WI BIO - Kenosha Co - AMES, Arthur B.
The City of Kenosha and Kenosha County, WI. Chicago: S. J. Clarke Pub. Co., 
1916, Vol II, pp 653-654

Arthur B. AMES, prominent among the energetic, farsighted and progressive 
business man of Kenosha, Kenosha County, WI, who in mercantile circles 
figures prominently as a dealer in men's furnishing goods, was born at Fort 
Collins [Larimer County], CO, 15 Aug 1871, and is a son of Joshua B., and 
Elizabeth (ANGIER) AMES. Both of the parents were natives of NY, and in 1860 
Joshua B. AMES went to CO, where he engaged in gold mining. Subsequently he 
took up a Government claim near Fort Collins and devoted his attention to 
farming and stock raising. In 1877 he removed with his family to Storm Lake 
[Buena Vista County], IA, where he engaged in the clothing business until 
about 1890, when he moved to Waukegan [Lake County], IL, and engaged in the 
same business, afterward removing to CA. Joshua B. AMES died in CA on 31 May 
1911; his wife [nee Elizabeth ANGIER] survives and is yet [1916] living in CA.

After acquiring a public school education, Arthur B. AMES continued his 
studies in Storm Lake Normal and Business College, and became the associate 
of his father in the clothing business at Waukegan, IL, so that he had 
practical training in the line of work in which he is now engaged. He 
studied law under the direction of the Chicago Correspondence School of Law, 
and was admitted to the WI bar in 1906, but has never practiced. His 
knowledge of jurisprudence, however, has been of value to him in the conduct 
of business affairs, and in his understanding of important public problems.

In the spring of 1893 Arthur B. AMES came to Kenosha, WI, where he purchased 
the interest of his brother, Adelbert O. AMES, in a men's clothing goods 
store, which was conducted under the name of Ames, Angier & Company, which [p 
654] had been established the year previously. Later Arthur B. AMES bought 
out his partners, and has since been sole proprietor of a business which is 
now extensive and important, being ranked with the leading mercantile 
enterprises of the city of Kenosha. He started business at No. 302 Main 
Street [Main Street renamed 6th Ave], and afterward removed to the corner of 
Main and Market Streets [now the corner of 6th Avenue and 56th Street], where 
he remained for five years. Subsequently he was at the corner of Main and 
Wisconsin Streets [now 6th Avenue and 58th Street] for eight years, and in 
1907 he erected the Ames building at 169 Main Street [now 6th Ave], renting 
the upper floor for office purposes. The store occupies the first floor and 
basement of the building, which is 28x75 feet. He carries a full line of 
men's clothing, hats, furnishings, etc., and his trade is now very gratifying.

In 1900 Arthur B. AMES was married to Miss Harriet M. BUTCHER, a native of 
Kenosha, Kenosha County, WI, and a daughter of Robert and Elizabeth Susan 
BUTCHER. Arthur B. and Harriet M. (BUTCHER) AMES have become the parents of 
two children, Kenneth S. and Warren W. Mr. AMES maintains a nonpartisan 
attitude in politics. Fraternally he is identified with the Masons, Knights of 
Pythias, and Modern Woodmen. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal 
church. He was a charter member of the Kenosha Retail Merchants Association, 
and has always taken an active part in the work of the association. He is 
also a member of the Kenosha Bar Association. There have been no spectacular 
phases in his life record, but his life work is none the less essential and 
none the less valuable to the community, for it is the business man who 
pursues the even tenor of his ways that contributes the real source of the 
city's greatness and its stability. His diligence and his determination have 
brought him the success which has been most honorably won, making his name a 
synonym for commercial integrity as well as enterprise in Kenosha's business 
circles.

Submitted by Cathy Kubly