USA > Missouri > Jackson County > Kansas City > Kansas City, Missouri : its history and its people 1808-1908 > Part 50
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The purposes of the organization are outlined in the first paragraph of the club's constitution-"to associate, at a monthly dinner, representative women of the various professions and business interests of Kansas City, to engage in discussions of current events, fine arts, literature, science, sociology, politics, economies and history; to increase the acquaintance of each mem- ber of the organization by bringing all into friendly, social intercourse; to create a feeling of good fellowship and unselfish, non-partisan, non-sectarian public spirit that will make for the advancement of the highest interests of our city." Even without this dignified declaration of a definite purpose, the club could have naught but an excellent influence. It will bring the mem- bers into closer touch, busy women of the work-a-day world though they be -- it will establish friendships and sympathies, promote wider understand- ing between those who might otherwise never have been touched. and bring about mental changes and recognitions that cannot help but make for good.
The officers for the esuing year are Miss Mary E. Andrews, president ; Miss Gertrude Greene, vice-president; Miss Floy Campbell, secretary; Miss Eleanor McGee, treasurer. The present board of directors includes Miss Clara Kellogg, Mrs. J. T. Chafin, Miss E. Blanche Reineke, Miss Geneve Lichtenwalter, Dr. Genevieve Evans, Miss Ida Clarke, and the officers.
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An organization that already has taken a prominent place in the elub life of Kansas City is the Women's Athletic club. Scarcely six months ago the first efforts were begun to make for the women of the city a club house where classes in athletics could be held where the proper physical instruction could be furnished for these grown indolent by indulgence or slothful in exercise by too many demands in the business life.
A few women who have carried for years the hope of realizing such a plan banded themselves together and called a meeting of others interested in the same plan. This meeting took place May 26 and the first steps were made toward the successful club that now counts a membership of over four hundred. On June 26, in the Long building was held the first regular meet- ing of the advisory board, the patronesses and the board of directors. These were present, Mrs. S. E. Stranathan, Mrs. Fred O. Cunningham, Mrs. C. A. Heckert, Mrs. Viola Dale McMurray, Miss Mary E. Andrews, Miss Anna Gilday, Miss Frances Wilson, Miss Clarissa Dickson, Miss Mary Lambert and Miss Eleanor MeGee, comprising the board of directors: Mrs. Sidney Allen and Mrs. Robert J. Mason represented the patronesses of the club; while Mr. Thomas H. Reynolds, Mr. Percy Budd and Mr. E. D. Kipp gave suggestions and advice reaped from their work in the interest of the Kansas City Athletic club. Ex-mayor Beardsley encouraged the movement and gave valuable advice.
With this meeting the charter members and officers began an earnest campaign for members. At each successive meeting of the board encourag- ing reports told of the growing interest among the women and within a short time the list had registered a hundred names. In the face of discouragement a building was secured and the former house of the Fine Arts elub in the Owen building, 1024 Walnut street, was opened as the headquarters of the new organization. The rooms have become known in the city and through the state as a down town home, where the same advantages and privileges can be enjoyed by the women that are afforded men in their elubs. Classes in gymnastics and general physical instruction are held in the morning, afternoon and evening. A tea room gives refreshment to scores of members and their guests. A rest room supplies the need of members who seek a quiet moment's relaxation. Showers and baths, dressing rooms and lockers, the gymnasium, a reading room, a writing room and an attractive parlor have shown their limited accommodation for such a membership and a new build- ing is now the consideration before the club officers.
The official staff of the club is comprised of Mrs. S. E. Stranathan, president ; Miss Anna Gilday, vice president; Mrs. Fred O. Cunningham, secretary ; Miss Viola D. MeMurray, superintendent of instruction and gen- eral director; with Miss Grace Fryer, Miss Clarissa Diekson, Miss Eleanor
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E. McGee, Miss Mary E. Andrews and Mrs. C. A. Heckert to complete the board of governors. The patronesses include Mrs. Edward P. Pratt, Mrs. J. H. Austin, Mrs. Robert J. Mason, Mrs. J. MED. Trimble, Mrs. E. W. Smith, Mrs. W. B. Richards, Mrs. Sidney Allen, Mrs. J. T. Bird, Mrs. George A. Barton, Mrs. Fred Whiting and Miss Louise Massey. An advisory board is composed of Mr. Thomas H. Reynolds, Mr. George Creel, Mr. Frank Walsh and Mr. William Lyons.
