UC-NRLF $B 727 mS !<^.^:'>^^-L>:^ BRA. OF THE UNIVERgnr ^ OF . Ibistor^ ..ot. f UustrateJ) in G^bree Deca&es. JBetns a Cbronfcle Mbcrcin is Set 3fortb tbe XLtnc Bccount of tbe jfounmng, IRlee, anO IJresent position ©ccupieO bi2 IRansas Citg In fl^u* nlcfpal Bmerfca. mtUiam (Brtffitb. 1900 'fcubsotisftimberl^ Publfsbina Co. "Kansas (£tt%» 0)0. Copyright, 1900, Hudson-Kimberly Publishing Ck>. p ^1^ TABLE OF CONTENTS. 3f(C0t 5)CCaDe— 1870*1880. CHAPTER I. Page. The Louisiana Purchase. — Its Vast Importance in the History of the United States. — The Purchase Price. — Details. — Common- wealth of Missouri. — Topography 11 CHAPTER II. Title to Missouri Lands. — Right of Discovery. — Title of France and Spain. — Cession to the United States. — First Settlements . . 18 CHAPTER III. Application of Missouri to be Admitted into the Union.— Agitation of the Slavery Question. — "Missouri Compromise." — Missouri Admitted • • • . 26 CHAPTER IV. Early Military Operations. — Mormon Difficulties in Jackson County 34 M667916 Table of Contents. CHAPTER V. Page. First White Man in Jackson County. — Rocky Mountain Fur Com- pany Establishes a Settlement on Present Site of Kansas City. — Incidents Connected with the New Settlement 40 CHAPTER VI. Effects of the Civil War on Kansas City.— The Outlook.— A Pros- perous Period. — TheGenesisof the Metropolis. — Summary. . 48 CHAPTER VII. The Situation in the Early 30's.— The First Ferry.— The Santa F6 and Indian Trade Tend to Kansas City 52 SeconD 2)ecaDe— 1880*1890» CHAPTER VIII. Regarding the Building of Cities. — Comparison of the Causes that Led to the Founding of Mediaeval and Modern Cities. — History of Modern Cities Largely the History of Transportation Facilities • • 57 CHAPTER IX. Population of Kansas City in 1880. — The Gould System of Rail- roads. — Fight between the Union Pacific and Kansas Pacific Roads. — Combined as One Road. — Building of the First Cua- tom-House and Post-Office 63 CHAPTER X. The Drought of 1881. — Did Not Prevent Continued Increase in Trade. — Great Wave of Prosperity during the Next Few Years 66 Table of Contents. CHAPTER XI. Page. Effects of the War.— The First Public Schools.— Other Educa- tional Interests and Institutions of this Decade 73 CHAPTER XII. Journalism in Kansas Chy from 1865 to 1890 79 CHAPTER XIII. An Unparalleled Railway System. — How It was Projected. — How It Developed. — How It has Influenced the Commercial Pros- perity of the City. — A Comparison 90 XLbiv^ Became— 1890*1900. CHAPTER XIV. The Genesis of the Metropolis. — Enormous Contiguous Territory. — Romance of the Waters. — Geographical Center of the Nation. — A Startling Contrast. — Population. — Railroads. — Sketch of the "Boom." — Reaction. — Story of the Parks. — Retrospect and Outlook 101 CHAPTER XV. The Story of Population. — Interesting Comparisions with Other Large Cities in Point of Increase and Size. ........ 114 CHAPTER XVI. Reasons for this Prosperity. —Volume of Wholesale Business. — Grain Elevators. — Building Permits. — Bank Deposits. — Clear- ings. — Kansas City Ranks Tenth in Volume of Business. . . 120 Table of Contents. CHAPTER XVII. Page. A Glance at the Stock- Yard and Packing-House Industries. ... 122 CHAPTER XVIII. Kansas City in the Present. — Retrospect. — Prospect 123 CHAPTER XIX. Ranks with the Best. — Kansas City is Greatest in Many Things and Great in All 129 INTRODUCTION. In the cradle of Time the city was often the empire, Baby- lon was Babylonia; Nineveh was Assyria; Athens was Greece; Rome was the world. Only for generic purposes of defense were ever founded the capitals of the early world. Since then — and especially in more modern times — the founding and growth of cities have depended more on their superior location, with reference to commercial distribution, than on their easy defense and impregnability. The history of a modern metrop- olis is essentially the history of its transportational facilities. Since the American Revolution, cities have ceased to owe their origin to the dictates of the State — especially so in America. And in the vast field west of the Alleghany Moun- tains the private individual has in nearly every instance sown the seed from which has sprung a multitude of cities unparalleled for their prosperity and rapid development. The world has never seen an empire as compact and solidly built as are these United States; and from their exact center radiate the thous- and channels of commerce that have fostered the growth of Kansas City. In writing this brief municipal history, an effort has been made to tell the story of Kansas City as completely and suc- cinctly as possible, without any indulgence in personalities, or dwelling too long on events only possessing a restricted and local interest. 8 Introduction. The illustrations, showing the progress of Kansas City in three decades, have been specially designed to show the prog- ress of pictorial art in America during the past thirty years. Those appearing in the first and second decades are reproduc- tions from former publications issued during the respective peri- ods. Before offering this chronicle to the public, a sincere and grateful acknowledgment must be made to those pioneer histo- rians whose labors have prevailed to rescue the early history of Kansas City from oblivion. jfirst Decabe. PRELIMINARY. 1870 - 1880. CHAPTER I. The Louisiana Purchase. — Its Vast Importance in the History of the United States. — The Purchase Price. — Details. — Common- wealth of Missouri. — Topography. The purchase of the vast territory west of the Mississippi, River, by the United States, extending through Oregon to the Pacific coast and south to the dominions of Mexico, consti- tutes the most important event that ever occured in the history of the nation. It gave to our Republic additional room for that expansion and stupendous growth to which it has since attained, in all that makes it strong and enduring, and forms the seat of an empire from which will radiate an influence for good unequaled in the annals of time. In 1763, one hundred and thirty-seven years ago, the immense region of country known at that time as Louisiana was ceded to Spain by France. By a secret article in the treaty of San I Idefonso, concluded in 1800, Spain ceded it back to France. Napoleon, at that time, coveted the island of San Domingo, not only because of the value of its products, but more especially because its location in the Gulf of Mexico would, in a military point of view, afford him a fine field whence he could the more effectively guard his newly acquired possessions. Hence he desired that this cession by Spain should be kept a profound secret until he succeeded in 12 Kansas City, Missouri. reducing San Domingo to submission. In this undertaking, however, his hopes were blasted, and so great was his disap- pointment, that he apparently became indifferent to the advan- tages to be derived to France from his purchase of Louisiana. In 1803 he sent out Laussat as prefect of the colony, who gave the people of Louisiana the first intimation they had had that they had once more become the subjects of France. This was an occasion of great rejoicing among the inhabitants, who were Frenchmen in their origin, habits, manners, and customs. President Jefferson on being informed of the retrocession, immediately dispatched instructions to the American minister at Paris to make known to Napoleon that the occupancy of New Orleans by his government would not only endanger the friendly relations existing between the two nations, but per- haps oblige the United States to make common cause with England, his bitterest and most dreaded enemy; as the posses- sion of the city by France would give her command of the Mississippi, which was the only outlet for the produce of the Western States, and give her also control of the Gulf of Mexico, so necessary to the protection of American commerce. The negotiations commenced. On the 30th of April, 1803, eight- een days afterward, the treaty was signed, and on the 21st of October of the same year Congress ratified the treaty. The United States was to pay $11,250,000, and her citizens to be compensated for some illegal captures, to the amount of $3,750,000, making an aggregate sum of $15,000,000. On December 20th, 1803, Generals Wilkinson and Clai- borne, who were jointly commissioned to take possession of the territory for the United States, arrived in the city of New < m o ?; m o > 2: O m 00 c g CD Kansas City, Missouri. 13 Orleans with the American forces. Laussat, who had taken command but twenty days previously as the prefect of the col- ony, gave up his command and the star-spangled banner sup- planted the tri-colored flag of France. The authority of the United States in Missouri dates from this day. From this moment the interests of the people of the Mis- sissippi valley became identified. They were troubled no more with the uncertainties of free navigation. The great river, along whose banks they had planted their towns and villages, now afforded them a safe and easy outlet to the markets of the world. Under the protecting aegis of a government republican in form, and having free access to an almost boundless domain, embracing in its broad area the diversified climates of the globe, and possessing a soil unsurpassed for fertility, beauty of scenery, and wealth of minerals, they had every incentive to push on their enterprises and build up the land wherein their lot had been cast. In the purchase of Louisiana it was known that a great empire had been secured as a heritage to the peo- ple of our country for all time to come; but its grandeur, its possibilities, its inexhaustible resources, and the important re- lations it would sustain to the nation and the world were never dreamed of by even Thomas Jefferson and his adroit and accomplished diplomatists. The most ardent imagination never conceived of the progress which would mark the h istory of the Great West. Year after year civilization has advanced farther and farther, until at length the mountains, the plains, the hills and the valleys, and even the rocks and the caverns, resound with the noise and din of busy millions. The popula- tion of the district of Louisiana when ceded to the United 14 Kansas City, Missouri. States was 10,120, or less than that of one of the wards in the present metropolis of Kansas City. The name Missouri is derived from the Indian tongue, and signifies muddy. Missouri is bounded on the north by Iowa (from which it is separated for about thirty miles on the northeast by the Des Moines River), and on the east by the Mississippi River, which divides it from Illinois, Kentucky, and Tennessee, and on the west by the Indian Territory and by the States of Kan- sas and Nebraska. The State lies (with the exception of a small projection between the St. Francis and the Mississippi rivers, which extends to 36°) between 36° 30' and 40° 36' north latitude, and between 12° 2' and 18° 51' west longitude from Washington, The extreme width of the State east and west is about 348 miles; its width on its northern boundary, measured from its northeast corner along the Iowa line to its intersection with the Des Moines River, is about 210 miles; its width on its southern boundary is about 288 miles. Its average width is about 235 miles, The length of the State north and south, not including the narrow strip between the St. Francis and Mississippi rivers, is about 282 miles. It is about 450 miles from its extreme northwest corner to its southeast corner, and from the north- east corner to the southwest corner it is about 230 miles. These limits embrace an area of 65,350 square miles, or 41.824,000 acres, being nearly as large as England, and the States of Vermont and New Hampshire. North of the Missouri the State is level or undulating, m O X > z H (/) > Kansas City, Missouri. 15 while the portion south of that river (the larger portion of the State) exhibits a greater variety of surface. In the south- eastern partis an extensive marsh, reaching beyond the State into Arkansas. The remainder of this portion between the Mississippi and Osage rivers is rolling and gradually rises into a hilly and mountainous district, forming the outskirts of the Ozark Mountains. Beyond the Osage River, at some distance, commences a vast expanse of prairie land, which stretches away toward the Rocky Mountains. The ridges forming the Ozark chain ex- tend in a northeast and southwest direction, separating the waters that flow northeast into the Missouri from those that flow southeast into the Mississippi River. No State in the Union enjoys better facilities for navi- gation than Missouri. By means of the Mississippi River, which stretches along her entire eastern boundary, she can hold commercial intercourse with the most northern Territory and State in the Union; with the whole valley of the Ohio, with many of the Atlantic States, and with the Gulf of Mexico. By the Missouri River she can extend her commerce to the Rocky Mountains, and receive in return the products which will come in the course of time, by its multitude of tributaries. The Missouri River coasts the northwest line of the State for about 250 miles, following its windings, and then flows through the State, a little south of east, to its junction with the Missis- sippi. The Missouri River receives a number of tributaries within the limits of the State, the principal of which are the Nodaway, Platte, Loutre,and Chariton from the north, and the Blue, Sniabar, Grand, Osage, and Gasconade from the south. \6 Kansas City, Missouri. The principal tributaries of the Mississippi within the State are the Salt River, north, and the Maramec River, south, of the Missouri. The St. Francis and White rivers, with their branches, drain the southeastern part of the State, and pass into Arkansas. The Osage is navigable for steamboats for more than 275 miles. There are a vast number of smaller streams, such as creeks, branches, and rivers, which water the State in all directions. Timber. — Not more towering in their sublimity were the cedars of ancient Lebanon, nor more precious in their utility were the almung- trees of Ophir, than the native forests of Missouri. The river bottoms are covered with a luxuriant growth of oak, ash, elm, hickory, cotton wood, linn, white and black walnut, and, in fact, all the varieties found in the Atlantic and Eastern States. In the more barren districts may be seen the white and pin oak, and in many places a dense growth of pine. The crab-apple, papaw, and persimmon are abundant, as also the hazel and pecan. Climate. — The climate of Missouri is, in general, pleasant and salubrious. Like that of North America, it is changeable, and subject to sudden and sometimes extreme changes of heat and cold; but it is decidedly milder, taking the whole year through, than that of the same latitudes east of the mountains. While the summers are not more oppressive than they are in the corresponding latitudes on and near the Atlantic coast, the winters are shorter, and very much milder, except during the month of February, which has many days of pleasant sunshine. Prairies. — Missouri is a prairie State, especially that por Kansas City, Missouri. 17 tion of it north and northwest of the Missouri River. These prairies, along the water-courses, abound with the thickest and most luxuriant belts of timber, while the "rolling" prairies occupy the higher portions of the country, the descent generally to the forests or bottom lands being over only declivities. Many of these prairies, however, exhibit a gracefully waving surface, swelling and sinking with an easy slope, and a full rounded outline, equally avoiding the unmeaning horizontal surface and the interruption of abrupt or angular elevations. These prairies often embrace extensive tracts of land, and in one or two instances they cover an area of fifty thousand acres. During the spring and summer they are carpeted with a velvet of green, and gayly bedecked with flowers of various forms and hues, making a most fascinating panorama of ever- changing color and loveliness. To fully appreciate their great beauty and magnitude, they must be seen. Soil. — The soil of Missouri is good, and of great agricult- ural capabilities, but the most fertile portions of the State are the river bottoms, which are a rich alluvium mixed in many cases with sand, the producing qualities of which are not ex- celled by the prolific valley of the famous Nile. South of the Missouri River there is a greater variety of soil, but much of it is fertile, and even in the mountains and mineral districts there are rich valleys, and about the sources of the White, Eleven Points, Current, and Big Black rivers the soil, though unproductive, furnishes a valuable growth of yellow pine. The marshy lands in the southeastern part of the State will, by a system of drainage, be one of the most fertile districts in the State. CHAPTER II. Title to Missouri Lands.