Le Stourgeon, Arthur E.

The following data is extracted from A Standard History of Kansas and Kansans.

Arthur E. Le Stourgeon. One of the most progressive younger business men of Arkansas City, Arthur Edward Le Stourgeon, is secretary and manager of the Arkansas City Ice Company, a business with which he had been actively connected since coming here nearly twenty years ago, is secretary of the American Paint & Button Company, and vice president of Henneberry & Co., all being prominent local industries, and is president of the city board of education.

Mr. Le Stourgeon is of French ancestry. His ancestors came out of France and settled in Virginia in colonial times. His grandfather was an artist and an early settler in Illinois, passing his last years at Centralia in that state.

Arthur E. Le Stourgeon was himself born at Centralia, Illinois, September 15, 1878. His father, Ernest D. Le Stourgeon, was born at Plainfield, in Will County, Illinois, in 1850, and when a young man went to Centralia, where he married and took up farming. Later he entered the ice business, and with a large experience in that line he came to Arkansas City in 1898, and had since been an active factor in the Arkansas City Ice Company, in which he is a director and is also a director of the American Paint & Button Company. He is a republican, a member of the Presbyterian Church and is affiliated with Crescent Lodge No. 133, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons. Ernest D. Le Stourgeon married Christina Kruse, who was born in Galena, Illinois, in 1853.

The only child of his parents, Arthur E. Le Stourgeon had his educational advantages in his native city, where he graduated from high school in 1898. In the fall of the same year he arrived in Arkansas City and at once became secretary of the Arkansas City Ice Company. Since then he had been promoted to the active management of the business. The ice company's plant is located at the Santa Fe south yards, and it manufactures ice in sufficient quantities to supply the local demands of the domestic trade and also the Santa Fe Railroad. The officers of the company are: Henry Braun, president; Thomas Baird, vice president, and Mr. Le Stourgeon, secretary.

The American Paint & Button Company occupies a somewhat unique field among Kansas industries. It manufactures large quantities of pearl buttons, and the chief raw material comes from shells gathered from the local streams. The company also handles paints. The officers of this company are: Henry Braun, president; C. B. Dye, vice president, and Mr. Le Stourgeon, secretary. The paint and button company plant is on South Summit Street.

Mr. Le Stourgeon is a republican in politics. He had proved an active factor in local affairs, and as president of the board of education he gives much of his time to maintaining and upbuilding the local school system. He is a member of the Presbyterian Church; of Crescent Lodge No. 133, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons; Bennett Chapter No. 41, Royal Arch Masons; Arkansas City Commandery No. 30, Knights Templar; Wichita Consistory No. 2 of the Scottish Rite; Midian Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Wichita; Victory Chapter No. 151, Order of the Eastern Star; and Arkansas City Lodge No. 956, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. Mr. Le Stourgeon is also a member of the National Association of Stationary Engineers.

He had been able to accumulate considerable property, and besides his home at 1101 South First Street owned several other dwellings and some farm land in Arkansas. In 1901, at Arkansas City, he married Miss Kathryne Heard, daughter of William H. and Martha P. (Fouschee) Heard. Her father was a physician and surgeon and is now deceased. Her mother resided in Arkansas City. Mr. and Mrs. Le Stourgeon have three children: Arthur H., born May 29, 1902; Lawrence F., born April 5, 1906; and Kathryne P., born February 3, 1909.

Source: A Standard History of Kansas and Kansans

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