I received E-Mail that said:
Uriah Spray Epperson was born in Indiana December 22, 1861. He came to Kansas City when he was eight. He died 65 years later having made a large fortune for himself. He also raised a small fortune for charity.
Elizabeth Weaver Epperson never told a soul the date of her birth. (It was March 25, 1855.) She died October 22, 1939. Both shared an interest in fine arts. And both loved music.
From 1890 until 1902 U.S. Epperson devoted much time to raising money for worthy causes and to having fund at the same time. A "Music Man" at heart, he founded the Epperson Megaphone Mastodon Minstrels. They were 125 finely-tuned, top-hatted performers. With swinging cones and matching megaphones they marched, played, danced and joked their way into the pocketbooks of Kansas Citians and raised $85,000 for city betterment!
In 1902 U.S. Epperson organized the Epperson Land & Investment Company and later the U.S. Epperson Underwriting Company. As these businesses prospered, he and his wife built a monumental home at 5200 Cherry Street. It is a grand Tudor-Gothic castle complete with balcony for string orchestra.
Mr. Epperson died just four years later. Then Mrs. Epperson blossomed into a patroness of the arts. When after a year's illness Mrs. Epperson died, she left that grand mansion to UMKC for classrooms.
http://www.kclibrary.org/sc/bio/list.htm
Click on Epperson.
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Photo source -
Kansas City Star
Information Written by Wilda Sandy.
Link sent in by Katrina Price.