Thomas Hunton Swope (October 21, 1827 – October 3, 1909) was an American real estate magnate and philanthropist in
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 ...
. His death in 1909 became the focus of one of the most publicized murder trials in the early 20th century.
Biography
Early life
Thomas Hunton Swope was born on October 21, 1827, in
Lincoln County, Kentucky
Lincoln County is a county located in south-central Kentucky. As of the 2020 census, the population was 24,275. Its county seat is Stanford. Lincoln County is part of the Danville, KY Micropolitan Statistical Area.
History
Lincoln County— ...
.
In his youth, Swope was an avid reader known as "bookish and delicate".
After graduating from
Centre College
Centre College is a private liberal arts college in Danville, Kentucky. It is an undergraduate college with an enrollment of approximately 1,400 students. Centre was officially chartered by the Kentucky General Assembly in 1819. The college is ...
in
Danville, Kentucky
Danville is a home rule-class city in Boyle County, Kentucky, United States. It is the seat of its county. The population was 17,236 at the 2020 Census. Danville is the principal city of the Danville Micropolitan Statistical Area, which includes ...
in 1848, he attended
Yale Law School
Yale Law School (Yale Law or YLS) is the law school of Yale University, a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. It was established in 1824 and has been ranked as the best law school in the United States by ''U ...
but never practiced the profession.
Instead of practicing law, he became interested in real estate and mining in New York and St. Louis.
Career
Swope was a Yale graduate with money to invest. After living in several states, he eventually made his way to Missouri when he moved to St. Louis and began working in real estate.
He came west in 1855 as the
Kansas Territory
The Territory of Kansas was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from May 30, 1854, until January 29, 1861, when the eastern portion of the territory was admitted to the United States, Union as the Slave and ...
opened and settled in Kansas City in 1857. Swope began purchasing property here and would later go on to become the largest individual land owner in Kansas City. Mr. Swope was called "Colonel" Swope, but the title was honorary and not from military service.
Swope Park
In 1893, civic reformers put forth an effort to beautify the city with parks and boulevards. Swope actively opposed the plan because he would be heavily taxed for owning vacant real estate lots.
The Kansas City Star
''The Kansas City Star'' is a newspaper based in Kansas City, Missouri. Published since 1880, the paper is the recipient of eight Pulitzer Prizes. ''The Star'' is most notable for its influence on the career of President Harry S. Truman and as ...
responded to his opposition by calling him a greedy mossback who "evaded taxes, fighting progress, and getting rich."
In 1896, the seventy-year-old Swope donated of land to be used as a public park.
The land lay southeast of town and was used to create
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 t ...
.
18,000 Kansas Citians celebrated opening day for
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 t ...
with the "Colonel" wandering around the crowd while they listened to a two hour speech honoring his benefactions.
Death
Swope's sudden illness and demise happened under mysterious circumstances, as did several others in the family.
Swope was known to be mild-mannered and self-conscious,
and was a lifelong bachelor. He lived alone until later in life when he moved into the turreted red brick mansion of his late brother Logan Swope, home of his sister-in-law Margaret "Maggie" Chrisman Swope as well as seven nieces and nephews.
The frugal millionaire commuted daily by streetcar to his downtown Kansas City office in the
New England Life Building until the month before his death.
Swope's last days were preoccupied with how best to bestow his wealth.
His real estate alone was worth three and a half million dollars. In his last days Swope was sometimes treated by Doctor Bennett Clark Hyde, who had married one of his nieces (Logan and Margaret Swope's daughter, Frances).
On October 3, 1909, just 18 days short of his 82nd birthday, Col. Swope died suddenly in his sister-in-law's home with Dr. Hyde in attendance, the aftermath of a perplexing, brief and violent illness.
Swope's body lay in state at the
Kansas City Public Library
The Kansas City Public Library is a public system headquartered in the Central Library in Kansas City, Missouri.
The system operates its Central Library and neighborhood branches located in Kansas City, Independence, and Sugar Creek. Founde ...
where thousands of mourners paid their respects.
Until a tomb could be prepared in Swope Park where he had requested burial, he lay in a holding vault.
Three months after Swope's death, Dr. Hyde came under suspicion and was charged with murder by strychnine poisoning in "a plot for money."
The body of Thomas Hunton Swope was exhumed by coroner
Ludvig Hektoen
Ludvig Hektoen (July 2, 1863 – July 5, 1951) was an American pathologist known for his work in the fields of pathology, microbiology and immunology. Hektoen was appointed to the National Academy of Sciences in 1918, and served as president of ...
and an autopsy performed. At his request,
Walter Stanley Haines conducted a postmortem examination of the internal organs and reported that Thomas Hunton Swope's body contained lethal amounts of both strychnine and cyanide.
Hyde was charged, tried and convicted on May 16, 1910, of the murder of Thomas Swope.
On appeal, the verdict was overturned on procedural grounds. Three more trials, seven years and a quarter of a million dollars later, the charges against Hyde were dropped and he was released.
Eight and a half years after his death, Col. Thomas Swope was laid to rest in Swope Park. On April 8, 1918, he was buried high on a hill amid a forest of trees, overlooking his gift to Kansas City. His remains lie beneath a Greek temple of white granite, guarded by a pair of stone lions.
See also
*
Walter Stanley Haines
*
William Rockhill Nelson
William Rockhill Nelson (March 7, 1841 – April 13, 1915) was an American real estate developer and co-founder of ''The Kansas City Star'' in Kansas City, Missouri, Kansas City, Missouri. He donated his estate (and home) for the establishment of ...
*
Jesse Clyde Nichols
Jesse Clyde "J. C." Nichols (August 23, 1880 - February 16, 1950) was an American developer of commercial and residential real estate in Kansas City, Missouri. Born in Olathe, Kansas, and a student at the University of Kansas and Harvard Unive ...
*
William Volker William Volker (; ; April 1, 1859 – November 4, 1947) was an entrepreneur who turned a picture frame business into a multimillion-dollar empire and who then gave away his fortune to shape much of Kansas City, Missouri, both through the William V ...
*
Deaths on Pleasant Street
''Deaths on Pleasant Street: The Ghastly Enigma of Colonel Swope and Doctor Hyde'' () is a non-fiction book describing the suspicious deaths of three members of the prominent Swope family of Independence Mo. The deaths took place in the fall and ...
, book covering Swope's death
References
External links
*Linder, Douglas O
Dr. Hyde (Swope Murder) Trial (1910): Links & Bibliography University of Missouri, Kansas City
A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, the ...
.
Jason Roe, Kansas City Public Library: "Dr. Hyde and Mr. Swope""Dr. Jekyll or Mr. Hyde"''
St. Petersburg Times
The ''Tampa Bay Times'', previously named the ''St. Petersburg Times'' until 2011, is an American newspaper published in St. Petersburg, Florida, United States. It has won fourteen Pulitzer Prizes since 1964, and in 2009, won two in a single ...
'' - October 29, 1950.
"Colonel Swope's Nephew by Marriage Formally Accused and Arrested"VintageKansasCity
''Swope Mansion''. 1928, Photograph, Independence, Missouri The
RLDS
The Community of Christ, known from 1872 to 2001 as the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (RLDS), is an American-based international church, and is the second-largest denomination in the Latter Day Saint movement. The churc ...
church purchased it in 1923 and razed it in 1960.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Swope, Thomas H.
1827 births
1909 deaths
People from Lincoln County, Kentucky
People from the Kansas City metropolitan area
Yale University alumni
19th-century American philanthropists
Philanthropists from the Kansas City metropolitan area