These were some towns that didn’t make the cut. They didn’t make the book for various reasons. Rather than throw them out, here they are for your reading pleasure!
Muncie, Wyandotte County
The town of Muncie, six miles west of Kansas City, Kansas, was formerly the old Indian town of Secondine. Moses Grinter, the first white settler in the county, operated a ferry there for many years for the United States Government. The Delaware Indians once had a gristmill on the site, but they soon abandoned it. The story of this mill, the old ferry, and Chouteau trading post just across the river are a part of the early history of the area. Even though Muncie was a small village with only a general store and post office, it was an important shipping point for agricultural and fruit products grown in the region. Actually Muncie never grew to be much of a town, but it did have one distinction, it was the location of the first Kansas train robbery of any importance. On the morning of December 8, 1874 Mary Steel, who lived near the southern bridge that spanned the Kansas River at Kansas City, saw three horsemen heading north toward Muncie. At some point between Kansas City and Muncie, the three horsemen were joined by two more. The five men reached their destination at around 3 p.m. and marched toward the railroad station. They robbed John Purdee, the station agent, of $20 at gunpoint and forced the section hands to place several T-rails across the railroad track; they locked these men in a hut and prepared to meet the next train at 4:30. When the train approached the station, they ordered the station agent to flag the engineer to halt. As soon as engineer Robert Murphy saw the signal he whistled down the brakes and reversed his engine. Hardly had he brought it to a stop when two of the robbers jumped into the cab of the locomotive and ordered Murphy and his firemen to leave the engine. Two other bandits took charge of the express manager and the baggage man. The fifth robber went through the passenger cars warning passengers to sit still and not to stick their heads out of the windows. Some of the passengers rushed into the Pullman car; J.O. Brinkerhoff, the conductor, quickly locked the door behind them. Brinkerhoff had realized that something was amiss when an armed robber confronted him and motioned him off the train. Far from obeying the order, Brinkerhoff dashed back through the cars and jumped off the rear coach. He began running up the track with the intention of flagging down the next train. After the robbers fired several shots at him, he halted but insisted that the next locomotive be stopped or it would run into the back of this train. The robbers uncoupled the baggage and mail cars from the rest of the train and ordered the express manager to open the safe. When asked how much money was in it, the manager said he thought around $25,000. This amount seemed to please the robbers as they hurriedly put the cash in a canvas sack. Actually there was $5,000 in gold dust and about $18,000 in currency. The five robbers then left the train and made their way back to their horses, firing a few shots in the general direction of the train. A passenger in the sleeping car shouted at some of the other passengers to get out their guns and follow them, but a few more shots from the robbers forced them back into the car. As the outlaws left, the leader turned and with a wave of his hand shouted, “Goodbye boys, you acted real decent!” The outlaws rode off in the direction of the southern bridge around sundown. On their way they passed two local men who recognized one as Henry Brant, another one as a man named Fisher, and another one named Rawlston. Some two or three miles beyond the bridge, they stole a horse belonging to Boston Steel. A posse rode off after the robbers, but they had to stop short when they came to the Missouri State Line. A few days later, when William Bud McDaniels was arrested in Lawrence for disorderly conduct, the police found a sheepskin bag of gold dust and a big wad of bills in his possession. This evidence was enough to arrest him for grand larceny, shooting with intent to kill, and second degree armed robbery. After being in the Douglas County jail for several months, McDaniels escaped just a few days before his trial was to begin. The sheriff and his posse conducted a lengthy search and cornered McDaniels about seven miles west of Lawrence. Shots were exchanged as they surrounded the desperado. A farmer helping the sheriff shot McDaniels in the stomach with a squirrel rifle, but he managed to make it to a nearby farm where he begged for some food and water. It was there that the sheriff captured him and immediately summoned a doctor. However, McDaniels’ wound was fatal, and a few hours later he died without confessing to the robbery or naming any of the other robbers. Who the rest of the outlaws were remains a mystery. Some writers have tried to link the James boys and the Younger brothers with the crime, but there is no evidence that it was either of them. McDaniels was never connected to these criminals, so who the real bandits were still remains an enigma. As time went by the small town dwindled, the post office closed, and Muncie is now part of suburban Kansas City, Kansas.
Stringtown, Jefferson County
Stringtown was a town with two names, also called Woodstock. In 1865 settlers established Woodstock along Mud Creek twelve miles north of Lawrence. Although no one remembers how the name “Woodstock” originated, there is a story about how the “Stringtown” name came to be. Several settlers built homes along the two-mile stretch of land from “Harding Corner” to the R.W. Rogers farm. These houses formed such a long, narrow string that everyone called it Stringtown. As for the Woodstock name, the only explanation came from H.W. Wellman, a schoolteacher in the settlement; he said his ancestors came from the Woodstock community in England, and they probably named the town. Stringtown was just a collection of houses, a school, and a post office that lasted from 1871 to 1891. One settler wanted to erect a store, but he did little more than build the foundation and quit. Actually the area was too wooded, and too many other towns existed nearby. In 1953 international attention focused briefly on the town when a resident of Woodstock, England, Dr. A.H.T. Robb Smith attempted to contact every Woodstock community in the world as part of the town’s quincentenary. Dr. Robb-Smith had found the Woodstock, Kansas name in an old 1893 gazetteer. The English town was attempting to restore the carillon of their church, which had been silenced since World War II. The congregation was looking for donations from all the other Woodstocks; if a donation came a plaque would be erected in their honor. No one in the Kansas town was interested. Stringtown a/k/a Woodstock declined and b ecame a ghost town, no one was left to represent it.
Zarah, Johnson County
In the early 1900’s the town of Zarah was destined to assume fair proportions, a large building 24 x 40 feet was erected for the post office, express office and a depot for general merchandise. A hotel and other buildings soon followed. A good population arrived and occupied the railroad lands under an arrangement with the Santa Fe Railroad. The managers and proprietors of the new town inscribed on a banner in letters of light—“ORDER IS HEAVEN’S FIRST LAW.” They decided that a decent respect for the opinion of others and obedience to the laws were a necessity. Those who valued these requirements were to govern themselves accordingly or take the consequences of any infractions. These regulations were as immutable as the laws of Medes and Persians, according to the townspeople of Zarah. This stern attitude was intended to discourage the lawlessness observed in the surrounding communities. Harry King, the “dean” of Kansas postmasters, was the most famous resident in Zarah. He was the postmaster for decades, starting in 1902. Postal inspectors, who visited the small post office occasionally, always doubted his word that he had been there since 1902, and often demanded to see proof on paper. If they had time, they would read the letter from James A. Farley congratulating Mr. King on being the oldest postmaster in Kansas in years of service. King ran the post office out of his general store; there it was called a “fourth class office.” His pay was on a commission basis, averaging about a dollar a day by the 1930’s. By the end of that decade when rural free delivery was installed, his pay was cut in half. By 1939, King had only forty customers, but he claimed his post office never closed, and one time he got out of his bed at midnight to assist a customer with a money order. Since the mail arrived each morning and evening at the Santa Fe Railroad Station and was picked up by his son, King never had to leave the store. In 1873 when King was a fourteen year-old boy, he rode horseback from Leavenworth to Pueblo, Colorado, a journey that took six weeks. He saw the “wild” town of Dodge City and for three days he was escorted around town by Wild Bill Hickok. For three years before coming to Zarah, he worked in the mining camps and punched cattle out “West.” King was Johnson County commissioner from 1908 until 1912, and for many years he was Monticello township trustee and a member of the Monticello school board. In 1958 one of the oldest buildings in what was left of Zarah burned to the ground; it was built in the 1870’s and was once an Indian trading post. The railroad still runs through the area. There’s a private crossing sign with the BNSF Mainline at Zarah that displays this famous expression “Watch Out For Trains,” although it is partially obscured by a stop sign. Today what might be left of Zarah would be on the northeast corner of Shawnee Mission Parkway and Woodland road, one and a half miles west of K7 highway.
