Historioetl IRe-vie-w
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The State Historical Society of Missouri COLUMBIA, MISSOURI Thomas Hart Benton's oil-on-canvas paint ing entitled "Prelude to Death" is on loan from the artist for the Society's current ex hibit, "Conflict: Men, Events and Artists." Benton made the sketches for the painting, sometime in August 1942, at an embarkation dock in the Brooklyn area when American troops were departing for the first Allied landing in North Africa during World War II. The 5'3" x 8' painting was completed three months later.
Benton's "Prelude to Death" and its com panion painting "Negro Soldier" plus his propaganda series "The Year of Peril" can be viewed in the Society's Art Gallery, 8:00 a.m.- 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday. V5g::::::!::::::!::::::::::::::?::::t:::::!::::t:::::::::::::::t MISSOURI HISTORICAL REVIEW
Published Quarterly by
THE STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF MISSOURI COLUMBIA, MISSOURI
RICHARD S. BROWNLEE EDITOR
DOROTHY CALDWELL ASSOCIATE EDITOR
JAMES W. GOODRICH ASSOCIATE EDITOR
The MISSOURI HISTORICAL REVIEW is owned by the State Historical Society of Missouri and is published quarterly at 201 South Eighth Street, Columbia, Missouri 65201. Send communi cations, business and editorial correspondence and change of address to The State Historical Society of Missouri, Corner of Hitt and Lowry Streets, Columbia, Missouri 65201. Second class postage is paid at Columbia, Missouri. The REVIEW is sent free to all members of The State Historical Society of Missouri. Membership dues in the Society are $2.00 a year or $40 for an individual life membership. The Society assumes VOLUME LXVI no responsibility for statements made by contributors to the magazine. NUMBER 3 APRIL 1972 THE STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF MISSOURI The State Historical Society of Missouri, heretofore organized under the laws of the State, shall be the trustee of this State—Laws of Missouri, 1899, R.S. of Mo., 1959, Chapter 183.
OFFICERS 1971-1974 WILLIAM AULL III, Lexington, President L. E. MEADOR, Springfield, First Vice President RUSSELL V. DYE, Liberty, Second Vice President JACK STAPLETON, SR., Stanberry, Third Vice President MRS. AVIS TUCKER, Warrensburg, Fourth Vice President REV. JOHN F. BANNON, S.J., St. Louis, Fifth Vice President SHERIDAN A. LOGAN, St. Joseph, Sixth Vice President ALBERT M. PRICE, Columbia. Treasurer FLOYD C. SHOEMAKER, Columbia, Secretary Emeritus and Consultant RICHARD S. BROWNLEE, Columbia, Director, Secretary and Librarian
TRUSTEES Permanent Trustees, Former Presidents of the Society
RUSH H. LIMBAUGH, Cape Girardeau *E. E. SWAIN, Kirksville GEORGE A. ROZIER, Jefferson City T. BALLARD WAITERS, Marshfield LEO J. ROZIER, Perryville ROY D. WILLIAMS, Boonville
Term Expires at Annual Meeting, 1972 GEORGE MCCUE, St. Louis RONALD L. SOMERVILLE, Chillicothe L. E. MEADOR, Springfield JACK STAPLETON, SR., Stanberry W. WALLACE SMITH, Independence HENRY C. THOMPSON, Bonne Terre ROBERT M. WHITE, Mexico
Term Expires at Annual Meeting, 1973 WILLIAM AULL III, Lexington ALFRED O. FUERBRINGF.R, St. Louis JAMES W. BROWN, Harrisonville JAMES OLSON, Kansas City WILLIAM R. DENSLOW. Trenton JAMES TODD, Moberly ELMER ELLIS, Columbia T. BALLARD WAITERS, Marshfield
Term Expires at Annual Meeting, 1974 LEWIS E. ATHERTON, Columbia R. I. COI.BORN, Paris ROBERT A. BOWLING, Montgomery City W. W. DALTON, St. Louis FRANK P. BRIGGS, Macon RICHARD B. FOWLER, Kansas City HENRY A. BUNDSCHU, Independence VICTOR A. GIERKE, Louisiana
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE The twenty-nine Trustees, the President and the Secretary of the Society, the Governor, Secretary of State, State Treasurer, and President of the University of Missouri constitute the Executive Committee.
FINANCE COMMITTEE Five members of the Executive Committee appointed by the President, who by virtue of his office constitutes the sixth member, compose the Finance Committee. ELMER ELLIS, Columbia, Chairman WILLIAM AULL III, Lexington GEORGE A. ROZIER. Jefferson City WILLIAM R. DENSLOW, Trenton LEO J. ROZIER, Perryville T. BALLARD WAITERS, Marshfield •Deceased P«llglK&!l^^
NEW SOCIETY MEMBERSHIPS
The State Historical Society of Missouri is always interested in obtaining new members. For more than seventy years thousands of Missourians who have be longed to the Society have been responsible primarily for building its great research collections and libraries. They have given it the support which makes it the largest organization of its type in the United States. The quest for interested new members goes on continually, and your help is solicited in obtaining them. In every family, and in every community, there are individuals who are sincerely interested in the collection, preservation and dissemination of the his tory of Missouri. Why not nominate these people for membership? Annual dues are only $2.00, Life Memberships $40.00.
Richard S. Brownlee Director and Secretary State Historical Society of Missouri Hitt and Lowry Streets Columbia, Missouri 65201 CONTENTS
PORTRAIT OF A WESTERN FARMER: JOHN LOCKE HARDEMAN OF MISSOURI,
1809-1858. By Nicholas P. Hardeman 319
CONSERVATION OF A BINGHAM PORTRAIT. By Sidney Larson 336
THE NATURE OF AN IMMIGRANT COMMUNITY: ST. LOUIS GERMANS, 1850-1920. By Sister Audrey Olson 342
How TO BECOME A UNION GENERAL WITHOUT MILITARY EXPERIENCE.
By James E. Kirby, Jr 360
DAVID RANKIN "CATTLE KING" OF MISSOURI. By Dorothy J. Caldwell 377
DISINHERITED OR RURAL? A HISTORICAL CASE STUDY IN URBAN HOLINESS RELIGION. By Charles Edwin Jones 395
PRESIDENT TRUMAN'S COMMITTEE ON CIVIL RIGHTS: THE URBAN
IMPLICATIONS. By Philip H. Vaughan 413
THE ST. LOUIS TORNADO OF 1896. By Mary K. Dains 431
HISTORICAL NOTES AND COMMENTS
Editorial Policy 451
Views from the Past: Missouri Mills 452
News in Brief 454
Local Historical Societies 457
Errata 469
Gifts 470
Missouri History in Newspapers 474
Missouri History in Magazines 478
In Memoriam 48]
BOOK REVIEWS 483
BOOK NOTES 487
CHAUTAUQUA DAYS. By Edna McElhiney Olson 491
JESSIE BENTON FREMONT Inside Back Cover George Caleb Bingham's Portrait of John Locke Hardeman, A recent Society acquisition
Portrait of a Western Farmer: John Locke Hardeman of Missouri, 1809-1858
BY NICHOLAS P. HARDEMAN*
* Nicholas P. Hardeman is a professor of History at California State College, Long Beach. He received his B.A., M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of California, Berkeley. 319 320 Missouri Historical Review
Risking life and fortune on far frontiers was a Hardeman family trait for a century and a half. But John Locke Hardeman, or Locke, as he was called, was more cautious than his westward wandering kin. "To be a Californian is, with us, equivalent to being a bankrupt," he chided his brother Glen who had joined the gold rush, "and the man [who returns from that place] at best is looked upon much in the light of one who has lately obtained his enlargement [release] from an assylum [sic] for the insane and we rejoice over his re covery."1 Nor was Locke's caution confined to his view of frontier- ing. Whether in relation to career, place of abode, business, war, politics, or love, he moved with indecision, with reluctance. It was ironic that he suffered an earlier death than most of his headstrong, venturesome relatives who gambled with the untamed West. The well-known Missouri artist, George Caleb Bingham, pic tured John Locke Hardeman with a serious countenance and with the prominent nose and chin characteristic of the Hardeman family. (See portrait, page 319.) The Binghams and Hardemans were long time friends in Central Missouri. John Locke's brother, Dr. Glen O. Hardeman, performed medical services for several members of the Bingham family in the Saline County area.2 Family legend holds that Locke was tall and straight. One of his acquaintances remembers his appearance best as striding across his fields, walk ing stick in hand.8 His acreage near Arrow Rock was the center of Locke Harde man's occupational focus. To be sure, he dabbled in law, specula tion, inventions and politics, but he was born to the life of the gentleman farmer and he would live his life and breathe his last in that role. He had the landed gentry's usual hunger for culture and the aristocracy's sense of stewardship, coupled with a sense of history. Those who would achieve lasting fame, he believed, had to write.4 "Think that, when you are writing," he told his brother, "you are recording thoughts that may be perused by the curious of future ages."5 Locke himself wrote, and wrote well
i J. Locke Hardeman to Glen O. Hardeman, August 26, 1851, Glen Harde man Papers, State Historical Society of Missouri Manuscripts Collection, Colum bia, Missouri. Glen was in California at this time. 2 Glen O. Hardeman Medical Record Book, Glen Hardeman Papers. 3 J. H. Cordell to Glen O. Hardeman, December 19, 1858, Glen Hardeman Papers. 4 J. Locke Hardeman to Glen O. Hardeman, February 24, 1841, Glen Harde man Papers. 5 Ibid., January 25, 1841. though not voluminously, and he carefully preserved large quantities of docu ments on the family his tory.6 At the knee of his af fectionate grandfather, Thomas Hardeman, Locke learned something of the family history, and he com mitted it to paper in his literate style shortly after Thomas's death.7 From roots in England, Wales and the Isle of Wight, the Hardemans branched across the Atlantic to Vir ginia, probably in the 1680s. Thomas Hardeman was born in Albemarle Courtesy Ruth Rollins Westfall County, Virginia, in 1750. George Caleb Bingham At the age of eighteen, he joined a small group of long hunters and trekked to the Cumber land Basin of the future Tennessee. After moving to the Holston Valley, and doing a stint of soldiering in the American Revolution, including the Battle of King's Mountain,8 Thomas Hardeman took his family on a perilous flatboat trip down the Holston and Ten nessee rivers, up the Ohio, and up the Cumberland to a point about three miles from the present Nashville. There, in 1786, he made his new home. He served in several political posts—member of the territorial legislature, delegate to the Hillsboro, North Carolina, Con vention (which rejected the proposed United States Constitution), on the Tennessee State Constitutional Convention, and in the first Tennessee State Senate. Thomas Hardeman's two oldest sons, Nicholas P. and John Hardeman, were co-proprietors of a general frontier store at Frank-
6 These and other documents now comprise the aforecited Glen Hardeman Papers. 7 J. Locke Hardeman to Ferdinando Stith, June 27, 1834, Glen Hardeman Papers. This is primarily an account of the life of Thomas Hardeman, 1750- 1833. It is accurate in those parts which can be checked against other sources. 8 Kate K. White, King's Mountain Men (Dayton, Va., 1924), 146, 184. 322 Missouri Historical Review lin, Tennessee, from 1802 to 1806.9 As part of this merchandising operation, John made a number of trips to the New Orleans area, and temporarily owned an estate at Baton Rouge. In that town, he met Lucretia Nash, whom he married in 1805.10 The following year, John Hardeman retired from merchandising and devoted his considerable means and energies to experimental farming at a plantation which he called Crabstick on the Big Harpeth River, Williamson County, Tennessee.11 John Locke Hardeman was born on his parents' Williamson County plantation on July 27, 1809. The name of the newborn son was given in honor of English philosopher John Locke, whose views were much admired by John Hardeman. Locke Hardeman spent his early boyhood in the verdant country along the Big Harpeth. When he was but three years of age his mother died in childbirth.12 In the fall of 1817, Locke and his sister, Lucretia Nash Hardeman, were taken by their father to a new home on the advancing frontier, beside the brown waters of the Missouri River far above its confluence with the Mississippi.13 Thomas Hardeman had preceded them by a year to the Boons lick country which would become Howard County. Five miles above Old Franklin, John Hardeman established his experimental Fruitage Farm and Hardeman's Garden. The rectangular garden contained approximately ten acres and was laid out with shell walks, pools, and a labyrinth of pathways in the center. Trees, berries, shrubs and flowers from various parts of the continent and the world were arranged in an assortment of geometric pat terns.14 John created another experimental farm and garden, called Penultima, near Jefferson City, but it did not achieve the fame of his frontier show garden above Franklin. Fruitage Farm and Hardeman's Garden were to have a mold ing influence on young Locke Hardeman. He spent a considerable
9 Nicholas Perkins Hardeman and John Hardeman store records, Franklin, Tenn., 1802-1806, Glen Hardeman Papers. 10 Hardeman Familv Bible, in possession of Walker E. Hardeman, Pacific, Mo. 11 John Hardeman to Peter Hardeman, January 27, 1815, Bailey Hardeman Collection, Tennessee Historical Society, Nashville, Tenn. 12 J. Locke Hardeman to Abiel Leonard, September 16, 1842, Abiel Leonard Papers, 1769-1928, Western Historical Manuscripts Collection, University of Mis souri-Columbia. 13 Hardeman genealogical data, Hardeman Collection, Tennessee His torical Society. 14 Alphonso Wetmore, Gazetteer of the State of Missouri (St. Louis, 1837) 88-89. part of the next fifteen years, learning the busi ness, running errands be tween Fruitage and Penult ima, acquiring some of his father's fascination with horticulture, operating the establishment during John's absence, and helping to run the Hardeman ferry which carried numerous Santa Fe traders across the waters of the Missouri to Arrow Rock.15 To be sure, there were protracted absences from the rural routine of Howard County. Typical of those country Strauss Portrait residents who could afford Meredith Miles Marmaduke the price, John Hardeman sent his son back to older and better established centers for his education. Tennessee seemed a natural choice since there were blood tie with that state and its schools had several decades more experience than those of Missouri. Part of Locke's schooling was taken at Franklin, Tennessee. From that town, he addressed his father, "I wish you to write me what profession you wish me to follow. . . ,"16 Arrangements were made for Locke to study un der a Mr. Black in Murfreesborough.17 Whatever developed from those plans, he was at school in Jefferson City, Missouri, when his twin half-brothers, Glen and George were born in 1825.18 Locke was back in Tennessee periodically during the late 1820s and early 1830s, pursuing both business and the study of law.19 He eventually completed his legal training in Tennessee, although he apparently
15 John Hardeman to J. Locke Hardeman, March 10, 1828, Glen Hardeman Papers; Franklin Missouri Intelligencer, November 20, 1821, December 16, 1823, and September 26, 1827. 16 J. Locke Hardeman to John Hardeman, November 28, the year uncer tain, but apparently 1823, Glen Hardeman Papers. 17 ibid. 18 His father married Nancy Knox in 1823, eleven years after the death of his first wife. George Hardeman died in infancy. 19 Nancy Hardeman to J. Locke Hardeman, December 10, 1828; Seth Lewis to J. Locke Hardeman, August 19, 1834; Thomas Hardeman to Nancy Harde man, September 27, 1831, Glen Hardeman Papers. 324 Missouri Historical Review did not practice law extensively.20 Like his father, he forsook a legal career for agriculture. Meanwhile, Locke, who had been left motherless at such a tender age, was suddenly deprived of the support and the guiding hand of his father. John Hardeman, perhaps seeking to duplicate the fortune which his brother, Bailey, had made in the Santa Fe trade, perhaps attempting to make up for the loss of a large part of Fruitage Farm to the rampaging flood waters of the Big Muddy, or possibly yielding again to a nameless urge to venture westward, headed for Mexico with wagonloads of merchandise in May 1828. After trading at Santa Fe, John hauled his wares deep into the "lower country," visiting Arispe, Sonora and Matamoros. Enroute home, he died of yellow fever at New Orleans, September 2, 1829.21 Following his father's death, Locke and his brother and sisters were placed under the guardianship of John Hardeman's friend and fellow Santa Fe trader, Meredith Miles Marmaduke. John's property was also in the care of Marmaduke. Locke maintained his residence at Fruitage Farm for several years,22 although he shuttled between Tennessee and Missouri. The farm and garden in Howard County had been badly reduced by floods, and, while the remaining property was not disposed of for many years, Locke soon devoted his attentions to other pursuits. He engaged in some form of business which took him to both Tennessee and Phila delphia and which, to an unknown extent, involved the handling of goods for M. M. Marmaduke.23 In all likelihood, this was related to both the Missouri and Santa Fe merchandising operations of Marmaduke. Many of the Santa Fe traders bought trade goods in Philadelphia in the 1820s and 1830s. Despite considerable financial backing from relatives, includ ing his Uncle Bailey Hardeman, Locke was a discouraged young man.24 But he turned down the opportunity to try his lot in Texas when a large contingent of Hardemans moved there in 1835. While commenting in his correspondence about the promising reports of the rich Texas soils, he stressed the unhealthy conditions. One
20 Statement of Charles French appointing J. Locke Hardeman his attorney, September 15, 1841, Glen Hardeman Papers. 21 Fayette Western Monitor, October 3, 1829. 22 j. Locke Hardeman to M. M. Marmaduke, April 30, 1831, Sappington Manuscripts, Missouri Historical Society, St. Louis. 23 Thomas Hardeman to Nancy Hardeman, September 27, 1831, Glen Harde man Papers. 24 Seth Lewis to J. Locke Hardeman, August 19, 1834, Glen Hardeman Papers. Portrait of a Western Farmer 325 relative, he noted, had ague all year and finally returned to Ten nessee.25 Far western trails were not for Locke's wanderings, nor would they be in years to come. He took the advice of his uncle, Judge Seth Lewis, and finished his legal training in Tennessee before sampling another field of economic endeavor. This time it would be Mississippi, where Locke also had rela tives, and, by early 1836, he had launched upon a complex agri cultural venture which involved both Missouri and Mississippi. He had a share of his father's lands in Missouri, and he also had inherited a number of slaves and a slaveholder's outlook. He pur chased cotton lands between Pearl and Black rivers in Madison County, Mississippi. The power of "King Cotton" had been rising steadily in the Deep South, as had the demand for slaves. Locke produced cotton with his slave force near Canton, "farmed out" part of his slaves to pick cotton for near-by planters, and kept some of his Missouri acreage in production, probably raising corn and hemp. Since cotton picking went on far into the winter in the South, Hardeman was able to both divide and shift his laborers somewhat in order to accommodate the peak labor demands in the two areas. Meanwhile, his attorney-in-fact for his Missouri lands, M. M. Marmaduke, helped him with the northern sphere of operations during his absences.26
-•»J. Locke Hardeman to M. M. Marmaduke, March 18 and October 2, 1836, Sappington Manuscripts. 2QIbid., March 18, 19, September 21, October 22, 1836.
Slaves Working on Plantation 326 Missouri Historical Review
Not the least of Locke Hardeman's enterprises during the late 1830s was the slave trade. The trips between his two centers of operation were used to capitalize on the increasing demand for labor in the South. He bought slaves in Missouri, offering $600 to $800 each for fifteen- to twenty-year olds,27 and sold them to slave merchants in the lower Mississippi Valley. In the fall of 1836, he took sixteen slaves south from Missouri, losing one "runaway" en- route. "Likely" men, he noted had sold for as much as $1,000 to $1,700 in New Orleans, and likely women for $1,000 to $1,200.28 This trade, typifying the bound labor traffic which had been moving between the Upper South and the Deep South, may have held considerable promise at the time Locke entered upon it. How ever, the depression of the late 1830s, with its accompanying cash shortages, played havoc with his business plans. The "gails" were crowded with good Negroes, for lack of buyers. The bottom dropped from under cotton prices, and, Locke observed, "our richest planters cannot pay a fifty dollar debt."29 He quickly ended his slave market speculations.30 Getting out of his land investment proved more difficult, how ever. His observation that land would not sell for more than one- tenth of its nominal value,31 may have been an exaggeration. But, anxious as he was to return to the Missouri bottom lands, he was chained to his cotton acreage. In exasperation he reported to Marmaduke, "I am now a slave of com [mission] merchants,"32 a tale of woe which could have been echoed by thousands of southern farmers. Grimly he dug in and planted crop after crop of cotton in hopes of minimizing his losses.33 By 1841, an upturn in the market enabled him to shed his white elephant in the clothing of Madison County's black soil. He returned to Central Missouri which he never again left except for brief visits. Although he held some lands in Howard County, the area of his boyhood home, Hardeman chose nearby Saline County for his permanent residence. A number of his Howard County friends had moved across the river, including the Marmadukes and the
27 ibid., March 19, 1836. 28 ibid., October 22, 1836. 29 Ibid., April 12, 1837. 30 ibid., January 27, 1837. 31 Ibid., April 12, 1837. 32 ibid., January 27, 1837. 33 ibid., August 3, 1838, and February 17, 1840, Sappington Manuscripts; J. Locke Hardeman to Glen O. Hardeman, November 5, 1839, Glen Hardeman Papers. Portrait of a Western Farmer 327
Thomas A. Smith family. And he was not unfamiliar with the land. He had docked his father's ferry at Arrow Rock in years gone by. He had not forgotten the floods which gnawed away hundreds of acres of his father's Fruitage Farm, and had taken the town of Franklin. He had commissioned M. M. Marmaduke, who had be come governor of Missouri before Locke returned from the South, to purchase some land for him in his absence.84 Success appears to have crowned Hardeman's Saline County farm ventures from the outset. He added steadily to his holdings during the 1840s and 1850s, buying acreage from Edward McCarty, Ezekiel Scott, Burton Lawless, Crawford Smith, William Price, Edmond McCabe, James Rollins, William Booth, Augustus Steven son, David Hickman, Thomas Peterson and William Thomas.35 Tax receipts show a steady increase from 560 acres in 1843 to 1,750 acres in 1852. By 1857, he had added several other parcels of land, bringing the Saline County total to about 2,000 acres, in addition to a combined figure of 1,000 acres in Pettis and Howard counties.36 The site of Locke's Saline County estate was four to five miles west of Arrow Rock, near the present village of Hardeman. He called it Lo Mismo, and, here in 1844, he built a colonnaded two-story, white frame house which is still standing and in good repair.37 The stone-foundationed dwelling is fifty feet long and thirty-two feet wide and has five rooms and a hallway on each floor. The two levels are connected by a graceful spiral staircase with a bannister of native Missouri walnut. There are eight fire places in all, one of which is faced with black Italian marble and shielded with an ornate Gothic screen of cast iron. The pillars and two-story front porch face north. The house was built on top of a gentle rise. A line of five large pine trees and a hard maple stretched north from the east end of the building. Just outside the four-acre yard was an assort ment of barns, machinery sheds and slave quarters. Adjoining the yard on the south was a four-acre formal garden, the ornateness of
34 j. Locke Hardeman to M. M. Marmaduke, March 17. May 31, and November 20, 1839, Sappington Manuscripts. 35 Saline County, Mo., Deed Record books K through T, passim., Saline County Court House, Marshall, Mo.; statements of land transactions, passim., Glen Hardeman Papers. 36 Tax receipts of J. Locke Hardeman, Glen Hardeman Papers. 37 The house is now owned by Miss Martha Rose Schieszer of Kansas City, Missouri. She has a keen interest in preserving and restoring it and has a number of the original pieces of furniture. The Schieszer family acquired the property during the 1880s. 328 Missouri Historical Review
Courtesy Rev. Howard D. Hardeman
The John Locke Hardeman Home in Saline County anil the Original Staircase As They Ap- $; pear Today
which must have been at least mildly reminiscent of John Harde man's garden across the river.38
38 For most of the description of the house and premises, this writer is indebted to his brother, the Reverend Howard D. Hardeman, who made a careful study of the subject during the late 1940s. Portrait of a Western Farmer 329
Locke Hardeman carried on a varied pattern of agricultural pursuits, some subsistence farming, much commercial, and a goodly share experimental, as had his horticulturalist father.39 His labor force consisted of slaves, perhaps twenty to thirty-five in number,4? Cattle, hogs, corn, tobacco, wheat and hemp were among his prod ucts, as were vegetables and fruits, but hogs and hemp were his principal commercial items.41 The corn-hog cycle was very com mon in Central Missouri. Bacon, hams and lard were shipped down the Missouri River to St. Louis. The size of Locke's enterprise can only be judged by his statement that on one occasion he had 150 to 200 hogs to slaughter.42 If Hardeman had invested in Mississippi cotton lands at pre cisely the wrong time, his timing in the hemp business could not have been better. The tariff was increased in 1841, curbing the importation of Russian hemp, and opening the way for a boom in the business from Kentucky and Tennessee to the Missouri and Mississippi valleys. Hemp was the king crop in Saline County from that time until the Civil War.43 Its primary uses were for baling rope and bagging, both of which were needed for shipment of cotton. Saline County had a hemp factory, or rope walk, at Miami. St. Louis, however, provided the largest market. On occasion, Hardeman apparently went in person to St. Louis with his hemp crop.44 Judge William Barclay Napton observed that Hardeman, whom he had known for a number of years, was "one of the leading hemp raisers in the county" and "one of the most scientific farmers in this section of the state."45 Locke brought some experience to the
39 Obituary of J. Locke Hardeman, written by Judge William Barclay Napton, Glen O. Hardeman Scrapbook, 21 (clipping from the St. Louis Republican) , Glen Hardeman Papers. 40 Partial list of the slaves of J. Locke Hardeman, Glen Hardeman Papers. 41 J. Locke Hardeman to Glen O. Hardeman, March 3, 1848; obituary of J. Locke Hardeman, Glen O. Hardeman Scrapbook, Glen Hardeman Papers; J. Locke Hardeman to Nathaniel B. Tucker, August 8, 1847, John Locke Harde man Letters, State Historical Society of Missouri Manuscripts Collection, Colum bia. 42 j. Locke Hardeman to Nathaniel B. Tucker, August 8, 1847, John Locke Hardeman Letters. 43 For a good account of the Missouri hemp industry, see Miles W. Eaton, "The Development and Later Decline of the Hemp Industry in Missouri." MISSOURI HISTORICAL REVIEW, XLIII (Judy, 1949), 344-359. 44 j. Locke Hardeman to Nathaniel B. Tucker, January 16, 1845, John Locke Hardeman Letters. 45 Obituary of J. Locke Hardeman, Glen O. Hardeman Scrapbook, Glen Hardeman Papers; William B. Napton, Past and Present of Saline County, Missouri (Indianapolis, 1910) , 343. business. Hemp production had been one of his father's endeavors at Fruitage Farm in the 1820s. In 1843, he acquired the Missouri distribution business for a hemp breaker patented by his friend, Dr. Ferdinando Stith of William son County, Tennessee.46 To an other inventor, W. L. Larimore, he agreed to pay five dollars for William Barclay Napton each hemp cradle made accord ing to the patent's design.47 And Hardeman applied his own inventive talents to several aspects of the business. He shipped a model of a hemp cleaner of his own making to the United States Patent Office in 1844.48 About eleven
46 Statement of Ferdinando Stith appointing J. Locke Hardeman his power of attorney, Franklin, Tenn., December 1, 1843, Glen Hardeman Papers. 47 Statement of agreement between J. Locke Hardeman and W. L. Lari more, n.d., Glen Hardeman Papers. 48 Glen O. Hardeman to J. Locke Hardeman, October 20, 1844, Glen Harde man Papers.
A John Locke Hardeman Sketch of the Movable Fence
^j^*******^ \
g^ '.'JC+U> • /4 Af.r^f*^ (/*- *~ ^£ Portrait of a Western Farmer 331 years later he patented a hemp breaker, "which proved very suc cessful and much reduced the severe labor of breaking hemp."49 Another of his inventions was a hemp cutter or mowing reaper which was apparently adaptable to grain crops as well. This machine was placed on exhibit at fairs, and according to one account, was copied and patented by Cyrus McCormick.50 At the time of his death, Hardeman had plans for reducing the production costs of, and simplifying both the hemp breaker and reaper.51 Napton noted that Locke conducted many experiments which benefited himself and his neighbors. Another of his contraptions was a movable fence which was called "an ingenious, simple, cheap, and useful invention, and very valuable to livestock raisers."52 If, overall, the recurrent seasons brought steady growth and prosperity to the Hardeman estate, they were accompanied by an occasional deviation one way or the other in the line of progress and tranquility. A severe storm in the summer of 1845 damaged the crops and killed one of Locke's "likeliest negro men" under a fallen tree.53 The burst of western migration during the 1840s and early 1850s quickened the economic pace of the area, as there was much movement of pioneer farmers, soldiers and argonauts through and in the general vicinity of Saline. Not all that accompanied the passage of the frontiersmen was welcomed, however. "The Cali- fornians," Hardeman noted, "have been detained on account of cholera, which is now making havoc in our midst."54 Rural dwellers avoided the towns. About fifty people died of the dreaded disease in Saline County. The growing season of 1854 brought to Central Missouri a drought which was ruinous to crops. The occasional bolts of adversity did not prevent Locke Harde man from building a "handsome fortune" from his plantation.55 He found time for seven years and perhaps longer to manage Ardmore, the Saline County hog farm of his friend, Judge Nathaniel B. Tucker, who had returned to his native Virginia to become a professor at William and Mary College.56
49 Napton, Past and Present of Saline County, 343. 50 Thomas Claiborne Rainey, Along the Old Trail (Marshall, Mo., 1914), 91. 51 Obituary of J. Locke Hardeman, Glen O. Hardeman Scrapbook, Glen Hardeman Papers. 52 ibid. 53 j. Locke Hardeman to Nathaniel B. Tucker, July 15, 1845, John Locke Hardeman Letters. 54 ibid., June 13, 1849. 55 Obituary of J. Locke Hardeman, Glen O. Hardeman Scrapbook, Glen Hardeman Papers. 56 J. Locke Hardeman to Nathaniel B. Tucker, 1843-1844, four letters, copies 332 Missouri Historical Review
Success did not bring all the satisfaction which Locke may have expected. He had a share of the restlessness, the urge to travel, which was so much a part of his frontiering relatives, al though, as noted, it was tempered with caution. There were occa sional trips to St. Louis and Tennessee. Despite his bad experience during the depression years in Mississippi, he felt a desire to return to the South. "My nearly 1800 acres are as shackles about my feet. I cannot shake them off," he wrote to Judge Tucker.57 No doubt he felt some twinges of wanderlust when the argonauts flitted past. His half-brother Glen gave up the beginnings of a medical practice in Saline County and headed for the gold country, first (and unsuccessfully), via the Santa Fe Trail, then by way of the Isthmus of Panama and San Francisco. Still, Locke's caution im pelled him to criticize his brother's folly rather than to join the westward moving tide.58 Perhaps a key to the bachelor's unease can be found in his observation, "Had I but 'the other half' to make my home pleasant I would not wish to ramble."59 "What I feel for you, it will be impossible for you to know until you shall become a father," John Hardeman penned to his son just before departing for his last trip, the ill-fated trading venture to Santa Fe in 1828.60 Locke would never become a father, although he looked after the interests of his younger siblings, Glen and his half-sister Leona, with all the attention of a devoted parent. He managed Glen's Saline County affairs during the many years of the latter's absence, offered advice and counsel, supported him through his early education and medical school, and, on one occa sion sent $400 for the purchase of Glen's medical equipment.61 But concerning matrimony, Locke, ever the cautious one, surveyed the field, expressed frequent interests, and remained a lifelong bachelor. Enroute to Mississippi from Central Missouri in early 1839, of which were provided by Dr. Thomas B. Hall, Kansas City, Mo.; J. Locke Hardeman to Nathaniel B. Tucker, 1843-1850, sixteen letters, John Locke Harde man Letters. 57 j. Locke Hardeman to Nathaniel B. Tucker, August 8, 1847, John Locke Hardeman Letters. 58 Nicholas P. Hardeman, "Sketches of Dr. Glen Owen Hardeman- California Gold Rush Physician," California Historical Society Quarterly, XLVII (March, 1968), 41-71. 59 j. Locke Hardeman to Nathaniel B. Tucker, August 8. 1847, John Locke Hardeman Letters. 60 John Hardeman to J. Locke Hardeman, May 3, 1828, Glen Hardeman Papers. 61 J. Locke Hardeman to Glen O. Hardeman, January 25, 1841, March 2, 1845, February 16, 1848, and October 10, 1848, Glen Hardeman Papers. Portrait of a Western Farmer 333 without a bride, he evinced his obvious concern to Marmaduke. The second question everyone asked him, he said, was "Are you married?" Showing a trace of irritation over the universal assump tion that he had come to Missouri only for a wife, he noted, "So each one manages my business for me, according to his own taste, in a sort of ex parte way, without giving me any trouble about the matter."62 Two years later, he commented to Glen on his prospects: "I did not wait upon Mis M and you are not likely to have a new sister from that source. Nor from any other very soon."63 Locke seems to have sublimated his affections in feelings of stewardship—a sense of social responsibility—whether in the form of a three hundred dollar loan to his California-bound cousin, White Burnett, or the donating of lands for construction of a school. "A husband to the widow, a father to the orphan," he was called by one of his close associates, "hospitable and benevolent," and a man "who was never known to turn the weary traveler from his door, or refuse assistance to the needy."64 By the early 1850s, Locke Hardeman had formed the economic power base to support a prominent public life. For a number of years, beginning in 1852, he played a leading part in the attempt to bring the Missouri Pacific Railroad through Arrow Rock and Marshall on its line from St. Louis to Kansas City. The county's voters approved a stock subscription of $200,000 to lure the rail road, and Hardeman was appointed by the Saline County Court as agent for the county to handle the railroad affairs. But the Missouri Pacific had decided on a more southerly route through Sedalia,65 avoiding the big bend and the expensive lands along the Missouri River. On July 8, 1853, Hardeman was appointed vice president of the Missouri State Agricultural Society by Gov ernor Sterling Price.66 Three years later, Locke and seven other county leaders raised the funds necessary to establish a newspaper, the Saline County Herald, which lasted for a number of years.67 62 ]. I.orke Hardeman to M. M. Marmaduke, January 31, 1839, Sappington Ma nu scripts. 6'i J. Locke Hardeman to Glen O. Hardeman, January 25, 1841, Glen Harde man Papers. 64 Ibid.. August 26, 1841; J. H. Cordell to Glen O. Hardeman, December 19, 1858, Glen Hardeman Papers; Saline County, Mo., Deed Record Book R, 118- 119, Saline County Courthouse, Marshall. 65 Napton. Past and Present of Saline County. 134-135. Saline County did not suffer undulv from this loss, since it had excellent river transportation. «« Statement' bv Governor Sterling Price to J. Locke Hardeman, July 8, 1853, Glen Hardeman Papers. 67 Napton, Past and Present of Saline County, 296. 334 Missouri Historical Review
In 1854, Hardeman was elected as a Democrat to the office of representative in the Missouri State Legislature. He served a two-year term, but chose not to run again.68 It was seemingly a family trait to dabble in politics, find it distasteful and resign. His father and grandfather had been that route. So had his cousin, Peter Hardeman Burnett, who resigned a year after becoming California's first elected governor. Glen Hardeman would later serve a brief stretch in the Missouri Legislature also, and would soon come to dislike the political game. A burning issue of Central and Western Missouri during Locke Hardeman's legislative term was Kansas and the slavery expansion contest. The Kansas-Nebraska Act had been recently passed when he assumed his seat in the House, and he took a vigorous stand against the abolitionists who were moving into Kansas under the sanction of popular sovereignty. "Take away the slave products of the nation, and we are commercially poor," he argued. If Kansas be settled by Abolitionists, can Missouri remain a slave state? ... It is impossible to abolish slavery and save the Union; and both the North and South must suffer unheard-of evils in the contest. With the fall of Union will be heard the knell of liberty; and the experiment of republican government will be proven to be a failure. Locke favored populating Kansas with those of slaveholding sympa thies, spuriously if necessary, to thwart abolitionist dominance in Kansas. Shall we like babes cry for kindness, sympathy, and pro tection of the devouring tiger that knows no mercy, as we who have appealed to violated laws before those who know no legal restraints? Or shall we, like men who know their rights, and knowing dare to maintain them,' meet the foemen upon their own ground and outposts, dispute every inch of the way, and if necessary raze their fortifica tions to the ground? . . . The only question then is, Have we peace or war? For war obliterates all treaties and obligations between belligerents. I think that war does exist. . . .63 It was a tragedy of both the men and the times that most slaveholders saw no inconsistency between such bold words in
68 Obituary of J. Locke Hardeman, Glen O. Hardeman Scrapbook, Glen Hardeman Papers. 69 J. Locke Hardeman to George R. Smith, June 10, 1855, in Samuel Ban nister Harding, Life of George R. Smith, Founder of Sedalia, Missouri (Sedalia, Mo., 1904), 220-224. defense of rights on the one hand, and acts which deprived men and women of their freedoms on the other. Where would Locke stand when strong debate gave way to open civil war? Would he suit action to his words and fight for the cause of the South? Or perhaps he would share the sentiments of his brother, Glen, who would free his many slaves and take up arms for the Union.70 On August 1, 1858, Ar row Rock Masonic Lodge number 55 declared that all Courtesy the Author its members would ob Glen O. Hardeman serve thirty days of mourn ing in memory of a fallen brother. John Locke Hardeman, at 49, had been spared the fateful decisions of the Union.71 On July 31, four days past his birthday, he succumbed to a short illness. His agrarian inventive genius, his role as a public servant and bene factor, perhaps in their prime, were cut short. Soon the peaceful acres of his Lo Mismo would resound under hoofs of bushwhackers' steeds galloping through the night. Soon, too, his brother would depart the hate-infested border area for a more tranquil post-war atmosphere, and only a tombstone at Arrow Rock Cemetery and a tiny nearby village would remain in Saline County to honor the name of John Locke Hardeman.
TO Nicholas P. Hardeman, "Bushwhacker Activity on the Missouri Border: Letters to Dr. Glen O. Hardeman, 1862-1865," MISSOURI HISTORICAL REVIEW, LVIII (April, 1964), 267. 71 Statement of Arrow Rock Lodge No. 55, AFA Masons, in memory of J. Locke Hardeman, August 1, 1858, Glen Hardeman Papers.
