MISSOURI HISTORICAL REVIEW

THE STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF MISSOURI, COLUMBIA THE STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF MISSOURI The State Historical Society of Missouri, heretofore organized under the laws of this state, shall be the trustee of this state — Laws of Missouri, 1899; Revised Statutes of the State of Missouri, 2000, chapter 183. OFFICERS, 2001-2004 BRUCE H. BECKETT, Columbia, President JAMES C. OLSON, Kansas City, First Vice President SHERIDAN A. LOGAN, St. Joseph, Second Vice President (deceased) VIRGINIA G YOUNG, Columbia, Third Vice President NOBLE E. CUNNINGHAM, JR., Columbia, Fourth Vice President R. KENNETH ELLIOTT, Liberty, Fifth Vice President ROBERT G J. HOESTER, Kirkwood, Sixth Vice President ALBERT M. PRICE, Columbia, Treasurer JAMES W. GOODRICH, Columbia, Executive Director, Secretary, and Librarian

PERMANENT TRUSTEES FORMER PRESIDENTS OF THE SOCIETY H. RILEY BOCK, New Madrid ROBERT C. SMITH, Columbia LAWRENCE O. CHRISTENSEN, Rolla Avis G TUCKER, Kansas City LEO J. ROZIER, Perryville

TRUSTEES, 2001-2004 WALTER ALLEN, Brookfield DICK FRANKLIN, Independence W. H. (BERT) BATES, Kansas City VIRGINIA J. LAAS, Joplin CHARLES R. BROWN, St. Louis EMORY MELTON, Cassville VERA F. BURK, Kirksville JAMES R. REINHARD, Hannibal

TRUSTEES, 2002-2005 CHARLES B. BROWN, Kennett W. GRANT MCMURRAY, Independence CHARLES W. DIGGES, SR., Columbia THOMAS L. MILLER, SR., Washington DONNA G HUSTON, Marshall PHEBE ANN WILLIAMS, Kirkwood JAMES R. MAYO, Bloomfield

TRUSTEES, 2003-2006 JOHN K. HULSTON, Springfield DALE REESMAN, Boonville GARY R. KREMER, Jefferson City ARVARH E. STRICKLAND, Columbia JAMES B. NUTTER, Kansas City BLANCHE M. TOUHILL, St. Louis BOB PRIDDY, Jefferson City HENRY J. WATERS III, Columbia

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE Eight trustees elected by the board of trustees, together with the president of the Society, consti­ tute the executive committee. The executive director of the Society serves as an ex officio member. BRUCE H. BECKETT, Columbia, Chairman DlCK FRANKLIN, Independence WALTER ALLEN, Brookfield VIRGINIA J. LAAS, Joplin H. RnJfY BOCK, New Madrid JAMES C. OLSON, Kansas City LAWRENCE O. CHRISTENSEN, Rolla ROBERT C. SMITH, Columbia MISSOURI HISTORICAL REVIEW

VOLUME XCVIII, NUMBER 2 JANUARY 2004

JAMES W. GOODRICH LYNN WOLF GENTZLER Editor Associate Editor

RHIANNON SOUTHWORTH REYNOLDS Information Specialist

The MISSOURI HISTORICAL REVIEW (ISSN 0026-6582) is published quarterly by the State Historical Society of Missouri, 1020 Lowry Street, Columbia, MO 65201-7298. Receipt of the MISSOURI HISTORICAL REVIEW is a benefit of membership in the State Historical Society of Missouri. Phone (573) 882-7083; fax (573) 884-4950; e-mail ; web site . Periodicals postage is paid at Columbia, Missouri. POSTMASTERS: Send address changes to MISSOURI HISTORICAL REVIEW, 1020 Lowry Street, Columbia, MO 65201-7298. Copyright © 2004 by The State Historical Society of Missouri

COVER DESCRIPTION: This 1932 photograph shows newly weds Lawrence and Erma Fae Jackson and Lawrence's sister, Myrtle Jackson, leaning against Bill Mitchell's jitney in Kansas City's Leeds neigh­ borhood. Stemming from segregation, Leeds was one of Kansas City's all-black neighborhoods in the first half of the twentieth century. Despite grappling with inadequate housing, low incomes, and racism, residents created a supportive and nurturing environment. Through interviews with former inhabitants, Gary Kremer examines the Leeds community during the 1920s-1950s in his article, '"Just Like the Garden of Eden': African-American Community Life in Kansas City's Leeds," beginning on page 121. [Photo courtesy of JoAnn Jackson] EDITORIAL POLICY

The editors of the Missouri Historical Review welcome submission of articles and documents relating to the history of Missouri. Any aspect of Missouri history will be con­ sidered for publication in the Review. Genealogical studies, however, are not accepted because of limited appeal to general readers. Manuscripts pertaining to all fields of American history will be considered if the subject matter has significant relevance to the history of Missouri or the West.

Authors should submit two double-spaced copies of their manuscripts. The footnotes, prepared according to The Chicago Manual of Style, 15th ed., also should be double-spaced and placed at the end of the text. Authors are encouraged to submit manuscripts, prefer­ ably in Microsoft Word, on a disk or CD. Two hard copies still are required. Originality of subject, general interest of the article, sources used, interpretation, and style are criteria for acceptance and publication. Manuscripts, exclusive of footnotes, should not exceed 7,500 words. Articles that are accepted for publication become the property of the State Historical Society of Missouri and may not be published elsewhere without permission. The Society does not accept responsibility for statements of fact or opinion made by the authors.

Articles published in the Missouri Historical Review are abstracted and indexed in Historical Abstracts, America: History and Life, Recently Published Articles, Writings on American History, The Western Historical Quarterly, and The Journal of American History.

Manuscript submissions should be addressed to Editor, Missouri Historical Review, State Historical Society of Missouri, 1020 Lowry Street, Columbia, MO 65201-7298; or e-mail [email protected].

BOARD OF EDITORS

LAWRENCE O. CHRISTENSEN ALAN R. HAVIG University of Missouri-Rolla Stephens College Columbia

WILLIAM E. FOLEY VIRGINIA J. LAAS Central Missouri State University Missouri Southern State University Warrensburg Joplin

SUSAN M. HARTMANN DAVID D. MARCH Ohio State University Kirksville Columbus

ARVARH E. STRICKLAND University of Missouri-Columbia CONTENTS

A FOUNDING MISSOURIAN: DUFF GREEN AND MISSOURI'S FORMATIVE YEARS, 1816-1825. PART 1. By William S. Belko 93

A QUAKER VIEW OF BLACK ST. LOUIS IN 1841. By Thomas D. Hamm 115

"JUST LIKE THE GARDEN OF EDEN": AFRICAN-AMERICAN COMMUNITY LIFE IN KANSAS CITY'S LEEDS. By Gary R. Kremer 121

ANNUAL MEETING HELD ON OCTOBER 18 145

SOCIETY RECEIVES BEQUEST FROM JANICE PLOWMAN ESTATE 158

NEWS IN BRIEF 159

MISSOURI HISTORY IN NEWSPAPERS 160

MISSOURI HISTORY IN MAGAZINES 165

BOOK REVIEWS 170

Launius, Roger D. Seasons in the Sun: The Story of Big League Baseball in Missouri. Reviewed by Mark C. Stauter.

Stein, Lana. St. Louis Politics: The Triumph of Tradition. Reviewed by Lawrence O. Christensen.

Hyslop, Stephen G. Bound for Santa Fe: The Road to New Mexico and the American Conquest, 1806-1848. Reviewed by R. Eli Paul. BOOK NOTES 174

Brentwood Historical Society. Brentwood, Missouri.

Chou, Steve. Hannibal, Missouri: Bluff City Memories.

Ripley County Historical Society. History and Families: Ripley County, Missouri.

Peck, Dianne. Once Upon A Time . . . At The Missouri State Fair.

Irle, Lisa. Warrensburg, Missouri.

Faherty, William Barnaby. Exile in Erin. Duff Green Papers, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

A Founding Missourian: Duff Green and Missouri's Formative Years, 1816-1825 Part 1

BY WILLIAM S. BELKO*

The Missouri frontier in the days before statehood was, like every other frontier period of U.S. history, a rough-and-tumble place. A virgin environ­ ment required a hardy race of men, and these men regularly resorted to pugilism with little incitement. Sometime after the end of the War of 1812, U.S. Army Sergeant David Campbell—a grandson of the noted General William Campbell of King's Mountain fame—killed a riverboatman in a quarrel. Dismissed from the service shortly thereafter, Campbell came to

* William S. Belko is project manager for the Michigan Lighthouse Project, Clarkston, Michigan, and an adjunct professor at Oakland Community College in Detroit. He received his bachelor's degree and master's degree from Southwest Missouri State University, Springfield, and completed his PhD in history at Mississippi State University, Starkville.

93 94 Missouri Historical Review

Chariton, Missouri, in search of employment. Hiram Craig, Campbell's uncle and a county court judge in Chariton, approached his neighbor, Duff Green, founder and one of the town's most recognized individuals. Craig asked General Green, a successful lawyer, to help his errant nephew embark on a respectable career. Green accommodated the judge by allowing the young man use of a room and access to his law books so that the erratic Campbell might study law. Although the relationship remained amicable for a while, it soon erupted into violence. A colonel's position in the Missouri militia had become available as a result of the creation of a new county, and Campbell, now a practicing attor­ ney, sought the office. In his pursuit of the coveted rank, Campbell unwise­ ly apprised voters that Green, brigadier general of the Missouri militia, wished to see him gain the position. At this juncture, another individual approached Green, informed him of Campbell's machinations, and offered to oppose the attorney if Green would proclaim the inaccuracy of the statements. The general complied by announcing to the public that Campbell was not authorized to use his name. Despite the revelation, Campbell won the elec­ tion by a narrow margin. Following the victory, Campbell, heavily intoxicat­ ed and accompanied by a coterie of his supporters, "took the stump" in front of Green's home and proclaimed his success gained despite the general's opposition. The new colonel then "avowed his unrelenting enmity." A few days later, Green and Campbell met in the courtroom, as attorney for the defendant and representative for the plaintiff, respectively. The case in question concerned the use of a black servant by Green's client as settle­ ment of a debt. The general lost. Prior to entering the courthouse, however, a friend had admonished Green: "Campbell threatens to take your life today. Are you armed?" "No," replied Green. "I thought so," remarked the friend and handed Green a small pocket pistol. After losing the suit, the general asked the sheriff if his client could have more time in which to make adequate payment, for the defendant expected to receive money within a few days. If not, Green himself would cover the debt. Campbell, however, insisted that the sheriff proceed immediately with the sale of the slave. The sheriff declined, whereupon Campbell erupted in anger. Armed with "a heavy bludgeon," he swung at Green, who caught the blow on the arm. As spectators attempted to halt the altercation, Green drew the pis­ tol, cocked the hammer, and snapped it inches from his attacker's face. It misfired. Immediately seized by a friend, Green lost his balance and tumbled to the ground, whereupon the pistol lost its priming. Campbell then broke from the grasp of his restrainers and continued the offensive. Green shut the pan, held it in place with his thumb, and reprimed it by striking it on his knee "so as to force part of the charge from the barrel into the pan." He then recov­ ered his feet and, before Campbell could deliver a blow, fired the pistol. Campbell fell to the ground. A Founding Missourian: Duff Green 95

In the heat of the melee, Green believed that the ball had struck Campbell in the head. Extremely distraught, he surrendered himself to Craig, Campbell's uncle. Craig would not accept the attorney's surrender; he judged the shooting self-defense. Still writhing in pain, Campbell likewise exoner­ ated his shooter. "I brought this on myself," he declared. "If I should die, I am alone to blame for this." Fortunately for Green, the ball had actually struck Campbell in the chest, just above the heart. The powder charge in the pistol had been too light to cause the ball to penetrate his clothing; it had merely bounced off his chest, severely bruising him. No blood had been spilled. Although the incident frightened Green, this fracas proved to be only the first of numerous physical confrontations with his many detractors. Green's myriad other pursuits, however, caused him to become well known, and during the formative years of Missouri, Green, as a founding father of the state, began his course toward nationwide notoriety.1 Born in Kentucky in 1791, three years after the establishment of the new federal government, and passing away in Georgia in 1875, two years before the purported end of Reconstruction, Green's eventful and often-volatile life shared an important span of the young nation's history—from its founding, through its near dissolution, to its bitter reunion. During these years, Green engaged in numerous pursuits and ventures—pedagogical, military, legal, political, editorial, diplomatic, industrial, and financial. He took part in many of the great events that shaped the rising American republic, contributed a verse to a host of the major issues of his day, and rubbed shoulders with the foremost figures of antebellum and Civil War America, among them Andrew Jackson and Abraham Lincoln. Although born and reared in the often-tumultuous environment of the American frontier, Green had a rather distinguished ancestry. His forebears came to America with money and quickly acquired large landholdings in Virginia. Many of the men became members of the Virginia House of Burgesses, fought with distinction for American independence, claimed and settled extensive lands in the Trans-Appalachian West, helped write Kentucky's first constitution, and represented the newly admitted state on both the state and national levels. Green built upon this foundation, emerg­ ing in the 1820s as one of the most pivotal and widely recognized characters in nineteenth-century America. His endeavors, accomplishments, and contri­ butions included: the editor of the recognized organ of the 1828 Jackson cam­ paign; a chief political adviser to Jackson, until his highly publicized falling out with the Old Hero in 1831; an important organizer of the Democratic

1 Information on the Green-Campbell fracas is in Autobiographical Fragments, microfilm roll 18, Duff Green Papers, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. For Hiram Craig see History of Howard and Chariton Counties, Missouri (St. Louis: National Historical Co., 1883), 780-781. 96 Missouri Historical Review

Party in the 1820s, developing and publicizing the theme associating Jackson's election with the concurrent rise of the common man; President John Tyler's official representative to England and France; a key player in the annexation of Texas; U.S. consul at Galveston, Texas; and diplomatic envoy to Mexico before and after the Mexican War. Green's business ventures proved as diverse as his political undertakings. Between 1835 and the beginning of the Civil War, he purchased and devel­ oped vast tracts of coal and iron ore lands in Virginia and Maryland, embarked on several mining and canal ventures, established numerous rail­ road lines and paved the way for the transcontinental railroad, and incorpo­ rated various fiscal agencies to promote and fund his industrial enterprises.2 Although he opposed secession, Green cast his lot with the Confederacy, using his entrepreneurial skills to operate iron works on behalf of the South's war effort and concomitantly serving as a political, diplomatic, and financial adviser to Confederate President Jefferson Davis. Green's friendship with Abraham Lincoln allowed him to pass through battle lines in order to attempt some sort of reconciliation between the warring sides. In fact, because of his close relationship with Lincoln, President James Buchanan dispatched Green to Springfield, Illinois, to inquire about the president-elect's views on seces­ sion in early 1861. Following the Civil War, Green dedicated himself mainly to the econom­ ic and social reconstruction of the defeated and devastated South. He wrote several lengthy tracts on banking, currency, labor, and finance and continued to organize fiscal agencies and industrial ventures to attain his objective of relieving the plight of the Southern states. He died in Dalton, Georgia, one of many towns that he had founded. The list of Green's achievements is impressive—patenting several meth­ ods for clearing harbors and rivers; laying out the town of Cairo, Illinois; advising Czar Nicholas I on building a Trans-Siberian railroad; and lobbying the U.S. government for construction of a railroad route across southern Mexico or Central America. In addition, Green traveled extensively, across the entire Union and its territories, to Mexico and Central America, and to Europe. J. L. P. Smith, one of Green's contemporaries, put it succinctly when he suggested, as late as 1867, that Green's name was "a household word in all this country."3 He was a man of diverse interests and talents, of boundless

2 Duff Green established the Pennsylvania Fiscal Agency in 1859, which was later seized from him as a result of his decision to join the Confederacy. The Credit Mobilier, which com­ pleted the Union Pacific Railroad after the Civil War, "acquired" the agency. Green had devel­ oped the machinery through which the railroad was financed and built. Fletcher M. Green, "Origins of the Credit Mobilier of America," Mississippi Valley Historical Review 46 (September 1959): 238-251.

3 J. L. P. Smith to Asa Packer, 18 October 1867, roll 14, Green Papers. A Founding Missourian: Duff Green 97 energy, of unusual political acumen and insight, of adventurous entrepre­ neurial spirit. Green, however, was exceptional for his time only in the impressive range and significance of his interests. In important ways, he epit­ omized the age in which he lived. He typified the dynamic, expansive, con­ fident, and often contentious, American society of the nineteenth century. Prior to settling in Missouri, Green taught at a local academy before enlisting in the Kentucky militia during the War of 1812 and fighting against the Indians on the Indiana frontier. After returning to Kentucky, he again took up his pedagogical duties, studied medicine, and entered a successful mer­ cantile partnership. In November 1813, he married Lucretia Maria Edwards, the sister of Ninian Edwards, the Illinois territorial governor and a future U.S. senator. By 1816 a new yearning stirred the young Kentuckian. He looked toward the Missouri Territory, where bright possibilities loomed large in a highly promising region. Much like his forefathers and their generation, he would head west; where his father and uncles had traversed the Appalachians, he would cross the Mississippi River. Both geographical boundaries stood as milestones of American expansion. From the British Isles to Virginia, from the Old Dominion to Kentucky, and from the bluegrass country to Missouri, the Green family's trek westward into newly created territories mimicked the westering path of countless Americans. Green's role in the development of Missouri, moreover, rivaled that of his forebears in Kentucky. He would rise to political prominence in the new society of Missouri just as quickly as his uncles had in Kentucky.

Duff Green Papers, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina, Chaoel Hill

Lucretia Maria Edwards Green 98 Missouri Historical Review

Green's arrival in Missouri during the summer of 1816 coincided with a tremendous wave of immigration into the territory. The termination in 1815 of the war with England launched a population explosion and an enormous economic expansion in Missouri. Created out of the 1803 Louisiana Purchase and then part of the Louisiana Territory, Missouri had become a ter­ ritory in 1812. The outbreak of war that same year between England and the United States, accompanied by the hostility of the numerous adjacent Indian tribes, placed American frontier communities on the defensive. The inability of the federal government to protect the territory's white settlers from Indian attacks stifled prospects for Missouri. With the end of the war, however, Missouri's fortunes improved greatly. The territory's estimated 1814 popula­ tion of about 26,000 swelled to nearly 70,000 over the next six years. Movement into the interior regions of the territory dramatically increased. Numerous small but thriving settlements, with names such as Gasconade, Boonville, Franklin, Arrow Rock, Boonslick, Bluffton, and Chariton, began to creep up the Missouri River. Within the span of a decade, American set­ tlement reached as far as the Grand River in western Missouri. By 1820 the population in the central expanse of the territory (recognized by contempo­ raries as the Boonslick country, which included roughly the counties of Chariton, Cooper, Howard, and Saline) had exceeded 20,000. Duff Green settled his fortune and his family into this relatively virgin region in 1816.4 The vast majority of American settlers flooding into Missouri after the War of 1812 came from the upper South—from Virginia, North Carolina, Kentucky, and Tennessee. Green was typical of the westward-moving American. His first prompting to remove to the young territory, however, came not from a southerner, but from a southern supporter in Illinois—his brother-in-law, Ninian Edwards. Shortly after Edwards enticed Green to seek his fortune in Missouri, Green obtained, in the fall of 1816, a contract from the surveyor general of Missouri to survey public lands on the south side of the Missouri River west of Boonville. Green then explored 150 miles up the Grand and Chariton Rivers to ascertain the practicability of making these rivers navigable by clearing them of logs and other debris. Once he judged the region suitable for settlement, he purchased large tracts of land and began to sell lots along the Chariton River near its confluence with the Missouri. Approximately thirty miles up the Missouri River from Franklin and about seven hundred yards up the Chariton from its mouth, the town of Chariton was laid out in 1817 on land owned by Green and a partner, Sabret Johnson. Within two years, the flourishing community boasted a population of nearly five hundred citizens

4 Edwin C. McReynolds, Missouri: A History of the Crossroads State (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1962), 51-53; William E. Foley, A History of Missouri, Volume 1, 1673 to 1820 (Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1971), 166. A Founding Missourian: Duff Green 99

and about fifty houses, including a large brick home built by Duff Green. In 1821, the year Missouri entered the Union as the twenty-fourth state, the state legislature organized Chariton County out of segments of Howard County.5 Green did not limit his land speculation to the Chariton River valley. After establishing Chariton, where he continued the sale of property, Green began to sell lots in Bluffton, a settlement located about fifty miles upriver from the mouth of the Chariton and laid out by Green and Benjamin F. Edwards in the spring of 1820. Missouri lands outside the central region like­ wise enticed the budding land speculator. Green and an unnamed partner pur­ chased 640 acres in New Madrid County, which bordered the Mississippi River in extreme southeast Missouri. The two men proposed to establish a small town on the land, but the plan failed. Green also dabbled in the mining industry—an enterprise he would continue throughout the remainder of his life. He followed up his New Madrid claims with several applications for leases of federal lead mine lands, probably in Washington County. In all, Green's adventure in Missouri lands proved very profitable.6 To manage such comprehensive, and often litigious, investments, Green began practicing law. He joined a firm in Boonville that included Peyton R. Hayden, the first attorney admitted to the Cooper County bar; Hamilton R. Gamble, a future governor of Missouri; and Abiel Leonard, George Tompkins, and John F. Ryland, all future judges of the Missouri Supreme Court. Within a short time, Green developed a rather lucrative practice as an attorney. The knowledge of law served him well throughout his life as he engaged in a myriad of business and financial ventures.7

5 Duff Green, Facts and Suggestions, Biographical, Historical, Financial, and Political, Addressed to the People of the United States (New York: C. S. Wescott & Co., 1866), 18; Autobiographical Fragments; "Historical sketch of early growth of Chariton County, Missouri," folder 79, Lisbon Applegate Collection, Western Historical Manuscript Collection, University of Missouri-Columbia. Chariton served as the county seat until 1829, when Keytesville became the seat. Chariton was abandoned by 1840. David D. March, The History of Missouri (New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Co., 1967), 1: 318; Ruby Matson Robins, ed., "The Missouri Reader, Americans in the Valley," Missouri Historical Review 48 (January 1954): 176. Apparently, considerable debate occurred over the creation of Chariton County out of Howard County, which may have been urged as soon as 1818. Green revealed in a letter to a friend that "the public mind is pretty much in commotion about dividing the county." Green to James Morrison, 17 July 1818, Morrison Family Papers, Missouri Historical Society, St. Louis. On the town of Chariton see also Henry Calvert, "Old Chariton," Missouri Historical Review 62 (October 1967): 45-50. On migration from the southern states into Missouri and thence up the Missouri River see Floyd C. Shoemaker, Missouri's Struggle for Statehood, 1804-1821 (Jefferson City: Hugh Stephens Printing Co., 1916), 37n, 45.

