History of Atchison County, Kansas

The plat of the Muscotah Town Company was filed by W. P. Badger, one of its proprietors, June 5, 1857, and the town is located in section 34, township 5, range 17, on the Central Branch railroad, near the western edge of the county. Its streets run from one to thirteen, and its cross streets are named Pawpaw, Elm, Vine, Walnut, Mulberry, Hickory and Oak. Following the construction of the Central Branch railroad William Osborn filed another plat of the town, and several amendments have since been made to it. Muscotah has always been an important trading point, and one of the prosperous towns of the county. In 1916 there were three general stores, one hardware store, two banks, two elevators, one lumber yard, two cream stations, two barber shops, one harness shop, two drug stores, two restaurants, a hotel, private boarding house, two garages and blacksmith shops. The town also has four practicing physicians, including an osteopath, and one dentist. The first general store was established by Nels Brown in 1868, and a year later Watson & Guy put in a general hardware store. Hagerman & Roach conducted a grain business in 1865, and the first elevator was built in 1874. Several serious fires have destroyed much property in Muscotah, the largest being known as the Watson fire, which occurred in 1883, destroying much property. The first mayor of the town was Dr. William P. Badger, who was elected in 1882. Albert Harrington was the first postmaster, in 1866. The first physician to locate in the present limits of Muscotah was Dr. L. N. Plummer, who came there in 1869. In 1868 a Dr. Heath located a few miles out from Muscotah, but never lived in the town. Dr. S. M. Riggs came in 1872 and he and Dr. Plummer are both active physicians in the practice in 1916, together with Dr. O. O. Barter and Dr. F. A. Bermen. Years before Muscotah was established there was a small settlement nearby where there were a few houses and a postoffice located about where the Robert Russell farm is. John Keeley, an enterprising early settler, built a flouring mill on the Grasshopper river, now known as the Delaware, in 1869. Mr. Keeley did considerable business with the farmers in the surrounding territory, but business finally fell off and the mill was washed away by high water in 1895.

Muscotah is an important shipping point, and the annual shipment of grain amounts to $150,000 to $200,000. Much live stock is also shipped from Muscotah, and during the year 1915 fifty-two cars of cattle, hogs and horses were shipped to the Kansas City and St. Joseph markets.

Muscotah is also a city of churches and schools. The Congregational church was established in 1866. The pastor of this church in 1916 is Rev. Fred Gray, who preaches to a congregation of about 150. When this church was organized its members worshiped in the home of Robert Russell, which was at that time in the depot, and the church edifice which is now occupied was built in 1914.

The Methodist Episcopal church was established about 1876; it now has a membership of 120, and its pastor is Rev. Rollo J. Fisher.

The Advent Christian church was organized in 1889, and its first pastor was Rev. Marshall McCollough.

Mission Hall is maintained by unattached and unorganized Christians. It holds meeting several times a week, including two services on Sunday.

The public school system of Muscotah includes an accredited high school, in which two four-year courses are offered, together with a general and college preparatory course. R. E. Devor is superintendent of schools, and the officers of the school board are: J. F. Thompson, president; W. D. Roach, treasurer; R. A. Allison, secretary. The first school house within the present limits of the town was built in 1870, but was subsequently destroyed by fire when another school was built in 1885. A six room school was erected, and it was also destroyed by fire in January, 1916. A movement is now under way to build a new, handsome, modern school building, to accommodate twelve grades, together with manual training, domestic science and a gymnasium.

Muscotah is supplied with electricity by high tension line from Atchison, and in 1916 it has forty-two street lamps and fifty-five private consumers.

In addition to being a town of churches and schools, Muscotah also has several active lodges. The Masonic lodge was organized December 20, 1871, by E. D. Hillyer, of Grasshopper Falls, on a dispensation issued by the grand lodge; the charter was issued October 17, 1872, and the officers installed November 16, 1872. The first officers were: Ben F. Freeland, William N. Kline, Thomas H. Phillips, B. G. Merrill, D. M. Stillman, W. Bullock and I. C. Archer.