The Council of Clubs organized April 4, 1901, Mrs. John Gage, tem- porary chairman, fourteen clubs were represented and elected the following officers: Mrs. Ess, president, from the Athenaeum; Mrs. M. A. Thomas, class '82; Mrs. Kate Pierson, secretary, Woman's Reading club; Mrs. M. J. Payne, treasurer, New Century club. The present officers are Mrs. E. L. Chambless, president; Mrs. Frenkel, 1st vice-president; Mrs. Peet. 2d vice- president; Mrs. Wm. Quast, 3d vice-president; Mrs. Thos. McBride, secre- tary; Mrs. J. H. Stevens, treasurer.
During the seven years of its existence the following ladies have been president: Mrs. Ess, 1901-3; Mrs. Woodstock, 1903-4; Mrs. Beham, 1904-5; Mrs. J. S. Morgan, 1905-6; Mrs. Lieberman was elected but resigned. Mrs. Wm. Quast, 1906-7; Mrs. E. L. Chambless, 1907-8.
The objects of interest to the Council have been in creating and main- taining for several vacations a play-ground in Shelly park; creating an aid fund during the flood of 1903 for the benefit of the flood sufferers, and now the launching of a girls' hotel where working girls may be cared for at very moderate terms.
Quoting from the constitution which best reveals the purpose and work of the Couneil: "This association is formed to bring the various clubs and societies which are interested in the social, intellectual, physical and moral advancement of Kansas City into closer and more effective communication as a means of prosecuting public work of common interest.
"Any society in Kansas City, the nature of which is satisfactory to the executive committee of the Council. may become a member of the Council by its own vote and the payment of one dollar into the treasury, but no society shall thereby lose its independence in aim or method, or be committed to any principle or method of any other society in the Council."
The Missouri Federation of Women's Clubs is divided into eight dis- triets according to the Congressional district divisions. Kansas City is the center of the second district. All of the federated clubs in this district are Kansas City clubs with the exception of one from Carrollton, Missouri.
The annual meeting of the second district clubs is held in Kansas City and is always a most interesting and instructive affair, both intellectually and socially. The program consists of a report of the standing committees
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which reveals splendid efforts and forceful activity in the lines of work allotted to each. The annual luncheon is always a pleasant, cheerful, social hour, where the visiting guests from all parts of the state are welcomed and entertained. The state President always favors the assembly with an address, and the reunion is an event looked forward to by every club mem- ber in Missouri. Mrs. Jacque Morgan is president of the second district. Her genial wit and the hearty appreciation she accords to co-workers in the district, have endeared her to every member of the Second District Assembly.
The standing committees of the second district are: the Art committee, district chairman, Mrs. L. B. Nutter; the Forestry committee, chairman, Mrs. Harlan Spengler; Legislative committee, chairman, Miss Anna C. Gil- day ; Literature, chairman, Mrs. C. B. Spencer; Philanthropy, chairman, Mrs. Judge Kyle; Press committee, chairman, Mrs. J. P. Bradshaw; Educational committee, chairman, Mrs. E. R. Weeks; Home Economics, chairman, Mrs. W. Q. Church, and the Bureau of Reciprocity, with Mrs. P. F. Peet as chairman.
The Federated Clubs of Kansas City are:
Alternate Tuesday club .- Study: China and Japan. President, Mrs. James W. Murray; secretary, Mrs. Eugene Clark. Membership 20.
Athenaeum .- Department club. President, Mrs. Wilber L. Bell; secre- tary, Miss Anna C. Gilday; corresponding secretary, Mrs. Fred Traber. Mem- bership 390.
Bancroft club .- Travels, ports, peoples, places. President, Mrs. H. A. Brower; secretary, Mrs. J. R. Mills. Membership 25.
Central Study club .- Grecian literature and history. President and gen- eral director, Mrs. J. L. Morgan. Membership 16.
Clionian club .- Study: Germany. President, Mrs. J. H. Hunter; secre- tary, Mrs. N. M. Miller. Membership 15.
Council of Jewish Women .- Study: Bible and philanthropy. Presi- dent, Mrs. Paul Kessel; secretary, Mrs. J. Davidson. Membership 250.
Every Other Week club .- Subject: Italian cities. President, Mrs. M. H. De Vault; secretary, Mrs. T. F. Hayes. Membership 12.
History and Literature club .- Subject: Shakespeare. President, Mrs. C. S. Denny ; secretary, Mrs. J. N. Kidd. Membership 20.
Keramie club .- Applied design and art. President, Mrs. Gertrude Todd; secretary, Miss Anna C. Johnson. Membership 69.
New Century elub .- Bay View course. President, Mrs. John C. Merine; secretary, Miss Minnie Merine. Membership 20.
