USA > Missouri > Centennial history of Missouri, vol. 2 > Part 19
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315
William Lierr Kavanaugh
of National Rivers and Harbors Congress at Washington, D. C .- faets which indicate that throughout the country he is recognized as an expert authority on all questions which have to do with the improvement of internal navigation interests. His recognition of the rights and interests of others has always been a dominant feature in his career.
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1
Emory J. Sweeney
MORY J. SWEENEY, of Kansas City, a man who inspires con- E fidence in others and a man who never stops short of the attain- ment of his purposes and his ideals, is now at the head of the Sweeney Automobile & Tractor School, which is the largest of the kind in the world, having an enrollment of ten thousand students from all parts of the United States. Of this school he was the founder and has always been the president, and the great institution stands as a monument to his enterprise and ability. Mr. Sweeney was born in Chicago, Illinois, December 23, 1883, and is a son of John M. and Mary (Connell) Sweeney. The father, a native of Canada, was a large cattle dealer, conducting an extensive business to the time of his death, which occurred in Kansas City, Missouri, July 5, 1919. His widow survives and is now living in Kansas City, Missouri.
Emory J. Sweeney was educated in a parochial school of Kansas City, Kan- sas, and in the manual training high school. He then became connected with his father in the cattle business, to which business he devoted a few years, and afterward became a mechanic in an automobile repair shop, where he earned a wage of twenty-five dollars per week. While thus engaged he conceived the idea of teaching men how to operate and repair automobiles and with this end in view launched his school with a partner in the business. Their original invest- ment consisted of a dollar and sixty-five cents for an advertisement in the want ad columns of a local newspaper and seventy-five dollars for their first month's rent. They had nothing left for furnishings or equipment for their school, but the advertisement for mechanically inclined young men to learn the auto- mobile business, which appeared on Saturday afternoon, brought them an enroll- ment of five pupils on Monday morning. These each paid twenty-five dollars down for a six weeks' course and with the sum thus secured the proprietors of the school bought materials for some work benches and also invested in tools, while the typewriters and desks were rented. An ancient Cadillac was then found that looked as though it needed repairing and Mr. Sweeney made arrange- ments with the owner to repair it for nothing. Thus the school was established and by the end of the first week there was an enrollment of twenty students. Several years passed, however, before the school had been placed on the paying basis that has led to the present notable success. Most of the students in those days were planning to be chauffeurs, not garage owners, and were interested primarily in driving and secondarily in the repair work. The school did not have the money to buy driving cars and while there were cars for repair, their owners naturally wanted them back as soon as they were in running order. The partners could not agree as to the methods to be pursued and after several months Mr. Sweeney sold his share in the school for seventy-five dollars. One-
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Emory 3. Sweeney
third of this he gave to his wife, another third was paid as the first month's rent on a small store room and the remaining twenty-five dollars was invested in tools. At his wife's suggestion he called his new place the Sweeney Automobile School. It was not long before complications sprang up and it seemed that his competitors were doing more business than Mr. Sweeney although he was the pio- neer in this field. Because he had little else to sell besides talk, he allowed the students to come for two of the six weeks' course on trial and if they were not satisfied at the end of the half-month, they could leave and not pay a cent. Many of them did leave and Mr. Sweeney determined to find out the reason. Accord- ingly he interviewed two students who had remained for only two weeks and who in reply to his questions stated that they liked the instruction, and liked him, but thought something must be wrong or he would have a better looking shop. This explanation was a source of valuable enlightenment to him and imme- diately he rented a large vacant garage eloser down town. After paying the first month's rent of two hundred and twenty-five dollars he had but eighteen dollars remaining in the bank, and again it was necessary to make the school finance itself. He had become somewhat known in the meantime and he suc- ceeded in interesting others in his proposition. He went to five or six acquaint- ances who owned trucks and gave them free storage in the new garage. He also advertised for automobiles to be repaired at low rates and he put a large sign on the front of the building, announcing it to be the home of the Sweeney Automobile School. At once in this better location he began to get students and the enrollment grew rapidly.
