He was also given the advantages of an academy, but did not take kindly
to learning, and never took up a profession, perhaps to the disappoint-
ment of his uncle. During the war he enlisted for the Confederate
service at Liberty, and was with the troops under General Price until
wounded at Carthage, Missouri. He was a man of no little influence and
power in his community, and for three terms, twelve years in all, was a
judge of the County Court of Clinton County. After his marriage he
devoted himself to farming, and thereafter lived plain and unadorned,
making his fields and his home his primary interest. He and his wife
were members of the Christian Church. Her maiden name was Laura
Screace, who was born in Clinton Countv near Plattsburg, October 21,
1842, and died September 17, 1902.



2056 HISTORY OF NORTHWEST MISSOURI

Doctor Atchison, the only one now living of the four children of his
parents, grew up on the Clinton County farm, attended local schools
and in 1893 graduated from the Military School at Mexico, Missouri.
The following four years were spent at home, in the routine of farm
duties. In that time he had taken definite stock of his inclinations, and
in 1897 entered the Ensworth Medical College at St. Joseph, where he
was graduated M. D. in 1901. He was attracted to the opening of the
Kiowa and Comanche reservations in Southwestern Oklahoma that
year, and was the second physician to hang out "his shingle at Lawton,
the metropolis of the new country, his rival having anticipated that
action by about two hours. After eight months of experience as a prac-
titioner and in the varied life of the new Southwest, Doctor Atchison
returned to civilization, and for ten years was located at St. Joseph with
growing rank in his profession. In February, 1913, Doctor Atchison
removed to Rushville, Missouri, and October 21, 1914, bought a drug
store and located at Walclron.

December 10, 1910, he married Beatrice York, who was born in
Harrison Countj', Missouri, January 31, 1879. Dr. and Mrs. Atchison
are members of the Christian Church, and in politics he adheres to the
democratic faith of his fathers.

D. A. Colvin. One of Atchison County's oldest and most honored
citizens is D. A. Colvin, who in the course of a long and useful life has
been a soldier, clerk, several years was a public official and freighter in
the nortlrwestern mining countries of the early days, has filled a number
of county offices in Atchison with ability and efficiency, and for more
than thirty years has been identified with the Citizens Bank of Atchison
County at Roekport.

D. A. Colvin is a native of New York State, born in Chautauqua
County, February 2-4, 1810. His parents, Welcome and Elmira (Munn)
Colvin, were also born in New York, and in 1817 the family removed
west to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, lived there six years, then located in
Brookfield in the same state, and in 1859 came to Missouri and located
at Hemme's Landing in Holt County. D. A. Colvin acquired his educa-
tion chiefly in Wisconsin, and after his arrival in Holt County worked
as a clerk until the beginning of the war, being employed by F. N.
Thompson and another merchant. In the spring of 1861 he enlisted in
the Missouri State Militia for six months, after which he helped recruit
Company C for the Fifth Missouri Regiment, became first lieutenant in
his company, and continued in active service with that command about
eighteen months. At the expiration of that time he assisted in the
recruiting of another company for the Twelfth Missouri United States
Cavalry, but on account of his father's death was compelled to resign his
commission and remain at home and give his work for the support of his
mother and family at Roekport.

In 1864 Mr. Colvin went to the newly opened mining region of the
Northwest, in Montana and Idaho, and participated m the stirring
activities of that time and place. He was a freighter, a miner, a trader,
and came into close contact with the people and interests and activities
of the country. In the summer of 1865, owing to his qualities as a
leader he was elected the first county recorder at Helena, Montana. In
1867 he located at Fort C. F. Smith on the Big Horn River, and was
engaged in contracting to furnish hay and wood for that post.

After nearly four years of life in the mountainous country of the
Northwest, Mr. Colvin returned to Atchison County, Missouri, in 1868,
and in the fall of the same year was elected sheriff and collector of the
county, an office he held until 1872. He then engaged in the livery



HISTORY OF NORTHWEST MISSOURI 2057

business, and in that connection ran a transfer line between Rockport
and Phelps. He was in that business until the spring of 1882, and in
the meantime, in 1880, had been elected to the office of county collector.

