John Bailey "Jack" Gage (February 24, 1887-January 15, 1970) was mayor of Kansas City, Missouri from 1940 to 1946 who made reforms following the collapse of the political machine of Thomas Pendergast. Kansas City, Missouri mayors served one year terms until 1946 when they began serving four-year terms. ... Nickname: City of Fountains Location in Jackson, Clay, Platte, and Cass Counties in the state of Missouri. ... Thomas Pendergast (1873-1945) controlled Kansas City as a political boss. ...

Gage was born on the 80-acre family farm at 9th and Cleveland. He graduated from the University of Kansas in 1907 and became a lawyer following the footsteps of his father to become a lawyer. The University of Kansas (often referred to as KU) is an institution of higher learning in Lawrence, Kansas. ...

In 1930 he started the Gage and Hill law firm in the Bryant Building at 11th and Grand. Following a series of mergers the firm would become Lathrop and Gage, which according to its website is the oldest law firm west of the Mississippi River founded in 1873 (via the Lathrop line).^[1] The Mississippi River, derived from the old Ojibwe word misi-ziibi meaning great river (gichi-ziibi big river at its headwaters), is the second-longest named river in North America, with a length of 2320 miles (3733 km) from Lake Itasca to the Gulf of Mexico. ...

After Pendergast pled guilty to income tax evasion charges in 1939, Gage, a Democrat, campaigned for mayor for the Citizens Association party consisting of both Democrats and Republicans. A signature aspect of the campaign was an appeal to housewives with the slogan:

Wanted: 75,000 women with pioneer courage...let us keep faith with those who blazed the trail.

He was to cut the city budget by $700,000, hired city manager L.P. Cookingham, and began to expand the city limits. He was elected three times. Laurie Perry Cookingham, more commonly known as L.P. Cookingham or L. Perry Cookingham, (October 23, 1896-July 22, 1992) was a noted public administrator in the United States having served as City Manager of Kansas City, Missouri for 19 years, a tenure longer than anyone else has served as...

He was died after being hit by a truck while walking to work at 11th and Grand Avenue.

References

• Kansas City Star biography
• Kansas City Public Library biography
• The Great Plains States of America: People, Politics, and Power in the Nine Great Plains States By Neal R. Peirce, Neal R. Peirce ISBN 0393053490