— Right of Discovery.— Title of France and Spain. — Cession to the United States. — First Settlements. The title to the soil of Missouri was, of course, primarily vested in the original occupants who inhabited the country prior to its discovery by the whites. But the Indians, being savages, possessed but few rights that civilized nations considered them- selves bound to respect, so when they found this country in the posession of such a people, they claimed it in the name of the King of France, by the right of discovery. It remained under the jurisdiction of France until 1763. Prior to the year 1763, the entire continent of North America was divided between France, England, Spain, and Russia. France held all that portion that now constitutes our national domain west of the Mississippi River, except Texas and the territory which we have obtained from Mexico and Russia. The vast region, while under the jurisdiction of France, was known as the "Province of Louisiana," and em- braced the present State of Missouri. At the close of the "Old French War," in 1763, France gave up her share of the con- tinent, and Spain came into the possession of the territory west of the Mississippi River, while Great Britain retained Canada and the regions northward, having obtained that terri- tory by conquest, in the war with France. For thirty-seven o r- O O X o > o 3) C/J X o c C/) CD c z > p H -< ^ Kansas City, Missouri. 19 years the territory now embraced within the limits of Missouri remained as a part of the possessions of Spain, and then went back to France by the treaty of San Ildefonso, October 1, 1800. On the 30th of April, 1803, France ceded it to the United States, in consideration of receiving $1 1,250,000, and the liq- uidation of certain claims held by citizens of the United States against France, which amounted to the further sum of $3,750,000, making a total of $15,000,000. It will thus be seen that France has twice, and Spain once, held sovereignty over the territory embracing Missouri, but the financial needs of Napoleon afforded our Government an opportunity to add another empire to its domain. On the 31st of October, 1803, an act of Congress was approved, authorizing the President to take possession of the newly acquired territory, and provided for it a temporary gov- ernment; and another act, approved March 26th, 1804, author- ized the division of the "Louisiana Purchase," as it was then called, into two separate Territories. All that portion south of the 33d parallel of north latitude was called the "Territory of Orleans," and that north of the said parallel was known as the "District of Louisiana," and was placed under the jurisdiction of what was then known as "Indiana Territory." By virtue of an act of Congress, approved March 3, 1805, the "District of Louisiana" was organized as the "Territory of Louisiana," with a territorial government of its own, which went into operation July 4th of the same year, and it so re- mained till 1812. In this year the "Territory of Orleans" became the State of Louisiana, and the "Territory of Lou- isiana" was organized^^as the "Territory of Missouri." 20 Kansas City, Missouri. This change took place under an act of Congress, approved June 4, 1812. In 1819 a portion of this territory was or- ganized as "Arkansaw Territory," and in 1821 the State of Missouri was admitted, being a part of the former "Territory of Missouri." In 1836 the "Platte Purchase," then being a part of the Indian Territory, and now composing the counties of Atchison, Andrew, Buchanan, Holt, Nodaway, and Platte, was made by treaty with the Indians, and added to the State. It will be seen, then, that the soil of Missouri belonged: 1st. — To France with other territory. 2d. — In 1768, with other territory, it was ceded to Spain. 3d. — October 1, 1800, it was ceded with other territory from Spain, back to France. 4th, — April 30, 1803, it was ceded with other territory by France to the United States. 5th. — October 31, 1803, a temporary government was authorized by Congress for the newly acquired territory. 6th. — October 1, 1804, it was included in the "District of Louisiana," and placed under the territorial government of Indiana. 7th. — July 4, 1805, it was included as a part of the "Ter- ritory of Louisiana," then organized with a separate territorial government. 8th. — June 4, 1812, it was embraced in what ^ was then made the "Territory of Missouri." 9th. — August 10, 1821, it was admitted into the Union as a State. 10th. — In 1836 the "Platte Purchase" was made, adding more territory to the State. GENERAL OFFICES. KANSAS PACIFIC RAILWAY. Kansas City, Missouri. 21 The cession by France April 30, 1803, vested the title in the United States, subject to the claims of the Indians, which it was very justly the policy of the Government to recognize. Before the Government of the United States could vest clear title to the soil in the grantee, it was necessary to extinguish the Indian title by purchase. This was done accordingly by treaties made with the Indians, at different times. The name of the first white man who set foot on the ter- ritory now embraced in the State of Missouri is not known, nor is it known at what precise period the first settlements were made. It is, however, generally agreed that they were made at Ste. Genevieve and New Bourbon, tradition fixing the date of these settlements in the autumn of 1735. These towns were settled by the French from Kaskaskia and St. Philip in Illinois. St. Louis was founded by Pierre Laclede Lignest, on the 15th day of February, 1764. He was a native of France, and was one of the members of the company of Laclede Lig- nest, Antoine Maxant & Co., to whom a royal charter had been granted, confirming the privilege of an exclusive trade with the Indians of the Missouri as far north as St. Peter's River. While in search of a trading-post, he ascended the Mis- sissippi as far as the mouth of the Missouri, and finally returned to the present town-site of St. Louis. After the village had been laid off, he named it St. Louis, in honor of Louis XV. of France. The colony thrived rapidly by accessions from Kaskaskia and other towns on the east side of the Mississippi and its 22 Kansas City, MissouRi. trade was largely increased by many of the Indian tribes, who removed a portion of their peltry trade from the same towns to St. Louis. It was incorporated as a town on the 9th day of November, 1809, by the court of Common Pleas of the dis- trict of St. Louis; the town trustees being Auguste Chouteau, Edward Hempstead, Jean F. Cabann^, Wm. C. Carr.and Wm. Christy, and incorporated as a city December 9, 1822. The selection of the town-site on which St. Louis stands was highly judicious, the spot not only being healthful and having the advantages of water transportation unsurpassed, but surrounded by a beautiful region of country, rich in soil and mineral resources. St. Louis has grown to be the fifth city in popula- tion in the Union, and is to-day the great center of internal commerce of the Missouri, the Mississippi and their tributaries and with its railroad facilities, it is destined to be the greatest inland city of the American continent. The next settlement was made at Potosi, in Washington County, in 1765, by Francis Breton, who, while chasing a bear, discovered the mine near the present town of Potosi, where he afterward located. One of the most prominent pioneers who settled at Potosi was Moses Austin, of Virginia, who, in 1873, received by grant from the Spanish Government a league of land, now known as the "Austin Survey." The grant was made on con- dition that Mr. Austin would establish a lead mine at Potosi and work it. He built a palatial residence, for that day, on the brow of the hill in the little village, which was, for many years, known as "Durham Hall.' At this point the first shot-tower and sheet-lead manufactory were erected. Kansas City, Missouri. 23 Five years after the founding of St. Louis the first settle- ment made in Northern Missouri was made at or near St. Charles, in St. Charles County, in 1769. The name given to it, and which it retained till 1784, was LesPetites Cotes, signi- fying Little Hills. The town-site was located by Blanchette, a Frenchman surnamed Le Chasseur, who built the first fort in the town and established there a military post. Soon after the establishment of the military post at St. Charles, the old French village of Portage des Sioux was located on the Mississippi, just below the mouth of the Illinois River, and at about the same time a Kickapoo villiage was commenced at Clear Weather Lake. The present town-site of New Madrid, in New Madrid County, was settled in 1781, by French Canadians, it then being occupied by Delaware Indians. The place now known as Big River Mills, St. Fran- cois County, was settled in 1796; Andrew Baker, John Alley, Francis Starnater, and John Andrews, each locating claims. The following year a settlement was made in the same county, just below the present town of Farmington, by the Rev. Wm. Murphy, a Baptist minister from East Tennessee. In 1796 settlements were made in Perry County by emigrants from Kentucky and Pennsylvania; the latter locating in the rich bottom lands of Bois Brule, the former generally settling in the "Barrens," and along the waters of Saline Creek. Bird's Point, in Mississippi County, opposite Cairo, 111., was settled August 6, 1800, by John Johnson, by virtue of a a land-grant from the commandant under the Spanish Govern- ment. Norfolk and Charleston, in the same county, were set- tled respectively in 1800 and 1801. Warren County was 24 Kansas City, Missouri. settled in 1801. Loutre Island, below the present town of Herman, in the Missouri River, was settled by a few American families in 1807. This little company of pioneers suffered greatly from the floods, as well as from the incursions of thiev- ing and blood-thirsty Indians, and many incidents of a thrilling character could be related of trials and struggles, had we the time and space. In 1807, Nathan and Daniel Boone, sons of the great hunter and pioneer, in company with three others, went from St. Louis to "Boone's Lick," in Howard County, where they manufactured salt, and formed the nucleus of a small settlement. CdteSans Dessieu, now called Bakersville, on the Missouri River, in Callaway County, was settled by the French in 1801. This little town was considered at that time as the "Far West'* of the new world. During the War of 1812, at this place many hard-fought battles occurred between the whites and Indians, wherein woman's fortitude and courage greatly assisted in the defense of the settlement. In 1810, a colony of Kentuckians numbering one hundred and fifty families immigrated to Howard County, and settled in the Missouri River bottom, near the present town of Franklin. Such, in brief, is the history of someof the early settlements of Missouri, covering a period of more than half a century. These settlements were made on the water- courses; usually along the banks of the two great streams, whose navigation afforded them transportation for their marketable commodities and communication with the civilized portion of the country. They not only encountered the gloomy forests, settling as Kansas City, Missouri. 25 they did by the river's brink, but the hostile incursion of savage Indians, by whom they were for many years surrounded. The expedients of these brave men who first broke ground in the Territory, have been succeeded by the permanent and tasteful improvements of their descendants. Upon the spots where they toiled, dared, and died are seen the comfortable farm, the beautiful village, and thrifty city. Churches and school-houses greet the eye on every hand; railroads diverge in every direction, and, indeed, all the appliances of a higher civ- ilization, are profusely strewn over the smiling surface of the State. CHAPTER III. Application of Missouri to be Admitted into the Union. — Agitation of the Slavery Question. — "Missouri Compromise." — Missouri Admitted. With the application of the Territorial Legislature of Mis- souri for her admission into the Union commenced the real agitation of the slavery question in the United States. Not only was our National Legislature the theater of angry discussions, but everywhere throughout the length and breadth of the Republic the "Missouri Question" was the all-absorb- ing theme. The political skies threatened "In forked flashes, a commanding tempest," which was liable to burst upon the nation at any moment. Through such a crisis our country seemed destined to pass. The question as to the admission of Missouri was to be the beginning of this crisis, which distracted the public counsels of the nation for more than forty years afterward. Missouri asked to be admitted into the great family of States. "Lower Louisiana," her twin sister Territory, had knocked at the door of the Union eight years previously, and was admitted, as stipulated by Napoleon, to all the rights, privileges, and immunities of a State; and in accordance with the stipulations of the same treaty, Missouri now sought to be clothed with the same rights, privileges, and immunities. Kansas City, Missouri. 27 As what is known in the history of the United States as the "Missouri Compromise," of 1820, takes rank among the most prominent measures that had up to that day engaged the attention of our National Legislature, we shall enter somewhat into its details, being connected as they are with the annals of the State. February 15, 1819, after the House had resolved itself into a Committee of the Whole on the bill to authorize the ad- mission of Missouri into the Union, and after the question of her admission had been discussed for some time, Mr. Tall- madge, of New York, moved to amend the bill, by adding to it the following proviso: ''And Provided, That the further introduction of slavery or involuntary servitude be prohibited, except for the punishment of crime, wherof the party shall have been duly convicted, and that all children^born within the said State, after the admission thereof intolheJUnion, shall be free at the age of twenty-five years/' As might have been expected, this proviso precipitated the angry discussions which lasted for nearly three years, finally culminating in the Missouri Compromise. All phases of the slavery question were presented, not only in its moral and social aspects, but as a great constitutional question, affecting Missouri and the admission of future States. The proviso when submitted to a^vote, was adopted — 79 to 67, and so re- ported^to the House. Hon. John Scott, who was at that time a delegate from the Territory of Missouri, was not permitted to vote, but as such a delegate he had the privilege of participating in the debates 28 Kansas City, Missouri. which followed. On the 16th day of February the proviso was taken up and discussed. After several speeches had been made, among them one by Mr. Scott and one by the author of the proviso, Mr. Tallmadge, the amendment or proviso was divided into two parts, and voted upon. The first part of it, which included all to the word "convicted," was adopted — 87 to 76. The remaining part was then voted upon, and also adopted, by 82 to 78. By a vote of 97 to 56 the bill was ordered to be engrossed for a third reading. The Senate Committee, to whom the bill was referred, re- ported the same to the Senate on the 19th of February, when that body voted first upon a motion to strike out of the proviso all after the word "convicted," which was carried by a vote of 32 to 7. It then voted to strike out the first entire clause, which prevailed — 22 to 16, thereby defeating the proviso. The House declined to concur in the action of the Senate, and the bill was again returned to that body, which in turn re- fused to recede from its position. The bill was lost and Con- gress adjourned. This was most unfortunate for the country. The people, having already been wrought up to fever heat over the agitation of the question in the National Councils, now became intensely excited. The press added fuel to the flame, and the progress of events seemed rapidly tending to the downfall of our nationality. A long interval of nine months was to ensue before the meeting of Congress. That body indicated by its vote upon the "Missouri Question" that the two great sections of the country were politically divided upon the subject of slavery. The restrictive clause, which it was sought to impose upon Kansas City, Missouri. 