Cook Paint and Varnish Company was a paint and varnish manufacturer in the Kansas City metropolitan area from 1913 until 1991.

History

The paint factory was established in 1913 at 21st and Broadway in Kansas City by Charles R. Cook. (1884-1949) In 1927 it moved to

North Kansas City, Missouri North Kansas City is a city in Clay County, Missouri, United States. It is also enclaved in Kansas City. Even though the name is similar to its larger counterpart, Kansas City, it is an independent municipality part of the Kansas City metropolit ...

. In 1991 the company was split up with

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and in 1982 Davis Paints acquired a license agreement to manufacture certain Architectural Coatings in Kansas CIty. Some paints are still sold under this license agreement under the Cook brand by Davis Paint in Kansas City. The most visible connection to North Kansas City is the Cook Composites & Polymers Co. which is a subsidiary of

Total S.A. TotalEnergies SE is a French multinational integrated energy and petroleum company founded in 1924 and one of the seven supermajor oil companies. Its businesses cover the entire oil and gas chain, from crude oil and natural gas exploration and ...

and was run for many years by D. Patrick Curran, grandson of C.R. Cook. It claims to be largest producer of polyester gel coats in the world and that, along with its affiliates, it is the second-largest producer of coating resins in the world.

AAU Champions

Although a major employer in Kansas City its non paint interests got it the most attention including the

Amateur Athletic Union The Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) is an amateur sports organization based in the United States. A multi-sport organization, the AAU is dedicated exclusively to the promotion and development of amateur sports and physical fitness programs. It h ...

basketball teams (known as the Cook's Paint Boys) it fielded and which won national championships in 1928 and 1929 at a time when sponsored corporate teams competed against university teams. The Painters defeated 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 ...

25-23 in 1928 and Henry Clothiers of

Wichita, Kansas Wichita ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Sedgwick County. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 397,532. The Wichita metro area had a population of 647,610 in 2020. It is located in ...

51-35 in 1929. The star of the Painters was

Forrest DeBernardi Forrest Sale "Red" DeBernardi (February 3, 1899 – April 29, 1970) was an American college basketball player in the 1920s. Standing 6 ft. 1 inches tall, DeBernardi was one of the best centers of his era, and played all five positions. ...

.http://hoopedia.nba.com/index.php?title=AAU_Men's_Champions

Broadcast interests

Cook Paints bought WHB radio in Kansas City in 1930. In 1953 it was awarded the contract to jointly own the new Channel 9 frequency. Under the arrangement, Cook would operate for 90 minutes as WHB-TV and then Midland Broadcasting Company would operate it as

KMBC-TV KMBC-TV (channel 9) is a television station in Kansas City, Missouri, United States, affiliated with American Broadcasting Company, ABC. It is owned by Hearst Television alongside The CW, CW affiliate KCWE (channel 29). Both stations share stud ...

. They would switch back and forth in such arrangement and have separate studios. Cook sold its WHB franchise in 1954 and bought full rights to the channel 9 license, along with KMBC radio, keeping the KMBC call letters and keeping Midland's studios at the Victoria Theatre. Cook sold KMBC-AM-TV in 1961 to

Metromedia Metromedia (also often MetroMedia) was an American media company that owned radio and television stations in the United States from 1956 to 1986 and controlled Orion Pictures from 1988 to 1997. Metromedia was established in 1956 after the DuMon ...

References

{{Authority control Manufacturing companies based in Kansas City, Missouri Clay County, Missouri Paint and coatings companies of the United States Chemical companies established in 1913 Manufacturing companies disestablished in 1991 1913 establishments in Missouri 1991 disestablishments in Missouri Mass media companies established in 1930 Mass media companies disestablished in 1961