Purity Council No. 293, Knights and Ladies of Security, was chartered July 6, 1895, with John Edward Lewis, president. It had ten charter members and in 1916 there was a membership of seventy, with George W. Rork, president, and Mrs. Carl Rork, secretary.

Modern Woodmen was chartered in August, 1898. The present officers are W. F. Murray, V. H. Little and G. W. Harris. There are also active lodges of the Mystic Workers, Eastern Star and Royal Neighbors.

Muscotah’s new combination grade and high school, which will take the place of the one destroyed by fire, will cost approximately $20,000, and will be a fire-proof structure of brick and concrete. When completed it will be one of the best school buildings of its kind in any town the size of Muscotah in the State. The present city officials of Muscotah are: William Buckles, mayor; R. A. Hillyer, J. G. Burbank, W. D. Roach, R. H. Trial and R. A. Allison, councilmen; H. M. Turner, city clerk; E. M. Hicks, police judge, and S. B. Liggatt, marshal.

EFFINGHAM.

Effingham, the seat of Atchison county high school, is an incorporated town, located sixteen miles west of Atchison, on the Central Branch railroad, and was first platted by William Osborne April 4, 1868, who built the first hundred miles of the Central Branch railroad, and is located on a part of the southwest quarter of section 15 and the northwest quarter of section 22, township 6, range 18. The original plat contained only eight blocks and was subsequently cancelled. February 6, 1871, Major W. F. Downs, land commissioner of the Central Branch railroad, filed another plat in which one block was dedicated as a public park and the streets numbered from one to ten, with cross streets as follows: Elizabeth, Seabury, Howard, George, William, and John. At the opening of the Central Branch railroad Effingham enjoyed quite a boom and it has remained one of the finest towns in northeastern Kansas ever since.

There was a settlement around Effingham for a number of years prior to the location of the townsite, and it was quite a trading point. Effingham is located on a broad sweep of prairie land, but there is very little of romance or legend connected with the town. There is one thing, however, for which it has always been noted, and to this extent Effingham occupies an unique place in the towns, not only of Atchison county, but of Kansas, namely: It has never been without a good hotel. The original hotel was known far and wide throughout the country and was conducted by Aunt Betty Benton, a famous cook, who not only gave her guests good things to eat, but made of her hotel a favorite stopping place for the traveling public on account of the hospitable way in which she ran it. Uncle Jack Martin succeeded Aunt Betty and for many years thereafter kept up the high standard set by her. Then came Thomas F. Cook, whose kindly welcome made friends for him among the hundreds of visitors that came to Effingham from year to year, and who never left his hotel without a full meal. Mr. Cook was succeeded by Mrs. Frank Pitman, and she in turn was succeeded by Mrs. Davis, who, in 1915, is conducting the hotel at Effingham and maintains the high standard of excellence of food and hospitality set by her predecessors.

Among the early merchants of Effingham was Hon. Milton R. Benton, who was born in Madison county, Kentucky May 3, 1815. He immigrated to Kansas in 1857; located in Atchison, where he resided until 1867, during which year he moved to his farm in Atchison county, near Effingham. He was the first marshal of the city of Atchison, having been elected in 1858. In 1863 he was elected mayor of the city, and in 1864 was elected a member of the council. He served as a member of the senate in the Territorial council of 1859; in the State legislature in 1864, and for three years as trustee of Center township. Benton township, in which Effingham is located, was named for him. He was educated as a Democrat, but before he cast his first vote identified himself with the anti-slavery movement and became a Free State man in Kansas, but in after years he supported Horace Greeley and became identified with the Democratic party. In addition to farming he was in the real estate business in Effingham.

