Samuel Clasen
Values Codes: I – E
Samuel Clasen was born in Rosedale, Kansas, five miles south of Kansas City, Missouri.
He graduated from a business college in Kansas City, MO, and joined his father’s retail store.
Samuel won election to the Rosedale council in 1909, at twenty-four, as an independent affiliated with the People’s Progressive Party.
He was chosen council president in 1910 and, at twenty-five, was elected “boy mayor” of Rosedale in 1911.
In 1916, he won a seat in the Kansas House.
Samuel Clasen left politics in 1917, just thirty-two years old.
Clasen spent the rest of his career in automobile sales.
In 1927, Clasen opened a Chrysler car dealership in Kansas City, Missouri and acquired a Chevrolet car dealership in 1937.
In the 1930’s, Clasen headed the Kansas City Motor Car Dealers Association.
He remained in the automobile business until the 1960’s.
Source
- Mark Rutzik, Breaking New Ground: The Untold Story of Early America’s Jewish Electoral Pioneers – 1788 to 1920, 2025.
Mark Rutzick is the curator of this Samuel Clasen exhibit.