China. The site of the present building, at Ninth and Walnut streets, was purchased in January, 1879, at a cost of $8,500, and the work of construction was begun immediately thereafter. In 1879 Mr Shelley was re-elected mayor, by the Democrats. In May, the first term of the United States District Court was held in the city. Judge Arnold Krekel presiding. This year was one of great activity in business and individ- ' The first military company in the city was called the Kansas City Guards. It was organ ized in March, 1858, and the officers were : Captain, J. A. Boreman; lieutenants, J. E. Sabine, S. Howard Calhoun, E. S. Hawley ; ensign, John J. Hamilton ; surgeon. Dr. C. W. Spencer ; sergeants, C. R. McCord, R. W. Lindsey, C. P, Wiggin, B. T. Chew ; corporals, Clint. Rich ards, Constant De Hamm, A. S. Spalding, M. Hammond ; treasurer, L. J. Winchester ; secre tary, L. B. Scott. The company numbered about fifty men. ^*^ 'EMffalls Sor.s Ifmv^forK- Political History. 429 ual enterprises of aH kinds. About 1,300 new buildings were erected at an average cost of $1,200 each ; thirteen additions were made to the city, and real estate sales were very numerous. The Chicago and Alton Railroad ran its first trains on the i8th of April, its passenger trains May 13, and in December the Rock Island contracted with the Hannibal for trackage rights over the latter road, from Cameron, and be gan to run its trains to Kansas City December 31. During the summer there was a remarkable railroad war. Passenger rates between Kansas City and St Louis, and this city and Chicago, were but fifty cents ; and at one time a palm leaf fan and a linen duster were added. Freight rates were so low that grain was carried to St Louis for five cents, and to Chicago for seven cents per bushel ; and at one time the charges were but three cents to St. Louis, and five cents to Chicago. The " war " lasted from June 7 to Sep tember 12. In 1880 C. A. Chace, Republican, was elected mayor, and the Republicans had a majority of the city offices. The "-war" between the old "American Union" and the "Atlantic and Pacific" telegraph companies, came on early in the year. Both companies, as well as the Western Union, had offices in the city for several months, or until their consolidation into the Western Union, in January, 1881. The Kansas City Smelting and Refining Company was organized in May; the Camp pavement was introduced during the summer ; General Grant visited the city in May, remaining two days ; the great river convention, in favor of the improvement of the Missouri, was held in September, and the Provident Association was organized in November. The population of the city, accord ing to the United States census, was 55,813. This year, too, the Republicans elected Colonel R. T. Van Horn to Congress. From 1870 to 1878 the Demo crats had uniformly elected the member of Congress from this district by con siderable majorities. In 1878, however, there was a revolt in the party against the regular nominee, Colonel John T. Crisp, and Judge Samuel L. Sawyer, of Independence, was presented as an independent Democratic candidate. He received the vote of the Republicans generally, and was elected. In 1880 another division in the Democratic party arose, and two candidates, Hon. D. C. Allen, of Clay county, and Colonel Crisp, of Jackson, were in the field, each claiming to be the regular Democratic nominee. The Republicans saw their opportunity. They were largely responsible for the division in the ranks of their enemies, and they knew how to profit by it. A month before election day they nominated a candidate of their own. Colonel R. T. Van Horn, and he was elected by a plurahty of 739 votes. He received, however, the votes of a considerable number of Democrats of Kansas City in consideration of his long devotion to the interests of the city, and the many important services he had rendered in their behalf The result, therefore, was not a mere partisan tri- 420 History of Kansas City. umph, but rather a verdict on the part of Kansas City in favor of a business representative in Congress instead of a purdy political one Since 1880 the mayors of Kansas City have been as foHows : In 1881, Danid Frink. Republican; in 1882, James Gibson, Democrat; in 1883 T B. BuHene, RepubHcan; in 1884. L. J. Talbot Democrat; in 1885, John W Moore, Democrat; in 1886-87-88, Henry C. Kumpf, RepubHcan. In all of the muni cipal canvasses every attempt of the managers to draw the party lines closely has failed PoHtical considerations have been largdy disregarded. Candidates of both parties have been elected at the same election by large majorities. A desire to put the best men in office has controlled the action of the voters, who have steadily resisted all efforts to coerce tiidr freedom of thought and independence of action. r, r , The disposition of the voters of Kansas City to vote as they please has fre quentiy been manifested. In 1884 Major WiHiam Warner, who had already performed much valuable service for Kansas City was the Republican nominee for Congress in this district against Hon. Alexander Graves, of La Fayetie, the Democratic candidate for re-election. The district gave Cleveland a majority of 1,653, but Major Warner was elected by a majority of 1,525, running 1,196 vote's ahead of his ticket in Jackson county alone. Major Warner did much valuable service for his constituency in the Forty- ninth Congress, and his course, except on distinctively partisan questions, gave general acceptance. In 1886 he was the RepubHcan candidate for re-election against Hon. John F. PhiHips, the Democratic nominee, a gentleman of renowned ability, pure and exalted character, and of unsuHied reputation and record.^ Major Warner was again elected by a plurahty of 785, while the Democratic State ticket received a majority in the district of 2,689. The vote in Jackson county for Hon. J. K. Cravens, Republican candidate for supreme judge, was 9,469, "while Major Warner received 10,975. The large independent Democratic vote he received in Kansas City caused his election, and this vote was given him in recognition ¦of his services and without disparagement to the quahties of his distinguished competitor, or of his general worth as a citizen and as a man. On all questions of national poHtics there are no greater sticklers for loyalty to "the grand old party" anywhere than are to be found in Kansas City; but in municipal affairs the voters are very largdy non-partisan, and those who have labored for the advancement of the cHy are never forgotten and seldom go unrewarded. Men are chosen to office more by reason of "what they have done for the town," than for their views on the tariff" or their personal prefer ences for national platforms. ' Judo-e Philips has recently been appointed to the position of United States district judge of the western district of Missouri, to fill the vacancy occasioned by the resignation of Judge Arnold Krekel, Perhaps no other nomination of President Cleveland has been more worthily bestowed, when entire fitness for position is considered. Political History. 431 The newspapers of the city possess this characteristic to a degree they are not wiHing perhaps to admit. They seldom fail to give credit where credit is due, regardless of the politics of the recipient, and oblivious of the probabilities of his candidacy for an elective office. And to the newspapers of the city, past and present, it may be deliberately stated, Kansas City is indebted for more of its greatness, past, present and prospective, than to any other influence. They have striven to make it known to the uttermost parts of the earth, and they have succeeded. From the very first the editors have devoted their journals primarily to the interests of the city. They have written, in season and out of season, in its favor — always in its favor Their papers have gone throughout the country day after day, and have been read from shore to shore all over the RepubHc. But for their labors thousands of persons now residents here, would never have heard of Kansas City. Every issue has been an advertising sheet for this community, and not a Hne of space devoted to the city has been paid for. The editors themselves have uniformly not only given up their columns for the benefit of the municipality, but have gone into the field and worked for it in person, without hope or desire of special reward. Enterprising as news-gather ers, and discriminating and valuable as literary journals — for the newspapers of Kansas City rank with the best in the country — prominence is always given to local interests. Kansas City first, last and all the time. Every new enterprise is mentioned, commended and encouraged. Every success is applauded. All the past is brilliant, every hope is golden, every prospect pleasing. The light of the city is not hidden under a bushel. Its progress is recorded and made known. And this spreading of knowledge has made the city what it is. The de'bt which the people of Kansas City owe to their newspapers is the only one which will never be paid ; it may be recognized, and it certainly should be, but it cannot be discharged in full. Had the press of the city not shown a spirit of enterprise and liberality commensurate with the occasion, and even far superior, Kansas City would to day be an inconsiderable railway station. But the persistent advertising the place has received, the full showing and description of its advantages, the nu merous trade reviews, statistical exhibits, and the myriad ways in which it has been commended to the outside world, have attracted the attention of millions, and caused to be invested here millions of capital, and the best brain and mus cle of the Republic. And brain, and muscle and money are the three most potent factors in city building. 432 History of Kansas City. CHAPTER XXII. biographical. VAN HORN, Hon. R. T. Colonel Robert Thompson Van Horn was born in East Mahoning, Indiana county. Pa,, May 19, 1824. As the name in dicates, his remote paternal ancestors were Hollanders. The ancestor of the family came to America and settled in New Amsterdam, the earliest record being June, 1645. In 171 1 his descendant settled at Communipaw, N. J., and the name, as the history has it, "became so inseparably linked with the place that one would seem incomplete without the other." During the War of the Revo lution his great-grandfather, Henry Van Horn, was a captain in the Pennsyl vania line of the Patriot army, and died in service. His son, Isaiah Van Horn, the grandfather of Colonel Van Horn, was a member of his father's company, and served till the close of the war. The father of the subject of this biogra phy was Henry Van Horn, who was a soldier in the War of 1812; he died in September, 1877, at the extreme age of ninety years. The colonel's mother was Elizabeth Thompson, a native of the parish of Bannaher, County of Lon donderry, Ireland ; but when she was a mere child her father, Robert Thomp son (for whom the colonel was named), came to America and settled in the then wilderness of Pennsylvania, where she married Henry Van Horn, who was a farmer in moderate circumstances. The early years of Colotid Van Horn's life were spent on his father's farm. He attended school three months in the year, in the winter seasons chiefly, and studied reading, writing and arithmetic, with a Httle geography, but no grammar There was not a scholar in the school that desired to study gram mar, and perhaps the teacher could not have instructed him if there had been such an one. At the age of fifteen he was apprenticed to learn "the art and mystery of printing" in the office of the Indiana (Pa.) Register, and thus com menced Hfe in earnest for himself as a printer's " devil." He remained in the Register office four years, becoming a good compositor, a first rate hand-press man, and a thoroughly competent workman generally. In the mean time, aided largely by that best of schools for practical instruction, — the printing of fice, — he had acquired a good English education and a large fund of general information, which in after years served him weH In 1843 he set out on a tour or "tramp" as a journeyman printer For nearly twelve years he fol lowed his avocation, in Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio and Indiana, setting type in nearly all the offices of the then leading papers in these States. At intervals he varied his occupation by teaching school, and reporting for and sometimes editing and publishing newspapers. He was also a boatman on the Erie canal for one season, and for two seasons engaged in steamboating on the Ohio, Mississippi, Wabash and other Western rivers, where he acquired his Biographical. 433 former title of Captain. During this period, top, he studied law and was ad mitted to the bar, but did not practice except for a short time. On July 3 1, 1855, Colonel Van Horn came to Kansas City and on the ist of October took charge of the Enterprise newspaper, whose name he changed in 1857 to the more high-sounding title of The Western Journal of Comtnerce, now called the Kansas City Journal, with which he is at present connected as editor- in-chief What Colonel Van Horn has accomplished for Kansas City, in his posi tion as editor, cannot be estimated fully. It is but speaking the words of truth and soberness to say that his writings and influence, generally, have constituted one of the most important factors in the city's development and material pros perity. Perhaps no other man has done so much in this connection and in this direction. When he came to the place, Kansas City, or " Kawsmouth," or -" Westport Landing," as it was often called, was a small, straggling river town, and the Enterprise was but an insignificant six-column weekly news paper. With this little weekly newspaper Captain Van Horn set about to make the " small straggling river town " a great city. He began in his paper to write up the town almost to the exclusion of party politics and other themes. At that day country newspapers devoted but little of their space to local af fairs, and when the Enterprise gave each week a considerable portion of its col umns to Kansas City, its contemporaries and exchanges considered the inno vation remarkable, and even criticised the paper on that score. But Captain Van Horn kept his course. Every number of the paper, summer, faH, winter and spring, contained more or less inteHigence and comment upon Kansas City. Generous and pubhc- spirited men, like Payne, Bouton, old Dr. Troost, and those other doctors of imperishable memory — Lykins, Lester and Ridge — and many others, mailed copies of the paper abroad, and these articles attracted attention, and in the end induced immigration and the investment of capital, and these made the town. It was always Kansas City, first and foremost. Theories as to its future greatness were descanted upon, and facts were fully ¦stated. Everything that could possibly be used was seized upon and made the most of Even when the Kansas War of 1856 broke out, the Enterprise, with an eye single to the business interests of its town, naively remarked " We regret that the parties have concluded to go to war and settle their dif ferences by bloodshed ; but as they have so determined, we wish to remind them that they can buy powder and lead of our merchants at St. Louis prices, and other military supplies much cheaper." Prior to the civil war. Captain Van Horn was a Democrat in full sympa thy with the national theories of the party, and as Jackson county was largely •of that faith he was respected and influential at home, and able to accomplish more than if he had been of any other politics. The pro-slavery men made Kansas City their headquarters during a part of the Kansas troubles ; and finally the Free-State men bought the old Gillis House, on the levee, and had a 434 History of Kansas City. rendezvous here, and the town got a great deal of free advertising from these sources. The Journal of Commerce treated both sides with perfect fairness, and won their respect not only for the town, but for the paper In 1865 events had made Colonel Van Horn a Republican, the then dominant party in the State and country, and again he was on the side where he could do the most good for the town. And again the Journal became an " advertising handbill for the town at the mouth of the Kaw," as a Leavenworth paper called it. And ever since the policy of the paper, as an advertising medium and agent for Kansas City, has been unchanged. In the presidential campaign of i860 Colonel Van Horn was a Douglas Democrat, and, through his paper and on the stump, warmly advocated the election of the " Little Giant" From the first, however, he announced that the election of Lincoln would be no cause for disunion, which he declared could not be a remedy for any evil. He announced, too, that when coHision came every man must "stand by the government" He argued the case so zealously and well, that he moulded public sentiment in the city largely in favor of the Union. In April, 1861, when several of the Southern States had cut their cables and drifted out from the broad, deep harbor of the Union, into the turbulent sea of secession, and Missouri was dragging at her anchors in an attempt to follow, he was brought out as the exponent of unconditional Unionism, as a candidate for mayor of Kansas City. Opposed to him was the gifted, accomplished, and pop ular favorite, Dr G. M. B. Maughs, a secessionist. The contest was more exciting than any other political fight had been in the history of the city. The Union ists triumphed, and Van Horn was elected by one hundred and four majority. His election saved Kansas City to the Union. Secessionists could receive no encouragement from the municipal authority, and had to go elsewhere to ren dezvous and organize "against the day of battle and of war." The mayor of the city entered the contest to fight from as many points as possible. He was mayor of the city, the highest civil officer in the corporation, and its chief execu tive. He became, moreover, a military commander. He could not get authority from the secession governor of the State, Hon. Claiborne Fox Jackson, and so he went to General Nathaniel Lyon, at St. Louis, and obtained authority to raise a battalion for service under the flag of the government, and for the defense of the city, and to procure arms and ammunition for the men. The battahon was soon raised, and on the 24th of June was mustered into service, and Van Horn was given the command of it with the rank of major. And so it was Mayor Van Horn one day, and Major Van Horn the next, but always Van Horn, at the head of affairs in Kansas City. The " Claib. Jackson Legislature " passed the famous (or infamous) Police Commissioners' bill, taking away from the mayors of Kansas City and St. Louis certain of the powers and prerogatives vested in them by the city charters and the constitution, and giving them to a board of police commissioners appointed by the secession governor. The mayor of Biographical. 435 Kansas City said the law was unconstitutional and treasonable, and he flatly re fused to obey it He notified the appointees of Governor Jackson that if they attempted to exercise their aHeged authority he would call oiit Van Horn's Bat talion, if necessary, to resist them. And thus Mayor Van Horn was protected in his office by Major Van Horn. Again the point was raised that as he was a major in the Federal military service, he was barred from holding a civil office under the laws of the State, and therefore he ought to be deposed at once. But Major Van Horn interposed and said in substance that those were times of great public emergencies, and there was no time for quibbling about law points, and that any attempt to depose the loyal mayor of Kansas City, and bind the city government hand and foot and deliver it over to the secession Philistines, would also be resisted. There was present in the city at this time Captain W. E. Prince, of the regular army, with a force of U. S. Infantry and Dragoons, and he had orders to obey the commands of the mayor, and so the attempt was giv en over. Baffled at all points, the secessionists retired, either to accept the sit uation, or to join General Price's army, and Kansas City remained thereafter a Union town, with all that the term implied. Colonel Van Horn's services in the civil war may only be recapitulated in this sketch. As the commander of Van Horn's Battalion of the U. S. Reserve Corps, he built a considerable fortification called "Fort Union," on the south west corner of Tenth and Central street just east of where the Coates House now stands, and this structure contributed largely to the defense of the city throughout the war The real engineer of this fort, who superintended its con struction, buHt the gun carriages, etc, was George M. Tod, the father of the notorious Confederate guerrilla, George Tod. On the 17th of July, pursuant to the orders of Captain Prince, he left Kan sas City with von Daun's and MiHar's companies of his battalion (160 men) to reheve Major Dean, of Colonel A. G. Newgent's Cass county Union Home Guards, at Austin, forty-five miles distant to the southward. On the i8th he had a skirmish with the enemy under Colonel Duncan, near Harrisonville, de feating him, losing one man killed, and killing three of the enemy. Colonel Duncan's forces largely outnumbered his, and Van Horn retired after the en gagement to the State Hne, but was not followed. Early in September he was sent with his battalion to join Colonel Everett Peabody's command en route from St. Joseph to the relief of Lexington. In a movement from that place in the direction of Warrensburg they confronted the advancing army of General Price, then en route from Springfield to Lexington. Colonel Peabody's command was then called the Thirteenth Missouri Infantry. Retiring from before the advance of General Price's vastly superior force, from Warrensburg to Lexington, Van Horn, with two companies of his own battalion and two of Peabody's, had a severe skirmish with the enemy — McBride's Division and other troops — in the outskirts of Lexington on the 1 2th of September This 436 History of Kansas City. encounter, known as "the fight in the lane," was the bloodiest incident, and the hardest fight of the campaign including the surrender of Lexington. Colonel Van Horn was solely in command of the Union forces, and it was under his per sonal direction that the engagement was fought on the Federal side. The rebels were compelled to faH back "two or three miles," ^ losing considerably in kiHed and wounded. Major Van Horn was present with his battalion during the en tire siege of Lexington, and bore himself gallantly and well, as did his men. In the last day's fight he was severely wounded, and fell into the hands of the enemy and was made a prisoner in the capitulation. After the exchange of the Lexington prisoners. Van Horn's Battalion was consohdated with Peabody's command, and the new organization was caHed the Twenty-fifth Missouri Infantry. Colonel Peabody was commissioned col onel and Van Horn lieutenant colonel. Early in the spring of 1862 the regi ment was sent to General Grant's army in Tennessee. It went to Pittsburg Landing, where it was assigned to General B. M. Prentiss's division and placed in the front. In the desperate battle of Pittsburg Landing, or Shiloh, the Twenty-fifth Missouri took a very conspicuous part. The regiment was com manded throughout the engagement by Lieutenant-Colonel Van Horn — Col onel Peabody, who was kiHed early in the action, being in command of the brigade at the onset — and was in the fight from start to finish. It will be re membered that Colonel Peabody's brigade was the first Federal command to become engaged. Colonel Van Horn had his horse kiHed under him the first day, but remained with his men until the battle was over and the victory won. His regiment lost heavily in killed, wounded, and prisoners. In the advance on Corinth, in April and May, 1862, Colonel Van Horn was in command of a brigade for a time. His regiment remained in Tennessee and Mississippi until in September, 1862. During the stay of the Twenty- fifth Missouri at Corinth — having already demonstrated its aptitude for engi neering work during the advance on Corinth — it was detailed to construct a series of batteries and defensive works to the south and west of the town. These works — batteries "A" to "F" — enabled General Rosecrans to repulse the Confederate attack, under Van Dorn and Price, at the second battle of Corinth, the following October. After completing the fortifications at Corinth, the regiment was ordered to Jackson, Tenn., to reinforce General Logan after the engagement at Mcdon Station. Having become greatly reduced by cas ualties, it was next ordered to Missouri to recruit ; but on its arrival at St. Louis it was ordered to report to General Davidson, then in Southeast Mis souri on his winter campaign against the Confederates in Arkansas. In January, 1863, Colonel Van Horn, on leave of absence, attended'the ses sion of the Missouri Legislature as member from Jackson county, and was an active and prominent participant in the long struggle that finally resulted in the ' See General Price's report in Rebellion Record's, Vol. Ill, p. 186. Biographical. 437 election of John B. Henderson and B. Gratz Brown to the United States Senate. In this contest he was one of the seven members who made the election of Gen eral Henderson the condition of the election of any other man. This political event shaped the course of Missouri politics for many years, but its details may not be recited here. On the adjournment of the Legislature Van Horn returned to his com mand, which was then distributed among the military posts of St. Joseph, Liberty Arsenal, Richmond, and ChHHcothe, for recruiting purposes and local service. In the late summer it was ordered to New Madrid, Mo,, to open a military road across the swamps to Chalk Bluffs ; but, after a reconnaissance, -made by Colonel Van Horn in person, on his report to General Schofidd the project was abandoned. In the mean time General Thomas Ewing, thfen in command of the Dis trict of the Border, with headquarters at Kansas City, had issued " Order No. II." At the suggestion of many of the citizens of Jackson county, General Schofidd ordered Colonel Van Horn to report to General Ewing for duty as provost marshal. It was during the period of the enforcement of that order when Colonel Van Horn made, perhaps, his greatest and noblest military rep utation. He executed his orders with firmness, it is true, but with such mod eration, consideration, and conciliation, that he readily acquired the confidence, esteem and gratitude of those with whom he had to deal, which he has held from that time to the present. Subsequently, in a heated political campaign, a poorly informed editor charged him with harshness in the conduct of his duties in connection with "Order No. 11," and straightway there came indignant de nials and protests from numbers of the best ex- Confederate people of the coun try, who were victims of the order and in charge of Colonel Van Horn. These people said, that to their personal knowledge Colonel Van Horn, in his trying situation and in the performance of his unpleasant duties, was " most humane and kindly, never harsh," and that he should always be remembered by them for his extreme generosity, humanity, and other kindly qualities on that oc casion. " The bravest are the tenderest." He remained with General Ewing till the meeting of the Legislature, in which, by leave of absence from the secretary of war, he took his seat at the adjourned session. During this time his regiment had been ordered from New Madrid to Columbus, Ky., where, pursuant to the orders of the war depart ment, it was consolidated with Colonel BisseH's Engineers, the two commands forming the Engineer Regiment of the West. There being two sets of field ¦officers, and Colonel Henry Flad, of St. Louis, then of the Engineer Regiment, being the ranking officer, was retained as commander of the new regiment, and Colonel Van Horn was honorably mustered out of the service. At the time of the Price raid in October, 1864, he was mayor of Kansas 56 438 History of Kansas City. City, having been re-elected without opposition the previous spring, and was given by General Curtis control of the organization of the volunteer militia, and charge of the construction of the fortifications about the city. For three days and nights he scarcely took food or rest so engrossed was he in his duties in the city, in the trenches, and in the field. He was a volunteer aide on the staff of General Curtis, and, standing by the side of that officer on a housetop, witnessed the battle of Westport and the repulse of the rebel forces. Colonel Van Horn's legislative career, extensive and prominent as it has been, can only be summarized in these pages. In the faH of 1862, while with his regiment in the field, he was elected to the Missouri State Senate. Here he served three years. In 1864 he was elected to Congress as a radical Repub lican, and re-elected in 1866 and 1868, serving continuously for six years. After an interval of ten years, he was in 1880 again elected to Congress. It is no disparagement to the service of any one else to say that he was the most efficient representative Kansas City ever had, especially in the matter of secur ing legislation of particular and vital interest to the city. It was he who secured the charter for the Hannibal and St. Joseph railroad bridge, the first across the Missouri River, and the building of which placed Kansas City two years ahead of Leavenworth, and won the contest in the race for pre-eminence. He introduced the bill granting land in aid of the Fort Scott and Gulf Road, and he accomplished so much railroad legislation in behalf of his town that it would be tedious to recite it in detail. In the Thirty-ninth and Fortieth Congresses he was on the committee on Indian affairs, where he was in position to do much in aid of his city ; in the Forty- first Congress he was again a member of the committee on Indian affairs and also of the Pacific Railroad Committee, and again able to get in some most valuable work ; in the Forty-seventh Congress he was chairman of the com mittee on printing. In the Fortieth Congress he introduced the first bill (House Bill No. 367) January 6, 1868, "To provide for the consolidation of the Indian tribes, and the organization of a system of government in the Indian Territory." This was the first bill ever introduced for the organization of Okla homa, which was the name given the new territory proposed to be organized. Those who know him will readily believe what the record shows, that he was an active, vigilant, and hard-working member, watchful of the interests of his constituents, and mindful of his duty to the whole country. His speeches, as the Congressional Globe and Record contain them, were delivered upon opportune and timely occasions, and contain nothing whatever of " buncombe "^ or mere verbiage. They were seldom purely political, having generally for their themes the improvement of the Missouri and other western rivers, the granting of subsidies in aid of western railroads, the opening of the Indian coun try, and other matters of a commercial and business character His connection with Kansas City has been most intimate. As early as Biographical. 439 1857 he was an alderman. In 1861 and in 1864 he was, as has been stated, elected mayor. In 1857 he was appointed postmaster by President Buch anan, and held the office until the spring of 1861, when he resigned to become the mayor. He has been a member of numerous delegations and committees sent out to work for the city's interests in various directions. In 1865 he was with McGee, Payne, Armstrong, and Mudeater on the expedition to the Indian council at Fort Smith, and secured the opening of the Indian Territory to the Galveston railroad, effecting the ultimate connection by rail of Kansas City with Texas. In addition to the hundreds of columns of newspaper articles, every line of which was invaluable to Kansas City, he has written much else and devoted time, labor, and money in aid of the common cause for the public weal. Colonel Van Horn left the Democratic party in 1861, and has since been a radical RepubHcan, always in fuH accord and sympathy with his party, high in its councils and honored among its leaders. In the Missouri .Senate in 1863 he was largely instrumental in the organization of the Radical party, and fought the Gamble administration and the "Conservative" regime to their de struction. He was the recognized leader of the Republicans of Western Mis souri from 1864 to 1870, and stands second to none other in his prominence as a partisan in the State. He was the member for Missouri of the National Repub lican Committee from 1872 to 1876, and from 188410 1888. He was chairman of the State RepubHcan Committee from 1874 to 1876, and often a member of this and other partisan committees. In September, 1875, he was appointed collector of the internal revenue for the sixth district of Missouri, by President Grant and held the office untH June 30, 1881. Upon the organization of the cabinet of President Hayes, in March, 1877, he was recommended by his party in Missouri, and by the Legislature of Kansas for the position of secre tary' of the interior. For many years Colonel Van Horn has been editor-in-chief of the Kansas City Journal, which paper he founded thirty-three years ago, and has con ducted to its present proportions and success. The Journal is so well known that it need not here be described. The articles of the editor-in-chief are always to be recognized. Latterly he has written some very able and instruc tive papers on moral and speculative philosophy and other topics engaging modern thought. Though of a metaphysical character, these articles are models of clearness and perspicuity, and have attracted much attention. Sound and vigorous in body and brain. Colonel Van Horn yet makes a " full hand " at work, and is always ready for service. Few men at sixty-four are so well preserved and have so many years of the future apparently in store for them. Colonel Van Horn has also paid considerable attention to scientific matters, and has been president of the Kansas City Academy of Science since its or ganization in 1877. In conclusion it is only fair and just to say that for more than thirty years 44° History of Kansas City. Colonel Van Horn has devoted himself energetically and faithfuHy to everything that looked to the advancement of Kansas City in its highest and best sense. In 1848 Colonel Van Horn married Miss Adda H. Cooley, of Pomeroy, Meigs county, O. To this marriage there have been born four sons, two of whom are dead, and two — Dick and Robert C, are living now. Robert C. Van Horn is an active and influential member of the Journal Company, and is in charge of one of the departments. Dick has been for many years connected with the Internal Revenue Department as a most intelligent and valuable assistant. MUNFORD, MORRISON, M'ho, perhaps, has been longer in continuous control of a metropolitan newspaper than any other western editor, was born June 25, 1842, in Covington, Tipton county, Tenn. His grandfather was an early settler of Kentucky, and located the town of Munfordsville, on Green River. His father, the late Richard H. Munford, resided in Covington, Tenn., and was al'prominent and highly respected citizen ; held county offices almost continuously for thirty years ; was county clerk for sixteen years ; acted guardian, administrator and executor of more estates than any other man in Tipton county. Although not a professor of religion, lived a strictly moral and exemplary life, using no profane language, eschewing liquor and tobacco, and was regarded as one of the main supports of the Presbyterian Church, which he was principally instrumental in building. His mother, who was a Miss Morrison, died August 14, 1873. Morrison Munford attended the academy of James Byars, in Covington, and pursued an English and classical course. He then entered La Grange Synodical College, beginning in the junior year, and was attending that insti tute when the war began. The school was discontinued and he did not com plete his collegiate course. Returning home he enlisted in Captain Wood's company, which' was afterward Company C, 9th Tennessee Infantry, and was stationed at Union City, Tenn., Columbus, Ky., and New Madrid, Mo. He was also in Manney's brigade of Geneial Cheatham's celebrated Tennessee di vision. He was absent and sick during the battle of Shiloh, only reaching his command the second day of the fight. He was with Bragg through his entire Kentucky campaign, and participated in the battle of Perryville. At the bat tle of Stone River, or Murfreesboro, he was severely wounded by a minie-baH, which struck him in the side and lodged against the spinal column. He was prostrated and taken prisoner, suffering intensely from the pain occasioned by the wound and the rough treatment every wounded soldier experiences. When exchanged, in June, one of his sides was completely paralyzed. On this ac count he was put on detailed service in the office of the medical purveyor, at Atlanta, Ga., and served there until the war closed. When he attended his first course of lectures at the Missouri Medical College, the baH, which had caused him great pain and trouble, was extracted by Dr McDowell, and he has since experienced no inconvenience from its effects. Biographical. 441 After the war, finding his father in reduced circumstances, he started out to achieve his own fortune, having in his possession but a trifling amount of money. He opened a school in Belmont, in the adjoining county of Fayette, and boarded with Dr. L. P. Yandell, formerly a well-known Louisville phy sician. This gentleman was a man of culture and devoted to literature, and did more to arouse young Munford's ambition than any one else. He had free access to the doctor's select library, and was advised by his patron to study medicine. He avaHed himself of this excellent opportunity, and read medical works under Dr. Yanddl's instruction for about one year. During this time he had rented a farm and raised a crop, the proceeds of which, with his income from the school, enabled him to attend medical lectures. In September, 1866, he went to St Louis and matriculated in the Missouri Medical CoHege, then presided over by the eminent surgeon, Dr. Joseph Nash McDowell. In the following spring, 1867, at the close of the term, he returned to Tennessee and conducted the operations of his farm. In August of that year, in connection with WiHiam Sanford, he purchased material and began the publication of the Tipton Weekly Record, which is still in existence, and the only paper published in the county. He was ignorant of the business, but his venture proved a suc cess, and soon after the paper was started he bought Mr. Sanford's interest. In the following faH he placed the paper in the hands of a friend and again at tended medical lectures. He attended several courses of lectures, and spent his leisure hours in soliciting business for the paper, in St. Louis, and in writing letters. He graduated in the class of 1868, receiving the degree of Doctor of Medicine. But his tastes lay in another direction, and he never offered to practice. His uncle, James E. Munford, of St Louis, a man of large means, owned a tract of land embracing about forty thousand acres in Kansas. Much of it was in litigation and burdened with taxes. He offered Dr. Munford a one-third in terest in the land if he would perfect the titles, and clear it of burdens. He sold his paper in Tennessee without returning home, and in March, 1868, set out for Kansas, establishing himself in Nemaha, the county in which the great body of the land was located, where he remained about one year In the spring of 1869 he took up his residence in Kansas City, Mo., and opened a real estate office in connection with S. C. Fancher, at the same time publishing a monthly real estate paper called the Index. They also laid out Munford and Fancher's Addition to Kansas City. It is as editor and general manager of the Kansas City Times that Dr. Mun ford is most widely known and intimately identified with Kansas City. His ca reer as a metropolitan journaHst began in August, 187 1, when he was one of the company that purchased the Times, of which he at once assumed the act ive management. For a time his uncle. Judge James E. Munford, was associa ted with him, but later Dr. Munford acquired a large controlling interest, and for more than sixteen years he has been the responsible head of the paper. Dr. 442 History of Kansas City. Munford's management of the Times may be said to have commenced with Kansas City's career as a city, for in 1871 it was equally uncertain that the one would become a great newspaper and the other a great metropolis. The Times at once showed the effects of a vigorous and able direction and its bold enter prise attracted attention to the city and won fame for the newspaper at the very outset. Even at that early day Dr Munford had made up his mind that Kan sas City was destined to become the leading commercial center of the West, and he inaugurated and steadfastly maintained a policy calculated to accelerate the forces at work to that end. He realized that newspaper enterprise was a powerful factor in the upbuilding of a young city, and contributed to Kansas City's advancement the ever loyal and patriotic support of the Times. Almost before the new era of prosperity which followed the prostration of war times was fairly under way, a financial upheaval put a quietus upon Kansas City. The plucky and enthusiastic young editor who had set out to build up a great news paper here on the western border of Missouri, found himself tottering under- a great load, and most men would have thrown up the sponge where Dr. Mun ford struggled forward through all the difficulties and disasters of those dark days. Probably no man who had cast his lot here had more faith in Kansas City, and he looked from temporary discouragements forward to the future in which he had supreme confidence. The columns of the Times were full of cheerful hope, and afterward, when the country entered upon new prosperity, the paper redoubled its efforts to attract capital and people to Kansas City. As a newspaper manager Dr. Munford's course has been characterized by extraordinary liberality. Believing in the promises which the future of his city and the southwest held out to him, he has always discounted them in order to put his newspaper in the front rank of journalism. He has stood in the dual relation to the Times of manager and editor, and, a born newspaper man, the details of his work interest rather than weary him. It thus happens that while the Times has always been at the front in its business policy, a notable instance being the purchase of the great property at the Junction, its bold strokes of editorial enterprise have attracted widespread attention. If it had not devolved upon Dr Munford to build up a struggling concern, he would probably have devoted himself specially to the editorial department He has a keen appreci ation of the news, and is a peculiarly clear and forcible writer Whenever he finds time to write, as he usuaHy does when an important policy is to be out lined, it is to good purpose. His apprehension is quick, his mind elastic, and his judgment good. His decision and firmness are prominent characteristics. and his friendships and aversions are strong and lasting. He is a man of aston ishing energy and capacity for work. As may be inferred from his connection with the Times, he is a Democrat, famHiar with the principles, the history, and the management of the party. He has never asked for office, his highest ambition being to conduct a paper Biographical. 443; worthy of the great State and city in which it is published. He was a dele gate from the old Eighth Congressional district to the National Democratic Convention which met in St Louis in 1876, and to the convention at Cincin nati in 1880. Again, in 1884, he was delegate at large from Missouri to the Chicago convention which nominated President Cleveland. Dr Munford is tall of stature, of erect and easy carriage, fair complexioned, and delicate and youthful appearance. Although slight his frame is of that withy character which is capable of long strain and continuous labor Dr. Munford is a singularly modest man and absolutely fearless. He is not much of a mixer, is seldom seen in public places, cares nothing for ordi nary amusements, and is very domestic in his habits. His wife is his closest and most constant companion. His home is one of the handsomest and most charming in the city. Situated as he is, it is no wonder that he spends so much of his time at home. He is prodigiously energetic, and what is excep tional with nervous men, he never frets away valuable vital energy. He was married July 27, 1870, to Miss Agnes E. Williams, at Irving, Kan. She was born in New York, but was left an orphan when quite young, and was reared by an uncle and aunt who afterward moved to Kansas. On her return to Irving from Monticello Seminary (Illinois), where she was educated. Dr. Munford first met her She is a lady of intelligence and possessed of all the graces of womanhood. ADKINS, Hon. ROBERT SNELL. Judge Adkins was born in Scott county, Ky, March 27, 1832. His father, Robert Adkins, and his mother, whose maiden name was Sarah Snell, were natives of the same county. In 1836 Robert Adkins removed with his family to Clay county. Mo., where he resided until his death in 1858. He was a prominent and well known resident of that county, and possessed the esteem and entire confidence of his feHow- citizens. In former times Clay county was strongly Whig in politics, and Mr. Adkins was an ardent Democrat, yet he was repeadly elected county judge by large majorities. Robert S. Adkins was reared to early manhood on a farm, two and a half miles west of Liberty. He was educated in the country schools, and in the Liberty High School. His last preceptor and instructor was the gifted Colonel John T Hughes, the author, scholar and soldier, who as a Confederate colonel was killed at the battle of Independence, August 11, 1862. Leaving school at the age of seventeen, he engaged as a clerk in a store at Liberty, and continued in this occupation until he reached his majority. In 1853 he formed a co-part nership with Churchill J. White, now a weH known resident of Kansas City, and engaged in general merchandising at Liberty. In 1862, owing to the disturb ances of the civH war, the firm was dissolved and its business discontinued. In 1864 Mr. Adkins removed to Nebraska City, Neb., and engaged in freighting 444 History of Kansas City. and transporting supplies across the plains until the close of the war, when he returned to Missouri. From 1866 to 1876 he was again a merchant at Liberty, and afterward for three years operated a flouring and woolen mill. In 1880 he came to Kansas City and was paying teHer of the Bank of Com merce during his first year's residence. He then engaged in the real estate business, which he has since continued. He has been very successful. His principal transactions have been in real estate situated in the main portions of the city, largely his own property. In 1884 he formed his present profitable and agreeable business relations with Mr. Henry C. Harper, an old-time resi dent of Kansas City. In 1882, only two years aftej taking up his residence here, he was elected to the office of judge of the county court of Jackson county by the remarkable majority of 3,277 votes, and served four years very accept ably and efficiently. Judge Adkins is active and intelligent in the conduct of his business, faithful in the discharge of duty, and in every station and position in life which he has occupied he has sustained the character and had the repu tation of a good citizen, a worthy member of the community, and a man of honor and strict integrity. On November 4, 1858, he married Margaret Croysdale, a native of Clay county, and whose father, Abraham Croysdale, was one of its early pioneer set tlers. Seven children — six daughters and a son — survive this marriage. Four of the daughters, estimable and accompHshed ladies, are married and weH set tled in Hfe ; the two others and the son. Sterling P., now a young man of promise, are with their parents The judge and Mrs. Adkins are well known members of the Calvary Baptist Church. COATES, Colonel KERSEY. Perhaps no sketch which this work con tains will be read with more interest than that of Colonel Kersey Coates. His name is so weH known and his western life so closely identified with the growth and prosperity of Kansas City, that they have become part and parcel of her history. His enterprise and Hberality made him a leading spirit in the New West and the queen city of the Missouri VaHey owes much of her pres ent prosperit}' to his industry and foresight. Kersey Coates was born in Sadsbury, Lancaster county. Pa., September 15, 1823, and died in Kansas City AprH 24, 1887. His parents, who were life-long members of the Society of Friends, were named respectively Lindley and Deborah S. Coates. The maiden name of the mother was Simmons. His father was a farmer, but deeming his son's talents adapted to a more intellect ual hfe, he gave him the advantages of a liberal education ; and the young man attended school, first near home, and afterwards at Whitestown Seminary, in New York, completing his course at PhiHips Academy, in Andover, Mass In these institutions he received a thorough training in all the English branches and became quite proficient in several of the modern languages. After hav- Biographical. 445 ing finished his studies he was appointed to the chair of English literature in the high school of Lancaster, Pa., where he taught the youth of his native county for several years, until qualified to begin the study of law. When about twenty-five years of age he entered the office of the late dis tinguished lawyer, politician and statesman, Hon. Thaddeus Stevens, an asso ciate and personal friend of his father, with whom he remained until 1853, when he was admitted to the bar. About this time the " irrepressible conflict '' between the pro-slavery and the anti-slavery parties was approaching its cul mination, and the Kansas-Nebraska act was agitating the entire country. Col onies, both from the North and the South, were being formed and sent into these territories, especially the latter, to possess and hold them in the interest of one or the other party. Leaving his home in Pennsylvania, in 1854, Mr. Coates came west for the purpose of attending to real estate interests, and soon found himself among a desperate set of men from Missouri, Kentucky, Virginia and Georgia, who determined to make Kansas a slave State. Armed forces traversed the beautiful prairies of Kansas, and murders were so frequent that finally the United States government sent its troops to interfere between the belligerent parties. Imbued with the principles of liberty, Mr. Coates was not long in taking position with the anti-slavery faction ; and for two years, while he remained on the border, the exercise of that inherent freedom of speech which had characterized his ancestors, made him constantly an object of hatred with the pro-slavery element; while to the free-State party his great personal fearlessness, his devotion to the cause of human rights, his legal skill and attainments, and his clear, cool head were a tower of strength. He was looked up to as an unusually strong and safe man, and was employed as one of the counsel for the defense of Governor Charles Robinson, when that official was on trial for treason. His experiences were of the most daring and start ling character, and their relation here would be of intense interest if space per mitted. Having seen Kansas virtually through her trouble, he returned to Mis souri, where important business claimed his attention. He located in Kansas City, and lived here during the remainder of his life. In 1855 he was married to a very estimable lady. Miss Sarah W. Chandler, also of the Society of Friends, and a native of Pennsylvania, who survives him. Mr. and Mrs. Coates were blessed with an interesting family, three of whom — Laura, Lind ley and Arthur — are living. In 1856-7 Kansas City began to show some signs of business life and activity, and Colonel Coates was one of those far-seeing and intelligent citizens whose constant study was to bring every influence to bear in developing the resources of the country and buHding up the home of his adoption. Uniting his efforts with those of other enterprising citizens, newspapers were established, railroads projected, favorable legislation was se cured, grand commercial enterprises were inaugurated, important municipal 57 446 History of Kansas City. improvements were started, and a system of correspondence with prominent eastern papers was perfected, the result of which was a stream of immigration that speedily filled up Kansas City and overflowed into the adjacent counties of Missouri and Kansas. Before the war Colonel Coates was engaged in various enterprises, such as banking, dealing in real estate, merchandising and building. He was also prominent in securing legislative and municipal aid for the Missouri Pacific, and Cameron Railroads. In politics, Colonel Coates was at all times a firm and unflinching Repub lican. During the political contest of i860 he was bold and outspoken in his views, and was president of the only Republican club in Western Missouri, if not the only one west of St. Louis ; and on the day of the presidential election he was one of only seventy or eighty citizens who were willing to put them selves on record as " black RepubHcans." During the War of the RebeHion he fully maintained his character as a staunch supporter of the Union, and be fore the war closed was made 'colonel of the 77th Regiment of E. M. M., which at different times during 1863-5 rendered valuable and efficient service, and was especially useful during the " Price raid " of 1864. At the close of the war. Colonel Coates, in common with the older citizens of the place, devoted his time and attention to building up again the city of his adoption, which had during the previous four years lost nearly half its pop ulation. At that time not a railroad reached the limits of Kansas City, nor was there one finished nearer than thirty miles. Leavenworth, the old rival of Kansas City, had prospered by the war and claimed a population of 15,000, and was taking on metropolitan airs. Nothing daunted. Colonel Coates and his associates began where they had left off" in i860, aroused anew the interest of Eastern capitalists in the various railroad lines projected before the war, and almost before the people of Leavenworth were aware of it, had renewed the contract with the Hannibal and St Joseph Railroad Company for building the Cameron branch of that road ; had procured the charter for a bridge over the Missouri River at Kansas City, and induced a wealthy corporation to under take the construction of it ; had incorporated the Missouri River, Fort Scott and Gulf Railroad, obtained for it a splendid endowment of land from the State of Kansas, and effected a treaty between the government and various tribes of the Indian nation, giving the company great advantages. From the foregoing it will be seen that Colond Coates and his co- laborers had so concentrated commercial facilities of every kind, and so bound the wealth and moneyed influence of New York and Boston to Kansas City that within five years after the war the population had increased over six hundred per cent, and the importance of its trade and commerce was recognized aH over the country In all these enterprises Colonel Coates was prominent, and in many of them he was a leader He was especiaHy instrumental in securing the legislation in Congress and the Kansas Legislature, which resulted in the Biographical. 447 Missouri River and Fort Scott Railroad, of which he was president for several years. Besides his labors for the public, he kept his individual affairs well in band, and prospered accordingly. Besides his own handsome residence he erected the elegant hotej known as the Coates House, and the Coates Opera House, one of the finest theatres in the West. He was one of the organizers of the Kansas City Industrial Exposition and Agricultural Fair Association in 1870, and when the Inter-State Fair Association was organized in 1882, he was elected its president and held the position most of the time until his death. During the last ten years of his Hfe he was, happily, enabled to relax his close attention to business in a great measure. Colonel Coates's public charities are well known; and it is none the less true, though not equally well known, that during the latter years of his life he wholly or partially supported a large number of pensioners and disbursed con siderable sums in private charities. In rehgion, though reared a Quaker, he was liberal and charitable in his views and practice, and decidedly Unitarian in sentiment. A type of the highest order of pioneers, — those who have not only energy, but intellect and insight, — he could both see and act labor and command. With indomitable resolution and an aHegiance to truth which never varied, he had the charm of human sympathy and the disarming grace of kindly humor which gathered about him friends instead of followers. He was the embodiment of common sense — natural and direct in thought, speech and action. His conversation and public addresses were always effective ; his judgments clear and generally accurate; and his performance never betrayed symptoms of weakness or hesitation. Coming to Kansas City at an early period of its modern history, he at once displayed a belief in her future as won derful as it was unswerving ; and her miraculous growth during the past few years has been but the fulfillment of what he always claimed was surely com ing. His faith was always shown by his works. To his wisdom, skill and energy are due, in a great measure, the centering in Kansas City of various lines of railroad which have contributed so materially to her prosperity and progress. Local enterprises, as weH, which had for their object the advance ment of the city's welfare, found in him a sagacious promoter and steadfast friend. In matters of public concern he was ever on the side of right, never hesitating to sink the partisan in the citizen when the interests of the com munity were at stake. Public-spirited, broad-minded, self-reliant, far seeing in making investments, and courageous in his earnest endeavor to promote the ¦ highest degree of public welfare, his integrity beyond question, he stands forth to-day the most conspicuous figure in the history of Kansas City ; and his monument has the struggling past and the glorious present of the city for its foundation, aud the epitaph of - well done, thou good and faithful servant," is written in the hearts of his fellow-citizens. 448 History of Kansas City. ARMOUR, S. B. No institution or association has done more, and perhaps no other has done so much, for the development and the commercial pros perity of Kansas City as the Armour Packing Company. It has been, too, a factor in the advancement and upbuilding of the interests of the Missouri Valley to a degree, incalculable in its influence, and unestimable in its benefits and general good results. For eighteen years it has furnished the farmers and stock- raisers of Western Missouri and Kansas with a home market — has arrest ed the passage of the products of the ranches of Texas, the Indian Territory, Colorado and New Mexico, on the way to distant marts — and has built up a vast stock market here, hardly surpassed in the country. It has disbursed mill ions of dollars, and besides rewarding the stock-raisers for their care and in vestments, has oftentimes reHeved the congested state of local finances and set trade in motion. It must be generally and readily conceded that the stock interests of Kansas City have been its interests of most importance. The packing houses have vir tually built up these interests, and confessedly the chief of these establishments are those of the Armour Packing Company. This company, moreover, has contributed largely to the material growth, wealth, and general welfare of the city. It has given employment to hundreds of men, added immensely to the taxable wealth, given Kansas City a notoriety and fame far-reaching in extent, and is one of her proudest and most valuable possessions, whose career, how ever, has only fairly begun. In its present status the Armour Packing Company, with its gigantic plant and all of its business, is the outgrowth of the packing-house of Plankinton & Armours, established here in 1870, a branch of the business of that firm then mainly carried on in Chicago. Its first operations in Kansas City were con ducted in a packing- house rented from the firm of Nofsinger & Co. In the spring of 1 87 1 the first building owned by the company was erected. It was 160 by 180 feet in area, two stories in height and with a basement In 1873 another building 144 by 192 feet in extent and of the same height as the first was added. During the first five years of the operations of the company — from 1870 to 1876 — its business at this point aggregated $6,476,030. This business has grown year by year with the marvelous development of the West, and the facilities of the company have been enlarged in a corresponding degree as they have been demanded. In the single year of 1887 its business amounted to over $18,000,000. Here it may be stated that the real origin of the vast packing and manufacturing interests of the Armour brothers — with whose name in time past that of John Plankinton has been inseparably connected — dates from the establishment of a small butcher's shop or meat market in Milwaukee, Wis., by this same John Plankinton, in about 1848. In time the butcher shop became a packing-house, and in 1864 Mr Plankinton was joined by P. D. Armour, and soon after headquarters were established in Chicago. Subsequently Mr Ar- Biographical. 449 mour's three brothers were admitted to the partnership, and the firm became the largest of the kind in the world, sending its products to nearly every civil ized country. It is no disparagement to any one else to say that to Mr. S. B. Armour mainly attaches the credit and distinction of the founding and the general suc cess of the immense industry at Kansas City. It was he who urged its location here at the time, representing the advantages likely to follow as he foresaw them. He has had the general control and management of the business from the first, and is stHl at its head. Simeon Brooks Armour was born on a farm in Madison county, N. Y., Feb ruary I, 1828. He is the son of Danforth and Julia Ann (Brooks) Armour, who were of Connecticut nativity, and Scotch-Irish ancestry. In their early lives they were school-teachers Mr. S. B. Armour was reared and educated in his native State and county, and was engaged in business there in 1870, when he closed out and came west to engage with his brothers. In September of that year he came to Kansas City and engaged in his present business as previously stated. He is completely identified with the place as a citizen here, occupies a commodious and substantial mansion on Broadway, and is one of the best known residents of the municipality, in whose welfare he takes a deep and abid ing interest He was married in Oneida county, N. Y., June 21, 1856, to Miss Margaret Klock. They have no children, but two of their neices practically sustain that relation, and are inmates of the family home. Mrs. Armour is a most estimable Christian lady, admired for her many charms of manner, and renowned for her liberal charities and benefactions She is a prominent mem ber of the Women's Christian Association, and active and zealous in the pro motion of various schemes of benevolence and other good works. Mr. Armour himself in private Hfe is genial and gentlemanly, modest and unassuming, avoiding notoriety, and forbidding display. He contributes generously, but without ostentation, to pubhc and private charities, and to the promotion of public enterprises having for their object the general good and the public weal, and altogether endeavors to do his whole duty becomingly as a citizen and as a man. CHICK, JOSEPH S. This gentleman is a son of one of the early pur chasers of the original site of what is now Kansas City, Mo.; and most of his active life has been spent in devotion to some of its most useful and prom inent interests. He was born in Howard county. Mo., August 3, 1828, of par ents of Virginian nativity, his father having been a merchant, and his mother the daughter of Joseph Smith, a large importing merchant of Alexandria before Baltimore became the rival of that once important commercial point In 1836 Mr Chick's parents removed to Jackson county, Mo., and there his youth was passed. At the age of eighteen, when he had acquired his 45° History of Kansas City. education, he began his business career as a clerk in the store of Mr. H. M. Northrup, one of the first mercantile houses in this city, to a partnership in which he was admitted in 1852. In 1857 the house estabHshed the first bank in Kansas City, and at this time the National Bank of Kansas City has on its books the accounts of customers who did business with Mr. Chick over thirty years ago, when he was of the firm of Northrup & Chick. In 1862 the Messrs. Northrup & Chick removed to New York city, and did a successful business there until 1874, when they returned to Kansas City, Mr. Northrup locating in Wyandotte and Mr Chick buying a controlling interest in the Kansas City National Bank. In November, 1875, associating with himself some of the best and most substantial men of the place, he organized the Bank of Kansas City, which was merged in the National Bank of Kansas City in 1886. Under Mr. Chick's conservative, yet enterprising management, these institutions have ever kept pace with the expanding commerce of the city ; and the National Bank of Kansas City, with a paid up capital of $1,000,000, and deposits aggre gating $6,000,000, is recognized as one of the most successful banking enter prises in the West. Mr. Chick is connected also with other of Kansas City's most useful inter ests, among which we may mention the National Loan and Trust Company and the Kansas City Electric Light Company, both of which are prominent corporations doing a large business He was president of the board of trade of Kansas City and is now one of its directors. He is always in the front rank of the promoters of any project that promises to redound to the upbuilding of Kansas City or the welfare and benefit of its citizens, and he is known widely for his benevolence. Hundreds of young men throughout the West owe their prosperity and business success to his aid and counsel, as men now prominent in business circles in Kansas, Colorado and New Mexico have often testified in words of warmest gratitude to their benefactor He leads an active life, being at his post in the bank every morning as early as the clerks, and giving to the routine work of the institution a degree of careful attention and super vision that would be deemed irksome by many a man of two-thirds his age — for he is erect portiy, strong, and always busy, bearing his years so lightly as to appear much younger than he really is. The family of Mr Chick consists of his wife, their daughter Julia — a highly accomplished young lady — and their sons, Frank N. Chick and Joseph S. Chick, jr., the first mentioned of whom is assistant cashier of the National Bank of Kansas City, who has, in no small degree, inherited his father's good judgment and financial ability. Mr. Chick lives in the eastern part of the city, on Brooklyn avenue, a street to which he gave that name in honor of the city of Brooklyn, where he Hved while he did business in New York. His elegant residence is on a large plat of ground which once consisted of eleven acres, but he has sold some of the property to persons who have built several fine resi- 4 ^P^k. <^^H^H flfflf *-¦ ^ gL.^ „/ ,1 i i 1?" ? J- ' ^ / -2>7y^£yHa2hna .JOTJ. JSa'S'^ ^^/?>^>^^^Z^ / *-" / Biographical. 