history – Page 2 – Thinking About Becoming a Real Estate Developer?

An old, iconic and rusty former industrial titan

The slogan – “Trenton Makes, the World Takes” – is stamped to Lower Trenton Bridge. Illuminated. Bold. “Trenton Makes, the World Takes” is a testament to Trenton’s past manufacturing glory. “Trenton Makes, the World Takes,” hung on the first bridge ever built across the Delaware River. The bridge was built in 1935. In the City which would, for a very short time, that is, be our nation’s capital.

Trenton was the nation’s capital. From November 1, 1784 to December 24, 1784.

This confident slogan of Trenton’s originated in 1917. Justifiably so. What Trenton was really good at was manufacturing. The City thrived. Trenton’s manufacturing prowess was the foundation for the City’s successes.

Trenton built an economy based on exports. Attributed to the City’s strong manufacturing base. Trenton’s industrial might was coupled to the City’s expertise in the manufacture of finished products such as wire rope and rubber. Trenton became a booming Mid-Atlantic industrial hub.

Wrought iron beams. The very same beams used to build the dome in the U.S. Capital at the east end of the National Mall. Those were manufactured in Trenton.

Wire rope. The very same wire rope used to build the Brooklyn Bridge, the George Washington Bridge, the Golden Gate Bridge and the Wheeling Bridge (the bridge which connects West Virginia to Ohio). That bridge-building wire rope came from Trenton.

Mechanicals used in San Francisco’s first streetcars? Manufactured in Trenton.

The cable, spark plugs and electrical wire used in Charles Lindbergh’s single-engine Spirit of St Louis? Manufactured in Trenton.

The cable used for the Wright Brother first airplane? Manufactured in Trenton.

Prior to Akron, Ohio claiming the “Rubber Capital of the World” title early on in the Twentieth Century, Trenton was the nation’s tire capital.

John A. Roebling established his steel wire empire – The Roebling Steel Company – in Trenton.

In 1849 Roebling set out to build his company alongside the Delaware Canal and the Raritan Canal. John A. Roebling’s company would go on to become a manufacturing stalwart. Becoming Trenton’s largest employer. Built on the 25 acres Roebling purchased in 1848.

Twenty years after John A. Roebling laid the groundwork for Roebling Steel Company, a father and son team placed their signatures upon Trenton’s industrial past.

Alan and Frank Magowan founded the oldest rubber mill in the United States – Trenton Rubber Company. By the late/1800’s, Trenton was a major production center for rubber…while Roebling went on to become the world’s largest manufacturer of wire rope.

Wire rope, shipping, mining, construction, electrical power transmission, cable cars, tramways, aircraft, submarine netting, musical instruments, elevators, logging, oil drilling. At one time, each representing products proudly made in Trenton.

Trenton’s industrial prominence was routed in the City’s ability to harness productivity gains attributed to the canals and the railroads built in Trenton. Trenton’s expansive network of canals and railroads enabled the City to ship finished manufactures off to New York City and Philadelphia.

While Trenton enjoyed its long and storied run as an American manufacturing center, in June of 1974, a Trenton chapter was forever closed.

In June of that year the final 1,400 employees of what had once been the Roebling industrial empire lost their jobs. These final Roebling layoffs coming after numerous failed attempts to revive the Trenton plant. The plant, that time, a subsidiary of Colorado Fuel & Iron.

Both Roebling manufacturing plants closed their doors for good in Trenton in 1974. Marking the formal ending of Roebling’s presence in Trenton. The closing of Roebling…poetic justice in that this end to an era was representative of Trenton’s last days as a manufacturing center.

Cheap foreign goods. Foreign competition. The hollowing out of the City’s property tax base due the demise of manufacturing. Suburbanization. Each contributed in their own unique way to Trenton’s decline. Declining productivity. Bleeding over into a decline in the City’s population. A decade-by-decade descent.

Long before Trenton’s descent, the City’s population steadily increased. Year-by-year. Beginning in the latter part of the 18th Century through the 1950’s. Topping off at just about 128,000 in 1955.

By 2022 Trenton’s population was down to 90,000.

They headed west…

During the latter part of the 19th Century, the Homestead Act enabled settlers to become landowners. The Homestead Act was signed into law by President Abraham Lincoln on May 20, 1862.

Through the Homestead Act, after living on and improving their homestead for five years, a homesteader would then receive their deed by paying a $18 filing fee.

Leading up to the Civil War, southern states seceded from the Union. One year before the Homestead Act went into effect.
Southern states intended to advance the institution of slavery. Members of Congress representing the South recognized that land added to the Union which would be owned slave owners could point the country in a pro-slavery direction. Their goal being, for slavery to be established as the foundation for rural economies in the West.

