Jay B. Dillingham graduated in 1926 from Plate City High School; in 1932 he received his LLB law degree from the Kansas City School of Law and in 1935 his LLM, also from Kansas City School of Law which today is part of the University of Missouri-Kansas City. During the Depression Years, professors and students worked during the day and went to school at night.
Following a decade with the New York Central Railroad System, Dillingham joined the Kansas City Stockyards Company in 1937, was named president in 1947 and retired in 1975. He continued to office in the Livestock Exchange Building until his 96th birthday – 69 years of driving to work usually six days a week. He started the Golden Ox Restaurant in 1949 and it would have operations at one time in Denver, Washington, DC, and Nashville. As the landlord of the American Royal, he was involved in that association for over 65 years, serving as president in 1960-1961.
The 1951 flood changed Kansas City and the Stockyards (which closed on Halloween in 1991). Following the massive cleanup, the American Royal, as a symbol of Kansas City, opened on October 1951 to a full house. Senator Harry Darby, as chairman of the American Royal, brought President Dwight Eisenhower to Kansas City in 1953 to dedicate the new Hereford Building and attend the evening’s horse shows. With the Stockyards having operations in Missouri and Kansas, Dillingham served as president of the Chamber of Commerce for both cities, the only person ever to do so. For 30 years, he and Senator Darby oversaw many projects involving business and agriculture.
Governor John Dalton appointed Dillingham to the Missouri Water Resources Board in 1971. He had represented Kansas City for years testifying before the Congress on needs for flood protection. His first hand experience of the 1951 Flood led to the authorization of the Smithville Lake, H.S. Truman Reservoir and many other projects built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. In 1976, Lt. General Jack Morris of the Corps awarded Dillingham the Certificate of Appreciation for Patriotic Civilian Service. Dillingham also served as president of the Missouri/Arkansas Flood Control. Association (Mo-Ark)
Personally, while growing up in Platte City, his father bought and farmed Missouri River bottom land. During the Depression, Dillingham along with his two brothers helped keep food on the table and this became the catalyst of a family farm corporation, JoDill, Inc. Jay’s son, John, currently operates the corporation.
During Dillingham’s early teens, his father developed Tuberculosis and was bedridden for a year. To help make ends meet, he assisted his mother in a milk route throughout Platte City.
Following his marriage to Frances Thompson in 1935 at her home, the Maple Grove Farm near Nashua, Missouri, the couple moved in with her father, Allen M. Thompson. Mr. Thompson was the first president of the American Royal in 1905. He and his father in the late 1800s and early 1900s had the largest Galloway cattle herd in America and one of the first three breeds to create the American Royal.
Even though work was 15 miles south at the Stockyards, for almost 35 years there was farm work at home. Feeder cattle, mowing and haying, digging ponds, John’s FFA pig farrowing or 4-H lambs and Registered Angus plus horses, goats, geese, and chickens were ongoing.
For the non-irrigated Missouri River bottom row crop land, the JoDill Corporation was fortunate in the 1950s to have built on their lands and adjacent U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Levees and Districts to protect from serious periodic flooding – among the first in Missouri.
His experiences with floods and the understanding first hand of how it affects agricultural, personal, and corporate assets, resulted in protecting future generations from the same problems. It also resulted in his conviction and push for the Smithville Reservoir following the devastating local Little Platte River Flood of 1965.
Dillingham’s interest in roads, whether Interstate or farm-to-market, came from pre-concrete road travel. Stories of pushing cars through mud in high school going to play basketball makes one appreciate modern transportation. He even broke an arm once cranking a Model T Ford car.
Appointed in 1978 by Governor Joe Teasdale (Democrat from Kansas City) as chairman of the Missouri Department of Transportation, Dillingham offered to step down when Republican Kit Bond came into the Governor’s office. But, Governor Bond asked him to stay on the Highway Commission as Chairman – he served a total of six years.
He was credited with being the father of I-435 ringing Kansas City – Missouri and Kansas. In addition, Missouri Highway 152 (Doniphan Highway), portions of Missouri Highway 36 across northern Missouri, and new Choteau and Heart of America bridges across the Missouri River in Kansas City are a few of his accomplishments. The Missouri Highway Commission, following his term in office, surprised and honored him by naming I-670 in Kansas City on the Missouri side, the Jay B. Dillingham Freeway. The Kansas legislature followed suit in 1990 on the Kansas side.