USA > Kansas > Wyandotte County > History of Wyandotte County, Kansas, and its people, Vol. II > Part 50
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A "booster," always pushing ahead for advancement, Mr Waters entered the fight for the separation of the colored school children from the whites, and during the six years that he served on the school board was successful in securing the same. He also fought for the Bonner High School building, and seeured the same, the building heing ereeted at a cost of twenty-five thousand dollars. IIe has ever been among the foremost in advancing the growth and prosperity of his home city, and built the first business house on Oak street. Mr. Waters at the present time owns three business houses and has a half interest in three others, in addition owning considerable vacant property throughont Bonner Springs and residential property in Kansas City. Missouri. Born in Vol. II-24
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Kansas fifty-one years ago, Mr. Waters states that the Kansas flag is good enough for him to live under, and that in all of his travels there is no little town he likes as well as the little town near the western border of Wyandotte county called Bonner Springs.
HENRY MCGREW .-- As a representative of one of the best known and most honored pioneer families of Kansas, as one who has been a resident of Wyandotte county since his infaney, as an able member of the bar of this county and as a business man whose activities in the field of real estate operations have done much to further the social and material progress of this favored seetion of the Sunflower common- wealth, Mr. MeGrew is specially entitled to recognition in this history of Wyandotte county and its people. He was born at Lancaster. Keokuk county, Iowa, on the 18th of April, 1857, and is a son of Hon. James and Mary (Doggett ) MeGrew. A brief memoir is dedicated to his honored father on other pages of this work, and thus it is not neces- sary to repeat the data in the present article.
In the autumn of 1857. a few months after his birth, the parents of Henry MeGrew removed from Iowa to Wyandotte county, Kansas, and here he was reared to adult age. in the meanwhile being afforded the advantages of the public schools of the old town of Wyandotte, the nucleus of the present metropolis of the county, Kansas City. Reared in a home of distinetive culture and under the benignant direction of a father who was long prominent and influential in public affairs in Kan- sas, it was perhaps but natural that Mr. MeGrew should early decide to adopt the legal profession as offering a sphere of personal activity. In preparation for his chosen calling he finally entered the law depart- ment of the great University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor, in which he was graduated as a member of the class of 1879 and from which he re- ceived the degree of Bachelor of Laws. He was forthwith admitted to the bar of Kansas and engaged in the practice of his profession in Wyan- dotte, now Kansas City. Here his snecess and prestige soon showed that he had made a wise choice of vocation, and here he continued in the active practice of his profession, as one of the representative members of the Wyandotte county bar, until 1904, when the demands of his large and important real estate business proved so insistent that sinee that time he has virtually given his entire attention to this important line of enterprise, in which he has not only been a snecessful broker but has also handled his own properties to a very large extent. He has brought about the improvement of much valuable realty in Wyandotte connty and other sections of the state and is the owner of much property in Kansas City, which is his place of residence and his business head- quarters. Governed by the highest principles of integrity, he has been fair and honorable in all his dealings, has shown a lively spirit of pro- gressiveness and civic loyalty, and has done much to advance the best interests of the county that has been his home during virtually his en- tire life thus far. He is one of the popular citizens and influential business men of Kansas City. and while engaged in active professional work he was accorded distinctive marks of popular regard. in that he served as city attorney for five years and as county attorney for two years. Tle is a director of the Armourdale State Bank of Commerce, one of the staunch financial institutions of the county, and has other
AA C TILBEN FOUNDATIONS
Samuel Clasen
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important capitalistie interests in his home city and county. In politics Mr. MeGrew aceords a staunch allegiance to the Republican party, and in the Masonic fraternity he has received the thirty-second degree of the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite, in which his affiliation is with Caswell Consistory, No. 5, in Kansas City. His maximum affili- ation in the York Rite is with Ivanhoe Commandery, No. 21, Knights Templars, and at Leavenworth, this state, he holds membership in Abdallah Temple of the Ancient Arabie Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine.
