Huston Wyeth

Huston Wyeth was born in St. Joseph July 8, 1863. He attended the local schools and St. Paul's School at Racine, Wisconsin. He then entered the hardware company with his father. In 1883 he married Miss Leila Ballinger, daughter of Isaac S. Ballinger and Miss Elizabeth Kuechle. He became vice-president of the Wyeth Hardware and Manufacturing Company in 1888 and president after the death of his father in 1901.

The business continued to expand, and additional buildings were added until finally in 1908 a block-long structure was erected on Second Street between Jule and Faraon. Even this large space was later expanded. Before the advent of the automobile the Wyeth Company was the largest saddlery house in the world. Some of the saddles used by the Pony Express riders in 1860-1861 were manufactured by the Wyeths. However, as the automobile displaced the horse, the Wyeth Company continued to diversify its product.

Just as his father had been, Huston Wyeth was also fortunate in his business associates. Louis M. Pinkston was employed in 1914, and became an assistant to George M. Johnson, general manager. He married Mr. Johnson's daughter, and when Mr. Johnson died in 1933, he succeeded him as general manager and treasurer. The Wyeth Company enjoyed excellent management and during the life of Huston Wyeth it doubled in size the business left by William M. Wyeth.

The Wyeth Flats at Eleventh and Faraon Streets had been built by Huston Wyeth's father in 1890. Huston joined and remodeled the two apartments at the west end of the building and made that his townhouse. The family also had a country place on the ten acres at the southeast corner of Frederick Avenue and Thirty-sixth Street. There were eight horses in the stable and the kennels housed sixty-three dogs: Great Danes, bloodhounds, pointers, water spaniels, and English bulldogs. The family enjoyed this place so much that they stayed there through some winters, sending the children to school by buckboard with two horses to plow through the mud of the then unpaved Frederick Avenue. This pleasant home was destroyed by fire on September 30, 1899, while Mr. and Mrs. Huston Wyeth were in New York watching the homecoming of Admiral Dewey, hero of the Spanish-American War.

Mr. Wyeth had substantial interests in other St. Joseph businesses. He was one of the founders and president of the Artesian Ice Company and of the Blue Valley Creamery. This very successful business had plants in several states, the largest being in Chicago and St.Joseph. The company was eventually sold to the Beatrice Foods Company. Huston Wyeth was an enthusiastic outdoorsman, enjoying hunting, fishing, and boating. He was keenly interested in dogs, and maintained kennels of German shepherds before that breed achieved its great American popularity. He was a member of the New York Yacht Club and an active president of the Buchanan County Humane Society. For years he had planned on a hunting trip to Africa, a project he was able to carry out eventually with one of his sons-in-law.

In 1918 Mr. and Mrs. Wyeth built their wonderful new home, "Wythewood, on thirty-six acres of ground on the north side of Frederick Avenue. On July 8, 1921, Mr. Wyeth's fifty-eighth birthday, a great housewarming party was given for more than 270 guests. It was a costume party, designated a Hayseed Ball. The guests arrived in rural costumes, on hay wagons, and in old buggies. One group of fifteen men arrived by tallyho, carrying band instruments. Fortunately, a group photograph of the entire party was taken, which can now be seen at Wythewood.

Huston Wyeth retired from the business in 1920 and in 1922 made his long-cherished trip to Africa with his son-in-law Kenyon V. Painter of Cleveland, Ohio. Mr. Wyeth achieved his ambition in shooting a magnificent lion but his health was never good after the trip. In November 1924. Mr. Wyeth took the train to Florida to his winter home at Miami. There he enjoyed his yacht and the fishing. On January 25, 1925, he died at the age of sixty-one.

Mr. Wyeth was survived by his widow, two daughters, Mrs. Forrest Campbell and Mrs. Kenyon V. Painter, and two sons, William M. Wyeth II and John Wyeth. William M. Wyeth II succeeded Huston, his father, as president of the Wyeth Company in 1925 and Mr. George M. Johnson was named general manager. At his death in 1933, after fifty years of service to the Wyeth Company, he was succeeded by Louis M. Pinkston. William M. Wyeth II was the head of the Company until 1947 when his younger brother, John Wyeth, became president.

John Wyeth was born at the Wyeth country home at Thirty-sixth Street and Frederick Avenue. He attended Blees Military Academy at Macon, Missouri, and St. Paul’s School at Concord, New Hampshire. After a trip around the world, he entered the family business in 1912. In 1913 he married Miss Margaret Mitchell whose father had been president of the St. Joseph School Board. Mrs. Wyeth, in her turn, was also president of the School Board, a trustee of the Public Library, and Republican National Committeewoman for Missouri. Their home at Wythewood was a center of hospitality, and Herbert Hoover was entertained there when he visited St. Joseph. John Wyeth served as a member of the City Aviation Board from 1931 to 1935 and was its president. He retired as president of the Wyeth Company in 1960 and was succeeded by his son, William M. Wyeth III. The family business, nearly as old as St. Joseph, thus entered its second century, with the fourth generation of the Wyeth family at its head.