The Sliding Telephone Knobnoster Will. Carr's Gem, September 7, 1882. A sliding telephone is the latest. It is a movable telephone that can be run up or down to any floor of a large building, so that a person on one story who is wanted at the telephone need not come down or go up to another floor, but can pull the instrument up or down as is required. Conservation of a Bingham Portrait
BY SIDNEY LARSON*
The State Historical Society's portrait of John Locke Harde man, painted in 1855-1856, was one of at least 1,000 portraits by George Caleb Bingham. Bingham paintings (most a century or more old) suggest probabilities of a great and romantic range of stories and experiences about the subjects in the paintings, their various owners and the circumstances controlling the fate of the canvases. An individual examining one of the portraits often finds a fascinating assortment of clues from which he can deduce considerable and valuable evidence unfolding dramatic chapters in the life story of the painting. The Hardeman portrait would undoubtedly lend itself to such delightful flights of romanticising. However, in conservation, the conservator must refrain from speculation and devote himself to the art and specialized science of a discipline including both preserva tion and under some circumstances restoration. Preservation deals with the process of preventing future decay or injury by methods designed to keep the picture in the condition most like that prevail ing at the time it was completed. This deals with such considerations as framing, protective varnishes, location and type of display and storage, and even temperature and humidity control. Restoration is concerned with controlled repairs after damage has occurred. It is respectfully applied by a variety of methods and devices,
*Sidney Larson received his A.B. and M.A. degrees from the University of Missouri-Columbia. A former Huntington Hartford Fellow, Larson is pres ently the director of Art at Columbia College, Columbia, Missouri, and art curator for the State Historical Society of Missouri. 336 Conservation of a Bingham Portrait 337
Reverse of Painting, Prior to Conservation equipment and chemicals calculated to return the painting to an acceptable condition as close as possible to the state of the artist's finished work. Considerations for the work to be done on the Hardeman portrait were preceded by careful examination. Tears, abrasions and an obscuring blanket of grimy varnish were immediately ap parent. Numerous small old paint spots were probably caused by careless frame gilding and accidental spraying of paint near the unprotected area. Notes and photographs were taken before the cleaning of surface dirt and varnish. These procedures were also repeated during other stages of the conservation process. The frame, back of the painting, wooden stretchers, trademark of canvas manufacturer, owners' and exhibitors' notations supplied useful information, not only as indications for procedures but to preserve valuable historical data for future scholarship and au thentication. The wooden stretcher strips were sound and free 338 Missouri Historical Review
of insects. They revealed a number of holes caused by several removals of the painting from its frame. The upper right reverse and lower left reverse of the canvas bore the stencil of J. S. Pore, the St. Louis canvas maker. A wooden triangular stretcher key (peg) and a nail had fallen between the reverse of the canvas and the inside of the stretcher strip causing a forward distortion of the lower edge of the canvas face. Over a century of accumulated debris of dust, vermin droppings and dried insects also contributed to a forward pushing at the lower edge of the painting. In addition, the canvas was loose and sagging. Continued careful examination indicated a number of other problems. A small sample of the wrap-around edge of the canvas revealed it to be extremely fragile to the degree that the sample was quickly reduced to linen powder by gently rolling between thumb and index finger. Many of the several tears and punctures had been taped over. Seven pieces of adhesive tape remained. Sixteen patches of adhesive discoloration as well as water stains were also evident. The paint surface showed considerable scaling with substantial losses. Some paint losses had been previously retouched. There was a variety of loss and paint wearing at the edges and surrounding holes and tears. Further examination with ultra-violet fluorescence revealed additional retouching. Previous overcleaning and varnish skinning had become evident early in the procedure. The two horizontal tears approximately six inches in length through the face, background, costume and neck had curled inward. Edges of these tears were powdering. Superficial scratches and deeper incised areas were observed in several loca tions. Treatment of all these ailments could not commence without a critical and careful assessment of whether required and safe pro cedures could be accomplished within the boundaries of the con servator's self-imposed limitations; these are: recognizing previous experience, competence in specific treatment and available studio laboratory facilities. Horrendous as the condition of the painting appeared, it was not atypical of the sad state of many other Bingham works before conservation. After the careful removal of surface dirt from both sides of the canvas, loose flaking paint was temporarily consolidated by the fixing of the larger flakes by spatula applied, wax-resin adhesive. Then a removable sheet of selected paper was applied to the paint surface, with a gently applied water-soluble paste. Appearance of Hardeman Portrait Prior to Conservation 340 Missouri Historical Review
A new linen lining was prepared for adhesion to the brittle and fragile portrait. This lining process was accomplished by care fully applying a hot wax-resin to the back of the portrait, the front side of the new stretched linen, and by controlled melting of the adhesive to force it through the old canvas and into the ground, or bottom layer of the painting. The process provided permeation of the original canvas and locked it to the new lining. This im pregnation further fixed the loose paint, permitting the removal of the paper from the paint surface after lining. Cleaning of the painting proceeded only after all loose particles of paint had been consolidated. The hazards involved in cleaning are numerous and cannot be overly stressed. The flaying and mutilation of valuable paintings through ignorance, inexperience, improper agents, friction, haste and a veritable Pandora's box of other hazards, makes cleaning one of the most difficult and im portant jobs in conservation. The conservator must know methods of distinguishing dirt, stained varnish and other additions to the painting from that which belongs and must be left intact. He must use "safe" solvents and mixtures of them resulting from previous testing of as many areas of the painting as there are possibilities for the artist to have changed techniques. The conservator must be agonizingly alert to the slightest evidence suggesting that the paint ing is not reacting uniformly throughout the cleaning. Since every painting reacts differently, the major risk in most instances is from overcleaning or unwarranted procedures. To touch all of the bases in this delicate undertaking, the con servator is aided by a variety of clues gleaned from examining existing records of the painting, knowledge of the artist's technique and style, study of the painting in various kinds of light and under magnifications. He must recognize possible additions by the artist and differentiate between these and retouching by others. When he rolls a solvent-damp cotton swab across the painting's surface, his experience includes receptiveness to the tactile differences be tween hard varnish, tacky softening varnish and the clean paint surface. He must consider the propensity which varnishes have for powdering and have the skill to distinguish and contend with the difference between delicate and vulnerable soft resin glazes applied by the artist and the surface varnish which he is peeling away. The conservator's ethics and conscience should restrain him from applying potentially harmful cosmetic additions to the original work. Devarnishing of the Har deman portrait revealed the anticipated previous skinning of several more transparent areas and dramatized the tears and losses. Each of these tears had been consolidated and since the quantity of lost canvas did not warrant a plug of matching linen (in serted cut thread to cut thread), the empty space was filled with a picture putty, primed with a ground of gesso and in- painted to the level of the surrounding surface. The temptation to cosmetically overkill in retouching mi A Section of Another Bingham Portrait, nor cracking was re Before and After Devarnishing strained. Finally, easily re movable water-clear protective varnish was sprayed on the painting and records were completed. Once again the luminous vitality of Bingham's nineteenth- century portrait of John Locke Hardeman was present, as evidenced by the color reproduction introducing Nicholas Hardeman's bio graphical study. The intrinsic appeal and power that Bingham was so capable of achieving, is now conserved and available for study and pleasure.
A Matter of Business Independence Jackson Examiner, April 14, 1905. There is a woman not many miles from Independence who may make a record for careful financiering. Not long since she was making cookies. A neighbor stepped in and the cookies looked so good she expressed a strong desire to try them. The lady handed her neighbor two of the delicious cookies and the neighbor thanked her, praised the cakes and considered the incident closed. But it was not. The next morning a little boy called. "Please mam here are ten of ma's cookies. She says you got two yesterday and that makes a dozen and for me to collect 10 cents." St. Louis in 1854
The Nature of an Immigrant Community: St. Louis Germans, 1850-1920
BY SISTER AUDREY OLSON*
The assimilation of German immigrants and their impact on the formation of American cities are of particular interest to Mid- westerners, since the ethnic group settled in the German triangle of Milwaukee, St. Louis and Cincinnati in increasing numbers from the 1830s to the mid-1880s. Works that have studied the assimila tion process of the Germans into the host society have been centered around their unfortunate experience during World War I. Carl Wittke emphasized the retardation of the assimilation process through the persecution of the Germans during the war;1 John Hawgood viewed their resistance to Americanization as the tragedy of the community, and World War I as the hyphen-breaking event;2 and Guido Dobbert proposed that the community was disintegrating
#Sister Audrey L. Olson is an assistant professor of History at Avila College in Kansas City, Missouri. She received the B.A. degree from Loretto Heights College in Denver, Colorado, the M.A. degree from St. Louis University and the Ph.D. degree from the University of Kansas, Lawrence. 1 Carl Wittke, German-Americans and the World War (Columbus, Ohio 1936). 2 John Hawgood, The Tragedy of German-Americans (New York, 1940). 342 The Nature of an Immigrant Community 343
from within, as the upper classes abandoned it, before it was bombarded with the external pressures of the war and prohibition.3 These studies are based on the predication that in large urban areas an ethnic community lived in a residential ghetto and was bound together by ties of language, customs and culture. In com paring the experience of the St. Louis Germans with that of the group in other cities, one important factor needs clarification—if the ethnic group settled in St. Louis, what was the nature of the community they formed? Is a clarification of the meaning of German ethnic community as it existed in St. Louis a prerequisite for the study of the assimilation of the group into the host society? Did their type of community facilitate or hinder the transition from one group to the other? The lack of the image of St. Louis as a German city today, and the emphasis placed on its French beginnings leads to the conclusion that these questions need answering. Lured by the romantic literature of the famous lawyer-doctor Gottfried Duden, who spent two and one-half years in this Missouri "paradise" above the Femme Osage River, thousands of Germans began pouring into the state in the 1830s.4 By 1850 nearly one out of every three St. Louisans had been born in Germany.5 A heteroge neous group of people from almost every German state and munici pality and embracing every economic and social class comprised the immigrant group in St. Louis in the antebellum period. After the Civil War, German immigration again increased yearly until it reached its final peak in 1882. Germans came in such numbers to St. Louis that they and their children might have formed a large, powerful community with potential to "Germanize" the city they
3 Guido Dobbert, "The Disintegration of An Immigrant Community: The Cincinnati Germans, 1870-1920" (unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of Chicago, 1965). 4 In March 1827, Duden leased his farm, returned to Germany, edited his letters and published them in book form in 1829. Report on a Trip to the Western States of North America . . . went through three editions and provided the impetus for Germans of various economic and social classes to emigrate to the state of Missouri. See also, William G. Bek, trans, and ed., "Gottfried Duden's 'Report,' 1824-1827," MISSOURI HISTORICAL REVIEW, XII-XIII (January, 1918-January, 1919). 5 The federal census for 1880 gives a resume of the history of St. Louis. For the official census returns of 1850, the resume indicates that 23,774 people were born in Germany, an increase of 1,203 from the figures in the 1850 census. My own tabulation taken from the manuscript census returns for 1850 is 23,954 German-born, a difference of 180 from the tabulation given in 1880, or .76 percent. The total population of the city in 1850 was 77,860. Report on the Social Statistics of Cities, The Southern and the Western States, 1880 (Washing ton, D.C., 1887), Part II, 576; Statistical View of the United States, a Com pendium of the Seventh Census, 1850 (Washington, D.C., 1854), Table III, 399; Manuscript Census Enumeration, St. Louis, 1850. 344 Missouri Historical Review
Arrival of Emigrants in St. Louis, During the 1870s Street Vendors in St. Louis, During the 1870s The Nature of an Immigrant Community 345 were helping to shape. That this did not happen can be attributed to their heterogeneity and to the nature of the community that they formed. From the very beginning of German settlement in the city, the group did not live together in one geographical area as it did in Cincinnati and Milwaukee.6 There were factors in St. Louis that militated against one enormous "Over the Rhine" area. Since St. Louis was spread out along the Mississippi River, and since the German immigrants came in the early 1830s in such large numbers to a town of only 6,694 inhabitants, they established themselves in neighborhoods up and down the river front. The majority of them were not destitute as were most of the Irish who had settled in shacks on the outskirts of the city.7 Additionally, in St. Louis, as in other large cities in the days before street railways, it was very difficult to travel from one section of the city to the other. Moreover, most of the time the sections were isolated from one another.8 By 1850 the German line of settlement was clearly visible in the six wards of the city. The first ward, extending from Arsenal Street on the south to Chouteau was 64.6 percent German-born; the second, extending about eight blocks from Chouteau north to Clark, was 30.6 percent German-born; the third and fourth wards from Clark to Olive and from Olive to Morgan were the central city wards, populated for the most part by native Americans. In these wards German-born constituted 14.3 percent and 12.3 percent respectively. Ward five extended from Morgan to Biddle Street and Carr, and ward six from Biddle and Carr to Dock Street. In these two northern wards the German immigrants were 31.5 percent and 31.9 percent of the total population. These percentages show that about 3,500 more German-born lived in the two southern wards
6 The data for the statistical study of the residential patterns of the Ger man immigrants was derived from an exhaustive tabulation of the Manuscript Census Returns for the city of St. Louis in 1850 and 1880 and the Thirteenth Census of the United States, Taken in the Year 1910, Population, Alabama- Montana (Washington, D.C., 1913), Vol. II, Table I, 1084; Table XII, 1098; Table V, 1128. 7 This area of settlement was known as Kerry Patch and by 1850 was part of St. Louis. 8 Even after the advent of the street railway system, north-south connections were very poor until the mid-1880s when the Jefferson Avenue Railway Com pany began service on that street. Ernest D. Kargau, St. Louis in Friiheren Jahren (St. Louis, 1893) , 51, 171, states that if a German in South St. Louis wanted to visit a friend in North St. Louis, it was an all-day trip. In fact, if he only planned to go from his home in the northern or southern part of the city to the downtown district it might well take the better part of the day, especially if he stopped in at the many saloons on the way. 346 Missouri Historical Review than in the two northern sections. That some of these Germans were already making their mark in the growing city is ascertained by the fact that in the central wards, three and four, one hundred and eighteen Germans owned an average of $7,045 worth of real estate, thirty of their number declaring above the $5,000 level.9 Just north of the 1850 city limits lay the little town of New Bremen. This section was annexed to St. Louis in 1856, thus adding a new cluster of Germans to the city. Outside of the northern boundary and not incorporated as part of the city until 1876, when the city was separated from the county, was the German town of Baden. The 1876 extension of the city also added German truck and dairy farmers to the number of German-born inhabitants. Data derived from the study of the census enumerations dem onstrate the following significant facts: the German-Americans, spread over wide areas of the city with concentrations in sections in the northern and southern parts of the city, never formed one homogeneous community; many other nationalities and native Americans lived in so-called German areas interspersed with their German neighbors;10 intermarriage was occurring at greater fre quency; and the Germans experienced the same mobility rates and residential patterns as the native Americans and other nationalities as they moved in straight lines to the west and then into the county, or spread out to the south to fill in the portions of the city between St. Louis and Carondelet. The absence of physical cohesiveness plus the animosities fre quently displayed between the Germans of North and South St. Louis lessened the ties of ethnic self-consciousness.11 There were, nevertheless, other ties that did not rely on geographical together ness that could bind a people in primary relationships and retard their assimilation into the host society. Religion, political affiliation,
9 Manuscript Census Enumeration, 1850. io The Germans seemed to live on friendly terms with their neighbors, especially when they were interested in encouraging them to attend their fund- raising events. See, St. Louis Republican, September 5, 1870; St. Louis Post-Dis patch, October 11, 1887; St. Louis Westliche Post, October 26-31, 1915. ii Kargau, In Fruheren Jahren, 49-50, tried to explain the animosities by the fact that the Plattdeutsch, those from the northern section of Germany, settled in North St. Louis, and the Hochdeutsch, or those from Southern Ger many, settled in South St. Louis. However, the 1880 manuscript census reveals that there were inhabitants of all states of Germany in all sections of the city, with some clustering of low and high Germans in both North and South St. Louis. A more probable explanation of the rise of jealousies and animosities between the two sections was the lack of communication and poor transportation between the northern and southern parts of the city. The Nature of an Immigrant Community 347 reliance on the mother tongue and membership in social groups were possible modes of expression of ethnicity. Religious and political affiliation among the Germans, unlike that of the Irish, tended to add to the divisiveness of the group. Religions included Roman Catholics, German Evangelical Lu therans, German Evangelicals and German branches of the Meth odists, Presbyterians and Baptists. Of these groups, the first three were the largest, with the German Evangelicals doctrinally the most liberal of the three. Large numbers of German Jews also had settled in the city, along with groups of anticlericals who had fled from their homelands after the revolutions of 1848. Religion as a divisive factor was most apparent in the political allegiance of the Germans. Until the formation of the Republican party, most of the German immigrants were staunch Democrats. Searching for adherents in St. Louis, the new Republican party recognized in the German liberals a natural ally. Filled with zeal for the ideals of freedom, the 'Forty-Eighters, frustrated in their hopes for the fatherland, were groping for a political vehicle in which they could adequately express their antislavery sentiments. After the 1860 convention in Chicago, when the Republicans in corporated several "Dutch planks" into the party's platform, the party began to woo the German element in earnest.12 There is no way of knowing how many Germans turned Republican, or how many joined the party because of the slavery issue, or because of the presence of the antinativistic "Dutch planks," or because of the part the Germans played in saving St. Louis and Missouri for the Union in the early days of the Civil War.18 St. Louis was a Republican island in a Democratic state, and it was the large number of Germans who adhered to the party that was responsible for this fact. However, the existence of the Demo cratic German language newspaper, Amerika, other references to the German Democrats and the presence of a German socialist
12 Among the appealing parts of the platform were the inclusion of a home stead law and equal rights for foreign-born citizens. 13 There are many accounts of the part played by the St. Louis Germans in the capture of Camp Jackson. See, Galusha Anderson, The Story of a Border City during the Civil War (Boston, 1908) , 85-115; Virgil C. Blum, "The Political and Military Activities of the German Element in St. Louis, 1859-1861," MIS SOURI HISTORICAL REVIEW, XLII (January, 1948), 103-129; Alexander C. Niven, "The Role of German Volunteers in St. Louis, 1861," American-German Review, XXVIII (February-March, 1962) , 29-30; Friedrich Schnake, "Der Ausbruch des Biirgerkrieges in Missouri," Der Deutsche Pionier, XI (March, 1879) , 29-32; XII (March, 1880), 17-21. group, indicate that there was never a solid bloc vote delivered by party bosses to the Republicans on election day.14 Religion played a decisive role in the political division that existed. The majority of the Catholics and conservative Lutherans of the Mis souri Synod would not join a party that harbored their worst ma- ligners. To join the Republican party was tantamount to joining forces with the devil.15 Even though religious tensions gradually wore thin and died away with the German Politician, Carl Schurz passage of time, and economic status began to play a larger role in the choice of political adherence, the Germans never became united in one political party during the period under study.16 A third element, the use of the mother tongue and anxious concern for its preservation had been an expression of ethnic self- consciousness among immigrant groups in the United States. The Germans, where they settled in large numbers in urban areas, tried to introduce classes held in German into the public school
14 Although the Socialist party was never very strong in St. Louis and was frequently plagued with factional disputes, it ran candidates in the state and local elections and what strength it carried came mainly from German wards in South St. Louis. See, David T. Burbank, "The First International in St. Louis," Bulletin of the Missouri Historical Society, XVIII (January, 1962) , 163-172; David T. Burbank, Reign of the Rabble (New York. 1966) , studies the general strike of 1877 when St. Louis came close to being ruled by a Socialist workers' soviet. 15 The anticlerical Torty-Eighters frequently displayed their animosity to ward the Germans who belonged to an organized religion. In the 1850s they even made an uneasy alliance with the Know-Nothings whom they backed in the city election of 1855 and the national elections of the following year. "Edi torial," Central-Blatt and Social Justice, XXIX (September, 1936), 167; William Hyde and Howard L. Conard, eds., Encyclopedia of the History of St. Louis (St. Louis, 1899) , II, 700; John E. Rothensteiner, History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis (St. Louis, 1928) , II, 566-567. 16 Many of the affluent Germans lived in wards thirteen and fourteen in South St. Louis in the vicinity of Tower Grove Park. In the period, 1900-1920, many of them classed themselves as independents. The voting record in wards thirteen and fourteen indicate that the balloting was neither consistently Re publican nor Democrat. Official Manuals of the State of Missouri, 1901-1921; Merle Fainsod, "The Influence of Racial and National Groups in St. Louis Politics, 1908-1928" (unpublished Masters' Thesis, Washington University, St. Louis, 1929) . The Nature of an Immigrant Community 349 systems. Their experience in St. Louis differed from that of Cincin nati, Ohio, and in the long run, aided the assimilation of the group. In Cincinnati and in other cities that adopted the program, one half of the day the lessons were taught in the English language and the other half in German. This system tended to segregate the chil dren who attended the German schools from their peers in the English-speaking schools.17 In St. Louis, however, a different system was arranged. In 1864, twenty-seven years after the first request to the school board by the Germans, the inclusion of a German class became a reality in the public school system.18 This class consisted of one lesson a day in the reading, writing and speaking of German. Many children from English-speaking homes also availed themselves of the opportunity to learn German. By 1878, 20,428 students of a total of 48,836 were enrolled in the classes, with 5,005 of this number from non-German backgrounds.19 This system which allowed German and native Americans to attend the same schools tended to accelerate the assimilation of the group. The limited number of years that German was a part of the curriculum was a further aid to the assimilation of the German immigrants. The St. Louis deutsche Frau had passed from the scene long before World War I when she was evicted from the schools in other cities. The final struggle over the problem occurred in 1887 when the proverbial dispute over the means to eliminate the deficit in the school board expenditures found voice in the election plat forms of that year. On Tuesday, November 22, the voters of St. Louis were to elect seven school board directors-at-large and a school board committeeman from each of the fourteen districts of the city. On one side, members of the Republican party, who were running on the so-called Turner Hall platform, espoused the re tention of the German course in the elementary schools.20 Opposing them were members of the Democratic party and those Republicans
17 Hyde and Conard, Encyclopedia of St. Louis, IV, 2015-2016. 18 In 1837, before the first public school had opened its doors, the school board was memorialized by Germans in the city to include the study of the German language as part of the curriculum. The board replied that it was impossible as the state school law prohibited the establishment of any schools except such as taught only the English language. "Schools," Scrapbook, Missouri Historical Society, St. Louis, II, 12-13; John Thomas Scharf, History of Saint Louis City and County (Philadelphia, 1883), II 861. 19 Eleventh Annual Report of the Board of Directors of the Saint Louis Public Schools for the Year Ending August 1, 1865 (St. Louis, 1865) , 6, 26; Hyde and Conard, Encyclopedia of St. Louis, IV, 2015. 20 The name Turner platform was derived from the German Central Turner Hall where the party held its meetings. 350 Missouri Historical Review
The Westliche Post Building, corner Fifth and Market streets, housed one of the St. Louis German newspapers.
who were not in sympathy with the Turner platform. Entitling them selves the Citizens' party, they based their campaign on the neces sity of eliminating the teaching of German for financial reasons. The Turner Hall ballot was dominated by German names, while the Citizens' ticket had no German surnames on its roster. When the results of the election were tabulated, the Citizens' ticket had won all of the directors-at-large and ten of the fourteen district committeemen. A glance at the voting record in this fateful election indicates that only about 20 percent of the potential voters cast ballots. Voting was light in all of the districts, even in district eight where the Democrats had a strong political machine. The Turner platform won overwhelmingly in the three districts where both wards in the districts were predominately German. In five districts where one of the two wards was German, the Turners lost by large majorities.21 It can be inferred from the election results that the majority of the electorate was apathetic toward the election, and in spite of the propaganda in the English and German press, the Germans
21 St. Louis Republican, November 23, 1887; St. Louis Post-Dispatch, No vember 23, 1887. The Nature of an Immigrant Community 351 were not sufficiently united on this issue to make it a "do or die" election. One aspect that influenced the voting was the fact that many German-Americans belonged to the Democratic party and would not vote for the disguised Republican ticket. A second aspect that may have appealed to many conservative German voters was the chance to save money and avoid a tax increase. Finally, men whose children attended church-related schools and would not be affected by the school board's decision, may not have concerned themselves about voting. The St. Louis Republican commented that the German St. Louisans had decided the vote. The editorialist gloated that "the majority for it, of between 5,000 and 6,000 is largely the result of the intelligent balloting of German-speaking citizens."22 With every economic and social class represented, residence in many sections of the city, diversification in religion and po litical affiliation, and elimination of the German language from the public school curriculum, the assimilation of the group into the host society was more readily facilitated. In searching further for ties that bound the ethnic group together one more facet must be considered—the cohesive nature of social affiliation in clubs and organizations. A powerful force in the life of any group of Americans is their propensity to band together in organizations of all types. In this respect, St. Louis was comparable to the rest of the nation's cities. The city directories, in the late nineteenth and early twentieth cen turies, listed numerous lodges, unions, business and professional or ganizations, and recreational clubs to which the citizens of the city belonged. Immigrants in the United States, taking advantage of the hospitable climate for the establishment of organizations, also formed church groups, benevolent aid societies and a host of social clubs, that afforded them aid and security within their ethnic group.23 The Germans, however, seemed to surpass every other nationality in the number and variety of societies they formed. In St. Louis, the Germans followed the pattern. Scores of vereine, or societies, were formed to cover every interest; it seemed that any-
22 St. Louis Republican, November 24, 1887. 23 See, Oscar Handlin, The Uprooted (Boston, 1952), 170-200; Donald B. Cole, Immigrant City: Lawrence, Massachusetts, 1845-1921 (Chapel Hill, 1963), 138-152; Robert Ernst, Immigrant Life in New York City, 1825-1863 (New York, 1949) , 122-134; Oscar Handlin, Boston's Immigrants, 1790-1865 (Cambridge, 1941), 160-161. 352 Missouri Historical Review where there were at least three Germans they formed a society. In the pre-World War I years, there were over three hundred different German societies in the city exclusive of church-related groups.24 If anything can be called a cohesive factor among the German element, it was this proliferation of societies that reflected a bond of cultural unity. On the other hand, the great numbers and diversity of the organizations were factors pulling in the opposite direction, so that when this verein way of life was threatened by dissension from within and prohibition from without, the societies were not strong enough to resist the disintegrating forces. German vereine, there fore, were both divisive and cohesive—divisive by virtue of their varieties and numbers, and cohesive by reason of the fact that they were carriers of gemutlichkeit, an untranslatable term connoting conviviality, camaraderie and good fellowship, love of celebrations, card playing, praise of this so-called German way of life, and all of these washed over by flowing kegs of good lager beer. Societies existed that appealed to every social and economic class. The lower and lower-middle classes of trades and craftsmen and skilled and semi-skilled workers were leaders in the various singing societies, Turnverein, benevolent aid groups, military so cieties, German branches of labor unions and provincial vereine.
24 Deutscher Vereine Almanach (St. Louis, 1910-1911).
Sunday Night at a German Beer Garden, in the 1870s The Nature of an Immigrant Community 353
The upper-middle and upper classes belonged to the Liederkranz club, the Turnverein, entertainment clubs such as the Sharpshooters and Skat clubs, the German-American National Alliance, the cul tural and intellectual vereine, and the boards for the orphans' homes and the Altenheim.25 The club that appealed to most of the upper class Germans was the Liederkranz, organized in 1870 as a singing society. Since about 1880 it had broadened its scope and was considered the most exclusive social club among the German- Americans. Its new three-story club house, erected in 1907, was built in South St. Louis on Grand and Magnolia, an area of rapid population expansion where well-to-do Germans were moving in increasing numbers.26 This maze of German societies was the vehicle for any com munity effort on the part of the German group whether it was to collect funds for the widows and orphans of Germany or to fight prohibition. It was only when the clubs united to sponsor picnics, parades and bazaars, however, that the German people responded to requests for money; any other appeals met with little or no success.27 If sociologist Milton Gordon's theory of structural assimilation, i.e., the large scale entrance of a group into the cliques, clubs and institutions of the host society as the keystone to the whole assimila tion process, is applied to the Germans, then their verein way of life that gave outward expression to German ethnicity facilitated their entrance into American society.28 Data compiled from a study of a sampling of the upper class elite German-Americans and their posi tion in the German community and in the host society in the pre war period indicates that they felt at home in both societies and passed from the one to the other with relative ease.29 25 The economic level of the various vereine was established by categorizing the occupations of the officials of the societies. The Deutscher Vereine Almanach lists the officers of the organizations, and John W. Leonard, ed., The Book of St. Louisans (St. Louis, 1906 & 1912) and the City Directories, 1910-1914, list occu pations. 26 The Liederkranz was the only German society whose members were listed in Gould's St. Louis Blue Book and Red-Blue Book. 27 St. Louis Westliche Post tried to encourage donations to worthy causes by printing in the daily paper the donor's name and the amount given. See, Westliche Post, June, July, August, 1870; October, November, December, 1914; January, 1915; November 24, 1915; January 13, 1916; October 27, 1916. 28 Milton Gordon, Assimilation in American Life, The Role of Race, Re ligion, and National Origins (New York, 1964) . 29 The data was compiled from The Book of St. Louisans, 1906 & 1912; Gould's St. Louis Blue Book, 1910-1914; The Red-Blue Book, 1918-1920; City Di rectories, 1910-1914; the city of St. Louis, City Tax Returns, 1914, Books 1-52; and numerous scrapbooks and card files of biographical material in the library of the Missouri Historical Society. 354 Missouri Historical Review
Of the sample of three hundred and thirty-five elite of German birth, fifty-one were German Jews who, although born in Germany, had never been associated with the German element or its societies in St. Louis. They belonged to the Jewish country club, other busi ness and social clubs of the city, and were members of boards of a number of Jewish-sponsored charities. In the pre-World War I period, they were concerned with the problems of integrating the large influx of Eastern European Jews who had settled in St. Louis. The remaining two hundred and eighty-four men can be divided into four categories according to whether or not they be longed to German clubs in the city. One group of forty-seven did not hold membership in any society, either American or German; the second group of fifty-five men belonged exclusively to Ameri can organizations; the third group of seventy-two men were mem bers of German vereine only; and the last group of one hundred and ten men held membership in both American and German so cieties. According to this division, a majority of the elite, 64.1 per cent, were involved in the German verein community, while 35.9 percent had abandoned it or had never been interested in its operation. The group of elite who seemed to belong to no organizations at all are the most difficult to analyze with regard to their degree of assimilation. Clues can be found, however, in their business positions, and in other variables. A survey of their business activi ties indicates that they differed very little from those in the other three categories with executive positions in medium and large en terprises predominating. They ranked highest of the four groups both with regard to intermarriage and residence in the older sec tions of the city where they ranked highest in property valued over $10,000. From these facts emerges a composite picture of this group of men. Over half of them were more than sixty years of age. They had prospered, lived in homes in the older section of the city, and were not inclined to move, since only five of the men over sixty changed residence during the 1910-1914 period. This category of elite was assimilated into the business world of St. Louis, but only 12.8 percent lived in the exclusive new W7est End wards near Forest Park and 19.1 percent in the southern wards in the vicinity of the Liederkranz club. Of the four categories, the least is known of this group. The second category, composed of those who belonged to Amer ican clubs exclusively, can be considered the most assimilated of the groups. The other variables give added proof. These men were the most evenly divided in reference to the type of American club to which they belonged. Of their number, 65.4 percent were members of American business or pro fessional clubs and 67.3 percent of the total number belonged to American social clubs. Over a third of them resided in the exclusive West End, and they were the most mobile group with over half of them moving one or more times during Courtesy St. Louis Public Library the pre-war period. Twenty percent had A Prominent St. Louis Ger intermarried. This group of men, born in man Businessman, Adolphus Germany, had attained the greatest de Busch gree of assimilation of the four. Those in the third category who belonged exclusively to Ger man clubs were the least assimilated. Only a small percentage lived in the exclusive West End wards, over half lived in older sections of the city, 40.3 percent resided in the area around the Liederkranz club, and only 12.3 percent had intermarried. Curiously, only 23.6
The Anheuser-Busch St. Louis Power Plant and Brewery, from an Old Postcard
A^HSUSS^auS&H,, ST i~OU3& *»o<*** P^A<*T &n® mmw not**!: 356 Missouri Historical Review
percent of their number were leaders in German Day celebrations in the city or in German fund-raising schemes. The majority of the men in this group seemed to be joiners, but not leaders. All things con sidered this group seems to be the least assimilated of the four. The fourth category, those who belonged to both German and American clubs, best typifies the condition of the wealthy in the process of assimilation and is the most interesting of the four groups to analyze. They belonged to both American business and pro fessional, and American social clubs. Of the number, however, over four-fifths belonged to business and professional clubs and one-half of the total belonged to social organizations. About four-fifths of them were leaders in German celebrations and fund-raising schemes in the city. In location of residence they attained the second highest percentage of the four living in the exclusive West End wards, and the highest living in the well-to-do South St. Louis wards. There are several explanations for their allegiance to both types of societies. In the first place, the nature of the German community created ties that made little or no demands on the members, enabling them to participate at will. A tight ethnic community based on the mother tongue and a ghetto type of residential area would have been so stifling to the German who was progressing up the economic and social ladder that he probably would have moved out and aban doned his ethnic group altogether. As it was, in St. Louis there was no tight, segregated German section. The topography of the city also contributed to the ease of movement. The land rises away from the river in gently ascending ridges. Unlike Cincinnati with its steep hills that tended to isolate the people of one section of the city from another, the gently ascending land was no barrier to the citizens as they moved westward from their original residences. Freedom of movement existed from west to east or from the central part of the city to the north or south. This mobility helps to ex plain why the move of an individual may not have involved the abandonment of his vereine. Considerations of prestige also induced these well-to-do Ger mans to maintain their connections with the German element. The wealthier Germans in St. Louis enjoyed the paternalistic role they played in the German community. These men had the necessary leisure and money to exercise a position of leadership over their less advantaged countrymen. The appearance of their names on the boards of directors for orphans' and old folks' homes also en- The Nature of an Immigrant Community 357
St. Louis Country Club hanced the status of a wealthy class that felt the need—as did elite of other nationalities and in other cities—to exercise a stewardship in behalf of their less fortunate countrymen. Another factor that kept them in contact with the German ethnic group was the existence of and their residential proximity to the Liederkranz club. The whole city recognized it as an elite club, and the grandeur of its entertainments was well known. This club's rise in importance may have been due in part to the fact that the German-Americans were only slowly finding admittance into the St. Louis Country Club. A remnant of the mild nativism
The Liederkranz Club 358 Missouri Historical Review that had plagued the Germans in the city had made them un welcome members of the elite native American club. This antipathy was slowly breaking down; but in 1914, only a few men of German birth belonged to the St. Louis Country Club. Most of the elite German-Americans belonged to the Sunset Hills Country Club, established by Adolphus Busch in a section of the southwest county. Membership in the club, however, was by no means restricted to Germans, and hundreds of other St. Louisans were on the club's roster. Place of residence may also have determined the choice of a country club, since Sunset Hills was readily accessible to the elite South St. Louisans while the St. Louis Country Club was situated in the county, west of the central portion of the city.30 As a bond of unity holding an immigrant community together in an urban setting in the areas west of the Mississippi, verein life was indeed tenuous. The assumption that pleasures enjoyed in the fatherland were sufficient to unify a heterogeneous population in the new homeland formed the basis of its strength. There were fallacies inherent in the assumption. The Germans had never been united in the fatherland. Even after 1870, each state still retained control over its own systems of education, police force, courts, most fiscal matters, and many other agencies, besides retaining a state army of its own. The Germans of St. Louis could hardly be expected to overcome these old divisions especially when the immigrants were not all members of one segment of society, but represented nearly every class, occupation and ideology in the fatherland. The initial heterogeneity further complicated any attempts to foster unity. To expect a feeling of camaraderie and enjoyment of the same type of pleasures to compensate for the numerous divisive factors was to expect the impossible. This type of community, how ever, provided an ideal vehicle to advance the process of structural assimilation. A German could experience a good time in clubs com posed of non-Germans, and the ease with which many men moved from one to the other, retaining membership in both, attests to the conditioning aspects of a verein community. If immigrants found security in an ethnic community, then the type the Germans had in St. Louis was the smoothest route to assimilation into the domi nant culture.
so Some people may also point to the fact that the wealthy Germans were slow to participate in the Veiled Prophet festivities—an indication that they were not readily assimilated into their social class in the city. However, the fact that the price of buying a daughter a place of honor in the festivities was very high probably deterred the conservative German more than anything else. The Nature of an Immigrant Community 359
St. Louis Germans were not confronted with the dire hardships experienced by other groups of immigrants in some cities of the nation. Representing a complete society, not one segment of it, they settled in St. Louis where their skills were in demand and helped to build the city. St. Louis is not usually thought of as a German city today, although about thirty-five pages of names be ginning with SCH in the telephone directory reflect its German background. The type of German community that existed in St. Louis and the facility with which the immigrants were assimilated gives rise to the suggestion that both the nature of the immigrant community and the residential and mobility patterns of the group point to the complexity of the settlement of immigrant groups in the cities, and thus renders the term "ethnic ghetto" a questionable cliche if applied without qualification to some presumed general immigrant experience in the United States.
The Cabbage Snake Scare Cameron Daily Observer, November 8, 1904. More than a hundred letters have been received by the Missouri Agricultural College asking for information concerning the so called "poisonous cabbage snake," and the collection of snails, centipedes and other creeping things re ceived from these inquirers would form the foundation for a splendid collection of Missouri's lower animal life. The most popular thing about this scare that has swept the state from one end to the other is that it has no foundation in fact. Professor J. M. Stedman, Entomologist of the College says: "Not a thing is found on cabbage that could not have been found any fall for the last 20 years. And more than this," he continues, "there is not an animal in the world that will poison cabbage so as to injure the person eating the cabbage alone or both cabbage and animal. The whole scare seems to have started from a fake report concocted by a correspondent of the St. Louis papers. Being hard pressed for any news one day he wrote of a whole family that had come to a painful death from eating cabbage upon which a new reptile re sembling a small snake was present in large numbers. Other papers copied the story. People read it and began to carefully scrutinize their cabbage patch and of course were rewarded by finding upon it bugs and worms that can be found any fall. The most common specimen I have received is a nematode worm, somewhat resembling a horse hair, that lives as a parasite in crikets [sic] and grasshoppers and is perfectly harmless. Not a single one of the seventy-five specimens I have received is at all injurious. This so-called cabbage snake is a myth pure and simple and people should cease bothering about it." How to Become a Union General Without Military Experience
BY JAMES E. KIRBY, JR.*
Various routes are open to men who seek high position in any walk of life but one of the most traveled of these has been that of the effective use of influence. This is the story of one such journey. The principals involved were both famous and important men; Clinton Bowen Fisk who was, among other things, the founder of Fisk University, sometime candidate for governor of New Jersey and later for president of the United States (on the Prohibition ticket), and Matthew Simpson, a bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church. The scene was the hectic year 1861, and the goal sought
*James E. Kirby, Jr., is a professor of Religion and Humanities and head of the School of Humanistic Studies at Oklahoma State University, Stillwater. He received the B.A. degree from McMurry College, Abilene, Texas, the B.D. and S.T.M. degrees from Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas, and the Ph.D. degree from Drew University, Madison, New Jersey. 360 How to Recome a Union General 361 was the rank and command of a brigadier general, United States volunteers. That a Methodist bishop should be a part of this episode is in itself an interesting story. The man seeking the rank was, of course, Fisk. He was born in the state of New York but moved from there to spend the bulk of his early years in Michigan. There he entered the mercantile and banking business, but like numerous others he was ruined by the economic panic of 1857 and determined to seek a new fortune in the West. Locating in St. Louis, Missouri, Fisk became the Western Financial Manager for the Aetna Insurance Company. When Fisk arrived in St. Louis he did not hesitate long before entering the battle which was brewing between pro-Union and pro-secessionist forces. Fisk was a determined and dedicated Union man ready to wage the fight on both military and civilian fronts. He wrote in one of his letters that in these early years, "I assisted in organizing the first companies and in spite of the traitors all around us a very few saved the St. Louis Arsenal with its treasure of 50 M stand of arms."1 On the civil side he entered a movement projected to squelch "the old Chamber of Commerce" and to replace it with "the Union Merchants Exchange." Reflecting on this he concluded that it had done "more for the cause in the Mississippi Valley than one half of the battles we have fought in the field."2 But not only was Fisk a Union man he was also a devout Methodist layman who neither smoked nor drank and who was friend and financial advisor to certain leaders of that denomination including Matthew Simpson.
i Clinton Bowen Fisk to Matthew Simpson, November 10, 1862, Bishop Matthew Simpson Papers, Clarence True Wilson Collection, Rose Memorial Library, Drew University, Madison, New Jersey. 2 Ibid.
