Linn County, Missouri - Chapter 12: Religious Denominations, 1882 (part 1 of 2)

Chapter 12: Religious Denominations

The first representatives of religious thought and training, who penetrated the Missouri and Mississippi Valleys, were Pere Marquette, La Salle and others of Catholic persuasion, who performed missionary labor among the Indians. A century afterward came the Protestants. At that early period

In the course of time, the seeds of Protestantism were scattered along the shores of the two great rivers which form the eastern and western boundaries of the State, and still a little later they were sown upon her hill-sides and broad prairies, where they have since bloomed and blossomed as the rose.

Baptist Church

The earliest Anti- Catholic religious denomination, of which there is any record, was organized in Cape Girardeau county in 1806, through the efforts of Rev. David Green, a Baptist, and a native of Virginia. In 1816, the first association of Missouri Baptists was formed, which was composed of seven churches, all of which were located in the southeastern part of the State. In 181 7 a second association of churches was formed, called the Missouri Association, the name being afterwards changed to St. Louis Association. In 1834, a general convention of all the churches of this denomination, was held in Howard County, for the purpose of effecting a central organization, at which time; was commenced what is now known, as the "General Association of Missouri Baptists."

To this body, is committed the State mission work, denominational educa - tion, foreign missions and the circulation of religious literature. The BaptisI Church has under its control, a number of schools and colleges, the most important of which is William Jewell College, located at Liberty, Clay County. As shown by the annual report for 1875, there were in Missiouri, at that date, sixtyone associations, one thousand four hundred churches, eight hundred and twentyfour ministers and eighty-nine thousand six hundred and fifty church members.

Congregational Church

The Congregationalists inaugurated their missionary labors in the State in 1814. Rev. Samuel J. Mills, of Torringford, Connecticut, and Rev. Daniel Smith, of Bennington, Vermont, were sent west by the Massachusetts Congregation Home Missionary Society during that year, and in November, 1814, they preached the first regular Protestant sermons ih St. Louis. Rev. Salmon Giddings, sent out under the auspices of the Connecticut Congregational Missionary

Society, organized the first Protestant church in the city, consisting often members, constituted Presbyterian. The churches organized by Mr. Giddings were all Presbyterian in their order.

No exclusively Congregational Church was founded until 1852, when the *'First Trinitarian Congregational Church of St. Louis" was organized. The next church of this denoiiunation was organized at Hannibal in 1859. Then followed a Welsh church in New Cambria in 1864, and after the close of the war, fifteen churches of the same order were formed in different parts of the State. In 1866, Pilgrim Church, St. Louis, was organized. The General Conference of Churches of Missouri was formed in 1865, which was changed in 1868, to General Association. In 1866, Hannibal, Kidder, and St. Louis District Associations were formed, and following these, were the Kansas City and Springfield District Associations.' This denomination in 1875, had 70 churches, 41 ministers, 3,363 church members, and had also several schools and colleges and one monthly newspaper.

Christian Church

The earliest churches of this denomination were organized in Callaway, Boone and Howard Counties, some time previously to 1829. The first church was formed in St. Louis in 1836 by Elder R. B. Fife. The first State Sunday School Convention of the Christian Church, was held in Mexico in 1876. Besides a number of private institutions, this denomination has three State Institutions, all of which have an able corps of professors and have a good attendance of pupils. It has one religious paper published in St. Louis, Christian,'^ which is a weekly publication and well patronized. The membership of this church now numbers nearly one hundred thousand in the State and is increasing rapidly. It has more than five hundred organized churches, the greater portion of which are nofth of the Missouri River.

Cumberland Presbyterian Church

In the spring of 1820, the first Presbytery of this denomination west of the Mississippi, was organized in Pike County. This Presbytery included all the territory of Missouri, western Illinois and Arkansas and numbered only four ministers, two of whom resided at the time in Missouri. There are now in the State, twelve Presbyteries, three Synods, nearly three hundred ministers and over twenty thousand members. The Board of Missions is located at St. Louis. They have a number of High Schools and two monthly papers published at St. Louis.

Methodist Episcopal Church

In 1806, Rev. John Travis, a young Methodist minister, was sent out to the "Western Conference" which then embraced the Mississippi 'Valley, from Green County, Tennessee. During that year Mr. Travis organized a number of small churches. At the close of his conference year, he reported the result of his labors to the Western Conference, wliich was held at Chillicothe, Ohio, in 1870, and showed an aggregate of one hundred and six members and two circuits, one called Missouri and the other Meramec. In 1808, two circuits had been formed, and at each succeeding year the number of circuits and members constantly increased, until 181 2, when what was called the Western Conference was divided into the Ohio and Tennessee Conferences, Missouri falling into the Tennessee Conference. In 18 16, there was another division when the Missouri Annual Conference was formed. In 1810, there were four travehng preachers and in 1820, fifteen traveling preachers, with over 2,000 members. In 1836, the territory of the Missouri Conference was again divided when the Missouri Conference included only the State. In 1840 there were 72 traveling preachers, 177 local ministers and 13,992 church members. Between 1840 and 1850, the church was divided by the organization of the Methodist Episcopal Church South. In 1850, the membership of the M. E. Church was over 25,000, and during the succeeding ten years the church prospered rapidly. In 1875, the M. E. Church reported 274 church edifices and 34,156 members; the M. E. Church, South, reported 443 church edifices and 49,588 members. This denomination has under its control several schools and colleges and two weekly newspapers.

Presbyterian Church

The Presbyterian Church dates the beginning of their missionary efforts in the State as far back as 18 14, but the first Presbyterian Church was not organized until 18 1 6 at Bellevue settlement eight miles from St. Louis. The next churches were formed in 18 16 and in 181 7 at Bonhomme, Pike County. The First Presbyterian Church was organized in St. Louis in 1817, by Rev. Salmon Giddng. The first Presbytery was organized in 181 7 by the Synod of Tennessee with four ministers and four churches. The first Presbyterian house of worship (which was the first Protestant) was commenced in 17 19 and completed in 1826. In 1820 a mission was formed among the Osage Indians. In 1831, the Presbytery was divided into three : Missouri, St. Louis and St. Charles. These were erected with a Synod comprising eighteen ministers and twenty-three churches.

The church was divided in 1838, throughout the United States. In i860 the rolls of the Old and New School Synods together showed 109 ministers and 146 churches. In 1866 the Old School Synod was divided on political questions springing out of the war - a part forming the Old School, or Independent Synod of Missouri, who are connected with the General Assembly South. In 1870, the Old and New School Presbyterians united, since which time this Synod has steadily increased until it now numbers more than 12,000 members with more than 220 churches and 150 ministers.

This Synod is composed of six Presbyteries and has under its control one or two institutions of learning and one or two newspapers. That part of the original Synod which withdrew from the General Assembly remained an independent 'body until 1874 when it united with the Southern Presbyterian Church. The Synod in 1875 numbered 80 ministers, 140 churches and 9,000 members. It has under its control several male and female institutions of a high order. The St Louis Presbyterian, a weekly paper, is the recognized organ of the Synod.

Protestant Episcopal Church

The missionary enterprises of this church began in the State in 1819, when a parish was organized in the City of St. Louis. In 1828, an agent of the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society, visited the city, who reported the condition of things so favorably that Rev. Thomas Horrell was sent out as a missionary and in 1825, he began his labors in St. Louis. A church edifice was completed in 1830. In 1836, there were five clergyman of this denomination in Missouri, who had organized congregations in Boonville, Fayette, St. Charles, Hannibal and other places. In 1840, the clergy and laity met in convention, a diocese was formed, a constitution and canons adopted, and in 1844 a Bishop was chosen, he being the Rev. Cicero S. Hawks.

Through the efforts of Bishop Kemper, Kemper College was founded near St. Louis, but was afterward given up on account of pecuniary troubles. In 1847, the Clark Mission began and in 1849 the Orphans Home, a charitable institution was founded. In 1865, St. Luke's Hospital was established. In 1875, there were in the city of St. Louis, twelve parishes and missions and twelve clergymen. This denomination has several schools and colleges, and one newspaper.

United Presbyterian Church

This denomination is made up of the member of the Associate and Associate Reformed churches of the Northern States, which two bodies united in 1858, taking the name of United Presbyterian Church of North America. Its members were generally bitterly opposed to the institution of slavery. The first congregation was organized at Warrensburg, Johnson county in 1867. It rapidly increased in numbers, and had, in 1875, ten ministers and five hundred members.

Unitarian Church

Tliis church was formed in 1834, by Rev. \V. G. Eliot, in St. Louis. The churches are few in number throughout the State, the membership being probably less than 300, all told. It has a mission house and free school, for poor children, supported by donations.

Roman Catholic Church

The earliest written record of the Catholic Church in Missouri shows that Father Watrin performed ministerial services in Ste. Genevieve, in 1760, and in St. Louis in 1766. In 1770, Father Meurin erected a small log church in St. Louis. In 18 1 8, there were in the State, four chapels, and for Upper Louisiana, seven priests. A college and seminary were opened in Perry county about this period, for the education of the young, being the first college west of the Mississippi River. In 1824, a college was opened m St. Louis, which is now known as the St. Louis University. In 1826, Father Rosatti was appointed Bishop of St. Louis, and, through his instrumentality, the Sisters of Charity, Sisters of St. Joseph and of the Visitation were founded, besides other benevolent and charitable institutions. In 1834 he completed the present Cathadral Church. Churches were built in different portions of the State. In 1847 St. Louis was created an arch-diocese, with Bishop Kenrick, Arch-Bishop.