Emerald Community, Anderson County
Many times early Kansas emigrants brought something of their homeland with them, and for John McManus and family, it was Ireland that became their namesake. After arriving in America in 1857, they traveled halfway across the country to settle in Kansas Territory. They homesteaded on the highest elevation in the county and constructed a home they named Emerald, after their beloved Emerald Isle Many other settlers with Irish names such as Fitzgerald, McElroy, McGrath, Reddington, and Sullivan followed the McManus family. Just months before the Civil War began, the McLindons, Campbells, and the Grants arrived, the last emigrants in the vicinity until the war was over. After the Civil War ended a large influx of Irish emigrants came to Kansas; they were lured to Anderson County by cheap land and rich soil. Here in Kansas they could be landowners instead of tenants, and they could base their success on hard work and talent instead of their destiny at birth. Coincidentally most of these families originated from the same place, North Ulster in Ireland, where they had lived on small farms. Since farming was what they knew best, this occupation became their livelihood at Emerald. In the 1870’s the earlier settlers traded in their makeshift log cabins for more substantial homes. Their existence centered around the community school where singing groups, spelling bees, and literary societies relieved some of the monotony of rural life. Emerald was a community rather than an actual town, although there was a post office at the home of Terence McGrath, which the government established on the stage route that operated between Ottawa and Burlington McGrath always had four horses ready when the stage driver from Ottawa arrived. The driver ate dinner at their home, changed horses, and rushed on to Burlington for the evening meal then back to McGrath’s the next day. The stage line carried passengers and freight until the Santa Fe Railroad reached Garnett then it was discontinued. Most of the Irish in Emerald were staunch Roman Catholics. Their first church, a log structure built in 1861, soon proved inadequate. In 1876 the congregation built a larger church of native stone, but this one again became too small, so in 1899 they constructed a much larger church out of brick. At the turn of the century the peak population of Emerald was 75 families, or around 250 people. The settlement not only encompassed Anderson County but also stretched into Coffey and Franklin Counties. By the 1930’s the community could boast of having five lawyers, two doctors, a member of the Kansas Author’s Club, several teachers, and eighteen World War I veterans, quite an impressive group for a rural “community”. Of the eighteen war veterans, two died while serving the country. The depression years of the 1930’s were not positive ones for rural growth, and the Emerald settlement lost 40% of its population. Some resurgence occurred during the post World War II period, but the sense of a true Irish “community” had all but disappeared. A larger Catholic church, one of the more recent structures, had interior decorating done by artists from Luxembourg. For many years this church had no resident priest except one from nearby Scipio who drove to Emerald for mass several times a month. The first resident pastor was Finis Tiagurse, the only priest buried in the Emerald cemetery. Today a fairly large Irish surname population still exists in the area that can trace their roots back to Kansas Territory and the original McManus family. Other than these namesakes, nothing else exists to mark the time or the place of Emerald in Kansas history.
Ohio City, Franklin County
The site of Ohio City, a rest stop between Westport Landing and Fort Scott, was about two miles east of Princeton. The settlers organized the Town Company in April 1857 and incorporated the town in 1858. They named the streets for Ohio cities such as Toledo and Cincinnati. A two-story hotel was the first building erected, and the owners used lumber hauled in from Kansas City. After the hotel, the settlers built a stage barn, a commissary, schoolhouse, a stone store, post office, and a courthouse. The hotel did not last long; it burned down in 1864. J. H. Cook built a second hotel that later became a tenant house on the farm of P.P. Elder. This house was torn down sometime between 1859 and 1860. J. W. Iliff opened the first general store, and William Kibbe built the first frame house in town. Kibbe was the postmaster at the first post office called Bowling Green. When the Free-State men outnumbered the Pro-Slavery forces, the government changed the post office name to Ohio City. The town also had a steam mill on Middle Creek; they had two good wells and windmills for power. One of the first attempts made in Kansas at prohibiting liquor occurred at Ohio City. B.C. Sanford had opened a saloon, but the county commissioners tried to close it down by charging $100 for a license. Sanford paid the fee. Next year they raised the price of the license to $250, but Sanford surprised everyone again by paying the fee and keeping his saloon open. Later the county commissioners learned that a man named Weatherwax, who was a supporter of the temperance movement, was giving Sanford money to pay the license charges. This contribution did not make much sense, unless Weatherwax was stumbling over his ideologies. In 1861 Ohio City became the official county seat, but by 1864 Ottawa was the dominant community and won the next election. At that time Ohio City had about 150 people, but as Ottawa grew larger, many of Ohio City’s residents left the town. When the Leavenworth, Lawrence & Galveston Railroad laid track through the area, Princeton was the major town on the L.L.G. Some of the houses in Ohio City moved to Princeton, and others moved to Ottawa. Either way Ohio City ceased to exist. A country cemetery with about two-dozen graves is all that remains of the town.
Williamsport, Shawnee County
In 1857 citizens of the town of Williamsport, Pennsylvania organized the Williamsport Town Company. There were twenty-five members, three of them--Dr. Andrew J. Huntoon, Thomas U. Thompson, and Joel Huntoon--moved to the Kansas township and made improvements. The men laid out a town site one mile northeast of the present town of Wakarusa. Joel Huntoon built the first house, but the “hurricane” of 1860 demolished it. Dr. A.J. Huntoon and Thomas Thompson known for their strong moral and religious convictions built homes in Williamsport. Colonel Joel Huntoon was a surveyor in Pennsylvania and later became a civil engineer for two different railroads before he made his way to Kansas Territory Dr. Andrew Huntoon Joel’s brother came to Williamsport, Pennsylvania where he opened a drug and bookstore. In the spring of 1855 he became aware of certain events occurring in Kansas. The Free State and Pro-Slavery problems influenced him to come to Kansas to represent the Free Staters, and in 1857 he settled in Williamsport. There is almost no information about Thomas Thompson. The town of Williamsport had hopes of the development of a railroad, but it laid track through Wakarusa instead. Wakarusa was established in 1868, only a few years after Williamsport. All three of the founders of the town lived long lives. Thompson died in 1899 while being read to by his daughter-in-law. Joel Huntoon died in 1906 and Dr. Huntoon in 1912. Not much information has been recorded about the town. All that remained of Williamsport in the 1970’s were a few gravestones, and in 1977 they were moved to the Shawnee Center Cemetery. Even the gravestones have deserted the once promising town site.
Camp Whiteside, Geary County
In the 1930’s Camp Whiteside was one of the most photographed military installations in Kansas. Photographers from all over the state came to this satellite of Fort Riley and took pictures of the enlisted men. Some of these wide-angle shots were “bird’s eye” views two or three feet wide and still exist in the photo archives of the Kansas State Historical Society. One of Camp Whiteside’s most distinguished enlisted men was Harry Woodring, a man who would go on to be a Kansas governor. Woodring gave his impression of the camp in a 1932 radio address: “…imagine, if you can, a tented city housing over 2,000 people, with a complete sewage system, electric lights, bath houses for the officers and men, hot and cold water; a telephone system, handled by our own troops; and , in addition to all these, facilities to take care of some five hundred horses….The horses are kept on picket lines, and these open-air picket lines are kept in an extremely sanitary condition. There are twenty-seven frame buildings, in which are housed the kitchens and mess halls, and all of this was built at no expense to the state. Our men do not eat out of the army mess kit. The old army mess kit is all right, of course, but…now, at least while they are in camp, they eat from china plates…everything is spotlessly clean.” Woodring told what it was like to work in the kitchen: “During the service in the World War, I noticed that it took the services of two or three K.P.’s, or kitchen police, to do the all important task of peeling spuds. In the limited time which our boys have at camp, this ordinarily small job would keep quite a number of men away from the more important work of field training, so a potato peeler was installed. A bushel of potatoes may be prepared in about a minute, and one machine operated by one man, in an hour can peel enough potatoes to supply the entire camp for a day.” The area around Camp Whiteside was used for military maneuvers. The 28,000- acre military reservation was set up to imitate real battlefield conditions. The situations the men faced were often referred to as “problems.” After World War I was over, the Kansas National Guard ran the camp. Officers and enlisted men would go there for two week’s training usually during the summer months. While there they could keep in touch with loved ones back home through the radio net, or a radio telegraph set up to send and receive messages. This was a free service; the men sent over 2,500 messages in the first two weeks of operation. Camp Whiteside existed through the 1930’s, then the army gradually abandoned the site.