In the 1860’s there was a tug of war over the institution of slavery. It was slave owners versus free-staters. As the United States pushed west, land totaling just about 10% of the country would be conveyed to homesteaders. One million homesteaders. Representing a voting block which would be integrated into the Union. One which would influence policy.

Prior to the Homestead Act, the Preemption Act of 1841 was used by settlers – those age 21 or older, and head of a household – to acquire up to 160 acres. The price? $1.25 per acre.

Through the Preemption Act, a homesteader was required to make improvements to their homestead and to live on their homestead for a minimum of five years.

Opposition to the Homestead Act – and to the Preemption Act beforehand – had largely been anchored in plantation owners of the South. Their concern? Land acquired in the West would go to stakeholders who would not be advocates of slavery. While slavery was the bedrock on which the southern economy was based.

Representing a barrier to southern interests, the Homestead Act prohibited conveyances of land to those fought against the United States in the Civil War. Which meant, land conveyed through the Homestead Act was not available to former Confederate soldiers.

Homesteading continued on as federal policy through the 1970’s. In 1976 President Gerald Ford signed the Federal Land Policy and Management Act into law. Effectively ending homesteading at the federal level.

The Federal Land Policy and Management Act governs how federal land is administered by the Bureau of Land Management.

By the end of the Civil War, some 15,000 homesteaders acquired land through the Homestead Act. Establishing their homes in what today we know to be Kansas, Colorado, Nebraska, Montana and Wyoming. Nearly 80 million United States acres, conveyed to homesteaders.

Alexander Hamilton, coupled to his frustration with trade barriers, foretold of the rise of this industrial city.

We owe our beginning for Paterson, New Jersey to Alexander Hamilton. To Hamilton’s pursuit of American manufacturing independence. To Hamilton’s interest in battling prohibitions placed upon free trade.

Paterson was established in 1791. And it was in 1791 that Alexander Hamilton – then, Secretary of the Treasury – set up the Society for Establishing Useful Manufactures (SUM). Proceeding to acquire 700 acres which would be developed as a catalyst for the growth of American manufacturing.

Those 700 Paterson acres are located close to a power source which is native to Paterson – the Great Falls.

Here we have our catalyst – the Society for Establishing Useful Manufactures – and our footprint – those 700 acres – for the 18th Century emergence of an American industrial center.

Hamilton’s vision for the Society for Establishing Useful Manufactures was anchored in his goal to transform Paterson into a major industrial hub.

Cotton emerged as an early product manufactured in Paterson. Soon giving way to textiles.

In time, silk would become the preeminent manufacture of Paterson. Paterson would go on to become “Silk City.”

The Great Falls of Paterson provided the power needed in “Silk City” to operate industrial sites. Industrial sites built around benefits flowing from the Falls.

Recognizing the potential in the Great Falls, Alexander Hamilton’s idea for an industrial site – and for an industrial city – could be realized through the construction of canals. Hamilton knew that canals would be able to deliver water power to industrial sites. Providing the power source – water – Paterson manufacturers could come to rely on.

A private-public corporation, the initial plan for the Society for Establishing Useful Manufactures was for the corporation to build, own and operate Paterson’s industrial sites – owner-operators.

That first strategy thought up for the Society for Establishing Useful Manufactures as an owner-operator changed. This early-day premise for the Society for Establishing Manufactures as owner-operator of industrial sites gave way to an amended blueprint. This amended blueprint being, for the Society for Establishing Useful Manufactures to become freeholder to Paterson industrial sites.

The Society for Establishing Useful Manufactures leased industrial sites around the Falls to private manufacturers. While retaining control over the power source manufacturers relied upon – the Great Falls.

The Society for Establishing Useful Manufactures transitioned from manufacturing into real estate development. Becoming a prominent real estate developer in Paterson through the early part of the 20th Century.

Paterson becoming an industrial hub was a late-18th Century goal arising from the importance Alexander Hamilton placed on manufacturing independence.

Manufacturing independence. Economic independence. Industrial independence.

The 700-acre site acquired by the Society for Establishing Useful Manufactures around the Great Falls was a foundation upon which the emergence of an American manufacturing empire could be begin. The birth of Paterson.

The American Colonies gained their independence from Great Britain in 1783. With the signing of the Treaty of Paris. Two years after General Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown.

The Treaty of Paris was signed. The Colonies were no longer subjects of the King. Yet these new Colonies were still reliant upon Great Britain. Hence, Hamilton’s idea for the Society for Establishing Useful Manufactures. Hence, our backdrop for the emergence of Paterson.

