Institution

Thurman's career, which spanned 34 years, focused primarily on criminal cases in the early years of her practice, but soon shifted to divorce cases. In 1957, she married A. Odell Thurman, an administrator for the Kansas City Missouri School District. Mrs. Thurman was active in the community, serving as a member of the YWCA, Women's Chamber of Commerce, and League of Women Voters. She also served on the board of directors of the National Coalition of 100 Black Women, Greater Kansas City Chapter of the American Red Cross, Mid-Continent Council of Girl Scouts of America, and the Carver Neighborhood Center. Thurman was also a devoted member of the Republican Party.In 1962, attorney Thurman became Missouri's first African American female lawyer to practice before the Supreme Court of the United States. In 1969, she was one of 15 civic, business, and government leaders appointed by President Nixon to serve on a blue-ribbon panel to conduct a yearlong study of Defense Department organizations and management. Thurman, who served as president of the Southwest Bar Association, was also chair of the women's division of the World Peace through Law Center. In 1960, she received the prestigious C. Francis Stradford Award from the National Bar Association.Thurman continued to practice law at 1505 East 18th Street and devoted many hours to the restoration of the neighborhood as a jazz center. She died at her home on 1 May 1985 and is interred at Forest Hill Cemetery, section 41, in Kansas City, Missouri.

Leona Pouncey Thurman was a practicing attorney in Kansas City starting in 1949

Born in Russellville, Arkansas 1 July 1911, Leona Thurman attended Henderson Business College in Memphis before settling in Kansas City, Missouri, in 1931. She became attracted to the law profession as a career while working as a secretary for attorney James D. Pouncey, whom she married in 1937. Following her husband's death, Leona attended Howard University Law School. She received her law degree in 1949 and became the first Black woman to practice law in Kansas City.

Listen to a short history of Mrs. Thurman by Michael Patton; recording created by Black Archives of Mid-America

Gravesite of Leona Pouncey Thurman

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George Kessler was well-known for his work around Kansas City. Born in Germany in 1862, Kessler first came to America at age 16. He returned to Germany to study botany, forestry, and design before moving back to New York in 1882. His first projects in the United States included the Railroad Excursion Park in Merriam, Kansas and Hyde Park in Kansas City. He is remembered for his work on Kansas City’s park and boulevard system. Six years after arriving back in the United States, Kessler designed Forest Hill Cemetery.The cemetery originally had 104 species of domestic and foreign trees, the result of Sid Hare’s vision for what cemeteries could be. Sid Hare was the cemetery’s first superintendent. He worked with George Kessler at the Kansas City engineer’s office. When he became superintendent of Forest Hill Cemetery in 1896, Hare began developing theories on cemetery design. He believed that while cemeteries were a resting place for the dead, they could also be a botanical garden for the living. Hare went on to develop a landscape design firm with his son called Hare &amp; Hare. The father son team worked with J.C. Nichols in developing Kansas City neighborhoods like the Country Club Plaza and Mission Hills. They designed fifty-four total cemeteries in the United States and one in Costa Rica.Forest Hill Cemetery became Forest Hill and Calvary Cemetery after seventy bodies of Confederate soldiers were interred there. On October 22-23rd, 1864, General Sterling Price’s raid on Missouri ended in a bloody battle resulting in 1,500 soldiers killed, captured, and wounded. The Battle of Westport was the last Confederate military operation west of the Mississippi. In 1866, a local man named George W. Briant decided he would give the soldiers of this battle, who had been buried where they died, a proper burial if they would be removed from their current burial spots. He then deeded a fraction of his land to Byrum’s Ford Internment Association. The bodies were slowly moved from the battlefield of Westport to unmarked graves in a small cemetery on the southeast corner of modern-day Troost and Gregory Boulevard. One notable internment was that of Confederate Colonel Upton Hayes, who died at Newtonia, Missouri in 1862 and was re-interred at the request of his family.In 1890, the small cemetery was threatened by widening roads in Kansas City. The Kansas City Star suggested the bodies be moved to Forest Hill Cemetery, across the street. Between 1893 and 1894, about seventy bodies were moved from the small cemetery to Forest Hill. Throughout the decade, the Daughters of the Confederacy advocated for a Confederate memorial in Forest Hill to honor the unknown men. On Memorial Day, 1902, the memorial was erected during a ceremony attended by thousands of people, including Confederate veterans.

Covering 160 acres, this historic Kansas city cemetery was incorporated in 1888 and has grown to include both the historic Forest Hill Cemetery and Calvary Cemetery. It is located near the University of Missouri - Kansas City and the historic battlefield of Westport. The cemetery includes the final resting places of Kansas City residents from the Civil War to the present, from Confederate officers to innovative businesswomen and civil rights leaders. It was designed by notable Kansas City architect George Kessler and landscape designer Sid Hare.

Harold Roe Bennett Sturdyvant Bartle, better known as H. Roe Bartle, was born on June 25th in either 1901 or 1896. His birthplace is disputed but is either Richmond, Virginia or Solon, Iowa. Bartle was born to Samuel Dunn Bartle, an English immigrant and Presbyterian minister, and Ada Mae Roe. Growing up in the mining towns of Virginia, Bartle’s father encouraged him to join the ministry, but he opted for a career in law instead. Around 1920, Bartle was admitted to the Kentucky bar for a Lebanon, Kentucky firm where he worked as a corporate lawyer. During this period, Bartle met Margaret Anne Caroline Jarvis and they were married on September 26th, 1923 in St. Joseph, Missouri where her family lived. They had one child together, Margaret Roe “Jimmy” Bartle Taylor. Bartle continued practicing law until World War I. After the war, Bartle used his army pay to invest in oil, land, and banks and retired from law.While in Lebanon, Bartle supervised a Boy Scout troop and made a connection with the national chief scout executive, Dr. James E. West. West offered Bartle a position as the executive director of the Cheyenne Council of Boy Scouts in Casper, Wyoming. Bartle may have spent some time in Kansas City in 1921 in order to prepare for his job with the Boy Scouts before moving to Wyoming for two years. When Bartle arrived in Wyoming, there were only five Boy Scout troops. During his time overseeing the entire state, that number grew to fifty troops consisting of 1,400 Scouts. While living in Wyoming, Bartle spent time on the Wind River Indian Reservation where he claimed he was inducted as a blood brother into the Northern Arapaho Tribe. This has been disputed because “tribes do not induct members in this manner.” It is said that either Chief Lone Bear or his son inducted Bartle and gave him the name Lone Bear. Bartle went on to adopt the nickname of Chief.In 1925, Bartle found a similar position with the Boy Scouts in St. Joseph, Missouri. The same year, he created the Tribe of Mic-O-Say, an honor camper program that utilized Native American imagery. It began in Agency, Missouri at Camp Brinton and attracted thousands of new scouts. In 1929, the Tribe was brought to Camp Osceola, which was later renamed the H. Roe Bartle Scout Reservation. In 1928, Bartle accepted a position of the chief area executive of the Boy Scouts. Under his leadership, the number of Boy Scouts in Kansas City grew from 2,300 to 30,000 by the 1950s. Bartle held the position until 1955.During his time as a scouting executive, Bartle was heavily involved in his community. From 1931 to 1946, he was the president of the Alpha Phi Omega fraternity, which he personally financed. Under his leadership, the fraternity grew from eighteen chapters to 109. From 1945 to 1952, Bartle was the president of the Missouri Valley College where, in 1948, he founded the philanthropic organization American Humanics Foundation. The Foundation is now called the Nonprofit Leadership Alliance and prepares students for leadership positions. Bartle was deeply invested in philanthropy, having accepted thirty appointments to philanthropic organizations. He also continued to be involved in the Presbyterian church, and attended the Central Presbyterian Church in Kansas City from 1929 until his death. He was also a member of the General Assembly from 1962 to 1966 and a charter member of the National Conference of Christians and Jews.Bartle became involved in politics in the 1950s when, in 1951, President Harry Truman asked him to become the regional stabilization director for the federal government. Bartle was known and respected for his public speaking abilities. By 1955, he had given 700 public speeches a year. It was in 1955 that Bartle ran for mayor of Kansas City. Bartle was a Democrat but had been asked to run on the Citizen’s Association ticket. He ultimately decided to run as an independent with the Citizen’s Association’s support. He was officially elected mayor on April 5th, 1855. As mayor, Bartle continued to be devoted to speech-making but is also remembered for overseeing the desegregation of the city hospitals, reworking the tax code, and supporting the advancement of black police officers. During his term as mayor, the football team Dallas Texans moved to Kansas City. The team’s owner Lamar Hunt was convinced to move the team to Kansas City when Bartle claimed he could triple ticket sales there and recruited 1,000 Kansas Citians to sell tickets. At first, the team was going to be called the Kansas City Texans but was officially called The Chiefs after Bartle’s nickname.Bartle served a second term as mayor and was on the ballot for a third term, but asked voters not to reelect him. Following his time as mayor, Bartle continued to be involved in volunteer work and giving speeches. After experiencing health problems for years, Bartle died on May 9th, 1974 from complications of heart disease and diabetes. He was buried at Forest Hill Cemetery. In 1976, the Kansas City Convention Center was opened and named Bartle Hall in his memory.