Since 1883 Mr. Colvin has been continuously identified with the
banking business at Rockport. He was one of the officers and organizers
of the private bank of Durfee, Smith & Colvin, which in 1883 was in-
corporated under a state charter, with a capital stock of $15,000. The
Citizens Bank of Atchison County has a continuous record of sound
financial management and business service in this community of more
than thirty years, and has always been located in the same place. At
the present time its capital stock is $20,000, with a large sum representing
surplus and undivided profits.

On February 22, 1872, Mr. Colvin married Ella Bennett, who was
born in New York State in March, 1848, and was educated in the states
of Mississippi and Illinois. Her father and mother were natives of
New York, the maiden name of her mother being Diana Howard. Mr.
Colvin had two children. His oldest son, Welcome R. Colvin, died
when about thirty-three or thirty-four years of age, and was at that time
at the outset of a promising career and serving as assistant cashier of
the Citizens Bank. He married Miss Gertrude Kurtz of Marion, Iowa,
and left one son, Roy AVelcome. The other son, still living, is Don M.
Colvin, who married Miss Hazel Bunting, daughter of William Bunting,
and they have two children, Margie and Don M., Jr.

The presence of such a citizen as D. A. Colvin in one community for
more than forty years has an actuating and vitalizing influence in many
ways. Few movements for the public welfare have been undertaken in
this time without his cordial cooperation and support. Among other
things he was instrumental in the building of the privately owned rail-
road through Rockport, and is still financially interested in that enter-
prise. As a banker his well known conservatism, his thorough integrity
and popular relations as a citizen with the community have helped to
give poise and stability to local business affairs. Mr. Colvin is a member
of the Grand Army of the Republic, is a past chancellor in the Knights
of Pythias, and in politics a republican.

Park College. There are probably few residents of Northwest
Missouri who are not familiar with at least the name of Park College, an
institution which for forty years has been doing the service of enlighten-
ment and of Christian education in its picturesque location on the rugged
hills bordering the Missouri River in western Platte County. For the
purpose of making the readers of this work better acquainted with the
material facts, the ideals and the influence of this institution, the fol-
lowing sketch finds an appropriate place in these pages.

Park College was founded in 1875 by Col. George Park and Rev.
John A. McAfee. The latter was its president for a number of years,
and was succeeded by his son, Lowell M. McAfee, and since the latter 's
retirement the acting president has been Dr. Arthur L. Wolfe. The
fundamental idea of the founders was to provide a school for the training
of young men and young women of limited means so as to make them
efficient factors in Christian leadership. John A. McAfee had been con-
ducting a private institution with similar aims, but without financial
support, and Col. George Park was a business man who had long been
interested in educational work and agreed to furnish the resources for
such an undertaking. Professor McAfee brought seventeen students to
Parkville, and the college was opened May 12, 1875. Colonel Park had
donated land for the campus and an old stone hotel building. Since
that date there has been a steady unfolding and growth, both in financial



2058 HISTORY OF NORTHWEST MISSOURI

means of the institution and in its facilities and purposes of educational
service.