In Kansas City there are five parish churc'ies, a hospital, a convent and several parish schools. In 1868 the northwestern portion of the State was erecte 1 into a separate diocese, with its seat at St. Joseph, and Right-Reverend John J. Hogan appointed Bishop. There were, in 1875, ^^ '^he City of St, Louis, 34 churches, 27 schools, 5 hospitals, 3 colleges, 7 orphan asylums and 3 female protectorates. There were also 105 priests, 7 male, and 13 female orders, and 20 conferences of St. Vincent de Paul, numbering 1,100 members. In the diocese, outside of St. Louis, there is a college, a male protectorate, 9 convents, about 120 priests, 150 churches and 30 stations. In the diocese of St. Joseph there were, in 1875, 21 priests, 29 churches, 24 stations, i college, i monastery, 5 convents and 14 parish schools.

Theological Schools St. Louis

Her First Settlement - Arrival of the First Steamboat - Removal of the Capital to Jefferson Citif - When Incorporated - Population by Decades - First Lighted b;/ Gas - Death of one of her Founders, Pierre Chouteau - Cemeteries - Financial Crash - Bondholders and Coupon-clippers - Value of Peal and Personal Property - Manufacturers - Criticism.

It was nearly a century and a quarter ago that St. Louis's first arrival proclaimed the site of the future metropolis of the Mississippi Yalley, In 1762 M. Pierre Laclede Liquestc and his two comi^anions, Auguste and Pierre Chouteau, landed upon the site which was destined to become a great city. They were the avant-couriers and principal members of a company which had certain privileges secured to them by the governor of the Territory of Louisiana, which then included the whole of Missouri, that of tradino" with the Indians, and which was known as the Louisiana Fur Cornpan}^, with the privilege further granted of establishing such posts as their business might demand west of the Mississippi and on the Missouri rivers. They had been -on a prospecting tour and knew something of the country, and on February 15, 1774, Laclede, with the above named companions, took possession of the ground which is now the city of St. Louis. They established a trading-post, took formal possession of the country and called theii post St. Louis. In 1768 Captain Rios took possession of the post as a part of Spanish territory, ceded to it by France by the treaty of Paris, and it remained under the control of successive Spanish governors until March 10, 1804. The Spanish government, by the treaty of San Ildefonso in 1800, retroceded the territoi-y to France, and, by purchase, France ceded the whole country to the United States, April 30, 1803. In October of the same year Congress passed an act approving the purchase, and authorizing the president to take possession of the country or Territory of Louisiana. This was done February 15, 1804, when Captain Amos Stoddard, of the United States army, and the agent of the United States, received from Don Carlos Dehault Delapus, a surrender of the post of St. Louis and the Territory of Upper Louisiana. On the 10th of March the keys to the government house and the archives and public property were turned over or delivered to the representati\'e of the United States, the Spanish flag was lowered, the stars and stripes thrown to the breeze, accompanied with the roar of artillery and music, and the transfer was complete. In 1805 St. Louis had its first post-f ofiice established, and the place was incorporated as a town in 1809. It did not grow very fast, but was the recoo^nized headquarters for the territor}' of the west and northwest. The French from Indiana and other points bad settled there, and the town was decidedly French in its character and population. The Missouri Fur Company which had its headquarters there was organized in 1808, of which Pierre Chouteau was the head. His associates were Manuel Lisa, Win. Clark, Sylvester Labadie, and others, and such familiar names as the Astors, Bent, Sublette, Cabanne, General Ashly and Robert Campbell were prominentlj^ identified with the town and its progress. The fivst paper was issued July 2, 1808.

In 1812 the Territor}'^ of Louisiana, or that part north, was changed and named the Territory of Missouri, and was given Territorial rights, with a representation on the floor of Congress. St. Louis was the seat of the Territorial government until 1820, and the first legislature met in that town, and part of its proceedings was the removal of the seat of the government to St. Charles, where it remained until located at Jeflerson Citj^ in 1826. In 1822 St. Louis began to take on more style, and was incorporated as a city December 9th of that year. There had been a bank established in

1817, and quite a large number of business houses were built and occupied, and a number of loan oflices chartered. When St. Louis became an American city her population was 925; this was in 1804. When the Territory was named Missouri, and she was the seat of government in 1812, her population had reached 2,000. William Deckers laid the first pavement in

1818. A ferry had been started in 1804:. TJie first steamboat arrived in 1817. It was a low-pressure steamboat, built at Pittsburgh, and named the Generibl Pike. It arrived August 2d, and was greeted by the entire population, who gazed upon her with wonder and astonishment. The Indians were a badly scared crowd, and could not be induced to come near it. The first steamboat stemmed the tide of the Missouri in 1819, and the same year the first steamboat from ITew Orleans put in its appearance at St. Louis. It was twenty-seven days en route.

Boundaries And Inc0Rp0Ra.Ti0N

In 1820 the population had reached 4,928, and when incorporated in 1822 was believed to number about 5,000, not much immigration having come in. The boundary lines of the city when she received her charter were defined as follows: The line commencing at the middle of Mill Creek, just below the gas works, thence west to Seventh Street and up Seventh Street to a point due west of " Roy's Tower," thence to th^ river. The city plat embraced 385 acres of ground.

court-house was built in 1827, and also a market-house. These old-time landmarks have loui^ since disappeared, and no mark is left to tell the tale of their being. The spot or location is recorded, but what that availeth is not of comprehension to the generation of to-day.

Advancement

The first brick house was said to have been erected in 1814. The first mayor of the city was "Wm. C. Lane. The St. Louis University was founded in 1829; the Catholic Cathedral was completed in 1832 and consecrated by Bishop Rosetti.

In 1833 the population of St. Louis was about six thousand, and the taxable property, real and personal, aggregated $2,745,000. St. Louis, like all other cities, felt the blighting efi'ects of the financial crash of 1837, still her progress was not wholly checked. Her vitality was great and her resources spread over the territory, in many cases, out of the reach of tlie troubles of the times. Her fur trade was immense and the crash had little to do with that, so that while she felt the depression in her financial circles, her commercial prosperity was in no wise checked. There is very little more in the history of St. Louis to record than the noting of her general prosperity and steady onward progress for the next decade.

Her population in 1840 had risen to 16,469, and in 1844, 34,110. Tlie poi^ulation had more than doubled in four years. Fine buildings had arisen in place of the old fur warehouses of the early French settlers. Stately residences appeared in the suburbs; and in all that gave promise of a great and influential city, she had advanced and was advancing rapidly. The Mercantile Library was founded in 1848, and gas had been introduced the year previous, the city being first lighted on the night of ISToveraber 4, 1847. Li the great cholera year, 1849, the disease assumed an epidemic form, and of that dread scourge the people had a fearful experience. The progress of St. Louis had been handsomely commemorated on the eighty-third anniversary of its founding, the date being February 15, 1847. Among the living, and the only survivor of the memorable trio who first landed and located the cit}^, was the venerable Pierre Chouteau, who, with his brother, had accompanied Laclede Liqueste, to locate a trading-post for the fur company of which they were members. Lie was a prominent figure in the celebration, and though at an advanced age, he was in the enjoyment of his full faculties, and was keenly alive to the wonderful progress of the city in the eighty-three years of its life. In 1849, the epidemic year, all that was mortal of Pierre Chouteau was consigned to its last resting-place, and with him all living memory ceased of the first settlement and of the rise and progress of the city. From that date history could record but written facts, the oral record had ceased to exist. His elder brother, Auguste Chouteau, had preceded him to the mystic beyond, having departed this life in February, 1829.

Tlie city limits had been greatly extended in 1841, embracing an area of two thousand six hundred and thirty acres, instead of the three hundred and eighty-five acres in December, 1822. This showed the wonderful growth of the city, which, even then, was contracted, and its suburbs were fast filling up.

St. Louis took pride in her " cities of the dead," for she has several cemeteries, with wooded dales and sylvan retreats, well suited as the last restingplace of those whose remains are deposited in the " Silent City." We will speak here of only two, because of the care taken of them, tlieir size, and their rich and diversified surroundings, which give them a lonely, yet pleasant look, to all who visit them. The Bellefontaine was purchased by an association of gentlemen w^ho secured an act of incorporation in 1849, and at once commenced the improvement of the ground. In 1850 the first sale of lots took place. The cemetery comprises two hundred and twenty acres of land. The Calvary Cemetery has 320 acres, of which 100 are laid out and improved. This resting-place of the dead was purchased in 1852, by the Archbishop of the Diocese of St. Louis, and like the first above mentioned, is a lovely and secluded spot, well suited for the purpose intended.

Bridge Disaster

In 1854 the terrible accident, known as the Gasconade Bridge disaster, occurred, when many prominent citizens of St. Louis lost their lives.

Financial Crash

In 1857 the financial crash had a greater effect upon St. Louis than the one of 1837. Her merchants had been prosperous and extended their line of credits and the rapidly growing city had brought many new and venturesome people, who, believing in its future, had embarked in business enterprises which ret[uired a few more years of steady rise and progress to place them on a stable foundation. These, of course, went down in the general crash, but the stream was only temporally dammed, and the debris was soon cleared away. The flood-tide had set toward the west, and the greater the crash the greater swelled the tide of immio^ration toward the settinfjsun.

