Shoe Parties
Tea biscuits, duck ponds and school shoes. That’s what comes to mind when the locals recall Kansas Citian, Ella Loose. After nearly seven decades, her name lives on through the many great philanthropic gifts she bestowed on our city.
In the early 1900s, Ella and her husband, Jacob Loose, the baking mogul behind Sunshine Biscuits, began a 30-year tradition of throwing Thanksgiving shoe parties for children at the Gillis Orphans’ Home. At these festive parties, each child received a brand new pair of shoes and a crisp dollar bill to spend as they wished. In 1923, following Jacob’s death, Ella donated 80 acres of greenspace to Kansas City in her husband’s memory. Loose Park remains one of the loveliest parks in town, with rolling, treed hillsides, walking paths and a large pond that attracts fishermen and wildlife.
Ella was also known for her lavish parties and wintered in Washington D.C., where she ruled the social scene from her apartment at the Mayflower Hotel. Legend has it that, at one of those parties, the caterer served tea biscuits from a competing company and the irritated Ella immediately terminated her lease.
Despite her “social butterfly” reputation, Ella continued her philanthropic activities until her death in 1945. The enormous charitable trusts of Ella and Jacob Loose, and those of other Loose family members, formed the basis of the Kansas City Association of Trusts and Foundations, and continue to serve as seed money for countless cultural and civic projects today.
Courtesy hmdb.org
