No CrossRef data available.
Article contents
Business Patterns in the Growth of a Midwestern City: The Kansas City Business Community Before the Civil War
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 July 2012
Abstract
The Western traders who made centers like Kansas City their base soon found that urban development offered greater, safer investment opportunities than did trade. Bonanza real estate earnings became a major source of capital for the further development of the West.
- Type
- Research Article
- Information
- Copyright
- Copyright © The President and Fellows of Harvard College 1959
References
1 As originally planned, this article was to be co-authored by the late R. Richard Wohl of the University of Chicago, director of the History of Kansas City Project. Professor Wohl's original and provocative investigations in the fields of urban and business history are well known to scholars. The approach and framework of the article owe much to his suggestions in conversations shortly before his untimely death. It is also based in part on a paper delivered by the writer before the Mississippi Valley Historical Association in 1957.
2 The material on the careers of the Kansas City businessmen examined here is based on a diverse collection of local records including tax and court records, biographical dictionaries, scrapbooks, and the file of biographical cards, which list data from widely scattered sources, collected by James Anderson and available at the Archives of the Native Sons of Kansas City (Missouri). For the Chicks, see especially the “Chick Scrapbook,” Native Sons Archives; Washington H. Chick, “The Vicissitudes of Pioneer Life,” Annals of Kansas City a publication of the Missouri Valley Historical Society, pp. 207–218; Washington H. Chick, “A Journey to Missouri in 1822” ibid., pp. 97–103; articles on Joseph S. Chick in Conard, Howard L. (ed.), Encyclopedia of Missouri History (New York, 1901), Vol. I, pp. 580–581Google Scholar and in United States Biographical Dictionary, Missouri volume (New York, 1878), p. 215.
3 Kansas Public Ledger, July 4, 1851.
4 The following material on Kansas City as a trading center is based primarily on the files of the Western Journal of Commerce and its predecessor, the Enterprise. See also two articles by Wyman, Walker D., “Kansas City, Mo., a Famous Freighting Capital,” Kansas Historical Quarterly, Vol. VI (Feb., 1937), pp. 3–13Google Scholar and “Freighting: A Big Business on the Santa Fe Trail” ibid., Vol. I (Nov., 1931), pp. 17–27; Spalding, Charles C., Annals of the City of Kansas (Kansas City, 1858, reprinted in facsimile edition, Columbia, Missouri, 1950), especially pp. 30–37 and 70–81Google Scholar; and an article by Joseph S. Chick on Kansas City freighting in Encyclopedia of Missouri History, Vol. II, pp. 515–517.
5 Western Journal of Commerce, Nov. 12, 1860.
6 Ibid., June 19, 1858.
7 Biographical sketches of Northrup appear in History of Jackson County (Kansas City, 1881), p. 727; Case, Theodore S. (ed.), History of Kansas City, Missouri (Syracuse, 1888), p. 450.Google Scholar For material on the Northrup and Chick enterprises, see the various Chick reminiscences.
8 Biographical sketches of Kearney are contained in United States Biographical Dictionary, Missouri volume, p. 155, and in Encyclopedia of Missouri History, Vol. III, pp. 511–513.Among various clippings in relation to Kearney compiled in the scrapbooks of the Native Sons Archives, see particularly Kansas City Journal, Oct. 22, 1893, Kansas City Scrapbook No. 2.
9 History of Jackson County, p. 840; Case, History, p. 453.
10 No biographical sketch of Rice has been discovered. For scattered material, see Case, History, p. 69; History of Jackson County, p. 445; Border Star (Westport, Missouri), Oct. 8, 1859. The sale reference is to the Western Journal of Commerce, Oct. 31, 1858.Material on prewar land holdings in Kansas City is based on manuscript tax records in the private possession of Miss Frances Berenice Ford, Kansas City, Missouri, and were used with her permission.
11 The best sketch of Lykins' life is contained in United States Biographical Dictionary, Missouri volume, pp. 48–49.
12 G. W. Ewing to S. Dyer, Aug. 31, 1850; W. G. to G. W. Ewing, Dec. 15, 1850; W. G. and G. W. Ewing Papers, Indiana State Historical Society Library, Indianapolis.
13 Lykins' articles on the potential Kansas City railroad system, first published in the Enterprise, were republished along with Van Horn's editorial comments as a pamphlet entitled Railroads Chartered and Projected Centering at Kansas City, Mo., with Many Other Interesting Facts (n.p., n.d.), available at the State Historical Society of Missouri (Columbia).
14 The most complete sketch of Scarritt's life is contained in the United States Biographical Dictionary, Missouri volume, pp. 776–778.
15 The McGee family has been examined in an article by Wohl, R.Richard, “Three Generations of Business Enterprise in a Midwestern City: The McGees of Kansas City,” Journal of Economic History (Dec, 1956), pp. 514–528.Google Scholar
16 In spite of Gilliss' prominence, no formal biographical sketch is available, but the reminiscent material is extensive. See especially “The Scrapbook of John Calvin McCoys” a collection of McCoy's published newspaper writings, which is one of the better sources for the early years of Kansas City history and is available in indexed form at the Kansas City Public Library. The Richard Graham Papers, Missouri Historical Society (St. Louis), contain considerable manuscript material on Gilliss' operations as an Indian trader.
17 Encyclopedia of Missouri History, Vol. II, pp. 36–38, and United States Biographical Dictionary, Missouri volume, pp. 46–48 contain sketches of Coates' life. See also Laura Coates Reed (ed.), In Memoriam, Sarah Walter Chandler Coates (Kansas City, n. d.). Copies of this rare, privately printed book are available at Kansas City Public Library and Native Sons Archives.
18 Encyclopedia of Missouri History, Vol. V, pp. 327–328; History of Jackson County, pp. 830–831. A small collection of Reid manuscripts, including a detailed, unpublished biographical sketch prepared by his son, William M. Reid, is in the posssession of Mrs. Frederick James, Kansas City, Missouri.
19 Case, History, p. 390. For a general discussion of the rise of property values in Kansas City see Encyclopedia of Missouri History, Vol. V, pp. 308–309.
20 People's Tribune (Jefferson City), Nov. 30, 1881.
21 There is no formal biographical sketch of Swope but the newspaper and reminiscent material is extensive. See especially reminiscences of Daniel Geary in Annals of Kansas City, p. 227.
22 Letter is printed in Kansas City Star, June 19, 1921.
23 Land records in Office of the Recorder of Jackson County, Kansas City, Missouri, Book P, p. 385; Book Z, p. 306; Book Z, p. 401.
24 The compilation of lists of local millionaires was a popular pastime of journalists during the 1890's. Although these lists often differ radically in regard to Kansas City fortunes, I have considered even a single mention as evidence of substantial wealth. The important point, however, is the overwhelming preponderance of real estate interests among those listed as Kansas City millionaires. For an analysis of two such lists of millionaires in the United States, see Ratner, Sidney, New Light on the History of Great American Fortunes (New York, 1953).Google Scholar
25 A transcript of the “Minutes of the Chamber of Commerce of Kansas City, Missouri, 1855–1879,” is available at the Native Sons Archives and is the best source for examining the joint actions undertaken by the Kansas City business community.
26 Western Journal of Commerce, May 24, 1860.