The year of the Treaty of Paris – 1783 – Colonial imports from Great Britain totaled just about $300,000, in 18th Century dollars.

The year after the Treaty of Paris – 1784 – Colonial imports from Great Britain totaled just about $600,000, in 18th Century dollars.

Imports from Great Britain doubled the first year of America’s independence. America did gain its independence from Great Britain. While at the same time, increasing their dependence on Great Britain. For imports.

Exports from Great Britain to the Colonies increased substantially after the Colonies’ independence. While Parliament was placing “tariffs” on manufactured goods the Colonies intended to export to Great Britain.

These British “tariffs” were called Duties. Duties represented constraints pushed onto Colonists, serving as barriers to Colonial exports to Great Britain. And this problem of duties was compounded by a stranglehold-of-a-requirement imposed on the Colonies through Parliament.

Great Britain commingled their imposition of Duties on American exports with an additional constraint. An additional constraint meant to further restrict American exports to Great Britain. This additional restriction being, American exports to Great Britain were required to be transported by British vessels only. Confiscatory trade policy enacted through Parliament which dampened manufacturing in the Colonies.

Trade restrictions placed upon Great Britain’s newly-independent “trade partner” did not stop at duties and a ship-British mandate.

Parliament permitted only the importation of non-manufactured American goods. It was non-manufactured goods only. Great Britain, as the world’s largest economy, placed restrictions on imported American manufactured products to protect manufactures at home.

In 1783, as a newly-independent country, the Colonies were “free” to export to Great Britain. So long as the Colonies did not export manufactures.

This protected British manufacturers from newfound Colonial competition. While at the same time, preventing the emergence of well-trained, English-speaking competitors to British manufacturers – American manufacturers.

Furthermore, Great Britain – through their Colonies, when they were Colonies of Great Britain – enjoyed prosperous trade with the British West Indies. A different outpost within the same British Empire.

Yes, the Colonies gained their independence from Great Britain. In 1783. The Colonies gained their independence while at the same time increasing their dependence upon Great Britain in different sort of way. This, a dependence found in reliance upon British manufactures. Manufacturers in Great Britain who exported their finished products to the Colonies. The inverse for which was highly restricted. Through Parliament.

The British West Indies remained, the British West Indies.

Britain enacted protectionist policies when dealing with the Colonies. Prohibiting free trade for the Colonies within the Empire. Which included the British West Indies.

The Colonies were “free” to trade with the British West Indies. So long as that trade was in non-manufactured goods. And so long as trade with the British West Indies involved the transportation of non-manufactured goods to the British West Indies (and to Great Britain, for that matter) on British vessels.

American livestock? The trade of American livestock was fine…trade away. So long as American livestock was shipped within the British Empire on British vessels.

American lumber? The trade of American lumber was fine…trade away. So long as American lumber was shipped within the British Empire on British vessels.

American flour? The trade of American flour was fine…trade away. So long as American flour was shipped within the British Empire on British vessels.

The trade of American manufactures? Of American finished goods? No deal. No trade. There was to be no shipment of American manufactures to Great Britain, nor to the British West Indies. Not on British vessels. Not on American vessels.

Great Britain was protecting their global manufacturing dominance. While in the Colonies, the Secretary of the Treasury recognized challenges arising from the unfair British trade restrictions. The Secretary of the Treasury in the Colonies intended to alter an unfavorable outcome. Alexander Hamilton was the Secretary of the Treasury.

Hence, our catalyst for Alexander Hamilton’s focus on developing the American Colonies into a manufacturing power that could one day compete with Great Britain.

Hence, our catalyst for the emergence of American industrial cities.

Hence, our emergence of Paterson as an industrial hub.

It had been those trade restrictions – enacted by Great Britain through Parliament after the Colonies gained their independence – which led Alexander Hamilton, as Secretary of the Treasury, to create a framework necessary for the growth of American manufacturing. Then, so too, for the growth of American industrial cities. Cities such as Paterson.

Crossroads

Lewis and Clark arrived at the confluence of the Missouri River and the Kansas River at a time when the country was keen on opening up the west.

The best pathway west at that time was the Missouri River. Kansas City sits alongside “the Big Muddy.”

One hundred years after Lewis and Clark arrived with their team of 50 and 3 boats the first train depot opened in Kansas City – Union Depot, in 1878.

Kansas City’s Union Depot became the second of its kind. Indianapolis’ union depot was the first.

During the latter part of the 19th Century, goods making their way to the Western-most points of the United States likely came through Kansas City.