Toledo, Chase County
In 1860 a colony of Friends (Quakers) came west and founded the town of Toledo. They had left their homes in East Tennessee for two reasons: to escape the slavery troubles in their state, and to help make Kansas an anti-slavery state. The colony laid out the town about a mile north of the Santa Fe Trail in Chase County. The town company consisted of Abram Beals, John Watkins, Orville Thompson, Samuel Buchanan, Dr. Joel Willis, and John and William Stone. Since Abram Beals was an elder in the Friends church, he thought what the settlers needed most was a school. They held meetings about a school were in the Beals home until 1862, when the settlers decided instead to build a log church that could serve as a schoolhouse two miles north of town on Buckeye Creek. Later the settlers moved this log church into town, but since it was so small, they decided to construct a much larger building, which a tornado destroyed in the 1870’s. Sunday school and church services were great meeting places for the Toledo residents. The women organized a reading circle for the children on Sunday afternoons, and they sang, had readings, and acted in plays. In the mid-1870’s a Mutual Improvement Association formed to teach the children how to write plays and to perform in musicals. Sometimes they charged an admission fee; they used the money for church necessities and for repairs on the schoolhouse. When the residents decided to vote bonds for the construction of a schoolhouse, they found that the district did not have the required ten students to warrant the voting of bonds, so only the younger children enrolled until the quota could be met. Abram Beals replaced his first cabin with a large log house known as Preacher’s Hotel on the hillside overlooking Toledo. Since Beals brought a trunk full of peach and apple seeds from Tennessee, he planted them all and soon had a large orchard. Some of the kids thought it fun to sneak up to the orchard and steal the fruit. Occasionally they were caught “red-handed.” Indian attacks in this region were unusual; however in the late 1860’s, a band of Cheyenne descended upon members of the Kansa tribe camped close to Toledo. This Cheyenne raid put fear in the hearts of the settlers, causing many to keep teams and wagons ready to move to a safer place if necessary. However, the Cheyenne promised the Quakers they would not harm them. All they wanted from the Kansa Indians was their Chief in revenge for the earlier killing of a Cheyenne Chief. The Osage came to the aid of the Kansa tribe and together they defeated the Cheyenne. The Osage and Kansa had guns while the Cheyenne had only bows and arrows. The Kansa were considered by many to be a worthless, dirty tribe who idled away their time stealing, trading, and hunting. In revenge these Indians built small culverts across roads and held up migrants by demanding a toll. Since these “bridges” were shaky at best, few travelers paid the toll willingly. If the disagreements got out of hand, the Quaker missionary Thomas Stanley would meet with the troublemakers, then the bridge “extortion” would cease at least temporarily. One day several members of the Kansa tribe broke into the schoolhouse and took all the books belonging to the Studebaker children. They took the books to Abram Beals home to trade for food. Mrs. Beals examined the books, found the Studebaker names inside and knew they had been stolen. She traded a small slab of meat for them, then she sent word to the Studebakers to come and pick up their belongings. Two local settlers Maurice Moore and John Stone made the trip to Pike’s Peak. News came to Toledo that their wagon train had been attacked by Cheyenne and all the travelers massacred. Six weeks later to everyone’s surprise, Moore walked in the doorway of the church. A different train had been ambushed and those travelers massacred. Abram Beals helped to organize the Cottonwood Friends Church and was instrumental in having quarterly meetings held there. John Stone, speaking years later, told how he and other youngsters used to jeer at Beals and sneer at his pious ways. “But,” he said, “he brought the church, the school and the Sunday school to us, and we should all take our hats off to him.” Beals and his wife later joined the town site permanently when they passed away and were buried in the Cottonwood cemetery. Toledo slowly disappeared. Today, the site is marked by farmhouses somewhat closer to each other than in other Kansas communities; a tiny Friends cemetery; and groves of handsome cedars and pines. The church building sold many years ago and moved to White City. The little cemetery with its plain stones and tall evergreens is kept clean and in an orderly fashion by descendants of the original founders. But the Friends meetings are long gone, as are the reasons for the town’s original founding.
Wauneta, Chautauqua County
On April 2, 1883 the town of Wauneta six miles east of Cedarvale gained a post office when the one at Fulda closed and moved there; a horse and a buckboard brought the mail each day from Cedarvale. The wife of postmaster Peter Calvert is said to have chosen the name for this settlement. Mrs. Calvert had been raised by a friendly tribe of Indians, and when the question of a name for the settlement came up, she wanted to express her appreciation to her native friends by selecting the name “Wauneta,” the name of the daughter of the chief who befriended her. In 1906 the town was almost wiped out financially when an outlaw named Ben Cravens robbed the store and post office of $100. He made his escape and was never seen again. Early on the morning of September 10, 1936 the Chautauqua County Deputy Sheriff Baldwin Casebolt pursued a car belonging to two men suspected of robbing the Wauneta general store. After the robbery the suspects stopped for gasoline in Fall City near the Oklahoma border. Deputy Casebolt pulled up behind them got out of his car, and as he approached them the two men fired a gun at him. He died soon after the shooting. The killers got back in their car, fled the scene and made good their escape. Some years later Martin Bumgarner, one of the first settlers in town, remembered Wauneta, “I remember as a child I would climb a high hill at the back of my father’s farm, and could see only three log cabins. The last time I was up on that hill I could see five towns and many farm homes.” Wauneta was never a big town. After the railroad went through the area in 1886 just south of town, some citizens made an effort to build or move the town farther south; however, this endeavor was unsuccessful. The town did have a mail drop at the depot that existed until the post office closed in 1931. At that time the population was around a hundred people. Today the Wauneta site identified by the United Methodist Church is located on Highway 166 east of Cedarvale. Several other old buildings stand on the site, but only a handful of people still live here. Western Park Settlement, Elk County Western Park Settlement was not a town, but it was an active community consisting of a store, post office, blacksmith and repair shop. The store building was one long room where the owner kept groceries and supplies such as tin cracker boxes, bulk cheese, pickle barrels, peanut butter, and coal oil. He and his family lived in a back room of the building. Hazel Moore described her grandfather’s job in her reminiscences: “Grandfather drove a huckster wagon and ‘peddled’ groceries and household supplies to the people of the community. He took produce the farmers had to sell in exchange for groceries and supplies. Eggs were two and a half cents per dozen. Our Uncle Henry, who often accompanied grandfather on his route, told of returning home and hearing a peep-peep from an egg. Children would watch patiently and then shout, ‘Here comes the huckster wagon’ and run to the house for their pennies to buy candy from ‘Mr. Stone,’ who loved all the children. “The boys sometimes swam their horses in Elk River. The young people played horseshoes and ball under the shade of the big trees in front of the store. Sunday evenings the young couples met at the store then attended prayer meeting at a nearby schoolhouse.” In 1915 a fire destroyed the store; it was never rebuilt. This loss caused the community to decline considerably in the coming years.
