William Rockhill Nelson (March 7, 1841 – April 13, 1915) was an American
real estate developer
Real estate development, or property development, is a business process, encompassing activities that range from the renovation and re-lease of existing buildings to the purchase of raw land and the sale of developed land or parcels to others. R ...
and co-founder of ''
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 ...
'' in
Kansas City
The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more ...
,
Missouri
Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...
. He donated his estate (and home) for the establishment of the
Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art
The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art is an art museum in Kansas City, Missouri, known for its encyclopedic collection of art from nearly every continent and culture, and especially for its extensive collection of Asian art.
In 2007, ''Time'' magaz ...
.
He is buried at Mt. Washington Cemetery with his wife, daughter and son-in-law.
Early life
Nelson was born in
Fort Wayne, Indiana
Fort Wayne is a city in and the county seat of Allen County, Indiana, United States. Located in northeastern Indiana, the city is west of the Ohio border and south of the Michigan border. The city's population was 263,886 as of the 2020 Censu ...
. His father was publisher
Isaac De Groff Nelson
Isaac De Groff Nelson (July 2, 1810 – March 24, 1891) was an early pioneer in Indiana, where he owned a newspaper, held several political offices, and became the father of newspaperman William Rockhill Nelson.
I. D. G. Nelson was born in New ...
(1810–1891) and his mother was Elizabeth Rockhill (1816–1889), the daughter of
William R. Rockhill, an important farmer and politician in Fort Wayne, Indiana. For a short time, Isaac Nelson owned ''The Sentinel'' newspaper (which became the ''
Fort Wayne News Sentinel''). But I.D.G. Nelson, as he was fondly known for many years in Fort Wayne, was much more renowned as a nursery owner. His own estate, "Elm Park", was considered "the showplace of Allen County."
Nelson, as a 15-year-old attended the
University of Notre Dame
The University of Notre Dame du Lac, known simply as Notre Dame ( ) or ND, is a private Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, outside the city of South Bend. French priest Edward Sorin founded the school in 1842. The main campu ...
(which accepted high school students) at the time for two years which he described as "
Botany Bay
Botany Bay (Dharawal: ''Kamay''), an open oceanic embayment, is located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, south of the Sydney central business district. Its source is the confluence of the Georges River at Taren Point and the Cook ...
for bad boys." Notre Dame was reported to have asked that he not return.
Gale Reference Team
Gale is a global provider of research and digital learning resources. The company is based in Farmington Hills, Michigan, west of Detroit. It has been a division of Cengage since 2007.
The company, formerly known as Gale Research and the Gale Gro ...
, "Biography – Nelson, William Rockhill (1841-1915)", 2006
He was admitted to the bar in 1862 and was a campaign manager for Democratic presidential nominee
Samuel J. Tilden
Samuel Jones Tilden (February 9, 1814 – August 4, 1886) was an American politician who served as the 25th Governor of New York and was the Democratic candidate for president in the disputed 1876 United States presidential election. Tilden was ...
. Tilden told him: "While it is a great thing to lead armies, it is a greater thing to lead the minds of men."
Nelson attempted to run a store in
Savannah, Georgia
Savannah ( ) is the oldest city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia and is the county seat of Chatham County, Georgia, Chatham County. Established in 1733 on the Savannah River, the city of Savannah became the Kingdom of Great Br ...
but it failed. The southern sojourn was to earn him the nickname "The Colonel" even though he never served in the military.
William Allen White
William Allen White (February 10, 1868 – January 29, 1944) was an American newspaper editor, politician, author, and leader of the Progressive movement. Between 1896 and his death, White became a spokesman for middle America.
At a 1937 ...
said later: "Not that he was ever a colonel of anything...He was just coloneliferous."
Newspapers
Nelson formally took over the ''Sentinel'' with
Samuel Morss in 1879. In 1880 they moved to Kansas City and started the ''Star''. At the time there were three daily competitors – the ''Evening Mail''; The ''
Kansas City Times
The ''Kansas City Times'' was a morning newspaper in Kansas City, Missouri, published from 1867 to 1990. The morning ''Kansas City Times'', under ownership of the afternoon '' Kansas City Star'', won two Pulitzer Prizes and was bigger than its p ...
''; and the ''
Kansas City Journal
The ''Kansas City Journal-Post'' was a newspaper in Kansas City, Missouri, from 1854 to 1942. It was the oldest newspaper in the city when it went out of business.
