Sedgwick County KSGenWeb

Portrait And Biographical Album of Sedgwick County, Kan.

Chapman Brothers 1888

Pages 369 - 370 

THOMAS K. McLEAN. The thriving city of Wichita has a full quota of live, energetic, and persevering business men, among whom is the subject of our sketch, a wealthy and enterprising capitalist, occupying a fine residence at No. 1705 Fairview avenue. This he purchased in 1887, paying therefor the modest sum of $20,000. He is a native of Scotland, and was born in Argyleshire, May 12, 1837. 

            The parents of our subject are John O. and Mary (McLean) McLean, both natives of Scotland, where they lived and carried on farming until their removal to Canada East. They then located in Brompton Gore, and continued farming there until 1869, when they moved to Bowling Green, Mo. There they retired from active work, and in 1887 removed to Wichita, where, at the respective ages of eighty-seven and seventy-seven, they are enjoying the comforts of a well-deserved competency. 

            The subject of this biographical sketch was the second of the twelve children born to his parents, and came with them to Canada at the age of eleven years. He attended the public schools, and being an ambitious student, soon won a reputation for ability and intelligence. At the age of eighteen years he secured a position in the Melbourne slate quarry, where he had charge of the workmen. It was he who first opened the Rockland slate quarries in Canada, now valued at millions of dollars. For a number of years afterward he was engaged as a contractor for the slate and copper mines of Canada. In 1869 he left the Dominion and proceeded to the State of Missouri, where he was engaged as a contractor on the St. Louis, Keokuk & Northwestern Railway, between Hannibal and Louisiana. The stone for the bridge that crosses the Mississippi at Louisiana he procured from Clinton Hill, Pike Co., Mo., and the work on it was pushed forward with such rapidity, that six months from the time that the first stone was blasted, the bridge was completed and the cars running across it. In 1873 Mr. McLean invested a part of his capital in a farm in sunny Kansas, purchasing 160 acres of land in Chanute, Neosho County, where he engaged in farming and stock-raising. Two years later he secured a contract from the Frisco Railway Company, and assisted in building the Frisco road, running from Pierce City, through Wichita, to Avoca. At the completion of that railway, he removed to Ft. Scott, this State, and the next six years was employed by the Missouri & Pacific Railway Company in superintending the grading of that road, having under him some 300 men, with as many teams. Subsequently he became a contractor for the Santa Fe Road, and resided at different points along the line of that railway. He retained his connection with that company until he came to Wichita in 1883, when he became connected with the St. Louis, Ft. Scott & Wichita, now the Missouri & Pacific Railway Company. 

            Mr. McLean invested largely in real estate in this city, buying property on Main and Douglas streets, and in other parts of the city, and since then he has carried on a successful business as a real-estate broker. Nor have his interests been centered entirely in this county, for in company with Mr. O. Martinson, he purchased 400 acres of land in Butler County, on which there is a fine quarry of limestone, and from which they take 200 carloads per month, shipping it to various parts of the State. They have a stone and coal yard on the east, and also one on the west side of Wichita, and in the yards and quarry give employment to sixty men. 

            In 1871 the subject of our sketch was married to Miss Jessie Miller, a native of Brompton Gore, Canada. She was born in April, 1847, and is the sixth child of a family of seven, born to Charles and Margaret (McDougal) Miller, who were natives respectively of Glasgow and Highland, Scotland. Mr. Miller was by trade a coppersmith, and emigrated in 1848 with his family from Scotland to Canada, where he is still living. To Mr. and Mrs. McLean have been born seven children, namely: Mary, Charles, Annie, John, Thomas, Jessie and Maxwell. 

            Since becoming a resident of Wichita, our subject has identified himself thoroughly with the interests of his adopted town and county, and by his decision of character, integrity and true worth, has won the respect and esteem of the entire community. In politics Mr. McLean is a strong Prohibitionist. Socially, he is a member of the Masonic fraternity. Religiously, both Mr. and Mrs. McLean are valued and consistent members of the Presbyterian Church. Among the portraits of the live and enterprising business men of Sedgwick County, who deserve a place in a record of its best people, none will be more highly appreciated or more deserving a prominent position than that of Mr. McLean, which appears on an adjoining page.

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