29 Missouri as a condition of her admission, would in all prob- ability be one of the conditions of the admission of the Terri- tory of Arkansas. The public mind was in a state of great doubt and uncertainty up to the meeting of Congress, which took place on the 6th of December, 1819. The memorial of the Legislative Council and House of Representatives of the Missouri Territory praying for admission into the Union was presented to the Senate by Mr. Smith, of South Carolina. It was referred to the Judiciary Committee. Some three weeks having passed without any action there- on by the Senate, the bill was taken up and discussed by the House until the 19th of February, when the bill from the Senate for the admission of Maine was considered. The bill for the admission of Maine included the "Missouri Question," by an amendment which read as follows: "And be it further enacted, That in all that territory ceded by France to the United States, under the name of Louisiana, which lies north of thirty-six degrees and thirty minutes, north latitude (excepting such part thereof as is) included within the limits of the State, contemplated by this act, slavery and in- voluntary servitude, otherwise than in the punishment of crimes, whereof the party shall have been convicted, shall be and is hereby forever prohibited; Provided, always, That any person escaping into the same from whom labor or service is lawfully claimed, in any State or Territory of the United States, such fugitive may be lawfully reclaimed and conveyed to the person claiming his or her labor or service^ as aforesaid." The Senate adopted this amendment, which formed the 30 Kansas City, Missouri. basis of the "Missouri Compromise," modified afterward by striking out the words, ''excepting only such part thereof.'' The bill passed the Senate by a vote of 24 to 20. On the 2d day of March the House took up the bill and amendments for consideration, and by a vote of 134 to 42 concurred in the Senate amendment, and the bill, being passed by the two Houses, constituted Section 8 of "An Act to authorize the people of the Missouri Territory to form a Constitution and State Government, and for the admission of such State into the Union on an equal footing with the original States, and to prohibit slavery in certain territory." This act was approved March 6, 1820. Missouri then contained fifteen organized counties. By act of Congress the people of said State were authorized to hold an election on the first Monday, and two succeeding days thereafter in May, 1820, to select representatives to a State convention. This conven- tion met in St. Louis on the 12th of June, following the elec- tion in May, and concluded its labors on the 19th of July, 1820. David Barton was its president and Wm. G. Pettis its secretary. There were forty-one members of this convention, men of ability and statesmanship, as the admirable constitution which they framed amply testifies. On the 13th of November, 1820, Congress met again, and on the 6th of the same month Mr. Scott, the delegate from Missouri, presented to the House the constitution as framed by the convention. The same was referred to a select com- mittee, who made thereon a favorable report. The admission of the State, however, was resisted because it was claimed that its constitution sanctioned slavery, and o "D m 3D > X O c CO m m H CD JO O > ■< Kansas City, Missouri. 31 authorized the Legislature to pass laws preventing free negroes and mulattoes from settling in the State. The report of the committee to whom was referred the Constitution of Missouri was accompanied by a preamble and resolutions, offered by Mr. Lowndes, of South Carolina. The preamble and resolu- tions were stricken out. The application of the State for admission shared the same fate in the Senate. The question was referred to a select committee, who, on the 29th of November, reported in favor of admitting the State. The debate, which followed, contin- ued for two weeks, and finally Mr. Eaton, of Tennessee, offered an amendment to the resolution as follows: ''Provided, That nothing herein contained shall be so con- strued as to give the assent of Congress to any provision in the Constitution of Missouri, if any such there be, which contra- venes that clause in the Constitution of the United States which declares that the citizens of each State shall be entitled to all the privileges and immunities of citizens in the several States." The resolution, as amended, was adopted. The resolution and proviso were again taken up and discussed at great length, when the committee agreed to report the resolution to the House. The question on agreeing to the amendment, as reported from the Committee of the Whole, was lost in the House. A similar resolution afterward passed the Senate, but was again rejected in the House. Then it was that that great statesman and pure patriot, Henry Clay, of Kentucky, feeling that the hour had come when angry discussions should cease. 32 Kansas City, Missouri. "With grave -Aspect he rose, and in his rising seem'd A pillar of state; deep on his front engraven Deliberation sat and public care And princely counsel in his face yet shone Majestic," ***** proposed that the question of Missouri's admission be referred to a committee consisting of twenty-three persons (a number equal to the number of States then composing the Union), be appointed to act in conjunction with a committee of the Senate to consider and report whether Missouri should be admitted, etc. The motion prevailed; the committee was appointed and Mr. Clay made its chairman. The Senate selected seven of its members to act with the committee of twenty-three, and on the 26th of February the following report was made by that committee: "Resolved, by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled: That Missouri shall be admitted into the Union, on an equal footing with the original States, in all respects whatever, upon the fundamental condition that the fourth clause of the twenty- sixth section of the third article of the Constitution submitted on the part of said State to Congress shall never be construed to authorize the passage of any law, and that no law shall be passed in conformity thereto, by which any citizen of either of the States in this Union shall be excluded from the enjoyment of any of the privileges and immunities to which such citizen is entitled under the Constitution of the United States; Pro- uidea, That the Legislature of said State, by a Solemn Public Act, shall declare the assent of the said State to the said fund- Kansas City, Missouri. 33 amental condition and shall transmit to the President of the United States, on or before the fourth Monday in November next, an authentic copy of the said act; upon the receipt whereof, the President, by proclamation, shall announce the fact; whereupon, and without any further proceeding on the part of Congress, the admission of the said State into the Union shall be considered complete." This resolution, after a brief debate, was adopted in the House, and passed the Senate on the 28th of February, 1821. At a special session of the Legislature held in St. Charles in June following, a Solemn Public Act was adopted, giving its assent to the conditions of admission, as expressed in the res- olution of Mr. Clay. August 10, 1821, President Monroe an- nounced by proclamation the admission of Missouri into the Union to be complete. CHAPTER IV. Early Military Operations. — Mormon Difficulties in Jackson County. On the 14th day of May, 1832, a bloody engagement took place between the regular forces of the United States and a part of the Sacs, Foxes, and Winnebagoe Indians commanded by Black Hawk and Keokuk, near Dixon's Ferry in Illinois. The Governor (John Miller) of Missouri, fearing these sav- ages would invade the soil of his State, ordered Major-General Richard Gentry to raise one thousand volunteers for the defense of the frontier. Five companies were at once raised in Boone County, and in Callaway, Montgomery, St. Charles, Lincoln, Pike, Marion, Ralls, Clay, and Monroe other companies were raised. Two of these companies, commanded respectively by Cap- tain John Jaimison, of Callaway, and Captain David M. Hick- man, of Boone County, were mustered into service in July for thirty days, and put under command of Major Thomas W. Conyers. This detachment, accompanied by General Gentry, arrived at Fort Pike on the 15th of July, 1832. Finding that the Indians had not crossed the Mississippi into Missouri, General Gentry returned to Columbia, leaving the fort in charge of Major Conyers. Thirty days having expired, the command under Major Conyers was relieved by two other companies \ r.^^^.^^. ^'yif^■y:r.rl■.r^y:^.n■i^Jl:^:^i£:,SS?>^^ Kansas City, Missouri. 35 under Captains Sinclair Kirtley, of Boone, and Patrick Ewing, of Callaway. This detachment was marched to Fort Pike by Colonel Austin A, King, who conducted the two companies under Major Conyers home. Major Conyers was left in charge of the fort, where he remained till September following, at which time the Indian troubles, so far as Missouri was con- cerned, having all subsided, the frontier forces were mustered out of service. Black Hawk continued the war in Iowa and Illinois and was finally defeated and captured in 1833. In 1832, Joseph Smith, the leader of the Mormons, and the chosen prophet and apostle, as he claimed, of the Most High, came with many followers to Jackson County, Missouri, where they located and entered several thousand acres of land. The object of his coming so far west — upon the very out- skirts of civilization at that time —was to more securely establish his church, and the more effectively to instruct his followers in its peculiar tenets and practices. Upon the present town-site of Independence the Mormons located their "Zion," and gave it the name of "The New Jerusalem." They published here the Evening Star and made themselves generally obnoxious to the Gentiles, who were then in a minority, by their denunciatory articles through their paper, their clannishness, and their polygamous practices. Dreading the demoralizing influence of a paper which seemed to be inspired only with hatred and malice toward them, the Gentiles threw the press and type into the Missouri River, tarred and feathered one of their bishops, and otherwise gave the Mormons and their leaders to understand that they 36 Kansas City, Missouri. must conduct themselves in an entirely different manner if they wished to be let alone. After the destruction of their paper and press, they became furiously incensed, arid sought many opportunities for retalia- tion. Matters continued in an uncertain condition until the 31st of October, 1833, when a deadly conflict occurred near Westport, in which two Gentiles and one Mormon were killed. On the 2d of November following the Mormons were over- powered, and compelled to lay down their arms and agree to leave the county with their families by January 1st, on the condition that the owner would be paid for his printing press. Leaving Jackson County, they crossed the Missouri and located in Clay, Carroll, Caldwell, and other counties, and se- lected in Caldwell County a town-site, which they called "Far West," and where they entered more land for their future homes. Through the influence of their missionaries, who were ex- erting themselves in the East and in different portions of Europe, converts had constantly flocked to their standard, and Far West and other Mormon settlements rapidly prospered. In 1837 they commenced the erection of a magnificent temple, but never finished it. As their settlements increased in numbers they became bolder in their practices and deeds of lawlessness. During the summer of 1 838 two of their leaders settled in the town of De Witt, on the Missouri River, having purchased the land from an Illinois merchant. De Witt was in Carroll County, and a good point from which to forward goods and immigrants to their town — Far West. 73 m O m z o pi > o o C/5 H m Kansas City, Missouri. 37 Upon its being ascertained tliat these parties were Mormon leaders, the Gentiles called a public meeting, which was addressed by some of the prominent citizens of the county. Nothing however, was done at this meeting, but at a subse- quent meeting, which was held a few days afterward, a com- mittee of citizens was appointed to notify Col. H inkle (one of the Mormon leaders at De Witt) of what they intended to do. Col. Hinkle, upon being notified by this committee, became indignant, and threatened extermination to all who should attempt to molest him or the Saints. In anticipation of trouble, and believing that the Gentiles would attempt to force them from De Witt, Mormon recruits flocked to the town from every direction, and pitched their tents in and around the town in great numbers. The Gentiles, nothing daunted, planned an attack upon this encampment, to take place on the 21st of September, 1838, and, accordingly, one hundred and fifty men bivouacked near the town on that day. A conflict ensued, but nothing serious occurred. The Mormons evacuated their works and fled to some log houses, where they could the more successfully resist the Gentiles, who had in the meantime returned to their camp to await reinforcements. Troops from Howard, Ray, and other counties came to their assistance, and increased their number to five-hundred men. Congreve Jackson was chosen brigadier- general; Ebenezer Price, colonel; Singleton Vaughan, lieutenant-colonel; and Sarchel Woods, major. After some days of discipline, this brigade prepared for an assault, but before the attack was com- 38 Kansas City, Missouri. menced Judge James Earickscn and William F. Dunnica, influential citizens of Howard County, asked permission of General Jackson to let them try and adjust the difficulties without any bloodshed. It was finally agreed that Judge Earickson should propose to the Mormons that, if they would pay for all the cattle they had killed belonging to the citizens, and load their wagons dur- ing the night and be ready to move by ten o'clock next morn- ing, and make no further attempt to settle in Howard County, the citizens would purchase at first cost their lots in De Witt and one or two adjoining tracts of land. Col. Hinkle, the leader of the Mormons, at first refused all attempts to settle the difficulties in this way, but finally agreed to the proposition. In accordance therewith, the Mormons without further de- lay, loaded up their wagons for the town of Far West, in Cald- well County. Whether the terms of the agreement were ever carried out on the part of the citizens, is not known. The Mormons had doubtless suffered much and in many ways — the result of their own acts— but their trials and suffer- ings were not at an end. In 1838 the discord between the citizens and Mormons became so great that Governor Boggs issued a proclamation ordering Major-General David R. Atchison to call the militia of his division to enforce the laws. He called out a part of the 1st Brigade of the Missouri State Militia, under the com- mand of General A. W. Doniphan, who proceeded to the seat of war. General John B. Clark, of Howard County, was placed in command of the militia. Kansas City, Missouri. 