6 Autobiographical Fragments.

7 Floyd C. Shoemaker, Missouri Day by Day (Columbia: State Historical Society of Missouri, 1942), 1: 107. Green's copious legal transactions are found throughout the Duff Green Papers. On legal documents pertaining to his practice and property in Missouri see Green Papers, rolls 1, 24: vols. 1-2. 700 Missouri Historical Review

Ninian Edwards, a native of Maryland, served as territorial governor of Illinois from 1809 to 1818. When Illinois became a state, he was selected as one of its first U.S. senators. He resigned from the Senate in 1824 and was elected governor of Illinois in 1826. [Dictionary of American Portraits]

Green would be known throughout his life as a jack-of-all trades, a dab­ bler in a variety of ventures—some successful, some not. During his Missouri years, this propensity gained momentum. A teacher, a medical stu­ dent, a soldier, and a merchant in Kentucky, he became a land speculator, land surveyor, founder of towns, and noted lawyer after removing to Missouri. The one economic pursuit he carried with him from Kentucky was that of a merchant. Ninian Edwards acted as the catalyst in establishing his brother-in-law's business enterprises in Missouri, albeit accidentally. The Illinois governor had advanced thirty thousand dollars to the wealthy and renowned St. Louis merchant Rene Paul for a partnership in his St. Louis store. The two entre­ preneurs then contracted with Green, sending him to Baltimore and Philadelphia to purchase sixty thousand dollars worth of goods. After Green had procured the merchandise and made arrangements for its shipping, he learned that Paul's brother had also secured a considerable quantity of goods under the partnership's name. The merchants in Baltimore and Philadelphia consequently refused to deliver the goods purchased by Green without some guarantee of payment. When Rene Paul failed to provide that assurance, Green himself assumed financial responsibility, with the intention of selling the merchandise in St. Louis. Upon discovering that Paul's store was over­ stocked on account of his brother's purchases, Green set out to sell the goods on his own. He established stores in St. Charles, Franklin, and Chariton, and in order to make payment on the goods, he set prices so low that his stores were soon crowded with customers. The consequence was "ill feeling on the A Founding Missourian: Duff Green 101 part of other merchants, who could not sell at the same prices." The disaf­ fected merchants, however, would seek their revenge on another front. Indeed, the ire Green raised in the business community proved mild com­ pared to the "ill feeling" he engendered over his appointment as a colonel in the Missouri militia, a nomination vehemently opposed by the business class in St. Louis and the interior of the territory.8 When Green first came to the central region of the Missouri Territory, he found the settlers still living in blockhouses and rudimentary stockades. Indian depredations were common along the Missouri frontier and would continue for several years. From 1810 until the close of the war with England, Indian raids on Missouri settlements were devastating; in the exchange of atrocities, the Indians usually prevailed. As a result, migration into the territory nearly halted, and settlers found themselves in a defensive huddle in the populous areas along the Mississippi River. Indian attacks con­ tinued after the Treaty of Ghent, with the Sac, Fox, and Winnebago still on the offensive as late as 1816. The federal government negotiated numerous treaties with the tribes, terminating hostilities. Although sporadic Indian attacks continued for several years after 1815, increased migration into the interior of Missouri checked major outbreaks of warfare. Ill feelings between the Native Americans and the settlers persisted, however, and flare-ups still commanded the attention of the territorial government.9 A veteran of Indian warfare, Green found himself caught up in the conflict. His role in Indian affairs would once again set him against his own countrymen. While Green wished to play a direct and influential role in Indian affairs, many of his fel­ low citizens opposed his participation, especially some of his designs. Shortly after Green's arrival in the Missouri Territory, the popular, gray- haired Colonel Benjamin Cooper asked him to write a letter to Governor William Clark stating Cooper's intention to resign his command as a colonel in the territorial militia. Green complied. Later, after reaching St. Louis, Green was approached by Clark, who expressed his fears that once the white population in the central counties had reached a sufficient number, the early settlers, who had suffered much from the Indians, would incite a war. The governor intended to appoint someone in Cooper's stead who had "the nerve to preserve peace," and "from what he had heard of [his] character," Green could do the job.10

8 Green, Facts & Suggestions, 19. Green lost a considerable portion of the goods he had obtained in Philadelphia when one of the boats sank in the Mississippi River within sight of the St. Louis landing. Washington (DC) U.S. Telegraph, 8 November 1826.

9 McReynolds, Missouri, 58; Foley, History of Missouri, 146-165.

10 Green, Facts & Suggestions, 18; Autobiographical Fragments. 702 Missouri Historical Review

Wood's Fort, built where Troy is now located, was erected during the War of 1812 and could accommodate twenty to thirty families. The illustration is a detail from the Missouri State Capitol lunette painted by William Knox. [Wright Studio, Jefferson City, SHSMO 024386]

Whatever accolades Green claimed for himself—and he was never timid about doing so—Clark's reasons for choosing Green probably had little, if anything, to do with his character. His previous experience in Indian warfare carried more weight than peacemaking qualities, for if Green's character revealed anything, it was a tendency for creating, not alleviating, hostilities. In a July 1817 letter to President James Monroe, Clark disclosed the practical reasons for his selection of Green: his exceptional abilities and political affil­ iation. The Missouri territorial governor described Green as "a gentleman of fine talents" and one who "bids fair to make a Shining Caracter [sic] in both Civil and Military Life." Green had a superior "acquaintance" with the terri­ tory "for some distance up the Missouri." His residence on that river for the past year would "enable him to give the most correct information of the Country and the progressive Settlements." More importantly, "Mr. Green has also a full Knowledge of the Causes of party Spirit in this Territory." Regardless of the reasoning, Governor Clark appointed Green a colonel of the territorial militia, and as expected, the selection aroused considerable opposi­ tion.11 Missouri territorial secretary Frederick Bates, and the "discontents" rep­ resented by him and his followers, favored other candidates and conspired to

" Green, Facts & Suggestions, 19; Clark to Monroe, 2 July 1817, in Clarence Edwin Carter, ed., The Territorial Papers of the United States: The Territory of Louisiana-Missouri, 1815-1821 (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1951), 15: 287. A Founding Missourian: Duff Green 103 circumvent the governor. Clark was due to leave the territory on a trip, and Bates hoped to make the appointment in his absence. Fearing that Bates would appoint his own choice while he was in Kentucky, Clark handed Green the commission before his departure. In November 1817, Green officially became colonel of the Tenth Regiment of the Missouri Territorial Militia.12 When the new colonel returned to central Missouri and ordered battalion and regimental musters, he encountered hostility. Other settlers, mostly recent arrivals in the territory, had coveted the militia appointment acquired by Green. These disappointed aspirants joined with Green's merchant rivals and denounced Clark's appointment as an act of favoritism. Numerous can­ didates for the Missouri territorial legislature likewise condemned Green's promotion for electioneering purposes, attacking the act that gave the territo­ rial governor sole authority over the appointment of militia officers. Sentiment against Green's appointment, however, soon turned into a person­ al assault. Green recalled: "Meetings were held, a committee organized, and a regular protest against my appointment published as the basis of the can­ vass." His partisan tormentors subjected his "name, actions, and character" to "unkind comments," and they excited "so great a prejudice" against him that Green's agent in Franklin despondently closed that branch of his mer­ cantile business. Green, nonetheless, "resolved to meet the crisis."13 Colonel Green, in full dress regalia, set out from Chariton to meet his accusers at the battalion muster in Franklin. When he arrived in Franklin, one of the leaders of the movement against him "made an effort to provoke a per­ sonal quarrel," to which the besieged colonel replied that he intended to address his opponents' protests before the regimental parade. Upon arriving at the muster, the determined Green immediately relieved the lieutenant colonel after he refused to obey an order from him, assumed command of the battalion, brought the troops to attention, and addressed their concerns: "I am told that many persons in this battalion have united in a protest against my appointment as your colonel, and that some have pledged themselves not to obey my orders as such. The governor, in the exercise of his legitimate authority, has given me the appointment. I do not come before you now to apologize or explain, but to discharge my duty as your commanding officer, and to enforce obedience, and, therefore, if any one in the ranks dares to dis­ obey my orders I will put him under guard." Colonel Green then guided the troops through the field manual, commanded the performance of several evo­ lutions, and dismissed them on account of rain. The inclement weather, how­ ever, only temporarily interrupted Green's public exhortation.14

12 Carter, Territorial Papers, 15: 372.

13 Green, Facts & Suggestions, 19-20.

14 Ibid., 20. 704 Missouri Historical Review

After the shower, Green took the stump and again addressed the troops. He read aloud from the remonstrance published against him earlier and com­ mented on it point by point. One of the principal grievances was that Green had been brought in as a ringer, an outsider who gained his position to the exclusion of those who were truly Missourians. Green easily punctured this argument. He pointed out that while most of those who opposed him were newcomers to the territory, or in some cases still living east of the Mississippi River, he had been surveying lands in the region he represented as an officer in the militia. Indeed, it was upon lands that Green had surveyed and pur­ chased that several towns had sprouted and many of the newcomers had set­ tled. The colonel informed the crowd that he had been in the process of mov­ ing his family to the Chariton River valley when Clark commissioned him, but that winter weather had delayed his reaching the central region. Whether or not his opponents accepted his reasons, Green had been vigorous in his rebuttal.15 Green then turned to the personal accusations made against him. Here the disagreement escalated toward fisticuffs. One of the accusers threatened to drag the colonel from the stump and "cowhide" him if he used his name. Rising to the challenge, Green spoke his name. The man in question, a Mr. Benson, had been an aspirant for the colonel's commission. Enraged, he started through the crowd, armed with a whip. Green drew his sword and stood his ground, and the would-be attacker retreated. The determined colonel merely heightened the ante.16 Colonel Green then divulged the letter that he had written earlier for Colonel Cooper, whereupon the excited old Indian fighter approached Green and warned him: "Do not use my name, for if you do, I will drag you from that stump." Green sternly replied to the threat. He would state the facts as they were: Cooper had requested him to write a letter of resignation to Governor Clark. The new colonel then reminded his predecessor that he was the patriarch of the interior settlements, that everyone highly respected him for his many years of service to the territory, and that around him stood men who sought to flatter him, to the injury of Green. "I am a young man, just entering into life—my character has been assailed by a wicked combination, and it is necessary that I should use your name in my defence." Cooper qui­ etly retired to the fringe of the crowd and never responded. After several fur­ ther exchanges of words, Green informed all present that he did not intend to resign his commission, even if everyone in the regiment desired that he do so. Seeking some form of a popular referendum on his command, Green asked those who supported him to stand to one side. With shouts of approval, "the

15 Ibid., 20-21.

16 Ibid., 21. A Founding Missourian: Duff Green 105

Massie - Missouri Resources Division SHSMO 2003.0378 Benjamin Cooper came to Missouri from Kentucky in 1806. He moved to the Boonslick country in 1808, was forced to withdraw due to unsettled Indian claims to the area, and returned to establish a settlement near Boon's Lick in 1810. Bert Phillips painted this lunette titled Cooper Emigrant Train for the Missouri State Capitol. whole mass moved to left"—Green's side. "My triumph was complete," he exulted later, "opposition to me ceased—my popularity and influence were established." His influence in Missouri cannot be denied; the belief that opposition to his influence had waned, however, was complete self-delu­ sion.17 Whether or not Green attributed to himself a lofty and untarnished role in this affair can be debated. Throughout his life, he often magnified his own stature and assigned to himself an undefiled, almost self-righteous, course of action. In the militia incident, however, impartial spectators verified Green's account. In his sketches of Chariton County, Judge Lisbon Applegate recalled the events of the tense day when Green defended himself against the charges of his accusers. Green was "one of the most distinguished men in this or any of the surrounding counties, in those early times," recounted Applegate. He came to Chariton with a colonel's commission in his pocket from Governor Clark but, according to Applegate, would not accept the office until the people had elected him as such. An election was duly called, and Applegate confirmed Green's resolve to confront his opponents:

It was all Howard County then. A large number of voters attended. Green was to make a speech. The old Indian fighter Col. Cooper was indignant that

17 Ibid., 21-22. 106 Missouri Historical Review

a young man should come in and supercede him, who had done so much service to the Country. He said that if Green dared to make a speech he would take him down and chastize him. Green heard of the threat. But mounted the stump and commenced his address. In a few minutes he saw Col. Cooper making through the crowd directly for him. Green did not notice him until he got quite near when he turned his eagle eyes on the old gentleman, laid his hand on his sword and said "old gentleman I respect your gray hair". Cooper stopped, and Green proceeded with the speech for an hour. He was elected by a large majority.18

Green's popularity and influence with the citizens of Missouri were revealed on other occasions as well. In September 1818, five Missouri mili­ tia officers in Howard County, possibly inspired by Green's handling of his colonel's commission, petitioned Secretary of War John C. Calhoun to elevate him to the rank of brigadier general. The officers contended that, as a "more effectual organization of the militia of this Territory to form a new brigade to include the militia of [Howard] county & part of St. Charles County," the president should "deem it expedient" to appoint a brigadier general to com­ mand the proposed unit. Presuming that President James Monroe would observe the "wishes and feelings" of those directly affected by his choice, the several officers of the "different corps of which the contemplated brigade are [sic] to be composed" recommended to the president the appointment of Green. Noting that Green had served with distinction during the war with England, they went on to observe that he was a "gentleman of respectable acquirements, and fair character" who had commanded the Tenth Regiment "with credit to himself, and to the advantage and satisfaction of his subordi­ nates." A "patriot both in military & civil life," Green's appointment as a brigadier general, they concluded, "would be at once acceptable and advan­ tageous to the brigade." Secretary of War Calhoun agreed. Three months later, he recommended to Monroe that Green be appointed brigadier general.19 Monroe assented, and Colonel Green readily accepted. Duff Green's discipline, efficiency, and attention to detail had never failed to impress those who dealt with him. Nonetheless, General Green—as he would be called by contemporaries for the rest of his life—proved as adept at making bitter enemies as at winning staunch supporters. Rarely, it seemed, did associates take a middling view of the general; they either detested him vehemently or lauded him heartily. General Green took his militia duties seriously and worked long hours handling the numerous administrative details of the office. He devoted much

18 Applegate, "Historical sketch."

19 Five Militia Officers of Missouri to Calhoun, September 1818; Calhoun to Monroe, 21 December 1818, in W. Edwin Hemphill, ed., The Papers of John C. Calhoun (Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1959-), 3: 176, 414. A Founding Missourian: Duff Green 107

Men attending early nineteenth-century militia musters wore a variety of uni­ forms or civilian dress.

SHSMO 2003.0354 of his time to Indian matters. Although collisions between white settlers and the Indian tribes on the Missouri frontier had diminished significantly after 1815, flare-ups still occurred. Many of the clashes arose when Indian raiding parties stole settlers' horses. Early in 1820, Green summoned the chiefs of the accused tribes and sternly warned them that he intended to hold them per­ sonally responsible for the actions of their people. If they could not prevent the younger braves from stealing horses, he would seek the election of chiefs who could.20 The general promptly informed Governor Clark about the Indian depre­ dations, and Clark in turn informed Secretary of War Calhoun.21 A year later in a letter to Calhoun, Green wrote he was disgusted at the "unequal opera­ tion of the regulations" instituted by the U.S. government in responding to Indian raids. Calhoun concurred and divulged his frustration with current Indian laws. "I have no doubt that the present policy of the government is inadequate to keep the Indian tribes on our frontier under proper restraint, and to prevent frequent collisions between them and our citizens," wrote Calhoun. "It would afford me satisfaction to adopt in its place a more vigorous one, but the powers of this Dep[artmen]t are limited by law, and cannot be extended without the authority of Congress."22 Calhoun was seeking a fundamental change in federal Indian policy at the time, but budgetary constraints and political obstacles put forth by Secretary of Treasury William H. Crawford

20 Green, Facts and Suggestions, 23. 21 John C. Calhoun to William Clark, 10 February 1820, Carter, Territorial Papers, 15: 586. 22 Calhoun to Green, 16 August 1821, Hemphill, Papers of Calhoun, 6: 338-339. 108 Missouri Historical Review and the powerful Speaker of the House, Henry Clay, precluded any adjust­ ment favorable to Green's situation on the frontier.23 In the meantime, Green was spared the necessity of intervening militarily when the local Indian agent filed an official report of the depredations and the guilty party agreed to indemnify those whose horses had been stolen.24 Green believed that misconduct on the part of whites and mismanage­ ment by government agents were responsible for most of the conflict between Indians and settlers. On one night, for example, Green got out of bed and rode to intercept an armed mob bent on destroying an Indian village. The leaders of these vigilante groups were usually the early settlers, determined to seek revenge for some past injury inflicted upon them or their families. As general of the militia, Green acted as an ambassador between cultures. The role of mediator was new to him. If peace were to come to the frontier, he would have to suppress his natural penchant for making enemies. "There was no conflict with the Indians," he later proudly asserted, "so long as I was in command on that [the Missouri] frontier."25 Although Green deserves some credit for pacifying the frontier, the surge of white population and the conse­ quent retreat of the Indians westward beyond Missouri were the principal rea­ sons for the cessation of hostilities. While serving as brigadier general of the militia, Green considered many ways to reduce Indian-white conflicts. He proposed that tribes recently removed to Missouri from Illinois should be moved again, allowing for a more efficient system of monitoring hostilities between the Missouri tribes and the white settlers. The general sought the appointment of an Indian agent in Missouri to attend to the difficulties faced by the local Indian tribes, espe­ cially the Iowa and the Kickapoo, as another remedy for alleviating hostili­ ties. The location of the Iowa on the Chariton River "has heretofore placed [them] without the immediate superintendence of any of the regularly appointed agents of the Government." Green made numerous efforts to aid them, but the tribal members resented their condition and the failure of the government to keep its promises. He therefore appealed to Calhoun, asking the secretary of war to provide the tribe with a blacksmith and some presents, and volunteered to distribute the gifts "gratuitously until the Government

23 Calhoun to Henry Clay, 5 December 1818, ibid., 3: 341-355; Calhoun to Walter Leake, 31 January 1820, ibid., 4: 575-577; Calhoun to Thomas Montgomery, 11 February 1822, ibid., 6: 686-688; Calhoun to John Cocke, 12 December 1823, Calhoun to John Cobb, 16 December 1823, Calhoun to John McKee, 8 March 1824, ibid., 8: 403, 409-410, 568-569; Superintendency of Indian Affairs, 19th Cong., 1st sess., 1826, H. Doc. 146; Annals of Congress, 16th Cong., 2d sess., 977; ibid., 17th Cong., 1st sess., 692-695; Steve Belko, "John C. Calhoun and the Creation of the Bureau of Indian Affairs" (author's files, 1996).

24 Calhoun to Green, 16 August 1821, 338.

25 Green, Facts & Suggestions, 23. A Founding Missourian: Duff Green 109

Born in South Carolina, John C. Calhoun spent most of his adult life in the public arena. He served in both houses of Congress, as secretary of war and secretary of state, and as vice presi­ dent.

