For 11 seasons Charles
Carlisle had owned the wet half of Fairmount Park. Born in
Newton Falls, Ohio, the year the civil war ended.
Graduated from college at Mt. Union, Ohio, in 1886. A year
later he was on his way to Arizona to get rich in the mining
business. He stopped in Kansas City, Kansas, to visit
his uncle, a judge. Judge Carlisle talked him into
giving KC a try, and he prospered. He made the most of
his first job with the Chesterfield Feed and Grain Company.
He married the boss's daughter, Maude Chesterfield, and when
Alfred Chesterfield passed away he took over the business.
He didn't just own the
water, he was responsible for the beach, boat house,
fishing, and the boats. Every Sunday he would load up
the family in his new
electric auto, and his wife would
drive out to Fairmount to pick up the receipts of the week.
Since the electric auto only had a range of 20 miles per
charge, and the Carlisle's home being ten miles away,
occasionally they ran out of juice. That could be a
big problem because his kids always rode along. Going
to an amusement park that was owned by your father had its
perks, they would have been treated like royalty. Hot,
dry summers were the most profitable. It wasn't all
profit, though. Every spring money was spent to
restock the lake with fish, buildings had to be improved and
painted. Boats and bathing suits wore out, people
stole fishing poles. A
caricature about this time of Carl, in a Who's Who of
KC, shows him dressed spiffy, riding a pig to market.
Carl was cut from the same cloth as other great American
entrepreneurs, like Carnegie and Rockefeller, only he
diversified. Besides Carlisle Feed and Grain and a
lake, he invested in race tracks, a retail feed store
located near Kentucky Road and Blue Ridge Boulevard.
The other half of the park,
on the high ground to the left, was owned by a corporation,
management usually not lasting over a few seasons, with new
stuff every year.
Prohibition of alcohol
passed in an election several months ago, eliminating all
saloons outside of Kansas City in Jackson County.
Sugar Creek's argument was that the Wets had won 160 to 90,
so leave us alone. It was not to be.
The proprietors of the
saloons stayed open despite threats. On January 8,
John Kerr, a self-appointed do-gooder and a member of the
Jackson County Law Enforcement League, a bunch of nobodies,
went to the Jackson County court to complain that the
saloons in Sugar Creek were still open, despite all the hard
work done by the Dries. Things did not go well for
him, and he was informed by Judge Miles Bulger that there
was nothing he could do and suggested that he take his cause
up with the Grand Jury in Kansas City. When questioned
about the charges, Mr. Rodman of Sugar Creek replied,
"A great deal of fuss
is being made because we still have our rooms open,
which we have a perfect right to do so long as we cut
out the sale of booze. We expect to sell soft
drinks and put in a lunch counter and maybe pool tables,
which I think we have a right to do, so long as we don't
violate any laws."
He spoke for all four
former saloon owners. It was a great place to sell
beer, lots of Catholics.
Despite their stand, things
were not going well at all for the bar owners. M.
Enright and his bondsman, H. J. Helms, and Walter Gray, were
being sued by Mrs. Orbie Bryson, widow of George M. Bryson,
who died of alcohol poisoning, November 7, 1915. She
was asking $3,000 and she would get it, at least $2,000,
which was paid by the Schlitz Brewing Company, as nobody
else had that kind of money. Her former residence was
just south of town in the Fairmount edition, soon to be a
strip-mall.
In March the trial of the
Sugar Creek Four, the former bar owners, was held in Kansas
City. They were found guilty of selling alcohol
without a license, and each fined $500 and given six months
in jail. Apparently they got off, because three weeks
later they applied for four licenses for pool halls in their
old buildings. A local woman carrying a baby testified
that she witnessed liquor being stocked in said location.
The courts decided not to grant the license. No more
pool halls. What's next, smoking? Yes, smoking.
"Papered Tobacco" (cigarettes) were soon barred from any
county building, along with pipes and cigars. The
legal sale of alcohol was stopped, but consumption wasn't.
Bootlegging was becoming a great business.
Even Kansas City wasn't
immune from the alcohol Nazis. Inspector Mike
Pendergast knew that his job was secure, as it came from
Jefferson City, the appointment approved by the Governor,
probably repaying a debt. There were 550 saloons in
Kansas City having to renew the city and county licenses,
then called a dram shop license, every six months.