39 The Mormon forces numbered about 1,000 men, and were led by G. W. H inkle. The first engagement occurred at Crooked River, where one Mormon was killed. The principal fight took place at Haughn's Mills, where eighteen Mormons were killed and the balance captured, some of them being killed after they had surrendered. Only one militiaman was wounded. In the month of October, 1838, Joe Smith surrendered the town of Far West to General Doniphan, agreeing to his con- ditions, viz.: that they should deliver up their arms, surrender their prominent leaders for trial, and the remainder of the Mormons should, with their families, leave the State. Indict- ments were found against a number of these leaders, including Joe Smith, who, while being taken to Boone County for trial, made his escape, and was afterward, in 1844, killed at Car- thage, Illinois, with his brother Hyrum. CHAPTER V. First White Man in Jackson County. — Rocky Mountain Fur Company Establishes a Settlement on Present Site of Kansas City. — Incidents Connected with the New Settlement. Probably the first white man to set foot on the present site of Kansas City was Col. Daniel M. Boone, a son of Daniel Boone. This was in 1787, and it is stated he spent twelve winters trapping beaver on the banks of the Blue. After the settlement of the country, he made a permanent residence on a farm near Westport, now a suburb of Kansas City, until his death in 1832. At an early date, probably as early as 1828, the Rocky Moun- tain Fur Company began to embark at the Kawsmouth settle- ment. Washington Irving, in "Astoria," gives an excellent ac- count of some of these early expeditions. While this exten- sive French-Indian and fur trade was being conducted, and while the Indian trade was being developed at Westport, Mo., another interest was being developed, which, in after years, gave the third recognition of the advantages of the angle in the Missouri River at Kansas City for an extensive distributive trade and contributed largely to its early development. This was the once great overland trade with Northern Mexico, pop- ularly known as the Santa F6 trade. This trade was for many years of great magnitude and importance and attracted much attention in all parts of the country. The arrival and depart- Kansas City, Missouri. 41 ure of the caravans were watched for with as much interest, and were as regularly and scrupulously chronicled by the press, as are the arrivals and departures of steamers at great com- mercial ports. The points that at first competed for this trade at this angle of the river were Blue Mills, Port Osage, and Independence, Missouri. Blue Mills, which was situated about six miles below Independence, soon became the favorite land- ing-point, and the exchange between wagons and boats settled there and defied all efforts to remove it. Independence, being the county seat, was the larger and more important place, and became the American headquarters of the trade and the out- fitting-point as early as 1832. However, Independence was not to be allowed to enjoy a monopoly of the trade for any great length of time. The Mex- ican traders, finding accommodations for themselves at West- port, so much nearer the prairies, where they could herd their teams while awaiting the arrival of their goods at Blue Mills, soon took advantage of that fact. The large numbers of them that stopped there, and the trade they naturally caused, added an additional element to the prosperity of Westport, and there began to be some outfitting done there, but in a smaller way than at Independence. Others followed their example, and then a tendency to make headquarters at Westport added the Santa Fe business to that of the Indian and fur trade already done at this place and Westport. It was this tendency more than anything else that suggested the idea of a town where Kansas City now stands. There were many different opinions about the prospects for the new town. Independence and Westport nick-named it 42 Kansas City, Missouri. Westport Landing in derision, and, owing to its non-develop- ment for so many years, it came to be generally known by this name. However, there were others who regarded it differently. Senator Thomas H. Benton, than whom none better knew the controlling facts of trade, while visiting Randolph, nearly oppo- site three miles below the city at this time, pointed to it and remarked that it was destined to become the greatest commer- cial center west of the Mississippi. The town grew. In 1860 it was the most prosperous and thriving city on the Western border. And ten years later it had a population of over 30,000. The steady march of years had gone almost round the cycle of the centennial since the Republic was founded. And amid the pride of the hour, the struggling little city realized a decade of its own not unmarked with the footsteps of the age, and not unnoticeable in its brilliant procession. The city had no euphonious name — no heroic age. Its Knights of the Round Table had long since been driven away to the plains and the mountains. Chivalrous crusader had never pranced his steed over these fertile lands. Here no sacred shrine ever attracted pilgrim's devotions. Ruin of ancient temple would not here reward antiquarian search, and the conqueror's column, em- blazoned with victories won, would here arise on no classic ground; yet there were veins of quaint history and odd humor mingled with the solid strata of early Western enterprise and thrift even here in the rude City of Kansas. Dropping back for a moment, away deep in the shades of 1832, a daring Frenchman escaping from the Canadas, with a few uoyageurs, floats down the current of the Mississippi, thrusts his bateau up the wilderness of the Missouri, swings into land at the Kansas City, Missouri. 43 mouth of the Kansas, and, mounting the bluff, sails his cap in air and shouts ''La libertie!" He had left his own dangerous name in a Canadian prison, and from that first hurrah from the Kansas City bluffs, his comrades gave him the name, seen so often in the earliest records of Western Missouri land- titles — " Lalibertie." Such was one of the first pioneers. Lalibertie afterward had a fair daughter, and with her hand the old man offered twenty acres of land. One Dennoyer, sought, won, and mar- ried, and forthwith demanded also her dower. At such hasty claim then rose high the blood of the old Gaul, and Dennoyer received his lady's dower in a long useless strip of land but ten rods wide. This land now comprises one hundred lots on South Broadway on which stand some of the finest residences of the city. The French fur traders were rude spirits, careless of life as of property. They bartered what are now business blocks of immense value in the same balance with their Indian wives and their coon-skins. One legend has come down from them which may serve as an illustration: Trembly and Lagottrie owned each a forty-acre tract in the bottom lands. They agreed to exchange one for the other, and the families actually removed into the cabin formerly occupied by the other respect- ively. Then came the execution of the deeds, but Madame Trombly refused to make her mark unless she received her present of a silk gown, according to the old custom of the bourgeoisie. The two tracts together did not equal the value of the silk, so the deeds were tossed away. One of these tracts is now covered by the Union Depot and a law-suit. 44 Kansas City, Missouri. The other has been swept away by the Missouri River as com- pletely as has been every vestige of the old French voyageurs. During and just prior to the Civil War, Kansas City was the scene of intense excitement. In fact, when it is considered that John Brown began his harrowing career on the Kansas border, it appears that this vicinity was the real cradle of the War of the Rebellion. At that time the old Gillis House on the levee was the leading hostelry in Kansas City, and many and exciting are the traditions connected with its history. An early settler, describing this historic tavern, pictures the sur- roundings of which it was the center in these few vivid words: "From my eight-by-ten front room on the second floor of the old Gillis House, it was interesting to watch the arrival and departure of steamers and to witness the antics of half-drunken Indians from over the Kaw, who, mounting their ponies, with unearthly yells would fly by my window reeling to and fro as though ready at any moment to fall to the ground. It was no unusual thing to see fifty or sixty armed Southerners arrive and to hear their cry, 'Death to all the d— d Yankees!' Daily mutterings of war and strife came to our ears, and our Yankee hotel was threatened with destruction. In consequence, we slept nightly with revolvers under our pillows and a Sharp's rifle close at hand." It was in this hotel that Andrew H. Reeder, Governor of Kansas, was hid at the time of his famous escape over the border in 1856. The details of his concealment and subsequent escape into Illinois have long remained a mystery. So critical have been the affairs of the*country, and party- feeling has run so high on the border until within the last few years, that pages of interesting history have necessarily remained FIRST NATIONAL BANK. FIFTH AND DELAWARE STS Kansas City, Missouri. 45 unwritten, for fear their exposure might endanger valuable lives. While the Congressional Committee was in session at Lawrence in the early part of May, 1856, Governor Reeder was summoned to appear as a witness before the court then in session at Lecompton. Believing this to be a mere ruse to get the Governor away from the Commission, as they knew him to be of invaluable service thereto, and also having fears for his personal safety, the Governor refused to go unless sufficient assurance were given that his life would be protected, and that, he should be at liberty to again return to the Committee. This, request they would not grant, whereupon the Governor declared in emphatic terms that "the first man who laid his hands upon, him did it at the peril of his life." A crowd had collected in the room in which the Committee was in session and where all this transpired; and some excitement was manifested. Finally the U. S. Marshal, who was one of a number sent for the Gov- ernor, with his aids left for Lecompton again, with their mission unaccomplished. In the meantime word had reached Law- rence of a contemplated invasion of the Territory by the Missourians, and that it was their fixed determination to kill Governor Reeder if they could get hold of him. After this affair occurred at Lawrence, Reeder, feeling his life to be in imminent danger, laid plans for an escape, his friends, of course, aiding him. For a day or two he was secreted in a cabin across the ravine from the main portion of the town, when he suddenly disappeared, his whereabouts remaining a mystery to all except a few of his accomplices until he "turned up" at Chicago about the last of May. For the space of two 46 Kansas City, Missouri. or three weeks his history was involved in total darkness. It was an oft-repeated query, "Where is Reeder?" The Free State party reported that he had made his escape through Iowa. Some surmised that he had gone down the river disguised as a woman, others that he crossed Missouri on horseback, and the most ridiculous of all stories was that he had been sent down the river in a coffin. All agreed that he had gone to parts un- known, while in reality he lay concealed in the very midst of those who so eagerly sought his life in the land of border ruffianism, and that, too, in a house daily threatened with destruction by a lawless band. Arrangements had been made to have the Governor reach Kansas City in the night season and there remain secreted until his escape could be safely effected. On the 10th of May word was circulated that Gov- ernor Reeder was to be brought to Kansas City that night under protection of some of his friends, all well arm ad. On Monday morning about four o'clock the sound of carriage wheels was heard in the street. This was the Lawrence coach, and con- tained Governor Reeder. His friends met him in the hotel, and he was secreted in a remote apartment. Now commenced 'days of fearful anxiety. How could his presence be best con- cealed? How contrive to get him away in safety? etc., were questions of the gravest importance. The first room in which he was placed was found to be unsafe, as the room opposite was occupied by those who were his enemies. Several days passed before a successful means of escape was planned for the prisoner. Disguised as an Irish "Paddy," with pipe in mouth, ,and assuming an air of perfect independence, he sallied forth ifrom his place of concealment. Reaching the river success- m S5 o m z o m O -n p 2: > O z z (/) H m Kansas City, Missouri. 47 fully, under cover of darkness, a skiff was procured and the Governor with a friend drifted down the Missouri. Eventually they were picked up by a passing steamer, and, after several narrow escapes from detection, the fugitive Governor reached Chicago and safety. Such in brief have been some of the scenes once native to this present Western metropolis, and they are not entirely without a tinge of rude romance. Hers, however, is, after all, not a history only as embodied in that of the great State at whose eastern gate she stands. Through her streets have passed and vanished the white tilts of ten thousand emigrant wagons rolling on to the prairie slopes and fertile glades of Kansas. With Kansas City the pioneers of Kansas have firmly met the hardships of frontier life and have bravely en- countered no ordinary obstacles. Their success has been her prosperity. Experience with both has established skill. Im- aginary political lines have not and never can for an instant stay the laws of trade; and when labor shall have established in Kansas an endurance of dominion over drought and storm and insect, there will be a harvest of abundance to be enjoyed by both with no vestige of antagonism. CHAPTER VI. Effects of the Civil War on Kansas City. — The Outlook. — A Prosperous Period. — The Genesis of the Metropolis. — Summary. There were trial days when the war bore darkly on the young city. The results of early enterprise were diverted to other channels. But the dead past had buried its dead, and the future held a splendid promise. Perhaps no other acqui- sition contributed so greatly to the growth of Kansas City as the building of the great railroad and tram bridge over the Missouri River. The year 1867 was the crisis. The cities of St. Joseph and Leavenworth had grown strong through the patronage of the Government during the war, while Kansas City had been surrounded by hostile forces and its trade utterly cut off and destroyed. It had been determined by Eastern capitalists to construct over the river a thorough- fare for concentrating roads. The undertaking was then re- garded by many able engineers to be purely chimerical. Vari- ous points had been canvassed, and the Board of Directors at Boston had actually voted that the attempt should be made at Leavenworth, when a dispatch reached them- from the city in Missouri, asking that its delegation be heard. They waited, and the resolution was changed. The stupendous work began and, after three years of experiment and labor, the structure Kansas City, Missouri. 