Illustrious William Busby: The Father of Modern McAlester

By T.S. Akers

 

William Busby, 33° Sovereign Grand Inspector General 

(Courtesy of the Supreme Council, 33° Southern Jurisdiction)

In 1869 James J. McAlester opened a store in a tent at a place known as the “Crossroads,” as the location was where the Texas Road crossed one of the California trails. The Katy railway constructed a line nearby in 1872 and dubbed the stop McAlester; J.J. McAlester’s mercantile was the area landmark. By 1890 the community boasted a population of three thousand.[1] Signs of J.J. McAlester’s commercial success can still be found in the district now known as “Old Town McAlester.” J.J. McAlester’s storefront remains, as does his residence. However, as the twentieth century dawned, a new man was seeing to the prosperity of the City of McAlester. Although he is not the city’s namesake, William Busby transformed a territorial town into a bustling city during the short period in which he called McAlester home.

At the age of twenty-three in 1848, George Busby came to the United States from England. He settled near Trenton, New Jersey, and engaged in agricultural pursuits. George married Margaret Lunney of Northern Ireland and the couple had six children. William was born into the family on September 5, 1854. From New Jersey, the Busby family moved to Ohio, Illinois, and finally Labette County, Kansas, in 1867. George Busby remained a farmer throughout his lifetime and young William worked on the family farm until 1878.[2] William had married Sarah L. Bell, also of Labette County, on September 22, 1876, and though he lacked a formal education, determined to better to his condition.[3]

Operating out of Matthewson, Kansas, William Busby began buying and shipping grain on commission. Having accumulated some capital after one year, he relocated to McCune, Kansas.[4] It was there that Busby expanded his operation and formed a partnership with his employer.[5] After nine years, Busby moved to Parsons, Kansas, in 1889, though he retained his business interests in McCune.[6] It was at Parsons that Busby became general sales agent of the coal department for the Choctaw, Oklahoma, & Gulf Railroad in 1895. It was in this capacity that Busby became acquainted with the coal fields of the Choctaw Nation, acquiring an interest in one mine near Wilburton.[7]

Busby, whilst developing mining interests in the Indian Territory, continued to expand his business interests in Parsons. These came to include the Parsons Building & Mercantile Company and the Parsons Crystal Ice & Cold Storage Company, along with various real estate holdings.[8] A deacon of the First Presbyterian Church of Parsons, Busby furnished the congregation with a new organ in the early 1900s.[9] First serving as a councilman, his business acumen propelled Busby to the office of Mayor of Parsons in the spring of 1901.[10]

William Busby Mine No. 5 at Alderson, Choctaw Nation

(Courtesy of the Oklahoma Historical Society)

It was in Kansas that Busby became associated with Freemasonry. He was raised to the degree of Master Mason in Temple Lodge No. 237, AF&AM of McCune during the summer of 1886. The following year, Busby was exalted a Royal Arch Mason in Parsons Chapter No. 39, RAM, greeted as a Royal & Select Master in Ellsworth Council No. 9, R&SM, and created a Knight of the Temple in Coeur de Leon Commandery No. 17, KT of Parsons. He took the degrees of the Scottish Rite at Topeka in 1895. Busby was quickly invested with the Knight Commander of the Court of Honour designation of the Scottish Rite in 1897 and coroneted a 33rd Degree in 1899.[11] He also crossed the hot sands of Ararat Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Kansas City, Missouri.[12]

Busby continued as a railway coal salesman for six years, after which time he chose to expand his coal mining interests. He had been spending time around McAlester in the Choctaw Nation and in 1903 acquired a two-thirds interest in the Osage Coal & Mining Company.[13] That same year, Busby also purchased a full city block from Hickory to C Streets and constructed his residence there along Jackson Avenue; a three-story home with a garage and servants' quarters, all connected by telephone, with lavishly landscaped grounds.[14] The block came to be known as the Busby Heights.[15] Though he maintained an office in Parsons for his interests there, Busby moved his family to McAlester in 1903, thus beginning a period known as the “Busby Era.”[16]