Union Center, Elk County
In 1868 W.H. Dobyns settled in Elk County three miles west of Howard. He hoped to start a “great metropolis” at this location so he laid out a town, dug a deep well, built a large store, stocked it with merchandise, and named the village Union Center. He was a busy man. It was not long before other settlers followed Dobyns. They opened a blacksmith shop, wagon shop, gristmill, post office, and started a school, which also served as the community center. The citizens held lectures, political meetings, and church services at the center. They had church twice on Saturday, three times on Sunday and retained as many as eight preachers to conduct the services. In those days the school had a problem getting their supplies; the first desks didn’t arrive for ten years! The teacher had to fasten seats to homemade desks wide enough to accommodate at least two students, but often she had to seat three or four on one seat. Mrs. Hattie Stuckey, an early resident of Union Center, described some of the concerns of the citizens: “We had four worries: Prairie fires, high water, Texas cattle and the ‘Old Northerner,’ all to be dreaded. With the grass as high, in some sections as a man’s head, you can imagine what a prairie fire was like. They were exciting and terrifying but since everyone had a fireguard around his feed and buildings—the loss was usually small. “There were no bridges then. We had to ford the rivers. The rivers were swift and the channels deep. There were not many places where the water was shallow enough to cross. There was a guidepost at every crossing, painted white with black numbers showing the depths of the water and where the danger line was. We lived here on the bank of the river and when the water was high or on stormy nights when one might miss the crossing, we’d put a lamp in the window. Every one knew what that meant. They’d come to the house, we’d take them in, keep them over night and give them their breakfast.” Stuckey also mentioned that Texas cattle passed through Union Center every year on the way to markets. Since there were no fences the cattle trampled through the streets, the schoolyard, and the gardens, whatever happened to be in their way. . The local Indian tribe was primarily peaceful; however, one tragic incident did occur. The young son of L.D. Blizzard died when he was shot in the stomach with a poisoned Indian arrow. Since it was deemed an accident, the citizens took no further action. Several years later a huge eagle attacked Blizzard’s grandson as he was coming home from school. The bird beat the boy with its heavy wings, almost killing him until he picked up a large limb and managed to kill the eagle. It was a long time before the boy got recovered from this encounter. W.H. Dobyns had a permit from the government to barter with the Indians, and he traded for some splendid furs, which he shipped to Kansas City by wagon train. The trip would take as long as six weeks. Once he traded the Indians some merchandise for a solid silver water bucket that probably came from the silver mines in Mexico. No one knew the exact location of the mines, and the Indians refused to disclose their source of supply. For about ten years Union Center prospered, but when the railroad failed to come the town slowly dwindled away, one business at a time. The store, post office, and gristmill remained for several years. The school and the blacksmith shop were the last to go; the smithy loved his shop and was not ready to give up. When he finally closed the doors, he died shortly thereafter. The same could be said for Union Center.
Geneva, Allen County
Geneva was one of the first towns founded in Allen County. It held the distinction of having many firsts: the first organized church in the county, the first school, and the home of many of the first distinguished families in the county. Geneva was founded in the spring of 1857 when a committee from St. Johns, Michigan came to the new territory to find a location for a settlement that would help in defeating the pro-slavery cause. They decided on a natural divide between Martin and Indian Creeks in the northwest part of the county. Immediately upon their arrival they started a Sunday school, a place for common worship, and a school. Since many residents were of different faiths they decided on a Congregational Church, which was formally dedicated in the spring of 1858 with the Rev. Gilbert Northrup as the first pastor. Northrup was an energetic promoter of the town. He took the lead in raising funds to build a larger church, and he was primarily responsible for the short-lived Geneva Academy. The academy was one of the earliest dreams of Northrup and other prominent settlers; their intention was to promote a non-sectarian college The big downfall of Geneva was that barely a fourth of the expected 300 families emigrated from Michigan and the East. Fear of attacks and reprisals by pro-slavery sympathizers was probably the greatest deterrent to emigration in 1857 and 1858. None of the settlers carried weapons, hoping that would detract from potential attacks. It may have worked, since no attacks occurred. In the next few years, however, war and drought interfered. It wasn’t until the summer of 1867 that a building was finally erected on ground belonging to the Presbyterian Church. The Rev. S.M. Irwin was employed to take charge of the academy. His management was successful for a number of years, but after he moved on the management fell into the hands of several promoters who were not as successful and the academy folded. The building reverted back to the Presbyterian Church, and was used by them for more than fifty years. Gilbert Northrup, who was responsible for the church and the academy, brought his brother L.L. Northrup to Geneva. L.L. was already a successful manufacturer of woolen goods in Thorntown, Indiana. Nevertheless he came to Geneva in the winter of 1857 to look over the town. Before he left he agreed to build and operate a steam saw mill on the condition that they give him 160 acres of timbered land and furnish him all the sawing he could do at $15 per thousand board feet. The citizens agreed and he became the first manufacturer in the county to be given a bonus for locating there. He built his sawmill on the banks of Indian Creek. Simultaneously he constructed the largest general store in southern Kansas. He operated both until 1862 when he sold out, moved to Iola, started another store and established the Northrup Bank, which prospered for many years. The Northrups left a permanent mark on the history of the county; however, Geneva was not quite so lucky. Although the town prospered as a local farming community for years, it finally yielded to towns that were located on railroads, rivers, or major highways. The building that was the Geneva Academy was torn down in 1940, the last of the town’s glory days. Today there is no church in Geneva, although for many years the residents met in the schoolhouse for Sunday school services. The Congregational Church thrived until 1918 when a combination of the flu epidemic and the general decline of the town caused Rev. S.H. Gray to close it down. In January of 1919 the congregational members met with the Presbyterian Church to form a federation. The two church groups shared facilities and resources until 1934. Depression and drought as well as residents leaving took its toll on the little town. Today although Geneva is not a complete ghost town, it is an unincorporated country village, much smaller than its creator visualized and a lot smaller than it was at the turn of the century.
Fact, Clay County
Although Fact, a country crossroads place, has defied total banality, some details are unclear regarding certain aspects of its existence, namely when it came into being. Here is what is known---the town was not on the map in 1881, at least not by name. That is a “fact.” In 1869 there was a post office eighteen miles northeast of Clay Center called Carter Creek, a stream named for settler James Carter. It was near where Fact might have been located. In the spring of 1883 some emigrants established another settlement in he proximity of the Carter Creek site. They held a meeting and appointed a committee to visit Waterville to file an application for a post office at their new settlement. Committeeman Harvey Knight wanted to name the town “Wakarusa,” but there was already a town by that name in Shawnee County, so that title had to be scrapped. When they informed Knight that Wakarusa was already a town, he became skeptical and remarked, “Is that a fact?” He was assured it was “a fact.” This exclamation caught the attention of another committeeman, who announced, “Since what has been stated is a fact, why not call the new post office “Fact”? Odd as it may seem, that was the name they chose, and from then on the town became a “fact.” By 1900, the little town of Fact had attracted other businesses. For example, the two Clay Center newspapers sent large bundles of papers to Fact every week. Fact also had two churches, a Congregational and a United Brethren, with full time pastors. The town had a school, general store, blacksmith shop, and some new residences. In 1900 rural free delivery brought local farmers mail every day instead of on Saturdays, as they had grown accustomed. This added delivery brought about some financial difficulties to Fact; the farmers no longer had to come to town on Saturdays to pick up their mail and do their shopping. In fact three years later the Fact post office closed. With no farmers coming to town on Saturdays, the general store and blacksmith shop certainly lost customers and money, but the first institution to completely disappear was the Congregational church southeast of town. A tornado destroyed the structure on May 17, 1896 and even though it was rebuilt, the congregation abandoned he church in 1922. The settlers built the United Brethren church in 1890 with a $50 building fund and a donation of stone from a nearby quarry. Since they had no modern equipment, all the loading and dressing of the stone had to done by hand. In 1958 another church member bought the Garfield schoolhouse, attached it to the original stone building, and expanded the teaching area. This old stone church is still in existence today. Throughout the history of Fact, there were three general stores, one was a dugout in what was known as “Gerardy’s Pasture,” another was located at Hofman’s Corner, and the last one was the Curtis General Store. These places lasted for many years until business slowed so much that the owners had to sell the contents and tear down the buildings. (235) The school existed until 1959 when a small student enrollment caused it to close. In 1962, the school district voted to disorganize, and on September 12 the school building and all its contents sold at a public auction. Fact once boasted of having four physicians--- Dr. Wheat, Dr. Franklin, Dr. Bacon, and John Derringer who was better known in the region as “Indian John.” People traveled for miles just to purchase Indian John’s herbal medicines made of cockle burrs and other native herbs that the children had gathered for him every summer. On some Sundays so many people parked their horses and carriages on the road near his home that it looked like a church meeting. When he died in 1924, they buried him in the Idylwild Cemetery. The unique name “Fact” may have been one of the reasons the town existed such a long time. Fact was also well known in regional weather reports. For many years whenever there was “exceptional” weather, Fact was one of he first towns to report it to the Weather Service Office in Topeka. It didn’t matter that few people, if any, knew where the town was located, it was an interesting “fact” that a weather report actually came from Fact, Kansas. Perhaps it gave the weather bureau statistics some “accuracy” for a change. The Fact community remains today, and that is definitely a “Fact” to remember.