But one night when the school had about eighty students, with several cars of its own and a number of others in the shop for repairs, someone broke into the place, smashed the school cars, cut their tires, stole all the tools and left un- molested only the cars that were in the shop for repairs. It seemed then that he was facing unsurmountable difficulties. When the students arrived the next morning he called them together, laid the case frankly before them, telling them he had no funds to replace what was broken and gone and that even their tuition had been put into the equipment. He sought their advice and after some friendly discussion one of the students said he believed in the school, that he had about one hundred dollars which he had brought with him to pay his ex- penses and that he would turn this over to the school if other students would do likewise, drawing only enough for their needs from week to week. It was this that saved the school, which has since steadily developed. Successive removals were made in 1911 and in 1913 and while the school was located on East Fif- teenth street the enrollment increased until the necessity for more room led to the erection of the present building at Twenty-fourth and Wyandotte, which was completed October 1, 1917. Something of the very rapid growth of the school is indicated in the fact that in 1917 there was an enrollment of thirty-six hundred and seventy-four and in 1919 the number of students had reached seven thou- sand, nine hundred and seventeen. Rapid indeed has been the progress of the school, not only in the matter of attendance but in the matter of equipment and instruction. A new million dollar school has been erected that is ten stories high, two hundred and eighteen feet long, built entirely of concrete, steel and brick. It is absolutely fireproof and is the most beautiful structure in Kansas City. It contains twelve acres of floor space, every foot of which is devoted to the
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interests of the students. The building is the first structure that greets the eye of the visitor on arriving at the Union station. Especially is this the case at night because of the famous electrical sign, which is on the roof and towers eighty feet above the top of the building. It is the largest sign of the kind in the world and contains five thousand electrical lamps, the electricity for the sign and the building being furnished by a big generating plant in the base- ment of the building.
Que of the greatest features of the new school and one greatly appreciated by the students is the arrangement of the different departments, which are now distinct and separated from each other by sound-proof walls. Every detail in the new building was carefully worked out by Mr. Sweeney, who kept always in view the welfare of the students, and no expense was spared to make every: thing convenient and comfortable, even down to the smallest particular. The entire building is thoroughly cleansed each day by a vacuum system, which does away with unhealthy dust always made by sweeping with a broom or brush. On each floor of the building are sanitary porcelain drinking fountains. A refrigerating plant keeps the water ice cold, but the water does not come in contact with the ice. Lavatories and free shower baths are on each floor, there is hot and cold running water at all times and soap and towels in abundance. Steel lockers are provided for the personal belongings of each student. There is an emergency hospital with skilled physicians and nurses always in attend- ance. There are dormitory bedrooms with a single bed' for each student, the bedding of which is changed twice weekly. A cafeteria and restaurant are maintained with home cooking and the prices are reasonable. There are also free club rooms for the students, supplied with a player piano and a vietrola, with plenty of easy leather chairs and a free reading and writing room, in which are found all the latest copies of automobile, tractor, truck and airplane trade journals for the use of students. A white tiled swimming pool contains pure filtered water, which flows in and out continuously. All these things are sup- plied without charge to the students. In addition there is a barber shop, a drug store and soda fountain, a furnishing goods and dry goods store and a post- offiee is maintained which is open from eight in the morning until five in the afternoon.
Mr. Sweeney has always displayed extraordinary talent in writing his own advertisements. A few years ago he published a large catalog of his school, containing a complete and detailed description thereof and of the methods of instruction. This was taken as a model of its kind at the National Advertisers' convention at Detroit that year by one of the chief speakers. There is probably no man in this section of the country whose knowledge of automobiles surpasses and perhaps equals that of Mr. Sweeney. Ile possesses great mechanical skill and ingenuity and has designed a very successful tractor.
In 1905 Mr. Sweeney was married to Miss Mary C. Smith, daughter of L. J. Smith, who died leaving nine children, namely: Anthony; Madaline; Rose- mary ; Catherine; Mary Margaret ; Josephine; Theodotta; Emory John, Jr .; Louis Joseph.