 

The Busby Residence

(From the collections of the McAlester Scottish Rite)

Establishing himself in McAlester, Busby quickly became President of the Chamber of Commerce. In this role he determined that the city needed a reputable hotel. What Busby envisioned was a $100,000 hotel and he proposed to the citizens that he would put up 60% of the funds for the hotel to bear his name if they would provide for the remaining 40%. J.J. McAlester provided the lot for the hotel (located at the corner of 2nd Street and Grand Avenue), which was appraised at $15,000, but sold to Busby for $5,000. In the end, the hotel was to cost $240,000, which Busby financed himself. The Busby Hotel opened on December 21, 1905, with 162 guest rooms on four floors. The hotel’s restaurant featured waiters dressed in tuxedos and a string quartet. All of this was crowned with a brilliant electric sign on the roof spelling out “Busby.”[17] The hotel was said to be the finest in the Indian Territory.[18]

The Busby Hotel

(Courtesy of the Oklahoma Historical Society)

 

The Busby Hotel Lobby

(Courtesy of the Oklahoma Historical Society) 

Still engaged in mining, Busby quickly acquired the Union Iron Works of McAlester to produce industrial fans and other equipment for mining. Expanding his business interests, as was common for Busby, he also purchased the South McAlester-Eufaula Telephone Company; simply because he found the service lacking. After replacing the switchboard, telephone poles, and lines, he sold the company. Additionally, Busby acquired the McAlester Brick Company; his Parsons Building & Mercantile Company was also in the brick manufacturing business. When the Union Railway Station was constructed at McAlester in 1905 for the Katy and Choctaw railways, it was done with Busby bricks. The year 1906 saw the paving of McAlester’s Choctaw Avenue; the material of choice was once again Busby bricks, which were laid by the Busby Construction Company.[19] By 1907, Busby had acquired the remaining interest of the Osage Coal & Mining Company from the MK&T Railroad. He went on to become the head of the Great Western Coal & Coke Company as well as the Samples Coal & Mining Company. At the height of his mining empire, Busby employed over 3,000 men.[20] Busby’s vast holdings even included the McAlester News-Capital, southeastern Oklahoma’s largest daily newspaper, but he divested of that enterprise shortly after statehood.[21] Busby managed this empire from what was the headquarters of the Osage Coal and Mining Company. He transferred the building located adjacent to the Busby Hotel to himself personally for $1 and altered the façade to include a large stone letter “B” surrounded by the year “1907.”[22]

 

The Busby Office Building as it appears today

By the turn of the century, Freemasonry had firmly taken root in McAlester. The city was home to not only a Craft Lodge, but also Indian Chapter No. 1 of Royal Arch Masons, Union Council No. 3 of Royal and Select Masters, and McAlester Commandery No. 3 of Knights Templar. However, the Scottish Rite in the Indian Territory was struggling at the time. Robert W. Hill, Deputy for the Supreme Council of the Scottish Rite, had instituted Alpha Lodge of Perfection No. 2 at Chickasha in 1897 and was intending to create Albert Pike Lodge of Perfection No. 1 at Muskogee. This endeavor did not come to fruition and Edmond H. Doyle of McAlester succeeded Hill, instituting the Albert Pike Lodge of Perfection at McAlester on February 2, 1901. Eight days later, the Indian Territory was placed under jurisdiction of the Orient of Oklahoma where Harper S. Cunningham had been made the first Sovereign Grand Inspector General in 1899.[23] Cunningham quickly became aware of a new 33rd Degree Mason in the Choctaw Nation with the potential to achieve impossible tasks. Busby was made deputy to Cunningham in December of 1904, seemingly for the purpose of building a Scottish Rite Valley in McAlester.[24]

