In light of the upcoming November election, Heritage Action wished to share, with permission, the following letter composed by Bob Slater about the history of politicians from Saint Joseph.  It originally appeared in the January 31, 2006 News-Press Letters to the Editor.   We regret that we did not have sufficient room to include it in our upcoming Fall issue of making preservation happen, but nevertheless felt it newsworthy.   Heritage Action does not endorse any political candidate. pk

State Politician's from Saint Joseph

Should Susan Montee win election in November as state auditor, she would become the first Buchanan County person to serve in a state-wide elected office in 126 years. And the Kansas City Star’s political columnist, Steve Kraske, has picked her as the likely winner.

Seven Buchanan County men have held state office, all in the 30-year period from 1851 until 1881. One of the seven, Willard Preble Hall, served as both lieutenant governor (1861-64) and governor (1864-65). The home of Hall, a Unionist, still stands on Warsaw Avenue, just south of Messanie Street.

The first state official from Buchanan County was a Whig, James B. Gardenhire, attorney general from 1851 until 1857.

Three governors came from here, the first being Robert Marcellus Stewart, elected as a pro-slavery Democrat in 1857. (Stewart was labeled by some as “eccentric.” On one occasion, it was reported, he led his horse through the buffet line at a mansion reception. This presumably lessened the appetites of those further down the line.)

Less than a decade after Hall, Silas Woodson, a Democrat, became the third governor from here, from 1873 until 1875. The Woodson Building at the former State Hospital is named after him.

The county has provided two state treasurers, Samuel Hays, a Republican (1871-73), and Elijah Gates, a Democrat (1877-1881), and one secretary of state, Francis A. Rodman, a Republican (1865-1871).

If elected, Mrs. Montee would become the first state auditor elected from Buchanan County and the first woman from here ever elected to a statewide office. It’s quite an opportunity.

Bob Slater