MUSEUM HILL NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION NEWSLETTER
AUGUST 1998
by Jim Morelock
COLONEL JOSEPH A. CORBY
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A native of
Cincinnati and the son of Francis P. Corby. At eighteen years of age, he moved with his father and stepmother Josephine Angelique Corby to Memphis, Tenn. From Memphis in the spring of 1867 he came to Saint Joseph to visit his uncle John Corby. He found the city so much to his liking that he made it his permanent home. From the real estate and abstract business he became active in a large number of enterprises, including the ownership of the St. Joseph Gazette from 1873 to 1875. Eugene Field was the editor of that newspaper during part of this period. Colonel Corby built the Bell Telephone Exchange in 1879. In 1881 he built to Atchison the first telephone line to connect any two cities in the United States west of Buffalo, New York. He also was a pioneer in establishing telegraph lines to Saint Joseph. In 1909 he erected the Corby office building in Saint Joseph, a fire-proof steel structure. |
He was widely known for his
interest in militia and national guard affairs. He was
chosen captain of the swank Saxton Rifles in 1881 which was sponsored by Robert M.
Saxton, banker of St. Joseph, New York and London. The following year he became
lieutenant colonel of the Fourth Missouri National Guard regiment. In 1896 he was made
colonel of that regiment and commanded it through the Spanish American War. It was
made up of volunteers mostly from the Fourth Missouri congressional district.
The above information was
taken from the 1956 Fall issue of the Museum Graphic, VOL.
VIII No. 4 Published by the St. Joseph Museum, Roy E. Coy, Editor. Article written by
Bartlett Boder
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To the left is a picture of the 1897 Tennis Club at Harvard. J. Corby who is seated at the bottom right is John Corby, eldest son of Joseph. |