49 was successfully completed. The result was instantaneously followed by the gathering of the present extensive system of railroads. Kansas City at once became the money center of this region, the depot of its merchandise, and the headquarters of the cattle trade. And in 1876 this most important conven- ience was the direct means of changing the terminus of one of the most valuable Western railroads from a neighboring city to the mouth of the Kaw. The accomplishment of this meas- ure was due to the decisive, intelligent action of a few well- known business men, aided and abetted by the united assist- ance of the entire populace. In the struggling years of the 70's, the great progress of Kansas City existed largely in anticipation. It was upon a trade yet to come that was based the price of real estate. Upon projected railroads it was presumed that commerce would be extended. Packing-houses unbuilt were to handle cattle still roaming the ranches of Texas. Unturned prairie sod was to laugh out the harvests to fill the elevators whose timbers were yet growing in the forests of Wisconsin. Its warehouses still rested in the clay of ragged bluffs, and the sand still lay on the bars of the Missouri. It remained for the years of the panic, the drouth, and the grass- hopper to witness the realization of more than the boldest had ever hoped. In the early days of those terrible years it oc- curred to no one that within three seasons the city would gain two important transcontinental roads from the demand for greater facilities in transportation. Within the same period came that demand which necessitated the quadrupling of the Stock Yards and the erec- tion of a Stock Exchange. That building now completed, with 50 Kansas CiTi*, Missouri. all the modern conveniences, quite equal to the empty stock palace built by the Vanderbilts at East St. Louis, signalized the location of headquarters of the great Southwestern cattle trade in Kansas City. Commission merchants were wont, in scattering offices, to carry on a desultory trade, without organ- ization or combination; but it at once became clear that it was no longer possible to meet the demands of traffic, pressing in volume, without metropolitan facilities; and in 1876 the first Stock Exchange was erected by a Board of Trade, fully organ- ized and equipped — a body of business men with no irons to heat and no horns to blow, but simply driven together by the magnitude of a trade, to handle which they were compelled to organize for mutual counsel and suggestion. There are several points upon which little stress is ordina- rily laid that are very important in indicating the permanence of municipal growth. In 1875 and as late as 1880 the business men of Kansas City were borrowers and rates of interest were ludicrously high, twenty per cent being the average. This condition was soon altered, and money at normal rates of interest has ever since been at the disposal of the Kansas City merchant. With the change in this regard were two others quite as important, and naturally following in its wake. For several years after the war, people dwelt in boarding-houses and about the "sky parlors'' of business houses, as rents were inordinately high. Little rickety residences of three rooms, along the side of some unfenced declivity, readily fetched thirty and forty dollars a month, and the owner regarded him- self imposed upon if his tenant wanted glass put in, plastering repaired, or the cistern mended; while a tenant house with JO m 00 o m z o m P3 O o 50 m > C/) C/5 H m m Kansas City, Missouri. 51 furnace, water, barn, inside blinds, and a sodded yard only made its appearance with sidewalks, macadam, and the street railway. Speculation in vacant lots ceased at the same time, while homes grew plentier and more cozy. Every year that croaking creature, the oldest citizen, found it more difficult to point out his landmarks. They were becoming one after another veneered over by the encroachments of municipal growth, although several years were to pass before Kansas City was to take her place among the great cities of the nation. She was to stand for the present in the practical garb of labor, with hands stained by enterprising toil. She could have no place in art until the rough block, just taken from the quarry, was hewn into shape by the workman; and should that block mean- while take its place in the walls of the manufactory or the market, it would none the less have its value in the creation of modern power. The music of the city was to be, through a succession of seasons, the grind of the heavy wheel and the singing of busy workshops. Her sole art was to be in gather- ing hardy clans from a soil less generous to the tiller, and from places of toil where the right of promotion was denied. CHAPTER VII. The Situation in the Early 30's.— The First Ferry.— The Santa F€ and Indian Trade Tend to Kansas City. At the time to which each of the preceding chapters brought this record, to 1838, the entire country west of the Missouri River and the State line of Missouri and Arkansas was in the possession of the Indians. The tribes on these borders were all in receipt of large annuities from the Govern ment, which gave rise to a rich and profitable trade with them. There was in existence a trade of about equal volume between this western border and southern Mexico, crossing the inter- vening Indian country, and there was still in existence a large volume of the old French, Indian, and fur trade. These three elements of trade gathered at this angle of the river as at a focus, for the reason already stated, that this was the nearest point toward the scene of each of them that could be reached by water transportation. To stop lower down the river, or advance higher, were alike detrimental. At that time Missouri was still quite a sparsely settled State. The western half of it had been settled in part for not exceeding twenty years, and the tide of immigration into it, though considered large in those times, was trifling when com- pared with the immense movements of population since wit- nessed into other States. What is called the "Platte Pur- > CO > o JO o H X m o PI 7\ Kansas City, Missouri. 103 has become one of miles of great commercial and manufact- uring establishments, of blocks and streets of homes, of moving cars and the hurrying forms of 250,000 souls. The fulfillment of the prophecy has begun, but has not yet ended. Kansas City owes its existence to the union of two streams. What happened was this: The Missouri River came down from the north and the Kansas River came in from the west and the two united — married, as it were — and, taking the name of the stronger of the two, went away to the eastward through Missouri to the Mississippi. At the point where this wedding of the waters took place there was and is a break in the big hills, almost mountains, which form the west bank of the larger river. Through this break in the hills came the Kansas (by early French settlers called the "Kaw"), bringing the runaway waters from near the foot of the great Rocky range, seven hun- dred miles to the west. The Missouri must certainly have been in love with and in search of the Kansas, for it made a bold detour from its easterly course in the far Northwest and came hundreds of miles south to meet the Kansas before re- suming its journey east. The point where this wedding took place was undoubtedly intended by the Master of Rivers to be the exact geographical center of the United States — and therefore of the universe. The plan failed of execution just a little, the centeral spot falling somewhat more than a hundred miles westward in Kansas, near Junction City. Perhaps this was caused by the greed of the United States in settling its northwest boundary dispute with England; but whether so or not, the place where the rivers came together was deprived of the glory of being the exact 104 Kansas City, Missouri. center. So far as the distribution of big American cities is concerned, however, the place presisted in the original intention and held the very center. The next thing that happened was this: Another stream began to flow— a stream of humanity — and it flowed against the current of the river, from east to west. There had been humanity in this region since God knows when, but it was copper-colored. The incoming stream was white, and it began to come about the year 1750. For a long time it was a very little stream — now trickling along timidly, now disappearing altogether under the hot breath of savage warfare and the ab- sorbing difficulties of the wilderness. In about 1819 the first of a long line of river turtles, dignified by the name of steam- boats, began to ply on the Missouri west of the Mississippi. These turtles, now nearly as scarce as they were in the be- ginning, grew in numbers and size, and after a few years, were carrying thousands of people and a vast tonnage of freight far northward beyond the mouth of the Kansas. The people who came on the backs of these turtles were of every white tribe under the sun. They came to fight the red men and to Christianize them. They came for gold and for glory. They came for homes and for adventure. They came to make some men free and others slaves. They came to establish justice and to defeat or escape it. They came for all the reasons that ever conspired to make men push their way into an unknown and hostile country. In the years between 1820 and 1840, settlements were made at various points not far from the mouth of the Kansas. and Kansas City was born. First it was a miserable little •Kansas City, Missouri. 105 patch of a landing on the yellow banks of the river, originally called Westport Landing, the considerable town of Westport being four miles south from the river. This first landing was scarcely more than a snag in the river. But the snag stuck fast and steadily received contributions from the passing cur- rent, and in the years between 1840 and 1850 the town became so firmly established that its people no longer feared its dis- appearance with the next high water. In another ten years, 1850 to 1860, it gained rapidly, reaching the dignity of a news- paper, its first daily being the Journal founded in 1854. The name "Kansas City" suggests that the city is in Kan- sas instead of in Missouri. There is now a Kansas City in each State. On the Kansas side of the line the original town, was Wyandotte. A cluster of other villages grew up near Wyandotte and a few years ago these towns were consolidated and took the designation of Kansas City so as to share the good name of her big sister across the line. So there are now two cities named Kansas City — one in Kansas and one ia Missouri — and where one leaves off and the other begins no man can tell until he has been told. The Kansas town claims 50,000 people and the Missouri town 250,000 people, the whole population in the immediate locality being at least 300,000. This is as large as Chicago or St. Louis twenty-five or thirty years ago, and is nearly half as large as St. Louis is now. The early days of Kansas City were unpromising indeed. The rivers gave little help and the hills seemed insuperable. Flat country was preferred. Horses, mules, and oxen could do more on level land, and the wishes of the locomotive had not yet come to be considered. The great search for good 106 Kansas City, Missouri. grades for the use of the iron horse had not yet begun in the West, and the most sanguine early settler never expected to see Kansas City what it now is, the second city of the Union in its importance as a railway center. As late as the year 1880, when Jay Gould was making Kansas City the center of his railroad operations, the city was a sight to make granite eyes shed tears. The old-fashioned Missouri hog, fitter for the race-track than for the pork-barrel, and not yet having the fear of the packing-house before his eyes, patrolled the streets and disputed the king's highway with the king and all his subjects. At night, when the hogs were off duty, a billion frogs in the green ponds at the bottom of the choicest unoccupied city lots told their troubles to the stars and saluted the rising sun with croaks of despair. In wet weather the town-site was a sea of mud and in dry weather a desert of dust. There was no paving, and the drainage was poor. A miserable breed of street cars, drawn by dissolute mules over a drunken track, furnished the only means of street transportation by rail. The water supply made whisky-drinking a virtue and the gas was not of much better use than to be blown out. The population of the city included as fins a collection of the ruffian brotherhood and sisterhood of the wild West as could well be imagined. Renegade Indians, demoralized soldiers, unre- formed bushwhackers, and border ruffians, thieves, and thugs imported from anywhere, professional train-robbers of home growth, and all kinds of wrecks of the Civil War, gave the town something picturesquely harder to overcome than the hills and gulches of its topography. In short, there seemed not a single pleasing prospect except the towering ambition, indomitable SCARRITT POINT. Kansas City, Missouri. 107 determination, and volcanic energy of the good people of the place. These were destined to triumph. The work of securing railroads had begun in earnest in 1860. Bonds were voted to aid in securing a line to connect with the Hannibal & St. Joseph road, and part of the work was done in 1861. This line, now part of the Burlington system, and the Pacific of Missouri, now part of the Missouri Pacific, were completed soon following the war. The lines now known as the Kansas City, St. Joseph & Council Bluffs, the Hannibal & St. Joseph, the Wabash, and the Missouri Pacific, were the first lines to come into Kansas City and scatter consternation among the steamboat men on the river. It was a new idea, and one difficult of comprehension by the river men, that Nature's highway, the river, would not be able to compete suc- cessfully with the railroads. The line connecting with the Hannibal & St. Joseph road at Cameron had begun life bur- dened with the name, the "Kansas City, Galveston 8l Lake Superior Railroad," but after reforming this title, it constructed from Cameron to Kansas City, or rather to the river bank north of Kansas City, November 30,1867; and by July 3. 1869, it had completed the bridge now known as the Hannibal Bridge. When Kansas City, by securing the Hannibal Bridge, brought to itself the great railways of the West, it opened the way for all that has followed. Business came to the city be- cause the city had made itself a business center. The business brought men to do the work. These men made a demand for homes and clothing and food and amusement and conveniences, and yet other men came to supply these. These in turn made new demands, and factories were established to supply them. 108 Kansas City, Missouri. James F. Joy and his associates who built the bridge originally intended to locate it at Leavenworth, but the hostility of Leavenworth people drove them to Kansas City; had it not been for this, Leavenworth would have secured the bridge and kept her lead of Kansas City. This may have been true so far as concerned the immediate time, but the matter of grades would eventually have given Kansas City the same ad- vantage she now enjoys. At the present writing, through trains leave Kansas City daily over thirty-seven different routes on the lines of fifteen different companies. Besides this, the city has two belt rail- way systems and a remarkable system of street railways, in- cluding several miles of elevated track. The Union Station of the city is not what would be expected of a town so important to so many great systems. The city fondly hopes to eclipse St. Louis in this respect some day, and the traveling public joins in the hope. The railway companies with lines reaching Kansas City are the following: Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe; Chicago & Alton; Missouri Pacific; Wabash; Kansas City Southern; Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul; Chicago, Burlington & Quincy; Chicago Great Western; Kansas City, Ft. Scott & Memphis; Missouri, Kansas & Texas; Kansas City & Northern Connecting; Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific; St. Louis & San Francisco; St. Joseph & Grand Island; and Union Pacific. This enumeration takes no account of the trolley lines extend- ing in various directions to neighboring towns. Other railway lines are confidently expected in the near future. THE NEW YORK LIFE BUILDING. Kansas City, Missouri. 