SHSMO 005502 think proper to authorize an Agent for that purpose." Calhoun instructed Clark to permit Green to supply the Iowa with a blacksmith. In addition, the secretary of war requested appropriations from Congress to employ a sub- agent for the Iowa, and if one could be hired, Green, "who appears to be a gentleman well calculated to fill it," would receive the position.26 Green also proposed that an Indian agent be employed as a means to pro­ tect American citizens engaged in trading and trapping in the upper Missouri valley against rival British interests. The Northwest Company, he believed, intended to prevent American traders and trappers from entering the Missouri River above the Mandan villages. The United States, therefore, should under­ take additional measures to counter British efforts. To strengthen the American position on the upper Missouri, Green proposed the appointment of an Indian agent to the Sioux, Mandan, and Arikara tribes. The agent, work­ ing with the garrison of U.S. troops already stationed there, should be ade­ quate to protect American interests. Unfortunately, Congress had slashed War Department appropriations, and the secretary of war rejected the appointment of the Indian agent.27 In the meantime, Green had actively pursued an appointment as an Indian agent at the Fox lead mines. He also sought a position as "Agent for the U

26 Green to Calhoun, 14 September 1820, 9 December 1821, 4 December 1822, Indian Papers, Missouri Historical Society; Green to Calhoun, 19 September 1823, Calhoun to Clark, 20 October 1823, Clark to Calhoun, 8 December 1823, 11 January 1824, Hemphill, Papers of Calhoun, 8: 274, 320, 397, 471. 27 Green to Calhoun, 3 January 1823, Calhoun to Green, 18 March 1823, Hemphill, Papers of Calhoun, 7:403, 529. 110 Missouri Historical Review

States Lead mines of the Mississippi." With the combined salaries of both agencies, he hoped to take his family with him. Calhoun desired the appoint­ ment of Green to both positions, but again, the reduction in the appropriations of the War Department precluded the cost.28 General Green, therefore, never represented the national government as an Indian agent. He would, however, represent Missouri in two critical capacities—as a member of the state con­ stitutional convention and as a representative and senator in the Missouri General Assembly. Green pointed to his election to both the state convention and the General Assembly as further proof of his standing in the territory and as an undeni­ able indication that opposition to him had ceased after his resolute defense of his colonel's commission.29 He did indeed have staunch political supporters, but he also had some determined enemies. Green's election to the constitu­ tional convention can be attributed mainly to his stance on the slavery issue rather than to his popularity with the electorate. His election to the General Assembly in 1820 came only after the incumbent, who had earlier defeated Green in a popular election, died in office.30 Elected to fill the vacant posi­ tion, the general was undeniably the second choice of the electorate. Nevertheless, he emerged as an integral figure in Missouri politics and in the territory's evolution into a state. General Duff Green's political history can only be understood against the backdrop of the great Missouri Controversy. In November 1818, the Missouri territorial legislature petitioned Congress for admission into the Union. House Speaker Henry Clay brought up the bill for debate in February 1819. For the next twenty months, the Missouri ques­ tion, which affected the future of slavery in the United States, consumed the attention of the nation. Slavery restriction sentiment dominated the House of Representatives, which passed a Missouri Enabling Bill in February 1819 con­ taining the controversial and explosive Tallmadge Amendment. This measure, accepted by a narrow margin, prohibited the importation of slaves into Missouri and stipulated that all children born into slavery in Missouri after its admission to the Union would be freed upon reaching the age of twenty-five. The Senate rejected the House bill. At an impasse, the Fifteenth Congress adjourned, and Missouri remained a territory.31

28 Clark to Calhoun, 11 January 1822, ibid., 6: 614; Calhoun to Ninian Edwards, 7 May 1822, Calhoun to Green, 2 July 1822, Green to Calhoun, 3 January 1823, Calhoun to Green, 18 March 1823, ibid., 7: 99, 198-199, 403, 529.

29 Green, Facts & Suggestions, 22.

30 Ibid., 24.

31 Perry McCandless, A History of Missouri, Volume II: 1820-1860 (Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1972), 1-4; Shoemaker, Missouri's Struggle, 37-57; Floyd C. Shoemaker, "The First Constitution of Missouri," Missouri Historical Review 6 (January 1912): 51-52. A Founding Missourian: Duff Green 111

When the Sixteenth Congress convened, the Missouri question again came to the fore of congressional debate. At this time, Maine also sought admission to the Union, and the introduction of the Maine Enabling Bill in January of 1820 changed the face of the Missouri question and the issue of slavery expansion. Two Maine-Missouri bills emerged. The Senate version contained the famous Thomas Amendment, declaring that Maine would enter the Union as a free state and Missouri would be admitted as a slave state, with the stipulation that slavery would thereafter be prohibited elsewhere in the ter­ ritory of the Louisiana Purchase above the line 36°30'—the southern bound­ ary of Missouri. The House bill included the Taylor Amendment restricting slavery in Missouri. Neither body would budge, and to break the deadlock, Henry Clay proposed one of his customary compromises. A joint conference committee of selected members from both houses of Congress recommended a Maine-Missouri Bill with the Thomas Amendment, i.e., the Senate's version, in which the House reluctantly concurred on March 2, 1820. This was the first Missouri Compromise. Four days later, President Monroe signed the Missouri Enabling Act, which authorized Missouri to adopt a constitution and form a state government.32 For the beleaguered and quite perturbed Missourians, however, the battle had only begun. Duff Green commenced his tempestuous and controversial political career in this torrid public environment. The congressional attempt to restrict slavery outraged Missourians, who flooded the territorial legislature as well as Congress with angry memorials and petitions defending their interests. Vitriolic editorials dominated the local newspapers, and truculent exhortations spilled out from tavern halls and onto the stump. Missourians would tolerate no interference with their domestic institutions and their inherent property rights. Although they considered

32 Shoemaker, Missouri's Struggle, 62-66; McCandless, History of Missouri, 3-5. For the contents of the Missouri Enabling Act see Shoemaker, Missouri's Struggle, 66-80.

Jesse B. Thomas served as a delegate to the Tenth Congress from Indiana Territory, then moved to Illinois in 1809. He and Ninian Edwards, Green's broth­ er-in-law, were the first U.S. senators from Illinois. [Saint Louis University Law Library] 112 Missouri Historical Review

themselves Westerners, and a significant majority did not even own slaves, Missourians resounded their Southern origins: the individual states, not Congress, had the constitutional power to control slavery and determine whether that institution would be allowed or prohibited.33 A fervent opponent of slavery restriction and a staunch champion of property rights, Green vehemently denounced congressional efforts to restrict slavery in Missouri. He was joined by other proslavery Missourians through­ out the territory who gathered in mass meetings to register their protests. At a public dinner in Howard County in May 1819, General Green offered a notable toast upholding Missourians' property rights. In words that predated the infamous Jefferson Day dinner exchange between Calhoun and Jackson, Green rose, tipped his glass, and uttered, "The Union—It is dear to us, but lib­ erty is dearer." The following month, he served as vice president of a public dinner in Chariton opposing restriction. Although no direct evidence has been found that Green owned slaves, he nonetheless stoutly defended slavery all his life.34 Following congressional approval of the state's admission into the Union, Missourians went to the polls during the first week of May 1820 to elect delegates to the state constitutional convention. The electoral results demonstrated unequivocally the antirestrictionist and proslavery sentiment in Missouri. Antirestriction delegates outnumbered restriction delegates by four to one. The vast majority of the convention members, in addition to being proslavery, were conservative lawyers and businessmen and the most influ­ ential men in the state. Green was the archetypal delegate. He was conser­ vative, a lawyer, a businessman, and wealthy by frontier standards. Most of all, he was proslavery. Public opinion in his county, Howard, was over­ whelmingly proslavery. Not one of the county's twenty convention candi­ dates publicly favored restriction, and none of the five delegates elected from the county was more vocal than Green in defending slavery. He published his first political essay on the subject, vindicating the peculiar institution and denying congressional power to interfere or impose restriction. Numerous local papers printed the article, and it appeared in the prestigious Richmond Enquirer?5

33 On Missouri's attitude toward Congress and the slavery debate see Shoemaker, Missouri's Struggle, 81-113; McCandless, History of Missouri, 2, 5-6; Glover Moore, The Missouri Controversy, 1819-1821 (Lexington: University of Kentucky Press, 1953), 258-267; St. Louis Enquirer, 7 April, 12 May, 2, 16 June 1819, 25 March 1820; St. Louis Gazette & Public Advertiser, 28 April, 26 May, 2, 9 June, 11 August, 8 September 1819.

34 Shoemaker, Missouri's Struggle, 92, 93; McCandless, History of Missouri, 6; Moore, Missouri Controversy, 262-263.

35 Shoemaker, Missouri's Struggle, 114-134; McCandless, History of Missouri, 8-12; Moore, Missouri Controversy, 265-267; McReynolds, Missouri, 79-81; Shoemaker, "First Constitution," 52-53; Green, Facts & Suggestions, 23. A Founding Missourian: Duff Green 113

Green played a leading role in the deliberations of the constitutional con­ vention. Indeed, some historians contend that the general was a principal architect of the convention's final product, the first constitution of the State of Missouri, and that he played a more active and significant part in the oper­ ations of the convention than its noted and respected president, David Barton, who would become one of the first two U.S. senators from the new state. Floyd Shoemaker, the recognized historian of Missouri's struggle for state­ hood, maintains that Green was one of the convention's "most eminent dele­ gates," one who possessed "preeminently superior ability" and had a "more remarkable and distinguished career" than many of the other convention members. Although the general had a "checkered career," he was, nonethe­ less, "one of the most remarkable of those men who framed Missouri's first constitution. He was beyond dispute the most versatile man in the conven­ tion; and became its greatest politician." Green was only twenty-nine at the time the convention convened—one of the three youngest members.36 The constitutional convention met from June 12 to July 19, 1820, at the Mansion House Hotel in St. Louis. The members needed a mere thirty-eight days to complete their deliberations and devise the state's first constitution. The making of the constitution proved rather effortless, with few embittered debates over volatile issues. The direct influence of other state constitutions hastened the completion of the document. The delegates modeled Missouri's constitu­ tion on those of Kentucky, Alabama, and Illinois, with Kentucky's having the main impact. That Kentucky, Green's former home, should be so influential, was no coincidence. Green was following in the path of his forebears, several of whom had played a role in composing the state's first constitution.37 The delegates opted to frame the constitution using the committee method. Accordingly, they appointed four committees composed of the con­ vention's most prominent men. Green served on the bill of rights committee

36 William E. Foley, The Genesis of Missouri: From Wilderness Outpost to Statehood (Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1989), 296; McReynolds, Missouri, 82; Shoemaker, Missouri's Struggle, 136, 147, 148, 153. On the Missouri constitution and the constitutional convention see also C. H. McClure, "Constitution Making in Missouri," Proceedings of the Mississippi Valley Historical Association 10 (1918-1921): 112-121; F. W. Lehmann, "The Constitution of 1820," Missouri Historical Review 16 (January 1922): 239-246; Shoemaker, Missouri's Struggle, 166-192; Shoemaker, "First Constitution," 51-60; Moore, Missouri Controversy, 267-268; McReynolds, Missouri, 80-84.

37 Shoemaker, Missouri's Struggle, 166; McReynolds, Missouri, 81, 85; McCandless, History of Missouri, 8. On the influence of other state constitutions see Shoemaker, "First Constitution," 54-60. The one intense debate that occurred at the convention involved repre­ sentation in the lower house. Delegates from St. Louis and some of the older and more popu­ lous regions demanded that the sparsely settled frontier counties be grouped together into one large legislative district. The delegates representing these frontier counties vehemently opposed such a measure. McClure, "Constitution Making," 113. Howard and Cooper Counties had ear­ lier protested loudly against the small number of convention delegates allotted them by Congress. Shoemaker, Missouri's Struggle, 71. 114 Missouri Historical Review with two other influential members, Jonathan Ramsay of Montgomery County and Samuel Hammond of Jefferson County. During the deliberations, Green introduced three important measures, none of which the convention adopted. The first opposed the disqualification of clergy from holding public office, and the other two favored individual responsibility of the stockholders of a state bank for the debts incurred by the institution. Green also made two speeches concerning the equal taxation of nonresident and resident landhold­ ers. The convention pursued the strictest interpretation of the conditions and provisos imposed on Missouri by Congress and refused to implement a pro­ vision that forever precluded the state from assessing a higher tax on nonres­ ident landholders. Green attempted to alter this section, but the delegates defeated his amendment. In fact, only two members argued on behalf of the congressional stipulation regarding equal taxation, Green and John Scott, the future first congressman from Missouri.38 Once the delegates completed their task, the convention put the constitu­ tion into immediate operation and provided for a general election of state offi­ cials. The document was never submitted to the people for ratification. Little doubt existed among convention delegates that Duff Green would run for the state legislature. There was also little doubt that the general would emerge as a formidable candidate in his legislative district. He had played a major role in the creation of Missouri's first state constitution, and the various occupa­ tions he had pursued since settling in the Missouri Territory in 1816—land speculator, lawyer, merchant, town founder, territorial militia officer—made him one of the leading men in the new state. Indeed, Green's role in the form­ ative process of Missouri would continue well beyond the constitutional con­ vention. He would take an active and preeminent part in the contentious events unfolding in Missouri in the early 1820s—events that signaled the end of the Era of Good Feelings and the arrival of the Jacksonian era in the West. Green's career in Missouri state politics, both as a legislator and as a news­ paper editor, served as a precursor to his meteoric rise as a national political figure in Jacksonian America.

[to be continued]

38 Journal of the Missouri State Convention (St. Louis: I. N. Henry and Co., 1820), 30, 35, 43; Shoemaker, Missouri's Struggle, 180-183, 199; March, History of Missouri, 1: 423. liwwi|ii^2

SHSMO 2003.0468 St. Louis Riverfront, 1840

A Quaker View of Black St. Louis in 1841

BY THOMAS D. HAMM*

In January 1841, Gershom Perdue, an Ohio Quaker minister, set off with his wife, Abigail, on a visit to the Quaker school for the Shawnee Indians near what is now Lawrence, Kansas. Such travels were not unusual for Quaker preachers, and like many antebellum travelers, Perdue kept a journal, noting his impressions of sights and people along the way. As a Quaker, Perdue trav­ eled to do good. Because of this impulse, we have a revealing account of black churches in St. Louis in 1841 and St. Louis's leading African-American citizen, John Berry Meachum.1 Gershom Perdue was born in Bedford County, Virginia, in 1790. In 1813 he moved to Highland County, Ohio, which became home to numerous mem­ bers of the Society of Friends from Virginia and the Carolinas between 1800 and 1820. In 1824 he was recorded a Quaker minister. This standing did not give him a pastoral role. Quaker worship was "unprogrammed," based on Friends meeting together to wait in silence, confident that if God had a mes­ sage for them He would inspire someone present, male or female, to speak. Friends recognized, however, that certain individuals had a gift for speaking

*Thomas D. Hamm is archivist and professor of history at Earlham College, Richmond, Indiana. He received his BA from Butler University and master's and doctoral degrees in U.S. history from Indiana University.

1 For Quaker journal keeping and its significance see Howard H. Brinton, Quaker Journals: Varieties of Religious Experience among Friends (Wallingford, PA: Pendle Hill, 1972).

115 116 Missouri Historical Review in meeting, or preaching, and recognized this gift by "recording" it. When American Friends split into Orthodox and Hicksite factions in 1827-1828, Perdue sided with the larger Orthodox group, whose views on doctrines such as the divinity of Christ and the authority of the Bible were close to those of most evangelical denominations. Since Friends did not pay their ministers, Perdue supported himself as a tanner, storekeeper, and nurseryman. In 1836 he moved a few miles east to Fayette County, Ohio, where he lived until his death.2 The following account is taken from a journal that Perdue kept from 1836 to 1841, now in the Quaker Collection of Wilmington College in Wilmington, Ohio. It consists largely of notes on Perdue's visits to Friends meetings in Ohio. The journal shows clearly that he had a special concern for African Americans, consistent with traditional Quaker solicitude for them. Free black settlements in Ohio and Indiana were often found near Quaker neighbor­ hoods, and the Indiana Yearly Meeting of Orthodox Friends, which included Friends in southwestern Ohio, had a large Committee on the Concerns of the People of Color. This committee provided funds to build schoolhouses and hire teachers for black schools, hired lawyers to represent kidnapped free blacks, and sent memorials to the Ohio and Indiana legislatures protesting the states' discriminatory laws.3 As a consistent Quaker minister, Perdue would not have attended the services of other denominations, which Friends believed were flawed because of their rituals and prepared sermons. Instead, Friends held special meetings for non-members on Quaker principles. Thus Perdue would make no prom­ ises about whether he would be led by God to speak on any particular occa­ sion, and it sometimes happened that a Quaker minister would appoint a special meeting for worship, only to sit in silence for an hour. Perdue left no record that he ever did this. Several times he held meetings for African

2 For biographical information on Perdue see History of Ross and Highland Counties, Ohio, with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches (Cleveland: Williams Brothers, 1880), 401; and William Wade Hinshaw, ed., Encyclopedia of American Quaker Genealogy (Ann Arbor: Edwards Brothers, 1946), 5: 463. For Quaker beliefs and practices in this period see Thomas D. Hamm, The Transformation of American Quakerism: Orthodox Friends, 1800-1907 (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1988), 1-11. For the Hicksite Separation see H. Larry Ingle, Quakers in Conflict: The Hicksite Reformation (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1986).

3 For examples of these activities see Minutes of Indiana Yearly Meeting of Friends, 1832 (n.p., n.d.), 17; ibid., 1835, 13; ibid., 1838, 18-19; and Indiana Yearly Meeting of Friends [Orthodox], Address to the Citizens of the State of Ohio, Concerning What Are Called the Black Laws (Cincinnati: A. Pugh, 1848). For a critical view see Philip J. Schwarz, Migrants against Slavery: Virginians and the Nation (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 2001), 130- 148. Quakers in southwestern Ohio at this time were part of the Indiana Yearly Meeting. A Quaker View of Black St. Louis 117

Americans in Cincinnati and other places in Ohio, always noting their atten- tiveness and good behavior.4 The central figure in Perdue's account is St. Louis's leading African- American citizen of the period, the Reverend John Berry Meachum. Perdue confirms details of Meachum's life already known to historians while elabo­ rating on others. Meachum was a native of Virginia, born about 1790. He arrived in St. Louis in 1815. By 1836 he owned two brick houses as well as a farm in Illinois, worth $10,000. Meachum died in St. Louis in 1854.5

[Jan 21, 1841]: About sunset arrived at St Louis and next morning my mind still drawn toward the colored people of this city, soon after breakfast I left the boat to make inquiry how a meeting might be obtained with these peo­ ple & was directed to one John Berry Meachum a man of color & presiding minister of the Colord Baptist Church of that city. I found him quite an intel­ ligent man & after reading the minute my Friends gave me expressed great openness & took upon him to give the necessary information for a meeting that evening.6 The evening being wet & my wife having a bad cold she

4 Hamm, Transformation, 8-9.

5 Donnie D. Bellamy, "Free Blacks in Antebellum Missouri, 1820-1860," Missouri Historical Review 67 (January 1973): 216-217.

6 Any Friend who planned to "travel in the ministry" needed to obtain a certificate or minute of unity from his or her local and regional Quaker groups. See Discipline of the Society of Friends of Indiana Yearly Meeting, Revised by the Meeting Held at White Water, in the Year 1838 (Cincinnati: A. Pugh, 1839), 56.

Meachum's church, First African Baptist, was one of the first black Protestant church­ es west of the Mississippi. The congregation served both free and enslaved blacks. SHSMO 02188.7 118 Missouri Historical Review thought it not prudent to go out,7 so at the time appointed I called on my friend J. B. M. who with his family accompanied me to the meeting & introduced me to the congregation thus: "We have with us this evening a minister of the society of friends, that the present meeting will be conducted after their order, so that if he is moved by the Spirit he will speak to you." In our silent set­ ting together I felt that love to fill my heart toward these dispised people & that love seemed to be so general th[r]ough the meeting that I obtained relief by reviving the words of the Salmest: "How good & pleasant a thing it is for breathen to dwell together in unity. It is like the precious ointment that was powered [poured] upon the head which ran down the beard even Aarons beard, that went down to the skirts of his garment. As the dew of Herman & as the dew that descended upon the mountains of zion; for there the Lord commanded the blessing, even life for ever more."8 We had a good meeting but the Laws of the City for biding colored people to be seen out after nine o'clock the meeting had to close before the mind was relieved therefore found it safe to appoint another for the next evening, which was much larger than the evening before & more favored by the good Shepard.9 Whilst speaking a woman on my right hand rose from her seat clapped her hand & seemed in great egitation. I stood silent & after a minute or two she became so quiet that I proceeded and in a short time one or two men rose in a similar manner; and had I not recommended quietness this flame I doubt not would have spread, but in a short time all became quiet & the meeting ended well. Visited divers families & distributed some tracts among them which was very greatfully received. Several spoke of a visit paid them by Stephen Grelett [sic] about twelve years agoe.10 On hearing my friend J. B. M. spoken of with so much respect my curios­ ity was raised to become better acquainted with his history, from which I learned the following, John Berry Meachum was born a slave & obtained his freedom for 250 dollors which he saved by his trade as a cooper. His next step was to obtain his fathers freedom, a baptist minister living in Virginia which was obtained for 333 dolors. He was then living in Kentucky having

7 Abigail (Moise) Perdue was born in Little Egg Harbor, New Jersey, in 1797 and died in Fayette County, Ohio, in 1878. Hinshaw, Encyclopedia, 5: 463.