It started as a weekly, ''The Kansas City Enterprise,'' on September 23, 1854, a ...
''. Nelson took over sole ownership of the paper within a few months.
Nelson's business strategy called for cheap advance subscriptions and an intention to be "absolutely independent in politics, aiming to deal by all men and all parties with impartiality and fearlessness."
[
He purchased the ''Kansas City Evening Mail'' and its ]Associated Press
The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...
franchise in 1882 and started the ''Weekly Kansas City Star'' in 1890 and the ''Sunday Kansas City Star'' in 1894.[ Nelson bought the ''Times'' in 1901, putting ''The Morning Kansas City Star'' on it.
Nelson had portraits of Tilden, ]Grover Cleveland
Stephen Grover Cleveland (March 18, 1837June 24, 1908) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 22nd and 24th president of the United States from 1885 to 1889 and from 1893 to 1897. Cleveland is the only president in American ...
, and Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt Jr. ( ; October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), often referred to as Teddy or by his initials, T. R., was an American politician, statesman, soldier, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer who served as the 26t ...
in his office. Roosevelt stayed with Nelson at Oak Hall.
In one encounter, Kansas City Mayor Joseph J. Davenport was thrown down a stairwell at the ''Star'' building by editors (including William Allen White) when he was believed to have physically threatened Nelson. Nelson said afterwards, "The Star never loses!"
Other interests
In addition to his newspaper duties, Nelson developed an area of farmland south of downtown Kansas City into a neighborhood of more than 100 houses, including his own mansion called Oak Hall.[Local History - Kansas City Public Library](_blank)
/ref> The area, which became known as the Rockhill District, was noted for its use of limestone in both the houses and in stone walls that stood beside the streetsLocal History - Kansas City Public Library
/ref> Nelson also acquired more than in what is presently Grain Valley, Missouri
Grain Valley is a city in Jackson County, Missouri, United States. Grain Valley is located in the Kansas City Metropolitan Area and is a suburb of Kansas City. The population was 12,854 at the 2010 census and an estimated 14,526 in 2019. It is e ...
, for the establishment of Sni A Bar Farm. The farm's mission was the development of improved breeding methods and livestock. It served as one of the world's leaders in animal health for more than 30 years.
He campaigned for Kansas City's George Kessler
George Edward Kessler (July 16, 1862 – March 20, 1923) was an American pioneer city planner and landscape architect.
Over the course of his forty-one year career, George E. Kessler completed over 200 projects and prepared plans for 26 comm ...
-designed park and boulevard system and the 1900 “Kansas City Spirit” to build Convention Hall
Convention Hall was a convention center in Kansas City, Missouri that hosted the 1900 Democratic National Convention and 1928 Republican National Convention.
It was designed by Frederick E. Hill and built at the corner of 13th and Central and cos ...
in 90 days in order to host the 1900 Democratic National Convention
The 1900 Democratic National Convention was a United States presidential nominating convention that took place the week of July 4, 1900, at Convention Hall in Kansas City, Missouri.
The convention nominated William Jennings Bryan for president an ...
after the original (and new) convention hall had burned in April 1900.
Legacy
Nelson provided in his will that following the death of his wife and daughter his Oak Hill mansion be torn down and its estate turned into an art museum. Proceeds from his $6 million estate were used to build the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art
The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art is an art museum in Kansas City, Missouri, known for its encyclopedic collection of art from nearly every continent and culture, and especially for its extensive collection of Asian art.
In 2007, ''Time'' magaz ...
in Kansas City. Nelson's will also established a trust for Sni A Bar Farm, with Presidents from the University of Missouri, the University of Kansas, and the University of Oklahoma charged with selecting its trustees.
The Art Gallery originally contained a recreation of Nelson's oak paneled room from Oak Hall (and namesake of the estate). The room contained Nelson's red plush easy chair and bookcases. The room was dismantled in 1988 to make way for a photography studio. His memorial is located in a mausoleum located at Mount Washington Cemetery in 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 ...
, between Truman Road and US Route 24.
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Nelson, William Rockhill
1841 births
1915 deaths
American real estate businesspeople
19th-century American newspaper founders
19th-century American newspaper publishers (people)
20th-century American newspaper founders
20th-century American newspaper publishers (people)
People from Kansas City, Missouri
People from Fort Wayne, Indiana
University of Notre Dame alumni
The Kansas City Star people
Kansas City Times people
Philanthropists from the Kansas City metropolitan area
19th-century American philanthropists