109 In about the year 1875 began what is known in Kansas City's history as the "boom." For ten years or more it was difficult to make any real-estate investment in the city that did not yield a profit — or offer to yield one. It is doubtful if any such carnival of real-estate speculation ever occurred any- where else in this country. The platted land about the city extended out and out until, if the lots had been well occupied, the city would have been almost as large as London. Prices went up and up. Every profit made the speculators bolder and this boldness stiffened prices. Year after year this reciprocal stimulation of the real-estate market was kept up and the ul- timate victims multiplied accordingly. The end came and values fell with a crash. Scarcely a man escaped. Banks broke and thousands who had thought themselves rich were proved to be bankrupt or permanently crippled. The awaken- ing was a frightful one and for a long time no place in the country presented a more melancholy aspect. Disappointment, chagrin, and despair were written on the faces of so many that no observer could avoid a most profound feeling of sadness. But the bad dream passed and courage returned to those who survived the wreck, and at this time little remains to tell the tale of the great debauch except an unusual proportion of va- cant lots in the business part of the city. In the long run this may be a good thing, as it will likely influence the erection of ampler buildings with larger ground space and not so much invasion of the upper air. It cannot be denied that Kansas City's prosperity rests on things material and unpoetic. Many other cities are more happily situated in this respect. Washington feeds on the 110 Kansas City, Missouri. manna of Government disbursements; New York grows great and hourly greater on the voluntary support of a worshipful nation, whose people rush there to spend their money as soon as they get enough to make the trip. Paris, the world's pet, re- news her youth on the angel food provided by tourists of all nations. But Kansas City has had and has to "work for a living." Her dependence is on the sweat of her brow. She is surrounded by an ocean of fat land studded with mines and garnished with forests— both of fabulous extent and value. From the wheat-laden plains of the far North to the cotton- covered leagues of the South, there is scarcely an acre that is not fruitful beyond any like area elsewhere in the world. All the people of the earth could be fed from the land within a circle of a thousand- mile radius around Kansas City. Not only could they be fed, but all their other necessities could be supplied. Iron, oil, lumber, gold, silver, coal, salt — everything which men must use, or may well use, comes out of this magic circle of which Kansas City is the center. Thus it is not strange that we see wonderful figures made by Kansas City's business institutions. Last year (1899) in her packing- houses 2,646,073 swine ran down a steep place into hot water. Nearly a million head of cattle rendered unto the packers the things that are the packers'. The Stock Yards handled over 6,000,000 head of hve stock, worth $121,706,632. Three hundred and fifty thousand barrels of flour were turned out of her millls. The horse and mule merchants handled 31,677 horses and mules. She received bushels of grain as follows: wheat, 20,341,100; corn, 8,682,750; oats, 2,388,000; rye, 183,300; barley, 17,600. Kansas City sells more agricul- Kansas City, Missouri. 1 1 1 tural implements than any other town; she has the largest horse and mule stables in the world and the largest live-stock market in the Union except Chicago. She is second to Chicago only as a railroad center. Last year her bank clearings were $648,270,71 1, and on December 2d of last year her bank de- posits were $49,018,130. Her wholesale business amounted to $225,000,000. The unexampled roughness of the early Kansas City has been noted. The day of decoration in time arrived. Streets were well paved. Unsightly bluffs were dumped into hideous gulches. Palaces were built. Engineers and gardeners scat- tered gentle slopes and pleasing curves in liberal profusion. Trees and flowers gladden the eye, and blue-grass carpeted the hills. Then the park idea took possession of the people, and a park system really entitled to be called magnificent was brought into existence. Nearly two thousand acres of well- chosen and well-distributed park land is justly the pride of the people. The roughest part of the area is the steep bluff -side which overlooks the Union Station. It is now covered with squatters' cabins and is as unlovely as neglect and disfiguration can make it. Soon it will blossom as the rose, and furnish a sweet retreat from the dust and heat of the great yards below. A part of the park system will overlook the Kansas Valley, a part the Missouri Valley, and other parts will be in the middle and on the circumference of the city. From the beautiful Country Club on the south to the stately bluffs overlooking the Missouri Valley on the north, there will be a chain of charming parks and boulevards. 112 Kansas City, Missouri. The schools of Kansas City are likewise her pride and joy. In 1899 their running expenses amounted to $525,971.03. The buildings are for the most part modern, and the methods of instruction are modeled after the standard systems of the educational world. Her High School and her Manual Training School prepare pupils for direct admission to the State Univer- sities of Missouri and Kansas. The hospitals of Kansas City are generous in capacity and are conducted admirably. The leading newspapers are the Journal and the Times, morning papers, and the Star and the World, evening papers. The Journal is Republican in politics, the Times Democratic, and the evening papers are independent. No city in the Union has enjoyed a higher class of daily newspapers from a very early day than Kansas City. To their persistent public energy is largely due the creation of the park system, the building and the rebuilding of Convention Hall, the fine city library, and a hundred other public improvements. The .theaters and hotels are in advance of those of any other city of like size in the country, and those best informed had no fear of failure in the entertainment of the great company that assembled in July, 1900, for the nomination of Democratic candidates for President and Vice-President of the United States. The great hall in which the Democratic National Convention -was held has just been reconstructed. It was originally built less than two years ago by popular subscription, and was de- : stroyed by fire in April, 1900. Before the fire had been sub- %.dued a new subscription was started, and the whole structure has been built anew. It will hold 22,500 people, and is said Kansas City, Missouri. 1 13 by critics to be the most perfect building of its kind in the United States — if not in the world. The new building has been made almost fire-proof. What is to be the future of Kansas City? The answer is not to be read in the stars, but in the broad acres of the empire surrounding her. If fertility of soil and healthfulness of climate mean multiplication of people, and if multiplication of people means a great central city, then Kansas City — both Kansas Cities — cannot help growing to a size and an importance which will make their present attainments seem insignificant. The whole West believes this is to happen. CHAPTER XV. The Story of Population. — Interesting Comparisons with Other Large Cities in Point of Increase and Size. It has been noted that the "boom" was, in the end, scarcely more an attraction than a detraction to the real welfare and prosperity of Kansas City. The work of rehabilitation was rapid and complete, and to-day, in 1900, hardly a scar remains over even the deepest part of the wound. The growth of the city during the last years of the century has been unparalleled in municipal history. The story is best told by the population record. From the three hundred, all told, of 1849, there has been a wonderful increase to nearly that many thousand. The record is: Population, Population, Kansas City, Kansas City, Missouri. Kansas. 1849 300 1860 4,418 1865 3,500 1,100 1870 32,263 2,940 1880 55,785 6,149 ^ 1885 124,474 12,500 ^ 1 1890 132,416 38,170 \1895 165,000 42,000 y899 214,000 55,000 The almost universal interest and pride envinced in the mere numercial expansion of our leading centers of population were emphasized by the eagerness with which the bulletins of the twelfth census relating to the chief cities were watched for Kansas City, Missouri. 1 15 by the public. This pride in the growth of towns, however, is not confined to the universal Yankee nation, but is a singular manifestation among intelligent people of all civilized nations. With us a natural outgrowth of this ambition to "outsize" the other town, which engenders bitter rivalries, is the tendency to constantly exaggerate the population figures in "off years" be- tween the census-taking dates, punished by the consequent chagrin which in nearly all cases follows the publication of the actual figures as fixed by the official authority. There have been some disappointments in 1 900, but on the whole the returns are about what might have been expected, and the showing of most of the towns is a fair one. The Census Bureau has issued bulletins showing the ag- gregate population of nearly all the towns having 100,000 people and upwards, and for all the largest cities. Here is the list up to date, in the order of population, with the figures for the two preceding enumerations, added for purposes of comparison and analyzation : Twelfth Eleventh Tenth Census, Census, Census, City. 1900. 1890. 1880. Greater New York 3,437,202 2,506,591 1,918,794 New York proper 1,850,093 1,515,301 1,206,299 Chicago 1,698,575 1,099,850 503,185 Philadelphia 1,293,697 1,046,964 847,170 Brooklyn 1 , 166,582 806,343 566,663 St. Louis 575,238 451,770 350,518 Boston 560,892 448,477 362,839 Baltimore 508,957 434,439 332,313 Cleveland 381,768 261,353 160,146 Buffalo 352,219 255,664 155,134 San Francisco 342,782 298,997 233.559 Cincinnati 325,902 296,908 255,139 116 Kansas City, Missouri. Twelfth Eleventh Tenth Census, Census, Census, City. 1900. 1890. 1880. Pittsburg 321,616 238,617 156.589 New Orleans 287,104 242,039 216,090 Milwaukee 285,315 204,468 115,587 Washington 278,718 230,392 177,624 Newark 246,070 181,830 136,508 Jersey City 206,433 163,003 120,722 Louisville 204,731 161,129 123,758 Minneapolis 202,718 164,738 46,887 Providence 175,597 132.146 104,857 Indianapolis. 169,164 105,436 75,056 Kansas City 163,752 132,716 55,785 •>N. St. Paul 163,632 133,156 41,473 ^^ Rochester 162,435 133,896 89,366 Denver 133,859 106,713 35,629 Toledo 131,822 81,434 50,137 Allegheny City 129,896 105,287 78,682 Columbus 125,560 88,150 51,647 Paterson 105,171 78,347 51,031 Omaha 102,555 140,452 30,518 Some of these cities would make a still better comparative showing in aggregate population but for their misfortune of be- ing divided into two or more municipalities by geographical lines. This is particularly the case with the Greater New York, although that evil has already been partially cured by taking in Brooklyn, etc. Minneapolis and St. Paul are practically one city, despite their differential names. So are Pittsburg and Allegheny, St. Louis and East St. Louis, Kansas City, Mo., and Kansas City, Kas., Omaha and Council Bluffs. New Oreleans should be credited with a considerable population on the west bank of the Mississippi River. Doubtless there are others which suffer from this fault even more than some of those named. If Kansas City, Missouri. 117 several such municipalities were consolidated under one name, here would be the approximate result : Greater New York 4,002,202 Boston, Cambridge, Chelsea.etc 800,000 St. Louis, East St. Louis 625,000 Pittsburg, Allegheny City 481 ,512 Cincinnati, Covington, Newport 410,000 Minneapolis, St. Paul 366,350 Louisville, Jeffersonville 225,000 Kansas City, Mo., Kansas City, Kas 214,000 The consolidation of the returns in this manner is perfectly legitimate to the essential purpose of the census in this regard, which is to show where the great centers of population are. Kansas City, Mo., is separated from Kansas City, Kas., with 5 1 ,4 1 8 people , by an i maginary ' ' State line . ' ' The intervention of the Hudson sets off 565 ,000 people from Greater New York. There is no sort of doubt that the consolidation of Brooklyn and the other adjoining cities with New York proper had a material and moral effect abroad, favorable not only to New York itself, but to the whole country. It is now known to foreigners that the United States contains the second city of the world in pop- ulation, soon to be the first, and perhaps the greatest center of commerce and wealth in the whole world. Students of the subject, given much to speculate upon the movements of urban and suburban populations, will be particu- larly interested in the gross increase of these various cities as shown by the last three censuses. The following tabulation shows gains in their order by the new census, and also those of the two preceding censuses, from the official compendium: 118 Kansas City, Missouri. Increase Increase Increase Cities. 1890-1900. 1880-90. 1870-80. Greater New York 930,201 587,797 439,749 Chicago 598,725 596,665 204,208 Brooklyn 360,239 239,680 170,564 New York proper 334,792 309,002 264,007 Philadelphia 246,733 199,794 173,148 St. Louis 123,468 101,252 39,604 Cleveland . . . 120,415 101 ,207 38,900 Boston 112,415 85,638 112,313 Buffalo 96,555 100,530 37.420 Pittsburg 82,999 82,228 70,313 Milwaukee 80,847 88,881 44,147 Baltimore 74,518 102, 136 64,959 Newark 64,240 46,322 31,449 Indianapolis 63,728 30,380 26,812 Toledo 50,388 31,297 18,553 Washington 48,326 52,768 38,094 New Orleans 45,065 25,949 25,672 San Francisco 43.785 60,038 84,486 Louisville 43,602 37,371 23,005 Providence 43,451 27,289 35,953 Jersey City 43,430 42,281 38,176 Minneapolis 37,980 1 17,851 33,821 Columbus 37,410 36,503 20,373 Kansas City 30,856 76,931 23,526 St. Paul 30,476 91,683 21,443 Cincinnati 28,994 41 ,769 39,900 Rochester 28,539 44,530 26,900 Denver 27,146 71,084 30,870 Paterson 26,824 27,316 17.452 Allegheny City 24,609 26,605 25,502 Omaha *37,897 109,934 14,435 ^'Decrease. The only town which is shown to have actually lost in popu- lation is Omaha. It makes the most notable falling off of any city in the entire list. But probably Omaha has made a gain, after all. In the strenuous contest for leadership between Omaha and Kansas City and some other Western towns in the decade between 1880 and 1890, it was charged by Omaha's Kansas City, Missouri. 119 rivals that in order to "get there" she stuffed her census re- turns in 1 890 in the most flagrant manner by copying hotel registers, etc., thereby more than doubling her population on paper. Of course, this was denied fiercely, but the figures bulletined this year, which are undoubtedly correct, apparently confirm the charge, because nobody of sense believes that, amidst the general progress all around her, Omaha alone has suffered from a decrease in population. CHAPTER XVI. Reasons for this Prosperity. — Volume of Wholesale Business. — Grain Elevators. — Building Permits. — Bank Deposits. — Clearings. — Kansas City Ranks Tenth in Volume of Business. There is ample reason for the local prosperity which has come to Kansas City. This reason is that it is the natural metropolis of the richest territory in the world — in natural wealth. All Kansas, save the extreme northeastern portion; all Oklahoma, the Indian Territory, northern and western Arkansas, and a large part of Texas, western Missouri, and a part of Iowa are tributary to Kansas City. Cattle, corn, wheat, hogs^ lead, zinc, lumber, products of a thousand kinds, find a market in Kansas City, and there make a demand for goods and manufactures in return. During the past year the volume of wholesale business was something over $200,000,000. Grain elevators are centered here that have a capacity of 6,000,000 bushels, and the amount of grain handled during 1899 reached nearly 50,000,000 bushels. The value of building permits granted during the year 1 899 aggregated $4,160,700, or over $1,000,000 in excess of the preceding year. The amount of bank deposits, at the close of the century, was hardly less noticeable in point of increase. The figures were considerably over $50,000,000. Clearing-house reports have always been considered a criterion of trade conditions. H Kansas City, Missouri. 