8 The Psalm quoted is 133.

9 An 1835 ordinance restricted the right of assembly of blacks in St. Louis, free or slave, and imposed a curfew, apparently out of fear that insurrection would be plotted. Bellamy, "Free Blacks," 209.

10 Stephen Grellet (1773-1855), a native of France, was a prominent Orthodox Quaker min­ ister who traveled widely in North America and Europe. His published memoirs mention vis­ iting St. Louis and holding meetings there in 1824 but provide few details. See Benjamin Seebohm, ed., Memoirs of the Life and Gospel Labours of Stephen Grellet (Philadelphia: Henry Longstreth, 1860), 2: 168. A Quaker View of Black St. Louis 119 a wife in bondage, and her master moving to St. Louis he followed, having only 3 dollors when he reached that city in 1815.11 He obtained employment at his treade & next obtained his wife & child freedom for 500 dollors & in the same year was acknowledged as a minister since then he has purchased 20 slaves with design for their freedom as soon as they could refund the money he laid down for them & to enable them to do so he procured employ­ ment for them & taught them both industry & econemy. In 1835 he built a steam boat which cost 12 thousand dollors, provided it with a good liberary & is a temperance boat. He has at this time whole sale dry goods store in the city, carries on the cooper business & has a farm a few miles from town of 415 acres, 100 of which is under cultavation.12 In the differant branches of business which he is now engaged he employs not less than 37 work men, white & colored & is considered by himself and others to be worth at this time about 55 thousand dollors. He is not less acomplished in his labours as a min­ ister. In 1827 was appointed as minister of the Baptist church of colored peo­ ple in St. Louis, but has not received the first cent for his labours in the gospel & his labours have been blessed so that they now number not less than 280 members, 65 of which are slaves. The following will show the begining & progress of the Baptist Church of Colored people in St. Louis. In 1818, a first day school was opened for children & adults by the Baptist missionarys.13 To accommodate the slave holder & make him willing to let his slaves go, a certificate was required from them expressive of their concent & in a few weeks they numbered from 90 to 100. They were taught to read & instructed in the contents of the Bible. In 1822 they formed a seperate religious body but still under the supervision of their white breathen & for several years they were visited monthly in this way. In 1827 they built a good meeting house the cost of which was not less than 12 thousand dollars all of which they raised themselves save 150 dollars which the citizens gave them. In the same year they became an independent body & J. B. M. was appointed by their white brethren as the pastor of the church & their white breathen gave up all care of them, so that since the year 1827 they have conducted their church business themselves & prosper both in things temporal & spiritual. The Methodist colored church number about

11 Meachum's parents' names are unknown. His wife's name was Mary, but her maiden name is unknown. John A. Garraty and Mark C. Carnes, eds., American National Biography (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999), 15: 201.

12 One of Meachum's steamboats was called the Temperance. The church was the First African Baptist Church. Ibid., 15: 202.

13 Friends did not use the usual names for the days of the week because they honored pagan gods. Thus, Sunday was "First Day" and a "first day school" was a Sunday school. See Discipline, 71. 120 Missouri Historical Review

SHSMO 2003.0030 Meachum taught African Americans to read in the basement of his church. In 1847 Missouri passed a statute that outlawed educat­ ing blacks. Undeterred, Meachum moved his school aboard a steamboat anchored in the federally regulated Mississippi River. the same but they hire a white man to preach for them. There are first day schools belonging to each society. As I had visited divers families belonging to the Methodists & distributed some tracts I thought it would be but just & right to call on their minister & inform him. He received my visit quite friendly & another Methodist minister being present who had been laboring among the Shawannas Indians on hearing that myself & wife were on our way to spend some time amongst them, he very kindly wrote a letter of intro­ duction to a person of Westport to assist us to our Establishment. I now felt clear of this city & in the afternoon of 24, we left for the Missouri River.

Perdue returned safely home from his western travels and lived out his life in Ohio. He gave considerable attention to gathering information about early Quaker settlements north of the Ohio River. He died at the age of nine­ ty-five in New Martinsburg, Ohio, in 1885.14

14 See obituary in Chicago Christian Worker, 4th Mo. 30, 1885 (30 April 1885), 236. Courtesy JoAnn Jackson

The Jackson children outside their home in Leeds, circa 1940.

"Just Like the Garden of Eden": African-American Community Life in Kansas City's Leeds

BY GARY R. KREMER*

For more than two decades a growing number of American scholars have devoted their research to uncovering the ways in which African Americans forged rich and rewarding lives during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries within a society often committed to the devaluation of people of color.1 Despite this intellectual effort, our understanding of African- American community life during the age of segregation is incomplete, espe­ cially in regions of the country outside the Deep South.

*Gary R. Kremer is a professor of history at William Woods University in Fulton, Missouri. He earned BA and MA degrees in history from Lincoln University and a PhD in his­ tory from the American University, Washington, DC. This article was made possible through financial support from William Woods University and the Missouri State Museum, a division of the Missouri Department of Natural Resources.

1 For a good summary of much of this research see Leon F. Litwack, Trouble in Mind: Black Southerners in the Age of Jim Crow (New York: Vintage Books, 1999).

727 722 Missouri Historical Review

The border state of Missouri witnessed creative and energetic efforts by African Americans to achieve dignity and autonomy in the face of racial oppression during the so-called "Jim Crow era."2 Indeed, an in-depth look at black life in the Kansas City, Missouri, community of Leeds from approxi­ mately 1915 to 1960 adds detail and texture to the story of the African- American response to segregation. Kansas City's African-American population grew dramatically during the last decade of the nineteenth century and the first two decades of the twen­ tieth century. In 1890, 13,700 African Americans called Kansas City home. Thirty years later, that number had more than doubled, to 30,719.3 The growth of Kansas City's black population was part of a larger story of African-American migration from southern to midwestern and northern states, and from rural to urban areas in Missouri. In 1890, 47 percent of Missouri's black population lived in cities; by 1900 the figure had jumped to 55 percent. By 1910 nearly 67 percent of Missouri's African Americans lived in the cities, almost three times the national average.4 White Kansas Citians, much as their urban cousins across the state in St. Louis, responded to this influx of African Americans by restricting them from living in white residential neighborhoods. Thus, during the first two decades of the twentieth century, Kansas City blacks increasingly concentrated in what historian Sherry Lamb Schirmer calls the "Vine Street Corridor," a strip several blocks wide, extending from about Tenth Street on the north to Nineteenth Street on the south.5 Although this neighborhood quickly became crowded and, as Schirmer writes, "developed many of the earmarks of a ghetto," it had much to offer its African-American residents. The high concentration of blacks in the area resulted in the building of a number of important social, cultural, and com­ mercial institutions. Crispus Attucks School, named for the African American killed by British soldiers at the Boston Massacre in 1770, was erected at Eighteenth and Brooklyn in 1893. Fourteen years later, black pop­ ulation growth in the Vine Street area prompted the building of a new Attucks School at Nineteenth and Woodland, only two blocks east of Vine. Additional

2 The term "Jim Crow era," as used here, refers to the period from the end of Reconstruction during the 1870s to the beginning of the modern-day civil rights movement dur­ ing the mid-1950s.

3 Sherry Lamb Schirmer, A City Divided: The Racial Landscape of Kansas City, 1900- 1960 (Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 2002), 29.

4 Lorenzo J. Greene, Gary R. Kremer, and Antonio F. Holland, Missouri's Black Heritage, rev. ed. (Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1993), 107-113.

5 Schirmer, City Divided, 39-41. "Just Like the Garden of Eden" 123 elementary schools for African-American students were built in or near the Vine Street Corridor over the next several years. The city erected a black high school—Lincoln High—just to the west of Vine Street, at Nineteenth and Tracy, in 1906. Black churches also anchored themselves in this neighbor­ hood, which by 1912 had perhaps as many as three thousand residents.6 Despite the advantages of living in a predominately African-American neighborhood with strong black cultural and social institutions in the Vine Street area, not all black Kansas Citians wanted to live there. During the era of World War I (1914-1918), an alternative, if smaller, African-American community began to develop west of the Blue River, south of Raytown Road. Incorporated into the city in 1909, this area was not platted and laid out into lots until 1915. On October 29 of that year, J. W. Couch and his wife, Laura, filed a plat for what became known as "Couch's 1st Addition." The neighborhood extended from Thirty-third Street on the north to Thirty-sixth Street on the south, and from Raytown Road to Hardesty Avenue. Although white, the Couches began building houses in their new subdivision and sell­ ing them exclusively to African Americans.7 Roughly a decade later, during the mid-to-late 1920s, the demand for housing in this area led to two more subdivisions being opened for African Americans, just east and southeast of Couch's 1st Addition. Known collec­ tively by local residents as "Allen's Addition," this neighborhood extended to the Blue River on the east.8 By the late 1920s, residents of Couch's and Allen's Additions had begun to refer to the joint neighborhoods as Leeds, a name that also referred to a white industrial community east of the Blue River.9 What attracted African Americans to this area that lay roughly two miles east of the Vine Street Corridor, and even farther from the heart of downtown Kansas City? Interviews with longtime residents of Leeds provide insight into the motivations of early settlers. First of all, property proved far more affordable in the Blue River area than in the Vine Street Corridor. In addi­ tion, the white owners of the property would sell the land to blacks on installment plans. This allowed African Americans to become landowners rather than renters, as was the case with a majority of the residents in the Vine Street area. Taking advantage of this option, some early Leeds residents

6 Ibid., 42-45.

7 Plat for Couch's 1st Addition, County Recorder's Office, Jackson County Courthouse, Kansas City, Missouri.

8 Plat for Hollie Addition, ibid. Although the legal name was "Hollie Addition," named for the owner, Hollie B. Allen, Leeds residents referred to it as "Allen's Addition."

9 "Leeds" vertical file, Missouri Valley Room, Kansas City Public Library. 124 Missouri Historical Review

Yvonne Starks Wilson grew up in the Allen's Addition of Leeds. She now represents District 42 in the Missouri House of Representatives.

Courtesy John Viessman, Missouri Department of Natural Resources

moved to the Blue River area from the Vine Street Corridor. Dolly Mosby Malone, for example, born in 1911 in the 2500 block of Woodland, two blocks east of Vine Street, moved with her parents to Couch's Addition in 1917. She recalled in an interview that "the rent in Kansas City caused them [her parents] to move."10 Thus, the Leeds community, and the opportunity to buy land there, pro­ vided Kansas City blacks with the chance to own their own homes, a possi­ bility that had been extremely important to African Americans since the early post-emancipation period.11 The 1920 federal census reveals that 96 of the 108 households in the community at the time were occupied by residents who lived in homes they owned, an astonishing 89 percent. Only twelve of the households were listed as renters.12 The houses in Leeds were not, by any stretch of the imagination, elabo­ rate or extravagant. A majority of the early houses erected in Couch's Addition were two-room, frame, shotgun structures built by the white devel-

10 Interview with Dolly Mosby Malone, 14 November 2001. All interviews cited in this article were conducted by the author. Tapes and transcripts of the interviews are housed in the Missouri State Museum, Jefferson Landing State Historic Site, Jefferson City.

11 Leon F. Litwack documents this intense desire on the part of African Americans to own land. In addition to his book, Trouble in Mind, see his Been in the Storm So Long: The Aftermath of Slavery (New York: Knopf, 1979).

12 U.S. Census, Fourteenth Report, 1920, Population Schedules, "Jackson County, Kaw Township, Ward 14, District No. 238." "Just Like the Garden of Eden" 125

opers who owned the land. Malone remembered, "Regardless of how large your family was, you got a two-room house." Most of the houses included porches, which served as bedrooms in the summer. To ward off mosquitoes, a large tub filled with smoldering rags would be kept nearby.13 The houses lacked bathrooms, central heat, even foundations—they were built on wooden piers sunk into the ground. At least some of the houses had dirt floors. Gertrude Gillum, who moved to Leeds in 1921 at the age of six, mentioned that "some [women] would sweep designs in the floor and they did not want you to mess up their floors." Buyers "paid some money down and then you paid so much a month." The developers "came through on Sunday" to collect the money due them.14 The Reverend Kenneth E. Ray, born four years after his parents moved to Couch's Addition in 1928, said his father told him that he paid $100 down on the family's first house.15 The houses in Allen's Addition, built during the late 1920s and 1930s, tended to be more substantial than the early houses in Couch's. Most were built as single-story, front-gable, frame bungalows, featuring full basements and full-length screened-in front porches.16 Mary Garth, whose family was among the first

13 Malone, interview. 14 Interview with Gertrude Gillum, 10 May 2001. 15 Interview with Kenneth E. Ray, 16 May 2001. 16 Interview with Vivienne Starks Smith, 24 July 2002.

Abandoned shotgun house located in the 3400 block of Denver Avenue. The house has a later addition, but the original two- room shotgun design can still be seen. Courtesy John Viessman, Missouri Department of Natural Resources 126 Missouri Historical Review to move to Allen's Addition, recalled that at the entrance to the neighborhood from Raytown Road, "there was a big sign . . . and it had a house on it and under it was printed 'exclusively for colored.'"17 In addition to providing African Americans with an opportunity to own their own homes, many migrants to the community thought Leeds offered a better way of life than they could attain in the city. Parents, especially, found Leeds' wide-open spaces, where children could run and play, inviting. The Reverend Kenneth Ray summarized the attitudes of many when he reported that his father moved from Arkansas to Leeds because he was "looking for a place where he could raise his family and have a garden and not have to worry about the inner city."18 Comments such as this underscore the fact that the people who chose to make Leeds their home were very family-oriented. The 1920 federal census indicates that 105 of the 108 households in the commu­ nity had both a father and a mother living in the home.19 The fact that so many of the Leeds residents came either from the South or from rural Missouri was another important reason why they congregated in the area. Although within the city limits of Kansas City, the area remained very rural. Southern and rural blacks quickly discovered that they could replicate their Southern semi-subsistent lifestyle. Stories about gardens and livestock in Leeds are woven tightly throughout the community's collective memory. Longtime residents recalled that most neighborhood families estab­ lished large vegetable gardens in which they raised a variety of items, includ­ ing mustard greens and collards, sweet potatoes, green beans, asparagus, and corn. Residents also raised fruit such as peaches, pears, blackberries, and raspberries. Harvest time was a time of sharing with neighbors. The Reverend Kenneth Ray's father "had one of the biggest gardens in Leeds and at that time people would not only plant for their families but they would also have enough left to help people in need." Food grown in gardens and not consumed in season would be preserved for the winter months through can­ ning, with the canned goods usually stored in cellars dug beneath family homes.20 In addition to the ubiquitous vegetable garden, many residents raised chickens, not only to ensure a supply of eggs, but also to provide meat for the

17 Interview with Mary Garth, 24 May 2001.

18 Interview with Delores Louise Ray, 24 May 2001; Gillum, interview; Kenneth Ray, interview.

19 U.S. Census, Fourteenth Report, 1920, Population Schedules.

20 Interview with Clara Home Walker, 28 June 2001; interview with Rosa Mae Gillespie, 19 April 2001; interview with Lois Kinney, 16 August 2001; interview with Isola Richardson, 19 April 2001; Kenneth Ray, interview. uJust Like the Garden of Eden" 127

Annie Mason feeding her chickens in her yard at 5620 East 36th Street, circa 1964

Courtesy Hazel Mason Nicholson family table. Other residents raised ducks and guineas for the same purpos­ es. Thinking back, Rosa Mae Gillespie said, "There was a man named Gillman and he had cows . . . and we used to get milk from those cows."21 Easter Hubley, born in Leeds in 1923, remembered the community as a place where "the Lord took care of everybody. I can say I never did have a hungry day. Everybody shared things. Where we lived we had hogs and chickens and every October we had a big hog kill and everybody was there. Everybody would bring their hogs to our house and kill them. The people would go around to the homes and collect garbage and that is what they would feed to their hogs. After they killed the hogs they would separate the meat and salt some and smoke others."22 To augment their diet of homegrown food and meat, community residents hunted and fished. They also gathered fruits, nuts, and greens growing in the countryside beyond the houses. "Leeds was just like the Garden of Eden," reminisced Mary Garth, who moved there when she was about six years old, during the early 1920s. "You could go over that hill at Leeds and find all kinds of fruit and some of the sweetest strawberries over there."23 Charles Jones, whose family moved to the area in the 1930s, recalled that a number

21 Gillespie, interview.

22 Interview with Easter Hubley, 10 May 2001.

23 Garth, interview. 128 Missouri Historical Review of community men, including his father, made wine from wild berries and grapes.24 Jones also stated that most Leeds residents relied on fish and wild game for food. Men and boys in the community hunted rabbits and squirrels in the nearby woods. "Back then you could walk out of your back door and hunt," Jones said. Wild game not only supplemented his family's diet but also pro­ vided him with spending money. He sold the rabbits he killed with a .22 cal­ iber rifle for twenty-five cents apiece.25 As with other foodstuffs, neighbors shared fish and wild game with each other. The Reverend Thomas McCormick noted, "There were a lot of [neigh­ borhood residents] who lived for hunting in the winter and fishing in the sum­ mer and our family would always share in the results. Nobody went hungry unless you did not like fish or rabbit or squirrel." Those children who claimed not to like rabbit often found themselves eating it anyway, disguised as hamburger. Hunting in the area continued into the era of World War II and beyond.26 For those few residents who did not grow, gather, or hunt their own food, or for those who wanted to supplement their fare with store-bought goods, there were several neighborhood grocery stores. The dominant grocery store in Couch's Addition during the pre-World War II era and beyond was O. M. Scott's Grocery Store, located at 3400 Hardesty Avenue. Scott, an African American, lived with his family in the upstairs of the large two-story build­ ing that housed the store. Turner's Grocery Store on East Thirty-sixth Street Terrace was the most popular store in Allen's subdivision. Like Scott's, Turner's was also a black-owned and -operated business. All of the neigh­ borhood grocery stores allowed patrons to buy on credit.27 At the far eastern edge of the black Leeds community, near the intersec­ tion of White Avenue and Raytown Road, Denzil Maple, a white man, oper­ ated a grocery store. Located just west of the Blue River, Maples Grocery served a large black clientele from Leeds. Across the Blue, several blocks east of White Avenue, a Jewish-owned grocery store known as Friedmans also attracted some black Leeds shoppers. Although African Americans were welcome at Friedmans and Maples, Vivienne Starks Smith recalled, "A lot of

24 Interview with Charles Jones, 16 August 2001.

25 Ibid.; Charles Ward also remembered his family relying on wild game; interview with Charles Ward, 17 October 2001.

26 Interview with Thomas McCormick, 12 December 2001; Richardson, interview.

27 Smith, interviews, 13 April 2001, 24 July 2002. "Just Like the Garden of Eden" 129

Courtesy John Viessman, Missouri Department of Natural Resources

Raised in Leeds, Vivienne Smith has worked to ensure the history of her childhood neighborhood is documented. people didn't go [to either one].... You had a lot of black people just as prej­ udiced as white people."28 The residents of Leeds lived a semi-subsistent lifestyle. Jobs with a steady income proved hard to find in the community, especially during the early 1920s. The most common occupation recorded for heads of household in the 1920 federal census of the area is "laborer," with the place of employ­ ment listed as "working out."29 Gertrude Gillum recalled, "Until they built the Chevrolet plant out in Leeds [in late 1928], most of the men worked in construction."30 Men often traveled into downtown Kansas City to work on construction sites as day laborers. In the 1920s, Leila Jo Birks's father, a construction day laborer, "would go to the corner and a truck would come by and pick him up" and take him to a job site.31 During the early 1920s, it appears that most men had to leave the neigh­ borhood to find work. A few found employment at one of Kansas City's packinghouses, and some worked as elevator operators, cooks, or janitors in downtown hotels or office buildings, but they, like the construction workers,

28 Interview with Ruby M. Robinson, 25 April 2001; Smith, interview, 24 July 2002.

29 U.S. Census, Fourteenth Report, 1920, Population Schedules.

30 Gillum, interview.

31 Interview with Leila Jo Birks, 15 August 2001. 130 Missouri Historical Review

James "Doby" Nelson standing in front of the rail­ road tie treating plant from which he retired in 1954. The operation produced 100,000 ties per month in 1925. According to Lawrence Jackson who worked there as a young man, the work was hard, but the pay was good. "You usually made $100 a month or better since you were paid by the piece."