451 dences which surround and add to the value and attractiveness of his home. Mr. Chick was for a long time a member of the Walnut Street Methodist Episcopal Church, but when the city began to grow rapidly eastward he saw that some effort must be made to establish a church on that side, and accord ingly, "with several others, he built the Centenary Church at the corner of Ninth street and Lydia avenue, which began its existence with a membership of fifteen, and is now in a flourishing condition, with a membership of about four hundred. It is pleasing and profitable to record the well-earned successes of such men as Mr. Chick, to whom our institutions owe their stability — and their lives will serve as examples to others who will come after them. BROCKETT, C. A. Mr Brockett is a New Englander by nativity, having been born in North Haven, New Haven county. Conn. He received his education in the pubhc and private schools of that place, and at the early age of seventeen enlisted in the Fifteenth Connecticut Regiment, which afterwards was included in the Army of the Potomac. After seeing much arduous service in the field, he was ordered on detached duty in the office of the provost mar shal's department at Newbern, N. C. Later he rejoined his regiment, and with it returned to New Haven, where it was mustered out. Not long afterwards he located at Pittsburg, Pa., and engaged extensively in the manufacture of, and wholesale trade in drain, and sewer-pipe, and cement thus early identifying himself with the business with which he has since been so prominently connected. His operations in Pittsburgh were remark ably successful, and were continued until the faH of 187 1, when he disposed of his interests in that city, and, returning to Connecticut was for two years pro prietor of the Clark Match Works, at Woodbridge, the oldest match factory in the United. States. It was in 1873 that he came to Kansas City, in whose rapid growth he saw splendid opportunities for business, and soon organized the Kansas City Frear Stone and Pipe Manufacturing Company, which was incorporated under the laws of Missouri with a full paid up capital of fifty thousand doHars. The name of the company was afterwards changed to that of C. A. Brockett Cem ent Company, of which he is principal stockholder and president and has al ways been general manager This industry is one of the most important in the city, involving the investment of much capital, and the constant employ ment of many men ; and its products are sold over an extensive territory, and are reputed equal to those of any other factory of the kind in the country. It is due to Mr Brockett to state that the eminent success of this concern has resulted in no small measure from his careful, intelligent, and enterprising management The company do not confine themselves to the manufacture and sale of sewer-pipe, drain tile and kindred goods, but are the largest dealers 4S2 History of Kansas City. in the west in the best brands of American hydraulic cements, and heavy im porters and wholesale dealers in German and EngHsh Portiand cements, in which alone they have an annual trade of nearly $200,000. Besides the important interests above mentioned, Mr. Brockett has others which may be briefly referred to. He is proprietor and manufacturer of the widely known Brockett weH auger and artesian weH drilling machinery, which are used throughout the West, and are regarded as the most effective and economical, and least cumbersome manufactured anywhere. He is a stock holder in the Kansas Cement Works Company, and is general sales agent for its products. This company has works at Kansas City, Kan., and at Fort Scott, and Oakland, Kan., and their entire output of one thousand barrels per day is handled by Mr. Brockett. He is also principal owner of the Hotel Brunswick property and has other large real estate interests ; and he was one of the original stockholders, and is a director in the American National Bank of Kansas City. It is to such men as Mr. Brockett that Kansas City owes its prosperity and importance. Possessed of much energy and enterprise, and unquestioned in tegrity, he has earned an enviable reputation in commercial circles. His tact, culture, and geniality would insure success to any man. In person he is of medium height, trim and firmly built, with dark brown hair and moustache, and fine blue eyes. His movements are quick, his conversation rapidly ut tered, and couched in well chosen language, and he is gifted to a rare degree with that intuitive perception which enables him to at once put another per fectly at ease in his presence. Mr. Brockett was married in Pittsburg, Pa., to Mrs. Hettie McCutcheon, sister of the well-known politician, Hon. Robert Mackey. She died in this city in 1881, leaving three children — two by her former husband, as follows, Hettie and S. Howard McCutcheon, and by Mr Brockett one son, Robert Mackey, named for his uncle. She was a lady of fine attainments, and all those excellent qualities which combine to make the good wife and mother. The ever generous and genial hospitality of Mr and Mrs. Brockett is weH remembered, and their residence, which Mr. Brockett still occupies, was, and is, one of the most attractive and homelike in the city, a favorite visiting place to old and young who were numbered among its guests BELL, HARMON, lawyer, was born in Oakland, Cal, March 23, 1855. He is a son of the Rev. Dr S. B. BeH, who was highly esteemed in New York State and was one of the early settlers of California. Mr. Bell received a good education, enjoying the privileges of public schools, and later, as he evinced an eager desire for the acquirement of knowl edge, a course of study in Hillsdale CoHege, at Hillsdale, Mich. He com pleted his collegiate course in California at Washington College. ij HBBdas Sans ITea 'ySrTi ^^ ^^^^^ Biographical. 453 In 1876 he began the study of law in the office of Dirlam & Leyman, of Mansfield, O., one of the leading law firms of that State. In 1878 he was ad mitted to the bar in Kansas City, and entering heartily into the spirit of his pro fession he soon received the confidence and support of the public. So rapidly did he rise in general favor that in 1880 he was elected to the Legislature from Kansas City by a very flattering majority, notwithstanding his Re pubHcan principles, of over five hundred votes, although his predecessor, a Democrat, was elected by over 300 majority. At this time he was only twen ty-five years of age, just one year beyond the age of eligibility for the office. During his two years as legislator, both in the regular and extra sessions, he was conspicuous in the advocacy of measures for the public good, especially in the promotion of the cause of education. In 1884 he was put forward by his party as a candidate for the office of public administrator of Jackson county, and so much was he favored by the people in general that both Democrats and Republicans united in giving him a majority of over i,000 votes in the county, which is usually Democratic by over 1,500 majority. January 16, 1880, Mr. Bell married Miss Catharine Wilson, daughter of A. J. C. Wilson, of Santa Barbara, Cal. Two children have been born to them, the elder of whom, Traylor W. Bell, is seven years of age. The second, Mar garet Sophie, died in infancy. Mr. Bell has practiced his profession for ten years in Kansas City and his host of friends are pleased that his worth has not gone unrecognized. He has always declined to even consider any office which would monopolize his time and take him from his practice and profession, and his clientage has con stantly and rapidly increased. A brother attorney, who knows Mr. Bell thoroughly, thus estimates him : '' He possesses fine abUity as a lawyer, integrity and uprightness, and has an envi able reputation, both as a lawyer and a man. He is a forcible speaker, a logical reasoner and an earnest debater, and has won in many important questions. He has managed the office of public administrator with great honesty and fair ness, and with scrupulous regard to guarding the estates and rights of deceased persons and also of orphans and minors. He is well read in all branches of the law, and being a diligent student, thoroughly investigates every subject in his profession that comes under his consideration." He is a member of the Presbyterian Church. BALES, WILLIAM. Few of those whose biographical sketches appear in this work are natives of Kansas City, and it is true that a majority of the leading business and professional men of the town are from the East and South ; but there are a few conspicuous exceptions to the rule, one of the most prominent among whom is Mr William Bales. This gentleman was born in 58 454 History of Kansas City. what is now Kansas City, December 28, 1834, and is a son of Walter Bales, who came to the locaHty from Tennessee, in 1831, and may be fairly placed among the pioneers of the town, and whose wife, formerly Miss Sarah John son, also from Tennessee, came to this place in 1825. Mr Walter Bales is re membered as a prosperous farmer of good business ability and considerable learning, who was many years a justice of the peace, and for twelve years a judge of the Jackson county court He died July, 1887, and his death de prived the city of an honored resident — one of the few human links connecting its past with its modern history. Reared on his father's farm, accustomed to the routine life of a farmer's boy-of-aH-work, and attending school as opportunity permitted, Mr. WiHiam Bales practically began the battle of life in 1852, when at the age of eighteen he entered the old grocery house of W, S. and James Gregory, and was there employed as a clerk until February, 1855, when he went to Weston, Mo., and was employed as a clerk by J. C. Ransom & Co., for a few months, and the firm removing to Kansas City he remained with them about two years, and with McCarty & Ransom two years. He then embarked in the grocery trade on his own account, in which he continued until 1862. From this time until 1883 hs was engaged in farming. In 1883 he returned to Kansas City, and became one of the organizers of the Kansas City Safe Deposit Company and Savings Bank, of which he has since been director, and has had personal charge of the loan department In January, 1888, he became a member of the well known loan and mortgage firm of Walter J. Bales & Co., to which his son, Walter J. Bales, a prominent real estate dealer, has given his name. In one way and another, Mr. Bales has long been intimately connected with Kansas City's real estate and other im portant interests, and he has always been a liberal and progressive citizen, with the growth, development and general welfare of the city at heart ; ready to assist with his means and otherwise, any and all measures calculated to en- .hance its prosperity and benefit the people at large. Judge Bales, Mr Bales's father, was a member of the Society of Friends, .and as nearly as possible, under the circumstances by which he was sur rounded, reared his family in the same faith, and Mr. Bales has never united with any other church ; while politically, though formerly a Whig, he has for many years been a Democrat. He was married in November, 1862, to Miss Hattie Evans, daughter of WilHam B. Evans, of Kansas City, and has one child, Mr. Walter J. Bales, above mentioned. Mrs. Bales died in July, 1887. Her father was one of the fourteen original purchasers of the first town site of what is now Kansas City. Biographical. 455 BYERS, JOHN W., was born November 2, 1833, in Jefferson county, Va., the eldest of a family numbering six sons and one daughter, subsequently removing to Martinsburg, in Berkeley county, Va., where his education began as a pupil in a school opened by his father, who several years later changed residence, removing to Hagerstown, Md., and continued there for many years a successful teacher. At about ten years of age he became a printer boy, and being exempted from the primary duties usually aHoted to the " printer's devil," passed imme diately to the work of a compositor, and within one year attained such experi ence in deciphering the bad manuscript of the editor, as well as in making up forms, and correction of proofs, as to earn the soubriquet of " Big Type A." This occupation proving unfavorable to health, was exchanged, at thirteen years of age, for employment in the hardware store of Tice & Hammond, then the oldest firm in the State of Maryland. It may be worth mentioning as evi dence of juvenile energy, that as a pastime for the long winter evenings of his printer's career, he indulged in first editing and publishing, on his own ac count, a diminutive sheet called the Genius of the Age, followed the ensuing winter by the Nutshell, double the size of its predecessor, in which spicy local squibs, and points about the neighborhood, in weekly collations, attracted sufficient patronage to supply " pocket money." This precociousness attracted the attention of the firm above referred to, with whom he remained until twenty years of age, when a favorable opportunity occurred, inducing his obedience to the popular injunction — "Go West, young man." Among the incidents of this first journey, removing him so far from the old home roof, a serious railroad wreck occurred, from which he escaped unhurt, by an exchange of coaches on the train about thirty minutes before. During thirty-three years since, making many journeys, he has been preserved from participating in any similar disaster The old stage coach was then yet a nec essary link between the temporary terminals of uncompleted railway, but in due time both were substituted" by the luxury of a Missouri River steamer — the F. X. Aubry — at St. Louis, Mo., and several more days of comfortable travel completed this first long journey, at Wellington, La Fayette county. Mo., in August 1854. First impressions of the new country fortunately proved favorable and agreeable. Entering immediately upon duties in the counting room of a house deaHng in general merchandise, with hemp and tobacco as the leading prod ucts of the region tributary, he found no time for home-sickness, and being favored in social surroundings, readily adapted himself to a new home in the "far West," as it then was. Several years passed, and during this period he met and courted Miss Lucy C. Holloway, the eldest daughter of James M. Holloway, a merchant formerly of Lexington, Ky. Taking a trip farther west in the meantime, visiting St. 456 History of Kansas City. Joseph, Leavenworth and Kansas City, he made a business engagement at the latter point in 1857, ^^'^ locating at Westport, prepared a home for the lady of his choice, to whom he was married April 14, 1858, enjoying the good old style of a large wedding party given the happy couple at the home of her parents in La Fayette county. Mo. The larger portion of the succeeding ten years he was connected with oth ers in the transportation of freights, by mule and cattle trains, from the Mis souri River to various points in the farther west, including Salt Lake City, Utah, with Santa Fe, New Mexico, and many intermediate trading and mH- itary posts. From 1861 to 1865 this business increased to very important magnitude caused by the large demand for supplies at miHtary posts, and in commercial adventures. For two or three years of this period, the company with which he was associated had in its service from 25,000 to 50,000 head of oxen and mules, using about 1,200 wagons, and employing nearly 15,000 men, involving a business approximating $2,000,000 annually. Mr. Byers originated a plan of records for the business, and so accurately systematized the auditing department, that in every case of difference occurring for adjustment with government officers and private individuals, his figures were found cor rect, and ultimately produced satisfactory settlements between all parties. In 1870, entering the service of the Mechanics' Bank at Kansas City, he finally became its cashier, and so remained until all the branches of that insti tution were finally closed and merged into the parent bank at St. Louis, where it still continues. During several years following he engaged in the wholesale hardware trade, as successor in a long established house, from which has since grown the Hall & Willis Hardware Company. Since 1880, finding out-door activity and freedom from the counting-room and office more congenial and healthful, he has engaged in real estate enter prises and building. As a pioneer in its development he began in 1878 the first five-story structure buHt upon Delaware street and in 1880 erected an other five-story building, which was occupied for six years by the largest dry goods firm in the city, and at present is occupied by the largest wholesale clothing firm in Kansas City. He was one of the stockholders and directors in the original organization from which has grown the present National Bank of Kansas City, of which he continues to be a director He was a member of the original Board of Trade, and continues to hold membership in the present re-organization. Not only in the record of fair success in business life, but also as a citizen. Christian and friend, he has steadily, though unostentatiously devoted a large share of his time, and beyond the average of his means, to the rdief of indi vidual embarrassment and misfortune, as well as to public enterprise. Among the latter, the Young Men's Christian Association enlisted his active and con- Biographical. 457 tinuous effort and support during at least seven years of its earlier history in Kansas City, and when most in need of firm and constant friends. The present increased strength of its position, and more general appreciation of its practical usefulness, has gathered to it many new friends with whom he shares the harvest joy, as the fruition of earlier years of patient labor, and the seeding time through which it has passed. Among educational institutions. Park College, located a few miles from Kansas City, has for twelve years, since its organization, received his active support, and as treasurer of its board of trustees, the financial difficulties -usually experienced in such enterprises have made large demands upon his time and attention. This institution has grown from an original seventeen to a present catalogue of over four hundred students. With an utter distaste for political prominence, he never consented to fol low such methods as would most Hkely have secured him positions of that Icind, being frequently urged to enter the arena, but steadily declining, with several minor exceptions, to do so. The church maintains high claim, and has his constant care for its welfare and liberal support A member and office bearer of the Presbyterian Church, he has been honored as a chosen representative in the presbytery, synod and general assembly. In its local work for twenty years, he has set aside busi ness demands and personal convenience, when called upon by duty, either as member or officer. From the period when the line of Third street formed the southern bound ary of its business territory, as a resident of Kansas City, with brief intermis sion for thirty years, John W. Byers has maintained an unblemished record in all relations, and in the average limit of a generation has filled the measure of a useful life, retaining yet activity and energy which promise well for future years. His only child. Lulu Lee, is now the wife of James M. Love, a mer chant of Kansas City, and with two grandsons, these make up a happy home circle. BROWN, P. S., was born in Bedford county. Pa., October 14, 1833. His father, Henry Brown, was born in the same county and State, and the .ancestors of Mr. Brown, so far as that Hne can now be traced, were from Maryland. His mother's maiden name was Shelley, and she was a daughter of Abram Shelley, who was born in Philadelphia, but whose ancestors came from Holland and were among the first settlers in Philadelphia. The Shdleys were at one time largely interested in real estate, and were original purchasers from the proprietor of Pennsylvania, as numerous patents attest ; but the deprecia tion of Continental currency caused them serious losses. Miss Shelley's mother previous to marriage was named Barbara Smith ; Mr. Smith, her father, being -an extensive weaver and one of the first settlers at Harrisburg, Pa., where his 458 History of Kansas City. enterprise in weaving was carried on. Henry Brown, the father of P. S. Brown, died in February, 1834, and his mother, with her four small children, all boys,. returned to her parents' home in Huntington county. Pa., which afterward, by a division of the county, became Blair county. Henry, one of these four boys,. died some years afterward, but the two oldest ones are still living in Bedford county. Young P. S. Brown went to the schools of Blair county during the winter season for a number of years, and during the rest of the year worked on his grandfather's farm. This course of life lasted until he was sixteen years old, when he moved to Hollidaysburg to attend the academy kept there by the Rev. John H. McKinney and his daughter, in a building erected for the use of the academy by the Presbyterian Church. This school Mr. Brown at tended at various times for three years, being engaged in the sheriff's office on a salary which enabled him to be independent of his patrimony and to pay all his own expenses. The course of study at this academy embraced only the ordinary and higher English branches, nothing of a classical nature ; but by private study Mr. Brown mastered the Latin language sufficiently to be able to read such expressions and quotations from that language as are met with in the study and practice of the law. He is, notwithstanding, strongly of the opinion that a thorough training in the study of ancient languages is of great benefit to an attorney at law after he begins his practice, not only in the saving of time, but also in the comparative ease and completeness with which his cases may be prepared. The Rev. Mr McKinney is remembered by Mr. Brown with admiration and affection as one having the future good of his pupils always earnestly in view. Leaving the academy in 1852 Mr Brown- was engaged untH the spring of 1853 in the study of law in the office of John W. Thompson, and from that time on untH the spring of 1855 he divided his time between the study of the law, from the spring of 1857 to March, 1858,. in the office of John W. Thompson. At that time he came to Kansas City and opened a law office there that month. His Hfe as a lawyer is briefly re viewed in the chapter on the bench and bar, to which the reader is referred. Mr. Brown has been prominently connected with the Kansas City Law Library Association for a number of years. He was president of it for some time and has been treasurer continuously for the past ten years. He was director of and attorney for the Kansas City, Galveston and Lake Superior Railroad Company, then constructing the road which now forms the Kansas City and Cameron Division of the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad Company during the year 1865, and he was one of the original stockholders in the rail road from Olathe to Ottawa, Kansas. While a member of the Kansas City Council, in 1864, Mr Brown drew a contract for the right of way through the city by which the Pacific Railroad Company, now the Missouri Pacific Railroad Company, paid for the right of way $25,000, and paved a part of the levee along their right of way. That $25,000 was so applied as to resuscitate the ^'ttfE.CmUims SBrtiVY. Biographical. 459 railroad from Kansas City to Cameron, then known as the Kansas City, Galves ton and Lake Superior Railroad. The resuscitation of this railroad was the means of securing the location of the railroad bridge across the Missouri River at Kansas City, and thus, as every one knows, and none better than the citizens of Leavenworth, Kansas, the building up of and the phenomenal growth and prosperity of the "City of Kansas." Mr. Brown has always been an active promoter of every other project which would, in his judgment, result in the success of the city of his choice. Mr. Brown was married November 3, 1858, to Miss JuHa A. Shaffer, eldest daughter of William Shaffer, a well-to-do farmer of Blair county. Pa. He was a very prominent man in his county, anc^ filled at different times vari ous offices in his county. He died in April, 1880. Mrs. Brown's mother, previous to her marriage, was a Miss Hileman, a daughter of Frederick Hile- man, an old settler and prominent man of Hollidaysburg, Pa. She died in April, 1864. Mrs. Brown is a sister of Mrs. Dr. C. B. Hewitt, of Kansas City. Mr. and Mrs. Brown have had nine children, six sons and three daughters. Three of the sons have died. The oldest of the family, Julia A., is the wife of Edward Shillito, formerly of Cincinnati, O., now contracting freight agent of the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway Company. The second child, J. Wilkinson Brown, died in January, 1866. The third. Lulu Kate, married Joseph Curd, hat and cap dealer in Kansas City. The fourth, W. H. Brown, is a member of the law firm of Brown, Chapman & Brown. Philip Sidney Brown died in July, 1866 ; P. S. Brown, jr., is a member of the insurance firm of P. S. Brown & Son; Robert Irwin died in February, 1873, and the two youngest of the family, twins, Ralph J. and Sadie Lelie, born in March, 1874, are Hving at home with their parents. Mr. Brown, though born into the Bap tist Church, became a Presbyterian through the influences surrounding his school boy days at Hollidaysburg, Pa., and he and Mrs. Brown are both mem bers of the Presbyterian Church. CHADWICK, ABIATHER, one of the best known and most widely re spected men connected with Kansas City's real estate interest was born in Steuben county, N. Y., March 5, 1840, a son of J. B. and Eliza (Tooker) Chad wick, and received his education in the public schools of his native place. Mr Chadwick early removed to Parma, Mich., where he was for six years engaged in the manufacture and sale of harnesses. Thence he removed to Des Moines, la., where he re-established himself in the same business and gradually entered the real estate trade, eventually owning, with other property, a large stock farm which he managed for some years. From 1874 to 1877 he was in the hardware trade at Des Moines, la. It was after the relinquishment of this business that he came to Kansas City, where he soon engaged in the real estate trade, under the firm name of A. Chadwick 460 History of Kansas City. & Co. The firm of Chadwick & Woodworth was formed in 1885. In 1887 its name was changed to Chadwick, Woodworth Sz: Co., its members being A. Chadwick, I. J. and D. A. Woodworth, and of the many strong firms in the city, it is one of the most substantial and successful. Mr. Chadwick has origi nated several additions, some of which have been completely built up, enhanc ing the value of property in different parts of the city. In 1868 Mr Chadwick married Carrie M. Woodworth, of Middlebury, Ind. They have five children. Though not personally active in politics, Mr. Chad wick is an earnest adherent to the principles of the Republican party. Since taking up his residence in Kansas City he has been a member of the First Baptist Church. To the advancement of the causes of his party and his church he has ever been a cheerful helper and a willing giver, and in no less degree has he had at heart everything conducive to the growth and prosperity of the city, and he has come to be known as an upright, helpful, generous and public spirited citizen. Shrewdness and natural business ability have contributed in no small degree to Mr. Chadwick's worldly success, and his unquestioned integrity has been an important factor in his advancement, but he attributes it greatly to his watch fulness and industry which enabled him to discern and avail himself of oppor tunities as they presented themselves. CASE, Colonel THEODORE SPENCER, was born at Jackson, Butts county, Ga., January 26, 1832. His parents were respectively Ermine Case and Mary A. Case (nee Cowles), of the State of Connecticut They re mained in Georgia but a short time after the birth of this, their eldest son, and then removed to Columbus, O., where they lived, well known and honored resi dents, for many years. Mrs. Case died in Columbus in 1846, aged forty- two, and Mr. Case in Kansas City in 1883, at the advanced age of eighty- three years. Colonel Case received his preliminary education in the public and select schools of Columbus, and was graduated at Marietta College, O., in 185 1. He afterwards received the degree of Master of Arts from the same institution. He was employed as a teacher in the academy at Dublin, O., and as professor of mathematics in the Esther Institute at Columbus, for several years after leaving college, and during this time he was also engaged in the study of medicine with the well known and lamented Professor S. M. Smith, M. D., of the Starling Medical College. He was graduated by this coHege as Doctor of Medicine in 1853, and immediately afterwards removed to Kansas City, where he has ever since resided. He was engaged in the general practice of medicine until the breaking out of the civil war in the spring of 1861, when he enlisted in the Union army as a private in Company C, of Van Horn's Battalion. A few weeks later he was -%1.>£,;H.-Wi3"!; aSroW Biographical. 461 promoted to second lieutenant of his company, and was detached and assigned to duty as acting quartermaster and commissary of subsistence. In June, 1 862, he was promoted and commissioned by President Lincoln as captain and assist ant quartermaster of U. S. Volunteers. In 1863 he was appointed by Briga dier-General Thomas Ewing, jr, chief quartermaster of the military district of The Border, and in 1864 by Brigadier-General E. B. Brown to the same position in the district of Central Missouri. His services during the entire war, labori ous and arduous, were important and valuable, and always performed with zeal and fidelity. He received the commendation of the various commanders under whom he served, Brigadier- Generals Ewing, Brown and Fisk, and Major- Gen erals Pleasanton, Blunt and Rosecrans, and was regarded as one of the most efficient quartermasters in the service. During his term of enlistment he wrote and published a " Quartermaster's Guide," an invaluable manual and compila tion to quartermasters and commissaries, and which received many endorse ments and encomiums from the highest authorities. At the close of the war he resigned from the volunteer service, and received from Governor Fletcher, under authority from President Lincoln and the War Department, a commission as quartermaster-general of Missouri, with the rank of colonel. This position he held until July, 1866, when the military affairs of the State having been virtually settled, he again resigned and retired to private life at his home in Kansas City. Here he became a most active, zealous and efficient worker in building up and advancing the interests of the town, giving to the work all of his time and money that could reasonably be spared on every occasion. Side by side and hand in hand he stood with Van Horn, Coates, Payne, Lykins, Reed, Ransom, Kearney, Balis and the other founders and crea tors of the city's magnificent prosperity, and his name will ever be preserved -and honored in the history of Kansas City along with theirs. Between the years of 1867 and 1872 he erected about twenty-five valuable buildings in the city. In 1869 he and his brother, Oliver Case, esq., purchased and opened an establishment of considerable magnitude and engaged in the manufacture of plows and other agricultural implements for some years. In 1870 he assisted in organizing and was made president of the Commercial Bank. He was largely instrumental in the organization of the Merchants' and Manufacturers' Bureau in 1886, and as its secretary did much efficient service in behalf of the city. He was early prominently connected with the affairs of the Board of Trade, and was the first president of the Real Estate and Stock Exchange. In March, 1873, he was appointed postmaster of Kansas City by President Grant and reappointed by Presidents Hayes and Arthur, so that he held the office continuously, and to the entire satisfaction of its patrons, for nearly thirteen years. He was one of the founders of the Provident Associa tion, an early member of the Young Mens' Christian Association, and in short, lias been connected more or less influentially and conspicuously with every 59 462 History of Kansas City. other good work and noble endeavor for the upbuilding of his adopted city, and the conservation of its vital, material and moral interests. In March, 1866, he was appointed by Governor Fletcher one of the railroad commissioners of the State. In 1867 he was made one of the Board of Curators of the State University, which position he held for two years. In 1885 he was appointed by Governor Crittenden a commissioner from the State of Missouri to the World's Centennial Exposition at New Orleans. For some years after the war, when railroad legislation engaged the greatest share of the attention of the Missouri Legislature, he was selected by his fellow-citizens to represent them in the "third house" at Jefferson City, and the work he, with others, ac complished in lobbying for railroads in the interests of Kansas City at various periods, was of large extent, and of the greatest importance. Colonel Case's literary reputation is well known. In the presidential cam paign of i860 he assisted in editing two Republican papers in Kansas City, the Post (German), and the Free State Republican, then the only journals of that political persuasion in this portion of the State. His articles were uniformly can did and fair, but argumentative and forcible, and in the main acceptable, even to those who believed Republioanism a thing of evil and a form of depravity. When the civil war came on he wrote vigorously and strenuously in behalf of the Union, for whose cause he subordinated every other consideration. His efforts were influential in bringing the entire Republican organization of the city to the support of Colonel Van Horn (then a Douglas Democrat) for mayor, in April, 1 86 1, securing his election, crystaHizing the Union sentiment and placing Kansas City, as a municipality, on the side of the Union. From time tO' time during the war he contributed to the public journals articles favoring a vigorous prosecution of the war on the part of the Federal government, but de nunciatory of outlawry in every form, no matter by whom perpetrated. In i860 in connection with Dr G. M. B. Maughs, now of St Louis, he established and conducted the Kansas^ City Medical and Surgical Review for twelve months. He established and edited from 1877 until 1885 the Kansas City Review of Sci ence and Industry, a publication of rare interest and value. He has contributed largely to various leading periodicals, and many of his articles have attracted much deserved attention. Since 1885 he has filled the chair of chemistry in the Kansas City Medical College. In March, 1883, he received the degree of Ph. D. from the University of Kansas City. He is a prominent member of the Grand Army of the Republic, and was the commander of one of the first posts organized in the State. In 1886 he aided in organizing the Loyal Legion Social Club of the city, and is one of its leading and most active members. He is at present junior vice-commander of the Missouri Commandery of the Loyal Legion of the United States. Colonel Case has been twice married. His first wife was Miss Julia McCoy Lykins, of Kansas City, to whom he was married in 1858. She was the young- Biographical. 463 est daughter of Dr Johnston Lykins, of honored memory. She died in 1872, leaving three children, viz., Lilah M., Johnston L., and Ermine C; three others died in early life. In 1874 he married his present estimable and fit companion, who was Miss Fidelia O. Wright His home is a model of domestic happiness. The tastes of master and mistress are congenial, and the children regard them as boon companions, and themselves as equal partners in the establishment. Colonel Case is a man of varied accomplishments, and a master of many pursuits. He is a scientist, a litterateur, a business man, and a public-spirited citizen, but it is difficult to determine in which of these relations he is to be dis tinctly characterized, and which one of them has given him most reputation. Nor is it easy to describe the qualities which have gained for him such a large following of warm admirers and personal friends, among all classes and of ev ery shade of opinion. He is and has been for many years a member of the First Baptist Church of Kansas City. CASE, ERMINE Jr., who was long a member of the bar of Kansas City, died on March 10, 1886. He had long been recognized as one of the most hon orable, enterprising citizens of Kansas City, and his death was deeply deplored. He was born at Columbus, O., November 2, 1841 ; was partiaHy educated at Columbus, entered Marietta College September, 1859, where he was graduated in 1863. Mr. Case then went to Kansas City and entered the office of his brother, Theodore S. Case, who was then chief quartermaster of the District of the Bor der He returned to Columbus in 1846, where he studied law in the office of Hon. Chauncey N. Olds, and was admitted to the bar in 1865. Even at that stage of his career Mr Case was a firm believer in the future of the western city with whose interests he was so closely identified at the end of his life, and he accordingly settied there for the practice of law, entering into partnership with P. S. Brown, esq., who is still a prominent member of the bar in Kansas City. This partnership continued for many years, and through their joint and weH- directed efforts they were very successful. His health becoming somewhat impaired by his close application to his profession, Mr Case entered the real estate business and became largely inter ested in the erection of business buildings and residences, and at the time of his death he was the owner of a large amount of improved as well as unimproved real estate. During the last ten years of his life he was largely identified with various charitable and public enterprises. The funds for the building of the Young Men's Christian Association in his city were secured largely by a personal canvass among the business men of his acquaintance. He was also an active promoter of the Law and Order League, especially in its efforts in securing the observance of temperance laws. In religious matters Mr Case was a faithful worker, being at the time of his death a trustee and treasurer of the second Presbyterian Church, and pres ident of the Young Men's Christian Association. 464 History of Kansas City. In 1 870 Mr. Case was united in marriage to Miss Mary Bowen, a daughter of Dr. Bowen, of Waterford, O. Three children were born unto them; only one, a boy of fourteen years, remains with Mrs. Case to mourn the loss of the husband and father. For a man who was loth to thrust himself forward on any occasion, and who had no political aspirations, Mr. Case was widely known and universally re spected ; and his death brought genuine grief to many people in Kansas City outside his immediate relatives and circle of intimate friends. CONKLIN, ROLAND R. It is the boast of America that the way is open to each one of her boys to just so much of wealth and honor as he can prove himself worthy of It is the pride of the great West, of which our own busy city is the center, that at no time in the country's history and in no por tion of her territory has there been such liberal opportunity as within the past decade, and within this field. Roland R. Conklin might well be selected as a type. He came to Kansas nine years ago, at the age of twenty, with no cap ital, save such as lies within the reach of every intelligent boy — an education, won by sacrifice and hard study, a will made strong by victories over past dif ficulties, an ambition to win wealth and influence by every honest means, and by such only. To-day, although only twenty- nine years of age, he is recog nized as one of the prominent wealthy and influential men in a city where men of wealth and influence are many. Mr Conklin is of English parentage. He was born February i, 1858, in Champaign county. III, and spent the first twenty years of his life in the city of Champaign, that county. Having obtained a good common school educa tion, at the age of fourteen he began to earn his own way in the world, and from that day did earn it It was his ambition to gain a coHege education. The three years following the close of his public school life were lived with this in view. With dihgence and economy he managed to accumulate enough to start his college course in the State University of IHinois, located at Cham paign, in the faH of 1875. Here he took rank among the first of his class. He was fond of the lan guages, and excelled in his mastery of the natural sciences. With his limited means his time was not all his own for study. A portion of the time he kept books at night for a merchant of the city, in order to secure the necessary money to keep him in the course. Notwithstanding his time was taken in so great a part for this work he held his rank in his classes, and was one of the foremost in his literary society. At the end of his junior year, having been compeHed to borrow some money to carry him so far, he found that he must give up his place in his class, and turn his attention to money- making. In the summer of 1878 he came to the town of Winfidd, Kan., and within Biographical. 465 a short time had formed business relations with Mr. S. M. Jarvis, with whom he has since been constantly associated. He did not give up his already formed plan of finishing his college course, but during the next two years after his arrival at Winfidd pursued his studies, returned to his college two weeks before the commencement of 1880, passed all his examinations, and graduated with the class of that year. Mr. Conklin's financial success has been unusual. From its origin the firm of Jarvis, Conklin & Co., grew year by year, until it became one of the great loan companies of the West. In the building up of this business Mr. Conklin could not have had a better field for the display of his untiring energy and ap titude for financial affairs. Finding their business growing rapidly, and being fully persuaded that Kansas City had begun a growth that would not cease un til she became one of the greatest cities of the land, Mr. Conklin and his part ner came here in 1880, and made this their business headquarters. In very large part Mr. Conkhn's time and labor since that date have been given to the business of his firm and of the corporation which has succeeded it, until the Jarvis-Conklin Mortgage Trust Company has earned its place in the rank of the powerful financial institutions of this country. In striving for this he has made his business education liberal. He has traveled in nearly every State in the Union, and twice has made trips to Europe. In each of these trips he has been successful in establishing profitable business relations between his firm and corporations and individuals in the Old World. Although stiH a very young man in business circles he has won the confidence of cautious, gray- headed men of the Eastern States in our own country, and in England and Scotland. He is largely interested in several of our large corporations ; is secretary of the Jarvis- ConkHn Mortgage Trust Company, and a director in the Land Title Guarantee Company, and also in the New England Safe Deposit and Trust Company. Having been in Kansas City during the years of her rapid growth, Mr Conklin has made investments in real estate, all of which have proved very profitable to him. His income from this source alone has brought him what would be to most men an independent fortune. Mr Conklin is a trustee of AH Souls Unitarian Church, and a man of much public spirit He has been wiHing to give of his time and means to for ward worthy public enterprises. He has been, and is to-day, interested in many companies and societies whose aims are to improve and beautify our city. In laying the plans for laying out and beautifying a park in Hyde Park Addi tion he has taken a prominent part Although leading a busy life, he is a diligent reader of the best literature of the day. He is a lover of art and music. He has made good use of his trips to the East and to Europe, to gain knowledge in all these departments. 466 History of Kansas City. and is constantly giving encouragement to efforts within the city for their de velopment. He is president of one of the most popular social clubs, and a leader in the social, as well as financial circles of the city. BAUERLEIN, JOSEPH H. The record of this gentieman is one of the most remarkable in the history of individual careers. He is but Httie past thirty years of age. Less than four years ago, when he returned to Kansas City from a tour in the country, he had but twenty-five cents in money, was without employment or any visible means of self-support, and had no reason able hopes for the future. To-day he is one of the best known business men in the city; his transactions amount to hundreds of thousands of dollars an nually ; he commands his friends and admirers by legions, and he has an ex pansive future before him. Withal he is extremely simple and modest in char acter, almost morbidly adverse to notoriety, and unduly self- depreciating. He will not even admit that the change in his fortunes is due to his own energy, tact and sagacity, but attributes it, upon the whole, to a fortuitous combination of circumstances — in short, to " good luck." Mr. Bauerlein was born in Kansas City in 1856. He is a son of John Bauerlein, esq., a well known old resident. He was educated in the public schools. He served an apprenticeship of three years at the trade of jeweler and watch-maker, which he pursued for about ten years with the old firm of Burt Cady & Co. In 1884 he made a trip to New Mexico, chiefly for the benefit of his health. Afterwards he engaged as a traveling salesmen for the house of James M. Peake & Co., dealers in locks and safes. This vocation he abandoned at the time which proved to be the turning point in his career, and became connected with the real estate interests of Kansas City, at first in a very humble capacity. In time he founded the enterprise of which he is the present head. In December, 1885, Mr Bauerlein married Miss Maria Horner, the accomplished daughter of C. M. Horner, esq. Mrs. Bauerlein is a native of Baltimore. BLOSSOM, GEORGE NEWTON, whose death occurred August 27, 1885, although not one of the pioneers of Kansas City, deserves a conspicuous place in the history of those who have brought it to the important commercial position it has reached in such a remarkably short period of time. Arriving in Kansas City in 1878, just as it was beginning to awaken from the lethargy and disastrous effects of the financial crisis of 1873, with that energy and enterprise for which he was subsequently noted, took a place at once with the progressive element which transposed a city of the second class like a dissolving view into a large and growing metropolis filled with costly buildings and thriving indus tries, conceived and fostered by that resistless spirit and pluck which congre gated here about the time of his arrival and of which he was a leader In the ^'¦•s'^tipJcfrrTr.i ,.'1"'-"^ Biographical. 467 many enterprises in which he was engaged he achieved more or less success, conspicuous of which was the Blossom House and the Union Depot Hotel, the latter having been opened to the public by him immediately upon his removal to this city, the former erected by him in 1882. His early years were spent upon a farm, and in the lumbering and cooper ing business in western New York. He was born March 12, 1827, in Cayuga county, N. Y., where he hved untH he was fourteen years of age. He was the youngest son of Reuben S. and Lydia Blossom, whose family consisted of seven children — four sons and three daughters. His father was a member of the Continental Army, where he acquired the rank of colonel. When George Newton was about fourteen years of age the family moved to Oswego county, N. Y., and in 1849 he was married to Elizabeth Allport, who still survives him with their only daughter, Alice, wife of Fred S. Doggett In 1859 he moved to the State of Illinois and located at Oneida, from which place he entered the army in the late war, serving for about a year as quartermaster of the One Hundred and Second Illinois infantry, when he was obliged to resign on account of ill health. After residing about two years at Oneida, he took up his residence at Galesburg, III., where he was the proprietor of two hotels,. and where he remained until 1865, when he located at Brookfidd, Mo., and became actively engaged in conducting the Railroad Eating House and hotel,. and at the same time a part owner in the old Quincy House, at Quincy, 111. While residing at Brookfidd he became the owner of two farms, both of which are still a part of his estate, and which he improved in a very substantial man ner and had stocked with large herds of fine blooded cattle andhorses. As an evidence of the esteem in which he was held in this community, we subjoin an editorial mention published at the time of his death in the Kansas City Star : " By the death of Major George N. Blossom, which occurred yesterday evening, this community has suffered a loss which is universally recognized, and which has produced throughout the city profound and sincere grief " Major Blossom, though more than fifty-eight years of age, was in spirit hope, and energy, a young man. He came to Kansas City about seven years ago, prospered in business, and has ever since been prominently identified with nearly every public movement having for its purpose the advancement of Kansas City's substantial interests. He felt that he owed Kansas City much, and he was ever ready to acknowledge the obligation. His purse, his time, and his energy were at her command. He was honest frank, earnest and courageous. " He understood the right and was always with the right, and he was with the right aggressively in the front rank sword in hand, but with visor up. He hated fraud. He abominated deceit He detested a rascal. He was always ready to make war on corruption and dishonesty. He was a perfect example of a loyal and true citizen. 468 History of Kansas City. " But it was in his family and with his friends that his beautiful character best appeared. It was those who were most intimate -with him, who knew his big tender heart, his noble, unselfish nature. He was as jolly as a boy, as gentle as a woman, as affectionate as a child, as generous as a prince. He gave with vastly more pleasure than he received. Money had no value with him only as it enabled him to make those he loved happy, those who were -dependent upon him comfortable, and to give to all who in need appealed for help. " Major Blossom was never guilty of an act which he would have denied. His past life and conduct were as an open book. He had no secrets. He had no hope, no aspirations, no plans to conceal. He had nothing to hide. " His life was gentle ; and the elements so mixed in him that nature might stand up and say to all the world, ' this was a man,' " DOBSON, Hon. CHARLES LEE. Judge Dobson is a native of West Vir ginia, born in Harrison county (then a portion of the Old Dominion), Feb ruary 8, 1848. His parents were also Virginians. His father, Asby P. Dobson, was a farmer and stock dealer, and of Scotch ancestry. His mother nee Har riet E. Lyons, was a descendant of an English family. In 1854 the senior Dob son removed with his family from Virginia to Linn county. Mo,, where the subject hereof grew to manhood. His education was acquired in the common schools of Linn county and at the University of Missouri. Upon leaving the university he resumed the study of law, which he had pursued at intervals for the preceding two years. From September, 1 869, untH in February, 1870, while studying law, he fiHed the position of clerk of the Linn County Court of Common Pleas. He was then admitted to the bar at Brook fidd, Mo., and at once entered upon an active and successful practice In the winter of 1874, when but twenty- six years of age, he was appointed judge of the Court of Common Pleas of Linn county, to fill the vacancy occasioned by the resignation of Hon. W. H. Brounlee. At that period the law required that the judge of a Common Pleas Court should be at least thirty years of age ; but in view of his eminent fitness, and in response to the request of aH of the mem bers of the legal profession and other prominent citizens of Linn county, the Legislature passed a spedal act authorizing and enabling him to fiH the position. He held the office untH January, 1875, when, having decHned a nomination by the Democracy, and consequentiy an election to the position, he retired and located at Linneus, the county seat of Linn county, to take charge of the ex tensive law practice of Hon. G. D. Burgess, who had been elected judge of the Eleventh Judicial Circuit. In the spring of 1879 Judge Dobson removed to Kansas City, where he es tablished his permanent home. His career as a lawyer has been one of uni form success, and he has attained in his profession a position of superior emi- Biographical. 469 nence and real distinction. His qualifications and abilities have received sub stantial recognition. His clients have come largely from the best elements of the community, and their causes, as the records show, have been generally of weighty importance, involving valuable interests and requiring for their proper conduct a profound knowledge of the law. He was one of the charter mem bers of the State Bar Association, and is a member of the American Bar Asso ciation. In 1883 he formed a partnership with Hon. Shannon C. Douglass, of Columbia, Mo., who removed to Kansas City that year, and in 1887 Mr. J. McD. Trimble, of Mexico, Mo., removed to Kansas City and was admitted to the firm, adding greatly to its strength and reputation. The firm of Dobson, Douglass & Trimble is counsel for a great many prominent and large corpora tions, and while it is engaged in the general civil practice it may be said that it makes a specialty of cases pertaining to the law of corporations and of real estate. Aside from his conspicuous relations with the courts of Kansas City, Judge Dobson is largely identified with its material and business interests. He owns a large amount of valuable city property, and is connected with many impor tant enterprises and associations as legal adviser and director. He has erected a number of valuable buildings in various portions of the city ; of these the Gibraltar building on Wyandotte street, is a notable instance. Moreover, he has been, and still is, interested in the success of every enterprise affecting for good the general welfare and prosperity of the city. He has devoted much of his time, and made liberal contributions from his means to the establishment and promotion of various institutions and public enterprises, always responding to every reasonable demand and sometimes going beyond the requirements of the occasion. Politically he is a Democrat In time past he has done much valuable work for his party, especially on occasions when its nominees were, as he believed, the superior in every important respect of the opposition candidates, and the best interests of the country or the community demanded their election. He has, however, never at any time stood in the way ofany who sought political prefer ment At no time has he ever been a candidate for election nor an aspirant for appointment to any office, nor has he ever desired to be. In 1885 Judge Dobson was appointed by Governor Marmaduke one of the commissioners to locate the State Insane Asylum No. 3, which is justly regarded as one of the most impor tant institutions of the State. The site is selected at Nevada, Vernon county, remarkable for its eligibility and other natural advantages. Upon the organi zation of the commission Judge Dobson was made its secretary and trea.surer, and every dollar of the $350,000 expended in the construction of the institution passed through his hands. The commissioners served practically without pay, but did their work carefully and efficiently. In the prosecution of their duties they traveled extensively over the United States, examining other asylums and 470 History of Kansas City. the result is that Missouri Asylum No. 3, combines the best qualities of the older institutions and has some invaluable original features. Judge Dobson has a good knowledge of the world and of human affairs, which he has acquired by investigation and observation. He is a reader, a stu dent, and something of a traveler. He has traveled extensively through the Eastern, Northern and Southern States, and Canada. In 1886 he made a tour through Europe, visiting the chief points of interest in France, Germany, Bel gium, Austria, Switzerland, Italy and the British Isles. In February, 1880, Judge Dobson was .married to Miss Carrie E. Meade, a native of the State of New York. She died October 21, 1881, leaving one child, a boy now seven years old. He has never remarried. EVERHART, WILLIAM B. The subject of this sketch was born in Lou don county, Va., on August 15, 1836, and came with his parents to La Fayette county. Mo., in 1857. In 1863 he went to Springfield, 111., and on December 31, 1865, he came to Kansas City, where he has continuously re sided since. On the I2th day of September, 1867, he was married to Miss Laura J. Young, the handsome and accomplished daughter of Solomon Young, one of the oldest and most substantial citizens of Jackson county. He has a large family of lovely children, and amid such surroundings home to him is his earthly heaven. In the personaHty of Mr. Everhart is exemplified the best qualities of the American citizen. His large intelligence, sterling integrity, and frank, open manner, would have made him prominent in any walk in life. Circumstances in his boyhood made him a mechanic. He loved his vocation, and in this preparatory school he was fitted for the larger field of contractor and builder, in which he has been long engaged, and many of the costiy edifices of Kansas City have been built under his supervision and direction. Since 1886 he has been the city superintendent of buildings, andj under his wise direction and watchful care this department has been brought up to the very highest state of efficiency. But while he has always been considered as admirably equipped for his special work, and has pursued it industriously, he has not forgotten that there were obligations resting upon him as a citizen. In everything that conduced to the highest and best interests of his fellow-men he has taken an active part. He was the prime mover in the first library ever established in the city. For many years he was prominently connected with the Agricultural and Mechan ical Association. The famous charter of 1875 received its first impulse from contributions of his to the press. In aH public matters his opinion has been as much sought after as any other man in the city. He is not rich, but he possesses that which is worth more. He is a model citizen, faithful to every trust not a stain on his character, inteHigent liberal in his views, courageous, Biographical. 471 a good neighbor, a kind father, a devoted husband. These are strong words, but they are spoken of a worthy man, and it is proper that such lives should be emphasized by conspicuous mention in writing the history of their period. FERREE, CHARLES M., was born in Clermont county, O., in the year 1836. His father was an influential farmer, who removed to Indiana in 1838 and settled in Rush county. As denoted by the name the family are of French descent. They were Huguenots, and came with that exiled people to America in the year 1688. The family still retain many of the characteristics of this remarkable people who suffered so much in the old country and accom pHshed so much in the new. They have the Huguenot self-reliance, tenacity of purpose and opinion, and are peaceful in times of peace, but always in the field in times of war. The boyhood days of young Ferree were passed on his father's farm, and in attending school. He completed his education at Asbury University at Greencastle, Ind. The late war came at that period in his life when, like many another ambi tious young man, he welcomed eagerly the opportunity it offered for a wider and more active field of operation. He recruited a company and with it joined the Fifty- second Indiana In fantry Volunteer Regiment at Indianapolis, and entered the service in 1861 as a lieutenant. Within ten days after leaving his State, in the memorable battle of Fort Donelson, Lieutenant Ferree led his company over the breast- works in a charge made on the right of the enemy's works, and received many com mendations for his gallant conduct. He afterwards participated in many of the great battles and minor engagements in the west He served three years, ful filling, most of the time, the staff duties of aid-de-camp, and assistant inspector general. Just before the close of the war he returned home wounded and broken down in health, but with many honors, and brought with him, as mementoes of the war, two leaden buHets of the enemy, which he still carries in his body. Soon after leaving the army he was married to the accomplished daughter of Judge W. G. Bowdon, of Alabama, whom he met during the war, and he often avers that it was the only good fortune the war brought him. He soon thereafter settled in Memphis, Tenn., where he engaged in the wholesale grocery business during the years of 1865 and 1866, under the firm name of Ferree & Andrews. In the year 1867 he removed to Kansas City, where, for over twenty years, he has resided, and been very closely and prom inently connected with the history of the city. His business abHity is of a high order, cool and farseeing, his excellent judgment is much prized and sought after by his business associates. His real estate operations for the last few years, based upon his great faith 472 History of Kansas City. in Kansas City, have been unsurpassed for boldness and success. Courteous and dignified, he makes many friends, and binds them to him by faithfulness. Looking like a young man with a prematurely white head and beard, Mr. Ferree is of striking personal appearance, full of enterprise and energy, he has no faith in success except it comes of hard work. He is public spirited, and always stands ready to promote the interests of Kansas City. Although not classically educated, he is one of the most scholarly and cultured men in the city, the result of many years study. For years he has given much time and study to the investigation of scientific questions. His family and his books are the sources of his greatest pleasure. His influence among young men is excellent, and his exemplary life is worthy of imitation by every young man. There are few men in the city who are so often sought in counsel by young men as he, and his power to inspire them is remarkable. He is now the chief executive officer of the Mutual Home and Savings Association, and of the Kansas City Mutual Loan and Building Association, and is one of the very busy men of the city. He wears the rosette of the miHtary order of the Loyal Legion, an honor he fairly won. GUP"FIN, ROSS, is a native of Rush county, Indiana. His father, George Guffin, was a farmer — one of the most extensive in the county. Mr. Guf- fin's youth was spent upon his father's farm until after the death of both his parents, which occurred before he was nine years old, when he went to live with his Aunt Lockhart near Connersville, Ind. He lived here working at farm labor in the summers, and going to school in the winters until he was sixteen years of age, when he went to an academy in Indiana, and after three years — in 1857 — he entered Antioch CoHege, 0., then under the presidency of Hon. Horace Mann. He remained at Antioch untH after Mr Mann's death in 1859, and then went to the University (now Butler) near Indianapolis, Ind., where he graduated in i860. In the mean time he had been studying law and during the senior vacation in the spring of i860, he entered the law office of General P. A. Hackelman, at Rushville, Ind., as a law student In August i860, he was admitted to the bar, and in September of that year entered Harvard Law School at Cambridge, Mass , where he grad uated in July, 1 86 1. In September, 1861, having returned home, he volunteered in the Union Army, and, on its organization, was elected first lieutenant of his company — Company G, Fifty-second Regiment Indiana Infantry. He commanded his company in the battie of Fort Donelson, and after the fight was, by his regi mental officers, voted a sword for conspicuous gallantry Soon after this he was detaHed for staff duty, and served with Generals Lauman, Hurlbut, and A. J. Smith. September 4, 1862, he was promoted to captain of his company, and on Biographical. 473 the 17th of that month while in command of a detachment of one hundred and twenty men he encountered a regiment of rebel cavalry under command of Lieutenant-Colonel Falkner, near.DurhamvlHe, Tenn., and after a hotly contest ed battle came off victorious. Captain Guffin's loss in this fight was nine men in killed and wounded, himself among the latter, being shot in the left lung. The rebel loss was about fifty. On AprH 13, 1864, Captain Guffin was married in St Louis, Mo., to Miss Lucy E., eldest daughter of Judge William G. Bowdon, of Alabama, with whom he had become acquainted while serving as provost marshal at Fort PiHow. In November, 1864, Captain Guffin, then serving as engineer officer of the Third (General A. J. Smith's) Division of the Sixteenth Army Corps, received word from Mrs. Guffin's physician of her serious iHness at RushviHe, Ind., which compeHed his immediate resignation. General A. J. Smith interested himself in the matter, and secured the acceptance of Captain Guffin's resignation, which took effect November 19, 1864, Soon after this he commenced the practice of the law in Memphis, Tenn., -forming a copartnership with Judge John W. Smith, and continued there until the fall of 1866, when he removed with his family to this county, locating at Independence. In September, 1867, he opened an office in Kansas City, and has been in the continuous practice of the law ever since. In connection with his practice he has filled several offices, having been assistant United States internal reve nue assessor, clerk and law officer in the internal revenue office, assistant United States district attorney, and United States district attorney for this dis trict The latter office he turned over to Colonel M. E. Benton, the present incumbent, soon after the present administration came into power. Mr. Guffin has always been one of our most public-spirited citizens, and has given hearty and effective support to all public enterprises. He belongs to a number of benevolent and charitable institutions, and on frequent occa sions has delivered their public addresses, always speaking to the point and with effect He has taste and aptitude for literature, and during the early part of his residence here devoted considerable time to writing for newspapers and periodicals, having at one time been a contributor to Putnam's Magazine. He is a RepubHcan in politics, and has been one of the most active workers of his party during his residence in Kansas City. But in politics, as in aH other mat- ¦ters, his views are broad and liberal, and his personal and social relations are in no way affected by his party affiliations. In every position in life Mr Guffin has acquitted himself with credit At coHege, he excelled in mathematics, and as a writer and debater. In the army he was popular both with officers and men. In 1862 he was the choice of the -majority of the officers of his regiment for major, on that office becoming va cant, but he was not commissioned. 474 History of Kansas City. As a civil officer he was always just and considerate, conscientious in ex acting all that the law fairly demanded, and equally conscientious in refusing to allow the law to be used as an engine of oppression. As a lawyer, Mr Guffin is studious and painstaking, quick to see the turning point of a case, and presses his points home with force. He is an able advocate, a well-read lawyer, with sound judgment, is strictiy professional, and tries his cases on their merits. Few men have had the confidence of those about him in such an eminent degree as Mr Guffin ; indeed, he seems to inspire a confidence that is absolute, and deservedly so. GREEN, THOMAS J., was born of North of Ireland parentage, in county Cavan, Ireland, February 4, 1856, and educated at the national schools of Ulster He came to New York in 1 874, and with the Knickerbocker Ice Com pany soon secured employment, which he retained for six months, relinquish ing it to accept a position in the A. T. Stewart store, where he remained four years, receiving repeated promotions. In 1878 he came to Kansas City and entered the employment of T. Green & Co., wholesale grocers. His connection with this concern continued until 1881, when he engaged in the real estate business. In 1883, John J. Green, his brother, came from New York, where he had been employed in the dry goods house of James McCreary & Co., and became his partner. The firm of Green Brothers has become well and favorably known, and it ranks among the substantial houses of its kind. A special feature of its business has been the purchase of acre tracts and their subdivision into town lots, and it has probably laid out and sold off as many additions and subdivisions as any other real es tate concern in the city. Green Brothers Security Company was incorporated in May, 1887, and has a capital of $50,000. It confines its business chiefly to- buying, selling and improving real estate. T. J. Green is its president, J. J. Green its vice-president and treasurer, and W. T. Johnston its secretary. Mr Green is also president of the Denver Land and Security Company, which has a paid-up capital of $250,000, a director and member of the executive com mittee of the National Loan and Trust Company which has a capital of $500,- 000, a member of the Kansas City Real Estate and Stock Exchange and of the Kansas City Board of Trade, and at different times he has been promi- nentiy identified with other important enterprises and corporations In his real estate operations Mr. Green has done much to extend the visi ble limits of the city, enhance land values and provide homes for new-comers who have permanently cast their fortunes with those of Kansas City's older citizens, and he is known as a prompt, energetic, enterprising and wealthy man,. who has at heart the advancement of every good interest. He was formeriy officially connected with the Grand Avenue Methodist Episcopal church, but for some time past has been an official member of the Independence Avenue % ' %¦ B.B Sda'i Sans ^Tffn -^¦' Biographical. 