In 1918 Mr. Sweeney wedded Virginia R. Kossuth, a native of California. Their religious faith is manifest in the fact that they are communieants of the Visitation Roman Catholic church and Mr. Sweeney is connected with the
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Knights of Columbus. He is a member of the Kansas City Club, the Kansas City Athletic Club, City Club, Automobile Club and the Hillcrest Country Club. He is a great lover of music and has installed a fine pipe organ in his home. He has likewise a notable collection of paintings and may be termed an art connoisseur. Success has not spoiled Mr. Sweeney, who is most democratic in manner and popular with all who know him. He is very charitable, contrib- uting to every call for civic and philanthropie interests, and the public feels that his position as one of the most prominent residents of Kansas City has been well earned and is justly merited. A distinguished statesman has said: "The thing supremely worth having is the opportunity coupled with the capacity to do well and worthily a piece of work which shall be of vital significance to ยท mankind." Such has been the opportunity which has come to Emory J. Sweeney, and that he has fully met the conditions and requirements is manifest in the tangible proof of the splendid automobile school building which meets the eye as one enters Kansas City.
1
Ih Schachner
TU. I. Schachner
N a review of the career of W. L. Schachner, the head of the stock and bond brokerage firm operating under the name of the W. L. Schachner Company, it seems that he has reached his present position in financial eireles almost by leaps and bounds, for within a period of seven years he has risen from a very humble place in the business world to a point where he is representing a large clientele in investments. Mr. Schachner is a native of O'Fallon, Illinois. He was born April 25, 1888, and is a son of Christ O'Fallon and Sophie (Lneksinger) Schachner, the father a suc- cessful and prominent miller. The family numbered three daughters, but W. L. Schachner is the only son. At the usual age he became a pupil in the common schools, passing through consecutive grades to the high school and eventually pursuing a normal course and also a business course in the Columbia University College. He first became a resident of Missouri in 1905. I
Mr. Schachner entered npon his business career as a newspaper reporter and has at various periods been connected with all the different departments of newspaper work. In this connection he has traveled from the Atlantic to the Pacific, working at different periods on papers in Portland, Oregon, Los Angeles, California, New York and St. Louis. While thus engaged as representative of the Star and Times of St. Louis he was, in 1913, offered an opening with a representative New York broker in the establishment of a branch house in St. Louis. He undertook the work, although without previous expe- rienee of this character, and such was his success that within the following year he bought out his employer and organized the present corporation known as the W. L. Schachner Company, of which he has since been the president and the moving spirit. The company is engaged in the stock and bond brokerage business, with offices in the Central National Bank building, and does not handle anything but safe, substantial securities and will not touch any speculative stock whatever. They keep in constant touch with their clients and irre- proachable integrity permeates all their business transactions, contributing in substantial measure to their growing success. From a small organization in 1913 they have grown to a powerful, well established corporation with unlim- ited credit and hundreds of satisfied customers.
Mr. Schachner is a Blue Lodge Mason, having his membership at O'Fallon, Illinois. He is connected with the Chamber of Commerce of St. Louis and with the Sunset Hill Club. He was active in all the war campaigns for the sale of Thrift Stamps and Liberty Bonds and in days of peace is equally loyal in his support of those interests which are working for higher ideals in citizen- ship and larger accomplishments in city building. Mr. Schachner may well be
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W. L. Schachner
termed one of the dynamic forces in the business circles of St. Louis. Starting with practically no capital seven years ago, his assets are now written in six figures, and there are few men more thoroughly conversant with the stock and bond market today than is W. L. Schachner.
1.6. Beasley
Truman Cross Beasley
T RUMAN CROSS BEASLEY, merchant and banker, is a man to whom opportunity has ever been the call to action-a call to which he has made immediate response. To him the attain- ment of success has not been the sole end and aim of his activities. He has delighted in playing the game and playing it fair, in solving intricate problems and bringing unrelated and ofttimes seemingly diverse elements into a harmonious whole. He has thus for many years figured prominently in the commercial and financial circles of Livingston county as a leading merchant and as the president of the First National Bank of Chillicothe.
