William Thomas Bland

Who was William Thomas Bland?

William Thomas Bland was a U.S. Representative from Missouri, grandson of John G. Jackson and cousin of James M. Jackson.

Born in Weston, Virginia, Bland was graduated from the University of West Virginia at Morgantown in 1883 and from the law department of that university in 1884. Took a special course in law at the University of Virginia at Charlottesville in 1885. He was admitted to the bar and commenced practice in Weston, W.Virginia. He moved to Atchison, Kansas, in 1887, served as prosecuting attorney of Atchison County, Kansas from 1890 to 1892 and as mayor of Atchison in 1894. Bland was elected judge of the second Kansas district in 1896. He was reelected in 1900, and served until 1901 at the time of his resignation. He entered the wholesale drug business in 1901 and moved to Kansas City, Missouri, in 1904 and continued in business until 1917 when he engaged in banking. He served as chairman of the Kansas City River and Harbor Improvement Commission 1909-1918, director of the National Rivers and Harbors Congress, and vice president of the Mississippi Valley Waterway Association.