USA > Missouri > Jackson County > Kansas City > Kansas City, Missouri : its history and its people 1808-1908 > Part 52
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Owing to a disagreement among the city fathers about naming the town, nothing was accomplished until 1845. Abraham Fonda wanted the town named for him. It is said that on early lists of names of first settlers each man wrote his occupation after his name, but owing to Mr. Fonda's
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superior education and having no particular calling, he always wrote : "Abraham Fonda, Gentleman." It is also said that the town was named in Mrs. Johnston Lykins' parlor; that she begged of the other ladies present not to name it Kansas, as whatever glory might come to it would reflect to the good of the state of Kansas and not to the state of Missouri. The truth of this is somewhat confused, owing to the fact that there was not a state of Kansas at that time. There was the Kansas river and the Indian country which meant, vaguely, everything west.
Bent and St. Vrain landed the first big cargo of merchandise at Kansas City in 1845 and from that date, that shipment of goods, and the reorganiza- tion of the town company, the town became alive. The goods were billed to the Chick warehouse and days were spent loading it on wagons for Santa Fe. The first home built on the high bluff on Walnut street between Second and Pearl streets was built by William Miles Chick. Nearby John Calvin McCoy built the first brick house put up within the corporate limits of the town. (James McGee's brick house in the country, now Nineteenth and Main streets, and the Robert Johnson brick house near Westport, ante- dated the McCoy house.) Mrs. Isaac McCoy, built nearby, and with the William Jarboe, John Campbell and Jesse Riddlesbarger houses formed a congenial neighborhood. Mr. and Mrs. Chick, noted for their hospitality and Virginian customs, entertained the distinguished visitors, there being no adequate tavern or hotel. Senator Benton, General Fremont and Wash- ington Irving were guests. Mr. Chick's granddaughter, Mrs. Emma Findlay Chick Moore, tells a story of how Gen. Fremont saved her life in 1847. Gen. Fremont was visiting Mr. Chick and little Emma was having a birth- day tea party in her grandmother's parlor. She had invited her cousins, Lee Chick, Spencer McCoy, Nellie and Juliet MeCoy, Clay Polk and Henry Chick, and was using her fine gilt edge doll china. With childish bravado she tried to swallow a teacup and was almost strangled when Gen. Fremont rushed to the reccue and, putting his fingers down the child's throat, ex- tracted the cup. Mrs. Benton and Mrs. Fremont often sent the Chick chil- dren presents from California in
The Old days, The Golden days, The Days of '49.
The Chick family owned, in 1848, the first cook stove used in Kansas City and in the spring of 1855 had the first Singer sewing machine west of St. Louis.
The first church fair given in Kansas City was arranged by Mrs. George C. Bingham, Mrs. T. M. James, Mrs. Sam Machette, Mrs. William Barclay, Mrs. II. S. Millett and Mrs. J. S. Chick. It was given on the, S. S. Chambers
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in the winter of 1857-58, which, owing to the river being frozen over, was lying at the levee for the winter. The ladies obtained permission for its use from the captain, Alexander Gilham. Miss Mattie Shouse and Miss Bettie Stone were among the young ladies who sold tickets at 25c. apiece. The supper and various home-made articles that were sold helped to swell the receipts, which netted a magnificent sum for the Methodist church at Fifth and Wyandotte streets.
From the, Kansas City Daily Western Journal of Commerce, Vol. 1, No. 1, June 15, 1858, the following facets were obtained: Hockaday & Hall advertised the Santa Fe and New Mexico Stage line to leave Independence on the first and fifteenth of each month and the price during the summer months was $125, and the winter months $150. J. & P. Shannon, dry goods importers, corner Main and Front streets, advertised French and Eng. jaconets, French challies, lace mantellas, parasols, fans, kid and filet gloves, cotton and silk hosiery. Special attention was called to Ladies' Bonnet and Millinery department, latest Paris styles. Orders from France delivered in thirty days. Hotel arrivals: Eldridge House, West Levee, J. M. Vogel, Rocky Mts., June 17, 1858.
