Cook Paint and Varnish Company was a

paint Paint is a material or mixture that, when applied to a solid material and allowed to dry, adds a film-like layer. As art, this is used to create an image or images known as a painting. Paint can be made in many colors and types. Most paints are ...

and

varnish Varnish is a clear Transparency (optics), transparent hard protective coating or film. It is not to be confused with wood stain. It usually has a yellowish shade due to the manufacturing process and materials used, but it may also be pigmente ...

manufacturer in the

Kansas City metropolitan area 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 t ...

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 and part of the Kansas City metrop ...

. By 1930, Cook had established factories in Kansas City, St. Louis, Ft. Worth, Houston, Cincinnati and Detroit. In 1991 the company was split up with

Sherwin-Williams Sherwin-Williams is an American paints and coatings company based in Cleveland, Ohio. It is primarily engaged in the manufacture, distribution, and sale of paints, coatings, floorcoverings, and related products with operations in over 120 coun ...

Valspar The Valspar Corporation is an American manufacturer of paint and coatings based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. With over 11,000 employees in 26 countries and a company history that spans two centuries, it was the sixth largest paint and coating corpo ...

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 is one of the seven supermajor oil companies. Its businesses cover the entire oil and gas chain, from crude oil and natural gas explorat ...

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, downtown Kansas City, Missouri. Notable members have included President of the United States, President Harry S. Truman and others. Founding The club ...

25-23 in 1928 and Henry Clothiers of

Wichita, Kansas Wichita ( ) is the List of cities in Kansas, most populous city in the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Sedgwick County, Kansas, Sedgwick County. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population of the city was 397, ...

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

Broadcast interests

Cook Paints bought

WHB WHB (810 AM) is a commercial radio station in Kansas City, Missouri, airing an all-sports radio format. Its studios are on West 121st Street in Overland Park, Kansas, also the headquarters of its owner, Union Broadcasting. For most of the 19 ...

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 ABC. It is owned by Hearst Television alongside CW affiliate KCWE (channel 29). The two stations share studios on Winchester Avenue in the ...

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

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