Courtesy JoAnn Jackson had to leave Leeds. The most common way to go downtown was to walk to Thirty-first Street and Raytown Road, at the northwest edge of the neighbor­ hood, and catch a streetcar. In later years, during the early 1930s, at least one enterprising Leeds resident operated a cab or "jitney" service that carried those who could afford it to and from the streetcar stop. Cab fare ranged from five to fifteen cents, depending upon the distance traveled.32 The streetcar served as a stark reminder to Leeds residents of the reality of racism that surrounded their island community. Although the streetcars were not segregated, African Americans usually found themselves outnum­ bered by whites on the cars. They were often subjected to racial epithets and derogatory comments. Sometimes white riders would not move over in a seat, thereby refusing to allow black riders to sit beside them. Added to the irony of being forced to face racial hostility on a supposedly integrated pub­ lic transportation vehicle, the streetcar took Leeds riders from their friendly, collegial community to an area of the city stratified on the basis of race and class.33 A minority of Leeds women joined the men for the trek downtown each day, largely to work as maids in private homes. The majority of neighbor­ hood women, at least during the 1920s, remained behind with their children and busied themselves with the day-to-day chores of housekeeping and childrearing. These chores were made difficult by the absence of "modern"

2 Telephone interview with Lawrence Jackson, 11 October 2002. ' Smith, interview, 24 July 2002. "Just Like the Garden of Eden" 131 conveniences in the community. For example, no running water existed in the houses. The bulk of the water used in the homes came from community hydrants located in each block. According to Hazel Nicholson, "You had to go out into the garden where there was a water faucet and we would have to bring the water into the house and heat it on the stove to wash the dishes." The absence of running water also made it difficult to do laundry. Ruby Robinson remembered her mother boiling the laundry in a large iron pot in the yard.34 Not only was there no running water in Leeds homes during the 1920s and early 1930s, there was also no electricity or natural gas. Kerosene lamps provided lighting, and wood or coal heating stoves furnished warmth during the winter.35 Refrigeration came in the form of iceboxes, cooled by large blocks of ice delivered by men who hauled their product in horse-drawn wag­ ons through the unpaved streets of the neighborhood. Coal and milk were delivered in the same manner. According to Ruby Robinson, "The coal man would bring the coal and the ice man would bring the ice and the milk man would bring the milk. We had a man for everything."36 Church attendance was important in Leeds. The Reverend Kenneth Ray reported, "Church was always an important part of our lives. Our parents and grandparents were there and they saw that we had a good religious educa­ tion." One of the earliest neighborhood churches was Gilbert Memorial A.M.E. (African Methodist Episcopal). Organized in 1918 at 3608 Bellaire Avenue by the Reverend A. A. Gilbert, the congregation moved from house to house until they built a church at 3704 Topping Avenue in 1920.37 Other early churches included the Green Grove Baptist Church, at 3300 Oakley Avenue, and Pilgrim's Rest, a Baptist church organized in September 1918 at 3400 Hardesty Avenue.38 The Call, an African-American newspaper established in Kansas City in 1919, regularly published accounts of activities at these churches during the early 1920s. In January 1922, for example, The Call reported on "watch meeting services" at Pilgrim's Rest that lasted "throughout the old year, into the New Year." The Call noted that "the Services were well attended Sunday all day and night," and the "offering for the entire day [was] $27.90." Likewise, "a glorious watch meeting was

34 Interview with Hazel Nicholson, 31 May 2001; Robinson, interview.

35 Garth, interview.

36 Robinson, interview.

37 Kenneth Ray, interview; "The History of Gilbert Memorial A.M.E. Church, Kansas City, MO," Missouri State Museum.

38 "Pilgrim's Rest Baptist Church History," Missouri State Museum; Kansas City Missouri City Directory (Kansas City: Gate City Directory Company, 1918), 1101. 132 Missouri Historical Review observed" at Green Grove Church, where "a large number partook of the Lord's Supper."39 According to Hazel Nicholson, churches provided the major social outlet for Leeds residents in her youth. She and her family attended Sunday school and worship services every Sunday morning and then returned in the evening for Baptist Youth Training Union (B YTU). Church attendance was important to Hazel's parents. If she did not attend Sunday morning services, her par­ ents would not allow her to go downtown to the Lincoln Theatre for a Sunday matinee, a favorite activity.40 Churches held social activities throughout the year that were often attended by community members who may or may not have belonged to the church. Gilbert Memorial A.M.E. Church, for example, always held a chil­ dren's fashion show on the Monday after Easter so that, as Nicholson remem­ bered, "every kid could strut his or her stuff." Gilbert Memorial also held popular "Tom Thumb Weddings," presided over by child ministers.41 The significance of the churches was reflected in the fact that ministers were among the most highly respected members of the community. Often they would be invited into the homes of congregants for Sunday dinner. In a

39 Kansas City Call, 7 January 1922.

40 Nicholson, interview.

41 Interview with Betty Holt, 7 June 2001; Nicholson, interview.

Courtesy JoAnn Jackson

Young Carl Edward Hurt stands on a chair g next to his older cousin, Lawrence Jackson, circa 1926. "Just Like the Garden of Eden' 133

Courtesy Philip and Gloria Mathis Pilgrim's Rest Baptist Church Women's Group, circa 1950s late-life reminiscence, Ruby Robinson still marveled "at how fast [the preacher] could eat and talk."42 Because all of the neighborhood's schoolchildren attended the local pub­ lic school, it was probably a more important community institution. The school opened in September 1917 in the Green Grove Church with an initial enrollment of about twenty-five. By the end of the first school year, enroll­ ment had climbed to thirty-nine students. Whitfield Ross, the first teacher and principal, lived in Leeds until his accidental death on December 20, 1929. In September 1919, Ross hired a second teacher, Annie C. Goins. By the end of the 1919-1920 school year, enrollment at the Green Grove School had grown to ninety-six students. In June 1920, the Kansas City Board of Education voted to erect a new eight-room schoolbuilding on the crest of a hill on East Thirty-sixth Street, between Oakley and Hardesty Avenues.43 Vocational education students from Lincoln High School, under the supervi­ sion of their instructor, W. T. White, did much of the building of the new school. The Reverend Thomas McCormick recalled, "My father related to me he was on the crew that came out from Lincoln High School that built Dunbar School."44 The new school was named Dunbar in honor of the promi­ nent African-American poet Paul Lawrence Dunbar, born in Dayton, Ohio, in

42 Robinson, interview. 43 Malone, interview; Whitfield Ross, "History of Dunbar School," Missouri State Museum.

1 McCormick, interview. 134 Missouri Historical Review

j%-

r 1/**f!

Courtesy Kansas City Public Library Special Collections Adults help students load newspapers onto a truck outside Dunbar School during the Junior Officer Council paper drive in 1945. 1872. Dunbar was at the height of his popularity in the United States during the second decade of the twentieth century.45 On November 16, 1920, the day that Dunbar opened, the entire student body marched in a parade from Green Grove Church to the new school. "I was happy," Dolly Mosby Malone said, "because it was a big improvement. We did not have to have school in the church with those hard benches. Also, the new school had better bathroom facilities." The "bathroom facilities" were still outhouses with a wooden partition dividing boys' and girls' toilets.46 As more families with children moved into the Leeds community, the school grew dramatically. By the close of school in 1921, enrollment had jumped to 151 students. At the end of the next year, 231 students attended Dunbar. Seven faculty members were employed by 1922, including Bessie Taylor, who oversaw the department of sewing and a school garden that was maintained as part of a vocational training program.47 Each school day began with a prayer, usually the Lord's Prayer recited in unison, followed by a recitation of the pledge of allegiance to the flag. Often the pledge was followed by a song—"Good Morning to You." The students

45 Ross, "History of Dunbar School." * Malone, interview. 47 Ross, "History of Dunbar School." "Just Like the Garden of Eden" 135 sat in desks discarded by white schools and arranged in rows. They often used hand-me-down materials, including textbooks from the white schools. There was no school lunch program. Students either returned to their homes for lunch and then went back to school for afternoon classes or carried their lunches to school in paper bags. Former students who attended Dunbar stat­ ed that they had been taught by "excellent teachers" who took a keen interest in them, both as students and as people. One former student commented, "[The teachers] just did not let you fail. They made you learn."48 Although many Dunbar teachers lived outside the community, in or near the Vine Street Corridor, they tended to remain at the school for long periods of time, and they got to know their students' families well. Parents trusted teachers and thought of them as partners in the shaping of the neighborhood's children. This partnership extended to discipline. Corporal punishment was common at Dunbar, and according to the Reverend Ray, "If the teacher would paddle you at school. . . that meant you would also get one at home." On one occasion, Ray's father came to school and whipped his son in front of the whole class for talking back to a teacher. Community monitoring of truancy minimized the incidence of skipping school.49 One of the high points of the school year for Dunbar children was the day of the Christmas program, when each class put on a performance. Parents helped to make costumes, and children practiced their programs to perfection. The most eagerly anticipated day of each school year, however, was May Day, which featured an outdoor picnic on the playground behind the school. Students participated in square dancing, foot races, and an assortment of games. Each class put on a program or performed a dance, often wearing cos­ tumes made of paper that fit over outer clothing. A flagpole in the middle of the schoolyard was transformed into a May pole, with long streamers extend­ ing from its top. One former student remembered, "Each child got hold of [a] streamer and [would] go round and round the May pole and we would sing."50 A large vacant lot across the street from the school served as a neighbor­ hood playground. Widely known by the neighborhood children as "Big Dusty," this site hosted baseball games throughout the summers. Girls and boys alike played baseball, the neighborhood's dominant sport. Ground rules specifying how many bases could be taken on errant balls traveling into adja­ cent yards governed the playing of games.51

48 Gillum, interview; interview with Yvonne Brooks Bullock, 2 May 2001; Kenneth Ray, interview. 49 Kenneth Ray, interview; McCormick, interview; Richardson, interview. 50 Malone, interview; McCormick, interview; Delores Louise Ray, interview; Birks, inter­ view. 51 McCormick, interview. 136 Missouri Historical Review

Liberty Park, bordered on the north by Raytown Road and on the west by Thirty-fourth Street Terrace, provided another place for public gatherings and entertainment. The seventeen-acre park opened with great fanfare in mid- June 1922. Described by advertisements in The Call as "The Negroes' Playground" and "The Only Place of its Kind in the United States that is Run for the Exclusive use of Negroes," the park became a popular gathering place for both adults and children, especially on weekends.52 Gertrude Gillum said, "[Liberty Park] was a regular amusement park and they had merry-go- rounds, ferris wheels, concession stands [and] a dance hall." Delores Ray remembered, "You always had to pay to get in but the kids had a place they could slip in by the fence and they did not pay nothing." Lawrence Jackson summed up many residents' view of the park: "That park was jumping."53 The Call proclaimed that the park had "the finest dancing pavilion in Kansas City," adding that "the music for dancing is furnished by George Lee's Orchestra." In addition, The Call reported, a radio was being installed so that "free Radio Concerts" could be held at the park. This was especially popular with area residents who did not own radios. African Americans from throughout the city found Liberty Park an attractive place to gather. It pro­ vided a welcome alternative to Kansas City's Swope Park, where blacks were confined to a segregated area commonly referred to as "Watermelon Hill."54 Liberty Park also featured a lake that served as a swimming pool in the summer and an ice skating rink in the winter. Occasionally, a baptism was held in the lake. The park had a baseball field, as well, where teams com­ prising young men from Leeds challenged teams from other parts of the city. One of the most popular community teams was the Leeds Clowns. Among the most beloved annual activities at Liberty Park was a Fourth of July cele­ bration that included the shooting of fireworks.55 Gypsies found Liberty Park a favorite camping place in the summer, sometimes staying for weeks at a time. Each evening, the Gypsies performed a musical for all who wished to attend. Although the gatherings attracted sizeable crowds, some area residents remained in their houses, fearing that other Gypsies might steal from neighborhood homes during the nightly per­ formances. Dora Craven was warned, "Don't go down there [to the park]. [The Gypsies] will steal you and make slaves out of you."56 Across Raytown

32 Kansas City Call, 24 June 1922.

53 Gillum, interview; Delores Louise Ray, interview; interview with Lawrence Jackson, 11 December 2002.

54 Kansas City Call, 17, 24 June 1922. 55 Kenneth Ray, interview; Ward, interview; Jones, interview. 56 Ward, interview; interview with Dora Horn Craven, 24 July 2002. "Just Like the Garden of Eden" 137

LIBERTY PJERK 5c JITNEY 1 nit tnd of JM Street tar Line FREE OW.HTRA1. OITAltO1. bOMFlHlNG DOING AIL DAY Good Music All Day by Dude Knox Orchestra CuoI<-st Dancing Pavilhon hi Kansas City EXTRA- Four Door Ford Sedan Given Away H-XfRA Courtesy Gary Kremer Advertisement in the Kansas City Call

Road from Liberty Park, near Thirty-fourth Street, stood a neighborhood bar known as the Liberty Tavern. A favorite gathering place for men of the com­ munity, women sometimes frequented the tavern as well. Rosa Mae Gillespie recalled, "We all went down to that tavern and that is where we learned to drink." The Reverend Kenneth Ray, however, remembered the tavern as "the only place we could not go in Leeds when we were kids."57 In May 1929, Sarah Rector, a wealthy African-American woman, opened a dance hall called Del Ray Gardens on Thirty-fourth Street, near the south­ ern border of Leeds. An article in the Kansas City American announced the opening and explained that "special permission from city authorities will allow the Garden to remain open all night."58 Rector's dance hall attracted well-known bands and a large clientele from the Vine Street Corridor; Leeds residents who could afford the admission also went there for entertainment. At one point during this period, the rowdy reputation of Del Ray Gardens seems to have attracted a vigilante group of whites, remembered by a number of people as members of the Ku Klux Klan. The group marched through Leeds toward Del Ray Gardens in an apparent effort to intimidate community members into "cleaning up" the dance hall.59 Children and adults also sought entertainment in their own homes and yards and in the streets of Leeds. Young people depended upon each other when it came to having fun. Hazel Nicholson recalled that children often gathered at her house because her mother "was always home and would look out for all of us." They played jacks, marbles, cards, school or church, or made mud pies. Yvonne Starks Wilson loved to play school: "I used to teach

57 Gillespie, interview; Kenneth Ray, interview.

58 Kansas City American, 23 May 1929.

59 Craven, interview. 138 Missouri Historical Review school on the front porch. ... I had the kids on our front porch and I would try to teach them math. . . . We spent a lot of time on the front porch." According to Delores Ray, "In the winter time we used to sleigh ride down those hills and some of the boys would . . . build a fire to keep us warm. Everybody had sleds. We even had a pulley rigged up so you could pull your­ self back up the hill."60 Often in the evenings, after dinner, family members gathered to sing and play music. Dolly Mosby Malone remembered, "My father played the man­ dolin, my brother played the drums and my sister played the piano. And my mother played the mandolin and piano . . . and I had another brother that played the horn."61 Sometimes in the evenings, families gathered to study the Bible or listen to the radio. Few people, for example, missed listening to a live broadcast of a Joe Louis fight during the 1930s or early 1940s.62 Indeed, one could walk through the streets of Leeds during the broadcast of a Louis fight and hear the play-by-play coming from radios perched on porches and in living rooms throughout the neighborhood. The recounting of community interest in Louis's fights calls to mind the one described by Maya Angelou in her autobiography, / Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. Angelou described how neighborhood blacks gathered in a store to hear a Louis fight:

60 Nicholson, interview; interview with Yvonne Starks Wilson, 16 August 2001; Delores Louise Ray, interview. 61 Malone, interview. 62 Wilson, interview.

Courtesy John Viessman, Missouri Department of Natural Resources

Dolly Malone holding her father's man­ dolin. He worked for Barnum and Bailey Circus, playing and singing. "Just Like the Garden of Eden" 139

The last inch of space was filled, yet people continued to wedge them­ selves along the walls of the Store. Uncle Willie had turned the radio up to its last notch so that youngsters on the porch wouldn't miss a word. Women sat on kitchen chairs, dining room chairs, stools and upturned wooden boxes. Small children and babies perched on every lap available and men leaned on the shelves or on each other. The apprehensive mood was shot through with shafts of gaiety, as a black sky is streaked with lightning.63

Joe Louis was a source of racial pride for African Americans all over the country, and his popularity in Leeds prompted neighborhood women to form a social club known by a variation of the heavyweight's nickname, the "Brown Bombers."64 Dolly Mosby Malone and her teenage friends "had a club called 'The Gays' and we would get together for socials and dances, all the young peo­ ple. . . . We went from house to house." Parents were not fearful of crime or criminals. Consequently, they allowed their children to roam all over the neighborhood. Mary Woods recalled, "In the summertime we would go crawdad fishing in the Blue River." Gertrude Gillum allowed her son Ronald to roam at will without concern about his well-being: "I remember we had a next door neighbor that had four boys all about the same size and Ronald would get up, eat a bowl of cereal, and leave the empty bowl on the table and go with these neighbor's boys and be gone all day and when they came home about 5-6 o'clock they always smelled like dogs." A favorite place for the boys to play was a wooded area between their neighborhood and a city-run correctional center, the Kansas City Municipal Farm, widely known as the Leeds Farm.65 While most parents seemed to have had little fear for their children so long as they stayed in the Leeds neighborhood, some parents were reluctant to allow their children to go into the city for fear that they might get into trou­ ble. Dolly Mosby Malone's parents did not permit her to attend movies downtown when she was a child. She "did not get to see a movie until I was eighteen years old. The superintendent of the Sunday School . . . took me downtown to the Gem Theater to see 'Moon Over Israel' and I never forgot

63 Maya Angelou, / Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (New York: Bantam Books, 1971), 111-112. 64 Craven, interview. 65 Malone, interview; interview with Mary Woods, 31 May 2001; interviews with Gertrude and Ronald Gillum, 10 May 2001. The Kansas City Municipal Farm was established in 1909 as a "progressive" institution where "vagrants, mendicants, and petty criminals" could be reformed. Kansas City Times, 19 January 1909. Kristine Stilwell, '"If You Don't Slip': The Hobo Life, 1911-1916" (PhD diss., University of Missouri-Columbia, forthcoming). 140 Missouri Historical Review

Ethel Bolden sitting on her front porch across from Gilbert Memorial Church

Courtesy Dorothy Lockett Counts

that. It was a silent movie." Likewise, the Reverend Thomas McCormick remembered, "My father was not too keen on us going to town."66 Graduation from Dunbar School, for those who went on to high school, meant a daily trip out of the neighborhood to attend Kansas City's racially segregated Lincoln High. Some students experienced discrimination and ridicule because they lived in Leeds. A number of city students regarded Leeds, with its absence of running water, electricity, and paved streets, as a backward, even primitive, place to live. They sometimes made fun of and picked on students from Leeds. Leeds students devised a variety of strategies to deal with the situation. They tended to travel together and to remain in groups at school whenever they could, hoping thereby to ward off taunts and verbal and physical threats. Students who owned two pairs of shoes wore one pair for the walk from their home to meet the streetcar at Thirty-first Street. There, they changed shoes before boarding the streetcar, leaving behind the dust- or mud-covered shoes that signaled they lived in Leeds. The soiled shoes would be retrieved in the afternoon after school and worn home.67 Some Leeds students at Lincoln High claimed that the negative treatment extended also to teachers and administrators. Ronald Gillum recalled, "The high school counselors did not encourage the Leeds kids to go to college [If

5 Malone, interview; McCormick, interview.

' Malone, interview. "Just Like the Garden of Eden" 141 you were from Leeds,] you were encouraged to go to a trade school." Gillum also remembered occasional announcements: "All kids from Leeds [should] report to the auditorium." Once in the auditorium, students would be told "how bad we were and they said we were lower than 'pine scum' and he said 'you are all living out there in squalor.'"68 Dating exacerbated the tension between Kansas City youths and their "country cousins." Leeds boys, in particular, resented city boys who tried to date girls from the neighborhood. As the Reverend McCormick said, "We did not appreciate the boys from town coming out to Leeds to see the girls."69 The self-subsistent, cooperative lifestyle of the Leeds residents, no doubt, helped to sustain them through the Great Depression. One manifestation of the willingness of community members to help each other was what Dora Horn Craven remembered as "tax parties." When someone could not afford to pay their property taxes, and was threatened with the loss of their property, friends raised money by throwing a party, charging admission, and giving the proceeds to the person(s) who needed money for taxes.70 The community's connection to Kansas City's Democratic political boss, Tom Pendergast, also proved beneficial. African Americans throughout the country were moving from their traditional alliance with the party of

5 Ronald Gillum, interview. ? McCormick, interview. 3 Craven, interview.

Courtesy JoAnn Jackson

According to Lawrence Jackson, "In the 30s, you wore clothes until they wore out, and then you wore them some more." (Left to right) Edgar Fletcher, Lawrence Jackson holding daughter JoAnn, and Clarence whose last name is unknown. 742 Missouri Historical Review

Abraham Lincoln, "the Great Emancipator," toward the party of Franklin D. Roosevelt during the 1930s.71 Tom Pendergast openly courted African- American support in Kansas City, including Leeds. Isola Richardson recalled that "you could always tell when it was election time. They would come down and grade and oil Hardesty Street." Pendergast's principal lieutenants in Leeds appear to have been Mary Evans and Darie Richardson. A precinct captain, Richardson and his wife, Myrtle, lived at 3316 Oakley Avenue and operated the Liberty Tavern on Raytown Road. Evans and the Richardsons, said Dolly Malone, were "with Pendergast." Isola Richardson stated that Darie Richardson "was over the garbage trucks for Pendergast." Lawrence Jackson called Richardson "a pretty big shot guy."72 Malone and others also remembered that Evans traded clothing for votes: "After the election [she] would bring clothes out to Leeds to give away." Mary Garth said that Pendergast would have bread and milk delivered to community members in exchange for political support. Alvin Brooks remarked, "During the Pendergast days if you were a precinct captain you got coal and food but if you were not on the list of some captain, you might not get anything." Others remember Tom Pendergast coming to Leeds, especially just before elections. Often accompanied by a milk or bread truck, he dispensed milk and bread to all who approached him. His favorite stops seemed to have been on Raytown Road, near Darie Richardson's tavern, and on the playground behind the Dunbar School.73 No doubt the community's connection to Pendergast made Leeds a focal point of Works Progress Administration (WPA) projects, which brought improvements to the community while providing much-needed jobs for the men of the neighborhood. As historians Lawrence Larsen and Nancy Hulston have pointed out in their biography of Pendergast, the Kansas City boss influ­ enced the allocation of WPA funds throughout Missouri by virtue of the fact that one of his associates, Matthew Murray, was in charge of WPA projects for the state.74 Thus, Pendergast was in a position to make sure that some WPA money was funneled into the African-American community of Leeds.

