WOODY HOCKADAY – EARLY AUTOMOTIVE ENTREPRENEUR
By Verne Shirk
Edited by James C, Mershon
“I remember dad
talking many times about an early automobile promotor from Wichita, Woody Hockaday. Frank W. “Woody” Hockaday (b. 1884 – d. 1947) ran an automobile supply and tire store on the NE corner of Topeka and William (ed. JCM). For many years, there was a blue (or was it red?) and white tile sign in the drive/sidewalk that said “Hockaday.” I have not looked lately but I am guessing it is gone.
What made Woody famous was his recognition of the need for highway road signs. He began marking roads in 1915 (1910 JCM) and by the time he was finished, there were approximately 60,000 miles of roads from Washington D.C. to Los Angeles marked with Hockaday signs. He used a large red “H” with an arrow pointing the direction you were supposed to turn. Dad was always on the lookout for one of the large red “H” signs but never found one for sale. We have seen one though. It is in the Kansas State Historical Museum in Topeka. Dad said they just disappeared from the roadways in short order (see photo below).
Hockaday was proud of Kansas and promoted it every chance he got. When the government began marking the highways, Woody was given the honor of having a highway named after him. Do you know which one? Well, here is a clue; it was named after the phone number for Hockaday’s business. If you guessed “K-96”, you were right! Highway 96 begins near the western boarder of Kansas, at Towner, Colorado, and ends at U.S. 54 Highway just east of Wichita where the Northeast Bypass intersects U.S. 54. I would presume the red “H” signs were removed at the same time the state/federal highway signs were put up. That is probably why there are none remaining. (He also named highways 81 and 54.—JCM.)
Woody Hockaday traveled extensively and distributed little sacks of wheat and coined the slogan “Kansas grows the best wheat in the world”. It was reported that he was the first person to purchase a ticket at Kansas City’s Union Station. In his later years, he became rather eccentric and promoted a slogan, “Feathers Instead of Bullets”. In August of 1936, he paid a visit to the Washington office of the Acting Secretary of War, Harry Hines Woodring. Woody was wearing red shorts, tennis shoes, an Indian war bonnet, a Kansas sunflower, and had red paint daubed on his face and bare chest. He toted a long white sack under his arm. In the sack was 40 lbs of feathers, which he dumped over Secretary Woodring's desk all the time hollering, “feathers instead of bullets”. Similar visits were conducted at Philadelphia’s Broad Street, and during at a National Union for Social Justice rally in Detroit, Michigan, by radio-priest, Charles E. Coughlin. At Coughlin’s speech, he appeared in a red coat, white pants, and white cap, with his bag of feathers. Coughlin was explaining the difference between Communism and Christianity when Woody showered him with feathers, sidestepped a punch aimed at him from the priest and shouted in the microphone “you can’t mix religion and politics!”. Authorities hauled Hockaday off and Father Coughlin continued his speech with feathers fluttering at his every gesture. Hockaday even attempted to jump in the car with President Franklin D. Roosevelt to shine his shoes but was subdued and taken away. Hockaday died in a Missouri sanitarium.
Those who would like to find out more about this colorful figure can do so via the Internet. That is where a majority of this information was found. In the 1910 Census, Woody Hockaday is listed as a “roomer” at 321 W. 2nd St. I understand the Kansas State Historical Society has quite a bit of information on Woody Hockaday. I was unable to find a photograph of him but shown above is an original ad from his company. It was in the October 8, 1915 issue of the Wichita Eagle. This newspaper was found in dad’s stuff I was cleaning out. On the back page of the paper is a full-sized ad for the Jones Automobile built in Wichita, Kansas.”
Courtesy of Verne Shirk
Hockaday in center with Geo. Foster at 406 E. Douglas
(Photo property of James C. Mershon)
COURTESY KANSAS HISTORICAL SOCIETY
In 1915, he began to mark distances between towns with a big read H and arrow directing the motorist to the next town. By the time he was finished there were Hockaday signs on approximately 60,000 miles of roads from Washington D.C. to Los Angeles. "Woody" Hockaday gained fame as the first person to recognize the need for highway marking in the United States.
Hockaday was a great booster of Kansas and Kansas products. He traveled widely distributing miniature sacks of wheat and coined the slogan "Kansas grows the best wheat in the world." Hockaday died in 1947 and was remembered with great respect by those who recognized his contributions. One Kansas editor said of him, "Woody Hockaday deserves a 
respectable niche in the history of intelligent and patriotic Kansans who served their state well."
The choice of the number 96 comes from the telephone number of the Wichita Automobile parts store of F. W. "Woody" Hockaday. During the 1910s, Hockaday marked distances between towns at his own expense along the major auto trails with a large red "H" and arrows pointing the direction. When the state began numbering the routes, they allowed Hockaday to pick the number of the route that was posted with the most signs, which consisted of the Kansas-Colorado Boulevard, the Central Route, and the Ozark Trail.