This is the final resting place of Harold Roe Bennett Sturdyvant Bartle, better known as H. Roe Bartle. Bartle was an influential Kansas City mayor, Boy Scout Executive, and philanthropist who grew up in the small mining towns of Virginia. He became a lawyer in Kentucky before discovering his passion for the Boy Scouts. His work with the Scouts drew in thousands of young boys, thanks partially to his development of the Tribe of Mic-O-Say, a campers honor program. Bartle also served two terms as mayor of Kansas City, during which he persuaded the owner of the football team the Dallas Texans to move to Kansas City. The team was then renamed The Chiefs after Bartle's nickname Chief which he earned during his time with the Boy Scouts.

Gravesite of Harold Roe Bennett Sturdyvant Bartle 

Joyce C. Hall (better known as J.C. Hall) is remembered for the successful greeting card company, Hallmark, he founded with his older brothers Rollie and William. J.C. was born on August, 29th, 1891 in David City, Nebraska to George Nelson Hall and Nannie Dudley Hall. While George Nelson Hall struggled to support his family, he joined the Methodist Church in 1891 as a lay preacher. He began traveling the country as a preacher and sent very little money back home to his family, causing J.C. Hall and his brothers to grow up in poverty. The brothers began supporting the family at an early age by selling sandwiches to passengers on the train from Burlington to David City or lemonade to fairgoers and baseball fans.At just age 9, J.C. Hall was selling perfumes and extracts for the California Perfume Company, which later became known as Avon Products. Hall’s parents were divorced in 1901, by which time he and his brothers were working for L.W. and Millie Snow, the owners of a 99-cent store in David City. The couple was very influential on the Hall brothers by introducing them to retail. Rollie and William worked at the Snow’s 99-cent store and in 1900, they followed the Snows to Columbus where they opened a bookstore. Rollie became head clerk there but a year later, decided to become a drummer (traveling salesman) for the Marshall Paper Company of Omaha. He was likely inspired to take this step by L.W. Snow, who was also a drummer. After his short stint selling paper, Rollie traded it out for a candy line under the same company, Voegle and Dinning, employed by L.W. Snow. Meanwhile, William continued to work at the bookstore in Columbus where he learned merchandising and became assistant manager. William went into business with traveling newspaperman William S. Jay in 1905 and together, they bought a bookstore in Norfolk, Nebraska that they named Norfolk Book Store. The same year, J.C. began working at the bookstore after the school year ended. The boys helped pull their family out of poverty, and they all left David City for good in 1905.While J.C. was working at the bookstore, the postcard fad hit the United States and caught the attention of merchandisers across the nation. J.C. himself became aware of the fad during a chance meeting with a Chicago-based salesman representing a large New York-based importer of picture postcards. He relayed the story to his brother William and offered to put up all his money for the business. William was convinced after meeting with the salesman the following morning. William, J.C., and Rollie would equally contribute funds for the initial order of the firm that J.C. had already named the Norfolk Post Card Company. The brothers began selling postcards at the bookstore and they became the best-selling items in the store. By 1907, postcards were still intensely popular in the United States, causing William to decide to remodel the entire back half of the store to accommodate the inventory. The Norfolk Bookstore, which eventually became the Hall Bookstore, functioned as the postcard company’s first headquarters where J.C. fulfilled orders. They even began producing original postcards depicting local scenes in Nebraska. J.C. dropped out of high school at age 18 after traveling with Rollie as a drummer for their postcard company for a summer.Aspiring to expand the postcard business, J.C. moved to Kansas City in 1910. He convinced his family to allow him to move by enrolling in Spalding’s Commercial College. He arrived with two shoe boxes full of postcards and sought out drugstores, bookstores, and gift shops. J.C. dreamed of opening a business where he could sell postcards by mail order, which led to him being kicked out of his room at the YMCA because he was running the business out of his room. The budding businessman decided not to return to college as his business was growing. Rollie joined him in Kansas City to help run the business and the following year, their mother Nancy and younger sister Marie followed. In 1912, the Norfolk Postcard Company was renamed Hall Brothers and they began selling greeting cards as the postcard craze died down. The following year, J.C. and Rollie rented a retail space in downtown Kansas City to showcase their product. In 1912 and 1913, they were convinced greeting cards were the way to go following a successful Christmas season. J.C. contacted a small engraving company in Kansas City to publish a line of 20 cards consisting of a variety of designs and sentiments. On the back of each card was the inscription: Hall Bros., Kansas City, MO., Made in U.S.A. With this success, the Hall brother entered the publishing business. In 1915, a fire destroyed all of the Hall brothers’ products. The same year, J.C. learned that the Smith-Pierce Engraving Company was in financial trouble and agreed to take over payments of their presses while the men were hired on to work for Hall Brothers. With the Smith-Pierce equipment and expertise as well as the women the brothers hired to hand color the engravings, the Hall Brothers became a manufacturer. By mid-1915, the company was creating and producing their own cards on their own presses – the first Hallmark cards. Initially, they were producing Christmas and Valentine’s Day cards that were mailed in envelopes to protect the consumer’s privacy.William joined J.C. and Rollie in Kansas City in 1921 and, in 1923, began working at Hall Brothers. It was in 1921 that J.C. married his wife Elizabeth with whom he had three children: Elizabeth Ann Reid, Barbara Louise Marshall, and Donald Joyce Hall. The Hall family was invested in philanthropy, and in 1943 J.C. and Elizabeth alongside Rollie founded the Hall Family Foundation. The purpose of the Foundation was to pay back Kansas City and to promote "the health, welfare and happiness of school-age children; the advancement and diffusion of knowledge; activities for the improvement of public health; and advancement of social welfare." The Hall Family Foundation provides grants to organizations and institutions within the Kansas City Area in order to enhance and better the lives of those living in the area.Along with William joining the company and J.C.'s marriage to Elizabeth, the 1920’s also marks the decade that J.C. began putting “Hallmark” on the back of the greeting cards, a word that he favored because it denoted quality while including the family name. The company name would officially be changed in 1954. Hallmark Cards was rapidly growing in the early 1960s and the land around their headquarters was littered with abandoned warehouses and empty buildings. In the spirit of revitalizing the city, J.C. developed a plan that included a remodel of their office building, built in 1916 as well as redeveloping the area around it. In 1966, J.C. turned his position as president over to his son Donald. Together, they carried out J.C.’s vision of revitalization and, inspired by Hallmark’s crown logo, decided to call it Crown Center. After the plans were approved by the city, J.C. and Donald formed the Crown Center Redevelopment Corporation to oversee the project and sought advice from people like J.C.’s longtime friend Walt Disney. Development began on September 16th, 1968 and the first phase was completed by 1971. This first phase included a public square with walkways and fountains. By 1973, there was a second square, the Ice Terrace skating rink, Grand Avenue Bank &amp; Trust building, the Crown Center Hotel (not Westin by IHG), and the Crown Center Shops. Since then, Crown Center has become known as a “city within a city” that includes office and residential space, shopping, and entertainment.Rollie and William had passed away in 1968 and 1971, respectively. Although J.C. turned his position over to his son, he remained active in the business as chairman of the board. J.C. Hall passed away at age 91 on October 29th, 1982 in his sleep at his home in Leawood, Kansas.