The era of a healthy, and it would seem, permanent prosperity, again dawned upon tlie metropolis of the Mississippi Valley in 1861, and this time not even the civil war, which then began to cast its baleful shadow over the Union, checked its onward career, and at the opening of this terrible drama St. Louis claimed a poj)ulation of 187,000 souls. The war added to its financial and commercial prosperity, for it became the entrepot of supplies for the army of the southwest, and tlie headquarters of army operations. The valuation of real estate and personal property which had only been a little risin;^ two and a half millions of dollars in 1833, was now, in 18(30, $73,765,670.

What the war added was more in the line of its financial and commercial development than in the spreading of its area or the building up of its waste places, but when war's fierce alarm had ceased the tide began to flow westward, and with it came the building mania, for homes and houses had to be provided for the rush of new-comers.

Chicago, which had nearly monopolized the railroads as an objectiv^e point, seemed now to have secured all that would pay, and St. Louis became the focus of all eyes. Kansas, Colorado and the Southwest began to loom up in its agricultural and mineral resources; the vast quantities of land which had been voted by venal congressmen to great railroad corj^orations were now thrown upon the market, and Kansas became a leading State for the attraction of the emigrant. In this more railroads were necessary, and the great crossing of the Mississippi was at St. Louis. Then the bridging of that great river commenced, Capt. Eads having made known his plans for this important work soon after the close of the war. The jubilee was not enjoyed, however, nntil 1874, when, on July 4th, the bridge was completed and opened to the railway companies. This was another era which marked a rapid progress in the future city of the valley. Sixteen separate and distinct lines of railway centered at St. Louis with completion of the bridge, and from those lines and the river trafiic, St. Louis was evidently sure of her future.

Bondholders And Coupon-Clippers

It was only when a concentration of wealth took a new departure that the glorious future which appeared so near became so far. The energy and enterprise of the people had, in a large measure, previous to the war, been used toward building up the city, and embarking in manufactures, etc., but soon after the war that wealth was turned into government bonds and the energy and enterj)rise were concentrated by these rich holders in cutting coupons off of these same bonds every three months, and with few exceptions they are still at the exhaustive work. Whatever of advanced progress has been given to St. Louis the j^ast ten years, outside of her Aliens, Stannards, and perhaps a score of others, has been by the new arrivals. It was, in '69 or '70, tliat her local papers were prospecting on the enervating influence that a hundred first-class funerals would have on the material prosperity of the " Future Great." The light and airy business of coupon-clipping had become epidemic, and millions of dollars which ought to have been invested in manufacturing and other enterprises, were sunk in the maelstrom of government bonds, and, so far as the material advancement of the city was concerned, might as well have been buried in the ocean. Still St. Louis im- proved, for new arrivals of the progressive order seeing an opening would drop in, and those who could not clip couj)ons for a business worked on as their limited capital would permit. And so it was found that in 1870 real estate had reached $119,080,800, while personal property was $147,969,/)60. Ill 1875 the value of real estate had advanced $12,000,000, reaching the gross sum of $1 31,141,000, ^ind personal property $166,999,660, a gain of nearly $20,000,000 in live years. The valuation January 1, 1879, was, of real estate, $U0,97<>,540, and personal property, $172,829,980, or a total valuation of real and personal property of $313,806,520, with a population of about 340,000. Great advancement had taken place in blocks of magnificent buildings, in the increase of her wholesale trade, in the area of her city limits, in the enlargement of her working population, so that the couponclippers who had stood at the front In 1870 now held a rear position, and were rather looked down upon as drones of society, wrapped in self and the vanity of self importance, and of little use to the progress or to the detriment of the great city. Railroads run to every point of the compass. Her tunnel and the union depot had become a fixed fact, macadamized roads led to all parts of the country, miles upon miles of streets were paved and sidewalks laid with substantial brick or stone, street cars to every part of the city, and the river-front flashing with traffic, which, in point of development, has exceeded the most sanguine expectation of those who had believed in its future, Avhile the expressions of those w^ho had built their laitli on the railroads depriving a free water-course of the wealth of her oflfering has been simply one of astonishment.

St. Lotjis Pakks

In one respect St. Louis has exhibited commendable sense in having secured a number of parks, breathing places for her industrial population and pleasant drives for her wealthy citizens. There are no less than seventeen of these beautiful places, many of them small, but so scattered about the city as to be convenient to all her citizens. Her great park, which is called "Forest Park," has 1,372 acres, and the city has expended in purchases, laying out and beautitying the grounds, nearly one million of dollars. Corondelet Park has an area of 183,17 acres, O'Fallan Park has an area of 158,32 acres, and Tower Grove Park 270 acres. These are the largest, the others represent but a small number of acres each. Of the smaller ones, Lafayette Park leads with twenty-six acres, while the smallest, Jackson Place, has less than two acres,

Buildings And Banks

There were 1,318 brick and 369 frame buildings put up in 1878, at a cost of $3,000,000, A very fine custom-house is approaching completion. They had, January 1, 1879, twenty-nine banks in St. Louis, five of which were national banks. The combiucLl capital of all was $12,406,019. This shows a healthy progress, but one of not more than ordinary in the line of building improvements. It should have reached ten millions to show that advanced pi-ogress becoming a city which claims it is destined to become the central sun of the great Mississip])i Yalley.

In 18TS there was 2,291 arrivals of steamboats, and 2,348 departures. The commerce of the river was some half a million of dollars. The new barge lines and the wheat movement down the MississijDpi for the year 1881, including her other river traffic, will undoubtedly double the business of 1878. The figures are not in, but the lirst half year has made a wonderful increase. Her commerce is steadily improving. There is not an article of domestic produce but has rapidly advanced in the amount received the past few years. The cereals and stock, cattle, sheep and hogs, also the roots and vegetables, have rapidly grown in quantity, St. Louis is the greatest mule market in the world.

In its public buildings tlie United States custom-house stands first. A massive building of white granite occupying a whole square, and when finished will have cost $6,000,000. The business in the custom department will exceed two millions dollars the first year of its bjiening. The Chamber of Commerce is another magnificent structure just completed at a cost of $1,800,000. The county court-house, which also takes a square of ground, and is built in the shape of a Greek cross, with a fine dome, cost $2,000,000. The county building, known as the "Four Courts," and the city prison is a beautiful three story, and half basement structure, which cost $1,250,000. The Polytechnic Institute costing $800,000, and the magnificent Southern Hotel finished, and occupied May, 1881, at a cost of $1 ,250,000 for building and furniture.

There are public buildings of lesser note, many pi'ivate structures of magnificent proportions, with a wealth of beautiful surroundings, theaters, hotels, etc., all tliat go to make up a great city, school-houses of ample projDortions, churches beautiful in architectural design of Grecian, Doric and Gothic, many of them being very costl}' in their build. One hundred and seventy-one churches are found within her limits, and the denominations cover all that claim the Protestant or Catholic faith. The Cathedral on "Walnut Street is the oldest church edifice, but not the most costly in the city.

The public school library M-as founded in 1872, and numbers 36,000 volumes. The Mercantile Library has 42,000 volumes, and contains not only many valuable literary works, but many choice works of art,

In this line St, Louis is fast reachino: a commandins: situation. So long as railroads commanded the freighting facilities of the city and the great highway to the sea which Providence had placed at her door was ignored for man's more expensive route l;>y rail, St. Louis remained but an infant in manufacturing enterprises - and these had succumbed in many instances to the power of monopolies, or to the tariff of freight which took off all the profits, and her more eastern competitors were the gainers. But in the last two years Nature's great highway to the sea has begun to be utilized and St. Louis has all at once opened her eyes to the fact that she has a free railway of water to the sea, the equal of twenty railroads by land, and it only needs the cars (the barges) to revolutionize the carrying trade of the Mississippi and Missouri valleys. The track is free to all. He who can build the cars can have the track ready at all times for use. The Father of Waters lies at her door; a mountain of iron is but a few iniles away; coal, also, lies nearly at her gates, and while she has slept the slecD of years, these vast o]3portunities might have made her, ere this, the equal of any manufacturing city on the globe. She will become such, for no other city can show such vast resources or sncli rapid and cheap facilities for distribution. Even the coupon-clippers are waking up and believe there are higher and nobler aims for man than the lavish expenditure of wealth in indolence and selfish pleasure. The surplus M-ealth of St, Louis, if invested in manufacturing enterprises, would make her the wonder of the continent. She may realize this some day - when she does, will wonder at the stupidity and folly that has controlled her for so many years. Foundries, machine-shops, rolling-mills, cotton and woolen factories, car-shops, these and a thousand other industries are but waiting for the magic touch of an enterprising people to give them life.

The year 1881 opens auspiciously for a new life. St. Louis now begins to consider the question of progress from a more enlightened standpoint, and with a look of intelligent action. It may take a little time yet to drive sleep from her eyelids and sloth from her limbs, but it looks now more than ever as though she would accomplish this and wake up to the full fruition of her great opportunities - in fact, to her manifest destin3^ Missouri ought to be proud of St. Louis, but that cannot be while sloth lies at the portals of her gates and the dry-rot of old fogyism guides her j)reseiit course.

The brewery business of St. Louis is one of her leading departments of trade. She has the largest establishment in the world for bottling beer, a building two hundred feet long and thirtj^ feet broad. The manufacture of wine is another important business which has assumed immense proportions. Distilling, rectifying and wholesale dealing in liquors is another brancii that adds a large rev'enue to the taxable wealth of the city. There is nothing in the manufacturers' line but what could sustain a healthy growth in St. Louis, if even plain business sense is at command. Her future may be said to be all before her, for her manufacturing interests are yet in their infancy. She can become the manufacturing center of the continent. The center or receiving point for the greatest amount of cereals any city can handle, and the stock center also of the country, St. Louis may, with the opportunities within her grasp, well be called the "Future Great.'

