Charles F. Adams
CF Adams was a winner of the Chillicothe Hall of Fame winner in 2018.
Charles Francis “Frank” Adams was born in Vermont in 1863, the son of Charles A. and Elizabeth Adams. His family moved to Livingston County, Missouri when Frank was a small boy, attending school in Rich Hill Township. He quit school when he was 16 years old to help his father on the family’s dairy farm.
Frank and his father established the Adams & Son Creamery, marketing their produce, notably their butter, both nationally and internationally. Queen Victoria of Great Britain thought so highly of their butter that she awarded the Adams & Son Creamery a medal in recognition for its excellence. Starting in 1876, Fred Harvey built a coast-to-coast chain of 45 “Harvey House” restaurants and hotels, as well as 20 dining cars, all associated with nationwide railway systems. Harvey used the Adams’ butter exclusively in his diners and restaurants for years.
In 1881, at the age of 18, Frank moved to Browning, Missouri where he worked in the mercantile business but then moved to Chillicothe in 1885 and established the Adams & Sons Wholesale Grocery. They quickly became one of the largest wholesale grocery suppliers in northern Missouri. Frank Adams was active in this business until 1928.
Seeing the future of the automobile, he became a dealer for the Dodge Brothers Automobile Company, erecting the three-story brick building at 440 Locust Street in 1916. This building served as a showroom on the first and second floors with an automotive repair shop on the third floor.
In 1888, he married Mary Jones and they had six children: Alice, Forest, Mildred, Charles Jr., George and Dorothy.
Adams also served his community. He was Mayor from 1907 to 1909 and subsequently a member of the board for Public Works for a number of years. While President of Chillicothe Municipal Utilities, he made sure that Chillicothe had one of the best equipped and most efficient electrical generation plants in Missouri.
Frank Adams was president of three highway associations at the advent of the automobile and helped dub Chillicothe “The Highway City.” He was instrumental in the formation of the Pikes Peak Ocean-to-Ocean Highway which connected New York to Los Angeles via Chillicothe and Salt Lake City, and eventually north to San Francisco; Route 36 roughly follows the same route. Serving as the Ocean to Ocean Highway Association’s first President for 9 years, from 1911 – 1920, Adams was afterwards elected a lifetime member of advisory committee.
Adams passed from pneumonia on January 30, 1933 at his home in the 300 block of Vine Street and was buried in Edgewood Cemetery here in Chillicothe.
This is the text from the Chillicothe Hall of Fame award winner in 2018, sponsored by Main Street Chillicothe and the Chillicothe Historic Preservation Commission. The Chillicothe Hall of Fame project has been endorsed by the State Historical Society of Missouri 2021. The Livingston County Preservation Society now oversees the Chillicothe Hall of Fame project.
Sources: Chillicothe Constitution newspapers, thegreenhills.org/pioneers, death certificate