Joyce C. Hall (better known as J.C. Hall) was one of the founders of Hallmark, a Kansas City-based greeting card company. He arrived in Kansas City in 1910 with two shoeboxes of postcards and the dream of starting a company where he could sell postcards by mail order. He was eventually joined by his older brothers Rollie and William and together, they founded the greeting card company that would become globally renowned. Along with Hallmark, J.C. and his son Donald developed Crown Center, Kansas City's "city within a city" that includes residential and office buildings, shopping, and entertainment.

Gravesite of J.C. Hall

Corinthian Ricks was born in Forney, Texas, to Robert R. and Roxie Anna (Ford) Ricks on 10 December 1906. Her father worked for the railroad. Her mother was an itinerant worker and Nutter was frequently taken out of school. She fell behind in class and dropped out at age 14. In 1922, after a brief marriage, she moved to Kansas City, Missouri, and lived at the YMCA. She played the piano for numerous entertainers and the organ for silent movies. She found lodging with a member of Bennie Moten’s jazz band. Nutter became a friend of Moten and his pianist, William “Count” Basie.She earned her high school diploma in 1936. She commuted to Western University in Quindaro to complete her bachelor’s degree. In 1938 she received a Kansas teaching certificate. She began commuting to Emporia state University in pursuit of her master’s degree in education. She married Austin K. Nutter in Kansas City, Missouri, on June 2, 1941. He died in 1998.She was hired to teach at Walker Elementary School in Merriam. The segregated school had two classrooms and eight grade levels. It was run down and lacked indoor plumbing. The school district funded a new elementary school with proceeds from a bond election, which opened in 1947. When African American students were denied access to the new school, parents and community activist Esther Brown organized a legal challenge and 39 of 41 students and their families boycotted the school. Nutter continued to teach the students, holding classes in church basements and living rooms. She received a small stipend from the NAACP for her efforts but said she would have done it for nothing. She provided key testimony when the case reached the Kansas Supreme Court. She said, “Schools shouldn’t be for color. They should be for the children.” The Kansas Supreme Court upheld Webb v. School District No. 90 in 1949 and African American children were allowed entrance to the new school.Nutter later moved to Olathe where she taught at Westview Elementary School. She eventually became the school’s principal. She retired in 1972 and continued to be active in her community. She was a life member of the NAACP and a member of Paseo Baptist Church. She received the YWCA of Greater Kansas City Racial Justice Award in 2003, the Humanitarian Award for human and civil rights, and was named to the Rosa Parks Wall of Tolerance in 2003. She was inducted into the Mid-America Education Hall of Fame at the Kansas City (Kansas) Community College.Nutter died, at 97, in Shawnee, Kansas, on 10 February 2004. She is buried in Forest Hills Cemetery, block 53, in Kansas City, Missouri.

This is the final resting place of Corinthian Clay Ricks Nutter, an educator who was among the leading advocates for the integration of public schools in Kansas City. A teacher, scholar, and recipient of numerous awards for civil rights. Nutter taught at Walker School in Merriam, Kansas, as well as Westview Elementary School in Olathe, Kansas. In 1949, she was involved in the Kansas Supreme Court decision Webb v. School District No. 90.

Corinthian Clay Ricks Nutter

Hazel Browne was born on 9 February 1907, the only child of John and Effie Moten Browne. She graduated from Lincoln High School in 1923, where she earned the honor of serving as the first woman sponsored major rank of the school’s ROTC. Her reputation for breaking barriers would continue throughout her life. Browne chose to pursue a career in education because it was one of the few professions open to Black women in the 1920s. Upon graduation in 1927, from the University of Kansas, she earned two master’s degrees — one in English from Kansas University and the second in Guidance Counseling from Columbia University.Early in her career, Hazel Browne married Claude Williams, a principal at Leeds Junior High School, who died in 1937. In 1932, Williams began her career in education at Louisville Municipal College, a Black liberal arts school and a branch of the University of Louisville, teaching English and German.Ms. Williams received a master’s degree in guidance and counseling from Columbia University and went on to earn a Ph.D. from New York University in 1953. She was also honored as a Fulbright exchange teacher in 1956 and taught English in Vienna, Austria. Professor Williams would become best known for her tenure at UMKC, starting as associate professor of education in 1958 and rising two years later to full professor. After 18 years of service, Williams retires in 1976 and became the first African American awarded emeritus status by the university. She also was active in several organizations and institutions including the NAACP, YWCA and Mattie Rhodes Center. Hazel Browne Williams died 7 July 1986 in Kansas City, MO, and is buried in Forest Hill Cemetery.

Hazel Browne Williams, the first full-time African American professor at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, exemplified academic excellence throughout her career as an educator. A graduate of Lincoln High School in Kansas City, Missouri, Williams studied English at the University of Kansas, where she overcame racism and indifference from professors and was elected to the prestigious Phi Beta Kappa academic honor society.

