George Woodward Warder (1848-1907) Papers (KC0131)

George W. Warder was born May 20, 1848, in Richmond, Missouri, where his father, Luther Fairfax Warder, had moved from Lexington, Kentucky. Warder attended college at an early age and was for a time a student at the University of Missouri. By the age of eighteen, he was practicing law in Chillicothe, Missouri, where he became a prominent and successful lawyer with active interests in banking and real estate.

In December 1878, Warder moved to Kansas City, Missouri, continuing his practice of law as well as other financial enterprises. He particularly invested in real estate and construction and is said to have erected as many as thirty buildings during his first few years in the city.

Warder’s avocations were as a poet and philosopher, publishing some ten books among which were, Poetic Fragments, or, College Poems (1873); Eden Dell, or, Love’s Wanderings and other Poems (1878); Utopian Dreams and Lotus Leaves (1885); After Which All Things, or, Footprints and Shadows (1895).

Warder is also remembered as the builder and owner of the Warder-Grand Opera House constructed in 1886. This project was a financial disaster for Warder, who lost control of the theater in 1890 and lived in near poverty for the remainder of his life.

George W. Warder died at age 59 of a blood disease after a long illness on February 8, 1907. He was eulogized in the Kansas City papers as a gentle spirit and creative mind whose reputation and regard was recognized well beyond Kansas City.

The papers consist of a photocopy of a scrapbook containing prose and poetry written by Warder and associated loose items removed from it. Also included in the materials are photocopies of items pasted into Warder’s personal copy of his book, Poetic Fragments, or, College Poems (1873). ca. 1877-ca. 1900(?).

five folders.

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updated: Monday, February 07, 2011
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