| WOODSON COUNTIES, KANSAS. | 415 cont'd |
DELMER PIERCE NORTHRUP.
DELMER PIERCE NORTHRUP, chief of the mercantile interests of the Northrup estate and son of the late L. L. Northrup, was born in Iola July 20, 1867. His birth occurred in the house which is the residence of Dr. Fulton on North street, and all the years of his youth and middle life have been passed in Iola. He passed through the grades of the city schools, almost to graduation, and, at the age of eighteen, took a permanent position in the store of O. P. Northrup & Company. This was not a new experience for him for his father had been a merchant many years before and either conducted a business or had an interest in one all the years he lived in Iola and thus his sons grew up in the business. When the Northrup interests were separated into distinct departments our subject became the head of the drygoods division. He was amply equipped to accept the responsibility and "Northrups" has continued to be, as in the past, the popular trading point in the gas belt.
The firm of Northrup Brothers came into existence in 1890 as successors to O. P. Northrup & Company and is composed of F. A., L. L. and D. P. Northrup. The special educational equipment of our subject for any line or department of the Northrup interests was secured in Eastman Business College at Poughkeepsie, New York. He took a course there in 1885 in which he secured that thorough drill necessary to convert theory into practice.
Mr. Northrup's interest in matters pertaining to Iola is a lively and growing one. His mind is on his store by day, with his family at night and on Iola all the time. He has aided liberally any movement to advertise his town or to make it bigger and better. He is fond of sport and he enthuses over baseball and the fair. He is interested in the cause of labor and encourages its efforts and entertainment in Iola. He believes in higher education and represents the third ward on the Board of Education. He is in sympathy with fraternities and Is in good standing with the Knights of Pythias and the Elks. He is a man with strong likes and dislikes and while his friends are legion you can count his enemies on the fingers of one hand. In politics he is a Republican in State and National matters but in local affairs his ticket often suffers some modifiation[sic] to adjust it to his
| 416 | HISTORY OF ALLEN AND |
views. His universal popularity is attested his election, without opposition to a place on the Board of Education in 1899.
October 9, 1889, Mr. Northrup was married in Iola to Docia, daughter of Riley Young. Mrs. Northrup was born in Allen county June 9, 1869. The children of this union are: Gladys Young, born July 29, 1890; Lewis O., born January 28, 1893, and Lillian, born June 29, 1896.
Pages 415-416, transcribed by Carolyn Ward from History of Allen and Woodson Counties, Kansas: embellished with portraits of well known people of these counties, with biographies of our representative citizens, cuts of public buildings and a map of each county / Edited and Compiled by L. Wallace Duncan and Chas. F. Scott. Iola Registers, Printers and Binders, Iola, Kan.: 1901; 894 p., [36] leaves of plates: ill., ports.; includes index.
