He worked as a plasterer, but he had his eyes set on a different lifestyle that would benefit him financially. In August 1852, Bob married Emily Lemmon and started a family. He was arrested for breaking and entering as well as stealing bank bills. To no surprise, Bob also turned to the streets as a teenager. Peter was arrested for vagrancy in 1846 and was sent to jail “on bread and water.” In 1849, his father was arrested again for “wandering about by night and day, without visible means of gaining a livelihood.” They lived in Cincinnati in a modest but comfortable home.īob followed in his father’s footsteps in his early years, but when his mother died in 1845, his father was inconsolable and lost control of his life. and was trained by his father to be a plasterer. His father, Peter (1809-1872), was reared in Baltimore, Md. Born in the early 1830s in Cincinnati, Ohio, Bob was one of ten children.

Robert Potee, the PlastererĪlthough most accounts put Bob Potee’s nativity from wealthy Virginia stock, the infamous gambler came from humble beginnings. Photo courtesy of Missouri Valley Special Collections, KCPL. Marble Hall can be seen on the left-hand side. Looking north on Main Street from 6th in 1872. This handsome dealer came to Kansas City to make a fortune but met a tragic end. One of the best-known card dealers during this time period was a man named Bob Potee, and his story, oftentimes repeated long after his death, has been partially fictionalized. In these early days, cattlemen from all over the country could come to Kansas City and spend yearly earnings in one exciting weekend in a gambling house. Men from the pages of history books, including Frank and Jesse James, Wyatt Earp, Wild Bill Hickock and Doc Holiday, were known to venture to this section of the city. On Main Street, between 2 nd Street and Missouri Avenue in a section of “Old Town,” gambling establishments quickly crowded these city blocks. They operated under their own set of laws and retired from their transient lives on steamboats to set up shop in Kansas City. In those days, some men made their living with a set of cards and chips. The population of Kansas City exploded from just over 32,000 people in 1870 to nearly 56,000 ten years later. It put the city on the map, and capitalists, businessmen and cattlemen flooded the area to set up businesses. The Hannibal Bridge, spanning the Missouri River in 1869, brought more than just the railroad to Kansas City.

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