475 Methodist Episcopal church. He is also a trustee in several other Methodist churches, and has been liberal in his aid of churches generally. CHURCHILL, H. P., was born in Homer, Mich., and educated at the Mich igan University of Ann Arbor, graduating from the classical and law departments. In 1870 he married Miss Lacey, daughter of Hon. S. S. Lacey, of Marshall, Mich., and spent the year following in extended travel abroad devoting much of his time to the study of languages and the rounding out and completion of his education by that observation and association for which travel gives such abundant opportunity. Returning to Michigan Mr. Churchill practiced law at Grand Rapids seve ral years, but failing health compeHed him for a time to relinquish active par ticipation in the duties of his profession, and in the hope that change of climate would benefit him, he came west in 1878, and locating in Northwestern Kan sas soon resumed the practice of law in which he was successfully engaged until 1 88 1, when, associated with Messrs. H. P. Stimson and E. E. Parker (both since well known in Kansas City from their prominent connection with its banking interests), he organized the First National Bank of Cawker City, of which he was made the president This institution grew rapidly in public favor and soon did the largest banking business in that part of the State west of Atchison. In connection with Mr. W. P. Rice (now influential here in com mercial circles), Mr Churchill and his associates not long afterward organized the First National Bank of Clyde, Kan., and also other banks in Kansas, all of which are still controlled by them and are prominent and useful institutions in promoting the development of the country. As the firm of H. P. Churchill & Co., Mr. ChurchiH and his associates entered upon the business of making and negotiating farm securities, which developed so greatly that in 1882 they found it necessary to organize the Security Investment Company of Cawker City, Kan,, with $250,000 capital. In 1883 Mr. ChurchHl moved to Kansas City, which offered a larger and more profitable field for enterprise and capital, and, co-operating with Messrs. Parker and Stimson and others, organized that remarkably successful institu tion, the Kansas City Safe Deposit and Savings Bank, of which he is now president, and which has attained its well deserved popularity under his per sonal management In 1886 Messrs. Churchill, Stimson, Parker, Rice, and others organized the American National Bank of Kansas City, with a paid up capital of $1,250,000, of which Mr ChurchiH was chosen to the vice- presi dency. He was also one of the original incorporators of the Equitable Mort gage Company of Kansas City, which has a paid up capital of $1,000,000, and is one of the leading farm loan companies of the west Of the American Bank Building Company which erected the new American bank building on Dela ware street, one of the largest and most attractive office buildings in the city, 476 History of Kansas City. in which the American National Bank, the Kansas City Safe Deposit and Sav ings Bank and the Union Investment Company (in the organization of which Mr. Churchill also participated) will have elegant offices, Mr. ChurchiH is the secretary, and has had much to do with directing the affairs of the company. He is also secretary and treasurer of the People's Cable Railway Company. Mr Churchill has taken a prominent position among the younger class of Kansas City's leading business men, and has done his part toward the city's later development, the rapidity of which has excited the wonder of the whole country. Socially he is a favorite, and no one is better known among those by whom it is an honor to be known. He has long been identified as member and director with the Kansas City Club, and is a member and vice-president of the University Club. He is a communicant of Grace Church (Episcopal) and has for some years been a member of its vestry. Politically he is a Dem ocrat, firm in his belief in the predominating principles of his party and zeal ous for its success. In all matters involving public and private charity, he is liberal and helpful. His faith in the great future of Kansas City is unbounded and he is always among the foremost in all public measures which promise to promote its welfare and development. DENNY, JOSEPH S. An inspection of ihe personnel of the business men of Kansas City discloses the fact that a large number of them are young men. Some of the most prominent and successful citizens are yet under thirty- five, having already accomplished as much as many men would in a life-time, and still, apparently, with as many more years of active life and usefulness be fore them. Among this class is Mr. Joseph S. Denny, of the real estate firm of Graham & Denny, weH known, at least in the business circles, throughout the city. Mr Denny was born at Roanoke, Howard county. Mo., August 13, 1859, and is therefore at this date less than twenty-nine years of age. The Denny family is one of the oldest and most prominent families in Howard county. They came to that county originally from Garrard county, Ky Mr. Denny's parents, Alexander and Mary Denny, are also natives of historic old Howard, His mother, nee Mary Snoddy, is of a well known Virginia family, whose rep resentatives are to be found in many of the counties of Central Missouri. Joseph S. Denny was reared in his native county. His father, a well situ ated farmer, sent him first to the public schools, and the high school or acad emy at Roanoke, an institution of considerable local reputation. Upon the completion of his academic course he was employed by the authorities of the school as one of the instructors in the above institution, which position he held for two years. This experience was of great value to him. The course of in struction he had received was very thorough. He was made to understand the why and wherefore of everything, and nothing was taken for granted until the Biographical. 477 " quod erat demonstrandum" was pronounced. Mr. Denny has a natural lik ing for the exact sciences, and is singularly proficient in mathematics, hav ing traversed the whole ground of mathematical science from the fundamental principles to conic sections and the calculus. The power and disposition to analyze, and to study the relation of cause and effect, which he here acquired have remained with him, and — though perhaps without his full realization of the fact — have contributed largdy to his success in business. Resigning his position in the school at Roanoke, Mo., Mr. Denny went to Co lumbia and entered the University of Missouri. For one year he pursued a spe cial course of study in the academic division, and afterwards studied law, and in 1 88 1 graduated from the law department of that justly celebrated institution. He did not, however, choose to pursue the practice of law, but the same year came to Kansas City, and with a comparatively small capital, opened a real estate office. Very soon he became involved in an extensive and profitable business, which steadily increased. He uniformly bought and sold his own prop erty, conducting his own negotiations and transactions and superintending his own business. In 1887 he formed his present partnership with Mr George S. >CisL JCy Biographical. 505 Kansas City Stock-Yards Bank, general manager of the Kansas City Stock Yards, president of the Metropolitan Street Railway Company, and is promi nently connected with other institutions and associations. HUSTED, JAMES D. This gentieman who has his large and elegant offices in the American Bank building and his extensive home offices in Kansas City, Kan., is one of the largest operators in real estate in the city. He is one of the youngest men in the business, having been born in Clarksfidd, Huron county, 0., September 26, 1857. His parents were O. J. and Mary W. (Hurlbutt) Husted, his father being a farmer, well-to-do and highly regarded by all who knew him, and his mother, an exemplary Christian woman, the result of whose training is manifest in the bent of Mr. Husted's mind, and the admirable personal qualities which have made him warm friends wherever he is known. Mr. Husted was educated in the district schools in vogue at the time and place, and afterward learned practical telegraphy, and as a telegrapher was em ployed by different railroad companies for some years. He received repeated promotion, and was finally placed in charge of the supply department of the Kansas Pacific Division of the Union Pacific Railroad, with headquarters at Kansas City, Kan,, where he has resided continuously since 1878. In 1881 he became engaged in the real estate commission business in a small way, opening an office in the basement of his residence. He was personally so popular and his methods and the results of his transactions so satisfactory to both buyers and sellers, that his business increased rapidly and steadily, necessitating his removal, in 1882, to 422 Minnesota avenue, where he established himself in a larger and more accessible office; and in 1885 his transactions had assumed such magnitude that still more room and better facilities were demanded, and he removed his office to 505-^ Minnesota avenue. From this time on his busi ness expanded so rapidly that its present importance began to be foreshad owed, and in 1886 and 1887 he organized a syndicate which built the First National Bank building, which is the most expensive and commodious busi ness structure in Kansas City, Kan., substantially constructed and of striking appearance. The offices in this building of Mr Husted and the Fidehty In vestment Company, of which he is president, are the largest, most convenient -and most elegantly appointed in the city. Besides his connection with the Fidelity Investment Company, one of the strongest concerns of the kind in the West, doing an immense business which extends to nearly aH parts of the -country, he is identified officially and as a stockholder with many land corpor ations of importance, of quite a number of which he is president. He is also president of the Fidelity Savings Bank and the Fidelity Safe Deposit and Trust Company, and second vice-president of the Fifst National Bank, all of Kansas •City, Kan. 5o6 History of Kansas City. The success of Mr. Husted has been remarkable and would do credit to any man of twice his years and thrice his experience. Beginning absolutely with out capital, and in the humblest way as a real estate commission broker, he has developed into one of the leading real estate dealers and investors in the West, the honored head of several large corporations which have done no small work in hastening settlement and general development throughout a wide territory,, and one of the most extensive owners of landed property in his city and its vicinity, notably along the line of the Inter- State Consolidated Rapid Transit Railway, where he owns considerable tracts, which in a few years, as the town grows, will be filled with factories, business houses and dwellings. Mr. Husted is a member of the Presbyterian Church, which he has served as elder and member of the board of trustees, and to all of the financial and charitable interests of which he is a ready and liberal contributor. He, in early life, identified himself with the Young Men's Christian Association, the practical work of which throughout Kansas has had an added impetus and re sulted in added good from his efforts in its behalf as chairman of the State Executive Committee, in which capacity he serves that body, and as an earn est personal worker in dissemination of the truths of Christianity. Mr. Husted is perhaps more widely known than any other man in his city ;. and those who know him best speak most enthusiastically of his many good qualities, his business capacity, and his conspicuous success in the career he has chosen. No one doubts his integrity, and his word is literally as good as his bond, which, on account of his well known wealth and high commercial standing, would be accepted anywhere in the country. He was married in September, 1881, to Miss Jennie L. Thorpe, of Kansas City, Kan, CONOVER, Colonel JOHN, was born near New Brunswick, N. J., No vember 27, 1835. He was the eldest child and only son of John and Jane (Cornell) Conover, whose ancestors were among the early settlers and promi nent families of New Jersey. On the paternal side his ancestry was of Dutch origin, the original family name being Covenhoven. His great-grandfather- emigrated from Holland to New Jerse}', probably early in the seventeenth century. His son John was a soldier in the War of the Revolution, serving under Washington during the entire struggle, and taking part in the battle of Monmouth, in his own colony. He then settled near New Brunswick, N. J., and followed farming the remainder of his life. He built a house on a tract of land which his father first settled, and in this house John Conover, sr., and his son, the subject of this article, were born. The senior Conover was born in 1800, and died in 1871. He was a farmer by occupation untH 1841, when he removed to Camden, N. J., and* entered the employ of the Camden and Am- boy Railroad Company, in whose service he remained for thirty years. For Biographical, 507 twenty-four years he was at Camden, and the six years following held a more responsible position at Philadelphia. In 1834 he married Miss Jane E. Cor nell, whose father was a soldier of the Revolution, and whose ancestry was of English origin, and identified with the early history of New Jersey. She died in 1878, at the age of sixty- six. To this marriage were born three child ren, viz. : John, the subject hereof; Henrietta, who died at the age of six years ; and Mary J., the wife of John Outcalt, now a shoe merchant of Phila delphia. Colonel Conover received his education in the public schools of Camden, N. J. At the age of sixteen he engaged as clerk in a hardware store. In Oc tober, 1856, he left Camden for the West. He spent that winter at Keokuk, la. With the opening of navigation in the Mississippi, the following spring, he went to St. Louis, and from thence up the Missouri River to Leavenworth, Kan., where he arrived in the month of March, 1857. Soon after he went into the interior of the territory and engaged for some months in selecting and locating land claims. In the fall of that year he returned to Leavenworth and obtained a situation as clerk and salesman in the hardware store of Reisinger & Fenlon. Here he remained until the outbreak of the RebeHion. He was one of the first volunteers to offer to defend the cause of the Union. In the spring of 1861, before hostilities commenced, and soon after the inauguration of President Lincoln, he joined an independent military company at Leaven worth, commanded by Governor Thomas Carney. July 22, 1861, he enlisted in the United States service at Leavenworth, and served thirty days at Fort Leavenworth. When this term had expired he immediately re-entered the United States volunteer service for three years, taking with him forty-four men of the thirty-days company, which had just been mustered out August 28 he was commissioned and mustered in as second lieutenant of Company A 8th Kansas Infantry, in which regiment he served four years, four months and eleven days, from the date of its organization to its final muster out, January 9, 1866. Colonel Conover's military record may only be epitomized within the limits of these pages. The register of his official career shows that he was mustered into service as second lieutenant of Company A, Eighth Kansas Volunteer Infantry, August 28, 1861 ; detailed in October, 1861, on recruiting service, to raise another company for that regiment ; was mustered in as first Heutenant of the new company, I, December 12, 1861 ; filled up the company and was mustered in as captain, and the letter of the company changed to F March 15, 1862; promoted to major August 22, 1864; promoted to lieuten ant-colonel October 20, 1864; promoted to and received a commission as colonel November 21, 1864, but did not have the requisite number of men in his regiment to entitle him to muster in with that rank. The history of his service shows that he was stationed at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, during the 5o8 History of Kansas City. fall of 1 86 1 and the greater part of 1862 ; was in several expeditions through Jackson, Cass, and other counties in Western Missouri, in pursuit of the rebel forces under Quantrill, Coffee, and Childs. In the latter part of December, 1862, went to NashviHe, Tenn.; was assistant provost marshal at NashviHe until in June, 1863; went to Murfreesboro, Tenn., with his regiment, which was assigned to Colonel Heg's Brigade, General Jefferson C. Davis's Division, General Alexander McD. McCook's Twentieth Army Corps ; was in the en gagements at Hoover's Gap, Tullahoma, Chickamauga, and the occupation of Chattanooga. While at Chattanooga the Twentieth and Twenty-first Army Corps were consolidated and made the Fourth Army Corps, General Gordon Granger commanding, and the Eighth Kansas was assigned to the First Brigade (General Willich) of the Third Division (General T. J. Wood) of that corps. Was in the battle of Missionary Ridge, November 23-25, 1863. After Mis sionary Ridge he went with his regiment to East Tennessee, and was in the engagements at Blain's Cross Roads and Dandridge ; returned to Fort Leaven worth with the regiment on veteran furlough in March, 1864; rejoined Sher man's army at Big Shanty Station, near Kenesaw Mountain, Ga., July 1, 1864 ; was in the engagements at Kenesaw Mountain, Peach Tree Creek, in front of Atlanta for thirty-seven days, at Lovejoy's Station, Jonesboro, and the occu pation of Atlanta ; was in pursuit of the Confederate forces under General Hood from Atlanta, via Altoona and Resaca, Ga., to Gaylesville, Ala. ; went North with the army of General Thomas to stop the advance of General Hood ; was in the battles of Franklin and Nashville, Tenn,, and in the pursuit of Hood's army into Alabama, south of the Tennessee River ; encamped near Hunts- viHe, Ala., from December 28, 1864, to February, 1865 ; then marched with his regiment first to Nashville, back again to near HuntsvHle, and thence to Knoxville, Ball's Gap, and Greenville, in East Tennessee, en route to Rich mond, Va. At Greenville he received intelligence of the fall of Richmond and the surrender of Lee, and soon after returned to Nashville. On the 15th of June, 1865, he was ordered with his regiment to Texas ; proceeded wm the Mississippi River, New Orleans and Gulf of Mexico, and arrived at Matagorda Bay and Indianola, Tex., July 9. The same night marched to Green Lake, twenty-eight miles distant, over a flat and marshy route, many of the men dropping exhausted and fainting on the road from thirst and intense heat In August marched to San Antonio, where his regiment was assigned to provost duty ; was provost marshal at San Antonio from August to November 30, when his regiment received an informal muster out and was ordered to pro ceed to Fort Leavenworth for final discharge. Left San Antonio December i and came via Matagorda Bay, the Gulf of Mexico, New Orleans and the Mis sissippi to St Louis; thence by rail to Macon City, Mo., and on to Atchison, Kan.; arrived at Atchison January 5, 1866, receiving an enthusiastic Welcome from the citizens, and January 9, 1866, received final muster out at Fort Leaven- Biographical. 509 worth. During its term of service the Eighth Kansas was in twenty-seven regular engagements, and marched in all 10,750 miles. Its first colonel was Henry W. Wessels, of the regular army ; its second, Robert H. Graham ; its third, John A. Martin (subsequently governor of the State) ; its fourth, John Conover, who commanded the regiment from August, 1864, until its final muster out, upon which occasion he was the only officer left of the original -organization, with a single exception. Colonel Conover made a splendid record as a soldier. He was never on the sick list, always ready for duty, and never missed an engagement or a march. At the battle of Chickamauga he was in the thickest of the fight At the storming of Missionary Ridge he was one of the very first to mount the Confederate intrenchments. At the battle of NashviHe, December 15 and 16, 1865, he was very conspicuous for his gallant and efficient service. On the 15th the brigade to which his regiment was attached charged and carried the rebel position on Montgomery Hill. The brigade commander. Colonel Strdght, gave to the Eighth Kansas the credit of being the first regiment to enter the rebel works. An hour or two later it made another charge, on the enemy's second line. It was again the first regiment across the Confederate breast works, driving the defenders Haifa mile, capturing ninety prisoners and com pelling the abandonment of a battery of field pieces, which fell into the hands ¦of the Union forces. The other troops of the division halted in the captured works, to which the Eighth Kansas returned after it had driven the enemy from the field. The following day, December 16, Colonel Conover again led his regiment to another desperate assault, this time on Overton Hill, the strongest portion of the rebel line, defended by high breast-works, crowned with head-logs and protected in front by a dense abattis. The charging col umn was enveloped in a terrific fire of musketry, grape and canister. The roar of the battle was deafening, and the bullets fairly rained upon the men as they advanced. Reaching the abattis in front of the rebel works, it was found impossible to proceed further. Colonel Conover held his men in front of the ¦abattis, under a most terrible fire, for several minutes. His horse was killed under him, being shot in four places. He extricated his regiment from its fearful predicament, withdrew it in good order a short distance to the rear and immediately re-formed it, and joined in a second assault at another point, which was successful, the rebel line breaking and retreating in confusion. His regiment joined in the pursuit, following the rebels until after dark and cap turing a number of prisoners. The total effective force of the regiment in this •engagement was but 140. After leaving the service, in February, 1 866, Colonel Conover engaged in the hardware business at Leavenworth, as the junior partner of the firm of J. F. Richards & Co. In October, 1875, upon the purchase of the estabHsh ment of D. A. McKnight he came to Kansas City. The history of the firm 65 510 History of Kansas City. of Richards & Conover Hardware Co., of which he is a member, is sketched in the biography of J. F. Richards, on another page of this volume. Colonel Conover is a member of the Board of Trade, of the Kansas City and Commercial Clubs, of the Loyal Legion, the Masonic fraternity, and of various other organizations. He is universally recognized as one of the "solid men" of the city, is personally popular, and has a host of warm friends and admirers. He has been twice married. His first wife was Miss Mary E. Hathaway, to whom he was married September 5, 1862, while stationed at Fort Leaven worth in the military service; she died September 3, 1866. She was the daughter of Dr. J. F. Hathaway, of Leavenworth, and was a most accomplished and estimable lady. He was again married at Leavenworth, April 10, 1875, to Miss Alice Leona Austin, his present worthy companion. Mrs. Conover is a native of Norwalk, O., the daughter of Homer and Adeline Austin. To this marriage there have been born three children, of whom two survive. The youngest child, Ethel Bird, born March 10, 1883, a beautiful, interesting, and most lovable Httie creature, died January 5, 1886. The others — Leona May, born May 6, 1877, and John Austin, born August 23, 1879 — are bright and promising beyond their years. DEAN, OLIVER HAYES, of the law firm of Warner, Dean & Hagerman, was born December 7, 1844, on a farm near WashingtonviHe, Montour county. Pa. His father, the Hon. Joseph Dean, was greatiy respected in the community in which he lived, and served as an officer in the War of 18 12 under General Scott at Lundy's Lane. His death occurred in 1867. The Hon. Joseph Dean's father was in the English army, and his father was aid- de-camp on the staff of General Wolfe, and was with him at the storming of Quebec. He was a descendant of Sir Thomas Dean, an Enghsh General, who commanded the English army in the war with the Dutch. In his early boy hood days Oliver H, Dean attended the village school until he had mastered its course of study, and he then attended Tuscarora Academy in Juniata county. Pa., an institution of learning which was noted for the large number of young men it prepared for coHege After remaining in this school three years he entered the sophmore class in Michigan University in 1865. He was grad uated from this institution in i86§ with the degree of Bachelor of Arts, and immediately entered the law school of the university from which he graduated in 1870 ; he then came to Kansas City and read law in the office of Holmes & Black untH the foHowing fall. In the meantime the firm of Holmes & Black having been dissolved, he entered into partnership wfth Judge WiHiam Holmes, under the firm name of Holmes & Dean. This firm continued until 1881, a period of ten and a half years. During this latter year Mr. Dean became a member of the firm of Tichenor, Warner & Dean, which was in existence until Biographical. 5 1 1 1884, when Mr. Tichenor withdrew from the general practice of law in order to devote his attention to special cases of importance. By reason of this with drawal the firm became Warner & Dean, and so remained untH 1886, when Mr. James Hagerman, a prominent and successful lawyer from Keokuk, la., was admitted to partnership, when the firm became Warner, Dean & Hager man, and is thus constituted at the present time. As a lawyer, no less than as a man, Mr. Dean stands deservedly high, and has met with unusual success. The firm of which he is a member is one of the most prominent and most suc cessful law firms in Kansas City. Mr. Dean was married June 3, 1874, to Miss Frances Davenport Mason, daughter of A. L. Mason, originally from New York, but now one of the leading business men of Kansas City. Mr. and Mrs. Dean have two children — Alice, born in 1876, and Mason, born in 1880. COATSWORTH, JAY, president pf the Henry & Coatsworth Company, was born at Rochester, N. Y., January 13, 1847. His father was Ralph Coatsworth, a merchant of Rochester, who was of Canadian nativity and of English descent. He married Miss Sophronia Rowland, daughter of Amos Rowland, of Western New York. By her he had two children — Jay, the sub ject of this sketch, and Elwin. Mrs. Coatsworth died in Brooklyn, N. Y., in 1856, The next year Mr. Coatsworth moved from Rochester to Columbus, O., and there went into the lumber business. Here his son, Jay, in i860, en tered the Columbus High School, and graduated therefrom in 1864. Imme diately after his graduation he entered the service of the Pan Handle Railroad Company and remained with that company as assistant general freight agent until 1867. He then removed with his father to St. Louis, where he became a member of the lumber firm of " Coatsworth, Hubbard & Co.," composed of Ralph Coatsworth, E. L. Hubbard and Jay Coatsworth, with office and yard at 1400 Broadway. In 1869 this firm dissolved and Mr Coatsworth moved with his family to Mexico, Mo., and there, in partnership with the subject of this sketch, was engaged in the lumber business until 1878, when the latter came to Kansas City, and here opened a lumber yard in connection with Henry, Barker & Co., of Chicago, the firm name being Henry, Barker & Coatsworth, Mr Coatsworth managing the business at Kansas City. This arrangement continued untH 1882, when Mr Barker retired from the firm, and the firm name became Henry Bros & Coatsworth. In 1884 this company was incorporated with a capital of $200,000 under the name of the " Henry & Coatsworth Company." Its officers at the present time are Jay Coatsworth, president ; F. W. Brown, of Omaha, vice-president ; G. W. Henry, of Chicago, treasurer, and E. M. Gage, of Omaha, secretary. The business of this com pany extends over the States of Illinois, Missouri, Kansas and Nebraska, with large distributing yards at St Joseph and Kansas City. They have in all about twenty lumber yards in operation, and from their Kansas City yard 512 History of Kansas City. alone in 1887 they sold about 18,000,000 feet of lumber Their office, which was located at the corner of Fourteenth and Hickory streets from 1878 to 1881, has since the latter year been at the corner of Seventeenth and Bell. With one exception this is the oldest lumber firm in Kansas City, and as a firm it stands deservedly high in the business and commercial world. Mr Coats worth was married in 1870 to Miss Fannie Salisbury, of St Louis, Mo., by whom he had three children — May Douglass, Ralph Glenn and Douglass Gleim. Mr and Mrs. Coatsworth are members of Grace Episcopal Church, of Kansas City. GILLHAM, ROBERT. Robert Gillham may be justly termed not alone the founder of Kansas City's Cable Railway System, which is one of the mechanical wonders of the world, but one of the pioneers in cable raHway con struction ; for when he entered this field of enterprise there were only three cable railways in the country, all in San Francisco, and none of them much like the improved cable roads of to-day, which are in no small degree due to his inventive genius and engineering skill. Mr. Gillham was born in New York September 25, 1854, the third in order of nativity of John and Clarissa Gillham's four sons — John, Mancdllia, Robert, and Walter. His preliminary education was obtained at a private school at Lodi, N. J., and at the age of sixteen he became a student in the classical and mathematical institute at Hackensack, N. J. Later he entered the office of Professor William Williams, principal of the institute, and under his private tutelage continued the study of engineering until 1874, when, at the age of twenty, he began the practice of his chosen profession by establishing an office in Hackensack. He worked faithfully and waited patiently, and one by one numerous important engineer ing enterprises were entrusted to him, embracing the construction of bridges and special sewerage, sanitary engineering and reports of different kinds; and his rapidly extending reputation as an engineer of growing ability brought him much special work in and about New York city. Early in October, 1878, Mr GiHham concluded to visit the great West, and he arrived in Kansas City in the latter part of the same month. A little very superficial investigation was sufficient to firmly ^impress him with the idea that, ere many years had passed, Kansas City would become one of the most important points in the rapidly developing West The thing that struck him as one of the most conspicuous drawbacks to Kansas City's speedy advance ment was its crude, and in every sense inadequate, street railway system, for at that time the public were compelled to reach the city proper — on the hill — by a tedious ride up Bluff street to Fifth on the slow mule cars, then the only ones in operation ; and he found himself studying as to some quick and mod ern means of transit between Main street and the Union depot and after much consideration and the laying aside of other important projects, he determined ^^^-^fc,^. Biographical. 515 upon the construction of the now v/dl-known and indispensable Eighth and Ninth street cable road, with the viaduct at the Union depot. Through the influence of the horse railway company and others opposed to the enterprise, the granting of the franchise was from time to time refused. Finally the city council promised that if Ninth street, between Delaware street and Broadway, was widened, the concession would be granted. Through the influence of Mr. Gillham this measure was finally accomplished, and from a narrow side street,. inadequate to the business of the city,-Ninth street was widened to its present width ; but again the granting of the franchise was postponed. Undaunted, Mr. Gillham again bent his energies to securing the right to build this road, destined, as he believed and as has been proved, to do more for the city than any other one enterprise within its borders, until at length the franchise was granted to him and his associates at that time, Mr. W. J. Smith, the present president of the company, and Mr. George J. Keating, who withdrew from the enterprise soon after the passage of the franchise. The construction of the line was a great engineering undertaking — greater than any similar one can be now or hereafter, for cable railway construction was then in its infancy, and so far as Kansas City was concerned it was untried, and there were many who doubted its ultimate success. Not only did Mr. GiHham design and build the road, but every dollar used in its construction was secured through his per sonal efforts, and he nearly gave his life to the cause. People will long re member the unfortunate accident that befell him upon the completion of the great work, resulting almost in the loss of his life, and incapacitating him for nearly a year to attend to any professional business. We refer to the fractur ing of his skull by the falling of a grip in the engine-house vault Prior to the completion of the Ninth Street Line, Mr GiHham conceived the idea of an elevated railway across the bottoms of West Kansas to Wyandotte, and began the circulation of a petition with a view to securing the right to build such a road. Shortly after this, without knowledge of Mr Gillham's plans, Mr D. M. Edgerton, of St. Louis, proposed to do the same thing. They soon met upon common ground and speedily united their efforts for their com mon cause. With the assistance of friends they fought hard and long against injunctions and other litigations, and slowly but surely modified the prejudices of property owners along the line of the proposed road. The franchise was defeated twice in the councH and finally granted, and then, through their per sonal efforts, Messrs. Gillham and Edgerton secured the money necessary to construct the road, which, since its opening, has been a marked success From an engineering point of view the elevated structure has not been equaled in the country for beauty of design, strength, durability and lightness This is regarded as another great enterprise of Kansas City in which Mr. Gillham was one of the promoting spirits. After operating the road to St Louis avenue and connecting with the Ninth Street Cable Line for more than a year, it was 514 History of Kansas City. found necessary, in order to accommodate its patrons and increase its business, to extend it by some means to Delaware street in the heart of the city. A towering bluff intervened. It was not feasible to reach the top of this by an inclined viaduct. The difficulty could be surmounted only by a most skillful and ingenious engineer, and by unanimous consent of all concerned the task was entrusted to Mr Gillham, who designed a cable railway elevated from St. Louis avenue to the bluff at the foot of Eighth street piercing the bluff by means of a double track cable railway. tunnel, intersecting Washington street on the surface and extending along the surface of Eighth street to Delaware street — a bold undertaking, which, by some engineers, was considered imprac ticable. Work was begun in the spring of 1887, and in less than eleven months from the day ground was broken trains were running through the tunnel to Delaware street and return. This, by all competent judges, is con sidered a remarkable instance of rapid construction, as the work was impeded by different causes, one of which was the caving in of the partially completed tunnel. The securing of money to carry out this project was no small under taking. Mr. Gillham was one of the principal organizers of the Grand Avenue Cable Railway Company, and was called to be its first chief engineer, but owing to numerous other duties he declined the appointment. Associated with Mr. W. J. Smith, he purchased by contract a half interest in the old Grand Avenue Horse Railway Company and the Kansas City and Westport Railway Company, and associating with them some of the original owners and many of the present stockholders in the Grand Avenue Cable Railway Com pany, they organized that corporation. When Mr. Gillham sold his cable stock in this company he resigned from the directory. He is president and chief engineer of the People's Cable Railway Company, in the organization of which he assisted, and is a director and one of the largest stockholders of the Inter-State Consolidated Rapid Transit Railway Company (the Elevated Rail way Company). He also constructed the Riverview Cable Railway, and is largely interested in the Omaha Cable Traction Company, of Omaha, Neb., whose roads he constructed as chief engineer. He is being consulted with reference to the application of cable railways in St. Joseph, Mo., Nashville, Tenn., Cleveland, O., Fort Worth, Tex., Providence, R. I., Brooklyn, N. Y., Scran ton, Pa., and many other cities, and is constantiy engaged in making reports pertinent to their projects. He was also consulted in the matter of elevated railways in Chicago. He is at this time (May, 1888) constructing or preparing to construct the following cable railways as chief engineer : The Kansas City Cable Railway Company (its Washington Street Line), the Riv erview Cable Railway, the Omaha Cable Traction Company's Twentieth Street Line, the People's Cable Railway (the Tenth Street and Brooklyn Avenue Line), branch lines of the Elevated Railway in Kansas, the Denver Cable Railway Biographical. 5 1 5 Company's Line, Denver, Colo., embracing eleven miles of double track, and the West End Street Railway, Boston, Mass., in which system there will be seven " power houses " and over fifty miles of cable railway. These, briefly stated, are the principal gigantic enterprises which Mr. Gillham has projected or been prominently connected with to the present time. The record is a re markable one to be made by a man of his years, and one of which any civil engineer in the country would be proud. He has at the same time been identified with other enterprises of special importance to Kansas City. He is president of the Armourdale Foundry Company, a company organized origi nally by Mr. C. E. Moss, and to whom is due the credit of building up the great business the company now enjoys, and who was associated with him for a number of years as owners. Mr. Moss finally, for the purpose of retiring from business, disposed of his interest in this company to Mr. Gillham, in which he now has the controlling interest. It is an extensive manufacturing concern, with the best equipped works of the kind west of Chicago, and makes practi cally two- thirds of all the architectural iron work used in Kansas City and the surrounding country. The other members of the company are Mr. Gus. P. Marty, vice-president, and John Gillham, jr., secretary. Ten years have scarcely passed since Mr. Gillham came to Kansas City and identified himself inseparably with its future growth and progress, and to-day he ranks as one of its most useful citizens, and is probably better known by his achievements throughout the entire West than any other resident here. He married the only daughter of Mr and Mrs. Matthias Marty, of Kansas City, and has two daughters, Elsie and Edith, aged respectively five and three years. CRAVENS, JOHN K., was born in Ripley county, Ind., August 14, 1838. His father, James H. Cravens, was of Irish nationality, and his mother, whose maiden name was Capito, was of HoHand Dutch ancestry, both being born in Virginia. The education of the subject of this sketch was such as he obtained at the common schools, but was for a short time sent to boarding school. When not in school his Hfe was spent upon his father's farm untH he was eighteen years of age. He then went into the office of the clerk of the Circuit Court of Marion county, Ind. He read law with Major Jonathan W. Gordon, at Indianapolis, and was admitted to the bar in Daviess county. Mo., in 1859, and opened an office in Gallatin, Mo., where he continued the prac tice of the law untH the faH of 1861, when he went to St Joseph, Mo., and re mained there during the winter of 1861-62. From St Joseph he went to In dianapoHs, Ind,, and entered the adjutant general's office of that State, re maining in that office until 1863, when he was transferred to the field. In February, 1865, he retired from the service, and on May 10, following, reached Kansas City, and has been here engaged in the practice of the law ever since> 5i6 History of Kansas City. Mr Cravens became prosecuting attorney of the old Kansas City Criminal Court in 1869, and retained that position until the court was abolished in 187 1, himself drawing the act, which, when passed by the Legislature, abolished the court In politics he has always been a Republican, though in 1870 he advo cated the election of B. Gratz Brown to the governorship, and he also was one of those who advocated the enfranchisement of the disfranchised classes, be lieving then, as he does now, that manhood suffrage is the essential element of true republicanism. Mr. Cravens is married, and has four chHdren, three sons and one daughter. CHICK, W. H , vice-president of the National Bank of Kansas City, was born in Sahne county. Mo., in 1826. His father was Mr. WiHiam M. Chick, who was a prominent business man and merchant, well known and respected in and around what is now Kansas City during the pioneer days of this section, and one of the early purchasers of the town site. His mother, before her marriage, was Miss Ann E. Smith. Young Chick received his education in the country schools in vogue in the time and locality — or at least the foundation upon which his subsequent edu cation was based — and while yet a mere boy learned the ways of business in his father's store at Westport and subsequently in his father's commission- house in Kansas City, after the latter removed his business here, and in com pany with his brother, WiHiam S. Chick, after the death of his father, em barked in the commission business for himself in 1847. In 1849 J^r. Chick, attracted to CaHfornia by the tide of emigration which had set in in that direction, went to that State filled with that hope which an imated the whole army of " Forty Niners," and remained there until 1851, when he located in the Indian Territory, and embarked in a trade in general merchandise. In the foHowing year he removed to Boone county. Mo., con tinuing in the same business until 1853. He then disposed of his interest in Boone county and returned to Kansas City, where, in 1854, he again engaged in the commission business, in which he continued successfully for twelve years. In 1865, in connection with the Kansas City house, Mr Chick opened a grocery house in St Louis In 1866 the Kansas City concern was destroyed by fire, and seeing a fine opportunity for trade along the line of the Kansas Pacific (now the Union Pacific) Railroad, then under construction, he estab lished himsdf temporarily at different points on the road, locating at one place after another until he reached Kit Carson. Closing out his business at the latter point he pursued a similar course along the line of the rapidly extend ing Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad, locating successively at Granada and other points as far as Las Vegas. At the last mentioned place he traded successfully until 1884, when he closed out both his business there and -'•j'iy £:i.jlc:U. 50-.- ;>i-^' Biographical. 517 his St. Louis store, and took up his residence permanently in Kansas City, to assume his present position as vice-president of the National Bank of Kansas City, in which he had previously been a stockholder. Mr Chick was married in 1853 to Miss Eugenia P. Oliver, of Newton county. Mo., and they have eight children. He has for twenty-eight years been identified with the Methodist Episcopal Church South, and has long been a member, much of the time officially, of the Centenary Methodist Episcopal Church South, of Kansas City, and has ever extended a helping hand to all causes designed to promote the public good, and the calls upon him of public and private charity have met with a generous response. Mr. Chick's standing in the business community is deservedly high, and belonging to a family prominently connected with both the early and later history of Kansas City, he has always taken a deep and practical interest in its growth and develop ment M" ¦ CCR ARY, Hon. GEORGE W. What is here set down descriptive of the life and public services of Judge McCrary, is not intended in any sense as a complete biography, but rather as an illustration by a living example of the possibilities which exist for one's successful rise in life, regardless of what may have been his early advantages and opportunities. Judge McCrary was born near Evansville, Ind., August 29, 1835. His father was James McCrary, a plain, hard-working farmer, in modest circumstances. The maiden name of his mother was Matilda Forrest. She was a fitting help meet for her husband, industrious, of deep religious sentiment, and of fervent attachment to her family. She was not only a model housewife, but possessed many traits of character which endeared her to her husband and children and to all with whom she associated. She died in the summer of 1878, at the family homestead in Iowa. Her distinguished son, who at the time was engaged in important official duties at Boston, at once obeyed the promptings of his de voted fihal attachment and hastened half across the continent to attend the fu neral of the mother who had loved him, and whom he had loved so well. In October, 1835, James McCrary removed with his family from Indiana to McDonough county. III. Early in 1837 he removed a hundred miles to the west ward, and settled in the southern portion of the then territory of Iowa, in what is now Van Buren county in that State. He was one of the earliest pioneers of that region. ' When he came to the country it was practically unbroken and virgin, peopled only by the Indians and a few adventurous white settlers scattered here and there. He made his claim on the south side of the Des Moines River, with- ina few.miles of the Missouri line. Indeed his location was within the "disput- '.ed territory" claimed by both Missouri and Iowa Territory. From a contro versy between the State and Territory regarding the title to this disputed tract ..occurred that remarkable incident in Missouri and Iowa history known as the 5i8 History of Kansas City. Boundary War of 1839, a "war'' which resulted — happily without bloodshed, although on both sides troops were mustered and squadrons set in the field — in the verification of the claims of Iowa. Judge McCrary grew to early manhood amid all the vicissitudes of pioneer life. In the toilsome drudgery attendant upon frontier farming he passed his boyhood and his early youth. He attended the common country schools of his neighborhood when he could do so without interfering with his work on his father's farm, and finally finished his scholastic education at an academy near his home. He was a close student, eager and ready to learn, and having for his preceptor in the academy Professor John W. Allen, formerly of Maine — a fine scholar and educator, he acquired what -was for the time quite a thorough edu cation. He was fond of reading, but wisely made choice of useful books. He had neither time nor taste for reading merely for entertainment and diversion; he chose rather to read for information and instruction. When he was nineteen years of age he possessed a fund of useful general information to an eminent de gree, and was considered a prodigy of learning by the people of his community. Moreover his parental instruction had been of a valuable character By exam ple and precept his father had taught him lessons of true manhood, and his no ble and earnest Christian mother had early instilled into his mind the abiding principles of morality. A boy who is taught his duty towards mankind by a good father, and his obligations to his Maker by a good mother, seldom goes wrong. In 1855, at the age of nineteen, young McCrary entered the office of the legal firm of Rankin & Miller, at Keokuk, la., as a law student The senior member of this firm. Colonel John W. Rankin, was renowned in his profession, and the junior member, Hon, Samuel F. MiHer, has been for twenty-six years an asso ciate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. Under the supervis ion of these eminent instructors the young man applied himself assiduously to his law studies. Gifted naturally, and working hard, he progressed rapidly, and in 1856 he was admitted to the bar, passing a rigid examination without mak ing a single mistake. He at once entered upon the practice of his chosen pro fession at Keokuk, la., and subsequently was admitted to a partnership with one of his instructors, the firm name becoming Rankin & McCrary. He was an original RepubHcan. His first vote for president was cast for John C. Fremont In 1857 he was elected to the lower house of the Iowa Leg islature, and was the youngest member of that body, but by no means the least in influence. In 186 1 he was elected to the State Senate, and served four years He attracted general attention during his terms in the Legislature, and steadily rose to prominence. When not engaged with his legislative duties he devoted himsdf to his profession, in which he was very successful and won an enviable reputation. In 1868, at the age of thirty-three, he was elected to Congress from the first Biographical, 519 Iowa district, succeeding the Hon. James F. Wilson, now one of the United States Senators from that State. He served by re-election for eight years. In 1872 his competitor on the Liberal Republican and Democratic ticket was Colonel James M. Shelley, father of Hon. George M. SheHey, the weH-known ex- mayor and present postmaster of Kansas City. At every election he led his ticket, and the opposition opposed him merely as a matter of form, and to keep up the party organization. His career in Congress was largely of historical im portance, as the country knows. A former biographer says: "Mr. McCrary remained in Congress for eight years. Though one of the youngest of the members in years, his mature and unusual political sagacity was at once recognized, securing for him positions of influence. He was as signed to positions in the committees on Naval Affairs, on the Revision of the Laws, and on Elections. He gradually rose to a leading position in the House, becoming chairman of the committee on Elections, in the Forty-second Con gress. He there manifested a sense of perfect justice, a spirit entirely unparti- san, and a knowledge of election laws and precedents so thorough and com plete that his reports came to be adopted almost as a matter of course. For perhaps the first time in the history of Congress, he induced the House of Rep resentatives to vote upon election cases without regard to party lines, and a ma jority of the cases considered and reported by him were decided in favor of his political opponents. Justice to the line, righteousness to the plummet had been one of the lessons of his home education. In the Forty-third Congress he was made chairman of the committee on Railways and Canals, to which all questions relating to inter-State Commerce, then receiving great attention, were referred. He prepared a report on the Constitutional Power of Congress to Regulate Railroad Commerce among the States, taking the affirmative, and ad vocating his views with much power. ... In the Forty-fourth Congress, in which the Democrats controlled the House, he was placed on the Judiciary Committee. He prepared a bill to re-organize the Judiciary of the United States, which the committee authorized him to report, and which he advocated on the floor. It passed the House by a large majority,'' Mr. McCrary made a most valuable legislator. He sank the partisan in the patriot on every occasion. His support of every measure was prompted by his belief in its justice, and not by the dictates of a party caucus. Always a Republican, never swerving from his zealous devotion to the cardinal princi ples of his party, he did not consider a proposition wrong merely because it came from a Democrat. The test questions he asked of every bill presented for his consideration were : " Is it right, morally and legally ? Is it expedient and for the best interests of the country?" His fairness toward his opponents, the manly and dignified position he took at all times, his love for fair play and honor bright, — these are matters of record. One needs but to consult the files of Democratic journals to find them. His, many manly qualities, his large 520 History of Kansas City:" ability, the purity of his character, and his general personal worth received uni versal recognition, and throughout his entire congressional career, conspicu ous as it was, he did not make a single personal enemy, and was never the subject of denunciation or personal detraction even on the part of his strongest political adversaries amid the most excited and exciting debates. Perhaps his greatest service to the country whHe in Congress was ren dered immediately after the presidential election of 1876, in connection with the electoral commission bill. Both parties claimed the election, and the pub Hc sentiment of the country was about equally divided in opinion as to the re sult. The excitement was most intense, and the situation was positively per ilous, foreboding dissension and distraction, and possibly civil war. George W. McCrary was the first member of Congress to step forward with a proposi tion for the adoption of a lawful and peaceful solution of the difficulty. It was he who (as the records show), proposed the Joint Congressional Committee, and was himself a leading member of it. He took a very prominent part in the preparation of the electoral bill — indeed, the measure was often called the McCrary bill, — and warmly advocated its adoption in the house, often replying to the objections and arguments against it by his party associates. He was one of the Republican counsel of the house before the electoral commission, and sustained the election of President Hayes in a legal argument, which has been considered the very strongest, in many respects, made to that tribunal. Upon the inauguration of President Hayes, Mr. McCrary was appointed secretary of war, his commission dating March 12, 1877. His appointment was received by the country with universal satisfaction, and was unanimously confirmed by the Senate, then practically Democratic, He filled that high of fice with large intelligence and complete success, and during his administration introduced or inaugurated some new measures into his department of the high est importance. He took an especial interest in the printing of the Union and Confederate archives and records in the control of the war department, and did much valuable service in connection with that important work-in its early stages. The " Rebellion Records," as they are called, are among the most valuable publications ever issued by the government During the- great railroad strike of the summer of 1877, he acted promptly and efficiently, plaiced troops at the principal points of danger, and thus prevented the destruction- of life and property and checked the progress of the uprising which at one period- was so threatening, and promised to become so disastrous. This was effected simply by the presence of the United States troops. Not a gun was fired by these troops. In 1878 the yellow fever prevailed to a very destructive extent in the valley of the Lower Mississippi. In their extremity the Southern peo ple called upon the war department for aid. There was no express statute authorizing the department to render assistance in such an emergency, and no precedent governing the case. Neither was there any law forbidding the as- Biographical. 521 sistance of the department. Secretary McCrary, therefore, promptly decided the question according to the higher law of humanity, and forthwith authorized the issuing of tents, blankets and rations in aid of the plague-smitten people. Requisitions poured in from the authorities of the afflicted Southern cities, who readily waived their " strict construction " ideas for the time, and these requisitions were filled with remarkable expedition by the secretary's orders. The amount of good thus accomplished was as great as the spirit which prompted it was beneficent. While in charge of the war office Secretary Mc Crary greatly improved the efficiency of the signal service, using his best en deavors to have the great usefulness of that bureau extended throughout our own country and others. Altogether, his service in the war department was conspicuous for ability, integrity, and the industry and devotion with which he applied himself to the details and the general conduct of the affairs of that great department of the government. After nearly three years of most valuable service in the cabinet, Mr. Mc Crary resigned in December, 1879, to accept the office of judge of the United States Circuit Court for the eighth judicial circuit, composed of the States of Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota, Arkansas, Kansas, Nebraska and Colorado — an empire in territorial area, population and business. His appointment to this position, considered in connection with his profound judicial learning and the exalted purity of his public record and of his private character, was most worthy and was greeted with great satisfaction by all classes. He received the unanimous confirmation of the Senate, and assumed his duties in January, 1880. Judge McCrary's career in the public service, and throughout, has been most extraordinary and is rarely paralleled, even in this free country of ours, where possibilities are so great. Starting in life a poor boy, in the wilds of the Western frontier, at the comparatively early age of forty- five, he has served for six years as representative and senator in the Legislature of Iowa, for eight years in the Congress of the United States, for three years as secretary of war, and had reached the eminent position of judge of the most important federal -circuit in the union. He remained on the bench for four years, thus complet ing, before he had reached his fiftieth year, a career of public service extend ing over a period of twenty one years, and embracing all the departments of his government — the legislative, the executive and the judicial. And in all of his experience he had never met with a single defeat, either as a candidate for a nomination or an election, or as an applicant for appointment or confirma tion. His record in the judiciary is marked with ability and general excellence in every detaH. He brought to the bench not only a great weight of legal at tainments but a remarkable aptitude for the discharge of his responsible duties. The industry and ability with which he discharged these duties can be readily 522 History of Kansas City. seen and comprehended by an examination of the five volumes of the reports of his decisions known as McCrary's Reports. The litigation which came be fore him, conducted uniformly by the ablest members of the bar, was varied in- character and much of it was of superior importance, involving the discussion and decision of the most profound and intricate questions of American juris prudence. His opinions, always clear, sound and comprehensive, attracted very general attention, and were almost universally acceptable. It is perhaps worthy of remark that his chief associate on the bench was His original in structor in the law, Mr. Justice Miller. Judge McCrary resigned his judicial position in 1884, prompted, as was understood at the time, by a desire to enjoy more of the comforts of his home than was possible while traveling twice a year over his vast and extensive cir cuit, in attendance upon his duties, and also by a desire to better provide for those dependent upon him — an obligation overlooked and neglected in his- devotion to the exacting requirements of his public service. He had never for a single year given up entirely his legal practice, save when upon the bench, a circumstance illustrative of his great industry and capacity for work and indi cative of his love for and fealty to that "jealous mistress" — the law. During all the years of his service in Congress, and even while in the Cabinet, he frequently argued important cases in the courts. His practice in the Supreme Court of the United States has been very extensive, and he has appeared as the leading counsel in some cases of the highest importance before that tribu nal, notably a case involving the construction of some important provisions of the Legal Tender act of Congress, and, later, what is known as the "Southern Kansas Land case," being successful in both instances. Upon his retirement from the Federal Judiciary, Judge McCrary located in Kansas City and accepted the position of general counsel of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad Company, which he still holds. By the pro visions of the by-laws of the company it is made his duty, in addition to giv ing opinions and advice, to have charge of only such cases and matters as may be placed in his hands by the president or board of directors. While this arrangement calls for very important service, it does not impose upon him the charge of the details of the legal business of this great corporation, and allows him opportunity for engaging in the general practice of his profession. He is at present a member of the law firm of Pratt, McCrary, Ferry & Hagerman,. one of the leading firms of the west with an extensive reputation and a large practice. Judge McCrary has attained national celebrity in literature as well as in other pursuits He is the author of " The American Law of Elections," a standard work on the subject two editions of which have been exhausted, and a third, revised and enlarged, has recently been published. In 1877 he re ceived the degree of LL. D. from Iowa College, at Grinndl, la. In his reli- Biographical. 523 gious views he is a Unitarian, and for thirty years he has been a leading and active member of that denomination. In the recent discussions as to the reli gious position of that church, he took a prominent part on the conservative side, advocating in a series of letters pubHshed in a denominational paper a distinc tively Christian basis for church work as against the purely ethical basis advo cated by certain members. He has contributed to the North American Re view and other prominent publications articles on questions of public moment and interest which have been well received. His writings are like his speeches — sound, logical, argumentative, and convincing, never sacrificing the truth in order to round up a sentence with a rhetorical flourish, seeking to point the moral rather than to adorn the tale. Personally, and in his intercourse with his fellow-men. Judge McCrary is plain, affable, courteous, and gentlemanly. His bearing is unassuming and yet dignified, his manner frank and upon the whole impressive — the reflex of a noble nature, the characteristics of a man of unimpeachable integrity whose life work and life record is without spot or blemish. He has never used tobacco in any form nor spirituous liquors as a beverage of any kind. As a pioneer boy, legislator, statesman, war minister, jurist, lawyer, and citizen, he has ever in conduct been the same, honest, faithful, incorruptible, and true. In 1857 he married Miss Helen A. Gelatt, of Van Buren county, la., an accomplished and cultured lady, a most befitting wife for her distinguished husband. To him and her five children she has ever been deeply devoted. One who knows her says she is an active Christian worker, but her charitable deeds, which are very many, as are those of her husband, are quietly and un ostentatiously performed, without display or publicity. While a lady of the Cabinet at Washington, she sympathized with and loyally supported Mrs. Hayes in the movement to banish intoxicating drinks from the White House, and the houses of the cabinet officers, and she enjoys the distinction of being the first and only lady who, as the wife of the secretary of war, declined to place wine on her table on New Year's day, when called upon by the offi cers of the army. The unalloyed happiness of his home fills to the full the measure of success realized by Judge McCrary. It is small wonder that he deems life worth living, since it has yielded him so many blessings and benefits, so much of honorable distinction, and rewarded his efforts and his labors so richly and righteously. NORMAN, JOSEPH L., was born near Mount Vernon, Jefferson county, IlL, October 21, 1841. He is the son of Jones Norman and Lucy L. Medley, the former a native of Tennessee, the latter of Alabama. In 1857 the family removed from IHinois to Greeley, Anderson county, Kan., and in May, 1 86 1, came to Kansas City. Young Joseph had acquired a good com mon school education in the schools of his native State, and when his family 524 History of Kansas City. came to Kansas City he opened a select school at Westport, which he con ducted until in August, 1862. At this period the Confederates had captured Independence, and were re ported advancing on Kansas City. Word was sent to the Union men of the surrounding country for help. The young teacher closed his school, and at the head of half a dozen of his pupils, youths from sixteen to nineteen, but capable of bearing arms and willing to fight he marched into the town to assist in its defense. He and his boys were given muskets, and that was the end of the school. A few days later Mr Norman enlisted in the Union army as a pri vate of Captain Chesnut's company of Wyandotte, which became Company A of the Twelfth Kansas Regiment Infantry. His father was a member of the same company, and two of his brothers were also in the Federal service. Mr. Norman was detailed for clerical duty not long after his enlistment. At intervals he was military clerk for Generals Blunt, Ewing, and Curtis. During his term of service he was frequently on duty in Kansas City. He accompanied General Ewing in his pursuit of Shelby and his raiders in the fall of 1863 ; was present at the battle of Westport and witnessed the principal engagements on the border during the Price raid, in the fall of 1864. He often served as courier in the field, and obtained the favor and esteem of his superiors for his general soldierly worth. Leaving the service in the summer of 1865, Mr Norman obtained a situa tion in the abstract office of Major W. C. Ransom, of Kansas City, in connec tion with Mr La Fayette Traber, still in the city. Mr. Traber succeeded Major Ransom, and in 1867 formed a co-partnership with Mr. Norman. The firm was known as Traber & Norman until in 1874, when Mr. Traber disposed of his interest to Mr Richard Robertson, and it became Norman & Robertson, its present style, at No, 16 East Sixth street. Perhaps the firm has the fullest and best abstracts of records pertaining to land titles in Jackson county — including of course Kansas City property — that can be found. It has no other business complications, but attends strictly and legitimately to its spe cialty of abstracting titles to realty in Jackson county. Mo., with such business as may be intimately connected therewith. It employs a number of skillful and accomplished men, and has been most successful. In this line Mr Nor man has been actively engaged for twenty- three years. He was married at Westport January 1 7, 1 865 , to Miss Martha Jane Puckett, a lady of Virginia nativity and ancestry. Of this marriage there are six children. Mr and Mrs. Norman are communicants of the Second Presbyterian Church, of Kansas City, and he is now serving as a member of the city school board. For two years he has been the quartermaster, with the rank of captain, of the Third Regiment of the National Guard of Missouri. ^<% E-^^-by S-EBcC. 'J Sans IJsi- "ISi^ A 4hi^. Biographical. 