Park College lies just east of the Town of Parkville, and nine miles
from Kansas City. The campus contains eighty acres on the rugged
bluffs of the Missouri River, a site of many attractive features, greatly
improved by simple methods of landscape gardening. The buildings are
nearly all of brick and stone, and most of them were built by student
labor, only the more difficult technical parts having been performed by
skilled artisans. The original building is Woodward Hall, which was
formerly located on the river front. It was remodeled in 189-1 and used
as a men's dormitory until 1908, when the land was bought by the
Burlington Railroad Company and the new hall constructed on the
campus, much of the old material having been used. One of the older
buildings is McCormick Chapel, of brick and stone, the gift of Mrs. Cyrus
McCormick of Chicago, and erected in 1886. This chapel has seating
capacity for 900, and is used for many of the college services and also
for the services of the Presbyterian Church of the Sabbath School.
Mackay Hall, three stories, was occupied in March, 1893, and contains
lecture halls, laboratories and executive offices. In 1898 was erected the
Charles Smith Scott Astronomical Observatory, located on the summit
of a hill overlooking the campus and containing a complete equipment of
superior instruments. The Carnegie Library, gift of Andrew Carnegie,
built in 1909, provides room for a library of over twenty-five thousand
volumes. As a result of gifts from the Alumni Association one of the
newer and handsome structures on the campus is the Alumni Building,
containing an auditorium, offices, banqueting hall and other facilities for
social purposes. A pumping station was built in 1897, and in 1906 a
heating, lighting and power plant was completed, furnishing power and
light both to the college and to the Town of Parkville. Another building,
the headquarters of the industrial features of the college life, is Labor
Hall, built in 1906. From funds supplied by the late Anthony Dey of
New York, Waverly Hospital was completed in 1912. There are also
nine dormitory buildings, and shop buildings preserve the aims of
industrial and vocational education, including printing office, planing
mill, storage building, etc.

The first class was graduated from the college in 1879, and in that
year the state granted a charter and its government has since been under
control of a self-perpetuating board of trustees, with affiliations with the
Presbyterian Church. While not a sectarian school, the religious feature
has always been emphasized, and the college maintains several strong
organizations, the Young Men's Christian Association and the Young
Women's Christian Association, and also a student volunteer band for
foreign missions. Over one hundred of the alumni are scattered in
foreign mission service in all the countries of the globe. Another organ-
ization that deserves mention is the Park College Chapter of the Asso-
ciation of Cosmopolitan Clubs, whose object is the cultivation of fraternal
spirit among students of different nationalities and the promotion of
universal peace. While under the same general control, Park College has
two distinct departments, one for the regular collegiate work, and the
other of academic scope. There are six college literary societies, and
four societies in the academy. Ample facilities are given for athletic
work, but athletic competition is confined to the college bodies, without
participation in intercollegiate sports. Park College has graduated
nearly nine hundred young men and young women, who are now found
in twenty-three different countries of the world, and at least five thou-
sand others have been students for longer or shorter periods, and have



HISTORY OF NORTHWEST MISSOURI 2059

gained there some of the inspiration and efficiency for the work of
their lives.

Aside from the work of Park College in its regular academic and
collegiate departments, and its persistent influence in the training of
men and women for Christian citizenship, there are two distinctive
features which deserve some notice.

The first is what is called the "College Family Idea," continuing the
early purpose of the founders to make it a school for the education of
people of moderate means. As a result of the evolution of this idea a
larger part of the students of Park College are found enrolled in its
students' service, reducing the expenses of a college education by con-
tributing three hours daily labor in some branch or other of the' work
of maintenance. Thus the students are to a large degree a family circle,
to some extent self-supporting, and standing in the relation of giving as
well as receiving the benefits of college life.

Out of this first idea, with the continued growth of the school, have
necessarily been developed a great variety of utilities for the practical
services of the student body which are not only an integral working
part of the institution, but furnish a means of practical education to
•those engaged. This industrial work is esteemed of the highest value
as giving wholesome physical exercise, developing practical efficiency,
and producing a symmetrical training for life. Many students become
expert workmen at their special crafts, but few choose them as permanent
vocations. The largest department is the farm, where much of the food
consumed by the college family is produced and prepared for use. The
farm consists of 1,200 acres of fertile Platte County land adjacent
to the campus. Five hundred acres are under cultivation, and the
students themselves perform much of the labor of the fields. An immense
amount of grain, hay, garden vegetables and other farm products are
raised, and a striking feature is the apple orchard of 160 acres. The
farm has a dairy herd of sixty-seven Holstein cattle, and the young
farmers thus gain a practical experience in a modern sanitary dairy.
This farm in its equipment of machinery, livestock and general manage-
ment is a model institution of itself, and it is performing a great service
in the training of young men who go from Park College to places on
farms of their own. An auxilliary to the farm is a canning factory, where
the raw products of the land are preserved. The surplus products are
sold at the regular market rate. In the printing shop opportunities are
given to those who are inclined to this particular line of industry, and
all the publications of the college are printed there. Other college shops
are carpenter shop, planing mill, broom factory, and also the light and
power plant.

