An old post card printed in black and white and mailed in Kansas City in 1907 is titled The Home of Kansas City Aerie No. 47, Fraternal Order of Eagles. The 3-story mansion at the southwest corner of 11th and Central with a huge brass eagle and the American flag flying from its tall gables was once the James H. Oglebay residence. The Oglebays and other West Side families were described in a 1932 story in The Star: There was a West Side group of old families that left its impression on the city. Among them were the Oglebays, the Nelsons, the Fosters, the Birds, the Coatses, the Reeds, the Gunns, the Porters, the Devols, the Suydams, the H. C. Brents and the Hudsons. The Oglebays continued to live in the old home longer than most of the other families of the old West side. The family was conspicuously identified with the growth of Kansas City. James Oglebay was an early day wholesale grocer, having founded the business in 1878 with two brothers, Frank M. and Earl Oglebay. James Oglebay spent much time as a breeder of horses, trotters rather than race horses, and he was one of the last Kansas Citians to abandon the horse and buggy as a means of transportation around the city. His son Crispin, a multimillionaire industrialist from Cleveland, became famous for his stable of brood mares and racing stock. In Kansas City the Oglebays were instrumental in getting 15th Street widened at a time when the east city limits ended at Campbell. The old residence became the clubhouse for the Eagles in 1904 and it was used by them for 55 years. R. B. Jones purchased the property in 1959 and the house was razed to make way for an office building. Kansas City Star, December 11, 1976.
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