525 KUMP, FRANK HUBBARD, was born December 17, 1834, in Bonn, Prussia. His father. Christian Kump, was born in 1800; came to Amer ica in 1841, located in Buffalo, N. Y., and there followed his occupation as a carpenter. He died in Kansas City in 1864. Mr. Kump began his education in Buffalo. Having been reared in the Catholic faith, after confirmation he went to Detroit, Mich., where he remained a year, working in the house of a Mr. McAllister During his residence in Detroit, the city was visited by that terrible scourge, the cholera ; but, though hundreds died around him, he escaped. From Detroit he went to Chicago, III., where he was employed by Mr W. H. Hutchison in the soda water business. By his attention to his duties, he rose rapidly in the favor of his employer, whom he had previously known in Buffalo. He remained with Mr. Hutchison until 1857, after which he spent two years on the Mississippi River. He came to Kansas City in 1859, and at once embarked in the soda water business with Mr. Joseph Haag, who was his partner for ten years. In 1 867 the firm moved to Main street, where they purchased and prepared a building for the bottling of ale, fearing sharp competition in the soda water trade would too greatly diminish their profits and desiring a more extensive business. Wishing still further to extend their operations and connect a brewery with their establishment, Mr. Kump wrote to his brother in the east and desired him to take a third interest in the enterprise, as the firm had not sufficient capital to build as large an establishment as they deemed necessary. The proposi- "tion was accepted and the brewery was added. Within two years Mr. Kump purchased his brother's interest out of his share of the profits of the business, .but on his refusal to divide the profits equally with Mr. Haag, that gentleman withdrew from the firm in 1869. Mr. Dye, later superintendent of the Horse Railroad Company of Kansas City, bought a half interest in the business and was a partner of Mr. Kump's tiH the spring of 1873. After that time, until his retirement from business in 1884, on account of ill health, Mr. Kump was sole proprietor, his enterprise being the most extensive of its kind in the city. On the date mentioned it was sold to the Heim Brewing Company, by whom it -has since been continued. Mr. Kump was married in 1863 to Miss Lucretia Argo, a native of Ken tucky, but at that time living in Kansas City. They have four children — Frank, Maude, Lillian, and Jessie. JONES, Major B. F., was born in Gwinett county Ga., June 20, 183 1. Hav ing completed his primary education and had a couple of years' experience as clerk in a country store at the nearest village, in his twentieth year he de termined to see something of the world and seek a wider sphere of usefulness and activity ; and, accordingly, provided with the usual letters of introduction 67 526 History of Kansas City. and recommendation, went to New York, and without difficulty obtained a situ ation in a dry goods and carpet house on Cortlandt street A year later he found more congenial employment with the well known grocery establishment of Whitlock, Nichols & Co., which was subsequently changed to B. M. & E. A. Whitlock & Co. In the service of this house he traveled all over the South, and at the commencement of the war was in the South representing his firm; he utHized the information and experience thus acquired to the advantage of the newly organized Confederate government, in some papers containing sugges tions on the tariff, export duties, etc., which maybe found among the proceed ings of the first Confederate Congress. When war actually came, he hastened to Rome, Ga., and in April 1861 joined the "Cherokee Artillery," a company al ready organized, and of which his brother was a non-commissioned officer. The company went into camp of instruction and was shortly afterward organized into a battalion, of which Mr. Jones was made quartermaster, chiefly because of his previous business training and fitness for the position. The battalion served around Richmond and Weldon, N. C, until the fall of 1861. During the winter of that and the succeeding year it served in Tennessee, and afterward in detach ments between Knoxville and Bristol, being engaged in overawing and keeping in order the discontented elements of East Tennessee, and was finally sent to hold the mountain pass of Cumberland Gap. In June, 1862, he was promoted to be brigade quartermaster, and ordered to take charge of the post at Chattanooga, where he was engaged doing all the work at that important post, beside buying horses, manufacturing wagons and preparing transportation for General Braxton Bragg's army. Upon the evacu ation of Chattanooga, in September, 1863, he was sent temporarily to organize the post at La Grange, Ga. In May, 1864, Major Jones was ordered by the secretary of war to report for inspection duty to General Bragg, who then occu pied the position of commander-in chief, under the president, of the armies of the Confederate States, and had his headquarters in Richmond, and was insti tuting a most rigid investigation into the irregularities of the various depart ments of the government ; but more particulariy of the quartermaster and com missary departments. Major Jones was selected as one of the confidential in spectors for this important work. He immediately addressed himself to the duty before him, and went as far west as the Mississippi River, and examined and reported upon every quartermaster and commissary along his Hne. In many places he found great evidences of demoralization, and his reports were so fuH and comprehensive, and showed such perfect knowledge of the subject matter in hand, that he was highly complimented by those in authority, who seldom complimented any one. At the close of the war he settied in Rome, Ga., and did a prosperous business for several years ; but the approach of hard times, the shrinkage of values and the low price of cotton impoverished the people and caused him. Biographical. 527 as it did a great many others, to withdraw from business. In 1871, however, he became engaged in the manufacture of pig-iron, but the panic of 1873 de- moraHzed the iron business, along with most other private industries, and he was forced to abandon that. About this time the water- works in Kansas City were built by a private corporation, and trouble ensued between the company and the city. This trouble increased as time went on, and when the works were completed and the company looked around for some one to take charge of their affairs, they, fortunately for themselves, selected Major Jones. He accepted the position of secretary and general manager for the company, and with his family took up his residence in Kansas City. His labors in his new position were arduous and delicate. A violent and most embittered feeling had grown up between the company and the city gov ernment and citizens. The acceptance or rejection of the works by the city became an issue in municipal politics to the exclusion of every other issue. Major Jones devoted himself to the work of allaying the bad feeling that ex isted, of removing obstructions to a better understanding, of making explana tions where explanations were necessary, and by uniform courtesy of demeanor transforming enemies into friends. In a little while the officers of the company and the city authorities were brought together in an amicable conference, one by one difficulties were removed, point by point the basis for a compromise of conflicting interests was laid, and finally an understanding was reached that was satisfactory to every body. For this result the company as well as the city was more indebted to Major Jones than to any other one man. Major Jones is now in the full vigor of the matured powers of his manhood. He possesses in a large degree that most uncommon quality known as com mon sense. He is a fine business man — quick, ready and accurate — well in formed from extensive reading and from extensive intercourse with and knowl edge of the world — an accomplished conversationalist — a delightful companion — courteous and polite with the courtesy and politeness that comes from good feeling and kindly sympathy for others — and gifted in a rare degree with that social tact and intuitive knowledge that enables him always to say the right thing at the right time to the right person. HAMMERSLOUGH, LOUIS. The very popular and well-known gentie man who is the subject of this article was born in Hanover, Germany, Au gust 25, 1835, and is descended from one of the oldest and most influential fam ilies of his native country. His father was a man of strong native intellect who retained his mental and physical faculties to a ripe old age. His mother was devoted to the welfare of her family, and by precept and example sought to in still into the mind of her children a love of truth, honor, and sobriety. To the teachings of this excellent couple Mr. Hammerslough acknowledges his indebt edness for much of his success in life; his three brothers, leading clothing man- 528 History of Kansas City. ufacturers and merchants of New York, all hold the memory of their parents in the highest veneration, and, as did Mr. Hammerslough, took unwearying pleasure in gladdening their declining years and making their old age joyful with their grateful and affectionate contributions. At the early age of nineteen Mr. Hammerslough began to manifest that spirit of enterprise and go-ahead-ativeness that has since distinguished him, and he determined to come to America to carve out his own future. He arrived in this country in 1854 with but little money in his purse, but with a strong reso lution to win, backed by indomitable energy, untiring industry and unques tionable integrity, that has forced him unaided to the front rank of business men. He began his career in America as a dry goods merchant in Baltimore, Md,, and at the end of two years removed to Springfield, III., where he passed the succeeding two years in the same business, associated with his three broth ers, who had preceded him there. In February, 1858, Mr Hammerslough located in Kansas City, Mo., where he was a very successful merchant and clothier until his retirement from trade- in 1886, known as a liberal, enterprising and progressive business man, and re cognized as one of the most extensive advertisers in the city. The trade he built up was one of the largest in its line, and his name became the synonym for square dealing and liberal treatment. When he arrived in Kansas City the town was in its infancy, but his business sagacity foresaw the growth and com mercial importance of the future Gate City to the Great Southwest and am ply was his judgment rewarded, as his trade grew steadily with the growing city, and as the legitimate result of good management a Hberal business policy and sterling integrity, he amassed a goodly fortune. In every worthy enterprise he has had a prominent part taking a Hvely in terest in the progressive march of Kansas City, and his enthusiastic spirit and practical common sense have served to infuse Hfe and vigor into some of its most substantial successes, for he has been prominently connected with nearly every enterprise that has promised advancement to the home of his adoption. He was one of the original committee that organized the first exposition, some years ago, which developed into an annual fair, the fame of which spread throughout the West and did much to bring Kansas City into prominence, and conceived and organized the first Board of Trade, which in its time greatly aided the city's trade and commerce He has shown his faith in the permanent growth of the city by investing largely in real estate. While his holdings are mostly suburban, he is the owner of several fine pieces of "inside" property which is valuable from its location and the character of the buHdings upon it His handsome residence on Central street near Sixteenth, was erected under his own personal supervision, with an eye single to the comfort of his family. He was one of the organizers, about twenty years ago, of the B'nai Jehudah Con gregation, and has long been its president He is also president of the Ger- Biographical. 529- man Printing and Publishing Company, publishers of the Morning Post, a daily paper printed in German which has a large patronage and is regarded as one of the influential journals of the city. Mr. Hammerslough was married in 1861, and has an interesting family of children. His love for those of his own household, like his filial affection, is strong and unwavering, and his home is the dwelling-place of peace, pleasure and contentment. He is a member of both the Masonic and Odd Fellows or ders. In politics he a Republican, but not a strong partisan, sustaining such men and measures as in his judgment will best promote the public welfare. As previously stated, he is connected with the Jewish Church. It may be added that — just to his fdlowmen, liberal to the needy, benevolent charitable and kind to all — he endeavors to live his religion from day to day, acknowledging with reverence the claims of the Supreme Being to the worship and obedience of mankind. Vivacity of thought and conversation, energy and almost tireless activity, are some of his most striking characteristics. He delights in humor ous sallies, and seems always to be in the best of humor with himself and his fdlowmen. He is affable, entertaining, and full of good will, and these quali ties have contributed to his personal and business popularity. Still in the prime of life, in perfect health, and in the vigor of robust manhood, with a large and valuable experience, and sound, practical judgment, he is emphatically a busy man, and will wear out rather than rust out, and his future promises to- be as useful as hrs past has been active and successful. Without inherited wealth or influential friends he has attained his present position by personal energy, business abilty and strict business habits. In personal appearance he is of me dium height and with a strongly knit and compactly built frame. His man ners are courteous and engaging, and he is universally regarded as one of Kan sas City's most valued and progressive citizens. MOSS, Hon. CHARLES EUGENE. Judge Moss was born in Litchfidd, county. Conn., November 17, 1843. His parents were also natives of that commonwealth, and both of EngHsh ancestry. His father, Colonel Charies E. Moss, was a lawyer of distinction, who, in 1856, removed with his family to Keokuk, la. During the civil war he was for more than a year the lieuten ant-colonel of the First Iowa Cavalry, the United States treasury agent at Springfield, Mo., etc. After the war he settled in Missouri, and died at Eu reka Springs, Ark., in 1886. At intervals in his life he engaged in journalism, and was a gentieman of varied and high intellectual abilities and accomplish ments. The maiden name of the mother of Judge Moss was Marcia Castie ; she died in 1882. Judge Moss was educated in the pubhc schools of Keokuk, la., and was in attendance at an academic institution of that city, known as Jameson's College, when the civH war broke out In the summer of 1861 he accompanied his 530 History of Kansas City. father's regiment to the field as a volunteer, and some months later enlisted regularly as a private soldier in Company A, of that organization. The First Iowa Cavalry was one of the best regiments in the Union army. It was com posed of as brave men as ever drew sabers. Its term of service was spent mostly in Missouri and Arkansas, in hard marching, venturesome and perilous scouting, fierce and deadly fighting. It fought everything pro-confederate, from the bush-whackers and guerrillas of Missouri and Arkansas, to Shelby's Cavalry and Marmaduke's Infantry, the flower of the Confederate army of the West. At times the various armies were detached and sent to the most ex posed points, hundreds of miles apart in some instances, and its fallen sleep in soldiers' graves on the prairies of North Missouri and under the magnolias of Southern Arkansas. Judge Moss was with his regiment in many of its most memorable campaigns. He was with General Steele in the advance upon and capture of Little Rock, in the faH of 1863, and on the ill-fated Camden expe dition, in the spring of 1864, participating in the most noted engagements. In the summer of 1864 he was transferred to the 41st Missouri Infantry and pro moted to a lieutenancy in Company H, of that regiment. He was assigned to duty at St Louis, and had the difficult and responsible task given him of es corting drafted men and substitutes to the front During the last three months of his service he was placed in charge of a vast number of Southern refugees, white and colored, at St Louis, a position of great responsibility for any one to fill, and especially for a young officer but twenty-one years of age. After his muster out, in the summer of 1865, he spent one year in St Louis, during which time he .studied law and was admitted to the bar In 1867 he removed to CarroH Parish, La. For one year he had financial charge of an extensive plantation owned by J. O. Pierce, of St Louis, and then en gaged in merchandising at Lake Providence He resided in Louisiana for twelve years. During this period, for five years, he held the office of judge of CarroH Parish, discharging all the duties of his position without fear or favor, and to the general acceptance of the people. In January, 1879, became to Kansas City. In connection with O. D. Moore he estabHshed and operated a general iron foundry for about three years. He then disposed of his interest to his partner, and in 1882 buift the well-known Armourdale Foundry, in connection with Mr George H. Wheel ock. Subsequentiy he became sole proprietor of this institution, and operated it thereafter until 1887, when he sold it to its present owners. During his connection with the Armourdale works he engaged in and filled various im portant contracts, and did an extensive and profitable business. Upon his re tirement from this latter enterprise he went abroad with his family, and made an extended tour of four months' duration, through some of the principal European countries, visiting France, Germany and the British Isles. Recently he has been occupied in building upon and otherwise improving his valuable Biographical. 531 property in Armourdale, and in looking after his real estate interests in Kansas City, which are considerable and of superior value. May 10, 1888, he was given the position of general manager of the Inter-State Elevated Railway Company, with full powers of control over all the interests of that company in and about Kansas City, including its elevated railroad and extensions and the Riverview Cable Line, as well as its landed property in Chelsea Park, Ed gerton Place, and elsewhere. The appointment came wholly unexpectedly and without any foreknowledge on his part, and is a high compliment to, and recognition of his large executive abilities and general worth. He takes an active interest in public affairs, and in 1 886 was a member of the Board of Al dermen. In politics he is a Republican, but is liberal and tolerant in all his personal views. February 3, 1874, Judge Moss married Miss Ida Green, daughter of D. P. Green, esq., of St Louis, Mo. Mrs. Moss was born in Massachusetts, but was reared in St. Louis, and is a graduate of one of the best schools of that city. There are three living children of this marriage. The family occupy an attractive and commodious residence in Merriam Place, a home of comfort, ele gance, hospitality, and true happiness. GREEN, THOMAS, was born in Cavan county, Ireland, May 27, 1837. His parents were John and Anne Green. The subject of this sketch spent his boyhood days in working with his father on the farm, and in attending the common schools of the county. When seventeen years of age he left his native country for the United States, landing at Philadelphia. Here he became clerk in a retail grocery store at a salary of $20 per month. But desiring to visit the Western States he arrived in Kansas City in 1858. Here he began working at the carpenter's trade, but in i860 began clerking in a country grocery store. In 1861 he commenced business for himself in Kansas City by forming a part nership with Adam Long, in the retail grocery business, the style of the firm being Green & Long, which continued for ten years. In 1872 he formed a partnership with his brother, James Green, the style of the firm being "T. Green & Co." In 1886 this partnership was changed into a corporation, the style of which is the "T. Green Grocery Company." In 1885 the firm built a store-room 48 by no feet, and five stories high. It is located on a switch so- that goods can be received and shipped by the car load. Thomas Green has reached his present position in the commercial world by his own efforts and is to all intents and purposes a self-made man. What he is and what he has ac cumulated, are the results of his own individual exertion. Throughout his en tire business career he has been eminently successful. On the 26th of Novem ber, 1862, Mr. Green was married to Miss Bridget A. Smith, daughter of John and Anne Smith. She is a native of the same place as her husband, and is a lady of culture, of unassuming dignity, and domestic in her tastes, and whose 532 History of Kansas City. weH conducted family testify to her noble qualities as wife and mother Mr and Mrs. Green have been blessed with twelve children. Mr Green is of command ing personal appearance, being six feet and one inch high, and weighing 225 pounds. He has always been very temperate in his habits, and as a conse- ¦quence enjoys perfect health. GOSSARD, ALVIN H., president of the Gossard Investment Company, of Kansas City was born in Ross county, O., January 14, 1852. He was a student at South Salem (O.) Academy, and from there entered Miami Uni versity at Oxford, O., where he remained untH compeHed by ill health to quit school without completing his collegiate course. Early in 1871 he came West with his parents and settled in Wichita, Kan., where he obtained a position as clerk in the Wichita Bank. By industry and close attention to business he gained such advancement of position that when the bank was converted into a National Bank the directors chose him to be its cashier, and he filled the position with ability and credit until January, 1874, when he resigned it to turn his attention to other interests. He began business for himself by placing loans on improved farms and city business property and selling them to financial institutions and capitalists in the East. He also, in connection with this business, organized, with the assistance of others, the Bank of Kingman, of Kingman, Kan., and the BeHe Plaine Bank, of Belle Plaine, Kan., in both of which he was the principal stockholder and of both of which he was president. These institutions pros pered under his management and became strong financial helpers in building up business in those towns and developing the surrounding country. In 1883 he removed to Kansas City, having disposed of his banking inter ests, with a view to making it his permanent home. He was the principal or ganizer and is president and principal stockholder of the Gossard Investment Company, which bears his name, and has succeeded to the business of the old firm of A. H. Gossard & Co., investment bankers. This is one of the leading institutions of its kind in the West, and its weH known success reflects great credit on Mr. Gossard as a projector, organizer and manager of extensive financial institutions. Mr Gossard is largely interested in real estate in the city, and never, for a moment, doubts its manifest great destiny as the distributing center of a vast productive and rapidly growing portion of our country ; and every proper means to its advancement receives his hearty and unqualified support He is a member of the Second Presbyterian Church of Kansas City and a member and treasurer ofits board of trustees. He was married in May, 1874, to Miss Alice Davidson, of Cuba, N. Y.; and they have two sons named Frederick A. and Charles O. Gossard. In personal appearance, Mr. Gossard is slight, but of wiry build, dark complexioned and of pleasing countenance. He is friendly ^•¦'3'bjiQwi'),v.vsa-BrD.W' Biographical. 533 and affable, unassuming to the least degree, and possesses social and business qualifications of the highest order. He is one of the youngest of Kansas City's leading citizens, and his success for his years has been very flattering. INGRAM, D. R., is a Pennsylvanian by birth, having first seen the light at Pittsburgh on April 14, 1847. He is the eldest of five boys, the son of Thomas S. Ingram, an iron worker of Pittsburgh, and Clarissa (McCracken) , Ingram. His early education was limited, his parents moving to a farm in the western part of the State when he was nine years old. Here he got no schooling except during the cold winter months. When he grew older the family removed to Buffalo, where they remained for three years, until sixteen, and then he took a course in the Iron City Commercial CoHege of Pittsburgh, becoming a most thor ough book-keeper. Book-keeping became his business and he followed it for twelve years, first in 1 867 in the interest of Gordon Brothers, wholesale grocers of Leavenworth, Kan,, for three years; then for the Pittsburgh Grain Elevator Com pany ; next for the National Bank of Commerce of Pittsburgh ; and lastly for the United Presbyterian Board of Publication. After being six years with the latter, he came to Kansas City, arriving here about January i, 1881. He en gaged with the Leis Chemical Manufacturing Company of Lawrence, Kan,, as manager of their business at this point Being possessed of rare financial abHity, Mr Ingram made a splendid success of the enterprise. He succeeded in buHding up the business of the company from practically nothing to the largest in the Hne in the city. At the end of four years he severed his connec tion with the Leis Chemical Company and engaged in the real estate and building business, and later he organized and became secretary and manager of the Ingram Stone Company, which has a paid up capital stock of $50,000, and is a most prosperous concern. He remains a large stockholder in the Leis Chemical Company. Mr Ingram was married on October 11, 1877, to Miss Carrie P. Johnson, of Pittsburgh, Pa. The four children of the family are very interesting little folks, the eldest, Edith Napier, being nine years old; Oliver R,, the second, seven; Everett L., five; and Charles L., the youngest, two and a half One of the most stable and trusted members of the present city council is Mr. Ingram. His majority in his ward, the tenth, was a handsome one, which speaks much for his popularity with his neighbors. He has always known success in Kansas City, while in Pennsylvania he succeeded on the whole, but poorly financially. At the time of the great panic in 1873 he was interested in the iron ore mining business, and instead of loss he realized steady gain until 1879, when, owing to the reduction of the tariff, his business suffered to such an extent that he lost all he had made. His present independent circumstances have been acquired in the last five years in this great money- making center. 534 History of Kansas City. LA FORCE, FELIX L. Mr La Force is a native Missourian. Born in Boone county. Mo., August 31, 1847, 's the third son of a family often children. His parents, natives of Kentucky, removed to Boone county. Mo., at an early date, being pioneer settlers. His father, Washington La Force was a farmer and stock raiser ; a man of integrity and high moral standing, exerting over those with whom he came in contact a Christian influence. His mother, born Pheraba Wright, daughter of Elijah Wright, a planter, who also came to Missouri in 1818. Felix L, La Force from the age of eight to thirteen attended the districted terms of the country schools, and acquired the rudiments of an education. At the age of thirteen he entered a dry goods store as an apprentice, at Columbia, Mo., remaining with the firm for a period of ten years, when he succeeded to a junior partnership. He then became eastern buyer and general manager for the firm, and continued in this capacity till 1880, when the busi ness had assumed considerable proportions. On February 25, 1880, he was married to Miss Ella EstiH, daughter of Col ond J. R. EstiH, of Howard county. Mo. Colonel EstiH's family being one of the oldest and most prominent and honorable in the annals of Kentucky and Missouri, In February, 1881, Mr La Force came to Kansas City, Mo., and in connec tion with Messrs. W. B. Grimes, W. S. Woods and James H. Dayton founded the extensive wholesale dry goods establishment of Grimes, Woods, La Force -& Co. His position in this firm was that of buyer and general manager untH January, 1883, when the firm was dissolved and its business assumed and suc ceeded by the W. B, Grimes Dry Goods Co. Mr La Force remained with this company as buyer until January i, 1885. He then engaged with his brother, W. B. La Force, in his present business, that of banking and general brokerage. He also operates extensively in buying, selling and improving Kansas City real estate, and is prominent in developing and promoting the material interests of the city, being a director in, and closely identified with several prominent finan cial and religious organizations of the city. Has the confidence and esteem of his feHow business associates, is a behever in the Christian religion and a prom inent member of the Christian Church. KNIGHT, WILLIAM BAKER. This gentleman, who has had so much to do with the projection, planning and construction of public improve ments and the cable railway system of Kansas City, was born in New York city June 15, 1848. He received a theoretical education as civH engineer at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, N. Y., and began the practice of his profession in November, 1867. He was employed in both field and office .work on the Hudson Highland Suspension Bridge. In Mav, 1868, he was Biographical. 535 employed in the surveying and dividing of Westchester county (N. Y.) property and in topographical surveys of other suburban property. In 1869 he was employed on the preliminary survey of the Poughkeepsie and Eastern Rail road in New York, and as Engineer in Charge of field work in town and high way surveys on Staten Island, N. Y. His next work was on the New Haven, Middletown and Willimantic Rail road in Connecticut, where he was connected with fifty miles of location and twenty miles of construction, including a wrought iron railroad bridge of 1,100 feet over the Connecticut River, as Transitman on location and Assistant Engi neer on bridge construction and in making hydrographical surveys of the river. In 1 87 1 he was on the preliminary survey and construction of the Brunswick and Albany Railroad, Georgia, as Assistant Engineer, and as Principal Assistant Engineer in making reconnaissance, surveys, estimates and specifications for the construction of the South Florida Railroad. In February, 1872, he began work on the New York, West Shore and Chicago Railroad, as Transitman in charge of field operations on about three hundred miles of preliminary lines and a hundred miles of location. January following he entered upon the work of enlargement of the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad for four tracks, and was employed in preliminary surveys and estimates, and during construction as Assistant Engineer in charge of the Little Falls Divi.sion twenty-five miles. In September, 1874, he became connected with the Board of Public Works of the city of Washington, D. C, and was employed in the construction of the main sewer system, laying out new streets, and upon general city improvements, as Assistant Engineer in charge of the Eastern Division. In October, 1875, as chief engineer and assistant superintendent he was engaged in the extension, operation and management of the Lake Erie, EvansviHe and Southwestern Railroad in Indiana. His next important ap pointment was in the Department of Public Parks, New York, in drainage works in new wards, and as Assistant Engineer and inspector on construction, though in the interval he had been employed on surveys and assessment maps in New York, his first work dating from November, 1876, and his second from August, 1877, when he was appointed City Surveyor. From February, 1878, to August, 1879, he was in the service of the Pan ama Railroad Company as assistant to the general superintendent in the opera tion and management of the road. At the expiration of this period he came to Kansas City and established the firm of Knight & Bontecou, Civil Engineers, the members of which are W. B. Knight and Daniel Bontecou, and since that time has been actively engaged in professional practice. He laid out the Union Transit Company's Line (now part of the Belt Railroad); was Engineer on the improvement of terminal facilities for the Kansas City, Fort Scott and Gulf Railroad Company under Mr. George H. Nettleton ; designed and con- 536 History of Kansas City. structed the Arkansas City Canal at Arkansas City, Kan.; was employed on engineering work for the Union Depot Company, and planned and executed much other important work. In April, 1882, he was appointed City Engineer of Kansas City by Mayor BuHene, and was reappointed and served three years. Mr Knight's firm were Chief Engineers for the Grand Avenue and Metro politan Railway Companies on the construction of about twenty miles of double-track cable railways, Mr. Knight being the engineer in charge of the latter and Mr. Bontecou of the former company's system. As Chief Engineer, Mr. Knight designed and constructed two double-track cable railway lines — the Fifth Street and Wyandotte Extensions, three and one-half miles long, and the Twelfth Street Line, four and one- fourth miles long. In 1887 he was appointed Chief Engineer of the Kansas City Belt Railway, and had charge of building the double tracks and other improvements of that line. They also served as Consulting Engineers for the St. Louis Cable and Western Railroad Company of St. Louis. From the foregoing brief sketch of Mr. Knight's professional career, it will be seen that he has been prominently identified with many of the great im provements which have made Kansas City known over the whole country. He was elected a Junior of the American Society of Civil Engineers in 1874, and transferred to a full membership in 1879. He was elected a member of the Civil Engineers' Club of St. Louis in 1886, and at the organization of the Kansas City Engineers' Club in 1887 was elected its President and he was re elected in 1888 to the same position. He is still a young man, full of energy and enterprise, and thoroughly devoted to his profession. Politically, he was bred a Republican, but he is inclined to be Independent in his views and has never been an office seeker, or in any sense a politician, his professional work having engrossed all his care and attention. He was married in 1886 to Miss Mollie Frye, of Independence, Mo. LILLIS, JAMES. Among the foremost of those men who contributed so much to the growth and drve'lopment of Kansas City, was Mr. James Lillis. He was born in the county of Clare, Ireland, in 1836, a county which has given birth to so many heroes and to so many true men; While he was yet a boy this man — for he suddenly became a man — faced the world. He made his own fight He was everything that was true, noble and brave. He was self made. Such had been the stress of circumstances, and such had been the surrounding of his birth, that he was, while yet in his youth, cast upon his own resources. Ireland, which has given so many heroes and patriots to the world, is not lavish in her gifts to those who come to America. We give below a full and complete history of what Mr. James Lillis has done in this country. ^n^lri/Iell/iUkims SSro.HT ^-^^^^-^^^-^^S^ Biographical. 537 Mr. Lillis has built as many miles of railroad as any other individual living in the State of Missouri, and his experience covers over thirty years. He has been a contractor on the Burlington and Missouri River, K. C. M, and M. Mis souri Pacific Lexington and Southern Chicago and Alton Railroads, and the Kansas City Elevated Steam Moter Road, And while he has met with disap pointments in business, his courage has never been daunted. He has always made the best of his situation, and he is recognized throughout the State as -entirely safe and responsible. He remained in La Fayette county until it became quite evident to him that Kansas City was to be the center of business in the West, He came to Kansas City when the city began its big boom, and since his coming he has thoroughly identified himself with its interest His departure from Lexington, where he was so well known and highly esteemed, was a source of regret to all the citizens of that place. They felt they were loosing one of their truest and most popular men, and one whom they could not spare well at that time. In June, 1880, he laid the foundation of a most successful career in Kansas City, for since his first undertaking until the present day everything seemed to favor him. However, for the past four years he has used the most of his time and energy in constructing cable railway lines. He built the entire sys tem of the Kansas City Cable Road now in operation, and is still employed by the owners of the road in their new enterprises He has built other lines in the city, and when the projectors of a cable line in Omaha' conceived the idea of constructing a road in that city, they looked to Kansas City for competent men to perform their work. They gave Mr. Lillis charge of the construction ¦of their entire road, knowing that they could find no more responsible and experienced person. Mr. Lillis is now engaged in several enterprises, and his past record as a keen business man justifies the confidence placed in him and gives an assur ance that his undertakings will terminate most successfully. In personal appearance, Mr. Lillis is tall, portly built and well- formed, having a grand physique, an active temperament, and a very pleasant and agreeable countenance lie is noble- hearted, pure-minded, and generous, giv ing largely to charitable purposes, and many have grateful memories of his bounty. In politics he is a Democrat. He is a man of sound and accurate judgment in politics, as in everything else In February, 1887, as a recogni tion of his fidelity to his party, and unsullied standing in the community. Gov ernor Marmaduke appointed him police commissioner of Kansas City, a posi tion he still holds to the satisfaction of the citizens. In religion Mr. Lillis is a member of the Catholic Church. He is the father of a large family — eleven children being the fruit of his marriage, all living, and natives of this State. He has done for them all in a father's power, and his only happiness is to see them together enjoying themselves under his roof He has made his home 538 History of Kansas City. pleasant and attractive, and his wife, whose countenance bespeaks a true and noble soul, leaves nothing undone to promote the happiness of her husband and children. He has given all his children a sound and thorough Christian education. His eldest son, Thomas F., is a priest of the diocese of Kansas City, and at present administrator of St. Patrick's parish, in the city. The ordination of his son to the priesthood was a source of gratification to Mr LHlis and his family, and they fed honored in the reverend gentieman's voca tion. Mr LiHis's friends can be numbered by the thousands, and those who know him intimately esteem him very highly for his many manly quahties and his general worth as a citizen and man. JOHNSON, H. L. During the War of the Revolution Captain Ebenezer Johnson, a Yankee sea captain of Welsh descent, was a noted privateers- man in the American service. From first to last he was in sixteen sea fights with the British and was seven times taken prisoner His son, Dr Ebenezer Johnson, was a prominent physician and came to Buffalo, N. Y., as early as 1809 to practice his profession. He was a surgeon in the American army during the War of 1812, and was the mayor of the city of Buffalo during the first two terms of its corporate existence. He married Lucy E. Lord, who was a daughter of Rev. John Lord, of Madison county, N. Y., a sister of Rev. John C. Lord, D.D,, of Buffalo, and of Hon, Scott Lord, the distinguished lawyer and Democratic statesman, late of New York city. She came of Puri tan ancestry— from the Lords and Chases of New Hampshire. To the union of Dr Ebenezer Johnson and his wife Lucy there were born three children, of whom the subject of this sketch is one. Herbert Lord Johnson was born in Buffalo, N. Y., January 4, 1837, in the " Johnson Cottage," which stHl remains a prominent historical building in that city. He received an academic education at Geneseo Academy, and after leaving school studied law and was admitted to the practice at the age of twenty- one. For several years he was the law partner of his uncle, that ac compHshed master of American jurisprudence, justly renowned not only for his abHities as a lawyer, but for his high character as a statesman, and for his per sonal worth — the Hon. Scott Lord.^ In i860 Mr. Johnson married Amelia Greene, daughter of Thomas J. Greene, a prominent and wealthy merchant of Montreal, Canada. In 1 87 1 Mr. Johnson came with his family to the West. After spending some years at various points, he became satisfied that Kansas City presented better prospects for growth and development to metropolitan proportions than ' As an evidence of the personal popularity of Mr. Lord, the reader is reminded that in 1874 he was elected to Congress as a Democrat from the Utica, N. Y., district, which was then and is now overwhelmingly Republican. At that time he was the law partner of Roscoe Conkling. Biographical. 539 any other locality of equal immaturity in the wide world. In 1879 he located here and was admitted to the practice of law. But opportunities for engaging in a profitable business outside of his profession soon presented themselves in such attractive form that he was induced to lay aside his law books and engage therein. He became identified with the real estate interests of the city, and this relation he still sustains. From the first he has been eminently successful. Soon after he had established himself in the real estate business, being thoroughly possessed with the idea — since formulated into words by Roscoe Conkhng — that "there are but three great cities of the future. New York, Chicago, and Kansas City," in 1880 he went to New York city to induce certain of his friends there to invest in what he felt sure was the cheapest property in the world. It may be well to state, as well for future reference as for present consideration, that at that time a lot on the corner of Baltimore avenue and Ninth street — forty feet front — was offered for $2,000, or $50 per foot ; sixty feet on Delaware street, near Ninth, now owned by the New York Life Insurance Company, was held at $200 per foot ; the corner of Eighth and Wyandotte streets, now occupied by the Board of Trade building, at $90 per foot ; and even at these tempting figures, which now seem so ridiculously low as not to be mentioned without hesitation, the conservative Knickerbockers feared then to take them, so little confidence had they in investments in the great West In 1880 Mr. Johnson formed a co-partnership with Mr George Clouser, and later with Mr E. M. Wright. He has been very actively and prominently engaged in the development of the city, and has been among the pioneers in the inauguration of various important enterprises for its expansion and ad vancement He was prominently connected with the first South Main and Walnut Street movement — built the first modern house in Pendleton Heights — and started the East Bottom enterprise ; in the latter scheme he opened the sales at $125 per acre. In 1882 he was actively interested in the Asphalt Block Pavement scheme, for paving the streets. For the promotion of this enterprise he effected a preliminary organization of certain prominent citizens — among whom were Thomas B, BuHene, Major William Warner, L. R, Moore, and others — for manufacturing and laying the pavement but the consulting engineer, Mr. Robert GiHham, rendered an opinion that there would not be enough street paving done in Kansas City to justify the investment, and so the project failed. Although the engineer's opinion seemed well grounded then, it appears, to say the least, remarkable now, when the city has already fifty miles of paved streets and a bewildering network of railway cable lines. In 1886-7 the lands north of Kansas City and across the Missouri, in Clay county, were not visibly influenced by the city's rise and progress. Many tracts were yet unbroken and virgin ; others had not passed beyond the char acter of average Missouri farms. The proposed advent of the Chicago, Mil- 54° History of Kansas City. waukee and St. Paul Railway, and its projected steel bridge over the Missouri at a point near the northeastern limits of the city, attracted the attention of certain men alert to discover and forecast the signs of the times ! Mr. Johnson was one of the first to see and to seize upon the opportunity for profitable in vestment presented by this combination of fortuitous circumstances. He has taken a leading part in the development of this new manufacturing district, wherein there sprung into active existence, within twelve months, the town of Randolph, with its remarkable coal shaft, its manufactories, and the extensive car-shops of the Wabash Western Railway, and the town of Birmingham, with its magnificent plant and 500-horse-power engine of the Kansas City Car and Wheel Works, an enterprise of great magnitude and invaluable im portance. Mineral springs of established value have been discovered in this district on the four hundred acre tract comprising the new town of Glenn Arbor Steam brick- works, to facihtate the procuring of building material, have here been erected, and the construction of depots and hotels inaugurated. The place is destined to become a popular pleasure and health resort The site is admirable, commanding as it does a vast expansive view of the surrounding cities, embracing within the range of vision a magnificent panorama of town and country, field and forest a great river, and numerous railways. Two other enterprises of moment have been actively pushed forward by Mr Johnson, viz.: The building of a wagon bridge over the Missouri on the batteau or pontoon plan at Randolph Point and the construction of a motor line of railroad from this bridge to Liberty, Mo., a franchise for which latter enterprise was granted in April, 1888, to Mr Johnson and Major W. N. Ew ing, of Kansas City, and Hon. John M. AHen and Major Samuel Hardwicke, of Liberty. As has been shown, Mr Johnson is thoroughly and permanentiy identified with the interests of Kansas City, and his destiny is involved in hers. His oldest son, Eben E. Johnson, and his youngest son, Wm. Chester Johnson, are assodated with him in business, under the firm name of H. L. Johnson & Co., from which a former partner, Mr John E. Lord, son of Scott Lord, re tired in 1887. His second son, Herbert L. Johnson, jr, is an architect also in Kansas City. He has also two daughters, Eleanor O. Johnson and Cedlia A. Johnson. Mr Johnson has been a life- long member of the Presbyterian Church. In his local church relation he is a member of the Second Presbyterian Church of Kansas City, and was also one of the founders, and at present a trustee of the Fourth Church. In all his relations he is a gentleman of the strictest rectitude and integrity and possesses all the attributes of a consistent Chris tian and a true man. ^0^ ^^^^ ¦i ^^ifiii'iiii ~^ t m ^"'byS.^SMiXls SanE.iTen'^SfX Biographical. 541 PAYNE, Hon. Milton J. In the following sketch is most strikingly Hlus- trated the fact that force of character and well-directed energy, steadfast purpose and never-ceasing efforts successfully accomplish noble ends and sur mount all obstacles which beset the progress of every young man who, unaided and alone, enters the great business channels of the world to combat with life's realities and carve his own way to prominence and fortune. MHton J. Payne was born in Christian county, Ky, October 29, 1829. His father, Edward Payne (son of Rev. James Payne, a highly esteemed minis ter of the Baptist Church), died in the year 1840, leaving seven children, of whom Milton was the second, and an estate which was insufficient for the sup port and liberal education of the children. This fact was quickly recognized by young Payne, who, two years after his father's death, appealed to his wid owed mother for her consent to enter a printing-office in Hopkinsville, the county town, as an apprentice. Her assent was finally given, and he became the "printer's devil" in the office of the Hopkinsville Gazette, the only paper then published in the county. Here he remained two years, devoting his leisure time to study, and his evenings were spent with a teacher of one of the town schools, who had taken a lively interest in his education. He was soon •offered a position in a dry goods house, and, having tired of type-setting, .accepted it gladly. Here he quickly developed such rare business tact and energy for one so young that his services were eagerly sought by the other leading merchants of Hopkinsville, and finally he secured a position with A. -Gant & Sons, the most extensive dealers, for a term of years. He remained with the firm, by whom he was highly esteemed, until March, 1849, when he withdrew from their employment, intending to seek fame and fortune in the •" New Eldorado," as California was then coming to be known. After paying a brief visit to his mother, who had again married and settled in Illinois, he took his departure for the west in March, 1849. On his arrival in St. Louis he took quarters at the City Hotel, of which the well-known and popular Theron Barnum was the proprietor That gentieman took a deep interest in the young stranger and persuaded him to abandon his California trip, assuring him profitable employment in St. Louis if he would remain. This promise he fulfilled by securing for young Payne a good position in one -of the largest dry goods houses in the city, which he held until October, 1850, when he relinquished it to accept a partnership in a dry goods and clothing house to be opened in Kansas City, which was then attracting attention as an outfitting post and landing for the Indian and New Mexican trade. This ven ture was not a success, and in the following spring the firm was dissolved and the business brought to a termination. With not a doHar of capital left, Mr Payne yet had industry, reputation and business capacity in such a marked degree that he was at once offered, and as promptly accepted, a lucrative position as salesman with the then largest 69 542 History of Kansas City. dry goods house here — that of Walker, Boyd & Chick. He remained with this house until 1856, when he resigned his position in order to give his entire attention to the office of mayor of Kansas City, to which he had been elected in June, 1855, and to which he was re-elected in the years 1856, 1857, 1858, 1859, and 1862. As mayor he early developed a spirit of improvement, and so rapidly worked up pubhc enterprise that a new life seemed to have been given the embryo city. Streets were graded and macadamized, public build ings were erected, and railway projects were kept constantly in view. It was during these years that the magnificent railroad system now operated in the city had its origin. The city officials and the Chamber of Commerce were co-operating in splendid unity to advance the railroad projects. In 1862 Mr. Payne was elected to the State Legislature from Jackson county, and was re-elected in 1864. During his absence in the East to pro mote railway interests, in 1866, he was nominated for State Senator from his district He received a majority of the votes cast ; but for alleged informality the returns from a township in Jackson county which gave him a large major ity were thrown out by the canvassing board, which was politically opposed to- him, and the certificate of election was given his opponent As a member of the House of Representatives he was active, successful, and popular To his efforts and ability are largely due the passage of a bill for the construction of the Missouri Pacific Railway to Kansas City. Of this important line he was recognized as the staunch and able champion, and he was likewise conspicuous in the support of the biH providing for the building of the west branch of the North Missouri Railroad (now the St. Louis, Kansas City and Wabash) to this city. Mr. Payne has probably done as much toward advancing the railroad interests of the " Gate City" as any of his contemporaries. He was an incor. porator of several raHroads, helping to organize them with his time and money when necessary. He was particularly prominent in assisting the Kansas City, Fort Scott and Gulf Railroad, of which he was an incorporator and stock holder, canvassing the border counties of Kansas and speaking at public meet ings in favor of county subscriptions to its stock. He was one of the delegates appointed to represent Kansas City at a conference held by the United States government with the Southern Indians, at Fort Smith, Ark., in 1865, to pro cure a clause in a proposed treaty for the restoration of governmental rela tions with those tribes (which had been interrupted by the Civil War) for the right of way through the Indian Territory of the Kansas City, Fort Scott and Gulf Railway. An account of this mission and its success wiH be found else where in this work. As a citizen Mr. Payne has always been prominently identified with all enterprises conducive to the public good. He has been the president of the Kansas City Gas and Coke Company since its organization^ and is the president of the Union Cemetery Association of Kansas City. He Biographical. 543 is a large owner of real estate and the possessor of an ample fortune, which he has accumulated entirely by his own efforts. In 1852 Mr. Payne was married to Mary Adeline Prudhomme, the young est child of Gabriel Prudhomme, who entered the land which was the original site of Kansas City, by whom there were born to him six children, four of whom are living, and who died November 10, 1867. She was a most attrac tive woman, of modest demeanor, charitable to the last degree, and dearly beloved by all who knew her. In February, 1885, Mr. Payne again married, having been a widower for eighteen years, taking for his wife Miss Nettie S. Smith, whose parents came to Kansas City from New Jersey many years ago. Mr. Payne is small in stature, weighing about one hundred and thirty pounds ; he is affable, cultured and refined, and possesses much personal magnetism ; he is a ready, fluent and forcible talker, logical and conservative of mind ; and it is entirely safe to say that Kansas City has not a more highly esteemed citizen nor a more energetic and enterprising business man. CLARKE, WILLIAM BINGHAM. The name of W. B. Clarke is illus trious not in Kansas City alone, where he is prominent in financial and social circles, but throughout the States of Missouri and Kansas, and in fact all States and territories tributary to Kansas City. He was born in Cleveland, O., April 15, 1848, his parents being the late Aaron Clarke, formerly of Litchfield, Conn., and Caroline E. Bingham, of Andover, in the same State. He was educated in the public and private schools of his native city, and afterwards studied law and was admitted to the bar. In his subsequent career as banker, financier, and capitalist he found his legal attainments invaluable. He acquired a practical mastery of the banking business in two of the largest banks in Cleveland, and in 1869 visited the northwestern States and Kansas in search of a favorable locality for engaging in banking on his own account, deciding at length upon Abilene, Kan., then the headquarters of the Texas cattle trade for the west, and a place of rapid growth and much promise, which had all the wild characteristics of the typical frontier town. Mr. Clarke, ever strictly temperate and wearing no weapons in this lawless community, was always treated with respect and had no personal difficulties with the element he had to deal with. He here established and carried on a successful and rapidly increasing business, until, after the change and scatter ing of the cattle trade, he removed to Junction City, Kan., and organized the First National Bank of that place, which he afterwards purchased and changed to a private banking house bearing his name. He early saw the advantages in buying bonds in aH parts of the State and negotiating them in the east, where money was more plentiful and conse quently cheaper. He has conducted his " Kansas Bond Bureau " for nearly twenty years without the loss of a dollar to any of his clients. 544 History of Kansas City. Following the panic of 1873, a county upon whose bonds he had advanced a large sum of money repudiated its obligations, causing him a total loss of the whole sum invested. On the heels of this misfortune (for misfortunes never come singly), came the suspension of several of his correspondents, followed by a run on his bank which forced him to make an assignment for the benefit of his depositors. He called a meeting of his creditors, made a statement of his financial condition, and the causes which led to it, and laid before them a prop osition to pay them twenty-five per cent of his indebtedness, which, such was their confidence in his integrity, they accepted without a murmur and signed a full release. He was thus enabled to keep his bank open and continue his legal warfare against the delinquent county to recover the sum due him. Not long afterward, to his own gratification, and much to the surprise of his credi tors, he was enabled to declare a dividend of ten per cent on his discharged indebtedness. At the end of seven years, having won his case through the United States Supreme Court, at great expense, he collected the amount of the repudiated bonds, with interest, and at once declared a further dividend of sixty-five per cent and interest for the entire time depositors had been deprived of the use of their money. In his determination to discharge every shadow of obligation against him, he even made good to certificate holders their losses in seHing their claims done at the moment of his suspension when the excitement was at fever heat. This way of doing business, all too uncommon everywhere, and which Mr. Clarke could not have been legally compelled to do, was widely commented upon and discussed by the press throughout the country, no such record ever having been made by a banker before. No combination of circumstances could have inspired the public with greater confidence in Mr Clarke than this misfortune, and the able manner in which he extricated himself and others from its effects. After relieving him self from these moral obHgations, which seemed to worry him more than his creditors, he continued his banking and bond business with remarkable success, for he had come to be recognized as the most extensive and best informed dealer in municipal bonds in the State. In 1886, having been chosen president of the Merchants' National Bank of Kansas City, in which he was a large stockholder, he reorganized his private bank at Junction City, Kan., into the First National Bank of that city, of which he retained the presidency, leaving its home management largely to the men who had been with him for many years He then removed with his fam ily to Kansas City, to assume the personal direction of the Merchants' National Bank, to which he imparted a perceptible and healthy impulse which has re sulted in placing it among the foremost banking institutions of the city. When telephones were being introduced throughout the east Mr Clarke's attention was attracted to their utility for business and other purposes and he Biographical. 545 invested largely in the stock of the Missouri and Kansas Telephone Company, becoming its president. During his administration the business grew to a remarkable degree, largely covering the field indicated by its name and the Indian Territory, now coming into prominence as a most promising and exten sive section of the great country contributing to the growth of Kansas City- Other important enterprises calculated to enhance the prosperity of the city and open up its tributary country, have always received his liberal and practical co-operation, and he is prominent in the city's financial, commercial, social and religious circles, and helpful to all in a remarkable degree. He is a Knight Templar Mason, an executive officer of the Kansas City Club, a director of several benevolent associations, and conspicuously identified with various other interests of a charitable, social, and business character. Too busy a man to enter the political field, he has decisively decHned sev eral important official positions which have been tendered him. As a layman in the Protestant Episcopal Church, he has always been prominent, and still holds several offices of trust and responsibility in the diocese of Kansas, having several times been elected delegate to the triennial convention of the Protes tant Episcopal Church of the United States. In 1876 he married at Junction City, Kan., Miss Kate E., daughter of Mr George Rockwell, a native of Ridgefield, Conn., and Mrs. Catherine C. (West- lake) Rockwell, formerly of Newburg- on- the- Hudson. They have two chil dren — William Rockwell Clarke, aged ten years, and Bertrand RockweH Clarke, aged five years. Mr, Clarke, now in his fortieth year, enjoys the well earned respect of all who know him. PORTER, DAVID RITTENHOUSE. This gentleman— one of Kansas City's most prominent physicians and citizens — was born in Jefferson county, O., November 23, 1838, and received his education at Richmond, O. At the age of twenty years he removed to the State of Iowa, where he began the study of medicine, graduating from the medical department of the State University, and later attended BeHevue Hospital Medical College, New York, receiving from that institution his second degree of Doctor of Medicine and Surgery. In 1 861 Dr Porter enlisted in the United States army and was commis sioned assistant surgeon of the Fifth Kansas Volunteer Cavalry, which position he fiHed with credit to himself and the regiment with which he was connected, until honorably mustered out of service, January 8, 1865, by reason of the ex piration of his term of service. Having passed jthrough Kansas City during his army experience, Dr Por ter was favorably impressed with its location and prospective greatness, hence he selected it as his future home, in the early part of 1865, and at once identi- 546 History of Kansas City. fred himself with the medical profession of the city and its leading interests. He served the dty as alderman in 1876, and as president of the board of health and dty physician in 1878 and 1879. He is a member of the Missouri and Kansas State Medical Societies, and has served as recording secretary and vice-president of the former ; was one of the delegates to represent the State Medical Sodety of Missouri in the International Medical Congress, which con vened in Philadelphia in 1876; was one of the founders of the Kansas City Medical CoHege in 1869, and has since been continuously a professor and teacher in the same, and was associate editor and proprietor of the- Kansas City Medical Journal in 1874. In the welfare of Kansas City Dr. Porter has always taken an active inter est showing his faith in its future importance by the erection of a number of valuable buildings. He was one of the organizers of the Kansas City Savings Bank, and one of its directors until its partial reorganization in the present year He was married in 1870 to OHie J, Smith, of Kalamazoo, Mich., by whom he has one son — Pierre M. Porter. HARRIS, T A. Kansas City which it may be said has been known as an important place only about ten or fifteen years, adds so rapidly to her population that only a very small proportion of her present residents are Mis sourians. Active, energetic men from all parts of the union and from Europe, have been attracted here by her marvelous growth and brilliant opportunities for money making, and among the thousands who have come within the past few years, none are better known than Thomas A. Harris, who has been a res ident here only about five years, yet who, by his abHity and progressive spirit has taken a position second to that of no other. Captain Harris, as he is familiarly known, was born in the county of Lon donderry, Ireland, in 1844, and came to the United States in 1859. His uncle resided in New Orleans and was engaged in the cotton export trade, and young Harris entered his office as assistant book-keeper. After the opening of the civil war, every spirited young man in the South became a soldier, and Mr. Harris, who was already a member of a military company, went with his com mand to Virginia, and saw a great deal of service with Lee's army. After the war Mr. Harris came to New York and embarked successfully in the shipping business there, continuing until 1868, when he went to London, England, where he did an extensive American grain business until 1877, when he again crossed the Atlantic. Having grown tired of the uncertainty of deal ing in grain, he came west for the first time in 1879, with a view to engaging in real railroad construction, to which he devoted his energies for five or six years. Then, attracted by the fame and glowing promise,of Kansas City, he came here, and on the day of his arrival obtained employment on the Fort Scott Railroad from General Manager Nettleton, He was afterwards em- -''IniZC- miiamsSctri'S^ z:iAyi^o<:7 Biographical. 547 ployed on the Belt road, having charge of construction under Chief Engineer Bontecou. About three years and a half ago he abandoned railroad work to enter the real estate business, in which he has been very successful, and a year or more since he formed a co-partnership with Colonel W. S. Wilson, formerly of LouisviHe, Ky., now one of the most popular residents of Kansas City, under the style of T. A. Harris & Wilson, and the firm has been remarkably- success ful and stands as high as any other in the business anywhere in the West. Mr. Harris is best known to the people here through his connection with the National Exposition which opened last year When the projector of the exposition enterprise found it a greater undertaking than he had anticipated, and had exhausted his means without accomplishing his purpose, he disclosed the situation of affairs to the firm of T. A. Harris & Wilson, who suggested the formation of a corporation with a paid-up capital of $200,000, the projector having already expended $60,000, and $140,000 more being required to carry the enterprise forward, and with this end in view Messrs. T. A. Harris & Wil son had a public meeting called at which the matter was discussed by leading business men of the city ; and it was determined to organize a company with the purpose mentioned. Mr. T. A. Harris made the first subscription of $5,000; Messrs. H. P. Stimson and Walton Holmes followed with subscrip tions for $5,000 each, and others came with smaller subscriptions, and a con siderable sum was pledged at the first meeting. Several other meetings were held, committees were appointed to solicit subscriptions, and shortly the capi tal was subscribed and the company was incorporated. It was during this preliminary work that Mr. Harris began to exhibit signal ability in directing the movement, meeting squarely and overcoming every difficulty as it was presented. It was conceded by all that he was eminently fitted for the presi dency of the Exposition Company, and the directors unanimously called him to that position. Innumerable difficulties surrounded him, and serious problems confronted him which had to be solved quickly and correctly. President Har ris gave his time and untiring energy to the work, guiding it by his superior executive ability. He fearlessly met combated and overcame all obstacles, and pushed the work rapidly ahead in every department. The striking per sonality of the man pervaded the entire enterprise and made and kept him the central figure in it, insuring him the cheerful and efficient co-operation of his associate directors. His suggestions, his counsel, his instructions, were sought by all connected with the work. Heavy draughts were made on his clear brain and quick powers of thought, but he never flagged until the enterprise, so far as he was concerned, became a conspicuous success. He proved him self the man for the emergency, verified the wisdom of his associates in select ing him and is accredited by all cognizant of the facts, with the achievement of a work which required iron nerve, a fine command of men, the best judg ment, exceptional financial ability and wonderful executive power He re- 548 History of Kansas City. tained the office of president of the National Exposition Company until Janu ary, 1888. Mr. Harris is a firm believer in the destiny of Kansas City, and at the present time is one of the largest resident owners of real estate. He takes a great interest in military affairs and was unanimously elected major of the Third Regiment National Guard of Missouri. He believes that the war between the States was inevitable ; that slavery could never have been eradicated by any other means than civil war; and not only does he accept the result freely and fully, but he publicly and privately expresses his friendship and esteem for every man who fought to sustain and perpetuate forever the government of the United States as a nation complete and inseparable. JARVIS, SAMUEL M. The rapid movement of a large population out upon the plains lying west of the Missouri River, and the resulting growth and re-adjustment of western trade and money centers have created a de mand for great leaders. Among those who have felt the instinct of leadership and assumed command of great movements, none were better prepared by experience and training than Samuel M. Jarvis. He was born and educated in Illinois, gained his business training largely in Kansas, and entered Kansas City by its western gate, but there is no man within its borders who has a firmer hold on the confidence of conservative wealthy men all over the East and in Europe — men who demand in their financial coadjutors caution and a minute attention to detail, as well as the ability to plan and boldly execute new projects. The Jarvis family has a large branch in New England and another in the South. Mr Jarvis's great-grandfather was, in the last century, a large slave owner in Virginia. One of his sons, however, had so much of the Northern conviction of the wrongfulness of slave-holding, that when the time came for the estate to be divided he refused to take any slaves, and betook himself westward to Kentucky. From there his son moved to the free State of Illi nois, where, in McDonough county,Samuel M. Jarvis was born. Mr. Jarvis's early life was spent on his father's farm, where he acquired the rugged frame and habits of hard work that characterize him, and took prac tical lessons in the valuation of farming lands that have helped not a little in making him the unerring judge of such property, that his investments have proved him to be. His education was gained first at the district school and later at the Mc Donough Normal CoHege In 1871 he married Miss Priscilla Wear, and in the same year moved to Kansas, where he located in Cowley county, in the littie town of Winfidd, at that time ninety miles from a railroad. He pre empted some land, and settled upon and worked it but plunged at once into outside pursuits, feeling that his activities required greater outlet than, farm fiHI.emHans HBnM ^k.-^>U Biographical. 