From this sketch it will be seen that Park College has succeeded in
fitting its service closely into relationship with the demands of modern
life, and in the forty years since its founding the influences emanating
therefrom have helped to mold and direct the activities of many thou-
sands of the world's workers.

Arthur L. Wolfe, Ph. D. The present acting president of Park
College is Arthur L. Wolfe, who was born at Montclair, New Jersey,
September 16, 1866, and has been identified with this institution con-
tinuously for twenty-six years.

Doctor Wolfe was reared at Montclair, attended the common and high
schools, graduated in 1885 and then entered the New York University,
where he took his degree A. B. in 1889. In the fall of the same year he
came to Park College as professor of Latin. While an undergraduate at
New York University he had won a fellowship, and by post-graduate



2060 HISTORY OF NORTHWEST MISSOURI

study he obtained from his alma mater in 1892 the degree Ph. D. He
is the author of a handbook of Latin Sjaitax and of the Elements of
the Science of Language. Aside from his professorship he has always
been interested in college activities. In 1913 he was elected dean of the
faculty, and on July 1, 1913, was made acting president.

During 1901-02 Doctor Wolfe was given leave of absence from his
work, and spent some months in the University of Leipsic, Germany,
and in the American Classical School of Rome.

In 1890 at Montclair, New Jersey, he married Gertrude R. Snow, who
was born at Albany, New York, January 28, 1867. They are the parents
of five children : Arthur Whiting, now a student in Chicago ; Austin
Robert, a student in Park College ; Herbert Snow, also in Park College ;
Edward Winslow and Hugh Campbell.

Dr. and Mrs. Wolfe are both active members of the Presbyterian
Church, and Doctor Wolfe is a member of the Parkville Board of
Education.

""""â– "^ William Henry Conn. Probably few men in Northwest Missouri
have better exemplified the principle of self-help or have made better
use of the opportunities of life in spite of the limitations of physical
powers than the present probate judge of Nodaway County and judge
of the Juvenile Court, William Henry Conn. His has been a career of
loyal usefulness and service, and his general popularity is based not
only upon his personal character and his gallant fight against difficulties,
but upon his practical value as a working member of his community.

Judge Conn has been a resident of Nodaway County since 1890, in
which year he located at Ravenwood and spent four years in the milling
business, followed by activity as a real estate man. In 1906 he received
the republican party's nomination for the office of probate judge, was
elected, four years later was renominated and again elected, and in
1911 was again his party's nominee for a third term. Throughout the
eight years of his official service the citizens of Nodaway County have
felt that the interests of widows and orphans were safely intrusted, and
he has also made the Juvenile Court an agency of reform and improve-
ment and has corrected the wayward course of many boys not naturally
vicious.

Judge Conn was born in Hancock County, Illinois, November 4, 1846,
being the youngest of four children of Henry and Permelia (Miles)
Conn. The parents were born, reared and married in the State of
New York, and moved to Illinois in 1840. When Judge Conn was about
five years of age his parents located in Lee County, Illinois, and it was
in that section of the prairie state that he was reared and educated.
Following the discovery of gold in California his father left Illinois,
and after a varied career there of about four years, died in that state.
Judge Conn received his education in the public schools of Lee County,
was graduated from the Teachers' Institute and Classical Seminary at
Paw Paw, Illinois. In 1866 his widowed mother and her other children
moved out to Worth County, Missouri, and Judge Conn followed them
in 1870. He was a teacher in Worth County, and also served four years
as county superintendent of public schools. Fraternally he is affiliated
with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and is a Baptist in religious
faith.

