Irvin R. Neudeck

IRVIN R. NEUDECK. - At this juncture in a volume devoted to the careers of representative citizens of Wyandotte county, Kansas, it is a pleasure to insert a brief history of Irvin R. Neudeck, who has ever been on the alert to forward all measures and enterprises projected for the general welfare and who is a prominent and influential business man at Kansas City, Kansas. He conducts a large concern which is interested mainly in real estate and loans and he is also manufacturer of the Fay Fern Food, which is well known throughout the United States as a stimulant in connection with the growth of ferns and plants.

A native of the fine old Sunflower state of the Union, Mr. Neudeck was born at Fairmount, in Leavenworth county, on the 2nd of October, 1877. He is a son of Leopold and Theresa (Eckel) Neudeck, the former of whom was born in the Great Empire of Germany, in October, 1836, and the latter of whom claims the state of Pennsylvania as the place of her nativity, her birth having occurred September 19, 1839. Of the eleven children born to Mr. and Mrs. Leopold Neudeck the subject of this review was the eighth in order of birth. The father immigrated to America when a youth but eleven years of age and he located in Wisconsin, where he engaged in the lumber business and whence he later removed to Indiana, settling in the vicinity of Cedar Lake, where he turned his attention to farming. About the year 1866 he came to Kansas, locating in Fairmount township, Leavenworth county, and there was identified with farming and the raising of high grade stock up to 1895, in which year he disposed of his splendid estate of six hundred and forty acres and came to Kansas City, Kansas, where he invested his money in city property. He has lived virtually retired from active participation in business affairs since 1895, but is recognized as one of the most extensive real estate holders in this city. In politics he accords a stanch allegiance to the cause of the Republican party and in his religious faith he is a devout member of the German Methodist Episcopal church.

Irvin R. Neudeck was enrolled as a student in the district schools of Fairmont township, Leavenworth county, until he had reached the age of fifteen years, after which time he pursued his studies in the Kansas City schools. His first work was in the grocery store of his uncle, Henry Horstman, with whom he remained from the 23rd of January, 1896, until 1898. In the latter year he entered the employ of Samuel Stewart, who also conducted a grocery store, but on the 1st of September, 1902, he became interested with John M. Sheaff in the real estate and loan business, continuing as a partner of Mr. Sheaff's until the 5th of October, 1909, when he engaged in that line of enterprise on his own account. He has made a specialty of buying and selling property on Minnesota avenue and in connection therewith sold fifty lots during thirteen months. In addition to his real estate business Mr. Neudeck is manufacturer and sole owner of what is known as the Fay Fern Food, which has an extensive trade throughout the United States. Concerning that commodity, for it is a commodity, the following extract is taken from an article which appears in a circular sent out by Mr. Neudeck:

"Ferns, because of their massive foliage, draw the strength from the small quantity of soil surrounding them quicker than most plants, and when the vitality in the pot soil has been exhausted, the fern must necessarily lapse, the fronds droops unnaturally and take on a lack luster appearance, and may be the fern dies altogether.

"Some means must be at hand to give the soil a wearing fertility.

"Fay Fern Food restores or puts back into the soil that which the plant draws out. Its continued use widens and lengthens the fronds and imparts to them a dark green hue of health. When Fay Fern Food gets a firm hold on the soil, the fern fronds assume a crispness which is an indication that the fern is at its best."

In his political proclivities Mr. Neudeck is a stalwart in the ranks of the Republican party and, while he is not an office seeker, he is deeply interested in community affairs and gives generously of his aid and influence in support of all matters affecting the general welfare. He is affiliated with a number of social and fraternal organizations of representative character and religiously he is a devout member of the Methodist Episcopal church. He is known throughout Kansas City as a business man whose methods are strictly on the square and he is everywhere accorded the unqualified regard of his fellow men.