Kirke Field Mechem
Born: Mankato, Jewell County, Kansas, on December 20, 1889. Married: Katharine Celia Lewis in Wichita, Sedgwick County, Kansas, on May 22, 1920. She died in 1970. He married Marian Bolton in San Mateo, California, on May 18, 1979. Died: San Jose, Santa Clara County, California, on June 5, 1985.
Kirke Field Mechem was born to James Harlan and Mary Lavinia “Lura” (Allen) Mechem in Mankato, Jewell County, Kansas, on December 20, 1889. The family soon relocated to Colorado, where James died in 1898, and Lura moved the family to Topeka. Mechem attended Topeka High School. He was assistant manager of the Topeka High World, office secretary for the Y.M.C.A., played competitive tennis, and was active in a state chess club. He took a job as stenographer with Bell Telephone Company in 1912 and then worked for the Southwestern Journal in Kansas City, Missouri. Mechem served in the army during World War I. There he wrote for his regimental military publication, The Jayhawker in France, printed on French presses. After the war, Mechem worked for Price Current and Wichita Eagle in Wichita. He married Katherine Celia Lewis in Wichita on May 22, 1920.
Mechem was elected secretary of the Society in 1930. He worked to improve collection management and acquisitions. He launched the Kansas Historical Quarterly in November 1931, serving as editor. He was involved in creating the state’s historical markers program in 1934, working with economic development officials around the state, the state chamber, and the highway commission. The 56 markers were installed between 1938 and 1941. Several of Mechem’s articles in the Quarterly proved so popular they were reprinted as booklets, including “The Mythical Jayhawk” in 1944 and “The Story of Home on the Range” in 1950.
While serving as secretary, Mechem continued to pursue his writing. A Frame for Murder, one of his two detective novels, was set in Wichita and published in 1936. He also wrote two short stories. John Brown, a play in three acts, was written in a railroad boxcar by a wooded stream where he camped by himself. He wrote two or three sessions a day during his month-long vacation. The play was published in 1938 and received the Maxwell Anderson Award, presented by Stanford University.
Mechem retired from the Historical Society on November 1, 1951. He moved to Lindsborg and continued as editor of the Quarterly and contributed to the historical marker program. Katharine Mechem died in 1970. Kirche Mechem relocated to San Jose, California. He married Marian Bolton on May 18, 1979. Mechem died on June 5, 1985.
Entry: Mechem, Kirke Field
Author: Kansas Historical Society
Author information: The Kansas Historical Society is a state agency charged with actively safeguarding and sharing the state's history.
Date Created: December 2024
Date Modified: July 2026
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