Arthur Stilwell | |
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 Arthur Edward Stilwell | |
| Born | (1859-10-21)October 21, 1859 |
| Died | September 26, 1928(1928-09-26) (aged 68) |
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Arthur Edward Stilwell (October 21, 1859 – September 26, 1928) was the founder of theKansas City, Pittsburg and Gulf Railroad, predecessor to theKansas City Southern Railway.[1] He served as KCPG's president from 1897 to 1900. He was also the founder ofPort Arthur, Texas.
Stilwell was born inRochester, New York, in 1859. While working as a traveling salesman he courted and marriedJennie A. Wood, and the couple moved toKansas City, Missouri, and thenChicago,Illinois, where Arthur sold insurance for theTravelers Insurance Company, inventing a coupon annuitylife-insurance policy which paid the policy holder an income after a certain age.
With the money made selling these policies, the Stilwells returned to Kansas City where Arthur sold real estate and began building the Kansas City Suburban Belt Railway. In his quest to connect Kansas City to theGulf of Mexico by rail, he began building and acquiring rail lines for the Kansas City, Pittsburg and Gulf Railroad Company (later to become theKansas City Southern Railroad), plotting townsites along the way which includedMena, Arkansas,Stilwell, Oklahoma,Port Arthur, Texas, and many more.
Setbacks including lawsuits, a hurricane, and yellow fever caused financial problems for the otherwise successful venture, and on April 1, 1899, the KCPG was thrown intoreceivership by one of its financiers,John Warne Gates, over an unpaid printing bill. Stilwell was out, but the discovery of a giant oilfield in Texas in 1901 ensured the railroad's future success.
Unfazed by losing control of the KCPG, Stilwell announced plans to build a railroad connecting Kansas City with the Pacific Ocean and organized theKansas City, Mexico and Orient Railway. Although progress was made, financial problems and theMexican Revolution caused this company to be forced into receivership in March 1912. Ironically, oil was discovered under its tracks and was to contribute to the fortune of its receiverWilliam T. Kemper.[2]
After that, the Stilwells moved to New York, where Arthur spent his time writing books, plays, poems and hymns.
Arthur Stilwell died ofapoplexy on September 26, 1928, in New York. His distraught wife, Jennie, committedsuicide by jumping out the window of their New York apartment thirteen days later. The Stilwells were said to have left an estate of only $1,000. The cremated remains of the Stilwells have never been located.[3]
In all, Arthur Stilwell organized 41 companies of various kinds during his career. He is credited with building more than 2,300 mi (3,700 km) of railroad in his lifetime and founding more than 40 cities.[citation needed]
Stilwell published many books after his retirement in 1912. He wrote novels, poetry and plays. He also wrote political works on world affairs and the monetary system. His writing attracted attention because in them he maintained that he had based many of his life and business decisions on the whispers of what he calledfairies orbrownies. In his memoirs published in 1927, he reframed this as hunches.[4]
In 1887 Stilwell started the Fairmount Cycling Club and built the amusement center Fairmount Park between Kansas City andIndependence, Missouri, ostensibly to boost traffic for one of the trolley lines he owned. It became theKansas City Athletic Club in 1893.[5] The new club boasted a six-hole golf course, the second in the area after the Kansas City Country Club, based in what becameLoose Park. The Fairmount Club eventually became the Evanston Club in 1901, and later moved to a new location atSwope Park in 1905. The quickly expanding sport of golf and the fast growth of the city necessitated another move to a rural 137 acres (0.55 km2) tract outside of the city limits in 1916, becoming the Hillcrest Country Club, now at 82nd and Hillcrest Road in Kansas City. Owing to the club's location outside of the city, it was a far more liberal, wild place than the rich clubs in town, allowing gambling and having the highest number of female and minority members.[6]
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| Preceded by | President ofKansas City Southern Railway 1897 – 1900 | Succeeded by |
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