Gravesite of Hazel Browne Williams

Known for his anonymous acts of philanthropy that ranged from small personal checks to help families in their hour of need to donating millions of dollars to support the creation of hospitals and schools, William Volker earned the nickname "Mr. Annonymous" for his private acts of generosity and kindness. Volker earned a fortune as a manufacturer of home furnishings, and he later earned the nickname of Kansas City's "First Citizen," a moniker that reflected the esteem of his fellow citizens. From 1911, when he decided to give away the bulk of his fortune to his death in 1947, scores of philanthropic and civic projects, ranging from the creation of Liberty Memorial to numerous schools and hospitals, received critical financial support from William Volker. Volker also provided the critical financial support that formed the core of the campus of today's University of Missouri Kansas City.

Gravesite of William Volker, Businessman and Philanthropist (1859-1947)

General Joseph Orville “Jo” Shelby was born on December 12th, 1830 in Lexington, Kentucky. His father was a wealthy planter and hemp rope producer who died when Shelby was five. Shelby was raised by his stepfather Benjamin Gratz who was also part of the wealthy elite of Lexington. Shelby attended Transylvania University, where he was poised to become a successful businessman. Following his time at the university, he became a rope manufacturer until he moved to Waverly, Missouri, in 1852. There, he and his stepbrother Henry Howard Gratz opened the Waverly Steam Rope Company, which used the labor of enslaved people. In Missouri, Shelby also owned a 700-acre plantation operated by enslaved people. He became one of the wealthiest men in the state. In 1857, Shelby married Elizabeth Nancy Shelby, a distant cousin, and they had seven children together.Shelby became involved in the Bleeding Kansas conflict after the Kansas-Nebraska Act was passed in 1854. In response to the Act, the New England Emigrant Aid Company was formed in which northern abolitionists were paid to move to Kansas and prevent it from becoming a slave state. Missourians subsequently formed the Blue Lodge, which was dedicated to making Kansas a slave state. Shelby was involved in the Blue Lodge, and went to Lawrence, Kansas during the March 30th, 1855 election to illegally vote and harass abolitionists. His involvement with the issue damaged his business and his relationship with his stepbrother, causing his brother to move back to Lexington. Shelby had to sell his rope company, plantation, and the people he enslaved.Following the attack on Fort Sumter in 1861 that officially marked the beginning of the Civil War, Governor Claiborn Fox Jackson refused Lincoln’s call for troops and attempted to secede. Joseph Shelby formed the Lafayette County Mounted Rifles to fight for the Missouri State Guard, which was formed by Governor Jackson to drive the Union troops out of Missouri, in response to the Camp Jackson Affair. The Camp Jackson Affair occurred on May 10, 1861 when Union Captain Nathaniel Lyon led 6,000 volunteers and U.S. Regulars against the secessionist Camp Jackson arsenal. Lyon and his men captured 669 men and marched them through St. Louis, which sparked a riot. The volunteers fired into the crowds, killing 28 onlookers and wounding 100 more.Shelby led the Lafayette County Mounted Rifles into battle at Carthage, Wilson’s Creek, and Pea Ridge. In 1862, he was promoted to Colonel and ordered to recruit men for a Confederate Cavalry regiment. For this, he returned to Lafayette County and, after bringing the recruits back to Arkansas, he was given command of the new brigade which has been nicknamed the “Iron Brigade” for their toughness. In 1863, Shelby led the Iron Brigade on what was then the longest cavalry raid of the war, dubbed “Shelby’s Raid.” The raid lasted from September 22nd to November 3rd, 1863. Major John Newman Edwards reported that the raid resulted in“1,500 miles traveled, 600 killed and wounded, and 500 captured and paroled,” though this was likely exaggerated. The raid’s purpose was to divert Federal troops, which they failed in accomplishing.Nonetheless, on December 15th, 1863, Shelby was promoted to brigadier-general. In 1864, Shelby, along with other Confederate forces, successfully disrupted General Frederick Steele’s Camden Expedition that lasted from March 23rd to May 2nd. General Steele’s forces were forced to retreat to Little Rock after their supply trains were captured and destroyed at the Battle of Marks’ Mills.Shelby went on to command a division during Price’s Missouri Expedition, a failed Confederate raid through Arkansas, Missouri, and Kansas led by General Sterling Price. After Robert E. Lee’s surrender at Appomattox, Shelby was promoted to major general but this was never formalized because the Confederate government collapsed. Despite Lee’s surrender, Shelby refused to give up and in June of 1865, he led his troops (nicknamed “The Undefeated”) to Mexico. He offered their services as a foreign legion to Emperor Maximilian, who declined but granted them land for an American colony near Vera Cruz called Carlota. The land grant was revoked two years later when the Second Mexican Empire fell, and Maximilian was executed.Shelby subsequently returned to Missouri and took up farming again. In 1893, he was appointed U.S. Marshal for the Western District of Missouri by President Grover Cleveland, a position he maintained until his death. Shelby appointed an African American man as the Deputy U.S. Marshal, which was met with controversy. He defended his actions, saying: “I am right in what I have done, and by the right I propose to stand.” Shelby later voiced regret for the actions he took in Kansas. He told historian William Elsey Connelly: “I was in Kansas at the head of an armed force. I was there to kill Free-state men. I did kill them. I am now ashamed of myself for having done so. I had no business there. No Missourian had any business there with arms in his hands.” General Joseph Shelby died of pneumonia at his farm near Adrian, Missouri, on February 13th, 1897, at age 66.

This is the burial site of Joseph Orville "Jo" Shelby, a man whose wealth came from the labor of the families he enslaved and who is best known for attacking abolitionists and leading Confederate raids during the Civil War. Shelby was born to a wealthy Kentucky family and moved to Waverly, Missouri, where the labor of enslaved people made him one of the wealthiest people in the area. Shelby operated a 700-acre plantation and ropeworks. An ardent defender of slavery, Shelby sided with Missourians who attacked Free Staters in Kansas after the Kansas-Nebraska Act was passed in 1854. Shelby organized proslavery partisans during Bleeding Kansas, but towards the end of his life, Shelby expressed regrets for his violent actions against Kansans who opposed slavery in the crisis known as "Bleeding Kansas." When the Civil War started, Shelby led cavalry units for the Confederate army. Shelby remains widely regarded as an effective cavalry leader in raids against U.S. Army troops throughout Missouri. He also commanded troops in the Battle of Wilson's Creek and led a division during Price's Missouri Expedition before leading his remaining troops to Mexico to avoid surrender at the end of the Civil War. After the war, Shelby eventually returned to Missouri where he was a farmer. Late in life, Shelby was a U.S. Marshall and in this capacity, he appointed an African-American man as a Deputy U.S. Marshal, an action that was met with controversy. Shelby later voiced regret for the actions he took in Kansas. He told historian William Elsey Connelly: “I was in Kansas at the head of an armed force. I was there to kill Free-state men. I did kill them. I am now ashamed of myself for having done so.”