Photo credit-- Kansas Historical Society
A Kansas Portrait
Wichitan put signs on roads across U.S. (from the Wichita Eagle by Becky Tanner) (Edited here for space requirements)This is one in a series of vignettes celebrating Kansas history. The series’ name comes from the state motto, Ad Astra per Aspera: “To the stars through difficulties.”
Before Garmin, Magellan and TomTom, there was F. W. “Woody” Hockaday.
Take a drive down any highway, following signs and directions, and you have Hockaday to thank.
He was the original global positioning system, marking more than 60,000 miles of highways across the nation with signs that not only promoted his business but helped travelers.
“Any driver, local or foreign can go from Wichita to towns in every direction without getting lost. Provided, of course, that the driver is not blind or deaf,” Hockaday once told a reporter.
Now, nearly a century after Hockaday hired a crew to begin marking the nation’s highways, Craig Harmon, director of the Lincoln Highway National Museum & Archives in Galion, Ohio, is in search of a 500-pound stone marker that Hockaday had placed at his tire store at Topeka and William in Wichita. Hockaday, who paid for the Washington marker in 1919, had a duplicate made, which he placed at his store in Wichita. The one in Washington marks the official starting point of highways in the United States.
The marker in Wichita disappeared a few years after Hockaday died in 1947. The 4-foot-tall “zerostone” marker was a replica of one placed near the White House in Washington, D.C.
Where that Wichita marker is now has local historians stumped. What is known is that the stone once existed. According to a letter from Fred Davis, dated July 21, 1947, there was an effort made in 1947 to find the marker and display it in a prominent place in Wichita. Davis invited then-President Harry Truman — a friend of Hockaday’s — to the stone’s dedication.
“It would lend dignity and much interest to the occasion and certainly would do you no harm in any future aspirations you may have,” Davis wrote. “Of course we would desire to steer clear of any political signification to this event, for my son-in-law is a Republican and my political associates are all Republicans, but ‘Woody’s’ brother is a Democrat and Postmaster at Hutchinson.” Truman politely declined, saying the Kansas governor or Wichita mayor would be better suited for the dedication. His letter to Davis indicated he was in the midst of a campaign and it might appear he was campaigning if he attended.
Truman did say he took a walk the morning of July 25, 1947, which was typical. “Passed that Zero Milestone twice — once going out and next time coming back,” Truman wrote. “It is just across the street from the south Portico of The White House.”
Highways today still bear Hockaday’s influence. U.S. 54 boasted his signs from Alamogordo, N.M., to Iowa, as did U.S. 81 and U.S. 96 — so named because 96 was the telephone number to his store.
Travelers along Wichita area roads marked by Hockaday crews could also enjoy roadside service, a forerunner of today’s AAA. Using a precursor of the tow truck, Hockaday had a fleet of cars to answer calls within a 10-mile radius of Wichita. The service was free.
As he aged, Hockaday became a friend of presidents Woodrow Wilson, Calvin Coolidge, Franklin Roosevelt and Truman. Hockaday died in 1947, and his tire store was razed two years later.
Some other links to Woody Hockaday:
Kansas State Historical Society - Western Trails Project
http://www.kshs.org/research/collections/documents/online/westerntrails/exhibits/automobiles.htm
Woody Hockaday as a "feathers for peace" advocate
http://www.kshs.org/research/collections/documents/online/westerntrails/exhibits/automobiles.htm
Image of a Hockaday sign (mirror image) on Kansas Memories
http://www.kansasmemory.org/item/592
Woody Hocakady and his street signs - Weird Universe
http://www.weirduniverse.net/blog/comments/2982/
Reach Beccy Tanner at 316-268-6336 or btanner@wichitaeagle.com
Photo from the Wichita Eagle shows site of second store after demolition at NW corner of Topeka and William. (Scanned at Wichita State University library.)
F. W. "Woody" Hockaday
Early advocate of uniform highway marking system. Businessman. Born: 1884, Mount Hope, Kan. Died: 28 March 1947, Macon, Mo.
F. W. "Woody" Hockaday was born in Mount Hope in 1884 and later became a highly successful auto supply and tire company owner in Wichita.
In 1915, he began to mark distances between towns with a big red H and arrow directing the motorist to the next town. By the time he was finished there were Hockaday signs on approximately 60,000 miles of roads from Washington D.C. to Los Angeles. "Woody" Hockaday gained fame as the first person to recognize the need for highway marking in the United States.
Hockaday was a great booster of Kansas and Kansas products. He traveled widely distributing miniature sacks of wheat and coined the slogan "Kansas grows the best wheat in the world."
Hockaday died in 1947 and was remembered with great respect by those who recognized his contributions. One Kansas editor said of him, "Woody Hockaday deserves a respectable niche in the history of intelligent and patriotic Kansans who served their state well."
Entry: Hockaday, F. W. "Woody"
Author: Kansas Historical Society
Author information: The Kansas Historical Society was founded in 1875 and is the agency charged with actively safeguarding and sharing the state's history to facilitate government accountability, economic development, and the education of Kansans.
Date Created: June 2003
Date Modified: November 2010
The author of this article is solely responsible for its content.
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