Arthur Stilwell
Arthur Edward Stilwell
Born	October 21, 1859(1859-10-21) Rochester, New York
Died	September 26, 1928 (aged 68) New York City

Arthur Edward Stilwell (October 21, 1859 – September 26, 1928) was the founder of Kansas City Southern Railway.^[1] He served as the railroad's president from 1897 to 1900. He was also the founder of Port Arthur, Texas. This article is about the city of Rochester in Monroe County. ... New York, New York and NYC redirect here. ... The Kansas City Southern Railway (AAR reporting mark KCS) is a United States-based Class I railroad operating over 3,130 track miles in 10 central and southeastern states. ... Port Arthur is a city in Jefferson County within the Beaumont-Port Arthur metropolitan area and is situated in southeast Texas. ...

Early life

Stilwell was born in Rochester, New York, in 1859. While working as a traveling salesman he courted and married Jennie A. Wood, and the couple moved to Kansas City, Missouri and then Chicago, Illinois, where Arthur sold insurance for the Travelers Insurance Company, inventing a coupon annuity life-insurance policy which paid the policy holder an income after a certain age. This article is about the city of Rochester in Monroe County. ... Nickname: Location in Jackson, Clay, Platte, and Cass Counties in the state of Missouri. ... Flag Seal Nickname: The Windy City Motto: Urbs In Horto (Latin: City in a Garden), I Will Location Location in Chicagoland and northern Illinois Coordinates , Government Country State Counties United States Illinois Cook, DuPage Mayor Richard M. Daley (D) Geographical characteristics Area     City 606. ... Life insurance or life assurance is a contract between the policy owner and the insurer, where the insurer agrees to pay a sum of money upon the occurrence of the insured individuals or individuals death. ...

Rail empire

With the money made selling these policies, the Stilwells returned to Kansas City where Arthur sold real estate and began building the Kansas City Suburban Belt Railway. In his quest to connect Kansas City to the Gulf of Mexico by rail, he began building and acquiring rail lines for the Kansas City, Pittsburg and Gulf Railroad Company (later to become the Kansas City Southern Railroad, plotting townsites along the way which included Mena, Arkansas, Stilwell, Oklahoma, Port Arthur, Texas, and many more. Gulf of Mexico in 3D perspective. ... Categories: Railway companies of the United States ... Mena is a city in Polk County, Arkansas, United States. ... Stilwell is a craphole city in Adair County, Oklahoma, United States full of ignorant depraved Cherokees. ... Port Arthur is a city in Jefferson County within the Beaumont-Port Arthur metropolitan area and is situated in southeast Texas. ...

Setbacks including lawsuits, a hurricane, and yellow fever caused financial problems for the otherwise successful venture, and on April 1, 1899 the KCPG was thrown into receivership by one of its financiers, John Warne Gates, over an unpaid printing bill. Stilwell was out, but the discovery of a giant oilfield in Texas in 1901 ensured the railroad's future success. Bankruptcy is a legally declared inability or impairment of ability of an individual or organization to pay their creditors. ... John Warne Gates (May 18, 1855–August 9, 1911), also known as Bet-a-Million Gates, was a pioneer promoter of barbed wire who became a Gilded Age industrialist. ...

Unfazed by losing control of the KCPG, Stilwell announced plans to build a railroad connecting Kansas City with the Pacific Ocean and organized the Kansas City, Mexico and Orient Railway. Although progress was made, financial problems and the Mexican Revolution caused this company to be forced into receivership in March 1912. Ironically, oil was discovered under its tracks and was to contribute to the fortune of its receiver William T. Kemper.^[2] Predecessor to the Chihuahua al Pacifico railroad in Mexico. ... This article is about the Mexican Revolution of 1910. ... William Thornton Kemper, Sr. ...

After this the Stilwells moved to New York, where Arthur spent his time writing books, plays, poems and hymns.

Arthur Stilwell died of apoplexy on September 26, 1928, in New York. His distraught wife, Jennie, committed suicide by jumping out the window of their New York apartment thirteen days later. The Stilwells were said to have left an estate of only $1,000. The cremated remains of the Stilwells have never been located.^{[citation needed]} Apoplexy is an old-fashioned medical term, generally used interchangeably with cerebrovascular accident (CVA or stroke) but having other meanings as well. ... For other uses, see Suicide (disambiguation). ...

In all, Arthur Stilwell organized 41 companies of various kinds during his career and is credited with building more than 2,300 miles of railroad in his lifetime and founding more than 40 cities.^{[citation needed]}

Personal life

Stillwell published many books after his retirement in 1912. He wrote novels , poetry and plays . He also wrote politcal works on world affairs and the monetary system. His writing attracted attention because in them he maintained that he had based many of his life and business decisions on the whispers of what he called fairies or brownies. In his memoirs published in 1927 he reframed this as hunches.^[3] by Sophie Anderson A fairy, or faery, is a creature from stories and mythology, often portrayed in art and literature as a minuscule humanoid with wings. ... The Kodak Brownie camera was one of the first affordable box cameras. ...

In 1897 Stillwell started the Fairmount Cycling Club at Fairmount Park in Kansas City. It became the Kansas City Athletic Club in 1893.^[4]

Bibliography

• Keith L. Bryant, Jr., Arthur E. Stilwell and the Founding of Port Arthur: A Case of Entrepreneurial Error, Southwestern Historical Quarterly 75 (July 1971).

• Keith L. Bryant, Jr., Arthur E. Stilwell: Promoter with a Hunch (Nashville: Vanderbilt University Press, 1971).

• David M. Pletcher, Rails, Mines, and Progress: Seven American Promoters in Mexico, 1867-1911 (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1958).

• Arthur E. Stilwell and James R. Crowell, I Had a Hunch (Port Arthur Historical Society, 1972).

References

1. ^ Pitcher, Charles (July 1950). "The Kansas City Southern Lines". Kansas City Southern Historical Society. http://www.kcshs.org/schedule/subs/images/history/kcs_hist.htm. Retrieved 2006-09-26. 
2. ^ "William T. Kemper, Sr.". Kansas City Public Library. 2004. http://www.kcpl.lib.mo.us/localhistory/media.cfm?mediaID=34915. Retrieved 2007-06-20. 
3. ^ Bryant (Junior), Keith L; Reviewed by Professor E. Dale Odam in Business History Review 1972, page 248 (1971). Arthur E Stillwell - Promoter with a Hunch. Vanderbilt University Press. http://www.jstor.org/pss/3113514. 
4. ^ Kansas City Athletic Club Records Western Historical Manuscript Collection-Kansas City, November 01, 2005 . Accessed January 2010

Sources

• Arthur Stilwell.com Accessed January 2010. Contains downloadable copies of some of Stilwell's books and poetry.
• Museum of the Gulf Coast ~ Arthur Stilwell Biography, Accessed January 2010.
• Arthur Stilwell: Railroad Visionary at the Kansas City Public Library, Accessed January 2010 Contains downloadable copies of some of Stilwell's books and poetry.