Upon his appointment to deputy, Busby quickly organized a group of men who have become known as the “Gang of Six.” The group consisted of Busby himself, Daniel M. Hailey, Frank Craig, William P. Freeman, James Elliott, and Ed Farris. Each man gave $1,000 to construct a temporary meeting hall for the Scottish Rite, known as the Tabernacle.[25] This was necessary for the conferring of the Scottish Rite degrees so that men would not have to travel to Guthrie to receive them, a journey which limited the number of men who were able to join the Scottish Rite. In 1905 Sovereign Grand Inspector General Cunningham revived the McAlester Chapter of Rose Croix and created a Council of Kadosh (Tuskahoma Council No. 2) and a Consistory (Indian Consistory No. 2).[26] That March, the Alpha Class, consisting of 96 men, received all the degrees of the Scottish Rite in McAlester for the first time ever.[27]

A tabernacle of course is only temporary; Busby’s next task lay before him, constructing a Scottish Rite Temple in McAlester. Cunningham appointed Busby chairman of the building committee and he immediately went to work. Busby first identified a suitable location for the temple at the corner of 2nd Street and Adams Avenue. It was a hilltop site consisting of a vacant lot and the home of Edmond H. Doyle (a prominent Mason in his own right).[28] Busby and Daniel M. Hailey negotiated with Doyle and purchased the property prior to obtaining approval to do so from the Albert Pike Lodge of Perfection (the business conducting body of a Scottish Rite Valley).[29] A ground breaking ceremony for the new temple was held on October 12, 1905, a temple that was slated to cost $100,000. When the temple was completed, the construction bill was closer to $200,000.[30] The price increase was due to Busby’s desire to construct the finest Scottish Rite Temple in the southwest and he came to personally oversee every aspect of construction. Busby not only selected the architect, but he also served as the contractor and financier for the project. With the higher price tag than originally expected, Busby arranged for the McAlester Scottish Rite Valley to be able to pay for the temple over a period of ten years.[31] One feature that Busby arranged for in the new temple was a self-playing organ. When a missing blower for the instrument was located on an east coast rail siding, Busby had it delivered by a special train at his expense. The red brick temple (one can easily deduce where the brick came from) that Busby brought into existence was dedicated on April 22, 1907, an incredible feat in a short period of time. That august occasion was even attended by James D. Richardson, Sovereign Grand Commander of the Scottish Rite.[32]

 

The McAlester Scottish Rite Temple, dedicated in 1907  

(From the collections of the McAlester Scottish Rite)

Whilst Busby was busy with the construction of McAlester’s Scottish Rite Temple, he also began work on another project. With his well-appointed hotel providing accommodations for visitors to the city, he believed they would need a reason to visit. It was at the annual Elks Christmas Ball of 1906 that the plan for the Busby Theatre was born. Busby tapped three Masons, which he called the Committee of Three, with the task of raising $12,500 in three months to put towards construction of a $40,000 theatre. Those three men were Frank Craig, A.U. Thomas, and E.C. Million. When the Committee of Three fell short of their goal, the fundraising effort was handed over to Gus A. Gill. After nine months of combined effort, the money necessary was raised and construction commenced.[33] The chosen location for the theatre was in the center of the Busby empire at 2nd Street and Washington Avenue, right between the Busby Hotel and the Scottish Rite Temple.[34]

 

The Busby Theatre 

(From the collections of the McAlester Scottish Rite)

When the theatre opened on March 13, 1908, with a performance of “Happyland,” the construction costs had increased to $80,000.[35] Busby again spared no expense on the theatre with a representative of the Kansas City Scenery Company remarking “It’s a veritable dream.” The theatre’s architecture was Neoclassical, being of red brick with white trim. The lobby was decorated with frescoes, the stage measured eighty feet wide by forty-two feet deep, and two balconies were supported by Ionic columns adorned with moulded friezes. The theatre could accommodate 1,362 patrons with 511 seats on the main floor, 424 in the mezzanine, 375 in the balcony, and six boxes capable of holding 52. There were also twelve dressing rooms located under the stage. A theatre trade publication ultimately ranked the Busby Theatre as second in North America outside of New York City for being the best equipped, cleanest, and best managed.[36]