71 Lawrence H. Larsen and Nancy J. Hulston, Pendergast! (Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1997), 103-105. Larsen and Hulston document Pendergast's efforts to bring African Americans into the Democratic Party.

72 Richardson, interview; Malone, interview; Jackson, interview. Isola Richardson and Darie Richardson are not related.

73 Malone interview; interview with Lynthia V. Ponder, 16 August 2001; Garth, interview; interview with Alvin Brooks, 28 June 2001; Craven, interview.

74 Larsen and Hulston, Pendergast!, 117. "Just Like the Garden of Eden" 143

Longtime residents recalled multiple WPA projects in the area during the mid-to-late 1930s, including the paving of several streets, the widening of the Blue River, and the building of a new bridge across the river. Easter Hubley recalled with great clarity the widening of the Blue River. Her father worked on the project until he drowned in an accident on the job in June 1938.75 World War II brought many changes to the Leeds community. Robert White, born in 1930 and reared in Leeds, recalled the war years as a prosper­ ous time: "Everybody had a job and cars were beginning to show up." In addition, running water and indoor toilets were installed in many neighbor­ hood houses during the early war years. Many men of the community, at least those not called into the armed services, went to work either at the Lake City Arsenal or at Pratt & Whitney, war industry plants outside of Leeds.76 Women also worked in the defense plants, expanding upon a trend that had become increasingly apparent during the Great Depression—the tendency of Leeds women to work outside the home. During the depression, neighborhood women found jobs as domestics, seamstresses, and child-care providers in the homes of Kansas City whites. Extended family members or neighbors cared for these women's children. Yvonne Brooks Bullock recalled, "Mrs. Nelson took care of me because my mother worked. Back then in Leeds people never had to hire babysitters. There was always somebody to look after the children for you. Mrs. Nelson was a neighbor. She lived right across the street from us."77 A relative prosperity continued in Leeds after World War II. By that time, most of the men worked either at the Chevrolet factory east of the Blue River or in the railroad tie plant near the Chevrolet plant. Continued employment combined with the opening of housing in formerly all-white areas of Kansas City during the late 1950s led many Leeds residents to leave the community for better homes. One Leeds resident recalled, with perhaps only slight exag­ geration, "The best house in Leeds wasn't as nice as some of the worst hous­ es in white neighborhoods."78 Nevertheless, life in Leeds left a huge imprint upon the people who grew up there in the period between and during the world wars. According to Clara Home Walker, one of the greatest legacies of Leeds was that it was a place where young people learned self-sufficiency. In Leeds, "boys learned to be

75 Ward, interview; Robinson, interview; Hubley, interview. 76 Interview with Robert L. White, 10 May 2001; Richardson, interview. 77 Bullock, interview. 78 Ibid.; Jones, interview; Craven, interview. 144 Missouri Historical Review

Courtesy Missouri State Archives After a successful strike in 1947, African Americans were able to move up from janitorial positions to higher paying jobs on the assembly line at the Chevrolet plant in Leeds. Photo from the mid-1950s men." They learned to do chores and to accept the responsibility of helping out their families, which, in turn, helped them to become good providers as adults. Consequently, Robert White asserted, "The word [was] out that if you marry a Leeds man, you have a good man." In addition, Walker recalled, girls learned to fill the roles of wife and mother by learning to cook and keep house.79 Just as importantly, life in Leeds taught residents to think of their neigh­ bors as members of a large, close family. Yvonne Brooks Bullock recalled, "That was the best time in my life [living in Leeds]. My friends say to me 'you just love Leeds,' and I say, yes, everybody out in Leeds was just like a family." The Reverend Kenneth Ray commented, "Almost everybody from Leeds is my sister and brother and whenever someone dies in Leeds it is just like someone in our family." Ray summarized what was perhaps the greatest legacy of Leeds when he said, "Love in Leeds ran like water. . . . Everybody loved everybody."80

? Walker, interview; White, interview. ) Bullock, interview; Kenneth Ray, interview. Annual Luncheon Speaker Gary E. Moulton

Annual Meeting Held on October 18

The State Historical Society held its annual meeting on Saturday, October 18, in the Reynolds Alumni and Visitor Center on the University of Missouri- Columbia campus. Almost two hundred officers, trustees, members, and guests attended. The day's events began with two concurrent workshops. Blythe Cermak, digitization program manager for the Missouri Library Network Corporation, St. Louis, presented "Exploring Virtually Missouri." She discussed the Virtually Missouri website, which links over one hundred digitized collections and exhibits from throughout the state and provides digitization guidelines for cultural heritage institutions. The instructor for the second workshop, "Beginning Genealogy: Show Me Style," was Tim Dollens, from the Daniel Boone Regional Library, Columbia. Dollens focused on how to begin genealogical research, including useful forms. He also discussed major repositories in Missouri that genealogists use for research. Thirty-eight members and guests attended the workshops. Bruce H. Beckett of Columbia, president of the Society, presided at the annual business meeting. Following approval of the 2002 business meeting minutes, Society Treasurer Albert M. Price, Columbia, presented the financial

145 146 Missouri Historical Review

Blythe Cermak and Tim Dollens led the morning workshops. report. President Beckett announced the results of the executive committee election, held during the board of trustees meeting earlier in the morning. Executive committee members elected to serve until the next annual meeting included Walter Allen, Brookfield; H. Riley Bock, New Madrid; Lawrence O. Christensen, Rolla; Richard Franklin, Independence; Virginia Laas, Joplin; James C. Olson, Kansas City; and Robert C. Smith, Columbia. Lynn Wolf Gentzler, acting executive director, read the report of the nominating com­ mittee, comprising John Bullion, Alan Havig, and Elizabeth Kennedy, for election of trustees for a term ending at the annual meeting in 2006. Members approved election of the nominees: John K. Hulston, Springfield; Gary R. Kremer, Jefferson City; James B. Nutter, Kansas City; Bob Priddy, Jefferson City; Dale Reesman, Boonville; Arvarh E. Strickland, Columbia; Blanche M. Touhill, St. Louis; and Henry J. Waters III, Columbia. President Beckett then introduced several members of the board of trustees who presented the annual Richard S. Brownlee Fund grants. Monies Annual Meeting 147

Society President Bruce H. Beckett presided at the business meeting.

from the Brownlee Fund are used to assist individuals and organizations pro­ posing to publish, or make other tangible contributions to, the history of Missouri and its citizens. Richard Franklin presented a $500 check to Eleanora Burton and Larry Coleman, representing the Amen Society of Bates County, to further the placement of a monument commemorating the actions of the First Kansas Colored Volunteer Infantry at the Battle of Island Mound, 1862, in Butler, Missouri. Jane Biers, of the American Association of University Women, Columbia Branch, received from Senator Emory Melton, Cassville, $750 to assist with "Notable Women of Missouri," a pilot project to highlight the contributions of women and to enhance the teaching of Missouri history in the fourth-grade curriculum. H. Riley Bock gave a $750 award to Mary Sue Anton, Seabrook, Texas, to assist with research for her book, Tales Beyond the Levee: New Madrid, Missouri and Its Connections to Famous People. Lawrence O. Christensen presented Petra DeWitt, of Houston, with a $275 check to be used for travel while researching her dissertation, which investigates the causes of persecution of German Americans and the meaning of loyalty in Missouri during World War I. On behalf of the Friends of Arrow Rock, Bill Lorin accepted a $1,500 award from Charles W. Digges, Sr., Columbia. The grant will aid with the printing of a new history of Arrow 148 Missouri Historical Review

Rock and a self-guided tour brochure of the town. W. Grant McMurray, Independence, gave Gary Kremer a $1,200 award to assist with travel to the Historical Society of Washington, DC, to examine the papers of William J. Thompkins. The Lewis and Clark Bicentennial Task Force, Jefferson City, received $1,000 to assist with funding for a Lewis and Clark monument. Charles R. Brown, St. Louis, presented the check to Sally Sprague and Sabra Tull Meyer, representing the task force. Judge James Reinhard, Hannibal, announced that Barbara Schmitz, Bonnots Mill, had been awarded $2,000 to be used to research and to copy photos by Charles F. Weeks, owner of the Weeks Photography Studio in Linn. Kenneth Winn, Jefferson City, accepted a $1,000 grant, on behalf of the Second State Capitol Commission, from Robert C. Smith. The award will assist with the publication of an illustrated book about the history and art of the Missouri State Capitol. President Beckett announced the awarding of a $2,000 Brownlee grant to Linda Fisher, Annandale, Virginia, to aid in the preparation of a book tentatively titled American Frontier City Life: The Diary of Joseph J. Mersman.

Brownlee Fund presenters and recipients included (clockwise from upper left) Dick Franklin with Eleanora Burton and Larry Coleman; Emory Melton with Jane Biers; Lawrence O. Christensen with Petra DeWitt; and H. Riley Bock with Mary Sue Anton. Annual Meeting 149

Above from left, Bill Lorin accepted a Brownlee Fund award from Charles Digges, Sr.; Grant McMurray presented a check to Gary Kremer. Below from left, Sabra Tull Meyer and Sally Sprague received an award from Charles R. Brown; Kenneth Winn accepted a check from Robert Smith.

Following the Brownlee Fund awards, Gentzler presented a report on Society activities. She began by noting the absence from the Society's offices of James Goodrich, executive director, due to health problems. After com­ menting briefly on the fiscal problems of the preceding year, Gentzler dis­ cussed the accomplishments of Society staff. She emphasized that, despite travel restrictions, the Society and the Western Historical Manuscript Collections (WHMC) have continued to assist local historical societies and organizations whenever possible. Staff from both agencies worked with fac­ ulty from the University of Missouri and other higher education institutions by conducting tours of the facilities and serving as occasional guest lecturers. Students from numerous departments used the resources available at the Society and WHMC to complete assignments. Classes of elementary and secondary school students also toured Society quarters and used the collec­ tions for schoolwork and History Day projects. Gentzler commented on two cooperative ventures in which the Society participated during fiscal year 2003. The Missouri Historical Newspapers 150 Missouri Historical Review

Brownlee Fund award winner Barbara Schmitz received her check from Bruce Beckett following the luncheon.

Project, a grant-funded program that included five other libraries, tested the feasibility of digitizing and indexing selected Missouri newspapers. The website generated by the project became available to the public in early 2003. With funding from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Society exhibited some of its holdings of John James Audubon, John Woodson Audubon, and Charles W. Schwartz artworks in Objects Worthy of Notice: Wildlife Encountered by the Corps of Discovery. Monies from the agency enabled the Society to hire a guest curator, generate digital reproductions of some of the artworks, and develop a traveling exhibit. The Missouri Department of Conservation provided design assistance. In addition to Objects Worthy of Notice, the Art Gallery featured two exhibits that focused on works by artists in the Society's collection. The Evolving Landscape: Changing Views of the Twentieth Century and

Below, Lawrence Christensen, Patrick Huber, and Maxine Christensen visit prior to the business meeting. Left, Lynn Wolf Gentzler presented the annual report. Annual Meeting 151

Trustee Bob Priddy interviewed art cura­ tor Sidney Larson about his restoration work on the Missouri State Capitol murals.

Dick Franklin and Harry Broermann vis­ ited while looking at Gary Moulton 's The Lewis and Clark Journals: An American Epic of Discovery.

Nineteenth-Century Portraits. Four exhibitions hung in the Corridor Gallery during the year: shows featuring works by artists Duane Evans Lyon and Victor Joseph Kunz from the Society's holdings; Lewis and Clark Across Missouri, maps prepared by the University of Missouri Department of Geography and the Missouri State Archives; and What Wondrous Life: The World of George Husmann, a traveling exhibit produced by the Missouri State Museum. Over thirteen hundred visitors toured the Art Gallery during FY2003. The acting director called attention to the extensive updating of the Society's Directory of Local Historical Societies, Museums, and Genealogical Societies on the website. She noted that due to budget cuts, the printed version of the directory had been discontinued. The 2003 National History Day in Missouri program, according to Gentzler, attracted entries from over twenty-two hundred middle school and junior and high school students throughout the state. Four hundred and nine­ ty-one students representing eighty-six schools advanced from nine regional competitions to the State History Day event in Columbia. Forty-six of those students represented Missouri at National History Day. Four students received medals at the national contest, and thirteen other students advanced to the final round of competition. The History Day program is sponsored by the Society and administered from the Columbia branch of the Western Historical Manuscript Collection. Commenting on usage of Society and WHMC research collections, the acting director pointed out that maintenance of the collections and research assistance are the core programs of the institutions. To emphasize the impor­ tance and impact of the holdings, she told the members that the staff assisted 152 Missouri Historical Review

over 22,500 researchers and visitors to the quarters of the Society and WHMC during FY2003. In addition, the staff wrote 12,752 letters and e-mail messages and answered 5,115 phone calls. Almost 31,000 individuals, organizations, and government agencies visited the Society through its web­ site, and over 1,400 researchers received microfilmed materials through inter- library loans. Researchers and visitors lived throughout the United States and in several foreign countries and represented a broad cross-section of society. Gentzler noted that the Society and WHMC had continued to add to their outstanding collections in FY2003. Over forty-eight hundred books, period­ icals, and ephemera and forty-one maps were added to the Reference Library. The Newspaper Library increased the holdings of Missouri newspapers by 918 rolls of microfilm, bringing the total to 49,688 rolls, or an estimated 41,001,000 pages. Two St. Louis newspapers were added to the collection: the Missouri American, 1916-1971, and the Volksstimme Des Western 1877- 1880. Additions to the holdings of the Western Historical Manuscript Collection were diverse and included papers of individuals and records of organizations. The Columbia branch additions included the papers of Melvin Bradley, an expert on Missouri mules; Nicholas George, a former managing editor of ABC Radio News; and Allen Walker Read, a prominent linguist. Kansas City branch acquisitions included the Heart of America Genealogical Society records and the records of Isaacs and Company and H. Levi Company, both early Kansas City garment industry firms. The Rolla collec­ tion added records from the St. Francois Baptist Association and the Joplin Rotary Club. Included among the acquisitions of the St. Louis branch were the records of the Wesley House, a St. Louis settlement house, and an 1865 Annual Meeting 153 travel diary written by Mary Mathews. The Society's Oral History Project staff added twenty-three interviews to the collections on Politics in Missouri and Missouri Ex-POWs. Gentzler listed some of the projects that staff had undertaken to provide increased access to Society resources. Included among these were two bibli­ ographies—to Society holdings on the Louisiana Purchase and the Lewis and Clark Expedition—available on the website. Staff members also compiled databases related to a variety of holdings such as photographs and artworks, printed newspaper indexes, and city and county histories. In addition to adding to the available resources, Gentzler noted that the Society had published the ninety-seventh volume of the Missouri Historical Review and four issues of the Newsletter during FY2003. The July issue of the journal celebrated the bicentennial of the Louisiana Purchase. The acting director reported that the Society had received an operating budget of $894,923 ($922,601, minus the mandatory 3 percent withholding) at the beginning of FY2003, less than the state appropriation for fiscal 1997. By the end of the year, the budget had been reduced to $863,857 due to with­ holdings required by state fiscal problems. The reduction necessitated the elimination of one staff position, curtailed travel, and forced a reduction in programs. In addition to the grant from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to produce the Objects Worthy of Notice exhibit, grants from the Helen S. Boylan Foundation of Carthage, the Clifford Willard Gaylord Foundation of St. Louis, and the Shutz Foundation of Kansas City assisted the Society in carrying out microfilming and other programs. These grants and generous donations by several individuals totaled over $30,000, greatly enhancing the Society's ability to carry out its mission in a fiscally troubled year. Gentzler closed her report by introducing the Society and Western Historical Manuscript Collection staff members present at the meeting. Following the report, President Beckett called for a discussion of the pro­ posed amendment to the Society's bylaws to increase most of the annual membership dues and the life membership fee. The members present voted to increase the dues and to establish an annual family membership. The busi­ ness meeting adjourned following announcements. 154 Missouri Historical Review

Members and guests gathered for the luncheon in the Columns Ballroom, with President Beckett presiding. The annual awards ceremony took place at the conclusion of the lunch. Beckett announced that the 2003 Distinguished Service Award and Medallion had been presented earlier in the week to James Goodrich, executive director of the Society. The president noted the appro­ priateness of the award by recalling Goodrich's thirty-six years of service to the Society, his contributions to the scholarship on Missouri history through the editing and coediting of four books and the publication of numerous arti­ cles in history journals and historical encyclopedias, and his work with many University of Missouri, state, regional, and national commissions and organ­ izations. Beckett announced that the Society's executive committee and board of trustees had established the James W. Goodrich Fund in the execu­ tive director's honor. Income from the fund will assist authors preparing works on Missouri history and the History Day program. The president presented the Lewis E. Atherton Prize for the outstanding doctoral dissertation on Missouri history or biography to Lisa Guinn, a facul­ ty member at Ferris State University in Big Rapids, Michigan. Guinn received her PhD from Oklahoma State University in Stillwater; her disserta­ tion was titled '"Building Useful Women' from the Depths of Poverty: A Social History of the Girls' Industrial Home and School in St. Louis, Missouri, 1853-1935." She received a certificate and a check for $500. James C. Olson, president emeritus of the University of Missouri and first vice president of the Society, received the Missouri Historical Review Best Article Award from President Beckett. Olson's prize-winning article, "Beating the Odds in Missouri: Stuart Symington's First Campaign for the Senate, 1952," appeared in the April 2003 issue. He received a certificate and a $300 check.

President Beckett presented the Atherton Prize to Lisa Guinn. University of Missouri President Emeritus James C Olson received the Missouri Historical Review Best Article Award. Annual Meeting 155

Trustee Henry J. Waters III introduced the presenter of the Eagleton- Waters Book Award, Senator Thomas F. Eagleton of St. Louis. The biennial award recognizes the best book published on the political history of Missouri. Senator Eagleton presented the 2003 award to Lana Stein, chair of the Department of Political Science at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. Her book, St. Louis Politics: The Triumph of Tradition, was published by the Missouri Historical Society, St. Louis, in 2002. Stein received a plaque and a check for $1,000.

Lana Stein Henry Waters Thomas F Eagleton

President Beckett presented the 2003 Missouri History Book Award to Professor Walter Schroeder, recently retired from the University of Missouri- Columbia Department of Geography. Schroeder's study, Opening the Ozarks: A Historical Geography of Missouri's Ste. Genevieve District, 1760- 1830, was published by the University of Missouri Press in 2002. He received a certificate and a $500 check. Beckett also presented Schroeder with an American Association for State and Local History Certificate of Commendation for the book, awarded to him earlier in the year. 156 Missouri Historical Review

Walter Schroeder received the 2003 Missouri History Book Award from President Beckett.

Following an announcement of the winners of Brownlee Fund grants at the business meeting, President Beckett introduced Gary E. Moulton, the luncheon speaker. Moulton, the Thomas C. Sorensen Professor of American History at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, edited the thirteen-volume Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition and a one-volume abridgement, The Lewis and Clark Journals: An American Epic of Discovery. In his speech, "The Living Legacies of Lewis and Clark," Moulton highlighted the current use of materials generated and gathered by the members of the Corps of Discovery. He discussed in particular the usage of the journals kept by expedition members, the maps drawn by Clark, and the flora and fauna spec­ imens collected by the Corps. Following introductions of special guests, President Beckett adjourned the meeting. Several officers, trustees, and members attended an open house in the Society's quarters in Ellis Library. The Art Gallery exhibition was Drawing as Process: Works From the Society's Collections, and the Corridor Gallery featured Commemorating Bill Mauldin, 1921-2003, a tribute to the late editorial cartoonist.