July 4th was first celebrated in Kansas City in 1858. Colonel McGee offered the grove in McGee's addition. 3,000 people attended, 500 of whom, the paper states, were wives and daughters. Banta's Band furnished the music. The celebration commenced at 10 o'clock in the morning and ended with a ball that night at the Metropolitan hotel. Colonel McGee bought a buffalo for the barbecue, which got away a few days before. Excited neigh- bors gave chase and captured the buffalo after a chase of a mile or more. The following ladies were appointed to solicit subscriptions for the celebra- tion : Mrs. A. J. Martin, Miss Gertie McGee, Mrs. Dr. Maughs, Mrs. Dr. Lester, Mrs. Amelia Evans, Mrs. J. Ransom, Miss Beattie and Mrs. D. W. Boutie.
The best and most popular residence district was on the bluffs over- looking the river in Clay county, north of Third street and between Market street (now Grand avenue) and Wyandotte street. The wealth and aris- tocracy were here concentrated. The remaining inhabitants were scattered upon the adjacent hills and ridges southward to Missouri avenue, principally along the east side of Grand avenue, which settlement was called "String- town," perhaps from its irregularity and length without breadth. The families of Southern sympathy lived for the most part on the east side of the town, and the Union families on the west. The name given about 1850 to the west side of the town was "Quality Hill" or "Silk Stocking Ridge," which was between Broadway and Jefferson streets, from Ninth to Eleventh streets. The neighborhood was composed of the following families: Baylis,
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Theo. Case, Col. Waterman, Kersey Coates, Dr. Lykins and Mrs. Lampkin, whose brother, Bayard Taylor, visited her there.
The old streets of Kansas City were named for the early citizens and there were many Indian names. Most of these have been changed, which is a distinct loss in flavor to the town. Of the old, that which is good should be preserved. Two of the pioneer houses of Kansas City, still standing and owned by the descendants of the, original owners, are the James Porter homestead, built in 1832, and the Joseph Guinotte homestead, built in 1850.
The, Porter home, in the country, now Twenty-seventh and Tracy streets, was the scene of gaiety and frolic by the succeeding generations and, while unoccupied now, is kept in repair as a precious heritage for the fifth generation of Porters. The Guinotte home on the high bluff overlooking the Missouri river, near Third street and Troost avenue, was made ready by Joseph Guinotte for his fiancé, Aimée Brichaut, who came from Brussels to marry her lover in America. Mlle. Brichaut, coming from the finished old city of Brussels to the raw little settlement on the Missouri river, found a new world indeed. She soon adapted herself to the new conditions, learned the English language and became one of the best loved women of the com- munity. The Guinotte homestead, still owned by the family, stands as forlorn as a lone monument in an abandoned cemetery. The city has grow away from it and it stands aloof on its bluff still overlooking the river, filled with echoes of the past. Madame Guinotte died about a year ago.
The first Charity ball on record was given by the citizens at the Court House, November 18, 1858, and tickets sold for $1.50. A second Charity ball on record was on November 26th, 1858, and a notice was inserted in the Daily Journal of Commerce and signed by the Mayor, Milton J. Payne, calling on the citizens to attend. It also stated: "Persons who choose may go in character, as several of the young men are anxious to have a Fancy Dress Ball."
Mrs. Cyprian Chouteau tells of a French Ball in McDowell's Hall at Fifth and Main streets, that took place just previous to the Civil war. All the French society attended. Cakes, creams and wines were served and gaiety was at its height, when suddenly the musicians struck up the Mar- seillaise. Everyone stopped and sang it with tears streaming down their faces.
On the evening of July 4, 1869, while a ball was in progress at Lock- ridge hall, a panic seized the guests, the occasion being a terrible thunder storm accompanied by a high wind and torrents of rain. Lockridge hall was on the second floor of a large briek building at the southeast corner of Fifth and Main streets. It was built and owned by Thomas J. Lockridge. When struck by the storm, it was thought that the building was about to collapse. It. however, sustained a severe shock and was partially unroofed,
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but it did not fall. No serious damage was done to the occupants. It would not be expected that Kansas City people of today would select the torrid temperature of the evening of "The Fourth" as a time for holding a Grand ball. Banta's Band furnished the music.
Many of the old-time dances of the town were given on board steam- boats lying at the levee here on dark nights on the St. Louisward trip of the boats when prudence necessitated that the pilots attempt not to run down stream in the dark. The boat carried its own orchestra-colored musicians. Among the steamers were the Morning Star, Polar Star, Kate Howard, Ben Lewis, Twilight, Tropic, Sovereign, D. A. January, Hesperion, Silver Heels, Meteor, Monongehela, A. B. Chambers and J. H. Lueas-palatial passenger boats. Hospitality reigned, no admission fee being charged. Some of the old-time steamboat captains who were hosts at these festive occasions par- ticipated in by Kansas Cityans of long ago were: Thomas H. Brierly, John Shaw, Joseph Kinney, John La Barge, Joseph La Barge, Patrick Yore, Charles X. Baker, Sr., Benjamin Glime, William Edds, Alexander Gillham, William Baker and P. M. Chouteau and Andrew Wineland.
