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The History of Business in Lee's Summit
From its beginning, Lee's Summit has possessed an entrepreneurial spirit. From
its earliest existence until now, its citizens have been visionaries, planning
and working toward the future. Lee's Summit's early settlers owned and/or
worked large ranchlands, tobacco farms, and fruit tree orchards in the area.
They established a foundation of stability and economy to create a
self-sufficient and thriving town. Its citizens have persevered through
hardship and devastation. Over the years, its leaders have planned and built up
this town through industry, education and beautification, and they have cared
for their fellow man in the process.
William B. Howard, founder of Lee's Summit, was a visionary, and an excellent
businessman and entrepreneur. Forced to leave his home and land during the
Civil War, he returned in 1865 to found the town of Strother, now Lee's Summit,
named for his wife's family. Howard owned some 2,300 acres of prairie land, and
saw that it would be a good location for the Missouri Pacific Railroad to pass
through on its way from St. Louis to Kansas City. He knew that with the
railroad passing through, an economy could be built up to establish a
successful community. He generously donated right of way and many town plots to
the Missouri Pacific Railroad. In October of 1865, Howard laid out 70 acres of
his land in town lots measuring approximately 52 by 180 feet and sold them for
between $30 and $75 each. Much of the area surrounding Lee's Summit consisted
of prairie for raising cattle and other livestock, fruit orchards, and tobacco
farms. The presence of the railroad allowed for the shipment of cattle and
produce out of the area. This easy access to product transportation boosted the
area's economy.
Howard was not only an excellent businessman, he was also a humanitarian. He
donated land to each church in town, both white and black, evidencing that he
valued the presence of the church collectively. He also donated 25 acres to the
city, which became Howard Park, and he built a half-mile racetrack. Howard gave
four lots to Dr. W. W. Miller as a gift to persuade him to return to Lee's
Summit after the war. He had the foresight to realize that the presence of a
physician would attract settlers to the new city.
Another evidence of the entrepreneurial spirit is the Bank of Lee's Summit.
Originally named Colbern & Hargis Bank, it was founded in 1868. W.H.
Colbern and J.N. Hargis, along with Howard, founded the bank. At one point,
Howard was a director of the bank. It was the first bank in Lee's Summit, and
has played an important part in the town's economy since it's beginning. When
the town's population was only 500, 300 of its citizens were depositors at the
bank. The bank also played a valuable role in the 1900s as Lee's Summit
continued to be largely a farming community. As part of its community service
during World War I, the bank issued Liberty Bonds and Red Cross allotments. The
bank persevered through the Great Depression, and endured the 1920s and 1930s
when many banks did not survive financial "runs" and "crashes". It was known as
"The Old Reliable." The Bank of Lee's Summit website states that those leading
the bank "maintained a philosophy of stability and conservatism."1
It is believed that there once was a room at the bank set aside for customers
to pray when they were having financial difficulties.
During the early 1900s, Lee's Summit continued to have leaders who envisioned
beauty, growth and prosperity for its future. By 1928 it had a population of
2,000 persons and was termed "The Prettiest Town in Jackson County."2
Much pride was taken in keeping up the neighborhood streets and the City Park
to create an atmosphere of calm and beauty, and a lake covering fifteen acres
had been built just east of town. At this time there were nearly one hundred
businesses in town. The prosperity of Lee's Summit did not cause its citizens
to neglect service to one another. On the contrary, they purposed together to
seek the betterment of the community above individual gain. Sixty businessmen
made up a representative body called the Triangle Club. These men "placed the
future of Lee's Summit above personal gain and work[ed] untiringly to bring
about the continued growth of the town."3
In addition, the hospital in town, maintained by Dr. T. J. Ragsdale, gave equal
attention to its poor and wealthy patients. These examples of citizens caring
for one another illustrates Lee's Summit's rich heritage of employing resources
for the betterment of everyone in the community.
One industry that brought people to the Lee's Summit area was the building of
ammunitions. The Remington Arms Plant at Lake City (Independence area) and
Pratt & Whitney (95th and Troost in Kansas City) were the two ammunition
plants in the area. During World War II, many people moved to Lee's Summit and
the surrounding area, living in rented rooms and working in the ammunition
plants. In 1942, another bus was added to Lee's Summit-Lake City bus line to
handle the number of workers at the Remington Arms plant who lived in Lee's
Summit. Today the Remington Arms Plant continues to run, while Pratt &
Whitney is no longer in business.