121 Upon the record of the Kansas City clearing-house the people of the city may justly rely as an infallible index to that mate- rial prosperity which is everywhere in evidence. While the national banks of the city have shown an annual increase of nearly $10,000,000, the business of the clearing-house reached a total of $650,000,000. Kansas City occupies tenth place among the cities of the United States in volume of business done, and stands just below Cincinnati, a city much larger in point of population. Some of the cities below Kansas City are: New Orleans, Minneapolis, Cleveland, Houston, Louisville, Detroit, Galveston, Providence, Columbus, Omaha, Milwaukee, Indianapolis, Buffalo, St. Paul, and St. Joseph. Although leader of the world in miany lines, there is no other in which the pre-eminence of Kansas City is so marked as in its wholesale business in agricultural implements. So far above competition is it in this respect that its supremacy has never been challenged. Other cities may dispute among themselves the honor of being in second place, but none has ever questioned the right of Kansas City to take first rank in this respect. Kansas City does at least double the amount of business in agricultural im- plements transacted by any other city in America. Kansas City has five flour mills with a combined capacity of about 7,000 barrels a day. The product of these mills is now shipped to every continent and to nearly every country on the earth. CHAPTER XVII. A Glance at the Stock-Yard and Packing-House Industries. The packing-house and stock-yard interests of Kansas City are so closely allied that it is almost impossible to refer to one without the other. During all the years that have witnessed the growth and development of the Kansas City Stock Yards the packing-houses have kept even pace, and to-day Kansas City is not only the second largest packing center in the country, but her packing industry is also second only to Chicago's. Kansas City now has five large packing-houses and a sixth is nearing completion. Those which have been constantly employed during the past year in the production of dressed meat and meat products are: The Armour Packing Company, Swift & Co., Dold Packing Company, Schwarzschild & Sulzberger Co., and George Fowler, Sons & Co. These concerns slaughtered during the year 1899: 975,334 cattle, 2,646,073 hogs, and 597,673 sheep. The total value of products was $90,000,000. Over 10,000 men are employed every day in the year, repre- senting a pay-roll of about $20,000,000 annually. The plant of the Cudahy Packing Company, which will be finished by March 1st, will cost over $1,000,000 and employ about 2,000 operatives. The total value of its six packing- houses is $8,850,000. With the completion of the Cudahy plant their total daily killing capacity will be 11,700 cattle, 34,000 hogs, and 12,500 sheep. Kansas City, Missouri. 123 The Armour Packing Company is the out-growth of the first packing business established in Kansas City. When the firm of Plankington & Armour dissolved, the present company was organized. It is the largest of all in point of daily capac- ity and volume of business. The present head of the vast establishment is K. B. Armour. The plant is situated near the bank of the Missouri River in the West Bottoms about midway beiween the plants of George Fowler, Sons & Co. and the Jacob Dold Packing Company. The Armour Packing Com- pany is the largest employer of labor in Kansas City, having nearly 3,000 men employed regularly on its pay-roll. The standard brands of products of the Armour Packing Com- pany by their excellence and uniformity are known all over the world. This company has been especially fortunate in securing many large army contracts both from this country and European governments. The Kansas City Stock Yards, in point of convenience and equipment, excel any other yards in the world. With their chutes, alleys, pens, and tracks, they cover 161 acres of land. Situated in the heart of the finest stock-raising land in the United States, Kansas City is everywhere looked upon as the natural center of the live-stock industry of the country, and the rapid and continuous development of her live-stock and packing business fulfills the roseate prophecies that were made by her friends years ago, when Kansas City was but the way-station where a few cattle were fed on their way to Chicago from the far Southwest. The Kansas City Stock Yards were started by two men in 1867. At that time the "yards" consisted of a few pens, where cattle were fed. From that time to this there has 124 Kansas City, Missouri. not been a year when the business of the yards has not shown gains over the previous twelve months. In all this period, when progressive business men were uniting to build up Kansas City's live-stock interests, there were those who foresaw the position that this city would one day take in the packing world, and as a natural consequence the packing business kept pace with the live-stock business. By enterprise and the natural demands for greater capacity and better equipment, the Kansas City Stock Yards have been made the standard upon which all other yards have been pat- terned. Every pen in the yards is supplied with pure fresh water and connected with a perfect sewer system. Four hun- dred cars of stock can be handled at one time, and this gives employment to about 300 yardmen. The cattle department has a capacity of 25,000 head per day, and is divided into blocks and pens most conveniently arranged. The alleys and pens are paved with vitrified brick, and on the tops of the di- viding fences are board walks for the convenience of the patrons and stock-raisers in getting about the yards. All the other pens and departments are in keeping with the cattle department. CHAPTER XVIII. Kansas City in the Present. — Retrospect. — Prospect. In this Western city now center twenty systems of railroads, radiating 58,225 miles. Over these roads 130,000 trains ar- rive and depaft each year. These railroads traverse thirty States and Territories, and there are 1,550 miles of switch track in the city. One hundred and ninety passenger and 337 freight trains arrive and depart daily, handling on an average 1 18,000 tons of freight; between 5,000 and 6,000 men are em- ployed by the railroads. The factories which are located in Kansas City give em- ployment to 20,000 people, and each year products to the value of $100,000,000 are sent out into the world. Architects and artists have pronounced the new Federal building, in design and construction, one that will rank with any of its class in the country. The west wing was recently com- pleted at a cost of $2,000,000. Many big things Kansas City has done in its day, but the most notable thing it ever did was the building of the new Con- vention Hall. Hardly had the Democratic National Cenven- tion elected to meet in Kansas City, when the news was flashed over the country that this much-advertised building was in flames. Nothing daunted by the calamity, the city at once began the work of rebuilding, and in sixty days, by working night and day and at an enormous expenditure, a larger and 126- Kansas City, Missouri. more complete structure was erected and ready for the national delegates. This, together with the fact that it was built by the people of Kansas City and opened without debt, though it cost $225,000, constitutes its right to be recognized as the largest thing Kansas City ever achieved. For conventions, horse shows, fairs, musical festivals, pageants, balls, athletic sports, there Is no other place in the country that can better —that can so well —accommodate the public. Ten years ago Kansas City had no parks, no boulevards, no public pleasure-grounds of any sort. It was just making up its mind to have them. It had no parks at all in 1889. In 1899 it had 1,691.4 acres of parks and 11.45 miles of boulevards. There are but one or two cities in the United States — or, for that matter, in the world — that can equal this showing, regardless of population. For its size Kansas City now has the greatest park acreage in the country. It has an acre of park for every one hundred and fifteen people. When the system is complete, the parks will nearly all be connected by the boulevards, so that they will form a continu- ous chain, as it were, very similar to the beautiful chain of pleasure-grounds about Boston. The idea has been to give each neighborhood, as far as possible, its own particular place of recreation, and at the same time means for conveniently reaching the parks of other neighborhoods as well. Already, in its incomplete state, even the least imaginative can begin to appreciate what the finished work will be. If the people of Kansas City have reason to congratulate themselves on the growth of commerce and the advance in art which has been noted, they have equal reason to feel a sense Kansas City, Missouri. 127 of pride in the manner in which protection from fire is afforded to all the buildings, from the smallest cabin to the tallest sky- scraper, which are to be found within its limits. Its fire de- partment has for years been known the country over for swift and efficient work, and put its claims to the test in 1900 by sending a crew of men and a steamer to London, where they met the representative fire-fighters of all nations of Europe, and so completely outclassed them that there was no question as regarded superiority. The best index of the true prosperity of a city is to be found in the number and condition of its schools. A certificate from one of the ward or high schools of Kansas City is accepted without question in any primary or higher educational institution in the United States. There are thirty-nine public schools under the direction of the Board of Education. The excellence of these schools is due not only to the fact that the city has had for years a non-partisan Board of Educa- tion, from which it has been the scrupulous endeavor of all those who had the welfare of the cause at heart to keep any suspicion of political demarcation, but also to the fact that the members of this board have been and are among the most industrious, faithful, clear-thinking, and far-seeing business and professional men of whom the city can boast. To make Kansas City a good place to live in has been the object of its many endeavors. The city has undoubtedly been made most pleasant and convenient for all who desire to make it their home. Hills of all kinds and degrees of steepness have been leveled to make place for the palatial residence or the lowly cottage, as the case may be. 128 Kansas City, Missouri. Special residence quarters have been developed, built up, and occupied. But in all of the change there has been a marked absence of that spirit of exclusion which has character- ized the home-building of so many cities of the country. Kansas City has some of the finest residences, both in architecture and furnishings, to be found anywhere in America. Another noticeable feature of the city is its many elegant office buildings. When compared with any other city of its size in the country, it is unsurpassed. That this should be so is a compliment to the far-sightedness and progressiveness of the various interests which go to insure its commercial standing among the great cities of the country. The location of these buildings with reference to the other financial centers of the city is perhaps as advantageous, when the present business thoroughfares are taken into consideration, as could be wished, and about them and within their walls the business of the great Southwest is transacted. In the stability of such buildings is perhaps best told the future greatness of Kansas City, and many proposed additions to their already commendable size and number are now being made to keep up with the tide of advancing commercial pros- perity. In connection with the other interests of the city it Is well to remember the advantages which await the lawyer, doc- tor, dentist, man of business, or professional man who might wish to cast his lot with the West, and to show how thoroughly well Kansas City can take care of any and all business enter- prises of the right kind that wish to enter her gates. CHAPTER XIX. Ranks with the Best.— Kansas City is Greatest in Many Things and Great in All. Kansas City is the greatest city in the world in a number of things, and is entitled to rank among the first and best in all. Here are a few facts which go to establish the supremacy of the metropolis of the West. They are good things to know and good things to remember. Kansas City is the largest agricultural implement market in the world. Kansas City has the largest Southern lumber jobbing busi- ness of any city in the United States. Kansas City has second place as a live-stock market. Kansas City has the largest horse and mule sales stables in the world. Kansas City covers twenty-five square miles of territory. Kansas City is the second greatest railroad center in the world. Kansas City is practically the geographical center of the United States. Kansas City has a population of 200,000 and 60,000 more just across the State line. Kansas City packing-houses represent an investment of $30,000,000. 130 Kansas City, Missouri. Kansas City occupies ninth place in the amount of bank clearings. Kansas City is the second largest packing center in the world. Kansas City is the largest city west of St. Louis and east of San Francisco. Kansas City is the practical head of navigation on the Mis- souri River. Kansas City has the largest coal fields within a radius of 1 00 miles of any city west of the Mississippi River. Kansas City has the lowest price for manufacturers' coal of any city of over 20,000 inhabitants west of the Mississippi River. Kansas City is nineteenth in the value of its manufactured products. Kansas City is practically the geographical center of the United States, omitting Alaska, Hawaii, Porto Rico, and the Philippines. Kansas City has the lowest death-rate of any city of equal population in the United States. Kansas City has 507 teachers and 27,314 pupils in its public schools. Kansas City has 43 school buildings, valued at $2,300,000. Kansas City ships its packing-house products to every civ- ilized country in the world. Kansas City has the greatest Live Stock Exchange build- ing in the world. Kansas City has the second largest park in the United States, containing 1,300 acres. Kansas City, Missouri. 