549 life afforded. He taught school, traded in lands, and made mortgage loans for Illinois friends, and at odd times and during evenings read law in the office of Hon. A. J. Pyburn, then and since one of the foremost lawyers of Cowley county. In 1 876 he was admitted to the bar, and the firm of Pyburn & Jarvis was formed. Its career was cut short by the rapid growth of the loaning busi ness, which Mr. Jarvis had started, and which soon demanded aH his time ; but the knowledge of real estate law and Kansas practice, gained from his as sociation with Senator Pyburn, as student and partner, is an element of mate rial value in the conduct of the corporation of which he is now president, and his contracts and transactions bear the evident marks of a careful calculation of the exact legal effect of what he says and does. From this time on Mr. Jarvis was one of the most prominent characters of the southern sections of the State. Railroads sought entrance to the county, and solicited and received the aid of his influence. A prominent life insurance company of New England made him its financial agent in that district and every client who bought land or loaned moneys through his agency reaped a certain harvest. The partnership of Jarvis, Conklin & Co. was formed in 1878, and in 1881 its business was removed to Kansas City, as the best point from which the house could handle its loaning business, which had already over spread the State. Mr. Jarvis made many trips to the East and one to Europe in furtherance of the business of the firm, and visited every State of the Union with the exception of Georgia, the Carolinas, and those upon the Pacific coast. In 1884 he founded and became the first president of the Farmers' and Drovers' Bank, at Kingman, Kansas, and later assisted in the organization of the Bank of Columbus, Kansas, of which he was made vice-president. Since his residence in Kansas City he has taken an active part in several successful enterprises of great prominence and public value; he is president of the Jar vis-Conklin Mortgage Trust Company; was one of the incorporators of the Metropolitan Street Railway Company, and is a member of the Hyde Park Syndicate. He was one of the founders and is president of the Land Title Guarantee Company, and is a director in the New England Safe Deposit and Trust Company. That he is a man of social tastes is shown by the presence of his name among those of the directors of the Kansas City Club, but those who seek him outside of business hours usually find him with his hospitable wife and three bright chHdren at his beautiful home in Hyde Park. PULLMAN, DAVID. Mr Pullman was born at Queenstown, Yorkshire, England, July 3, 1841. In 1849 his father came to America and located near Alexandria, Va. When Virginia seceded Mr Pullman remained loyal to the Union. In the spring of 1862 he left Alexandria and went west to Ohio. In September, 1862, he enlisted in the U. S. Naval Service, and was ordered to the U. S. gunboat Indianola, then lying at Cincinnati. In December foHowing 70 S50 History of Kansas City. he was promoted to master's mate, and transferred to the U. S. steamer Spring field. June 22, 1864, he was promoted to ensign, and transferred to the U. S. steamer General Burnside as executive officer. He saw three years of active service. At the termination of the war, and on his final discharge in Novem ber, 1865, he returned to Alexandria, Va,, and for a time engaged in merchan- 'dising. In March, 1867, he was appointed assistant assessor of the U. S. Inter nal Revenue for the Seventh Virginia District In October following he was appointed ganger of the same district In July, 1869, he resigned the position and for ten years thereafter was extensively engaged in contracting in Mary land, Virginia, and the District of Columbia. In May, 1879, Mr PuHman came to Kansas City, and since then has been actively engaged in contracting — build ing foundations for some of the largest structures in the city. He owns exten sive quarries near the city, and employs a large force of mechanics and laborers. Mr. Pullman was married October 20, 1866, to Miss Annie A. Studds, of Al exandria, Va. They have four children, three sons and a daughter. Mr. Pull- sman is well known in Kansas City. He is energetic and honorable and a self- made man. MCDONALD, WITTEIN. Mr McDonald was born in Wyoming county. West Virginia, June 4, 1846. His parents, Stephen and Susannah (Black) McDonald, were both natives of the Old Dominion, and his ancestors on both sides were soldiers of the Revolution and of the War of 18 12. His remote ancestors came to America from Glencoe, Scotland. His father was a farmer and stock raiser, who died in 1852, leaving a widow with three daughters and seven sons. Of the latter the subject hereof was the youngest. In 1857 Mrs. McDonald removed with her family to Livingston county. Mo., settling on a farm four miles north of Chillicothe, and here Mr. McDonald was reared to early manhood. He was educated in the common schools and at St. Paul's College, Palmyra, Mo. In August, 1868, he associated himself with J. W. Hearne, and engaged in the lumber business at CarroHton, Mo. In 1873 he succeeded to the business as sole proprietor, and immediately established branch houses at Brunswick and Norborne, Mo. In January, 1878, the McDonald Lumber Company was organized and incorporated, and Mr McDonald was placed in charge of the financial department. He held the office of treasurer untH in 1883, when he was made president, which position he stiH holds His brother, A. J. Mc Donald, succeeded him as treasurer The company established yards at Kan sas City, St Joseph, and several other prominent Missouri towns. Its busi ness became extensive and profitable, and in 1879 'ts headquarters were transferred to Kansas City. In 1882 a large manufacturing plant at Wausau, Wis., and extensive tracts of pine lands in the Wisconsin River district were purchased.' This was prob- Biographical. 551 ably the first house to sell from its yards at retail, lumber taken by its own operatives "from the stump." Logs cut from the company's lands were man ufactured into all grades of lumber and sold through its retail yards directly to consumers. Soon after the death of Kemper McDonald, who was the first president of the company, the smaller retail yards were disposed of, and the business of the company largely concentrated at Wausau. From the date of the organization of this corporation Mr McDonald has had general super vision of its affairs, and its marked success is largely due to his management. It is notable that the mills of the McDonald Lumber Company have run con tinuously, and that among all of its many employees there has never been a striker. Possibly one reason for this may be derived from an anecdote related by a wealthy capitalist, who, though much older, had become warmly attached to Mr McDonald. The company took formal possession of the mills on Saturday. One of the superintendents approached Mr. McDonald and made inquiries regarding the extent of some repairs which were to be made on the following day. To these inquiries Mr. McDonald responded: "To-morrow is Sunday; we don't care to have you work on Sunday." The superintendent insisted that the work must be done, regardless of the day ; that it would be impossible to op erate the mills without working on Sunday. The quick reply left no doubt in the mind of the superintendent : " Employees of this company found working on Sunday will be instantly discharged." Some of the men swore at him; some laughed ; others wondered how the new rule would work, while, without con sidering that phase of the question, Mr. McDonald had made hundreds of friends among the laboring classes of Wausau, and many of the men in the service of his company took occasion to express their endorsement and ap preciation of his position. Mr. McDonald's connection with the banking interests of Western Missouri has been prominent and extensive. In 1869, at the age of twenty-two, he was instrumental in the organization of the Carroll Exchange Bank, at Car rollton, and he and the six other incorporators have continued, without inter ruption or change in the directory of that institution. In 1877 he organized the Chariton County Exchange Bank at Brunswick, and he has continued to be one of the principal stockholders and a director of the bank. In May, 1887, he became one of the incorporators and a director in the First National Bank of Liberty. In June, 1887, at the request of leading capitalists and business men of St. Joseph, he assisted in reorganizing the Mechanics' Bank of that city, in which he is a large stockholder. In 1886 he obtained the char ter for and organized the First National Bank of Kansas City, and in the position of vice-president managed the affairs of that institution with the same signal success that has characterized his business career generally. March i, 1888, he resigned his position and sold his interest in this bank in order to ac- 552 History of Kansas City. cept the presidency of the Midland National Bank of Kansas City, an associa tion recently formed by wealthy local capitalists, bankers, and business men. He is largely interested in the stock of the new bank, and is its active man ager. He is really the founder of the Railroad Young Men's Christian Association of Kansas City ; for it was through his efforts, assisted by E. D. Ingersoll, of New York, the railway secretary of the International Committee, that the managers of the various railroads centering here were induced to assume the support of the work which has resulted so advantageously and beneficially to the employees of railway companies and other young men who visit the city, and for whose proper conduct ample and suitable quarters have been provided by the Union Depot Company. Mr McDonald has served two terms as president of the Kansas City Young Men's Christian Association, during which period he caused the title to valua ble real estate belonging to the association to be perfected and the work to be revolutionized and reorganized, and then declined a re-election, in order- that he might take the position of chairman of the Building Committee and give his personal attention to the erection of the large and valuable building at Ninth and Locust streets. He has not only contributed regularly large sums of money to the association, but has rendered invaluable personal services in its aid. At the International Convention of the association at San Francisco, in May, 1887, he was elected an advisory member of the International Com mittee. He organized, conducted to Washington city, and introduced to President Cleveland a delegation of one hundred of Kansas City's busiest representative business men that extended a personal invitation to the president to visit Kan sas City in the faH of 1887, and was otherwise instrumental in making the tour of the presidential party most enjoyable, not only to themselves, but to the people of the West. It was he, too, who on the occasion of the laying of the corner-stone of the Young Men's Christian Association building managed that memorable service He provided space for 7,000 young men within the walls, and introduced the president to them, and assisted him and Mrs. Cleveland in the service, at the same time keeping the muhitude without in perfect good humor, sending them avy'ay at the conclusion delighted and happy. TJie Sam Jones meetings, held in Kansas City in January and February, 1888, which brought together an immense concourse of people requiring police control, were under his management Here his abiHty to handle large crowds was clearly demonstrated. He was one of the incorporators and a member of the first board of directors of the Provident Association, and it was largely through his efforts that the association was permanentiy and effidently organized, so that it came to have continuous and successful operation. Biographical. 553 One has said of Mr. McDonald that he cannot remember when he was not a member of the M. E. Church, South. He has been active and zealous in church work, and no other member of the laity is better known. As treasurer of the Board of Missions of the Missouri Conference for years, he gave great satisfaction. He has given much time to successful Sunday-school work. He succeeded the late Bishop Marvin as one of the curators of Central College, at Fayette, Mo., and has done much for that institution. He contributed liber- ¦ally to its endowment fund, and his example was followed by other business men, and largely through his influence the college has been placed upon a sound financial basis. His home is the frequent resort of the bishops and other church dignitaries, with many of whom he is on terms of intimate friendship. Mr. McDonald is a gentleman of refined and cultivated tastes, and does not stint himself in their indulgence. He has a large, well- selected library, and his beautiful home (corner of Ninth and Cherry streets) is elegantly and tastefully furnished and adorned. He is an artist of real merit, and some of his productions adorn the walls of his home. He is by nature a gentleman, courteous, affable and genial, with a quiet and graceful dignity that bespeaks the true man. His chief mental characteristic is his remarkable powers of organization. It is this faculty which has given him his greatest business dis tinction. To inaugurate plans and to combine the forces necessary for their •execution is his peculiar forte, and no enterprise that he has set on foot has been unsuccessful. He is well known in social and business circles ; is a mem ber of the board of trade of Kansas City, and has been a Royal Arch Mason for several years. Although an ardent and somewhat prominent and influen tial member of the Democratic party, he has never sought an office either by election or appointment. October 7, 1868, Mr McDonald was married to Miss Clara Bird, of ChHH cothe, Mo., a refined and most estimable Christian lady, known and admired for the excellences of her character and her many good and charitable deeds. She is a daughter of Greenup Bird, esq., latterly a well-known business man of Kansas City, but who at the time of her marriage was cashier of the Savings Bank at ChHHcothe Mr and Mrs. McDonald have had born to them six ¦children, three sons and three daughters, viz. : Frank, William, Clara, Mattie Marvin, Bessie (decea.sed), and Donald. Mrs. McDonald is also a member of the M. E. Church South, and was one of the charter members of the Women's Missionary Society, connected with that denomination, organized at Atlanta, Ga., in 1878. She is also chairman of the board of managers of the Women's Christian Association of Kansas City, and "a doer of good works" generally. Her promising chHdren show an inteHigent Christian mother's training, and her pleasant home, with its beautiful appointments, indicates the refined char acter of its mistress. 554 History of Kansas City. PARKS, CLARENCE A. The family of Mr Parks is Scotch and has been long settled at Winchendon, Worcester county, Mass., where the subject of this sketch was born October 26, 1847. Among other useful family traits, which his friends hope he has inherited, longevity is included. Six of his great uncles attained an aggregate age of five hundred years ; and the robustness of figure and condensed energy of action which characterize Mr Parks do not belie his relationship. At his birth and for some years afterward his father was an extensive and prosperous manufacturer of wooden ware in Winchendon. In the spring of 1855, however, the words of the greatest of dramatists were justified to the Parks family : " When sorrows come, they come not single spies, but in battalions," Mrs. Parks, the mother, a sweet and lovable woman, whom her son, now grown to manhood, remembers with a tender distinctness, and of whom there still lingers in the neighborhood fond traditions, died ; and on the night following her burial four large factories and warehouses and eight other buildings, constituting the entire worldly goods of the elder Parks, were destroyed by fire. Bankrupt in heart and purse by the events of a few days, the father and his children faced the world with poverty for a companion. The boy obtained, however, the educational advantages of his time and the sec tion of country where he lived. He attended the district school and town academy, and with money earned by himself in various ways procured a few terms, first at the Wesleyan Academy in WHbraham, Mass., and subse quently at the academy in Meriden, N. H., at which he nearly completed an adequate preparation for college, in addition to acquiring a quite com plete mastery of EngHsh scientific branches, A natural aptitude for pubHc speaking gave him prominence among his contemporaries at these schools, and it was while attending the debates of a club composed of the students, and of which he was the president that the ambition arose to go to college and afterwards study law. In these ambitions, however, he was opposed by his father, chiefly on the grounds of the expense involved and the inabiUty of the family to meet it He urged his son to engage in business as a means of support But the son's ambition had found an ally in his father's second wife, who had become a second mother to the children. With her assistance, above all with her sympathy and encouragement, and with money earned in the varied occupations of teaching school and acting as book agent Mr Parks entered the office of Wheeler & Faulkner, distinguished counselors at Keene, N. H., and at an early age was admitted to the bar He commenced practice in the town of Jaffrey, N, H,, with a meager outfit — a table, two chairs, and a half-dozen books. He owed a debt of $350. He was, however, from the start singularly prosperous. At the end of the first year he had paid his debts, purchased a respectable Hbrary and had a surplus of $1,500. Mr Parks is himself the last man who would attribute this good result — astonishing when, the time and place are considered — to his own unaided efforts without the help Biographical. 555 of fortune. In fact, he is in the habit of accounting for it by his appointment, almost immediately after his settlement in Jaffrey, to the treasurership of a local railroad company, which gave him the legal business of that railroad and immediate good professional standing in the community. At the end of five years, though enjoying the largest practice with one exception of the attorneys in the county, he removed to Boston and opened an office there. In 1877, whHe busily engaged in the routine of professional duties, he purchased the franchise of the Boston, Winthrop and Point Shirley Railroad, and for several years was its president and manager. The success of the road, both before and after its consolidation with another road, and its absorption by a third, and the rapid development of Winthrop and the beaches along its route, prove strikingly Mr. Parks's business sagacity, and are largely due to his untiring energy. The road is to-day an exceedingly valuable one. In 1882 Mr. Parks became the special counsel for several corporations having connections with the Western States, and made a tour of the States west of the Missouri to California and the coast of Mexico, He also traveled extensively in the West Indies, particularly in San Domingo, where he went in behalf of a syndicate of New York capitalists, to explore the salt deposits and agricultural conditions of that country. He published an interesting report, in pamphlet form, replete with information upon these subjects. While in the West Mr. Parks devoted himself to a critical examination of the country and negotiated and sold a con siderable amount of real estate mortgages to his eastern clients. This business soon grew to large proportions, and in the autumn of 1886 determined him to abandon his law practice and with Mr. W. W. Mason, of Boston, and many leading capitalists and bankers of New England, to organize the " Common wealth Loan and Trust Company," of which he is the president and the man ager, at Kansas City. Mr. Parks is admirably fitted for discharging the pecu Har duties devolving upon. the head of this prosperous corporation. His legal training and close habits of thought, his knowledge of this portion of our coun try, his conservatism and caution in the matter of investments, and his great capacity for work, indeed his delight in it combine to make him fitted to the place. Eastern investors have confidence in him, and the western men with whom he is now thrown into contact appreciate his large minded views. The company has been exceedingly prosperous under his management LESTER, THOMAS BRYAN. Professor Thomas Bryan Lester, M.D., was born in Charlotte county, Va., June 24, 1824, and died in Kansas City, February 24, 1888. His father was Bryan W. Lester; his mother's maiden name was Ehzabeth Friend. The family emigrated to IHinois in 1835, and in September, 1837, at Salem, IH., his parents both died, leaving him doubly orphaned at the age of thirteen. He received his early education in the com mon schools and afterward attended Mount Vernon Academy and Shurtleff 556 History of Kansas City. ciect' ¦ .-ill inc. (ty was ku' across tl'ie r }¦- to have I • f -'¦¦ ^rer •' 'uri ¦' -, -'' ¦ ¦ ;)m! wrun. : lyphoio ;¦¦ ^ .3ud the t;x NaMre. ¦ /! ..;-:iS City 1\1. T ¦* .- , ¦ ¦ ^iu- Variety . .' '¦ ^:lober i ¦J th- 1 ' ^"i^EeWi 'Mums iBro NY. Biographical. 557 In his younger days Dr. Lester was an old-line Whig and took an active interest in politics ; but he became a Democrat in 1856, and continued in his adherence to the principles of that party until the end of his life. He repre sented his ward in the Common Council of Kansas City in 1857 and 1858, and in the latter year was its president ; and he was a member of the Board of Ed ucation at the beginning of the war, and later, from 1867 to 1870, when he declined a renomination. He was long a member and one of the leading spir its of the Central Presbyterian Church of Kansas City, of which he was the senior elder, having served continuously since 1867, and toward all the mate rial interests of which he was a liberal contributor, justly regarded as one ofits staunchest supporters. In 1848 he was initiated into Military Lodge U. D., of the A. F. and A. M., at Santa Fe, New Mexico, and in 1855 and 1856 was W. M. of Heroine Lodge No. 104, of Kansas City. Dr. Lester was above the medium height and so slender as to appear al most frail ; but correct habits enabled him to endure an enormous amount of rnental and physical labor, and his wonderful vitality carried him safely to a ripe age. His tall, erect figure was familiar on the streets of Kansas City for nearly thirty-five years, and his kindly face beamed on boys and girls who have been men and women for a quarter of a century. During his long and active career he was noted for his generosity to the poor, and his sympathetic interest in young and struggling physicians and medical students. As a phy sician and surgeon he has an enviable reputation among those whose profes sional associate he was in Kansas City and surrounding country. He was modest and retiring in disposition, and agreeable and conciliatory in his social relations. As a writer, he was full, precise and methodical; and as a lecturer, ready of speech, clear and convincing. The positions of trust and responsi bility to which he was called, were just tributes to his spotless reputation and high moral character no less than to his professional standing, and all com bined to make him respected and beloved by the entire community. Shortly after coming to Kansas City, Dr Lester purchased an acre of ground south of Sixth street and extending from Main street to Walnut and in 1858 hebuHtthe house afterwards known as the Grand View Hotel, on the high bluff overlook ing Main street; and in 1859 he erected the old faimily mansion on the south west corner of Sixth and Walnut streets, one of the most pretentious resi dences in the city and long a familiar landmark, which the iconoclasm of rapid growth and development has removed, its site being now occupied by the new Waterworks Building. LOMBARD, JAMES L., was born, January 6, 1850, in Henry, Marshall county. 111, His boyhood days were spent mostiy in the west, where, at the pubHc schools in Chicago and the Lombard University in Galesburg, III., he received his early education. He prepared for college at Farmington, Me., 71 558 History of Kansas City. and entered Bowdoin College at the age of seventeen ; but desiring to engage actively in business, left college before graduation. He first engaged in the mortgage loan business in Chicago, lending money for his relatives and gradually extending his clientele, building up a very satis factory business, which, however, was intercepted by the panic of 1873, when business generally became so depressed in real estate in Chicago that, at the request of his clients, a location in the west was sought. At Creston, la., with his brother-in-law, Benjamin Lombard, jr., a co-partnership under the name and style of the Bank of Creston was established. This bank transacted a banking business, and had, for one branch of its business a mortgage depart ment, and through the influence of Messrs, Lombard, and because of their con servatism and prompt business methods, a reputation was earned for them which is co-extensive with the New England and Middle States. This bank was the nucleus of the Lombard Investment Company and several other finan cial corporations in which the Lombards are so largely interested, and which have been so eminently successful. The Bank of Creston grew rapidly under the able and untiring management of James L. Lombard, upon whom the entire responsibility of its success rested. His experience in Chicago was extremely valuable. He had seen the wealthiest and most extensive real estate operators fall under the depression which prevailed in 1873, and care fully studying the causes of their failure, benefited by their unfavorable expe rience, and judging the future by the past adopted such conservative, cautious methods in the transaction of his business, that success must crown his efforts. Adhering rigorously to one Hne of business, and refusing to engage in outside enterprises, setting aside each year a balance from his income and investing it judiciously, there were positively no losses, and his fortune increased rapidly each year And though he was, in the earlier years of his business experience, compelled to borrow from time to time to furnish his portion of the capital and to take advantage of the many excellent opportunities for lending money which were so frequently presented, yet later in life, he satisfied his entire indebtedness and, together with his partner, adopted a rule to never borrow for the purpose of making an investment and to purchase nothing which they, individually, did not have the money on hand to pay for. Their "pay-as-you- go" principle has made them very strong in the east, and has enabled the Lombard Investment Company (which succeeded to the mortgage business of the Bank of Creston during the fall of 1882) to become very well and favora bly known in the east, under their conservative management and as far as credit, experience and successful management go, has placed them at the top of the ladder. The organization of the Lombard Investment Company was devised and brought to a successful issue by James L. Lonjbard, aided largely by B. Lom bard, jr, in its details at the east, and from a company with $125,000 capital, ^>Vii/£e.mUmn3 JBraMi" Biographical. 559 and eight stockholders it has grown to be a corporation with $1,150,000 and ¦$400,000 surplus. It has three hundred and seventy-five wealthy and influ ential stockholders, representing the very best men in almost every important city over the New England and many of the leading cities of the Middle States, and it is probable that there are very few corporations, if any, in existence at the present time, the combined wealth of whose stockholders will represent such a large amount as the aggregate wealth of the stockholders of this corpo ration When the Lombard Investment Company was incorporated, an eastern office was established at Boston, but since that time, owing to the large in crease of business, it has been necessary to open an office in New York, which is presided over by William A. Lombard, and an office in Philadelphia, which is under the management of William McGeorge, jr. In the spring of 1883 it was deemed advantageous to establish relations with England, that a trans- Atlantic clientele might be established, which, in the event of poor crops or any financial depression in this country, would be a profitable auxiliary to the Lombard Investment Company ; and carrying out this plan, originated by James L. Lombard, he sailed for London, bearing with him letters of credit from his stalwart friends in the east, who expressed a desire to subscribe for stock in a London Company, incorporated under the English laws, provided the management should be in the hands of the Lom bards, and the Lombard Investment Company should be its American corres pondent. The Anglo-American Land, Mortgage, and Agency Company {limited) was thus formed, and since its inception has forwarded over $2,000,- ¦000 to the Lombard Investment Company for investment in western securities. Through the Anglo-American Company in London, the Lombard Investment Company has become quite well known in England and Scotland, and the Anglo-American Company is already assuming a leading position under the ¦chairmanship of Charles Eraser-Macintosh, M. P. for Inverness, and the man agement of their investments on this side of the water by Mr. Lombard. In the spring of 1885 the western office of the Lombard Investment Com pany was removed from Creston, la., to Kansas City, where the banking busi ness of Lombard Brothers was established. Through negotiations of Mr Lombard with the Kansas City Times Company, the Diamond building, lo cated at the Junction, was engaged. The erection of the new Times building at the north of the Diamond building was commenced, and a prominent loca tion was secured for the banking house of Lombard Brothers in the Diamond buHding at the Junction, while the principal portion of the Diamond buHding above was secured for the Lombard Investment Company as its western head quarters. March i, 1886, the First National Bank succeeded Lombard Brothers, James L. Lombard becoming its president Through Mr Lombard's English 56o History of Kansas City. connections a foreign exchange business has been established for this bank which is second to none in the West Arrangements were perfected whereby the country correspondents of the bank were furnished with blanks, enabling them to draw their own drafts on foreign banking institutions located in up wards of seventy places in Great Britain and on the continent. This bank has already established itself as one of the most ultra-conservative banks in the West. It does not aim to conduct an extensive business, but the conservative course of its president is strictly adhered to in this bank, and speculative en terprises are carefully avoided. It is the policy of the institution to first take care of the needs of its depositors, and if in funds to purchase outside paper ; its loans are almost exclusively of home paper, to parties who possess readily realizable assets within themselves, with which to meet their indebtedness as it matures. It does not seek for high rates of interest so much as wide margins of security. Its directors represent probably the largest amount of capital of any bank west of Chicago. Its surplus, which is about $75,000, will be al lowed to accumulate until it equals the capital stock before any dividends are declared. In the fall of 1886, at the request of some of Mr. Lombard's intimate friends in Scotland, he left for Great Britain, and in June, 1877, the Edinburgh Lom bard Investment Company (limited) was incorporated, and has proved one of the very remarkable successes of the times. Notwithstanding the lack of con fidence in American enterprises, caused by the decline in value of cattie and ranch shares and the poor success that British people have experienced in cat tle companies and mines, the shares of the Edinburgh Lombard Investment Company were taken up readily in Scotland, and more money was furnished it for investment in America than the company really cared to receive, during the first six months of its existence. Mr Lombard is probably the youngest bank president in Kansas City. There are none more conservative or who have more clear ideas of the respon sibilities of a man occupying a position of trust His judgment is excellent He will incur no indebtedness. His fortune, now most ample, is being yearly augmented by safe, conservative investments of a non-speculative character In June, 1878, he married Miss Eva Stiles, a native of Toronto, Canada, and their family consists of four children, three sons and one daughter Their home, now being erected at the corner of Eighteenth and Jefferson streets, wiH be one of the most spacious and comfortable in the city. Mr. Lombard is trustee of All Souls Unitarian church, in which he takes a great interest MORTON, JAMES, (deceased) was born near Cornwall, Canada, November 15, 1824, of Scotch-Irish ancestry. He commenced his business career in the city of Toronto, when but a youth, as clerk in a general grocery and provision store. After serving in that capacity for several years he came to Biographical. 561 the United States, and drifting to the South, was soon engaged in steam- boating on the Mississippi. He was employed as steward and purchasing agent on one of the various elegant and popular boats which plied between St Louis and New Orleans in those early days. He followed this occupation until he had acquired sufficient means to go into the business for himself His father, in the interim, having moved to Milwaukee, Wis., he started for that place, and being pleased with the outlook, he decided to locate there and open up a grocery business, having had considerable experience in that line of trade. Mr. Morton's efforts in Milwaukee were marked with success, but desirous of doing still better, and learning that the city of Green Bay was a promising and growing place, he concluded to move to that point. To Mr. Morton belongs the honor of erecting the first substantial business block in Green Bay, and into which he put a wholesale and retail fancy grocery stock. He continued in business there some two or three years, but finally met with reverses. Closing his affairs he returned to Milwaukee, with but a remnant of the little fortune he had at leaving, intending to again establish himself in business, but meeting a party of friends who were enthusiastic over the reported discovery of gold in the Rocky Mountains, he joined them on one of the first over-land trips to Pike's Peak. He was, however, soon called to his home at Green Bay on account of sickness and death in his family. After an interval of a few weeks he carried out his original intention, and returned to Milwaukee, where, for several years he made a comfortable living. Mr. Morton, however, was not satisfied with this. He was possessed of an ambitious disposition, and with a large family to care for, he felt that he must improve his condition financially ; therefore in May, 1868, he crossed the lake into Michigan, where, for a period of two years, he engaged in various pursuits, meeting with alter nate success and misfortune. In February, 1870, Mr Morton came to Kansas City. He was a stranger in the city, without employment with but a few hundred dollars in money, and with a wife and ten children dependent upon him for support and susten ance. The situation was certainly not fdicitious or promising, and many an other man would have been disheartened and dismayed ; but Mr Morton was ever hopeful, and always made the best of circumstances, therefore he set to work as best he could. He first started a small confectionery and fruit stand on the sidewalk at Market Square, and contrived not only to keep the "wolf from the door," but to make some smaH accumulations. After a time he moved his little stock into the post-office building, which then stood on the corner of Ninth and Main streets. When the office was removed in about 1872, he came to the present locality. No. 724 Main street and opened a gen eral confectionery store. He manufactured his own goods largely, and his establishment became well, and most popularly known. His career was one of almost unparaHded success From time to time he made judicious invest- 562 History of Kansas City. ments in real estate, and he conducted his affairs with such ability and fore sight, that when he died he had left a comfortable estate, all of which he ac quired in Kansas City from an insignificant beginning, and mainly through his his own management and direction. Mr Morton was married in Milwaukee, Wis., January 27, 185 i, to Miss Anne Barton, and was the father of twelve children, ten of whom reached years of maturity. He died in Kansas City December 2, 1887, after a long and distressing Hlness which he endured with patience and resignation. His remains repose in Elmwood Cemetery. He left a widow and nine adult children. He had a large acquaintance in the city; was universally esteemed for his genial, generous qualities, and his high and honora ble character, and when he died there was a general expression of regret. He was a model husband and father, and devoted to his wife and children whom he cared for with rare fondness and affection. Mr. Morton's great success may be attributed to his unceasing perseverance, indomitable energy, and to the fact that he never allowed himself to become discouraged. After he had gained his competency, he frequently remarked, that throughout his life it seemed everything had been so ordered for the best. PEARSONS, G. W., assistant city engineer of Kansas City, was born in October, 1833. His father, Chesterfield Pearsons, was a native of Ver mont. He was a civil and mechanical engineer, and a lawyer, and was for thirty years magistrate in Jefferson county, N. Y. He was a descendant of a Captain Pearsons who fought the Serapis against Paul Jones, and was knighted for that action. Chesterfield Pearsons married Miss Mary Barrett, a daughter of Oliver Barrett, of Woodstock, Vt, Oliver Barrett entered the Revolutionary army at the age of nineteen, at which time he could neither read nor write. During his service, however, in the American army, he not only learned to read and write, but also mastered the rudiments of a common English educa tion, selling his rum rations and buying candles with the money thus obtained, these candles furnishing him with Hght to pursue his studies at night He left the army at the close of the war with the rank of. captain and an education which qualified him to teach school, and when soon afterward he for the first time entered a school-house it was as a teacher. He was also a self-educated mechanical engineer, and was for some time the leading architect in Vermont He was a contemporary of Oliver Evans, who is noted in the early annals of engineering. Mr. Barrett was in all probability the first man in America to build a water wheel which embodied the same essential principles which are found in the modern turbine water wheel, and he was in every way, except so far as education is concerned, the peer of OHver Evans. Thus it wiH be seen that Mr. Pearsons, the subject of this sketch, came by inheritance into the pos session of mechanical genius. The first evidences of this genius were shown in his attempts to learn the measurement of angles on a bench by means of his Biographical. 563 father's compass, and at the age of twelve years he assisted in surveying by carrying the chain. Two years later he was frequently consulted with refer ence to mechanical devices, among which were the "drive well" and the "belt conveyor," both of which he brought into practical operation. At the age of eighteen he was everywhere recognized as an experienced, even a skillful mechanic, and was placed in charge of a large number of men employed in his brother's shipyard. At the age of twenty-one he had charge of the largest force of mill- Wrights in Chicago, and in 1858 he accepted a position in his brother's marine railway at Ogdensburg, N. Y. He remained there three years as superintendent after the railway was sold to the Northern Transportation Company, and during this time, as a member of the city council, had charge of bridge construction, and built the city water works. Since that time he has been almost constantly engaged in the construction of works of this nature. From 1873 to January, 1878, he was chief engineer of the Kansas City Water Works, and during that period he built water works at Bangor, Me, at Leaven worth, Kan., at Marshall, Mo., and at Rockaway Beach, N. Y. Besides these works he has constructed several flouring mills and saw-mills, about forty steamboats and sailing vessels, and has been engaged also in general engineer ing business. He was appointed assistant city engineer in April, 1888. Mr. Pearsons was married in November, 1859, to Miss Eveline Tozer, of Jefferson county, N. Y., by whom he has four children, the oldest of whom is in business with his father as a mechanical engineer. Mr Pearsons has been since 1876 a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers and has had a more varied experience than most engineers. PHELPS, E. H. Elijah Hungerford Phelps, a prominent real estate dealer of Kansas City, was born in Hadlyme, Middlesex county. Conn., January 4, 1840. He comes of Pilgrim stock and Hneage, his parents being of the sev enth generation in direct descent from the Pilgrim Fathers. His boyhood was passed in his native State. When he was but four years of age his family re moved to KHHngworth, a town of Middlesex county, ten miles distant from Hadlyme, and soon thereafter he was placed at school. His education was completed in the Normal University at New Britain, Conn. During his uni versity course he taught school at intervals in his native State and in New Jer sey. His father was a farmer and stock raiser, in but moderate circumstances, and with nine children to support and educate, and young Phelps took pride in caring for himself and in defraying in great part the expenses of his educa tion. His early manhood was passed in the profession of teacher and educator. He began teaching at the very early age of sixteen, in the viHage of Milling- ton, N. J. In i860 he removed to Elmwood, Peoria county, IH. He taught in the district schools of that vicinity until in 1865, when he was chosen su- 564 History of Kansas City. perintendent of the graded schools of ChiHicothe, IH. In 1866 he was elected principal of the fourth ward schools of the city of Peoria, and the foHowing year was called to the superintendency of the pubhc schools of Canton, III., and became ex officio the principal of the high school of that city. In this dual position he had under his supervision and in his charge, seventeen teachers and about nine hundred pupils. He graded the schools, established a regular and thorough course of study and instruction in the high school, and brought the entire public school system of the city up to a high state of efficiency. But his long and hard service in the school- room began to tell upon his health, and at the end of his first year he was compelled to abandon his profession and retire from school life, after an experience as pupil and teacher, from first to last, of nearly twenty-five years. He next engaged in journalism. In 1869 he purchased a half-interest in the Lewistown (III.) Union of its proprietor, D. W. C. Bryant, esq. (cousin of the poet, William Cullen Bryant), a gentleman of rare literary attainments and of superior business accomplishments. Mr. Phelps says that it was under Mr Bryant's training, and owing to his influence, that he acquired not only a rep utation as an editor, but a knowledge of true principles and methods of busi ness. As Mr. Bryant was in a feeble state, Mr. Phelps assumed sole control of the Union, which was a first-class Republican county newspaper, and con ducted it with marked ability. In 1877, upon the death of Mr. Bryant, Mr. Phelps sold the Union and removed to Wyoming, III., where he established the Post, now one of the best known and most influential Republican newspapers of central IHinois. In 1878 he sold the Post and founded the Herald, a semi- weekly Republican paper, at Toulon, the county seat of Stark county. 111. During the session of 1878-79 he was a clerk in the lower house of the IHinois Legislature, and acquired some reputation among the members as a draughts man of bills. WhHe in the Legislature he was an interested spectator of the contest between General John A. Logan and Honorable Richard J. Oglesby, for the United States senatorship, and at its close was enabled to rejoice with the victorious supporters of the soldier-statesman. The year 1882 was an eventful period in Mr Phelps's history. In that year he sold the Toulon Herald and abandoned the country newspaper busi ness, in which vocation there is, generally speaking, more hard work per formed and more talent expended, with less practical returns, than in any other In that year he contracted his present marriage, and came to Kansas City and began a career which has been one of uniform success, distinction and usefulness. He first accepted a position with F. J. Baird & Co., a real estate and insurance firm, receiving for his services a salary of fifty doHars per month. In January, 1883, he formed a partnership with Leavitt Bartiett, esq., who had retired from the firm of Baird & Co., and the two engaged in general real es tate business under the name of Bartiett & Phelps, at No. I21 West Sixth Biographical. 565 street The business was quite prosperous and profitable, but in less than a year Mr. Bartlett died, and Mr. Phelps has since continued it at the old stand and with the original success. Mr. Phelps is an active, untiring worker, al ways busy, always alive, with a sound mind in a sound body, and with a happy faculty of " pushing things." His business is large and growing larger, but he keeps it well in hand, and manages it with signal ability. He is ready in thought, quick to speak and prompt to act, and never seems perplexed or at a loss ; withal he is affable, pleasant, genial, gentlemanly, and has a large fol lowing of personal friends and admirers. During his residence in Kansas City he has seen its population and its importance doubled, and to its wonderful growth and development he has contributed his full share. He has been a di rector in the Kansas City Real Estate Exchange since its organization, and is connected by membership with several other leading business associations and institutions. In April, 1888, he was elected an alderman from the tenth ward — a compliment indeed, under all the circumstances, and an evidence of the confidence and esteem in which he is held by his neighbors and fellow-citizens. Mr. Phelps has been twice happily married. "In 1861, in Elmwood, III., he married Miss Mary A. Reed, daughter of John Reed, esq., a former wealthy Virginian, who located in IHinois in 185 1. Mrs. Phelps was a most accom plished and beautiful woman, possessing extraordinary mental gifts and per sonal graces, which she chiefly employed in making happy those nearest and dearest to her. Her home was a paradise, in the estimation of its occupants,. made so by her presence and influence. She was a lady of extreme sensibili ties and devoted to her husband and children. She was the proud mother of four daughters and a son, and loved them with the fondest affection. In 1877 a little daughter, aged five years, died at Wyoming, III, The grief of the mother at the loss of the little one was never fully assuaged, and three years later, or in 1880, whHe residing at Toulon, III., she too died, and her pure and loving spirit rose to meet that of her darling in the heavenly realm. In 1882 Mr Phelps was married to his present estimable wife and worthy helpmeet Mary Whitaker, a daughter of Oliver Whitaker, esq., an old resident and prominent citizen of Toulon. It was upon his wedding trip after his last mar riage when Mr. Phelps first saw Kansas City, and determined to make it his future home. In 1868, at Peoria, III., Mr Phelps was made a Mason. He has attained the degree of Knight Templar and is the present prelate of Oriental Command ery No. 35, of this city. In politics he is a Republican, and in his religious affihations he has been a member of the Congregational Church since 1861. RHODES, H. S. Mr Rhodes was born near Akron, O., in Summit county, September 10, 1848. His father was a prominent farmer in his town. He enjoyed fair common school advantages in early Hfe, and later went to 72 566 History of Kansas City. Oberiin College, O., where he pursued a classical course. ^ After remaining there three years, he transferred his board and study to Mt. Union College, where, three years afterward, at the age of twenty-four, he graduated in the classical course, taking second honors. While at Mt. Union he was engaged a portion of the time in teaching, and on leaving the school he went to Cali fornia and taught for a year in Sacramento county. In 1874 Mr. Rhodes came to Kansas City, as the representative of Ault- man. Miller & Co., of Akron, O., manufacturers of the Buckeye mowers and reapers and binders. His position was that of general agent until 1885, when he was made manager. In the mean time, as a member of the firm of Hoover, Rhodes & Co., he was for several years engaged in the storage and transfer of agricultural implements, which brought in good returns, which they sold to Aultman, Miller & Co., in 1887. His management of the affairs of his com pany here has been so successful that he has built its trade up to an annual business of over Haifa million dollars. The house in Kansas City is one of the largest and most reliable wholesale distributing depots of its kind west of the Mississippi, and the most important of Aultman, Miller & Co.'s branches. Mr. Rhodes was married in 1877 to Miss Siddie E. Bell, of Columbiana, 0., also a graduate of Mt. Union College. They have one child, a daughter, named Hazel Bell. He is a helpful member of the Second Presbyterian Church. His home, at 13 17 BeHevue avenue, is one of the most complete and pleasant dwellings in the city. It is situated on the bluff, a choice location command ing a rare view of both the Missouri and Kansas Rivers for ten miles each way. Mr Rhodes's success has been well earned and his standing in his trade is widely recognized. As a citizen he takes an active interest in everything that promises to enhance the public good. He is a member of the Board of Trade and the Commercial Club, and in his business and otherwise he has done his full share to bring Kansas City into notice and increase her commercial pros perity. STEGNER, THEODORE. Mr Stegner was born in Boonville, Cooper county. Mo., June 29, 1858. His parents are Germans, from the kingdom of Saxony, and settled in Boonville in about 1852. His father, J. A. Stegner, was a cooper, and pursued his vocation in Boonville for many years At the age of thirteen Theodore left the pubhc schools and went into his father's shop, where in time he learned the trade and became a good workman. In 1876, when he was but eighteen years of age, he left home and came to Kansas City, where, after a toilsome tramp, he arrived with but thirty-five cents in his pocket The first three days of his sojourn in the city he worked as a hod-carrier on the erection of the smoke stack of the Hannibal and St Joseph elevator The suc ceeding four weeks he made beef boxes for the packing-house of Plankinton & Armour, and then secured work at his trade in a cooper shop on Twelfth street -'¦j'-yMBMars Sms -J'«»- 25'-^ ^Z7^^^^^^^^ Biographical. 567 In 1877 he returned to Boonville, Some months later he went to St. Louis and entered the employ of the Missouri Cotton Seed Oil Company, and learned the process of making oils. Afterward he had a position as porter in the wholesale house of R.W. Atwood & Co., but determining to use the knowledge of busi ness he had acquired to more profit and advantage than in employment as a common laborer, he again returned to his native town, and with his small accu mulations he joined his father and brothers in the establishment at Boonville of the J. A. Stegner & Sons Merchandising and Manufacturing Company. For five years he held the position of general manager of the firm, whose business was that of general merchandising and the manufacture of cooperage and wooden ware. Its affairs were very successful, and in time a branch manufac tory was established at Sedalia. In September, 1885, Mr. Stegner came to Kansas City, whither he removed the plant of the Sedalia factory, and established the Kansas City Wooden Ware house Company, of which he is the present manager. In 1 886 he organised the Stegner Investment Company, with a capital of $14,000, which has since been increased to $100,000, half paid in. Of this company he is the president and business manager. Its business is very extensive, and its operations have been extraordinarily successful. It owns about $300,000 worth of valuable city property, is actively engaged in real estate transactions and loan brokerage, and does a general investment business. In 1886 he and his brothers pur chased the interest of their father, and organized the Stegner Brothers Mercan tile Company, of Boonville, still in successful operation. In 1887 he bought on his individual account the McDonald Lumber Company of Kansas City, with its mills at Wausau, Wis. In all Mr Stegner is connected with a con siderable number of business institutions and associations, of which a majority are mainly owned by himself and his brothers. Though but thirty years of age, and scarcely three years in the town, he is already one of the " solid, self- made men" of Kansas City. Neither ashamed of his humble beginnings, nor boastful of his extraordinary success, he is modest and unassuming, plain and straightforward. His business talents are of a high order, and upon his life record there is not a single stain or blemish, with the best of credit SCHOEN, LOUIS A. Mr Schoen is one of the few native born business men of Kansas City who have risen to a position of prominence largely through his own efforts and exertion. He was born at the corner of Fifth and Main streets, June 27, 1859. The site of his birth-place was then covered by a modest two-story building, the lower story of which was occupied by his father as an office and a drug- store, and the upper rooms constituted the family resi dence. He is the eldest son of Dr. Louis A. and Bertha (Klein) Schoen, both of whom were natives of Germany. Dr. Schoen was a highly educated physi cian, trained in the best medical schools of the fatherland. He was a practical 568 History of Kansas City. chemist, druggist, and pharmacist, a well-known citizen, and a first-class man of business. He made some profitable investments in Kansas City property, and dying in April, 1882, he left an estate valued at $250,000. His widow is still living. The junior Louis A. Schoen was reared in this city. He received his edu cation at the Franklin public schools, and during one year's attendance at the High School. At the age of fourteen he began under the instruction of his father to learn the profession of druggist and pharmacist, and at eighteen he was actively engaged in the business, which he has since continued. At present he is the senior member of the firm of Schoen Brothers, druggists, corner of Fifth and Wyandotte streets. Although quite a young man, Mr. Schoen is prominently identified with the material welfare of Kansas City. He owns large property interests in the heart of the city, which are constantly increasing in value and importance. He has been engaged to a considerable extent in real estate transactions, uniformly with success. He is a member of the North End Improvement Association, and is connected with other enterprises which promise valuable returns in the near future. Already his standing as a business man and real estate operator is high, and he possesses the entire confidence of those with whom he is asso ciated. Mr Schoen was married October 4, 1883, to Miss Bertha Heideman, of El gin, III. Three children have been born of this marriage, two of which are livinsf. SCOTT, THOMAS A., son of James M. and Rebecca (McComb) Scott and brother of Samuel F. Scott of Kansas City, was born at Port Hope, Cana da West October 16, 1854, and in 1859, at the age of five years, removed with his father's family to Wisconsin, where he was educated in the public schools. He was bright, active and ambitious, foreshadowing in youth the success of his maturer years, and early identifi-sd himself with the work of life by engaging as a grocer's clerk in Chicago, where he remained during portions of the years 1869 and 1870. In the latter year he first came to Kansas City, where his brother, Samuel F. Scott, had located shortly before, and was profitably employed here until 1872, when he returned to Chicago, and during the succeeding two years was connected with the grocery and hardware trades. It was in 1874 that Mr Scott's connection with real estate interests began, and he then practically chose his career for life. Going to St Louis in that year he entered the real estate commission business, and foHowed it successfully untH early in 1876, when he again took up his residence in Chicago, and, with C. W. Marsh, of the Marsh Harvester Company, E. W. Chapman, of Keokuk, la., and O. M. McClintock, of Toledo, O., organized the Northwestern Planing Machine Company, and began a profitable business in the manufacture of planing ma- Biographical. 569 chines. In 1878 and 1879 he was a member of the Chicago Board of Trade, operating successfully there until near the close of the latter year, when he again came to Kansas City to make it his permanent home. Now Mr. Scott entered upon the successful career which has made his name known in real estate and financial circles all over the country, beginning a series •of real estate transactions which have had great influence upon the growth and prosperity of the city. He was married October 28, 1881, to Miss Alice M. Orr, 'daughter of Colonel Thomas Orr, of Kansas City, and in the spring of 1882 opened a real estate- office in Wyandotte, Kan., under the firm name of Scott, Orr & Company. It is probable that Mr. Scott's identification with Wyandotte thus begun, has had more to do with progress of Kansas City, Kan,, than any other similar influence. He secured subscriptions and appropriations to build the Riverview bridge, and procured from the cities of Kansas City, Mo., and Kansas City, Kan., franchise for the Inter-State Rapid Transit Company's El evated Railroad, connecting the two cities; and it was due entirely to his exer tions that Kansas City, Kan., Wyandotte, Kan,, and Armourdale, Kan., were consolidated into one municipality, under the name of Kansas City, Kan. He organized the Kansas City Cement Works Company, bought a site and built a factory for the concern, and sold out his interest in it in 1886, Almost from the first he employed himself from time to time in forming large real estate syndi cates, and it is probable that previous to 1887 he handled more real estate than all of the other Kansas City, Kan,, dealers combined. In 1887 Mr, Scott and others organized the Kansas and Philadelphia Land and Investment Company, with a paid up capital of $1,000,000, and purchased 3,500 acres of land in Johnson county, Kan., on which they have located the Southwestern University. He also organized and is general manager of the Scott Investment Company, of Springfield, Mo., which has a capital of $300,- •000, aH paid in, and organized and is president of the Kansas and Missouri Land and Investment Company of Kansas City, Kan., to the management of which he gives his personal attention. He organized the South Park Town Company, with a capital stock of $250,000, and the Bonner Springs Town Company, erecting at the latter place a hotel and other buHdings, and making many improvements, and was one of the organizers of the Kansas City and Olathe Rapid Transit Company. Mr Scott helped organize the Bank of Wyandotte and the Savings Bank ¦of Kansas, both located in Kansas City, Kan., and is a director in the Central Bank of Kansas City, Missouri. He has identified himself prominently with many important measures for the advancement of the leading interests of the city and is justly regarded as a generous and public spirited man who believes in living and letting others live, and has at heart the pubhc welfare, "first last and aH the time." He is a RepubHcan politically, but has never taken any conspicuous part either as an office seeker or otherwise in any poHtical contest. 57° History of Kansas City. proper attention to his important real -estate and other interests demanding the expenditure of all his time and energy. He is a firm believer in the ulti mate greatness of Kansas City and has done his share toward promoting it. His business associates are among the foremost men of Kansas, Missouri, and the country at large, and his genial, hearty manner and straightforward meth ods gain him friends wherever he goes. His home is one of the pleasantest in the city, and his family consists of himself his wife and their two children — Antoinette May Scott born November 25, 1882, and Thomas A. Scott jr, born November 23, 1884. STOWE, JAMES G. This gentleman is descended from an old English family, to which Baron Stowe, founder of the great Stowe library (library of the British Museum), one of the greatest libraries in the world, belongs ; also Sir John Stowe, of Buckinghamshire, Eng., from whom Stowe village, or parish, of that shire takes its name. John Stowe came from England in 1635, with four sons, settled in Rox- bury, Mass., and founded the family of Stowe in America. He was a son of John Stowe, the chronicler and historian of London, a justly famous man, whose valuable works are copiously quoted by English and American authors. From Samuel, a son of John, Mr Stowe traces his descent through James H. Stowe, cousin of Dr Calvin Stowe, husband of Harriet Beecher Stowe. Mr Stowe is a native of Providence, R. I. ; born June 14, 1841, eldest son of James H. and Julia A. (Freebody) Stowe. His mother was also of an ancient Eng lish family, who settied in Newport R. I., in its earliest days, the descendants of which are scarcely found anywhere in the United States and in Rhode Island only in Newport and Providence. Her parents were William and Sarah Freebody, of the Newport family. Mr Stowe remained in his native place untH mature years. His primary education was received in the public schools of that city and he afterwards graduated from the Mowry Institute, also of Providence, when about eighteen years of age. He then became a mechanic and draughtsman, under the in struction of his father, who was a practical mechanic, and in 1861 was made secretary of the Burnside Rifle Company, which had its titie from Ambrose E. Burnside, since the distinguished general and senator, but then a prominent resident of Bristol, R. I., and inventor of the Burnside breech loading rifle, which the company mentioned was manufacturing. Mr Stowe was also en gaged at this time as superintendent of the Burnside Laboratory, a large estab Hshment for the making of ammunition for the rifles While thus employed he devised a machine for fiHing cartridges, so effident and swift as to fiH one thousand cartridges in one-fourth of a minute, which has since come into use in all the United States arsenals. One of the original machines in use at the Burnside laboratory was sold to the " Fenians," and landed on the coast of Biographical. 571 Ireland, where it was captured by the English government and is now in the British Museum. During a part of this time he was United States inspector of ammunition with rank, then an exceedingly important position, and after wards served on staff duty at Washington, D. C, instructor of cavalry in breech-loading rifles, and served as lieutenant-colonel of several home regi ments, but did not go into service on account of his position as inspector of ammunition. August 7, 1865, Mr. Stowe was elected treasurer of the Perkins Sheet Iron Company, and Rhode Island Horse Shoe Company, likewise of Providence, engaged in manufacturing sheet and bar iron and horse shoes, of which Wil liam Sprague, late United States senator, was president. Until the fall of 1867 he filled these positions, and then upon the change of the Burnside Rifle Company to the Rhode Island Locomotive Works, with General Ambrose E. Burnside as president, Mr. Stowe was recalled to his former associations as secretary of the company, and relinquished his other positions, the new one requiring all his time. In 1870 he was one of a committee appointed by east ern manufacturers to visit the States of Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota and Kansas for the purpose of establishing manufactories. In January of the next year, as a consequence of this visit, and having on his hands a large machine shop, which he had taken as an investment, he resigned his office in the Locomotive Works, and removed the machinery of his shop to Bloomington, III., in order to embark in independent business. Here a bonus of $10,000 was given him by the citizens and a partner, with suitable site and buildings, secured. The same year he began the manufacture of a reaper of his own invention and other agricultural implements, employing about fifty hands. His connection at Bloomington was somewhat unfortunate, and after sus taining large losses through his partner, he withdrew from it and made a favor able engagement as manager of the Cincinnati branch office of C. Aultman & Co,, of Canton, O,, manufacturers of reapers, mowers, engines, etc., a position which he resigned January i, 1886, to take that of manager of the Cincinnati house of the Whitman & Barnes Manufacturing Company, whose home office and factory are at Akron, O., and in October, 1887, was sent to Kansas City to take charge of their branch house at this point. It is a very striking char acteristic of Kansas City that the new warehouses and manufactories estab Hshed here are adding to its commercial forces some of the best business men of the country and drawing from the older cities the most intelligent, practical, earnest and sagacious men in aH departments of trade and industry. Of this class of business men is Mr Stowe, and the rapid increase of the business of his house at this point since he came shows that its southwestern trade is in the hands of a gentleman peculiarly fitted for his responsible position and especially adapted to the requirements of its line in Kansas City. During his residence in Cincinnati Mr. Stowe took an active interest in politics on behalf 572 History of Kansas City. of the Republican party, and at the April election of 1879 was elected council man for the first ward and re-elected April 12, 1881. He was chairman of the committee on steam railroads, light and law and contracts, and was elected presiding officer of the council at its re-organization in April, 1881. He was one of the most active and influential members of the board. During most of his business life Mr. Stowe has had a taste for journalism and authorship, which, notwithstanding his many engrossing employments, he has found time to gratify. In 1867 a very valuable book of his preparation was published by Henry Carey Baird, of Philadelphia, who paid the young author handsomely for the copyright It is entitled "A Manual for the Sheet-Bar and Plate-Iron Roller," and is in use in all the rolling-mills throughout the country. Another work of his during the war on " Guns and Gunnery " had a large sale in this country and England, While in Bloomington he wrote much for the Panta- graph of that city and for the Chicago Tribune and eastern papers. After his removal to Cincinnati, a specially useful book of his called " Hints to Farmers on the Reaper and Mower " was published. Mr. Stowe at times appears as a lecturer, having delivered before various bodies in the country addresses on physiognomy and other subjects. Industrial art in this country owes not a little to the inventive genius of Mr Stowe, who has patented, first and last, no less than thirty machines and improvements, the most important of which are the cartridge-filHng machine and the reaper before mentioned. It is truly wonderful that he has been able to accomplish so much for his years in the various departments of human activity, Mr. Stowe is an Odd Fellow and thirty- two degree Mason. In 1866 he married Helen Marie, eldest daughter of Albert Walcutt Esq., of Providence, and has a daughter named Marien R. and a son named Willie J. Stowe. STIMSON, HARRY P., president of the American National Bank of Kan sas City, is a son of Surry and Harriet (Edgerton) Stimson, of Ludlow, Vt, and was born at that place October 20, 1855. He graduated from Middlebury College, Middlebury, Vt, in the class of 1877, and entered upon his business career through a connection with the Sutheriand Falls Marble Company, which began in 1878 and ended in 1881. This company has since been merged in the Vermont Marble company, one of the largest concerns of the kind in the worid. During this period he held the position of secretary of civil and miHtary affairs of the State of Vermont which involved among other responsible and confidential features, the duties of pri vate secretary to the governor of the State. In 1880 Mr Stimson married Miss Carrie Cragin, of Weston, Vt, and in 1881 Mrs. Stimson's health demanding a change of climate, they came west and located at Cawker City, Kan, Mr Stimson sacrificing, in order to do so, one of the finest business positions in his native State. In association with Biographical: 573 Messrs. H. P. Churchill and E. E. Parker, he organized the First National Bank of Cawker City, of which he was chosen cashier, and several other banks in Kansas, all of which are not only yet in existence, but are the leading banks in their respective localities, the First National Bank of Cawker City ranking as one of the most prominent banks in Northern Kansas. He was also one of the organizers of the Security Investment Company, the necessity for the organization of which arose in the extensive dealings of Mr. Stimson and his associates in real estate securities. By this time the superior claims of Kansas City over those of an}' other point in the Southwest, were recognized everywhere, and Mr. Stimson, accom panied by Mr. Churchill, came here with a view to looking the town over, and determine its value as the base of future and more extensive operations, and so well pleased were they with it, and such were the inducements held out to them by some of its most prominent capitalists, that they decided to locate here. An arrangement was soon effected whereby the safe deposit business which is now connected with one of their enterprises, was transferred to Mr. Stimson, Mr. Churchill, Mr. Parker, and others, and in 1883 they and others organized the Kansas City Safe Deposit and Savings Bank, of which Mr. Stim son was cashier until 1886. In 1886 the American National Bank of Kansas City was organized by Mr. Stimson and Messrs. Churchill, Parker, W. P. Rice, and others, and Mr. Stim son was elected its cashier, and so served until March, 1888, when he suc ceeded to the presidency. The remarkable success of this institution is one of the noteworthy events in the recent history of the city, and it has been achieved directly under Mr. Stimson's personal management of the business. He was one of the original incorporators, and until January, 1887, president of the Equitable Mortgage Company, one of the most substantial farm loan insti tutions in the west ; helped to organize, and is vice-president of the Union Investment Company, and treasurer of the American Bank BuHding Company, which has erected one of the most costly and convenient office buildings in the west. Mr. Stimson was chosen treasurer of the company, prompting and manag ing the Kansas City National Exposition of 1887, and by his financial knowl edge and personal influence he afforded the enterprise aid which was invaluable in insuring its success. He has from time to time been identified with other interests tending to the glory and up-building of Kansas City, which he firmly believes will yet rank among the chief cities of the country. His repute in business and monetary circles would be complimentary to one of twice his years, and three times his experience, and socially he is a favorite, having a membership in most of the social clubs of Kansas City, and the highest per sonal esteem of many of the best people in Kansas City and the west He has recently bought and re-fitted an elegant residence at the northwest corner of 73 574 History of Kansas City. Ninth and Cherry streets, which is one of the most hospitable in the city. His New England nativity and education have very naturally made him a Repub lican. Upon making his home here he connected himself with the First Con gregational Church of Kansas City, and has been its treasurer and one of its helpful members. HOLMES. EDWARD E. Born at West Winsted, Conn., 1849. Edu cated in the common schools. Began work as surveyor's "axman."' Acquired some knowledge of work above his own and won a transit instru ment. In 1 87 1 came west as civil engineer. His first considerable work was a preliminary survey for a railroad from Muscatine, la., to Orion, 111. Shortly became division engineer on the Muscatine Western Railroad. In 1872 was foreman of construction on a division of the Texas Pacific Railway. Returning to Muscatine engaged with a well-known firm of loan- brokers. When in their employ applied to Messrs. Gilbert & Gay, of his na tive town, who as bankers had money to lend. "Would they lend through his employers on his inspection ?" They replied : " Their Kansas business needed looking after If he would go through it for them and make his report on it,. then they would consider the question of further dealings with him." Re signed and accepted. Made his report, a thorough one involving many rec ommendations. Immediately opened an office on his own account at Empo ria, Kansas, solely to loan the money of Messrs, Gilbert & Gay. Continuing there four years, loaned a million doHars, making aH negotia tions and examinations himself and not losing a dollar — loans paid long ago. In 1882 took up the stock of the Kansas City Investment Company, capi tal $25,000 (since increased to $300,000), brought his business here, and pur sued it in this larger field including Kansas, until the company's loans amount to nearly $8,000,000 with like success, its clients many and permanent Mr Holmes is president and general manager, and has associated with him a num ber of able men. Also established the Dallas Investment Company, dealing in Texas loans and property. Mr. Holmes is also secretary and treasurer of the New Hampshire Invest ment Company of Kansas City, treasurer of the Kansas and New England Land and Cattle Company of Emporia, Kansas, manager of the Portsmouth Cattle Company of Portsmouth, N. H. (ranches in New Mexico), and is inter ested in other enterprises. Mr Holmes is a public-spirited citizen, though in strictiy unofficial ways. Married Martha J. Hawley in 1873, has a son, and fives on almost the edge of the sightiiest bluff in the city, looking down on the Missouri valley for twenty or thirty miles. Biographical. 