Another industry that impacted the economy of Lee's Summit was sausage
processing. Lee's Summit had two large sausage plants, Oldham and R.B. Rice,
which operated after World War II. These plants processed sausage and lard
products for the hog farms in the area, and shipped their products all over the
United States. The Oldham plant was named for Charles Oldham, who was also the
mayor of Lee's Summit from 1956-1964. Oldham was a very progressive man who had
a vision for the growth of Lee's Summit. As mayor he negotiated the deal to
bring in a Western Electric plant. The new presence of this industry had a
major influence on the growth and economy of Lee's Summit. Western Electric was
a $20 million plant that made telephone and electronic parts, and employed
between 3,500 and 4,000 workers. Oldham succeeded in having 250 acres of land
rezoned and annexed so that Western Electric could build its plant in 1957.
Nearly all the town merchants and residents were in favor of bringing in the
plant. Its presence in Lee's Summit caused the population to jump from 2,554 in
1950, (having gained only about 500 residents since 1930), to 8,267 in 1960.
Lee's Summit continued to grow quickly as the estimated population just five
years later was 14,000. Western Electric immediately became a major economic
driver for Lee's Summit, and continued influencing the economy and prosperity
of the community throughout its lifetime.
R.A. Long and Dr. Kenneth Berg are two of the many outstanding business people
who have contributed to the reputable commerce in Lee's Summit. Both men
committed their lives to loving God and serving their fellow man. As
entrepreneurs, their businesses were very successful, and as humanitarians,
their businesses became avenues through which to support and serve those around
them. Both men worked with creativity and vision that transformed the town and
area around them, and they worked tirelessly for the good of others. Long once
said, "The world knows Kansas City as a great commercial city, but there is
danger that the humanitarian side may be neglected in the commercial race. It
is my desire that that most essential element be kept fresh in the minds of the
people."4
Lee's Summit, as a suburb of Kansas City and being home to Long's world
renowned Longview Farm, became a part of Kansas City's humanitarian side
through the work Long accomplished there. And it is this humanitarian side of
business that both Long and Berg have dedicated their lives to.
Robert A. Long was a very wise and practical businessman. He was very
successful in the lumber business, establishing the Long-Bell Lumber Company
with his friend Victor Bell. They opened their first lumberyard in 1875, and
grew their company until it was the largest of its kind in the United States,
with 110 operations all over the western part of the country. The lumber
business moved Long and his family to Kansas City. Long built for the purpose
of giving and providing for others. He once said, "With reference to successful
achievement in business and to the possession of money, the greatest pleasure
in it is in the power to help others. There is more pleasure in distributing it
to others who need it than in getting it."5
Long never left God out of his work. His devotion to the Lord was evident in
his ability to recognize need. His creativity, planning, and business mind
enabled him to then meet the needs he identified.
R. A. Long came to Lee's Summit with a vision for the Lee's Summit and Kansas
City area. In 1912, Long began to purchase land just outside of Lee's Summit
that would become Longview Farm. It was to be a country estate where he and his
family could relax away from the pace of the city. It was also to be a working
farm, providing a home for his daughter, Loula's, champion horses, and a place
for state-of-the-art dairy production. By March 1913, at sixty-two years of
age, he had acquired 1,780 acres of land. He began construction immediately,
employing at one point 2,000 workmen from the United States, Belgium, and
Sicily. Longview Farm was completed and fully operational by June of the next
year, and included not only a dairy and a horse farm, but also a half-mile
track with a grandstand, greenhouses, housing for its 175 employees and their
families, a school, and a church.
Longview Farm exhibited Long's heart to care and provide for both his family
and the surrounding community. As a home away from the city, it provided a
reprieve from the intense work schedule that Long kept, one that his doctors
increasingly insisted that he needed. As a horse farm, it provided a place for
Loula to advance her abilities as a successful horsewoman. She had already won
her first Blue Ribbon at the National Horse Show in 1913, and her success
continued as she later became a world-renowned horsewoman with many champion
horses. As a dairy farm, Longview provided the highest quality milk for the
Kansas City area. Upon the birth of his first grandchild, Martha Ellis, and at
a time when almost half of American children died before the age of five, R. A.
