History
Kearney has an ‘exciting, mysterious
and very interesting’ history
By Mike Danahey
If you stop at Darrell’s Washington Street Style Shop, along with getting a nice look, you might wind up learning some things about the City of Kearney.
Aside from knowing a thing or two about hair, owner Darrell McClung can tell you quite a bit about local lore.
“The history of Kearney is an exciting, mysterious and very interesting topic to those who care to turn back the pages of time and learn how we became Kearney,” McClung said.
For starters, McClung noted Kearney is not the name of the original site that started it all.
“The first settlement here was named Centerville, a small settlement laid out by two landowners, David T. Duncan and W.R. Cave in 1856,” McClung said. “It was located along the ridge of land where the Kearney Fire Department now stands on Grove Street.”
Nearly 20 families called Centerville home at the start of the Civil War in 1861, but at the war’s end four years later there were only three or four families left.
In 1867, the Kansas City and Cameron Railroad came through the area, buying up land to build a route to connect the Hannibal and St.Joseph Railroad in Cameron, Mo., with Kansas City.
“The railroad found this area favorable for a couple of reasons,” McClung said.
The sandy soil of the Clear Creek bottoms just north of town held an aquifer that could provide the water needed for steam powered locomotives.
“The land was teaming with cattle, but getting them to market required driving them to Kansas City. A railroad stop here made it possible to ship them to Kansas City or St. Joseph quickly and at a good profit for the railroad,” McClung said.
He noted that three men are given credit for the genius of building the Kansas City and Cameron Railroad: Charles Esmond Kearney, Kersey Coates and Robert Van Horn.
As for why the city was named Kearney, and not Centerville, McClung said that remains a point of contention.
“Even the 1956 centennial souvenir book could not solve the mystery.”
He said, depending on whom you consult, John Lawrence, the man who laid out the city, might have named it after Fort Kearny, Neb. It might also have been named in honor of Charles Esmond Kearney as was stated in D.C. Allen‘s history of the city.
McClung recently became aware of a letter Allen wrote to the Liberty Advance/ Tribune newspaper claiming Kearney was named after Charles Esmond Kearney.
“I have since learned that D.C. Allen was the legal counsel for the Kansas City and Cameron Railroad during its construction phase,” he said.
That railroad commenced service on July 3, 1869, and built the first bridge across the Missouri River, linking the southern and northern rail routes through Kansas City, making Kearney the dominant city in the area.
“Kearney has grown steadily over the years, and in 1969 Interstate 35 was the next transportation event to make a large impact on the area,” McClung said.
McClung grew up on a farm about eight miles west of town and went to school in the local one room schoolhouse in the Providence School District, where one teacher oversaw eight grades.
“At the end of my 7th grade year at Providence the district voted to consolidate with the Kearney R1 School District. I came here in 8th grade and graduated in the class of 1971,” McClung said.
Four years later, McClung opened Darrell’s Washington Street Style Shop in a place with a century-long sartorial history of its own.
The shop was started by Sam J Chapman in 1923 as Chapman's Barber Shop. Chapman sold it to Floyd Pigg in 1959, who named his place Piggs Barber Shop.
“Floyd sold it to Leo Morgan in 1965, who opened the Kearney Barber Shop. Leo sold it to me in 1975. Nov. 5 is the 49th anniversary of my cutting hair in town,” McClung said.
This city also hosts a Jesse James Festival. The notorious bank robber was born in Clay County, in what is now Kearney, in 1847. He is buried in Kearney’s Mount Olivet cemetery.
McClung said when he first came to town he was only aware of tales about Jesse and Frank James from a book that had been written by a children's author from Liberty, Gertrude Bell, who was a friend of his sister's husband's family.
“It wasn't until I graduated high school that I learned too much more,” McClung said.
At that time, McClung was working in the Kearney Flower and Gift Shop, and merchants were looking for something to bring people to town.
“With I-35 being newly completed they needed something that was sure to draw a crowd. At a meeting, one of the merchants stood up and said there was only one thing, and we just had to come out and say it — Jesse James,” McClung said.
After an extended discussion, those gathered decided that they would hold a Frank and Jesse James festival, hoping that the more genteel reputation of Frank might temper the outlaw reputation of Jesse, McClung recalled.
The festival, initially held in April, was moved to June and finally to September so the event could host the URA rodeo finals, McClung said. Performers who have appeared at the fest over the years include Lee Roy Van Dyke, David Huston, Barbra Mandrell and Shoji Tabuchi.
The event also led civic leaders to build an amphitheater in Jesse James Park, an idea McClung said came from the late Kenneth Doss, who was president of the Kearney Trust Company.
“After Kenneth had passed, his son Keith asked me to stop into his office after I had finished my business at the bank. He said that he would like to head a fundraiser for the development of the amphitheater and would like for me to ask the mayor if that would be OK,” McClung said.
Sometime later, Doss called McClung into his office to show plans that he had drawn up for the facility.
“It came to reality, and I don't think that the Doss family ever claimed any fame for initiating the idea in the first place,” McClung said.
As for his own time in Kearney, MClung said that hairstyles have come and gone and come back again. The city has grown from about 800 to 11,000 residents. But one thing has remained constant.
“Kearney is the home of a warm and friendly collection of people from all walks of life, giving it an atmosphere of a family gathering, and that is something we treasure,” McClung said.
