Kersey Coates
Encyclopedia
Kersey Coates was a Kansas City, Missouri
businessman who developed Quality Hill
, founded the Kansas City Board of Trade
, and one of the businessmen who attracted the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad to the city.
Born a Quaker in Pennsylvania, Coates was educated at Phillips Academy
, Andover. He moved to Kansas City in 1854, a year after it was formally incorporated. He purchased land on the bluffs above the Missouri River on Quality Hill to develop an upscale neighborhood.
He was active in the Free State
Movement during the Bleeding Kansas
skirmishes with neighboring Kansas. During the American Civil War
he became a colonel in the Missouri Militia. He turned his planned hotel at 10th and Broadway into a Union Cavalry stable. After the war the stable was to become the Coates Hotel.
Future Secretary of War Stephen B. Elkins served under Coates in the Battle of Lone Jack
, the only battle in which Elkins served. Elkins was to say that the experience at Lone Jack was to fill him with disgust about war.
After the war, he along Robert T. Van Horn
and Charles E. Kearney
persuaded the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad to build the first bridge across the Missouri River
in Kansas City at the Hannibal Bridge
. The bridge made Kansas City rather than Leavenworth, Kansas
the dominant city of the region.
Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...
businessman who developed Quality Hill
Quality Hill
Quality Hill is a historic neighborhood near downtown Kansas City, Missouri, USA, situated on a 200-foot-high bluff which overlooks the confluence of the Kansas River and Missouri River in the West Bottoms below....
, founded the Kansas City Board of Trade
Kansas City Board of Trade
The Kansas City Board of Trade , is an American commodity futures and options exchange regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission...
, and one of the businessmen who attracted the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad to the city.
Born a Quaker in Pennsylvania, Coates was educated at Phillips Academy
Phillips Academy
Phillips Academy is a selective, co-educational independent boarding high school for boarding and day students in grades 9–12, along with a post-graduate year...
, Andover. He moved to Kansas City in 1854, a year after it was formally incorporated. He purchased land on the bluffs above the Missouri River on Quality Hill to develop an upscale neighborhood.
He was active in the Free State
Free State
The Free State is a province of South Africa. Its capital is Bloemfontein, which is also South Africa's judicial capital. Its historical origins lie in the Orange Free State Boer republic and later Orange Free State Province. The current borders of the province date from 1994 when the Bantustans...
Movement during the Bleeding Kansas
Bleeding Kansas
Bleeding Kansas, Bloody Kansas or the Border War, was a series of violent events, involving anti-slavery Free-Staters and pro-slavery "Border Ruffian" elements, that took place in the Kansas Territory and the western frontier towns of the U.S. state of Missouri roughly between 1854 and 1858...
skirmishes with neighboring Kansas. During the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
he became a colonel in the Missouri Militia. He turned his planned hotel at 10th and Broadway into a Union Cavalry stable. After the war the stable was to become the Coates Hotel.
Future Secretary of War Stephen B. Elkins served under Coates in the Battle of Lone Jack
Battle of Lone Jack
The Battle of Lone Jack was a battle of the American Civil War, occurring on August 15 – August 16, 1862 in Jackson County, Missouri. The battle was part of the Confederate guerrilla and recruiting campaign in Missouri in 1862.-Background:...
, the only battle in which Elkins served. Elkins was to say that the experience at Lone Jack was to fill him with disgust about war.
After the war, he along Robert T. Van Horn
Robert T. Van Horn
Robert Thompson Van Horn 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...
and Charles E. Kearney
Charles E. Kearney
Charles Esmond Kearney was the first president of the Kansas City and Cameron Railroad which as a subsidiary of the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad and built the Hannibal Bridge establishing Kansas City, Missouri as the dominant city in the region.He was born in Ireland before emigrating to Texas...
persuaded the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad to build the first bridge across the Missouri River
Missouri River
The Missouri River flows through the central United States, and is a tributary of the Mississippi River. It is the longest river in North America and drains the third largest area, though only the thirteenth largest by discharge. The Missouri's watershed encompasses most of the American Great...
in Kansas City at the Hannibal Bridge
Hannibal Bridge
The First Hannibal Bridge was the first bridge to cross the Missouri River and was to establish Kansas City, Missouri as a major city and rail center....
. The bridge made Kansas City rather than Leavenworth, Kansas
Leavenworth, Kansas
Leavenworth is the largest city and county seat of Leavenworth County, in the U.S. state of Kansas and within the Kansas City, Missouri Metropolitan Area. Located in the northeast portion of the state, it is on the west bank of the Missouri River. As of the 2010 census, the city population was...
the dominant city of the region.