Chapter Of Criticism

But the name ^^ Future GreaV is used at this time by her rivals in tones of derision. That slie should have ignored so many years the great and bountiful resoui'ces nature has so lavishly bestowed upon her, aye! it would seem, even spurned them through an ignorance as dense as it is wonderful, is very strange, and has brought a stigma of disgrace upon the character of her people. This action on her part has not esca])ed the notice of men of wealth, of towering ambitic>n, of nerve force and of unlimited energy, and to-day one of the railway kings of the country, Jay Gould, of New York, has grasped the scepter of her commercial life and rules with a grasp of steel, and through his iron roadways run the commercial life-blood which flows through the artei-ies of her business life. That this neglect of her great opportunities should have placed it in the power of one man to become the arbiter of her fate is as humiliating as it has proved costly. Millions have poured into the coffers of Jay Gould, who, seeing this vast wealth of resources lying idle or uncared for, had the nerve to seize and the lar-seeing judgment and enterprise to add them to his own personal gains The world can admire the bold energj^ of the man, and the genius that can grasp and guide the commercial destinies of an Empire, but it is none the less a blot upon the fair name, capital and enterprise of a great city, and should mantle the cheek of every Sc. Louisian with shame. The wi'iter feels all that he has here written, but his pride as a Missourian cannot blind him to the faults of her people.

St. Louis is an old city and there has been much written of her extraordinary ])rogress, and yet wliatever that ])i*ogress is, has been caused far far more by her people being compelled to take advantage of the opportunities within their reach than making such by their own energy and enterl^rise. If she has grown in population and in wealth, it is because she could not help herself. After forty years of life, as late as 1812, the currency of JSt. Louis was still conlined to peltries, trinkets, maple sugar, hone}', bees -wax, venison, hams, etc., in fact, all barter and trade, and yet those who have compiled her local history talk wildly of her destiny and prophesy wonders for her in the near future. It is best to look at St. Louis as she is to-day. It is to be hoped that her future growth may not take pattern after her past, and that the new men who have taken her commercial future into their keeping will slill exhibit that towering genius for the development of St. Louis tliat has characterized them in their eastern home.

The future of St. Louis would seem to be one of a rapidly growing city, not only in population, but in commercial and linancial strength as though founded upon a rock. This is the present outlook. While the genius of Gould and his associates has secured millions of dollars by their business

The tremendous energy of Gould has astonished the sleepy St. Louisians as much as if they had been treading upon live coals, and in waking up they have discovered that their sleep and indolence have cost them several millions. Gould, Keene, Dillon, Sage and their associates do not v^'ork for nothing, and the people who claim the "Future Great" as tlieir abiding place should lose no time in taking a firm hold of the present and guidinoher toward the great destiny which awaits her, with the winning cards in their own hands. The New Yorkers have shown them a will and a way, and now let them practice the lesson it has cost them so much to learn.

It has been over a century since St. Louis took a start into life, and it is quite that since the ring of the pioneer's ax and the sharp crack of his rifle reverberated through her streets. The slow progress of pioneer life has departed and modern civilization, with the light of genius for its guide, is rapidly progressing and recording, history for future generations. When in 1817 the flrst steamboat landed at St. Louis, the possibilities of wdiat the future might be began to dawn upon the minds of her people, and that year may be well proclaimed as the dividing line between the old and the new era of St. Louis's destiny. From that day she looked forward, not backward, and while up to that time she seemed to have lived in the past, it was the future before her that then riveted her attention. She kept up a lively step to the music of progress for several years, and the Father of "Waters and the mighty Missouri with their fleets of water-craft attested her enterprise, and she grew apace. But in a few years she again fell asleep, and slept until the snort of the iron horse awoke her rudely from slumber. She had grown even while she slept, because the great water-way which passed her door had become the pathway of a mighty business. But this grand highway to the sea which had nourished her while she slept was at once forgotten or relegated to the rear, and her awakened energies were given to the prancing steed whose breath was Are, that made the earth tremble at his strength, and whose speed was like the wings of the wind. The railroad fever had taken possession of the Queen City of the Valley. She grew apace and for years she has reveled in the new love, and the grand old Father of Waters which had nurtured her into life was forgotten. But she has again awakened from her quiet dreams, and the iron horse which had lulled her to repose was found while bringing millions to her door to have taken millions more away. And in this year of 1881 she opens her eyes to her true destiny, and the grand Old Father of Waters, which she had striven to drive from her, was once more recognized as the very foundation or bed-rock of her commercial life, the power that was to keep in check the absorption of her wealth, from the monopolizing influence and insatiable maw of the railway kings. She now proudly points to the grand old river, and the fleets of barges borne upon its bosom filled with the wealth of au empire, and calls on her sister, "Chicago, to look at this gloi-ions sight. The " Garden City " has already snuifed the battle from afar, and is ready to struggle for a commercial supremacy in which there are literally millions, for nature has done the work, and St. Louis will win. The " City by the Lake " is deserving, and had she the opportunities which have lain so long dormant in possession of her rival, would have been to-day the wonder of the world. But it is the rugged path that brings out man's energy and endurance, not the smooth road. So it is with cities. And so the majestic Mississipj^i flows on, bearing upon its waters tlie riches of the valley, and pouring into the lap of the Queen City npon its banks millions uj)on millions of wealth. If the sjDirit of 1881 shall continue, then St. Louis will soon become the pride of the State. In reality she will be the "Future Great" of the American Continent. She that stands on the bank of this great inland sea, the commerce of an empire flowing at her feet, her sails in every clime and country, she is indeed to become a great city, the arbiter of the commercial world and the Queen City whose wealth, commanding influence, culture and refinement will attest the greatness of her people and command the homage of the world. Such. is to be the " Future Great" city, St. Louis.

Statistics Kansas City, Missouri

A Sketch - The New Life - Its First Settlement - Steamboat Events from 1840 to 1846 - Mex- ' ican War - Santa Fe Trade - Railroads - Commercial Advancement - Stock Market - Pork-packing - Elevators and Grain Receipts - Coal Receipts - Buildings - Railroad Changes - Banks - Newspapers - Churches - Secret Societies - Public Schools - Manufacturing Center - Her Position and Trade - Assessed Valuation - Close.

A short description of the rise aud progress of Kansas City, the great metropolis of the Missouri Valley, may be of interest to the people of this section. It is the wonder of the people of the East, as of the West, that in the last fifteen years 75,000 people should have made it their home, and that upon the rugged hills and deep ravines which are found upon the banks of the Missouri River at the mouth of the Kaw, should become the site of a mighty commercial emporium, and that the second city of the State should be found rising in stately magnificence where, but a few years since, fur-traders and trappers made their home. Within the corporate limits of Kansas City, in the year 1881, fully 70,000 people are found, while in the suburbs fully 5,000 more are located. When the city of Wyandotte is added, and that of Independence and Westport, and other small towns, we have, within a very short distance, 100,000 people to advance the glory, the growing power and the nuiterial prosperity of one of the most thriving cities on this Western Continent - a city that every Missourian can be proud of, and can point to with honest exultation at her rapidly growing power, and the expansion of her environs. It is that city, within one hundred miles, which Western Missouri can look to as a market, and where she will in the near future look for her commercial emporium. Already the wholesale trade rivals in many branches that of St. Louis, and five years hence she will be the second cattle and hog market of the country. With a barge line in operation to St. Louis, it will be found the best market for cereals, and already cattle and hogs can be sold there at St. Louis prices, with less than half the freiirht charcres. While St. Louis will ever be the metropolis of the State and the Mississippi Valley, Kansas City equally assumes the proud position of the metropolis of the Missouri Valley, and the largest city that will ever be found this side of the mountains, west of the Father of Watery.

Ihstoky Of Kansas City The New Life

It was not until after the late war that a new life o])ened upon Kansas City, but from the day that peace S])read her wings over this lavored land Kansas City's future has been assured. For years she was simply known as a river landing, and the name Westport, but when the tide of immigration struck Kansas those settlers of a new State became tributary to the commercial prospei-ity of the city. There was another ])oiiit in her progress which marked the sagacity of her people, and that was their determination to secure railroads. Not only has she given hundreds of thousands of dollars to her bridge and the railways centering there from within the State, but she has contributed other hundreds of thousands to the struirirlinir I'ailroads of Kansas, and has her reward, for she is the metropolis of Kansas as well as a city of Missouri. And, while the population of Kansas City increased 25,000 the last decade, Leavenworth actually lost population during the same time. One was people^] by an energetic, open-hearted, progressive peoj)le, ready to push forward the wheels of enterprise, build up and help neighbors and friends; the other was known as a "Smart Aleck,'' who took care of number one. One has the trade and the love of a State, although outside of its border; the other is groping in the pathway of a spirit so selfish, that it was blinded to every spirit of progress, and a monument has been raised so high within its limits that it is seen by the people of two States, and on its top is carved in massive letters, one word, "decay." Such is Leavenworth, and such is the proud city of a hundred hills, Kansas City.

