Arthur Edward Stilwell (October 21, 1859 – September 26, 1928) was the founder of the
Kansas City, Pittsburg and Gulf Railroad
The Kansas City, Pittsburg and Gulf Railroad was a railway company that began operations in the 1890s and owned a main-line between Kansas City, Missouri, and Port Arthur, Texas. It was led by Arthur Stilwell before being thrown into receiversh ...
, predecessor to the
Kansas City Southern Railway
The Kansas City Southern Railway Company is an American Class I railroad. Founded in 1887, it operates in 10 midwestern and southeastern U.S. states: Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and ...
. He served as KCPG's president from 1897 to 1900. He was also the founder of
Port Arthur, Texas.
Early life
Stilwell was born in
Rochester, New York
Rochester () is a City (New York), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, the county seat, seat of Monroe County, New York, Monroe County, and the fourth-most populous in the state after New York City, Buffalo, New York, Buffalo, ...
, in 1859. While working as a traveling salesman he courted and married
Jennie A. Wood, and the couple moved to
Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City (abbreviated KC or KCMO) is the largest city in Missouri by population and area. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 508,090 in 2020, making it the 36th most-populous city in the United States. It is the central ...
, and then
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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,
Illinois
Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...
, where Arthur sold insurance for the
Travelers Insurance Company
The Travelers Companies, Inc., commonly known as Travelers, is an American insurance company. It is the second-largest writer of U.S. commercial property casualty insurance, and the sixth-largest writer of U.S. personal insurance through indepen ...
, inventing a coupon annuity
life-insurance policy which paid the policy holder an income after a certain age.
Rail empire
With the money made selling these policies, the Stilwells returned to Kansas City where Arthur sold real estate and began building the Kansas City Suburban Belt Railway. In his quest to connect Kansas City to the
Gulf of Mexico
The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an oceanic basin, ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of ...
by rail, he began building and acquiring rail lines for the Kansas City, Pittsburg and Gulf Railroad Company (later to become the
Kansas City Southern Railroad), plotting townsites along the way which included
Mena, Arkansas,
Stilwell, Oklahoma
Stilwell is a city and county seat of Adair County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 3,700 as of the 2020 U.S. census, a decline of 6.7 percent from the 3,949 population recorded in 2010. The Oklahoma governor and legislature procla ...
,
Port Arthur, Texas, and many more.
Setbacks including lawsuits, a hurricane, and yellow fever caused financial problems for the otherwise successful venture, and on April 1, 1899, the KCPG was thrown into
receivership
In law, receivership is a situation in which an institution or enterprise is held by a receiver—a person "placed in the custodial responsibility for the property of others, including tangible and intangible assets and rights"—especially in c ...
by one of its financiers,
John Warne Gates, over an unpaid printing bill. Stilwell was out, but the discovery of a giant oilfield in Texas in 1901 ensured the railroad's future success.
Unfazed by losing control of the KCPG, Stilwell announced plans to build a railroad connecting Kansas City with the Pacific Ocean and organized the
Kansas City, Mexico and Orient Railway. Although progress was made, financial problems and the
Mexican Revolution
The Mexican Revolution ( es, Revolución Mexicana) was an extended sequence of armed regional conflicts in Mexico from approximately 1910 to 1920. It has been called "the defining event of modern Mexican history". It resulted in the destruction ...
caused this company to be forced into receivership in March 1912. Ironically, oil was discovered under its tracks and was to contribute to the fortune of its receiver
William T. Kemper.
After that, the Stilwells moved to New York, where Arthur spent his time writing books, plays, poems and hymns.
Arthur Stilwell died of
apoplexy
Apoplexy () is rupture of an internal organ and the accompanying symptoms. The term formerly referred to what is now called a stroke. Nowadays, health care professionals do not use the term, but instead specify the anatomic location of the bleedi ...
on September 26, 1928, in New York. His distraught wife, Jennie, committed
suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Mental disorders (including depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorders, anxiety disorders), physical disorders (such as chronic fatigue syndrome), and s ...
by jumping out the window of their New York apartment thirteen days later. The Stilwells were said to have left an estate of only $1,000. The cremated remains of the Stilwells have never been located.