 

Opening night playbill from the Busby Theatre, c. 1908 

(From the collections of the McAlester Scottish Rite)

Capable of mounting any traveling Broadway production and being considered one of the finest, if not the finest theatre in the Southwest, the Busby Theatre often attracted major acts. For example, Lillian Russel, Al Jolson, and John Phillip Sousa all performed at the Busby. The internationally acclaimed Madame Ernestine Schumann-Heink, a contralto singer, even graced the stage in April of 1914.[37] Owing to the shows and performers coming through McAlester and Busby’s connections with the railways, the Busby Theatre was the only theatre in Oklahoma for which special trains ran for performances. The most memorable show seen on the stage at the Busby Theatre would have to have been “Ben Hur,” which had four performances over three days in November of 1908. The production arrived in McAlester on two special trains: the first consisted of ten baggage cars loaded with scenery and props; the second consisted of six sleepers, two dining cars, four coaches, and one smoking car to accommodate the 200-person cast and crew. The production even included a chariot race onstage, with each chariot pulled by four cream-white horses.[38]

By the time the Busby Theatre opened, the citizens of McAlester had taken to referring to William Busby as Colonel Busby. This was not a military title, but an honorific for his business acumen and social status.[39] Although Busby was decidedly of northern stock, McAlester has often been referred to as the “Capital of Little Dixie.” With the region’s connection to the old South by way of the citizens of the Five Tribes removed from there in the nineteenth century, it is no surprise that the honorary title of Colonel, designating a southern aristocrat, was employed. And like an aristocrat, Busby continued to provide for his community. In early 1908, he purchased the Choctaw Railway & Lighting Company, which operated McAlester’s interurban and the Choctaw Electric Company. Busby promptly bought larger generators for the city’s unreliable electric service and underpowered interurban, as well as several new streetcars. He also acquired the Wilburton Water & Power Company. When a fire erupted along Main Street of Krebs in 1911, Busby personally commandeered a Katy engine and delivered a tank of water to squelch the flames.[40]

As Harper S. Cunningham’s deputy for the Scottish Rite in Oklahoma, Busby was the natural successor for the office of Sovereign Grand Inspector General (S.G.I.G.). When Cunningham left Oklahoma to build up the Scottish Rite in New Mexico in 1909, Busby was quickly elevated to the post of S.G.I.G. by the Supreme Council of the Scottish Rite on October 22. He had travelled with Cunningham frequently, regularly attended sessions of the Supreme Council, and was President of the Board of Trustees for the Scottish Rite’s New Age magazine.[41] Busby may not have climbed the rungs of Masonic authority in the Fraternity’s various other bodies like his contemporaries, but he was a temple builder like Cunningham, making him an excellent choice as Oklahoma’s second S.G.I.G.

 

Wax seal used by William Busby as Sovereign Grand Inspector General 

(From the collections of the McAlester Scottish Rite)

Busby was undoubtedly a giant among men when it came to what he accomplished for the city of McAlester, both figuratively and literally. Others have frequently remarked how Busby was over six feet tall, supporting 260 pounds.[42] Unfortunately, this seems to have contributed to Busby’s demise at the age of 59 on September 23, 1913, as he was a diabetic.[43] A carbuncle had developed on Busby’s neck which required a surgical operation to remove. Erysipelas, a skin infection, then began to spread and owing to complications from diabetes, claimed his life.[44]

Busby’s early death left two pending projects without his leadership. As an elder of McAlester’s First Presbyterian Church and chairmen of the church’s Board of Trustees, Busby was involved with the merger of that congregation with the Cumberland Presbyterian Church in 1911 and the subsequent planning for a new church building. He and other church elders had purchased land for the new site to be located at 3rd Street and Washington Avenue, within walking distance of the Busby empire, before his passing. Busby was also serving as president of the board for McAlester’s small public library, originally situated within the Kali-Inla Building. The library moved into a room at the Busby Theatre when space became an issue. When an application was made to the Carnegie Foundation for a library, they offered a grant of $15,000, which was not enough in Busby’s eyes, who pushed for and received $25,000. McAlester’s Carnegie Library was dedicated in 1914.[45]

