Frank Kell
| Frank Kell | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Franklin Marian Kell December 2, 1859 Clifton, Texas, United States |
| Died | September 17, 1941 (aged 81) Wichita Falls, Texas, United States |
| Residence | Wichita Falls, Texas, United States |
| Occupation | Railroad executive, flour miller, oilman, philanthropist |
| Spouse(s) | Lula Kemp (m. 1885) |
| Children | 7 |
| Relatives |
Joseph A. Kemp (brother-in-law) Frank Kell Cahoon (grandson) Orville Bullington (son-in-law) |
Franklin Marian "Frank" Kell (December 2, 1859 – September 17, 1941), along with his brother-in-law Joseph A. Kemp, was one of the two principal entrepreneurs in the early development of Wichita Falls, Texas.
The son of Francis Marian Kell and the former Sarah Lucinda Potter, Kell was born of Irish descent in Clifton, Texas, a community founded by Norwegian settlers in the 1850s. His irregular formal education ended when, at the age of 18, he was hired to clerk in a store in Clifton. He soon relocated to Galveston, Texas, where he was employed in the export of grain, but he returned to Clifton to engage for a number of years there in the milling business. In 1885, Kell married Lula Kemp (1866–1957), the younger sister of Joseph Kemp.
In 1896, the brothers-in-law Kell and Kemp purchased control of the Wichita Valley Milling Company, and Frank and Lula Kell relocated from Clifton to Wichita Falls, where they spent the remainder of their lives. Joseph Kemp had already moved to Wichita Falls in 1883. Kell became the manager of the milling firm, renamed the Wichita Mill and Elevator Company. Despite a fire in 1900, Wichita Mill and Elevator Company managed to augment its daily capacity to a thousand barrels of grain. In 1905, Kell and W. O. Anderson purchased a mill in Vernon to the west of Wichita Falls in Wilbarger County.
Kell's Wichita Mill and Elevator Company increased its daily capacity to 3,500 barrels; by 1917, he had 2 million barrels of storage space. In 1918, Kell became the sole owner of the company. Thereafter, a hundred small-town grain elevators were constructed in the general region, and plants were added at Waco, Amarillo, Oklahoma City, and Perry, Oklahoma. In 1928, Kell sold the company to General Mills for cash and stock holdings in that corporation.
Kell also engaged in the railroad business as either the owner or a partner in six rail lines, including:
...
Wikipedia