Gravesite of Joseph Orville "Jo" Shelby (1830-1897)

The year was 1864 and the Confederate Army had been losing momentum for some time. With the Union election period coming quickly, Confederate authorities were desperate to secure a victory and sway the tide of war in their favor. Missouri, as a border state, held incredible importance, and if they could take it, they would deal severe damage to the North’s military might and the people’s morale. Hoping to shake the northern politicians’ confidence in Lincoln, an invasion of Missouri was approved to be led by Confederate General Sterling Price. He was assisted by Brigadier General J. Shelby, Maj. General James F. Fagan, and Maj. General John S. Marmaduke. Price was forced to work with the scraps that the Confederacy could muster, a motley group of bare-footed and low-rationed troops (Missouri Department of Natural Resources, 2009); a quarter of whom were deserters who had been returned to service. Most of these returned deserters, in fact, were Missourians who had only ever left their posts so they could defend their homes. A crucial part of Price’s plan was to collect even more men as he moved through the predominantly pro-slavery regions of Missouri, picking up guerrilla fighters and other men to join his ranks. Despite the weathered and exhausted condition of the majority of his troops and the numerous setbacks he faced, General Price managed to accumulate over 12,000 soldiers (Davis, 2004) in his “Army of Missouri”, and he marched to Kansas City after two failed invasion attempts at St. Louis and Jefferson City. In the multi-day battle that ensued with Price’s attempts to take Kansas City, Price eventually found his troops overwhelmed and outflanked. This marks the day, October 23rd, 1864, known as “Shelby’s Last Stand” as Brigadier General J. Shelby held out just long enough to allow Confederate forces led by Price, Fagan, and Marmaduke to escape the hopeless battle they had chosen to start. “Shelby withdrew to a line of stone fences to the south of the Wornall House and held the position until Marmaduke and Fagan’s Divisions retreated past Little Santa Fe. Shelby had saved the day for the Army of Missouri.” (Davis, 2004) Despite Shelby and his troops’ impressive feat, General Price’s Army of Missouri had more or less disintegrated and the nail had been put in the coffin of Price’s Missouri Expedition. There were a number of Price’s forces left as he fled southward and out of the state, but those that remained only existed due to the efforts of General Shelby’s calvary.In 1866, only two years after Price’s forces fled Missouri, a local man named George W. Briant (Euston, 2019) told others in his community that he’d have the bodies of Confederate troops properly buried if they could identify the locations of graves and gather the bodies. Briant didn’t seem to have particularly political intentions, though he was a known Confederate sympathizer. Either as an act of kindness or as a political action or both, he went on to separate a piece of his land and donate it to this very cause. In several years there were over 70 bodies interred in the small plot of land he had donated. Just down and across the street from Briant’s donated plot of land, a new cemetery was established in 1888 called Forest Hill Cemetery. Sid Hare was the first acting superintendent and George Kessler, renowned for his work across the city, was the landscape architect (Forest Hill &amp; Calvary Cemetery). Growing city infrastructure and ever-widening streets endangered the unmarked graves of the Confederate troops. So, between 1893 and 1894, the bodies were exhumed and reburied, finally laid to rest in the newly renamed Forest Hill &amp; Calvary Cemetery. Little detail is known as to why the proprietors of the cemetery chose to rename it after the re-interment of the Confederate dead. For years following, the Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) hosted dinners, balls and various events to gather the needed funds to construct a monument in honor of those fallen soldiers. The UDC revealed the monument on Memorial Day, 1902 to an audience of hundreds of people wishing to pay respects to the long-passed soldiers. The people in attendance weren’t just civilians, either. According to a 1902 article by the Kansas City Star published just one day after the unveiling ceremony, there were many Confederate and Union veterans who had traveled from across the country to be in attendance. (Kansas City Star, 1902) The event began with the president of the local chapter of the UDC, Mrs. Hugh Miller, giving a speech discussing the efforts made to erect this monument. Shortly after she finished speaking, to the rhythm of bands playing well-known southern songs, thirteen young girls, all of whom were children of members of the UDC, pulled the veil loose from the marble shaft. Revealed at its summit was a bronze statue of a Confederate soldier, clad in uniform and with a rifle in hand. The article continues on, describing how several notable speakers took the stage during the ceremony, but perhaps none so well known at the time as Judge James B. Gantt of the Missouri Supreme Court. In time, following the monument’s construction, twenty five more Confederate veterans who died long after the war's end were buried with their fellow soldiers beneath the monument. The UDC would later pay for dozens of small, flat slabs of stone with the names of any known Confederate dead buried at the site engraved upon them, including General Jo Shelby’s grave. All of the grave sites and the monument are located on the privately owned plot of land within the cemetery that the UDC chapter had purchased. Many years after any new bodies were interred at this location, UDC members erected a marker dedicated to describing “Shelby’s Last Stand”. The marker is just on your left as you enter the cemetery. The Confederate Monument still stands as of November 2023, and it doesn’t seem to be going anywhere. The piece is situated on a private lot, thus, neither the city nor the cemetery has the right to take it down, though the cemetery has been quoted saying that they have wanted to do so in the past. This legal issue has not stopped Kansas Citians in relatively recent attempts to deface and vandalize the monument, regarding it as a symbol of racism and hatred. In 2020, several labels such as “racist” and “bigot” and others not appropriate for this essay were spray painted on the base of the monument (Toyoshiba, 2020). Clearly, despite having stood in that spot for over 120 years, the feelings it provokes due to what it represents still hold significant impact in this day and age. There is extensive research about the purpose behind the construction of Confederate monuments across the United States. Several hundred Confederate monuments were erected across the country between the years 1880 and 1950. Scholars who have taken the time to research this phenomenon have begun questioning the true intentions and motives behind the expansive effort to erect so many of these “historic” sites. In his book Standing Soldiers, Kneeling Slaves, the Professor of History of Art Architecture Kirk Savage defines the erection of any monuments as more of an old world ideal, “Public monuments are the most conservative of commemorative forms precisely because they are meant to last, unchanged, forever. While other things come and go, are lost and forgotten, the monument is supposed to remain a fixed point, stabilizing both the physical and the cognitive landscape.” (Savage, 1997) Savage continues to describe that the use of monuments, specifically those of the Confederacy, is to hold the areas they’re built in culturally stagnant, helping to maintain an oppressive and segregated culture in the minds and upbringings of the people around them. Again questioning the intentions and purpose behind so many of these constructions, Savage poses the reader with the current interest of many historians researching in this field, “The irony is that now, [...], we must work so hard to recover that voice once thought to be eternal. If many monuments from the past seem mute to us, they do still have stories to tell. But those stories are not necessarily what those monuments were intended to tell us.” The Confederate monument at Forest Hill &amp; Calvary Cemetery reminds us of this question and doubtful light shone on the monument's intentions. Beginning in the 1870s, Jim Crow laws, which were unfair laws meant to target and segregate the black populations in southern states, ran rampant in the country. Racial violence in this period of “reconstruction” rose to brutal heights with lynchings and unfair distributions of punishment through legal systems. The United States remained a legally racially segregated country until 1964 , a decade after the end of the most prominent period of monument construction in the United States. Did George W. Briant mean for his donation of land and services to be a kind act meant to honor the dead, or did he have ulterior motives pushing his “selfless” deed? Had the Daughters of the Confederacy for the Kansas City Chapter, or any of the other chapters, ever cared about honoring the dead, or was the intention to instead stagnate public perception and thought, preventing it from growing past previous beliefs or ideologies? Forest Hill’s monument remains valuable not for what it honors, but instead as an example of the ongoing debate over the purpose of such stone and metal creations. If you want to visit the cemetery to learn of “Shelby’s Last Stand” or to see the marble pillar and bronze statue for yourself, you’ll find the entrance to the cemetery just off 69th and Troost in downtown Kansas City, Missouri. No more than a 5 or 6 minute walk into the grounds and you’ll find yourself standing at the base of a nearly 122 year old monument to the long-dead soldiers of America’s bloodiest war. Written and researched by Lawrence W. M. Cohen.

