Fashion Influence Began in Salina

“Other than the coming of the railroad, his arrival was the greatest thing to happen to Salina.” That statement by a local businessman summed up the legacy of H. D. Lee. His influence can still be seen around the community to this day.

Born in 1849, in West Randolph Vermont, Lee was one of nine children sent off to live with friends after his father died. He was four years old at the time. At age 11, Lee left his foster home with $1.50 in hand and started his formal education at the Alden Private School in Tunbridge, Vermont, near where he was born. When he completed his four year education, the school principal offered Lee $75.00 a month to remain as an instructor. He refused saying it was time to go home and help his mother and his siblings.

Home life did not last long; he moved to Galion, Ohio, where he worked as a hotel clerk for three years and managed to save $2,000. With an additional $3,000 loan from C. L. Crim, a local banker, Lee invested in real estate in the area. By 1875, the young entrepreneur had a $20,000 profit that he combined with another loan of $50,000 from Crim to buy an independent oil company.

Stricken with tuberculosis (often attributed to exertion at work) Lee sold half his interests in the oil firm to John Rockefeller’s Standard Oil Company in 1886, but stayed on to manage the firm for another two years. Further declines in his physical condition forced him to sell his remaining shares. During the time of his illness, Lee was seeking to move farther west to improve his health. He also saw the rapid expansion of the Midwest as a tremendous business opportunity and chose Salina as the place to start.

In 1889, the H. D. Lee Mercantile Company began as a wholesale grocery business at the corner of Santa Fe and Elm Street. Several years later, the firm expanded its merchandise to include notions, stationery, school supplies and eventually—overalls. Unfortunately, in 1903, a spectacular fire destroyed the building and $450,000 of stock. The physical plant was rebuilt shortly thereafter.

Lee was probably most famous for one-piece work overalls that were made in 1913 in his garment factory. They were called “unionalls” because they resembled a cross between overalls and a suit of union underwear. The garment was so popular that it became the Army fatigue uniform for all United States soldiers during World War I.

He opened a second garment factory in 1915 in Kansas City, Kansas, and a third in 1916 in Kansas City, Missouri. By 1920 he also had plants in Indiana, New Jersey and California. His company evolved into manufacturing Lee Rider jeans and other Lee clothing products.

As a very successful businessman in Salina, Lee also organized the Farmer’s National Bank, Kansas Ice & Storage Company, Lee Flour Mills Company, Lee Hardware Company, and Harvester Building Company. At the time of his death in 1928 in Texas, Lee’s Salina companies alone were worth over $12,600,000. He was also one of the first trustees of St. John’s Military Academy and was the one who suggested a bond issue for the establishment of the Salina Country Club. He even put up $5,000 of his own money toward the project. Henry D. Lee’s business accomplishments were a key ingredient in Salina’ growth during the era.

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Look for this new display case featuring Salina’s leading entrepreneur, H.D. Lee, in the permanent exhibit Crossroads of the Heartland. This exhibit features items from the Lee Jeans Co.