Robert T. Van Horn, U.S. Congress

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_T._Van_Horn

Robert Thompson Van Horn (May 19, 1824 – January 3, 1916) was a lawyer, the owner and publisher of the The Kansas City Enterprise, mayor of Kansas City, Missouri during the parts of the Civil War, member of the Missouri General Assembly, and representative to the Forty-seventh Congress of the United States.

Born in East Mahoning Township, Indiana County, Pennsylvania to Henry and Elizabeth (Thompson) Vanhorn, he moved to Pomeroy, Ohio in 1844, studied law and was admitted to the bar about 1850.

He moved to Kansas City in 1855, was a member of the board of aldermen in 1857; postmaster of Kansas City 1857-1861 Van Horn purchased the newspaper The Enterprise in 1856 and renamed it The Kansas City Journal, which published daily from 1858 until its closing in 1942.

Van Horn was elected mayor of Kansas City to three terms, in 1861, 1863, and 1864.

_______________________

Van Horn was a leader among civic leaders in Kansas City. He helped secure the first railroad bridge over the Missouri River. He was a printer by trade. He wandered in steamboating and was in St Louis when a man sold Van Horn his fledging newspaper for $500.00. After the purchase, he immediately began an editorial crusade for public improvements, city expansion and the pursuit of the steel rail. He soon changed the name of the newspaper to The Western Journal of Commerce. He dispatched couriers to Booneville, Mo., where telegraph connections from the East ended, to bring news from as far as Europe to his readers. Van Horn became the towns sixth mayor when the civil war began. He was a pro-Union Democrat. He raised the 25th Regt. MO. Vol. for the Union Army. He rose to the rank of Colonel. He was wounded at the battle of Lexington (sep13-20,1861). He had a horse shot out from under him at Shiloh TN. When border terrorism led Gen. Thomas Ewing in 1863 to issue the infamous Order No. 11, sweeping Jackson County homesteaders with southern sympathies off their land, the populace pleaded for Colonel Van Horn to handle the deportation. Later, he was elected to Congress five times. It was in Congress that Van Horn clinced the success of his railroad dreams. The Hannibal & St. Joseph line said it would support a spur from Cameron, Mo., and a bridge at KC if Congress approved. Van Horn attached such an amendment to a bill authorizing a bridge over the Mississippi River at Quincy, Illinois. Together, the two bridges would open KC, and Southwest Beef, to Chicago. On July 3, 1869 the Hannibal Bridge was opened. (bio by Tom Denardo)

He enlisted in the Union Army during the American Civil War and served as lieutenant colonel of the Twenty-fifth Regiment, Missouri Volunteer Infantry; member of the Missouri State Senate 1862-1864; elected as a Republican to the Thirty-ninth, Fortieth, and Forty-first Congresses (March 4, 1865-March 3, 1871); was not a candidate for renomination in 1870; chairman of the Republican State central committee 1874-1876; collector of internal revenue for the sixth district of Missouri 1875-1881.

He was a delegate to the Republican National Conventions in 1864, 1868, 1872, 1876, 1880, and 1884; member of the Republican National Committee in 1872 and 1884; elected as a Republican to the Forty-seventh Congress (March 4, 1881-March 3, 1883); successfully contested the election of John C. Tarsney to the Fifty-fourth Congress and served from February 27, 1896, to March 3, 1897; unsuccessful candidate for renomination in 1896; retired from editorship of The Kansas City Journal in 1897; died on his estate, “Honeywood,” at Evanston Station, near Kansas City, Missouri., January 3, 1916; interment in Mount Washington Cemetery, Kansas City, Missouri.

Van Horn High School was built on the site of Van Horn's Independence, Missouri house, Honeywood, in 1955. Truman Road was originally called Van Horn Road in his honor.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Van Horn was a leader among civic leaders in Kansas City. He helped secure the first railroad bridge over the Missouri River. He was a printer by trade. He wandered in steamboating and was in St Louis when a man sold Van Horn his fledging newspaper for $500.00. After the purchase, he immediately began an editorial crusade for public improvements, city expansion and the pursuit of the steel rail. He soon changed the name of the newspaper to The Western Journal of Commerce. He dispatched couriers to Booneville, Mo., where telegraph connections from the East ended, to bring news from as far as Europe to his readers.

Van Horn became the towns sixth mayor when the civil war began. He was a pro-Union Democrat. He raised the 25th Regt. MO. Vol. for the Union Army. He rose to the rank of Colonel. He was wounded at the battle of Lexington (sep13-20,1861). He had a horse shot out from under him at Shiloh TN. When border terrorism led Gen. Thomas Ewing in 1863 to issue the infamous Order No. 11, sweeping Jackson County homesteaders with southern sympathies off their land, the populace pleaded for Colonel Van Horn to handle the deportation.

Later, he was elected to Congress five times. It was in Congress that Van Horn clinced the success of his railroad dreams. The Hannibal & St. Joseph line said it would support a spur from Cameron, Mo., and a bridge at KC if Congress approved. Van Horn attached such an amendment to a bill authorizing a bridge over the Mississippi River at Quincy, Illinois. Together, the two bridges would open KC, and Southwest Beef, to Chicago. On July 3, 1869 the Hannibal Bridge was opened. (bio by Tom Denardo)

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=Van+HOrn&GSfn...