Union Fortifications at St. Louis 362 Missouri Historical Review
The Methodist Episcopal Church during the 1860s had no more widely known and influential leader than Simpson. Born in Cadiz, Ohio, in 1811, Simpson was licensed to practice medicine before deciding to switch to a career in the ministry. After serving only a short time as pastor on a circuit in Pittsburg he was appointed Pro fessor of Natural Science and Mathematics at Allegheny College. Although it was a pleasant post he had only been there two years when at the age of twenty-nine he was notified he had been elected president of Indiana Asbury College, which today is known as DePauw University. Ending his tenure there after almost ten years he spent a four-year term as editor of the denominational paper in the West, the Western Christian Advocate, and from this national platform was elected to the episcopacy in 1852. The office did and does carry life tenure. Over the years a series of circumstances brought Simpson into contact with a number of men who were destined for roles of na tional leadership during the decade of the sixties. He and Edwin M. Stanton shared the same home town; he had met Lincoln while traveling for Indiana Asbury in Illinois; moreover, he was a distant cousin of Ulysses S. Grant. The duties of a Methodist bishop re quired wide and constant travel and when these trips brought Simpson to the nation's capitol, as they frequently did, he called on his old friends, including President Abraham Lincoln. As an in fluential man in a large denomination and as a loyal and outspoken supporter of the Lincoln administration and its policies, the bishop was a welcome visitor in many offices. It was popular fiction that Simpson was the man who inspired the Emancipation Proclamation. Evidence, however, indicates that on certain occasions he was asked for an opinion on issues vital to the nation.3 His super patriotic "War Speech," given under many titles, was in great demand across the North during the war and commanded a handsome fee. In the speech he argued that the Union could not lose the war since if it did America would fall and God could not afford to do without America. It was the featured attraction at the pre-election rally at the Academy of Music in New York in November 1864. Looking
3 The fiction is probably due to a book which was written by Clarence True Wilson entitled Matthew Simpson, Patriot, Preacher, Prophet (New York, 1929) although it is certainly not original with him. Robert Clark, Simpson's later biographer has lodged a telling argument against it based on the fact that Simpson was in California at the time the crucial decisions were being made. over the bishop's career a journalist in the San Fran cisco Bulletin speculated that: during the war few men exerted a more powerful influence on pub lic addresses in support of the Union than Bish op Simpson; and though he never turned aside for a day from his sacred calling, he was not unfre- quently in counsel with the Admin istration, whose confidence he had Matthew Simpson in a marked de gree.4 Among the Methodists Simpson had a great reputation for being able to gain favors in Washington. The legend had grown sufficiently that by 1869 the bishop wrote his wife that he hesitated even to go into Washington for fear of being "terribly annoyed by hosts of applicants."5 Any careful examination of the available material clearly indicates that the general public of Methodism ex aggerated both the Bishop's inclination to use his influence on be half of persons seeking public offices and the scope of it. Neverthe less on certain occasions he could and did attempt to gain favors from persons in public office. For example, he was influential in the appointment of John Evans, a Methodist and personal friend of Simpson, as territorial governor of Colorado in 1862. Evans was both qualified for and deserving of the post and his descendants are still numbered among the first families of Colorado. The bishop also assisted in having the name of former Methodist preacher turned soldier, Colonel J. M. Chivington, placed on the list for promotion to brigadier general. This instance came to light when
4 San Francisco Bulletin, September 10, 1878, in Matthew Simpson Papers, Library of Congress, Washington, D. C. 5 Matthew Simpson to Ellen Simpson, March 25, 1869, Simpson Papers, Library of Congress. 364 Missouri Historical Review the list was revised and Chivington discovered he had been left off the new list. He wrote to Simpson saying, "I write you at this time to request you to stir up the pure mind' of the president about my brigadiership. I am informed that you obtained my nomination last winter but my name was left out on the 'revised list/ "6 Chiv ington gained lasting infamy at the Sand Creek Massacre in Colo rado and ironically this incident directly contributed to the removal of Evans as governor even though he had nothing to do with the massacre. Since the Sand Creek incident also ended the career of Chivington he was never promoted. Almost all Simpson's political efforts were on behalf of Meth odists and this, of course, made Fisk a prime candidate for his help. Early in the first Lincoln administration Simpson made a special trip to Washington to personally express to Lincoln his displeasure that so few Methodists had been named to offices in his power to bestow, especially when they had contributed so heavily to his election. This complaint prompted an interesting response in the form of an offer conveyed through Simon Cameron, another friend of Simpson's, to let the bishop name a minister for Honduras. Shrewdly refusing to suggest a name, saying it was not within his authority or experience to make such decisions, Simpson, never theless, pressed his main point again. He wrote Cameron: I think too the President does not fully perceive my position. I am not asking anything for my friends. I object alone to the patronage of the government being so dis pensed as to establish a religious monopoly and to create unjust distinctions between churches. That I believe has been done, though I do not charge it as so intended by either the President or his cabinet.7 In the case of a former student at Indiana Asbury, however, Simpson did take an active role. Representative Shelby M. Cullom flatly stated that it was Simpson who "secured the appointment of Senator [James] Harlan of Iowa as Secretary of the Interior." Cul lom learned this when he went to Lincoln to seek the office for an other man and was told that Simpson had been promised Harlan would be appointed. According to Cullom, Lincoln said, "I must ap point Senator Harlan, I promised Bishop Simpson to do so. The
6 J. M. Chivington to Matthew Simpson, December 30, 1863, Matthew Simpson Papers, Drew University. 7 Matthew Simpson to Simon Cameron, November 27, 1861, Simpson Papers, Drew University. Methodist Church has been standing by me very gen erally: I agreed with Bish op Simpson to give Senator Harlan this place. . . ."8 Simpson, Lincoln and Har lan were to be uniquely associated when the bishop presided at the marrige of Mary Harlan to Robert Todd Lincoln in a White House ceremony. But these episodes are but a prelude to the story of Fisk's quest for promotion. The Fisk saga began in July 1862, when he was Clinton B. Fisk given permission to recruit what became the 33rd Missouri Regiment, Infantry. This effort was so successful that the unit was fully formed in thirty days and it was immediately suggested that Fisk enlarge to brigade strength. Fisk was, of course, elected colonel of the new regiment and given a commission. According to Fisk's later account he was en couraged in the move to increase to brigade strength by both Governor Hamilton R. Gamble and General John Schofield, com mander of the district. The president of the Union Merchant's Exchange in St. Louis, Captain Henry J. Moore, personally called on Lincoln and Edward Bates to present the petition for permission to raise a brigade and a recommendation that Fisk be given com mand. Moore reported to Fisk by telegram that everything was "all right, particulars by mail," and Fisk set to work.9 Using every Methodist minister in the area as a recruiting officer he and his associates managed to recruit four new regiments before they were finished. In all of this Fisk always assumed he would be given command of the new unit and promoted to brigadier general. He was wrong, however. The commission was not forthcoming and in rising desperation he turned to his friend Bishop Simpson for help. On November 10, 1862, he wrote a long letter to the bishop
8 Shelby M. Cullom, Fifty Years of Public Service (Chicago, 1911), 134-135. 9 Clinton B. Fisk to Matthew Simpson, November 19, 1862, Wilson Col lection, Drew University. and followed it the same day with a shorter one which en closed a draft for $100 "to fill in by way of expenses." He urged Simpson to make a trip to Washington "to go before Mr. Lincoln and asked him to give me the promotion. . . ." He also suggested that in Wash ington Simpson join forces with Governor Gamble, who was in the city on a short visit, and with Attorney General Bates to "arrange for a visit to the Presi dent for all three of you."10 Simpson was also cautioned not Henry W. Halleck to "let Mr. Lincoln turn you over to Genl. Halleck for I have never been to West Point. Your strong forte," he continued, "will be with 'Father Abraham.'"11 Apparently having some doubts about the strength of his own case Fisk further suggested that Lincoln be urged to appoint him "on probation" for six months agreeing that "if at the end of that time I am deemed unworthy of the posi tion I will return my commission."12 Not all of Fisk's concern, however, was for himself. In the same letter he urged Simpson to advise the president that the charges of speculating in the sale of slaves and cotton currently being lodged against General Samuel R. Curtis, then in command of a large training camp near St. Louis (and a friend and supporter of Fisk) were false; Curtis was a victim of "pro-slavery persecution." He also noted with apparent pleasure that at his suggestion Curtis had given J. M. Chivington command of Colorado. The following day, November 11, 1862, his concern for Curtis was evidenced in a letter making reference to an article in the Washington Telegram which unfortunately was not attached to the correspondence. The article was obviously critical and Fisk observed that the continuation of Curtis "in this Department is vital to the country's cause just now. He is a terror to the rebels, he is making them as uncomfort-
io ibid. ii Ibid. 12 ibid. How to Become a Union General 367 able as possible and they unite with the parties who are aiming at the Genl's overthrow in all this cotton clamor."13 Following these letters of November 10, 11, Fisk was laid up for a week with a minor illness. The time-out gave him time for some reflection on his hasty and somewhat brash request to the bishop. "I have been thinking that I asked a good deal of you in making the request I did," he wrote. It was presuming upon your judgment being favorable to my application. I know that it would not be saying much for me to say that I would make as good a Brigadier Genl as very many of the others and I might not even come up to that standard—but I believe you can say that I am in the service from a sense of duty—that I am temperate and try to be honest—that I am a warm supporter of the President and his proclamation (alas too many of our Generals are not)—that the Commercial element of this the great City of the valley ask for my promotion—that I have raised a good many men who expect me to lead them otherwise they would not have enlisted—and I can only command my own Regiment now—etc. etc. . . . No individual here, not even my wife knows of your errand for me at Washington. I told Genl. Curtis you were at the Capitol and that I had written you to speak a good word for him. I hope we may be able to put the Genl under obligation to us. All well but me, hoping to hear from you soon. . . .14 Fisk need not have been concerned for on the same day, ap parently just after the letter quoted had been put in the mail, he received a letter from Bishop Simpson written November 15 and expressing warm interest and support. Simpson had been to Wash ington where he had seen both Bates and Gamble who had declined to go with him to the White House. The bishop observed that Bates was "a cold and selfish man," and Fisk agreed one hundred percent. "I am not surprised at the conduct of Bates," he wrote, "at another time he might take great pains to advance my interests, but as you say he is cold and selfish. Governor Gamble is too much like him. . . ,"15 The real reason behind their actions Fisk surmised was that "when you get into the heart of these old fossils you will find but little love for an active young man with anti-slavery no tions."1 G He then added an interesting summary of his own motives for seeking the promotion.
is Ibid., November 11, 1862, Wilson Collection, Drew University. 14 Ibid., November 19, 1802, Clinton B. Fisk Papers, Drew University. i*Ibid., November 19, 1862 (2nd letter). 16 Ibid. 368 Missouri Historical Review
I would not care one snap for my promotion (in fact there is more honor in the colonelcy of such a regiment as my own—the '33' than in holding a commission at the tail end of two or three hundred Brigadiers, many of whom have not sense enough to go in when it rains, were it not that I am now in a false position before the people. . . . Many and many a young man has enlisted in these Regiments because he supposed I would be his commander. Many of our own people [Methodists] have sent their sons to me with their blessings upon them believing that with me they would be well cared for. . . . Now all these soldiers have no other idea but that I am to be the leader and are expecting me soon to be with them with the rank sufficient. You see just how I am situated my Dear Brother and how easily my reputation as a man and Christian might be prejudiced and my influence for good destroyed.17 Having stated the "moral dilemma" of his position he turned in the next sentence to consider the more practical problem of what now could be done. He might send a petition "a half mile in length," but "I never asked for anything before and dislike to be counted as a scrambler for place."18 Furthermore, the petition would eventu ally find its way to General Henry W. Halleck who was likely to block it. "I have no hope of Genl Halleck's friendship although he told me to my face once that my efforts in this City last winter cropping out in the great pagent [sic] of the 22d of February and had been as good as ten thousand soldiers to him in its effect upon the 'Union' cause through the state, but I am told that the Genl is now quite hostile to all us civilians." And then, in what must have been the front runner in the race for understatement of the day for November 19, 1862, he concluded, "I confess to a great deal of anxiety over the matter."19 The letter closed with a ringing affirma tion of confidence and a pointed postscript: "I have faith in God and the Republic, the South may die, slavery will die, but the nation will survive all. . . ." The postscript read, "I guess you can manage to spend a hundred dollars easily enough—shall increase it rather than receive any back."20 Fisk need not have been so anxious for Simpson had been at work on his behalf in Washington. He had traced down the papers delivered by Captain Moore and mentioned in the letter of Novem ber 19. They were in the hands of Attorney General Bates who
17 ibid, is Ibid, id Ibid. 20 ibid. How to Become a Union General 369
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forwarded them at Simpson's request without comment.21 On Sun day, November 23, Fisk received a telegram from Simpson reporting encouraging progress, and requesting a letter of recommendation from General Curtis to President Lincoln which Fisk had obtained earlier. Fisk complied immediately and included his own letter to President Lincoln requesting the appointment but left the use of it to the bishop's discretion. Fisk was well aware that he would be criticized for not having been in the "smoke and flame of battle" but he noted with obvious pleasure that "neither has Genl Hal leck."22 The strategy was now changed to make Secretary of War
21 A note in the Simpson Papers. Library of Congress. The note from Bates's office is dated Friday evening, November 21, 1862. 22 Clinton B. Fisk to Matthew Simpson, November 23, 1862, Wilson Col lection, Drew University.
Vicksburg from the River 370 Missouri Historical Review
Edwin M. Stanton the target and it was successful. Simpson must have seen his friend on Monday, November 24, for on Tuesday an unsigned telegram to Fisk carried only the words, "All right," and the commission which arrived later was also dated the 24th. It ar rived along with words of congratulations from Bishop and Mrs. Simpson on November 28.28 That Stanton held the key was obvious when Fisk wrote, "I will remember Stanton. I will take stock in his future."24 The postscript indicates that Simpson also mentioned the case of General Curtis at the War Department and the letter is signed with a flourish, "Clinton B. Fisk, Brig Genl Vols." During the next two months Fisk was hard at work and com piled a commendable record of command. He moved his troops to eight different points via transports and marches, first to Kentucky where they encountered Confederate forces under Nathan Bedford Forrest and then into Arkansas to the White River, a total dis tance of over twelve hundred miles. February 1863, found him in command at Helena, Arkansas, waiting "for dry land to appear in the vicinity of Vicksburg where I expect to help make up the party which will open the great river to the commerce of the North west."25 The two divisions under his command were composed of Iowa, Missouri and Wisconsin regiments of infantry, cavalry and artillery. In addition to his regular army duties Fisk began Sabbath meetings for all his officers and men at which he presided and in which "the Lord is with us."2G At one of these exercises he and his men pledged themselves "anew to the allegiance we owe to the 'old flag' and the 'banner of the cross/ "27 Fisk was not, however, destined to join the forces moving on Vicksburg for he was transferred from Helena back to St. Louis to command the District of Southeast Missouri. There was also an other problem which added to his disappointment. Although his appointment as brigadier general had been made he had not re ceived the necessary confirmation from the Senate. To make matters worse a recent movement within the Senate Military Committee proposed to repeal the existing law limiting the number of general officers in favor of a new one which authorized the appointment of seventy brigadier generals and thirty major generals. This meant that all recent nominations still unconfirmed by the Senate would
-•'* Ibid., November 28, 1862, Wilson Collection, Drew University. 24 ibid. 2"> ibid., February 9, 1863, Wilson Collection, Drew University. 2fl Ibid. 27 ibid. How to Become a Union General 371 be withdrawn and the president given a free hand to name the one hundred "lucky ones." I fancy there will be a grand scramble among the friends of such as are now in nomination. I don't want to be beaten—am willing any hour to lay down my position and in civil life battle for my country if my friends say I can thus benefit the cause of the nation, but I do not want to be left out in the cold after what I have done. I have done the work of a Major General ever since I came into the field—am willing to labor constantly and laboriously.28 The key to the problem, Fisk believed, was "the rowdy element among the Missouri Colonels" who were rumored to have sent a remonstrance to Washington against Senate confirmation of Fisk. "I am not popular," he acknowledged, "among the Whiskey drink ing conclave of shoulder straps. I rebuke sin in the army and do all I can to put down drunkenness and profanity—this is not pleasing to many . . . Col Stephenson [John D. Stevenson] leads the party who remonstrate—he is one of the oldest colonels in our Missouri list and ought long since to have been promoted had his conduct merited the honor but he has done absolutely nothing. . . ,"29 The bishop was again requested, "if entirely convenient, to give my case a little look at Washington."30 He also mentioned that Simpson had recently been in the capital city and that Lincoln had attended a meeting of the Methodist Missionary Society at which Simpson preached. "I hope it done him good," Fisk observed. The question of confirmation presented Fisk with a perplexing problem since his old position as colonel in the 33rd Missouri In fantry had been filled and should the nomination be rejected the aspiring general would in fact be a civilian. If to make up the list of one hundred Genls it should seem best to leave my name out to give place to abler and better men, all right-l shall be content—but it seems to me that Genls who are already appointed and on duty should not be dropped for the purpose of advancing aspiring Colonels to the position to be thus vacated. I have no politic il friends and am glad of it. I would not for the world be counted among the scramblers. I believe that with your ac quaintance with the 'President' and the 'Secy of War' you can promptly pl^ce me square on the list or become satis- fed that I had better resign my present position.31 28 ibid. 2» Ibid. so Ibid. 31 ibid. 372 Missouri Historical Review
Although the matter was not immediately settled the outcome was finally favorable to Fisk. On November 12, 1863, he received unanimous Senate confirmation of his appointment as brigadier general, volunteers. In the interim he had written to the bishop to secure his help in gaining the release of two correspondents of the New York Tribune being held prisoner in the South. In August Fisk was given an opportunity to repay his friend for past favors. Simpson's son, Charles, a major in the paymaster branch, wanted to be transferred to Fisk's command. There was a complication since the logical post for him to occupy was that of aide-de-camp, but his rank of major made that impossible. However, Fisk suggested that it might be feasible for him to be named as assistant adjutant general. Fisk was entitled to have two and there was a vacancy. Fisk hesitated to take the matter into his own hands because he would be forced to work outside of channels so he again suggested that the bishop take his problem to Washington. He promised to hold the position open until Simpson could get in touch with either Lincoln or Stanton to request the appointment for Charles. He also enclosed a personal note to Stanton but advised the bishop to be discreet in the use of it. He urged the appointment since "the Asst. Adjt Genl of any command is the confidential and intimate staff officer of his chief."32 Although Senate confirmation was finally forthcoming Fisk was not satisfied. In the letter in which he thanked the bishop for all his help there is an extraordinary indication that more of the same was yet to come. He wrote: I am inclined to make an effort for still farther promotion and believe that I can succeed. I want you to be chiefly instrumental in carrying me up in the same quiet way as formerly if you can and will. I am not partial to the usual method adopted by officers who are seeking advancement. I could doubtless furnish a petition from nearly every of ficer who has served under me during the last year and from every officer under whom I have served asking that I be made a Major General. I do not like that plan. It would place me under obligations of reciprocity that I could not conscientiously in many cases meet, and in case of failure I should feel that I had aided in the establishment of a 'Mu tual Admiration Society' which had failed for want of capi tal. My plan is for you to visit Washington and present the case directly to Secy Stanton. . . ,33
32 ibid., August 1, 1863, Wilson Collection, Drew University. 33 ibid., November 12, 1863, Wilson Collection, Drew University. How to Become a Union General 373
When he concluded the letter by saying, "I would like promotion because it is quite natural for every man who has any ambition to climb if he can and I am ambitious," he had hardly given any startling revelation about the nature of his personality. For any man to move from civilian to colonel to brigadier to aspiring major general in the course of one year should provide ample evidence of ambition. "My dear Bishop," he continued, "can you consistently undertake the mission to Washington and on the anniversary of my appointment as Brigadier add a star to my shoulder straps and a Major General to your family. I will not extend this letter. You un derstand all and how to do it. . . . Perhaps Bishop [Edward R.] Ames could aid you. I know he would cheerfully help me if you thought best to ask him."34 As usual Simpson was glad to lend his support but other en gagements prevented him from going directly to Washington. He notified Mrs. Fisk of the delay and she dispatched the message to her husband. On November 21st Fisk wrote to Simpson urging him to "undertake the mission" as soon as possible and stated his own intention not to press the matter in Washington before the bishop could make time for his trip. "I am almost sorry that I should have troubled you so much with matters personal to myself," he wrote, "and would not have done so had I not rather you would present my 'cause at court' than have one hundred politicians make a raid on the War Department in my behalf."35 Earlier, without yet being aware that the bishop had been delayed, Fisk had written directly to Simpson enclosing a letter for him to present to Secretary Stanton. Unfortunately, this letter is not now among the Simpson or Fisk papers. In addition Fisk wrote still another letter enclosing a com mendation from his congressman, Henry T. Blow, addressed to Lincoln. "I called upon Mr. Blow to advise with him touching the condition of affairs in Missouri and he earnestly & heartily urged me to procure the promotion that I may be ready for good use in case of need."36 The same letter also indicates that Fisk has thought it well to advise both Missouri senators, John Brooks Henderson and B. Gratz Brown, of his willingness to be promoted. He added, with his usual candor, "1 don't know of a single individual in Military or Civil life in Mo but what would rejoice to see me have the pro-
34 Ibid. Ames was also a bishop in the Methodist Episcopal Church and longtime friend of Simpson. xalbid., November 21, 1863, Old Saint George's Museum, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 36 Ibid., November 17, 1863, Wilson Collection, Drew University. motion. Every one of our lead ing news papers of all political shades would endorse me most warmly."37
Fisk shrewdly foresaw that Gen eral Schofield was apt to be removed from his command in Missouri. He was not, however, prepared when it actually hap pened. "I am watching with much interest the struggle over Gen eral Schofield at Washington," he wrote on December 18. "I had not anticipated that matter would thus take shape or I should have endeavored to concentrate suf ficient influence at Washington to have given me a pretty fair show for the sucession."38 He had missed his opportunity, however, for General William S. Rosecrans, who had lost his command after his defeat at Chickamauga, was named. Fisk expressed both his ad miration for Rosecrans and fear of the results. "He is undoubtedly a gallant, brave and able officer for an active fighting command, but I doubt his superior ability to administer where the conflict of arms is passing away. I am fearful for the influence our Roman Catholic Bishop and other clergy might have upon him."39 In addition to the irony of such an observation from one who was at the same time appealing to his own bishop for influence in Washington there was an interesting note. "Bishop Ames was here when we received the first intelligence that Genl Schofield would probably be removed and Rosecrans his successor. The Bishop immediately telegraphed to Secys [Salmon P.] Chase and Stanton earnestly recommending myself for the command if General Schofield was to be removed and also suggested that in no event Rosecrans be sent here."40 Despite his thwarted ambition in the matter Fisk seems to have reconciled himself to the decision and surely must have known that he had little going in his favor for the appointment except his burning desire for the place.
37 Ibid. 38 Ibid., December 18, 1863, Wilson Collection, Drew University. This is an interesting observation from a man who regularly protests that he has no political friends in Washington. 3» Ibid. 40 Ibid. How to Become a Union General 375
Simpson had business with Rosecrans almost immediately after the appointment as a result of an order issued by Secretary Stanton which turned over "all houses of worship belonging to the Meth odist Episcopal Church, South, in which a loyal preacher appointed by a loyal bishop does not now officiate" to the Methodist Episcopal Church.41 Although Bishop Ames negotiated the order with Stan ton it is clear that Simpson was aware of what he was doing and was in favor of the action. As soon as the order was issued Simpson forwarded a copy to Rosecrans for application in the Missouri Dis trict and attempted to call on him to talk about it. The general was away at the time but Fisk relayed the message and reported "the Genl endorses the whole measure most heartily." He also informed the bishop that he was held in high personal esteem by Rosecrans and that "he will cheerfully give you any assistance you may require from him officially."42 Lincoln, however, was not so enthusiastic about the order. In fact, it seems to have been issued without his knowledge and only the day before Fisk's glowing letter to Simpson he notified Stanton that he was embarrassed by the whole affair and instructed him to limit its application only to those states desig nated as being still in rebellion.43 Again Fisk had correctly read the signs:
I am suspicious that there will be an effort made by the rebels of the church South in this city St. Louis to pro cure the President's disapproval of the Secy of War's action in this matter and I thought it wise to write you suggesting that you have an early interview with 'Father Abraham'. It would be a terrible blow to loyalty in the Mississippi Valley and a great encouragement to disloyalty were the President to disavow the bold yet wise action of Mr. Stanton.44 At the same time Fisk did not think it wise to make use of the order in the District of Southeast Missouri "except it be in the interior where the people demand the church to help them."45 Despite his genuine interest in church affairs, Fisk had not lost sight of his own quest for another star. New hope dawned in
4i Edward McPherson, The Political History of the United States of America, During the Great Rebellion (Washington, D. C, 1865) , 521. 42 Clinton B. Fisk to Matthew Simpson, February 12, 1864, Fisk Papers, Drew University. 43 Ralph E. Morrow, Northern Methodism and Reconstruction (East Lans ing, Mich., 1956), 37. 44 Clinton B. Fisk to Matthew Simpson, February 21, 1864, Wilson Col lection, Drew University. 45 ibid. ill! late 1864 when another change of commanders in I Missouri was in the wind. "There is much of agitation * in the Missouri Dept touch- || J ing a change of Command- II ing Officers. 'Rosie' will |, | have to go ashore. I be lieve it to be a good time for the presentation of my claims for advancement |'-.: and the Command. . . . I have written to Mr. Stan- 1 ton this day and shall pull all the ropes I can get hold of. I would like to try my hand at the helm once. Can you help me?"46 Abraham Lincoln Simpson was willing but General Grenville M. Dodge was named and Fisk's disappointment was obvious. I am a good deal inclined to go to Washington if Mr. Stan ton will so order. I know I could be made valuable to him and could at the same time probably advance my own in terests and influence. If it comes in your way to nurse that proposition a little please do so. Washington would be a good place for me this winter. I have been half inclined to resign, but will 'wait a little longer' and battle away as best I can.47 It is here that the correspondence fails, but the end of the story is a matter of record. Along with several hundred others Fisk was given the rank of brevet major general in May 1865. The title was an honorary one and must have been small consolation for one so ambitious as Fisk, the man who sought to become a major general without previous military experience with the assistance of a Meth odist bishop. 46 ibid., November 12, 1864, Fisk Papers, Drew University. 47 Ibid., December 14, 1864, Fisk Papers, Drew University. A Feminine Foible Independence Jackson Examiner, June 9, 1905. Girls probably make better telephone operators than boys because they like rings. David Rankin "Cattle King" of Missouri
BY DOROTHY J. CALDWELL*
David Rankin, pioneer Missouri agriculturist, entrepeneur and philanthropist, was a prototype of the popular nineteenth-century Horatio Alger hero. He personified the American dream that the poor boy had unlimited opportunities to rise "from rags to riches" by dint of hard work and intelligence. Rankin had acquired wealth and a diversity of experience in business and political life before he settled in Atchison County, Missouri. Born May 28, 1825, in Sullivan County, Indiana, the son of William and Elizabeth Gross Rankin, he moved with his family to Park County, Indiana, when he was six years old. A year or so later the Rankins returned to their former home. In 1836 the family moved to Warren (Henderson) County, Illinois. David attended a one-room log subscription school at Biggsville for a brief period and then left school to help his father, who farmed and operated a sawmill.1 William Rankin's business did not prosper and the family's liv ing conditions were primitive. Although shoes could be purchased, the Rankin family could afford to buy them only for use in winter and David went barefoot every summer until he was twenty-eight years old. In later years he described his early trips to the mill: To get our flour we took our wheat to a mill operated by horses and furnished the horses hitched to a sweep. . . . I remember going to the mill seven times, a week apart, for our grist before I got it, going fourteen miles each trip with a yoke of oxen. During that time we lived on potatoes
*Dorothy J. Caldwell is an associate editor of the REVIEW. i History of Holt and Atchison Counties (St. Joseph, 1882) , 923-924; David Rankin of Missouri (Tarkio, 1909), 5, autobiography in collection of State Historical Society of Missouri, Columbia.
377 378 Missouri Historical Review
and bread made from wheat, ground in a coffee mill or corn pounded out in a mortar.2 When he was fifteen years old David hauled dressed hogs to Oquawka, Illinois, and sold them at $1.00 to $1.25 a hundredweight to pay off his father's store debt. The hogs were raised on corn from land cultivated with a cumbersome wooden mould-board plow.3 The hardships of his youth did not discourage David from the choice of cattle feeding and farming as his life's work. In the spring of 1846, he began to farm on his own. Arranging to pay in labor, he bought an ox for eight dollars and borrowed money from a friend of the family to buy iron for an improved plow point. The friend, a blacksmith, made the plow point, and David's father constructed the wooden plow handles. The following year David bought his first land, an eighty-acre tract near Biggsville. Within four years he paid for it, mostly by breaking virgin prairie with an ox-drawn plow.4 When he was twenty-five years old and had eighty acres of land, a few cattle and five dollars in cash he married Sarah Thomp son of Guernsey County, Ohio. He used the money to pay the preacher, bartered for food and utensils for the kitchen and later recalled that his wife washed dishes in the stove kettle until he could trade lumber for a dishpan.5 David and Sarah were the par ents of Nettie, William F. and John A. Rankin. Sarah died in 1878 and on June 4, 1880, Rankin married Mrs. Elizabeth Phillips Gowdy of Warren County, Illinois. To them was born one daughter, Esther B. Rankin.6 Soon after his first marriage Rankin purchased 320 acres of land, paying one hundred dollars down.7 After the Civil War he bought cattle in Chicago at $1.00 to $1.75 a hundredweight, fattened them and sold them in New York for six dollars a hundred. He invested the money in five thousand acres of land located east of Paxton, Illinois, paying from six to seven dollars an acre. On the
2 Ibid., 11, 16. ZIbid., 11. ±lbid., 19; Forrest Crissey, "America's Greatest Feeding Farm," Saturday Evening Post (April 2, 1910). 20, from clipping in collection of State Historical Society; Omaha Daily Bee, March 7, 1899; Tarkio Avalanche, August 16, 1901. 5 David Rankin, 28. 6 Ibid., 25; History of Holt and Atchison Counties, 923; David Rankin, "How I Made Three Millions Growing Corn," Country Life in America, XVII (April, 1910), 691. 7 David Rankin, 28. "Cattle King" of Missouri 379 land he raised broom corn and made a profit of $200,000.8 With his cousin, W. A. Rankin, he laid out the town of Rankin in Ver milion County, Illinois, in 1872. The Rankins built a grain elevator, moved a store from a neighboring settlement and assisted in the building of the United Presbyterian Church in the village.9 With increased prosperity, David built a new home near Biggsville and toured Europe to buy horses. Elected a Republican representative from a Democratic dis trict, he served three terms in the Illinois legislature, 1873-1876 and 1883-1884.10 Under Illinois Governor John L. Beveridge (1873- 1877), he was appointed a member of a special commission to in vestigate fraudulent practices of penitentiary officials and fearlessly exposed malpractices in opposition to some of the other members of the commission.11 Rankin also served as president of the Mon mouth (Illinois) National Bank, from 1874 to 1876.12 In addition to his Illinois activities Rankin established a cattle ranch in the sandhill region of western Nebraska. In the 1870s the region became a cattleman's paradise. With attractive freight rates offered by the Union Pacific Railroad and legislation allowing the temporary use of large areas of prairie land without residency, enterprising cattlemen pastured enormous herds of Texas cattle on the free range, fattened them and shipped them to eastern markets.13 In 1880 Rankin built his Big Bar 7 Ranch near present Seneca, Nebraska. With a partner, Caleb Stemm, he claimed an eighty-mile square between the Dismal and the Loup rivers, al-
8 Ibid., 33-34; Crissey, "America's Greatest Feeding Farm," 20. 9 H. W. Beckwith, History of Vermilion County (Chicago, 1879), 1009- 1013; Lottie M. Jones, History of Vermilion County, Illinois (Chicago, 1911), I, 10. 10 John Clayton, The Illinois Fact Book and Historical Almanac, 1773-1968 (Carbondale, 1970), 233, 235, 242. 11 David Rankin, 39. 12 The Monmouth National Bank was organized in 1870 and Rankin served as the third president. Hugh R. Moffet and Thomas H. Rogers, eds., History of Warren County in Newton Bateman and Paul Selby, eds., Historical En cyclopedia of Illinois (Chicago, 1903) , 776-777; letter from J. D. Lemmerman, president, The National Bank of Monmouth, to author, January 24, 1972. 13 The timber culture act of 1873, requiring the planting of forty acres of forest trees upon a quarter section of land and their cultivation for a period of eight years, and upon proof thereof the issuance of a patent by the United States for the land, was reduced in 1874 to ten acres. Almost immediately the timber culture act was made a means of securing temporary use and control of large areas of prairie land under that part of the law which required no resi dency. In the late seventies and early eighties none of the cattle ranchers in the Nebraska sandhill region took the trouble to enter public land. Addison E. Sheldon, "Land Systems and Land Policies in Nebraska," Publications of the Nebraska State Historical Society (Lincoln, 1936), XXII, 97. 380 Missouri Historical Review
though he owned only a few acres of deeded land. Stemm, the active manager of the ranch, hired a wild game hunter rather than butcher the Bar 7 beef for his workmen and the men ate so many antelope that they became known as the "Antelope Outfit."14 The Rankin Live Stock Company ran into difficulties in 1884 as a serious epidemic of Texas fever swept over Nebraska. Many smaller cattlemen with native stock which fell victims to the fever instituted suits against the big cattlemen, and the Rankin company was one of those sued.15 Rankin's 1884 shipment of Texas steers was unloaded at Brady Island in Lincoln County, Nebraska, rested, and grazed up the valley, north of the Platte from Maxwell to North Platte town, then headed north for the ranch. One old-timer re ported "those dogies strew Texas fever all along the way. . . ." Lincoln County cattlemen brought suit June 7, 1884, claiming Rankin brought in Texas cattle, "diseased distempered and infected with Spanish fever and other foul and infectious diseases and wrong fully, willfully and negligently drove said cattle along and across and upon the public highway and upon the open and enclosed lands of said plaintiffs and permitted them to run at large for 40 days thereafter." On September 27, 1884, the action was dis missed without prejudice to another action, after which the case was heard in the United States District Court where judgment was finally obtained for the plaintiffs. After further long delays, the Rankin Company settled for twenty-five percent of the amount claimed. In 1887 Rankin was sued by three more Platte Valley ranchmen for damages from the Texas fever which he had scat tered three years earlier.16 The Rankin Company had additional troubles. For the big cattle companies it was cheaper to fence in the range than it was to hire cowboys to ride the range line and keep the cattle within reach.17 Although federal officials and courts had denounced the practice of illegal fencing by the cattle companies on the open ranges, there had been a hesitancy in the early 1880s to recommend the removal of the fences. Increasing complaints from homesteaders in the prairie regions led Commissioner N. C. McFarland of the United States General Land Office to send agents in 1883 to visit
14 Nellie Snyder Yost, The Call of the Range (Denver, Colo., 1966), 89. 15 W. D. Aeschbacher, "Development of Cattle Raising in the Sandhills," Nebraska History, XXVIII (January-March, 1947) , 41. 16 Yost, The Call of the Range, 133-134, 143; North Platte [Nebraska] Lincoln County Tribune, August 13, 1887. 17 Sheldon, "Land Systems and Land Policies in Nebraska," 178. "Cattle King" of Missouri 381 ranches and report on the extent of enclosure. At that time it was reported that the Rankin Company had purchased $5,000 worth of fencing material.18 By the federal law of February 25, 1885, the construction and maintenance of enclosures on the public lands were forbidden and violators of the law were subject to imprisonment for not more than one year and a fine of $1,000 for each offense.19 An imposing array of reports was gathered by special agents, and in 1886 the list of offenders included the Rankin Company which had 35,000 acres in Cherry County unlawfully enclosed, and await ing investigation.20 Soon afterward, Rankin relinquished his Ne braska land and shipped his cattle to Atchison County in North west Missouri. In 1887 he shipped 3,500 head of cattle from Nebraska21 and the following year he brought in a carload of Texas ponies from the Nebraska ranch.22 He had first purchased land in Atchison County in 1876, pay ing from eight to ten dollars an acre.23 In succeeding years he bought additional land in the county and in Fremont County, Iowa, and by 1905 he owned 23,000 acres in Atchison County and 3,500 acres in Iowa.24 Part of his landholdings were located on river bottoms which he reclaimed for use by building dikes and by tiling.25 Rankin's business and political interests in Illinois and Ne braska prevented his removal from his home near Biggsville, Illinois, to Tarkio until 1885.26 Before he made Northwest Missouri his permanent home four members of the Rankin family had settled in Atchison County in 1876. His brother-in-law, Silas H. Prather, came in 1878 and two years later his sons, John A. and William
18 Louis Peltzer, The Cattlemen's Frontier (Glendale, Calif., 1936), 173-180. Wlbid., 184; United Stales Statutes at Large, XXIII, 321-322; ibid., XXIV, 1024. 20 Sheldon, "Land Systems and Land Policies in Nebraska," 128, from Commissioner General Land Office Report, 1886 (Washington, D.C.), 462. 21 Tarkio Avalanche, Julv 9, September 17, 1887. 22 ibid., November 17, 1888. 23 ibid., August 16, 1901; Omaha Daily Bee, March 7, 1899; Jefferson City Missouri State Tribune, February 10, 1899. 24 Tarkio Independent, January 13, 1905. 25 A Biographical History of Nodaway and Atchison Counties (Chicago, 1901), 621; Tarkio Avalanche, September 24, 1888, December 28, 1889, May 31, 1901; Tarkio Independent, January 13, 1905. On his Fremont County, la., bottom land he built a seven-mile dike costing $20,000, at one place fourteen feet high and forty feet wide. 26 in 1882 he was living at his family home near Biggsville, Illinois. History of Holt and Atchison Counties, 924. Rankin Auditorium and Bank
F. Rankin, and his son-in-law, John F. Hanna, lived in Tarkio Township in Atchison County.27 Although he did not establish permanent residence for a num ber of years, Rankin took an active part in the affairs of the Tarkio community. In the early 1880s he owned one-sixth of the Tarkio Town Company and one-sixth of the towns of Westboro and Fair fax, all located on the Tarkio Valley branch of the Chicago, Burling ton and Quincy Railroad.28 In 1881 Rankin was a partner with J. F. Hanna and Robert Hunter in a Tarkio general store.29 The following year, with R. M. Stevenson, he established the Rankin, Stevenson and Company bank.30 In 1883 the bank had a capital of $20,000 and a surplus of $2,000.31 On December 12, 1883, the First National Bank of Tarkio opened its doors as the only national bank in the county, with Rankin as president of the board of directors. Rankin and his two sons served successively as presidents of the bank until 1928.32 The First National Bank in 1893 had a
27 Biographical History of Nodaway and Atchison Counties, 510-511, 275- 276; History of Holt and Atchison Counties, 910, 922, 925-927. 28 ibid., 924. 20 ibid., 892. 30 ibid., 892, 935. 31 Missouri State Gazetteer and Business Directory, 1883-1884 (St. Louis, 1883), 1215. 32 After David Rankin's death in 1910, William F. Rankin succeeded him as president and after his death in 1918, John A. Rankin served as president until his death in 1928. Tarkio Avalanche, November 25, 1965. "Cattle King" of Missouri 383 capital stock of $50,000 with a surplus of $6,000.33 Six years after the establishment of the First National Bank, Rankin was a leader in founding the Rankin, White and Laur bank at Westboro.34 With members of his family and other interested citizens Rankin led the fight in 1882 for the removal of the county seat from Rock Port to Tarkio. They offered bond for $40,000 for the building of a courthouse. Hoping to secure the removal, Rankin erected the building, but the proposal was defeated. The building was used for the Tarkio Valley College and Normal Institute, later known as Tarkio College, which opened August 30, 1883.35 Although Rankin had secured only a limited education he was an enthusiastic sup porter of schools. In May 1883, he was one of eleven men who signed an agreement with Dr. S. C. Marshall of Amity College, College Springs, Iowa, to conduct a collegiate institute for five years. A year later the management of the college was transferred to the College Springs Presbytery of the United Presbyterian
33 Missouri State Gazetteer and Business Directory, 1893-1894 (St. Louis, 1893), 1248. 34 Tarkio Avalanche, May 11, 1889. 35 History of Holt and Atchison Counties, 974-980; Eighth Annual Cata logue of the Officers and Students of Tarkio College, 1891-1892 (Omaha, 1892) , 5-6.
