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William Bingham Clarke was born in Cleveland, Ohio,
April 15, 1848. He was educated in the public and private
schools, and then studied law but after gaining admission to the bar
decided upon banking. After an apprenticeship in the Cleveland
banks, he started on of his own in Abilene, Kas., and when the boom
died there organized the First National Bank in Junction City, Kas.,
also the Kansas Bond Bureau. In 1886 he came to Kansas City as
president of the Merchants' National Bank. In 1881 he bought
heavily of Missouri & Kansas Telephone stock, and became
president. In 1888 he organized the United States Trust Company,
of which he is still president. Among his other interests are
salt manufacturing in Salt Lake city, mining in Colorado, and railroad
building. Mr. Clarke has twice served as president of the Kansas
City Club, was third, second, and first vice-president of the
Commercial Club and in 1891 its president, although compelled to
decline the honor because of business duties. He is prominent in
Episcopal Church circles, and is treasurer of the diocese of Western
Missouri; belongs to the Sons of the Revolution; is a thirty-second
degree Mason, and in 1896 was head of the local Sound Money League,
which played so large a part in that campaign.
Mr. Clarke married Miss Kate E. Rockwell in Junction City in 1876, and
they have two sons, William Rockwell Clarke, Yale, 1900; and Bertrand
Rockwell Clarke, Williams, 1904.
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