In a fast-industrializing 20th Century, Kansas City connected an industrial Northeast to the West.

At its height, 200 trains pulled into Union Depot each day. Rail was the primary method of transporting freight. And Kansas City outgrew Union Depot.

Needing additional capacity, railroad companies utilizing Union Depot decided to replace Union Depot with a larger station at a better location.

Union Depot was located in the West Bottoms. The West Bottoms was prone to flooding.

The new station would be built near the central business district, atop a hill.

Kansas City’s Union Station opened in 1914 – 850,000 square feet.

Kansas City’s Troost Avenue

Troost Avenue, a 10-mile corridor in Kansas City running from 4th to Bannister.

Among the Kansas City neighborhoods bordering Troost Avenue are Beacon Hill, Longfellow, Squier Park, Rockhill and Hyde Park.

Troost Avenue was named after a doctor. Benoist Troost. Dr. Troost, a prominent Kansas City physician, was also a civic leader.

Troost Avenue was once home to “Millionaire’s Row.” Early in the 20th Century, “Millionaire’s Row” had been a strip of stunning mansions constructed along Troost Avenue. Those mansions adorned Troost from 31st Street to 34th Street.

Today, Troost Avenue is experiencing redevelopment interest. And a tasteful renaissance.

In times past, Troost Avenue experienced a sad history written with the underpinnings of disinvestment. Leading to decline. Leading to decreased home values. This, before Troost’s renaissance.

So what led to Troost’s decline?

Disinvestment. But real estate disinvestment was not the primary catalyst which led to Troost’s mid-20th Century decline. Real estate disinvestment certainly was one catalyst. But real estate disinvestment was not the primary catalyst.

Disinvestment in public schools east of Troost was the primary catalyst which led to Troost’s decline.

Starting off in the late ‘60’s, the School Board in Kansas City, Missouri consistently requested increases in education funding for Kansas City, Missouri schools which were located east of Troost Avenue. There were in the range of twenty such education funding requests made by the Board during this time. Funding requests made throughout the ‘60’s and ‘70’s.

Those funds – if approved – would have gone to Kansas City, Missouri public schools east of Troost Avenue. Funding requests were voted down. The result? Disinvestment in schools. Culminating in “White flight.”

Families, those having the means, that is – predominantly White families – moved. White families moved out of neighborhoods which were adversely affected by the undercutting of school funding.

White flight. Neighborhood home values decreased. One prominent Kansas City mayor once referred to Troost Avenue as, “…the demarcation line in a war zone.”

The problem, east of Troost, wasn’t the legal segregation of schools. Nor was the problem segregation of schools. The problem, east of Troost, was funding for education. Or a lack thereof.

Long before round after round after round after round of failed requests to secure funding for Kansas City, Missouri public schools east of Troost were submitted, those same public schools were desegregated. Yet school desegregation didn’t really solve this problem in Kansas City east of Troost.

Because while the desegregation of schools, based upon race, was the national mandate after Brown v. the Board of Education, decisions which were made affecting education funding were made at the local level. Therein we find the problem. For why public schools east of Troost declined.

In 1954, the United States Supreme Court unanimously ruled in Brown v. The Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas that state-sanctioned segregation of public schools was unconstitutional. Prior to Brown v. The Board of Education, in Kansas City, east of Troost, Lincoln High School had been the only high school providing post-elementary education to Black students. One high school.

In 1955, one year after Brown v. The Board of Education, the Kansas City School Board enacted a “segregation” of public schools in a different way. This was a “de-facto segregation.” Not based upon race. But rather, this was a segregation based upon attendance zones.

Revisiting “White flight” east of Troost, the “White flight” which occurred as round after round of school funding requests were voted down led to the “panic selling” of homes. Leading to block busting. As White families relocated out of the Kansas City, Missouri school district. Real estate values declined.

No, Kansas City, Missouri public schools east of Troost were not segregated based upon race after the 1954 Supreme Court decision. But yet, in a practical sense, they were still segregated.

Kansas City, Missouri public schools east of Troost remained overcrowded. And underfunded. The city’s expansion just made it worse.

In real estate, developers often utilize – and benefit from – tax abatements. On Troost Avenue, and east of Troost, there is a real estate renaissance taking place.

While panic selling and block busting were factors which contributed to neighborhood destabilization east of Troost in years past, neighborhoods east of Troost today are likely to not experience the same type of disruptions as the pendulum swings the other way. Through redevelopment.

What we may see is, not decreasing property values east of Troost. We’ll likely see increasing property values east of Troost.