Tarkio College in 1905 384 Missouri Historical Review
Church.36 Rankin was a member of the board of managers which conducted the institute the first year, and a member of the board of directors of the college from 1889, serving on the executive com mittee, 1889-1910, and as treasurer of the board, 1894-1910.37 He gave generously to the college throughout his lifetime. For many years he duplicated all the money the college's financial agent could raise.38 After the main building was destroyed by fire on January 17, 1892, he gave $25,000 of the $50,000 raised for the relocation of the college on a twenty-acre campus four blocks west of the original site.39 He was, on occasion, honored by the college. His picture was included in the 1902 college annual40 and his favorite expression, "Set Fire," became a part of the college yell.41 Called upon for a speech at the time of the celebration of the quarter- centennial of the college in 1908, he told that he got his start in life by being able to sign his name to bank notes in order to borrow money.42 After his death the college announced that he had given $285,000, including a $50,000 bequest, for its support.43 In addition to his agricultural and banking interests, Rankin invested in other local enterprises. With J. M. Wolfe, in 1889, he built a steam-powered brick and tile factory.44 Three years later he continued the business with Wolfe and was also president of the Conley-Wolfe Improved Kiln Company with a capital stock of $ 100,000.45 Rankin and Wolfe established an electric light plant in Tarkio at a cost of $13,000 in 1889-1890, known as the Rankin Electric Light and Power Company.46 In March 1890, it was re-
36 Ibid. 37 Tarkio College Bulletin, Twenty-Eighth Annual Catalogue, 1910-1911 (Tarkio, 1911), 3. z* Tarkio Avalanche, June 21, 1901. 39 Eighth Annual Catalogue, Officers and Students of Tarkio College, 1891- 1892, 7. 40 Tarkio Avalanche, August 22, 1902. 41 William C. Porter, a 1910 Tarkio College graduate, recalled the college yell as: Rip Bang Hip Ho Get There Rain or Shine Set Fire, Tarkio See William C. Porter, "The Barn's Afire," Tarkio College Bulletin (Januarv, 1969), 3. 42 Tarkio Avalanche, October 2, 1908. 43 Tarkio College Bulletin, Twenty-Eighth Annual Catalogue, 1910-1911, 5. The $285,000 reported probably did not include the original building or the fifty acres of campus on which the college stands. Letter from Claude Temple- ton, Tarkio, chairman of the board of the First National Bank and president of the Atchison County Historical Society, to the author, January 14, 1972. 44 Tarkio Avalanche, April 13, 1889. 45 Missouri State Gazetteer and Business Directory, 1893-1894, 1248. 46 Tarkio Avalanche, November 27, 1889, January 18, 1890, November 15, 1890. Interior, Rankin Auditorium ported that Rankin and Wolfe would build an opera house adjoin ing the First National Bank and use the first floor for a store. They bought the lot on which the Montana House stood and moved the hotel to clear the ground for the erection of an auditorium. The following November they dug a well on land west of the city limits for a complete system of waterworks for the auditorium and the bank.47 The Rankin auditorium was equipped with a Chickering grand piano, fifteen full sets of scenery, incandescent footlights and stage border lamps.48 With a seating capacity of 1,200, the audi torium was used for Tarkio College productions, musical entertain ment and plays by touring companies.49 Rankin thus provided cul ture and entertainment with the building of the auditorium. He also provided modern communication for the Tarkio community. He owned in 1901, a controlling interest in the Independent Tele phone Company, operating twenty-two toll stations.50 In 1906, with his son, William F., he supplied ice to the public from a twelve-ton capacity ice plant, part of which was used for cold storage.51 In 1887 Rankin selected lots for his home, described as modest
n Ibid., March 15, April 12, November 15, 1890. 48 Premium List for the Eleventh Annual Exhibition of the Central Atchi son County Agricultural and Mechanical Society (St. Joseph, 1892) , 120. 49 On February 20, 1905, a quartette from Drake University, Des Moines, Iowa, presented a concert in the auditorium and on April 27 and 28, 1906, the Chicago Symphony played there. Tarkio Independent, February 24, 1905, April 29, 1906. The auditorium building has recently been razed. Letter from Templeton to author, January 14, 1972. 50 Kansas City Star, July 3, 1901. 51 Tarkio Independent, July 6, 1906. 386 Missouri Historical Review
The Rankin Home
with green shutters and green trim, on the outskirts of Tarkio.52 Five years later, at a cost of $10,000, he built near his home a brick, four-story, octagonal barn, reported to have been the largest in the state. The thirty-three-feet-wide sections of the barn were sur mounted by a cupola which reached 114 feet from the ground. An ornamental cornice, large dormers and arched doorways de signed for horse-drawn wagons were distinctive architectural fea tures.53 Electric lights were used in the stalls and an arc light shone from the cupola. Horses and mules were stabled on the first floor, buggies and carriages were kept on the second floor where a workshop for repair of harness and other equipment was located, whips and harness were stored on the third floor and hay was stacked on the fourth floor.54 On May 28, 1907, the barn caught fire. The cupola toppled and five hundred tons of hay and a large quantity of oats, flaxseed and corn were destroyed. All the furni ture in the sleeping quarters provided for the farmhands was burned.55 The following November Rankin completed the rebuild ing of the barn in which he provided two large plastered rooms for quarters for his workmen.56 In 1899 he built a thirteen-room addition to his home. Twelve Corinthian columns with hand-carved capitals upheld a circular veranda, fireplaces were located in the 16' x 30' hallway and the
52 Tarkio Avalanche, April 30, 1887; St. Louis Globe-Democrat, September 18, 1898. 53 ibid., November 12, 1892. 54 St. Louis Globe-Democrat, September 18, 1898. 55 Tarkio Independent, May 31, 1907. zsibid., November 13, 1907. "Cattle King" of Missouri 387 double parlors, and a cherry wood library and tiled bathrooms with hot and cold water were other attractive features.57 Rankin became a millionaire through the employment of sci entific agricultural methods far in advance of the practices of his contemporaries and by his use of keen judgment in purchasing, feeding and marketing cattle. Around the turn of the century he gained wide recognition as the "Cattle King" of Missouri. In 1908 the inventory of his land, livestock, grain, farming implements and commercial enterprises showed a valuation of some three and one-half million dollars.58 At a time when crop rotation was virtually unknown in Mis souri, Rankin made it a practice to plant a field in clover and small grains after four or five crops of corn had been raised on it. Cattle were pastured on the clover until the third year when a good growth of clover was plowed under and the field again planted in corn. When the clover was knee-high Rankin turned brood sows and their pigs in the field. His policy was to keep the soil rich, plow deeply, pulverize the soil well before planting, cultivate the new crop as soon as possible and as often as possible and keep the crop free of weeds. Everything in his farming operation was primed to take advantage of the weather. He said, "One day in the field at the right time is worth a month at the wrong time."59 At harvest time in 1901, he supervised the operation of sixteen corn harvesters which operated day and night, cutting over two hundred acres every twenty-four hours. The 128 horses used in the harvest were changed every twelve hours.60 He often planted some twelve to fifteen thousand acres in corn and always fed all the corn raised on his farm to the livestock.61 H. J. Waters, dean of the College of Agriculture at the Uni versity of Missouri, 1895-1909, gave this summary of Rankin's significance as a farmer; . . . David Rankin put the science of soil conservation into practice on his farm in advance of the scientist and the teacher. In contrast with the American spirit of gaining wealth at the expense of the soil, Mr. Rankin, with a soil that was new and supposedly inexhaustible, pursued the
57 Tarkio Avalanche, May 25, 1900. 58 David Rankin, 59. 59 Rankin, "How I Made Three Millions Growing Corn," 691; Omaha Daily Bee, March 7, 1899; Crissey, "America's Greatest Feeding Farm," 20-21; Kansas City Star, July 3, 1901; David Rankin, 44-45. 60 Tarkio Avalanche, September 27, 1901. 61 St. Louis Globe-Democrat, September 18, 1898. 388 Missouri Historical Review
policy at the outset of husbanding its resources that he might hand it over to those who were to follow him unim paired in productiveness and value.62 Rankin was convinced that to make a profit from the land, the farmer must reduce the cost of production. From his youth he had been interested in improved farm machinery. While on a trip to Chicago in 1848 he saw for the first time a McCormick reaper and the next year purchased one. When implements which would reduce the labor or perform the work better were available he believed that it paid to throw the ones he had been using away and to purchase new ones. He installed the first windmill in use in western Illinois and later recalled that he had been the laughing stock of the countryside until the windmill was actually in use.63 By 1910 he was using one hundred windmills on his ranches.64 In 1853 he conceived the idea of combining two double- shovel plows to make a two-row plow. Hiring a blacksmith to make the iron pieces, he used a four-by-six oak piece to make an axle to fit the front wheels of his wagon, then made a connection of the plow beams to the axle by means of eye bolts and rings. He tied boards across the handles of the two plows and thus produced a homemade version of a two-row plow.65 Rankin's interest in double-row cultivators led to the establishment of the Rankin Manufacturing Company and its successor, the Midland Manu facturing Company with the Midland two-row plow a specialty in Tarkio. In August 1902, a capital stock of $50,000 was subscribed with a guarantee by the stockholders of another $20,000 and the plant and equipment were located on five acres of ground at a cost of $25,000.66 Rankin, president of the board of directors, was at the throttle which started the steam in the boilers of the plant on January 1, 1903.67 A railroad switch connected the plant with the main line of the Tarkio Valley Railroad. At the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis in 1904, the Midland two-row cultivator received the highest award in competition with other makes from all parts of the world.68 In addition to cultivators, the
62 David Rankin, 80. 63 ibid., 22-23, 34-35. 64 Macon Times-Democrat, October 2, 1913. 65 David Rankin, 29-30. 66 Letter from Templeton to author, January 14, 1972; Tarkio Independent, August 1, 1902. 67 Ibid., January 1, 1903. 68 "Midland Two-Row Cultivator," n.d., 54, advertising brochure in collec tion of State Historical Society, Columbia. 'Cattle King" of Missouri 389
Midland Company manufactured windmills, tanks, pumps, hay stackers, potato diggers and manure spreaders. The factory did a thriving business. In 1905 the managers planned to ship several carloads of cultivators each week. They had manufactured two thousand two-row plows and cultivators and were cutting stock for two thousand more. More than one hundred men were employed at the factory.69 Although Rankin engaged in many enterprises, he depended on his purchase and sale of feeder cattle, bought over a wide range of territory, for the major part of his profit. He bought cattle in Colorado, New Mexico and Texas in addition to purchases in mar kets at Kansas City, Omaha and Chicago. In 1899 he, with W. A. Rankin, purchased more than 11,000 head of Texas steers and it was estimated that it would take twenty-five trains to deliver them at a freight cost of $25,000.70 He did not hesitate to take action when he thought shipping rates were too high. In March 1899, he presented resolutions adopted at a meeting of Atchison County farmers and stockmen to the state legislature protesting a newly established method of certain railroads charging by weight rather than by trainload.71 The following month, Rankin appeared before the railroad commissioners, who afterward ordered the roads to
69 Tarkio Independent, January 20, 1905. 70 Tarkio Avalanche, September 22, 1899. 71 Ibid., March 16, 1889. 390 Missouri Historical Review ship by carloads instead of weight.72 Dissatisfied with shipping over the Tarkio Valley Branch of the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad, in 1902 he offered to furnish men and horses to work a roadbed from Tarkio to Blanchard, Iowa, to build another line from Tarkio to Des Moines.73 Rankin supervised his vast farming and feeding operations with efficiency. In 1909 his farms were divided into eleven ranches with a foreman for each ranch. Some two hundred and fifty men were in his employ and all were paid on the same day of every month. The foremen were paid from forty to sixty dollars each month and the farmhands received twenty-five dollars and their room and board. A housekeeper on the ranch provided meals and a horse and saddle were given to each farmhand. Petty chores were as signed to young boys and a cattleman looked after the health of the livestock. Each ranch had its own equipment and animals. Rankin fed 13,000 head of cattle, 25,000 hogs and 640 horses and mules in 1909. For the farm work he kept 1,000 sets of chain harness, fifty corn binders, thirty mowers and three hundred each of double-row plows, double-row listers and planters and wagons.74 To oversee his ranches, Rankin arrived at his office, located at the rear of the First National Bank, at six o'clock in the morn ing. He kept in touch with each of his foremen every day by tele phone and usually visited several of the ranches.75 At the first of the month the foremen were required to submit a written report containing an inventory of some fifty items. All buying for the ranches was transacted through the central office where a secretary kept the records.76 Sales records of the cost of production and the receipts from the farm were summarized at the end of each year. The difference between expenses and gross receipts was divided by the acreage of each ranch and the profits apportioned by acre.77 Rankin successfully managed his business enterprises until he was eighty-four years old. W7hen he was seventy-six, a local newspaper editor commented that he was quick and "spry" and talked rapidly.78 More than six feet tall, he was rawboned and sinewy. Throughout his lifetime he was an ardent advocate of
72 ibid., April 13, 1889. 73 Tarkio Independent, June 30, July 11, 1902. 74 Crissey, "America's Greatest Feeding Farm," 20. 75 Rankin, "How I Made Three Millions Growing Corn," 694. Wlbid.; Kansas City Star, July 3, 1901. 77 Crissey, "America's Greatest Feeding Farm," 41. 78 Tarkio Avalanche, November 8, 1901. "Cattle King" of Missouri 391 temperance and a strict observer of the Sabbath. He paid his men on Monday to minimize weekend temptations.79 Although he was fair with his help, he demanded a day's work for a day's pay. On the walls of his office were pictures of Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant and William McKinley and posters showing the evil effects of whiskey drinking.80 He maintained an active interest in politics. In 1889 he went East to attend the inauguration of President Ben jamin Harrison81 and in 1908 he served as a delegate to the Chicago Republican National Convention.82 His name was listed in Who's Who in America from 1903 until 1910.83 Near the close of his life, Rankin said: I am proud of my record as a plain farmer, and what I have accomplished as a farmer in lands, stock, etc. But the one thing that I count as my greatest work is that I have raised four children who are looked upon as honor able, industrious, respected citizens, whom I consider worthy of the confidence of their neighbors and to whom I can leave my life's earnings with full assurance that it will not be used for any questionable purpose.84 The Rankins were not only interested in the welfare of their own children, but worked for better opportunities for other youth in the community. In 1903 Rankin gave three boys, John, George and Joseph Christian, a 540-acre tract of land on which to plant corn. The boys earned more than $4,000 from the corn crop which Rankin bought from them at twelve cents a bushel. The project was featured in the Missouri exhibit at the St. Louis Louisiana Purchase Exposition.85 Mrs. Rankin opened her home to a Bible class held for Tarkio College girls every Thursday afternoon from 1900 until her death September 28, 1910.86 Less than a month after his wife's death, Rankin suffered a fatal stroke. All business closed for his funeral after his death, October 18, 1910. Afterward a memorial service was held for him at Tarkio College.87 In 1931 the college honored him with the com-
7» Omaha Daily Bee, March 7, 1899. 80 ibid.: Tarkio Avalanche, August 16, 1901. 81 Ibid., March 16, 1889. 82 ibid., January 3, June 19, 1908. 83 Who's Who in America, 1903-1905 (Chicago, 1903), 1215; ibid., 1906-1 1907, 1461; ibid., 1908-1909, 1548; ibid., 1910-1911, 1570. 84 David Rankin, 79. 85 Tarkio Independent, December 25, 1903. 86 Tarkio College Bulletin, Twenty-Eighth Annual Catalogue, 1910-1911, 3. 87 Tarkio Avalanche, October 27, 1910. Rankin bequeathed his Iowa land, a portion of the Atchison County land and $10,000 to his wife in his will. Mo. State Park Board The 1907 fire entailed a loss of some $5,000.
The Mule Barn as it Appeared in the Early 1900s
s il , nJS ftands today after restoration, the Mule Barn is a three-story building without a cupola.
Mo. State Park Board Transportation Items in Mule Barn Museum pletion of David Rankin Hall, to house the library, administrative offices, classrooms and a chapel.88 In 1970 the octagonal barn, which stands on the original site, was accepted for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places.89 On April 14, 1965, Tarkio College officials announced the purchase of a 299-acre tract which included the barn, known as the Rankin Mule Barn, from Carl Sjulin of Hamburg, Iowa, who gave back $15,000 for the restoration of the barn.90 The barn was restored through the efforts of the college and the community at executed January 25, 1908. She also held a life interest in the home farm which was bequeathed to his daughter, Esther. Esther Rankin Giffen's heirs sold the home farm on which the Mule Barn stands to Carl Sjulin, president of Inter state Nurseries. Rankin incorporated his operations in 1906-1907 as "The Rankin Farms." He had, before his death given each of his four children 249 shares of stock, evaluated at one hundred dollars a share. Atchison County Probate Court, Record Book 68, 613; letter from Templeton to author, January 14, 1972; letter from Harry Broermann, Tarkio, past president Atchison County Historical Society, to State Historical Society, January 21, 1972. 88 Tarkio College Bulletin, Fifty-Eighth Annual Catalog, 1940-1941 (Tarkio, 1941), 9. 89 Letter from Ernest Allen Connelly, Office of Archaeology and Historic Preservation, United States Department of the Interior, to Joseph Jaeger, Jr., director, Missouri State Park Board, October 15, 1970, in archives of State His torical Survey and Planning Office, Columbia. 90 Tarkio Avalanche, April 14, 1965. 394 Missouri Historical Review
SL cost of $180,000.91 The original brick cornice and the cupola were deleted and an octagonal plate lowered the height of the eight sloping roof sections, the roof was insulated, air conditioning was installed and the arched doorways formerly used for ad mitting wagons were filled with wood. The top floor houses a theater in the round. The original hay chute has been converted to a winding stairway leading from the costume department to the stage area. Seating in the theater is limited to 160 persons.92 The Mule Barn Opera House Company was organized in 1967 and the first major production of the company in the theater was "Carnival," presented July 16-21, 1968.9S In 1969 the Atchison County Historical Society sponsored the first of a series of antique shows and flea markets for the benefit of the Mule Barn Museum on the second floor. The Mule Barn Museum held its formal open ing October 29, 1970. The museum display includes Rankin memo rabilia, an Indian collection, and many items of interest related to the growth and development of the community during the Rankin era.94 The ground floor of the barn, with its stalls, will be con verted to a resturant according to the long-range plans. The Rankin Mule Barn is a fitting memorial to David Rankin, who, with a limited education and an impoverished youth, became one of the richest farmers in America, a builder of the town of Tarkio and a pioneer in improved farming methods.
91 Mule Barn Theatre Program, Summer 1969, in collection of State His torical Society. »- General information from the archives, State Historical Survey and Plan ning Office. 9"» Mule Barn Theatre Program, July 1968, in collection of State Historical Society. 94 Letters from Harry Broermann to the State Historical Society, February 14, 1969, and October 20, 1970.
A Sickly Suggestion Cameron Daily Vindicator, September 15, 1881. Now the sickly season has come, be sure to visit your sick neighbors and take all the children, go into his room, talk loud, and tell of all the sickness and deaths. If the patient is low-spirited, this will revive him. Then it might help him for you to smoke occasionally, so as to keep him from resting and sleeping. Then be sure to stay to meals, so as to make the poor, overtaxed wife cook four or five times a day. Thus you can add materially to the poor man's finances, and help him along after he gets about again.—Ex. *«*CO-K.C ,MO..'B9< >*•«« ww ** *I»?K.NT» Siegrist Engraving Co. Ninth, Main and Baltimore Streets, Kansas City, About 1900
Disinherited or Rural? A Historical Case Study in Urban Holiness Religion
BY CHARLES EDWIN JONES*
Holiness sects have generally ranked with the churches of the rural poor in the socio-economic hierarchy of American denomina- tionalism. Popular interest in them has centered on esoteric groups in the Appalachian and Ozark highlands noted for frenzied emo tionalism and snake handling.1 More prosperous urban areas where
*Char!es Edwin Jones holds the Ph.D. degree from the University of Wisconsin. He has served in library and archival positions at Park College and Nazarene Theological Seminary and is currently cataloger for History at Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island. i Though more restrained, scholarly comment shows the same tendency. See William W. Wood, Culture and Personality Aspects of the Pentecostal Holiness Religion (The Hague, Netherlands, 1965) ; James Stephen Brown, 395 396 Missouri Historical Review
Holiness and Pentecostal churches also thrive have been virtually ignored. Certainly the status of these groups, which comprise no less than a tenth of America's Protestant population, merits more thorough analysis. Kansas City, an urban center drawing people from both the Corn Belt and the Ozarks, provides an ideal site for beginning reexamination. Located at the confluence of the Missouri and Kansas rivers, Kansas City, Missouri, developed from a fur-trading post begun in 1821. In the decades following completion of the first railroad bridge in 1869,2 the town attracted nine trunk line railroads and extensive trade centered in oil, grain and livestock. By 1890 Kansas City had 133,000 people and had long outstripped nearby Inde pendence, its old rival in the Santa Fe provisioning trade. Across the Kansas River the town of Wyandotte, founded in 1857, merged with adjoining towns in 1886 to form Kansas City, Kansas. In 1890 it numbered 38,000 people. During the next thirty years the population of the two cities increased two and one-half times, rising from a combined total of 171,000 to 425,000. In 1920 Blacks and people of foreign birth or parentage accounted for over a third of the total population (45,000 Blacks and 114,000 of foreign extraction).3 Included also were many whites from poorer areas of the Corn Belt and the Ozark borderlands to the south and east. Physical expansion and functional differentiation followed population growth. Railroad yards, packing houses, flour mills and oil refineries spread through the river bottoms, forcing retail busi nesses to move up the hill south of the Missouri. By 1890 the center of the business district was more than a mile south and east of the junction of the two rivers and the Quality Hill District which crowned the Kansas River bluffs west of downtown was being supplanted by handsome developments on the Missouri River bluffs east of downtown and near Armour and Warwick boulevards three to five miles south of the business area. To the southeast the Santa
"Social Class, Intermarriage, and Church Membership in a Kentucky Com munity," American Journal of Sociology, LVII (November, 1951), 232-242; and John B. Holt, "Holiness Religion: Cultural Shock and Social Reorganization," American Sociological Review, V (October, 1940) , 740-747. 2 The Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad Bridge, the first to span the Missouri River, gave Kansas City a crucial advantage over St. Joseph, Missouri, and Leavenworth, Kansas, in the contest for the western trade. See Charles N. Glaab, Kansas City and the Railroads; Community Policy in the Growth of a Regional Metropolis (Madison, Wise, 1962), 2-3 and ff. 3 Statistical Abstract of the United States (Washington, D.C., 1911), 50-51, 61-62. A Case Study in Urban Holiness Religion 397
Fe Addition built in the mid-1890s was also substantial.4 Less elegance marked other development although as a general rule the farther south, the more desirable the neighborhood. In keeping with a master plan adopted in the 1880s boulevards and neighbor hood parks were to be found in all the newer areas. Population growth necessitated territorial expansion. Between 1859 and 1909 five boundary extensions increased the incorporated area from two to more than fifty square miles. In 1853 towns spread out along the river a mile and a half and a mile inland. By 1909 the east city limit lay over seven miles from downtown, the south one, over eight miles. The Missouri River continued to be a real physical and psychological barrier forcing development south. After 1873 all boundary extensions involved territory beyond the old walking city and a system of public transportation became impera tive. Cable cars introduced in the 1880s were being supplemented by electric trolley cars by the turn of the century. Overhead wires could be installed and maintained more easily than underground cable, and trolley service to outlying areas was soon initiated. By this means isolation occasioned by sprawling development was overcome and people from widely separated residential areas could be brought together for work or worship. Dependable transportation enabled churches to desert the cen tral city for outlying areas. While some congregations located on transit lii es, the more fastidious chose sites on the tree-lined boule vards which generally ran parallel to the streetcar lines. Linwood Boulevard, an east-west thoroughfare two and one-half miles south of the main business district, became a favorite building site. Lined with apartment houses and residential hotels Linwood attracted the new Central High School, St. Joseph's Hospital, several Masonic temples, the Young Men's Hebrew Association building and a num ber of churches and synagogues. Here the conservative Jewish congregation erected a Roman temple, the Irish Catholics and Presbyterians elaborate Gothic structures, and the First Baptist and First Methodist churches less pretentious but nevertheless sub stantial buildings. Conspicuous display was to be expected from Catholics, Jews
•* Some information concerning the history of the Santa Fe Addition may be found in Thomas L. Gillette, "A Study of the Effects of Negro Invasion on Real Estate Values," American Journal of Economics and Sociology, XVI (Janu ary, 1957), 151-162; and in his "Santa Fe: a Study of the Effects of Negro In vasion on Property Values" (unpublished Masters' thesis, University of Kansas City, 1954). 398 Missouri Historical Review and Presbyterians. Methodists enjoyed no such tradition, however, and although as early as 1853 they had erected an expensive Gothic structure in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania,5 easy enjoyment of ostenta tion still did not characterize them. Many rural newcomers found the massive pipe organs, robed choirs, paid soloists and ritual which accompanied occupancy of the new buildings difficult to reconcile with the free worship of the countryside where emotional display, including shouting, was not uncommon. During the last decades of the nineteenth century the chief agency for preservation of conservative theology and informal wor ship within American Methodism was the National Association for the Promotion of Holiness. Spreading the traditional Methodist teaching on Christian perfection by means of camp meetings, this group of evangelists, organized at Vineland, New Jersey, in 1867, strove to bring Methodism back to its old-time standards. To en courage supporters who for the most part remained in the church, the association maintained an extensive publication program and stationed evangelists in key cities around the country to keep revival fires burning in the interim between summer meetings. In 1903 Albert S. Cochran, one of these association agents, arrived in Kansas City. Before accepting the assignment he had spent his life in the Methodist ministry. Born in 1850 in Kenosha County, Wisconsin, Cochran moved to Iowa as a child. After attending an academy at Waukon he operated a small grocery store. At the age of twenty- seven, he entered the ministry of the Upper Iowa Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church. In succeeding years he served large congregations in Fort Dodge, Iowa; Minneapolis, Minnesota; and Portland, Oregon. While serving as pastor at Storm Lake, he was elected president of the Iowa Holiness Association, the position from which he was called to represent the national association in Kansas City. Using Kansas City as a base Cochran traveled widely, holding camp meetings and revivals as far away as the West Coast. During a large camp meeting in Pasadena, California, he renewed contact with Phineas F. Bresee, a National Holiness Association evangelist who, after holding prestigious Methodist pulpits in Iowa and Cali fornia had founded an independent tabernacle church in downtown Los Angeles in 1895. Bresee's Church of the Nazarene soon estab-
5 Matthew Simpson, ed., Cyclopaedia of Methodism, Embracing Sketches of its Rise, Progress, and Present Condition, with Biographical Notices and Num erous Illustrations (Philadelphia, 1878), 722. lished branches in other parts of California and by 1904 had spread as far east as Chicago. A direct challenge to the official national association program of loyal re form within the Methodist Church, the Church of the Nazarene of fered an alternative to any in as sociation ranks who grew weary of the losing battle within the church. Upon arrival in Kansas City Cochran located in the Northeast District. Two years later he moved to 3446 Vine in a middle-income neighborhood near the east end of Armour Boulevard.6 Cochran's Nazarene Hdqtrs., Kansas City early activity in Kansas City is Phineas F. Bresee obscure. He seems, however, to have made acquaintance with several Methodist families who had come to the city in the 1880s and 1890s, and with Miss Lue Miller, matron of the Rest Cottage, a home for unwed mothers. A native of Michigan, Miss Miller, in 1905, came to Kansas City from Pilot Point, Texas, where she had served briefly on the staff of a similar institution. Influenced by Seth Cook Rees, a Quaker evangelist who had provided inspiration for the Rest Cottage at Pilot Point,7 Miss Miller founded the Kansas City home on the "faith principle," that is, the belief that workers should trust God to supply material needs without recourse to budgets or advance pledges.8 In October 1910, Cochran rented an unused church building at Nineteenth and Waldron streets for a revival meeting. Located one block from a streetcar line in a working-class neighborhood three miles east-southeast of downtown, the meeting place was ac cessible from a long distance. As a result of the meeting the nucleus of a church was gathered and a Sunday school begun. The follow-
6 Biographical data concerning Albert S. Cochran from sketch by his wife Emma, in "Leaders File" in Archives, International Headquarters, Church of the Nazarene in Kansas City, Missouri; street addresses in city directories for 1904-1905 and 1909-1914. 7 Seth C. Rees's role in the founding of the Rest Cottage at Pilot Point is given in Charles Brougher Jernigan, Pioneer Days of the Holiness Movement in the Southwest (Kansas City, Mo., 1919), 56-57. 8 A biographical data form completed by Lue Miller Roberts is in the "Leaders File" in Archives, International Headquarters. ing March at a meeting with Coch ran serving as chairman and Lue Miller acting as secretary, twenty- six prospective members signed a petition addressed to P. F. Bresee, general superintendent of the Pen tecostal9 Church of the Nazarene in Los Angeles, asking for rec ognition as a congregation of the young denomination and request ing the appointment of Cochran as pastor.10 At the time Cochran was still a minister in the North west Iowa Conference of the Meth odist Episcopal Church. After the A. S. Cochran Kansas City group received word from Bresee of official recognition, Pastor Cochran, of course, withdrew from the Methodist ministry.11 The basis of the nostalgia which underlay the Holiness Move ment was obliquely reflected in the charter members. Unlike founders of most organizations many of the petitioners were elderly. Ranging from thirteen to seventy-nine years, the median age at the time of organization was fifty-six.12 The pastor was sixty-one; he and four of the members died within five years of the church's founding. Family ties, particularly those between elderly parents and adult children, appear as a main factor in the group's co- hesiveness. Sixteen of the twenty-six had one or more relatives in
9 Pentecostal Church of the Nazarene was chosen as the denomination's name after mergers of 1907 of Bresee's Church of the Nazarene with an eastern Holiness group called the Association of Pentecostal Churches of America. To the united group, "Pentecostal" simply denoted belief in the present possibility of attaining religious experiences similar to those enjoyed by the apostles on the Day of Pentecost. Some groups within the Holiness movement came to believe that receiving the Holy Ghost would inevitably be accompanied with speaking in unknown tongues, and called themselves Pentecostals. To dissociate themselves from what seemed to them fanaticism most Holiness groups opposed the newer belief and removed references to Pentecost from their names. In keeping with such feeling, this group deleted "Pentecostal" from its name in 1919, reverting to the name Bresee's group had used in the beginning. See Manual of the Church of the Nazarene: History, Constitution, Government, Ritual, 1919 (Kansas City, Mo., 1919), 16. io "30th Anniversary, First Church of the Nazarene, Kansas City, Mo., 1941," brochure in author's personal collection. 11 See index to Methodist conference records in Library, United Methodist Publishing House, Nashville, Tennessee. 12 Sample included the pastor and twenty-two of twenty-six members whose ages were known or could be closely estimated. The average age was fifty-three. A Case Study in Urban Holiness Religion 401
the group. Included were representatives of three generations of one family and of two generations in two others. Four adult children of members also joined. While four women had husbands within the membership, six (over one-third of the women in the church) were widows. Four men and two women were married to non- members. Excluding the minister there were seventeen female mem bers, nine male. Although no member appears to have been born in Kansas City, the average member had resided there nearly sixteen years at the time of organization. Two years after the organization of the Nazarene congregation, Aura Clay Watkins, a twenty-eight-year-old bachelor fresh from a year-long evangelistic tour to the Pacific Coast arrived in Kansas City.13 Like Cochran, Watkins had antecedents in Methodism. Before his birth, Watkins's father, a preacher in the Methodist Epis copal Church, South, had been one of the first ministers to with draw when the Southwestern Holiness Association decided to trans form itself into a church. The new body, which eventually became the Church of God (Holiness) assumed responsibility for McGee Holiness College, an academy at College Mound, Macon County, Missouri.14 After leaving the Methodist ministry, John Watkins moved his family to College Mound where on August 24, 1885, Aura Clay Watkins was born.15 At the College Mound Holiness school where his older sister, May,16 taught, young Watkins secured elementary, secondary and some college-level training. After a brief stint on the staff of his brothers' Dakota Business College in Fargo, he secured employ ment as a clerk at the Mechanics Bank in Moberly, about twenty miles from home. From 1906 to 1910 he again worked at the Fargo school, then turned to itinerant evangelism.17 In 1909 May Watkins married William H. Adkins and moved
13 See Aura Clay Watkins, Pacific Coast Evangelistic Tour (Louisville, Ky., 1914) . 14 An excellent account of the transformation of the Southwestern Holiness Association is given in Clarence Eugene Cowen, A History of the Church of God (Holiness) (Overland Park, Kan., 1949), 17-27. 15 John F. Watkins was a native of Kentucky. His son claimed to be a collateral descendant of Henry Clay for whom he was named. 16 See obituary of Maggie May (Watkins) Adkins in Church Herald and Holiness Banner, LXXXV (April 16, 1964) , 12. IT For biographical data on Watkins see Who's Who in the Central States; a Business, Professional and Social Record of Men and Women in the Central States, 1929 (Washington, D.C., 1929), 1030-1031; obituaries in the Kansas City Star, November 8, 1945, and Memorial Number, Church Herald and Holiness Banner, LXVII (January 21, 1946), also death certificate in files of Division of Health of Missouri in Jefferson City. to Kansas City. Until her husband found employment as a trouble shooter for the Kansas City Elec tric Company, Mrs. Adkins ran a rooming house at 1500 Oak Street on the edge of the central business district. By 1913 the couple had moved to 735 Waverly Avenue in near downtown Kan sas City, Kansas,18 where they were living when Watkins returned from an extended evangelistic tour in the West. He stayed with them temporarily.19 Watkins soon was back in David C. Anderson Photo the banking business, clerking in Aura Clay Watkins the large Commerce Trust Com pany downtown. Once settled he contacted other newcomers from the same part of North Central Missouri, where he and his sister had lived. That rolling area, though in the "corn belt," was not only much less fertile than other parts of the region, but had been further depleted by poor farming methods and the introduction of strip mining. As a result in the last years of the nineteenth century an exodus had begun which continued long into the twentieth century.20 As affected by the shift of population as any community in the region, College Mound sustained the added liability of having failed to attract a railroad. Although an 1897 split in the church over representation ham pered the whole enterprise, College Mound continued to be a center for the Church of God until the early 1920s. The village was the site both of the McGee Holiness College and a large annual camp meeting. The official paper, The Church Herald, was pub lished there. All, however, was not well. The financial problems which led to the school's closing in 1921 had plagued it even before
18 Both of the later addresses were in working class neighborhoods developed in the 1880s. By 1912 the Nazarene congregation had moved. While living on Tracy the Adkinses were less than three blocks from the Nazarenes' new location. There is no evidence that they attended church there, however. 19 At the end of preface to his Pacific Coast Evangelistic Tour, probably written in 1914, Watkins listed 735 Waverly Avenue, Kansas City, as his address. 20 See "Missouri 2a: Northern Missouri-Grand River Area" in Donald J. Rogue and Calvin L. Beale, Economic Areas of the United States (New York, 1961), 810-811. A Case Study in Urban Holiness Religion 403
McGee Holiness College
Is a school of high ideals. Looks well to the spiritual, mental and physical. It clings to the Bible. It won't neglect the training of the intellect. It aspires to building strong character. The student will make a safe investment.
ACADEMIC DEPARTMENT Term of 16 weeks $15.00 MUSIC (Instrumental) Term of 16 weeks 12.00 INTERMEDIATE DEPT. Term of 16 weeks 6.00 PRIMARY DEPT. Term of 16 weeks 6.00
For Information Adddress S. W. Johnson, College M'd., Mo.
the war. And with the re-union of the church in 1922, College Mound also lost the publication office. Since neither the economic conditions of the area nor the local situation bid well for the future, numerous holiness believers joined the general exodus.21 From the time of his arrival in Kansas City, Watkins evidently planned to establish a congregation22 and it was to the Holiness newcomers that he appealed. Although no documentation remains as to where the early arrivals worshipped, oral tradition has it that they attended an independent Holiness mission at Fourteenth and Virginia, about a mile east of the central business area. As the Church of God held that all ecclesiastical authority outside the local congregation was unscriptural, presumably the Holiness be lievers did not worship with the Nazarenes who retained many Methodist practices in organization. At any rate the newcomers from northern Missouri had no unbreakable church ties and when on Wednesday night, April 9, 1914, Watkins held service in a rented
21 See Cowen, History of the Church of God (Holiness), 72-75, passim; also letter of E. Y. Davis, president of McGee Holiness College to W. S. Reese, dean of the Kansas City University, October 20, 1915, concerning Watkins credits in files of the office of the Registrar, Westmar College, Le Mars, Iowa. 22 in November 1913, five months before the Kansas City church was or ganized, the annual General Convention of the church as a whole was held in Kansas City. A proposal to relocate the College Mound school in Kansas City was defeated. See Cowen, History of the Church of God (Holiness), 73. 404 Missouri Historical Review
store building at Thirty-first and Charlotte streets (a major street car line ran along Thirty-first Street), some dozen people came. The pastor must have judged only part of these to have been "Christians" since he claimed only nine as founding members.23 The twelve known to have attended the first service were members of six families. Nearly all were newcomers. Five had been in the city less than two years, none longer than twelve years.24 Like the pastor all but one had lived in North Central Missouri,25 five had been born there. Parents led the way and adult daughters of members also became members.26 At organization the average age of Watkins's group was 39.5 years.27 The difference between the original Nazarene members and those of the Church of God lay in the age of the members and length of residence in the city at the time of organization. The average member of the Church of the Nazarene had resided in Kansas City twelve and a half years longer and was sixteen and a half years older than his counterpart in the Church of God. Other wise these congregations appear simply as representative of the rural people flooding Kansas City in the decades around 1900. Surnames of both groups, including those of parents and spouses, revealed no member of other than British or Germanic descent.28 Other than
23 "Historical Sketch" on back of leaflet giving the order-of-worship for Easter, April 9, 1944, Church of God (Holiness), Twenty-ninth and Askew, Kansas City, Missouri. 24 Certain data was available through the city directory, death certificates, cemetery records and obituaries published in church and newspapers for eleven of the twelve who attended the first service, also for the pastor. Identification of the twelfth, Mrs. Mae Smith, was not possible. On the average, members had lived in Kansas City about three and one-half years. 25 Most of those attending the first service came from communities where the pastor's father, John F. Watkins, was well known. Several were from Bocne County where he had served Methodist churches. 26 The parental relationships of the three are interesting: one attended with her mother alone, one with her father alone and the other with both parents. Ada Morris, whose parents both attended, in 1916 married L. C. Maddox, a young man who arrived from Callaway County, Missouri, a year after the church was organ ized. In the 1920s the Maddoxes moved to Kansas City, Kansas. In 1932 Maddox ran as a Democrat for Register of Deeds of Wyandotte County which contains Kansas City, Kansas, normally a solidly Republican county. Swept into office by the Roosevelt landslide that year, Maddox has held office in Wyandotte County every term except one. Biographical sketch of L. C. Maddox, written by James L. Conroy, County Clerk of Wyandotte County, Kansas, in 1968, is in author's personal collection. 27 At organization the median age of the Church of God group was thirty- five years. The sample included eleven of the twelve attending the first service. 28 Names ascertained from death certificates. Other sources for parents and spouses were checked in Eldsdon Coles Smith, Dictionary of American Family Names (New York, 1956). Possibility of French derivation was ruled out in cases where the member or his parents had been born in the British Isles. A Case Study in Urban Holiness Religion 405 a Canadian and two Englishmen29 all were natives of the United States. Most had been born in the Middle West and were of old American stock. Committed to the evangelical teachings and in formal worship traditions of the American camp meetings, Holiness religion held little appeal for immigrants. Oblivious to the presence of foreigners around them, Holiness believers readily accepted the ethnic segregation which characterized these years. They identified instead with the lower middle class native whites with whom they lived and worked.30 At no point was the Holiness believers' affinity to the older urban middle class more apparent than in the jobs they held and the residential locations they chose. Despite the tendency of social observers to place them among the "disinherited" and the willing ness of Holiness people themselves to be so categorized, their actions belie such professions. As the first future Holiness members began to trickle into Kansas City after the Civil War, they, like most other newcomers, settled within walking distance of the central business area. Males arriving before 1900 entered skilled trades such as carpentry, print ing or assaying.31 To supplement family income wives often worked at home-based jobs. Some did dressmaking or carpetweaving; others operated rooming houses. Among widows and unmarried women a similar pattern prevailed: dressmaking, millinery and institutional cooking. No instance of factory work was found among future female members during this period. Among prospective members arriving in Kansas City after the turn of the century artisans predominated. This group included carpenters, painters, a cooper and an electrician. For several years the city directory listed the cooper and an oil refinery worker as fore men.32 One man worked for the Rock Island Railroad. One member acted as fireman-engineer for various downtown buildings; the
29 George W. Morris, one of the Church of God members, had come to Randolph County, Missouri, from London with his parents as a child. He was fifty years old at the time the church was organized. 30 A perceptive analysis of the role played by native immigrants from north ern New England and Nova Scotia in the development of Boston suburbs in the late nineteenth century is given in Sam Bass Warner, Jr., Streetcar Suburbs: the Process of Growth in Boston, 1870-1900 (Cambridge, Mass., 1962) . 31 The husband of one future member served at various times as book keeper, floorwalker and clerk in a department store managed by his son. 32 Easy access to skilled trades was made possible by the infant state of labor organization. Holiness believers who often made a mental association between unions and secret societies (which they opposed), may have been re garded as natural allies by company management. 406 Missouri Historical Review husband of another, as a meatcutter for a grocer. Male clerical and sales workers included the sales manager of a milling firm and the assistant superintendent of the Kansas City office of the Pru dential Life Insurance Company.33 Although one woman worked as a machine operator in a textile factory, most female members employed outside their homes held stenographic, clearical and sales jobs. With the exception of dressmaking34 and the operation of rooming houses, home-based enterprises of women disappeared after 1900. While the jobs held by Holiness members did not give them a high economic status, their occupations hardly qualified them for classification among the poor.35 The pastors merited such designation even less than their members. Although specific information concerning Cochran's finan cial condition is not available, the circumstances of his life in Kan sas City point to economic security. Until 1911 itinerant evangelism appears as his only source of income. After the church was organized he was to receive half of the weekly offerings. During the first seventeen months, however, these totaled only $985.08.36 With drawal from the Methodist conference meant forfeiture of pension claims on that body. Yet from 1905 until his death in 1914 Cochran resided at the same address (indicating that he may have owned his home) and engaged in no secular income-producing activity.37 Watkins's economic circumstances are more easily discerned. Employed as a bank clerk at the time his church was organized, in the early years he received no stated amount of support. During the 1915-1916 school year he had the means to complete his under graduate studies at Kansas City University. In November 1916,
33 Laurence Cleverdon's obituary claimed that at one time, while he still lived in Leavenworth, Kansas, he had been "wealthy." See Leavenworth Times, November 22, 1911. The obituary of one of the widows in the Nazarene con gregation said that her husband had been a wealthy land speculator and cattle dealer in early-day Kansas City. See obituary of Mrs. Emily Melvina Peeples in Kansas City Times, May 30, 1913. 34 The sole dressmaker after 1900 was the daughter of a well-known, early- day mortician in Kansas City, Kansas. See obituary of Laura E. Ball in Kansas City Star, March 31, 1947. 35 it is interesting to note that while jobs requiring manual skills pre dominated among the older people, all the identifiable young people were engaged in clerical jobs. 36 "30th Anniversary, First Church of the Nazarene"; Sylvester Theodore Ludwig, "With Hearts Aflame: a Brief Historical Statement Concerning the Development of the First Church of the Nazarene from its Beginning in 1911- 1915," 2, mimeographed copy in International Headquarters. Under Cochran's successor, F. M. Lehman who became pastor in April 1912, "a definite salary of $15 a week was established . . . ," ibid., 3. 37 Biographical sketch by Emma Cochran in "Leaders File" in Archives, In ternational Headquarters. A Case Study in Urban Holiness Religion 407 he married Bessie Beck, the daughter of a substantial dry goods merchant of Miami, Oklahoma, and had an architect-designed house built for her the following year. From 1916 to the crash in 1929 he served either as director or president of three different banks and at no time needed to rely solely on the church for support.88 From their original locations downtown Holiness members moved gradually to outlying areas. Although a few settled in older neighborhoods in Kansas City, Kansas,39 most followed the street car lines to newer developments south and east. A majority located in territory annexed to the city in 1897. They were seldom, how ever, among the first residents of the areas where they moved.40 In October 1911, after the Nazarene congregation was organ ized, Cochran served as a delegate to the denomination's general as sembly held in Nashville, Tennessee. There he served as a member of the Committee on Publishing Interests which recommended that periodicals published in Providence, Rhode Island, Peniel, Texas, and Los Angeles be combined and that a publishing house in a central location be established. Elected to the Board of Publi cation, Cochran was successful in getting Kansas City selected as the site of the publishing plant and of the national church head quarters as well. With C. J. Kinne of Los Angeles, manager-elect of the new plant, Cochran was appointed to find an appropriate location. In January 1912, the denomination purchased a three-story brick house at 2109 Troost Avenue for that purpose, and with printing equipment from Texas and California, issued the first number of the Herald of Holiness, in April of that year.41 Situated on a major streetcar line about two miles south and east of the central business district and about a mile and a half
38 See biographical sketch in Who's Who in the Central States, 1929, 1030- 1031; obituary in the Kansas City Star, November 8, 1945; transcript in office of the Registrar, W7estmar College, Le Mars, Iowa. For a wedding gift Mrs. Watkins's brother gave them a small Steinway grand piano. 39 Upon arrival in the 1910s my parents first settled in Kansas City, Kansas. Later they moved to Kansas City, Missouri, and accepted the prejudice of the Missouri people against Kansas residence. I once asked my mother why they had located in Kansas. She said that when she first arrived Kansas City, Kansas, seemed more like home. As she accommodated to city life, she changed her mind completely. 40 The residential locations chosen by Holiness members appeared to have been an extension of this trend. 41 Elden Everette Rawlings, "A History of the Nazarene Publishing House" (unpublished Masters' thesis, University of Oklahoma, Norman, 1960) . 9-11, 13-14. The purchase price was $12,000. See also Amy N. Hinshaw, Your Publishing House (Kansas City, Mo., 1937). 408 Missouri Historical Review west of the rented quarters used by the local congregation, the twelve-room residence which the Nazarenes purchased was in a neighborhood of substantial homes built in the 1870s or 1880s. Few members lived in the neighborhood (Blacks were moving in), but the location was excellent as far as public transportation was concerned. As a result, when in the spring of 1912 the publish ing house management invited the local church to share its facilities, the fifty-six member congregation gave up its rented building.42 It used the large front rooms of the publishing house building for worship while constructing a stucco tabernacle of its own next door. A few months after its formation the Church of God congrega tion moved to a rented store building at Twenty-fifth and Jackson
42 Rawlings, "History of Nazarene Publishing House," 14-15; see also "30th Anniversary, First Church of the Nazarene"; Ludwig, "With Hearts Aflame." There is no evidence that the congregation ever made any effort to attract Blacks to their services. As late as 1955 there was only one Black in a member ship of over five hundred.
