Walter S. Dickey

Walter S. Dickey
Dickey c. 1915
Born
Walter Simpson Dickey

(1862-06-26)June 26, 1862
Toronto, Canada West
DiedJanuary 22, 1931(1931-01-22) (aged 68)
Kansas City, Missouri, US
Occupations
  • Newspaper Publisher
  • Politician
  • industrialist
Political partyRepublican

Walter Simpson Dickey (June 26, 1862 – January 22, 1931) was a Canadian-born newspaper publisher, politician, and industrialist in Kansas City, Missouri.

Biography

Dickey was born in Toronto on June 26, 1862, the oldest of 11 children, and moved to Kansas City in 1885.[1][2]

In 1889, he established the W.S. Dickey Clay Manufacturing Company which started out creating ceramic pipes made of "burnt clay" that were used to drain farmland via tile drainage. As municipalities developed underground sewage infrastructures, the company supplied clay pipes to serve that purpose. By 1915, the company was promoting its "tight as a jug" vitrified salt-glazed clay silos.[3]

He was chairman of the Missouri Republican Party and was to help engineer the victory of Herbert S. Hadley, the first Republican governor of Missouri since Reconstruction.[1]

He owned the Kansas City Missouri River Navigation Company for river barges between Kansas City and St. Louis, Missouri until selling the entire fleet to the United States Army during World War I.[1]

In 1916, he ran for United States Senate as a Republican, but was narrowly defeated by incumbent James A. Reed.[4]

In the 1920s, he purchased the Kansas City Post and the Kansas City Journal, combining them into the Kansas City Journal-Post.[1]

He died at his home in the Rockhill neighborhood of Kansas City, Missouri on January 22, 1931, aged 68.[2][5] The next day, president Herbert Hoover gave a speech about his death.[6]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Ford, Susan Jezak. "Walter S. Dickey". Kansas City Public Library. Archived from the original on October 12, 2018. Retrieved August 13, 2024.
  2. ^ a b "W. S. Dickey Dies". The Kansas City Star. January 22, 1931. pp. 1, 2. Retrieved August 13, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ^ "See Me about the Dickey Silo". Manhattan Republic. Kansas. July 1, 1915. p. 5. Retrieved August 13, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ^ "Missourian Among the National Leaders". Stockton Independent. February 26, 1921.
  5. ^ "W.S. Dickey Is Dead. Former Publisher. Owned Kansas City Journal Post and Was Candidate for Senate in 1916. Led MMissouri Republicans; One of World's Biggest Manufacturers of Sewer Pipe. Succumbs to Heart Disease at 68". New York Times. January 23, 1931. p. 23. Retrieved August 1, 2014. Walter S. Dickey, a leader of the Old Guard Republicans in this State, one of the largest manufacturers of sewer pipe in the world and former publisher of The Kansas City Journal-Post, died unexpectedly at his ...
  6. ^ "Message of Sympathy on the Death of Walter S. Dickey. | The American Presidency Project". www.presidency.ucsb.edu. Retrieved February 25, 2024.
Party political offices
First Republican nominee for U.S. Senator from Missouri
(Class 1)
1916 		Succeeded by
R. R. Brewster