Western Dental College

A 1902 graduate of Western Dental College, Dr. Rinehart joined its faculty in 1913, which also happened to be the year its founder and head, D.J. McMillan died. The college began to struggle, so Dr. Rinehart and a group of investors bought it. In order to improve the quality of dental education in Kansas City, Dr. Rinehart helped bring about the merger of his institution and its rival, the Kansas City Dental College, thus forming the Kansas City-Western Dental College in 1919. Then in 1920 he personally helped finance the construction of a brand new building at 10th and Troost, which housed the school until its present home opened in 1970. His commitment to improving the quality of dental education continued in 1922–23, when Dr. Rinehart transitioned the school from a commercial institution to a non-profit corporation held in a public trust.

UMKC School of Dentistry

Thanks to Dr. Rinehart’s unwavering dedication and leadership, his beloved institution successfully negotiated the long and winding road that led to the formation of today’s UMKC School of Dentistry. As dental education evolved in the early twentieth century, pressure mounted to move away from privately owned training institutions and toward university-affiliated professional schools. Dr. Rinehart embraced the idea, but faced a daunting challenge: Kansas City had no university to affiliate with. In the late 1920s, Dr. Rinehart lent his support to the establishment of Lincoln and Lee University, an idea that unfortunately did not survive the Great Depression. Unbowed, Dr. Rinehart responded by championing the formation of the University of Kansas City (UKC), which opened in 1933 and was joined by the School of Dentistry in 1940. As part of that process, Dr. Rinehart canceled all personal loans and debts owed him by the dental college. The UKC School of Dentistry was born. Then in 1963, UKC became UMKC when it joined the University of Missouri System.