When a child of two years Judge Conn sustained an injury from a
fall that weakened his spine, and since then he has never had the use
of his lower limbs. It was with this severe handicap he had to face the
world, and few careers better illustrate the efficiency of a well-trained



HISTORY OF NORTHWEST MISSOURI 2061

mind and well-poised character than the life of Judge Conn, as briefly
outlined in this sketch.

Chillicothe Business College. To many thousand people in Mis-
souri and elsewhere Chillicothe is best known for its associations with
the old Chillicothe Normal School, which in recent years has become the
Chillicothe Business College. This institution is a monument to the
late Allen Moore, a sketch of whose life has been briefly outlined in
following paragraphs.

The late Allen Moore came to Chillicothe early in 1890 from Stan-
berry, Missouri, where he had been successfully identified with the
Stanberry Normal as instructor and half owner. He was attracted to
Chillicothe because of the progressive spirit of its citizens, the wealth of
the surrounding agricultural territory, and the superior railroad facili-
ties. Another influence, already noted, was the fact that his wife's people
lived in the adjoining County of Linn. Mr. Moore made a proposition for
the establishment and maintenance of the normal school, provided a
stock company among the local citizens would purchase desirable ground
and construct a building suitable for school purposes. Furthermore Mr.
Moore guaranteed to erect on the chosen site a dormitory of three
stories and to pay rental to the stock company for the use of the college
building. The citizens accepted his proposition, and following a cam-
paign of determined effort and enthusiasm the sum of $25,000 was
raised. The first building was hurriedly but substantially erected, and
in 1890 the institution was incorporated as the Chillicothe Normal
School and Business Institute, with thirteen of Livingston County's well
known citizens on the board of directors. The building was completed
in the fall of 1890, and the school opened about the same time.

In the scope of the work the institution at first offered courses in
common school branches, pedagogy, science, classics, bookkeeping, stenog-
raphy, penmanship, elocution, music and photography. The first year's
enrollment was 600. With the growing reputation of the school and its
head, the attendance increased, the faculty was enlarged, and additional
courses added. The school grew more rapidly than its material facilities
and the financial resources of the local stock company. As a result Mr.
Moore, in 1899, purchased the outstanding stock, and became sole owner.
In 1900 the third building was erected on the campus, supplying facili-
ties which had been urgently needed for fully eight years. All that
time the work of instruction in the normal school had been maintained
at the highest standards, such that the State University and other normal
colleges accepted the grades and allowed full credit for work done at
Chillicothe. But with the beginning of the present century conditions
changed. The State University, with its large income from the state,
introduced and expanded its academic and normal work, several new
state normal schools were established with liberal appropriations, and the
high schools were graded up and made more efficient and offering more
courses. Thus the private normal school had to compete with a growing
number of institutions supported by local and state government. While
the services of a private normal became correspondingly less important,
the complexity of modern civilization offered other fields for a private
school. There was a demand for telegraph operators, and the Chillicothe
Normal was the first institution of its kind to introduce telegraphy and
courses in practical railroad work as regular departments of its
curriculum.

The death of the founder of the Chillicothe Normal, Allen Moore, Sr.,
occurred January 9, 1907. His life had centered in the institution, and
it represented his highest ambitions and efforts. He had planned for its



2062 HISTORY OF NORTHWEST MISSOURI

continuation, and had reared his sons with the idea that they should
continue the work when he should retire. After his death Allen Moore,
Jr., became president and Ralph LeRoy Moore became vice president.
The institution under their management was continued along the original
lines for almost three years, but as the demand for business education
increased with more and more competition in the normal department
from state institutions, the young men wisely placed additional emphasis
upon the business departments. In the fall of 1910 the normal depart-
ment was abandoned, and the new title of the school became the Chilli-
cothe Business College and College of Telegraphy. At first, however,
only the advanced work in the normal department was dropped, other-
wise classes being maintained in all branches required for the different
grades of certificates in Missouri. With the opening of the school year
in September, 1911, this feature was also abandoned, and since that
time the Chillicothe Business College has conformed strictly to its name.
There has been a marvelous growth of the business college, and its
attendance has increased to such proportions that additional buildings