Friday, September 11, 2009

Sioux City History and Culture by Bicycle Part 184; Byron H Kingsbury

In this post: Sioux City History and Culture by Bicycle Part 98: A Self Guided Bicycle Tour of Historic Jackson St. Part 10: 2700 Block I mention the Byron H Kingsbury House as part of the Historic Jackson St. Tour. Recently a decendant of Byron Kingsbury from the United Kingdom contacted me after she read the post about him. She asked how I came about the information about him, ti which I answered through the Pearl St. Research center here in Sioux City. She has been researching the history of her family, including Byron and has provided me with some updated information on him.

What I know so far is Byron moved to Sioux City in 1899 and was Vice President of Sioux City National Bank, President of Sioux City Brewing Company and President and General Manager of the Missouri River Sioux City Bridge Company, which was involved in the management of the Combination Bridge that connected Sioux City with South Sioux City, Nebraska. He had the house at 2704 Jackson St. built in 1915. He moved to the house next door at 2706 Jackson St. in 1936. Byron Kingsbury died in 1942.

What was not known until his decendant contacted me was members of her family moved the United States in the 1850's, including Byron. Byron married a Mary McClure. The McClure house at 2706 Jackson St. that Byron eventually moved into was originally the home of Byron's in-laws. In 1914, when Byron was President of the Sioux City brewing Company his earnign was $10,000, today that would amount to about $210,230. His home at 2704 Jackson St. was valued at $30,000, today that is over $600,000 At one time in the recent past the house was up for sale, the asking price was about $400,000, I do not know if it sold or not. Byron and Mary had several children. One of their sons, Byron Kirk, who called himself Kirk Byron received a delayed degree from Harvard because he answered the call from the United States to fight in a war. I do not know which war, but an educated guess is either WWI or WWII.

Here is the info. on the house from the Woodbury County Assessors web site; 2704 Jackson St.

No comments:

Post a Comment