Below left, trustee Virginia Laas and luncheon speaker Gary Moulton at the head table. Below right, Senator Thomas Eagleton greets James and Vera Olson. Annual Meeting 157

Annual Meeting Snapshots 158

Society Receives Bequest from Janice Plowman Estate

The State Historical Society recently received a generous $58,000 bequest from the estate of Janice Plowman of Columbia. Ms. Plowman, born in Hoxie, Arkansas, in 1909 to William and Iona Hixson Plowman, spent some of her early years in Canada, where her father worked as a railroad engi­ neer. Following his death, the family moved to De Soto, Missouri. Ms. Plowman graduated from high school in De Soto, then moved to St. Louis where she obtained a job with the Veterans Bureau. Interested in geography and other cultures from an early age, Plowman applied for a position in the U.S. State Department in the 1930s. She was accepted into the Foreign Service in 1942 and posted to the consulate in Bern, Switzerland, in October of that year. In January 1945, she was assigned to the American embassy in Vatican City. Her last European post during the 1940s was with the Secretariat of the Joint Commission. The commission, composed of members from France, Switzerland, Great Britain, and the United States, was responsible for returning German assets frozen in Switzerland following World War II to their rightful owners or heirs. Plowman assumed a Foreign Service post in Korea in October 1948. There she worked in the office of Ambassador John J. Muccio. She was a part of the American delegation evacuated from Seoul on June 27, 1950, follow­ ing the North Korean invasion. In May 1951, Plowman was assigned to London, where she worked with the American delegation to NATO. The next year, the delegation moved to Paris, and Plowman remained there until 1954. She then served in the American embassy in Ankara, Turkey, from 1954 to 1957. Plowman arrived in Cairo, Egypt, in May 1957 to work as the personnel officer in the U.S. embassy. She left Egypt in 1961. Thirty years later, Ms. Plowman published Reminiscences of the Foreign Service . . . A Body in a Slot. . . What Are You Doing Here? The 273-page volume, a copy of which is in the Society's collection, chronicles her travels and provides a view of the life of a woman in the Foreign Service from 1942 to 1961. After her retirement, Plowman moved to Columbia, where she worked as a secretary in the music department at Stephens College. She died in May 2002. 159

NEWS IN BRIEF

Opening on January 26 in the Art Gallery is To Be A Witness: The Photographs of The twenty-sixth annual Mid-America Edward Sheriff Curtis. Nearly one hundred Conference on History will be held in years after the Lewis and Clark expedition, Springfield, Missouri, September 30-October photographer Edward Curtis set out to docu­ 2, 2004. Paper and session proposals are wel­ ment the indigenous tribes of the American comed, accompanied by a one-paragraph West. For over thirty years, Curtis pho­ abstract. All history-related topics will be tographed Native Americans representing considered. The deadline for submissions is more than eighty tribes. To Be A Witness May 15. focuses on the Native American cultures that lived along the Missouri River and Northwest The forty-seventh Missouri Valley History Coast. The display features Curtis's com­ Conference will be held on March 4-6, 2004, at the Embassy Suites Old Market/Downtown pelling portraits of Native Americans in the in Omaha, Nebraska. Further information is early twentieth century. To Be A Witness will available at the conference's website run through July. . First Commemoration: The Atlas Accompanying the Original lournals of the Several groups toured the Society's Lewis and Clark Expedition, 1804-1806. The libraries in August, September, and October, display features the maps taken with and including members of the Missouri State drawn during the Corps of Discovery's expe­ Genealogical Association and art and history dition and published by Reuben Gold students from the University of Missouri- Thwaites in 1904. The reproductions illus­ Columbia. trate the route of the expedition, including campsites and Indian villages. The display Lynn Wolf Gentzler, acting executive will run through April 30. The Art Gallery is director, attended the October 11, 2003, meet­ open 8:30-4:00, Monday through Friday. The ing of the M. Graham Clark Chapter of the Corridor Gallery is open 8:00-4:30, Monday Missouri Society of the Sons of the American through Friday, and 9:00-4:30, Saturday. Revolution in Columbia. She accepted a cer­ tificate of appreciation from the chapter for The Missouri State Archives will host the James W. Goodrich, executive director. forty-sixth annual Missouri Conference on History in Jefferson City, April 22-23, 2004. On September 20, Laurel Boeckman, sen­ For additional information please contact the ior reference specialist, presented "Holdings MCH Conference Coordinator, Dr. Shelley of the State Historical Society of Missouri" at Croteau, at [email protected]. the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Columbia.

A Waiting Game

Carthage The Peoples Press, January 27, 1876

A man never looks so helpless and insignificant as at a dry goods store waiting for his wife to get through trading. And a woman never looks so disconsolate as when she is waiting while her husband "talks horse" with a neighbor. 160

MISSOURI HISTORY IN NEWSPAPERS

Anderson Graphic August 13, 2003: "Cherokee Statesman Major Ridge buried at Poison Cemetery near Sfouth] W[est] C[ity]." September 24: "Hardy Farm steeped with local history," century farm in McDonald County.

Belton Star-Herald October 23, 2003: "Raymore [Presbyterian] church to host rededication service Nov. 2."

Boonville Daily News September 26, 2003: "Tradition of Improvements: 'From St. Joseph's Hospital 1905-1969, to Cooper County Hospital 1969-Present,'" by Rob Wilson.

Boonville Record September 9, 2003: "Upgrading History," the Cooper County Courthouse, by Rob Wilson. September 16: "New Franklin Celebrating 175 Years," by Rob Wilson. October 21: "The Long Shadows of Suffering," Boonville in the Civil War, by Karen Ratay Green.

Brookfield Daily News-Bulletin September 25, 2003: "Jamesport marks 50th anniversary of first Amish family," the Harry Yoder family.

Camdenton Reporter August 13, 2003: "Memories of Ha Ha Tonka: More than just a castle," by Lillian Roofener-Cunningham.

Cape Girardeau Southeast Missourian August 16, 2003: "Centuries-old [Revolutionary] war history found in [Cape Girardeau] county," by Bob Miller.

Carthage Press August 29, 2003: "Ragtime is a potent Carthage treasure," by Marvin VanGilder.

Centralia Fireside Guard August 20, 2003: "Lewis farm reaches century mark," by Janet Lewis Saidi.

Chillicothe Constitution-Tribune August 21, 2003: "A 'slice' of history: Inventor's son [Richard Rohwedder] returns to where sliced bread began," by Catherine Stortz Ripley.

Cole Camp Courier October 9, 2003: "Yeager Union Church 150th Anniversary Celebration," near Edmonson, by Marilyn Siebert. Missouri History in Newspapers 161

Columbia Daily Tribune August 20, 2003: "Humble beginnings," childhood homes of Frank and Jesse James, by David A. Lieb.

Columbia Missourian September 27, 2003: "Pieces of the Past," Columbia's Rockbridge area, by Christina Caron; "Come in We're (still) Open," longtime businesses in downtown Columbia, by Stephanie Thies.

Cuba Free Press September 18, 2003: "Huzzah Creek Notes: Bethel, Missouri," by Jerry Wilson.

Dexter Daily Statesman August 1, 2003: "'Brutal' battle was a blow to Union control in Southeast Missouri," Round Pond massacre in Cape Girardeau County, by Sam Blackwell. September 4: "As the old bridge turns 75 years old, witnesses to history recall its beauty," the Mississippi River Bridge in Cape Girardeau, by Mark Bliss.

Elsberry Democrat August 13, 2003: "Elsberry and the 100 Year Flood," the 1973 flood.

Festus Jefferson County Leader September 25, 2003: "De Soto has experienced an eventful first 200 years," by Alisa Long; "When a hamlet became a town: Railroad tracks laid De Soto's foundation back in 1857," by Jill L. Almond. October 23: "Zion Lutheran of Hillsboro marks 150 years: Language has changed, but message remains," by Peggy Scott.

Hannibal Courier-Post August 19, 2003: "Putting area history 'on the map,'" famous Missouri roads, by Louis Riggs. October 16: "Restoration continues at Old Marion County Jail," by Don Krauss.

Higginsville Advance August 13, 2003: "Two murders, four turkeys and 13 knots for an old-time Lafayette County hanging," executions of Leland and Mary Trumley, by Brian Kelling. September 5: "The history of Higginsville's first railroad," the Lexington and St. Louis railroad, by Armin Wm. Schannuth.

Independence Examiner September 5, 2003: "[Ginger] Rogers was proud of local roots," by David Tanner.

Jefferson City Catholic Missourian August 29, 2003: "Benedictine Sisters established old St. Joseph Hospital in Boonville," by Tim Imhoff. October 3: '"Hard-working' friendly parish in Paris turning 50," St. Frances Cabrini Church, by Jay Nies. 162 Missouri Historical Review

Jefferson City Post-Tribune October 7, 2003: "Namesake [Lee Shelton] of famous blues ballad [Stagolee] was inmate who died at Missouri] S[tate] P[enitentiary]," by Gary Kremer.

Joplin Globe August 28, 2003: "Ties to history: Lamar man [Chester Earp] has links with [Wyatt] Earp, [Harry] Truman families," by Mike Surbrugg.

Kahoka Hometown Journal August 12, 2003: "Happy 182nd Birthday to the State of Missouri."

Kansas City Star September 16, 2003: "Walker's family history spans four generations," Walker Laundry, by Sara Schwartz. October 20: "Debate on concealed guns entwined with history," Missouri's Constitution, by Tim Hoover.

Kearney Courier September 18, 2003: "[Tryst Falls Baptist] Church celebrates silver anniversary," by Janese Heavin.

Liberal News October 9, 2003: "Mindenmines Christian Church To Celebrate 100 Years."

Linn Unterrified Democrat August 6, 2003: "George Sassin, Syrian-American at Argyle," by Joe Welschmeyer.

Mexico Ledger August 29, 2003: "Spencer Creek Baptist Church to celebrate 125th anniversary," in Vandalia, by Linda Sue Galloway.

Moberly Monitor-Index September 28, 2003: "Moberly's birth credited to railroad; nicknamed 'Magic City.'"

New London Ralls County Herald-Enterprise October 23, 2003: "South Fork Presbyterian Church Celebrates 150 Years In 2003," by Jane Bueter.

Norborne Democrat-Leader September 11, 2003: "Behind the keys of a 'Royal' antique donated to museum," newspa­ per editor James A. Williams's typewriter, by Elaine Mercer.

Park Hills Daily Journal October 15, 2003: "State Hospital No. 4 has been through many changes, names," Southeast Missouri Mental Health Center in Farmington, by Leroy Sigman. October 17: "Human aspect reflects history of [Southeast Missouri Mental] health center," in Farmington, by Leroy Sigman. Missouri History in Newspapers 163

Perryville Perry County Republic-Monitor October 9, 2003: "St. Joseph [Catholic Church] celebrates 175 years in Apple Creek," by Kate Martin.

Pineville McDonald County News-Gazette September 10, 2003: "Mathias Splitlog honored chief and visionary." October 8: "County had twenty newspapers going in 12 towns in early days."

Pleasant Hill Times September 10, 2003: "Parish grows with community," St. Bridget Catholic Church, by Sheryl Lavelock.

Poplar Bluff Daily American Republic August 18, 2003: "Historic Missouri prison leaving legacy," the Missouri State Penitentiary in Jefferson City, by Michelle Reagan. September 29: "Butler County Century Farm," Elliot family farm, by Lonnie Thiele.

St. Joseph News-Press July 31, 2003: "Chillicothe not loafing when bread issue rises," the origin of sliced bread, by Joe Blumberg.

St. Louis American September 3, 2003: "Jefferson Bank protest defining moment in St. Louis history," forti­ eth anniversary of civil rights demonstration, by Alvin A. Reid.

St. Louis News Democrat Journal August 27, 2003: "Many happy returns," Jefferson College's fortieth anniversary, by Katie Antalick.

St. Louis North County Journal Press July 30, 2003: "Pieces of the past: Archaeological dig focuses on Old North St. Louis" German and African-American neighborhood, by Joe Scott.

St. Louis Post-Dispatch September 1, 2003: "The Protest that shaped Missouri history," 1963 demonstration at Jefferson Bank and Trust Company, by Lorraine Kee. September 29: "Guns and politics make an explosive mixture," Joseph Pulitzer's election campaign for state legislator, by Fred Epstein. October 20: "The woman who made learning fun," Susan Blow, by Theresa Tighe. October 26: "19th-century lawyer [Thomas T. Gantt] is big gun in concealed carry battle," by Peter Shinkle.

St. Louis Review September 12, 2003: "St. Cronan [Catholic Church] gets ready for Sept. 20 [125th] anniversary," by Joseph Kenny. September 19: "First Catholic parish in Lead Belt [Immaculate Conception Church] marks its first century of service," in Park Hills, by Jean Schildz. September 26: "St. Anne-French Village [Church], celebrates 175th anniversary." 164 Missouri Historical Review

October 21: "St. Gerald of Aurillac Church, Gerald Missouri Celebrates 50 Years," by Jean M. Schildz. November 7: "At Sacred Heart in Valley Park, faith overcomes fires, floods," Sacred Heart parish centennial, by Barbara Watkins.

Ste. Genevieve Herald August 6, 2003: "10 Years Ago This Week The [Mississippi] River Crested, But The Battle Wasn't Over," the 1993 flood; "As Work Begins On Saline Creek Bridge, Earlier Importance Of Site Is Remembered," Native American and French settlers, by Mark Evans.

Salisbury Press-Spectator September 25, 2003: "First Christian Church to celebrate 130th anniversary."

Springfield News-Leader August 28, 2003: "A rare [Harry] Truman appears in Screen Gems Collection."

Stover Morgan County Press September 10, 2003: "Celebrating a piece of history, heritage," Marriot century farm, by Aaron Weaver.

Sullivan Independent News August 27, 2003: "Bourbon Water Tower, A Landmark For Over 70 Years," reprinted.

Thayer South Missourian News August 21, 2003: "Son of Civil War veteran recalls stories," George Williams in Oregon County, by Merideth Sisco, reprinted.

Unionville Republican September 24, 2003: "Omaha to celebrate church's 125th year," Omaha Baptist Church in Putnam County, by Kevin Collins. October 15: "First Christian Church of Unionville," by Duane Crawford.

Vandalia Leader August 27, 2003: "Spencer Creek Baptist [Church] will celebrate 125th year."

Vienna Maries County Gazette August 13, 2003: "Owner offers sizable donation-Paydown Mill," in Maries County, by Kathy Bolyard.

West Plains Daily Quill August 15, 2003: "Koshkonong United Methodist celebrating its 100th birthday."

Windsor Review September 25, 2003: "Windsor United Methodist Church To observe 150th Birthday Sunday." 165

MISSOURI HISTORY IN MAGAZINES

American Art Review August 2003: "Karl Bodmer's North American Prints," by Brandon K. Ruud.

The Blue and Grey Chronicle October 2003: "The Captured Confederate Dead In Missouri," by Joanne Chiles Eakin; "Robert William Swinney: One-Armed Desparado," from Monroe County, by Wayne H. Schnetzer; "William S. Ruby - Copperhead Justice," by Mark Dugan.

The Border Bugle September 2003: "General Jo Shelby: The 1863 Missouri Raid," by David C. Hinze.

Bulletin, Glendale Historical Society September 2003: "A Kid In The 1930s: Memories of Glendale, Kirkwood, and Webster Groves," by Peggy Hickey Ratz.

The Bulletin, Johnson County Historical Society September 2003: "Hamburgers in Warrensburg," by Susan Pentlin; "History of Early Warrensburg," by Mary L. Rainey.

Bushwhacker Musings, Vernon County Historical Society October 2003: "Remembering the Jefferson Highway: A Letter to the Editor," by Harold Gray; "A Little Washday Sunshine," the Missouri Steam Washer, by Leta Hodge.

Cherry Diamond, Missouri Athletic Club August 2003: "Covering the Club for a Century," the Missouri Athletic Club's monthly magazine.

Columbia Senior Times October 2003: "Rock Bridge: An Early Center Of Business And Industry," by Carlynn Trout.

Concordia Historical Institute Quarterly Summer 2003: "How Good and Pleasant to Live Together in Harmony," Missouri Lutheran churches in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, by B. H. Arkebauer.

The Courier July/August 2003: "Evangelical U[nited] C[hurch of] C[hrist] Of Boonville Marks 150 Years Of Service (1853-2003)," by Ronald O. Williams.

DeKalb County Heritage October 2003: "Stewartsville's history marked by spurts of progress, devastating fires, a colorful beginning as Tetherowtown," reprinted; "Frost-Oberg Homemakers Extension Club (1935-1990)," by Velma Millard; "A Brief History of First Baptist Church of Maysville," by Martha Spiers. 166 Missouri Historical Review

Ferguson Notes, Ferguson Historical Society Autumn 2003: "Ferguson Train Service," by William Warren.

Friends of Arrow Rock Fall 2003: "The Lawless House," by Cecil Barger.

Gateway Heritage, Missouri Historical Society Summer 2003: "100 Years of Aviation: Selected Events," by Earl K. Dille; "Lighter than Air: Balloons Above St. Louis," by Dennis Northcott; "Nerve and Cold Courage: Early Women Fliers in St. Louis," by Ellen Messerly Thomasson; "The Tuskegee Experiment: An Interview with Christopher Newman, Tuskegee Airman," by Jacqueline K. Dace; "Mr. Mac (James Smith McDonnell)," by Sanford N. McDonnell; "A Pilot's Story," Jack Taylor in World War II, by Jack Taylor; "St. Louis Metallizing (Company)," by Kevin M. Mitchell.

Generations, Jewish Genealogical Society of St. Louis September 2003: "Synopsis Of July Program: History of Jewish Hospital: Burton Boxerman," by Eunice Solomon.

GSCM Reporter, Genealogical Society of Central Missouri September/October 2003: "Biography of George B. Cox (1896-1973)," by Mary Jo Capps; "Missouri Trails," by Jean McClure.

Illuminations, Historical Society of University City August 2003: "Helen Rossi: A Life of Unparalleled Love and Dedication," by Peter Chereson; "A Few Recollections of a Boy's [Robert Kaufman] Life in Pre-World War II University City," by Wallace G. Klein.

Landmarks Letter, Landmarks Association of St. Louis July/August 2003: "Ralph Waldo Emerson Elementary School At 5415 Page Avenue."

Lewis County Express, Lewis County Historical Society September 2003: "Lewis County's Townships."

The Maries Countian, Historical Society of Maries County Fall 2003: "The Old Bend Store," near Vienna, by Maude Gillispie Hutchison.

The Miner, Webb City Area Genealogy Society July 2003: "Sarcoxie."

Missouri Life August 2003: "Lewis and Clark in Missouri," part 4, by Lowell M. Schake. October 2003: "Rest in Beauty: Bellefontaine Cemetery is the Scenic Resting Place for some of St. Louis's Most Famous Residents," by Amy McDowell; "The Story Behind Silver Dollar City," by Danita Allen Wood; "Lewis and Clark in Missouri, Part 5: 'Warriors of the Missouri Waterways,'" Missouri and Osage Indians, by J. Frederick Fausz.

Missouri Resources Fall 2003: "Rock Solid for a Century and a Half: The Early Years," early geological sur­ veys of Missouri, by Joe Gillman. Missouri History in Magazines 167

Missouri State Genealogical Association Volume XXIII, Number 3, 2003: '"Infringe On My Rights Will You': Conscription During the Civil War," by Diana L. Ahmad; "Absalom Grimes, of Hannibal, MO., Escapes," by Jim Brasher; "Scott County Poor Farm," by Margaret Cline Harmon.

Mormon Historical Studies, Mormon Historical Sites Foundation Spring 2003: '"Don't Go Aboard the SaludaV: William Dunbar, L[atter] D[ay] S[aints] Emigrants, and Disaster on the Missouri," by William G Hartley.

Newsletter, Belton Historical Society April 10, 2003: "More About the Apple Farms in Belton," by Clarence Ashbaugh.

Newsletter, Howard County Genealogical Society September 2003: "Cooper's Chapel Methodist Church," near New Franklin; "Boonslick Salt Springs."

Newsletter, Huntsville Historical Society Fall 2003: "Huntsville-Glasgow Plank Road," by Viarginia Hall.

Newsletter, Ilasco Area Historical Preservation Society May 2003: "John and Eva Pauliny Family Story," by Steve Pauliny.

Newsletter, Osage County Historical Society August 2003: "World War I . . . Lest We Forget," Missouri during World War I. September 2003: "World War I. . . Lest We Forget: The 138th [Field Hospital] Completes Its Mission." October 2003: "World War I . . . Lest We Forget," Osage County veterans.

Newsletter, St. Francois County Historical Society September 2003: "Remembering Desloge Businesses"; "Farmington's Municipal Ball Park: Home of the Farmington Blues"; "Woody's Market: 310 Potosi St., Farmington."

Newsletter, South Central Missouri Genealogical Society July/August/September 2003: "Howell County and the Civil War: Remembering Henry Roades."

Newsletter, West Carter County Genealogy Society July/August/September 2003: "Dark Clouds Over Shannon [County]."

Newsletter of the Phelps County Historical Society October 2003: "John K. Widener Grocery," in Edgar Springs, by Jamie Clift.

Northeast Reporter, Northeast Missouri Genealogical Society August 2003: "Robert Masterson: An Early Settler of Marion County Missouri, 1791- 1862," by Kay Heinecke Ginther; "Reverend William Milholland Wood: An Early Circuit Rider of Missouri," by Janet Nevling. 168 Missouri Historical Review

Novinger Renewal News Summer 2003: "Wildcat Tales: The History of Novinger High School Basketball, Part 5," by Danny Ellsworth.