A. F. Achenbach was one of the early liverymen of Effingham, and also was George P. Allen, who was a dealer in hardware and grain; Ball & Herron, dealers in harness; Joel M. Ketch, hardware merchant; J. E. McCormick, butcher; Alonzo Spencer, grocer; James Nesbitt, lumber dealer, and Simeon Walters, contractor and carpenter.

P. J. O’Meara was a pioneer merchant of Effingham, and was a native of Ireland, having been born in the county of Tipperary March 27, 1829. He first settled in Miami county, where he received his education, and in 1865 he moved to Atchison and went into the grocery business on Commercial street, between Third and Fourth, later moving to Effingham when the townsite was located, and built one of the first store buildings. He did a large and paying business, and his popularity was shown by the people of Effingham in electing him their first mayor.

Effingham in 1915 had two hardware stores, one drug store, four general stores, two banks, two garages, two barber shops, one cream station, one clothing store, three restaurants, one hotel, one livery, and two elevators. Effingham is also a city of churches having one Catholic church, one Presbyterian church, Methodist church, Christian church and Lutheran church. Its citizens are enterprising and progressive, and in 1914 the city council secured a twenty-four hour electric light service over high tension line from Atchison. The elevators are owned by the Farmers’ Mercantile Association, and Snyder, Smith & Company. Tom Tucker and Beckman & Thomas are big live stock shippers, and they ship from ninety-five to one hundred cars of live stock out of Effingham every year, and the elevators ship over one hundred cars of grain every year.

The present city officials who have been so diligent and faithful in their services to Effingham are as follows:

J. W. Wallach, mayor; A. J. Sells, city clerk; G. M. Snyder, councilman; I. Ebert, councilman; D. Richter, councilman; James Farrell, councilman; E. J. Kelley, councilman; J. W. Atcheson, marshal; J. A. Harman, city treasurer.

HURON.

Huron is located on the Omaha branch of the Missouri Pacific railway, in Lancaster township, seventeen miles northwest of Atchison. The townsite was originally the property of Col. D. R. Anthony, of Leavenworth. Mr. Anthony donated the railroad company twenty acres of land and the right of way for one mile. The surveys were made and the town named and platted on May 18, 1882. Within six weeks after completion of the surveys five dwellings were erected and the business interests of the town were well represented. W. D. Starr was the first postmaster, and by the end of the first year there were over fifty dwellings in the town, and among the first buildings to be erected were the Presbyterian and Baptist churches. Colonel Anthony donated lots upon which to build the churches. J. D. Carpenter opened the first hotel in Huron. Mr. Carpenter came to Kansas in 1874 and located on a farm near Huron, and when the town was organized he moved there and opened his hotel. W. G. Rucker was one of the early lumber dealers of Huron. He came from Corning, where he was engaged in the general merchandise business, and moved to Huron when the town was platted. Capt. George W. Stabler, for many years a resident of Huron, was one of the prominent politicians and characters of the county. He was born at Stablersville, Baltimore county, Maryland, in 1839, where his ancestors had lived for over 200 years. He moved to Kansas in 1858, settling in Lancaster township. He enlisted as a private in Company D, Second Kansas infantry, in 1861, for 100 days, and at the expiration of that time he re-enlisted in the Second Kansas cavalry; was made sergeant and was mustered out in 1865 and returned to his farm, subsequently moving to Huron. In 1866 he was elected to the legislature, and in 1871 and 1872 served as deputy United States marshal. He had been justice of the peace, at the time of his death, a few years ago, for over twenty years.

Old Huron was the original settlement near the present townsite of Huron, and was an important trading point for many years prior to the establishment of the new townsite following the laying of the railroad to Omaha. There were many early settlers of importance in and around Huron, among whom was Capt. Robert White. Captain White came to Kansas in 1857 and bought the squatter rights of Charles Morgan and preëmpted a quarter section of land in Lancaster township, near Huron.

