Thank a Kansas boy for the piggy bank
By Alonzo Weston
St. Joseph News-Press
WHITE CLOUD, Kan. --A piggy bank is one of those things like toothpicks
and scissors that have been around so long most people don't remember
who invented it.
But the town of White Cloud has never forgotten who was responsible for
the American piggy bank. Wilbur Chapman was one of their own. A monument
to him and the piggy bank sits in the small courtyard of the Community
Christian Church on Main Street here.
"I knew him personally," said "Wolf River" Bob Breeze, the local
historian and town celebrity in this northeast Kansas river town of 255
residents. "I met him in 1938 when they had the dedication in front of
the church."
The story of Wilbur Chapman and the piggy bank reads more like a fable
than part of American history. Then again, it probably would be too hard
for any storyteller to think up a young boy like Wilbur.
The story begins in the spring of 1913 when William Danner, the American
Leprosy Missions' first secretary, visited White Cloud to speak to the
townspeople about the disease.
He told horrid tales about the conditions of the people afflicted with
the disease.
"This was a disease that was worldwide at the time," said Breeze. "It
was really big in India and it was devastating."
The Chapman family invited Danner to their home, where he told
the10-year-old Wilbur and his parents more about the hardship lepers
endured.
He told them it cost only $25 to give one leper care and a clean
hospital bed for one year.
Wilbur's mother was so shaken by the lepers' plight that she vowed to
raise enough money to provide a year's worth of care for 10 of them
before Danner left town.
"Wilbur and his mother got together and started taking donations around
the neighborhood," Breeze said.
By the time Danner stepped on the afternoon train the next day, Wilbur
and his mother had collected enough money for nine lepers. They were $25
short.
But Danner gave young Wilbur three silver dollars before he left.
"There were lots of things he wanted to buy: bats, balls, toys and stuff
but (Wilbur) thought about the lepers," Breeze said.
Wilbur Chapman simply didn't want that 10th leper to go without care.
He bought a pig with the three dollars and named it Pete. But Pete was
no pet; he was an investment. Wilbur fattened the pig and sold it at the
market for $25. He sent the last $25 to Danner, which allowed a leper
boy named Al Sam to get care in a leper mission hospital.
The American Leprosy mission was so inspired by Wilbur's compassion and
generosity that they began to construct and sell cast-iron piggy banks
to aid their mission. Soon these metal pigs with slots in their backs
began to appear in many homes and offices around the nation.
To celebrate the 25th anniversary of Wilbur's compassion, a monument was
made. It was unveiled in a special ceremony in front of the Community
Christian Church in 1938.
Wilbur, by then a successful draftsman living in Minneapolis, returned
to accept a bronze plaque honoring his feat. The plaque is imbedded in
the stone monument that sits in the churchyard today.
In 1988, the town of White Cloud hosted another huge celebration to
honor the 50th anniversary of Wilbur and Pete the Pig.
© 2000 The Wichita Eagle
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