Confederate General Sterling Price led a repeatedly disappointing, though particularly destructive, campaign through Missouri from late August to early December in 1864. Known as Price’s Missouri Expedition, it eventually resulted in his Confederate forces being scattered and their presence in Missouri severely damaged, effectively ending the war on the Western border. By the time Price managed to flee to the southern half of Arkansas, innumerable casualties had accrued on both sides of the war, mostly coming from Price’s blunder at the Battle of Westport. Years after the war had ended, locals of the area wanted to give the Confederate dead, who had not been buried appropriately due to cost and time restraints at the time, the opportunity to be laid to rest in a cemetery. In the end, the bodies of over 70 Confederates were moved into Forest Hill Cemetery due to the growing infrastructure of the city and its streets. Starting in 1896 and finishing in 1902, the Daughters of the Confederacy constructed a monument to the troops with a white pillar of granite boasting a metal statue of a Confederate soldier standing vigilant with a rifle in hand. It remains standing and, like many Confederate monuments, is a source of controversy.

Confederate Monument at Forest Hill Cemetery

Thomas Theodore Crittenden was born on January 1st, 1832 to a politically prominent family in Shelbyville, Kentucky. His father, Henry Crittenden, was uninterested in politics but was at one point the Whig candidate for Congress. His mother, Anna Maria Crittenden, was the daughter of a successful Kentucky lawyer who died in the Battle of 1812. Henry died when Crittenden was just two years old, and his mother was remarried to David R. Murray. They had Crittenden’s half brother E.H. Murray, who would later distinguish himself in the Union Army during the Civil War and become the Marshall of Kentucky.Crittenden attended Centre College in Danville, Kentucky and graduated in 1855. He also studied law with his uncle, Kentucky governor John J. Crittenden. He was admitted to the Kentucky state bar in 1856. The same year, Crittenden was married to Carrie Jackson with whom he had several children including his son Thomas T. Crittenden who would become the mayor of Kansas City. Shortly after being married, the couple moved to Lexington, Missouri where Crittenden began his law practice. When the Civil War broke out, the lawyer was appointed to the 7th Missouri State Militia Cavalry and served with the Union Army from 1862 to 1864 as a captain and later a lieutenant. Crittenden was involved in the Battle of Murfreesboro in Tennessee in May of 1862. He was wounded at the Battle of Westport and was honorably discharged in 1865. The year before, Willard Preble Hall appointed Crittenden as Attorney General.After his term as Attorney General, Crittenden moved his law practice to Warrensburg, Missouri where he partnered with Senator Francis Cockrell. They became affiliated with the Sedalia firm Phillips and Vest and they all became known as the “Big Four.” In 1872, and again in 1876, Crittenden was elected to the United States House of Representatives for the 7th Congressional District. Crittenden helped form the Missouri Bar Association in 1880 and that same year he was elected as governor of Missouri. During his term as governor, his main concerns were in the state’s finances and controlling the outlaw threat – particularly that of the James Brothers Gang. Some of the governor’s accomplishments included paying the loans on the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroads, reducing the state debt, establishing the Missouri State Board of Health, and increasing funding for education.Since the end of the Civil War, Missouri had been terrorized by the James Brothers Gang. Although Missouri state law capped the reward money that could be offered for the capture of criminals at $300, Crittenden received pledges from the railroads in order to offer $5,000 for the capture of Frank and Jesse James. This inspired a member of the gang, Robert Ford, to betray the gang and kill Jesse James in 1882, for which Crittenden pardoned him before he was to be hanged. On October 5th, 1882, Frank James surrendered to Crittenden in Jefferson City, Missouri. He was acquitted for the murder of a railroad employee and went on to work various jobs before retiring to the farm life. Frank James died on February 18th, 1915 and at his funeral, one of Crittenden’s sons served as pallbearer. Ultimately, Governor Crittenden paid out $20,000 for the capture and conviction of the James Brothers Gang although it is unclear to whom exactly this money went. While some celebrated Crittenden for controlling the outlaw threat, others criticized him for conspiring to kill a private citizen.Following his term as governor, Crittenden moved his law firm once again to Kansas City, Missouri. From 1893 to 1897, he was appointed the United States Consul to Mexico City by President Grover Cleveland and held the post for four years. Crittenden died in 1909 in Kansas City, Missouri and was buried at Forest Hill Cemetery.

Thomas Theodore Crittenden was a prominent Missouri lawyer who served in the United States Civil War with the 7th Missouri State Militia Cavalry on the Union side as a captain and later lieutenant. He served in the army from 1862 to 1864, after he was wounded at the Battle of Westport. Following his time in the army, Crittenden was appointed Attorney General, served in the United States House of Representatives for the 7th Congressional District, and was elected as governor of Missouri. Among other accomplishments during his term as governor, Crittenden is remembered for controlling the outlaw threat in Missouri by offering a $5,000 reward for Frank and Jesse James which led to Jesse James' assassination.

Gravesite of Thomas Theodore Crittenden 

LaMarque would pitch in three East-West All-Star games and play in two World Series. After the 1946 season, he joined the Satchel Paige All-Stars and toured the country playing a host of exhibition games against the Bob Feller All-Stars.The quiet and unassuming man with a full head of black silk hair was an assassin on the pitcher’s mound. In a 1944 game against Josh Gibson of the Homestead Grays, he retired Gibson twice on strikeouts. “I always liked letting a man go back to the bench carrying his bat,” LaMarque recalled. On Gibson’s third at bat, LaMarque had him in the hole, 0-2, so he decided to waste a pitch, throwing one shoulder high, about six inches outside.“Well, the last I saw of that ball, it was sailing over the top of the outfield bleachers and it was still going,” LaMarque said smiling.Manager Buck O’Neil bragged that LaMarque had a good fastball that usually sank, with a decent curveball and a zany change-up. LaMarque’s talent would take him to the Puerto Rican Winter League with Santurce Crabbers in 1948, 1949 and to the Mexican League with the Mexico City Red Devils in 1950. He also made a brief stop in Japan with a Fort Wayne (IN) K-Parts team in the 1950s.LaMarque shared that his starting salary with the Monarchs was $125 a month and eventually grew to $500 a month in his final season, 1948, with the team.With no Black high school in Potosi, LaMarque was only able to complete the eighth grade. Despite the educational constraints he went on to work for Ford Motor Company in Claycomo for 30 years on the assembly line.At the age of 79, Jimmy LaMarque passed away on 15 January 2000 at the North Kansas City Hospital with his wife and youngest daughter at his bedside. He is buried in Forest Hill Cemetery om Block 10.

