Dudley C. Congdon, tinner and cornice manufacturer, one of the most progressive and public-spirited citizens of Fort Scott, and an ex-mayor of that thriving city, is a native of the Buckeye state, having been born at Marietta, Ohio, Sept. 26, 1855. He is a son of George and Dean (Flemming) Congdon, the father a native of New York state and the mother of Ohio. As a boy and a young man George Congdon was employed in various capacities on the steamboats plying on the Ohio river, but after his marriage he was engaged in farming near Marietta, Ohio, until in 1857, when he removed with his family to La Crosse, Wis., where he and his wife passed the remainder of their lives.

Dudley C. Congdon attended the La Crosse public schools until he was fourteen years of age, when he left home and went to Mason City, Iowa, where he found employment in driving a team on railroad construction work, attending school during one winter season. While at Mason City, he served a three-years apprenticeship with a cornice maker, mastering in that time every detail of the business. In 1872 he went to Chicago, Ill., and followed his trade in that city until 1879, when he was sent by his employers to Denver, Col., to work on the union railway station then being erected in that city. After the station was finished he remained at Denver, in the employ of the Chicago firm, until 1886. He then went to Hutchinson, Kan., where he remained for about three years, then located in Fort Scott and engaged in the business for himself. Hence, for more than twenty years he has been identified with the industrial and commercial life of Fort Scott, and his cornice factory and tin-working establishment has become almost a land-mark in the city. His business is not confined to Fort Scott and the immediate vicinity, much of his work being shipped to other points. He has achieved a reputation for punctuality and good workmanship that places him in the front rank of those engaged in the same line of activity, and renders him practically independent of his competitors. From the time he attained to his majority, Mr. Congdon has been identified with the Republican party, and has never been afraid to declare his views on any question of public policy, especially those relating to local affairs. In 1904 he was elected mayor of Fort Scott, and it is intended as no reflection on his predecessors, when it is said that during his administration more public improvements were made, or at least commenced, than under any other mayor the city ever had. Among these improvements may be mentioned: Street paving (with the exception of Main street), which work has been continued to the present time, until Fort Scott now has more paved streets than any city of its size in the state. Good roads outside the city, seven thoroughfares leading to the city having been improved by the city to the township line, seventy-two per cent. of the cost having been borne by the city. This work is also being continued, and the result is that Bourbon county has perhaps the best roads in Kansas. The present fire company's building, which was erected from the fire fund, without cost to the city; the securing of $5,000 for a natural gas franchise, the money being used to build a new city prison; and the purchase of the waterworks plant at a cost of $139,000. It is such actions as these that have marked Mr. Congdon as an enterprising and patriotic citizen, and he always stands ready to lend hand, heart and brain to any movement for the betterment of Fort Scott's moral and material conditions. Mr. Congdon is a familiar figure in fraternal circles, being a Thirty-second degree Mason; a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, in which he is a past grand; belongs to the Modern Woodmen of America, and several other benevolent societies.

In 1877 Mr. Congdon married Miss Eliza Smith, of Winterset, Iowa, and to this union has been born one son—Albert C.—now a mechanic in the employ of the Frisco railroad. Albert married Miss Elizabeth Rogers and they make their home with his parents in Fort Scott.