Portia club .- Shakespeare and miscellaneous. President, Mrs. H. G. Kyle; secretary, Mrs. R. E. Kearney. Membership 21.
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Ruskin club .- French history. President, Mrs. C. W. Mckown; secre- tary, Mrs. C. V. Reed. Membership 14.
South Prospect club .- Bay View course. President, Mrs. O. H. Schramm; secretary, Mrs. C. S. Burns. Membership 14.
Tuesday Morning Study class .- Spain. President, Mrs. F. F. Todd; secretary, Mrs. W. S. Cowherd. Membership 20.
Women of the Humane Society .- Humane education. President, Mrs. Henry N. Ess; secretary, Mrs. R. J. McCarty. Membership 150.
Woman's Reading club .- Mythology. President, Mrs. W. M. Dunning; secretary, Mrs. C. G. Pinckard. Membership 16.
The Club life of women, in its present expression, has long passed the stage of apology or defense. Time was when the cynic had his sneer and the jester his fling at the utilitarianism of Women's Clubs, but that was of a day long gone. It is a time now not only of rapid thinking, but of equally rapid action, and so swiftly has been the forward movement of women as a potent force in sociological development, that her present position seems to have been as imperceptibly acquired as it is securely established. The Woman's Club no matter what the scope or trend of its purpose, is a necessary stone in the social arch, and one which has, by the beauty, the art, the aestheticism of its ornamentation, as well as the utility of its form and substance, wrought a wonderful influence upon the thoughts and purposes of the other makers of the stones that compose the arch.
And while Women's Clubs have grown in strength and usefulness, the "Club Woman," as a type which once threatened to develop from an over- zealous devotion to form rather than to matter, to the non-essentials, rather than the essentials, of organization, has disappeared, and, be it said, to the greater good of the cause. The "Club Woman" now is a Home Woman. She has come to understand that the lintel of her own house is the first step into her world of usefulness. And while this seems a trite enough saying it is a fact that never before has the Home idea-the development of the Mu- nicipal Household, as the unit of government, along every line of improve- ment, artistic, scientific, sanitary, ethical-received such an impetus and en- joyed such an expansion as it has within the past few years in America.
Long regarded by foreigners as inhabiting an enervating women's para- dise, because of the supreme indulgence that the faith and courtesy of Amer- ican men have accorded to women, the latter have passed unspoiled through an era of lotos-eating, drifting, indolence of public spirit, into a "safe and sane" period of usefulness and hearty co-operation with men in the world's work. If there be still a four hundred or a six hundred who find their pleasure in that
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"land "In which it seemed always afternoon,
*
A land where all things seemed the same,"
there are millions who prefer the new dawn that has arisen for their sex and who are abroad and daring to follow wherever men go and to do what- ever men do, for the benefit of men, with sure feet, with clear brains and educated, helpful hands.
Nor is this the language of mere rhapsody or enthusiasm. Cold statistics mark the growth of women's clubs in America and the newspapers of the country record the activity of their members. In the far west, in the newly awakening states and territories, the remotest village paper records the tendency of women, even in the hard conditions of frontier life, to foregather in the interests of intellectual profit and higher social development. The mammoth periodicals that emanate from the eastern centers, the women's magazines, wherein the thought of the world of women and the acts of the world of women are circulated so widely that the dweller in Jimtown may ascend to the same ethereal atmosphere enjoyed by her sisters in Boston, and catch the wireless messages of the world's progress. These have been power- ful influences in hastening on a solidarity of women's activities, the move- ment towards which is keeping full pace with the progress of the race along other paths of evolution.
The Women's Clubs are now the intermediaries, as it were, between the plane of the home and the planes of the business and the political world. The political idea which was once supposed to be one of the dominating in- fluences of women's publie organizations, has long ceased to count as an energizing factor, that is to say, the political idea as expressed in mere de- sire for recognition, glory, privilege,-but in the broader field of ideal gov- ernment, the impressment of the "eternal feminine" sense of right, and justice and beauty and harmony upon the home, upon the city, upon the State, and upon the Nation, is now the high purpose that is being daily made more effective in the operations of women's clubs throughout the nation.
The forums and the counting houses and the market places of men are no longer alien worlds to women. Its former secrets have become the topics of conjugal discussion, in the home circle, and men have learned to feel that "The Doll's House" in America is no longer the vogue, and that the wife who keeps in touch with the world through her own club media is capable of opinion and advice and warning and comfort that are not only helpful to him. but fast becoming essential and necessary. By this new spirit of reciprocity man has lost none of his virility nor woman her tenderness. It is not accomplishing a curtailment of love, of romance, of courtesy, of honor or regard between the two. On the contrary it is drawing them closer and
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closer together and will continue to do so until they become in such intimate intellectual rapport, standing shoulder to shoulder in the world's struggle, that they will become in sooth and in fact ,as well as poetically, "useless one without the other."