1912 Church of the Nazarene Headquarters and Publishing House, 2109 Troost Avenue, Kansas City Nazarene Hdqtrs., K.C. A Case Study in Urban Holiness Religion 409
streets on the east side. It worshipped in this hall located in a working class residential area one block from the Twenty-fourth Street car line for three years. Then in 1917 it constructed a base ment church on the front part of the corner lot at Victor (later renamed Twenty-ninth) and Askew streets on which Watkins had recently erected his home. This building, completed by the erection of an architect-designed superstructure in 1928, was to serve the congregation for nearly forty years.43 Two blocks from the Santa Fe Addition, the site was served by public transporta tion on three sides. The neighborhood which was not fully de veloped when the Church of God located there attracted a cross section of the white lower middle class. During the 1950s it proved attractive as an area for Black middle class expansion as well.44 Apparently physical arrangements as well as the spiritual life of the congregation suited the founding members who, with a few exceptions, remained in the membership until they left the city or died.45 A different future lay in store for the First Church of the Nazarene. In March 1912, Cochran resigned the pastorate to become superintendent oi the Kansas District of the church, a position from which he returned as pastor in September of the next year. In the interim under his successor, the gospel song writer F. M. Lehman,46 the congregation occupied the tabernacle next to the
43 "Historical Sketch," Easter leaflet, April 9, 1944. 44 Gillette, "A Study of the Effects of Negro Invasion on Real Estate Values," 151-162. See Martin Mayer, "The Good Slum Schools," Harper's Maga zine, CCXXII (April, 1961), 46-52. It is unfortunate that Mayer appears to classify any neighborhood where Blacks predominate as a slum. If the neighbor hood of Central High School in Kansas City is a slum, there is no such thing as a Black middle class neighborhood. 45 At present three women, young at the time of the organization, con tinue to attend. About 1920 one of the Nazarene charter members was so im pressed with Watkins while attending a revival meeting at the Church of God, that she joined the congregation. She continued in its fellowship until she moved to California in 1936. See letter from Katie Davis, office secretary of the First Church of the Nazarene, Kansas City, Missouri, to the writer, December 5, 1968; and death certificate of Sarah Elizabeth Hackman in the files of the California Bureau of Vital Statistics in Sacramento. 46 Lehman was the writer of both words and music of "The Royal Tele phone" copyrighted in 1909 which likened prayer to the instant transmission of messages by telephon.;. After leaving Kansas City he went to California where he fell on hard times. Describing the conditions under which he composed "The Love of God" in 1917, he explained, "Through a misfortune we lost our all" and "were engaged at hard manual labor . . . lifting some thirty tons of lemons" daily. "This song was written during the interim while waiting on eight women lemon-sorters, in a Pasadena packing house, carrying . . . boxes" to them "and taking . . . from them the finished trays." Quoted in Haldor Lillenas, Modern Gospel Song Stories (Kansas City, Mo., 1952) , 125. publishing house. Soon after his return Cochran opened negotia tions for purchase of the Beacon Hill Congregational Church build ing three blocks up the street, but died before the negotiations were completed. The next spring a settlement was reached and "on Sunday morning, April 25, 1915, the entire church and Sunday school marched down Troost Ave nue to the new location."47 While occupancy of this $40,- 00048 building which featured stained glass windows and a pipe F. M. Lehman organ did not modify the camp- meeting-style worship of the con gregation as much as one might expect,49 the move marked a turn ing point in the church's development. Numbering 236 members50 the year after the move, the congregation consisted increasingly of publishing house and church headquarters personnel, decreasingly of the artisans and blue collar workers of its beginnings. By the end of 1923 no less than twenty of the original twenty-six members had died, withdrawn from membership, transferred to other con gregations, or left the city.51 In the 1920s the membership of the Church of God leveled off at about 125. Augmented by rural newcomers, the congregation regularly lost well-assimilated members to the Nazarenes. It re mained in its eastside location until Negroes moved into the neigh borhood in the 1950s, then built further south. The Nazarenes on the
47 "30th Anniversary, First Church of the Nazarene." 48 Valuation reported in U.S. Bureau of the Census, Religious Bodies, 1916 (Washington, D.C., 1919), I, 422. 49 Thorough analysis of the music of the Pentecostal Church of the Naza rene, General Assembly sessions held in the church in 1915 and 1919 revealed extensive use of gospel songs popular in both revival meetings and camp meet ings of the time. "Get a Transfer," a gospel song which likened conversion to the process of changing from one streetcar line to another, seemed to be related directly to the recent arrival in the city of many in the congregation. See Proceedings of the Fourth General Assembly of the Pentecostal Church (Kan sas City, Mo., 1915), passim; Proceedings of the Fifth General Assembly Pente costal Church of the Nazarene (Kansas City, Mo., 1919), passim. 50 U.S. Bureau of the Census, Religious Bodies, 1916, I, 422. 51 See letter from Katie Davis, office secretary of the First Church of the Nazarene, Kansas City, Missouri, to the writer, December 5, 1968. A Case Study in Urban Holiness Religion 411
The first building of the First Church of the Nazarene was rented 1910-1911 at 19th and Walrond streets, Kansas City.
The fourth building of the First Church of the Nazarene was dedi cated September 30, 1956, at Meyer Blvd. and Rockhill Rd. other hand, constantly reinforced by members from other Holiness groups and by their own members from other parts of the country, grew steadily in numbers and status. During the forty years follow ing 1915 the congregation relocated twice. By 1955 both groups were situated in areas considerably south of their first permanent locations and had achieved a prosperity akin to that of some estab- 412 Missouri Historical Review
lished churches forty years earlier.52 Clinging tenaciously to wor ship practices inherited from the Methodist camp meeting (when they moved in 1936 the Nazarenes carried the mourner's bench with them), they outlived the epithets hecklers once had directed at them. (In some localities Nazarenes had been called "Noisyrenes," adherents of the Church of God, "Holy Rollers.") Prosperity also gained Holiness churches kinder treatment by scholars and journalists. While past commentators charged them with fanaticism, recent observers have been prone to dismiss these groups as mutations of lower class sectarianism, the inevitable products of the Protestant ethic. Neither analysis fits Kansas City Holiness groups. Concentrated in the artisan and clerical occupa tions, from the time of their arrival these newcomers from mid- western farm areas showed economic and social stability unknown to the lower class. From the beginning they were clearly middle class in aspiration and performance. Nostalgic for their rural past, they were eager to preserve identification with it. As a consequence they sought contact with other newcomers who shared their commit ment to traditional Methodist doctrine and evangelistic worship. In numbers they attracted neither foreign immigrants nor Blacks and ceased to concern themselves with the problems of lower class whites, once massive social dislocation ceased to threaten rural newcomers. Whatever the effect of Holiness religion on the poverty-stricken of Appalachia, in Kansas City it provided rural newcomers with a vehicle of cultural continuity. Adherence to traditional Methodist beliefs and a determination to maintain a rural life style in a strange environment, provided the basis of religious community. Far from demonstrating the erratic nature of lower class religion, the middle class people who composed these congregations exemplified the stabilizing potential present in their faith.
52 The Nazarenes moved twice. In 1936 they purchased a substantial build ing from the Presbyterians two miles south of their Twenty-fourth Street loca tion and in 1955 they occupied a $500,000 church they had constructed three miles further south at Meyer Boulevard and Rockhill Road. Both locations wrere served by the Troost Avenue streetcar line.
One Kind of Love Joplin Times, June 10, 1910. Lots of men are coming to love the Republican party for the Democrats it has made—and still making. United Press International President Truman Receiving Report on Civil Rights from Charles E. Wilson, Stand ing Behind Truman and Wilson (left to right): Rabbi Roland B. Gittelson, Mrs. Sadie T. Alexander, James B. Carey, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Jr., Mrs. M. E. Tilley, Dr. Chan- ning H. Tobias, Boris Shishkin, Charles Luckman and Francis P. Matthews.
President Truman's Committee on Civil Rights: The Urban Implications
BY PHILIP H. VAUGHAN*
After the creation of the civil rights committee by President Harry S. Truman on December 5, 1946, Philleo Nash, one of the president's administrative assistants, received a memorandum from the Democratic National Committee. The memorandum acknowl edged that it was too early to evaluate the civil rights program "in statistical terms." Nevertheless, it continued, a major portion of
*Philip H. Vaughan is an assistant professor of History at Iowa State University, Ames. He received his B.S. and M.A. degrees from Memphis State University, Memphis, Tennessee, and his Ph.D. from the University of Oklahoma, Norman. 413 the American public were "thinking hard—and doing things—about sore spots in the American democratic system." Communities, not previously concerned about the plight of minority groups, were now demand ing that those groups' prob lems be solved. Certain em ployers and labor unions reacted positively on the committee's findings by lo cating more job oppor tunities for minority group members. And through out the United States non Courtesy Harry S. Truman Library governmental organizations Philleo Nash pressed for "local, regional, and national action to make the guarantees of the Constitution real for all." The memo randum ended with a statement as to why this citizen fervor materialized: "The jumping point in their argument in every case is the report of the Committee created by the President."1 Truman's creation of the civil rights committee reflected the equalitarian impulse toward securing basic rights for all Americans within the democratic society, as well as a determination to make the cities safe places in which to live. In this latter sense, it repre sented an extension of the earlier progressive desire to preserve urban capitalism through systematic processes. It marked the flower ing of a liberal dialogue on the civil rights issue in general—a dia logue that had attained a new intensity due to its urban imperatives. Moreover, Richard O. Davies's study of public housing provides additional support for the assertion that Truman was genuinely sensitive to urban problems, and that he tended more and more to see the close connection between the preservation of America's cities and the capitalistic system itself. As Davies indicated, Truman sought blanket application of New Deal reforms to new problems—
i Memorandum on Civil Liberties from Democratic National Committee to Philleo Nash, n. d., Philleo Nash Papers, Harry S. Truman Library, Inde pendence. President Truman's Committee on Civil Rights 415
mostly urban ones. And despite what seemed to be limited results in this area, Davies believes that Truman was the first president to "recognize clearly the importance of socially sound and eco nomically healthy cities."2 It is truly a significant and immeasurable achievement that a large share of Truman's urban concern was directed toward the Negro's economic, political and social uplift. As state director of federal reemployment for Missouri during the early New Deal, Truman gained first-hand experience with the problems faced by Negroes in St. Louis and Kansas City. He thus tended to view the Negro's welfare as necessary for the preservation of urban capital ism—an assumption closely akin to the earlier progressive recognition of the laborer as a vital element in preserving the system.3 He expressed this feeling in a speech at the closing session of the Na tional Association for the Advancement of Colored People Annual Conference in Washington on June 29, 1947. The presi dent called for an end to discrimination in every phase of Amer ican life; and though not referring to urban conditions specifically, he put it in the guise of "basic American rights" by emphasiz ing the point that every man should have the right to a decent home, an education, adequate medical care and a worth while job.4 Truman later summed up these thoughts—reflecting both the impulse toward extending democracy to Negro Americans and preserving the cities—in his explanation of why he created the Committee on Civil Rights. As he stated, the action was taken,
. . . because of the repeated anti-minority incidents im mediately after the war in which homes were invaded, property was destroyed, and a number of innocent lives were taken. I wanted to get the facts behind these incidents of disregard for individual and group rights which were reported in the news with alarming regularity, and to see that the law was strengthened, if necessary, so as to offer adequate protection and fair treatment to all our citizens.5 The civil rights committee was composed of fifteen persons,
2 Richard O. Davies, Housing Reform During the Truman Administration (Columbia, Mo., 1966), 141-142. 3 For an excellent account of Truman's pro-civil rights record as a U. S. senator, see Richard M. Dalfiume, Desegregation of the U.S. Armed Forces (Columbia, Mo., 1969), 132-137. The author deals with Truman's growing assumption during the early forties that federal action on civil rights was a necessity. 4 New York Times, June 30, 1947. 5 Harry S. Truman, Memoirs (Garden City, N. Y., 1955), II, 180. 416 Missouri Historical Review two of them Negro. Various occupational types were represented among the whites, including Charles E. Wilson, president of Gen eral Electric and chairman of the committee; Charles Luckman, president of Lever Brothers; the Right Reverend Henry Knox Sher- rill of Boston, bishop of the Episcopal Church; Most Reverend Francis J. Haas, Catholic bishop of Grand Rapids, Michigan, and one-time head of Fair Employment Practices Committee; John S. Dickey, president of Dartmouth University; Frank Graham, presi dent of the University of North Carolina; and Franklin D. Roosevelt, Jr., chairman of the housing committee of the American Veterans' Committee. The two Negroes were Mrs. Sadie T. Alexander, as sistant city solicitor of Philadelphia and Dr. Channing H. Tobias, a director of the Phelps-Stokes Fund, a foundation devoted to Negro education and general improvement of the race. All the members of the committee were closely connected with American cities. Therefore, it was not extraordinary that they tended to view a healthy urban life as essential to their own self-interest and the nation's. Economic historian Thomas Cochran has asserted that in the post-World War II period businessmen were feeling the unusual pressures of the Cold War, and thus were determined more than ever to make the American system adequately reflect its democratic ideals.6 Grounded in the uncertainties of a chaotic world, America's corporate and urban leaders were seeing a direct relationship between their own success and the social and economic welfare of the city; and through healthy cities, the unique Ameri can way would be articulated to the rest of the world. In a recent book on this subject, historian Morrell Heald has thrown additional light on the strength of this urban persuasion. Heald argues that one of the central facts—if not the central one— of modern industrial society since World War II is the increasing number of ways that corporate leaders are called upon to serve the public. More and more these efforts were directed toward solving the multifarious problems of the city. As the author stated: By mid-century the fate of the large American city—now characteristically the center of an even larger metropolitan complex crosshatched by a host of intricately intertwined human, social, and economic relationships—had become a subject of widespread speculation and concern. Urban renovation and renewal programs, burgeoning welfare and
6 Thomas Cochran, The American Business System, A Historical Perspe live 1900-1955 (New York, 1957), 201-205. President Truman s Committee on Civil Rights 417
relief needs, efforts to modernize and upgrade educational facilities, racial segregation and conflict, housing, high ways, air and water pollution, and a long list of other urban problems confronted and bewildered the nation.7 The urban concern Heald spoke about was echoed by one of the Truman committee members, Charles Luckman, in a magazine article. Luckman mentioned that to preserve the cities the rights and the needs of the urban dwellers had to be met. He wrote that if big business wanted to thrive, then it must assist these urban people improve their lives; otherwise, there would be no future customers. Putting it strictly on a personal level, Luckman told of his experiences as a salesman in a Negro section of Chicago during the 1930s. The people wanted the soap he was selling, but simply could not afford it. From similar experiences, Luckman came to know and understand the underprivileged, and felt an obligation to help them.8 The committee's final report, To Secure these Rights, published in late October 1947, generally was concerned with discrimination as a national problem.9 As Dartmouth Professor Robert K. Carr, executive secretary of the committee, stated: There is no phase of American life in which the Negroes do not suffer discrimination. They are subject to the entire gamut of infringement on civil rights. Furthermore, the vio lations are closely interrelated; they interact upon each other, and each one contributes to the existence of the others. Any attempts to remedy the situation must therefore take the total picture into consideration.10 The report was based on intensive staff studies, information from interested private citizens, and a number of public hearings that covered many complex and controversial matters. For example, the committee found police brutality disturbingly high in the South, while the poll tax was in use in Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi,
7 Morrell Heald, The Social Responsibilities of Business: Company and Community, 1900-1960 (Cleveland, 1970), 227. 8 Charles Luckman, "Civil Rights Means Good Business," Colliers, CXXI (January 17, 1948), 20-21. 9 For a complete analysis of the political implications of the Truman committee, see William Berman, The Politics of Civil Rights in the Truman Administration (Columbus, Ohio, 1970), 41-78. 10 Memorandum from Robert K. Carr to President's Committee on Civil Rights, June 24, 1947, Records of the Civil Rights Committee, Truman Papers, Harry S. Truman Library. (Hereafter cited as Records of the Civil Rights Committee.) Carr was the author of a volume in the Cornell Studies in Civil Liberties series entitled, Federal Protection of Civil Rights: Quest for a Sword (Ithaca, N.Y., 1947) . 418 Missouri Historical Review
South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia.11 In addition to this, attention was called to the "longstanding techniques of terror and intimidation, in the face of which great courage is required of the Negro who tries to vote."12 One more truly national aspect of discrimination revealed by the report concerned the armed services where the channels of op portunity were closed to Negroes. The committee argued that this sordid situation offered a sad testimonial to a nation that prided itself on being a stronghold of democracy; moreover, "since equality in military service assumes great importance as a symbol of demo cratic goals, minorities have recorded it not only as a duty but as a right."13 Ironically, the nation's capital provided the focal point for the committee's extensive research concerning the detrimental effects of urban living on the Negro and its meaning for white society. On February 5, 1947, Charles E. Wilson, Robert Carr and committee member Morris L. Ernst talked in terms of securing favorable action for the District of Columbia and then extending it to other urban areas across the country. Carr even suggested that a special group prepare a District of Columbia bill of rights to serve as a national model for urban reform. Committeeman Channing H. Tobias re flected the idealistic side of this position when he made reference to the great possibilities Washington offered in the area of promot ing civil rights and making urban improvements. Even so, he sadly pointed out that the national capital stood as a "denial of every thing that is included in the concept of democracy. . . ,"14 From the start, the committee hearings focused on Washington as the most glaring example of urban poverty, and then gradually reached out to expose these same conditions in the entire metro politan North. The work of the National Committee on Segregation in the nation's capital provided the necessary statistical support, while at the same time adding a moral tone to the proceedings that further strengthened the Truman committee's efforts to publicize the issue.15 Several times during the hearing different members of
ii To Secure these Rights, Report of the President's Committee on Civil Rights (Washington, 1947) , 26, 39. 12 Ibid., 40. is Ibid., 41. 14 Records relating to meetings, hearings and staff interviews of the com mittee, February 5, 1947, Records of the Civil Rights Committee. is This committee was one of several liberal organizations which became concerned with urban racial problems after World War II. Members included Clarence Pickett, a director of the American Friends Service Committee; Marshall President Truman s Committee on Civil Rights 419
Courtesy Phelps-Stokes Fund Dr. Channing H. Tobias (right) and His Successor at the Phelps-Stokes Fund, Dr. Frederick D. Patter- the committee paid tribute to the efforts of the Washington or ganization, as well as other similar but less well-known, citizens' groups for giving the needed encouragement to the task ahead. A memorandum from the Truman committee summed up the impor tance of such efforts by pointing out that—"a critical active citizens' body can encourage the committee through the supporting and protecting influence of an organized public opinion to carry through the various implications of their detailed studies and findings. . . ."16 Nearly eight pages of the final report were devoted to the various aspects of the urban question in Washington. Robert K. Carr
Field, millionaire Chicago newspaper owner; G. Bromley Oxnum, bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church; Hubert H. Humphrey, mayor of Minneapolis; Mrs. Franklin Roosevelt; and actress Helen Hayes. 16 Memorandum on the National Committee on Segregation in the Na tion's Capital, February 26, 1947, Records of the Civil Rights Committee. 420 Missouri Historical Review returned to this issue time and time again during the hearings, al ways referring to Washington as a "crucial area" if the country ex pected to deal with other northern cities in an effective way. As he pointed out, it was a border city in which the "patterns of the North and South meet," and what finally emerges here "will be of major significance in any attempt to rebuild the structure of group rela tions throughout the nation."17 Carr further spelled out this problem very clearly with an examination of Washington's Negro housing situation—most of which was substandard by any scale of measurement. He found that while the principal slum area housed about 15 percent of the whole population, 30 percent of the black population lived there. In the southwest sections of the city, areas showing 90 percent or more concentration of Negroes had slum characteristics: while in the southeast sections, the areas with the highest rate of crowding were occupied by low-income Negro families. Carr suggested that the reason for this was Washington's poor city development plans and the use of restrictive covenants and other discriminatory de vices to contain Negroes within restricted areas, thus keeping them from spilling over into white residential sections. And while the city eliminated some substandard areas such as the alley dwellings, no provisions were made for housing the many displaced families in the city. Furthermore, Carr pointed out that plans made by the National Capital Park and Planning Commission were threatening to displace more Negro neighborhoods for the purpose of building highways, parks and public buildings.18 The committee also gave attention to proposals on the District of Columbia offered by the Southern Conference for Human Wel fare. This conference for the most part represented the efforts of urban liberals in the South to establish a climate of racial harmony by breaking down Jim Crowism wherever it existed. The organiza tion prepared a pamphlet in 1947 for consideration by the Truman committee—calling for a program of new housing construction (30,000 new permanent dwellings in the Washington area), re placement of 44,000 deteriorated dwellings, encouragement of low- cost and industrial housing, elimination of the color classification from public housing applications, outlawing of restrictive covenants, and recognition that housing "means more than a place to live,"
17 Memorandum from Robert K. Carr to President's Committee on Civil Rights, April 24, 1947, Records of the Civil Rights Committee. is ibid., Februarv 5, 1947. President Truman s Committee on Civil Rights 421 to" and that new projects "be planned and oriented to contribute to a fuller life for all dwellers."19 In the Truman committee's final report, Washington drew severe criticisms in every phase of city life. All public housing projects were segregated while whites locked themselves in George town and other suburban sections, a trend that would continue in the years ahead. The report also noted that 70 percent of the in habitants of the city's three worst slum areas were Negro. Further more, the city hospitals maintained segregated wards and prevented Negro physicians from practicing there. In addition, almost all public accommodations and recreation facilities in the city were closed to Negroes.20 As the committee continued its discussion on urban topics, it became apparent that the entire urban North suffered from the same problems that were found in Washington. A staff statement- relying largely on the 1940 census—summed up the varied testimony on this subject, showing that practically "every important American city is now bulging with ill-housed Negro families whose condition is even more desperate than that of similarly-placed whites." Re vealing how neighborhood agreements and social pressures worked against improving urban housing for Negroes, the statement placed most of the blame on restrictive covenants. Echoing the editorial line of the Negro press (many of the Negro newspaper editorials and articles on this problem were made available to the civil rights committee), it called for a concerted attack on restrictive covenants and Federal Housing Administration discriminatory practices, as well as legislation promoting the construction of "sorely needed housing," and also bearing in mind the "special needs of low- income groups regardless of race or religion."21 Lester Granger, executive secretary of the Urban League, gave additional testimony to the committee from research gathered by the league—information that became the basis for the committee's conclusions on the urban problem. Referring to the constant frus-
19 Pamphlet from the Southern Conference for Human Welfare to Presi dent's Committee on Civil Rights, "Toward Democracy in the Nation's Capital, Program of Action for 1947," Records of the Civil Rights Committee. Thomas A. Krueger's book, And Promises to Keep: The Southern Conference for Human Welfare, 1938-1948 (Nashville, 1967), is an excellent study of this organization. The author contends that the conference served as an alternative to Southern conservatism until 1948, when the opposition labeled it a communist front. 20 To Secure these Rights, 87-95. 21 Staff Statement to President's Committee on Civil Rights, "Civil Liberties Implications of the Employment, Housing, and Social Adjustment Problems of Minorities," April 1, 1947, Records of the Civil Rights Committee. 422 Missouri Historical Review tration of Negro urban dwellers in their search for equality, Granger denounced restrictive covenants, crowded living conditions and discrimination in employment, health care and public accommoda tions. He even hinted that the South was learning something about discrimination from the northern cities. He said: It is ironic that housing discrimination practiced against Negroes has reached its point of greatest refinement in northern communities where Negroes have made their greatest employment progress at the same time. Only recently have southern communities begun to borrow the northern idea, possibly because over many decades the South has become adjusted to its knowledge that there is an important proportion of its population which is Negro, that this Negro population must live somewhere, and that Negroes and whites can live side by side in the same cities and frequently in the same neighborhoods.22 Granger's statement cut through the tangled legal aspects to the very heart of the problem—the interrelationship and inter de pendency of Negroes and whites in the cities. He concluded that the races not only could live side by side, but must do so if the urban areas were to survive in the future. The committee discus sions picked up this crucial theme and groped for a national solu tion. Franklin D. Roosevelt, Jr., for example, talked of how plentiful housing alone would render restrictive covenants innocuous. For as he argued, if there was an abundance of decent housing, the landlord was primarily anxious to fill it up and does not care whether he is renting to Jews, Gentiles, Negroes or any other group because it is rent that matters most. When, however, you have a tremendous demand and not enough supply, "that is when he can become restrictive, and he remembers that he has the restrictive covenant. . . "23 Roosevelt's argument was reaffirmed in an extensive report to the committee by the National Housing Agency. The report, pre sented in part by Robert Carr, pinpointed the various restrictive
22 Testimony of Lester B. Granger to President's Committee on Civil Rights, April 17, 1947, Philleo Nash Files, Truman Papers. Both the Nash files and papers are rich sources for materials concerning all minority groups. Though not often in the public spotlight, Philleo Nash represented the best strains of liberalism within the Truman administration. He was an anthropologist and had once lived among the Klamath Indians in Oregon. He lectured at the University of Toronto from 1937 to 1944. Under the Truman administration, he served as special assistant for minority problems. 23 Statement of Franklin D. Roosevelt, Jr., to President's Committee on Civil Rights, June 30, 1947, Records of the Civil Rights Committee. President Truman s Committee on Civil Rights 423 practices which limited an already sparse supply of housing for Negroes, and reduced the number of sites available for new con struction. As the report concluded: These practices contribute to racial segregation and the development of the ghetto, which constitutes a drain upon the economic, social, and spiritual resources of the entire community, often complicating further desirable urban rehabilitation and redevelopment and sorely needed com munity developments because there is no place for the dis placed slum dwellers to go.24 The Truman committee also made use of a poll on racial matters that indicated both a need for, and potential white support in favor of, housing reform. The results on the housing question- Do you favor open housing?—that was asked of some New York City white residents revealed a great deal of support for abolishing residential segregation. These same whites favored such proposals as the elimination of discriminatory practices of both private and public real estate and financial agencies, an increase in public housing construction, and educational programs to promote racial harmony on the housing issue as well as all areas of contact between the races in the urban areas.25 A real need for these proposals was substantiated by the 1940 census on housing, which the Truman committee relied on during the hearings. The housing census showed that two of every three urban homes occupied by Negroes was substandard. These urban blacks occupied second-, third-, and fourth-hand houses that were ill-adapted to family size and incomes. Moreover, the same hous ing census revealed that government policy greatly aggravated the situation by practicing discrimination in housing.26 The committee's discussions of the physical aspects of housing quite logically led to consideration of the adverse effects on the Negro's health from living in inferior housing. Carr made a distinct connection between poor housing and health problems, pointing to the higher disease and mortality rates among urban Negroes when compared to whites. Carr noted that the Negro death rate from pellagra was more than fourteen times that of
24 Report on Housing from National Housing Agency to President's Com mittee on Civil Rights, n. d., Records of the Civil Rights Committee. 25 Summary of Urban Housing Poll from Bureau of Applied Research of Columbia University to President's Committee on Civil Rights, n. d., Nash Papers. 26 Staff Memorandum to President's Committee on Civil Rights, May 8, 1947, Records of the Civil Rights Committee. 424 Missouri Historical Review whites; more than eight times higher from syphilis; more than three times higher from pneumonia, tuberculosis and influenza; and twice as high from whooping cough.27 He believed that the Taft-Ellender- Wagner Bill offered a partial solution, for the addition of 500,000 public housing units would also mean more public buildings, health centers, clinics, playgrounds and better school facilities to go along with them. The bill, Carr asserted, would "represent the greatest march into the Promised Land since the Exodus."28 In addition to these public housing units, the bill called for redevelopment of slum areas, a housing research program, and increased federal loans to builders of middle-income homes. The measure passed the Senate by acclamation on April 22, 1948, but died in the House Banking and Currency Committee. It did serve as the basis for Truman's 1949 Fair Deal measure, the National Housing Act. The Truman committee also gave considerable attention to discriminatory employment practices in the urban areas with the help of special surveys in Kansas City, Philadelphia, St. Louis, San
27 Staff Memorandum on Negro Health in the Urban Areas to President's Committee on Civil Rights, June 24, 1947, Records of the Civil Rights Com mittee. 28 Ibid.
A Slum Area in St. Louis, 1943 Charles Trefts Photograph Collection President Truman s Committee on Civil Rights 425
Charles Trefts Photograph Collection Tenement Houses in St. Louis, 1937
Francisco, Boston, Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland and Detroit. The results showed the need for fair employment practices in light of widespread discrimination in hiring, firing and conditions of em ployment. This also applied to labor unions, help wanted ads, job applications and employment agencies. Unemployment for non- whites more than tripled from July 1945, until April 1946, as com pared to an increase of one and one-half for whites. For specific areas, the Negro unemployment rate was four times that of whites in St. Louis, three times more in Chicago, and twice as much in Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and Baltimore.29 Certainly the final report of the civil rights committee left little doubt that the city was asserting a very definite political influence, however subtle or hidden it may have appeared in the
29 To Secure these Rights, 56-62. 426 Missouri Historical Review liberal political rhetoric of the time. According to urban historian Blake McKelvey, urban problems had attained such depth that they would "never again be disengaged from the mainstream of the nation's history. . . ."30 Through the Truman committee's hear ings, the administration offered what was perhaps the most forceful attempt of the entire post-war period to give proper executive guidance to the dialogue and goals representative of this urban problem. The committee further reflected President Truman's un derstanding that the Negro's economic, political and social uplift was a necessity if America was to fulfill its role as a model of democracy for all the world. The president also grasped the vital connection between the Negro's assimilation and acceptance into urban society on the basis of equality, and the preservation of that society. His most percep tive thoughts on this vital connection were revealed in the attention he gave to the needs of the Negro veteran. On a number of occa sions, Truman bemoaned the fact that the veteran returned to a world in which "the tasks of finding a job and housing his family are complicated by whatever obstacles race prejudice may put in his way. . . ." The problems of the entire urban black community were telescoped in the veteran's plight, for as Truman said, "he returned to civilian life . . . with improved occupational skills and training," only to find that the opportunities "on the basis of in dividual merit and capability" simply did not exist.31 The political consequences surrounding Truman's appointment of the civil rights committee were both immediate and long range. As one historian suggested, Truman's appointment of the commit tee assured him the liberal support he so desperately needed in the coming presidential campaign; while at the same time, it did not fully alienate southern support since the mere creation of the committee did not commit the administration to any specific legis lative program.32 Men close to Truman made him aware of the political im portance of civil rights and the urban issue, particularly following
30 Blake McKelvey, The Emergence of Metropolitan America 1915-1966 (New Brunswick, N.J., 1968), 119. 31 Truman to L. D. Reddick, curator of Schomburg Collection of the New York Public Library, February 4, 1947, PPF 30, Truman Papers. The Schom burg Collection is devoted exclusively to Negro literature and represents the largest collection of its kind in the United States. 32 Berman, Politics of Civil Rights, 52. Berman further points out that in appointing the committee, Truman took a step in favor of civil rights from which there was no turning back. President Truman's Committee on Civil Rights 427 the congressional election losses in 1946. For example, in an assess ment of the Negro vote in those elections, Philleo Nash indicated the administration's awareness of its past importance, and more importantly, of its potential value in the future. Nash showed that the Negro vote had been largely responsible for Democratic party victories in New York, Chicago, Detroit, Philadelphia, Kansas City, St. Louis, Cleveland, Youngstown and Dayton. In addition to these generalizations on the urban Negro vote, New York's Governor-elect Thomas E. Dewey carried no districts in Harlem.33 Truman most assuredly took this advice to heart during the 1948 campaign, because he made special appeals for the urban vote in these cities as well as many others. In a letter on the urban vote to presidential assistant George M. Elsey in early 1948, a New York political analyst stressed the opinion that the Republican party feared the effect of the minority vote, which explained why some Republicans had recently spoken in favor of fair employment practices, anti-poll tax, and anti-lynching legislation. The writer of the letter further believed that Truman's appointment of the civil rights committee could well become the decisive factor in his bid for election in 1948. He therefore urged the president to follow up his action with a strong speech in favor of civil rights— a move which would "elevate him as the unquestioned leader of the nation in the civil rights field."34 Following the issuance of the civil rights committee's final report, the total political implications were revealed in a memo randum from George Elsey to Clark Clifford, special counsel to the president. Based on the most thorough observations of the political scene at the time, Elsey's note stated that "proper han dling" of the civil rights issue could "virtually assure the election of the President by cutting the ground out from under Wallace and gaining the enthusiastic support of the liberal and labor groups." The note further said that a strong speech by Truman was par ticularly important while the news of the civil rights committee was still fresh in the public mind. Elsey firmly believed that any thing short of such action would appear to be a retreat. Regarding the problem of recalcitrant Southerners, Elsey wrote that while there seemed to be little chance of appeasement, there was not
33 Memorandum from Philleo Nash to Presidential Assistant David K. Niles, November 12, 1946, Nash Papers. 34 Milton D. Stewart to George M. Elsey, January 19, 1948, Papers of George M. Elsey, Harry S. Truman Library. much danger of losing the entire South. But assuming that there would be some defection from the South, Elsey pointed out that "it takes a considerable num ber of southern states to equal the importance of such states as New York, Pennsylvania, and Illi nois. . . ." Elsey concluded that the Democratic party had everything to gain and nothing to lose from mak ing the "most forthright and dramatic state ment . . ." and backing it Constant—Courtesy Harry S. Truman Library with "equally dramatic and George M. Elsey forthright action."35 This favorable assess ment of Democratic prospects for the Negro vote seemed to be affirmed later by expressions of black discontent with the Repub lican party's reluctance to make a concerted commitment in favor of civil rights. Mildred Casey, a leader in the fight for better Negro housing in Chicago, expressed the deepest strains of this dis content in a speech at the Republican National Convention in June 1948. Referring to the party as a "representative of the real estate lobby," she told the convention that the Negro would not forget that the Republican-controlled House of Representatives had "blocked all action on federal low rent housing. . . ,"36 A post election summary provided final and irrefutable substantiation of these earlier political assertions. It revealed that Truman's majorities in the Negro districts of Illinois, Ohio and California exceeded the margin by which he carried the states. In Illinois, for example, he
35 Memorandum from George M. Elsey to Clark Clifford, n. d., Elsey Papers. For an explanation of Clifford's important role in urging the president to deliver a civil rights message to Congress, see Berman, Politics of Civil Rights, 80-82. 36 Memorandum on Civil Rights Speech at Republican National Conven tion, June 30, 1948, Nash Papers. Political cartoonists Daniel Fitzpatrick and S. J. Ray often used domestic policies, including civil rights, as a theme before the 1948 election. Fitz- patrick's political cartoon (above) entitled "All This And Brickbats Too?" appeared in the St, Louis Post-Dispatch, March 26, 1948, while Ray's entitled "Also Necessary For A Strong America" appeared in the Kansas City Star, March 19, 1948. 430 Missouri Historical Review received 78.8 percent of the vote in the Negro districts; 65 percent in Harlem; and 90 percent of the Negro vote in Philadelphia.37 Certainly these political considerations sharpen the total picture concerning the civil rights issue, but at the same time they reveal little with regard to the crucial importance of Truman's committee to the future course of civil rights and urban reform. The commit tee brought to fruition the growing body of assumptions most ade quately defined as an urban persuasion. Again, as Richard O. Davies pointed out in his study of public housing, the real and lasting significance of the administration's efforts was "that the basic prob lems were brought into sharp focus. . . ."38 Even beyond that, the committee's proposals were designed to bring immediate improve ment in the urban Negro's living conditions through such means as desegregation of public and private health facilities, removal of restrictive covenants and a guarantee of equal access to public accommodations.39 And regardless of any shortcomings of the com mittee's report, it pointed the way toward establishing a rapport between blacks and whites on the question of improving urban conditions, as well as revealing what many considered the heart of the crisis—a lack of "contact" between the races. This opinion was based in part on an experimental urban housing community where a majority of the white inhabitants who had previously expressed fears about mixed neighborhoods, changed their minds after living with Negroes for a few years.40 When Truman followed the committee's report with his Febru ary 1948 message to Congress, he made a definite commitment to the twin goals of securing Negro rights and preserving America's cities—a commitment that would provide the framework for every subsequent administration. Whether Truman or any of his advisers consciously recognized all of the implications of this commitment seems to be beside the point. The fact that there even was a Com mittee on Civil Rights gave new dignity to the civil rights cause in general, while more specifically summoning forth new and imaginative approaches to the problems posed by urban America.