Mike grew up in a saloon,
his big brother Tom owned one. That's how they
started in politics. Both were good with their fists,
especially Mike. Years ago, a drunken prize fighter
was passing through town and got drunk in Tom's bar.
He claimed he could whip anyone in town. Mike was
called and beat the tar out of him. In 1916 he had an
auto, a driver, and two or three deputies. They were
supposed to make sure no unlicensed saloons were open.
It was a good way for him to make some extra money.
Distributors backed some of the saloon owners, and that was
very illegal, but it went on. The thing that could
kill a saloon in Kansas City was the neighbors. If
they complained, you were in trouble. On the other
hand, no one wanted his house burned down.
No beer or any kind of
alcohol will ever be served at Fairmount Park again. A
month before the grand opening of the new Fairmount Park,
the gates were opened on Easter Sunday, April 16, for the
people of Kansas City. Thousands strolled the park in
their Easter bonnets. Lots of money has been invested
for 1916 and management wanted to show off.
Fairmount Park opened for
business on Sunday, May 21. A lot of neat things had
been added to the park this season. For the first
time, water from the spring was pumped through pipes to
various parts of the park for human consumption.
Wagons on wheels were pushed about the park selling various
goodies. The German Village was now called the
Fairmount Inn, thus no more German anything. An
all-women's orchestra played good old American music.
Fairmount Park pioneered in
the new technology of motion pictures. A large studio,
for the making of silent films, was built. The
enterprise was called "The Fairmount Feature Film Company",
starring Fatty Lewis, played by
Arthur Killick. For the crowds they performed
a skit, "The
Bright Lights Dimmed". The Overland Park Aviation
Field also had a feature film company, neither lasted very
long.
Also new this year was a
"Children's Play Ground", guarded by responsible adults,
giving mothers an opportunity to take a dip in the lake.
New metal boats were replacing the wooden kind. A
large, gasoline-powered metal boat patrolled the 18-acre
lake, manned by lifeguards. It was a water patrol.
Management had changed.
Samuel Benjamin last year, the manager of Electric Park, was
hired to run the amusement side, and Gabe Kaufman, the
assistant manager at Convention Hall, was hired by Mr.
Carlisle to manage the lake. A newly remodeled and
enlarged men's' bathing house served as his office and
living quarters, on the second floor. He was to spend
many seasons at Fairmount Park. Later he managed the
Orpheum theater, many park employees were drawn to Fairmount
from the other entertainment businesses in the KC area.
Also new this year were
concerts in the Amphitheater, dancing in the Dance
Pavilion, music by Coleman's orchestra, Hillary Hall filled
with weird sites, something called a "Suffragettes'
Kitchen", and automatic baseball courts.
Threatening weather in the
morning didn't keep the crowds away. The sun shone
brightly in the afternoon, and by 7 pm an opening day record
was surpassed. A four-balloon race was held in the
afternoon, with parachute leaps into the lake, all filmed by
the Fairmount Feature Film Company. Because of cool
weather there was no swimming. The boats and the fishermen
had their way with the lake. Still, 20,000 paid a
dime.
Swope Park was also open.
Both lines were at capacity. 12,000 enjoyed boating
and fishing, golf, zoo, picnics, or the 20 or so horses
carrying kids around a pony track northeast of the zoo.
Another enterprise by Mr.
Carlisle was the Steamship Chester. Many groups
chartered Chester this week. Among them were the
Woodmen of the World, No-Name Club, I. A. B. Outing Club,
and the Kansas City Board of Trade. When not engaged,
the Chester made two trips a day up or down the Mighty Mo,
shoving off every afternoon at 2:30, band starting at 2:00.
Evening band, 8 o'clock, sail, 8:30.
The Reverend Billy Sunday
was at Convention Hall for all of those in Kansas City who
needed it.
The rest of the summer's
entertainment at Fairmount stayed pretty constant.
Instead of changing acts every week or two, people were
booked long term. Earl Flynn and Nettie McLaughlin
performed plays until August in the former German Cafe,
where good old fried chicken had replaced sausage and
sauerkraut.
Since Artillery Battery C
of Independence was called up to add to our firepower of our
war with Mexico, Fairmount Park furnished patriotic
entertainment. On June 18, called "Preparedness
Day", Hiner's American Legion Band played Patriotic music
while the 3rd Regiment of Kansas City drilled and played
soldier. Next year it would be for real.