McAlester’s Carnegie Library was not the only library that Busby was a benefactor to in his lifetime. He also contributed to the library of the Supreme Council of the Scottish Rite in 1907. Grand Commander James D. Richardson had proposed that alcoves of the Supreme Council’s old library be set apart to receive donations from those able and that each alcove so filled would serve as a memorial to the donor.[46] Donors could either give their own collections or provide funds and allow the librarian to select the volumes. The Busby Collection, which appears to have been the second of such gifts, was secured by a donation of $1,860. Busby directed the Supreme Council librarian to select books in the field of science and noted that he felt the librarian was best equipped to make the selections to avoid duplications. The collection, once completed, consisted of 1,057 volumes, with a printed catalog, and a life-sized oil portrait of Busby to adorn the alcove.[47]

 

An example of the bookplate used to identify volumes of The Busby Collection

(Courtesy of the Supreme Council, 33° Southern Jurisdiction)

The entire city of McAlester mourned the passing of William Busby, the city council even adopted a resolution of condolence. A public service was held at the Busby residence at three-thirty in the afternoon on October 1, 1913. The Masons of McAlester then took charge of the body, where it lay in state at the Scottish Rite Temple until the Kadosh funeral service was conducted at midnight. Busby’s body was then returned to Parsons, Kansas, the following day for interment.[48]

William Busby’s son Ralph and E.C. Million were named as co-executors of the Busby estate, which once settled, the assets only slightly exceeded the debts. The remaining members of the Busby family left McAlester within six months, returning to Parsons. The Busby Hotel and the Busby Theatre were ultimately sold at auction to a buyer from St. Louis for $50,000 and $20,000 respectively, which was the amount of the mortgages held on each property. The Busby residence burned to the ground in 1917. The Busby Hotel also suffered a fire in 1924 and the shell was reborn as the Pittsburg County Courthouse in 1926. The Busby Theatre, which was simply not suited for use as a cinema, conducted its final show in 1929. It was sold to the Church of Christ three years later and then to the First Baptist Church in 1979, who demolished the structure for their own expansion.[49]

The Busby portrait from the Supreme Council Library  

(From the collections of the McAlester Scottish Rite)

To some, Busby is mostly a forgotten man, arguing that no monument exists to the man responsible for the development of modern McAlester. The Busby office building remains to this day, now home to the Pittsburg County Genealogical Society. However, that is not a building that Busby built, but rather a building he purchased and occupied. There does remain one major testament to William Busby in McAlester, though perhaps it is being overlooked. As membership in the Scottish Rite grew exponentially in the 1920s, a massive expansion project of the 1907 temple, known as the “Rebuilding of the Temple,” commenced in 1929. The current buff brick temple arose from the shell of the old temple in just eighteen months at a cost of $575,000.[50] Although much of the current McAlester Scottish Rite Temple is different from Busby’s temple, the eastern façade is relatively unchanged. That footprint of the 1907 temple at 2nd Street and Adams Avenue stands today as a monument to William Busby’s legacy.

 

The McAlester Scottish Rite Temple, dedicated in 1930

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[1]  Thurman Shuller, “McAlester,” The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture, accessed January 5, 2022, https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry.php?entry=MC001.

[2]  "William Busby," in History of Labette County, Kansas and its Representative Citizens, ed. Nelson Case (Chicago, IL: Biographical Publishing Co., 1901).

[3]  "Death of William Busby," The Black Diamond 51, no. 14 (1913): 27.

[4]  "William Busby," in History of Labette County, Kansas and its Representative Citizens.

[5]  Thurman Shuller, The Busby Era of McAlester (McAlester, OK: Pittsburg County Genealogical & Historical Society, 2008).

[6]  "William Busby," in History of Labette County, Kansas and its Representative Citizens.

[7]  "Death of William Busby," The Black Diamond.

