Jackson County (Mo.) Historical Society
Portals
to the Past by David W. Jackson
Generosity was this man's hallmark Secrets of a KC Legacy Lives on through Rose Colored
Glasses
This is another true, unique
Kansas City story with a lesson for each of us. It’s about how one humble
citizen gave back to his community during his lifetime, and how 60 years
after his death, Kansas Citians continue to benefit from his selfless
generosity. Relocating with his extended
family from Chicago to Kansas City, he expanded his home furnishings and
window shade business to include offices in a dozen cities. In 1890, he purchased a new
three-story, 12-room brick and shingle Kansas City Shirtwaist house at 3717
Bell Street. His 2-acre wooded lot was where his mother raised a vegetable
garden, kept a cow and chickens, and his father grew flowers and a variety of
roses, for which the estate eventually was named, Roselawn. Then,
in 1911, the 52-year-old bachelor got married, bequeathed $1 million to his
bride, and set out over then next 36 years to give (that is, invest) more
than $10 million in local philanthropic causes. Though revered by the time he
died on November 4, 1947, he preferred anonymity. In fact, he gave away an
estimated one-third of his wealth, much of it secretly, for which the Kansas City Star dubbed him, Mr. Anonymous
of Bell Street. This
German native gave generously to an endless number of charities, including:
the Helping Hand Institute (today the Helping Hand of Goodwill Industries,
which recently preserved its early photographs in the Jackson County
Historical Society’s archives); the old German Hospital (today Research
Hospital); and, to the University of Kansas City, including hundreds of
thousands of dollars for residences, buildings and property known today as
the Volker Campus of UMKC. There
was assistance for the Jefferson Home for Women and Children; the Florence
Home for Negro Girls; the Andrew Drumm Institute for Boys; Children’s Mercy
Hospital; and, Wheatley Provident Hospital (the only private hospital in
Kansas City for African-Americans). He
started a retirement fund for schoolteachers, established a profit-sharing
plan for his employees, purchased animals for the Kansas City Zoo, and gave
not only to his own church, but to others. His
countless gifts to individuals were wide-ranging, and generally helped people
help themselves through employment or educational pursuits. His biographer, Herbert
C. Cornuelle, described an endless stream of people, in good times and bad,
approaching him in his office for a dime or a dollar, which he freely gave. Beyond
the financial assistance he broadcast, his example of modest, gracious living
is worth emulating. This unassuming Kansas City couple lived in the same home
in which they had started housekeeping. And, their beloved estate is still
intact today, much as their family left it. Take a drive after shopping and
dining along the 39th Street corridor some day, and enjoy the
peaceful Kansas City neighborhood anchored by Roselawn. Hopefully,
the home, outbuildings, gardens, and champion trees that comprise Roselawn--an Historic Kansas City Landmark--may remain in
tact for future Kansas Citians to appreciate . . .and
to be reminded of the power of one individual to make the world a better
place. Such is the legacy of Mr. William Volker. |
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