Overland Journal, Oregon-California Trails Association Summer 2003: "[John August] Sutter in Westport: Prelude for a Pioneer, Part 1," by Rodney Staab.

Ozark Happenings Newsletter, Texas County Missouri Genealogical and Historical Society July/August/September 2003: "Orphan Trains."

Ozarks Mountaineer August 2003: "Remembering 1932-1937 Camp Meetings On the Lower Current River," by Jim Featherston; "Hot Debate Over a Cool Summer Drink: The Iced Tea Question," iced tea at the 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis, by Lyndon Irwin. September 2003: "Stockton Proves It's a Hard Nut to Crack!" Stockton Walnut Festival, by Helen Dunlap Newton; "Old Iron Smelter: A Curiosity of Lake of the Ozarks," by Dwight Weaver; "A Library With a Past - And Looking to the Future," Greene County Library, by Jeanne Duffey.

Patrol News, Missouri State Highway Patrol September 2003: "Troopers Corner Killer [Harold "Hank" Thornbrugh] in Hopkins [1933]," by James R. Lohman.

Phelps County Genealogical Society Quarterly August 2003: "Rolla Cemetery Tour [Webber Plot, War Memorial, Gypsy Royalty Gravesites, Barnitz-Line Mausoleum and Angel, and Buehler Stone]," compiled by Linda Marie Ponzer Novak; "Wishon Cemetery."

Resume, Historical Society of Polk County September 2003: "The [Tinker] Cemetery," by Margaret Rains.

Rock the South, Crystal City, De Soto, Festus, Herculaneum, Hillsboro, and Pevely June 2003: "First Baptist Church of Festus-Crystal City: Ministering to the Twin Cities of Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow," by Marsha Arnold.

Rural Missouri August 2003: "Mining Marvel: At Bonne Terre Mine, Divers Swim Through History," by Jarrett Medlin. October 2003: "Barns of Missouri: Storehouses of History," by Howard Wight Marshall.

St. Charles County Heritage October 2003: "Men in the Lewis and Clark Expedition with St. Charles Connections"; "Reflections of Omar Henry Osiek (1906-1986)," by Carolyn Osiek; "Gilmore Merchant," F. F. Koester's General Store, by Bob Schultz.

St. Louis Bar Journal Fall 2003: '"...[Harrison] Duncan shot a hole in [James] Brady's breast,'" by Marshall D. Hier. Missouri History in Magazines 169

St. Louis Genealogical Society Quarterly Summer 2003: "Pastor Frederick Picker: Pastor Frederick Picker's St. Louis Churches and Cemeteries," by Michael McDermott; "People and Events of University City: Part Two," com­ piled by C. Edwin Murray.

St. Louis Journalism Review September 2003: "Oldest Black Newspaper in St. Louis [the Argus] on Last Legs," by Benjamin Israel.

Saint Louis Lawyer September 3, 2003: "Roswell Martin Field: St. Louis Legal Pioneer," by Peter J. Dunne.

Saudi Aramco World July/August 2003: "Zalabia and the First Ice-Cream Cone," Ernest Hamuni at the 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis, by Jack Marlowe.

Springfield! Magazine August 2003: "Queen City History: Journalist-Historian [Lucile Morris Upton] Pushes City Council to Create Historical Sites Board Here"; "Appleby's Pine Lawn Farm: Eighth Generation Lives on Land Homesteaded in 1834," by Forrest Bradley; "[Lloyd] Presley's Country Jubilee, Part I: Brother Swapped Off a Hound Dog; The Rest is Country Music History," by Becky Bell; "The Honest Man's League: Vigilante Regulators of Greene County," by Larry Wood. September 2003: "Queen City History: New 1972 French Plant Here Replaces Flagship Mill at Rochester," by Robert C. Glazier; "[Lloyd] Presley's Country Jubilee, Part II: Mountain Music Theatre Opened on Two-Lane Road near Branson," by Becky Bell; "Springfield Sings, Part 1 :'We Sing for Jesus': Ministry of Washington Avenue Baptist Church Men's Chorus Goes Beyond Music," by Becky Bell. October 2003: "Retrospectives: She [Florence Key] Met Springfield from Rear of Covered Wagon," by Bob Glazier; "Queen City History: First Classes at New Kickapoo High School Were Off to a Late Start November 11, 1971," by Robert C. Glazier; "Springfield Sings, Part II: The Mid-America Singers: Thirty-six Years of Music & Memories," by Becky Bell.

Tree Shakers, Meramec Valley Genealogy and Historical Society September and October 2003: "[William Clarke] Quantrill: Civil War Raider as Reported in the American Register," by Don Winget, reprinted.

The Twainian, Mark Twain Research Foundation July/August/September 2003: "Somewhere Between Purity and Squalor: Deer Lick as a Transitional Twainian Community," by Lorie Watkins Fulton.

Wagon Tracks, Santa Fe Trail Association August 2003: "Springs of Independence," by Jane Mallinson.

Whistle Stop, Harry S. Truman Library Institute Fall 2003: "[Harry] Truman's Controversial Diary Entry: A Sampling of Editorial Reaction," by Randy Sowell. 170

BOOK REVIEWS

Seasons in the Sun: The Story of Big League Baseball in Missouri. By Roger D. Launius (Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 2002). xi + 175 pp. Illustrations. Selected Bibliography. Index. $24.95.

With Seasons in the Sun, NASA historian Roger D. Launius has given fans and historians alike an eminently readable and thoroughly enjoyable sur­ vey of "big league" baseball in the Show Me State. Among the book's many virtues are its accounts of the often-erratic precursors of St. Louis's Browns and Cardinals and, especially, the state's representatives in the Negro Leagues. Since the starting nines in the latter associations contained players who would have been superstars in the whites-only "major" leagues, there is no doubt that they deserve their featured role in this volume. Still, the book's emphasis is naturally upon the Cardinals and Browns of St. Louis and the Athletics and Royals of Kansas City. The clubs' ups and downs (and comings and goings) are chronicled in a lively fashion, with an appropriate mix of statistics, game summaries, anecdotes, and thoughtful evaluations. The Cardinals rule the roost, of course, but the bumbling Browns and incompetent A's get their due, while the Royals are presented as the very model of how to build a successful operation that is "big-league" in every respect except revenues. The author makes much of how the triumphant teams reflected the virtues of their home cities, and who would wish to argue otherwise? One of the book's strong points is its coverage of "front-office" opera­ tions and the business of the sport. And from Chris Von der Ahe to Branch Rickey to Bill Veeck to Charles O. Finley to August Busch to Ewing Kauffman, big-league baseball in Missouri has had its share of characters, geniuses, showmen, scalawags, shrewd businessmen, and civic benefactors. In Roger Hornsby, George Sisler, "Dizzy" Dean, Satchel Paige, Enos Slaughter, Stan Musial, Buck O'Neil, Bob Gibson, and George Brett (not to mention Pete Gray and Eddie Gaedel and countless others), the teams have had their share of great players and colorful personalities as well. Criticisms of this fine work are few. Editorially, more space might have been allotted to the ballparks and broadcasters (the irascible Harry Caray is there, but the sainted Jack Buck is ignored save for an offhand mention). Within the confines of this relatively slim volume, however, it would have been difficult to cut other material. There is an excellent "Selected Bibliography," but the lack of footnotes and endnotes makes it difficult to attribute some of the more provocative quotes and anecdotes. Factual errors are almost nonexistent: a picture caption places the Missouri State Archives in Columbia, and Ted Simmons was recruited as a football player at the Book Reviews 171

University of Michigan by Chalmers "Bump" Elliott, not by Elliott's succes­ sor, Glenn "Bo" Schembechler. These minor quibbles aside, Roger Launius has hit a home run with a book that belongs on every Missouri sports fan's library shelf.

Western Historical Manuscript Collection-Rolla Mark C. Stauter

St. Louis Politics: The Triumph of Tradition. By Lana Stein (St. Louis: Missouri Historical Society Press, 2002). xxii + 296 pp. Illustrations. Notes. References. Index. $39.95, cloth; $19.95, paper.

This is a history of St. Louis politics from 1876 to 2002. The most detailed treatment is for the years 1953 to 2000. Indeed, the period from 1876 to 1953 is covered in only eighty-five pages. Stein is in the neoinstitutional school of political science. Political insti­ tutions "set the parameters in which behavior takes place. ... St. Louis's political history is a clear examplar of institutions affecting agenda setting, leadership, and political practices" (p. 249). Stein argues that "St. Louis has been an ideal stage for the practice of machine politics. Although a strong political machine has never developed in the Gateway City, ward-based fac­ tionalism has dominated political life there for far more than a century" (p. 249). In the author's view, only three mayors have been somewhat success­ ful in maintaining power and getting much done: Bernard Dickmann (1933- 1941), Raymond Tucker (1953-1965), and Vincent C. Schoemehl (1981- 1993). Eventually they too succumbed to the fragmentation of power caused by the ward structure, the inclusion of county offices in the governmental structure of St. Louis, and citywide elected officials other than the mayor. In short, the mayor in St. Louis is "the first among many actors, all with inde­ pendent power bases and all active in city affairs" (p. 250). The author stresses this thesis throughout the book and perhaps dwells on it too much. With regard to St. Louis's political landscape offering an "ideal stage for machine politics," it is unclear to this reviewer how machine poli­ tics and St. Louis's political arrangements coincide. How do established seats of divided power and built-in opportunities for factionalism produce such an "ideal stage?" Certainly, such politicians as Dickmann and Robert Hannegan, working together in the 1930s, had the talent to produce a machine and, as Stein points out, came closest to doing so, but they failed because of the cen­ trifugal forces. Focusing on the city's governmental structure, Stein sees little hope for dynamic leadership in the future. She concludes: "As long as institutions remain untouched, cultural change cannot take place at all." And "as it stands, St. Louis is an anachronism, a city whose government resembles one from the nineteenth century more than one from the twenty-first" (p. 253). 772 Missouri Historical Review

Even African-American politicians who rose to significance in the 1960s did not escape the main features of St. Louis's political culture. As with their white counterparts, personal goals played a more important role in their con­ siderations than the good of the community. Stein covers the racial compo­ nents of politics in the city well. Unfortunately, some errors crept into the book. Charles Turpin, the first African American to win election to office, became a constable in 1910, not 1918 (p. 16), and Kansas City boss Tom Pendergast was convicted of tax eva­ sion in 1939, not 1938 (p. 32). Stein argues that African Americans "began to set conditions on their support for candidates" in 1919 (p. 125). But James Milton Turner did this as early as the 1870s. Robert Hyland did not "own" radio station KMOX (p. 197). He was the manager of the station for the CBS network. The Hancock Amendment was not passed in 1983, but in 1980 (p. 215). These errors and some questioning of the thesis detract little from Stein's overall achievement of presenting the political history of St. Louis in a clear and readable style. Brief comparisons between the politics of St. Louis and other cities add another dimension to the book. Anyone interested in St. Louis politics will benefit from reading this volume.

University of Missouri-Rolla Lawrence O. Christensen

Bound for Santa Fe: The Road to New Mexico and the American Conquest, 1806-1848. By Stephen G Hyslop (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2002). xiii + 514 pp. Map. Illustrations. Notes. Bibliography. Index. $34.95.

At first glance, Bound for Santa Fe seems to be a direct descendant of Merrill J. Mattes's The Great Platte River Road: The Covered Wagon Mainline via Fort Kearny to Fort Laramie (Lincoln: Nebraska State Historical Society, 1969), even though this earlier study does not make author Hyslop's bibliography. Mattes, the noted trail historian, presented a narrative of the overland trail to California, Oregon, and Utah based on massive research of first-person accounts, which he later gathered into a vast bibliog­ raphy of 2,082 entries (Platte River Road Narratives: A Descriptive Bibliography of Travel over the Great Central Overland Route to Oregon, California, Utah, Colorado, Montana, and Other Western States and Territories, 1812-1866 (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1988). In many respects he set the standard for trail research and the production of a histori­ cal synthesis, one that could profitably be applied to a southern counterpart, in this case, the Santa Fe Trail. The structure for Bound for Santa Fe somewhat follows the Mattes precedent: the gathering of a vast literature written by eyewitnesses; depend- Book Reviews 173 ence upon their testimony; and a storyline told in geographic sequence from east to west. Some of the individuals spotlighted experienced both roads, Philip St. George Cooke, Matthew Field, George Wilkins Kendall, Francis Parkman, and Frederick Wislizenus to name a few. Such travelers met Indians, saw buffalo, experienced all the miseries that the Great Plains could throw at them, and wrote about their adventures for others to eventually read. And with that the comparisons between the two works cease. Hyslop has carefully chosen his narrators in order to craft a well-struc­ tured, well-written, focused, and thoughtful trail history, distinguished by its "interpretive collection of passages" (p. xiii). He sets the stage in the first four chapters, moves in the next eleven from St. Louis, past Santa Fe, and to Chihuahua, Mexico, and then concludes with the Mexican-American War in seven more chapters. Emphasized are the attributes of the Santa Fe Trail that contrast to those of other such thoroughfares, "a trail of commerce and con­ flict" that became a military road nearly a decade before the Platte Valley route, yet never the latter's equal for emigrant traffic (p. xii). More impor­ tantly the author lays out a road map of how the United States gradually, almost unknowingly, initiated a process that resulted in a significant chunk of the North American continent changing hands. This means that the reader will not get a detailed history of Arrow Rock, Westport, Council Grove, Bent's Fort, and all the other famous trail land­ marks, much less a satisfactory account of how mountain man Jed Smith died at the hands of Comanche Indians along the Cimarron River. Rather a story is told of the relations between two cultures, producing a remarkably astute view of the nineteenth-century American imperialist—a creature consisting of equal parts hubris, naivete, self-delusion, self-confidence, and vigor—as he took the measure of an as-yet-unconquered land and people. The author has presented these unstated parallels to our modern age in a deft and subtle fashion and asks the question rarely asked today: was it worth it? There is one possible, nagging shortcoming to the study. The bibliogra­ phy consists entirely of published accounts. Do no unpublished manuscripts for the Santa Fe Trail—appropriate testimonies yet to see print—exist for this time period (1806-1848)? No matter, Bound for Santa Fe is a journey well worth the taking.

Liberty Memorial, Kansas City R. Eli Paul 174

BOOK NOTES

Brentwood, Missouri. By the Brentwood Historical Society (Chicago: Arcadia, 2002). 128 pp. Illustrations. $19.99, paper.

Originally known as Maddenville, Brentwood began as a stop along the Manchester Trail used by wagons and mail coaches in the late 1800s. In 1890 a streetcar line was built linking Maddenville to St. Louis. Known as "the Dinky," the streetcar eased travel between the village and the city. More peo­ ple began to settle in the area, and the town became incorporated in 1919 and changed its name to Brentwood. Written by the Brentwood Historical Society, this book features over two hundred photographs of the city's resi­ dents, homes, businesses, schools, churches, and festivals.

Hannibal, Missouri: Bluff City Memories. By Steve Chou (Chicago: Arcadia, 2002). 128 pp. Illustrations. Index. $19.99, paper.

Although Hannibal may be best known for its famous resident Mark Twain, this book offers much information about this river town. A success­ ful lumber town, at one time Hannibal was the fourth-largest lumber center in the country. The town also served as a central rail hub at the beginning of the twentieth century. Aside from Mark Twain, Hannibal has hosted other nation­ al figures, including President Theodore Roosevelt, who delivered a speech at Union Station, and desperado John Dillinger, who escaped the police in a stolen car. Over two hundred historic photographs document Hannibal's res­ idents, buildings, festivals, public events, and natural disasters.

History and Families: Ripley County, Missouri. By the Ripley County Historical Society (Paducah, KY: Turner Publishing, 2002). 384 pp. Illustrations. Maps. Index. $60.00, plus $6.00 postage.

This book contains a detailed account of Ripley County's communities and families. The first third of the book profiles towns, businesses, schools, organizations, and churches. The remainder of the book is dedicated to more than seven hundred family stories. Photographs accompany many of the arti­ cles and family histories. The volume can be ordered by writing to Ripley County Historical Society, 101 Washington Street, Doniphan, MO 63935 or telephoning (573) 996-5298.

Once Upon A Time . . . At The Missouri State Fair. By Dianne Peck (Lincoln, MO: Down on the Creek Publishing, 2002). 104 pp. Illustrations. $16.95, paper. Book Notes 175

Written in honor of the Missouri State Fair's centennial, this book covers the fair's many events, contests, and visitors. The volume also features vin­ tage photographs, maps, and postcards of the fairgrounds in Sedalia. Included among the many articles are stories about famous individuals who have visited the fair, the 1952 tornado that swept through the fairgrounds, and a cow-milking competition between the mayors of Sedalia and St. Joseph. To order, write to Down on the Creek Publishing, Route 3, Box 3207E, Lincoln, MO 65338.

Warrensburg, Missouri. By Lisa Irle (Chicago: Arcadia, 2002). 128 pp. Illustrations. $19.99, paper.

The county seat of Johnson County, Warrensburg was the scene of one of Missouri's most famous trials. In 1869, Charles Burden's hunting dog, Old Drum, was found shot and dead under a tree outside of Warrensburg. Burden filed a lawsuit against his neighbor for shooting the dog. Many of Missouri's politicians became involved in the trial including a future U.S. senator, Missouri governor, and federal judge. U.S. Senator George Graham Vest's closing argument swung the jury in favor of Burden. His "Eulogy for the Dog" honored a dog's devotion to his master and is credited for coining the phrase "a dog is a man's best friend." Photos of the participants in the "Old Drum trial" are included among this book's two hundred plus images. In addition to the trial, the author describes Warrensburg during the Civil War and the history of the town's residents, buildings, schools, and organizations.

Exile in Erin. By William Barnaby Faherty, S.J. (St. Louis: Missouri Historical Society Press, 2002). 240 pp. Illustrations. Maps. Index. $19.99, paper.

At the beginning of the Civil War, Father John B. Bannon ministered to a large congregation at St. John the Apostle's Church in St. Louis. When mar­ tial law was declared in St. Louis, Father Bannon left his position at the church to serve as an "unofficial" chaplain for the First Missouri Confederate Brigade. He traveled with the troops to the Battles of Pea Ridge, Corinth, and Vicksburg. In 1864, Bannon returned to his native country, Ireland, seeking to counteract Union military recruiters promising work in America. After the war, Bannon remained in Ireland and became one of the most active priests in the country. 176 Missouri Historical Review

The Steamboat Idlewild, by Fred Geary Trace the Rivers of Missouri History The State Historical Society of Missouri collects, preserves, makes accessible, and publishes material relating to the history of Missouri and the Middle West. Its exten­ sive collections of books, newspapers, journals, maps, manuscripts, and photographs are open to the public. An art gallery features rotating exhibits with selected paintings by George Caleb Bingham and Thomas Hart Benton on permanent display. Memberships further the mission of the State Historical Society. They provide funds to purchase books, preserve newspapers, and publish materials. Each member receives annually four issues of the Missouri Historical Review and a quarterly newslet­ ter. The State Historical Society is a not-for-profit, tax-exempt organization. Gifts of cash or property to the Society are deductible for federal income, estate, and gift tax purposes. For further information about gifts or bequests contact James W. Goodrich, Executive Director.

Individual annual membership $20 (foreign, $30) Family annual membership $30 Contributing annual membership $50 Supporting annual membership $100 Sustaining annual membership $200-$499 Patron annual membership $500 or more Life membership $1,500

Memberships may be sent to State Historical Society of Missouri 1020 Lowry Street Columbia, MO 65201-7298 WITH PEN OR CRAYON ...

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In 1942T under the provisions of an amendment to the 1875 Missouri Constitution, the state was required to place on the election ballot a proposal asking "Shall there be a con­ vention to revise and amend the Constitution?" Groups favoring the call for a convention pointed out that the 1875 constitution had been amended fifty-six times and that it no longer met the needs of the state. They believed it "stood as a bar to orderly progress in the oper­ ation of government." Voters apparently agreed with the sentiment. Despite some questioning of the propri­ ety of holding a convention during wartime, the majority approved the calling of a consti­ tutional convention at the general election on November 3, 1942. The following April, the electorate chose eighty-three delegates, two from each senatorial district and fifteen dele- gates-at-large, to write a new constitution. Missouri's sixth constitutional convention convened in Jefferson City on September 21, 1943. Advance planning enabled the delegates to organize procedures quickly. Twenty committees were established to consider revisions to the constitution, and they were to have reports ready for consideration by the convention as a whole by January 4, 1944. Open hearings on proposed changes encouraged participation by individuals and interest groups but proved cumbersome. The proceedings fell behind schedule, and the first section, that dealing with military affairs, was not ready for debate until February 14. The convention finally completed work on September 28,1944, having spent 215 days in session. Missouri voters approved the constitution at a special election on February 27, 1945. Daniel Fitzpatrick's cartoon, "Time We Got Our State Government Out of the Mud," was published in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch on February 7, 1944. It may reflect the feel­ ing of many Missouri residents and delegates that the convention process was too time con­ suming and might not adequately address the needs of state government in the twentieth century. o C/3 C/2 n to o o ° £ r po" o ^ hH

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