Walter Simpson Dickey (1862 — January 22, 1931) was a Canadian-born

newspaper publisher Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newsp ...

, politician, and industrialist in Kansas City, Missouri.

Biography

Dickey was born in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

in 1862, the oldest of 11 children, and moved to Kansas City in 1885. In 1889, he established the W.S. Dickey Clay Manufacturing Company which started out creating

ceramic A ceramic is any of the various hard, brittle, heat-resistant and corrosion-resistant materials made by shaping and then firing an inorganic, nonmetallic material, such as clay, at a high temperature. Common examples are earthenware, porcelain ...

pipe Pipe(s), PIPE(S) or piping may refer to: Objects * Pipe (fluid conveyance), a hollow cylinder following certain dimension rules ** Piping, the use of pipes in industry * Smoking pipe ** Tobacco pipe * Half-pipe and quarter pipe, semi-circular ...

s made of "burnt clay" that were used to drain farmland via

tile drainage Tile drainage is a form of agricultural drainage system that removes excess sub-surface water from fields to allow sufficient air space within the soil, proper cultivation, and access by heavy machinery to tend and harvest crops. While surface wate ...

. As municipalities developed underground sewage infrastructures, the company supplied clay pipes to serve that purpose. By 1915, the company was promoting its "tight as a jug" vitrified salt-glazed clay silos. He was chairman of the

Missouri Republican Party The Missouri Republican Party is the affiliate of the United States Republican Party in Missouri. Its chair is Nick Myers, who has served since 2021. It is currently the dominant party in the state, controlling the majority of Missouri's U.S. H ...

and was to help engineer the victory of Herbert S. Hadley, the first Republican governor of Missouri since Reconstruction. He owned the Kansas City Missouri River Navigation Company for river barges between Kansas City and

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

until selling the entire fleet to the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. In 1916, he

ran Ran, RaN and ran may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Ran'' (film), a 1985 film directed by Akira Kurosawa * "Ran" (song), a 2013 Japanese song by Luna Sea * '' Ran Online'', a 2004 MMORPG (massively multiplayer online role playing game) * ...

for

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...

as a

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

, but was narrowly defeated by incumbent James A. Reed. In the 1920s, he purchased the ''Kansas City Post'' and the ''Kansas City Journal'', combining them into the ''Kansas City Journal-Post''. He died at his home in the Rockhill neighborhood of Kansas City, Missouri on January 22, 1931, aged 68. The next day, president

Herbert Hoover Herbert Clark Hoover (August 10, 1874 – October 20, 1964) was an American politician who served as the 31st president of the United States from 1929 to 1933 and a member of the Republican Party, holding office during the onset of the Gr ...

gave a speech about his death.

References

External links

Kansas City Public Library biography

Kansas City Public Library blog
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dickey, Walter 1862 births 1927 deaths American publishers (people) People from Old Toronto State political party chairs of Missouri Canadian emigrants to the United States