ALVA CLAPP.
Alva Clapp, president of the retail hardware company which bears his name, has been engaged in business on Commercial street in Atchison since May, 1907. At that time he purchased the retail store of a local wholesale firm, and has made a pronounced success of the venture. It is one of the most attractive and well stocked stores of the city and is well patronized. Mr. Clapp is popular with his patrons and the citizens of Atchison generally. He takes an active part in city affairs and is especially interested in the public school system. Having been a teacher before he became a merchant, he has never lost interest in the schools, and is now the president of the Atchison city board of education.
Mr. Clapp was born August 23, 1868, at Carthage, Mo. He is a son of Isaac and Susan B. (Eckler) Clapp, natives of North Carolina and Illinois, respectively. Isaac Clapp emigrated from North Carolina to Danville, Ill., when a young man, and married in his adopted State. His parents were slave owners in the southland, and he himself owned slaves, but having a pronounced distaste for the institution of slavery he disposed of his human chattels and moved to the North. After a residence of some years in Illinois, he located in Carthage, Mo., and owned a farm in Jasper county which he cultivated. In 1875 he removed to Cherryvale, Kan., and invested in a tract of land near that city. Here he resided until his death in October, 1913.
Alva Clapp received his education in the schools of Cherryvale, Kan., and began teaching school when a very young man. He taught two terms in a district school and served for two years as high school principal. He had a liking for business and obtained his first experience in the retail hardware trade in a store at Conway Springs, Kan., from 1891 to 1900, or a period of ten years. He then traveled for two years in the interest of a local wholesale hardware company and was then employed for five years in the various departments of the local concern. In 1907 he organized the Alva Clapp Hardware Company and purchased the retail department of the Blish, Mize & Silliaman Company of Atchison. Mr. Clapp has given evidence of a pronounced aptitude for business affairs, and faithfully attends to the numerous details which require the undivided attention of the proprietor of a thriving concern, such as is in his charge.
He was married in September of 1896 to Beatrice Kathrine De Haven, of Wichita, Kan. They had one child, Harold De Haven, who died at the age of one and one-half years. Mr. Clapp refers to Mrs. Clapp as his partner in the business and his best and most competent assistant. Mrs. Clapp is not only a good wife and socially active in the city, but she takes a just pride in assisting her husband in making a success of his business. Mr. Clapp is politically allied with the Republican party and has served for fourteen years as a member of the school board. During his period of service as a member of the board the school system of Atchison has made its greatest advances, and the high school has achieved considerable prestige. New buildings have been erected to accommodate the growing needs of the school system, and others are in course of erection. All of these improvements have received the hearty support of Mr. Clapp and he enjoys the respect and esteem of his brother members to such an extent that when the presidency of the board became vacant he was elected to the position. He was also recently elected treasurer of the Commercial Club of Atchison, another city boosting organization in which he is a prominent figure. Mr. Clapp is affiliated with the Modern Woodmen and the Elks lodges.
HON. GEORGE STORCH.
One of the notable and influential figures of the first and second decades in the history of Atchison county was the late George Storch, of Atchison. He came to Kansas when the State was in its infancy of development and was a pioneer merchant of old Kennekuk, becoming in turn a merchant, banker, statesman, and was, withal, one of the most useful citizens of Atchison county of whom the reviewer has had opportunity to write. Mr. Storch was a pioneer with a vision which enabled him to see far ahead into the future. This vision, coupled with faith in the eventual prosperity of Kansas, led him to invest heavily in farm lands which made him one of the wealthy citizens of Kansas prior to his demise. For nearly half a century, Mr. Storch was closely identified with the financial and civic life of Atchison county, and twice represented the county in the halls of the State legislature, each time acquitting himself with credit and honor.
Geo Storch
George Storch was born near Poppen-Hausen, Bavaria, Germany, February 22, 1835, and was a son of Thomas and Margaret (Breitung) Storch. Thomas, the father, was a farmer and linen dealer in his native locality and was considered fairly well to do. George was reared to young manhood in his native land and received a good common school education. When seventeen years of age he determined to cross the seas and seek his fortune in America. In accordance with this determination he embarked on a sailing vessel which landed him at New Orleans. From this southern city he made his way by river steamer up the Mississippi and Missouri rivers to Herman, Mo. Here he joined a brother who was farming in the neighborhood and who assisted George in securing employment on a nearby farm. He worked at farm labor in Missouri for some years and in April, 1859, he came to Atchison, Kan. This city did not offer much inducement for the ambitious young man and he was desirous of engaging in the mercantile business. Kennekuk, in the north central part of the county, was then in the heyday of its prosperity and seemed to offer a better location than Atchison. After a few months’ stay in Atchison he went to Kennekuk and opened a general merchandise store with the capital which he had saved while working on the farms in Missouri. He was successful from the start and his judgment in the matter of Kennekuk being an excellent business location proved correct. Kennekuk was at that time a prosperous and thriving village located on the overland mail and emigrant route and the Storch store made money for its owner to such an extent that he was enabled to branch out and invest in lands and engage in the banking business. Mr. Storch justified his faith in his adopted State by investing heavily in lands which have greatly increased in value since his original purchase of the same. In the early days of the development of the West, the railroad companies were granted large tracts of farm lands along the right of way by the Federal Government. These tracts were placed on sale by the railroads, and were sold for very low prices and easy terms in order to induce settlers to locate in the regions being developed. Mr. Storch took advantage of the low prices of the farm lands and invested heavily. This property comprised many thousands of acres which have since increased enormously in value over and above the original purchase price. Kennekuk had its day, and the time came when the decline of the village was inevitable owing to the building of the Central Branch railway out of Atchison, and which passed to the southward of Kennekuk. Mr. Storch saw the time coming when the once flourishing inland village would be no more, and in 1867 he removed to Atchison and managed his large farming interests from this city.