William Strother Cowherd (September 1, 1860 – June 20, 1915) was a Democratic

Mayor of Kansas City, Missouri The Mayor of Kansas City, Missouri is the highest official in the Kansas City, Missouri Municipal Government. Since the 1920s the city has had a council-manager government in which a city manager runs most of the day-to-day operations of ...

from 1892–1894 and

Congressman A Member of Congress (MOC) is a person who has been appointed or elected and inducted into an official body called a congress, typically to represent a particular constituency in a legislature. The term member of parliament (MP) is an equivalen ...

from

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 ...

from 1897–1905.

Early life

William Strother Cowherd was born on September 1, 1860, to Emily (née Strother) and Charles J. Cowherd near

Lee's Summit, Missouri Lee's Summit is a city located within the counties of Jackson (primarily) and Cass in the U.S. state of Missouri. It is a suburb of Kansas City, Missouri. As of the 2020 census its population was 101,108, making it the sixth-largest city in both ...

. He attended schools in Lee's Summit. He graduated from the

University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou, MU, or Missouri) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus Universit ...

in 1881 with a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

and from the law school with a

Bachelor of Laws Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Chi ...

in 1882.

Career

In 1882, Cowherd joined the ''Tichenor, Warner & Dean'' law firm. In 1883, Cowherd and John Campbell formed the ''Cowherd & Campbell'' law firm on Fifth Street in Kansas City. Cowherd was prosecuting attorney of

Jackson County, Missouri Jackson County is located in the western portion of the U.S. state of Missouri. As of the 2020 census, the population was 717,204. making it the second-most populous county in the state (after St. Louis County). Although Independence retains ...

from 1885–1889. In 1889, Cowherd formed the ''Teasdale, Ingraham, & Cowherd'' law firm with William B. Teasdale and R. J. Ingraham. It was later renamed ''Cowherd, Ingraham, Durham & Morse''. He became first assistant city counselor of Kansas City in 1890. He served as mayor of

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 ...

in 1892. He was elected as a Democrat to the Fifty-fifth and to the three succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1897 – March 3, 1905). After failing to be re-elected to Congress, he ran unsuccessfully for Governor of Missouri in 1908. In 1909, he moved to

Pasadena, California Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial district. I ...

, and continued to practice law.

Personal life

Cowherd married Jessie Kitchen of Kansas City on September 25, 1889. Cowherd died in Pasadena on June 20, 1915. He is buried in Lee's Summit Historical Cemetery.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cownherd, William 1860 births 1915 deaths Mayors of Kansas City, Missouri University of Missouri alumni People from Lee's Summit, Missouri Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Missouri 19th-century American legislators