Kell, Frank

Entrepreneur and philanthropist Frank Kell helped build Wichita Falls into a major commercial and manufacturing center. Born in Clifton, he worked there and in Galveston in the milling and mercantile businesses in his early career. In 1885 he married Lula Kemp and five of their seven children were born in Clifton.

In 1896, the family moved to Wichita Falls, where Lula Kell’s brother Joseph A. Kemp was an established businessman. Over the succeeding decades, Frank Kell and Joseph Kemp shepherded the region through a period of exponential growth. Their first joint venture was operation of the Wichita Mill and Elevator Company. As the business expanded, they joined others to charter the Wichita Falls and Northwestern Railroad in 1905, establishing greater access to area wheat fields. The brothers-in-law also chartered the Wichita Falls and Southern Railroad, which linked the city to north Texas coal and oil reserves. They sold the two railroads to the MKT system in 1911.

Kell and Kemp were involved in a variety of business interests and civic improvements in the early 20th century. They built a hotel and recreational facilities at Lake Wichita; streetcar lines that traversed the city and led to the lake; and several downtown warehouses and commercial buildings, including the City National Bank, Wichita Falls Route Building and Kemp Hotel. Kell served for 13 years as a director of the Federal Reserve Bank in Dallas. Milling remained his primary interest until he sold his mills and elevators in the region to General Mills in 1928. When Kell died, he was active in numerous agricultural, commercial and municipal ventures in the growing city of Wichita Falls.