Jackson County
(Mo.)
Historical Society
Portals to the Past by David W. Jackson
Original Priest of Pallas Host Still a Mystery
Priests of Pallas--Kansas City’s Mardi Gras--pulsated for over a quarter
century between 1887-1924. Annual festivities commenced with an ornate,
otherworldly invitation from an elusive host named, “Jackson.”
“Jackson”
remains an enigma. As early as 1923,
George M. Myers, president of the Priests
of Pallas directorate, offered $500 in gold to anyone offering clues to
“Jackson’s” identity. Strangely, the bullion went uncollected.
Might the following nuggets tip the scales?
One
account suggests “Jackson” was prominent Kansas Citian, John Prince Loomas,
the first President of the Priests of
Pallas Board. Loomas was born in Wisconsin, January 11, 1854. He came to
Kansas City in 1877 with $13 in his pocket. Already successful by 1881, he
returned east and wed Mary Ida Huxley.
Loomas
had charge of the Priests of Pallas
produce dealers’ trades display in the first parade in 1877. The debut was so
successful that he managed all Priests of Pallas parades until his
premature death.
In May
1899, Loomas became manager of Kansas City’s Convention Hall. After a
disastrous fire on April 4, 1900, Loomas oversaw hundreds of men to quickly
rebuild the new Convention Hall in time for Kansas City to host the
Democratic National Convention over July 4th celebrations.
John
and Ida’s daughter, Linda Loomas, grew up and married prominent Kansas City
lawyer Charles M. Bush, who as a young man, had also participated in the Priests of Pallas by masquerading as
its patron goddess, Athena.
Loomas
and Bush ancestors rest in Elmwood Cemetery. I have had the fortune to meet
gracious descendants who live in Kansas City yet today.
Without
definitively connecting the “Jackson” reference to Loomas, though, we must
weigh another speculation that the mystery host was a nod to an employee of
the Commercial Club of Kansas
City--where early Priests of Pallas organizers met--in the Exchange Building
on the northwest corner of 8th and Wyandotte (the Commercial Club
reorganized as the Chamber of Commerce in 1913).
Should
the adage, “If you want to know something, ask the hired help,” have
credence, then the Club’s janitor, Charles A. Jackson, was likely privy to a
multitude of public and private frivolities…and a reliable source for Club
members. Plausibly, event organizers found it paradoxically comic to invite
their fellow socialites under a secret guise. Who would suspect their
honorary host “Jackson” was someone at the opposite end of their 19th
Century Kansas City social spectrum…a ‘negro’ janitor?
Charles A. Jackson was born in Ohio on January 19, 1852.
On December 23, 1888, he and South Carolina native Mrs. Frances J. “Fannie”
Bradshaw, a hairdresser, married in Jackson County; each had been married
previously. Living with the couple in their rented home at 1021 Flora was
Frances’ 18-year-old daughter, Ruby (or Ruba) E. Bradshaw, born in Tennessee.
The 1900 Census confirms his employment as a janitor in a
“club room.” By 1910, Jackson owned the house at 2434 Montgall Avenue. They
were neighbors of Kansas City schoolteacher, John H. Bluford, his wife,
Addie, their two sons, and 18-year-old daughter, Lucille Bluford, who became
a journalistic icon with the Kansas
City Call newspaper.
Jackson
died in 1926 at Wheatley Provident Hospital. The Jacksons, who were members
of St. Augustine’s Episcopal Church (then at 11th and Troost; a
congregation that continues today), rest peacefully in Highland Cemetery off
Blue Ridge Boulevard.
Frances’
1930 obituary listed two surviving daughters, Mrs. John H. Graves, of
2210 Charlotte, and Carolyn E. Brydie, a maiden Kansas City schoolteacher.
Ruby Bradshaw married Slater A. Logan of Columbia, MO, in 1911. Mrs. Logan
married Graves on Christmas Day, 1929.
Whichever
hypothesis you may or may not believe, Priests
of Pallas organizers were daringly clever.
If you
have not received your invitation directly from “Jackson” to this year’s Priests of Pallas Ball, please join
the Westport and Jackson County Historical Societies Friday, October 26,
2007, from 7 p.m. to Midnight at Union Station. Tickets may be procured at
the door, or online at www.popkc.org.
In any
event, be sure to have your name added to “Jackson’s elite guest list” for an
advance invitation to next year’s Priests
of Palls ball.
TAG LINE:
David W. Jackson is archivist
for the nonprofit, membership-supported Jackson County Historical Society’s
Archives and Research Library at 112 W Lexington Ave., Suite 103,
Independence, MO 64050. A more in-depth study of this topic is explored in an
upcoming issue of the Society’s JOURNAL. Join the Society and subscribe to
the JOURNAL. Visit www.jchs.org, call 816-252-7454, or e-mail info@jchs.org.
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