On the 6th of January, 1881, Mr. McGrew was united in marriage to Miss Julia Townsend, who was born at Racine. Wisconsin, and who is the youngest of the six children born to Joseph and Annie ( Ratten) Townsend: of the children three others survive the honored parents, both of whom were born in England. The father was identified with railroad affairs during his entire active career and for many years prior to his death he had held the position of master car builder in the employ of the Chicago & Alton Railroad Company. Mr. and Mrs. McGrew have three sons : George, Joseph T., and Homer A.
SAMUEL CLASEN .- It is safe to say that no young man of his years is more prominent or more worthily so, in the business world and public life than Samuel Clasen, mayor of Rosedale, a city of eight thousand population, and associated with the firm of P. Clasen & Son, proprietors of one of the leading stores of the city. 3 He was chosen to take his place at the helm in the municipal affairs of Rosedale in April, 1911, and he has already proved the wisdom of the choice of the people by his excellent administration, the "boy mayor," as he is known in this part of the state, being a popular, progressive and highly regarded young man. He was born and reared here and has always been well liked by his towns- men. To him also belongs the distinction of having been elected to the city council when only twenty-three years of age. That was in 1909 and he was then declared by the Kansas City Star to be the youngest councilman in the United States.
Samuel Clasen was born November 1, 1886, the son of Peter and Charlotte (Kahn) Clasen, the former a native of Koln-on-the-Rhine, Germany, and the latter of Hungary. Peter Clasen came to America in 1881 and after a brief sojourn in New Jersey, where he worked in the mines, he came to Colorado. There he continued mining until 1882, when he came to Rosedale, Kansas, and opened a small grocery store, which, under his enterprising management and with the assistance of his son in recent years, has grown to be one of the leading department stores in the town. Previous to his coming to this country he served as a soldier in the German army, and recently, in 1909, he paid a visit to his two brothers and his childhood home in the old country. His wife, when a young woman of twenty-two years, came to this country, and at Rosedale they met and were married, and here she spent the rest of her life and died, her death occurring October 20, 1910. Of the four children born to them, Reinhardt, the eldest, died in 1902; Samuel was the second born ; Oscar died in 1905; and Arthur, the youngest, is a student at Kansas State University.
As already stated, Samuel Clasen was born and grew up in Rosedale. After completing his studies in the schools here and finishing in the
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high school, he became a student at the Central Business College of Kansas City, Missouri, where he pursued a business course and was in due time graduated. Then he settled down to business in partnership with his father.
Politically both Mr. Clasen and his father are allied with no party, voting for the individual, who, in their opinion, will hest serve the inter- ests of the people. The year following his election to the city council he was made its president. Five days before the election for mayor in 1911 he was put up by his friends for that office and he was elected by a big vote, receiving almost as many votes as the other two candidates together. It is probable that he enjoys the distinction of being the vonngest mayor in the world. He is a great lodge man, holding mem- bership in the time-honored Masonic order. the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. the Fraternal Order of Eagles, and the Fraternal Aid. His father is a member of the Knights and Ladies of Security.
On October 15, 1907, Mr. Clasen laid the foundations of a happy marriage by his union with Miss Jennie Jacobson, of Kansas City, Mis- souri. She is a daughter of Max Jacobson, a prominent business man of Kansas City. Missouri, and is a young woman of rare social gifts.
PHILO M. CLARK .- In the annals of Wyandotte eounty no more honored name is found on the long list of eminent men than that of Philo M. Clark, who is distinguished especially as the founder of Bon- ner Springs, a beautiful, modern and sanitary city, to the improvement and attractiveness of which he is constantly adding. He has con- verted the former "happy hunting grounds" of the Wyandotte. Dela- ware. Pottawatomie and other Indian tribes, who came here to drink from the waters of the numerous mineral springs that break from the depths of the earth. into a charming home. not only for those that seek health and strength in its mineral waters, but for all who desire clean. pleasant and peaceful environments. The beautifully shaded avenues and the natural park ways along the rivers and lakes make the place particularly attractive to visitors as well as to residents while the country roads along the sun-kissed hills of the Kaw valley are appreciated by those fond of driving or autoing.