Long discovered that the best kind of milk young Martha needed wasn't
available. When the family doctor was asked which milk was better, he replied
that it was milk from purebred Jersey cows. Long saw the need and was
determined to meet it. He replied, "That being the case, we'll buy the cows.
There are hundreds of other babies in town that need A-1 fresh milk as well as
Martha Ellis, and it will be helping them out, too."6
Long fulfilled his commitment to provide quality milk to Kansas City, producing
almost 1,000 quarts of milk per day, and he made it affordable for families to
purchase. Most of the milk was sold at the market rate, but a sizeable amount
was sold to charities in the city below production cost.
Long cared for the lives of his employees and their families. In addition to
providing housing on the grounds, he built a church and a school. This devotion
to his employees was evident everywhere he worked. Wherever he had a project,
he hired a pastor and a teacher for his employees. Before Longview Farm came to
be, he planned and built the city of Longview, Washington to provide homes for
his Long-Bell Company employees so they would not have to live in lumber camps.
Another of Long's qualities became evident in his efforts to provide quality
living for those around him: he was a skilled planner. Regarding the city of
Longview, Washington, the Kansas City Times reported, "In this project he
[Long] was intensely practical as to procedure. He saw an inspiring advantage
of planning a community before building began….He insisted on good architecture
at every stage of progress, not necessarily involving additional cost, but
having merit and distinction."7
The skilled planning of this Washington city has its ties to Kansas City. Among
those Long employed to plan Longview, Washington were George E. Kessler and a
landscape architectural firm from Kansas City, Hare & Hare. Kessler and
Hare & Hare were later known nationally as the designers of Kansas City's
parks and boulevard system. In the planning and designing of Longview Farm,
Long employed architect Henry Hoyt, the same man who had designed both his
Kansas City mansion and office building. Hoyt was sent throughout America and
Europe to study horse farms in preparation for designing Longview Farm. All the
work Hoyt and his team poured into this project proved to be invaluable. Upon
its completion, Longview Farm quickly became known as the World's Most
Beautiful Farm. This gift of planning for beauty and practicality has also been
demonstrated by the Lee's Summit government in its visionary planning of the
city from its beginning until now (see Government History section).
R.A. Long passed on his heart for people to his two daughters, Sallie and
Loula. In 1917, Loula Long married Roger Pryor Combs, a local banker and the
son of a pastor. In 1919, they moved to live full-time at Longview Farm, where
they continued to run things with the care and attention of Loula's father. Mr.
and Mrs. Combs worked to fulfill the dreams of their employees. They sent many
of their employees to college, all expenses paid. For others they found ways to
keep them working on the farm so they didn't have to move. For example, a woman
named Pearl Crawford had raised her children on Longview Farm with her husband,
David, who worked in machinery. After their children were grown and David had
passed away, Pearl expected to be notified that their home on the farm was
needed for David's replacement. Pearl recounted the experience, "The Sunday
morning after he [David] died I saw Mrs. Combs' car pull up in front of the
house. I thought, of course, she had come to tell me they needed my house. I
opened the door and she hugged me and kissed me and said 'Pearl, instead of
going to church today I came to be with you. I want you to stay on the farm.' I
told her that I didn't work. She said she'd find something for me to do, and
she did. Several weeks later, I was up at the Big House sewing and Mr. Combs
was there. He was very ill at the time, painfully ill, but when he saw me he
motioned for me to come to him. I did and he touched my face and said, 'Pearl,
you're all alone now, and we don't have any children. You can be our little
girl now.' Of course, I was grown woman at the time. That didn't matter to
them."8
Loula and her husband cared about the lives of their employees. Another example
of this was Mr. Combs' response to visiting the newborn child of another of his
employees. Like his father-in-law, he desired to provide for children through
the dairy farm at Longview. Albert Aldrich told the story, "He [Mr. Combs] came
in, saw our son and said that he was going to have a quart of milk delivered to
the house for him every day. He got so inspired that he started a new rule that
from the time they were born until the time they were 18 years old, every child
on Longview would have a fresh quart of milk."9
Loula Long Combs and her husband, Roger Pryor Combs, continued to run Longview
Farm in the same spirit as R. A. Long, as a compassionate and very capable
couple in business. Even during the Great Depression, when the Long-Bell Lumber
Company collapsed, Longview Farm did not go under. Mr. and Mrs. Combs provided
for their workers so that, although wages were cut, job and homes were kept.