In the spring of 1821 M. Chouteau was sent to this country to establish a general agency for a fur company, from which supplies could be sent to the trading-posts, and at which, the proceeds of the trade could be collected. The knowledge of the country he had already acq^uired enabled him to judge of the merits of different points for such agency, having in view always the advantages offered by each for extended operations by the methods of transportation then employed. At the Kaw's mouth he had access by water to the entire valleys of the Kaw, Missouri, Platte and smaller tributaries, while it afforded the shortest land transit to the Indians of the plains and to the valleys of the Osage, Neosho and Arkansas. Hence, with that unerring judgment for which his class were peculiar, he selected this point and established himself in the bottom opposite Randolph Bluffs, about three miles below what is now Kansas City. This was the first recognition of the natural advantages of this angle of the river for a large distributive trade, and the actual founding of the interest which has since expanded into the varied and wide extended activities of this city. He brought with him at this time about thirty men, all of whom were employed in the service of the company as couriers cles hois or voyagetirs, and through them he concentrated at his general agency here the trade of the trans-Missouri country. His post at this ]x:)int Avas in a sense a trading-post for the Indians near by, but its distinctive feature was a depot of supply and as a point of concentration for traders, trappers, hunters, and the interior posts. In the i'all of the same year he brought his family to this post in a keel-boat, which was towed all the way from St. Louis. Tlie men who came with M. Chouteau, in 1821, were, with few exceptions, dispatched into the interior, where they established trading-posts or traveled and traded among the Indians.

In 1820 there was a flood in the rivers which washed away M. Chouteau's houses opposite Eandolph Bluffs and caused great loss. A part of the stock was taken to Randolpli Bluffs; he sent his family to the Four Houses, and soon afterward rebuilt his house, but this time higher up and on higher ground, which is now embraced in what is known as Guinott's Addition to Kansas City. This place became well known as "Chouteau's Warehouse," and was the landing-place for large amounts of freight for Indian trade, and for the trade with northern Mexico, which subsequently sprung up here. '

The First White Man

The first white man other than these and the French traders to locate on ground now embraced within the corporate limits of Kansas City was James H. McGee, who settled here in 1828 and whose family was so prominently identified with the early development of Kansas City. Several of his sons still reside in this city and vicinit}'. But there was not enough infusion of Americans into this French settlement to materially affect its character for a 'number of years afterward, but it continued as it had begun, the center of an extensive fur and Indian trade. The first ferry across the Missouri Kiver in the vicinity of Kansas City was established at Eandolph Bluffs by a Mr. Younger, grandfather of the " Younger boys " who in connection with the " James boys "have been so notorious in"the West. At what time this ferry was established is not known, but it was in operation in 1828. The only means of crossing the river at Kansas City at that time consisted of canoes. Two of these lashed together were used from the time of the first settlement of Americans in this vicinity, to cross over with their grists to a horse mill on the other side of the river, and it continued of about this character until 1836.

The advantages, of this point of departure for the west, southwest and northwest, were afterward recognized by Captain Bonneville, who took his departure from Fort Osage in 1832, and of whose expeditions such an excellent account has been given by Washington Irving. Lieutenant Lupton and Fremont and Beale subsequently took their departure for their celebrated expeditions from the French settlement where Kansas City now is. In 1832 Colonel Ellsworth, commissioner of Indian aftairs, visited the

Kansas City Court-House

Indians west of Missouri and Arkansas, and likewise took their departure from this point. Colonel Ellsworth's party consisted of a number of persons of great distinction, among whom were J. II. B. Latrobe, architect of the capitol at Washington, Count Pourtales, of Switzerland, Paul Liqueste Chouteau, of St. Louis, and Washington Irving. It was this expedition that furnished Irving the material for his "Tour on tlie Prairies," in which he gives an excellent account of it. However, there was one incident of this tour which he does not mention, and which occurred in this county, so strongly illustrative of the disregard the hardy frontiersman of that time had for rank and position in society, that it is given here. The party had eno-ao-ed as a camp assistant Mr. Harry Younger, of this county, the father of the "Younger boys." The first morning after leaving Chouteau's house, Mr. Irving requested him, at the breaking of camp, to bring up the horses, so that they might start on the journey. The horses were grazing at a little distance. "All right," replied Mr. Younger, " let's go after them." " But," said Mr. Irving, "we expect you to do that." "Well," said Mr. Younger, "wh}^ can't some of you help me. There's that d - d count, why can't he go? He does nothing but shoot snow-birds." Mr. Younger, with the social equality ideas peculiar to the hardy frontiersman, could not readily appreciate the dignity of a commissioner of Indian aflairs, a Swiss count or a celebrated author, nor see why they should not help bring in the horses.

The first boat on the Missouri River was the Independence which ascended the stream in 1819, probably as far as Council Bluffs. She passed Franklin May 28, where a dinner was given to the officers, but we have no record of her dates at points higher up. In August and September of the same year the steamers Western Engineer^ Expedition and li. M. Johnson, ascended the stream with Major Long's scientific, party, bound for the Yellowstone.

A Desokiption Of Early Kansas City

A clearing, or old field, of a few acres, lying on the liigh ridge between Main and Wyandotte and Second and Fifth streets, made and abandoned by a mountain trapper, a few old girdled dead trees standing in the field, surrounded by a dilapidated rail fence; all around on all sides a dense forest, the ground covered with impenetrable underbrush and fallen timber, and deep, impassable gorges; a narrow, crooked roadway winding from Twelfth and Walnut streets along down on the west side of the deep ravine toward the river, across the public square, to the river at the foot of Grand Avenue; a narrow, difficult path, barely wide enough for a single horseman, running up and down the river under the blutts, winding its crooked way around fallen timber and deep ravines; an old log house on the river bank, occupied by a lank, cadaverous specimen of humanity named Ellis, with one blind eye and the other on a sharp lookout for stray horses, straggling Indians and sqnatters with whom to swap a tin cup of whisky for a coon skin; another old dilapidated log cabin on the point below the Pacific depot; two or three small dwellings and cabins in the Kaw bottom, now called West Kansas, which were houses of French mountain trappers, engaged principally in raising young half-breeds. The rest of the surroundings were the still solitude of the native forest, broken only by the snort of the startled deer, the bark of the squirrel, the howl of the wolf, the settler's cow-bell, and mayhap the distant baying of the hunter's dog or the sharp report of his rifle. The Indian trade continued to flourish at both Westport and Kansas City, and the Santa Fe trade at Independence until 184:3, when it was temporarily suppressed by order of General Santa Anna.

In 1844 H. M. Northrup, now a banker at Wyandotte, Kansas, came to Kansas City with the largest stock of merchandise that had yet been offered here, if not, in fact, the largest stock that had yet been offered at any place near this angle.

In 1845 James H. McGee made some brick on his farm south of the town, and built the first brick house ever built in Kansas City. From tliis lot of brick J. C. McCoy, who then conducted the ferry at this place, built the L part of a brick house, which still stands on the bluft*, between. Grand Avenue and Walnut Street. These were the first brick made in Kansas City, and the first laid here.

The effect of the Mexican War gave a great impulse to the trade and prosperity of the border towns; for now, more than ever, were the advantages of this angle of the river as a point of departure for the southwest appreciated. Kansas City felt the impulse of the preparations that were being made during the winter, and from the anticipation of the large amount of warehousing, and receiving and forwarding of military and sutler's goods, outfits and supplies, soon to occur, it acquired new and improved prospects. These facts, united with the tendency the Mexican trade had shown the previous year to come to this place, led the town company to lay anew the foundation of the future city.

At the time of the first sale of town lots, April 30, 1846, it was estimated that there were about three hundred people in the new town, nearly all settled along the river front. However, under the impulse of the Mexican War and Sante Fe trade, added to the Indian trade already existing, the place grew rapidly, and before the close of that year the population was estimated at seven hundred.

Municipal Government

There was no municipal government in Kansas City prior to 1853, but a circumstance occurred in December, 1852, which led to its establishment. This circumstance was the arrest of a man for some light offense by the constable, upon whose trial it was discovered that the commission issued to the authorities was for the next congressional township east, which located their jurisdiction at least six miles from where they had been exercising their authority. This led to a movement looking to municipal organization. That winter, February 22, 1853, a charter was obtained from the State, and in the spring of 1853 a local government was organized. The land embraced in Kansas City, according to this charter, was bounded by the river on the north, by Summit Street on the west, by Ninth Street on the south, and on the east by the alley between Holmes and Charlotte streets, and therefore embraced much that was not yet, nor for two years to come, laid off into town lots. All that was platted was the old Frud- homme estate. At the election, W. S. Gregory was elected mayor, but served only a short time when Dr. Johnson Lykins was elected to succeed him. Dr. Lykins was re-elected next spring, and in the spring of 1855 John Johnson was elected, but resigned a month afterward. M. J. Payne succeeded him, and held the office till 1860.

The Journal of Commerce at a later period estimated that the trade of Kansas City during these two years did not exceed two millions of dollars, bat with the close of the straggle, in 1857, the country filled up speedily, the trade was enlarged and the city grew rapidly. The Santa Fe trade prospered, and the plains' trade resumed more than its former proportions, while the trade developed by the settlement of southern Kansas all came to Kansas City, and with that and the outfitting of immigrants, her business became very great, so much so that a correspondent of the St. Louis Intclligencei' noticed that she had the largest trade of any city of her size in the world, and was the point at which all freight and immigrants for Kansas disembarked. The Journal of Commerce^ at one time daring these years, described the appearance of the levee as that of a great fair, it was so piled up with all kinds of merchandise.

