Stephen Alonzo Cobb

Stephen Alonzo Cobb (June 17, 1833 – August 24, 1878) was a U.S. Representative from Kansas and a prominent lawyer, soldier, and public official in the early political life of that state. Born in Madison, Somerset County, Maine, he attended the common schools there during his youth. In 1850 he moved with his father to Minnesota, then a developing frontier region, where he found work in the lumber business. During this period he pursued the study of languages and undertook preparatory work for college, reflecting an early commitment to formal education despite the demands of frontier life.

Cobb entered Beloit College in Beloit, Wisconsin, in 1854 and remained a student there for two years. He subsequently enrolled at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, from which he was graduated in 1858. Armed with a collegiate education unusual for the region at that time, he moved west again the following year. In 1859 he settled in Wyandotte, Kansas, a growing river town that would later become part of Kansas City, Kansas, and there he commenced the practice of law. His legal training and education quickly brought him into local public affairs and positioned him as a rising figure in the political and civic development of the new state.

With the outbreak of the Civil War, Cobb entered the Union Army in 1862. During his military service he advanced in responsibility, becoming captain and commissary sergeant of Volunteers on May 18, 1864. For his service he was brevetted major on August 16, 1865, a recognition of meritorious conduct, and he was honorably discharged from the Army on September 23, 1865. His wartime experience, combined with his legal background, enhanced his stature in Kansas public life during the turbulent Reconstruction era.

Cobb’s political career began even before the end of the Civil War. He was elected mayor of Wyandotte in 1862, reflecting the confidence placed in him by the local community at a relatively young age. He again served as mayor in 1868, helping guide the city through a period of postwar growth and consolidation. At the state level, he served in the Kansas State Senate in 1862, 1869, and 1870, participating in the legislative work of a state still in its first decade of statehood. His influence extended to the lower chamber as well; he was elected a member of the Kansas House of Representatives in 1872 and served as speaker, presiding over the body and playing a central role in shaping its legislative agenda.

On the national stage, Cobb was elected as a Republican to the Forty-third Congress and served as a U.S. Representative from Kansas from March 4, 1873, to March 3, 1875. His term in Congress coincided with the administration of President Ulysses S. Grant and with ongoing debates over Reconstruction, western development, and railroad expansion, issues of particular importance to Kansas. Although he sought to continue his service in the national legislature, he was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1874 to the Forty-fourth Congress, after which he returned to his legal and civic activities in Kansas.

Stephen Alonzo Cobb remained in Wyandotte following his congressional service and continued to be identified with the civic and political life of the community he had helped to shape. He died in Wyandotte (now a part of Kansas City), Kansas, on August 24, 1878. He was interred in Oak Grove Cemetery in what is now Kansas City, Kansas, leaving a record of service as a soldier, municipal leader, state legislator, and member of the United States House of Representatives during the formative years of Kansas statehood.