131 Kansas City is the second city in the United States in re- gard to the area of its parks. The total park area is 1 ,600 acres. Kansas City's public debt, exclusive of $3,100,000 water- works bonds, is $656,900. The water -works bonds are re- deemed from rentals. Kansas City owns its own system of water-works, and the plant is rapidly paying for itself. Kansas City has a taxable valuation of $70,000,000. Kansas City handled $121,706,632 worth of live stock in 1899. Kansas City received 2,027,326 cattle, including calves; 3,014,923 hogs and 950,296 sheep, a total of 5,992,545 head of live stock, in 1899. Kansas City received in 1899, 20,341 , 100 bushels of wheat, 8,682,750 bushels of corn, 2,388,000 bushels of oats, 183,300 bushels of rye, and 17,600 bushels of barley. Kansas City did a wholesale business of $225,000,000 in 1899. During the past twelve months 6 1 8 new concerns have been started up in Kansas City. Kansas City mills shipped 347,160 barrels of flour in 1899. Kansas City packing-houses turned out $90,000,000 worth of products last year and slaughtered 975,334 cattle, 2,646,073 hogs, and 597,673 sheep. Kansas City had on deposit in its banks December 2, 1899, $49,018,130. Kansas City's stock yards extend over a quarter-section of land. 132 Kansas City, Missouri. Kansas City's packing-house plants occupy half a quarter- section of land. Kansas City packers have a daily killing capacity of 1 1 ,700 cattle, 34,000 hogs, and 12,550 sheep. Kansas City received 1 17,333 cars of live stock in 1899. Kansas City slaughtered rnore cattle and hogs in 1 899 than Omaha and St. Louis combined. Kansas City has 4,800 telephones in daily use, having direct connection with 440 outside toll stations. It has four exchanges. Its long-distance service puts it in communica- tion with the principal points in thirty-two States. Kansas City has a banking capital of $7,750,000, including trust companies. Kansas City's real-estate transfers in 1899 amounted to nearly $25,000,000. Kansas City handled the past year 31,667 horses and mules. Kansas City has 170 miles of paved streets. Kansas City has 10,31 7men employed in her packing-houses and stockyards, and 51,585 are supported by this industry alone. Kansas City has twenty-eight grain elevators with a storage capacity of 6,484,000 bushels and an aggregate handling capac- ity of 1,468,000. Kansas City has five mills with a capacity of 7 ,000 barrels of flour per day. Kansas City's postoffice receipts in 1899 were $672,360.50 and something like 175,672,000 pieces of mail matter were handled. Kansas City, Missouri. 133 Kansas City has twenty-three systems, including two belt lines, of railroad, with thirty railroads and thirty-two fast freight lines represented, being the second largest railroad center in the world. Kansas City spent $525,97 1 .03 the past year upon her pub- lic schools, the per capita expenditure being $23.43. The postal business of Kansas City exceeds any city of equal importance in the United States. Kansas City's Convention Hall has the greatest seating capacity of any building of like character in the world. Kansas City has 160 miles of street railway. Kansas City ships 45,000 car-loads of fresh meat and pack- ing-house products annually. Kansas City has twenty-one grain elevators, with a storage capacity of 6,000,000 bushels, and a daily handling and dis- charging capacity of 1 ,500,000 bushels. Kansas City has a retail business aggregating $80,000,000 annually. Kansas City employs 20,000 hands in its manufacturing business. LOCAL LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS TO ENTERTAINMENT FUND. American Type Founders Co. Allen & Decker. Burd & Fletcher Printing Co. Brown, Chas. E., Printing Co. Burnap, F. P., Stat, and P't'g Co. Berkowitz Envelope Co. Banta, Harry S. Black, E. D. Bankers' & Merchants' Lith. Co. Brent, W. T. & R. H. Bramhall Printing Co. Berry Printing Co. Benedict Paper Co. Bovard, John C. Bunker Printing Co. Burke-Nelson Engraving Co. Creed, W. H. Cline & Emrick. Carlton & Rose. Dockery Printing Co. Electric Printing Co. Engel, H. & Son. Graham Paper Co. Great Western Type Foundry. Gaugh, Geo. G. Gerard & Brown. Hudson- Kimberly Pub. Co. Hudson, M. H. Hailman Printing Co. Horn Printing Co. Jaccard Jewelry Co. Kansas City Paper House. Kellogg, A. N., Newspaper Co. Kennedy, Press J. Kansas City Printing Co. Kansas City Engraving Co. Lechtman Printing Co. La Rue-Caton Printing Co. Loveland, E. 0. & Co. Millett, H. S., Publ. Co. Murray, Chas. T. Miller, W. H. Jr. Neff, J. H. & Co. Pantagraph Printing Co. Rigby Bindery Co. Scotford Stamp & Stationery Co. Salmon, W. M. Seip Printing Co. Tiernan-Havens Printing Co. Teachenor-Bartberger Eng. Co. A. E. Tonkin & Co. Tomlinson-Bryant & Douglass Printing Co. Union Bank Note Co. Williams. T. B. Woody Printing Co. FOREIGN LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS TO ENTERTAINM'T FUND. Ault-WiborgCo., Cincinnati, Ohio. Brown & Clark Paper Co., St. Louis, Mo. Chandler & Price Co., Cleveland, Ohio. Carpenter Paper Co., Omaha, Neb. Dexter Folder Co., Pearl River, N. Y. Hellmuth, Chas., Chicago, 111. Jaenecke Printing Ink Co., Newark, N. J. Johnson, Chas. Enue, & Co., Philadelphia, Pa. Latham Mach. Co., Chicago, 111. Oswego Mach. Works, The, Oswego, N. Y. Queen City Printing Ink Co , Cincinnati, Ohio. Sheridan, T. W. & C. B., Chicago, 111. Scott, Walter & Co., Plainfield, N. J. Thalman Printing Ink Co., St. Louis, Mo Ullman, Sigmund, Co., New York, N. Y. Van Aliens & Boughton, New York, N. Y. Whitlock P't'g Press Co., The, Derby, Conn. Weston, Byron Co., Dalton, Mass. Mergenthaler Linotype Co. THE HISTORY OF THE KANSAS CITY TYPOTHET^E. WILLIAM J. BERKOWITZ. Among the list of representative printers who gathered in the city of Chicago in 1887 to organize the United Typothetas of America, we find the name of Peter H. Tiernan, of Kansas City; and following that event, on November 12, 1887, the Kansas City Typothetas was organized with a membership of twelve, and Mr. Tiernan was elected its first President, Or- ganized with a view of developing and fostering a kindly feeling among the master printers and of improving the trade, assisting one another when called upon, it has proven to be for the ad- vancement of the printing interests in Kansas City. All great achievements are of slow growth, and it was no exception here. The petty jealousies of contemporaries in bus- iness were manifest to a very considerable degree, and it was only by extraordinary effort that any printers could be induced to affiliate with the Typothetas. The fear of surrendering in- dividual rights or the danger of yielding in the rivalry for bus- iness was the great barrier to affiliation. The experience of Kansas City was doubtless the experi- ience of other cities. Printers are not given to associate with one another, and it requires unusual methods to bring them together and bridge the imaginary chasm that keeps them apart. 136 Kansas City, Missouri. From 1887 to 1893 the Typothetas continued its perfunc- tory existence by electing its officers and selecting its delegates to attend the Annual Convention of the U. T. A., and probably calling a meeting of the Association to hear the report of these delegates; but there was no life and no fellowship, merely the desperate rivalry of cutting prices and deterioration of values in all that pertained to the noble Art Preservative. Then came the revival of learning; at least an effort was made on the part of those members who drank from the foun- tain of the U. T. A. Convention to spread the gospel of educa- tion among their fellow-printers and bring about a better knowl- edge of the cost of production in order to bring about an -adequate revenue. Committees on price for composition, presswork, binding, etc., were appointed. Meetings were held every day and a spirft of comradeship and goodfellowship among the members of the Typothetas was manifested, and the great bridge that divided them seemed to grow weaker and weaker, acquaintanceship grew with friendship and bitter jealousy was sweetened by confidences. At this time there developed the fact that the smaller printer would not join the Typothetas and the reason given — because the Typothetas was composed of only big firms and the smaller ones could not hope for recognition — argument was useless. The Typothetas continued its membership of 15-20, and another organization, called the " Employing Printers' Asso- ciation" was organized, Mr. Geo. L. Berry, President, with a membership of 65, including all Typothetas members; holding monthly meetings in the way of dinners, on the dollar dinner plan; at these meetings, which proved exceedingly sociable, /-J>.eu)f(v AC^V^ ' rJ. MfrA^c. Kansas City, Missouri. 137 practical and instructive papers were read touching on sub- jects of direct business importance, followed by interchange of opinions, all lending an influence for a better appreciation of the printing business and its place among the commercial enterprises of the city, as well as a kindlier regard among those engaged to carry it forward. The Employing Printers' Associatoin continued to flourish for about two years, when its most active members joined the Typothetas, and it is with pleasure we are able to announce the- present membership of that local body to number 31 active and 7 associate members. Association, is after, all the only weapon for breaking away the barriers that divide men in the same line of business. How the narrow prejudices of years grow deeper as competition grows severer and business-getting grows more difficult! It was an old fallacy that men engaged in the same kind of bus- iness as yourself were mean and contemptible, and you alone were the "gentleman" and only entitled to patronage; but when acquaintance is made, meeting one another in business gath- erings, we discover in our adversaries virtues never dreamed of and qualities of heart and mind that are the basis ot honor- able business methods; we must acknowledge our error and give to every man due credit for the things he does, for the principles he advocates, for the honorable methods he pursues, and one is grateful to find that "there are others who are just as good as we." It was in the fall of 1896, during the time of the first great printers' strike, that the members of the Kansas ^City Typothetas fully realized the advantage of association, and the 138 Kansas City, Missouri. adage that "all things happen for the best" was exemplified in more ways than one. As a result of that trouble there has been formed a brotherhood among the members of the Kansas City Typothetae that stands for the protection of their individual and united interests, infusing the spirit of confidence and help- fulness and integrity. This is in keeping with progressive commercial methods of to-day among all classes of business men who are engaged in the earnest worlc of advancing their own welfare and the welfare of the community in which they live. In the printed proceedings of the eleventh Annual Conven- tion of the U. T. A., 1897, pages 20-28, the report of the Execu- tive Committee contains in full the "War that Was," making it accessible to every employing printer. This able presentation of the whole story is the work of the committee composed of Messrs. A. S. Kimberly, B. F. Burd, and J. D. Havens. Here is set forth the "unity of action, the excellent management and the decisive results obtained by members of the Kansas City Typothetae" during the period of the first great difference with the Typographical Union, which in the highest degree evidenced the truth of the motto, "United we stand, divided we fall." The great strike of 1899-1900 is too fresh in the minds of the printers of the United States to need any comment here. Its detailed history will, no doubt, be presented at the fourteenth Annual Convention. The steadfast friendship of the men who suffered and bore the brunt of the trouble must stand out as a living evidence of the benefit, the advantage, and the virtue of an United Typothetae. 1. M. BERKOWITZ. 2. N. i,e;chtman. 3. E. G. BARTBERGER. 4. ROGER CUNNINGHAM. 5. C. B. DART. 6. H. S, GAINES. 7. CHAS. VEASEY. 8. J. H. BRANDIMORE. 9. P. J. KENNEDY. 10 S. F. WOODY. 11. R. B. TEACHENOR. 12. W. M. SAI^MON. 13. F. H. HORN. 14. C. E. HORN. 15. FRANK BARHYDT. 1. C. M. SELPH. 6. WALTER J. ROSE. 11. FRANK P. WILLIAMS. 2. IRVIN T. BUNKER. 7. EMMETT LOVELAND. 12. H. S. BANTA. 3. M. E. GERARD. 8. CHAS. MURRAY. 13. GEO. GAUGH. 4. E. N. BROWN. 9. S. G. SPENCER. 14. EDMUND D. BLACK. 5. C. CARLTON. 10. E. C. BURNAP. 15. CHAS. J. PRIES. Kansas City, Missouri. 139 The intense interest and the effort for self-preservation during the late printers' trouble made it imperative for mem- bers of the Typothetas to meet every day, and the hour most advantageous for these daily gatherings proved to be the noon hour. The necessity gave thought to the need of T3^otheta5 rooms and the serving of noon-hour lunch. The liberality of the supply houses took form and shape in the way of liberal subscriptions to pay for furnishing for the rooms, and to Messrs. A. D. L. Hamilton, of the Graham Paper Co., and M. V. Wat- son, of the Kansas City Paper House, is due the special credit for bringing about the happy result, securing liberal contributions from many firms. Mr. B. F. Burd and Mr. S. G. Spencer, committee on furnishing the rooms, received the thanks of the association for the superintending and selection of furnishings, and due credit of expenditure of time and money was given at a "house- warming" on the evening of May 3, 1900, when the new club- rooms were formally "opened." It is proper that there should be recorded here the senti- ment of the Typothetas, so beautifully expressed on that occasion by Mr. F. D. Crabbs, who said: "A stranger among us to-night, witnessing this brilliant func- tion in this gorgeously furnished room, might well inquire, 'Do we celebrate victory or peace?' The prompt emphatic answer answer would be, 'Both; one preceding the other but a little, as the flush of dawn before the full brightness of day'; and I wish to emphasize the fact that both are ours and nobly won , victory first and peace following. In celebrating an occasion like this we should not be influenced by any feelings of antagonism, but 140 Kansas City, Missouri. rather by a sweet reasonableness toward those who went down before us in defeat. The Typothetas, looking into its own heart, weighing its own motives, subjecting itself to a rigorous introspection, should be and is content. The task its members was forced to assume five months ago is finished, why should we not rejoice? It is human nature to find some channel through which its currents may flow. Here we bring memo- ries and hopes and are satisfied." The master printers of Kansas City are to-day a body of business men, recognized as a potent factor in the upbuilding of Kansas City. They make a representative showing of in- vested capital in the statistics of the census of Kansas City's manufacturing interests, and employ their proportion of skilled mechanics in keeping with the population of our progressive city. By the quality and quantity of their product they give the impress of progress and the evidence of advancement, keeping in touch with every forward step in the improvement of the Art of Printing, making Kansas City "a good place for good printing." In the membership of our commercial bodies, the members of the Kansas City Typothetas are well represented. In the Commercial Club many important offices have been held by master printers, and in the Manufacturers' Association no other class of manufacturers are so well represented on the roster of active membership as are the printers, and some of the im- portant offices and committees include T3^othetae men. In the order here named these gentlemen served as Presi- dents of the Kansas City Typothetas: •l- - w ^ -: o 'Wg X O ■ % > 73 >d Kansas City, Missouri. 141 Mr. Peter H. Tiernan, - - 1887-1890. Mr. Franklin Hudson, - - 1890-1892. Mr. J. D. Havens, - - - 1892-1893. Mr. F. D. Crabbs, - - - 1893-1896. Mr. W. J. Berkowitz, - - 1896-1897. Mr. B. F. Burd. - - - - 1897-1898. Mr. J. D. Frame, - - - 1898-1899. Mr. Cusil Lechtman, - - 1899-1900. During the fourteen years of its existence three of our prominent and most active associates have died. Death loves a shining mark, and in the taking away of Peter H. Tiernan, Wm. A. Lawton, and Robert Hart, the Typothetas suffered a keen loss and the city was deprived of three most valued citizens. Fitting expressions of regard and remembrance have been recorded in the Annual Proceedings of the U. T. A., but the influence of their lives and the high ideals which they cherished and worked for will always prove an inspiration for good to their associates, and their memory will be an influence to strengthen and hold together the printers of Kansas City to carry forward the purposes for which the United Typothetas has been called into being. 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