This was the great steamboat era on the Missouri River, and everything that entered the upper country then came by boat. In the year 1857 there were one hundred and twenty-five boats at the Kansas City levee, and they discharged over 75,00(>,000 pounds of merchandise. There were then a fleet of sixty through boats from St. Louis, and a daily railroad packet leaving the terminus of the Missouri Pacific at Jefferson City. Kansas City was then said by boatmen to be receiving more freight than any other five points on the river.

The trade across the plains in 1860 from Kansas City, as a starting point, exceeded all other cities on the Missouri Kiver combined, by nearly fifty per cent.

The number of men who left Kansas City for the plains and beyond was 7,084. They took of oxen, 27,920; of mules, 6,149; of horses, 464, and the amount of freightyin pounds, 16,439,134.

The railroad fever struck Kansas City as early as 1855, that is it began to take shape that year. The leading spirits of Kansas City were for years energetic railroad men ready to put both time and money into the work of making Kansas City a railroad center, the seat of a growing and prosperous city, and they succeeded. Still, previous to 1860, the Missouri Pacific was the only railroad which had reached Kansas City, and that had no sooner reached there than it became its enemy and boldly avowed its determination to make Kansas City a way station. The fever took a fiercer hold after the war and from 1865 to ^1872 Kansas City voted hundreds of thousands of dollars for the securing of important railway lines. The press was a powerful lever in those days. The Journal, under Col. li. T. Yan Horn, the Times under the editorship of John C. Moore, and the Bulletin under Col. J. D. Williams made their columns bristle with strong points and still stronger statistics of the value of railroads and what they would bring of wealth and prosperity to the city. In this work the press, the enterprise'and the Capital of the city were mutual. Reid, Coates, Kearney, McGee, Harris, Fosters, A heel, Dively, Bullene, and a score or more of others, all put forth every exertion to make Kansas City a central point for the great iron horse, whose mouth was fire, its breath steam and its strength that of many giants. It was a success, and to-day she is the proud metropolis of the Missouri Yalley. But with such difiiculties as she had to overcome she never would have been if brains,- energy and invincible nerve and determination had not characterized her people. Then this railroad fever started other enterprises. It was soon understood that the roads would come and then the city took a start even before they reached her. In 1865 and 1866, between six and seven hundred buildings were put up. The eyes of a continent began to look with wonder upon the little giant of the West. A mighty city will arise from these bluffs said Benton, and as the work of progress went on that which liad been termed the wild vagaries of an old man was seen through other glasses; the vagaries assumed titles of prophesies, and they were, for from the rugged hills upon which Kansas City now stands none but a prophet could have seen a giant and a magnificent city arise and none but a prophet's ken foretold it.

The Commercial Advance

In 1860 the trade of the city was $10,705,947; in 1867 the trade of the city was $3'3,006,827. Over two millions of dollars were invested in building in the latter year, and a population of 4,000 had increased to 15,000 within four years. This is what you might call progress. But the grand year of prosperity which will clearly mark an era in her wonderful development was that of 1869. Houses went up as if by magic. Great enterprises were started and the wonder came when the little town of 4,000 and a few over in 1865 had swelled to 32,269 when the census was taken only five years later. Forty-two additions had been added^ nineteen of them in 1868-'69. A board of trade was organized with T. K. Hanna, wholesale merchant, as president, and sixtj'-seven members. And from that day until the great crash o-f 1873 Kansas City moved onward and upward with accelerated speed. Street improvements had taken a firm hold of the people, while other enterprises to make the city a home for all were put forth. School property had been purchased and the advance in real estate began to be so rapid that grounds had been secured up to 1870 for five fine school-buildings, and the advantages of Kansas City in her schools has been one of enlightened progress and great liberality. To-d*ay she has no superior in this line. Churches kept pace with the schools, and the once border town and outpost has become the seat of refinement and culture. Street railroads began to appear, and other evidences of a metropolitan city were to be found on every hand. Water-works were broached and manufactories of all kinds began to spring up. The water-works started in 1873 and were completed in 1875. The Great Exposition started in 1871 and a law library w^as purchased the same year. In the great fire of 1871, at Chicago, Kansas City promptly subscribed $10,000 for the benefit of the 6ufi*erers. Elevators and the largest pork-packing house in the country are located here. Of the latter, two, the Armours' and the Fowler Bros', are immense establishments, and besides these there are several smaller ones. The crash of 1873 caused matters to move slowly and with caution. The years 1875 and 1876 were not noted for any great forward movement but a steady onward march was kept up. The rolling-mill, a much needed enterprise, was started, and other manufacturing interests. People began to arrive; vacant houses, which the panic had made empty, were scarce; matters began to assume a more healthy appearance - one of them was tlie filling up of the vacant places - and a new era of building was started. Some ten new additions had been added and a few platted. Her railroad facilities and her immense packing-houses began to tell. The Texas cattle business had assumed large proportions and it was clear enough that Kansas City could command a large part of that trade. Western towns, like Abilene, had put up yards and were handling a large number of cattle, but it was evident that if Kansas City would put forth exertion it would come. Stockyards were built, offices arranged and a systematic course taken to secure this heav^v addition to the business of the city. To show how successful the move became the following statistics will tell:

Cattle, Hogs And Sheep

The next year, 1871, the creation here of a cattle and hog market greatly facilitated packing, and by 1872 Kansas City had attained great importance as a packing point. In 1874 she was the principal source of supply for packed beef, and since that time has attained nearly a monopoly of the trade.

Hog packing did not prosper equally for the tiole reason that hogs could not be had, tlie packing capacity of the city being in excess of the supply.

Cattle The Grain Market

From the earliest dates to 1870 Kansas City imported iioiir from eastern Missouri and Illinois. This country had become self-sustaining, so far as this part of Missouri was concerned, before the Avar, but the great demand by immigrants to Kansas, and the trade with New Mexico and Colorado^ made a demand that local production could not suppl}-. By the time Kansas became a State she was producing large amounts of grain, but the immigration took all surplusage. Between the close of the war and 1870 the same conditions existed, though the production of the country had immensely increased. By 1870, however, production began to exceed the local demand^ and that year the railroads took small amounts of grain to the eastern markets. Perceiving this fact the people, in the latter part of 1870 and the early part of 1871, began to agitate the establishment of a grain market. The spring of the year 1871 gave promises of a good yield of all kinds of grain, and the press opened upon the subject again. Its agitation caused the Board of Trade to take it up and discuss it.

The First Elevator The Infant Market

The result was, that in July, 1871, Messrs. Latshaw & Quade began the erection of an elevator of about one hundred thousand bushels storage capacity. This was situated on nearly the same ground as is now the Union Elevator. It was "finished and open for business in December. But there were no grain-dealers to use it, and Messrs. Latshaw & Quade went into the business themselves, and were the first men to conduct a grain business in the city as a strictly commercial pursuit. Messrs. Branham & Sons owned and operated a corn-mill on Fourth Street, near Broadway, and Messrs. Dewar & Smith owned and operated the Diamond Mills. In 1871 Messrs. Price & Doane took a large house on Santa Fe Street and Union Avenue,, and opened a grain business, but for a long time their business was largely of a retail character.

In the years 1876, 1877, 1878 and 1879 the receipts in the above grain had been much larger in corn. In wheat 1878 was double, and 1879 about 50 per cent larger than in 1880.

Coal

This is another very important trade and is assuming immense proportions, while it is, also, growing rapidly. In 1870 very little coal was used, and but 18,000 bushels were reported to have been consumed. Undoubtedly this is a mistake, and it probably exceeded 200,000 bushels. The rest of the table given may be considered approximately correct. It is as follows :

On the 19th of January a number of leading citizens organized a mining stock board for the purpose of locating here a market for mining stock. Col. C. E. Kearney was president, T. F. Oakes and H. M. Holden, vicepresidents, Col. John C. Moore, secretary, and Mead Woodson, treasurer. It tried to arrange for the opening of the board May 10th, but did not succeed, and before the close of the year passed into entire quiescence.

Blooded-Stock Sales

On the 15th of May there was opened here the first great sale of blooded cattle, the stock coming mainly from the blue-grass regions of Kentucky, It was tried as a venture by parties owning the stock, and was so successful that it has been since maintained as a semi-annual sale. At this first sale two hundred animals were sold at an aggregate price of twenty-four thousand dollars. This and subsequent sales have brought into the country adjacent to Kansas City large numbers of blooded animals, the effect of which in the improvement of cattle is already perceived.

The Court-House And Post-Office

On the 8th of March a bill authorizing the construction of a public building in Kansas City, for post-office and custom-house purposes, passed Congress. It was introduced by Hon. B. J. Franklin, of this city, who at that time represented this district in Congress, and provided for a building to cost two hundred thousand dollars, one hundred of which were appropriated at that session. Besides the bill for the benefit of Kansas City, Mr. Franklin secured the passage of a bill authorizing the holding of United States courts in this city, and introduced a bill providing for the organization of the Indian Territory and its opening to settlement, for the passage of which he made great, but, unfortunately, unsuccessful effort. In this latter he received the support of the people in unanimous resolutions adopted at public meetings and forwarded to him.

Seven Hundred And Six

The building for 1878 had proved greater than was expected reaching to seven hundred and six buildings erected during the year, at a cost of $1,040,000, many of them elegant business houses and residences.