The Fourth of July had a
record breaking crowd of 44,000. It must have been
packed. Balloon races, the water, the fireworks, but
not all the people of Independence went to Fairmount.
Picnics large and small were everywhere. Most business
didn't bother to open. The largest picnic was for the
Latter Day Saint's Sunday School, held on Enoch Hill.
Foot races and baseball took up the whole day. At the
fairgrounds, six horse races were witnessed. K. C.
Anderson's horse caused a pile-up. No one was hurt but
the horse.
This was an election year,
with a primary to be held on August 1. On the evening
of Monday, July 24, an open air meeting was held in Sugar
Creek. Henry L. Jost was the main speaker, followed by
Dr. Morrow, Alexander Graham, George Reinhardt, A. C.
Southern, James Compton, J. Allen Prewitt, Harold Spencer,
R. S. Stone, and of course, O. H. Gentry.
The day before the
election, two well dressed men in a new auto pulled up
in front of the home of B. E. Cook, 705 Maple Avenue, Mt.
Washington. A Democratic-Progressive election judge.
Mr. Cook was at work. Mrs. Cook answered the door.
The men told her that they were from the election
commissioner's office and asked for the two boxes of
ballots, as there had been a mistake in the printing.
She refused, as a county sheriff had delivered them.
The men left the porch and stood by their auto. Mrs.
Cook's phone rang, a man identifying himself as Jim Gilday,
County Clerk, said it was okay to give the men the boxes.
They also tried in Sugar Creek, but failed, probably because
they didn't have a phone. The boxes finally turned up
at a Pendergast Democratic judge's residence a few hours
later. The Pendergasts were just showing off.
A dead body was found in a
tank car at the refinery, a half-empty bottle of whiskey by
his side. He died from inhaling fumes; the whiskey
probably helped. Getting a stiff out of a tank car
with a 16-inch opening proved to be a problem.
The Riverview School
graduated
its High School Class of 1916, Sugar Creek school
being the last to close in the county. Two young
ladies, Nora Lee and Suzie Nancy, were it. Nine
graduated from the eighth grade. A play, after the
game, put on by the underclassmen, began the ceremony,
followed by a Commencement address by the Honorable William
Bland. A. S. Hurt handed out diplomas. The teachers
were Margaret Chorn, Alma Johnson, Geanne May Rhoades,
Lottie Worley, and Betty Edmondson. Two more teachers
will be hired for next year's kids. A first grade
class that would have included little Mayor R. J. Roper,
city judge Virgil Lynch, and my mom. Lucky for me and
my future dealings with Future Super Cop Clyde Hatfield.
Initiation that all students at the Riverview School had to
tolerate, especially the new ones, was being drenched with
water by the upperclassmen, Riverview School equaled water.
Unlike today, there were no child molesters in Sugar Creek.
Today, they're protected like some endangered species.
Now that they had defeated
the Devil Rum, the Christians tried to fill the vacuum.
The room above the bank was turned into a Sunday School.
It was the idea of the Reverend James Fuller, Pastor at the
Mt. Washington Christian Church. They brought in a
piano and proceeded to hold classes at 9:45 AM every
Sabbath. Among the invaders were Mr. and Mrs. Rich, J.
A. Boulware, Ernest Raynor, H. Furguson. Anyone
interested were asked to bring their Billy Sunday hymn
books. People without one being either an atheist or a
Catholic, thus beyond hope for Salvation. Where the
Devil now resided was Cement City. On September 27,
two Mexicans were killed in a six-inch dirt knife versus
pistol. Both lost. A drunken argument led to the
incident. When Constable Henry Chastain arrived an
hour or two later, he found a dead man in the road full of
bullet holes holding a bloody knife that looked like a very
sharp letter opener. The man with the pistol was found
bleeding to death, also in the road, about 50 feet away.
Seems as though they were playing cards and drinking, both
former employees of the cement company.
The Labor Day holiday at
Fairmount Park was the end of the season. Sensational
Rich, said to be the highest trapeze performer in the world.
In the Fairmount Inn, Miss Leslie Carter, America's Divine
Emotional Actress, performed the role she wrote and made
famous. By the time the park would open next year, the
U. S. of A. would be gearing up for WAR.