We likely won’t see panic selling east of Troost. We’ll likely see home sellers fetching ever-increasing prices for their homes, east of Troost.

We won’t see blockbusting, east of Troost. We’ll see continued interest in homes, east of Troost.

What we’ll also likely see, east of Troost, is community members priced out of their neighborhoods. We’ll likely see gentrification. We’ll see investment. Not disinvestment. We’ll see tax abatements.

Accompanying such, we’ll also see hundreds of millions of dollars in deferred maintenance incurred by Kansas City, Missouri public schools.

We’ll likely see challenges in education. Different education challenges. But challenges, nonetheless. Not segregation. Not the same challenges as before. But challenges.

If redevelopment on Troost Avenue and east of Troost is the #1 goal, all good. If there are other concerns to consider, maybe one should revisit Kansas City history? Focusing on this topic: public schools east of Troost.

The Trolley Trail in Kansas City’s Brookside

Brookside is a charming, leafy neighborhood located on the southern end of Kansas City, Missouri…the largest contiguous master planned neighborhood in the country.

Part of the Country Club District, the original plan for Brookside was new homes built for middle-income, upper middle-income and for upper-income families.

The more expensive homes in Brookside were built to the west. Higher home values in Brookside are often determined by how far east or how far west of Main Street the home is located.

Brookside’s Trolley Track Trail. The Harry Wiggins Trolley Track Trail.

The trolley which once ran through Brookside was named for a Missouri state senator who was born in Kansas City. This senator was Harry Wiggins. Brookside’s Trolley Trail is a six-mile path.

Today there is no trolley that runs along Brookside’s Trolley Trail. There are no trolley tracks on the Trolley Trail either. But at one time, long ago, there was a trolley in Brookside which ran along what today is our Harry Wiggins Trolley Track Trail.

This old trolley run in Brookside was borne in the late 19th Century.

In the late 1800’s, comparable to cable cars one would have found in San Francisco at that time, the trolleys which ran through Brookside were propelled by underground cables. The earliest Brookside trolleys operated by gripping underground cables which were installed underneath the tracks.

As the 19th Century turned into the 20th Century, the means by which trolleys were propelled changed. Underground cables were replaced. The cable system trolleys used were replaced by electricity.

Those old Brookside trolley tracks have long since been torn up. The Harry Wiggins Trolley Track Trail is now occupied by walkers, joggers, baby strollers and cyclists. There are no trolleys. Trolley travel gave way to pedestrians on the old trolley track.

At its inception, the Harry Wiggins Trolley Track Trail fostered a trackbed, wooden cross ties and a ballast. This trolley line in Brookside was the Country Club Line.

The Country Club Line took riders south to Brookside shops found in the Brookside Shopping District. Where 63rd Street meets Brookside Boulevard was the heart of Brookside’s shopping district.

Founded in 1920, the Brookside Shopping District was Kansas City’s first suburban-themed shopping center. It was thirty-seven years after the Brookside Shopping District opened that the last Country Cub Line trolley ran through Brookside. That year was 1957…the end for trolleys in Brookside.

At one time, Kansas City had one of the most extensive trolley systems in the country.

Today, Kansas City’s rich trolley history has been reawakened with the city’s streetcar.

Long ago Brookside trolleys and streetcars found in center city represented a popular mode of transportation in Kansas City.

Times changed. And Kansas City – as did most cities by the mid-20th Century – replaced their trolleys and their streetcars with buses.

In Brookside, the end of trolleys led to a new constitution for the Harry Wiggins Trolley Track Trail. The new constitution for the Trolley Track Trail has been written for walkers, joggers and cyclists.

The Harry Wiggins Trolley Track Trail.

Rumson

Rumson, New Jersey is a seven square mile New York City bedroom community. Two of those seven square miles consist of water.

Long before Rumson became Rumson, Rumson was Navarumsunk. Or, Narumsum. And later, Ramson’s Neck.

British settlers purchased Navarumsunk/Narumsum – located between the Navesink River and the Shrewsbury River – from the Lenape Indians.

Negotiations for the sale of Navarumsunk/Narumsum began in 1663.
Two years later, Governor Richard Nicholls confirmed the sale within constructs available to British Governors through the Monmouth Patent. No longer Lenape territory, Navarumsunk/Narumsum became Ramson’s Neck.

The catalyst for this 1665 land sale was colonial expansion – a British land conveyance.

The British took New Netherlands – in which Navaramsunk/Narumsum was located – from the Dutch. Establishing framework for the land sale.

Britain was led by King Charles II. Charles II granted this land – then controlled by the Dutch – to his brother James, The Duke of York.