The Events Of 1879

Early in the year 1879 a proposition was made by some of the members of the old Chamber of Commerce to revive that organization, but after several meetings and a conference with the Board of Trade the scheme was abandoned and the Committee of Commerce of the Board of Trade was appointed in its stead. This committee has never been an active one, 3^et several important enterprises have been inaugurated and secured by it, among which were the smelting-works and barge line of 1880.

One of its first acts was to memorialize Congress on the improvement of the Missouri Kiver. On the 7th of January Messrs. Camp, McDowell and Poe, government commissioners to locate the court-house and post-office, arrived in Kansas City, and after acquainting themselves with the views of the people and examining the different sites offered, accepted the corner of Ninth and Walnut streets, January 25th, and it was purchased for $8,500 and the work of constructing the building soon afterward begun.

In May a party of United States engineers, under J. W. Nier, Esq., arrived in Kansas City and commenced work on the improvement of the river a few miles north of the city, an appropriation of $30,000 for that purpose having been secured by Mr. Franklin. About the same time the first term of the United States District Court was begun in Kansas City, Judge Krekel presiding.

In the latter part of the month, Robert Gillham, a young engineer who had recently located in the city, proposed to improve the means of transit between the western and eastern parts of the city by building a tramway down the bluff on Nintli Street. He secured the interest of many of the best men in the city, but tlie project met with such unfavorable treatment at the hands of the city council that it is still one of Kansas City's uncompleted enterprises.

In August the first effort was made to organize a provident association in Kansas City. Mr. J. T. Howenstein was the projector of this movement and about forty prominent business men joined it; but for lack of attention it was allowed to expire.

In September much, interest was taken in a proposition to convert the roads of Rosedale and Independence into boulevards, but after a number of public meetings the interest was allowed to die out; yet it will doubtless be done at some future time.

This year was one of great activity in business and individual enterprises of all kinds. Trade was rapidly extended in all directions; the population increased. Real estate became very active, and transfers increased $1,943,- 350; besides which there were thirteen additions platted and largely sold, some of which were outside the city limits. And there were about thirteen hundred new houses built, at an estimated cost of about $1,500,000.

Kailroad Changes

" Great changes have taken place during the year in the ownership of the railroads at Kansas City. Mr. Jay Gould and associates, who previously held control of the Union & Kansas Pacific and St. Joe & Denver Railroads west of the Missouri River and the Wabash Road east of the Mississippi, early in the year bought a controlling interest in the St. Louis, Kansas City & JSorthern and consolidated it with the Wabash under the name of Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific, This connected the roads except the Union Pacific, and to make connections with it the Pattonsburgh Branch of the St. Louis, Kansas City & JSTorthern was extended through to Omaha. Soon afterward the same parties bought the Missouri Pacific and the Central Branch Union Pacific and have since consolidated them, making two divisions, connecting with each other at Kansas City. The same parties also bought an interest in the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad during the year, and latterly have bought the Missouri, Kansas & Texas."

In addition to the sales of roads here mentioned, the Fort Scott Company bought the Springfield & Western Missouri Road in June, and has since completed it to a connection with tjie main line at Fort Scott; and Mr. Gould bought the Kansas City & Eastern Narrow-gauge in November, and in December it was leased to the Missouri Pacific, which he had previously bought, and became a division of that road. Another important addition to Kansas City's railway facilities was the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific, which in December made a contract with the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad for trackage rights over that road from Cameron, Missouri, and it began to run its trains to Kansas City on the first of January, 1880.

Histoky Of Kansas City

The year 1879 was characterized by another great railroad war, which seemed to be the result of the completion of the Chicago & Alton Railroad to Kansas City. In view of its early completion the pool was dissolved again on the 12th of April, and a promiscuous cutting of rates opened on the 14th. The Alton, however, was not opened for business until the 18th, and did not begin running passenger trains until May 13. The war arose over the allotment of its share of business to St. Louis, and was inaugurated by the St. Louis roads. On the 7th of June the war was extended to passenger business also, and for the remainder of the summer passenger rates between Kansas City and St. Louis, and Kansas City and Chicago were but fifty cents; and freight rates went so low that for a considerable time grain was carried from Kansas City to St. Louis for five cents, and to Chicago for seven cents per bushel, and at one time reached the almost incredible limit of three cents to St. Louis and five to Chicago. The trouble, however, came to a close in September, and on the 12th of that month a new pool was formed which took in the Alton.

Bank Changes

First National Bank failed January 29, 1877. Mastin's Bank failed August 3, 1877. Watkin's Bank was consolidated with the Bank of Kansas City December 8, 1877.

Daily Journai

The Journal was established by a stock company composed of William Gillis, W. S. Gregory, H. M. Northrup, J. S. Chick, M. J. Payne, Dr. B. Troost, E. M. McGee, Thompson McDaniels and Robert Campbell, and made its first appearance in October, 1854, under the name of The Kansas City Enterprise^ with D. K. Abeel, Esq., as printer and business manager, and William A. Strong, Esq., as editor. One previous attempt had been made by a Mr. Kennedy to establish a paper called the Public Ledger but it failed, and its failure led to the organization above. On the 15th of February, 1872, the Journal Company was organized and incorporated under the State laws - Col. Robt. T?. Van Horn, editor, Mr. Abeel con- . tinuing as business manager until August 9th, 1872, when he disposed of his stock in the company and was succeeded by Isaac P. Moore, Esq. Mr. Abeel, Chas. N". Brooks, M. 11. Stevens and W. A. Bunker purchased a controlling interest in the paper and took charge of it August 8th, 1877, Col. Van Horn retaining his interest and continuing as editor-in-chief. On the 10th of January, 1881, Messrs. Abeel, Brooks and Bunker retired, and A. J. Blethen became business manager.

The Kansas City Times

On Tuesday morning, September 8, 1868, the iirst number of the Kansas City Times was issued. In starting the Times there was experienced that risk which every journalist who attempts to establish a new paper encounters. The first paper was an eight-column folio, the size of the sheet being 26^x44 inches. At its head it bore the national Democratic ticket for president and vice-president, and also for State ofiicers. B. R. Drury & Co. were proprietors. On December 22, 1868, the paper changed hands, and a company was organized under the name of the Kansas City Times Publishing Company. Messrs. Wm. E. Dunscombe, Chas. Durfee, J. D. Williams and R. B. Drury were elected directors. Mr. Williams served as business manager, and Messrs. John 0. Moore and John N. Edwards, editors.

The present company was formed in 1878 part of the old company selling their interests. The directors of the company after this were James E. Munford, Morrison Munford and Chas. E. Hasbrook; and the oflBcers were James E. Munford, president; M. Munford, secretary and general manager; and Chas. E. Hasbrook, vice-president and business manager.

It occupies its own building on Fifth Street between Main and Delaware, where it has one of the finest counting-rooms in the city - and a thoroughly equipped outfit of machinerj^ presses, etc., required to publish its immense circulation. It is a newspaper establishment that any city of 100,000 inhabitants might well feel proud of.

The Kansas City Mail

The Evening Mail Publishing Company was incorporated as a stock company May 4th, 1875, by a few prominent business men of Kansas City, with E. L. Martin as president and John C. Gage as treasurer, having for its object the publication of a journal opposed to the movements of the water-works clique as it then existed. Col. John C. Moore was acting editor-in-chief

The growth of the Mail has been remarkable. In the winter of 1878-9 the Mail suffered severely from the effects of fire. The present management found the material of the paper in ashes and cinders. The expense of fitting up a respectable place of business on Missouri Avenue was considerable, but the increase of business in the spring and summer of 1879 cleared the office of indebtedness and left a margin for future operations. So flattering was the outlook in the beginning of the present year that a new threerevolution Hoe press was ordered and a removal to a more commodious building determined upon.

Thk Evening Star

Messrs. M. R. Nelson and S. E. Morss, formerly of Fort Wayne, Indiana, came to this city in the fall of 1880 and established The Evening Star, a low priced afternoon journal, similar in size and style to those in all the other large cities of the country. The first number of The Evening Star appeared on the 18th of September. It is still published.

Other Publications

Price Current, Commercial Indicator, Kansas City Review of Science and Industry, Mirror of Progress, ^Mid Continent. There are, also, published two German papers, and a society paper. The Herald. There are two auxiliary publishing companies, one by the Times company, and the other by Bunker & Brother.

All the denominations are represented, and they number thirty-six churches in all. The Baptists, Presbyterians and Methodists, the latter North and South, are the largest in number. The Catholics have a fine cathedral and other edifices and are a large and influential body in the city.

There are ten Masonic lodges; eight, of Odd Fellows; five. Knights of Pythias; Grand Army of the Republic, one; two lodges of the order of Mutual Protection; The Ancient Order of David, one; The Ancient Order of Foresters, one; and Good Templars, one; The order of Chosen Friends, has three lodges, and there is the Irish Benevolent Society, and the Ancient Order of Hibernians.

The Academy of Science was organized December 2, 1875. It is represented by some of the ablest minds in the city, and has resulted in much good.

R. T. Van Horn, president; W. H. Miller, vice-president; T. J. Eaton, treasurer; Theo. S. Case, corresponding secretary; J. D. Parker, recording secretary; Harry Child, curator; Sidney Hare and Dr. R. Wood Brown, assistant-curators; Robert Gillham, librarian. Dr. T. J. Eaton, Dr. George Hailey, Maj. B. L. Woodson and John D. Parker are members of the executive committee.

