Bunker Building

Walter A. Bunker managed the Kansas City chapter of the Western Newspaper Union. Its success led Bunker and his partners to erect the now-historic Bunker Building in 1881. Bunker felt it prudent to build in the downtown region because he believed in Kansas City's potential to become a meaningful urban center, a view shared by speculators from the eastern part of the country. Investors, architects, and workers came to Kansas City in droves during the 1880s, resulting in a downtown building boom and a doubling of the city's population.

Bunker was born in New Hampshire in 1847 but moved with his family to southern Minnesota at the age of seven. In 1865, at the age of eighteen, he purchased a half interest in a local flouring mill and proceeded to run it successfully for nearly three years before moving to St. Paul and attending a business college. At the college, he took charge of the bookmarking department of the institution, which he managed until he received a more lucrative offer from the Second National Bank of St. Paul in 1870. Finally, seven years after taking that job, he resigned and moved to Kansas City. 

In Kansas City, he formed a business partnership firm that founded the first "ready print" or "auxiliary" publishing house (Western Newspaper Union) west of the Missouri river; Bunker served as president and general manager. They furnished sheets printed on one side to more than one hundred weekly newspapers in Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Iowa, and Colorado. The Western Newspaper Union soon developed into one of the largest chains of similar printing establishments in the United States, owning not less than ten houses of this kind. In 1878, his firm also purchased a controlling interest in the Kansas City Journal. Still, he devoted most of his attention to the ready print business, which grew so successful that in June 1880, it merged with the Iowa Printing Company. Mr. Bunker eventually sold his interest in the Journal (1881) while maintaining his management of the Kansas City house. 

Bunker began looking for land in 1880 to house his Western Newspaper. Construction on his new property began in 1880 and opened in 1881 at a time during the late nineteenth century when Eastern U.S. and local capital started to pour into Kansas City as speculators believed in Kansas City's prospect for growth. Bunker, too, thought highly of Kansas City's potential to evolve into a large, influential city. Kansas City supported 55,000 residents in 1880, but by the decade's end, the population had soared to 132,000, making it the nation's tenth largest city. The city benefited from its growing stockyards, bustling railroad traffic, and its role as a launching point for the Santa Fe Trail. During the 1880s, Kansas City enjoyed expansive downtown construction, including buildings, roads, and infrastructure. This rapid transition during the nineteenth century from a village to a significant urban center attracted an array of architects; the Bunker Building survives as a reminder of that robust building boom.

Bunker also ran a real estate business, which he operated from an office in the new Bunker Building. In 1890, Bunker formed a new business partnership and subsequently purchased the Kansas City Journal (again). In contrast to Bunker's first association with the paper, he took an active role as president and general manager. In 1896, Bunker left the Journal and focused on his real estate business before also partaking in politics. Bunker served in the city's Upper House in 1906 and then County Assessor from 1921 through 1924. During that time as an Assessor, in 1922, Bunker's presence in the Bunker Building finally ceased when he decided to no longer maintain his real estate offices.

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