Frank F. Fletcher is the only architect practicing the profession exclusively at Independence. He has a long and successful record as a builder and was active as a contractor until an unfortunate injury obliged him to desist. He has since followed the profession of architect and has built up a very large clientele.
He was born in Louisiana, Missouri, September 19, 1870. His maternal grandfather was William Kling, who was born in Holland in 1800 and was a horticulturist. On coming to America he settled in Louisiana, Missouri, in 1818. Peter R. Fletcher, father of Frank F., was born in Hull, England, in 1827. As a young man he served two years in the British army. When about twenty years of age he came to the United States and located at Louisiana, Missouri. As a building contractor he erected courthouses and other public buildings in Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee and Texas. It was while engaged in the building of a courthouse at Denton, Texas, that he was killed in a railroad accident. He died at Dallas, Texas, in 1874. He was a republican, a Mason, and a member of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. Peter R. Fletcher married Margaret Kling, who was born at Louisiana, Missouri, in 1835, and died there in 1870. Her children were: William, who is a contractor and builder at Corpus Christi, Texas; Annie, wife of John Beal, who has a printing and newspaper business at Mexico, Missouri; Henry, who was an invalid most of his life and died in 1899 at Louisiana, Missouri; Mollie, wife of J. W. Bell, a tailor at Los Angeles, California; and Frank F.
Reared and educated in Louisiana, Missouri, Frank F. Fletcher started out to make his own way when fourteen years of age. He learned the trade of brick mason, and followed that both as a journeyman and as a contractor until he was thirty-four years of age. He worked at St. Louis, Kansas City, Denver, New Orleans, Corpus Christi and in fact in all the larger cities and towns of the Mississippi Valley.
In the course of his work he arrived at Independence, Kansas, in 1904. There, on July 18, 1904, while working on the tower of the Presbyterian Church he was accidentally knocked off and received injuries which resulted in the permanent disablement of his right arm. He then took up architecture as a profession, and has offices at 112½ East Myrtle Street.
Among the many buildings he has designed in the past ten or twelve years should be mentioned especially the following: Residences of Judge T. J. Flanelley, R. W. Morrison, William Scott, W. R. Murrow, Frank Louy, Albert Jones, Thomas Wharton, Bert Stevens, Milton Cook, the Stevens & Robinson Building, the Robinson Veterinary Hospital and many others in and about Independence.
Mr. Fletcher owns three residences and two pieces of unimproved city property in Independence, and is secretary of the Hope Oil, Gas and Mineral Company. Since 1907 he has served as building and plumbing inspector for Independence. He is unmarried. Politically he is an independent republican, is a member of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church and is affiliated with Independence Lodge No. 17, Ancient Order of United Workmen. He is one of the popular and highly esteemed citizens of Independence.