Col. R. T. VanHorn and Mrs. VanHorn came to Kansas City about 1850. They lived at first on the levee and afterwards in a brick cottage be- tween Eleventh and Twelfth streets on Walnut street. Col. VanHorn became one of the moving spirits of the young town, and advocated, through the Western Journal of Commerce of which he was the editor and part owner, many measures of advantage to the people. Although Col. and Mrs. Van- Horn are now past eighty years of age, their interest in civic affairs has never flagged.
Kansas City has much to be proud of in its present citizenship and its past citizenship. No seandals of public or private nature blot its escutcheon, and a clean record is presented to the future citizenship.
In 1804 Lewis and Clark recognized in this point a natural trading post. Major William Gilpin and Senator Benton made prophecies about the future greatness of the little town that were laughed at in 1850, but have now come true. The prophecy of to-day is that Kansas City will become one of the great cities of the United States,-but she is already that,-she is one of the cities of the world.
Many of the little old warehouses on the levee built about 1840 are still standing. They speak of the past more eloquently than can tongue or pen, for along that levee the greatness of Kansas City commenced. The people from everywhere, going everywhere, although they traveled slowly, carried with them the story of the energy, ability and pluck of Kansas City men and the charm and refinement of Kansas City women. Kansas City has be- come a "Good Place to Live In,"-and will be a better one.
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As the town advanced old church societies were superseded by social or- ganizations. The Craig Rifles, named for Capt. H. H. Craig, was organized in 1877. The officers were J. N. Dubois, Captain; E. V. Wilkes, 1st Lieut .; John Conover, 2d Lieut .; and John A. Duncan, 3d Lieut. W. B. Thayer organized the band. Chester A. Snider was drum-major and Dr. M. A. Bogie was surgeon. All of the young dandies of the town belonged to the Craig Rifles and their annual January ball was given in the Merchants' Exchange hall at Fifth and Delaware streets. The company was disbanded in 1884, with John A. Duncan, captain. The non-commissioned officers of the orig- inal company were: Sergeants, William Peak, W. H. Winants, T. A. Wright, H. B. Ezekiel, E. W. Smith; color sergeant, T. B. Bullene; corporals, E. G. Moore, Watson J. Ferry, W. H. Craddock, A. H. Mann, R. T. Van- Horn, W. J. Connelly, H. S. Ranson, W. C. Jameson. Among the lists of privates were: Gen. Milton Moore, Gardiner Lathrop, E. L. Scarritt, D. P. Thomson, T. B. Bullene, Arthur Cowan, B. C. Christopher, W. N. Mc- Dearmon, Alex. Mckenzie, C. C. Ripley, E. E. Richardson, A. A. Whipple.
The Priests of Pallas ball and the Charity ball, given by the young ladies of the Mattie Rhodes Day Nursery, of which Miss Mary G. Karnes is the leading spirit, are interesting annual events of to-day at which the rep- resentative business men with their wives and the leading society women with their husbands, lend their presence.
Country life has again become fashionable and many families of the city whose ancestors lived on the surrounding farms in the pioneer days, have gone back to their ancestral lands that lie mainly west of the Blue river and south of Westport, and magnificent country homes have been built. Several country clubs in the south part of town mark a phase of modern social life where "Liberty" and "Freedom of Speech" have taken on a new meaning, the antithesis of that which stirred the breasts of men and women under the old regime. The social life of Kansas City has not crystallized into a society like that to be found in the cities of older states as in Balti- more and Richmond, and Charlestown which has a flavor, with established precedent and custom instituted by the colonial dames that entertained Gen- eral Washington and General LaFayette. There is as yet no recognized leader here .- no Bean Brummels nor reigning belles to issue social edicts that receive any cognizance.
