A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Yale University and author of several scholarly books, Congregationalist Minister Wallace Mertin Short was far and away the most educated individual ever to have held elected municipal office in Sioux City. After crossing swords over the issue of temperance with the national elders of the Congregationalist Church and being officially de-frocked as minister of that church's Sioux City congregation, Short rented a movie house on Fourth Street and founded a successful non-denominational church open to all. He appealed to the downtrodden and dregs of society and enjoyed rubbing elbows in Sioux City taverns with common laborers. The intellectual Short suffered from severe insomnia, and made no secret of the fact that he personally consumed 1 large glass of beer every evening to help him sleep. Such an admission from a man of the cloth was considered scandalous in the extreme in that time.