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Robert C. Greenlease, Sr. was a man who worked very hard for his entire life. He spent his younger years on the family farm in central Missouri. His parents were Charles and Julia Marie Greenlease. At a very young age he moved with his parents and several siblings to Kansas City, Missouri. Early in life he ventured into several business enterprises, but his keen interest in the new-founded motorized vehicles made such a deep impression, as these “motorized horseless vehicles” really intrigued him!
Robert studied the working mechanics of the first motor vehicles and he opened an auto repair business near downtown Kansas City, MO. At the age of 21, he even invented an automobile he called the “Kansas City Hummer,” because to him this five passenger motorized vehicle he created and built made a humming sound as it “hummed” along. This venture resulted in only four vehicles being built and the enterprise ended because of its lack of popularity and practicality among people interested in motorized vehicles during that early motor era. However, a new automobile was becoming quite popular in the east and Robert was aware of its growing popularity—this automobile had style, elegance, reliability, and importantly, profitability. Cadillac! This motor vehicle really excited him!
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Robert Greenlease then designed and constructed the original Cadillac dealership in 1918 located at McGee Street and Gillham Road just south of downtown in Kansas City, Missouri. The original structure still displays the famous Cadillac signature emblems that are terra cotta-carved into the upper exterior walls. The dealership was first-class from the elegant showroom and offices to the service and body shops. And throughout the history of what was known as Greenlease Cadillac, the company was very successful in new and preowned automobile sales and the service dept. was renowned throughout the Midwest. Robert expanded his dealerships to the point where he sold more Cadillac’s than any other dealerships in the nation. It was really quite stylish and perhaps a bit enviable to have the “by Greenlease” silver emblem affixed to the back of your Cadillac. And he partnered with other entrepreneurs to form Cadillac dealerships. He was the wholesale distributor for Cadillac Automobiles from the Texas panhandle to the Dakotas and from Missouri to Colorado, and even further west, and he was an actual partner in larger Cadillac dealerships in Oklahoma City, Tulsa, Omaha, Topeka, and many other cities. He partnered with Norbert S. O’Neill to form the Greenlease-O’Neill Oldsmobile Company in downtown Kansas City and this also became one of the largest Olds dealers in America. The O’Neill Company continues selling other makes of vehicles to this day. In succession, Greenlease Cadillac sold in 1970 and became Major Cadillac, and in 2007 Major Cadillac was sold to Conklin-Fangman Cadillac and is still located at 3200 Main Street in Kansas City, Missouri.
Robert was a very generous gentleman to family and friends. His great financial success allowed him the opportunities, and there were many, for him to share his wealth with others, including many worthy philanthropic and charitable entities. He was active in the Gate City Masonic Lodge and Ararat Shrine Temple, both in Kansas City, Missouri, and he generously donated to the Shriner’s Hospitals for Crippled Children. He enjoyed the loyal comrade of close friends in the Royal Order of Jesters Court # 54 where he would meet with them at the President Hotel downtown for lunch and fun every Friday at noon. He would join with his very close and best lifetime Jester and Ararat Shrine friends such as Frank “Sonny” Newcomer, Jr., Charles W. Fisher, and George W. Ryan, Sr. Robert was an active member in the Rotary Club # 13 in downtown Kansas City, Missouri; one of the first Rotary Clubs in the world! He was also an active member of The Kansas City Club and Hillcrest Country Club, and the Kansas City Country Club in nearby Mission Hills, Kansas. And Children’s Mercy Hospital was the beneficiary of his generosity for many, many years. If generosity ever had a smile, it could easily have come from the likes of Robert C. Greenlease, as his kind and genuine generosity toward the right things had absolutely no limits. Robert was, (as they would say today), “the real deal!”
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Picture images of the first Cadillac’s sold by the Greenlease Cadillac Company in Kansas City, Missouri
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