1905 History of Crawford County Kansas

Arling M. Worden, secretary, treasurer and manager of the Pittsburg Modern Milling Company, at Pittsburg, has been connected with the business activities of this city since 1901, and is recognized and esteemed as a man of the push and the enterprise which are characteristic of Pittsburg as a commercial and industrial center, and also as possessed of that high degree of public spirit that benefits the community at large and brings material results not alone for its possessor but to all with whom he has dealings. Mr. Worden had a wide and extensive business experience before coming to Pittsburg, and also as a citizen and social factor has had a successful and bright career, with greater promise of usefulness for the future.

Mr. Worden was born at Cedar Rapids, Iowa, in 1861, his parents being Joseph and Katharine (Smith) Worden. His mother was a native of Ohio, and is now deceased. His father was born in New York state, and afterwards came west and lived for a number of years as a farmer near Cedar Rapids, Iowa, whence he later returned to New York, and is now passing his remaining years in Oswego.

Mr. A. M. Worden was reared on the farm four miles south of Cedar Rapids, where he had his schooling in the district schools. He was also a student in Western College at Toledo, Iowa, and was graduated in 1883. He had already become interested in the milling business and had made up his mind to give his attention to that work, and after leaving school he went to St. Joseph, Missouri, and began work for the old and well-known milling firm of that city, the R. T. Davis Mill Company. He has the satisfaction of being classed among the men who have risen slowly and surely from a small position to one of much responsibility, for he began his career by sweeping out the mill and familiarizing himself with all kinds of general work. He afterward became an apprentice and learned the trade from the ground up in all its details. After being with the Davis company for three and a half years he went on the road as a salesman for the Cain-Hanthorn and Company mill at Atchison, and during his six years' connection with that company traveled all through the west and south. He then took a similar position with the R. H. Fawcett Milling Company of St. Joseph, and was with them until he came to Pittsburg in 1901 to take his present position. He had bought an interest in the Pittsburg Modern Milling Company, and was made its manager, secretary and treasurer. This company was organized in 1898 to succeed the old-established firm of John R. McKim and Company, which had built the mill several years before. The product of this first-class mill, besides supplying the large local market, is wholesaled throughout Arkansas, Indian Territory and Louisiana, and the business has been built up to very extensive proportions.

Mr. Worden was married in San Francisco December 26, 1888, to Miss Matilda Verhein, and they have one son, Fred Worden. Mr. Worden is affiliated with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and is a prominent high-degree Mason. During his long residence in St. Joseph he took an active part in Masonic work, and still retains his connection with the branches of the order there. He is a past master of Charity Lodge No. 331, A. F. & A. M., past high priest of Mitchell Chapter No. 89, R. A. M., past eminent commander of Hugh de Payens Commandery No. 51, K. T., and past recorder of Moila Temple, Mystic Shrine. While holding the office of recorder of the Temple he compiled and wrote, and his lodge had published in attractive book form, an interesting history of the Mystic Shrine in the United States, and also going back to its origin in Arabia.