The Duke’s real estate holdings stretched from Connecticut to Delaware. Expansive, yet undeveloped. So the Duke enlisted Governor Richard Nicholls to establish settlements.

The Monmouth Patent bestowed upon Governor Nichols the responsibility to attract one hundred settlers within three years to the region. These settlements were to be established in a section of the Duke’s territory which today is Monmouth County, Ocean County and Middlesex County.
Governor Nicholls needed one hundred settlements to take hold to prevent the territory from reverting back to the Duke.

To attract settlers Governor Nicholls marketed a benefit: self governance.
Settlers were Patentees. Aptly named, as settlements were established according to the Monmouth Patent.

The establishment of British settlements according to the Monmouth Patent ran into a road block in 1674 when the Dutch retook New Netherlands. One year later, the English regained control of New Netherlands. Restarting settlements.

Seven years later, the goal set for Governor Nicholls by The Duke of York – one hundred settlements – was exceeded.

Rumson…

By 1682, four settlements were established near Ramson’s Neck. Ramson’s Neck at that time consisted of thousands of acres of plantations. These Ramson’s Neck settlements, over time, evolved into boroughs. Such as Rumson.

Up through the Revolutionary War, Ramson’s Neck (known as Rumson), Fair Haven, Red Bank, Little Silver and Shrewsbury were part of Shrewsbury Township.

Rumson was part of Shrewsbury until becoming an independent borough in 1907.

The Trolley Trail in the Bookside Neighborhood of Kansas City

Brookside is a charming, leafy neighborhood located on the southern end of Kansas City, Missouri…the largest contiguous master planned neighborhood in the country.

Part of the Country Club District, the original plan for Brookside was new homes built for middle-income, upper middle-income and for upper-income families.

The more expensive homes in Brookside were built to the west. Higher home values in Brookside are often determined by how far east or how far west of Main Street the home is located.

Brookside’s Trolley Track Trail. The Harry Wiggins Trolley Track Trail.

The trolley which once ran through Brookside was named for a Missouri state senator who was born in Kansas City. This senator was Harry Wiggins. Brookside’s Trolley Trail is a six-mile path.

This old trolley run in Brookside was borne in the late 19th Century.

As the 19th Century turned into the 20th Century, the means by which trolleys were propelled changed. Underground cables were replaced. The cable system trolleys used were replaced by electricity.

Those old Brookside trolley tracks have long since been torn up. The Harry Wiggins Trolley Track Trail is now occupied by walkers, joggers, baby strollers and cyclists. There are no trolleys.

Trolley travel gave way to pedestrians on the old trolley track.

At its inception, the Harry Wiggins Trolley Track Trail fostered a trackbed, wooden cross ties and a ballast. This trolley line in Brookside was the Country Club Line.

The Country Club Line took riders south to Brookside shops found in the Brookside Shopping District. Where 63rd Street meets Brookside Boulevard was the heart of Brookside’s shopping district.

At one time, Kansas City had one of the most extensive trolley systems in the country.

Today, Kansas City’s rich trolley history has been reawakened with the city’s streetcar.

Long ago Brookside trolleys and streetcars found in center city represented a popular mode of transportation in Kansas City. Times changed. And Kansas City – as did most cities by the mid-20th Century – replaced their trolleys and their streetcars with buses.

The Harry Wiggins Trolley Track Trail.

Strong City, Kansas

…for the next time you see one of those long BNSF freight trains chugging along the tracks. Whether you see one of those BNSF freight trains in Los Angeles. Or in New York City. Or in Dallas. Or in Chicago. The next time you see one of those BNSF freight trains, you can think about a town located along the Flint Hills Scenic Byway in Chase County, Kansas. You can think about Strong City. Population, 388.

Five years after the Kansas Territory was first organized… Two years prior to Kansas becoming our 34th U.S. State…Chase County, Kansas was born. That year? 1859.

Twenty-two years after that – in 1881 – the railroad in the United States entered Chase County, Kansas. The Chase County town which was the benefactor of this rail extension in Kansas had been Cottonwood.

And in Cottonwood, a new train station was built. That new train station – built in 1881 in Cottonwood – became, the Cottonwood Station.

The very next year – in 1882 – the town of Cottonwood would change its name. Becoming, Strong. Later becoming, Strong City.

Our Strong City name took hold much, much later. Sixty-three years later, to be precise. In 1945.

Strong City…

Yet, let’s go back to the beginning of it all. To the very beginning of Strong City’s – then, Strong’s – imprint on U.S. rail.

