William E. Kemp


William Ewing Kemp was a mayor of Kansas City, Missouri from 1946 to 1955.
Kemp was born in La Monte, Missouri and received his undergraduate degree from Central Missouri State University. He was a law graduate of Washington University in St. Louis in 1917 and World War I veteran.
In 1940 he was appointed by mayor Joe Gage to be city counsel and prosecuted several city employees in the fall of the Thomas Pendergast machine. Kemp was elected to a two-year term in 1946, re-elected to a three-year term in 1949 and then re-elected to a four-year term in 1952.
During his tenure the Chouteau Bridge and Paseo Bridge were built across the Missouri River and Starlight Theatre opened.