A native Missourian, Mr. Beasley was born September 16, 1855, in Jasper county, and is a son of Andrew Jackson and Eudora (Perry) Beasley. The father's birth occurred May 25, 1826, in Pike county, Missouri, where he was reared. The paternal grandfather of our subject was Ephraim Beasley, a native of Kentucky, where he was reared to agricultural pursuits, which he followed during his life. IIe was a democrat and also an adherent of the Christian church. The paternal grandmother in her maidenhood was Rebecca Ruddel, a native of Scott county, Kentucky, where she passed her girlhood days. In the family of Mr. and Mrs. Ephraim Beasley were ten children. In Pike county, Missouri, Andrew Jackson Beasley eventually took up the business of farming and stock raising, so continuing until 1861, when he removed to Chillicothe, of which city he remained a resident for fifty years or until his demise on the 6th of July, 1911. He was always a stalwart advocate of democratie princi- ples and equally faithful in his allegiance to the teachings of the Christian church. It was on the 4th of January, 1853, in Jasper county, Missouri, that he wedded Eudora Perry, who was born in Cleveland, Tennessee, January 4, 1837. She was brought to Missouri in 1851, when but fourteen years of age, by her parents, Alexander and Elizabeth ( Woodlea) Perry, both of whom were natives of Tennessee. Her father devoted his life to the occupation of farming. He gave his political support to the democratic party, was a soldier of the War of 1812 and in religious faith was a Methodist. IIis death oeenrred in Arkansas in 1862. To him and his wife were born eight children. Eudora became the wife of Andrew Jackson Beasley and the mother of four children: William Herschel, who was born December 13, 1853, and died March 31, 1902; Truman C .; Ida Ella, who was born September 11, 1860, and died August 28, 1865; and Lula, who was born September 30, 1870, and passed away November 19, 1876.
Truman Cross Beasley, the only surviving member of his father's family, was reared in Chillicothe and attended the public schools. He decided to turn his attention to commercial pursuits and when twenty-one years of age secured a clerkship in a store at Pattonsburg, Missouri, in which connection he steadily
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worked his way upward-merit, faithfulness and ability winning him promo- tion from time to time-and eventually became a partner in the business. At the end of sixteen years of efficient service for the house he bought the interests of his partners and conducted the business successfully being connected there- with altogether for twenty-nine years. In fact he is still president of the com- pany, which is operating under the name of the Pattonsburg Mercantile Com- pany, and he is also president of the Botts-Minteer Dry Goods Company at Chillicothe. During twenty-seven of the twenty-nine years in which he was active in the control of his mercantile interests he made trips to St. Louis, Chi- cago and New York to buy goods. As a merchant he has displayed sound judg- ment, nnfaltering enterprise and progressiveness, ever recognizing the fact that satisfied patrons are the best advertisement. In the meantime he also entered the banking business, dividing his time between commercial and financial pur- suits. He became the president of the Daviess County Bank at Pattonsburg and in 1906, removing to Chillicothe, he assumed the presidency of the First National Bank of that city. This bank was founded in 1887 and capitalized for fifty thousand dollars, its first president being George Milbank and the cashier A. M. Johnson. Since 1906 Mr. Beasley has continuously served as president and under his direction the business of the bank has steadily developed and increased. Today the institution is capitalized for one hundred thousand dol- lars and has a surplus of eighty thousand dollars, with deposits five times as great as when the bank first opened its doors for business. With the thorough- ness that characterizes everything he has undertaken, Mr. Beasley has made a close study of the banking business in every phase and his opinions are largely accepted as authority upon many questions relative thereto. He has always recognized the fact that the bank which most carefully safeguards the interests of its depositors is most worthy of support and has therefore tempered pro- gressiveness with a safe conservatism in the management of the financial inter- ests under his control.
