This Week in Kansas City History
Muffin Man
September 13, 1870: Fred Wolferman, who will lead the family Kansas City grocery store to a successful purveyor of luxury food goods (especially Wolferman's English muffins), is born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Cool Operator
August 27, 1896: Elmer F. Pierson, who, with brother John, will found the Vendo company, market the first reliable Coca-Cola vending machines, and dominate the vending machine industry, is born in Kansas City.
Evacuation Day
August 25, 1863: Following William Clarke Quantrill’s devastating raid on Lawrence, Kansas, Union General Thomas E. Ewing issues Order No. 11, forcing thousands of suspected Confederate sympathizers in Missouri to evacuate the rural areas surrounding Kansas City.
Heat Wave
August 14, 1936: Kansas City records its highest temperature ever, 113 degrees Fahrenheit, causing a summer heat wave that sends area residents to Swope or Penn Valley parks to sleep at night in order to cool off.
The Way to Santa Fe
August 10, 1825: Representatives of the Osage tribes meet with American commissioners near present-day Council Grove, Kansas to negotiate a treaty giving the U.S. government rights to land for the establishment of the Santa Fe Trail, which will become a major trade route linking the greater Kansas City area to the Southwest.