37 Memorandum from Philleo Nash to the President, November 6, 1948, Nash Papers. 38 Davies, Housing Reform During the Truman Administration, 141. 39 To Secure these Rights, 167-172. 40 ibid., 85. Harper's Weekly The Eastern End of Eads Bridge During the Tornado
The St. Louis Tornado of 1896
BY MARY K. DAINS*
As far back as the summer of 1895, the Reverend Irl R. Hicks, a St. Louis weather prophet, had studied the position of the planets, moon and earth and had issued a tornado warning for the future. He repeated it May 17, 1896, but few people noted it or gave it second thought. For St. Louis and her citizens Hicks's prophecy would become only too true, later in the month. The fatal day, May 27, dawned bright and sunny. Business was bustling as usual in the city. Clouds began to obstruct the sun and the weather bu-
*Mary K. Dains is research assistant for the REVIEW. 431 432 Missouri Historical Review
reau predicted local thunderstorms.1 By noon the clouds were more numerous and threatening in appearance, and when the sun shown through it scorched and burned. The barometer fell steadily. The weather bureau, with headquarters in the tower of the Federal Building, carefully watched for the approaching storm but antici pated no great catastrophe.2 From his observatory Hicks also looked at the sky knowing that the city was in the vortex of a tornado. He judged the readings on his barometer to be an absolute guarantee. In mid-afternoon the wind came steadily from the northwest. A number of subcurrents from different directions brought masses of clouds. Gradually it became dark and a few people began to view the sky with alarm. Some hurried home. Hicks at his observa tory window pointed out the exact location where the cloud funnel was going to form. He ordered the porter to close the storm doors of the building and he and his associates moved to the northwest corner of the large double parlor adjoining the sliding doors. It was considered the safest part of the building in case the upper story gave way.3 Clouds to the north and west took on a brighter hue and hung close to the earth. From the east drifted heavy black shapes of vapor laden with lightning that flashed in sheets and forks. A cool breeze seemed to emit an odor of burnt leather. Down in the streets the wind blew from the north; smoke from factory chimneys, how ever, suggested an east wind, while the clouds denoted at different times a southeast or northeast direction. After intense lightning "luminous balls of fire, colored purple, and red and blue shot out, accompanied by roars of thunder." Then as darkness settled over the roofs of the city a slight rain was seen coming from the south, and the wind shifted to the east. People in the streets hurried to places of safety. Streetcars waited longer at the corners for alarmed crowds wanting to get aboard. Signs creaked and swung wildly and "strange blue balls" flashed along the telegraph and trolley wires. From the southwest horizon, advancing cloud formations gathered over the city, seemingly drawn together by a long sausage-
1 Julian Curzon, comp. & ed., The Great Cyclone at St. Louis and East St. Louis, May 21, 1896 (St. Louis, 1896), 19,^56. 2 St. Louis Republic, May 28, 1896. The major portion of this article is taken from the St. Louis Republic, May 28-30, 1896. Footnotes pertaining to the Republic are used to signify'the date in which the information of the pre ceding paragraphs appeared. Documentation relating to other sources is indi cated by direct citations 3 Curzon, Great Cyclone, 19-20, 56-57. The St. Louis Tornado of 1896 433 shaped cloud, which descended toward the earth. A brief rain came from the south. The wind stopped, then began again with in creasing velocity. Lightning flashed along telegraph wires; telegraph poles were "flashing pillars of blue flames." Thunder roared as the tornado struck the city at a point just north of Tower Grove Park. Gushing wind picked up buggies and turned them over. Build ings shuddered and the wind rolled up tin roofs and laid them over telegraph wires. Flying bricks and timbers filled the air. Falling signs, breaking windows and the shrieks of frightened men, women and children added terrifying sounds.4 A stranger rushed into the two-story brick sub-police station at 1414 Old Manchester Road to get out of the storm. The solidly built structure, where two prisoners were housed, was thought to be secure from the fury but the wind whipped off the entire upper floor and threw it to the ground. The officer in charge opened the cells and set his prisoners free. At the Boulevard Saloon on the corner of Kingshighway and Old Manchester Road, the south wall was torn out and deposited upon the roof of Sievers's Grocery Store adjoining it to the south. Several customers were inside when masonry crushed the roof. An employee, John Bucholz, was knocked down by falling debris, but Ed Harburg, the clerk, and John Julich, a customer, were pinned under crashing timber. The tornado cut through Tower Grove Park leveling trees, uprooting plants and shrubs and then swept over the hill toward the dwellings on Compton Heights, to the northeast. To the east the tall steel girders of the Liggett and Myers Tobacco Plant attracted the tornado. Between Jefferson and Grand avenues the storm moved toward the more densely populated part of the city. Mrs. C. H. Eyermann and her nine-year-old son were on the second floor of their nine-room brick home at 1722 South Jeffer son Avenue. The wind blew in the windows and the mother and child fled to the first floor. When the walls of the second story began to fall they hurried on to the basement. Then Mrs. Eyer mann remembered leaving the gas burning in the main hall and fearing it might set the house on fire, she told her son to remain quiet while she went back to turn it off. Just as she turned out the gas the whole house seemed to give way. She rushed back down
4 St. Louis Republic, May 28, 1896. 434 Missouri Historical Review the stairway, grabbed her son and forced him between two pieces of masonary that formed a small archway underneath the hall. The house fell with a crash, but Mrs. Eyermann and the boy were not injured. There were many miraculous escapes along Missouri Avenue near Lafayette Park. The family of Alois Solerer in a three-story brick home at 1401 Missouri Avenue also sought shelter in the basement. Brick and mortar fell all around them after the roof was blown away. With the family was William Taylor, their Negro coachman, who had worked for them for many years. Under his care was the family horse, Bess, to whom he was most devoted. During the height of the storm he heard the horse's frantic neigh and darted to its rescue despite the family's pleas. Taylor reached the stable just in time to free Bess before the walls gave way. The horse escaped but Taylor was killed. At the corner of Park and Jefferson avenues streetcar No. 19 was lifted from the track, turned around in midair and thrown forty feet on its side in a gutter. The conductor and motorman jumped to the ground, ran to some iron trolley wire poles, swung their arms and legs around them and anchored themselves securely until the wind stopped. The only passenger aboard was jostled about and "landed on his head" but was not severely injured.5 Standing in the hallway of St. Paul's Church at Ninth and La fayette, M. F. Crawley and three other persons were covered with dust and particles of mortar and bruised by falling brick as the building collapsed. Fortunately they too escaped serious injury. Although north of the center of the tornado, people visiting the fairgrounds also experienced some frightening moments. Horse races were in progress and the storm approached almost unnoticed. When the wind came the grandstand crowd was watching the jockeys warm their horses. Instantly the curtain and sunshades sur rounding the grandstand and clubhouse were torn to shreds. Ter rified men and women rushed for the lower floor. Pandemonium reigned; chairs were overturned, women fell and men trampled upon each other. Mrs. Charles Van Dusen, wife of a well-known jockey, was knocked down in the stampede and lost her pocket- book containing $110. Some of the crowd ran out into the track where they were mercilessly pelted by the driving rain. An order was given for them to lie down on the grass and they obeyed. A
5 Ibid., May 29, 1896. The St Louis Tornado of 1896 435
Leslies Weekly The Grandstand of the St. Louis Jockey Club Being Demolished by the Tornado
terrific gust lifted the entire grandstand roof and threw it to the ground immediately south of the stand. Large timbers, torn off the roof, plunged through two floors and buried themselves end upwards in the ground floor. Underneath the stand, Captain Pat Carmody attempted to prevent a panic and persuaded some 300 frightened people to remain quiet. The bookmakers rushed from the betting ring with the cashiers following. Some dropped their bankrolls. Court was about to close at the Four Courts building, reported to be one of the safest structures in the city, when the tornado descended. The building began to shake violently. Showers of glass from broken windows and several bricks from the roof of neighbor ing buildings tore through the openings and added to the pande monium. Screaming women and men pushed and trampled one another trying to vacate the premises. Prisoners in the jail section of the building were penned in their cells and pleaded to be let out. Deputy Jailer William Wagner ordered silence but they 436 Missouri Historical Review cursed him and kicked against the door. After a brief conference it was decided to release the prisoners. As some fifteen cells were opened, the prisoners rushed to the stairway and tried to force the guards to let them out of the building, promising that they would make no effort to escape. Wagner again order them locked up in their cells. The prisoners objected and confronted the guards. The riot bell sounded and a score of detectives and policemen entered the jail. Then the officers drew their revolvers and with clubs raised threatened to kill the prisoners if they did not obey. Frightened inmates went back to their cells and a dozen officers were stationed at the corner of the building which had blown down to prevent anyone from escaping.6 The tornado moved north over the downtown business district and along the river bank twisting and tearing at elevators and warehouses.7 Men were blown into the water and barges over turned. Several tugs were jerked from their docks; some were carried down the Mississippi and others were swept diagonally across the river and tossed on the Illinois bank. The tug, Dolphin No. 2, moored at the foot of Washington Avenue, had a crew of three men and two women aboard, includ ing Jennie Mitchell, the cook, and Emma Nolan, the chambermaid. On the deck the mate saw the storm approaching and rang the alarm bell. The steamboat, Raid Eagle, moored close by, was blown into the river just as the Dolphins ropes parted. Careening, the tug shipped water on the starboard side as the rest of the crew climbed to the upper deck. The wind forced the boat against Eads Bridge and the crew dodged to escape the ironwork of the structure. Seeing that there was no hope if they stayed on board, the mate shouted, "She'll float away soon and sink[!]" "Climb on the bridge!" Jennie Mitchell climbed on the ironwork first, assisted by two of the men who followed. The mate helped Emma Nolan to the bridge and as he swung himself into the beams, the boat drifted away and sank before their eyes. The crew climbed to the bridge roadway while the wind blew with a force that caused the huge structure to "rock like a cradle." Several times Emma was nearly blown off. Once, just as safety was in sight, Jennie was caught by a gust but was saved when the mate caught her with his arm.
6 Ibid., May 28, 1896. 7 Ibid., May 29, 1896. The St. Louis Tornado of 1896 437
Leslies Weekly Destruction at the East St. Louis End of Eads Bridge
Reaching the railroad tracks on the bridge they lay down until the full force of the storm passed. Then they crawled to safety. Passenger train No. 7 of the Chicago and Alton Railroad had just pulled out on Eads Bridge from the Missouri side heading east when the storm overtook it. Engineer William Swoncutt realized the danger which threatened the train when the coaches began to careen. Overhead, telephone poles snapped and several Jarge stones loosened from their foundations and toppled into the river. Calmly Swoncutt put on a full head of steam in an effort to make the Illinois shore. Within two hundred feet of the other side an entire upper span of the bridge collapsed and tons of huge granite blocks crashed to the tracks where the train and its passengers had been but a moment before. At that instant the wind struck the train upsetting the cars "like playthings." The storm, with no less fury, moved on to East St. Louis and into the Illinois countryside. For the stunned St. Louisans the wind died at 5:35 p.m. but the rain continued to pour in torrents^ Bolts of lightning had struck a number of buildings and fires still raged. 438 Missouri Historical Review
The plant of the St. Louis Refrigerator and Wooden Gutter Com pany was engulfed in flames and the storm so badly littered the streets with wreckage that fire engines could not get through. One fire engine was mired in the mud from the continual down pour but the rain which soaked the area also helped to control the fires. Darkness and the heavy rain made it difficult to ascertain the extent of the damage. The streets and sidewalks were almost a solid mass of debris—trees, bricks, broken telephone and telegraph poles, tin roofing, broken signs and shattered glass. Tangled tele phone, telegraph and electric wires draped the area and made walk ing hazardous. In some places water resembling small creeks, flowed through the streets. In the cold rain tenement house residents shivered on the sidewalks because their homes were wrecked. Frightened women searched for missing husbands in the manu facturing districts and men dashed here and there in a effort to get home to their families. A number of East St. Louis residents were trapped on the Missouri side of the river with passage across the bridge nearly cut off. When the electric currents were turned off to eliminate the danger from live wires in the streets, the city was in total dark ness. Calcium lights were erected to facilitate rescue efforts. Un known numbers of victims lay buried in the rubble and volunteers worked to free them. Cries of distress came from many quarters. Telegraph and telephone communications with the outside world were impossible. Streetcars could not run because they were either without power or unable to move over the debris-laden tracks.8 The City Hospital suffered heavy damage during the storm. Some sections of roof, walls and floors collapsed, and cots, furni ture and other equipment were scattered.9 Rain dripped through wrecked portions causing pieces of plaster to crumble and fall. The old House of Good Shepherds building at Seventeenth and Pine streets was secured for emergency treatment. Ambulances with clanging bells drove up at its gates depositing the injured from all parts of the area. Soldiers, who guarded the entrance, were besieged by great mobs searching for news of relatives and friends. In the receiving room of the impromptu hospital, ambulance drivers, policemen, sisters and members of the Third Regiment carried in
8 Ibid., May 28, 1896. 9 Ibid., May 29, 1896. The St. Louis Tornado of 1896 439
Harper's Weekly Identifying Victims in a Temporary Morgue cots and gave assistance. In the instrument-cluttered examining room the harried doctors looked over those brought in and deter mined the nature of the injuries. In the flickering light of candles and weak gas jets, bones were set, wounds were cleaned, bound and bandaged. Those not seriously hurt were dispatched to the upper floors, the badly injured were kept downstairs and the dead were carried away to the morgue to be identified and claimed by relatives.10 Rescue workers struggling in the rain and darkness Wednes day night thought perhaps the afflicted districts would not seem so terrible in the morning. But the sun that rose on St. Louis brought to light new horror and only then did the true situation dawn upon the people. From the west to the east in the south central portion of the city a wide streak of wreckage appeared. The storm's path through the city was about seven miles long and resembled the path of a snake. Following Mill Creek Valley gen erally, now and then the storm had diverged to one side or the
10 Ibid., May 28, 1896. 440 Missouri Historical Review other and then returned to its center with renewed energy.11 Unlike the other parts of town which looked bright and fresh after the hard rain, the path of the tornado proper was spattered by a deluge of muddy water, the contents of which had been sucked up from another area and dropped by the whirling cloud.12 Judging from the broken trees and scattered buildings, the storm entered the city near the poorhouse on Arsenal Street. On Kingshighway wires hung from broken and twisted poles and large trees lay across the thoroughfare. Trees in Tower Grove Park were uprooted, but the building, cupolas, pavilions and statues were untouched. Many handsome homes directly east of Shaw's Garden and between Tower Grove and Grand avenues were demolished. Along Manchester Avenue from 38th east to Grand Avenue, tele graph poles formed arches over the street, wires lay thickly along the ground and hung dangerously overhead. One large pole hung in midair, suspended by the wires. The lower part could be seen some distance away half uprooted from the ground. At Shaw's Garden, the arboretum on the west side was partly destroyed, trees were uprooted, a large part of the new palmhouse had been blown away. The building, which was a facsimile of Shaw's townhouse, had its tin roof torn off. The stone and iron fence around the garden was broken down in many places by heavy trees which had fallen on it. From Shenandoah to Lafayette, between Compton and Cali fornia avenues, few houses escaped damage and some were total wrecks. In Lafayette Park, bounded by Mississippi, Park, Lafayette and Missouri avenues, only the colossal statues of George Wash ington and Thomas Hart Benton survived. The iron fence sur rounding the park lay flat. Shingles and beams from a bandstand and summer house were scattered. This area had been one of the most beautiful residential sections of the city. Handsome homes of brown and gray stone and of pressed brick and terra cotta were a mass of ruins. Abandoned streetcars with broken windows and an odd assortment of parlor furniture and kitchen utensils littered the streets. Small children rang the gongs on the wrecked street cars while linemen vainly tried to untangle and preserve the elec tric wires. A boarding house had stood at the southeast corner of Seventh and Rutger streets, but when the storm reached it the "walls
11 Ibid., May 29, 1896. 12 Curzon, Great Cyclone, 93. The St Louis Tornado of 1896 441 collapsed as though made of stiff dough." Thirteen bodies were removed from the ruins on this corner and a number of others were thought to be under the heaps of bricks and stones. Piles of debris stretched from curb to curb on Rutger Street. Along the sidewalk on the north side of the street a pathway was roped through the rubble and guarded by the police who allowed access to only a few with business in that section.13 Many of the buildings in this area had been small shops and businesses and their owners lived on the second floor with their families. Their losses represented not only their businesses but also their homes.14 The stores were closed and the residents, numb from shock, sur veyed the scene. Within fifty feet of the place where nine bodies were recovered, a saloon did a lively business. Drunken shouts, mingled with the clink of glasses and the jingle of money, resounded mockingly in the ears of the stricken and homeless.15 A number of bodies were thought to be buried at the Soulard Market building, which was unroofed and partially destroyed. The market had closed before the storm but several people sought shelter in an adjoining shed that collapsed in the strong wind.16 The riverfront was a picture of devastation. Almost all steamers in the water sustained damage to their upper decks. Every build ing on the levee suffered in some degree. The huge structure of the St. Louis United Elevator Company on Chouteau Avenue lost its entire top section. The railroad tracks were littered with overturned freight cars and portions of wrecked buildings. Dam age to shipping was tremendous.17 A number of boats had just arrived before the storm and discharged their passengers. Trunks and baggage, as well as agricultural implements and produce, were blown up and down the levee.18 Eads Bridge was wrecked east of the big tower near the Illinois shore. The entire upper portion traversed by cars and carriages was blown away and the tracks beneath were buried by debris, eight feet high in some places. Loss of life along the river, however, was thought to be compara tively smaller than in other parts of the city. The work of removing patients from the badly wrecked City Hospital began at 8:30 Thursday morning. All the available ambu-
13 Si. Louis Republic, May 29, 1896. 14 Ibid., May 28, 1896. 15 Ibid., May 29, 1896. is Ibid., May 28, 1896. 17 Ibid., May 29, 1896. 18 Ibid., Mav 28, 1896. 442 Missouri Historical Review
Harper's Weekly A Saloon on the Levee "Open for Biz"
A Military Patrol on Guard Near the Ruins of the Levee Harper's Weekly The St Louis Tornado of 1896 443 lances, a half dozen wagons and other types of vehicles were pressed into service for the move to the Good Shepherd Convent. Acute surgical cases needing operations were sent to the Alexian Brothers, St. John's and St. Luke's hospitals. Bed clothing, dumped hastily over the fence in the front yard of the convent, was carried to the improvised wards as rapidly as cots could be placed in position. The walls were bare except for a few Latin scriptural quotations done in bronze letters commend ing the reader to put his "trust in God, do right, venerate the Virgin and be holy in life." The hospital corps of the militia handled the stretchers and as fast as the patients were brought in they were registered and assigned to the proper ward. By afternoon the drugstore was equipped for business and an operating room would be ready the next morning.10 From all parts of the city and county as well, sightseers came in wagons, in carriages and on bicycles, clogging the thoroughfares. The few street car lines in operation were crowded to the limit of their capacity. On the Broadway cable line an additional trailer was attached to each train and people hung on steps and platforms. Express wagons with chairs carried those who were willing to pay the price demanded by the driver for the long tour. A larger mob viewed the wreck on foot. Policemen guarded the entrances to streets in which there was danger of falling walls, but were usually unable to stop the rush of the venturesome and the curious. To take advantage of the visitors, enterprising businessmen in wrecked buildings opened their doors and propped up signs saying, "We Are Ready for Business," "This Store is Open," and "Damage Sale Going On." Under tarpaulin roofs, with walls gaping and windows without glass, the storekeepers proved themselves superior to the circumstances and conducted a thriving trade.20 The immense crowd of curious spectators watched and often interfered with the searchers at work digging for victims and usable household items. Along with the spectators came thieves, hoping to loot the wrecked districts. Rumor reached the city that a number of thieves were enroute from Chicago. Detectives from Chicago arrived to give assistance to the city police and the state militia was called out Thursday afternoon to assist the police in
19 Ibid., May 29, 1896. 20 ibid., May 30, 1896. 444 Missouri Historical Review protecting the storm-wrecked homes and keeping back interfering sightseers.21 On Sunday the crowd that arrived by train to see the dam aged area was estimated at 140,000. Never before in the history of Union Station had such a large number assembled except on the night of its dedication.22 Despite the curious onlookers, there were many interested in the relief of the homeless. President C. H. Spencer of the Merchants' Exchange called a meeting of the members and suggested that a subscription be started and committees appointed to look after the storm victims. Attendance at the meeting was small but a sum of $15,000 was subscribed in a few moments. A general executive committee was appointed to carry on the work, and sub committees were assigned the task of soliciting funds and distribut ing relief. Other groups such as the St. Louis Provident Associa tion, St. Vincent de Paul Society, Hebrew Relief Association, Ladies' Emergency Aid Society and the South Broadway Merchants' As sociation offered their services and were placed in charge of various districts.23 Wagons distributed food to the hungry. For those who could not pay for a van, volunteers moved their belongings from wrecked buildings to dry comfortable quarters. Many organizations appealed for clothing, food, bedding and money to be turned over to the Merchants Relief Committee for distribution. A room at the Soulard Street Police Station was set up by the committee to receive ap plicants for aid. All cases of need were investigated before the order was supplied.24 By Tuesday relief work was thoroughly systematized and on a business basis. Everyone who applied for work was given something to do. Small gangs cleared streets and piled debris in the gutters; others hauled brick, mortar, lumber and other supplies for home and business repairs. A new organization, the Emergency Relief As sociation of St. Louis, was formed to raise money for loans at a low interest rate to tornado sufferers.25 The people of St. Louis, as well as others outside the city,
21 Ibid., May 29, 1896. 22 Curzon, Great Cyclone, 259-260. 23 William Hyde and Howard L. Conard, eds. Encyclopedia of the History of St. Louis (New York, 1899), IV, 2285. 24 S£. Louis Globe-Democrat, June 1, 1896; Curzon, Great Cyclone, 271. 25 st. Louis Globe-Democrat, June 2, 3, 4, 1896. The St Louis Tornado of 1896 445 liberally responded to the call for money and relief work. An esti mated $400,000 went to the aid of approximately 8,000 families or some 40,000 persons.26 By Thursday, June 4, applications for assistance for storm vic tims decreased noticeably and city residents and businesses seemed to be getting back to normal. When official figures were tabulated 140 persons lost their lives in St. Louis; East St. Louis lost ap proximately the same number. Over 8,000 homes and 4,000 other buildings were damaged in St. Louis. The total loss of buildings, personal property, machinery and other merchandise amounted to over $10,000,000.27 The May 27 storm in the St. Louis area was the most destructive tornado known in the United States up to that time.28
26 Hyde & Conrad, Encyclopedia of St. Louis, IV, 2285. 27 St. Louis Globe-Democrat, June 5, 1896; Hyde & Conard, Encyclopedia of St. Louis, IV, 2285-2286. 28 Snowden D. Flora, Tornadoes of the United States (Norman, Okla., 1953) , 108.
ADDITIONAL
PICTURE SECTION
OF THE TORNADO
BEGINS ON PAGE 446 Soulard Market
Views of the St. Louis Tornado May 27, 1896
Picture Section
City Hospital fr^F!S^^^5^^^ The Mount Calvary Protestant Episcopal Church, once a handsome structure at Jefferson and Lafayette, was described as a total wreck. Only the huge pillars which protected the main entrance were left intact.
Utility Poles Destroyed by Tornado
The People's Railroad Powerhouse on Park Avenue had its build ing destroyed and its expensive machinery exposed. As soon as the plant was in operation the running machinery provided an unusual attrac tion for sightseers. A Wrecked Streetcar on Park Avenue
From the ruins of two buildings, once ten ement houses, at the corner of Seventh and Rutger streets, a large number of bodies were removed. Anchor Hall at Jefferson and Park Avenues
Ferryboats After Tornado
A St. Louis Street Scene
^ s .^v^sssss^mi*™*^*^^^* Residential Area Views Historical Notes and Comments 451
EDITORIAL POLICY
The MISSOURI HISTORICAL REVIEW is always inter ested in articles and documents relating to the history of Missouri. Articles pertaining to surrounding states and other sections are considered for publication when they involve events or personalities having a significant bearing on the history of Missouri or the West. Any aspect of Missouri history is considered suitable for publication in the REVIEW. Genealogical studies are not accepted because of limited general reader interest. In submitting articles for the REVIEW, the authors should examine back issues for the proper form in foot noting. Originality of subject, general interest of the article, sources used in research, interpretation and the style in which it is written, are criteria for acceptance for pub lication. The original and a carbon copy of the article should be submitted. It is suggested that the author retain a carbon of the article. The copy should be double-spaced and the footnotes typed consecutively on separate pages at the end of the article. The maximum length for an article is 7,500 words. All articles accepted for publication in the REVIEW become the property of the State Historical Society and may not be published elsewhere without permission. Only in special circumstances will an article previously published in another magazine or journal, be accepted for the REVIEW. Because of the backlog of accepted articles, publica tion may be delayed for a period of time. Articles submitted for the REVIEW should be ad dressed to: Dr. Richard S. Brownlee, Editor MISSOURI HISTORICAL REVIEW The State Historical Society of Missouri Comer Hitt and Lowry Streets Columbia, Missouri 65201
miaaaagMWP^^ Early in the 1900s J. W. Grudier built a water-powered flour, meal and feed mill at the town of Hammond on White River in Ozark County. Hammond Mill ground fa mous "Ozark 0ueen Flour."
VIEWS FROM THE PAST
A rock bridge constructed by the Indians across Chariton River formed the foundation for an early mill dam in Macon County. Anthony Hammock acquired the property in 1846 and overhauled the building. Dave Bun- dren later operated Hammock's Mill, ONEST QUALITY son § nm WHEAT rwm which he converted to steam power in the 1880s. George P. Plant moved to St. Louis in 1839, built a flour mill on Franklin Av enue near Fifth Street and founded the firm of George P. Plant and Company. This ad anwared in a 1901 Mod em Miller, a trade magazine, published in St. Louis. James Keyte, founder of Keytesville, built the first mill in the town in 1832 at the west end of Bridge Street on Muscle Fork Creek. A laler estab lishment, Keytesville Roller Mills, was owned by Judge James L. Stacy and M. F. Courtney.
MISSOURI MILLS
Massie—Mo. Commerce Originally located on Sac River, Hulston Mill has been removed due to the construction of Stockton Dam and is being restored by the Dade County His torical Society at a his'orical park northeast of Green field. During the Civil War the mill furnished flour for Union General Nathaniel Lyon in Springfield.
., Located east of Gainesville on the bank of North Fork River, Dawt Mill burned and was re built by Alva Hodgson in 1900. A long angling V-shaped dam directs water toward the bank and into the mill race. The mill still produces corn meal, graham flour and feed. HISTORICAL NOTES AND COMMENTS NEWS IN BRIEF
The Weston Historical Landmarks book, In the Footsteps of Lewis and Committee, headed by Mrs. Bertha I. Clark. Lt. Gov. WTilliam S. Morris, Bless, is leading the way toward resto chairman of the Lewis and Clark Trail ration of the entire old town district, Committee in Missouri, also spoke. The the concept of which has been dubbed, event was sponsored by the Cornelia "Williamsburg of the West." More Greene Chapter of the Daughters of than 100 antebellum homes and com the American Revolution. mercial buildings remain in the small river town. About a dozen have been Dr. Benedict K. Zobrist, assistant di restored by their owners. Robert B. rector of the Harry S. Truman Library, Jones, vice chairman of the committee, Independence, for the past two years, has been directing a survey of the his was appointed director of the library toric homes and buildings which will on October 28. He was also elected be submitted for entries on the Na acting secretary of the Harry S. Tru tional Register. The Missouri State man Library Institute, replacing Dr. Historical Survey and Planning staff Philip C. Brooks who had served as of Columbia, is also interested in the secretary since 1957. Dr. Brooks re restoration of Weston, as well as in tired as director of the library on other historic river towns. October 2- Weston is the third Missouri River town to project a district restoration The graves of famed ragtime black plan. St, Charles and Boonville are pianist J. W. "Blind" Boone and his also working on similar projects. wife, Eugenia, were marked in the Columbia Cemetery, November 7, Stephens College Photo Department, forty-four years after his burial. The Columbia, displayed a collection of tombstone was placed by the Co rare Mathew B. Brady photos of the lumbia-Boone County Sesquicentennial Civil War period, October 7-13. Lo Commission. Unveiling of the monu cated in the Stephens Health Center, ment followed memorial services at the display was open free to the pub Broadway Baptist Church, site of lic. The collection, on loan from the Boone's funeral in 1927. The observ General Analine Film Company, in ance included a brief concert of some cluded 25 prints from Brady's original of Boone's compositions, played by glass plates. The photos featured Civil Hickman High School music teacher War battle scenes and historical figures. Earl Coleman.
More than 200 persons attended the More than 60 persons attended the unveiling ceremonies of a plaque com eleventh archivists'-historians' work memorating the visit by the Lewis and shop-conference and symposium at Clark Expedition to Tavern Cave and Concordia Historical Institute, St. Cliffs, on May 23, 1804. The ceremony Louis, November 17-19. The event was held October 24 at St. Albans in marked the 125th anniversary of the Franklin County. Principal speaker Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. Par was Gerald S. Snyder, author of the ticipants heard a number of historical
454 Historical Notes and Comments 455 studies dealing with the contributions structure was dedicated in memory of of Wilhelm Loehe to the Missouri the late Keith K. Anderson and the Synod, early itinerant mission activi late Dr. Thomas E. Birch, two former ties of the Missouri Synod and the CMC band directors who together gave relations of the Missouri Synod with thirty-nine years of service to the col other Lutherans. Special workshop ses lege and community. sions were provided for the archivists The CMC Concert Band, conducted attending. by Professor Paul A. Montemurro, en tertained before and after the dedica Following a business meeting and tion. A reception for Mrs. Hearnes lunch at Hotel Frederick, Boonville, followed immediately after the cere- November 13, some 30 members of the Missouri Valley Chapter of the Society of Architectural Historians toured 11 An exhibit of some 300 photographs, historic sites in that city. The six-hour "The Architecture of St. Louis," was tour included "Rivercene," Berry displayed at the City Art Museum, No Thacher residence, Cooper County vember 19-January 16. Taken by Chi hanging barn, the homes of Al Crow cago photographer James Marchard, and Amber Powell, the Penick and the pictures illustrated the period in Winkelmeyer residences, Lyric Theater, St. Louis history from 1840 to about Old Commercial Hotel, Boiler House 1915. In conjunction with the exhibi and the Christ Episcopal Church. The tion the museum sponsored a program Friends of Historic Boonville served on the Old Post Office, January 4, in as hosts. Mr. and Mrs. Bill Holmes the museum auditorium, Forest Park. and Mr. and Mrs. Paul Darby guided the tour. In its last official activity the Boone More than 300 persons attended the County Sesquicentennial Commission formal dedication of the Howard unveiled a plaque in the courthouse County Memorial Bandstand, Novem foyer, Columbia, on December 20. The ber 21 in the county courthouse yard, plaque will provide a permanent re Fayette. Dr. Ralph L. Woodward, minder of the county's heritage. At president emeritus of Central Method the brief ceremony commission chair ist College, Fayette, gave the invoca man Si Steinberg presented the plaque tion. The main address was given by to Presiding Judge James Butcher. Missouri's First Lady, Mrs. Warren E. Hearnes. Some 500 persons attended a one- The bandstand, located on the night performance of "Mark Twain," southwest corner of the courthouse portrayed by John Chappell of At lawn, replaced an earlier structure torn lanta, Georgia. The event, held at the down some 30 years ago. Construction Hannibal High School, marked the of the new bandstand was brought 136th birthday of author Samuel L. about through the efforts of Central Clemens, November 30, and provided Methodist College chapter, Beta Mu an added observance for Missouri's of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, national sesquicentennial year. Mr. Chappell, professional music fraternity. The dressed in the familiar white suit, group raised more than $6,750 toward quoted material from actor Hal Hol- the project in a community and nation brook's collection of Twain sayings wide fund-raising campaign. The and anecdotes. 456 Missouri Historical Review
Dr. Richard S. Brownlee, director of organization, Historic Denver, began the State Historical Society, spoke on restoration of the Molly Brown House, Boone County during the Civil War at 1340 Pennsylvania Street, Denver, Colo the December 30 meeting of the Ro rado. Tours are available 10:00-4:00 tary Club, in the Daniel Boone Hotel, daily except Monday. A native of Han Columbia. nibal, Missouri, Margaret Tobin Brown received national recognition for her heroism during the Titanic disaster. On January 28, Missouri's First Lady, Her exploits were recalled in a Broad Mrs. Warren E. Hearnes, held a tea to way musical and movie, The Unsink- celebrate 100 years of entertaining in able Molly Brown. the executive mansion, Jefferson City. The Grand Duke Alexis of Russia, was guest of honor at a luncheon in the Members of the Rachel Donelson mansion one hundred years ago. His Chapter, Daughters of the American host, Missouri Governor B. Gratz Revolution, dedicated a memorial Brown, was entertaining for the first stone at the grave of Mrs. Sally Mer time in his new home. The mansion ritt Ragsdale, in the Ragsdale Ceme has since been the residence of 26 tery, near Brookline on June 30, 1971. chief executives and their families. Mrs. Ragsdale, a Greene County pio The nearly 100 persons attending neer, was the daughter and daughter- Mrs. Hearnes's tea were relatives of in-law of Revolutionary War soldiers. former governors and others interested A number of descendants attended the in Missouri history. Author and lec ceremony. turer Elinor Martineau Coyle, St. Louis, spoke on Missouri heritage homes along the rivers. The Missouri Conference on History will be held, April 28-29 at Southwest Missouri State College, Springfield. An exhibit celebrating Missouri's Professor Robert A. Divine, University sesquicentennial went on display at of Texas at Austin, a specialist in Re the Library of Congress, Washington, cent Foreign Policy, will address the D.C., January 17, and will remain on conference at the April 28 evening ban view until September 4. The display, quet on "The Nuclear Arms Race." containing more than 150 items, in Guest speaker Professor Andreas Dor- cludes photographs, books, drawings, palen, Ohio State University, will pre cartoons and maps relating to the sent the April 29 luncheon address on state's history. "A New German History? Some Thoughts on the East German Ap Over 35 people interested in form proach." Eight sessions comprising the ing a county historical society met in April 29 program will include 19th the Schuyler County Courthouse, Lan Century and 20th Century U.S. History, caster, November 16. James W. Good Modern Asian History, Urban History, rich, associate editor of the MISSOURI 19th Century German History, Femin ism and Europe in America. HISTORICAL REVIEW, addressed the meeting on the importance of local Anyone wishing further information history. ^ ^ about the conference may contact Dr. James Giglio, assistant professor of History, Southwest Missouri State Col In March 1971, the newly formed lege, Springfield 65801. Historical Notes and Comments 457
LOCAL HISTORICAL SOCIETIES St. Charles County Junior Historical Society Makes Historical Film
Membership in the St. Charles ond was to illustrate architectural dif County Junior Historical Society con ferences between French and German sists almost entirely of juniors and homes, unique to St. Charles, which seniors at Duchesne High School. Be have been placed on the National Reg cause of a large membership turnover, ister of Historic Places. Approximately Society members each year attempt to ten persons were involved in writing promote a historical project that will the script. President Diane Souchek be a lasting and meaningful contribu compiled and edited the final copy. tion to the community. From the library, members checked Last year the organization selected out recorded musical selections, lis a project commensurate with the spirit tened to each and voted on which to of the sesquicentennial celebration. use for background music in the film. Under the leadership of president Several classical selections were chosen Diane Souchek, members voted to which would fit the script and scenery. make a thirty-minute motion picture Light French music was used for the depicting the historic development of spring and water scenes; heavy Ger Missouri's first state capital, St. Char man music to correspond with the Ger les, and planned to hold a premier man architectural scenes. showing during the week of sesquicen Narration for the film was supplied tennial events in August. by Harry Smith, president of the St. The first three months of the year Charles County Historical Society. Mr. were spent working on a feasible budg Smith is a former radio announcer et and raising money to make the who has had previous experience with film. Several corporations made sub film narrations. stantial contributions and with the After the background music and money in the treasury the Society pro narration had been synchronized the ceeded with the project. actual filming was the final step in Nine months were devoted to re the production. The Society rented search and the selection of homes and professional equipment and spent two events to include in the film. Each weeks of uninterrupted camera work member was designated specific houses, under the direction of high school sites or events for individual research. sophomore Fred Hohman. Most home The group decided that the most owners were more than glad to have meaningful approach would be to con their homes filmed. A committee of centrate on the area and homes which Society members planned and arranged are covered by the historic tours con the picture sequence, using about ducted by Mrs. Arthur Wilke for the fifty percent of the shots. Because of St. Charles County Historical Society. a limited budget there was little waste There were two major objectives in allowed in the filming. the film. The first was to photograph The Society chose as its title for the the inside of historically important color film, St. Charles—Essence and homes that were not open to the pub Reality. This title seemed appropriate lic, filming only those areas which because the movie depicts all the areas remain in their original state. The sec and homes which are essential elements 458 Missouri Historical Review
