| Birth: | May 19, 1824
Indiana County
Pennsylvania, USA | | Death: | Jan. 3, 1916
Missouri, USA | 
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)
(bio by: Tom Denardo)
Search Amazon for Robert Van Horn | | | Burial:
Mount Washington Cemetery
Independence
Jackson County
Missouri, USA |
Maintained by: Find A Grave
Originally Created by: Tom Denardo
Record added: Jan 24, 2002
Find A Grave Memorial# 6122034 |
|
|
|
My G G Grandfather Fred Siefert rode with Major Berry's Battalion Company B attached to Col R.T. Van Horn's unit to Lexington, MO for the Seige of Lexinton September 1861
-
Sharon Patching
Added: Apr. 1, 2012 |
Van Horn High School Alumni Association
-Anonymous
Added: Jul. 30, 2011 |
Happy Birthday!
-
Jackie Howard
Added: May. 19, 2011 |
| There are 19 more notes not showing...
Click here to view all notes...
| |
|
Do you have a photo to add? Click here |
(3.7 after 22 votes)