CHAPTER XXIX.
SOCIAL LIFE.
Perhaps no city in the world can show a more rapid development, a greater change in its people, its life and customs than can Kansas City- sometimes known as the "French settlement," Kawsmouth, Kansas, and Town of Kansas, and later Kansas City, with its Indian, French, Mexican, Spanish and American inhabitants. In 1908 there are only about half a dozen persons living who rocked the cradle of this young giant that soon put on the seven league boots and stepped across the Apalachian mountains to the Atlantic ocean, and across the Rocky mountains to the Pacific ocean. Among them are: W. Henry Chick, Joseph S. Chick, James Hunter and Mrs. Cyprian Chouteau.
To discuss the social development of Kansas City is to discuss the separate phases and epochs brought about by constantly changing condi- tions-from tepees, bark huts, log cabins and sun-dried brick mansions to stone and cement apartment houses; and from Indian ponies, ox-carts, prairie schooners, stage coaches, packet boats and steam cars to automobiles. These transformations took place in this community from 1808 to 1908; a century with its ten mile-stones marked with privation, endurance, evolu- tion, ambition, enterprise, catastrophe and achievement. A golden mile- stone, like the Milliarun Aurum in the Roman forum, might be set up to show that all roads-be they Indian trails, wagon roads, water ways or rail- roads-lead to a new Rome. On that golden mile-stone a golden book might be laid, and after the manner of the Venetians, there might be inscribed therein the names of those daring founders, energetic builders, and brave fighters whose abiding faith developed the little trading post into one of the great cities of the world.
Although known to French trappers. explorers and adventurers, the vicinity of Kansas City, so far as history tells, was not visited by white men until Daniel Morgan Boone came about 1787. This son of the celebrated Kentucky pioneer trapped for twelve winters on the Big and Little Blue rivers, and he pronounced them the best beaver streams he had yet discov-
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ered. The first white woman known to have settled near the Kaw's mouth was Madam Grand Louis, who came with her husband, Louis Bartholet, from St. Charles, Missouri, in 1800. Francois Chouteau brought his fam- ily with him when he established a trading-post near the mouth of the Kaw river in 1821; and in 1829 James H. McGee bought land, followed by Gabriel Prudhomme, who purchased land in 1831 that afterwards became the original townsite of Kansas City.
The first white settlement in Jackson county was made in 1808 at Fort Osage on a site twenty miles east of Kansas City. George C. Sibley, gov- ernment factor at the fort, built a home in 1818 that became noted for its hospitality. Mrs. Sibley is said to have owned the first piano brought to Jackson county. Abraham McClelland built a log mansion at Fort Osage in 1822.
In the olden times it was said that Independence was a town of good breeding and that Westport was a town of good fellowship, Kansas City had both and by adding enterprise formed the celebrated "Kansas City Spirit." Some of the prominent men of Independence before 1850 were Judge Rus- sell Hicks, William McCoy, John McCoy, John Parker, Cornelius Davy, John Wilson, Samuel D. Lucas, J. B. Hovey, George Buchanan, Jacob Hallar, L. W. Boggs, Samuel C. Owen, Henry C. Childs, James Childs, Major Wil- liam Gilpin, Samuel H. Woodson and Abraham Comingo. The law firm of Woodson, Comingo & Chrisman was one of the oldest, and their families were among the socially prominent.
Before church houses were built the people worshiped in private homes or in the groves. In 1827 the New Salem church, a few miles east of In- dependence, was organized, and in 1832 the Cumberland Presbyterian church was built in Independence, followed by the Christian church in 1835 and the Methodist church in 1837. A college for young women, established in the early forties by a Methodist minister, was well attended, and was consid- ered one of the best schools of the west. Many Indian girls from Wyandotte, daughters of wealthy Wyandotte Indians, were among the pupils. Julia Armstrong, daughter of Silas Armstrong, a chief of the Wyandotte tribe, attended, and married in Independence.
Captain M. S. Burr, Martin Parker, Meade Woodson, Brook Kerley, James Beckman, Captain Schuyler Lowe and John Smith were among the beaus in 1840. Among the belles were Miss Ann Eliza Kean, who at the age of sixteen married Jabez Smith, one of the largest planters and slave holders of the county, and after his death married John W. Polk. Miss Fannie Owen, daughter of Samuel C. Owen, a popular and beautiful girl, figured in one of the first romances and first tragedies of the town.
