Some 15 years before outlaw Bonnie Parker commanded the attention of Depression-era newspaper reporters of the American Southwest, who detailed her exploits with fellow criminal Clyde Barrow, Mattie Howard had a similar effect on writers employed by Kansas City’s several newspapers. 

Before, during and after World War I, they detailed the exploits of the woman whose eyes were described as “agate,” a reference to gemstones that suggested what one writer described as a “cool, steady, fascinating fixity of expression…”

Newspaper employees had another definition of “agate,” which in newsroom jargon referred to a typographical font normally used to display statistical data or legal notices. It was considered the smallest variety of type that could be used on newsprint and still be legible.

As this month’s E-Journal by Howard biographer Dan Kelly suggests, the type size used to announce Mattie Howard’s latest alleged offense routinely would be bigger than that.

Hidden a few blocks northeast of the Truman Presidential Library and Museum and a mile north of the Independence Square on Liberty Street, you will find a unique Victorian mansion situated on a full city block.

The Harvey M. Vaile Mansion was constructed in 1881 in the Second Empire/French Revival style. Designed by Kansas City architect Asa Beebe Cross, the building’s opulent style was an expression of Vaile’s wealth. The three-story brick mansion faces east and has a four-story tower topped by a cupola. Hand-pressed brick made on the property and limestone trim clad the walls. A slate roof with ornate wood trim and metal finials caps the over 100-foot-tall building.

On March 23, 2023, Phil S. Dixon will be honored by the Jackson County Historical Society for his most recent book, “John ‘Buck’ O’Neil: The Rookie, His Words, His Voice.”

The book is Dixon’s 10th volume devoted to the Negro Leagues, but his own voice has not been limited to the printed page. 

Over many years he has presented programs in more than 200 communities across the country and in Canada, detailing the Negro Leagues and their impact not just on baseball history but American history. 

On March 23, 2023, Jonathan Kemper will receive the Jackson County Historical Society’s Lifetime Achievement Award during the Society’s Annual Dinner.

A Jackson County native, Kemper earned an undergraduate degree from Harvard College in 1975 and an M.B.A. from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Business in 1979.

After serving as an assistant bank examiner at the Federal Reserve Bank in New York and as an account officer for Citicorp in Chicago, Kemper returned to Kansas City in 1982, working as a loan officer for Commerce Bank. 

Today he is chairman emeritus of Commerce Bank, Kansas City Region. 

This month’s E-Journal is presented by former Jackson County Historical Society (JCHS) board member Arthur Scott Cauger, grandson of his namesake the late Arthur Vern Cauger called “A.V.” by his friends and business colleagues, and affectionately the “Boss” by his former employee and lifetime friend Walt Disney. Scott is the youngest son of the late Theadore R. Cauger, Sr., known as “Ted”, and Melba Jean (maiden name Scott) Cauger called “Melbie” by her family and close friends.  Ted, Sr. was Treasurer of the JCHS for twelve (12) years.  Ted, Sr. and Melba were active, contributing members for decades.

It was 100 years ago when Harry Truman won his first election, the 1922 Democratic Party primary for the post of Eastern Jackson County judge.

He had to overcome his own fears, the support - or lack of it - of the Pendergast political machine, opposition from a rival political faction as well as the Ku Klux Klan, and finally the accusation that he recently had voted for a Republican, a serious allegation among Jackson County Democrats.

To that charge, Truman pleaded guilty and explained why in a compelling speech. Not long after that same Republican would help thwart the election day theft of a polling station ballot box, an act that could have ended the future president’s political career before it began.

In February 1964, an estimated 73 million Americans watched the Beatles perform on “The Ed Sullivan Show.”

An unknown number of young people watching immediately resolved to start their own bands. Among them was a Lee’s Summit nine-year-old named Pat Metheny, who formed a group with friends and began performing garage band hits of the 1960s, such as “Hang On Sloopy.” Over time, while many of his peers eventually put down their guitars, Metheny did not.

Further, his musical tastes evolved as he discovered jazz guitar. Today, more than 50 years later, it’s easy to assume that Metheny’s international reputation and many music industry awards were easily won. But, as detailed by Metheny biographer Carolyn Glenn Brewer, they were instead the result of his personal resolve and determination over many years - and maybe Lee’s Summit unique musical heritage.

This month, the Kansas Speedway was expected to draw thousands of auto racing fans for a series of races.

The Wyandotte County track opened in 2001, but the Kansas City area’s auto racing legacy goes back at least 100 years. In September 1922, big crowds congregated to watch the inaugural race of the Kansas City Speedway, a unique wooden track built on approximately the same site as the former Bannister Federal Complex, just north of Bannister Road and east of Troost Avenue, in Jackson County.

In this month’s E-Journal Steve Hartwich, a member of the Jackson County Historical Society board of directors explains how - even 100 years ago - the cars were fast and their drivers were fearless.

In 2022, more Missouri residents likely associate the “Katy” more with a walk than a ride.

That’s because, for more than 30 years hikers – and cyclists, runners, and others - have been able the traverse the former Missouri right-of-way of the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad, routinely referred to as the “Katy.”

Today Missouri officials consider Katy Trail State Park the longest continuous recreational trail in the country and, since it opened in 1990, it has gripped the imagination of walkers both veterans and beginners.

From the Ford Model T to Tesla, automobiles have played a prominent role in the American experience. Car ownership made mobility and the suburbs possible—but also led to pollution and urban sprawl. Interstate highways cut through neighborhoods, making travel easier for some, but creating social isolation for those bypassed.

The Kansas City Museum, shut down for several years, reopened in October.

The refurbished museum today brands itself as “Home of the Whole Story,” a description that rings true. Since its opening in 1940, generations of Kansas City area students and visitors have found there Kansas City’s complex narrative from frontier outpost to sprawling nine-county community.