In all, Arthur Stilwell organized 41 companies of various kinds during his career. He is credited with building more than of railroad in his lifetime and founding more than 40 cities.
Personal life
Stilwell published many books after his retirement in 1912. He wrote novels, poetry and plays. He also wrote political works on world affairs and the monetary system. His writing attracted attention because in them he maintained that he had based many of his life and business decisions on the whispers of what he called
fairies or
brownies. In his memoirs published in 1927, he reframed this as hunches.
In 1887 Stilwell started the Fairmount Cycling Club and built the amusement center Fairmount Park between Kansas City and
Independence, Missouri
Independence is the fifth-largest city in Missouri and the county seat of Jackson County, Missouri, Jackson County. Independence is a satellite city of Kansas City, Missouri, and is the largest suburb on the Missouri side of the Kansas City metro ...
, ostensibly to boost traffic for one of the trolley lines he owned. It became the
Kansas City Athletic Club
The Kansas City Athletic Club is an athletic club and gentlemen's club in downtown Kansas City, Missouri. Notable members have included President Harry S. Truman and others.
Founding
The club was founded in 1887 by Arthur E. Stillwell as the F ...
in 1893. The new club boasted a six-hole golf course, the second in the area after the Kansas City Country Club, based in what became
Loose Park
Loose Park is the third largest park in Kansas City, Missouri, located at 51st Street and Wornall Road. It has a lake, a shelter house, Civil War markers, tennis courts, a water park, picnic areas, and a Rose Garden. The Rose Garden hosts all ...
. The Fairmount Club eventually became the Evanston Club in 1901, and later moved to a new location at
Swope Park
Swope Park is a city park in Kansas City, Missouri. At , it is the 51st-largest municipal park in the United States, and the largest park in Kansas City. It is named in honor of Colonel Thomas H. Swope, a philanthropist who donated the land to ...
in 1905. The quickly expanding sport of golf and the fast growth of the city necessitated another move to a rural tract outside of the city limits in 1916, becoming the Hillcrest Country Club, now at 82nd and Hillcrest Road in Kansas City. Owing to the club's location outside of the city, it was a far more liberal, wild place than the rich clubs in town, allowing gambling and having the highest number of female and minority members.
See also
*
List of railroad executives
Bibliography
* Keith L. Bryant, Jr., ''Arthur E. Stilwell and the Founding of Port Arthur: A Case of Entrepreneurial Error,'' Southwestern Historical Quarterly 75 (July 1971).
* Keith L. Bryant, Jr., ''Arthur E. Stilwell: Promoter with a Hunch'' (Nashville: Vanderbilt University Press, 1971).
* David M. Pletcher, ''Rails, Mines, and Progress: Seven American Promoters in Mexico, 1867-1911'' (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1958).
* Arthur E. Stilwell and James R. Crowell, ''I Had a Hunch'' (Port Arthur Historical Society, 1972).
References
Sources
Arthur Stilwell.com Accessed January 2010. Contains downloadable copies of some of Stilwell's books and poetry.
Museum of the Gulf Coast ~ Arthur StilwellBiography, Accessed January 2010.
Arthur Stilwell: Railroad Visionaryat the Kansas City Public Library, Accessed January 2010 Contains downloadable copies of some of Stilwell's books and poetry.
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stilwell, Arthur
1859 births
1928 deaths
Businesspeople from Rochester, New York
Businesspeople from New York City
People from Polk County, Arkansas
People from Port Arthur, Texas
People from Kansas City, Missouri
19th-century American railroad executives
20th-century American railroad executives
American city founders
American psychics
Kansas City Southern Railway