Katie Cable McKinney

Katie McKinney, a painter and teacher, was born in Shenandoah, Iowa, on July 28, 1903. She and her family moved to Missouri in the 1910s and settled in Bolivar, where she attended school. She exhibited in the Sioux City, Iowa, Inter-State Fair in 1918 and 1919, where she won awards for her artwork.

McKinney studied art at several institutions in Chicago, Omaha, and New York City, and at the University of Missouri, Columbia, and the Kansas City Art Institute. She also studied under John Laurie-Wallace. She was best known for painting watermills in the Ozarks.

In addition to exhibiting at the Sioux City Inter-State Fair in her teens, her artwork was displayed in several exhibitions, including at the Joslyn Memorial Art Galleries in Omaha, the Springfield Art Museum, Springfield, Missouri, and a solo exhibition at William Jewell College in Liberty, Missouri. 

McKinney was active in several art organizations, including the Omaha Art Guild, Bolivar Art Guild, Ozark Artists Association, and was a charter member of the North Land Art League in North Kansas City, Missouri. Her work can be seen at the Springfield Art Museum, Spencer Funeral Home in Salem, Missouri, Southwest Baptist College in Bolivar, and the Bolivar Public Library.

She died on November 13, 1993, and is interred at Lee’s Summit Historical Cemetery.