James Pendergast

James Francis Pendergast (January 27, 1856 – November 10, 1911) was a Democratic politician and the first Big City Boss of Kansas City, Missouri. He rose to prominence in the West Bottoms as the proprietor of saloons and gambling establishments and became head of a political faction that held significant control over local politicians and law enforcement in Kansas City. Known as "Alderman Jim," he was known for his generosity to the working-class residents of the industrial areas of the city. He was also repudiated by reform-minded Kansas City elites for spreading the vices of alcohol and gambling, and for his political corruption. He retired from political life in 1910, handing control of his faction to his younger brother Thomas J. Pendergast.

Pendergast was born on January 27, 1856, in Gallipolis, Ohio, to Michael and Mary Pendergast. His family moved to St. Joseph, Missouri in 1859. He was educated at the public schools there and at Christian Brothers College. In 1876, he moved to Kansas City, Missouri.

Pendergast moved to the industrial West Bottoms neighborhood of Kansas City in 1876, living in boarding houses. He worked in meatpacking houses, Keystone Iron Works, A. J. Kelly Foundry, and D. M. Jarboe Foundry. According to family legend, in the early 1880s, he purchased a saloon called Climax, named after the winning horse that funded the purchase. However, this business does not appear in records from the time. In 1881, he purchased a two-story saloon, boarding house, and hotel in the West Bottoms called American House. The establishment held gambling devices and acted as an informal bank where meatpacking workers could cash their paychecks or take loans. Pendergast ran the boarding house for about 31 years, and it provided him with the connections and influence to begin his career in politics.

In 1884, Pendergast was elected as a delegate to represent the Sixth Ward in the West Bottoms in the Democratic City Convention. In 1887, after population growth had expanded the city legislature and the West Bottoms became a part of the First Ward, Pendergast became the Democratic committeeman for the First Ward, responsible for assembling supporters for a voice vote in "mob primaries." He was elected alderman of the First Ward from 1892 to 1910. Known as "Alderman Jim" and "Big Jim", Pendergast ran on a pro-gambling and pro-working-class platform. He facilitated the release of men arrested for drunkenness and disorderly conduct, and donated food and coal. A national economic downturn in the 1890s and lack of interest in providing charity to those affected on the part of the city's other business elites gave Pendergast the opportunity to claim sole responsibility for holding the city together during this time, while increasing his political power.

In 1894, Pendergast's younger brother Tom moved to Kansas City, working odd jobs and assisting at his brother's saloon and horse-race track concessions stand. Through a political favor, Jim Pendergast obtained a job for Tom as a deputy constable in the First Ward city court. In 1896, Tom received a higher-paying job as deputy marshal in county court that allowed him to stop working other jobs and gave him more free time to focus on learning about city politics from his brother. Under Jim Pendergast's guidance, Tom began to participate in grass-roots political organizing in his spare time, helping secure votes for his brother's political cronies.

At the Jackson County election of 1894, Pendergast and the Democrats faced off against local Republicans aligned with the anti-Catholic American Protective Association. Pre-election campaigning led to a gun battle between the two sides that resulted in one dead and several injured. The Republicans won at the ballot, but Pendergast was one of two Democrats who retained his office. Pendergast then created an association of alcohol brewers, distributors, and saloonkeepers to counter pressure from local members of the burgeoning dry movement.

Between 1894 and 1900, Pendergast's "Goats" faction clashed over city and county elections with the "Rabbits" faction of rival Kansas City Democratic boss Joe Shannon. The candidates of the two Democratic factions occasionally canceled each other out at the ballot box, resulting in a Republican victory. In 1900, the Goats founded the Jackson Democratic Club. While Pendergast held no official position within the club, the organization was de facto under his control. To resolve the feud with Shannon, the two agreed on what became known as the "Fifty-Fifty accord," in which they would continue to run separate candidates in primaries but unite on candidates for general elections. However, neither faction fully held to this deal.

The 1900 Democratic National Convention, held in Kansas City, featured a welcoming address by James A. Reed, who had just been elected major of Kansas City with assistance from Pendergast.