The invalid who comes to Bonner Springs in quest of renewed physical vigor soon forgets his troubles and ills, finding relief and cure in one or the other of the many natural springs which here give forth carbonated waters at all times, some of the springs being rich in soda. others in iron or in bi-carbonates of other minerals, each spring possess- ing remedial properties of great value. Bonner Springs has become the home of many valuable industries; has an excellent school system ; is well supplied with churches of various denominations; has substantial banking institutions; well equipped, up-to-date mercantile establish- ments ; plenty of means of amusement ; and is within reach of several trunk lines of railway.
Coming from a long line of honored New England ancestors. Philo M. Clark was born in 1835. in North Hadley, Hampshire county, Massa- chusetts, where the birth of his father. Philo Clark, oceurred in 1806.
A farmer in Massachusetts during his early life. Philo Clark made a specialty of raising broom corn, which he manufactured into brooms. In 1837 he formed a colony, consisting principally of his relatives, and
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with this little band of emigrants made an overland trip to Walworth county, Wiseonsin, where he took np a tract of heavily timbered land. He subsequently founded the city of Elkhorn, which was made the county seat of Walworth county. He improved a good farm, and was there a resident until 1847, when he moved with his family to Wankegan, Illinois, where he was engaged in the hotel business for two years. Upon the discovery of gold in California, in 1849, he conceived the idea. of conducting a party to the Pacific coast, journeying with ox teams from St. Josephi, Missouri, and for nearly two years made a business of personally condneting parties across the plains to the gold fields. Re- turning to his home in Waukegan, Illinois, in 1850, in the later months of the year, he was there a resident until his death, in 1863. He was a Whig in politics and a Presbyterian in religion. He married Irene Ifibbard, who was born at North Hadley, Massachusetts, in 1808, and died in Chicago, Illinois, in 1895. Of their eleven children, but two are now, in 1911, living, namely : Philo M .; and Mrs. J. H. Kump, a widow, living with Mr. Clark.
But two years old when his parents settled in Walworth county, Wisconsin, Philo M. Clark lived there until eleven years of age, when he went with the family to Waukegan, Illinois, where he attended school until fifteen years of age, that being his only schooling. Unknown to his family, he studied telegraphy at night, and became so proficient in the art that while still a beardless boy he was given charge of the tele- graph office at Waukegan. There were then three hundred different telegraph lines in the United States. In 1851 Mr. Clark conceived the brilliant idea of consolidating these lines to save expense, and during that year brought together the "Speed and O'Reilley" lines, which extended from Waukegan to Chicago, this being the initial attempt to- ward organizing in the United States a telegraph system of lines.
In 1855 Mr. Clark began trading with the mines located along the banks of Lake Superior, his boat, in that year, being the very first vessel to pass through the Sault Sainte Marie canal. In 1857 Mr. Clark made his first appearance in Wyandotte, Kansas, now Kansas City, Kan- sas. He soon located at Kansas City, Missouri, where he assisted in developing the McGee Addition, in which he built and sold several houses within the next two years. Going from there to Memphis, Tennessee, in 1859, Mr. Clark established a bottling plant in that city, and then took up his residence in Lonisville. A few months later he opened bottling plants in five large cities, Louisville, Lexington, Jeffer- sonville, Indianapolis and New Albany, and operated these five plants successfully until 1865, when, within the short space of one week, he sold all of them.
Establishing himself next in Oil City, Pennsylvania, Mr. Clark engaged in the bottling and real estate business, and laid out three additions to the city, all of which were sold soon after being plaeed upon the market. One of the large traets of land lying near Oil City he named Clark's Summit, and to it built a railroad line. In 1874 Mr. Clark returned to Kansas City, Missouri, and after traveling for two years, engaged in selling oil from wagons, being the patentee of the movement, and he continued the business in Kansas City and St. Louis until the Standard Oil Company refused to sell him oil in bulk. He was then employed in the bottling business at Kansas City, Missouri,
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and Kansas City, Kansas, until 1885, when he organized the Bonner Springs Town Company, which was very successful in its operations.
