William F. Davis

William F. “Bill” Davis was the Kansas City Police Department’s first Black officer, hired in the department’s founding year of 1874 — a fact obscured for over a century by mistaken historical attributions until a 2005 research project corrected the record and dedicated a marker at his grave.

Biography

KCPD career

Davis was one of two Black officers — alongside Lewis Tompkins — hired by KCPD in its founding year, 1874.¹ He served 15 years, retiring in 1889.¹

Death and the correction of the historical record

Davis died in 1891 at age 48 of liver complications and is buried at Elmwood Cemetery (Truman Road and Van Brunt).¹ For decades afterward, local historians credited other men — Lafayette Tillman or Robert Alexander — as KCPD’s first Black officer. In 2005, the Kansas City Police Historical Society undertook a research project, working line-by-line through the 1874 city register and an 1878 Kansas City Times article, and established Davis as the department’s actual first Black officer. On June 19, 2005, the Society dedicated a gravestone marker at his grave.¹

Defining contributions to Kansas City

1. KCPD’s first Black officer, serving 15 years from the department’s founding.
2. Subject of a 2005 historical correction that restored his rightful place in the department’s record after more than a century of misattribution.

Sources

Footnotes

1. Kansas City Police Officers Memorial — “William F. Davis.” https://www.kcpolicememorial.com/history/wmdavis/ ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