Victor, Mitchell County
Victor was located about twenty-four miles southwest of Beloit and six miles east of Hunter, Kansas. One of the first structures was a post office located in a dugout. The town centered around a store, a bank, a creamery, school, restaurant, telephone system, a lodge hall, and a blacksmith shop. There were four doctors in Victor at various times, and a cheese factory. The first schoolhouse north of Victor was moved to a place south of the present Victor school. When the teachers held literary and penmanship classes in the evenings, they drew a sizable crowd. The desks in the school seated two people, but since some students were over twenty years old, this arrangement became a challenge to the teacher. The men’s Woodmen Lodge and the women’s Royal Neighbor’s Lodge met at the school and had eighty members at one time. In 1885 Al Paddock built a general store and sold everything from celluloid collars to ladies high button shoes; he also stocked beans, oatmeal, 1890 shirts, and flapper finery. During World War I the store did about $55,000 in business in one year. In 1917 the bank opened in the back of the store and stayed there until moving to Hunter when the Salina Northern Railroad came through the area. Paddock’s store was the last business to close when it sold at auction in 1959. George Geisler had a creamery near the Victor city well and bought milk from the farmers. He then delivered the milk and cream in large metal cans to a milk supplier in Beloit. The cheese factory, just north of the creamery, made cheese for a short time before the owners abandoned the business. After 1929 the town went into a steady decline during the depression. When the last business sold in 1959, it was the end of the town of Victor.
Shipton, Saline County
At the turn of the century one of the most eventful days in Saline County occurred when the little town of Shipton sold at auction on October 20, 1909 a day that was cloudy, cold and raw. A half hour before the sale was to start, a drizzly rain began to fall, which made the roads leading into town muddy and treacherous; despite the inclement weather more than a thousand people came to see if the old town sold and for how much. Actually it was questionable whether folks were there to see the passage of a town or to have an opportunity to bid on a bargain at the auction. Shipton’s history was both strange and sad. The town was a prime example of what can happen when people don’t care enough to make improvements to the streets or businesses as the years pass by. Salina, a much larger town, was only six miles away, which made it easy for Shipton’s citizens to shop there. Although the local farmers were quite successful in getting good prices for their alfalfa, wheat, and corn, the town’s businesses just could not keep up with the economical growth in those days. The government closed the post office in 1895, which was the beginning of the end for Shipton. Then the general store closed, even the hitching posts where the farmers once tied their horses were abandoned. It wasn’t long before farmers passed the buildings in their cars at twenty to thirty miles an hour without even giving the place a passing glance. The Union Pacific Railroad removed the station agent, and the trains quit stopping unless a passenger specifically requested a ride. The blacksmith shop and the stockyards closed; the only sign of life was the big red elevator, which could be seen for miles. William Irwin owned the town site, and he made plans to sell it. In his advertising, he claimed that the town’s best feature was the waterworks plant. As he made preparations for a public sale, he asked the Salina Military Band to come and play lively music, an added attraction for many people. However, his plans went awry, and he had to ask a country band from Mulberry to provide the music, which still served the intended purpose. As the auctioneer moved from one place or object to another, so did the band; they kept playing patriotic tunes and arousing the nostalgic emotions of the bidders. William Irwin’s stock of farm animals and implements sold first and for good prices. The other minor items sold for double what they were worth commercially. The bidders, who seemed to have plenty of money, were anxious to buy souvenirs of the old town. The auctioneer, Colonel Cicero Post, even sold fence posts that were still in the ground supporting the fence. He also sold piles of rock on a nearby hillside that hadn’t been moved in years. Many of the articles the buyers paid for were never picked up or taken off the site. The bidders simply had the spirit and couldn’t stop their buying momentum. At noon, Irwin fed lunch to the entire crowd and gave each person a souvenir tin cup. The people did stop bidding, however, when the town went on the auction block at 2:00 o’clock that afternoon. The band moved to the top of a large hill just west of Shipton and began to play “Home, Sweet Home.” After William Irwin and the auctioneer led everyone up the hill, the sale of Shipton began. The public expected that the town would bring at least $100 an acre, but it sold for $80 an acre, which also included the general store building, the stockyards, blacksmith shop, and a photograph gallery. One of the buildings that Irwin once labeled as his “Private Dispensary,” now had a sign over the front door that read “Closed Forever.” Edwin L. Berg, an undertaker from Salina, began the bidding at $1,000; Henry Funk then increased the bid to $2,000. Fred Warnow successfully bid $2,620 and claimed he was prepared to go even higher, if necessary. Previous advertisements about the sale of this town site attracted the attention of people throughout the United States, and news items describing the details of the auction were reported in newspapers from New York to California. It was probably the first time in the history of Kansas that an entire town site was to be sold at auction and eventually to one person. As for William Irwin, he had made his plans ahead of time to rent out his farm leave Kansas and move to Texas. Although Shipton passed into oblivion on October 20, many newspapers had previously made references to the prosperous farms and farmers in the area. In fact for once, Kansans were portrayed as both wealthy and distinguished. On October 10, 1909 the Topeka Capital noted the attitude changes in its article on the demise of Shipton: “Very sad for Shipton, but pretty cheerful for the rest of Kansas, it will be observed. Now it seems likely that deserted Kansas is yet a long way off. Indeed, judging by the prevailing smell of gasoline and other signs of luxurious ease of which one reads, the end of the Sunflower seems destined to come (a few hundred years hence, when Wall street is a forgotten lane and the temples of Broadway lie in ruins), not in a slow, wasting decline, but rather in a blaze and whirl of gorgeous pleasure, the Babylon of America.”