On the 30th of May, 1888, Mr. Beasley was married at Pattonsburg, Mis- souri, to Miss Mattie Ewing, whose birth occurred near Bedford, in Trimble county, Kentucky, September 14, 1866. Her father, George Douglas Ewing, was born at Ewingford, Kentucky, January 2, 1842, and there resided until 1885, when he became a resident of Pattonsburg, Missouri, opening there an insur- ance office in which he soon established an extensive business. ITis political support has always been given to the democratic party. and his religious faith is that of the Methodist church, South. When in Kentucky he represented his district in the state legislature in 1879 and 1880, and he served with the Con- federate army during the Civil war, with the rank of orderly sergeant, and was a member of Colonel Giltner's staff of the First Brigade of General John H. Morgan's cavalry division. He was married in Trimble county, Kentucky, July 13, 1865, to Artimesia Bain, who was there born October 27, 1842, and they became the parents of four children : Charles Bain, born August 10, 1870; Iva Watkins and Ira Scott, twins, born June 4, 1875, the former dying October 6, 1881, and the latter September 5, 1877; and Mrs. Beasley. The paternal grandparents of Mrs. Beasley were Fulton and Rachel Watkins (Robbins) Ewing. The former was born in Henry County, Kentucky, November 4, 1809, and fol- lowed farming and stock raising. He was a democrat in politics and a member
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Truman Cross Beasley
of the Methodist Episcopal church, South. He passed away at Ewingford, Kentucky, July 18, 1889. His wife was also born in Henry county, Kentucky, and their marriage occurred March 14, 1833. Their family numbered ten chil- dren. The maternal grandfather of Mrs. Beasley was Charles Bain, who was born in Virginia, October 2, 1795, and was taken by his parents to Kentucky, where he grew to manhood and followed farming. He, too, belonged to the Methodist church, South, and was a democrat in his political views. On the 16th of June, 1831, in Trimble county, Kentucky, he wedded Nancy Trout, who was born in Switzerland county, Indiana, December 14, 1809, but was reared in Kentucky. To this marriage there were born eleven children. The ancestral line of Mrs. Beasley can be traced back to a still more remote period. Iler great- grandparents, James and Robina (Scott) Ewing, were born, educated and mar- ried in Edinburgh, Scotland, and in 1799 sailed for the new world. The ship on which they took passage was driven hither and thither by the gales, ship- wreck added to its delays and six months had passed before they reached their destination. Their first child was born at sea and was named Douglas in honor of the Donglas clan of Scotland, to which the great-grandmother of Mrs. Beas- ley belonged. She was one of the leaders in a movement for higher education of girls and at Frankfort established the first girls' high school in Kentucky. Mrs. Beasley began her education in the schools of Kentucky and continued her studies in the high school at Pattonsburg, Missouri. She is a lady of innate enlture and refinement who occupies a prominent social position in Chillicothe.
Mr. Beasley is well known as a representative of the Masonic fraternity and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and he is also a consistent, faithful and helpful member of the Christian church. His political allegiance is given to the democratic party, but he has never desired to fill political positions. IIe has rendered much valuable service to the public in other connections, however, and his cooperation has at all times been counted upon and gladly given in con- nection with the development and progress of his city and state. He is now a member of the Missouri State Historical Society. In his business life he has been a persistent, resolute and energetie worker, possessing strong executive powers, keeping his hand steadily upon the helm of his business and strictly con- scientious in his dealings with debtor and creditor alike. Keenly alive to the possibilities of every new avenue opened in the natural ramifications of trade and banking, he has passed over the pitfalls into which unrestricted progressive- ness is so frequently led and has been enabled to focus his energies in directions where fruition is certain. His business characteristics might be summed up in these words : A progressive spirit ruled by more than ordinary intelligence and good judgment, a deep earnestness impelled and fostered by indomitable per- severance, a native justice expressing itself in correct principle and practice.
T. S Sheldon
Frank C. Sheldon
RANK E. SHELDON has long been actively associated with F the lumber industry, in which connection he has developed interests of large proportions. The salient points in his suc- cessful career have been industry, intelligence, energy and ambition. No esoteric phases will be met by any who care to delve deep into his career and study of his record will bring to light many points worthy of emulation, while his entire career excites the admiration of those who are willing to accord to individual achievement the right to its reward.
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