James Harding “Lefty” LaMarque was born in Potosi (73 miles south of St. Louis), Missouri on 29 July 1920. LaMarque was discovered by Kansas City Monarch secretary William “Dizzy” Dismukes who had read about Lefty’s pitching exploits with the Potosi Tigers in the St. Louis Argus. LaMarque then join the starting rotation of Satchel Paige, Hilton Smith, Booker McDaniel and Jack Matchett and play for the Monarchs until 1948.

Gravesite of Jim "Lefty" Lamarque

Peterson was fascinated by stories of the African American experience in the Midwest and was devoted to preserving them. An expert in African American history and Missouri folklore, he is best known for establishing the Black Archives of Mid-America in Kansas City.His interest in African American culture and reputation as a historian allowed him to collect materials for the archives, which continue to serve the Kansas City community today. Collections include photographs and artifacts from former slaves, the Buffalo Soldiers, and choreographer Alvin Ailey.In 1992, Peterson was honored by the Missouri governor for outstanding contributions to bridging race relations. His tragic drowning death at Swope Park in 1992 took one of Kansas City's best-known and most productive citizens.

The chapel at Forrest Hill Cemetery is the final resting place of the founder of the Black Archives of Mid-America, Horace Peterson. Peterson was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and moved with his family to Kansas City, Missouri as a child. Peterson graduated from Central High School in 1964 and attended Arkansas A&amp;M College in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, where he received a Bachelor of Arts in sociology in 1968.

Gravesite of Horace Peterson III (1945 – 1992)

A longtime local legend, Buck O’Neil became nationally famous when his friend and NLBM co-founder Larry Lester introduced Buck to Lynn Novick, the executive director for Florentine Films, owned by Ken Burns and others. Novick was so impressed with Buck, her son James would later share O’Neil’s middle name of Jordan. The 1994 nine-inning PBS documentary miniseries simply entitled Baseball won the 1995 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Informational Series. The much talked about “Shadow Ball” segment de-Negrofied the debonair Buck, transforming him into the "Smithsonian" of black baseball. O'Neil gained national prominence and afterwards, became the subject of countless national interviews, including appearances on the Late Show with David Letterman and The Late Late Show with Tom Snyder.O’Neil has gained many national honors, and there are many local landmarks and tributes for Buck which include a statue in the NLBM’s Field of Legends. In 2010, a mural by artist Alexander Austin was added to the south side of the Buck O’Neil Education and Research Center at 18th and The Paseo. The 25’ x 50’ mural includes O’Neil and three Negro League players in a dugout and seven images of legendary Kansas City Monarchs, chosen by BBQ king Ollie Gates, who later played in the re-integrated majors. These remarkable players include Ernie Banks, Willard Brown, Elston Howard, Buck O’Neil, Satchel Paige, Jackie Robinson and Hank Thompson.Another O’Neil statue appears at the Kansas City Royals Hall of Fame Museum at Kauffman Stadium, designed by Harry Weber. At Kauffman Stadium is also the Kansas City Royals Legacy Seat, in bright red behind home plate, in Section 127, Seat 9, Row C, to celebrate this Hall of Fame executive. Sculptor E. Spencer Schubert created an O’Neil bust at the Hall of Famous Missourians in Jefferson City, MO, while the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame in Springfield, MO, has a marker and bust in O’Neil’s honor. The former Broadway Bridge is now the John Jordan Buck O’Neil Memorial Bridge. On 12 November 2001, a Kansas City street formerly known as 17th St. Terrace between Paseo and Highland Avenue, directly behind the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, was renamed John “Buck” O’Neil Way in recognition of his 90th birthday and community contributions. The Kansas City T-Bones retired his number #22 on 26 May 2006. And finally a KC Ride streetcar, #22, honors the Buck O’Neil legacy.On 7 December 2006, O'Neil was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President George W. Bush; the award was presented to his brother, Warren, on his behalf on December 15. He was chosen due to his "excellence and determination both on and off the baseball field," according to the White House news release. On 24 October 2007, O'Neil was posthumously given a Lifetime Achievement Award by the National Baseball Hall of Fame (HOF), eventually named after him. On 5 November 2021, O'Neil was voted into the HOF by the Early Days Committee as an “executive.”

This is the final resting place of Baseball Hall of Fame inductee John Jordan O’Neil, Jr., known as Buck O'Neil throughout his professional career. O'Neil was born 13 November 1911 in Carrabelle, Florida and passed away at the age of 94, on 6 October 2006 in Kansas City, O’Neil. A standout first baseman and then coach in the Negro Leagues from 1938 to 1955. Highlights of his playing career include in four East-West All-Star Games and playing in two Negro World Series, 1942 and 1946. O'Neil also became the first African American coach in the Major Leagues in 1962 when he joined the staff of the Chicago Cubs. His fellow players call O'Neil "Skip" in recognition of his leadership and coaching, as well as his work scouting players. O'Neil is credited with recruiting and supporting more Negro League veterans to the Major Leagues than any other player or coach in history, and he was also one of the founders of Kansas City's Negro League Baseball Museum. O'Neil recruited a veritable rollcall of major leaguers such as George Altman, Gene Baker, Ernie Banks, Willard “Home Run” Brown, J.C. Hartman, Pancho Herrera, Elston Howard, Connie Johnson, Sweet Lou Johnson, Hank Mason, Satchel Paige, Hank Thompson and Bob Thurman, to name a few. In 2021, O'Neil was elected for induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Gravesite of John Jordan "Buck" O'Neil (1911-2006)