in the making of St. Charles history. It At the February 10 meeting, Edgar also brings out the fact that many of Lee Robertson spoke on the history of the historic homes and landmarks are a box of relics received from a Bates gradually falling apart and, in the County pioneer family. near future, there may no longer exist any real visual evidence of the city's Benton County Historical Society history. At the January 13 meeting in the Enterprise newspaper office, Warsaw, Despite careful planning, the cost of Clarence Gatliff told about his collec production exceeded all budget esti tion of antique banks. Several were mates. The St. Charles County Histori on display for the group's inspection. cal Society voted to arrange for a re Officers elected for the coming year ception and premier showing of the were John Owen, president; M. K. film at Lindenwood Colleges, July 22. White, vice president; Mrs. Ralph The Junior Society was allowed to re Berry, secretary; and Robert Drake, tain the proceeds from the event, and Jr., treasurer. this money covered all the unpaid bills for the film project. The entire pro Camden County Historical Society duction cost more than one thousand The Society held its October 21 dollars. Only one print of the film meeting in the Montreal Cafe. The was made, but the Society is charging program featured the family histories a rental fee of fifteen dollars to or of two early county citizens. ganizations wishing to show the film, At the November 11 meeting in the and it is hoped that this will finance Masonic Lodge, Macks Creek, mem a second printing. bers discussed the placing of historical Rolland W. Kjar, chairman of the markers at the site of the earliest Department of Social Studies at Du churches in the county. Inez Elliott chesne High School, is advisor to the gave a history of Macks Creek. St. Charles County Junior Historical Members held their December 9 Society. meeting at the Climax Springs High Audrain County Historical Society School. A program on the history of The Society revealed in November Climax Springs was given by Mrs. that Mexico's new sticker for 1972 Minnie Arnett. automobile licenses was illustrated Plans for the current issue of the with a picture of the historic Ross Society's historical journal were dis House Museum. cussed at the January 13 meeting in Officers for the coming year are the Masonic Hall, Macks Creek. Plans Robert M. White II, president; Lake- also were made for changing the dis nan Barnes, vice president at large; plays at the historical museum. Mrs. H. I. Nesheim, first vice presi Officers for the coming year are dent; Elenore Schewe and Mrs. Elmer H. Dwight Weaver, president; Morgan Gatewood, district vice presidents; Moulder, first vice president; Dr. Wil Betty Baker, secretary; and Bradford liam Powell, second vice president; Brett, treasurer. Mrs. Albert Price, recording secretary; Lena Hall, corresponding secretary; Bates County Historical Society and Mrs. Paul Gerhardt, treasurer. Eddie Herrman related historical facts about the early days of Butler Carondelet Historical Society at the January 13 meeting in the But Members held their annual Christ ler City Hall. mas party, December 12, at St. Boni- Historical Notes and Comments 459 face Hall, where they enjoyed music, Front" was the subject of a talk given singing, refreshments and seasonal en by E. B. (Pete) Long, at the January tertainment. 25 meeting. The speaker is associate At the February 14 meeting in the professor of American Studies in the Carondelet Branch Library, Society History Department, and consultant archivist Richard Federer told about to the archives at the University of his findings in the old city archives. Wyoming, Laramie. The subject of his talk was "The Officers for the coming year are Incorporation Act and Ordinances of Cy Turgeon, president; Dr. Kenneth Carondelet 1832-1851." Davis, first vice president; Dale Hel- mers, second vice president; Bill Jen- Cass County Historical Society nens, secretary-treasurer; and Dr. Bert Mrs. Sharon Good, Kansas City, gave Maybee, program chairman. a program on Indians at the January 30 meeting held at the home of Dr. Civil War Round Table and Mrs. E. S. Jones, Harrisonville. Of the Ozarks The project of microfilming old rec At the November 10 meeting in ords in the county courthouse is near- Ramada Inn, Springfield, Dr. Allen ing completion, and the Society ex H. Moore, Jr., Branson, spoke on "The pects to have on film the indexes to Battle of New Market—May 15, 1864." deeds and probate records and the Dr. Moore pointed out that although deed book to 1900. For the coming the Virginia battle was small in the year, the Society plans to complete number of men involved and rather the county cemetery census. short in duration, it had a marked effect on the continuance of the Civil Chariton County Historical Society War. Dr. Moore, a native of New Some 50 members attended the Market, Virginia, is a staff member January 16 meeting in Dulaney Li of St. John's Hospital in Springfield brary, Salisbury. President Jordan and head of the department of Ob Bentley conducted the business meet stetrics and Gynecology at Skaggs Me ing and reported that the contract morial Hospital in Branson. had been let for remodeling the The 12th annual Christmas party Society's museum buildings in Salis and Ladies Night was held December bury. Work is expected to be com 8. The program featured a "Pictorial pleted in about two months. Mrs. Tour of Civil War Battlefields and Chester Fagerlund exhibited antique Landmarks," presented by Lt. Col. items. Each member gave an explana Leo E. Huff, assistant professor of tion of the heirloom which he had History at Southwest Missouri State contributed. A film strip on the life College, Springfield. Professor Huff of Lincoln concluded the program. showed color slides of his personal tour to such sites as Ft. Donelson, Civil War Round Table Shiloh, Bull Run, Chickamuaga, Of Kansas City Antietam, Fredericksburg, Gettysburg, Brooks Davis, past president of the Appomattox Courthouse, the Confed Civil War Round Table of Chicago, erate White House in Richmond and spoke at the November 23 meeting on Ford's Theatre in Washington. "Winchester and the Valley Cam The January 12 meeting featured paign." The meeting was held at a 33-minute, black and white film, Twin Oaks Apartments. The Story of the Civil War, based on "Coastal Operations: A Forgotten photographs of Mathew Brady. Rob- 460 Missouri Historical Review
ert J. Schumerth, management as Mrs. Hollis Gordon presented the sistant at Wilson's Creek National annual Christmas program, December Battlefield Park, Springfield, provided 16, on "Costumes Through 150 Years the film commentary. of Missouri Statehood." Dolls, dressed Officers for 1972 are Franz Daniel, in authentic costumes were used to president; Robert J. Schumerth, first illustrate the talk. Mrs. Gordon also vice president and program chairman; furnished two museum show windows Dr. Thomas P. Sweeney, second vice on "Twas the Night Before Christmas," president and arrangements chairman; and 150 years of costumes. Robert Neumann, secretary; and Everett C. Sanders, treasurer. Cole County Historical Society More than 100 persons attended the Civil War Round Table of St. Louis 30th annual general membership meet A foremost Lincoln authority, Dr. ing, November 14, at the Jefferson Wayne Temple, Springfield, Illinois, City Country Club. Judge McCormick spoke at the December 1 meeting in Wilson, a member of the speakers Le Chateau. The talk, "Samuel S. bureau of the Cole County Sesqui Elder, Tinner to the Late Mr. Lin centennial Committee, spoke on "Early coln," was based on recently discovered Days in Jefferson City." Mrs. John memoirs of Elder. According to Dr. Hendren and Mrs. Gerald Massie, co- Temple these memoirs contradict chairmen of the Ways and Means previously published material on the Committee, reported on the successful sealing of Lincoln's coffin. pancake breakfast, which the Society At the January 26 meeting Dr. Bell sponsored in the fall. The profit was Wiley addressed the group on "The slightly over $1,000. Common Soldiers of the Civil War." Officers for the coming year are The talk was based on years of re Mrs. George Rozier, president; Mrs. search through regimental records and Gerald Massie, first vice president; personal letters. Dr. Wiley has written Mrs. James A. Finch, second vice presi a number of books on the men who dent; Mrs. Clem Storckman, record fought the Civil War. ing secretary; and Irma Canada, treasurer. Clay County Museum Association Over 50 persons attended the Oc Concordia Historical Institute tober 28 meeting in the Clay County "Christkind and Festivities" was the Historical Museum, Liberty, and heard theme of the annual Christmas display a program on "Agriculture During at the Institute on the campus of Missouri's First 150 Years." The pro Concordia Seminary, Clayton. The ex gram was given by Society president hibit included an 1870 living room Donald Pharis who was assisted by decorated for Christmas; the kitchen, John Krall, the county's first agricul a center for traditional Christmas tural extension agent. Senator William baking; and an outdoor scene with B. Waters told about his uncle, Dr. a carriage and snow-covered evergreens. Henry J. Waters, former dean of the Missouri College of Agriculture. Crawford County Historical Society Dr. William Cuthbertson, Chair The Society held its appreciation man, History Department, William dinner and Christmas party, Decem Jewell College, spoke on "Notable ber 16, in the Recklein Community Missourians of 1865-1921," at the Center, Cuba. Life memberships were November 18 meeting. awarded to Mrs. Lila Martin and Historical Notes and Comments 461
Louise and Archie Raff in apprecia First Christian Church, Salem, for a tion for their outstanding contribu covered-dish dinner and business meet tions to the Society. ing. The program featured Mrs. Officers for the coming year are Cleone Skouby, who related the "His Clarence Willis, Leasburg, president; tory of Missouri" and Mrs. Maude Mrs. Oma Imhof, Indian Hills Lake, Kinkade, who presented Christmas Cuba, vice president; and Mrs. Nettie readings. Souvenir Missouri sesquicen Snider, Cuba, secretary-treasurer. tennial plates were given to the speak ers. President Louise Bradford hon Dade County Historical Society ored Charles Jeffries with a life-long Mrs. Hilda Wallace presented his membership in recognition for his torical facts in the development of faithful service to the Society. Greenfield and Dade County, at the January 18 meeting in the Greenfield Dunklin County Historical Society Community Building. A cookbook, The Society was formally reorganized Grandma's Receets, compiled by the at a December 12 meeting in the Society, and An Ozark Boy's Story, Bank of Kennett. Mrs. Bobbie Rich by John K. Hulston, are being sold ardson, Bragg City, spoke on the im by the Society, with proceeds going portance of a local historical society. toward development of the Hulston Dr. Harry Goddard, mayor of Ken Mill Park. nett, reported on his correspondence with the railroad in an effort to DeKalb County Historical Society secure the Kennett depot for a his Society members held open house, torical museum. January 22, for the DeKalb County Officers of the Society are Taylor Resource Library and Museum, Mays Miles, Kennett, president; Price Doug ville. Secretary of State James C. Kirk- lass, Maiden, executive vice president; patrick was guest speaker. He told Mrs. Elizabeth Gateley, Senath, Jim about the history of the Official Oliver, Holcomb, John Stewart, Camp Manual and related the history of bell, Robert Rodgers, Hornesville, Mrs. several women important in the his Lottye Ore, Cardwell, and Mrs. Lue tory of the state. Mr. Kirkpatrick Maddox, Maiden, vice presidents; Mrs. presented a new Official Manual to Bobbie Richardson, Bragg City, secre the Society, along with several volumes tary; Elman Merritt, Kennett, treas of previous years. Guests and mem urer; Mrs. Barbara Williams, Kennett, bers toured the library and museum program chairman; and Paul Jones, and viewed a display of arts and Kennett, parliamentarian. crafts made by area residents, past and present. Florissant Valley Historical Society The library and museum are open Following the January 20 business to the public Monday and Wednesday, meeting in Taille de Noyer? members 1:00-4:00 p.m., and Saturday, 9:00- enjoyed a program of old-time slap 11:30 a.m. stick comedy movies and popcorn re At the January 23 meeting, Kenneth freshments. Rhodes discussed different approaches Foundation for the Restoration to art and presented filmstrips of artists Peter Hurd, Elsa Schmid, Ugo Of Ste. Genevieve Mochi and Robert Sowers. Ate the January 6 meeting in the Foundation Information Center, the Dent County Historical Society Reverend William B. Faherty, S.J., Members met December 10 at the professor of History at St. Louis Uni- 462 Missouri Historical Review versity, was guest speaker. The author son, "Italian Straw Hat," "Dr. Knock," of several books, Reverend Faherty "Servant of Two Masters," "Look spoke on Bishop Rosati and Bishop Homeward Angel," "Ring Around the DuBourg and their influence on the Moon," "Desire Under the Elms" and settlement of the Ste. Genevieve area. "Springtime for Henry." The Foundation sponsored a bene fit showing of Bev's School of Dance Friends of Historic Boonville and the Valle High School singers, The Friends of Historical Boonville February 27 at Valle Auditorium. organized, July 28, as a result of the interest and enthusiasm in the state's Proceeds will be used for restoration sesquicentennial celebration. Members projects of the Foundation. are working toward restoration of the Franklin County Historical Society barn at the Cooper County jail, built Some 60 persons attended the July in 1878 as the sheriff's stable. It was 20 meeting at the Lutheran Dining the site of one of the state's last Room, Washington. Mrs. Ruth Coulter legal hangings. The Cooper County Frick spoke on the life of John Coulter, Court deeded the barn to the Friends guide for the Lewis and Clark Expedi for $100. tion. Members recommended that the Meetings are held on the first group spend a year studying the Civil Thursday of each month in Hotel War in Franklin County, Indian tribes Frederick. and area Indian sites. Committee Officers are Paul H. Darby, presi chairmen were appointed. dent; Col. John G. Kralovec, first vice Members held their September 19 president; Kermit Glover, second vice meeting at the Faith Baptist Church in president; Mrs. Paul Deskin, secre Moselle and heard Franz R. Beinke tary; and J. Kenneth Esser, treasurer. speak on the Schwarzer Zithers. The Friends of Keytesville group discussed the possibilities of The General Sterling Price Museum, writing a new county history. Keytesville, will open May 7, and will At the January 23 meeting in the be open during the summer months Lions Club, Pacific, Laura Jesse Lomax from 2-5 p.m., Tuesday-Sunday. of the Scenic Regional Library, dis cussed the library resources and Frank Gasconade County Historical Society lin County history. Following the business meeting, De Officers are Lewis J. Baldwin, presi cember 6, at the American Legion Hall, dent; Mrs. O. W. Osick, vice president; Bay, members viewed a collection of Renee M. Nouss, secretary; and Wil over 30,000 Indian relics at the home liam Strothmann, treasurer. of Russell Rhoad. Elmer Birk, Hermann, has been Friends of Arrow Rock elected president for the coming year. The Friends have announced that tours of the village began on April 1 Gentry County Historical Society and the biennial country auction for Orvie Walker provided a slide pro benefit of Arrow Rock restoration will gram at the January 9 meeting in the be June 17. The Lyceum office ticket Lion's Club, Gentry. Historian Robert sales and information will be avail Birbeck gave an account of the Cap able in a building across the street tain Van Chappell family. from the Tavern. Officially opening with the Sunday matinee, July 2, the Greene County Historical Society Lyceum will present, this coming sea Zoo director Randall E. Carney Historical Notes and Comments 463 gave an illustrated talk on the past, Studios, Tom Gerhardt, Paul Griffith present and future of Dickerson Park and Bill Eagle presented "Christmas Zoo in Springfield for the December in Cape Girardeau." The program fea 9 meeting in the Springfield Art tured color slides taken during visits Museum. Mr. Carney is a Fellow of to local area homes the past Christmas the American Association of Zoological season. The slides depicted both tradi Parks and Aquariums, a member of tional and modern decorations in both the Missouri Chapter of the Wildlife indoor and outdoor scenes. A high Society and a charter member of the light of the evening was the presenta Greater Ozarks Zoological Society in tion of approximately $11,000 realized Springfield. from the Heritage Capital Fund Drive. Lester Jones and Frederick C. Ford The proceeds will go toward restora presented a talk on "Springfield's tion of Glenn House. Municipal Airport" at the January 27 The Association reports that the meeting. Mr. Jones recently retired Carriage House Craft Shop has been as manager of the airport, and Mr. established and is open daily 12:30- Ford is the former director of the 3:30 p.m. A large drugstore display Springfield Municipal Airport. cabinet was recently given to the shop by Burton Gerhardt. Hazelwood Historical Society The annual Christmas tree trimming Historical Association and box lunch were held at the Little Of Greater St. Louis Red School House, Hazelwood, on Dr. Alice M. Smart, addressed the December 5. At the business meeting Association at the January 14 meeting the following officers were elected: in Kelley Auditorium, St. Louis Uni Mrs. Myrl Hutson, president; Kenneth versity. The subject of her talk was Weber, vice president; Mrs. Mabel V. "Liberia—Africa's Oldest Black Re Faatz, secretary; Mrs. Lillian Kortum, public." Liberia is celebrating its 150th treasurer; and Mrs. Jennette Weber, anniversary. Dr. Smart has traveled general chairman. in Liberia and other countries of On December 12 the Little Red Africa. In 1961 she was chosen a School House was open for an old- Globe-Democrat Woman of Achieve fashioned Christmas party and Santa's ment. visit with the children. Antique toys were displayed under the Christmas Historical Society of Polk County At the November 9 meeting in the tree. REA Building, Bolivar, president Mrs. Phoebe Apperson Hearst Nina Jester appointed the following Historical Society to a program committee: Marie Piper, Members held their annual business Mrs. Anna Frances Otradovec and meeting, December 5, in the log cabin Mrs. Hazel Walden. on the estate of Dorothy O. Moore, Howell County Historical Society near St. Clair. Officers for the coming Members enjoyed a covered-dish din year are Ralph Gregory, president; ner in Harlin House, West Plains, on Mrs. W. A. Bruns, vice president; November 12. Following the business Mrs. Earnest Reed, secretary-treasurer; meeting President Dick Fleming and Mrs. Russell Ely, historian. showed a film, Monument to a Dream, Historical Association a pictorial record of the building of Of Greater Cape Girardeau the Jefferson Memorial Expansion At the January 10 meeting in KFVS Arch in St. Louis. 464 Missouri Historical Review
Officers for 1972 are Dick Fleming, Robert L. Luck, treasurer; Fred L. Hocomo, president; Grace Penninger, Lee, secretary; and Payson W. Lowell, Mountain View, vice president; Maxine publications chairman. Deek Daniels Curtis, Willow Springs, vice president; has charge of the hotel menus and Mrs. Douglas Galloway, West Plains, Dick Byrne is "keeper-of-the-firewater." secretary; and Beulah Fleming, Ho Over 60 persons attended the annual como, treasurer. Christmas program and ladies night on December 14. The program, "The Jackson County Historical Society Development of the Western Ballad," Members held their annual dinner was presented by Dr. and Mrs. Guy meeting, November 11, at Plaza Inn, W. Logsdon of Tulsa, Oklahoma. Dr. Kansas City. Gerhardt Kramer, past Logsdon is director of libraries at the president of the Landmarks Association University of Tulsa. The couple related of St. Louis and architect on several the history of various western songs, restoration projects, spoke on "His playing and singing many of them. toric Preservation in Missouri." The talk was illustrated with color slides. Kingdom of Callaway Historical Society Johnson County Historical Society The Society met November 15 at At the October 26 meeting at the the magistrate courtroom, Fulton, Old Courthouse, Warrensburg, James where members brought interesting W. Goodrich, associate editor of the items for a "show and tell" program. MISSOURI HISTORICAL REVIEW, spoke on Mr. and Mrs. Henry Danuser pre sources, uses and classifications of local sented to the Society a framed paint history. ing of the Kingdom of Callaway flag Joplin Historical Society set against a background of the rolling W. F. Netzeband, retired geologist, hills of the county. The artist was discussed "The Saga of the Thousand- Professor George Latta of the William Acre Tract: A Poor Man's Bonanza," Woods College faculty. A thousand at the November 17 meeting of the full-color prints of the painting are Mining History Round Table in the being prepared for sale with proceeds Joplin Municipal Building. going to the Society. Officers for the A near capacity crowd attended the coming year are Shirley Dunavant, Society's January 26 meeting in the president; Hugh P. Williamson, first First Presbyterian Church. Guest speak vice president; Mrs. H. C. Ward, sec er Dr. Carl H. Chapman, professor ond vice president; William E. Parrish, of Anthropology and director of secretary; and Gene E. West, treasurer. Archaeology at the University of Mis souri-Columbia, told about his find Kirkwood Historical Society ings on the origin of the Osage Indian On November 2 the Society's board tribe in Southwest Missouri. of directors voted to rent for six months, with an option to buy, the Kansas City Westerners famed Black-Rau-Saller residence at Members held their business meet 549 E. Argonne Drive. The house ing and nomination of new officers, meets many of the standards of a November 9, at Hotel Bellerive. landmark structure and, as the So Officers elected for the coming year ciety's museum, could illustrate the were Bvron B. Wolfe, president; life and times of Kirkwood in earlier Wilbur A. Zink, first vice president; days. Frank Aydelotte, second vice president; At the annual business meeting, De- Historical Notes and Comments 465 cember 14 in the Kirkwood City Hall, Officers for the coming year are members approved unanimously the Dan H. Stearns, Mount Vernon, presi plans for the establishment of a dent; Virgil Goold, Marionville, first museum in the Sailer residence. A vice president; Eugene H. Carl, Mount fund drive is now underway to pur Vernon, second vice president; Fannie chase the eight-room structure, known Cox, Marionville, corresponding sec locally as the "Steamboat House." retary; and Fred G. Mieswinkel, Mount Officers for the coming year are Vernon, secretary-treasurer. William Bodley Lane, president; Mrs. Lewis County Historical Society A. Bryan MacMillan, vice president; For the January 9 meeting in the and Nancy Frazer Meyer, secretary. Canton Christian Church the program Lafayette County Historical Society consisted of a paper on the settlement The December 5 meeting consisted of Augusta, in 1835. The first store of a historical marker dedication at in either Lewis or Clark counties was the Waverly Christian Church. Church located in Augusta. board chairman Lawrence Gilpin read McDonald County Historical Society the history of the church, founded in Over 40 persons attended the No 1859. Society president Dr. W. W. vember 21 meeting at the Pineville Kurth and the Reverend Stanley C. Christian Church. Noted historian Fretwell dedicated the bronze marker Elmo Ingenthron of Kirbyville spoke in the church yard. A program of on Indians of the area. Mr. Ingenthron organ and piano music preceded the is author of the recently published business meeting. Following the re book, Indians of the Ozark Plateau. A freshments members and guests toured committee was appointed to investigate the historic sites in Waverly. the possibility of reprinting Good- Landmarks Association of St. Louis speed's History of McDonald and An illustrated lecture, "Vernacular Newton Counties, published over 80 Architecture in Missouri," was pre years ago. sented by Buford L. Pickens at the Officers for the coming year are Mrs. January 21 meeting in Steinberg Hall, Pauline Carnell, Jane, president; Mrs. Washington University. The speaker Lucille Rataczak, Anderson, vice presi is a professor of History of Architec dent; Mrs. Ina Elliff, Anderson, sec ture at Washington University. retary; and Mrs. Alice Marrs, Pine ville, treasurer. Lawrence County Historical Society Members enjoyed a "show and tell" Mercer County Historical Society program at the October 17 meeting More than 50 members and guests in Jones Memorial Chapel, Mount attended the November 14 meeting Vernon. Among the items exhibited in the Ravanna Baptist Church. Presi were Civil War discharge papers, first dent Mrs. Joe Linn announced the year issues of the Lawrence Chieftain, receipt of $1,000 from anonymous family papers, old photographs and donors. Joe Linn read a history of an old-fashioned match case. Ravanna Baptist Church and dis At the annual business meeting, played a chart of Ravanna township January 16, members discussed plans showing the location of rural schools, for the publication of a county history churches, cemeteries and a number of later this year. Eugene H. Carl told businesses. about early land surveys, acquisitions The Society is collecting Princeton and grants in Lawrence County. High School commencement invitations 466 Missouri Historical Review which will be displayed in the His Nodaway County Historical Society tory Room, Mercer County Library, At the October 25 meeting in the Princeton. First Christian Church, Maryville, Nancy Doran showed slides of Switzer Officers for the coming year are land, where she spent last summer as Mrs. Joe Linn, president; Ray Barnett, an International Living Ambassador. first vice president; Elford Horn, sec Mrs. Cleo Ulmer presented an article ond vice president; and Mrs. Frank on "First Settlers in Missouri," at the Walker, secretary-treasurer. November 22 meeting. She also told about soap making and displayed some Moniteau County Historical Society homemade soap. Rodney Beem gave Members held their annual dinner an illustrated report on original farm meeting, November 15, at the Meth homes in the county. odist Church, California. Mrs. Lucille At the December 20 meeting, Mrs. McCollester presented an illustrated L. E. Dean told "How Early Settlers program on the history of early build Celebrated Christmas." Aster Dibaba, ings around the courthouse square in Ethiopia, and Amar Khan, West Pak California. istan, told of Christmas customs in Officers elected for the coming year their native countries. Both are in were Mrs. Lucille Baldwin, president; ternational students at Northwest Mis Mrs. John Kibbe, vice president: F. J. souri State College, Maryville. Steve L. Ketterlin, secretary; and Marion Ames, Marshalltown, Iowa, also a stu Shores, treasurer. dent, spoke on foreign countries he had Fifty members attended the Janu visited. Members discussed fund rais ary 17 meeting and viewed scenic slides ing projects for the purchase of historic of various places visited over the past site markers. few years by Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence The Society reported that articles Cook. given to former Missouri Governor A. P. Morehouse, by state prisoners, Morgan County Historical Society were placed in the Missouriana Room Some 37 members and guests at in the Northwest Missouri State Col tended the October 25 meeting in the lege Library, Maryville. Morgan County Bank, Versailles, and Ozark Scenic Riverways Natural heard Moss McDonald speak on History Association "World War I As It Affected Morgan A new regional society for South County and Surrounding Counties." Central Missouri, the Association was Mr. McDonald read excerpts from the organized to promote historical and 1918 Versailles newspaper and pre scientific work, including research, edu sented a list of county servicemen cational and interpretive activities of who lost their lives. the National Park Service, principally The following officers were elected: in the Ozark National Scenic River- Elmer Welty, president; Miss Michael ways area. Flottman, first vice president; Mrs. Officers are Leland W. Negaard, Herbert Brunjens, second vice presi Eminence, chairman; Eunice Penning dent; Mrs. Ladean Drissen, secretary; ton, Fremont, vice chairman; Robert D. K. Hunter, treasurer: Mrs. Ger- Bell, Van Buren, secretary; and Rob aldine Yarnell, corresponding secretary; ert Cowin, Eminence, treasurer. Mrs. Elmer Welty, historian; and Tom Memberships are SI.00 per year, Shepp, sergeant-at-arms. $8.00 for ten years, $35.00 for sustain- Historical Notes and Comments 467 ing membership and $100.00 for life Edward Yamnitz, finance committee membership. Memberships are open chairman, a number of projects have to those wishing to preserve the his helped to raise funds toward the pur tory of the region included in the chase price. national park now being developed Members also participated in the in Carter, Shannon, Dent and Texas sesquicentennial celebration in the counties. county last May. Pemiscot County Historical Society The Society meets the fourth Tues James Murphy, Caruthersville, had day of each month. Mrs. Billie Mills charge of the program for the July 27 is president, and Mary C. Frioux is meeting at the County Health Center, secretary-treasurer. Both are from Hayti. He exhibited a number of items Perryville. Anne Rutledge was ap belonging to his grandmother. Mrs. pointed librarian. Jasamyn Garrett read an account from an old newspaper describing a 1901 Phelps County Historical Society hanging in Kennett. Officers for the coming year are Frank Snelson, president; Mrs. Belvena The August 24 meeting featured a Bass, vice president; Mrs. Jessie Rucker, "show and tell" program. secretary; Mrs. Sophie Martin, treas Howard Clough, Caruthersville, urer; and Mrs. Leola Millar, museum spoke on the history of Deering at curator. the September 28 meeting in the Deer ing School. Pleasant Hill Historical Society "Life in Pemiscot," was related by At the November 29 meeting in Mrs. Zula Fowlkes, Caruthersville, at the Christian Church, Mrs. Ruby the October 26 meeting in the Health Vansandt reviewed interesting items Center. Mrs. Fowlkes displayed several from the old Pleasant Hill newspapers antique items. Members discussed plans which are on microfilm in the Booth to publish the county cemetery records. Public Library. Gerald Land displayed Mrs. Betty Downing was named chair some of the guns from his extensive man of the Archives Committee, which collection. was to begin setting up an Archives Tod Sloan reminisced about "Old Room in the courthouse. Times In Pleasant Hill" at the So At the November 23 meeting, George ciety's annual meeting, January 31. Phepps, Caruthersville, gave a program The histories of several area ceme on the Caruthersville area in the early teries also were related. 1900s. Denise Crockett, Deering, was presented an active honorary member Ray County Historical Society ship for her work in the cemetery Some 140 members attended the census. annual banquet, January 14, in the Richmond High School cafeteria. The Perry County Historical Society program, "Memories of 71," included The Society was organized, Febru music from the musical comedy, "The ary 1971. In June, members had a Free State of Ray," given by the Rich chance to purchase the Faherty mond Kiwanis Theater Guild to com House, which is believed to be the memorate the county's sesquicenten oldest building within the original nial. A color film of the pageantry plat of Perryville continually used as for the celebration was also viewed a home. Under the direction of Mrs. by the members. 468 Missouri Historical Review
St. Charles County Cheshire Inn, Roger Kent Heape spoke Historical Society on "The Fitz William Letters." A special program of the Historic A program on the Santa Fe Trail District Survey, prepared by R. W. was presented by James Sterling Pope, Booker Associates, was featured at the at the February 18 meeting. The title February 17 meeting in the St. Peter of his talk was "Maps of the Lower School cafeteria, St. Charles. Since in Cimarron Cut-Off." ception of the planning for the First State Capitol Urban Renewal Project, Scotland County Historical Society the detailed study of the South Main The Society was organized, Novem Street Historic District was under ber 22, and by early January it had taken to define historic structures, 49 charter members. Meetings will be study their history, identify their held on the fourth Monday of each architectural styles and make recom month at the Scotland County R-l mendations for preservation and re High School. storation. After some two years of study At a January 5 meeting in the and work the survey is completed. county extension office, Memphis, the Gerhardt Kramer, well-known archi following officers were elected: J. E. tect and a study consultant, was avail Mason, Rutledge, president; Kenneth able to answer questions about the Bradley, Bible Grove, vice president; study. Connie Courtney, Memphis, recording secretary; Lillian Glasgow, Memphis, St. Clair County Historical Society corresponding secretary; and Jo Ann Members celebrated the state's ses Aylward, Arbela, treasurer. quicentennial at their October 26 meet ing in the county courthouse, Osceola. The January 24 meeting in the James W. Goodrich, associate editor of Scotland County R-l High School, the MISSOURI HISTORICAL REVIEW, Co featured a "What's It" program. Mem lumbia, spoke on David Waldo, an bers were urged to bring antique items early Missouri settler, county official, and old photographs for identifica doctor and Santa Fe trader. Also tion. attending the meeting were represen tatives from the adjoining county Shelby County Historical Society historical societies of Henry, Bates, Some 35 persons attended the Janu Hickory and Polk. ary 11 meeting in the Shelbina bank. President Charles Timmons, Clarence, Officers for the coming year are showed slides of the old log cabin near John Mills, president; Mrs. Geneva Emden, and members discussed the Bledsoe, vice president; Mrs. Violet possibility of restoring the cabin as V. Sitton, secretary; and Dr. Franklin a Society project. It was reported that P. Johnson, treasurer. the Society sold 75 sesquicentennial cookbooks and 330 reprinted histories St. Joseph Historical Society of Monroe and Shelby counties. Over 200 persons attended the So ciety's annual open house, December Stoddard County Historical Society 19, at the historic 1859 Missouri Valley The program for the December 16 Trust Building. meeting in the Bloomfield Community Building consisted of a panel discus St. Louis Westerners sion on the D-Day assault at Normandy At the January 21 meeting in by veterans of that battle. Society Historical Notes and Comments 469
president Jim Mayo acted as mod Miss Kellems has preserved two old erator. Members of the panel were opera houses in East Haddam and Glenn Aslin, Marvin Capps and Jim Darby, Connecticut. my Hill. Officers for the coming year are In December the Society purchased Samuel H. Pollock, president; Arthur a two-story stone building in Bloom E. Lowell, H. Jay Gunnels, Jr., and field, the ground floor of which will Fred L. Lee, vice presidents; Mrs. be used for a county museum. Profits Virginia R. Goff, treasurer; Opal C. from the sale of new Stoddard County Watts, recording secretary; Mrs. Alice histories enabled the Society to make McKinley, corresponding secretary; this purchase. Willam A. Goff, historian, archivist Society secretary Robert H. Forister and Quarterly editor; and H. J. Gun has compiled more than 30,000 county nels, Jr., counselor. cemetery inscriptions and has edited them for publication by the Society White River Valley this spring. Treasurer Mrs. Betty Historical Society Norman and other members assisted Over 60 persons attended the July in the compilation. 11 meeting at Thompson Dining Hall, School of the Ozarks, Point Lookout. Westport Historical Society Society president Dr. M. Graham Clark Some 90 persons attended the regular reviewed the past activities of the quarterly dinner meeting, November Society. William Cameron, formerly 19, at the Westport Presbyterian with the milling industry, related the Church, Kansas City. Gregory M. history of a grist mill on the School Franzwa, public relations consultant of the Ozarks campus. of St. Louis, presented an illustrated The following officers were elected: slide lecture abstracted from his up Mrs. Ruby M. Robins, Gainesville, coming book, "The Oregon Trail Re president; Mrs. Cinita Brown, Ava, visited," or "The Oregon Trail as it first vice president; Mrs. Harriet H. is Today." Massey, Ozark, second vice president; At the February 18 meeting Vivien Col. Albert D. Cummings, Branson, Kellems, East Haddam, Connecticut, secretary; Mrs. Dorothy Standlee, Hol- addressed the group on "Historic Pres lister, treasurer; and Elmo Ingenthron, ervation and Its Financial Benefits." Kirbyville, historian.
ERRATA The birthplace of Charles M. Hay was Brunot, Missouri, instead of Burnot as noted on page 232 of the January 1972 REVIEW. It has been called to our attention that the name of Richard C. Vaughan, pages 198, 210 of the January issue, was mistakenly spelled Vaughn.
A Slow Rise Independence Jackson Examiner, April 7, 1905. Mexico Ledger:—Some Citizens are too lazy to climb a tree. The only way they could possibly reach the top would be to sit on an acorn and wait for it to grow. 470 Missouri Historical Review
GIFTS
JAMES S. ALFORD, Santa Rosa, California, donor: Forerunners, A History of the Strickler Families, by Harry M. Strickler. R
CHARLES ALLONBY, Neosho, donor: Photograph of Robinson Mill, Annapolis. E
T. T. ANDERSON, Tucson, Arizona, donor: Photograph of steamboat, Helena. E
A. F. BARNHOUSE, Eldon, donor: Inventory of the Masonic and Odd Fellows Cemetery, Mount Pleasant; River- view Cemetery, Camden Co.; Salem Cemetery, Miller Co.; and family cemeteries of Taylor and Harmon Kelsay, both of Miller Co. R
MRS. ROSEMARY K. BARRY, St. Louis, donor: Baden through the Years, compiled by Baden Woman's Club. R
MRS. JAMES L. BASS, Smithton, donor: A Family History, Ancestors and Descendants of George Hoffman, Snr., loaned for copying. R
MRS. MARY BIGGS, Columbia, donor: Ensign & Thayer's map of the western states (1850), and A Complete Guide for Coach Painters, by A. A. Fesquet. R
EDGAR J. BRYANT, St. Louis, donor: Newspapers: Pacific Transcript, January 13, 1899-July 26, 1901. N ANGELA M. BURTON, Kansas City, donor: "Nellie B.—Tales of a Texan," by donor. R
MRS. HENRY CARY, Carrollton, donor: Pan-Hellenic, University of Missouri Student Newspaper, Feb. 15, March 1, 15, April 15, May 1, Oct. 7, 21, Nov. 18, 1890; Feb. 16, 1891. N
RICHARD J. CHAMIER, Moberly, donor: Deeds for Rogers-Hager Family, 1893-1912, Randolph County. M
COLUMBIA ALUMNAE CHAPTER, MU PHI EPSILON, donor, through MRS. MARION FIELDS, Columbia: Mu Phi Epsilon, Phi Delta Chapter, scrapbooks, 1930-1971. M
MRS. ELLEN K. DAVISON, Kirksville, donor: "Scotland County, Missouri, Cemetery and Churches," compiled by donor. R PAUL N. DOLL, Jefferson City, donor: Atlas of Caldwell County, Missouri (1897). R
MRS. WILLIAM ELDRIDGE, Liberty, donor: List of slave remarriages after the Civil War to 1891, Liberty. R
MRS. FOREST EVANS, Troy, donor: "Gibson-Hutchinson Families," by J. N. Hutchinson, loaned for copying. R Historical Notes and Comments 471
MRS. DON FAUROT, Columbia, donor: Helm-Davidson Family papers, 1849-1942, loaned for copying. M
PROFESSOR E. M. FUNK, Columbia, donor: "A Brief History of the Gottlieb Funk Family in Missouri," by donor. R
WILLIAM A. GOFF, Kansas City, donor: Photograph of M. Pierre D. Papin. E
GRANDVIEW BAPTIST CHURCH, donor, through MRS. CLARENCE JONES, Hallsville: Microfilm of Grandview Baptist Church record books. M
MRS. ELLA L. HORAK, Willow Springs, donor: Handwritten copies of "Wash Day," and "An Old Sale Bill." M
C. LEO HOWDESHELL, Elsberry, donor, through MRS. FOREST EVANS, Troy: "Black Hawk and the Battle of the Sink Hole." R
MRS. KEITH HUFFMAN, Elvins, donor: "Bollinger County Cemeteries," by donor. R
HUGH J. INGLISH, Jamestown, donor: "Sweetwater Christian Church Records," Moniteau County, loaned for copying. R
WALDO P. JOHNSON III, Osceola, donor: Waldo P. Johnson letters, 1839-1872. M
J. G. LAY, Cook Station, donor: Microfilm roll from National Archives containing Revolutionary War Pen sion application of William Lay. M Microfilm rolls from National Archives including index to compiled service records of Confederate soldiers, Lay-Lebist; Soundex to 1880 Texas Federal Census; Soundex to 1880 Illinois Federal Census. N
MRS. CLARA LEIBLIE, Kansas City, donor: Documents of Hiram Hollers, 1878-1892, Taney County. M
MRS. J. O. MARTIN, Columbia, donor: Papers of Missouri East Conference, Women's Society of Christian Service, United Methodist Church. M
JACK MATTHEWS, Columbia, donor: University of Missouri Songs (1929) . R
TONY MERRICK, Columbia, donor: Yearbooks from Senath-Hornersville High School, 1969, 1970, 1971. R
MRS. FLOYD MILLER, Graham, donor: Photographs of Graham scenes. E ANNE D. MONTGOMERY, San Francisco, California, donor: "Sharps of Augusta County, Virginia, Bedford County, Virginia, and Three Soldiers of the Revolution Came to Kentucky," compiled by donor. R 472 Missouri Historical Review
MRS. FRANK MUEHLBAUER, St. Louis, donor: "Colonial and Genealogical Records for the St. Louis Pioneer Chapter USD 1812." R FRANZ H. MUELLER, St. Paul, Minnesota, donor: "Vincent Adam Heller, 1877-1971," by Laura Morris. R
MRS. CHARLES H. NEIGHBORS, Milan, donor: Old coin, pamphlets, war ration books and other misc. items. R Postcards. E
CRAIG NOLD, Slater, donor: Standard Atlas of Saline County, Missouri (1916) . R
MRS. CHARLES E. PETERMAN, Knob Noster, donor: "Peterman Family, Pettis County History," by donor. R
VENTA PLUMMER, Seneca, donor: Material concerning the Seneca centennial: program, scrapbook and re search notes, M; photos, E; and newspapers, N.
MR. AND MRS. LOREN RODEN, Cassville, donors: "History of Fairview School, Barry County, Missouri, 1897 to 1963." R
ANNE B. RUTLEDGE, Perryville, donor: "York Chapel Graveyard, 1821-1971," compiled by donor. R
MRS. EDWARD SAVAGE, Liberal, donor: A number of booklets concerning Liberal, loaned for copying. M
REVEREND C. W. SCHOWENGERDT, Independence, donor: "Our Carl-Karl Cousins," by donor. R
P. O. SELBY, Kirksville, donor: "Kirksville Presbyterians," by donor. R
SHAWNEE COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY, Topeka, Kansas, donor: "Albert T. Reid's Sketchbook, Fads, Foibles 8c Politics: 1896-1908," compiled by John W. Ripley and Robert W. Richmond. R
FRANK H. SKELLY, Columbia, donor: Fifty Years of National Sojourners, by Lavon Parker Linn. R
MRS. NAOMI SMITH, Rogers, Arkansas, donor: John Nevins, deeds, 1825-1827. M
JAMES SNOW, Kansas City, donor, through CHARLES ALLONBY, Neosho: Photographs and negatives of the mill, mill dam and other buildings at Cyclone. E
JOSEPHINE STUMBERG, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, donor, through MRS. NANCY DUDLEY, Columbia: History of Dade County and Her People, Volume I; In Memoriam—James Sidney Rollins; History of Hickory, Polk, Cedar, Dade and Barton Counties, Missouri; and newspaper clippings. R Historical Notes and Comments 473
JOHN L. SULLIVAN, Flat River, donor: Handwritten "History of Williams-Perry-Burns Family," by donor. M
SELWYN K. TROEN, Columbia, donor: "A Guide to Resources on the History of St. Louis," compiled by donor. R MRS. WILLIAM R. TWEEDY, Belleville, Illinois, donor: "Jacob Patton and his Descendants," compiled by Mrs. Mildred F. Tweedy. R
GARY VOELKER, Washington, donor: Civil War diary of W. E. Patterson, 1861-1864, 38th Regiment, Illinois Volunteer Infantry, Company K, loaned for copying. M
MRS. BEVERLY R. WATTS, Willows, California, donor: Reverend William T. Lucky Bible records. R
STANLEY WELBERN, Rocheport, donor: "Guidelines for the Management of County Fairs, State of Missouri." R
RUTH ROLLINS WESTFALL, Columbia, donor: Letters of Emanuel Lasker, 1902, and certificate appointing C. B. Rollins to University of Missouri Board of Curators. M Misc. publications. R
JAMES WM. WHITE, P. M. MUSSER PUBLIC LIBRARY, Muscatine, Iowa, donor: Year Book of the Society of Sons of the Revolution in the State of Missouri, 1894 and 1895. R
STANLEY R. WHITE, Long Beach, California, donor: Map of Adair County cemeteries. R
MRS. JAMES A. WIGHT, Moberly, donor: Photographs of several Boone County scenes, loaned for copying. E
RON WIHEBRINK, Springfield, donor: History of the Irish Wilderness Country: Mark Twain National Forest. R
MRS. GERALD D. YARNELL, Versailles, donor, through MRS. ISABEL STEBBINS GIULVEZAN, Affton: Material compiled from newspapers in Morgan, Moniteau, Camden, Calla- wav, Miller, Laclede and Pulaski counties. R
Request for Winter Supplies Van Buren Current Local, September 21, 1895. This paper will receive but four loads of pine on subscription this winter; it will accept five loads of cooking stove wood, and 10 loads of heating stove wood. If you desire to subscribe or to renew, or to pay up let us know at once. First come first served. You can take advantage of the "corker" proposition with wood, as well as with money. Five bushel of irish potatoes and twenty bushels of corn will also be received. 474 Missouri Historical Review
MISSOURI HISTORY IN NEWSPAPERS
Ashland Boone County Journal November 18, 25, December 2, 1971—Old school photographs.
Brunswick Brunswicker November 4, 1971-January 27, 1972—A weekly picture series.
Carthage Press November 20, 1971—An article by Marvin VanGilder recalled the 100-year history of Carthage's Fraternal Lodge No. 14, Knights of Pythias.
Clinton Eye November 4, 11, 18, December 16, 30, 1971, January 6, 20, 27, 1972—A series of old area photographs.
Columbia Daily Tribune December 9, 1971—A short historical article by Bob M. Gassaway com memorated the 50th anniversary of the Boone County Hospital. January 30, 1972—"Mrs. Keeley recalls dancer Te^ Shawn," by Mary Paxton Keeley.
Columbia Missourian November 5, 1971—"[University of Missouri] Tiger Football Uniforms Change With the Times," by Mari-Anne Messmann. November H—"Personality, Charm Restored to Rocheport Home [of Mrs. Thomas Rapp]," by John S. Littell, with photos by Timothy Storer. November 20—"She Remembers [Lanceford B.] Wilkes," by Dana Davis. December 25—"It's an Old-Fashioned Christmas at Arrow Rock," by Laurel Henry. January 6, 1972—"Old Guitar Place Torn Down," by Donna Axtetter. January 25—"[David Rice Atchison] 24-Hour Soldier President," by H. L. Miller.
De Soto Press November 1, 1971—"INS Shoe Factory's Sudden, Shocking Finish," conclu sion of a series. November 8—"Lest We Forget Armistice Day, 1918." November 15—"Bike Races in De Soto, 1896." November 22, 29, December 6—"De Soto and Railroad Make a Deal," a series. December 13, 20, 27, January 3, 10, 17, 1972—"We've Come A Long Way!" a six-part article. January 31—"The Captain and Old Mr. Groundhog." All the above articles from the column, "As You Were," by Eddie Miller.
Fayette Democrat-Leader November 27, December 11, 18, 1971, January 22, 1972—"Historical Fayette," a picture series. Historical Notes and Comments 475
Jackson Journal November 3, 1971—A history of the Buckner-Ragsdale Store in Cape Girar deau by K. J. H. Cochran. December /—"Civil War battle at Round Pond [near Delta]," by Mrs. Andy Withers. December 8—The article, "Sleigh Bells & Steamboats," recalled old Christmas customs in the Mississippi River Valley. This article, and those listed below, by K. J. H. Cochran. January 12, 1972—"Julia Gill-civil war nurse." January 19—"Graveyards in Cape Girardeau County." January 26—"Vicksburg Sentinel 1845 sheds light on Missouri University and Female Seminary for Girls."
