Researching Henry Perry

Perry was born in Shelby County, Tennessee near Memphis. He worked on steamboat restaurants on the Mississippi River and Missouri River before moving to Kansas City, Missouri in 1907. In 1908, he began serving smoked meats to workers in the Garment District in Downtown Kansas City from an alley stand.

He then moved his stand, "Perry's Barbecue", to 17th and Lydia in the inner city neighborhood of 18th Street and Vine. He had a sign in his restaurant that said "my business is to serve you, not to entertain you," and it was known for its far-reaching BBQ smells. He was known for his generosity, and would often give food to people for free.

He later moved a few blocks away within the neighborhood of 19th and Highland, where he operated out of an old trolley barn throughout the 1920s and 1930s when the neighborhood became famed for its Kansas City Jazz during the Tom Pendergast era.

Customers paid 25 cents for hot meat smoked over oak and hickory and wrapped in newsprint. Perry's sauce was described as "harsh, peppery" (rather than sweet). Perry’s menu included such barbecue standards of the day as beef and wild game such as possum, woodchuck, and raccoon.

On March 22, 1940 at 5:55 A.M., Perry died in Kansas City due to pneumonia and complications from an infection.

After his death, Charlie Bryant took over the business; he, in turn, sold it to his brother Arthur, who made the sauce a little sweeter when he relocated the restaurant, Arthur Bryant's, to 1727 Brooklyn in the same neighborhood. Also, Arthur Pinkard, who had worked for Perry, helped George Gates found Gates Bar-B-Q.

Because of Perry's long-lasting influence on the barbecue community in Kansas City, he became known as the "Father of Kansas City Barbecue," and in 2014, he was inducted into the American Royal Barbecue Hall of Fame.

He was born in Whitwick, Leicester, the son of Samuel Perry and Annie Ward, was educated in Coalville and Loughborough, and came to Canada in 1910, settling in Prince George in 1912. In 1911, Perry married Florence Smith. He was mayor of Prince George from 1917 to 1918, in 1920 and in 1924. He was owner and editor of the Fort George Tribune, The Prince George Citizen, The Nechako Chronicle and the Prince Rupert Daily News. Perry was defeated by Frederick Parker Burden when he ran for reelection in 1928. He ran unsuccessfully for a seat in the House of Commons in 1930. Perry was speaker for the assembly from 1934 to 1937 and served in the British Columbia cabinet as Minister of Education from 1941 to 1945. He was defeated by John McInnis when he ran for reelection to the provincial assembly in 1945.

Perry died in Victoria of a heart attack at the age of 70.