Topics in Kansas History: Business & Industry

Essay

During the 50 years after the Civil War Kansas industry ranged from tiny craft shops to large milling operations. Industry grew in areas where materials and transportation were available. Farm products were important raw materials produced in Kansas. The industries that processed these products began to increase. Other industries tied to the growing population prospered in the state.

Agriculture

Farming has been central to Kansas economy, politics, laws, innovations, culture, social customs, and traditions. Known as the "Wheat State" and "Breadbasket of the World." Kansas farmers and ranchers continue to feed people around the world. Farming in Kansas led to the growth and development of many agricultural businesses including those related to storing, transporting, and processing farm products.

Aviation

Walter H. Beech, E. M. Laird, J. M. Moellendick, Lloyd Stearman, and Clyde Cessna, are regarded as founders of the aircraft industry in Wichita. A native of Tennessee, Beech began flying in 1914. After serving in the army air corps during World War I, he spent three years barnstorming over the central states. In 1921, Beech settled in Wichita to work for a local aircraft manufacturer. Four years later, he founded his own company, Travel Air Manufacturing Company. The Great Depression forced the closing of this company but in 1932 he opened his new business, the Beech Aircraft Company. His aircraft set standards considered unattainable by others. Walter Beech died in 1950 but his company continues to be a major producer of aircraft for personal, business, and military use.

In 1912, L. Philip Billard learned to fly from Topeka aviator and aircraft builder, Albin. K. Longren. His flights around the capital city were frequently mentioned in Topeka papers. This attention was due to the public's fascination with this new invention and to the fact that Philip Billard was the son of Topeka mayor, J. B. Billard. His father was quoted in 1912 as being "opposed to his son purchasing the racing biplane, because of the dangers of flying, but Phil wanted something that was faster than an auto."

His father's concerns about the dangers of flying were well founded. Many pilots had accidents in these early aircraft. Tragically, in 1918, Philip lost his life in a plane crash in France. While serving as a test pilot and instructor during World War I, he was killed when his plane disintegrated.

Clyde V. Cessna was born in Iowa in 1879. Cessna came to Kansas the following year when his family settled in Kingman County. His interest in flying supposedly developed from attending a traveling "air circus" in Enid, Oklahoma, in 1910. He immediately abandoned his job as an automobile salesman and went to work for an aircraft company in New York. In 1911, Cessna quit to build his own plane. It crashed on an early flight but he was not discouraged.

During the winter of 1916-1917, Cessna moved his operations to Wichita where he continued to improve his design skills. In 1925 he became a partner of Stearman and Beech in the Travel Air Company. A disagreement over whether to build monoplanes or biplanes ended the arrangement two years later. Cessna was determined to build a high-performance, single-wing plane. He succeeded in this task in 1927 with the production of model AW. Cessna retired in 1936 to return to farming. He died in 1954 at the age of 74. The company that still bears his name is today one of the leading manufacturers of small aircraft in the world.

Amelia Earhart, one of the nation's most famous women flyers, was born in Atchison in 1897. Earhart's love of flying began in her youth. She gained national prominence in 1928 by being the first woman to cross the Atlantic. Not content with only having been a passenger on that flight, Earhart piloted herself across the ocean in 1932, the first woman to fly the Atlantic alone. Over the next five years, she set aviation records, wrote books and articles, and taught at Purdue University. In 1937, while attempting an historic around-the-world flight, she mysteriously disappeared over the Pacific.

Albin K. Longren's brief flight in his pusher-type biplane on September 2, 1911 marked the beginning of a new era in Kansas aviation history. The "Topeka I" is considered the first Kansas aircraft to actually fly.

Born on a farm near Leonardville, Longren spent his life working in the field of aviation. As a young man, he barnstormed throughout the Midwest from 1911 - 1914. His numerous flights earned him the nickname "Birdman."

In these early years, money was often an incentive for young aviators. At one event, Longren was guaranteed $5,000 if he could get his plane airborne. After waiting all day for the wind to die down, he took off. His plane managed to get only a few feet off the ground before crashing into a riverbank. Longren was reported to be uninjured, and it is unknown whether he was able to collect his prize money.

Longren invested much of his income from barnstorming into his Topeka factory. This was the first successful aircraft-manufacturing firm in Kansas. Eventually forced to close his plant in 1926, Longren spent the next 20 years as a consultant for other manufacturing companies. Longren died in California at the age of 68. The only surviving example of his work is a pusher-type biplane built in 1914. Fellow Topeka aviator, Philip Billard, once owned it. The plane is now on permanent exhibit at the Kansas Museum of History.

Born in Iowa in 1886, Glenn Martin spent his childhood in Liberal and Salina. Even as a boy, Martin was fascinated with flying and experimented with biplane-type kites on the windy Kansas prairie. In 1905 the Martin family moved to California. It was there that Martin's first aircraft was built and flown in 1909. Two years later he returned to Kansas for a series of barnstorming flights. Martin went on to become a world famous aircraft manufacturer. Martin Marietta was the corporate successor to the Glenn L. Martin Aircraft Company.

Hunting

Buffalo existed in such vast numbers that hunters were known to kill hundreds in a matter of days and thousands in a matter of months. Buffalo hunter Frank Mayer commented: "We never killed all the buff we could, but only as many as our skinners could handle. Every outfit had its quota, which was determined by the ambition and the number of skinners. My regular quota was twenty-five a day, but on days when my crew weren't tired, I sometimes would run this up to 50 or even 60. But there I stopped, no matter how plentiful the buff were. Killing more than we could use would waste buff, which wasn't important; it also would waste ammunition, which was."

Dodge City was a major shipping point for buffalo meat and hides. In the first 3 months of 1872, over 43,000 buffalo hides and nearly 1.5 million pounds of meat were shipped to the East on the Santa Fe Railroad.

Buffalo were also killed in great numbers for sport. In 1872, George Armstrong Custer took the celebrated Grand Duke Alexis of Russia on a hunting trip through Nebraska, Colorado, and Kansas.

Another industry sprang from the slaughter of buffalo. Bone pickers were paid $4 to $6 a ton for the dried buffalo bones. Shipped east, the bones were then ground and used in the manufacture of fertilizer, combs, dice, buttons, and bone china dishes. Some homesteaders used this business to supplement their farm income.

Milling

The first millers in Kansas often operated both grist and lumber mills. Although the lumber industry quickly declined in importance, flour milling became one of the state's leading industries.

Mining & Drilling

In addition to agriculture, much of the state's economic growth has been based on abundant mineral deposits. During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, coal, oil and natural gas, lead and zinc, salt, and many other natural resources were extracted from the earth. In varying degrees, most of these resources continue to be of importance to the state's economy.

Professionals

People providing various professional services were often of vital importance to early Kansas communities. Doctors, lawyers, bankers, and others made their services available throughout the state and were important to the health and welfare of the community.

Retail Service Industry

With the industrial revolution, came a great increase in the number and variety of jobs in the broad category of sales and service. Kansas towns during the post-Civil War period existed mainly to service the needs of a rural, farm population. Thus, each community tried to provide the basic services that the area needed and townspeople often boasted of the number and quality of their local businesses. In addition, a growing urban population demanded services similar to those found in towns throughout the country.

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