Walter S. Dickey

Posted on

 W.S. Dickey Clay Manufacturing Company, Bell Telephone, Kansas City Journal-Post, University of Kansas City, Scofield Hall

 


Walter S. Dickey
 

Walter S. Dickey, the consummate industrialist, had his hand in several companies and trades throughout the turn of the 20th Century.  Originally emigrating from Toronto in 1885, Dickey wasted no time assimilating.  He quickly got involved with the Missouri Republican Party, rising to chairmanship at a time of the first political success for the party after the Civil War.  Dickey had this effect on his business ventures, too.  He purchased a struggling clay factory and rebranded as the W.S. Dickey Clay Manufacturing Company, whose rise to national prominence eventually won a hefty contract from Bell Telephone, providing materials for their long-distance lines.  In the 1920s Dickey bought and consolidated two area newspapers, publishing the Kansas City Journal-Post until his unexpected 1931 death.  His lavish mansion was donated to the fledgling University of Kansas City, becoming the first building on campus.  It stands today at the University of Missouri-Kansas City as Scofield Hall.