The beginning, which brings us to a New Englander. A New Englander, who was born in Vermont. A New Englander by the name of William Barlow Strong. W.B. Strong. As W.B. Strong is where our Strong City-BNSF connection begins.

W.B. Strong. Our namesake for Strong. Our namesake for Strong City. W.B. Strong. W.B.Strong, the man on whom a petition had been set forth to change a Chase County town’s name. From Cottonwood to Strong.

When that railroad – the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway – was extended into Cottonwood in 1881, W.B. Strong served as president at Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway.

The year Cottonwood Station first opened- in 1881 – would be the same year W.B. Strong took over the reins at Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway. As president. Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway. ATSF, for short.

Expanding on from the opening of that Cottonwood Station in 1881, under W.B. Strong’s leadership, ATSF significantly grew its train routes. To cover 7,000 miles. 7,000 miles of Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway routes. Throughout the United States.

Headed by W.B. Strong, Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway went on to become part of what is today the largest railroad in the United States. ATSF’s growth spurt coincided with the opening of that Cottonwood Station. In our Chase County town that would go on to bear W.B. Strong’s name. In Cottonwood. Later becoming, Strong. Later becoming, Strong City.

Strong City. The Chase County town named after our railroad executive, W.B. Strong.

Whenever we see a freight train, we no doubt will see the letters “BNSF” on those freight cars. And on those, once-steam, now diesel or electric, engines. BNSF is our modern-day evolution for Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway.

Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway went on to merge with Burlington Northern Railroad in 1995. Out of this merger, we had, Burlington Northern & Santa Fe Railway.

Later becoming, simply, BNSF.

The prevalence of those BNSF freight trains we see throughout the United States…transporting goods from the West Coast to the East Coast. From the Midwest into Canada. From the Midwest into Mexico. The prevalence of those BNSF freight trains we see…we see those BNSF freight trains, arguably, as the modern day result of the expansion-oriented mindset which had been espoused by the man whose name is forever linked to our Chase County town. W.B. Strong. Our namesake, for Strong City.

In the late 19th Century, then-Cottonwood, later becoming Strong and later still, becoming Strong City, had a population of, between, a few hundred to one thousand people. Strong City’s population today is just about where it had been in its earliest days. A few hundred people.

Just as our Strong City forefather – W.B. Strong – laid the late 19th Century “tracks” for a company which would go to become the largest rail company in the United States – with over 32,000 miles of track, across 28 U.S. States – Strong City would proceed to make a second notable contribution to the freight-by-rail system we now have.

Beginning in the late-19th Century, Strong quarries supplied large quantities of the stone which had been used for U.S. railway expansion. While at the same time, Strong stonemasons handled a good deal of the stone-work which had been necessary in order for that that late-19th Century/early-20th Century rail expansion to take place.

While Strong stonemasons performed according to their names – as stonemasons, handling stone-work for railroads – Strong stonemasons extended their contributions to the growth of late-19th Century/early-20th Century rail in the U.S. beyond their stone-work. In fact, Strong stonemasons went on to enter into numerous phases of late-19th Century/early-20th Century railroad construction. Far beyond stone-work.

The laying of track. Building the bridges on which track was laid. Building train stations. Roadhouses.

Each being one such category of railroad construction that Strong stonemasons placed their signatures upon.

So…our Chase County town of 300-or-so residents, located a little less than a two hour’s drive west of Kansas City. Our Chase County town can be thought of whenever we do see one of those BNSF freight trains.

W.B. Strong. Strong. Later becoming, Strong City. Strong stonemasons. United States rail. BNSF.

For me, it’s quite difficult, moreso, impossible, to see a freight train and to not think about those picturesque drives I’ve taken, oh so many, many times, along Highway 177 in Kansas. Onto Main Street. Along the Flint Hills National Scenic Byway. Into…Strong City.

Strong City. Our Chase County town of 300-or-so people which has left its not so-little-at-all “Strong City signature” – in more ways than one – on U.S.cargo, shipped by rail.

Lee’s Summit…in the very beginning.

In 1865, at the conclusion of the Civil War, William B. Howard filed a plat to establish a new Missouri town. This new Missouri town would be located 25 miles to the southeast of Kansas City. The platting for Howard’s new town would become the Town of Strother.

Growth prospects for the Town of Strother, as well as planning for the economies of numerous towns which would emerge (or reemerge) in post-Civil War times, had been triggered by post-War Reconstruction.

The founder of the Town of Strother – I.e.: Lee’s Summit – is William Bullitt Howard.

The name for the Town of Strother, paying homage to William Bullit Howard’s late wife, Maria Strother.