575 SATTLEY, E. C. Mr. Sattley was born on his father's farm near Ferris- burg, Vt, February 3, 1863. He is the youngest of a family of four boys born to Robert P. and Harriet F. (Newell) Sattley, both of whom are natives of Vermont, and of New England lineage and remote English ancestry. Mr. Sattley was educated in the public schools of Burlington, at Charlotte Semi nary, and at Phillips Exeter Academy, N. H. He spent two years in the office of ex-Governor Proctor of Rutland, Vt, wholesale marble producer. In 1883 he located at Chicago, and for two years thereafter he was connected with the auditing department of the Chicago and Northwestern Railway Company. In 1885 he removed to Cawker City, Kan., and remained one year in the employ of the First National Bank of that place. In January, 1886, Mr. Sattley came to Kansas City to take the manage ment of the safe deposit department of the Kansas City Safe Deposit and Sav ings Bank. The following summer he was promoted to the position of assist ant cashier of the bank, in addition to his situation as safe- deposit manager, and the ensuing fall was made cashier in the place of H. P. Stimson, who had resigned ; and this position he still holds. The Kansas City Safe Deposit and Savings Bank is one of the best known and most popular institutions in the city. It has a capital of $200,000, and its deposits aggregate nearly $1,000,000. The subject of this sketch is well known for his accurate methods of business and his strict attention to its de tails, and to him, — as well as to the able president, Mr. H. P. Churchill, and the excellent board of directors, — much of the success of the company is due. Mr. Sattley is well known in financial circles, and universally esteemed for his high manly qualities. He is the assistant secretary of the American Bank Building Co., treasurer of the West Side Loan and Building Association, and of several other well known corporations ; is a member of the leading clubs of the city, and already, though his residence in the city has been but brief, comparatively, he has attained a standing in the community which but few men have reached in half a score of years. His natural gifts have been thor oughly cultivated, and he has had a most valuable experience, and altogether has met with almost unexampled success. There can be no doubt, moreover, that his future will be one of prominence and distinction and real usefulness. HALLEY, GEORGE, M.D., oldest son of George and Jane Halley, was born September 10, 1840, at Aurora, in the county of York, Ontario, Canada. When seven years old he removed with his parents into the township of Peel, county of Wellington, a new section of the country that was at that time being rapidly settled. Being a densely wooded country it required for many years the untiring efforts of the family to carve out a home in the wilderness. This deprived him of the possibility of attending school, even if there had been any to attend, which there at that time was not He was, however, able to 576 History of Kansas City. read, and by this very isolation and deprivation acquired habits of reading and' study that have proved invaluable to him ever since. Among the books that he read carefully and systematically, with the assistance of his excellent mothen were RoHins's Ancient History, Hume's and Smollett's histories of England' Addison's Spectator, Reid on the Human Understanding, and the works of Shakespeare. These books, with the Bible, formed the major portion of the family library. When he was fifteen years old, the first district school was opened in his locality, which he attended during the winters of 1854, 1855, 1856 and 1857. At the opening of the winter term of the county grammar school, in 1858, he entered it and began the study of Latin and French, math ematics and the higher English branches, preparatory to entering University College. The death, first of his younger brother and then of his second and only remaining brother, delayed his education very seriously. In order tO' keep up his studies he took private instruction at home, and in 1865 he passed the matriculation examination in the University of Victoria College, and en tered the medical class of that year in the city of Toronto, where he pursued the ordinary course of study. In 1867 he was appointed prosector to the chair of anatomy, and devoted much of his time to acquiring a thorough knowledge of that branch. In March, 1868, he went to New York, took the spring course at Long Island Hospital, and attended the clinical instruction at the hospitals and dispensaries of the city, through the summer, returning home in time to enter the class of 1868-9, at Victoria College In March, 1869, he passed his final examination, and in June following he received the diploma of Doctor of Medicine from the university of Victoria College at Coburn. The death of Dr Halley's father necessitated his remaining at home, to manage the farm and settie the estate, until January, 1870, when he came "West," with a view to locating if he liked the country ; and after a visit to Southern Missouri and Kansas, he took up his residence in Kansas City and began the practice of his profession. At that time there were in existence in Kansas City two medical schools — the College of Physicians and Surgeons and the Kansas City Medical College. During the ensuing summer the two colleges were consohdated under the name of the College of Physicians and Surgeons, and Doctor Halley accepted the position of assistant demonstrator of anatomy in the new faculty. In 1871, the chair of anatomy being vacated by Dr. A. B. Taylor, who had held it, he being elected to the chair of surgery, Dr HaHey was elected to the chair of anatomy and delivered his first course of lectures on anatomy during the session of 187 1-2. This chair he filled un interruptedly for ten years. On the death of Dr Taylor, professor of surgery, he was elected to temporarily fill the chair of surgery, delivering his first course of lectures during the session of 1 879-80. On the chair becoming vacant by the removal from the city of Dr. W. S. Tremain, who was its incumbent during the session of 1 880-8 1, he was elected by the college association pro fessor of surgery, which place he still holds. Biographical. 577 In May, 1871, Dr. Halley was married to Miss Florence M. Chiles, of Kan sas City, by whom he had four children, only one of whom is living, the others having died in infancy. He rapidly gained a large general practice, which he held up to June, 1885, when he rehnquished it to devote all his energies to surgery, in which line he is still engaged. His struggle for pre-eminence as a surgeon has been arduous, and much of the time pursued under adverse cir cumstances. During the ten years he taught anatomy, as professor, he was a constant instructor in the demonstrator's room, assisting in every part of the work. After the class left the room, which was not usually until 9:30 P. M., he pursued his dissection preparatory for his lectures in the class room. This often kept him till the small hours of the morning. It was by this means he laid solidly the sure foundation for his chosen specialty, surgery. The vigorous health that was developed on the farm in his Canadian home, stood him in good stead in the arduous duties of professional life, while doing a large and laborious practice through the day and spending so much of his nights in study and in struction. In 1884 he associated himself with Dr. A. L. Fulton in publishing a medical journal, the Kansas City Medical Record. In this new venture the same untiring energy has characterized his career, and has been rewarded by liberal recognition on the part of his professional confreres in an extensive country consultation and a large subscription list. Dr. Halley's home life has been particularly happy, and not until lately has it been overshadowed. He was constantly cheered and encouraged, as well as counseled in his work, by his beloved wife, whose death he has been called upon to mourn very recently ; and he finds consolation in the thought that the same power that has sustained him in the past will stiH keep him. For seventeen years he has been connected with the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, as sisting it in all its work as a member and an officer. ASKEW, WILLIAM, was born on the i8th of November, 1824, at St. Clairsville, O., and was the youngest of four brothers. Like many an other successful man, he received but little education. At the age of fifteen he was apprenticed to the saddler's trade for a term of six years. At the age of twenty-one he enlisted in the Mexican War, which was then in progress, it being the year 1846. He was in command of General Taylor's Third Ohio Regiment. At the expiration of a year, his term of enlistment being at an end, he returned to his home in Ohio, where for eighteen months he lay seri ously iH from diseases contracted in the Mexican camp, and from the effects of his hard service. After his recovery, in 1848, he went into the nursery busi ness with his father, William Askew, sr, making his home in Middle Tennessee, at Cadiz, in Southern Kentucky. When the war of '61 broke out he again en- Hsted, joining Company A of the Twenty-fifth Ohio Regiment. In May, of the year '62, he was made first lieutenant of his company, and in October of 578 History of Kansas City. the same year he was promoted to the captaincy of Company I, same regi ment Twenty-five months in all he spent in the service, passing through the battles of ChancdlorsviHe, Cedar Mountain, the Second BuH Run, and many other minor engagements, and after the engagement at ChanceHorsville he resigned, and returned to his native State (Ohio), and there engaged in the tanning business until 1866, when he came to Kansas, seeking a better loca tion and larger territory, where he engaged in the saddlery, hardware, leather, and hide business until 1877, when he retired from active business. In 1867 he visited Ohio, and there married Miss Laura E. Patton, and re turned to Kansas City, Mo., where he has lived ever since. One child was the result of this union, a son, who died at the age of six years and ten months. Mr. Askew, while retired from active business, still continues to take an active part in the welfare of this great and growing city, and is always found on the side of right He owns some of the most valuable blocks of ground to be found in Kansas City; one block alone in the east side of the city is quite worth a quarter of a million dollars. SWITZER, HENRY, was born at Isny, Wurtemburg, Germany, February 10, 1837. His parents, John Henry and Catherine Magdalena Switzer, emigrated to this country when he was thirteen years old, arriving in New York August i, 1850, with their four sons, of whom Henry was the oldest they went to canal Dover, Tuscarawas county, O., where they made their home. The father, John Henry Switzer, was of Swiss parentage and a doctor of medicine and a man of great learning. Henry had often accompanied his father to France and had remained there long enough to receive instruction in music and dancing, and there and in Germany had acquired a fine education for one so young, gaining a knowledge of French, German, and Latin ; and May 5, 1850, before leaving for America, he was confirmed in the German Lutheran Church. He is especially remembered by those who knew him in his youth for his fine musical talent and culture, and it is said that he was a good performer on the flute and violin when not more than fourteen or fifteen years old. It is related of him that he was so far advanced and so apt a scholar that upon entering the school at Canal Dover, O., he passed from the primary grade to the high school in one week. After a year or two of American school ing, he entered the establishment of Mr. William Rickert, at Canal Dover, O., to learn cigar-making. Having mastered his trade and being of an enterprising and progressive bent, he in time began business for himself He lived for a time in New Orleans, La., and from there went up the river to St. Louis, and thence to Lexington, Mo. From Lexington, Mo., he removed to Leavenworth, Kan., and thence, in 1868, to Kansas City, where he lived untH his death in 1880. He was for years proprietor of a large and popular cigar and tobacco store at i^njs-tnj SBMaliS Sms 'Sem ^^ ;A7^ Biographical. 579 509 Main street. In business circles his integrity was never questioned ; his financial standing was high and he died worth an ample fortune. He was in the best and truest sense a self-made man, and his interest in Kansas City was such as to cause him to cheerfully and liberally sustain every means to its extension and upbuilding. He was married May 21, 1861, to Miss Phcebe Turner, of Lexington, Mo., who died in 1867. November 23, 1870, he mar ried Miss Josephine Turner, a sister of his first wife. He left a widow and five chHdren. It was in connection with the educational history of the city that Mr. Switzer was most conspicuous. In 1875 he was elected a member of the board of education and served continuously as school director until his death. His interest in the public schools was such that he devoted much time and money to their advancement, for which he is entitled to the thanks not alone of living young men and women who have profited by his generosity, but to the gratitude of generations as yet unborn. REYNOLDS, JAMES I. There are few names better known in Kansas City's business, commercial, financial and social circles than this one. Mr Reynolds was born at West Liberty, O., AprH 25, 1846, of Puritan ances try. His father was Ira Reynolds, a man of sterling worth and a descendant of an old and honored famHy By his mother, who was Harriet N. Chapman, Mr. Reynolds can trace his ancestry back to the time of the Mayflower, and her family was known in England as early as 1298 ; its coat of arms appear ing in works on heraldry, together with the motto, " Crescit sub Pondere Vir tus." Rev. Benjamin Chapman, Mr. Reynold's great-grandfather, was born in 1724, graduated from Princeton in 1754 and settled at Southington, Conn., one of the historic towns of the Connecticut Valley, in 1756, as pastor of the Presbyterian Church of that place. The old family residence is now the prop erty of the city, carefully preserved as a relic of early days. Mr. Reynolds's father, Ira Reynolds, was born in Ontario county; N. Y., in 1809, and died November 24, 1880. His mother was born in Franklin county, 0., October 30, 18 16, and died March 12, 1852, when James I. was only six years old, and after this event, so sad in the life of any child, he went to live with his mother's sister at De Graff, O. This lady's husband, Mr. MitcheH, was a grain merchant and seedsman, and as will be seen, this change was indirectly the means of determining Mr. Reynolds's occupation. The youth received a good education in the public schools, and at the early age of thirteen busied himself at times in assisting his uncle to attend to his interests, and he has almost literally been in business ever since he was first able to stand at a desk. At the age of sixteen he practically entered upon his busi ness career in his uncle's establishment. The war of secession had now been in progress some time, and a year later. 58o History of Kansas City. at the age of seventeen, Mr Reynolds was serving the United States govern ment in the quartermaster's department at Bowling Green, Ky. While so employed he was unexpectedly recalled to Ohio to take charge of the business of his uncle, who had been stricken with paralysis. Returning again to the seat of war he was, when only eighteen, seeing active service before Petersburg as a member of the One Hundred and Thirty- second Ohio Volunteer Infantry National Guards, and orderly sergeant of Company F. While he lays no claim to having achieved great distinction as a soldier, Mr. Reynolds is con scious of having faithfuHy discharged the duties devolving upon him at that period of his life, and reverts to it with pleasure and satisfaction. The expe rience was one which resulted happily for him as a means of discipline, and in its additions to his knowledge of the world. In 1866 Mr. Reynolds, then twenty years old, was taken into partnership with his uncle, as a practical recognition of his business capacity and sterling worth. The firm, known as Mitchell & Reynolds, dealt in grain and seeds and did a large business for the time and locality, continuing until Mr. Mitchell retired with an ample fortune and Mr Reynolds had sufficient capital to estab lish himself elsewhere in a modest way, and what was better than cash capital, he had good judgment, business experience, and unquestioned integrity. Mr Reynolds came to Kansas City, and in January, 1872, the firm of Trumbull & Reynolds was organized. In 1873 its style was changed by the admission of a third partner to Trumbull, Reynolds & AHen, the members being Messrs. A. G. TrumbuH, J. I. Reynolds and J. N. Allen. This house has grown steadily under the able management of Mr Reynolds and his asso ciates, until its business became larger in its combined Hues than that of any similar establishment in the country. The firm now confines itself to its man ufacture of hay machinery and its jobbing seed trade. Almost ever since coming to Kansas City Mr Reynolds has been a suc cessful investor in real estate, and his great executive abiHty and unbounded enterprise have caused him to be sought as a participator in various important interests, and in such connection no name is more prominent than his, appear ing as it does in the directory of a number of banks, investment companies and other corporations, of some of which he is president. Every measure cal culated to advance the growth and prosperity of Kansas City receives his un stinted support and churches and charitable institutions have found in him a generous friend. A descendant of a long line of Presbyterians, he is firmly grounded in the creed of that denomination, and he is an official member, and with his family an attendant upon the services of the Second Presbyterian Church of Kansas City. His wife was Miss Julie E. Reeves, of De Graff, 0., whom he married May 25, 1870, and who has borne him four chHdren, viz.: Harry E., Charles Lee, Mary Grace, and James Royal. Politically, Mr Reynolds is a staunch Republican, but his varied interests ^W"^E.G.maMm3 a Bro. t0. Biographical. 581 demand his time and energies to such an extent that when solicited to accept political preferment he has felt obliged invariably to decline such honors. Yet as a private citizen he is deeply interested in our national institutions as well as in all questions of local importance. He is a respecter of law, because laws are necessary to proper living and personal opportunity for advancement, and has ever lent his influence toward the making and enforcing of sanitary laws, both general and municipal. Mr. Reynolds is yet young and full of energy, a man of unbounded enter prise, good judgment, ability for leadership, and the highest degree of integrity, and it may be truly said of him that he is a good citizen, performing all duties faithfully. RICE, W. P. This gentleman, who during the past few years, has been so prominently connected with the growth of Kansas City, and the develop ment of its tributary country, through his identification with a number of im portant banking and investment institutions, is of New England parentage, being a son of Warren W. and Caroline Rogers Gould Rice, born at Hamp den, Penobscot county, Me., December 23, 185 1. His rudimentary education was obtained in the common school of his native place, and he was later a stu dent at the Thomaston Academy, at Thomaston, Me., where he removed with his father's family in June, 1863. Mr. Rice's father was a prominent man in his State, and the friend and as sociate of leading men throughout New England ; politically a staunch Repub lican and possessing the confidence and esteem of the best representatives of all parties. One of his many distinguished personal friends was the Hon.. Wendell Phillips, the celebrated anti-slavery agitator and orator, in whose honor Mr. W^. P. Rice was named. He gained an enviable reputation through out the country in connection with prison management and reform, his con spicuous identification with this interest as superintendent of the Maine State Prison having afforded him extensive knowledge and valuable experience and gained him the commendation of every one interested in the question. It was as deputy warden and clerk under his father that Mr. Rice made his debut in the practical world of business. His success was so flattering that, when in the faH of 1878, the governor of the State of Vermont was casting about to find a man, fitted by nature and experience, to properly manage the State Prison of Vermont, the governor of Maine recommended him for the position, and the appointment was conferred upon him, and he left his native State to enter upon the duties and responsibilities of the position, which he filled with credit to himself and to the satisfaction of the public until he relinquished it in the spring of 1883, to remove to Kansas and engage in banking. Mr Rice organized the First National Bank of Clyde, Kan., in 1884, and retains connection with it as its president, and he has been prominently iden- 74 582 History of Kansas City. tified with a number of other financial interests in this city and in Kansas. The First National Bank of Leavenworth, the United States National Bank of Atchison, the Abilene National Bank of Abilene, and other institutions repre senting in the aggregate a capital fully paid in of more than $3,000,000, were organized through his efforts. Upon the organization of the American Na tional Bank of Kansas City in 1886, he removed to Kansas City and became its first vice-president, resigning that position to accept the presidency of the Union Investment Company which was organized wholly through his instru mentality, and to the management and general policy of which he devotes all his experience and financial ability, having relinquished active association with all other business enterprises in order to give his undivided attention to this. The success which has attended the business of each of these institutions is a testimonial to his foresight and ability, and an evidence of the almost un bounded confidence reposed in him by Eastern investors who own a large share of the stock of the several corporations named. The most pronounced characteristic of Mr. Rice is energy, and his most -conspicuous talent is for leadership of men. The success of his manhood was -foreshadowed in his youth and in his relations with his schoolboy friends, among whom he was a leading spirit in all their sports and pastimes. His in nate mental and moral strength are so conspicuous as to draw to him all classes of men and gain and retain their confidence in the most important concerns of business life. In politics, he is from birth and early association, as well as by firm conviction, strongly Republican, and takes the deepest interest in the suc cess of his party and the weal of the country at large ; and, while he has never sought offices, and has always refused them when they have been offered him for the taking, preferring to devote himself unreservedly to large financial op erations, he has not been inactive or without a distinctly felt influence in pub lic affairs, municipal. State and national. Since coming to Kansas City he has been concerned deeply in every measure looking to the growth and extension of the city and the development of all of its really important public interests ; and as a citizen, in all relations, he has been liberal and helpful to an uncom mon degree, while it is probable that few residents have done more than he to extend the fame of the city throughout the country and to enlist to aid its up building the co-operation of Eastern brains and capital. He was married in 1874 to Miss Abbie Frances Tobey, daughter of Captain William Tobey, of Thomaston, Me, a lady of charming domestic and social qualities, who has been to him truly a helpmeet, and in all things a wise and safe counselor and adviser. His home is filled with evidences of culture and refinement, and is one of the most elegant in the city and noted for an open-handed hospitality which would make Mr. and Mrs. Rice favorites in society even did they not possess all those qualities of whole-hearted friendliness and good fellowship which have endeared them to a wide circle of acquaintance wherever they are known. Biographical. 583 GOSNELL, WILLIAM ANDREW, was born in Rush county, Ind., March 5, 1840. The immediate locaHty of his nativity was near a stream in the northeastern portion of the county, bearing the name (bestowed upon it by the Indians) of " Shankee-Tank." The Gosnell family is of English origin. About the close of the War of the Revolution, Benjamin, Joseph, and William Gosnell, three brothers, emigrated from England to America. Benjamin settled in Virginia. Here his son, Benjamin F., was born in 1801. He removed to Bourbon county, Ky., where his son, Joseph A. Gosnell, was born in 1821. The last named gentleman at the early age of eighteen married Martha A. Edwards, of Xenia, 0., daughter of Emanuel Edwards, a native of Scotland. To this union the subject of this biography was born, the first child, when the father was but nineteen years of age. His parents are both living. His paternal grandfather, Benjamin F. GosneH, died in January of the present year. Mr. Gosnell was educated in the schools of his native State, mainly at New Salem, at Rushville Seminary, and at Richland Academy. In the spring and summer of i860 he completed a commercial course of study at the Bacon Mer cantile College, Cincinnati, O. Returning home he took especial charge of the books and the general management of the affairs of a large distillery at Meta- mora, Ind. Owing to the embarrassments of the civil war, this establishment closed in 1861. He was then engaged for several months with his father in buying horses and mules for the government. In the winter of 1863 he was married, and from thence until the close of the Civil War he had charge of the extensive plantation of his father-in-law, James Corbin, in Boone county, Ky. At intervals he read law in the office of his brother-in-law, James M. Cor bin, a prominent attorney of Covington, Ky., and although he was never ad mitted to the bar, the time so employed was well spent ; the knowledge he here acquired has often served him. In 1865 he returned to Indiana and was engaged in trade with his father and brother (and at one time conducted a drugstore) untH 1868. In that year he came to Jackson county. Mo., and purchased a farm of one hundred acres in extent near Westport which he stHl owns. This tract he converted into a nursery and fruit farm, and for twelve years devoted his attention almost exclusively to horticulture in its various branches. He was a pioneer member of the Missouri Valley Horticultural Society, and became prominently known among the fruit growers of this region. But the labor was hard and the returns inadequate to the time expended and the capital invested, and he determined upon a change of pursuits. In 1880 Mr. Gosnell came to Kansas City and engaged in the real estate business on a capital of but $100 in cash. It is not necessary to give the details of his experience. It may suffice to say that from the first he was suc cessful, and his business has grown to be very extensive and profitable. Few men have made such ample realizations, even in a lifetime of unremitting atten- 584 History of Kansas City. tion to their business. He has made a speciality of transactions in " acre property," buying and selling largely in the suburbs of Kansas City. He has also made investments in real property at a distance, and among his other acquisitions he now owns large landed interests in Kansas, including an exten sive tract of farm lands in Barbour county and valuable city property in Topeka. He is the architect of his own fortune. His success is the result of his own judgment, and has not been attained through the aid of corporations and associations. Withal, every penny's worth of his estate has been honora bly and legitimately acquired. Mr. Gosnell was married February 25, 1863, to Miss Amanda E. Corbin, of Boone county, Ky. Mrs. Gosnell comes from a prominent and honorable family. Her father, James Corbin, was a wealthy Kentucky farmer and slave holder, and spent a great portion of his adult life in civil office. Her brother, James M. Corbin, as has been stated, was a noted lawyer of Covington, Ky., and had an extensive and lucrative practice. Her cousin, the renowned finan cier, Austin Corbin, is well known throughout the commercial world. Her mother, Elizabeth Marshall, was a descendant of the distinguished jurist Chief Justice John Marshall. Mr. and Mrs, Gosnell have had born to their union seven children. The eldest child, a daughter, Anna Maria, died at the age of eighteen months. The other children are : James Corbin GosneH, born March 9, 1867 ; Dora E., born June 2, 1869, a graduate of Holden (Mo.) CoHege, and a most accom plished young lady; Nannie M., born June 4, 1871 ; Lizzie Marshall, born October 25, 1874; Mary Lewis, born March 13, 1879,- and Ada D., born April 27, 1883. Those of proper age are being carefuHy educated and trained to become useful members of society. Mr GosneH has been a consistent mem ber of the Baptist Church since 1870. Among his feHow business men of Kansas City he is weH and favorably known. His standing as a citizen is high, and his character as a man is above reproach. SAUER, GUS. O, L,, commission merchant of Kansas City, was born in Vienna, Austria, January 4, 1846. He is a son of Anthony Sauer, who emigrated to the United States in 1853, settling in New York City, where for a number of years he was engaged in importing leather from Europe. In 1858, on account of ill-health, he came West, settiing in Kansas City, and establishing a lanyard here, one of the first established in the West. He also kept in this city a leather store in which his son was employed. These two enterprises he carried on until 1865, when in further search of health he crossed the plains, and was engaged for two years in Montana, Idaho and other Western Territo ries, in general teaming, and in prospecting for gold. WhHe thus engaged his son, the subject of this sketch, was one of his employees. In 1 867 both father and son returned to Kansas City, where the former died in 1876. The latter upon i^3'itiFcmiii.mi sBroVX. Biographical. 585 reaching this city was employed successively by Charles E. Kearney, Brown, Chick & Co., and M. Dively, all of whom were wholesale grocers. With the latter Mr. Sauer remained about five years, when he and Andrew Crider bought out the business of Mr. Dively, and then carried on the wholesale grocery busi ness until 1873. At this time, on account of the death of Mr. Crider, Mr. Sauer formed a partnership with Mr. Dively, and was engaged with him under the firm name of Dively & Co., in the general commission business until 1878. Mr. Dively wishing to retire from active business the firm was dissolved, and Mr. Sauer entered into the commission business on his own account. He has been thus engaged ever since. He handles provisions, produce and fruits — both na tive and foreign — fancy groceries, flour, etc., and is known and recognized as one of the most enterprising and successful of Kansas City's business men. In carrying on his business he employs some twenty-two men, and his sales dur ing 1887 aggregated over half a million dollars. RICHARDS, JOHN F Mr Richards is a native of old Virginia, born at Cloverdale, Bath county, October 23, 1834. His parents, Walter and Nan cy (Mayes) Richards, were also Virginians. His father was a farmer and coun try tavern-keeper, and for many years kept the stage station at Cloverdale. His son, John F., was the youngest of a family of ten children. In 1836 the senior Mr. Richards came with his family to St Charles, Mo., where he died about six months after his arrival. After her husband's death the widow re moved with her children to New Franklin, Howard county, subsequently to Boonville, and in 1846 to St. Louis, where she died in 1848. Upon the death of his mother, the orphan boy, John Richards, went to live with his brother-in-law, a Mr H. C. Miller, of Arrow Rock, Saline county. In the fall of 1849 Mr. Miller went to California, leaving his charge with Zenas Leonard, a merchant at Sibley, well known to the old citizens of Jackson county. In the service of this gentleman Mr Richards remained for three years. Mr Leonard had formerly been in the employ of the American Fur Company on the Upper Missouri and at various points in the then hterally wild West and his tales of adventure, and his description of life in the Indian country, were Hst ened to by his young protege with the deepest interest In the winter of 1 8 5 2 he attended Hall and Alexander's school at Pleasant Hill — the last school he ever attended — and the following spring he engaged with Captain John S. Shaw, a weH-known Missouri River steamboat captain — still Hving at St Charles, Mo. — then an Indian trader stationed at Fort Laramie. He accompanied Captain Shaw to the Plains, and had charge of a station at Fort Laramie at intervals for some months during the absence of the proprietor He was frequentiy sent in charge of train loads of supplies from Laramie to other points far to the west ward, sold goods to the Indians and the California emigrants, bought cattle, and, in short was of much assistance to his employer, and rendered him valu- 586 History of Kansas City. able service. In the spring of 1854 Captain Shaw disposed of his trading in terests to the American Fur Company, and Mr. Richards returned to Missouri and resumed his former occupation of clerking, being engaged in the store of Chiles & Garrison, at Sibley, where he remained until the ensuing fall. He then went to St. Louis and obtained a situation under Captain Shaw as third clerk of the steamer Isabel, which had been built for the Missouri River trade, but on her first trip up the river, at Herman, the boat sank, and after two weeks spent in charge of the cargo, he went to St Louis and entered the employ of Child, Pratt & Co., then the largest wholesale hardware dealers in the city. He held the position of shipping clerk with this firm until in the winter of 1857. In the early spring of 1857 Mr. Richards came to Leavenworth and opened the first exclusive hardware store in that city, if not in the Territory of Kansas. His business sign and his advertisements bore the caption " Pioneer Hardware Store," and the title to that distinction was never questioned. His original lo cation was on the corner of Second and Cherokee streets, in a room 12 by 40^ feet in size. Afterwards he removed to a building on the corner of Third and Delaware, which he still owns. Soon after establishing himself in business, or in June, 1857, he married Miss Martha A. Harrdson who was born in Jackson county. Mo., and whose father, Joseph A. Harrdson, was a well-known early settler. To this marriage there were born seven children, four of whom are now living, viz.. May R., now the wife of J. G. Wapples, a wholesale grocer and lumber merchant of Denison, Texas; Helen R., now the wife of Dr James E. Logan, of Kansas City; and Walter B. and George B., who are connected with the Richards and Conover Hardware Company Mrs. Richards died February 16, 1874. Mr. Richards has been engaged in the hardware business for thirty-one years, always actively and with unvarying success. His engagement has been con tinuous, and he has foHowed one line of business probably longer than any other business man now in service in the Missouri Valley. His original capital was a few hundred dollars, the savings of his earnings, and the unlimited confidence of his former employers, from whom he purchased his stock. He is now at the head of one of the largest and strongest establishments of the kind in the West In 1862 he formed a partnership with Mr W. E. Chamberiin, and engaged in the wholesale hardware trade. In 1 865 he purchased the interest of Mr Cham- berhn, and continued the business alone untH in the winter of 1866, when his present partner. Colonel John Conover, became associated with him, at first as junior partner of the firm, of J. F. Richards & Co., at Leavenworth. In Oc tober, 1875, this firm bought out the estabHshment of D. A. McKnight and started a hardware house in Kansas City, at No. 424 Delaware street. In 1880-81 the present quarters of the company, in the mammoth four story establishment at the corner of Fifth and Wyandotte street were erected, and occupied in 1882, in which year the firm was re-organized and incorporated un- Biographical. 587 der the name and style of the Richards & Conover Hardware Company. The business in Leavenworth was continued until in 1884, and Mr. Richards gave his personal attention to the management of both houses until that time when the Leavenworth interest was sold, enabling him to give his undivided time to the affairs of the Richards & Conover Company, at Kansas City. The business of the company is wholesale in the general line of hardware, cutlery, iron, etc. The large establishment in which it has its headquarters, and does its principal business is owned by Mr. Richards, and the firm owns an extensive warehouse four stories in height, at the corner of Union avenue and Hickory street. No other firm of Hke character has a better standing, does more business, or has been more largely successful. To the management of this company, as well as to the parent organization out of which it grew, Mr. Richards has given his un wearied and unremitting attention, and it is generally understood that its great success is largely due to him. He has gone through bank panics unscathed and unharmed, and his house has always been abreast with the trade, up with the times, and prompt to meet its obligations at maturity. At Leavenworth its doors were always open, save for a week or two during the Price raid in the fall of 1864, when he closed them and enlisted in the Kansas militia to assist in re- peHing the advance of the Confederates upon his city. He armed and equipped himsdf, marched with his fellow-citizens into Jackson county. Mo., and partici pated in the battles of the Little Blue and Westport. Mr. Richards continued to conduct the business in Leavenworth, and to re side there until in December, 1887, when he became a permanent resident of Kansas City. During his residence in Leavenworth he served as president of the school board, also of the city council. He is still a member of the direct ory of the Leavenworth National Bank, and now holds the same position in the First National Bank of Kansas City. December i, 1877, he was again married, on this occasion to Mrs. L. M. Durfee, a former resident of Leavenworth, and a native of the State of New York. SWAIN, JOSEPH W. Mr Swain was born in Cincinnati, O., in 1852. Here he was reared to early manhood, receiving his education in the city schools. He began life for himself in earnest as a steamboat clerk, at first on the steamer Starlight, then in the Ohio and Tennessee River trade ; he was afterwards on other boats, and this vocation he foHowed for three years. Leav ing the river he engaged in railroading for one year From 187 1 to 1873 he was connected with the firm ef R. H. Fleming & Co., of Cincinnati. He then obtained a position with the Consolidated Tank Line Company, and coming to the West established the first office of that company west of the Mississippi River at St. Joseph, Mo. In 1 880 he came to Kansas City and took charge of the business of the company at this point, and has ever since been in con trol of its extensive interests in Northwest Missouri and the State of Kansas. 588 History of Kansas City. From time to time Mr. Swain has made certain judicious investments in various enterprises, and upon the whole has been very successful. His ac cumulations have been acquired from very modest beginnings and entirely through his own foresight and management He has conducted the affairs of the great corporation whose general manager in this quarter he is, with fidelity and marked ability, and possesses its entire confidence. He has been the vice-president of the German- American National Bank of Kansas City since its organization in September, 1887, and is also the vice-president of the Union Bank Note Company, which institution has a capital of $50,000. When it is considered that Mr. Swain began the world in very humble circumstances, with no fortune but his talents, and no friends save as he made them, and that now, before he has reached the meridian of life, he occupies a commanding position in the community in which he lives, and that his future is one of great promise, his career is most remarkable, and well worthy of admiration and emulation. In 1876 Mr. Swain was married to Miss Mary Howard, of St. Joseph, Mo., the accomplished daughter of Dr. John B. Howard, a prominent physician of that city. They have four children — Pauline M., Sarah, Joseph W., jr., and Paul Owen. Mr. Swain is a member of the Masonic fraternity, and he and his wife are communicants of the Congregational Church. PHILLIPS, E. A. Mr Phillips was born in Hunterdon county, N. J., March 31, 1835, on the banks of the Delaware River, very near the historical point. known as Washington's Crossing. His father, Joseph R. Phillips, and his mother, whose maiden name was Elizabeth Van Kirk, removed in 1838 to Ohio, the then far West, settling near Dayton. Here the subject of this sketch spent the next eighteen years of his life, alternating between the clearing, the corn field, and the three months' district school. Contriving to gather from each of these institutions some useful, practical knowledge, he found himself at the age of twenty-one, rich in physical health, strength and sound ideas, but very poor in purse. With a determined ambition to better his financial condition, he emigrat ed in the winter of 1856 and 1857 to Warren county, IH., driving out a four-horse team. He was compelled by unusual rains and swollen streams to abandon his wagon, but pushed on with his horses, swimming streams where the bridges were gone or the ferry-boats sunk. Following faint trails over broad prairies, where now are great highways, he arrived at his chosen home, February 21, 1857. Here, with varied trials, but unvaried disaster, he followed farming for the next eight years, planting and reaping large crops ; but the then long dis tance from market, and high freights, left no profits. Determining to change his business, and to enter a new field, he again turned his face westward, stopping this time at Smithton, Pettis county. Mo., bringing with him a wife, having on the loth day of October, 1861, married Mary J., daughter of ftnjEQWimamsi SBro.VX- cP^^^ru'%c^x--^a^f^ Biographical. 589 Captain Abram and Susan Green, who had emigrated some years before from Providence, R. I. In Smithton he engaged in the grain business, his wife assist ing him in his business in every way possible. Here he met with signal suc cess, but the dangers attendant at that time upon all kinds of business where money had to be handled in any considerable sum, in that part of the coun try — then in the midst of the great rebellion — were too great He was com peHed to keep his funds one night in an ash hopper, the next in an old shoe hid in the weeds, and never two successive nights in the same place. Owing to the presence in the country of scouting bands of marauding and murderous guerriHas, when a good restful sleep was desired, he was compelled to retire to the depths of an adjacent cornfield or other good hiding-place. He was an ¦outspoken Union man, and a decided Republican, and expected no mercy if he should fall into the hands of any of the robber bands styling themselves "Con federate troops," who then infested the country. Wearying of this kind of Hfe, he returned to St Louis, where he formed the acquaintance of, and entered the em ploy of the old and honored house of Plant & Brother, extensive dealers in agri cultural implements, mHl machinery, tools, seeds, etc. Shortly afterward he was commissioned by the firm to visit St Joseph, Leavenworth and Kansas City, for the purpose of selecting a location, and establishing a branch house of their busi ness. In accordance with their wishes he spent considerable time investigating the facilities of these cities for commanding the trade of the surrounding country, then, and in the future. The result being the establishment of the house near the corner of Second and Main streets, Kansas City, where on the lOth day of February, 1865, he opened for business the first agricultural implement house in Kansas City. From the first day he received a very large share of the trade ¦of the great State of Kansas, together with a liberal patronage from the mer chants of Western Missouri, Nebraska, Colorado, Texas, Indian Territory, and New and Old Mexico. Shipping by rail one day the bright, polished steel plow to the Kansas farmer, the next loading "the Galleon of the plains," the Spanish mule wagon, with rough cast-iron plows for the plowman of .Mexico — the two implements fitly representing the difference in the civilization and progress of the two lands, he pushed his business with aH his natural energy and ability, and soon found the building too smaH, and began looking for another location with better facilities for handhng the rapidly increasing business. Not being able to find a suitable house, it was decided to buy a lot and build. For this purpose Mr. Phillips selected the then obscure southeast corner of Fifth and Delaware streets, erecting- thereon a building, and removing to the new quarters in March, 1867. This was the first mercantile house on the now crowded whole sale street At this time Mr Phillips was chosen by the citizens of his ward to repre sent them for the two ensuing years in the city council, thus adding to the cares of his large business those of the city's affairs. He labored earnestly and un- 75 590 History of Kansas City. selfishly for the city's best interest, in accordance with the spirit that then pre vailed, not only throughout the city government, but among the whole people. All personal considerations were put aside in those days. It was the city's good, and that alone, that decided every question. Having been made chair man of a committee appointed to investigate the working of the various steam- fire engines then in use in the different cities, Mr. Phillips visited Cincinnati, Chicago and St Louis, where, after witnessing various tests of the different engines, he decided on the purchase of the Rotary or Silsby machine. Re porting on his return to the city council, he was directed in connection with Mr. H. W. Cooper, another member of the committee, to close the trade. This they did, bringing to the city the first fire engine of any kind that had been owned here. Previous to this only the "bucket line" was known, and a royal day it was to the progressive men of Kansas City when the covering was re moved from the beautiful steamer which bore the name of an old and honored citizen, John Campbell. This engine was the beginning of our present well- nigh perfect fire system. It was during Mr Phillips's term of service in the coun cil that the Cameron Railroad was buift, and the first bridge over the Missouri River was constructed; a feat up to that time considered almost impossible; the first twenty miles of the Great Fort Scott and Gulf System was built ; the Kan sas Pacific extended far into the heart of the great plains, etc. Those were the days of alternate hopes and fears with Kansas City business men. They were planting. How well they planted the harvest has since proclaimed. Mr Phillips soon found his new place too smaH, and the old methods too slow and costly for the new order of things ; and another move was deter mined upon, this time to what is now West Kansas City. Here, on the north east corner of Union avenue and Santa Fe street he erected what was then a "Matnmoth" warehouse 50 by 120 feet in area, with three floors, and con nected it by a switch from the main line of the Fort Scott and Gulf Railroad. The city council granted him permission to lay the side track on the sidewalk, it being so far out in the country there was no possible use for a walk. Con tinuing his business here until the death of Mr William Plant, the senior part ner of the firm, he was compelled to close the business, which then amounted to over $250,000 per annum, extending over the territory from the Missouri River on the east, to the Rocky Mountains on the west and to the Guff of Mexico on the south, a business in which to-day Kansas City lead the worid. Closing up with many regrets the promising and prosperous house, Mr PhiHips next essayed the role of a banker, organizing the Farmers' and Drov ers' Bank, and building the house now occupied by the Bank of Commerce as a branch of the up-town bank of that name. He was cashier of the Farmers' and Drovers' Bank, but the times being unpropitious,and the business not to his liking, after about one year the bank was merged into another; paying its cred itors in full, it ceased to exist He then turned his attention to railway ma- Biographical. 591 terials and construction business, contracting first with the Union Pacific, then with both the Missouri Pacific and Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railroads. His contract with the latter covered the entire line from Hannibal, Mo,, to Dennison, Tex. Much of his work was in the Indian Territory, where he pro cured his material from the Indians, and did business with them for five years. He states that he found them to be honest and true, and in his five years of very extensive dealings with them no Indian ever attempted to cheat or de fraud him ; " and I believe," says Mr. Phillips " that my Indian friends of the territory entertain toward me the same feeling of respect." He hunted -wdth them in their forest, and fished with them in their streams, lodged with them in their cabins and smoked with them around their camp-fires. He met in busi ness exchange the unlettered and suspicious, and in the councils of the nation the strong men, all of whom he felt that he could trust. During this time, from 1876 to 1881, Mr PhiHips resided in Sedalia, Mo., which was a more central point for his business. Here he met with his first great loss, in the death of his wife. She had stood faithfully and uncomplain ingly by the side of her husband during the days of his toil and adversity, and had rejoiced with him when the better days came. For eighteen years they had walked life's journey together She had encouraged her husband when others discouraged him ; she had cheered him when the load was heavy and the way was dark, and applauded the least of his triumphs. Mrs. Phillips died February 15, 1880, leaving two daughters, one since married, the other yet with her father In the year 1879, having been associated with Major William Gentry, R. H. Melton, Cyrus Newkirk and D. H. Smith, of Sedalia, Mr, Phillips was appointed superintendent of the Osage Valley Construction Company and proceeded to buHd the Sedalia, Warsaw and Southern Railroad, taking entire charge of the construction. After completing the road to Warsaw, Mo., in November, 1880, he again turned his attention to the material supply business, having formed a co-partnership with George W. Sedgwick, one of the most reliable citizens of Kansas City. The two did an extensive business, employing at one time several large steamers in transporting cross-ties up the Missouri River for the use of the Union Pacific Railroad. Being much of the time on the river look ing after the firm's interest Mr, Phillips gained a knowledge of the stream and of steam navigation that gave him a captain's commission. Thereafter, for some time, he commanded the great steamer Montana, the largest boat ever engaged in the Missouri River trade. The labor and responsibility of this position being greater than he desired, and the continued absence from home so distasteful, he soon retired from the river, settling down at the old home in Kansas City with his second wife, formerly Emma Newkirk, second daughter of Cyrus and Rebecca Newkirk, of SedaHa, Mo. Captain PhiHips has continued his business for the past five years on the line of the Kansas City Springfield 592 History of Kansas City. and Memphis Railroad, getting out nearly one mihion ties per annum. In the meantime he has been engaged in connection with some friends in oper ating one of the largest lumbering mills in the State of Arkansas, supplying from there nearly all the lumber used in paving the streets of Kansas City, besides large quantities for the various railroads and stock yards of the west He has contributed his share toward the development of his adopted city, having erected some of the largest and best residence blocks in the city. And now that he would lay off some of the labors and cares incident to so active a life, he |finds it difficult if not impossible to do so. Forty years of sharp, active labor having so fixed his habits, thoughts and desires, that although now the means on which to rest are his, yet it seems he cannot rest, but must from sheer force of habit, go on. He is yet in the full possession of every faculty unimpaired, and has no feeling of approaching age. Fields of labor are yet inviting him, and having led a sober temperate life (never having been under the influence of strong drink of any kind for a single moment) it is reasonably trusted and devoutly hoped that there are many years of health and strength before him. SQUIER, JAMES J., president of the Citizens' National Bank of Kansas City, Mo., is a son of Albert G. and Mary (Jordan) Squier, and a native of Washington county. Pa., where he was born January 31, 1836. He was educated in the public schools and at Green Academy, Pa., and at the age of twenty years went to Cumberland, O., where he began his business career as one of the proprietors of a dry goods store, in which his father was also interested. Mr Squier was married in 1861 to Miss Mary Stranathan, of Cumberland, O. They have had two children — Albert G. and Cora S. — the first of whom^ died May 15, 1881. He was in the war of the rebelHon about one year; first Heutenant of Company A, One Hundred and Seventy-second Ohio. After a five years' successful career at Cumberland, Mr Squier removed to Cambridge, O., where he remained in the dry goods trade as sole proprietor until 1865, when he took up his residence in Chicago, 111., and embarked in the hardware trade. It was while he was in business in Chicago that Mr Squier's attention was directed to Kansas City and her future possibilities, and so im pressed did he become with the promise of growth and prosperity which she held out, that he bought considerable property, "and in 1872 took up his resi dence here permanently, engaging in the live stock trade and real estate brokerage. From that time on he became more prominent in Kansas City real estate and commercial circles, and ten years later (1882) he, with others, organized the Citizens' National Bank, which is one of the substantial banking institutions of the southwest, and became its vice-president. Two years later he succeeded Mr J. A. Cooper to the presidency, and his management of the Biographical. 593, bank has been marked by integrity and conservatism and crowned with abun dant success, as an evidence of which it may be stated that during the six years of its existence the bank has paid its stockholders a yearly dividend of ten per cent, and added a surplus of $175,000, almost equaling its capital of $200,000. The present value of its stock is $225. Mr. Squier's connection with various prominent measures and enterprises tending to the extension of Kansas City's visible limits and the development of her various interests is well known, and in all relations he has shown himself to be a liberal, progressive, and eminently useful citizen. His real estate in terests are large. His home on Troost avenue, near the terminus of the cable line, is perhaps one of the finest places in the State, comprising forty-two acres of land highly improved, among its attractions, besides Mr. Squier's elegant residence, being groves, fish ponds, living springs, ornamental and vegetable gardens, elaborate drives, etc. As an example of the rapid increase in Kan sas City's real estate values, it may be mentioned that in 1881 Mr. Squier bought one hundred and twenty acres, of which this property is part, for $100 an acre, and has since sold all but his home tract at from $3,000 to $5,000 an acre. SCARRITT, WILLIAM CHICK. Mr Scarritt is of a family intimately connected with the origin and growth of Kansas City. His mother, Martha M. Scarritt, was the daughter of Colonel William M. Chick, who emi grated from Virginia to become one of the first settlers upon land that is now the heart of a great city ; and who was one of the seven men who conceived the project of building a city and laid out the original town of Kansas. His father, the Rev. Dr. Nathan Scarritt, came from Illinois to this county as a teacher among the Indians, before the town of Kansas was organized, and continues to live to this day an eminent and honored citizen, always confident of the future greatness of the city, and a leader in enterprises for its material development. The subject of this sketch was born in Westport Mo., March 21, 1861. He was reared chiefly in Kansas City, and attended its common schools. Af terwards he studied at Pritchett Institute, in Glasgow, Mo., and at Central Col lege, at Fayette, Mo., graduating from the latter institution in the class of 1881, with honors, receiving the degree of A. M. on examination, and the William A. Smith oratorial prize. Reading law during the last year of his collegiate course, he at once entered the middle class at the Law School of the Boston University, from "which institution, after two years study, he graduated cum laude, in 1883, with the degree of Bachelor of Laws. Returning to Kansas City, where, in 1882, he had been admitted to the bar, he formed a co-partner ship with his oldest brother, Ed. L. Scarritt, who had already acquired a good practice and much distinction as a lawyer. 594 History of Kansas City. The firm of Scarritt & Scarritt, though composed of two young men, have, by their diligence and learning, won an enviable reputation as successful law yers ; and the high personal character of both gentlemen add to the esteem which their abihties command. The practice of the firm is of a general nature, but their success has been most noticed in questions involving real estate and municipal law. The senior member of the firm was city counselor during the year 1885-6. They were attorneys for the Old-town proprietors in the suit against the city of Kansas for the possession of the square known as Shelley Park, in which, after several contests in the trial courts, the plaintiffs were suc cessful. In 1884 Mr W. C. Scarritt was married to Miss Frances V. Davis, the ac complished daughter of Temple H. Davis, esq., of Hannibal, Mo. Mr. Scar ritt has made a most excellent record in his profession, and his future is full of promise. He takes a deep interest in politics, and in questions involving the public welfare his voice and influence are heard and felt for the public good. He is gifted with rare powers of oratory, and the success which he has already achieved illustrates his powers as an advocate RICHARDSON, E. E. Mr Richardson was born in the city of Buffalo, N. Y., April 29, 1847. His father, Elijah K. Richardson, is a native of Middlebury, Vt, born in 18 12, and was by occupation a miller. His mother, whose maiden name was Hannah L. Martin, was also born in Middlebury in 18 1 3. Both are still living. The early Hfe of their son, Elliott Eaton Rich ardson, the subject hereof was passed partly in school and partly in his fath er's mill. He received his education in the public schools of Buffalo and at the high school of Grand Rapids, Mich. He is emphatically a self-made man. In October, 1864, at the age of sev enteen, he began life on his own account, as book-keeper for Martin Comstock, an extensive wholesale dealer in field-seeds and fruit at Buffalo, N. Y. Here he remained until the 1st of May, 1868, when he was given charge of the wholesale produce store of Wallace Johnson, which situation he held for one year. In 1879 he came to the West, and at intervals for a few months was traveling salesman for a Milwaukee soap and candle house and on the Chicago Board of Trade with the firm of Wright & Beebe. In October of that year he secured a position with Gregory, Strader & Co., live stock dealers, Chicago, and remained with them until January 21, 1874. He then came to Kansas City, having been appointed cashier of the Kansas City Stock Yards Company. His appointment was made by J. M. Walker, at that time the president of the Kansas City Stock Yards and of the Chicago, BurHngton and Quincy RaH road Company. A year latter he was made assistant secretary and treasurer of the stock yards. Mr Richardson's advancement since he came to this city bas been steady and important. From the first he manifested an extraordin- Biographical. 595 ary talent for the inauguration and conduct of business enterprises. He has been alert to discover opportunities and prompt to make the most of them. His qualities in this respect have been recognized by those with whom he has been associated, and he has been given important positions in various associa tions and institutions. For some years he has been treasurer and secretary of the Kansas City Stock Yards Company, and he new holds the same position in the Denver Union Stock Yard Company, the State Line Improvement Com pany, the Kansas Desiccating and Refining Company, the Kaw Valley Town Site and Bridge Company, the Kansas Cement Works Company, the Kansas City Land Reclamation Company, and is connected with other corporations and associations. He was one of the originators of the Kansas City Wyan dotte and Northwestern Railroad, and was the first president of the company. He is now president of the Gate City Building and Loan Association and of the Midland Investment Company. He is moreover identified with the moral interests of the community in an eminent degree. There can be no higher type of true manhood than a con sistent Christian gentleman. There is something singularly pleasing in the contemplation of the character of an active and prominent business man, who though extensively involved in the commercial affairs of the world, has the inclination and finds the opportunity to devote a goodly portion of his time to the laying up of treasures " where moths do not corrupt nor thieves break through and steal." Mr. Richardson is a plain, unassuming, but earnest Chris tian, a member of the Presbyterian Church, and is the present president of the Young Men's Christian Association of Kansas City. It was in response to his invitation that President Cleveland consented to lay the corner stone of the magnificent Young Men's Christian Association building now in course of con struction. Mr. Richardson was present at the ceremonies and at their con clusion introduced a number of the citizens to the president, whom he had escorted to the platform. In every public enterprise, as in every other good work, having for its object the improvement of his adopted city, he has responded to every call and discharged his whole duty. Therefore in all the city no man stands higher in general estimation nor has a larger following of personal friends. Mr Richardson was married December 21, 1868, to Miss Ann M. Nevius, a lady of Southern birth and Hneage, born in the city of New Orleans, Sep tember 22, 1849. They have had born to them nine children, of whom eight are living — Dwight Nevius, Anna Lorette, Clara Belle, Frances Ella, Elliott Kirkham (dead), John Eaton, Charles Stewart Ethel, and Alice Elvira. The family live in an elegant home in Merriam Place, the abode of peace and com fort of taste, culture and refinement. There is no more pleasant residence in all the city, and no happier household anywhere. 596 History of Kansas City. WHIPPLE, ATTIS A., (president of the the Kansas City Real Estate and Stock Exchange), was born near Meadville, Pa., March 8, 1852, the oldest of seven children of Andrew J. and Hannah J. (Carr) Whipple. When he was seven years old his father and other members of his family removed to the oil regions of Canada, leaving him temporarily as an inmate of the home of his uncle, Ambro Whipple, where he Hved the life of a farmer boy, attending the public school during the summer and winter terms. When he was fifteen his father's family returned from Canada and located at Meadville in order to afford the children opportunity to obtain an education. Mr. Whipple began his business career as manager of a large wholseale flour and feed store in Titusville, Pa., in 1871. In the spring of 1872 he be came a book-keeper in the Second National Bank of Titusville, and a few months later secured a position in the Fourth National Bank of New York city with a view to becoming thoroughly conversant with banking in all its depart ments, his natural inclination having led him to adopt the career of a banker. In 187s, in company with his brother, B. T. Whipple, he came to Kansas City, and he shortly afterward became connected with the old First National Bank, with which he was employed until its failure in 1878, when he connected him self with the Bank of Kansas City; remaining untH in 1879 he embarked with his brother, B. T Whipple, in the real estate business, in which they were eminently successful. The several Whipple additions to Kansas City are as well and favorably known as any tracts which have been opened for settlement. In 1882, associated with J. A. Cooper, W. H. Seeger, J. J. Squier and others, Mr Whipple organized the Citizens' National Bank, of which he be came cashier, and his brother, B. T. Whipple, assistant cashier In 1885 he disposed of his interest in the bank advantageously and, in conjunction with B. T. and Andrew J. Whipple, organized the Whipple Investment and Trust Company, of which he is president, and of which a sketch is given elsewhere, Mr Whipple is a Republican, and earnestly, but not actively, interested in politics. He has never sought nor accepted office for himself, but is zealous that all public places shall be worthily fiHed and their duties faithfully per formed. He is identified with the Second Presbyterian Church, and liberally helpful in his support He has long been deeply interested in the first inter ests of the city ; foremost in all movements for the public good, active in fos tering manufactures and pushing forward pubhc improvements He was married December 2, 1880, to Girdle, second daughter of Thomas K. Hanna, and has a son. Mr Whipple's success is so potent as to be undis puted. He attributes ft to energy, industry and an intimate knowledge of business methods. He possesses in a marked degree the confidence and respect of the business community. Mr Whipple's enviable position has been gained by him at an eariier age than have the successes of a majority of the business men of the country, and is such as to insure him a brilliant future Biographical. 