Born in Pennsylvania, Robert Thompson Van Horn pitched in on his family’s farm as a young boy. After serving as a printing apprentice, Van Horn worked as a journeyman printer in Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio and Indiana. Van Horn also worked in various capacities on steamboats on the Ohio, Wabash and Mississippi Rivers. In 1855, Van Horn relocated to Kansas City, Missouri, when asked to help launch a weekly newspaper. After a year, Van Horn renamed the paper to the Kansas City Journal and switched it to a daily newspaper in 1858. In 1856, Van Horn helped organize what became the Kansas City Chamber of Commerce. Beginning in 1861, Van Horn served three terms as mayor of Kansas City. In 1861, Van Horn was authorized to raise a battalion of Home Guard volunteers. Van Horn was commissioned lieutenant colonel in the 25th Missouri Infantry. In September 1861, Van Horn’s regiment was among those captured at Lexington, Missouri, by Maj. Gen. Sterling Price’s Missouri State Guard. Van Horn was part of the prisoner exchange that occurred in November. During the Battle of Westport, Van Horn helped organized the Kansas City Home Guard in order to defend the city against Price. After the war, Van Horn was elected to Congress, serving five terms. Van Horn worked closely with Kersey Coates and Charles E. Kearney to have an extension of a branch of the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad run through Kansas City. They were instrumental in getting the Hannibal Bridge built across the Missouri River to serve this railroad.
Greenwood, “Col. Robert T. Van Horn.” Missouri Historical Review 4, no. 2 (January 1910): 92–105.
Greenwood, “Col. Robert T. Van Horn, Concluded.” Missouri Historical Review 4, no. 3 (April 1910): 167–81.
OR s2 v1, 182, 549-558.
Wikipedia. “Robert T. Van Horn,” October 10, 2019. Link.