Everett D. Draper

EVERETT D. DRAPER. - A native son of the Sunflower state who has here attained to distinctive success along business lines and who is known as one of the representative exemplars of the plumbing and heating industry not only in the metropolis of Wyandotte county but also in the state, Mr. Draper holds precedence as one of the progressive business men of Kansas City and as a citizen of distinctive loyalty and public spirit. His well equipped establishment is situated at 644 State avenue, from which headquarters he controls a large and important business.

Everett D. Draper has the distinction of having been born in Topeka, the capital city of Kansas, and the date of his nativity was February 12, 1875. He is a son of Thomas H. and Margaret (Davidson) Draper, both natives of Greensburg, Decatur county, Indiana, where the former was born in 1839 and the latter in 1837, - these dates bearing evidence of the fact that the respective families were founded in the old Hoosier state in the pioneer epoch of its history. The father died in 1902 and the loved wife and mother was summoned to the life eternal in January, 1910, their marriage having been solemnized in 1858. Of their nine children only two are now living, - Isaac A., who is a resident of Denver, Colorado, and Everett D., whose name introduces this review.

Thomas Harrison Draper was reared and educated in his native state, where he was actively engaged in agricultural pursuits at the time of the Civil war. He and his brother Hugh did a profitable business at this time by following the Union forces in the field, purchasing horses and mules that had been worn down in the service and after feeding the animals and getting them into good order again they resold them to the government for army purposes. They thus bought and sold thousands of the animals, and through their energy and enterprise did much to further the successful work of the Union forces in the field. In 1871 Thomas H. Draper disposed of his property in Indiana and came to Kansas. He secured from the government a tract of land where the city of Topeka is now located, in Shawnee county, and there engaged in farming and stock-growing as one of the sterling pioneers of that section of the state, where he became a prominent and influential citizen. Later he built up a large and prosperous business as a buyer and shipper of live stock, and in 1887 he removed to Kansas City, Kansas, where he continued to reside until his death and where he was identified with various lines of enterprise tending to conserve the normal development and progress of the community. He was a stalwart Republican in his political proclivities and both he and his wife held membership in the Methodist Episcopal church.

Everett D. Draper is indebted to the public schools of his native state for his early educational advantages, which included attendance in the schools of Armourdale, Argentine and Kansas City, Wyandotte county, and as a youth he entered upon an apprenticeship to the plumber's trade in Kansas City. He became a skilled artisan in this line and in 1898 he here engaged in the general plumbing and heating business in an independent way. He began operations on a modest scale and by energy and honorable dealings he has built up an enterprise that is one of the largest of its kind in the city. In September, 1909, he was appointed by the Kansas City Mercantile Club, of which he is a valued member, to draft a city ordinance providing for the installation of a practicable sanitary system in connection with sewerage and other public utilities. He is a member of the state board of examiners, before which must appear those who wish to enter into active work at the plumber's trade, and, besides being secretary of the Kansas Master Plumbers' Association, a position which he has held since 1906, he has also been vice-president of the National Plumbers' Association since 1901.

Broad-minded and public-spirited in his civic attitude, Mr. Draper takes an active interest in public affairs of local order and in a more generic sense his economic ideas are indicated by the stanch allegiance which he accords to the Republican party. In the Masonic fraternity he is affiliated with Kaw Lodge, No. 272, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons; Wyandotte Chapter, No. 6, Royal Arch Masons; Caswell Consistory, No. 5, Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite, in which he has received the thirty-second degree; and Abdallah Temple, Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, in the city of Leavenworth. He is also identified with other civic organizations in his home city, where he is popular alike in business and social circles. In a retrospective way it may be stated that Mr. Draper is a scion of families, of English lineage, that were founded in Virginia in the Colonial era of our national history.

On the 29th of December, 1898, Mr. Draper was united in marriage to Miss Inez Dale, who was born at Guthrie Center, Guthrie county, Iowa, and who is a daughter of John and Anna L. Dale, both of whom were born at Hamburg, Pennsylvania, and the lineage of each of whom is traced back to stanch German origin. They were numbered among the pioneers of Guthrie county, Iowa, where Mr. Dale became a successful farmer and stockgrower, and where he continued to reside until his death. His wife now maintains her home in Kansas City, Kansas, and of their four children three are living. Mr. and Mrs. Draper have one son, Lawrence.