They continued to provide what was needed.
The Long family continued throughout their lives to give to their local
community. In 1968, Loula Long Combs and her sister, Sallie Long Ellis, donated
146 acres of Longview Farm to be used for building a college. By 1969, Longview
Community College was open.
In 1969, Dr. Kenneth Berg established John Knox Village, a retirement community
that provides lifetime care and services for its residents. A brilliant
strategy for both the businessman and consumer, Dr. Berg designed John Knox
Village with a vision to provide care for the elderly that was both sufficient
and affordable. Residents have two options of payment. The Annual Agreement
provides housing with all Village's services, amenities, and activities for a
once-a-month fee. This option does not cover future health care benefits as
they are needed. The Entrance Fee Agreement allows residents to pay an up-front
fee for a lifetime of health care as needed. A once-a-month fee is also paid
for housing, services and activities. Under this agreement, as a resident's
needs for care increase, the Village provides everything, from meals, to
in-home care, to hospital care throughout their lifetime without the worry of
running out of funds to pay for it. This retirement community was the second of
its kind in the United States, the first being built by Dr. Berg himself in
another Kansas City suburb. John Knox Village is located next to Lee's Summit
Hospital, and is near the First Presbyterian Church, where Dr. Berg once served
as pastor. In addition to building John Knox Village, he has built similar
retirement communities in seventeen other states. His vision of a life with
adequate care and quiet dignity for the elderly, combined with his abilities as
a businessman, has served many thousands of people in America. In addition to
his investment in John Knox Village, Dr. Berg had a vision for the city of
Lee's Summit, and was influential in the city's decisions to expand its limits,
and to create the many surrounding scenic lakes. Dr. Berg now lives in
Greenwood, MO with his wife, where he continues to pastor a church.
Lee's Summit has a rich heritage as a city of entrepreneurs, business men and
women using their resources and creativity to meet the needs of the community.
Those in generations past have left a legacy of excellence, hard work and
philanthropy. Many of our predecessors in business were godly men and women who
followed godly principles in business and then cared for the poor, the sick,
and the elderly through their increase. They took care of their employees and
their families, poured their resources into the surrounding community in Lee's
Summit, and ran their businesses by a standard of excellence. They saw
themselves as a part of a larger community, envisioning a unified Lee's Summit
that as a whole could be greater and could accomplish more than the sum of its
parts.
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Prayer for the Businesses of Lee's Summit
Father God, we thank You for the heritage of entrepreneurialship and business
that You have given Lee's Summit. Thank You for the creativity, business sense,
planning, and perseverance through hard times that You have given to our
business men and women since its beginning. Thank You for giving the business
community a vision for our city, to bring beauty, growth, and provision to the
residents of Lee's Summit. Thank You for our forefathers who have worked hard
to provide for future generations, and to provide and care for their employees,
the poor, the sick and the elderly through their businesses. Lord, help us to
carry on this godly heritage that has been passed down to us. We ask that You
would give our business men and women today a vision for the future, creativity
and beauty, integrity, and honesty in their work. Help us to be able to see,
and then provide for, the need of our fellow man. Teach us to love our
neighbors through our businesses. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.
Lord, teach us to love.
1 www.bankofleessummit.com/a_history.cfm
2 "Lees Summit: Aptly Termed 'The Prettiest Town in Jackson
County.'" Book Title, Date Published, p. 267.
3 Ibid, p. 270.
4 "Long Has Given a Million." Kansas City Star, Jan.
10, 1911.
5 A. B. Macdonald, "R. A. Long, Fighting to Rebuild a Fortune
at 82, Talks of Uses of Adversity and Faith in God." Kansas City Star,
Oct. 23, 1932.
6 Tracey Leiweke and Aimee Larrabee. Longdreams: The Story of
Longview. Longview Ltd. Partnership, 1987.
7 Ibid.
8 Ibid.
9 Ibid.
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