Mr. Clark was chosen as the first mayor of Bonner Springs, which he founded and which he named in honor of Robert Bonner, for many years editor of the New York Ledger and a favorite author of Mr. Clark's. Although Mr. Clark has passed the allotted three score and ten years of man's life, he is still active in business and is at the head of the Clark Real Estate Company. He is continually working for the best interests of Bonner Springs, and has recently laid out five more additions to the city. He was a Lincoln Republican until the im- peachment of Andrew Johnson, but has since been independent in poli- tics, supporting the best men and best measures regardless of party affiliations. He is a generous, whole souled man, and his home, which is one of the finest in Bonner Springs, is always open to city visitors.
Mr. Clark married, in April, 1863, Anna Todd, who died in Oil City, Pennsylvania, in 1871. Four children were born of their union, namely : Philo B., deceased; Herbert E., a pressman on the New York World; Edward S., living at home; and Annie F., wife of Burt Hoxie, a farmer in Oregon. Mr. Clark married for his second wife, in 1884, Martha A. Wilson, of Kansas City, Missouri.
JAMES A. FULTON, M. D .- The recognized precedence gained by Dr. Fulton as one of the representative physicians and surgeons of Wyandotte county stands as the direct result of his own ability and efforts, and that he was dependent upon his own resources in fitting himself for his exacting profession he views as a benignant condition, since it gave him the greater appreciation of the advantages gained, a greater self reliance and a more insistent determination to reach the desired goal. The discipline also inured to his success in the practical work of his chosen calling, and he has built up in Kansas City one of the fine cities of his native commonwealth, a practice that is substantial and of essentially representative order, the while he stands exemplar of alert and loyal citizenship. He is now president of the board of education of his home city and along other lines he is exerting benignant influence in the furtherance of the social and material well being of the com- munity.
Dr. Fulton was born at Nortonville, Jefferson county, Kansas, on the 25th of December, 1879, and is a sou of Thomas H. and Ella G. (Hull) Fulton, the former of whom was born in Logan county, Ohio, on the 5th of November, 1841, and the latter of whom was born near Zanesville, Muskingum county, that state, in 1849. The doctor was the fifth in order of birth in a family of six sons and three daughters, all of whom are living. Thomas H. Fulton gained a liberal education, the more advanced portion of which was secured in the University of Alle- gheny, Pennsylvania. He continued to reside in the state of Ohio until 1870, when he came to Kansas and numbered himself among its pioneers He first located at Fort Leavenworth, and he was a success- ful and popular teacher in the local schools for several years thereafter. He then removed to Nortonville, Kansas, and assumed a sub-contract in connection with the building of the Leavenworth, Kansas & Western Railroad. Ile also assisted in the construction of the line from Cotton- wood Falls to Newton, this state, and later he was a contractor in the
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construction of the line of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad. After the completion of his work in this connection he engaged in farm- ing in Jefferson county, where he became a member of the fine Ohio colony and where he developed one of the valuable agricultural tracts of that favored section of the Sunflower state. Prosperity attended his efforts and he continued to be actively identified with the great basic industry of agriculture until 1910, when he retired from active labors. He and his wife now maintain their home at Winchester, Kansas, and their names merit enduring place on the roster of the honored pioneers of Kansas. They are zealous members of the Covenant church and in politics the father is aligned as a stalwart supporter of the cause of the Republican party. He is a man of broad mentality and sterling character and has wielded much influence in the community that has so long represented his home.