Black Wolf, Ellsworth County
In the 1920’s Black Wolf was a thriving little town of about fifty people, but fifty years later the town only had one resident. In 1879 Philip Jung, founder of the community, built the first general store and opened the post office. T.M. Foote soon followed him and became postmaster in 1887. It has been said that Black Wolf was named for Black Wolf Creek, which drains into the Smoky Hill River. Another account tells that early pioneers spotted two black wolves in the area, thus the name Black Wolf. Actually the town was named after an Indian Chief. That first year there were still plenty of antelope in the area, but the buffalo were almost gone. These animals left behind piles of bleached bones that the settlers gathered from the prairie and sold to easterners to make extra money. Since Black Wolf was close to the Smoky Hill River during a time when there was no bridge, an extra team of horses often had to be added to wagons just to haul wheat across the stream. In 1880-81 the Smoky Hill River was nearly dry and could be crossed easily; a few years later the river was so low that people could walk across. Then at other times, it could become a raging torrent. One of those times was just after a bridge had been constructed in May 1912 when the water rose four feet above the floor. On August 13, 1927 the water was eight feet above the floor of the bridge, but the worst flood was in 1938; the bridge went out and water came up to the doorknob on the bank building in town. That was when Alfred Vodraska helped Joe Toman, manager of the general store, nail boards across the doorway to keep out the water. He was one of a team of men who worked hard sealing cracks with tar and doing anything humanly possible to avoid further water damage to the town’s businesses. F.M. Foote’s son Charles lived in Black Wolf for eighty years. In 1978 he remembered at the town’s peak it had two general stores, a railroad depot, stockyards, section house, a bank, two lumberyards, four saloons, a machine shop, and a dance hall, famous for its Saturday night dances. In the summer the dances were on outdoor platforms, and in cold weather they held them in a machinery barn. Foote noted that, “the dances were held practically in our back yard. It was a big thing, people would come from quite a ways around to attend these dances that seldom broke up before two o’ clock in the morning. In the days before automobiles, they usually lasted until daybreak so that people had light to see their way home.” Charles Foote said that since there were no local ordinances against it, the saloons were not restricted to certain days or hours. As a result people from Ellsworth came to Black Wolf to indulge themselves in the saloons on Sundays. This blissful time came to an end after the start of prohibition. Someone with a sense of humor hung an old whiskey bottle and a cow bone from a sign. The sign read “Bone Dry.” The railroad was the lifeblood of Black Wolf. Foote noted that the town would send out mail on four different trains, two eastbound passenger and two westbound plug trains. He said he would hang the mailbag on a post and hoped someone on a passing train would pull it into the car. The railroad was a convenient form of transportation for the residents. A trip to Ellsworth cost about two cents a mile or sixteen cents one way. A person could go to Wilson from Black Wolf on the 10 a.m. train, board the 2 p.m. train from Wilson to Ellsworth, then take the 6 p.m. train from Ellsworth back to Black Wolf--all in one day. Foote remembered once when the town “clown” was desperate to get back to Black Wolf from Ellsworth and hired one of the train crews to take him back there on an engine for $50. This “clown” was the same person who set off dynamite on his land for no reason and kept fireworks in his bathtub until the Fourth of July celebration. The coming of the automobile helped bring about the extinction of Black Wolf. People traveled to Ellsworth to shop, which caused businesses in town to dwindle. In 1952 the railroad depot closed, a terrible blow to Black Wolf. In 1953 other businesses failed and the post office ceased operation. In 1955 the bank failed. The owner of the general store auctioned off his inventory and closed the doors. To add to the problems, the town’s water supply was poor, and they didn’t get electricity until 1945. Then the loss of the schools to county unification contributed to the town’s failing economy. Today, Alex J. Vodraska owns all of Black Wolf except for a grain elevator and a general store building located on Union Pacific property. Unfortunately with just one resident left, Black Wolf’s name has become more like “Dead Wolf.”
Shaffer, Rush County
In the spring of 1890 the Shaffer brothers John and Frank and their sister Elizabeth came to Rush County. They purchased land and established the Shaffer Ranch where they planned to raise cattle and horses. The family soon became well known in the area for raising purebred Percherons. Two years later on February 9, 1892 the town of Shaffer came into existence when the government opened a post office and appointed Frank Shaffer as postmaster. From 1892 until the 1920’s the town of Shaffer was prosperous and lively. In its prime the town had three grain elevators, two general stores, a hardware and lumberyard, a post office, a telephone exchange, a passenger and freight depot, a blacksmith shop, and a skimming station. In 1893 fourteen men and just as many dogs arrived in the area for a big prairie chicken hunt. The first year they killed nearly 2,700 prairie chickens. For the next three years they came just to hunt and kill these chickens. Finally after these men had decimated the flocks to almost nothing, the local residents refused to allow them to hunt on any property around Shaffer. Thankfully they never returned. The Shaffer family kept a close eye on the town. Frank was the only married brother; he and his wife Mary had three children. In 1895 a fourth one Paul was the first child born in Shaffer. Frank later sold his interest in the ranch to his siblings and moved north of Great Bend. Brother John and sister Elizabeth never married. Elizabeth took in boarders and was well known for the excellent meals she served in her home. Her regulars for dinner included six of the most eligible bachelors in town. Saturday was a big day in Shaffer. The farmers came to town to buy their weekly groceries and to visit with their neighbors. For some it may have been several weeks since they had been to town. On these weekends sports were popular, especially racing of any kind. First the men would race the fastest horse, then the fastest motorcycle, then the fastest car. The merchants treated the winners royally with free ice cream and pop. One event that happened occasionally was the coming of the “moving picture” show. The films were always displayed in the Miner-Beardslee grocery store, where the ceiling was twelve feet high and the highest shelves were empty of canned goods; this expanse provided plenty of room for the picture and the audience. Many folks liked to sit on the high shelves to view the movie, but sometimes when the film would catch on fire, those high-rise seats would be empty in record time. The Chicago, Kansas & Western Railroad laid track as far as Shaffer in the spring of 1886. The entire line from Great Bend to Scott City was in operation by the fall of 1887. After the Santa Fe merged with the C.K.& W. in 1901, it became the Santa Fe Scott City branch. The locomotives had a negative impact on horses. Those animals left tied to the hitching post would become frightened, break their reins, and run away from the hissing black monster. Every day there was at least one horse that would head out of town on the run. One of the biggest events to take place in Shaffer was the day of the coming of “Doc” Brinkley, the famous “goat gland doctor” who diagnosed the ailments of the callers on his radio program. Word spread quickly throughout the community that Dr. Brinkley was to appear in person from a platform erected on the west side of Main Street. Somehow it was a well-kept secret from the merchants. Many people came to town late in the afternoon; their cars lined both sides of the road for a half mile in both directions. Around 6:00 p.m. a strange car pulled into town, a man emerged and was escorted to the speakers stand. He was dressed like Dr. Brinkley, but when he started to speak the crowd knew it was a hoax. Four men had decided to have some fun; they carefully planned the Dr. Brinkley joke. How they were able to spread the word to so many without the storekeepers knowing is still a mystery. After the crowd discovered the prank, they pulled the phony off the stand before the rest of the crowd started throwing eggs at him During the 1930’s and 1940’s the town went slowly downhill. In March 1948 the last store in Shaffer closed its doors-- the Ater general store, which had kept the town going for years. The town that once held so much promise now holds only a few residences.
Beaver, Barton County
The Beaver Town Company in Topeka laid out the town site of Beaver during the summer of 1918. The officers included W.G. Lewis, president, and Kias Christians, vice president. Calvin Piester was named as the local agent for the sale of town lots. Piester, in association with N. Weber, Kias Christians, Peter Meyers, A.J. Reif, Lambert Kultgen and C.P. Munns, organized the Farmers National Bank in Beaver. The Board of Directors of this bank were also on the board of the Farmers National Bank of Redwing. These directors voted to literally move the bank building from Redwing to Beaver. After they placed the building on a moving outfit, they put it on the southeast corner of Block 10 in Beaver, and it opened for business on August 10, 1918. The bank was the first building in town, but it was soon followed by Calvin Piester’s residence. Shortly after the Farmers National Bank opened for business, a second bank, the Farmers State Bank, was established; this new bank and a small grocery store were in the same building. The townspeople had to endure weather issues. One was a bad blizzard that hit during the first winter; the wind and snow was relentless, it lasted for three days and nights. On the fourth morning the town was definitely snowbound. Trains and rail service were delayed for two weeks. On May 18, 1927 a short-lived newspaper known as the Beaver Booster started publication. It only lasted until September 22. In 1930 the Farmers National Bank purchased the interest of the Farmers State Bank. On the same day four strangers drove into town and robbed the bank of $1,200. They were apprehended, tried, and found guilty. Between 1918 and 1932 the town suffered three disastrous fires. The first one burned the Kinzel Garage; this large building, including three fine cars, was totally destroyed. The second fire destroyed a pool hall, barbershop, and the post office. A third fire burned the building that replaced the one destroyed by the second fire. In 1933 Beaver had three elevators, two churches, one hardware store, a Union school, a large lumberyard, barbershop, post office, one grocery store, pool hall, and the Farmers National Bank. Calvin Piester sold his interests in Beaver in 1933 and moved to Oklahoma where he invested in the banking business again. The town slowly dwindled away until very little was left by the 1950’s.