597 ELSTON, JOHN W., M. D., the eldest of three sons— John, James and Andrew — of Robert Patterson and Lydia (Pace) Elston, was born in a single- room log- cabin on a farm in Buchanan county. Mo., located on the Mis souri River Bottom, about twenty mHes south of St Joseph, November 11, 1844, the year in which the great turbid river overflowed its banks and spread from bluff to bluff, an event which has ever since been designated as " The Great Flood of '44." This was a time before the wild Indians had vacated these lands, then known as "The Platte Purchase." The country around was in its original state, heavily overgrown with large and small timber and thick underbrush, and only here and there had an early settler cleared away a small patch of ground. St. Joseph was only a Catholic mission and Indian trading- post, and the town of Weston, fifteen miles down the river, had a single trad ing store and two or three log- cabins, the first of which had been built as a claim cabin in the autumn of 1837 by John Pace, maternal grandfather to the subject of this sketch. The season foHowing the " great flood " was so unhealthy along the river that Robert Elston with his young wife and child, all prostrated with " marsh fever," were rescued and taken down to the home of John Pace, on the up land, about a mile north of the town of Weston. Here in the absence of his father-in-law, who was an overland freighter to Salt Lake City, Santa Fe and California, Robert Elston conducted the affairs of a large farm and founded the West-Union Baptist Church, of which he was the leading elder until his death from typhoid fever in 1852. John W. Elston began going to school in 1850 in a log-cabin school-house in the country two miles from his home. After his father's death he continued to live with his Grandfather Pace, working on the farm and going to school during the winter months. At the age of ten years he accompanied his grand father out through the territory of Kansas to the new government station named Fort Riley. Kansas was at this time occupied by Indians. In 1856 his mother married Phillip Hawkins, who died in i860, leaving her another son, Canby Hawkins. John Elston, after the death of his step-father, went to Hve with his mother on the Hawkins farm. The winter of i860 he attended the High School at Weston, and the winter of 1861 the Academic College at Pleasant Ridge, Mo. In 1862, on account of the commotion of the Civil War, then raging and devastating the country in this section, he left home and drove an ox team of a government train across the plains to Fort Craig, New Mexico, on the Rio Grande. Returning in the spring of 1863 he repaired to the farm where he was born, and here set about clearing, improving and culti vating it He remained here two years at this work, keeping " bachelor's haH" alone in the deep forests. In 1864 he joined the Christian Church under the preaching of Elder Thomas M. Allen, of Columbia, Mo., who was preaching at Salem Church near Weston. In the autumn of 1865 he began 76 598 History of Kansas City. his collegiate course of study at Eminence College, Ky., where he remained one year, and continued this course at Kentucky University the next year, graduating in chemistry and physics, after which, in 1867, he was honored by being made assistant to the chair of chemistry under the venerable Dr. Robert Peter. He began studying medicine at this time under the tutorship of Dr. William O. Sweeney, of Lexington, Ky, at the same time pursuing the study of languages at the University. His mother was married again, the third time, in 1868, to John W. Wood. In the autumn of 1869 he entered BeHevue Hospital Medical College, New York city, and became an assistant in the physiological laboratory of Professor Austin Flint, jr. He continued his studies under Professor Flint and attended all lectures in the BeHevue College until the spring of 1870, when he was appointed the first "fever physician and assistant examining physician " to the Board of Public Charities and Correc tions of New York city, which position he held for eight months. During this time he had a residence in BeHevue Hospital, and though only a student, he examined, passed upon, and sent to quarantine, 827 cases of small-pox, up wards of 1,700 cases of relapsing fever, 300 cases of typhoid fever, and num erous cases of scarlet fever and measles. He graduated in medicine in the BeHevue Hospital Medical College in March, 1871. In November, 1870, by examination at Philadelphia, he was admitted to the United States Navy as an acting- assistant surgeon, and was at once assigned to duty on board the United States steamer, Tallapoosa. This vessel, with headquarters at Washington, where it was stationed most of the time, was elegantly fitted up with great expense by President Grant, who fre quently made trips on it to Long Branch and to army and navy stations along the coast. During the fourteen months that Dr. Elston was assigned to this vessel nine cruises were made along the coast, extending from Key West, Fla., to Eastport, Me. The Tallapoosa was, however, laid up most of the time at the Washington navy yard, the time being memorable on account of the discus sion in the United States Senate of " The High Joint Commission," to settle the Confederate cruiser "Alabama" claims, "The French Arms Question," and •"The Treaty for the Acquisition of San Domingo." During this year, also, the Tallapoosa entertained as guests, and took to interesting points on the ¦coast the " High Joint " commissioners, composed of the ablest men in Eng land and America, and the Duke Alexis, the present heir expectant to the throne of Russia. The Tallapoosa was laid up for repairs during the winter of 1 87 1 and 1872, and Dr Elston was sent to Baltimore to examine men for en listment in the naval service. During the summer of 1870 Dr Elston was called on to examine the crew -of men enhsted by Dr Francis Hall, for the cruise of the iH-fated Polaris, in the attempt to reach the North Pole, After spending the winter in Baltimore Dr Elston was assigned as medical officer in charge of an expedition to survey Biographical. 599 for an inter-oceanic ship canal, by way of the San Juan River and Lake Nic aragua, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, under the command of Captain Al exander Crossman and Civil Engineer Menocal. This expedition, of fifty men and officers, was engaged for a period of over nine months, with headquarters on the western shore of Lake Nicaragua, in surveying two routes for this ship- canal and in making estimates of its cost In approaching Greytown, Nicar agua, at the delta mouth of the San Juan River, the expedition came near being overwhelmed and abandoned on account of the deaths of Commander Crossman, Officer Force and seven seamen, who were drowned in the violent surf that characterizes this coast, while trying to land the expedition and its equipment Dr. Elston, himself, was submerged in this raging surf and came near losing his life. Lieutenant- Commander Hatfield, notwithstanding this great disaster, bravely took charge of the expedition and successfully prose cuted the survey to its completion. Boats were taken after landing at Grey- town, which carried the company ninety miles up the San Juan River to Lake Nicaragua, thence other boats conveyed it sixty miles across the length of the lake to its western shore. Here at Virgin Bay, situated on the west border of this most beautiful lake of the world, in a kind of gap, on the summit of the Cordilleras Mountains, with active volcanoes in view away to the north, and beautiful tropical wilds immediately around, the expedition made its head quarters. In nine months the problem of the construction of a gigantic ship- canal, with locks, along the San Juan River from the Atlantic to the lake, and again from the lake to the Pacific, fed either way by the abundant waters of the lake, was not only solved, but shown to be the most practicable, and at no possible greater cost than one hundred milHon dollars. Lake Nicaragua is a body of water sixty miles long and thirty miles wide, and is emptied into the Atlantic by the San Juan River, a stream as large as the Missouri at Kansas City. The lake is fed by thirteen small rivers, some of them as large as the Kaw. It is only eighteen miles from the Pacific Ocean with an eleva tion of not more than forty- two feet above its surface (and that only for a short distance), to cut the channel of the canal through so that its waters might flow toward that ocean. President Grant, with his unerring, practical en gineering sense, believed this the only feasible route for a ship-canal across this isthmus. Returning to the United States in December, 1872, Dr. Elston was as signed to duty as the sole medical officer of the naval station at Mound City, 111., where he remained all winter. Whilst here his brother Andrew died. In the spring of 1873 he was ordered to New York to take charge of the medical department of the United States steamer Tigress, which was being fitted out to go in search of a portion of the wrecked crew of the Polaris, which had foundered in the Arctic Ocean away to the north of Greenland. Like the one on the ship-canal survey in tropical America just the year before, this cruise 6oo History of Kansas City. lasted nine months and was one of constant and momentous interest. It was made from New York to St. John's, Newfoundland, and thence to Godhaven, Greenland, and through Baffin's Bay, Melville Sound and Smith's Straits, as far as latitude 79 degrees north, where the Polaris was wrecked and had finally gone down. It was found that the unfortunate men which the Tigress was in search of had passed a long Arctic winter night in a camp built on the Green land shore from the wreck of their vessel. It was shown, however, by diaries found that they had left this camp in rudely improvised life-boats in the early spring to reach, if possible, the Scotch whaling fleet which annually cruises in Arctic waters, three or four degrees farther south. After securing the valuable camp equipage and personal effects left behind, the Tigress immediately turned southward and scoured the waters from shore to shore, uncertain as to whether they had been rescued or not. For three months, through a continuous bright Arctic day in which the sun was visible at all times, this search was prosecuted to find the fourteen men cast away on the very confines of the globe. All hope of finding them was at last abandoned ; the fast approach of Arctic win ter, and several violent storms that came near wrecking the vessel, induced the commander of the Tigress to return home as soon as possible. Arriving at St. John's, Newfoundland, the news of the rescue of the lost men by the Scotch whalers was learned. Here Dr. Elston found the sad news of the death of his mother awaiting him. He had left her in good health in the spring, and was stunned by the announcement that she had been dead more than two months, while he was away beyond all mail communication. The Tigress was put out of commission in December, 1873, and Dr. Elston was allowed two weeks leave of absence to return home, and immediately thereafter he was assigned to duty at the New York Naval Hospital. After remaining at that hospital till F"ebruary i, 1874, he concluded to resign from the United States Navy (having spent four years in the service), locate in some prosperous and progres sive section of the West and devote himself to the general practice of his pro fession. His resignation was accepted by the medical department of the navy, which granted him six months leave of absence, with full pay, as a compliment for his efficient services. Dr. Elston selected Kansas City as his future home, bringing with'him Dr Griffith, with whom he entered into partnership, under the firm name of Elston & Griffith ; and on. the I2th of March, 1874, they were located and ready for business at No. 518 Main street This partnership lasted for five years and three months, and was then dissolved, after the establishment of a large and growing practice. During the summer of 1876 Dr Elston visited the Centen nial Exposition, taking in all the largest cities in the East and enjoyed meet ing many of his old naval associates. During the summer of 1877 he purchased ground at the corner of Sixth and May streets, in Kansas City, and erected thereon a residence and office. Biographical. 6oi October lothof that year he was married to Miss Sallie J. Gentry, of Colum bia, Mo., and at once took up his residence at his new home. June 23, 1878, their daughter Bertha was born, who, on account of the intense heat of the season and the severe illness of her mother, came near losing both of her eyes, and recovered affected with double cataract. In 1879 Dr. Elston became one of the incorporators of the University of Kansas City, and the same year joined with others in erecting its medical department building at the corner of Twelfth and McGee streets, at a cost of $27,500, and was assigned to the chair of ma teria medica, pharmacy, and therapeutics, in this college. The departments of law and of literature were also organized under the charter of the university. The medical department held its first session in 1879 and 1880, with one of the largest classes west of St Louis. In the spring of 1880 Dr. Elston, with oth ers, commenced the publication of the Kansas City Medical Index, a journal of medicine and surgery, of lOO pages, which they continued for four years. It is still being published, has a large and growing circulation, and is a very pop ular periodical with the profession. September 11, 1880, Robert Gentry Elston was born in the house buHt at the corner of Sixth and May streets. Dr. Elston taught the medical class of the university, physiology and materia medica, during the next winter's ses sion, lecturing six times a week. During this year he performed two success ful operations for the removal of ovarian tumors. In the summer of 1882 he Yisited New York city with his wife and daughter, and spent three months studying in the various hospitals there, and had the cataracts on his daughter's eyes operated on by Dr. Agnew. He returned and applied himself with re newed energy and devotion to the general practice of medicine, and the duties of his chair in the medical coHege, and the editorial care of his medical journal. Kansas City had now doubled its population since his arrival in it, and had Just begun that phenomenal growth and unparalleled prosperity which gave it a population of 200,000 people in the next five years. The medical college building on McGee street was sold to the highest bidder, the bidding being Hmited to the members of the medical faculty, and Dr Elston bought it for $21,040 and sold it the next day for $36,000. This was in the spring of 1885. In April of this year the sad loss of their third child, John Wyatt Elston, aged fifteen months, was their first bereavement. In the spring of 1886 Dr. Elston resigned from the faculty of the medical department of .the university, and having sold his half-interest in the Medical hidex, devoted himself more ex clusively to his office and his practice. In the autumn of this year he was elected coroner of Kansas City and Jackson county, the duties of which, added to that of an active and widely scattered practice, kept him exceedingly busy for the next two years July 28, 1887, a third son, Allan Vaughan Elston, Tvas born. Dr Elston has always manifested a keen interest in the educational, relig- 6o2 History of Kansas City. ious, political and scientific progress of affairs around him, and has taken an active part in each, giving them his enthusiastic encouragement and support. Being conscientiously devoted to the duties of his profession, and disposed to aid every worthy person and object, he was prone to abuse himself and neglect important matters in hand in trying to do too many things at once, some of them being without appreciation or pay. CARY, Hon. LUCIUS. Judge Cary was born in Plymouth county. Mass, June 4, 1819. His parents, Barzillia and Vesta (Snell) Cary, were also natives of the Bay State. His remote ancestors were among the Pilgrim Fathers, his branch of the Cary family having descended from John Cary, who was the first town constable of Duxbury, Mass. Barzillia Cary was a soldier of the War of 18 12, and died in 1852, at the age of seventy- six. He was a well-to-do farmer and brought up his son Lucius to the same vocation. On the maternal side Judge Gary's grandfather was a farmer, but certain of his sons were sea-faring men ; one of them, a captain of a vessel, was lost at sea. Judge Cary was reared in his native county until after he had passed his twentieth year. He was educated at the public schools and at the famed Phillips Academy at Andover, where he passed two years. In 1840 he came to Missouri, and after a brief stay at St. Louis and Lexington, he came in the fall of that year to Jackson county and Kansas City. At the presidential elec tion of 1840 he voted at Westport for General Harrison, the first vote he ever cast. The country was then very new and too sparsely settled to afford em ployment to a young man of education, and after a few weeks here Mr. Cary returned to Lafayette county and engaged in school teaching in Lexington and in the country for several years. In 1846 he married Miss Elizabeth Gilham and settled on a farm which he had purchased. The following year his wife died, and he sold his farm, and after a short visit to the old homestead in Massachusetts, he returned to Mis souri and engaged with his brother in-law. Captain Alexander Gilham, then a merchant of Kansas City. Later he went to what is now Miami county, Kan., and for two years sold goods to the half-civilized Miami Indians. Returning to Kansas City in 1853 he married Mrs. Martha McCoy, a native of Henry county, Va., and a daughter of Daniel Stone, who came to Missouri in 1844, settling in what is now the eastern portion of Kansas City. After his marriage Mr. Cary went to the Pottawattamie Baptist Mission, about ten miles above Topeka, Kan., when, for a year or more, he engaged in merchandising and trading with the Pottawattamie Indians. Returning to Kansas City in 1854 he remained here for some years engaged in trading and in private specula tion. In 1858 he removed to Cook county, Texas, but after a residence of one year returned to Kansas City and made a permanent location on a farm in the eastern suburbs of Kansas City, now called Mt Vernon. Here he lived ^¦f> ^^^ijns Balis Sor.^ iTBi" "^^ Biographical. 603 until in October, 1886, when, having sold the property, he came to his present location, a pleasant and commodious home, on the corner of Thirteenth street and Johnson avenue, in one of the most beautiful portions in Kansas City. Prior to the disruption of that party Judge Cary was a Whig. When the Civil War came on, though a slaveholder and thoroughly identified with the institutions of the South, he was an unconditional Union man, and remained true and loyal to the flag of his country at all times and under all circum stances. Several times he was in active service in aid of the Federal cause. During the Price raid in the fall of 1864, when the Confederates were threat ening Kansas City, he was a lieutenant in Captain Montgall's company of militia and was stationed in the trenches on Fifteenth street, near the crossing of Troost avenue, or in the vicinity of the present Dundee Methodist Episcopal Church. After the Confederates had passed to the southward, the next day after the battle of Westport, he was detailed with ten men to follow up the rebel rear and pick up stragglers and abandoned property. At the Big Blue he secured several wagon loads of war material left on the field. During the war, too, he was appointed by Governor Gamble as one of the judges of the County Court of Jackson county. He served faithfully and efficiently during the most perilous times and in the most dangerous situations. He experienced the vicissitudes common in this quarter during the Civil War to non-combatants who were between the lines, and was harassed by the marauders of both sides ; yet he never faltered in the discharge of his obliga tions and duties as an official and as a citizen, nor wavered in his allegiance to his government. In 1866 Judge Cary was elected county judge, and re-elected in 1868, 1870 and 1872. He served by appointment and election in all nine years, re tiring in 1875 with the esteem and respect of the people generally. He was always elected as a Democrat, even when by the operation of the Drake Con stitution the county was radically Republican. He became a Democrat after the disorganization of the Whig party, and has never since swerved from his devotion and fealty to the great party founded by Thomas Jefferson. Judge Cary is spending the evening of his Hfe in that peace and repose to be found in the beautiful home in the bosom of an intelligent accomplished and devoted family, and after a career of integrity and usefulness and a fair share of material prosperity. To his union with his present estimable wife there have been born seven children, viz.: Robert W., now a prominent real estate dealer and a member of the board of aldermen of Kansas City from the eighth ward; James B. (died at the age of eighteen months); Vesta E., now the wife of A. G. Lackey, esq,; Mattie, now wife of W. S. Woods, of the Woods-Mdher Real Estate and Investment Company; Lucius, jr, a book keeper in the house of North, Orrison & Co. ; Nellie, an accomplished young lady; and Frank H., now with the City Engineer Corps. Mrs. Cary has been 6o4 History of Kansas City. a member of the M. E. Church South for thirty years ; certain of her children are also members of that church, but the husband and father is not a member of any denomination. STRAYER, JOHN W. Mr. Strayer comes from an old and honorable Virginia ancestry. Both his parents, George W. and Sarah A. (Guinn) Strayer, are natives of the Old Dominion, and he was born at the village of HedgesviHe, Berkeley county, in what is now West Virginia, January 9, 1846. But when he was quite young his parents removed to the State of Ohio, and here he grew to manhood. His education was acquired in the public schools of Logan county and Bdlefontaine, O. After leaving school he was employed in teaching at De Graffe, O., for five years. In the spring of 1869, a year after his first marriage, he removed to Carrollton, Mo., where he engaged in general merchandising for about nine years. He was quite successful, but at last de cided upon a change of business, and in 1878 came to Kansas City in the in terest of the Jackson Coal and Mining Company, of which he was vice-presi dent and general manager. But in a few months the liking for his old vocation of merchandising came again upon him, and he opened a stove and tinware establishment, which in time became a general hardware store proper. For a few years he conducted this business, and then engaged as a dealer and broker in real estate. At present he is the senior member of the firm of Strayer & Co., one of the best known real estate firms in the city. He has, however, united the business of real estate dealer and agent, generally with the specialty of organizing and managing business syndicates and associations. Mr. Strayer has been quite active and prominent in the organization of certain enterprises, many of them of conspicuous importance, and all of them meritorious and useful. In this sketch these can receive but passing notice. He was one of the prime and chief movers in the formation of the Kansas City and Olathe Investment and Rapid Transit Company (capital, $1,000,000), and is its vice-president and general manager. He was one of the promoters of the South Park Town Company (capital, $200,000), and is its president Perhaps Mr. Strayer's greatest prominence in his connection with a public enterprise is as vice-president and general manager of the Kansas City and Philadelphia Land and Improvement Company. This corporation, which has a chartered capital of $1,000,000, has already done much and promises to do a great deal more for the general welfare of Kansas City. It has purchased between 3,000 and 4,000 acres of suburban lands to the southwest of the city, lying chiefly about Lenexa, Kan., whereon it has already established ex tensive and valuable improvements. The delightful tract called Lincoln Park, and the beautiful artificial basin known as Silver Lake, which it has con structed, promise to become very popular and attractive resorts. But its Biographical. 605 most important work has been performed in connection with the location of the projected Southwestern University of the M. E. Church. The company lias contracted with Kansas Educational Association for the sale of 2,300 acres of its valuable lands, a portion of which — a tract eleven miles southwest of the city — will be occupied as the site of the new university. Nothing but the briefest mention of the institution can here be made. It will be under the in fluence and care of the Methodist Episcopal Church, but of course its patron age will be unrestricted and its influence uncircumscribed. For its establish ment and maintenance a fund aggregating about $700,000 has already been pledged, and that this amount will be increased to $1,000,000 is practically assured. The influence of this institution upon the best interests of Kansas City cannot fail to be far-reaching and of extraordinary value. What the great Northwestern University has been to Chicago and the town of Evanston, the great Southwestern University is destined to be to Kansas City and the town of Lenexa ; and in the record of its conception and founding, the name of John W. Strayer must be prominently written. In addition to supervising and directing the affairs of the corporations al ready named — duties which demand the exercise of careful judgment and rare executive ability, and which engross a great portion of his time — Mr .Strayer is now assisting in the organization of the Kansas City Brick and Terra Cotta Company, which, with a capital of $500,000, will erect the present season ex tensive works for the manufacture of a superior article of brick and terra cotta materials. The importance of this industry to the builders of Kansas City is difficult to over-estimate. Hitherto materials of this sort have been imported ; bereafter they can be obtained at home. The company will own and control a vast deposit of clay, which, as its quantitative and qualitative analyses show, possess and combine the elements for the manufacture of terra cotta to a bet ter degree than any other bed of clay which has as yet been developed in the great West. He is also organizing the International Loan and Investment Company, an association with a capital of $1,000,000, which will be composed of prominent capitalists of Kansas City, Philadelphia, New York and Boston. Of his domestic life it may be said that Mr Strayer hasbeen twice married. His first wife. Miss Margaret HiH, to whom he was united March 17, 1868, died- December 16, 1882. To this union there were born two chHdren, a son and a daughter The former is now a student at Baker University, Kansas ; the latter is in school at home. February 18, 1885, Mr Strayer was again married, this time to Mrs. Anna R. Bliss, relict of Dr. D. H. Bliss, of this city, and daughter of John Reton, esq., of the Kansas City Type Foundry. Surely the flower of youth never blooms more beautifully than when it is turning toward the sun of righteousness. At the eariy age of ten years Mr Strayer became a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and this rela tion he still worthily retains. He has been consistent with his professions, is 77 6o6 History of Kansas City. prominent among the laity of that denomination (at present is recording stew ard of the Grand Avenue M. E. Church), and zealous in all good works. In certain civic orders he has been somewhat prominent He organized the order of Knights and Ladies of Honor in Kansas City, is the present grand chaplain of the Knights of Honor of Missouri, and is also a member of the Knights of Pythias. Mr. Strayer is, fairly speaking, a type of the true Christian gentleman — plain and unassuming in manner, gentle and courteous in deportment, active and zealous in exertion, upright and honorable in all things, " diligent in busi ness, serving the Lord.'' WEBSTER, Captain ED. H. Captain Webster came to Kansas City in the fall of 1865, a passenger by stage-coach, the only method of transit to and from the city then in vogue, unless one chose to hazard a passage by steamboat up the Missouri, with its shifting currents, its treacherous sand-bars. and its innumerable snags and "sawyers." The town — for it was then but a. town — was war-shattered and strife- stricken, and the people were only fairly be ginning to clear away the debris and remove the ruins which had accumulated during the previous four years of its occupation as a military post and z. point d'appui of military operations. He has lived to see its population increase nearly an hundred- fold, and its importance expand from that of an inconsider able shipping port to its present proportions. To this material change he has, as a citizen and one of its business personnel, contributed his full share. From the first he has been identified with the real estate business of the city, in which his transactions have been very extensive and many of them of superior im portance. His position in the community has uniformly been conspicuous and honor able, in whatever capacity he has been placed. As a business man he has been, and still is, prominent and successful. He was admitted to the bar in 1867, was city assessor in 1866, served as a member of the board of aldermen from 1873 to 1875, and has been connected in official relation with various public institu tions and associations. His connection with the Kansas City Fair Association — an institution which has perhaps done more than any other to advertise Kan sas city abroad, and whose fame is now international — is mentioned on other. pages of this volume. He was for many years its secretary and general mana ger — a position which his remarkable executive abilities eminently qualified him to fill — and is now its president. Fair, honorable and considerate in his opin ions and conduct genial at aH times, and good tempered under aH circumstan ces, public-spirited and progressive, no man stands higher in the pubhc esteem, or has a larger foHowing of personal friends. Edward Hannegan Webster was born in Benton, Elkhart county, Indiana, February 2 1 , 1 843. His father, Sylvester Webster, was descended directiy from Biographical. 607 Colonel John Webster, one of the pioneers of New England, and the fifth co lonial governor of Connecticut. Of this family was also descended Noah Web ster, the lexicographer. His mother was Malinda Proctor Boyd, daughter of Matthew Boyd, of Scotch- Irish lineage. Captain Webster received a limited ed ucation in the country schools, and when sixteen years of age entered a country printing-office — ihe Northern Indiana — and became a proficient compositor. On the 15 th of April, 1861, he enrolled himself as a volunteer in the Union Army. Soon after he enlisted as a private of Company E, of the Twelfth In diana Regiment of Infantry, and six months later was promoted to sergeant. The original term of service of his regiment was for one year. Upon its reor ganization " for the war" he was commissioned second lieutenant of Company F. He served with the regiment and on the staff of General John M. Loomisj commanding the first brigade of the first division of General John A. Logan's famous Fifteenth Army Corps, and fought under Grant and Sherman, partici pating in many of the memorable battles of their campaigns in the West. He was a very gallant young officer, imbued with dash, mettle and spirit, a bon .camarade among his fellow-soldiers — a Tom Burke off duty and at the mess, a Prince Rupert in the fight In the spring of 1864, when but twenty-one, he was promoted to the captaincy of Company A of his regiment, ("for gallant and meritorious services in the field,") the order read, and in this position he served until after the affair of the Appomattox apple tree. After his muster out in June, 1865, he read law a few months, but in the ensuing fall — as has been stat ed — came to Kansas City. A life-long Republican, Captain Webster is reasonable and liberal in his po Htical opinions. He supported the Gratz Brown ticket in 1870, voting heartily for the constitutional amendments, guaranteeing universal and complete am nesty and impartial suffrage. In his religious views he is equally liberal and tolerant. In September, 1875, he was married to Miss Medora R. Ferguson, a daugh ter of Nathaniel Rodney Ferguson, a descendant of Caesar Rodney, of Dela ware, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, and of the Willis family, among whose members were Nathaniel P. Willis, the poet, and his gift ed sister, "Fanny Fern." Three sons have been born to this marriage. Cap tain Webster is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, and has been a member of the Masonic fraternity since 1864. THOMSON, DAVID P., the well known photographer of Kansas City, is a native Missourian, born near the vHlage of KnoxviHe, Ray county, Sep tember 17, 1849. His boyhood days were passed in his native county, and at Jefferson city. In 1864 he was taken to St. Louis. Here he attended the city schools, and in 1866 obtained a position in a commission house, which he held for two years. In 1 868 he engaged with the accomplished master of the 6o8 History of Kansas City. photographic art. Professor A. J. Fox, of St Louis. After a year's service in a subordinate capacity he was made general manager of Mr. P'ox's extensive establishment, which position he held until 1873. He then came to Kansas City and was the junior member of the firm of Marine, WiHiams & Thomson. A few months later Mr. Marine retired and the firm became Williams & Thom son, which partnership continued until in 1881, when Mr. Thomson succeeded to the|^business as sole proprietor. Mr. Thomson has risen to distinction in his profession, and has attained an enviable reputation in his business. His establishment, at No. 610 Main street, is the most extensive, and the best appointed and equipped between New York and San Francisco. It comprises five floors and extends from Main street entirely across the block to Delaware. The arrangement of the rooms, some of which are beautifully and elegantly furnished, and the general plan of the galleries are his own designs. The machinery and equipments are of the best, and Mr. Thomson keeps fully up to the requirements of the times and abreast with the progress of his art. The character of his work is well known. Some of his productions are rare pieces of art, and all of them are artistic and creditable. He gives his personal attention to his business, and employs a. corps of twenty-one accomplished and efficient assistants, who are kept ac tively engaged. He is a prominent member of the National Photographers' Association, attends all of the sessions of that organization, and is a recognized authority on practical questions pertaining to the art of photography. Aside from his standing in his profession Mr. Thomson occupies a most honorable position in the community of his adopted city. In 1886-87 he was a member of the city council, and served in that body very creditably to him self, and with advantage to his constituents and the best interests of the city at large. He is a Democrat in politics, but was elected from a ward (the third) with a Republican majority of about 300, receiving the active support of some of the most prominent Republicans In 1888 he was solicited by representa tive men of all parties to allow himself to be again elected, and the press of the city, without distinction of party, commended him in the highest terms, but the pressing needs of his extensive business compelled his refusal of the flattering invitation. He is well and popularly known in social circles, and generally esteemed and respected. Mr. Thomson was married in January, 1 87 1, to Miss Sophia Lange, of St Louis. WOODS, WILLIAM S. At Weston, Platte county. Mo., WHHam S. Woods was born July 4, 1855. He attended the common schools of the town for a few years, and was then sent to Leavenworth, where he assiduously de voted himself to his studies until he became eighteen years of age. On quitting school he accepted a clerkship in the miHing business in Leavenworth, but in in a short time resigned his position to become book-keeper for Keith & ^''^'^hj'TLBBairs Su^^i T^a^ ?S'> Biographical. 6og> Henry, coal dealers of this city. So faithfully did he discharge his duties in this that at the end of two years he was taken into the firm as a silent partner. When the company was changed to the Keith & Perry Coal Company, and' was incorporated, Mr. Woods was made secretary and treasurer, which double office he filled until two years ago, in 1886, when ill health forced him to go^ out of the business, to take up some other which would permit him more out door exercise. So heavily had his constitution been taxed by his years of overwork that he was several months ere he felt relieved enough to again turn his thoughts to finance. Then he became interested in the real estate and investment business, and the firm of Woods Mellier Investment Company was organized. Mr. Woods is president and the heaviest individual stockholder of this company, which has $50,000 for a capital stock, and is organized under the laws of Missouri. In April, 1883, Mr. Woods was happily married to Miss Mattie Cary, daugh ter of Judge Lucius Cary, an old settler of Kansas City. The home residence is at the southeast corner of Thirteenth street and Johnson avenue, and a pleasant home it is. Mr. Woods, although comparatively a young man, is recognized in the West as one of the most able business men in Kansas City. It is not strange that he should receive such recognition, inasmuch as he is distinctively a self-made man, having started in life without a cent, or any capital whatever, save a remarkable spirit of determination. His parents being poor, he recognized at a very early age that whatever success he made in the world would depend entirely upon his own efforts. Business qualifications, such as were not in herited, were quickly acquired, and energetic, conscientious, temperate as he always was, success was certain. No one was ever more judicious in his man agement, and as a result he has succeeded remarkably well with everything he has taken hold of He has never aspired for notoriety, but his aim has been to gain recognition from the West as a solid business man, and that aim has been well accomplished. STANDEN, ALFRED E. Mr Standen has been identified with the inter ests of Kansas City since 1883, or for about. five years, and during that period has contributed not a little to the material advancement of the city, and a great deal to the prosperity of certain individuals. Some of the best and most profitable investments in real estate have been made through his influence. His first experience in business was in other lines, and was not successful ; he met with reverses and losses which would have discouraged one of less faith and spirit. Then he engaged as a dealer in real estate, and met with more than or dinary success from the very beginning. He has conducted some very impor tant transactions involving the transfer of some of the most valuable property in the city, and uniformly to the entire satisfaction of all the parties interested^ ¦6io History of Kansas City. His life career may be only briefly sketched in these pages. He was born at Smithwick, near the dty of Birmingham, England, November 17, 1850. In May, 1856, his father left England and came with his family to Toronto, Can ada. In this province Mr. Standen was reared and grew to manhood. He had acquired something of the rudiments of an education in the village school at Woodbridge, Canada, but was only eleven years of age when his father re moved his family to a small and remote settlement of Simcoe county, in the Canadian backwoods, on Kempenfddt Bay, thirteen miles from the town of Barrie. The locality is now the site of the town of Minesing. Here young Standen was compelled to work as only pioneer lads in the wilds of America are forced to. He assisted his father and two older brothers in clearing up and ¦opening their farms, bearing his full share of the heavy and toilsome labor. But while he toiled hard by day, he passed his evenings and other spare time in study and in the acquisition of an education. When he was eighteen years of age he was a good scholar, and was employed to teach a district school near the village of Penetauguishene, on the Georgian Bay, or Lake Manitoulin, as it is sometimes called. He labored in this vocation for about a year and a half, at the munificent salary (?) of $240 per annum or J20 per month. And yet this term of service, humble and unremunerative as it seems, was, perhaps, of more value to him than any other period of the same length in all his life. His duties in the little school-room fixed the principles of learning well in his mind, and here too, he met, wooed, and finally won the estimable lady who subsequently became his wife. She was Miss Emma Jeffery, a native ¦of Penetauguishene, and of English parentage. Their union has been one of marked congeniaHty and happiness. Mr Standen confesses that to his noble, true companion he is indebted for very much of his life success. A man gifted as he is, with an active, vigorous and inteHigent mind, and a natural spirit of self assertion and aggressiveness, needs but an incentive to exertion in order to succeed ; and surely there can be no stronger impelHng force upon the wiH of such a man than the love and affection of a fond wife, whose greatest joy is in his happiness, and whose greatest pride is in his successes and triumphs. Such a man engaged in any proper calHng never does his work unaided and alone. In 1874 Mr Standen came to the United States. After some years expe rience in Texas and throughout the West as a traveling salesman for certain St Louis furniture manufactories, he, in 1882, formed a partnership with a Mr Joseph Hanning, and opened a furniture store at San Antonio, Texas. But in the faH of 1883 he disposed of his interest in this establishment to his partner and came to Kansas City. Previously he had traveled extensively through the Western States and Territories, and made deliberate choice of this city as his future permanent home. He believed in its great destiny, and that his mate- terial interests would be advanced if he should become one of its promoters and champions. That his faith was weH grounded goes without saying. Biographical. 6ir Mr. Standen's position in the community is an enviable one. His genial, cheerful and generous disposition, his frank, open and liberal nature, combined with his known strict integrity and high sense of honor, have won for him le gions of warm friends and admirers. He has done and is stHl doing much for the city with whose fate for weal or woe he is indissolubly connected. At pres ent a large portion of his time is given to the project of organizing a Home Fire Insurance Company, to insure city property and thus keep at home the vast sums annually sent away to foreign companies. It is confidently expected that this scheme will be highly successful, as it certainly ought to be. In this enter prise he will have the co-operation of, and be associated with some of the most prominent and influential men of the city. Young in years, strong in intellect,. and buoyant in hope and aspiration, there can but be a career of usefulness and prosperity before this gentleman, such as but comparatively few may expect to attain. WORNALL, Hon. JOHN B. This name is that of one whose whole life has been an honored one — recognized everywhere as a true synonym of nobility and goodness. Around it cluster all the honors that a proud, upright man can desire, the political life of its owner having been a complete success, and his moral and religious character being such as to win the admi ration of all who know him. Mr. Wornall was born in Clark county, Ky, October I2, 1822. His father, Richard Wornall, moved to Shelby county, Ky., in 1824, and purchased a farm four mHes north of Shelbyville, a village which has since become noted for its refinement and educational advantages. The Wornall homestead was. near old Burke's Baptist Church, where young WornaH received his first im pressions of Bible truth and of God, the maker and ruler of the universe, and acquired that moral training which formed the superstructure of the admirably- developed character of the man of after years, and which is attributable in no slight degree to the counsel of pious and devoted parents. His mother, Mrs. Judith Wornall, was well versed in scriptural knowledge and of more than average mental force. Her deep piety left its impress on her children for- truth and righteousness, and after her death her memory was dearly cherished,. not only by those who most keenly felt her loss, but by the scores of acquaint ances who remembered her for her many noble virtues. Having grown up under such influences, Mr Wornall, when he attained the age of manhood was well qualified to engage in the battle of life. His early training bore its accus tomed fruits, for the temptations which have always been common to frontier hfe left none of their baneful effects upon his character and inclinations. It must be borne in mind, too, that good schools were uncommon in the time and locality of which we write, that no academy where young Wornall could obtain an advanced education was in existence within many miles of the Wornall. ¦6 1 2 History of Kansas City. farm, and that the exigencies of his life permitted him to devote but little time to culture and the refinements of civilized life. After a pleasant and happy life of nineteen years in their delightful Ken tucky home, in 1844 the family removed to Jackson county. Mo., locating on the then western frontier of the State. Richard Wornall had been for many years a successful farmer, conceded to be one of the best in Kentucky ; but he bad been ambitious to attain affluence and a high position in the world of com merce, and he had embarked in speculations which had resulted disastrously^ bringing upon him such pecuniary loss and financial embarrassment that he found it necessary to dispose of his estate to pay his indebtedness and preserve his high reputation for honesty — and honesty was one of his most marked per sonal characteristics. On the confines of what is now Kansas City, he pur chased lands at five doHars an acre, which are now held at an almost fabulous price, for Kansas City was then but an insignificant village known as " West- port Landing." His family consisted of his wife and two sons — John B. and Thomas Wornall; a daughter — Sarah E. — having died in her fourteenth year; and it will be apparent that Mr. John B. Wornall, who came to this locality at the age of twenty-one has been a witness of its growth and prosperity, and is one of the few remaining living links connecting the Kansas City of to-day with the Kansas City of the past and the still more unimportant settlement which preceded it. June 12, 1850, Mr WornaH married Matilda, daughter of WilHam Polk, of Kentucky, a lovely woman, who died within a year after her marriage. Sep tember 20, 1854, he was again married, this time to EHza S., daughter of the Rev. Thomas Johnson, who bore him six children (two of whom, Frank C. and Thomas J. Wornall, are living), and died in 1865. His present wife was Miss Roma Johnson, daughter of Reuben Johnson, of Howard county, Mo., and who has borne him three sons — one who died in infancy, and John B. Wor nall, jr, and Charles Hardin WornaH. Great sadness came to the home of Mr WornaH in the death of his daughter-in-law, Mrs Frank C. Wornall, February S, 1888. This lady was lovely and accomplished, and more than ordinarily bright and intelHgent She left a son two months old. Feeling to some extent the want of a thorough education, and at the same time appreciating the blessings of knowledge and culture, Mr. WornaH has ever been the friend of educational institutions, the fosterer of public schools, and the patron of progress in the arts and sciences ; and whenever it has ap peared clear to him that the public good demanded a school or means to the instruction of the young, his voice and purse have been ever ready to advance any promising project to secure it In consideration of the interest he has always manifested in solid learning, the friends of William Jewell College se lected Mr Wornall as one of its trustees, and he has been retained in office for the past twenty-five years, during over twenty years of which time he has Biographical. 613 been, continuously, president of the board of trustees. The property of this college is valued at $55,000, and it is without indebtedness, and has an endow ment of $125,000, of which Mr. Wornall contributed $10,000. It employs seven professors and has two hundred students, of whom nearly seventy are being educated for the Christian ministry. Mr. Wornall, who is considered the firm friend of this and similar establishments, has watched its growth with great interest, taking especial pride in it as a representative Missouri institution. While Mr. Wornall has never been from choice a politician, his many sterl ing qualities recommended him to his fellow citizens, and in 1869 the senato rial convention of the Fourteenth District of Missouri — then consisting of Cass, Bates, and Jackson counties — nominated him by acclamation for the State Senate ; and he was elected by a large majority and served four years in that body with credit to himself and acceptance to his constituents. Though he is not in the ordinary sense a brilliant speaker, Mr. Wornall is regarded as having been one of the most substantial members, and during his official term he introduced and influenced the passage of a greater number of bills in the interest of his district than any other member; and none was more highly respected, and there was none who better retained the confidence of the Senate as a body. He never wasted words in useless rhetorical displays, but spoke earnestly and to the point in pure and unmistakable English. He never re sorted to any subterfuge or trickery, but depended upon the merits of the bill, being assured of the meritorious character of the proposed law before he en tered upon its advocacy. He had no political secrets to keep from his constit uents. His record is a clean and a pure one, and he is regarded by fair- minded men of all parties as an honest politician, devoted to the public weal and active in the promotion of human enlightenment and progress. As long as such men are placed in official positions, we have a guarantee that corrup tion and bargain wHl not wholly override law, and that political chicanery will not triumph over the rights of the people. About the close of his senatorial career, he was put forward by prominent men as a candidate for governor of the Commonwealth of Missouri, and backed by strong influence, but he insisted upon withdrawing in favor of another, much to the regret of many strong friends. In 1872 Mr. Wornall, who has ever shown the deepest concern for Kansas City's growth and prosperity, was elected president of the Kansas City Na tional Bank, and held the position during the remainder of the existence of that institution, and he was instrumental in organizing the Bank of Kansas City, now the National Bank of Kansas City. In 1872 and 1873, as a mark of respect, and as an evidence of his standing in the church, he was twice suc cessively elected moderator of the General Association of Missouri Baptists, the highest honor conferable by that religious body. He was also for seven consecutive years moderator of the Blue River Association of Baptists. 78 6i4 History of Kansas City. It is well to know that the great State of Missouri has within her borders some of the truest, purest men, whose names are enshrined in the hearts of the honest yeomanry of this grand Commonwealth. John B. Wornall is justly catalogued in this select list of noble men, representing the grandest type of manhood, and disseminating a spirit of usefulness and philanthropy which must leave its impress for good on the minds of youths who read of their lives and deeds. It is such citizens who add lustre to the fame of the places where they reside, and give stability and solidity and insure permanence and ad vancement to the institutions in their midst. WINNINGHAM, THEODORE, was born July i6, 1850, in MarshaH county. Miss,, on a large plantation. His father. Dr. Nathaniel Win ningham, was a successful physician, as well as planter and large owner of slaves before the war. There were eight children in the family (only four sur viving), of whom Theodore was the eldest He attended the public school at Hernando, and making rapid advances in his books, he was sent to Trinity College in North Carolina, where, at the age of twenty-three, after mastering a full course of study, he graduated, taking the degrees A.B. and A.M. In 1873-4 he was principal of De Soto Academy, De Soto county. Miss. The law being his intended profession, in September, 1874, he entered the law de partment of the University of Michigan, graduating March 29, 1876. Fully equipped with knowledge, energy and self-reliance, but having only $140, and no acquaintances, being a stranger in a strange land, he settled in Kansas City and began, on September i, 1876, the practice of his profession. During the first two or three years he had a hard struggle for existence. In the third year he realized large fees in three damage cases against railways, which he fortunately invested in Kansas City real estate. By judiciously investing his earnings from his profession, in real estate, he has now accumulated quite a handsome little fortune. Although comparatively a young man, he has always taken rank with the foremost legal lights of the city, and he has been recognized as one of the sta ble, trustworthy attorneys of the State. He feels glad of having raised two important legal questions, one being of first impression in the United States, and settled in Rutter vs. Missouri Pacific Railway Company, in 81 Missouri Re port. The other question was disputed in many States, and in Missouri was settled in Young vs. Eily of Kansas, 27 Missouri App. Rep. For ten years he continued his ever-increasing and remunerative practice, conscientiously devoting long hours to his clients that should have been spent in recreation. As a result : HI health on the first of January, '87, necessitated his retirement from active practice in the courts, and he turned his attention to real estate and investments. He has taken an active interest in the material -developments of the city, doing much to further the advancement of all lines Biographical. 615 of improvement, and has been, in all his dealings, as successful as he has been honorable. He has also taken a conspicuous part in all public matters, con cerning city, county and State. Mr. Winningham was happily married April 14, 1885, to Miss Emma Burnes, of St. Joseph, Mo. He has a handsome residence and large grounds on the corner of Independence and Lowell avenues. WHITEHEAD, CHARLES W., was born near the town of Halifax, York shire, England, November 20, 1842. He is a son of John and Sarah (Hill) Whitehead ; the former, who was born in 1805, and is still living; the latter died in September, 1885. He was the eighth child of a family of twelve children, seven of whom are still living, viz.: Elizabeth, Sarah A., Frances, Charles W.; Edward, Isaac and Emma, all married and settled in life. In 1848 the senior Mr. Whitehead came with his family to America, when his son, Charles W., was not quite six years old. At first he located near Hampton, N. Y., but in a short time removed to Deckertown, N. J. Finally in 1850 he made a permanent settlement at Walden, Orange county, N. Y., where he and the majority of his children still reside. In his boyhood the subject of this sketch attended the public schools for a few years ; but as he was the son of parents in moderate circumstances, who had a considerable family of children to support, he was compelled, at an early age, to earn his own living, which he did from the time he was eleven years of age. At sixteen he commenced an apprenticeship of four years to learn the double vocation of harness maker and carriage trimmer. He received but little pay, worked hard through the day, and either studied in his room or attended night school in the evenings for three years and ten months. He became not only a good workman, but acquired an excellent education, all things considered. He did not serve his allotted time. His apprenticeship was terminated in August 1862, by his enlistment in the Union army. Not being of age, he procured his father's consent, and enlisted'as a private in Company H, One Hundred and Twenty-fourth Regiment New York Volunteer Infantry. He was detailed as a musician, and served principally in that capacity. His regi ment was made up in Orange county, N. Y., and was known as the " Orange Blossoms." In September, 1862, his regiment went to Virginia and joined the fo'rces in defense of the city of Washington. Later it belonged to the Army of the Potomac, and was first attached to the Third Army Corps, of General Daniel E. Sickles, and afterward to the Second Corps, commanded by General Hancock. The One Hundred and Twenty-fourth New York was first under fire in the bloody assault on Fredericksburg, and participated in most of the battles fought by the Army of the Potomac from that time forward to the evacuation of Richmond and the surrender of General Lee at Appomattox. 6i6 History of Kansas City. Then, having witnessed the surrender of the Confederate army, the regiment, with the Army of the Potomac, marched back to Washington via Richmond, where it saw Libby Prison, Castle Thunder and the Confederate Capitol for the first time ; as at the time of the evacuation of Richmond and Petersburg the One Hundred and Twenty-fourth New York was on the left wing of the army, near Petersburg. The regiment also marched through Fredericksburg, crossing the river on a pontoon bridge to Falmouth, going into camp for the night on the heights, the old camping ground of Burnside's army. Arriving on the bank of the Potomac on May 23, 1865, the regiment was in line in the grand review of the Army of the Potomac, in Washington, and the following day witnessed the review of General Sherman's army. At 3 A. M. June 4, it " struck tents " for the last time, and made its last march to the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad depot in Washington, and from thence was transported by rail to New York city, and was mustered out of service at Newburgh, N. Y., June 16, 1865. Returning to his old home at Walden, N. Y., where he received a right royal welcome from his old friends and neighbors, Mr. Whitehead resumed his former occupation. April 9, 1868, he married Mary Heaton Drake, a native of Newburgh, N. Y., and a daughter of the late Dr. Charles Drake, of that city. A year or. two after his marriage he became dissatisfied with the slow life of the Eastern States and with his business surroundings, and decided upon a change of location. In the winter of 1870-71 he visited Kansas City. The Hfe and activity of then young and stripling city attracted him, and the situation was altogether to his liking. He determined to make this his future home. On the 1st of June, 1871, he arrived with his family and soon after he en gaged in the real estate and loan business. During the first few years of his residence here real estate was somewhat dull, and transactions were infrequent and unimportant His attention was given to other branches of the business — attending to the property of non-residents, loaning money on real estate secu rity, and in building houses, and otherwise improving city property. When the " flush " times came he was able, by reason of his knowledge of property values, ownership, and large general acquaintance, to make the most of the situation. From the very first his business has grown steadily ; he has been actively engaged and has been very successful. He has bought and sold a great deal of property for other parties and has been quite extensively en gaged in real estate operations on his own account He has laid out numer ous additions to the city, one of which — Whitehead place — contains twenty acres. Mr. Whitehead's connection with other interests of Kansas City has been prominent and influential. He was a director in the Citizens' National Bank, which position he resigned to accept a similar one in the Union National upon Biographical. 617 its organization, in which he was more largely interested. In September, 1885, he assisted in the organization of the Missouri Union Trust Company, with an authorized capital of $400,000, of which sum $100,000 was paid up. Upon the official organization of the company he was chosen its president, which position he has — by unanimous election each year — since continued to fill. In 1886 the company moved into its present spacious quarters in the Beals Building, corner of Ninth and Wyandotte streets, and in connection with its other business of loaning money on real estate security and buying and selling real estate paper, it opened a safe deposit vault. Mr. Whitehead is largely interested in cattle. He is a member of the Board of Trade, is treas urer of the Real Estate and Stock Exchange, and a director in several other associations, financial and charitable. He still retains his real estate business, seHs a considerable extent of realty for others, and buys and sells largely on his individual account. To his real estate business and that of the company of which he is at the head, he now devotes his entire time and attention. Mr. Whitehead has been prominent in the affairs of the Grand Army of the Republic. He became a member of George H. Thomas Post No. 8 soon after its organization. At the first annual election he was elected junior vice- commander of the post, and in 1884 he was chosen a member of the Council ¦of Administration of the Department of Missouri. At the next election he was chosen commander of George H. Thomas Post. At the annual encamp ment of 1885 he was elected senior vice-department commander, and in 1888 was appointed aid-de-camp on the staff of the National Commander. Mr. and Mrs. Whitehead are members of the Second Presbyterian Church of Kansas City, in which he is a trustee. They reside in a commodious, taste fully furnished, and altogether pleasant? home, at 13 12 Pennsylvania avenue, one of the best residence locations in the city. In the summer of 1886 they visited Europe, making a considerable tour through England, spending some time in each of the cities of Liverpool, Manchester, Halifax, and London ; then •crossing the English Channel from Dover to Calais, France, they visited Paris and the noted Rhine resorts of Bingen, Weisbaden, Schwalbach, and Eltville, -sailing from the last place along the most picturesque shores of the Rhine to Cologne, and from thence visited Antwerp, Brussels, the Hague, Amsterdam, and Rotterdam, sailing from the latter place to Harwich, and then by rail to London. The extreme happiness of their domestic life has only been marred by the loss of three of their chHdren, vi?. : NeHie, who died December 22, 1876, at the age of six years; Alice E., who died in infancy, in 1880; and Marion D., -a bright and most interesting little daughter, who died December 8, 1886, -aged four years. The surviving child, Charles Hallock, a lad of promise be yond his years, was born February 26, 1875. 6i8 History of Kansas City. TWITCHELL, Hon. DANIEL S. Mr TwitcheH was born in the town of Scio, in the State of Michigan, AprH 1 1, 1834. His father, Jonas Twitch ell, and his mother, Sarah Weekes Twitchell, settled in Washtenaw county, in that State, in 1832, where they lived for many years with their family of three sons and two daughters. The eldest living member of this family is Dr. R. W. Twitchell, of Chatfidd, Minn., where the senior TwitcheH died in 1880, aged eighty-two years. Jonas Twitchell was a native of Vermont, and his wife, Sarah Weekes, was of New York parentage, the daughter of Refine Weekes, a scholar, poet and historian, esteemed eminent in the literature and history of the Society of Friends (or Quakers) in America. " Weekes's Poems," '' Lec tures to young men," and the " Life of WilHam Penn," are among his best known works. Having an ample fortune he gave to all his children the best, most thorough, and finished education provided by the church society, of which he was recognized a leader and patron. One son became a lawyer (contrary to the Quaker principles and teaching, however), and died at Pough keepsie, N. Y., at an early age. Another son. Doctor James Weekes, of Buf falo, N. Y, died in 1837. Fourteen happy, uneventful years were passed by Daniel S. upon the farm and at the home of his parents, in a neighborhood peopled almost wholly by Vermonters and caHed " the Vermont settlement." Here churches were or- ganized, schools established, and far and near boldly went forward the work of developing that state of society and material progress, which have made Michigan justly famous for her educational institutions and for the inteHigence and morality of her people. With the influence of an educated Christian mother, and surrounded by some of the best works of the standard authors of that day, with the country school- house only a mile away, in his early youth resolutions were formed as to his future life from which no circumstances, how ever unfavorable, and no temptation, however alluring, could divert him. Af ter having obtained a good common school education, and working long enough to accumulate a small sum of money, young Twitchell left his home and native State and went among strangers to enter upon a preparatory course for college at one of the oldest and best known universities of the west Here he remained for more than four years, teaching during vacations, and thus obtaining the means to keep up with his class in college. In the year 1856 he entered the law office of Hiram J. Beakes, esq., at Ann Arbor, Mich., and commenced a course of reading and preparation for becom ing a lawyer. He remained here two years, and having passed a creditable examination, he was admitted to the bar and at once opened a law office in the city of Ann Arbor, where he had the usual experience of young attorneys in securing clients and a Hving. With the benefit of one year's admission and. practice as an attorney at law, he entered the law department of the Michigan University, and at the close of the term, in March, i860, was graduated with. Biographical. 