Robert Thompson Van Horn was an American representative from Missouri and journalist.
Background
Van Horn was born on May 19, 1824, in East Mahoning, Indiana County, Pennsylvania. He was the son of Henry and Elizabeth (Thompson) Van Horn.
He seems to have been descended from Christian Barentsen Van Horn who emigrated from Holland to New Netherland before 1653.
Education
As a boy Van Horn attended a subscription school near his birthplace, and by the age of nineteen he had largely mastered the printer's trade.
From 1843 to 1855, he worked at his trade in Pennsylvania, New York, and Ohio, and he also studied law.
Career
In 1855, Van Horn removed to Kansas City, Missouri, which was his home the rest of his life. He bought the Kansas City Enterprise, a weekly, changed its name to the Western Journal of Commerce, later the Kansas City Journal, and in 1858, he began publishing it as a daily. It was a conservative (Douglas) Democratic paper until 1860, but upon the outbreak of the Civil War, it became Unionist and Republican. With certain temporary exceptions, he owned and controlled the Journal until 1897.
Even while in Congress, he wrote many of its editorials. His editorials were optimistic, stimulating, and logical. Though his style was a modernized sledge-hammer type, he was, nevertheless, a lucid and vigorous writer. Until the unique journalistic caliber of William Rockhill Nelson became manifest in the 1890's if not thereafter, Van Horn was Kansas City's greatest press agent. In 1861, he was elected mayor on the Union ticket and took control of the defense of the city.
In September, he was attached to the 13th Regiment of the Missouri Infantry for the defense of Lexington, Missouri, was wounded, surrendered, and exchanged, and then placed as lieutenant-colonel with the 25th Missouri Infantry. His regiment was soon assigned to the Army of Tennessee, and he took part in the battles of Shiloh and Corinth.
In 1863, he returned to Missouri on recruiting assignment but because of his political duties resigned from the service in 1864. From 1863 to 1865, he was a state senator, and he again served as mayor before his senatorship expired. He was a delegate to every Republican national convention from 1864 to 1884 inclusive and was one of the "Immortal 306, " who stood by Grant for a third term in 1880. In 1864, he was elected representative to Congress, served three consecutive terms, and later filled that office two more terms, 1881 to 1883 and 1895 to 1897.
Because of his ability and whole-hearted work for the development of Kansas City, as well as the influence of the Journal, he was usually successful in winning office in a normally Democratic district.
Van Horn died in Kansas City on January 3, 1916.
Achievements
Politics
Van Horn's work in Congress was marked by his staunch adherence to conservative Republican policies and by his effective efforts to aid Kansas City in becoming an industrial and railway metropolis.
Connections
Van Horn married Adela H. Cooley of Pomeroy, Ohio, on December 2, 1848. They had four children.