The history of Kansas City, socially and commercially, embraces that of Independence, now a suburb of Kansas City, and of Westport, now a cor- porate part of the city. Independence and Westport were socially more im- portant, but with the commercial development, many families from both places moved to Kansas City, which established a cordial relationship; and the society of the three places has long been as the society of one town. A
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party at Mrs. S. H. Woodson's at Independence drew the Harris girls, Price Kellar and the Simpson boys from Westport, and the McCoy girls from Kansas City ; or a party at the old Gillis House on the levee found all the eligible young men of Jackson county and the prettiest girls from Jackson and Clay counties as well. The "bonnet meeting" at Liberty, Clay county, held at Easter time was an annual event that called out the Leghorn bonnets for miles up and down both sides of the Missouri river.
The camp meetings at Shawnee Mission, three miles south of Westport, were annual Methodist events of such importance that entire families at- tended. Shawnee Mission was the first mission to the Indians established by the government. It was a manual training school and was presided over by Rev. Thomas Johnson. Mrs. Johnson was greatly beloved by the Shawnee Indians, and at the birth of each of her children the chief men of the Shawnee tribe conducted a ceremonial about the cradle of the child, naming it and adopting it into their tribe. The kindly relationship between the Johnson family and the Indians, lasts to this day. Mrs. Johnson and Mrs. Berenice Chouteau, one riding an ox and the other an Indian pony, often visited the sick Indians in their villages and comforted and ministered to them.
Kansas City is then a part of all that it has seen; the influences that developed it were as various as the intermingling colors of a kaleidoscope. Situated on the border line between civilization and the great unorganized territory, the Indian country, it became, from 1830 to 1850, the chief trad- ing and outfitting point for that vast army of trappers, traders, adventurers and pioneers that paved the way for advancing civilization. The Indian reservations of the Wyandotte, Delaware, Fox, Sack, Shawnee, and other Indian tribes, were just across the state line to the west, and government payments of about $4,000,000 were annually distributed and as promptly spent in this vicinity. Such close contact with the Indian character did not fail to leave its impress upon its people.
The Santa Fe trade, having been drawn from Franklin and Inde- pendence, gave the citizens and merchants, through the long trips of the caravans with merchandise to a foreign country, a broadened horizon and cosmopolitan views. Then came the Oregon trailers, with the converging numbers from the East, passing through the gateway of Kansas City and .on to Oregon and Washington territories. They left their impression and influence here.
In 1837, General Richard Gentry raised a regiment of Missouri volun- teers for the Florida war, and one company with Capt. James Childs in com- mand was raised in Jackson county. This was the first Missouri regiment
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to leave the borders of the state in the service of the United States govern- ment. They distinguished themselves at the decisive battle of Okechobee where their brave commander was killed and Capt. James Childs was seriously wounded. The stories and experiences of these returning Jackson county patriots from the Florida war, were not without their influence.
In 1847, General Doniphan raised the second regiment of the Missouri volunteers to go out of the state borders, for the Mexican war. So long was his march and so victorious his exploits, that he has been called the Xenophon of Missouri. And his companies, raised in the vicinity of Kansas City, on returning home, elated with their victories and broadened by what they had seen, stamped their influence on the city.
In 1849, the gold fever was raging and that vast herd of gold seekers, known as the "Forty-niners," passed through Kansas City, the Gate-way to the Golden West. Then came the "Pike's Peak-ers," the pioneer land seek- ers, the Texas cattlemen and the large western ranchmen who made their headquarters here for a number of years. Their influence on Kansas City developed it and it has now become the greatest stock market in the world.
The greatest cities of the world have been seaports on account of maritime trade, but Kansas City, singularly situated in the center of the United States and so long on the border of organized government, was from its earliest days the West Port through which the East outflowed into that Terra Incognita beyond. As "bread cast upon the waters," all that flowed out, flowed back after many days or months or years. The French and Indian trappers, Spanish and Mexican traders, Oregon homesteaders and the "Forty- niners," and Texas cattlemen, all knew subconsciously that this place was destined to become the Great Central Market of the continent. Kansas City, too, lias had its share of war,-the Mormon war; the fearful Border war, the beginning of the terrible conflict between freedom and slavery, Union and Secession, and the Civil war.
The arrival of the Pacific railroad and the building of the Hannibal bridge, due mainly to the efforts of Col. Kersey Coates and Col. R. T. Van- Horn, helped to arouse new and common interest and weld together the sundered community after the close of the Civil war. Then came the build- ing of the Trans-continental railroads which Senator Benton had so long been advocating and which resulted in diverting the public attention from the maritime cities to the building up and developing of the great internal resources of the continent. With the coming of the railroads there came the decline in our great river commerce. Public attention, after forty years of disuse is again returning to the necessity of the improvement of the great rivers of the country, and the last action of the government deep water ways commission assures us that Kansas City will ere long see many steamboats
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at the old levee again,-and the youth of tomorrow as of yesterday may enjoy dancing on steamer decks on the Rhine of America.
