Henry Perry (March 16, 1874 – March 22, 1940) was an American chef and restaurateur. He was the self-proclaimed "Father of Kansas City barbecue."

Biography

Perry was born in Shelby County, Tennessee near

Memphis Memphis most commonly refers to: * Memphis, Egypt, a former capital of ancient Egypt * Memphis, Tennessee, a major American city Memphis may also refer to: Places United States * Memphis, Alabama * Memphis, Florida * Memphis, Indiana * Memp ...

. He worked on steamboat restaurants on the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it fl ...

and Missouri River before moving to Kansas City, Missouri in 1907. In 1908, he began serving smoked meats to workers in the Garment District in

Downtown Kansas City Downtown Kansas City is the central business district (CBD) of Kansas City, Missouri and the Kansas City metropolitan area. It is between the Missouri River in the north, to 31st Street in the south; and from the Kansas–Missouri state line east ...

from an alley stand. He then moved his stand, "Perry's Barbecue", to 17th and Lydia in the

inner city The term ''inner city'' has been used, especially in the United States, as a euphemism for majority-minority lower-income residential districts that often refer to rundown neighborhoods, in a downtown or city centre area. Sociologists some ...

neighborhood of 18th Street and Vine. He had a sign in his restaurant that said "my business is to serve you, not to entertain you," and it was known for its far-reaching BBQ smells. He was known for his generosity, and would often give food to people for free. He later moved a few blocks away within the neighborhood of 19th and Highland, where he operated out of an old trolley barn throughout the 1920s and 1930s when the neighborhood became famed for its

Kansas City Jazz Kansas City jazz is a style of jazz that developed in Kansas City, Missouri during the 1920s and 1930s, which marked the transition from the structured big band style to the much more improvisational style of bebop. The hard-swinging, bluesy tra ...

during the

Tom Pendergast Thomas Joseph Pendergast (July 22, 1872 – January 26, 1945), also known as T. J. Pendergast, was an American political boss who controlled Kansas City and Jackson County, Missouri, from 1925 to 1939. Pendergast only briefly held elected ...

era. Customers paid 25 cents for hot meat smoked over

oak An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably ''L ...

and hickory and wrapped in newsprint. Perry's sauce was described as "harsh, peppery" (rather than sweet). Perry's menu included such barbecue standards of the day as

beef Beef is the culinary name for meat from cattle (''Bos taurus''). In prehistoric times, humankind hunted aurochs and later domesticated them. Since that time, numerous breeds of cattle have been bred specifically for the quality or quantit ...

and wild game such as possum,

woodchuck The groundhog (''Marmota monax''), also known as a woodchuck, is a rodent of the family Sciuridae, belonging to the group of large ground squirrels known as marmots. The groundhog is a lowland creature of North America; it is found through m ...

, and

raccoon The raccoon ( or , ''Procyon lotor''), sometimes called the common raccoon to distinguish it from other species, is a mammal native to North America. It is the largest of the procyonid family, having a body length of , and a body weight of ...

. On March 22, 1940, at 5:55 A.M., Perry died in Kansas City due to pneumonia and complications from an infection. After his death, Charlie Bryant took over the business; he, in turn, sold it to his brother

Arthur Arthur is a common male given name of Brythonic origin. Its popularity derives from it being the name of the legendary hero King Arthur. The etymology is disputed. It may derive from the Celtic ''Artos'' meaning “Bear”. Another theory, more wi ...

, who made the sauce a little sweeter when he relocated the restaurant, Arthur Bryant's, to 1727 Brooklyn in the same neighborhood. Also, Arthur Pinkard, who had worked for Perry, helped George Gates found Gates Bar-B-Q. Because of Perry's long-lasting influence on the barbecue community in Kansas City, he became known as the "Father of Kansas City Barbecue," and in 2014, he was inducted into the

American Royal The American Royal is a livestock show, horse show, rodeo, and barbecue competition held each year in September – November at various sites in the Kansas City Metropolitan Area. The Future Farmers of America (now the National FFA Organiza ...

Barbecue Hall of Fame.

References

Sources

Kansas City Public Library biography of Henry Perry

{{DEFAULTSORT:Perry, Henry 1874 births 1940 deaths People from Shelby County, Tennessee Pendergast era Businesspeople from Kansas City, Missouri African-American chefs Chefs from Missouri American male chefs American chefs Deaths from pneumonia in Missouri 20th-century African-American people