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FASHIONS IN KANSAS CITY IN EARLY DAYS.
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Home-made tallow dipped candles shone brightly on young gallants in ruffled shirts and stocks and upon fair maidens with glossy water-falls, delaine or tissue dresses, hoop skirts and family jewels. Dancing, however, was forbidden by the churches, and games called by the scoffers, "Presby- terian dances," were substituted. "Oh, Sister Phoebe," "Criddle Me Cran- kie," and "Marching down to old Quebec" were popular games, where young women and young men alternated standing in a ring and "circled to the left" instead of forming a hollow square and giving the right hand to the partner. At the home of Samuel C. Owen there were real "Episcopalian dances;" sleighing parties were popular in winter and river excursions in the summer. A large party of young people, accompanied by some older persons-they were not called "chaperons" in those days-would take pass- age on one of the popular Missouri packets, and dance on the broad decks to the music of the darky fiddler. Good southern cooking and a jolly cap- tain made the trip highly enjoyable.
Quilting bees took the place of the card parties of today. A "quiltin' " was mainly arranged for social occasion. Mothers and their daughters were invited to spend the day and sometimes arrived as early as nine o'clock, hav- ing driven ten miles in the family carriage if the roads were good, or rid- den horseback, if muddy. Every well-to-do family had a family carriage and old darky driver, and every child his own riding horse. The quilt, which had been pieced by the hostess after one of the many popular patterns in Gra- ham's Magazine or Godey's Lady book-the Rising Sun, Irish chain, the Wild Goose, the Basket pattern or the album-was stretched on a quilting frame around which all the women sat in rush bottom chairs to stitch to- gether the top and the bottom and the, cotton padding. With their care- fully placed stitches, nice discriminations were also couched with the tongue, for there were pioneers and pioneers. The lines between those who owned slaves and those who did not was carefully drawn; there were those, of fam- ily and position who brought from "home" courtly manners and elegancies, and those sturdy, good people whose forbears lived for many years the life of the frontier, enduring the hardships and pushing ever westward. Nat- urally a class distinction was drawn, though kindliness and friendliness abounded. The Western Star of Liberty, Clay county, and the St. Louis Re- public were the weekly newspapers, while the neighborhood news and gos- sips, new receipts and anecdotes were circulated by word of mouth. The hostess never got out her fine quilt for many hands to handle, but kept that for her spare moments, when the elaborate patterns, such as Prince of Wales feathers, flower pots filled with flowers, and elaborate geometrical designs, were stitched in, oftentimes occupying the spare moments of an entire year. At noon a dinner was served, after which work was continued in the after-
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noon until four o'clock, when the husbands and beaux arrived. In pioneer times after there had been a log-rolling or a corn-shueking, the men would immediately form a court and "condemn" the quilt; it was uniformly found "guilty and hung," that is drawn up to the ceiling upon stout cords, leaving the floor clear for the dancing or a "kissing" game according to the religious tenets of the host. This was followed by a supper including pumpkin pie, peach pie, spice pie and buttermilk, after which there were more games- "backwoods fun of real enjoyment"-and about candle light the young men escorted the girls home, all singing together to the cross-roads:
"I'll see Nellie home, I'll see Nellie home From Aunt Dinah's quilting party, I'll see Nellie home."
Colonel Samuel Ralston, from South Carolina, lived on the site of the home of the late Melville Hudson, near Englewood. He was noted for his fine carving at the table, being able to carve a turkey ready to serve, without letting it fall apart. This he could do without soiling the cloth, of which he was very proud. Dr. Benoist Troost, who lived first in Independence and then in Kansas City, a Hollander of education, was very lively and enter- taining. Mrs. Troost generally dressed in bright colors. She had a very gay disposition and sometimes was misunderstood by her sedate neighbors. Dr. David Waldo was a man of unusual education for that day; he spoke French and Spanish fluently. Captain John W. Reid, a lawyer and mem- ber of Congress, was distinguished for his courtly manners. His first wife was the widow Flournoy, and his second wife was Miss Sally McGraw, who was an intimate friend of his step-daughter, Miss Fanny Flournoy. Mrs. Sally McGraw Reid subsequently married T. B. Bullene in Kansas City. Charles Cowherd, who came from Kentucky and settled in the country near Lee's Summit, was a very wealthy man with a delightful family. One of his sons, William S. Cowherd, was Mayor of Kansas City and later a mem- ber of Congress, and is now, 1908, Democratic candidate for Governor of Missouri.
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