The Kansas City Spirit, evolved from so many sources and influences, is something that every stranger feels in the air. Some day a monument must be erected to it that will typify the soul of this West Port, this maritime city on the border of the great prairies so long navigated only by the Prairie schooners, this Gate City at the geographical heart of the continent. A monument to the Kansas City Spirit will be a monument to the city's Past, Present and Future, the place which has become the City Beautiful toward which all Pilgrims in search of Happiness and Content, progress.
With the same civil spirit and pride that characterized the Florentines and Venetians and which developed Florence and Venice into great and powerful centers for art, science and polities, Kansas City will attain her highest usefulness and will be recognized as one of the cities of the world. ELIZABETH BUTLER GENTRY.
CHAPTER XXX.
KANSAS CITY IN PROPHECY.
Attempts to lift the veil and reveal the future are not peculiar to any age or nation. Ideas of prophecies are formed from the sacred writings and incline one to believe only in their authenticity; however in profane history may be found many utterances of prophetic lore and it awakens a keen interest to find in the annals of history prophecies undoubted in their fulfillment. The prophetie spirit is the poetry of life; a play of the imagina- tion ; again a logical deduction of a keen insight; again it is the basis of the desire itself, the region of our hopes and presentiments extends far beyond the limit of what we can know with certainty.
Nearly nineteen hundred years ago, Seneca, the celebrated Roman Stoic philosopher, predicted the discovery of America in a few poetic phrases. He said, "Ages will come in the fullness of years in which the ocean shall loose the chains of things and a mighty land shall lie open, and Typhonens shall lay bare new realms; nor will there be an Ultima Thule."
Forecasts of wars with their results have been made most frequently, no doubt the insight of men of fine perceptions. The most notable was the utterance regarding the war for Independence and the declaration of free- dom for the colonists, made by William Livingston, the famous "war gov- ernor" and the first governor of New Jersey, in 1776. Seven years before
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the first mutterings of the American revolution, in 1768, Livingston gives a vivid word painting of things to come. He predicts in these words: "Liberty, religion and the sciences are on the wing to these shores. The finger of God points out a mighty empire to your sons. The land we possess is the gift of heaven to our fathers, and divine Providence seems to have decreed it to our latest posterity. The dawns in which the foundation of this mighty empire is to be laid by the establishment of a regular American constitution. All that has hitherto been done seems to be little besides the collection of materials for this glorious fabric. 'Tis time to put them to- gether. The transfer of the European part of the family is so vast and our growth so swift that before seven years roll over our heads the first must be laid." Benjamin Franklin in his wisdom caught a gleam of the future when he wrote from England relative to the probable result of a war for Inde- pendence. These are his words, "New England alone can hold out for ages against this country, and if they are firm and united, seven years will win the day."
Thomas Jefferson certainly had visions of the fearful conflict brewing in his time and foreseen by him. A half century before our awful Civil strife with its attendant horrors, Jefferson warned his constituents when he said, "Nothing is more certainly written in the book of fate than that these people are to be free. It is still in our power to direct the processes of emancipation and deportation in such slow degree as that the evil will wear off insensibly and their way be pari passu filled up with free white laborers. If, on the contrary, it is left to force itself on, human nature must shudder at the prospect held up." Many more instances might be cited of grave words foretelling by many years future happenings, which would make one ask, "How did they know-what mysteries knew they of-with whom were they in touch-with whom did they commune?"
To be interested in prophecies, it becomes necessary to know the indi- vidual who made the prophecy and to understand from his point of view why he predicted such a future. Thomas H. Benton was a famous man. He was one of the substantial statesmen of his period. For thirty years his presence was felt in the senate. Mr. Benton had a perception of things vital, which was as clear as the view of the mariner who, gazing across a calm- stilled sea, finds warning of a storm. His view was not bounded by calendar records, whose signs anyone might read, but pierced the mists of futurity and saw the effects which present causes would produce. His foresight was sufficiently keen as shown in a letter written to Alexander Kayser of St. Louis, dated March 12, 1856, at Washington, D. C., in which he said: "I have work enough marked out to occupy the remainder of my life, and
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