Wherry, Rice County
In March 1967 the last remaining vestige of the town of Wherry went up in smoke. The fire at the house built by Al and Joe Hausechild was believed to have been set by burglars or by vandals. Actually, the remains of the old town were a favorite place for young people to explore; it was even more enjoyable at Halloween. Just two weeks prior to this fire the remnants of the old general store, fifty yards to the east, went up in flames. Rural firemen from Sterling answered both calls when fire threatened to engulf the dry countryside. Wherry was in its heyday around 1910, although the town had two periods of development. Most of the buildings were constructed between 1910 and 1915, and the town boomed with the location next to the railroad. Joe and Al Hauschild built a lumberyard, hardware, and machinery store. Hauschild even purchased stock from a defunct Sterling store. No one is sure where the name “Wherry” originated, but James Drake was apparently the person who named the town. Jonas Neun was another popular storeowner whose store was a gathering place for farmers from miles around. One other popular spot was the home of Steve Thompson who was the first person in town to own a phonograph. He would bring the machine outside, and folks would set their chairs in the catalpa grove just to listen to the music. In 1921 when residents began to travel farther to bigger towns for their goods and provisions, Wherry’s prosperity decreased. The closing of the general store and the post office in 1923 signaled a major decline of the town’s economy. During the 1930’s when oil was discovered in the vicinity, a large number of tenant residents came to Wherry; their primary purpose was to operate the oil rigs. Even though oil kept Wherry in better condition economically than many other communities, the activity came too late to save the town. The discovery well the Hauschild No. 1 located on Ross Hauschild’s land west of town was a major find. This pool became known as The Wherry. Some of these wells were still in production forty years later, and other new ones opened after World War II. During the 1950’s the depot, the section house, two elevators, a hardware store, and other buildings were torn down, one by one. The fire at the Hauschild house terminated the teenagers’ nightly visits to the ghostly place. Today the remnants of the town site are in a forsaken part of the county that has been forgotten by many of the local inhabitants.
Saxman, Rice County
Saxman was a hub of activity and a centrally located community ten miles from any other trading center. In 1880 when the town acquired a railroad, Saxman became a shipping center for cattle, hogs, sheep, wheat, and corn. All mail received from the train was dispensed at a small post office building, which held the patron’s letters in lock boxes. The town had two grocery stores, a restaurant, two elevators, a big flourmill, a lumberyard, hardware store, blacksmith shop, and the Saxman State Bank. At a later date there were more businesses-- a creamery, three doctors, a jewelry store, pool hall and barber shop, veterinarian, chiropractor, gas station and machine shop, a gunsmith, an electrical plant, a telephone exchange, and a weekly “picture show.” The community not only supported a successful baseball team, but also organized a 35-piece band that always played a concert on Saturday nights. In 1907 the band performed in Hutchinson for William Howard Taft who later became a U.S. President. The first church service was held in the driveway of the Cooper & Plumb Elevator, but there were so many rats around the building the men spent more time shooting at them than they did listening to the sermon. A real church building was erected in 1906. The Old Settlers Picnic held in Bieger’s Grove on Cow Creek was an important annual event. The residents erected a large platform for the speakers and supplied chairs for the audience to sit and enjoy the entertainment. At night the merchants provided an impressive fireworks display. The largest building in town was the Leonard Flour Mill; the company employed about twenty men and ran it day and night for many years. Another two-story brick building that housed the grocery store had a second floor called the Saxman Hall used for school programs, socials, dances, and political meetings. In the 1930’s Saxman had problems. Eight giant round wheat storage bins exploded and 100,000 bushels of wheat spilled out on the ground. A big mill and elevator burned to the ground; it was never rebuilt. Then the bank closed its doors, and the town began a slow decline. During the 1960’s Ralph Thode donated human remains of one individual from the Saxman area to the Kansas Historical Society; he had removed the bones from the site’s surface. No known individual was identified. No associated funerary objects were present. Based on material culture, the Saxman site has been documented as a village on the Little River Focus of the Great Bend Aspect (1400-1600 A.D.). The Little River Focus is considered to be a proto-historic manifestation of the present-day Wichita tribe. In one place on the computer someone asked for whom the town of Saxman was named. The only answer they received was “for the Drake family.” The significance of this information is not known. Actually the “last straw” for Saxman was the loss of the school in the 1960’s. No doubt there is some resident population in the area, but the town is no longer listed in the latest atlas index.
Roxbury, McPherson County
H. B. Tolle and Lowell Reese established Roxbury in 1866, the second oldest settlement in McPherson County. The 1860’s were exciting times in the area. In 1867 the Pawnees killed and scalped a rancher named Temple on the outskirts of town. For some reason the Indians bypassed the town of Roxbury. During the next few years many settlers came to the region, and in 1868 Charles Sorenson, S.F. Tolle, and F.M. Frasier joined the settlement and started businesses. B.B. Gates opened the first store in Roxbury. The Eureka school was the first school in McPherson County; it was not directly in Roxbury but was close enough for the town’s students to attend. The children were lucky. Few of them could tell stories of walking five miles in the snow or having to brave tornadoes and dust storms. . In the 1900’s the town really began to flourish. W.R. Lilly built a merchandise store, and when the large Mamel & Frissie building opened, several merchants occupied the structure with what could be called “department stores.” These shops carried an extensive stock of goods similar to stores in the bigger towns. These businessmen often liked to brag that they had merchandise valued at $15,000 within their doors. In 1908 Frank Sidel opened a harness shop and shoe store; George Jesup started a restaurant and barber shop. Irvin Minnear ran the meat market. Frank Ash was Roxbury’s general contractor, and Roy Anderson operated a creamery. At that time T.R. Tinkler was president of the Roxbvury State Bank. One of the most successful Roxbury proponents was Dr. M.N. Bremen, who was an avid leader of all the town’s causes. Dr. Bremen was considered to be as good a speechmaker as he was a physician, and in an emergency he was the one person the community could depend upon. First he tried to bring the railroad to Roxbury, and then he worked for years just trying to secure a train line to connect the town with the county seat. All efforts were to no avail. The town existed for years primarily due to its rural location. Even as late as 1986 there were still 97 residents living in the area. Today the town has mostly just fallen into ruin.
Ashtabula Colony, McPherson County
Ashtabula Colony played a significant role in the history of McPherson County. The colony was first organized in Ashtabula, Ohio in 1871 for Civil War veterans, when a government provision gave any soldier a free homestead and furnished them with employment. All the government territory in Kansas and Nebraska was open for settlement, and it was in McPherson County that members from Astabula wanted to start their colony. Once the location had been chosen by a committee composed of Dr. E.L. King, John W. Hill, and T.S. Edwards, many settlers left Ohio for their new life in Kansas. The main site selected was near King City and adjoining Elyria. However, changes in county lines prompted the settlers to leave the King City location and establish the colony at present McPherson. The only settlers who stayed at King City were those who had already built their homes and worked their farms. Members of the colony did not all arrive at once. Some came to Newton or Salina by train. Others arrived by wagon so they could bring more of their belongings with them. At the King City location William West erected the first hotel in the county. Two others members of the colony J.W. Hill and H.A. Hendry built a large general store building and a drug store. Unfortunately this establishment became the headquarters for outlaws, transient herders, and some local vagrants. Many of them were from Texas and the Indian Territory. The McPherson Daily Republican of March 19, 1934 told the following about frontier visitors: “Several herders…came into the store front, and seeing a number of the old fashioned stone Arnold’s ink bottles on the shelf, asked what those things were for. H.A. Hendry, in charge of the store, replied that they were inkbottles, made of stone to prevent breakage. One of them asked if they would not break and at the reply that they would not, he answered, ‘well, we will try it,’ and going behind the counter, he selected two of the bottles and stepped out in the middle of the store. In the rear of the store was a large-size heavy cast iron stove. He squared himself off and taking good aim, threw the bottle with full force at the stove, and the bottle did not break--but the stove did. The door was knocked completely off. He did not persist in trying it again, being satisfied.” The big move from King City to McPherson could have been called a flight or an exodus. Bill West moved his hotel piece by piece in a short period of time. After the move many of the members of the Ashtabula Colony, including eight families, became key motivators in the McPherson Town Company. Thus the colony gradually merged with the existing town of McPherson and was no longer known as Ashtabula..
