Frank Houghton Cromwell (April 22, 1878 – April 14, 1955) was Mayor of Kansas City, Missouri from 1922 to 1924.
Frank H. Cromwell | |
|---|---|
_(3x4a).jpg) Cromwell in 1923 | |
| 41st Mayor of Kansas City | |
| In office 1922–1924 | |
| Preceded by | Sam B. Strother |
| Succeeded by | Albert I. Beach |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Frank Houghton Cromwell April 22, 1878 Kansas City, Missouri, U.S. |
| Died | April 14, 1955 (aged 76) |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouses | Clara E. Stark
(m. 1903; died 1944)Viola Douglass
(m. 1944; died 1951) |
| Children | 1 |
Early life
editCromwell was born April 22, 1878, on a farm at 39th and Harrison in Kansas City, Missouri, to Eliza (née Hilton) and Benjamin H. Cromwell.[1][2] At the age of 14, his father died. Cromwell attended two years of school at Central High School.[2] He later took a course at Central Business College.[2]
Career
editCromwell delivered papers and worked other jobs. He was surveyor for "Tuttle & Pike, civil engineers" for two years. One of those years, he did surveying in Grandin, Missouri. Cromwell then became a salesman for the W. L. Grush Commission Company, owned by Walter L. Grush, in 1898 and later changed the name to the Cromwell Butter & Egg Company. He became a stockholder and vice president of the company after Grush's death in 1916. The business would eventually fail in 1938 after the Crash of 1929.[2][3] Cromwell also worked as director of the Empire Ice and Storage Company and president and general manager of the Federal Building and Loan Company.[2]
He was elected mayor of Kansas City in 1922 and served one two-year term. He ran again in 1924, but was defeated by Albert I. Beach. In 1948, Cromwell ran as an Independent write-in candidate.[2]
In 1930, Cromwell was appointed a Democratic member of the park board. In 1936, he was made president of the park board, succeeding Judge Joseph A. Guthrie. He served as president for two years. In 1938, Cromwell was appointed supervisor of creation for the park department.[2]
He became a liquor salesman during World War II.[2] In the 1950s, Cromwell was a deputy sheriff, working as bailiff in division 4 of the Jackson County Circuit Court under Judges Thomas R. Hunt and Duvaul P. Strother.[2]
Personal life
editCromwell married Clara E. Stark in 1903. His wife died in 1944. Cromwell married Mrs. Viola Douglass in 1944. She died in 1951. He had one son, Frank H. Cromwell Jr., who died of leukemia. Later in life, Cromwell lived at the Westport Arms apartments in Kansas City.[2]
Cromwell died on April 14, 1955, at the Trinity Lutheran Hospital in Kansas City. He had suffered a stroke two weeks prior. He was cremated.[2]
References
edit- ^ "Vertical file record". Missouri Valley Special Collections - Kansas City Public Library. Archived from the original on 2018-01-13. Retrieved 2022-11-07.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "Frank Cromwell Dies". The Kansas City Star. 1955-04-14. p. 2. Retrieved 2022-11-07.
- ^ "A Condensed History of the Kansas City Area: Its Mayors and Some V.I.P.s., Ch. 58". pp. 121–122. Archived from the original on 2018-01-13. Retrieved 2022-11-07.
External links
edit
Media related to Frank H. Cromwell at Wikimedia Commons
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