Howard-Clinton County IN Archives Biographies.....McCune, William C. 1858 - ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/in/infiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com April 16, 2006, 2:44 am Author: Jackson Morrow WILLIAM C. McCUNE. The subject of this review takes high rank among the leading business men of Kokomo, and to him as much perhaps as to any other, is the city indebted for its material growth and expansion during the past two decades. In an important and far-reaching enterprise he has been instrumental in very materially extending the territorial limits of the city and by being the means of procuring homes within the easy reach of those of moderate means, has conferred favors and blessings upon a class of people who will always hold his name in the highest possible esteem. William C. McCune, dealer in real estate, loans, etc., and the head of one of the largest business enterprises of the kind in northern Indiana, was born February 11, 1858, in Warren county, Ohio, but when quite young was taken by his parents to Clinton county, that state, where he grew to maturity amid the bracing airs and rugged discipline of farm life. After completing the common school curriculum he entered the National Normal School at Lebanon, where he prosecuted his studies for one year. Afterwards he entered the University of Michigan where he finished an elective course of two years in the literary department, following which he took up the study of law in the same institution, receiving the degree of Doctor of Laws in 1863. The same year in which he finished the latter course. Mr. McCune was admitted to the bar but instead of engaging in the practice of the profession he went to Kansas during the business boom and in that state opened a real estate office in the city of Wichita, where in due time he achieved marked success in the buying, selling and trading of lands, city lots and other kinds of property. In 1887, in partnership with other Ohio parties, he purchased several tracts of land adjoining the limits of Kokomo, Indiana, and the following year came to this city for the purpose of platting the same and putting it on the market. The company by which this enterprise was inaugurated to successful issue was known as the John Sherman Syndicate, so called in compliment to the distinguished statesman, who was a member of the concern and interested in the financial outcome of the same. Taking personal charge of the business Mr. McCune had the land sun-eyed and platted as the Oakland and Mansfield additions to Kokomo, which, with several smaller additions represented an investment of thirty-five thousand dollars. In due time the lots were disposed of at a reasonable profit and the lands originally purchased by the syndicate now afford homes for over a thousand people, all of whom were enabled to obtain their lots on easy terms and to improve them in a like manner. In winding up the interests of the syndicate Mr. McCune took over all the unsold real estate amounting to twelve thousand dollars, which he placed on the warket [sic] at especially favorable advantage to purchasers, thus enabling a number of people of limited means to procure lots and erect houses thereon by loans, which he also advanced at the lowest possible rate of interest, in this way proving not only a promoter of the city's material prosperity, but a true benefactor as well. But for his interest in forwarding the enterprise of the syndicate and managing it with such signal success, many families today, who are in comfortable circumstances, would in all probability have been homeless, while others who looked upon his efforts as a shrewd scheme for his own enrichment are now lamenting the prejudice and folly which blinded them to opportunities which if grasped in time, would have enabled them to obtain a fair start in life and prepare for the exigencies of the future. Since disposing of the various interests of the Sherman Syndicate, Mr. McCune has devoted his time and energies to the real estate business, loaning money, etc., in which he now has an extensive and lucrative patronage, not only in Kokomo and Howard county, but in many parts of Indiana, and other states. During the boom in Kansas he invested quite heavily in land, much of which was left upon his hands when the temporary business inflation collapsed, but which has since increased in value until it is now worth far more than the original fancy figures at which it was purchased, this with his other interests in different states making him one of the financially solid and reliable men of the city in which he resides. Mr. McCune has been active in promoting the material advancement of Kokomo in other than extending its territorial area, having taken an active and influential part in locating factories and other industries, advertising the advantages of the city as a favorable place for the investment of capital and inducing an intelligent and enterprising class of citizens to make it their permanent place of abode. His public spirit has been displayed in the interests he has always taken in measures and movements having for their object the social, intellectual and moral advancement of the community and as a member of the city council from 1898 to 1902 he was instrumental in bringing about much important municipal legislation. For several years prior to his election to the council he served as city commissioner and in various other capacities rendered valuable assistance in furthering the interests of the body politic and attracting attention to a live and enterprising city whose growth and prosperity during the last quarter of a century have been greater and more substantial perhaps than that of any other place of its size in the state. Mr. McCune is a Democrat in politics and an influential worker in the ranks in both of which capacities he has contributed much to the strength of the ticket in the city and throughout the county besides his full share in matters pertaining to district and state. In all of his relations with his fellow men his conduct has been above reproach and it is scarcely necessary to say that one of his sterling business qualifications and substantial worth has gained the unbounded esteem of those with whom he comes into contact and that he is numbered today among the influential citizens of the community honored by his presence. While engaged in business at Wichita, Kansas, in 1887, Mr. McCune was married to Jennie Smith, a native of Clinton county, Ohio, and daughter of Hon. J. L. Smith, ex-member of congress from the latter state, at one time under the intelligent and cultured home influences and is a lady of pleasing presence and marked individuality, who has ever made her husband's interests her own, and whose sympathies and assistance are always enlisted in whatever he undertakes. Their union has been blessed with one child, a daughter, Virginia, who is now pursuing her studies in the city schools and whose presence in the home adds much to the comfort and delight of the little family circle. Mr. McCune, although a business man in all the term implies and successful beyond the majority of his fellows, is not so immersed in his affairs as to lose sight of those higher and more pleasing concerns in the way of rest and recreation which give so much zest and relish to life and make it an agreeable experience. Two months of every year he leaves his office and its cares and goes back to the old Ohio neighborhood, where his childhood and youth were passed and where he still owns a valuable farm, to which he devotes his attention during the period indicated. This active outdoor life in close touch with nature, amid the rugged duties of agriculture, affords him an ample and pleasing means of recreation and at the close of his vacation he returns, fresh and invigorated and better fitted for the arduous duties of the large and growing business which he commands. Additional Comments: From: HISTORY OF HOWARD COUNTY INDIANA BY JACKSON MORROW, B. A. ILLUSTRATED VOL. II B. F. BOWEN & COMPANY INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA (circa 1909) File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/in/howard/bios/mccune320nbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.net/infiles/ File size: 8.4 Kb