By Murrel Bland
He came to Wyandotte County in 1879 with 90 cents.
In the next 45 years, Junius George Groves developed one of the country’s most successful
potato farms in Edwardsville, Kan. He also became one of the successful and wealthiest Black
businessmen in the United States.
The story of Groves was the subject of a presentation at a quarterly meeting of the Wyandotte
County Historical Society Sunday, March 26 at the George Meyn Community Center in
Wyandotte County Park, Bonner Springs. Brad Harrington, whose family owns the funeral home
in Bonner Springs, told of the many accomplishments of Groves who was known as “The Potato
King of the World.”
Groves was born in 1859 into slavery in Green County, Ky. He came to Wyandotte County as
part of the Exoduster Movement in which ex-slaves left the South. He began his agricultural
efforts as a sharecropper. In a few years, Groves and his wife, Matilda Stewart Groves, began
buying land, culminating in about 500 acres in what is now Edwardsville. He grew more bushels
of potatoes per acre than anyone else.
Groves co-founded and was President of the State Negro Business League; was Secretary of
Kaw Valley Potato Association; and was Vice President of the Sunflower State Agricultural
Association.
Although Groves received various recognition for his accomplishments, Harrington suggested
that two organizations, the City of Edwardsville and the National Agricultural Center and Hall of
Fame, need to honor Groves. A park in Edwardsville, which was part of Groves’ farm, could be
named in his behalf.
Groves died of a heart attack in 1925 in Edwardsville.
Information for the story was taken from the information in the Kansas Room of the Kansas City,
Kansas, Public Library.
Murrel Bland is the former editor of The Wyandotte West and The Piper Press.
Junius George Groves