The Academy has two functions (1) to increase a knowledge of science by original observation and investigation, and (2) to difiiise a knowledge of science. The Academy has made some valuable collections and has a growing library. The influence of the Academy in difl*usiiig a scientific spirit is beginning to be felt throughout the city and its immediate vicinity. There are quite a number of miscellaneous societies. The Woman's Christian Association, which was organized in 1876, is worthy of special mention for its great charities and earnest and faithful work. The present officers of the society are: Mrs. F. M. Black, president; Mrs. J. K. Cravens and Mrs. F. J. Baird, vice-presidents; Mrs. H. M. Holden, treasurer; Mrs. Win. Williamson, secretary.

Public Schools

The public schools of Kansas City are its glory, and there is no city in the Union of its size whose educational advantages are superior, while it is not too much to say that it has few equals. A condensed report of last year will give the reader of this book some idea of its great work.

The schools closed June 9, 1881, after having completed the most prosperous year's work since their organization. For seven years the utmost harmony has prevailed in every department - the board of education, the superintendent, and teachers - all having worked unceasingly to bring the schools to the highest degree of perfection. From sixteen teachers in 1867, the corps has increased till at present it numbers one hundred and three earnest and faithful workers. Complete preparations have been made to furnish and equip sixteen additional rooms during the present summer so that they will be ready for occupancy when the schools open in September.

Under the skillful financial management of the board, all claims of whatever character have been promptly paid on demand, and the entire business for the last six years has been conducted on a cash basis.

In 1873 the first class, consisting of four members, graduated from the Central school, and a class has graduated every year since. The total number of graduates is one hundred and thirty-six, of whom forty-three are males.

Since the foundation of the library in 1876, it has continued to increase in usefulness and importance, and to attend to it properly required so much of the superintendent's time from his other duties, that the board last March employed Mrs. Carrie W. Judson as librarian and to perform such clerical duties at the office of the board of education as the superintendent might direct. The library is now kept open every day and its duties promptly attended to.

Kansas City Stock Exchange As A Manufacturing Center

As a manufacturing center Kansas City has unequaled advantages in her cheap and abundant coal, and in the cheapness and abundance of materials afforded by the contiguous counti-y, a brief summary of which will be found further on in this chajDter.

Position And Trade

True, this city does not yet supply all the merchandise, nor market all the products of the vast region tributary to her. The country and the city, commercially speaking, are but a quarter of a century old. The people coming in from all quarters, as emigrants always do, at first look back to the point from whence they came for supplies and for markets. It takes time to establish new associations. This city, as a depot of supply, is not over fifteen years old, and as a market only about ten, but her development in these respects is, for rapidity, without a parallel in the history of cities. She has trade relations established throughout the domain, and now reaches a point where all competitors must give way forever. She sends merchandise to Kansas, Colorado, Nebraska, Missouri, Iowa, New Mexico and Texas, and though this trade has not been in existence to exceed ten years, she has now nearly excluded all competitors from the markets for the cattle of Texas, Colorado, Nebraska, Kansas, the Indian Territory, New Mexico, and western Missouri; the hogs of western Missouri, Kansas, southwestern Iowa, southern Nebraska and Northern Texas; the sheep and wool of Kansas, Colorado and New Mexico, and the wheat of western Missouri, Kansas, and southern Nebraska, and partly of southwestern Iowa.

That she will in a few years market all the products of this vast area and supply it with all its merchandise, is certain. Her railway lines penetrate it, radiating in all directions. The railway system of this entire area centers at Kansas City, the roads that do not terminate here making their connection with those that do. The non-use of navigable waters makes the railways the sole arteries of commerce, and that they will bear the products of the country to Kansas City, and bear the merchandise from Kansas City, is as certain as that they radiate from Kansas City to all parts of the country.

It is a remarkable fact that the markets of Kansas City came into existence and grew to nearly equal importance with those of St. Louis and Chicago - in some respects to a controlling position - within five years, while there was little visible growth in the city and little immigration into the country. It is a remarkable fact also that during the same period, and under the same conditions, the mercantile business of the city was quadrupled, and has continued to grow with unprecedented rapidity since. Tiie significance of these facts is unmistakable. It simply means the rapid, intense concentration of the trade of the country at Kansas City.

As a mamifacturing center Kansas City lias unequalled advantages in her cheap and abundant coal, and the cheapness and vastness of her material supplies afibrded by the contiguous country. She has become a vast depot of supplies for the entire western and southern domain, an area covered by no other city on the continent.

Assessed Valuation

The assessed valuation of property, real and personal, in Kansas City, shows the following rapid increase. The valuation is given by decades up to 1870, and then by years, to show the fluctuation of values and the effect of the great financial crash of 1874, which culminated in 1876, and its rapid recovery since that date.

The New West And Its Eesources

The area in which Kansas City trades may be defined as between the 17th and 29th meridian west from Washington, and the 23d and 41st parallels of latitude, embracing a greater variety of climate and mineral and soil products than can be found in any similar area in the world. The great agricultural bolt of the United States crosses it. It contains the greatest pastoral region in the world, and embraces the famous lead, zinc and coal mines of Missouri and Kansas, and the lead, coal, iron, silver and gold mines of Colorado and New Mexico. There are no adequate statistics of its population or productions. It is so new and has been settling and developing so rapidly since the general census, in 1870, that the facts of the census would grossly misrepresent its present condition, and the census of 1880 is not yet available.

litness lor the habitation of man. These may be said to consist of climate^ rain-fall and soil, and we propose to take a brief view of these.

Climate

As above stated, this country embraces a wide range of climate, due parti}' to the number of latitudes it embraces, and partly to the difference in altitude, the country rising from about seven liundred feet at the Missouri River, to about five thousand at the base of the mountains. However, the most desirable latitudes cross it, the countr}'^ between the 38th and 42d parallels, both in this country and Europe, having been found to be the best adapted to vigorous manhood, longevity and physical and mental effort. These parallels embrace, on both hemispheres, the largest per cent of the population north of the equator, and the seat of man's highest achievements.

Soil

The soil of Kansas, Nebraska, Missouri and Iowa are composed of what geologists call the drift, loess and alluvial deposits. The first is of comparatively limited extent, and is mostly found combined with the loess in what is known as modified drift. In this form it is very fertile, and yields sixty bushels of corn to the acre. The second embraces all the upland soil, and the third the bottom-lands.

The Close

Thus has been sketched Kansas City and her surroundings. No city in the Union has exceeded her wonderful growth, or developed greater commercial resources, and that growth and strength will continue with increasing years. She is the marvel of the nineteenth century, and as such every Missourian should know her and feel a pride in her extraordinary success.

Early Settlements

The First Settlement at Blackstone Hills - Robidoux - Biographical Sketch - At the Bluffs - Then at Roy's Branch and Blacksnake Hills - 1834-1836 - Robidoux' s Home - Employes - Servant - Ferry - From 1837 to 1840 - Rival Towns - Wolves.

The French element of the class of pioneers settled Canada and the northwestern part of the United States, as well as the country about the mouth of the Mississippi River. They came into the upper Mississippi and Missouri Yalleys in 1764, under the lead of Pierre Laclede Liqueste (always called Laclede), who had a charter from the French government giving him the exclusive right to trade with the Indians in all the country as far north as St. Peter's River. Laclede brought part of his colony from France, and received large accessions to it in New Orleans, mainly of hunters and trappers, who had had experience with the Indians. In the year 1764 this colony founded the present city of St. Louis. From this point they immediately began their ti-ading and trapping incursions into the then unbroken wilderness in their front. Their method of proceeding seems to have been to penetrate into the interior and establish small local posts for trading with the Indians, whence the trappers and hunters were outfitted and sent out into the adjacent woods.

In this way the country west and northwest of St. Louis was traversed and explored by these people, at a very early day, as far west as the Rocky Mountains. But of the extent of their operations but little has been recorded; hence but little is known of the posts established by them. It is known, however, that such posts were established at a very early day on the Chariton and Grand Rivers, in Missouri, and at Cote Sans Dessein, in Calloway county.

Joseph Robidoux, the son of Joseph and Catharine Robidoux, was oorn in St. Louis, August 10, 1783. He was the eldest of a family consisting of six sons and one daughter; to-wit., Joseph, Antoine, Isadore, Francis, Michael and Palagie. Louis, the second son, lived and died in California, after his rejnoval from St. Louis. Joseph, Antoine, Isadore and Francis were all buried in St. Joseph. Joseph, the father of this family, was a Canadian Frenchman, and came from Montreal, Canada, to St. Louis, where he located shortly after the settlement of the city by the French.

Bein^ a shrewd business man and possessing great energy he accumulated a fortune. His wealth, his business qualifications, and his genial disposition, made him many friends among the leading merchants and influential men of that city. He occupied a large mansion, located between Walnut and Elm streets, surrounded with every comfort and convenience. Here he entertained his friends in a royal style, and so noted was his hospitality that the first general assembly of Missouri did him the honor of holding its first session at his house, on the 7th of December, 1812.

Four years after his marriage his wife died. After her death young Robidoux, then in the twenty-third year of his age, became an extensive traveler. He made a voyage up the Missouri River in company with one of the partners of the American Fur Company.

Blacksnake Hills had been seen by some of the men connected with the fur companies while enroute on one of the expeditions, their attention being attracted thither, not only by the topography of the country, but by the presence of the congregated tribes of the Sac, Fox and Iowa Indians, who assembled here en masse at stated seasons of the year, preparatory to crossing the river, either on a visit'to other tribes farther west, or for the purpose of hunting.