Maria Strother died the same year William B. Howard filed his plat to establish the Town of Strother – 1865.

Land on which this new Missouri town would be erected totaled 70 acres. This 70-acre allotment which would go on to become Lee’s Summit was parceled out from the 800-plus acre Missouri plantation owned by William B. Howard.

Born and raised in Kentucky, William B. Howard moved to Jackson County, Missouri in the 1840’s. Coming from a wealthy family in the South, William B. Howard did not serve in the Civil War. As the War raged on, William B. Howard left Missouri. Returning to his native Kentucky. Preceding his later return to Missouri. Preceding the establishment of Lee’s Summit.

At War’s end, Howard did indeed return to his adopted Missouri. Returning to Missouri, while holding a belief that a pending rail connection of St. Louis to Kansas City would create opportunities in commerce. Opportunities which were sure to benefit William B. Howard. A large landowner.

When the Civil War came to a close, recognizing the role rail was certain to play in a post-War economy – and in opportunities for growth in and around Kansas City – William B. Howard entered into negotiations with Missouri Pacific Railroad. Howard negotiated the construction of a new depot. A new depot which was to be built alongside Missouri Pacific Railroad tracks. Just south of Kansas City. On Howard’s land.

Missouri Pacific Railroad proceeded to build their new depot on Howard’s land in Strother.

Upon the incorporation of the Town of Strother in 1868, there was a name change for the town. From the Town of Strother. To Lee’s Summit.

Construction of a second Lee’s Summit depot – the all-brick Missouri Pacific Depot which, still, is located in downtown Lees’s Summit, to this day – was completed years later. In 1905.

The current Missouri Pacific Depot replaced the older, original boxcar station which had been built in the Town of Strother by Missouri Pacific. That old Missouri Pacific boxcar station, and one famous old boxcar parked at that old station, played a humorous yet important role in the town’s name.

The Missouri Pacific Depot which would be built on Howard’s land enabled passengers to travel from Lee’s Summit to St. Louis. That railway connection, having been completed two years after Howard filed his original plat for the Town of Strother in 1865. The Kansas City-to-St. Louis rail connection was completed in 1867. Two years after Howard filed his plat to establish the Town of Strother. One year prior to the incorporation of Lee’s Summit.

The name change from the Town of Strother to Lee’s Summit is attributed to William B. Howard learning of another Missouri town which had also been named “Strother.”

The “Lee” in Lee’s Summit.

Upon relocating to Missouri, from Kentucky, William B. Howard resided in Big Cedar. In Jackson County. Among Howard’s neighbors and friends in Big Cedar had been the Leas. Pleasant and Lucinda Lea.

Pleasant Lea was the local doctor. And postmaster. The Lea family and the Howard family grew to become close friends. Sharing more than their adjacent Missouri addresses. They shared also, their southern pasts.

The Leas moved to Jackson County from Tennessee. The Howards moved to Jackson County from Kentucky. Each family had been a wealthy, transplanted southern family. Establishing new homes for themselves just outside of Kansas City. In Civil War times.

Pleasant Lea died in 1862. Three years before William B. Howard filed his plat to establish his Town of Strother. Which had originally been named for his late wife.

The change in the town’s name from the Town of Strother to Lee’s Summit involved another close relationship of Howard’s. His neighbor and friend, Pleasant Lee.

Pleasant Lea, the origin for our “Lee” in Lee’s Summit.

Pleasant Lea resided in Big Cedar, to the south of Kansas City, prior to the Howards’ arrival. Pleasant Lea. The local doctor. The local postmaster. Pleasant Lea, William B. Howard’s close friend.

It’s Pleasant Lea, spelled L – E – A , so why is it Lee’s Summit, spelled L – E – E?

What should have been spelled out as “Lea’s Summit” – Lea – on a boxcar at that old Missouri Pacific Depot in the Town of Strother, was simply a misspelling.

That boxcar should have had Lea’s Summit” painted on it. L – E – A. The “Lea” denoting the correct spelling for Pleasant Lea’s last name – Lea.

Rather, that boxcar had “Lee’s Summit” painted on it. A misspelling. And so, going forward, the “a” in Lea’s was dropped. Replaced with the “e.” To arrive at, Lee’s Summit.

The “Summit” in Lee’s Summit.

The definition of summit is, the highest point of a hill or mountain.

The “Summit” in Lee’s Summit was coined in recognition of Lee’s Summit being the highest point on the Missouri Pacific line which ran from St. Louis to Omaha, Nebraska.

Lee’s Summit. The name for which we find a wealthy landowner, originally from Kentucky. The railroad. A neighbor. And an elevation point.