Kansas City Star October 2, 1971—"[Raytown Christian] Church Survived Troubled Years," by Marguerite Ballard Wilson. November 6, 20, December 4, 18, January 8, 1972—"Missouri Heritage," by Lew Larkin, featured respectively, Meriwether Lewis, John Charles Fremont, Y.M.C.A., Edgar Watson Howe and Culver-Stockton College. November 27—"Kansas City That Was—and W7ill Be," by Joyce C. Hall. November 28—"Tale of Two Towns [Montevallo]—Old and New," by Dwight Pennington. December 4—A postcard from the collection of Mrs. Sam Ray featured Union Station. December 19—A short article about Kansas City artist Gale Stockwell was entitled, " 'Lost' Art Turns Up in White House," by Frank Spurlock. January 23, 1972—"Joyce C. Hall," by Jim Lapham, photos by Roy Inman.
Kansas City Times November 11, 1971, January 22, 28, 1972—Postcards from the collection of Mrs. Sam Ray featured respectively, Coolidge's 1929 visit, Shubert Theater and railroad tunnel and elevated tracks. December 10—"From [Whyte] Family Store to Grocery Chain," by Mrs. Sam Ray. January 5, 1972—"[Frank and Jesse] James Legend Kept Alive at Farm," by William E. Dye. January 8—'At 91, Dr. John G. Neihardt Enjoys a Renaissance," by Mike Lavery. January 22—"Missouri Heritage," by Lew Larkin, featured Sen. John B. Henderson. January 28—" 'Good Old Days'—Even in Winter," by Hildur Ek.
Liberty Tribune January 6-27, 1972—"Old Clay Is Some Punkins—A History of Clay County," a weekly series by Evelyn Petty.
Maryville Daily Forum November 1, 1971-January 31, 1972—A picture series, published daily, is entitled, "Nodaway Countians in History." 476 Missouri Historical Review
Maysville DeKalb County Record-Herald October 7, November 25, December 2, 1971, January 20, 1972—A historical series on area ghost towns.
Oak Grove Banner November 4, 11, 18, December 2, 9, 16, 30, 1971, January 13, 27, 1972—"Lick Skillet," a historical series, by Dorothy Butler.
Owensville Gasconade County Republican July 1, 1971—-The sesquicentennial edition featured a number of historical articles about the county.
Paris Monroe County Appeal November 4, 1971—"History of Oak Ridge Christian Church," by Mrs. Mason Herndon. November 4-January 27, 1972—"History of Monroe County," a weekly series reprinted from an 1884 history of the county. December 30—Two old area photographs featured. January 20, 1972—A history, "Mill Stone or Burr Preserved."
Ste. Genevieve Fair Play November 5, 1971-January 28, 1972—"History Of Our Town," a weekly series by Mrs. Jack Basler.
St. Joseph Gazette October 13, 1971— An article noted the official designation of the Buchanan County Courthouse as a local landmark by the Landmarks Commission of St. Joseph and presented a history of the structure.
St. Louis Globe-Democrat January 16, 1972—"Clayton's historic [Martin Franklin] Hanley House," by Shirley Althoff. January 30—"The Bogey Club will rise again," by David Brown.
St. Louis Post-Dispatch November 16, 1971—A short historical article noted the 100th anniversary of the University of Missouri-Rolla. November 21—The article, "From The Splendor of Old St. Louis," by George McCue, with photos by James Marchael, featured nineteenth-century architecture. November 21—"Go You Tigers!—And They Did," the story of the 1896 University of Missouri football team, reprinted from the Missouri Alumnus. November 28—"Boats And The Big River," by William C. Fogarty. December 5—"Big Barrel For A Small Winery [Mount Pleasant Wine Co., Augusta, Mo.]," by William C. Fogarty, photos by Lynn T. Spence. December 11—"Physical Remnant Of Now Dead Dream Of [Delbridge] Utopia In Missouri Is Deteriorating," by Wayne Leeman. January 11, 1972—"Anniversary For The [St. Louis Public] Library," by Mary Duffe, a reprint. January 16—"Wednesday Club—Then And Now," by Carter Stith. January 23—"[James Todd] Newspaperman Covers The Town [Moberly]," by William C. Fogarty, with photos by Robert LaRouche. Historical Notes and Comments 477
Salisbury Press-Spectator November 25, 1971—The special centennial issue featured numerous his torical articles.
Sedalia Democrat November 25, 1971-" At Warrensburg [Bill Bryant] Recalls Firefighting Past," by Jerry Kilgore.
Springfield Leader-Press December 27, 1971—An article by Lucile Morris Upton noted a collection of R. Ritchie Robertson memorabilia at the Springfield Public Library and presented a brief biography of Robertson.
Steelville Crawford Mirror December 16, 1971—"Souvenir Photos."
A Key to a Person's Name Marshall Saline County Progress, June 16, 1871. By the accompanying table of letters the name of a person or any word may be found out in the following manner: A B D H P C C E I Q E F F J R G G G K S I J L L T K K M M U M N N N V O O O O W Q R T X X S S V Y z L V V Y z W w W Y z Let the person whose name you wish to know inform you in which of the upright columns the first letter of the name is contained. If it be found in but one column it is the top letter; if it occurs in more than one column, it is found by adding the alphabetical numbers of the top letter of these columns, and the sum will be the letter sought. By taking one letter at a time this way, the whole can be ascertained. For example, take the word Jane. J is found in two columns commencing B and H, which are the second and eighth letters down the alphabet; their sum is ten, and the tenth letter down the alphabet is J, the letter sought. The letter A appears in but one column, where it stands at the top, N is seen in the columns head B, D and H, these are the second, fourth and eighth letters of the alphabet, which added, give the fourteenth, or N, and so on. The use of this table will excite no little curiosity among those un acquainted with the foregoing explanation. 478 Missouri Historical Review MISSOURI HISTORY IN MAGAZINES
Bulletin, Camden County Historical Society, December, 1971: "Dr. M. D. Emry."
Bulletin, Missouri Historical Society, January, 1972: "Rhetoric Versus Realism 150 Years of Missouri Boosterism," by Lyle and Mary Dorsett; "New Madrid, Paper Town of the 1780s," by Stuart Seely Sprague; "The Cupples Ware house Block," by Toni Flannery; "St. Louis and the Mexican Revolution aries, 1905-1906," by Bernard Axelrod; and "The Planters' House," by Dorothy Garesche Holland.
Carondelet Historical Society Newsletter, December, 1971: "I Remember . . . ," by Edwin Paradoski; and "The Schlichtig Family in Carondelet," by Donald M. Dates.
Chariton County Historical Society Newsletter, January, 1972: "Dedication of 'Cal Hubbard Field' Points out Phenomenal Sports Career," by Bob Wilson, reprinted.
Clay County Museum Association Newsletter, October & November, 1971: "Waltus L. Watkins, Industrialist," Parts II & III, by L. E. Oberholtz.
, December, 1971: "The Gash Family of Gashland, Clay County, Mis souri," by Helen Smithers.
Concordia Historical Institute Quarterly, November, 1971: "Five Saxon Parishes in 1838," by Carl S. Meyer; and "Women Teachers in the Missouri Synod," by George J. Gude, Jr.
Covered Bridge Topics, January, 1972: "A Tale of a [Bollinger] Mill," by Margaret Poetker.
Farmland News, January 15, 1972: "Weston, Mo.—'Queen of the Platte Pur chase'," photos and story by James D. Tucker.
Florissant Valley Historical Society Quarterly, January, 1972: "Florissant .... 1891"; "St. Ferdinand Celebrates," an 1892 reprint; and "Loretto Academy."
Harbinger Magazine, Third Quarter, 1971: "Carthage," by John E. Yeager; "In Retrospect," photos by Gerald Massie; "Ozark Air Lines."
The Historian, November, 1971: "Truman and the Seizure of Steel: A Failure in Communication," by Phillip E. Stebbins.
Jackson County Historical Society Journal, Fall, 1971: "Grave of Lynchburg Adams, First Settler, Is in Path of Progress," by Elizabeth R. Gentry; and "Archivist Researches [McCoy] Home Ownerships," by Ellouise Sellers.
Jesuit Bulletin, December, 1971: "The Closing Of St. Stanislaus Seminary Floris sant, Missouri."
Journal of the West, July, 1971: "Indian-White Contact Before 1870: Cultural Factors in Conflict," by Robert L. Munkres; and "Indian Land Cessions West of the Mississippi," by Sam B. Hilliard. Historical Notes and Comments 479
Kansas Historical Quarterly, Autumn, 1971: "The First Mormon Mission to the Indians," by Warren A. Jennings.
Kirkwood Historical Review, December, 1971: "Doctor Robert Forsyth," by Richard Compton, Jr.
Lawrence County Historical Society Bulletin, January, 1972: "New Hope School," by C. C. Heagerty.
Manuscripts', Winter, 1972: "A Footnote to the Lewis and Clark Expedition," by Donald Jackson.
Mid-America, January, 1972: "[General John J.] Pershing and General J. Frank lin Bell, 1917-1918," by Donald Smythe.
Minnesota History, Fall, 1971: "Found (and Purchased): Seth Eastman Water Colors," by Lila M. Johnson.
Missouri Alumnus, November-December, 1971: "Tigers in a Foreign Land," re printed from an 1898 Savitar.
Missouri Ruralist, January 22, 1972: "[Carroll County Museum] A Place for Remembering," by Maxene Harris.
Missouri Speleology, July, 1970: "Historic Caves of St. Louis, Missouri," by Charlotte Rother and Hubert E. Rother, Jr.
Ozarker, September, 1971: "Looking Back [at Eminence]," by Bonnie Adams; and "Sycamore," by Mary D. Weaver.
Palimpsest, November, 1971: "[John James] Audubon's Birds of America"; "Birds Along the Missouri"; and "Barging Down from Fort Union," all by William J. Petersen.
Prologue, Winter, 1971: "Save Wheat, Save Meat, Save the Peace: The Food Crusade of 1947," by Theodore A. Wilson and Richard M. McKinzie.
Rocky Mountain Social Science Journal, January, 1972: "Protest Songs for Peace and Freedom: People's Songs and the 1948 Progressives," by Frank Ross Peterson.
Smithsonian, November, 1971: "First heroic trek across the wild land to Cali fornia," by Sonia Levitin.
The West, November, 1971: "Day the Outlaws Came to Town [Southwest City]," by Wayne T. Walker.
Western American Literature, Summer, 1971: " 'Very Much Like A Fire - Cracker:' Owen Wister on Mark Twain," by Ben M. Vorpahl.
Westport Historical Quarterly, December, 1971: "Personal Recollections of Life on the Plains From 1860 to 1868," by Charles Raber; "An Historic Letter [from A. Archbold to Julia Anne McBride, 1850]"; "General Jo Shelby and Johnny Ringo," by Howard N. Monnett; and "Kansas City One Hundred Years Ago," a reprint. 480 Missouri Historical Review
White River Valley Historical Quarterly, Summer, 1971: "Double Murder and Lynching in White River Valley," by Emory Melton; "Branson—1907," by Eva Eakin Grizzard; "Loftis Cemetery Records," by Jean Melton Loftis; "The Pedrow Moberly's Grist Mill," by Aimer A. Ridge; "The Joseph P. Lyon's Mill," by W. D. "Bill" Cameron; and "More Marriage Records of Douglas County," copied by Cinita D. Brown.
, Fall, 1971: "Oh Time and Change," by John Gerten; "School Place- names in Ozark County," by P. R. Pfister; and "History of Mars Hill Church and Cemetery," compiled by Herald Jenkins. Wisconsin Magazine of History, Autumn, 1971: "The Truman Presidency: Trial and Error," by Athan Theoharis.
The Old Fiddler's Contest Clinton Eye, December 31, 1926. Missouri Union Telephone Old Fiddler's Contest was held Tuesday night on the second floor of the Missouri Union Telephone building, which went over the Missouri Union wired radio service. . . . The only qualification for entrance was that old time music was to be played. The successful contestant has been left to popular vote. Over 200 were received by telephone in a very few minutes after the contest was over, also many requests for numbers to be repeated and songs. The real decision will not be announced until the votes come in by mail or are delivered to the Missouri Union office, the contest to close Thursday noon. Vote by number only, for that is the way the fiddlers played to their unseen audience. . . . Each contestant played two selections of his own choosing, in each half of the contest, each number two minutes long. Dr. Neill was in charge and he told the Eye that he timed them with a stop watch and as they sat and played with their eyes closed, he had to touch them to bring them back from the heaven of music, as nobody so entirely leaves the earth as those who play the old time music. . . . There are 103 subscribers to wired radio in Clinton and Deepwater. Ab Dunning is the only farm subscriber, but any farmer living on the wired radio lines can also get the service. The Missouri Union Telephone Co. anticipate extending their lines to Windsor and Calhoun. They were the pioneer telephone company in Missouri to start wired radio, but many other companies over the state have followed their example. They are the first to put on an Old Fiddlers Contest over wired radio. . . . The Missouri Union Telephone Co. had installed loud speakers at Chris tian church and Elks club and at Calhoun, where 33 were present; at Windsor, where 24 were present, and at Deepwater, where 15 were present. The Deep- water pool hall was filled. . . . W. H. Dulaban got the top of his violin damaged some time ago, so made a new top himself, which he has painted a cherry red. It has a remarkable and fine tone and was the loudest one that was played. It was Walter Witt's unlucky day, as the tail piece to his violin broke loose in the midest [sic] of what promised to be the finest polka ever played and the strings flew off, in fact, his violin blew up. . . . Historical Notes and Comments 481 IN MEMORIAM
EDWARD EVERETT SWAIN, SR. WILLIAM HENRY ROBINETT Edward Everett Swain, Sr., publisher William Henry Robinett, former of the Kirksville Daily Express and state senator, died at his home near News and a former president and a Mountain Grove on December 27. permanent trustee of the State His Mr. Robinett was born in Mountain torical Society of Missouri, died Febru Grove on November 18, 1898, and was ary 12 in Kirksville. Because of Mr. educated there in the public school. Swain's interest and work in the State He worked for a brief time as super Historical Society, he received the intendent of schools at Brandsville Society's third Distinguished Service before admission to the Missouri Bar Award on October 3, 1970. in 1926. Governor Henry Caulfield Mr. Swain was born on February appointed him chief game warden in 2, 1883, in Ewing, Illinois. From 1930, a position he filled through Shurtleff College in Alton, Illinois, 1931. Returning to Mountain Grove, he received his Bachelor of Arts Degree he served as city attorney for 16 years. in 1905. Following graduation he In 1941 he was appointed U.S. Com worked for the Rochester, New York, missioner at Fort Leonard Wood. The Herald, the St. Louis Globe-Democrat, following year he resigned to run for East St. Louis Daily, the St. Louis senator of the 22nd District. He was Republic and the St. Louis Post-Dis elected for three consecutive terms. patch. In 1909 Mr. Swain and Walter Mr. Robinett is survived by his wife Ridgway purchased the Kirksville Daily Gladys; a step son, Darrel Leascher of Express. Later he became sole owner Omaha, Nebraska; one sister; and three of the newspaper and also bought the brothers. Kirksville Daily News. Ed E. Swain, BALDWIN, DR. PAUL, Kennett: Febru Jr., and Edward E. Swain III, were ary 23, 1880-June 19, 1971. later associated with him in the Ex press Publishing Company. BARTLETT, DANIEL, St. Louis: October 3, 1894-October 22, 1971. Mr. Swain was active in the Missouri Press Association, serving as president BENKENDORF, MRS. WILLIAM, St. in 1930. He also was president of the Louis: March 18, 1897-July 16, 1971. Missouri Associated Dailies in 1929. BLACK, CHARLES A., Mission, Kansas: From 1945 to 1963, he served on the December 21, 1887-November 2, 1970. Board of Regents of Northeast Mis souri State College and was secretary BRYAN, WALTER E., St. Louis: Oc of the board from 1951 until 1963. tober 21, 1885-April 6, 1970. Mr. Swain was a member of the First Baptist Church, a charter member of BUNDY, MRS. I. R., East Gary, Indi the Kirksville Rotary Club and an ana: November 7, 1882-May 3, 1971. organizer of the Kirksville Country CARSON, GEORGE R., Rockville, Mary Club. land: August 30, 1886-March 12, 1971. He is survived by four children: CHAPMAN, VAN B., Chillicothe: May Edward Everett Swain, Jr., Kirksville; 24, 1894-January 4, 1969. Mrs. Gerald Kneeland, Kirksville; Har rison R. Swain, St. Petersburg, Florida; DuTTON, W. F., Noel: August 6, and Mrs. David Freeman, St. Louis. 1877-May 4, 1971. 482 Missouri Historical Review
ELLIS, ROY, Springfield: March 9, MERTSHEIMER, FRED B., Kansas City: 1888-January 9, 1972. November 14, 1878-June 5, 1970.
FRAME, REVEREND JOHN V., Nevada: O'MEARA, MRS. FRANCES JACOBI, Mar- June 7, 1938-October 2, 1971. tinsburg: February 22, 1884-December GREEN, G. H., St. Louis: December 25, 1971. 6, 1885-October 29, 1971. PARKS, JAMES LEWIS, Kansas City: HAUHART, PETER, Manchester: Febru November 2, 1920-December 12, 1971. ary 8, 1886-November 19, 1971. PETLEY, EWART L., Fredericktown: HODGES, FRANCIS L., Carthage: May May 29, 1900-August 31, 1971. 10, 1899-June 23, 1971. SACH-ROWITZ, DR. ALVIN, Moose HOLLAND, LEONARD J., St. Louis: No Lake, Minnesota: August 1, 1894-July vember 7, 1900-May 14, 1971. 31, 1971.
JOHNSON, MRS. I. L., St. Louis: June SHELL, T. R., De Soto: August 21, 27, 1893-October 26, 1970. 1898-November 14, 1970. KING, AUSTIN A., St. Louis: October THOMSON, A. CAL, Salem: August 21, 1899-March 7, 1971. 27, 1889-April 23, 1971. KLOSTERMAN, WILLIAM H., Hazel- wood: June 11, 1904-November 11, TUCKER, CLARENCE A., Kansas City: 1970. November 2, 1906-October 5, 1971.
LEIMKUEHLER, RICKA, Mt. Sterling: WALKER, HARVEY, Worthington, December 6, 1885-January 27, 1972. Ohio: February 24, 1900-May 22, 1971.
MCDANIEL, MRS. E. A., Edinburgh, WALTHALL, MRS. WILSON J., San An Texas: June 28, 1895-December 24, tonio, Texas: August 6, 1893-December 1971. 24, 1970.
MCNEELY, F. B., Macon: September WILSON, PERRY WOOD, California: 15, 1895-April 3, 1971. November 1, 1895-January 30, 1971.
Symbol of Father Time Edina Sentinel, August 9, 1877. Now that the scythe is degraded to the small office of trimming up around the fences and trees, and there are so many different sorts of mowing machines invented that will dodge stumps and boulders, and skury [sic] in among the trees and bushes, and cut up hill, down hill and alongside about as well as in the levelest of meadows—the poetry's most gone out of haying. Of course there are a few rural nooks where it lingers, but it's decadent, like most of the old fashioned things, and there are very few mourners to go about the streets. Still the scythe will survive in one place—on the almanac cover, over the shoulder of old Time, just as the Latins pictured Saturn and the Greeks Chronos. How the old fellow would look with a mowing-machine. Historical Notes and Comments 483
BOOK REVIEWS
Westminster College: An Informal History, 1851-1969. By William E. Parrish (Fulton, Mo.: Westminster College, 1971). 280 pages. Illustrated. Footnoted. Indexed. $7.50. The discovery of a missing collection of official college records was in part the justification for the writing and publication of William E. Parrish's Westminster College: An Informal History, 1851-1969. Westminster was organized during the decade of the 1850s, an era of sectarian rivalry that witnessed the birth of a num ber of Missouri's denominational colleges. The college was started by a local group of Presbyterians in Fulton, Missouri, and later secured the backing of the Southern Synod of Missouri and, at times, the Northern Synod also. The mission of the college, accord ing to the Reverend Nathan L. Rice, who delivered the address at the laying of the cornerstone of the first classroom building, was to provide a liberal arts education under Christian influences. But the college was not designed as a Presbyterian seminary. Parrish chronicled the financial struggles of the college in the early days, the devoted service of faculty, administrators and trustees, the evolution of its curriculum and the development of the physical plant. But his main concern was with student life. He aimed to portray through words and illustrations the "West minster man." Consequently much attention was devoted to the literary societies, to the fraternities and to athletics. Debating was promoted with success, and Westminster teams were regularly scheduled as opponents by Oxford University debaters on their American tours during the 1920s. 484 Missouri Historical Review
Two developments of the 1930s and 1940s brought national and international recognition to Westminster College. The first was the establishment in 1939 of the Westminster Institute of Public Affairs which attracted a number of distinguished speakers to the campus. The second was the delivery by Sir Winston Churchill of his famous "Iron Curtain" speech at the college on March 5, 1946. Parrish explained the parts played by Dr. Franc L. McCluer, Major General Harry H. Vaughan (a Westminster alumnus), and Presi dent Harry S. Truman in arranging the visit of the British states man. Growing out of this event was the reconstruction on the Westminster campus of the bombed-out London church of St. Mary Aldermanbury as the Winston Churchill Memorial. The educational ferment of the 1960s forced Westminster Col lege to reexamine its mission and programs. The denominational connection, never burdensome but seldom financially rewarding, was being severed. Further the traditional liberal arts program was under fire as irrelevant to the needs of the times. A number of important changes were undertaken. With Wil liam Woods College, a women's institution in Fulton, Westminster worked out an arrangement under which the William Woods girls came to Westminster for upper division science courses and West minster students took advanced work in fine arts and education at their sister institution. Exchange of faculty services, centralized ordering and cataloging of books for the two libraries, joint spon sorship of concerts and lectures, and an integration of many extra curricular activities were carried out. In 1964 the two Fulton colleges joined with Stephens College, Central Methodist College and the College of Arts and Science at the University of Missouri- Columbia to form the Mid-Missouri Associated Colleges, aimed at fostering cooperation in such areas as library services and faculty and student exchanges. To prepare students for emerging professional opportunities, study programs in computer science and in Asian-African studies were established. Substitution of a series of comprehensive examina tions in place of course and area requirements for graduation, and the modification of the college calendar to include a January study period were under consideration. As Westminster College faced the future in a rapidly changing world, there was general agree ment on the importance of educational experimentation and flexi- bilitv. Historical Notes and Comments 485
Dr. Parrish's volume is attractively printed and illustrated and, with its lively style, will be welcomed by alumni and friends of the college.
Columbia, Missouri John C. Crighton
The Frontier Merchant in Mid-America. By Lewis E. Atherton. (Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1971). 183 pp. Indexed. Footnoted. Bibliography. $10.00. In 1939 The University of Missouri Studies' second number of the fourteenth volume was devoted to the publication of Lewis E. Atherton's, "The Pioneer Merchant in Mid-America." Evolving from Atherton's doctoral dissertation, "Pioneer Merchant" was not only an economic study of merchants in Iowa, Illinois and Missouri from the 1820s until the Civil War, but it was also a social history in that it indicated the personal impact the merchants had on the societies and surroundings in which they operated. Long out-of- print, a new University of Missouri Press version of the original work, entitled The Frontier Merchant in Mid-America, becomes a welcomed addition to the bookshelves of Western social and eco nomic history. Ably assisted by Margery Mulken McKinney, senior editor of the press, Atherton has prepared a revision that includes a smoother style and, more importantly, incorporates some of the author's later writings on the subject plus recent studies that add strength to the original interpretation. The emphasis and presentation of the materials remain essen tially the same. Among the topics covered are: the origin and training of the merchant class; the physical plant and the operation of the frontier store; the advantages and disadvantages of the wholesale markets (both in the East and the West); and the methods and organizations used by the frontier merchants. Missourians James and Robert Aull, Samuel C. Owens, Moses U. Payne, Nathaniel D. Payne, Ninian Edwards and William Lam- me play important parts in the narrative. Moses U. Payne, for example, typified the jack-of-all-trades character of the early frontier merchant. In addition to merchandising, Payne engaged in farm ing and land speculation to increase his personal fortune. And, 486 Missouri Historical Review
the Aull brothers, to augment their profits from merchandising, operated a rope walk in Liberty and in 1829 shipped between 60,000 and 70,000 pounds of bale rope to New Orleans. Besides their own economic diversification the merchants offered important services acting as bankers, town promoters and buyers of the area's products. As Atherton states, they performed, "the services for the West to pass from a self-sufficient economy to interdependent economic specialization." (p. 25) Aside from making available this revision of a significant work, the University of Missouri Press is to be congratulated on the excellent layout and design of the volume.
State Historical Society of Missouri James W. Goodrich
Books reviewed and noted in the MISSOURI HISTORICAL REVIEW cannot be purchased through the Society. Inquiries for purchases should be made to the publishers.
"Nightriders" Captured the Groom Cameron Daily Observer, September 10, 1910. Mr. Rial Rieminschneider and Miss Opal Craig, two of Maysville's most popular young people, were united in marriage Wednesday September 7th. Speaking of what followed, the Republican Pilot says: "A bunch of these friends, which the groom will not soon forget, captured him during the marriage feast last night and made him acquainted with some of the tricks of the charivari game. They placed him astride a cow belonging to the Lytle hotel and gave him a ride to the square. Arrived at the square, the "rough necks" held a council of deviltry as to further enforced performances by the groom; with the result that he was given his choice of spending the night in the woman's cell of the county jail or being "ducked" in the water tank at Creek's livery barn. He was plainly disposed to do something religious while in the hands of this bunch of "nightriders" so chose immersion, and was promptly submerged in the watering tank. At this point the "nightriders" had to hide out from a storm that was sweeping down upon the crowd from the owner of the faithful cow, and the groom made his escape back to the company of the anxious and sympathetic bride." Historical Notes and Comments 487
BOOK NOTES
Judge Jenkins' History of Miller County. By Clyde Lee Jenkins (Tuscumbia, 1971). 455 pp. Illustrated. Not Indexed. $10.00. Judge Jenkins has written a definitive account of Miller County history presenting authentic details of events from the earliest records through the Civil War. Transcriptions of testimonials con cerning controversial happenings lend a colorful and personal tone to an otherwise scholarly and objective work. From court records, newspaper files, account books and other primary reference sources the author has compiled the history of the county. The first governmental land surveys copied from the records, a list of the names and the date of land entry of the first settlers, maps of the townships, maps of roads built in the county from 1837 to 1847 and specifications for the first jail and courthouse are among the many items included. Lists of the price of slaves sold at the Miller County Court house door and a list of county slaveowners taken from the assessor's books of 1859 and 1862 precede the account of Civil War events. More than ninety percent of the county's Civil War history was taken from the circuit court files in the county courthouse at Tuscumbia. The listing of Miller County marriages from 1839 to 1861 provides source material for those interested in family history. The excellent quality of the contents compensates for the monotonous use of italics throughout the volume, making the copy difficult to read. Judge Jenkins, who published the work himself, offers an apology to the reader for the printing and expresses hope that the second volume, which he evidently plans to publish, will show improvement. As a reference work, this Miller County history is one of the most valuable recent local historical publications in Missouri.
Foundations From the Past. By staff members of the Historical Survey and Planning Office, Missouri State Park Board (Columbia, 1971). 40 pp. Illustrated. Not Indexed, n. p. The booklet, published for distribution throughout the state, is a popular version of Missouri's Historic Preservation Plan. The 488 Missouri Historical Review
National Preservation Act of 1966 authorized federal assistance to those states active in establishing statewide programs to record and preserve their past. After the passage of the Act, Missouri Governor Warren E. Hearnes appointed Joseph Jaeger, Jr., director of the Missouri State Park Board, as state liaison officer for the im plementation of the Act. In June 1970, the Missouri State Park Board, through its Historical Survey and Planning Office, located in Columbia, submitted a report to the National Park Service en titled, "Missouri's Comprehensive Statewide Preliminary Historic Preservation Plan," as a prerequisite for Missouri's participation in the grant-in-aid program. The Act also provided for the expansion of the National Register of Historic Places by the submission from each state of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects found to be signifi cant in American history, architecture, archaeology and culture. Members of the staff of the State Historical Survey and Planning Office, established in 1968, have researched and cataloged more than 3,500 properties, 130 of which have been studied in detail and nominated to the National Register of Historic Places. Mis souri's National Register properties are listed, located, illustrated and briefly described in Appendix A of the booklet. Letters from Governor Hearnes and Director Jaeger introduce the volume. A brief history of Missouri, a resume of former historical surveys and restoration and preservation projects in Missouri and a discussion of present and future needs for the implementation of the present program are included.
Published with funds authorized by the Missouri General Assembly and matched by the federal government, the beautiful photographic reproductions in color and black and white, the front cover illustration with its combination of subtle colors accentuated by gold lettering and the excellent quality of paper and printing make the booklet outstanding in appearance.
Complimentary copies of Foundations From the Past were sent to all state communication media, libraries, owners of National Register sites, legislators, heads of state agencies and of departments of History, Art History and Archaeology in colleges and universi ties, local and county historical societies, outstate liaison officers for the National Preservation Act and various branches of the U. S. Department of the Interior. Historical Notes and Comments 489
An American Heritage Guide: Historic Houses of America. By the editors of American Heritage (334 West Center Street, Marion, Ohio, 1971). 320 pp. Illustrations. Not indexed. $6.95.
Each house in this guide is a landmark in the history of Amer ican life and each is open to the public all or some part of the year. The states are presented in alphabetical order and the listings for each state in the Union, including Alaska and Hawaii, are arranged alphabetically. The attractive soft-bound volume can be easily carried for reference as one visits homes in a given area. The name by which the home is known, a brief history and descrip tion of furnishings, the date of building, the name of the person in charge, the days and hours it is open to the public and the address are included in a paragraph in one-column format. Forty-six Missouri homes are listed. The guide provides a convenient refer ence for those who plan to visit historic American homes.
Medicine on the Santa Fe Trail. By Thomas B. Hall, M.D. (Dayton, Ohio, 1971). 160 pp. Illustrated. Bibliographies. Notes. Indexed. $12.50.
Dr. Thomas B. Hall's volume is an interesting compilation of events, personalities, diseases and remedies that affected the medical history of the Santa Fe Trail. Malaria and its various treatments, including Dr. John Sappington's use of quinine, introduce the volume. "Part One: Notes by the Wayside" begins after a brief biographical sketch of Dr. Thomas Bryan Lester. Included in part one are Lester's diary while he was a surgeon for the 1st Regiment Illinois Volunteer Infantry during the Mexican War and a historical sketch and the health record of the regiment. An account of the Santa Fe General Hospital, the town of Santa Fe and a standard list of supplies used in the military hospitals complete part one. Part Two of the volume is devoted to the diseases prevalent on the trail. In this section are descriptions of malaria, typhoid fever, scurvy, smallpox and other assorted diseases and illnesses. Although the contents are, at times, cumbersome reading and some of the information included is not directly concerned with the main topic, there is useful information in this limited edition for students of the nineteenth-century Southwest, the Mexican War and the Santa Fe Trail. 490 Missouri Historical Review
Part of the proceeds from the sales of this volume will be used by the Friends of Arrow Rock to build and furnish a one-room doctor's office, circa 1840, as a memorial to Dr. John Sappington. The volume can be purchased from: Friends of Arrow Rock, P. O. Box 13, Arrow Rock, Missouri 65320.
Constitutional Government in Missouri and the Constitution of the State of Missouri. By Perry McCandless (Iowa City, Iowa: Sernoll, Inc., 1971). 83 pp. Charts. Not Indexed. $2.00. Prepared as a study aid for history and government courses, at the secondary and college levels, this paperback volume by Perry McCandless deals with basic principles and procedures of consti tutional government in Missouri. Beginning with a definition of constitutional government the author discusses the federal system and the power of the national government before embarking on a brief historical sketch of each Missouri constitution. The bulk of the narrative concerns the state's present constitution adopted by popular vote on February 27, 1945, and the reconstruction of the actual document, the latter taking up the majority of the pages. Questions pertaining to the constitution, a list of additional reading, charts and functional diagrams are included.
Horse Arrested Edina Sentinel, February 24, 1876. On Saturday last a horse belonging to Mr. Gill, of our town, was arrested for foraging from a farmer's wagon. It seems the farmer had just deposited a sack of flour in his wagon and stepped into an establishment to get some other articles, returning he found a loose horse had made sad havoc of his flour. Forth with making complaint to the Marshal, the animal was duly arrested. The owner, Mr. G., hearing of his horse's arrest, appeared on the premises and agreed to pay the damages, $2.00 for the flour and $1.00 for the arrest of said horse. This is not the first instance of this same horse foraging out of wagons from the country, but on several occasions has destroyed sundry articles that the country folks have left in their wagons. The farmers have just cause for com plaint for these depredations, and if there is not an ordinance to prevent animals from running at large on our streets, it is time there should be something done for the protection of our farmers when they have articles thus destroyed. There is also a cow that makes her living by foraging on the streets, and our country friends no doubt would rejoice to hear of her arrest and exile from the town. MU:M ^ii*/&*i
Aurora Cent. 1870-1970.
Chautauqua Days
BY EDNA MCELHINEY OLSON
[EDITOR'S NOTE: This article was published in the St. Charles Journal, March 11, 1965, and is reproduced with permission of the St. Charles Journal.']
Most of you are too young to remember the good old Chautauqua enter tainment. The Chautauqua was an American achievement, it was held in St. Charles under a huge tent that was set up at Eighth and Washington streets. . . .
As I recall this type of entertainment was at its height in the summer of 1920, and for many years before that St. Charles had what we called the Chautauqua Fever. We were on what was known as the Redpath Vawter system. In those days we did not have summer school, so this one week of fun and lectures, entertainment and education in the principles of Democracy was very popular, and we all looked forward to this busy week.
Season tickets were $2.50 each, including the morning, afternoon and eve ning programs. Oh, the excitement when the big tent was set up! It was a large brownish-tinted tent owned by Redpath-Vawter Company. This tent with all its appurtenances, posters, folding chairs and platform properties—except the piano that was always furnished by a local dealer and adequately so ad vertised. These folding chairs about 1500 so the poster reads were not very comfortable. They were in sets of six chairs they were firmly fastened together by a strong board so they would be held in place. Usually all seats had been sold in advance, so around the fringes of the tent, leaning on or holding to tent poles and ropes, or standing grouped at the back of the main aisle stood the overflow of interested listeners. Usually in the evening standing room was sold for .10c per person but in the morning, standing room was free. Every - 491 492 Missouri Historical Review
body faced the platform which by the way was on a two foot high elevation and firmly held down. Besides the locally loaned piano, I remember a frail speaker's table, a pitcher of water and a glass. The ground under the tent was covered with saw-dust. . . .
Speakers, singers and entertainers were booked months in advance, and the better they were, more season tickets were sold. The first day and the last day were always the best, I guess to get us interested in buying season tickets for next year.
The opening morning a preacher gave a sermon, and prayer and in back of the speakers table was draped an elaborate hanging that gave the effect of a pulpit. In one occasion my grandmother Johnson invited the Methodist preacher home to dinner, as he had driven in from church in the County. What a long blessing he gave before the meal was served! Grandmother asked him if he had been paid well for his services that morning. He said, yes, my price was $5.00 with addition of three quarts of oats for my horse.
It was a week of concerts, plays, lectures. In looking over a program in your St. Charles County Historical file in 1920, the subjects of the lectures were "After the War WHAT", "The America of Tomorrow" and "New Ways of Feeding the World". The lecture of Friday morning was for Mothers and Daughters on Social Hygiene, the Saturday morning lecture was for Fathers and Sons on Social Hygiene. One of the plays listed was "The Comedy of Errors".
Mr. Holman of Warrenton was a very popular speaker. He raised pigeons first as a hobby then began to train the pigeons, as soldiers, and these pigeons played an important part in World War I. He called them his messenger birds- he taught them to fly by night as well as by day, and they were used in the Signal Corps of the army and he would tell how they saved many lives of our soldiers. His messenger birds became famous. . . . Mr. Holman . . . always had a "Full House" of young boys. Always after his lecture he would give his attention to the lovers of pigeons and tell the boys many tricks of his trade and ways of teaching pigeons.
It was the fashionable thing to do when an important speaker came to St. Charles to talk at the Chautauqua to entertain him. Often a reception would be given for him before his program began. ... Of course the best people on the circuit were given time on the evening programs.
Each season they had one program of "Home Talent" and how those who were talented practiced to win. Often they were given the opportunity to join the Chautauqua Circuit. Each season there would be a lecture for the farmers listed as Science and the Soil. There was never a RISQUE program. One ad tells us (in form of a poster) "Our lectures or programs are never over the heads of the audience but beneath their foot so far as interest went".
Our town people certainly got their money's worth in the enlightenment uniform programs. This week of entertainment in St. Charles could be termed our midsummer manifestation a sort of a community uplift. Here the Chau tauqua became an institution [of] proportions supplementing a week of schooling Historical Notes and Comments 493 in the diffusion of contemporary enlightment. Sort of an institution of a sys tem of popular educational and correlated lectures and entertainment.
Ask any oldster or old timer of St. Charles and they will tell how they looked forward year after year to the coming of the Chautauqua. Ask any of the older business men and they will tell you what a boom [sic] the Chautauqua was to the merchants, as people came from all over the county to attend and while in town they did a good deal of buying from the merchants. It was busy time to have your kith and kin come to visit you and be entertained with the best talent at the Chautauqua. It was a happy exciting week, this week of the Chautauqua. . . .
Judge Peacock's Yarn Independence Jackson Examiner, July 28, 1905. How the Old County Court Cleansed the "Temple of Justice." The remodeling of the court house has reminded some of the older citizens of Independence of many stories concerning the early days of that historic build ing. Here is one that might not be given full credence were it not vouched for by that well known authority on such matters, "Uncle Jim" Peacock, police judge of Independence: They didn't take very good care of the court house in those days, and sometimes the doors would stand open over night. In cold weather the town hogs got into the habit of sleeping in the room used by the county court. As a result the room became infested with fleas. When the time came for the spring term of court, the judges found it impossible to give their attention to business, so annoying were the little pests. But a bright idea struck one of the judges. Sheep raising was at that time a great industry, and many flocks were to be found in the edge of town. Nothing delights a flea more than to hide in the thick wool of a sheep, where he can bid defiance to all the assaults of his enemies. A flock of sheep was borrowed and fastened up over night in the court room. Next day not a flea could be found there; and the judges were left free to transact public business in peace and dignity.
Take Your Choice! Butler Weekly Times, February 1, 1882. "Any good shooting on your farm?" asked the hunter of the farmer, "Splendid," replied the agriculturist, "there's a driven well man down in the clover meadow, a cloth peddler in the house, a candidate out in the barn and two tramps down in the stock yard. Climb right over the fence, young man, load both barrels, and sail in."
Missouri Women In History Jessie Benton Fremont
Jessie Benton Fremont stands pre eminent among the women of the nine teenth century. As the daughter of United States Senator Thomas Hart Benton and Elizabeth McDowell Benton, she grew up in the family life of a Washington offi cial. She received broad cultural advan tages and was acknowledged for her wit and beauty. Later, as the wife of John Charles Fremont, noted explorer, first senator from California and first Repub lican candidate for the presidency, her life was highly dramatic. With grace and fortitude Jessie adapted herself to every phase of Fremont's stormy career. Born May 31, 1824, in Lexington, Virginia, at the McDowell family home, she spent her girlhood there, in St. Louis and in Washington, D. C. Educated by her father, by private tutors and at a select school in Georgetown, at the age of seventeen she married Fremont, a second lieutenant in the United States Topographical Corps. Jessie lived in her father's homes in Washington, D. C, and St. Louis, during her husband's absences as he engaged in exploring expe ditions. She translated confidential State Department papers for her father, continued her studies and upon her husband's return from his expeditions collaborated in writing his reports. When Fremont's second expedition was endangered in 1843 by a letter recalling him to Washington, Jessie suppressed the order, wrote to him to start at once without waiting for a reason, and when she received word that he had acted upon her message, informed the Washington officials of what she had done. In 1849 she joined Fremont in California, although the hardships of the trip caused a severe illness. In 1851 Jessie returned to Washington as the wife of the senator from California. During Fremont's unsuccessful candidacy for the presidency in 1856, her charm was much exploited. Jessie returned to St. Louis in 1861 when Fremont assumed the Civil War command of the Department of the West. In St. Louis she was active in the work of the Western Sanitary Commission. When Fremont's command was threatened she traveled to Washington, D. C, to make a personal appeal to President Abraham Lincoln. After Fremont's removal from command she made her home in New York. At the close of the war Jessie began to contribute regu larly to a number of periodicals, writing travel and historical sketches and juvenile stories. With her husband's declining fortunes, her earnings from this source helped to save the family from poverty. In 1887 the Fremonts returned to California. The mother of five children, she lived with her daughter, Lily, after her husband's death in 1890, in a house in Los Angeles, given to her by women of Southern California. At her death on December 27, 1902, she was buried beside her husband at Piermont, New York.