619 the first class of that department. Elected recorder of the city of Ann Arbor in 1859, and circuit court commissioner of his county in i860, he continued as student and office-holder, the practice of his profession at Ann Arbor until in May, 1865, when the new west, presenting a fairer field for his active, ardent, and courageous spirit won his heart and life work, and Kansas City became his future home. Soon thereafter followed his young and beautiful wife and his two sons. The elder, Ralph E. Twitchell, is a successful lawyer at Santa Fe, N. M. ; the younger, Wirt B., remains with his father. The beloved wife and mother has since July, 1867, slept under the grasses and roses of Union Cemetery. In Kansas City, at the age of thirty- one, with few books, an indifferent office, but with some professional experience, and a clear appreciation of the rigorous discipline and austere toil required to make a successful lawyer, and with the ardor of health and the genius of a discipHned ambition, he entered the lists, and has ever since been found contending for the rights of his clients in all the courts of the county, State, and United States, with what success he may safely permit client and opposing council to record. In 1872, and again in 1876, he was the choice of the Republican party of his district as nominee for representative in Congress; and in 1874 he was candidate for the office of attorney-general, making a thorough canvass, in company with Hon. Carl Schurz and others, but the day for Republican victories had not then arrived in Missouri. At all times brave, clear, and ardent in political discussions, aided by good address, cultured thought, richness of voice and language, influ encing his auditors to enthusiasm and approbation, his speeches never incite personal antagonisms, or detract from his good fellowship among all persons and parties Mr. Twitchell has been among the first and foremost citizens to advocate and aid every important enterprise affecting the commercial growth and su premacy of the City of Kansas, such as railroads, schools, church and benevo lent societies, and in the preservation of the good order, name and fame of his city and State. In 1869 he was elected to the then important office of city at torney and counsellor, and in 188 1-2-3 filled by appointment "with credit, the office of counsellor of the City of Kansas. In 1876 he was sent by his party as a delegate to the RepubHcan National Convention at Cincinnati, and was made assistant secretary of the convention. He is by nature a leader, possessed of splendid physical power and mental force ; and in court or on the rostrum, in art or letters, in social life and in the pleasures of home, friends and children, it may be confidently believed the future wiH prove his broader field for usefuU ness as a lawyer and a citizen. Mr TwitcheH was united in marriage April 13, 1869, in Kansas City, to the accompHshed and versatile Mary Benjamin, daughter of Mrs. Emeline BouHt, and a descendant of some of the best families of Eastern New York. At theif 620 History of Kansas City. delightful residence on South Brooklyn Avenue, are exemplified the unosten tatious charms with which culture and refinement reward and beautify the true American home. MEYER, AUGUST R., ESQ., president of the consolidated Kansas City Smelting and Refining Company, was born in St Louis, Mo., in 185 I. He is of German parentage and ancestry. His father, Henry P. Meyer, was a na tive of the free city of Hamburg, but for many years was a well known resident of St Louis, prominently connected with the manufacture of wooden ware in that city, he died in 1865. His mother, whose maiden name was Margaretha Kraft, was also of German nativity, and is still living in Kansas City. At the age of fourteen the boy, August Meyer, was sent to Europe to com plete his education. He was in attendance at the best schools in the old world for about eight years. He first passed through the college of the Canton of Zu rich, Switzerland, and then completed the course of study at the famous school of Mines at Freiberg, Saxony, from which institution he graduated in 1872. His subsequent attendance of several terms at the University of Berlin com pleted his scholastic education. He then made a tour of about one year through the leading mining countries of Europe, engaged in an extensive series of in vestigation in the science of metallurgy, and in practical studies of the profes sion in Hfe he had chosen for himself that of mining engineer. In the faH of 1873 he returned to St Louis, and soon afterwards was em ployed in examining coal lands in IHinois. In the spring of 1874 he went to Colorado. Here he received the appointment of territorial assayer of the ter ritory for the district of Fair Play, which position he held untH 1875. He then, as the senior partner of A. R, Meyer & Co., established an ore crushing miH at Alma, Colorado, with which he was connected until in 1881. Mr. Meyer will ever be prominentiy known in the history of Colorado, and indeed of the great West generaHy, as one of the three founders of the city of Leadville. In the faH of 1877 he visited that locality then called "California Gulch," and made critical examinations of the mineral deposits Satisfied that there was a vast wealth hidden in the hills and mountains of the surrounding country, he purchased thirty acres and set about making the best of the situa tion. In February, 1878, in conjunction with Alvinus B. Wood, of Ann Arbor, Mich., and George L. Henderson, of Ohio, he laid out the town and obtained a post-office for it He built the first sampling and smelting works at LeadviHe in 1878, and still owns large and valuable interests in that city. In 1879 in con nection with Governor Taber and others, he laid out the addition including Har rison avenue, the most important thoroughfare in the place. Mr Meyer was a resident of Leadville until in the spring of 188 1. Having made a study of the general situation at Kansas City, its railroads in existence and in prospect, and forecasting its commanding and prosperous ^-^-^^ Biographical. 621 future, Mr. Meyer in the spring of 1881 decided to locate his business mainly at this point. In connection with Messrs. N. Witherell and T. Burdell, he pur chased the small plant of smelting company, of which Colonel C. F. Morse was president, at Argentine, and reorganized the company, and remodeled and en larged the works on an extensive scale, and began operations which have as sumed magnificent proportions. Of the Kansas City Refining and Smelting Company Mr. Meyer has been the president and treasurer since its reorganiza tion. It now bears the name of the consolidated Kansas City Smelting and Re fining Company ; has a capital of $2,000,000, and does an annual business of $15,000,000. In addition to its large and important smelting works at Kansas City, the company has in operation extensive establishments at Leadville, Col orado, and at El Paso, Eagle Pass, and Laredo, Texas. It owns valuable mines in the State of Coahuila, in the Republic of Mexico, and in the territory of New Mevico in the United States. The consolidated company is really an aggrega tion of these vast interests, and in its general character is one of the largest and most important mining corporations in the country. Without invidious dis tinctions of any sort it is but fair to say that its great success is mainly due to the judicious management of the accomplished young president. Mr. Meyer is largely interested on his own account in various silver mines in Colorado, owns much valuable real property in Kansas City, and has a con siderable quantity of bank stock. He is a member of the commercial and other clubs. He was a director in the former Inter-State Fair Association, and is ¦connected with other local associations and organizations. He takes an active interest in the affairs of his adopted city, and is widely and most favorably known. His large business affairs call him frequently from home, and he has made several extended tours through Mexico and the western portion of the United States, and he is well versed in the public and other affairs of the two Republics. Already his personal standing is of a character rarely attained in a long life-time of active effort. In 1878, at Denver, Mr Meyer married Miss Emma J. Hixon, daughter of John B. Hixon, of Colorado. Mrs. Meyer is a native of Terre Haute, Ind. She is a member of the Second Presbyterian Church of Kansas City, and well known in social circles as an accomplished Christian lady. Mr and Mrs. Meyer have two children. STROPE, GEORGE W. Mr Strope was born in Cattaraugus county, N. February 5, 1841. His father, Dennis B. Strope, is a native of Pennsyl vania, and his mother, whose maiden name was Emily O. Willson, of the State of New York. His early life was passed in Cleveland and Akron, O., and in Chicago, whither his parents removed in 1855. His father was a machinist, and for many years was superintendent and manager of the motive power of the Pennsylvania RaHroad. Mr Strope started in life as a train-boy on the 79 622 History of Kansas City. Pennsylvania Railroad at the age of fifteen. After eighteen months' service in this capacity he went to Boston, Mass., and engaged to learn the music trade with W. P. Emerson, the well known piano manufacturer. After three years' service with Mr. Emerson he was connected with a music house at Fort Wayne, Ind., for about two years, and there entered the employ of W. W. Kimball, of Chicago, as general agent for his extensive music establishmenti In 1876 he came to Kansas City and took general charge of the interests of the company west of the Mississippi. He purchased the valuable block of property at the corner of Ninth and Wyandotte streets, on a portion of which the Beals building now stands. In 1880 he resigned from the Kimball Com pany and engaged in business for himself one year. He then sold to the Kim ball Company and resumed his former position for another year when he resigned again and re-engaged in business on his own account In 1882 he erected his present well known building at 206 and 208 West Ninth street He has been largely successful, not only in his regular business, but in his investments in Kansas City property, and he contemplates an early retirement from active business pursuits In 1868 he was married to Miss Ehzabeth M. Conger, of Michigan, a niece of Hon. Omar D. Conger, now one of the United States Senators from that State. Mr and Mrs. Strope are the parents of one child, a daughter, named Georgie, now an accomplished young lady. WARNER, Hon. WILLIAM, member of Congress from the Fifth Con gressional District is a native of Wisconsin, having been born in Lafay ette county, that State, June 11, 1839. Both his parents died when he was very young, and at the age of six years he was left to commence the battle of life mainly alone. When he was ten years old he entered a store and remained there until he was fifteen. During the five years he was thus engaged, by in dustry and economy, he managed to lay aside money enough to pay his ex penses at college for two years. Here, by energetic application, he became one of the best scholars of his class. At the expiration of these two years he taught school for the same length of time, and also read law preparatory to entering upon the practice of the profession to which he intended to devote his life. But upon the outbreak of the rebellion he entered the army of the Union, becoming first lieutenant. He was soon promoted adjutant of the Thirty- third Wisconsin Volunteers, and in 1863 he was appointed captain of Company D, of the same regiment In 1865 he was promoted major of 44th Wisconsin, the titie by which he is now most generally known. He was In continually active service in the Western army during the entire war, most of the time on staff duty, and wherever he served he was prompt to obey every order After the dose of the war he came to Kansas City, arriving here in October, 1865. Here, in partnership with C. O. Tichenor, he began the prac tice of the law, the partnership lasting until 1884, when Mr. Tichenor with- Biographical. 623 •drew. Major Warner, besides giving his attention to the law, has devoted considerable attention to politics, and to the general welfare of Kansas City. He has been frequently honored by election to office by the people, notwith standing the fact that the city has usually been Democratic in politics, while he has as usually been an unswerving Republican. In the spring of 1867 he was elected city attorney, and in 1868 he was elected prosecuting attorney of the circuit, or circuit attorney. This office he resigned in 1870, and in 187 1 he was elected mayor of Kansas City by a majority of about four hundred, and was the only Republican on the general ticket who was successful. For some years after retiring from this position he declined official honors, his legal prac tice requiring and receiving all his attention. In 1875 and in 1876 he sup ported Turner A. Gill for mayor, and it was largely through Mr. Warner's in fluence that Mr. Gill was elected, but other Republicans besides Mr. Warner, favored Mr. Gill, believing that with him as mayor, opposition to the schemes and designs of the National Water Works Company would be more easily and certainly successful. It is also stated that to his fair-minded and unprejudiced course with reference to this question is due to a considerable extent his pres ent prominence as one of the most, if not the most, influential member of the Republican party in Kansas City. As a political speaker Major Warner is very effective, having few superiors in the Western States. His speeches are strong and argumentative, rich in humor, and biting in sarcasm. His services as one of the committee to prepare the present charter of the city, which was adopted in 1875, have been of great, and will be of lasting, benefit to its peo ple ; this charter having contributed largely to the city's present financial prosperity. Some of the main features of this charter are as follows : It pro vides in an effective way for the collection of the taxes ; it prevents the City Council from contracting debts unless the money is already in the treasury to pay the same ; and it provides a sinking fund for the payment of the debt al ready contracted, which is more than sufficient to pay the bonds as they be come due, and by which the debt is being liquidated at the rate of over $100,- 000 each year. Major Warner is a type of the citizen-soldier, and his manifold duties as a citizen have not caused him to forget or neglect his late comrades in arms. He has been one of the most active promoters of the G. A. R., bringing to the work a broad and catholic spirit that popularized the cause with all classes. He was twice commander of the Department of Missouri, was senior vice-com- mander-in- chief in 1883-4, and was chairman of the committee raised at the National Encampment held at Denver, in 1883, to memoriahze Congress on the subject of a Soldiers' Home wesfc of the Mississippi River. He went to work with his whole soul, and with the committee visited Washington, in Feb ruary, 1884, and spent a month there, actively and skillfully working in the cause. He drew the bill that ultimately became a law, and resulted in the Soldiers' Home at Leavenworth, Kan. 624 History of Kansas City. In Congress Major Warner has been one of the most active members. He was first elected to the 49th Congress, and during the first session of that Con gress he secured the passage of thirteen bills that became laws. We have not the means at hand to state exactly the number of bills introduced and pressed to passage by him since his first session, but it is sufficient to say he has im proved on a good beginning. He has been pre-eminently the representative of his district. Before the committee and in the house he has been the able advocate of every measure calculated to benefit his own people. The improve ment of the Missouri River, pensions, oleomargarine, labor, inter-State com merce, reserve cities, Oklahoma and Dakota and, in short, all subjects most nearly affecting his own district and people have received his closest attention,. his earnest and eloquent advocacy. Major Warner is one of the best jury lawyers in the State. He has a wide and deep knowledge of human nature, and is quick to perceive the strong and the weak points of a case, and he is a master in the handling of facts ; hence he is a splendid advocate and one of the best criminal lawyers at the bar. In religious and political affairs he is extremely liberal, conceding to every man what he claims for himself, the right to belong to the church or the party of his choice, without hindrance or question. He is firmly of the conviction that every man should be free in thought as well as in person. As his whole life shows, he is characterized by great energy and resolution, and is a man of su perior physical and mental energy and power, and at this time is one of the foremost men of the West ; a living lesson to the young men of the day as to what industry and energy may accomplish. He was married in 1866 to Mrs. Sophia F. Bromley, a sister of T. B. Bul- lene, and a lady who is everywhere recognized as possessed of every social virtue. Mr. and Mrs. Warner have had six children, three of whom are liv ing, as foHows: John BuHene, born August 17, 1867; Cora Eve, born April 18, 1869; Charles D. Warner, born December 23, 1882. SODEN, PETER, one of Kansas City's best known contractors and business men, was born in County Cavan, Ireland, June 24, 1830, and came to America, locating in New York, in 1848. He was a poor boy, but fuH of energy and a determination to do well and strive for the rewards of honest endeavor, and he soon secured employment in which he continued for four years. The West then undeveloped, as it is known to-day was then, as now, the land of promise to the enterprising, energetic poor man, who wanted to get on in the world, and Mr Soden's attention was attracted to the opportunities for advancement it offered. In 1852 he came to Jackson county. Mo., and for a short time was a resident of Independence, which was at that time a town of more relative importance than it now is. He later went to Liberty, Mo,, and Biographical. 625 for three years was employed under the United States government on the arsenal at that place. In 1855 he came to Kansas City and began business for himself as a contractor, and since that time he has had much to do with improvements in different parts of the city. He may be regarded as one of Kansas City's pioneer contractors, and certainly to-day is one of the oldest,, if not the oldest, contractor here. In tracing the growth of the city it will be in teresting to note that Mr. Soden opened some of the first streets laid out within its borders, and some of the most important thoroughfares of this time, includ ing Main, Delaware and Wyandotte streets. In i860 Mr. Soden entered upon a contract to construct that portion of the Missouri Pacific Railway running through Jackson county, and it will be seen that he was one of the pioneer railroad contractors here. Since that time his operations have covered important portions of the Cameron road, the Missouri River Railroad, and the Missouri Pacific Railway and its branches. He con tinued successfully in this work, latterly devoting his time almost exclusively to the Missouri Pacific Railway's interests, until about three years ago, wheri he retired from that work and interested himself more extensively than he had done before (though he had for years owned much property) in Kansas City real estate and building operations ; but previous to this time, in an interval in his railway building, in 1870, he riprapped the Missouri River from the mouth of the Kaw to the old Lykins warehouse at the foot of Third street This was an important improvement, which had its influence on the growth and prosperity of the city. In 1861, when railroad building was suspended throughout this part of the country, Mr. Soden engaged in freighting between Kansas City and Colorado, and continued that enterprise until the spring of 1864, when he resumed the construction of the Missouri Pacific Railway. During this period, in 1863, he was elected and served as first lieutenant of Co. H, 77th Regiment Missouri State MiHtia, receiving his commission from Governor Gamble, which he retains as a souvenir of that time, Mr Soden's real estate and building operations have been quite extensive and almost uniformly successful, as they have been the result of mature con sideration, with sound business principles for their basis ; and many noteworthy improvements have been carried forward under his supervision, or as the result of his energy and sagacity. He is the owner of property at the northwest cor ner of Walnut street and Missouri avenue ; of the Commercial Hotel block,. Walnut and Eleventh streets ; of the Barnaby building on Main street, between Eleventh and Twelfth; and of Nos 912 and 914 Main street at the Junction, together with other valuable property. He was married in 1865 to Delia Tackett, of Kansas City, and has a son and a daughter. -626 History of Kansas City. GATES, JEMUEL C, one of the prominent business men of Kansas City, was born April i6, 1829, at Hartland, Hartford county. Conn. Both his father, Samuel Gates, and his grandfather, Aaron Gates, were far'mers in the same county in which he himself was born. His mother's maiden name was Lucy Cowdery, and she was a daughter of Moses Cowdery, who was also a farmer of Hartford county. Conn. The subject of this sketch is the youngest of four children, all boys, whose names in the order of their ages were: Orson C, Moses C, Unwin C. and Jemuel C. Hard work upon his father's farm un til he was fifteen years of age, served to strengthen a naturally excellent in herited constitution, and attendance at the district school during the winter seasons up to that time gave him the education that he received. At that age he entered a store at Hartland, as clerk, and served there three years for the moderate compensation of $30 for the first year, $40 for the second, and $50 for the third, in addition to his board. His clothing he bought himself He then went to a little town called Tarriffville, in the same county, and served there as clerk one year in a store at a salary of $150 and board, furnishing his own clothing as before. At the expiration of this year he entered the em ployment of Newell Matson, of Owego, N. Y., and remained with him three years, most of the time as traveling salesman, selling watches and jewelry. He then traveled three years for himself in the same business, and at the end of the six years thus employed he found himself in possession of about $2,500, which he had saved. He then went to Painesville, O., and was there in the employ of his old master, Newell Matson, one year, at the end of which time he moved to Blackberry, Kane county. III, and bought a farm, which he con ducted for twelve years with much more than ordinary success. This farm he sold in 1866, and removed to Kansas City. Upon his arrival here he at once entered into the wholesale boot and shoe business, in partnership with W. W. Kendall, the firm name being Gates & Kendall. In this business he was en gaged until 1879, when the firm was dissolved by the retirement of Mr. Gates, who has since devoted himself to the management of his own real estate inter ests in this city. His investments were made shortly after the panic of 1873, when real estate was low, and hence were very fortunate, and Mr Gates now lives really in retirement and in the enjoyment of a comfortable competence. Upon his arrival here he at once entered the retail boot and shoe business, which in time, grew into a wholesale business, in partnership with W. W. Ken daH, the firm being Gates & Kendall. In this business he was engaged until 1879, when the firm dissolved by the retirement of Mr Gates, who foreseeing the future of Kansas City, had made investments in real estate. The invest ments in real estate covered a period from 1873 to 1876, and he has been ex ceedingly fortunate, and now lives in retirement The elegant home, where he now lives. No. 1920 Independence avenue, was erected in 1886. He was married to Miss Jane C. Hayes, October 18, 1853. Biographical. 627 Mrs. Gates was born September 21, 1832, and is a daughter of MHton Hayes,. a farmer of Hartford county. Conn. Mr. and Mrs. Gates have had five chil dren, as foHows: NeHie A., born December 25, 1854, now Mrs. Albert Marty, of Kansas City; Cora L., born August 14, 1858, and died September 22, 1859; Mamie J., born September 30, 1861, now Mrs, B. T Whipple, of Kan sas City; Lulie A., born November 25, 1863, and Marvin H., born Septem ber 14, 1876. Mr and Mrs. Gates and their three daughters, are all members of the First Congregational Church, of Kansas City. RIDGE, ISAAC M., M. D. This honored citizen of Kansas City was among the first to watch the shadow of the Indian as he was forced to take his departure south to his present home in the Indian Territory. When he settled here, in 1848, the site of the present metropolis of the Missouri val ley was the home of savages and wild beasts. That was forty years ago, and this book has been written to note the changes that have taken place here since then. It is to refer to the doctor's part in them and his part in bringing them about that this sketch is prepared, as an act of justice to one whose life history is essentially a part of the history of the city where the years of his manhood have been passed among the busy and sometimes exciting scenes which have resulted in the Kansas City of to-day. Dr. Ridge was born July 9, 1825, in Adair county, Ky., and was educated at the University of Transylvania, from the medical department of which he graduated in 1848, with the honors of his class, though he had previously (in 1834) removed to Missouri with his parents, gained his rudimental educa tion in the high school at Dover, Mo., and studied medicine with Dr I. S. Warren, of that town. Returning from Lexington, Ky. (the seat of the Tran sylvania University), making the journey by steamboat, he sought in this vicinity a suitable location for the practice of his profession ; for with a fore sight which was almost prophetic, he had long since become certain that at some day, perhaps not far distant a large and important city would spring up not far from where Kansas City now is. With the practical wisdom that has always been his most distinguishing characteristic, he soon opened an office at the corner of Main street and the levee, and entered energetically upon the practice of medicine and surgery. As may be imagined, the demands for the doctor's services were for a con siderable time by no means frequent for the Indians had their own " medicine men," and the white settiers were few indeed. But, as events proved, he had come to stay, and he persevered, answering such caHs as came, waiting and watching for the tide of immigration to flow in this direction. The Indians at that time were numerous and troublesome, but the doctor was fortunate in cul tivating their friendship to such an extent that the Wyandottes, who then occu pied this portion of the country as their hunting ground, declared him in coun- 628 History of Kansas City. cil their "pale-faced brother," and bestowed upon him the name of " Little Thunder," and ever afterwards he exerted upon them a powerful influence which extended to other bands who raided over western Missouri and eastern Kansas, often halting in this vicinity. From 1850 to 1856 the country settled up quite rapidly, and the doctor's practice was so extensive that he was often compelled to ride from a hundred to a hundred and fifty miles in twenty-four hours. This placed him on his feet and enabled him to invest to some extent in real estate. In 1856 the memorable pro-slavery turmoil began, and matters were any thing but pleasant for the doctor, located as he was here on the border. He very wisely, however, assumed the role of " mutual friend" and healed wounds to feelings, smoothed over personal difficulties and sensibly advised belligerents on both sides, proving the old saying true that it is an "ill wind that blows good to no one;" for, without any special design to do so, he thus increased his prac tice and at the same time came into great prominence in both Missouri and Kansas. These troubles in a measure allayed, the doctor enjoyed a quieter and more prosperous life until i860, when he again found himself between two fires and was a second time forced into the position of mediator, this time as both friend and adviser for both Unionists and Confederates. In 1861 he was the only practicing physician left in this section, and he was often forced at the point of the bayonet or at the pistol's muzzle to visit the sick and wounded and to administer medicine or perform surgical operations — sometimes taken blindfolded to where his services were required and returned blindfolded to the place of starting. Those were exciting times, and the doctor passed through many a thrilling scene that might be dwelt upon with a peculiarly romantic interest did space permit. On every hand he found opportunities to imitate the good Samaritan, and many a luckless fellow — blue coat and gray coat — lives to bless him for his skiH and big-hearted Hberality. Legitimately and through compulsion the doctor did a business of from $10,000 to $15,000 dur ing the war for which he never received a cent ; and for several years after that stormy period his practice was unprecedently large. Dr Ridge's large professional income and the rapid advance in real estate values (for he had become a large property owner in and near the town), soon made him a moderately wealthy man and laid the foundation of his subsequent fortune. The old structure, still standing in front of the custom-house, was his former residence, and when built was considered one of the finest in the city. He formerly owned a beautiful tract of eighty-five acres of land, bounded on the west by Woodland avenue, and flanked on the north by Nineteenth street, about half of which he divided among his children, which property, together with the Ridge Block and other down-town property which he has divided among his children, is very valuable. He still owns thirty-eight acres on Woodland and Brooklyn avenues and Twenty-first street, upon which his Biographical. 629 magnificent residence, known as " Castle Ridge," is situated. The site is of such altitude as to afford a wide and charming view of the city and the sur rounding country in every direction. Ascending to the lofty tower that crowns this imposing mansion, to the south one sees a fine stretch of country upon which the advancing outiines of a rapidly growing city are conspicuous, and elegant dwellings and comfortable cottages are everywhere visible. To the west the eye rests upon the southwestern arm of the city, flanked by the Kaw River, which is plainly seen in the distance. Looking to the north and west a grand view is afforded of the city and the winding Missouri. To the east is another rapidly developing arm of this great commercial center, and in the foreground of this view are the residences built by Dr. Ridge for his chil dren, most conspicuous among the many fine homes being located in that di rection. In the center of this beautiful elevation is the doctor's elegant resi dence, the designs and plans for which were all outlined by himself The structure is in the form of a Greek cross, and in architecture combines the Tuscan and Corinthian orders, and is beautified by a Mansard roof and crowned by imposing towers and minarets. Its location, its elegant architecture, its exterior attractiveness, and the wealth and splendor of its interior decorations, combine to render it the finest and most desirable residence in the city. In 1850 the doctor was married to Miss Eliza A. Smart, daughter of Judge Smart, of this city, who died some years ago. She bore him five children, three of whom are still living. These are William E. and Thomas S. Ridge, both prominent in business circles here, and Mrs. Sophie Lee Lakman, also of this city. Mrs. Ridge was a most devoted wife and mother, esteemed for her noble traits of character. She was a lady of fair literary attainments, and had a helping hand and encouraging words for all, with "charity for all and malice toward none," and no lady in the city had a larger circle of warm friends. In 1882 Dr. Ridge married Miss May D. Campbell, the talented and accomplished daughter of Bartlett Campbell, esq., an honored and influential business man of Cincinnati, O. Mrs. Ridge gave much time for one or two years in musical services in the prisons of Ohio and Pennsylvania, a work which, in connection with her rare musical talent, has gained for her a wide reputation and. made her a great favorite both in this city and Cincinnati. She is a highly cultured pianist, and as a vocalist has few superiors in this country. Dr. Ridge is an ardent devotee of the grand old order of Masons, and is a Knight Templar of special prominence ; and during the exciting period of the war his life was twice saved by his Masonic brethren — once by a Prussian, who was a Federal lieutenant, and at another time by a colored barber, who was a Mason and a firm friend to the doctor. The circumstances of the first instance have been related as follows: "A woman had reported the doctor to Colonel Jennison as disloyal, and the colonel sent over a squad of men to 'take care' of the doctor. It was forty against one, and as a last chance he gave a Ma- 80 636 History of Kansas City. sonic sign which was immediately recognized by a young Prussian lieutenant in command, who waved his sword over his head, calling out in broken Eng lish, ' Poys, shust put up dem guns; dot man ish all ridght!'" The second instance of Masonry saving the life of Dr. Ridge occurred during the Rebel lion, in the winter of 1861 or spring of 1862. It will be remembered that the celebrated Colonel Jennison, of Kansas notoriety, entered Missouri in the winter of 1861-62 with his regiment of marauders, and it will also be remembered that one Hoyt, of equal marauding proclivities, was his lieutenant- colonel. After a short campaign of assassination, arson, pillage, and cruel warfare against women and children, the military authorities of the Missouri district became disgusted with these miscreants and ordered them to Shiloh, Miss, Refusing to obey the order, they marched to Leavenworth, Kansas, there disbanding. After disbanding, the very accomplished young legal light, a bright son of Massachusetts, now Colonel Hoyt of Kansas, conceived the idea of putting out of existence all men and destroying all families of Missouri whom he ad judged were in any manner favorable to or in sympathy with the Southern cause or Southern people ; and to accomplish this the more successfully than had heretofore been thought of organized a lot of scape-goats — Kansians and renegade Missourians, of meaner origin, if possible, and more hatred — their cruel hearts full of vindictiveness and revenge, with murder in every thought and purpose. These " hell-hounds" of earth were organized by that brave young man, Hoyt, into what was known as the "Red-Leg Band," whose reputed object was to counteract similar organizations caHed the " Bushwhackers." All good men of truth and honor who survived that bloody, murderous, un principled struggle, on the line of Missouri and Kansas, can testify to the unheard-of barbarous and brutal murders perpetrated by Hoyt's band of fiends. The " Red- Legs' " chief Colonel Hoyt, and one of his minions, a former citizen of Independence, Mo., B. F. Swain, whose sobriquet was " Jeff Davis," adjudged Dr. Ridge worthy of being assassinated by their patriotic band. So these two worthies constituted themselves into a committee to execute the holy deed. Preparatory to the committing of their contemplated feat they stole round Kansas City all one afternoon in the month of December, 1 86 1, or January, 1862, endeavoring to ascertain as best they could the most convenient means of murdering the doctor In their rambles on that memor able afternoon they stroHed into the barber shop of one Louis Henderson, a colored man, who was free born ; he was raised and educated in Ohio, but had been a resident of Kansas City some three or four years, respected by all, both white and black. These two brave men, while lounging in the chairs, con cluded to amuse and, as they thought, highly elate the two colored men who were preparing to serve them, talking to each other, twitting and swearing how they intended to make the " d rebel doctor " dance that night, and what tortures they would inflict before dispatching him. Littie did they think Biographical. 631 that Louis Henderson, one of the men they were trying to entertain so glori ously, was not only a devoted friend of the doctor they were going to murder, but a staunch Masonic admirer. The doctor always recognized Henderson as a Mason, whom he saved from trouble a short time before through his Masonic influence, as will be shown in the colloquy that took place between Hoyt and Henderson as the latter was preparing to shave Hoyt. Henderson took occa sion to spend unusual time in strapping his razor, so as to satisfy himself of whom the gentlemen were talking. Finally being satisfied that Hoyt was talking about Dr Ridge, although neither he nor Swain had mentioned Dr. Ridge's name, Louis squared himself before Hoyt in barber style, as if to commence operations, and exclaimed : " Colonel Hoyt ! I observe you are a Mason," pointing to a square and compass, the insigna of a Master Mason, which Hoyt had pinned on the lappel of his coat. "Yes," replied Hoyt, "and I observe you are one also," for Henderson wore an emblem also. " Now, Colonel Hoyt," demanded Henderson, " before I shave you I demand the. name of the doctor you propose to kill before sleeping to-night." Without hesitating, Hoyt quickly replied : " That enemy of your race and old fiend of a rebel, Dr. Ridge," supposing this would be aH right with the darkey. " Well, Colonel Hoyt,'' said Henderson, "you may call Dr. Ridge what you please; one thing I know of him that you cannot disprove, he is a better Mason and a bigger one than you or me, and will do more for a Mason in distress than you will or could under any circumstances, without bringing into question the Mason's color, but knowing him to be worthy of assistance." As proof, Henderson related a circumstance that occurred in Lexington, Mo., at the Price and Mulligan battle, where he (Louis Henderson) had been captured by Price's men, and jailed for safe-keeping, till he could be sent as contraband of war to the South. " Ascertaining from the jailer, who was an old acquaint ance of Dr. Ridge, that the doctor was in Lexington, I sent for him," said Hen derson. " He took me out of jail, set me at hberty, and I returned home with him. Another case," said Henderson ; " the doctor took a colored man out of Colonel Bill Martin's camp at Lexington, at two o'clock in the morning, set ting him at liberty. This man," continued Louis to Hoyt, " was a character whose life, as it were, hung on a slender thread, and had the men of Martin's regiment known his true name would never have held him as a prisoner of war. Colonel Martin had no idea whom he was. So after my release from prison, Dr. Ridge took me in his buggy to Colonel Martin's camp where we found Fields, the colored man, wanted by them, cooking for them. On alight ing from the buggy. Fields approached me, and with great emotion said, ' Hen derson, I must hang before sunrise to-morrow. These men of Martin's have been howling for the blood of the negro for whom Dr. Ridge was made a prisoner of war; now he will make me known, and the matter of 'life is over with me. Will you not approach -the doctor and intercede for me?' 'Yes,' I 632 History of Kansas City. replied, and seeking the doctor laid Fields's case before him; he quickly, re joined, ' Henderson, I understand the situation ; keep your mouth shut as to this business, and tell Fields to do the same ; no one knows him but you and myself in camp, and I will release him from his perilous position before to morrow morning.' The next morning Fields was neither cook nor waiter for Colonel Martin's camp, but was free from his imprisonment, and far from the rebel camp. This, sir," continued Henderson, " was the act of the man and Mason you would dispose of without giving him a show of defense or a mo ment's warning. Now, Colonel Hoyt, you have heard me through, and I must say to you that I cannot shave you or favor you in any way whatever, unless you take back your declared purpose, and pledge yourself to me that you will never molest or injure Dr. Ridge in any manner, or permit your men to." When the barber had finished his story, Hoyt raised up in the chair and exclaimed, " Louis, do you tell me as a Mason that all you have stated to me is true?" "It is, sir," replied Henderson, " and neither you or myself sir, could have the moral courage or the Masonic daring and goodness to have overcome wrong treatment, and have exercised such unselfish philanthropy toward a man of color, or of any other nationality as did Dr. Ridge in treat ment of Fields," At this Colonel Hoyt pledged himself as a Mason to Louis Henderson, not only that he would never interfere with the doctor in any man ner, but that the " Red Leg " band as a whole, should have orders to ever re spect, and even protect Dr. Ridge should they find him in peril. For two years after the doctor met these " Red Legs " in squads of from two to fifteen or twenty on many occasions when practicing his profession, and can truthfully assert that they were faithful to observe in the most punctilious manner the promise given by Colonel Hoyt to Louis Henderson. Who can say that man to man cannot be true, even though one be white and the other black. " A mon can be a mon for a' that." Dr Ridge has never sought pubhc position, but at one time the office of city councilman was forced upon him by his friends. He was also city physician for several years, and it is a noteworthy fact that during his incumbency of that office" the city passed through cholera and small-pox epidemics. He was once placed in nomination for State senator by his friends. He retired from practice about 1875 to attend to his numerous other interests ; and now, almost at leisure, surrounded by every luxury, blessed by a loving wif.> and affectionate children and grandchildren, looks back placidly and not without considerable satisfac tion upon the exciting scenes in which he sometimes bore a perilous and often unwilHng, but never a discreditable part. Of pleasing address and courteous manners, he is a generous and warm-hearted gentieman, whom all greet with pleasure, and many unfortunate persons have cause to remember with deep gratitude. He has contributed largely in money and influence toward the upbuilding of the city, and his home is a favorite resort for society people — Biographical. 633 those who cross its hospitable portals being always sure of the most cordial welcome. Generous and liberal in his sentiments, enjoying the confidence, respect and esteem of the community, having good health and the capacity to enjoy all the comforts his wealth can command, there are yet, in all probability, many more years of happiness and usefulness in store for him. PARKER, FRANCIS E. Mr Parker was born on a farm in Stanstead county. Lower Canada, near the boundary line between the dominion and the State of Vermont April 28, 1843. His father, Alpheus Parker, was born on the same farm, which was originally settled by his father (the grandfather of Francis E,), who was the fourth bona fide settier in that county, coming originaHy from one of the New England States. The mother of the subject hereof was Susan R. Crooker, a native of Woodstock, Vt. Reared on the home farm and educated in the country schools of the neigh borhood, Mr. Parker's early life was uneventful, and, it must be confessed, un promising. But at the age of twenty- one he left the old homestead and came to " the States." Repairing to Lawrence, Mass., he sought employment in the great Atlantic Cotton Mills of that city. The superintendent of one of the de partments took kindly to the young stranger and gave him a position in the cloth rooms of the institution. So weH did he perform his duties that his sal ary was increased, and when the following spring he left the mills on a visit to bis parents, he was urged to return and promised a good situation at any time. But on reaching home he met his brother. Captain P. P. Parker (now of Minneapolis, Minn.), who had served as a captain in the Union army, in the 32d Missouri Regiment, and who prevailed upon him to return with him to Pike county. Mo. Mr. Parker resided in Pike county from the spring of 1865 Tintil in 1878. During this period he was chiefly engaged in contracting and building. He began as a common carpenter, and in 1867 was employed on the construction of the Pike county court-house, at Bowling Green. In 1868 he went to Chicago, and pursued a course of study in architecture, attaining a proficiency in the science which afterward served him well. In 1878 he re moved to Kansas, and spent three years in Saline and McPherson counties. In the fall of 1881 Mr Parker came to Kansas City, which has since been his home. At first he engaged in his vocation, as contractor and builder, serving as his own architect and superintending his own work. Among his other la bors he drew the plans and built the Inter-Ocean and Armourdale elevators, two well known and important structures. In March, 1886, from a point in the eastern portion of the city, Mr Parker looked northward across the river and contemplated the natural and other ad vantages presented by the Randolph Bluffs. At that time the Chicago, Mil waukee and St Paul Railway was seeking entrance into the city, and its offi- 634 History of Kansas City. cers seemed undecided as to where they would cross the river, having two points under consideration, Randolph and Quindaro. Mr. Parker soon came to a conclusion of his own in this particular. We must condense the story. He formed his plans and soon put them into execution. He was the first Kansas Cityan to buy land at Randolph, purchas ing the forty-five acres comprising what was known as " the Anthony Brown tract," from Captain John S. Grooms, of Clay county, at $150 per acre. Upon this tract now stands the town of Randolph Heights, perhaps the most promising suburb of Kansas City. Mr. Parker is secretary of the Randolph Town Site Company, and is recognized as the chief patron of the town. He has planned and conducted numerous investments and operations in the vicin ity, buying and selling largely, often on his individual account, and always profitably. He was largely instrumental in securing the location of the divis ion of the Wabash Western Railway at Randolph, and in developing the nat ural resources of the adjacent lands. The rugged and apparently valueless Randolph Bluffs have been found to contain invaluable beds of coal, vast ledges of native marble, and extensive formations of lithographic stone, all of which have been tested and proved to be of superior quality. In certain contem plated enterprises to be established at Randolph, Mr. Parker is prominently in terested, and in short expects to be identified with the future of the town for all time. Mr Parker was married in 1870 to Miss B. Irene Purse, of Pike county. Mo. One son has been born of this marriage. Mr Parker is a member of the Olive street Baptist church, one of the best and most favorably known church organizations of that denomination in the State. He is a trustee of the church and is also a member of the Baptist Board of the city. PAIN, HENRY B,, is a son of John Brooks Pain, esq., a " Freeman " of the city of London, England, and Mary Ann Bowyer (his wife), of Surrey, England. He was born in London, AprH 5, 1839, and was educated at pri vate schools in London and at Croydon, England. Eariy in April, 1861, Mr Pain left his native land and came to America. The first intelligence brought aboard ship from the land of his choice was that given by the pilot informing him that Fort Sumter had been attacked, and civil war was imminent Mr Pain located for a time in Canada, and in Toronto married Jane Henrietta Cruickshank, daughter of David Cruickshank, esq,, of Arbroath, Scotland (a very prominent business man, and a leading Whig of such influence and notoriety that he was once burned in effigy by the Tories), and he has four children, viz. : Harriet, George Herbert Maud R., and Henry C. In 1869 Mr Pain came to Kansas City, and was at once persuaded that it would grow to be a city of size and importance, and resolved to make it his Biographical. 635 future home. He had already studied American politics, and his political sympathies were strongly Democratic, and he availed himself on an early op portunity to become a full-fledged citizen and merge himself entirely into the body of American citizenship, and since that time, though not in the popular sense a politician, he has taken a lively and active interest in all affairs of local or national political significance. In 1870 he brought his family to Kansas City, where they have since lived continuously, except during two visits to Canada. From 1870 to 1880 Mr. Pain was associated with the Kansas City Times as its city circulator. His first purchase of real estate in the city was made in 1869, when he bought part of the old Methodist Church property on Fifth street, at $180 per foot, a reminder that favorably situated Kansas City prop erty was held at a good figure even at that early day, and since that time his name has appeared frequently on the records as a dealer in real estate. Mr. Pain is courteous, kindly, public- spirited and helpful, and has done much toward the enhancement of the best interests of the community. Edu cated in the tenets of the Church of England, he has the strongest affection for the Episcopal Church and the benefits of the Christian religion. THORNE, JOSHUA, M. D. Dr Thorne is, since the death of Dr T B. Lester, the oldest practicing physician in Kansas City, and the one long est in practice here. Dr. Isaac M. Ridge and others, who preceded him, hav ing long since turned their attention to other than professional affairs. He was born in Devonshire, England, March 14, 1832. His father, a Baptist cler gyman, came to the United States in December, 1845, accompanied by his family. While in England young Thorne passed through the high school of Biddeford, his native town ; and after his father's settlement in Baltimore, Md., he was for three years a student in the schools of that city. From 1848 to 185 1 he continued his studies at what is now Dennison University, at Gran- viHe, O. In the winter of 1851-52 he studied medicine in the McDowell Medical College of St Louis, Mo., and in the winter of 1852-53 in the Charleston (S. C.) Medical School. Dr. Thorne began the practice of his profession in Charleston, S. C, in 1853, and continued it there untH in 1855, in the winter of 1855-56 taking a post-graduate course in Philadelphia, Pa., and the degree of the Homeopathic Medical College of that city. The summer of 1856 found him in practice at Washington, D. C, in the employ of the United States government In 1857 he located at Winchester, IH., where he married. In 1859 he came to Kansas City, where he has since resided. He early foresaw the future of the place and has steadfastly encouraged all measures looking to its advancement, and with his pen, his native energy and his liberal spirit contributed his full share in promoting the wonderful prosperity it now enjoys. 636 History of Kansas City. At the opening of the war, when the English-born residents of the United States almost unanimously arrayed themselves on the side of the South, Dr. Thorne was conspicuous for his outspoken and practical loyalty to the Union. He assisted in raising the United States Reserve Corps (Van Horn's Battalion) to aid in its defense in the field, and became its medical officer. He was or dered by the surgeon-general of the United States Army to open a general hospital in Kansas City, which he accomplished by taking the old McGee Ho tel (the Planter's House) and a brick block on Grand avenue, and fitting them up for such use, the hospital being kept open until February, 1864, when it was discontinued. During the Price raid, in the fall of 1864, Dr. Thorne was in charge of all the wounded, and gave his personal supervision to every hos pital under his care. In March, 1865, partly in recognition of his distinguished services in the Civil War, but principally because of his fitness for the responsible position. Dr. Thorne was appointed assessor of internal revenue by President Lincoln, and served with great credit until he was removed by President Johnson, for political reasons, in 1867. In April, 1869, he was again appointed to the same office by President Grant, and performed its duties until the assessment offices were abolished in May, 1873. He also served as secretary of the Board of Pension Surgeons for many years until " reformed " out of office by President Cleveland in 1885. Connecting himself with the Grand Army of the Repub lic early in its history, he has worked, not for position, but for the benefit of the organization and ithose who needed such assistance as he could render. After his retirement from the office of assessor of internal revenue in 1873, Dr. Thorne visited Europe. Returning he resumed active general practice in the summer of 1874, and has since been industriously and successfully engaged in it, gaining both material prosperity and professional reputation in a marked degree. He is a homeopath, and was the first of the school to open an office in the city. For many years he had been teacher of anatomy in the Kansas City Hospital College of Medicine, and has been president of the Missouri In stitute of Homeopathy. Dr. Thorne was married in February, 1858, to Miss Nancy V. Haggard, of Winchester, IH., who is still living. Three children have been born to them, only one of whom — Mrs. Adella T. Brundage — remains on earth. Dr Thorne is a man of strong character and much originality — an influential citizen, con spicuous in professional circles, an interesting public speaker of more than local reputation, and a forcible, convincing writer, who has written much to further the interests of this section. He is one of those who have watched and aided the growth of the city and are connecting links between the old Kansas City and the new ; living figures in its history and prophets of its future greatness — always liberal in thought, courteous in expression, and helpful in all the re lations of citizenship. ^'^rtyE^hTmmv.iit'jM Biographical. 637 WELSH, MILTON. Mr Welsh is a native of Maryland, born in How ard county, in 1842. He is a son of Luther and Juliette Welsh, who were also native Marylanders. His remote ancestors emigrated from Wales to Maryland soon after the settlement of the colony of Lord Baltimore, Mr. Welsh was reared to early manhood in his native county. His father was a prosperous farmer, able and disposed to furnish his children with a good education and proper training for the active duties of hfe. His son, MHton, was educated at Brookville Academy, and was in attendance at Calvert Col lege, at New Windsor, Md., during the summer of 1862, when some of the most important campaigns of the civil war were in progress in the remote vicinity. He was an enthusiastic Confederate sympathizer, and gathering to gether a number of his young associates he broke away from school and set out to join the army under the stars and bars. He and his companions swam the Potomac and after a tour of adventure and peril at last succeeded in join ing General Lee's army in time to participate in the last day's engagement at the second battle of Manassas. Mr. Welsh first enlisted as a private in the Twelfth Virginia Cavalry, which formed a part of General Turner Ashby's famous cavalry brigade. A few weeks later, however, he was transferred to the First Maryland (Confederate) -Cavalry, and commissioned a lieutenant of Company D. His regiment had Tvithin its ranks some of the best blood of Maryland. Some of the privates and non-commissioned officers were representatives and members of the oldest patrician families of the State — descendants in direct line of the Cavaliers, and cavaliers themselves in courage, chivalry, and noble, soldierly bearing. It con- -Stituted a part of General Rosser's cavalry brigade and participated in all the ¦engagements and glories and shared aH the hardships and vicissitudes of that noted cavalry organization. During his term of service Mr Welsh partici pated in the memorable battles of the Second Manassas, South Mountain, Antietam, ChancdlorsviHe, Gettysburg, Winchester, Appomattox, and the -campaigns incident to and connected with these engagements He was at the affair at the Yellow Tavern when General "Jeb' Stuart was killed ; was with General Sam Jones on the West Virginia expedition, and in innumerable skir mishes, raids, marches, and scouting expeditions. He fought the fiower of the Federal cavalry, the dragoons of the impetuous Sheridan, the troopers of the gallant Custer, and crossed sabers with the warriors of Pleasanton and Kilpat- rick on their "native heath" in the valleys of Pennsylvania. He was with Lee at Appomattox, but when it was seen that surrender was imminent his battalion left and made its way to the army of General Joe Johnston, then -confronting Sherman in North Carolina. But a few days later it too, yielded to the inevitable, and then, for the first time in its history, the First Maryland surrendered. Later, in 1865, Mr Welsh came to Hannibal, Mo., where he was engaged 81 638 History of Kansas City. in the drug business for about eight months, when he returned to Maryland. After a brief sojourn in Baltimore he went to Port Republic, Va., where for two years he was engaged in miHing. In 1869 he came to St. Joseph, Mo., and opened a real estate and insurance office. The following year he removed. to Hannibal. In 1880 Mr. Welsh located in Kansas City and estabHshed himself in the business of real estate brokerage, in which pursuit he has since been and still is actively engaged. His operations have chiefly been in the line of transactions on his own account. His investments have been of an extensive character, and have been successful and profitable to a pre-eminent degree. At present he is the president of the Western Union Land Company, which corporation owns large and valuable areas of lands in Texas, and is also a director in the Citizens' National Bank of Kansas City, Mo., and Citizens' Bank of Kansas City, Kan sas. In 1887 he was elected a member of the city council, and is still a mem ber of that body. Mr. Welsh was married in the fall of 1883 to Miss Rose Nelson, daughter of Arthur Nelson, esq., of Marion county, Mo., and to this union there have- been born two children. TOWERS, Major WILLIAM A., president of the Consolidated Cattle Growers' Association of the United States, was born eight miles from At lanta, in DeKalb county, Ga., in 1842. His father, the Rev. Lewis Towers, had moved to Georgia from South Carolina in 1806, and from 1837 to 1855 had oc cupied a prominent position as a minister and educator, presiding at the time of his death, in the last mentioned year, over an Alabama college. His widow,. formeriy a Miss Packard, was a Massachusetts lady, and a graduate of Mt Hol- yoke Seminary. The family consisted of five children of whom William A. Towers was the eldest. His mother having remarried, young Towers at the age of fifteen, secured employment as a dry goods clerk at the almost insignificant salary of six dol lars per month, in addition to his board. Such was his assiduity, and so highly was he esteemed by his employer, that his salary was soon doubled. At the same time he became so popular among his feHows that upon the organization of the State militia, in 1859, he was elected major of his regiment though he was at that time but seventeen years old ; and it was this position that secured him the titie by which he is most familiariy known. He was afterwards first lieutenant of a company which subsequently served in the Fourteenth Ala bama Regiment C. S. A., but being anxious to go into the war he resigned his position, enlisted as a private in the Fourth Georgia, and served in the cam paigns in Virginia for neariy four years, both on the fidd and in the depart ment of engineering. At the close of the war he was in command of the sharp shooters of General Wofford's brigade. frxi'nyE ^linrnms (tBroWy. ,^>'^/l/^ '-£!' J / y{^yO^--t^ ; Kelly, D. S., & Co., 398. KendaU, W. W., Boot and Shoe Co., 231. Keystone Iron Works, 257. Kingan Packing Co., 219. Klein Lodge, Jacob, No. 206, 195. Index. 723 Knight, W. B., 208, 534. Knights of Pythias, lodges of, 179, 180. Knights of Pythias, prominent, 181. Knights and Ladies of Honor, 187. Knoche, J. P., M. D., 364. Krauthoff, L. C, 354. Krekel, Arnold, 4, 338. Kump, F. H., 525. Kumpf, H. C, 114, 119, 208, 209. LABOR Organizations, 197. Ladd, S. B., 346. La Force, Felix L., 534. Lamphear, S. Emory, M. D., 366. Land Claim and Investment Company, 405. Land Title Guarantee Company, 399. Lathrop, Gardiner, 340. Lathrop school building wrecked, 121. Latshaw, H. J., 91, 94, 189, 286, 708. Lawrence Investment Conipany, 405. Lawrence, J. B., 124. Laws to be sustained, 420. Leather, 236. Leslie, Leo N., 700. Lester, T. B., M.D., 4, '65, II.5, 379, 555. Lewis, E. R., M.D., 363. Library Association, Kansas City Law, 90, 355. Librarian appointed to public library, 120. Library, the pubhc school, 117,- 118, 120. Life, King's iUustrated, 131. LiHis, James, 536. T;illy, Blli & Company, 236. Lime, 252. Limits, extensions of city, 199. JLincoln Lodge, 182. Linnwood Lodge, 185. Linseed oil, manufacture of, 260. Lippincottt, W. V., Jr., 403. Liquor dealers, 239. Tiittle, Wm. T., 693. Live stock interest, 88, 216, 222. Loan and Building Association, Kansas City Mutual, 268. Loan and mortgage business, 397. Xockridge, C. R., 701. Lodges of Kansas City, A. 0. U. W., 184. Lombard, Jas. L,, 270, 557. Lombard Investment Company, 269. Xoyal Legion of U. S., Kansas City Social Union of the, 197. Lucas, C. D., 181. Lumber, 245. Xykins, Dr. Johnston, 30, 44, 48, 53, 55, 63, 64, 199, 425. ]\ /T ACHINBRY, brass and iron working,'256.' iVJL Madame, Grand Louis, 24. -Mann, J. A., 124. Manning & Mann, 238. Manufacturing. Company, King s Novelty, 25b. Marshals of Kansas City, 427. Martin, B. X, 117, 164, 191, 192, 197, 205. Martin, Perrin & Company, 239. Marty, Arnold & Company, 403. Masonic Board of Relief, 174. Masonic organizations, history of, 714. Mastin Bank, 86, IO8, 283, 286, 428. Maughs, G. M. B., 50, 70, 86, 137. Mayors of Kansas City since I88I, 430. Mayor, first Republican, 421. McCord, Nave & Company, 237. McCoy, J. C, mentioned, 18, 19, 28, 29, 40, 64, 167. McCrary, G. W., 266, 269, 399, 351, 517. McDaniel, Thompson, 54. McDonald, Calvin D., M.D,, 358. McDonald, Witten, 163, 293, 240, 550. McDougal, B. C, 352. McGee, E. M., mentioned, 44, 53, 54, 62, 63, 65, 205. McGee, James H., 18. McLean, B., & Company, 236. McMechan, E. E., 188. McPherson Post, G. A. R., 175. Meats, dressed, 222. Mechanic's Lodge, 180. Medicine, patent, 161. Medical educational institutions, 368. Medical colleges, 368. Medical College, Kansas City and School of Dentistry, 369. Medical colleges, misceHaneous, 368. Medical Index, 137. Medical Record, 137. Memphis railroad, 89. Men of the times, 63. Merchants' and Manufacturers' Bureau, 191, 248. Merchants' National Bank, 289. Merchandise sold in 1857, 46. Methodist churches, 305. Metropolitan, The, 51. Metropolitan Lodge, 197. Metropolitan R, R. Company, 407. Metropolitan Investment Company, 273. Mexican overland trade in I860, 31, 33.- Mexican traH, stories of the, 34. Meyer, August R., 620. Meyer Bros.' Drug Company, 235. Mid- Continent, The, 133. Mid-Continent Lodge, 180. Miller, W. H., 106, 177, 190, 191, 284, 385. MiUing Company, the Kansas City, 260. MiUs, H. S., & Son, bankers, 291. MiUs Jewelry Company, 239. - Mirror, The Sunday, 131. Missouri, Kansas and Texas real estate, 279. , Missouri and Kansas Farmer, 136. ' Missouri-Pacific R. R. completed, 141. Missouri River, first bridge over, 423. Missouri Union Trust Company, 269, 272. Missouri VaHey Investment Company, 276. Mormon episode, 25-27. Morse. C. P., 156, 178, 191, 222, 248, 252, 293, 413, 504. Mortgage Trust Co., the Dearborn, 275. 72-4 Index. Mortgage Trust Co., the Equitable, 280. Mortgage Trust Co., Jarvis-Conklin, 265. Morton, James, 560. Moss, C. B., 416, 529. Mount, W. A., & Company, 238. Mount Washington Investment Company, 272. Muehlbach Brewing Company, 253. Munford, Fancher, 401. Munford, M., 127, 128, 197, 424, 440. Muskegon Lodge, 184. Music, Kansas City Conservatory of, 376. Music, Schultze School of, 377. Mutual Loan ..and Building Association, 269. Mutual Lodge, 185. NATIONAL Bank of Kansas City, 287. National Bank of Kansas City, the First, 273, 421. National Bank of Commerce, 288. National Business College, 374. National Loan and Trust Com{)any, 272. ¦Navigation, barge, 296. Navigation of Kansas River, 426. Navigation of the Missouri River, 91. Nelson, W. R., 130. Nettleton, George H., 156, 164, 293. New England Trust Company, 274. Newspapers before the war, 50. News, Kansas City Evening, 130. Newspapers, other, 131-138. Norman, Joseph L., 523. Norman & Robertson, 398. Northrup, H. M., 29, 53, 55, 63, 686. Northrup, E, S., 367. Norton Brothers, bank of, 243. Notice of sale of town site, 28. Odd Fellows, Independent Order of, 181. Officers since 1886, city, 422. Officers since 1865, Hst of, 204. O'Flaherty, Edmund, 66-79, 206. Old water works, fight for, 88. Opening of streets, 419. Opposition to Mormon settlement, 266. Order of the Iron Hall, 188. Organizations, commercial, 188. Organizations, labor, 197. Orient, order of the, 186. Orphans' Home of Kansas City, 167. support and officers of,' 167. Overland mail and express, 39. Overland trade, the Mexican, 31. PACIFIC Place, 388. Packing business, IIO, 216, 221 Pain, H. B., 406, 634. Paints and glass, 236. Panic of 1873, the, 283. Paper, 240. Parish school, St. John's, 378. Parish school, St. Peter's and St. Paul's 378 Parish school, St. Patrick's, 378 ' Parker, E. E, 294, 682. Parker, Francis B., 633. Parks, Clarence A., 554. Party spirit in 1861, 72. Payne, M. J., mentioned 44, 48, 49, 50, 53, 63, 64, 140, 417, 541. Peak, J. L., 349. Peake, William, 173, 192, 234, 685. Pearsons, G. W., 562. Peery, Place, 392. Peet Brothers & Company, 261. Pelts, 236. Pennsylvania Investment Company, 275. Penny Post, The, 130. People's Railway Company, 416. Pettijohn, U. J,, M.D., 363. Phelps, E. H., 209, 254, 403, 563. Phillips, B. A., 204, 229, 588. PhHUps, John P., 337. Phillips, John R., 115, 116. .Physicians,. 68, 357. Pioneer Boats, 40. Pioneer Business Men, 30. Pioneer Packers, 217. Pioneer Settlers, 20. Pioneer Street Railways, 88. Plankington & Armour's packinghouse, 217. PoHce Force, 215, 427. Police Relief Association, 174. Politics, after the war, 420. Porter, D. R., M.D., 206, 207, 215, 216, 369, 545. Post, The Kansas City, 53, 126. Post-office, history of, 61. PoweH's school of short hand, 375. Pratt, Wallace, 156, 348. Presbyterian churches, 374. President's visit, the, 113. Presse, the Kansas City, 131. Progress, the Mirror of, 133. Prosperity of the city, 43, 86. Protection Lodge, 187. Provident Association, 164-6. Public library established, 117. Public sale of town site, 29. Public Square of Kansas City, 17. Pullman, David, 549. QUANTRELL'S raid on Lawrence, Kan., 80. ' ' yuarles, R. W., 209, 345. RAILWAYS, cable, 413. the horse, 413. Railroad companies, 417. Railroads, Pioneer street, 88. history of the Kansas City, 55, 58, 139. Railroad strikes, 152, 428. war of rates, 153. Ramsey, MiHett & Hudson Printing Co., 254. Rank of Knights of Pythias, uniformed, 181. Recorder's Court, 214, 330. list of the, 331. Reformed churches, 324. Reid, John W., 66, 86, 332. Index. 725 Remarkable progress since the war, 83. Review of Science and Industry, the Kansas City, 15, 131. Reynolds, J. I., 230, 273, 294, 405,579. Rhodes, H. S., 565. Rice, F. A., 69. Rice, W. P., 281, 294, 581. Richards, J. F., 238, 279, 293, 585. Richards Conover Hardware Co., 238. Richardson, B. E., 162, 163, 173, 222, 252, 401. 594 Ridge, L M.. M.D., 49, 69, 358, 627. Ridenour, Baker & Co., 237. Ross, John A., 348. Roux, Father, 301. Royal Society of Good FeUows, 198. Royer, W. H., 406, 694. Rubber Goods, 240. SADDLES and harness, 261. Salisbury & Company, 404. Santa Fe trail, the old, 33. Sash, doors and blinds, 261. Sattley, E. C, 575. Sauer, Gus. L. 0., 584. Sawyer, S. L., 333. Scarritt, WiUiam C, 593. Schools of Kansas City, 79, 114. School years, I869-87,-II4, 121. of Design and Art Association, 178. Dickson's shorthand, 376. Powell's shorthand, 376. parish, 378. Schools of oratory, 374. Scott Rifles, 196. Scott, S. P., 197. 402, 684. Scott, T. A., 197, 568. Schoen, Louis A., 567. Schueler, Armin L. 0., 696. Schulte, P. W., 694. Secret societies, 179. Security Investment Company, 278. Company, the Green, 402. Savings Bank, 295. Sedgwick, G. W., 295. Seeds, 239. Sewer Pipe Manufacturing, 252. Shelley, George M., 62, 207, 428. Shipments, 223. Shouse, D. L., 55, 161. Show cases, 261. Sicilian Lodge No. 39, 180. Simmons Investmeht Company, 278. Singing society, the Anon, 195. Slavens, L. C, 340. Sloan, A. B., M.D., 358, 679. Slover, J. H., 336. iSeltin^g fnd^Refining Company, the Kansas City, 429. Smith, Henry, 350. G Y. & Co., 234. SneU, J. K., M.D., 362. Soap companies, 261. Societies, 160. Soden, Peter, 624. South Park Investment Co., 267. west Land and Investment Co., 279. Speers, Thomas M., 214. Spengler, Rompel & Co., 232. Springs, bed, 253. . • Squier, J. J., 290, 592. Standen, Alfred E., 609. Star, the, 77. Star, the Kansas City Evening, I3.(X. Statistics, the clearing house, 281. of Mexican trade, 32. Statistics of packing' business, 221. of real estate prices, 393. Status of Kansas City as packing center, 241.- Stegner, Theo., 295, 566. Steuben Lodge, 184. StHes, B. H., 354. Stimson, H. P., 163, 281, 274, 293, 572. Stockholders in law library, 356. Stock interest, the live, 222. Stock Yard Bank, 293. Stone, artificial 252. Storms, notable. 121, 315. Stoves, 262. Stowe, J. G., 193, 570. Strayer, John W., 604. Strope, Geo, W., 621. Street railways, 406, 18. Strikes, R R, 152, 428. Sturdevant, P., 361. Suburban real estate, 394. Suffolk Investment Co., 276. Summit Lodge, 184. Supplies, jewelry, 239. Supplies, laundry, 239. Supreme council, 186, Survey ,of Atchison, Topeka and Santa Pg- Railroad, 141. Suspension of Banks, 429. Svea Lodge No. 93, 180. Swain, Joseph W., 587. Sweet, A. K. & Co., 259. Swift Packing Company, 219. Switzer, H., 117, 119, 259, 578. Swope, Thos. H., 53, 66. Syrups, 239. TAYLOR, A. B., M. D., 358. Tea and coffee, 238. Terms of court, 326. Terrace City Lodge, 184. Thomas, George H., Post of G. A. R., 176. Thomson, D. P., 4, 607. Thompson, J. H., M. D., 364. Thorne, Joshua, M.D., 49, 73, 82, 366, 371, 635, Tichenor, C. 0., 342. i::^ limes, the Kansas City, 126, 128, 135, 423. TindaU, G. W., D. D. S., 70. Title, abstracts of, 398. Todd, S. S., M. D., 358, 672. 92 726 index. Tomlinson, A. A., 146, 341. Topography of Kansas City ,20. Towers, W. A., 638. Track-laying on Missouri Pacific resumed,, 139. Trefren, M. D., 67, 177, 340. Troost, Benoist, 53, 54, 64, 69. Trott, S. B., M.D., 367. Trueworthy, J. W., 295, 697. ;Trunk8j'259. Trust OoUf jinies, the American, 275. the 'Baldwin, 278. ¦ ¦ .the Continental, 279. the Fidehty, -276. the Missouri Union, 272. the Missouri, Kansas and Texas, 279; the National, 272. the New England, 274. i Tunnel on Elevated Railroad, 415. ¦Tum|r Hall, 423. Turnip, Society, the, 193. Turner -