Medora, Reno County
There was a mystery in the town of Medora. His name was Ed Mayfield. In 1906 Mayfield vanished for no apparent reason. One night when he came to the store of H.J. Rickenbrode in Medora to pay his bill he joked about the weather and then left, never to be seen again. The mystery of his disappearance has not been solved to this day. His friends looked carefully for a reason for Mayfield’s behavior. He left no debts, he had no known enemies, he had no legal problems, and there was no evidence of foul play. When he went missing the company he worked for still owed him money. There was no reason for his disappearance whatsoever. Not long after Mayfield’s “departure,” the town site moved half a mile west to a new location on the railroad and was renamed Medora Junction. The townspeople literally resettled all the houses and businesses along the new Main Street. Pat Shea purchased all of the old town lots and converted them into farmland. Ed Mayfield, who owned several lots, never returned to collect his money. Shea waited patiently for years for the man to come back. He never did.
Bayneville, Sedgwick County
In 1884 Bayneville developed due to a branch of the St. Louis, Fort Scott, and Wichita laying track from Wichita to Conway Springs then south to Kiowa. The settlers named the station Bayneville in honor of Judge Bayne of Anthony, Kansas. The good Judge was selected for a reason--he was responsible for procuring a large portion of the right-of-way for the railroad. After the Bayneville town company filed a charter on September 13, 1884, business increased immediately. There was the A.R. Howe general store and post office, a blacksmith shop, an elevator, and a depot. All the supplies for the store had to be hauled by wagon from Wichita; they carried canned goods, flour, sugar, candy, tobacco, and a line of work clothes, rubber boots, and overshoes. Bayneville had a meat market across the street, which was referred to as the “Red Front Store”; it had a dance hall on the second floor. The railroad provided a commuter service for residents. Many people living in Bayneville would catch the train to their jobs in Wichita, and then ride the commuter home again in the evening. In 1916 the Grange Hall was one of the most popular places in Bayneville. They had held their meetings in the Clearwater Christian Church until the church sold the building to the Grange for one dollar with the condition that no dancing would be allowed. Officially they held no dances, but the citizens called them by other names such as dinners, reunions, and monthly meetings. As late as the 1970’s the Grange still had over two hundred members. In 1920 some farmers in the community decided to buy the Bayneville elevator, which held over 5,000 bushels of grain. However, the fate of the elevator was sealed when fire swept through the structure in 1940, and the townspeople decided not to rebuild. For years Sunday afternoons were set aside for Bayneville’s softball games. People gathered in Leslie Wise’s pasture, just outside the city limits, and watched Bayneville as they played against Schulte, Peck, Derby, and Clonmel. Wichita, represented by teams such as the Turner Coal Company, was comprised of the nine Reibenspies brothers from the Reibenspies Meat Market. During the game, someone always passed around a hat to a collect a little cash from the spectators. This was the only admission fee, and the players used the money for the team’s needs such as balls and bats. The Bayneville team had a good average while it existed; it had just as many victories as defeats. In time as the town deteriorated, the team stopped playing. Bayneville prospered for a while, thanks to the railroad, but there were some setbacks. In 1924 a fire destroyed the store and a nearby house, which had to be rebuilt the next year. The apparent cause of the fire was sparks flying from the train’s engine and landing on the roof of the house. With the exception of the Grange Hall and weight station, all that remains today of the once thriving community of Bayneville are a few houses and some old foundations.
Basil, Kingman County
In 1892 Basil, first known as Gage, was founded ten miles south of Kingman. When the Hutchinson, Oklahoma & Gulf Railroad came to the region in 1879, Richland Township voted bonds of $13,000 to pay the railroad to come to Gage and establish a station. The Santa Fe bought the H.O.G. in 1901, and the name of the town changed to Basil. W.C. Blodgett moved his store to Basil; he was soon followed by another store owner, R.W. Campbell. A creamery opened in time to serve ice cream at the 4th of July celebration. Soon after the 4th, a wagon loaded with wheat ran over Clarence Bates. His death was the first one in town. By 1905 the town had a barbershop, lumberyard, grain elevator, post office, two general stores, and a blacksmith shop. The railroad made plans to expand their stockyards with more pens, scales, and a new well. By 1912 the town had a telephone exchange, a broom factory, and a new grain elevator. In 1913 residents went to Rago to witness an event of the future. Clyde Cessna was testing a new airplane. Most of the people had never seen an airplane before. In 1917 Frank Reid built a new brick building to house his grocery store and post office. Before he could move to the new building, a thief robbed the post office of $3.00, Reid’s store of $53 and some groceries. By 1920 Basil had started to dwindle in population. The Basil post office closed in the 1930’s, after expanding a rural route nearly thirty miles. Several buildings were moved or torn down. One of the last houses in town was the Elmer Grice home, which Elmer moved to his farm in 1942.
Elm Mills, Barber County
Elm Mills was a short-lived boomtown built in 1879. Almost immediately, enterprising businessmen were attracted to the community. The town had two physicians, a general store, a drug store, two blacksmith shops, and a restaurant. A successful flourmill built in 1883, burned down in July 1908. In 1885 the settlers became unnerved by the threat of an Indian raid. The entire community gathered at the Jacob Frazier home, where they put out sentinels and stood guard for more than forty-eight hours. Fortunately, no Indians appeared. C.M. Gaither, a prominent citizen of Elm Mills, recalled how he first came to the town. He arrived in what was known then as a “hack;” he paid a dollar for the trip but had to walk most of the way. The roads were so rough and the hack was so heavily loaded that the team barely moved most of the time. After the town faded away Elm Mills became a public retreat where people enjoyed a swimming pool, water slide, and the picnic grounds. For more than thirty years it retained this popularity as a prominent resort.
Touzalin, Meade County
The Meade Center Town Association promoted Touzalin and had it surveyed in September 1884. In April 1885 the town really began to expand. The Association named the town in honor of A.E. Touzalin, vice-president of the Santa Fe Railroad, and it enjoyed a slight boom for a time, supported or “sported” three stores, a hotel, livery barn, and a blacksmith shop. The November 7, 1885 issue of the Meade County Globe described those days, “In the month of April the town was started by Dr. Mendenhall, William R. Brown, Woodbury, Bennett, Baxter, Werth, and many others erecting buildings and also the town company putting up a hotel 20 X 60 feet, two stories high.” The most serious difficulty the town encountered was a water problem. The town didn’t have an adequate water supply. They dug the first well about 80 feet, but not a single drop of water did they find. They tried using well augers and went down 197 feet, still no water. This lack of sufficient water caused the abandonment of the town site. Buildings were removed one by one until nothing was left. The Touzalin Hotel, the largest building, moved to Meade as recorded by the Meade Globe on November 28, 1885, “Wednesday night the arrangements were perfected whereby the Touzalin Hotel will be moved here and an addition added that will double its size to 40 X 60 feet with 24 rooms.” Within three years after the first building was erected, there remained nothing to mark the spot where the hoped for city once stood.