[8]  "William Busby," in History of Labette County, Kansas and its Representative Citizens.

[9]  "Pipe Organ Donation Presbyterian Church, Parsons, KS," Clipping, [Box 8, Folder 10], William Busby Collection, Oklahoma Historical Society Research Division.

[10]  "William Busby," in History of Labette County, Kansas and its Representative Citizens.

[11] Robert G. Davis, The Honored Men of Oklahoma Scottish Rite Masonry (Oklahoma: Oklahoma Lodge of Research, 1997), 28.

[12]  "William Busby," in History of Labette County, Kansas and its Representative Citizens.

[13]  "Death of William Busby," The Black Diamond.

[14]  Baird Martin, "Col. William Busby: Undisputed Leader in City Progress During Its Early Days Quite Forgotten Man," The McAlester News-Capital (McAlester, OK), May 1, 1963.

[15]  Mike Cathey, "Colonel William Busby: The Man of the Sesquicentennial," The McAlester News-Capital (McAlester, OK), Dec. 27, 2019.

[16]  Shuller, The Busby Era of McAlester.

[17]  Ibid.

[18]  Cathey.

[19]  Shuller, The Busby Era of McAlester.

[20]  "Death of William Busby," The Black Diamond.

[21]  "Prominent Mason Called by Death: Col. William Busby, of McAlester, Succumbs to Long Illness," The Coalgate Courier (Coalgate, OK), Sept. 25, 1913.

[22]  Shuller, The Busby Era of McAlester.

[23]  Davis, 17-18.

[24]  "Appointment of Busby to Deputy SGIG, 12-30-1904," Document, [Box 4, Folder 4], William Busby Collection, Oklahoma Historical Society Research Division.

[25]  Tom Crowl, "SGIG William Busby," August 25, 2015, McAlester Scottish Rite Temple, https://youtu.be/lWkXF42_-Z8.

[26]  Davis, 20-21.

[27]  Crowl.

[28]  Shuller, The Busby Era of McAlester.

[29]  Crowl.

[30]  Shuller, The Busby Era of McAlester.

[31]  Crowl.

[32]  Shuller, The Busby Era of McAlester.

[33]  "Grand Opening: Busby Theatre, March 13, 1908" (playbill, McAlester Valley of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite).

[34]  Thurman Shuller, “The Busby Theatre,” The Chronicles of Oklahoma 86, no. 3 (Fall 2008): 351.

[35]  Shuller, The Busby Era of McAlester.

[36]  Shuller, “The Busby Theatre”: 351-360.

[37]  Shuller, The Busby Era of McAlester.

[38]  Shuller, “The Busby Theatre”: 355-358.

[39]  Cathey.

[40]  Shuller, The Busby Era of McAlester.

[41]  Davis, 28-29.

[42]  Martin.

[43]  "Prominent Mason Called by Death: Col. William Busby, of McAlester, Succumbs to Long Illness," The Coalgate Courier.

[44]  "Col. Wm. Busby Passes Away," The Hartshorne Sun (Hartshorne, OK), September 25, 1913.

[45]  Shuller, The Busby Era of McAlester.

[46]  The Busby Collection in the Library of the Supreme Council, 33°, ed. William L. Boyden (Washington, D.C.: Ancient & Accepted Scottish Rite, Southern Jurisdiction, 1907).

[47]  Transactions of the Supreme Council of the 33rd Degree for the Southern Jurisdiction of the United States of America (Washington, D.C.: Ancient & Accepted Scottish Rite, Southern Jurisdiction, 1907).

[48]  "Prominent Mason Called by Death: Col. William Busby, of McAlester, Succumbs to Long Illness," The Coalgate Courier.

[49]  Shuller, The Busby Era of McAlester.

[50]  T.S. Akers, "The McAlester Scottish Rite Temple," Oklahoma Masonic History (blog), April 27, 2017, http://okmasonichistory.blogspot.com/2017/04/the-mcalester-scottish-rite-temple.html.