Thomas Pendergast was born in St. Joseph, Missouri on July 22nd, 1872 as the youngest of nine children. His parents Michael and Mary were immigrants from County Tipperary, Ireland. Pendergast attended school until sixth grade. He claimed to have attended college, but there are no documents to support this claim. During his youth, Tom Pendergast worked several jobs such as laborer, clerk, and grocery wagon driver. Pendergast went to Kansas City in 1894 to work in a saloon and hotel in the West Bottoms called the American House that was owned by his brother Jim, who was also a city councilman and local political boss. Jim provided many of his siblings with jobs as he grew to be more successful. His sisters Mary and Anne worked in the hotel while his brothers John and Michael tended bar.Tom Pendergast worked odd jobs for his brother before becoming his bookkeeper. Jim taught Pendergast about Kansas City’s political system and how to control blocks of voters. Under Jim, the Pendergast Machine dispensed jobs and small favors while Jim took a small cut of the profits generated to care for his wife and her son from a previous marriage. Jim also profited from vice industries like gambling and prostitution, protecting operators using his political power in return for kickbacks and favors.Tom Pendergast married Carolyn Elizabeth Dunn in 1910 and they had two children between 1911 and 1912. During this period, James retired and passed away, leaving Tom Pendergast in charge. In 1915, Pendergast and his wife built a house for their family at 54th and Wyandotte. The same year, Pendergast resigned from the city council, never to hold elective office again. Although not a member of the government, Tom exercised more control of the government by influencing votes and selecting the leaders of the local Democratic Party. With the Democratic candidates winning most of the seats of the city council, Tom could increasingly determine who would be hired as local officials. Pendergast and his wife welcomed their third child in 1919.1926 found more stability for the Pendergast Machine when the “goat” faction of the Kansas City Democrats co-opted Jim Sherman’s “rabbits” and Cas Welch’s East Side which included the African American precincts. Pendergast moved his family to an expensive mansion at 5650 Ward Parkway in 1928 and continued expanding the Machine with business contacts. Beginning with the T.J. Pendergast Wholesale Liquor Company, which was later known as the City Beverage Company during and after Prohibition, Pendergast also gained control of and became the officer for Atlas Beverage Company, and City Beverage, alongside several other business connections. The Pendergast Machine also controlled Ready-Mixed Concrete and W.A. Ross Construction, using them to perform work for the city at inflated prices.The 1920s was also the decade Pendergast began betting on horses and acquired a lifelong addiction to gambling. (Between August and September 1935, Pendergast wagered over $2,000,000 and lost $600,000.) Pendergast owned the Riverside Jockey Club in Platte County and a farm for breeding horses in Clay County. Needing more sources of income, Pendergast gained control of the Kansas City Missouri city government through one of his cronies, Henry McElroy, who was city manager from 1926 to 1939. Together, Pendergast and McElroy devised the Ten Year Plan, a program for funding new projects throughout Kansas City, Jackson County, and the Kansas City School District. The Ten Year Plan allowed Pendergast-controlled political leaders to borrow money by issuing bonds, and using the proceeds to pay contractors who supported Pendergast with paybacks and other forms of support. With more and more city projects going to Pendergast-supported contractors including his own concrete business, Pendergast enriched himself and his supporters through the city manager’s “emergency fund” which had lax oversight.Pendergast’s power peaked in 1932 when the Home Rule police control was established which placed the police under the control of the city instead of the governor of Missouri and the state legislature. Because Pendergast was later able to help appoint his supporter Guy Park as governor, his political machine was able to gain an appointment for his associate Emmett O’Malley as commissioner of insurance for Missouri. Between late 1932 and early 1933, Pendergast had gained greater influence of the state government in Jefferson City and the Kansas City Police Department which was now managed directly by the city. Pendergast also gained control at the state level by supporting Harry S. Truman in being elected as County Judge, then Presiding Judge, and finally in obtaining the Democratic nomination in the United States Senate in 1934.The Pendergast Machine continued to generate revenue through gambling and prostitution in addition to securing government contracts. During and after Prohibition, gambling was keeping Kansas City speakeasies and saloons afloat but gambling also spread to places like drug stores and department stores through slot machines. These stores had to pay law enforcement for protection since this was illegal. The same was the case for prostitution, which was happening openly at speakeasies and jazz clubs. This money went into the pockets of Henry McElroy.The Pendergast Machine thrived throughout the 1920s and 1930s but faced opposition that grew relative to their power. The machine's power was also threatened by increasingly ambitious schemes, including an elaborate pattern of insurance fraud devised by Emmett O’Malley and Charles R. Street. Between 1922 and 1929, the Republican commissioner of insurance in Missouri was trying to reduce the premiums for customers. When he refused to allow an increase in rates in Missouri following the stock market crash, companies sued. The Missouri court ruled that the excess premiums would be collected and then impounded in the hands of a custodian until the cases were decided. Litigation lasted from 1929 to 1935 and the impounded rates increased to $9 million and the insurance companies were willing to do anything for a cut of the sum. Charles R. Street was a company officer and chair of the Subscriber’s Actuarial Committee, which regulated activities of the insurance companies in the western United States. The company ran this legally dubious operation from Street’s office in Chicago. In 1935, Street decided to put an end to this operation, believing the impounded amount was enough.On May 14th, 1935, Pendergast, O’Malley, and Street among other Machine-controlled workers planned to give the insurance companies 50% of the impounded money, while 30% of it went to a trust fund and 20% went to the customers who paid the premiums – a move that was dubbed by newspapers as the “Second Missouri Compromise.” Pendergast retained $315,000 which was likely used to pay off bookies for his bets on ponies. However, Pendergast didn’t declare the $315,000 as income on his tax return. Meanwhile, he headed to the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia in 1936 where he had a heart attack that led to the discovery that he had a bowel blockage and needed surgery. For the remainder of his life, Pendergast was never fully healthy again. The same year this occurred, the Pendergast Machine’s downfall began with a routine IRS inspection of the accounts of a deceased partner of the legal firm advising Charles Street and the Insurance Subscriber’s Committee. The inspection turned up $100,500 which was likely partially disbursed to Street. An investigation began in April 1936, which eventually led to Pendergast’s indictment for tax evasion. On Good Friday, 1939, Pendergast faced arraignment in Kansas City and was sent to the Leavenworth Penitentiary in May. After one year, Pendergast was released on good behavior under a five-year probation that prohibited him from engaging in politics.Pendergast’s guilty plea revealed the vulnerability of the Pendergast Machine, shattering the illusion of immunity so many depended upon. On top of that, reformers who saw the Machine for what it was were attempting to undermine it. In May of 1932, Rabbi Samuel Mayerberg had given a talk at the Women’s Luncheon Government Study Club where he called out the Machine for its electoral tactics and questionable morals. Over the next seven years, the Rabbi found several supporters, especially among women. In 1940, the reformers made efforts to clean the government up from Pendergast’s influence and control – this has been dubbed the clean-sweep effort. Attorney John B. Gage was encouraged by women’s organizations to run for mayor. Enduring attacks from Pendergast’s forces led by Tom Pendergast’s nephew James, Gage won the mayoral election alongside seven members of the Citizen’s Association. Gage appointed L.P. Cookingham to be the city manager and ended the employment of those who remained loyal to Pendergast and also brought Kansas City’s budget into positive territory. In 1945, six years after losing his control over city government, Tom Pendergast died of heart failure.

Thomas J. Pendergast was a political boss who controlled many aspects of Kansas City in the 1920s and 1930s. After arriving in Kansas City in the 1890s, Pendergast worked for his brother James at his saloon and hotel located in the West Bottoms. James had established a position of local power as a member of the city council and used this position to protect his business interests which included gambling and prostitution. James retired from the city council in 1910 and passed away the following year, and Tom Pendergast followed indirectly in his footsteps, becoming a leader in the city and county's powerful Democratic Party. In 1925, Tom's power grew as a new city charter placed power in the hands of a city manager and Tom was able to control the selection of this manager. With city funds controlled by men Pendergast selected and contracts going to businesses he controlled, the political machine was able to increase their control of the city. Kansas City also gained local control over the police force, and with Tom selecting the leaders, vice industries like alcohol and gambling flourished. In the late 1930s, the Pendergast Machine started to slowly lose its firm grip on the city and county government as more voters supported reform candidates and investigations revealed questions about the city's emergency fund. In 1939, Pendergast was indicted for income tax evasion and served one year at the Leavenworth Penitentiary. He then retired to his home in Kansas City and died of heart failure in 1945.

Forest Hill and Calvary Cemetery

Gravesite of Leona Pouncey Thurman

Introduction

Images

Backstory and Context

Sources