Dr. James A. Fulton found his childhood and early youth compassed by the conditions and influences of the old homestead farm in Jefferson county and there he duly availed himself of the advantages of the public schools, the while he was contributing his quota to the work of the farm. He early gained experience in connection with the practical affairs of life, as he acted as newsboy and thus attained to the dignified status of wage earner while a mere boy. In the realization of his well defined ambition to fit himself for the medical profession he depended upon his own exertions, and by industry and frugality was enabled to procure the means to defray his necessary expenses. He finally entered the College of Physicians & Surgeons of Kansas City, now the medical de- partment of the University of Kansas, and, with characteristic energy, he devoted himself to his technical studies until he had completed the prescribed course in this excellent institution, in which he was graduated as a member of the class of 1903 and from which he received his well earned degree of Doctor of Medicine. On the 29th of August of that year, after examination before the state board of medical examiners, he was duly registered and licensed as a practicing physician and surgeon. Ile forthwith engaged in the work of his profession in Kansas City, and here his ability and pleasing personality have gained to him a very satisfactory general practice, in connection with which he has done effective specializing in the treatment of the diseases of children. He is a close student and keeps in the closest of touch with the advances made in both departments of his profession, so that he is at all times able to avail himself of the most approved agencies, facilities and methods. He is a member of the Wyandotte County Medical Society, the Kansas State Medical Society and the American Medical Association. He is at the present time consulting physician to the Kansas City Orphans' Home of which institution he was attending physician and surgeon from May, 1903 until December, 1908.
Vigorous and progressive in his civic attitude, Dr. Fulton takes a lively interest in all that tonches the welfare of his home city, and he served as secretary of its board of health from 1907 until June, 1910. He is now serving his second term as president of the board of education, of which he has been a valued member since 1905. The Doctor gives an unqualified allegiance to the cause of the Republican party and is affiliated with Kansas City Lodge, No. 440, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. He is a member of the Presbyterian church.
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In June, 1905, Dr. Fulton was united in marriage to Miss Rosa K. Flaek, who was born and reared in Kansas City, Kansas, and who is a daughter of Frederick and Rosa K. (Dengel) Flack, the former of whom was born at Leavenworth, this state, a member of one of the early pioneer families of Kansas, and the latter of whom was born in the state of Wisconsin; they now maintain their home in Kansas City, where the father is living retired, after having been for many years engaged in the grocery business in this city. Mrs. Fulton is the only child and she is a popular factor in the social activities of the city that has been her home from the time of her nativity. Dr. and Mrs. Fulton have two children, Ralph A., and Gladys DeLorn.
HARRY C. IlOUGH, superintendent of the post office at Rosedale, Kansas, dates his birth in Solomon, Dickinson county, this state, in 1876, and is a son of John G. and Sarah (Dowler) Hough, the former a native of England and the latter of Canada.
John G. Hough passed the first seven years of his life in England. Then he was brought by his parents to Canada, where he was reared, having the advantage of a common school education and learning the trade of blacksmith. In 1871, at Montreal, Canada, he and Miss Sarah Dowler were married, and two years later, in 1873, they came to Kansas and took up their residence at Solomon, where he at once engaged in work at his trade. One of the first things he did was to invest in city property, which, in 1883, he sold at a good profit. Then he moved to Kansas City, Missouri. There he bought the Kansas City Tool & Sup- ply Company, which he operated for ten years. In the meantime, in 1885, he and his family became residents of Rosedale. He is now in Colorado City, employed to look after the toolsmiths of the Colorado Midland Railroad. Fraternally he is identified with the National Union and the Knights and Ladies of Security, and both he and his wife are Presbyterians. Their children, four in number, are as follows: Anna, wife of H. S. Woodcock, of Rosedale; Harry C., whose name introduces this sketch ; Albert, who died in infaney ; George W., of Rosedale.
Harry C. Ilough attended publie school at Rosedale, and learned the trade of machinist here. While working during the day, he spent his evenings in studying electricity and mechanism until he became an expert electrical engineer. In 1903 he entered the civil service, and in 1909 he was appointed to his present position, that of superintendent of the Rosedale post office. Mr. Hough takes a commendable interest in municipal affairs, and especially in the post office, which under his able management, has shown a wonderful gain.
In October, 1902, Harry C. Hough and Miss Leone Filkin were united in marriage, and to them has been given one child. Leroy A., now seven years of age. Mrs. Hongh was a Rosedale girl, and is a granddaughter of Dr. Simeon B. Bell.
WILLIAM W. ROSE .- In both Kansas and Missouri there are to be found many fine publie and private buildings that attest the skill of William W. Rose in his important profession, in which he has achieved marked success and high reputation. He is recognized as one of the representative architects of this seetion of the west and as one of the progressive and liberal citizens of Kansas City, Kansas, where he has
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