The birth of the first white child in Atchison county, of which there is any record, occurred in Lancaster township. The child was Miss Frances Miller, who was born May 9, 1855. Her father was the late Daniel Miller, an Ohioan by birth, and lived near DeKalb, Mo., in 1841. In 1854 he looked over northeastern Kansas and settled on Independence creek, twelve miles north of Atchison, early in 1855, near the northeastern corner of Lancaster township. Mr. Miller sold his quarter section in 1858, after he had proven up on it, to Thomas Butcher, a new arrival in Kansas from Brownville, Pa., for $3,000. Mr. Butcher built a flouring mill on this land, which was run by water from Independence creek. Butcher subsequently sold the plant to A. J. Evans, who ran it as a “custom mill” until August, 1865, when it was destroyed by high water, caused by heavy rains.

Samuel Wymore, for whom Wymore, Nebraska was named, was a resident of Lancaster township, near Huron, in the fifties and early sixties, and ran a sawmill by horse power, about three miles north of Lancaster, in 1858. Mr. Wymore sold his first bill of lumber to Captain Robert White for $100 in gold, and at that time it was more money than Wymore had ever seen at one time, and he was so nervous during the following night that he could not sleep and continually stirred the fire in the stove so that he could count the money from the light that it made. Wymore was uneducated. He could neither read nor write, and he was said to have been worth over $150,000 before 1875.

Isaac E. Kelly, a young man from Pennsylvania, taught one of the first schools in Lancaster township, in one of the settlers’ preëmption cabin, near Eden postoffice in 1860. He went to war in 1861 and marched with Sherman to the Sea.

The first mowing machine in Atchison county was brought to Lancaster township, two miles west of where Huron now is, by Joel Hiatt, in 1859, who sold it to Capt. Robert White, who cut hay with it several seasons. The machine was a Ball, and a crude affair. The first reaper to harvest grain in the county was owned by the late M. J. Cloyes, who also lived in Lancaster township, not many miles from Huron. Mr. Cloyes bought the reaper in the early sixties. The grain was raked off by a man lashed to a post on a platform four or five feet to the rear of the cycle. This reaper was a Buckeye machine, and was sold by J. E. Wagner, the hardware merchant of Atchison.

The forty acre tract of land upon which the home of Edward Perdue stands, a few miles east of Huron, was traded for a mowing machine by the owner in 1865.

Bethel church, located southwest of Huron, is supposed to be the oldest church in the county, outside of Atchison. It was built by the Methodist Episcopal church (South), about 1870, and is still in use in 1915.

Thus it will be seen that Huron is located in the midst of a very interesting part of Atchison county, and while the town did not reach the proportions that its original promoters had hoped for it, it is one of the good towns of the county. The following are the business houses in Huron in 1915:

• J. M. Delany—General merchandise.
• E. P. Perry—General merchandise.
• W. E. English—Hardware, implements and furniture.
• H. T. Harrison—Grocer.
• Dr. Wiley Jones—Drug store.
• John L. Snavly—Restaurant and postmaster.
• Mrs. Alta Wilson—Hotel.
• C. E. Mathew—Lumber.
• Loren Horton—Meat market.
• A. F. Allen—Grain, coal, live stock and automobile supplies.
• Baker-Corwell—Grain company.
• A. Morehead—Barber.
• W. Hildman—Blacksmith.
• Riley & Son—Livery barn.

Over 200,000 bushels of grain are shipped from Huron annually and the average shipment of live stock amounts to about forty cars.

OLD MARTINSBURG.

Martinsburg was laid out near the present site of Potter in the early days. It is not generally known, even among the old settlers, that there was such a place. George Remsburg said that this was due probably to the fact that Martinsburg was born dead. It was conceived in the town craze of early territorial times, but it came a still-born infant and its promoters succeeded in viewing it only long enough for it to give a feeble gasp and fall back dead again. Though this proposed municipal enterprise of pioneer days did not materialize, it was, nevertheless, an interesting and important fact of local history, hitherto unrecorded, that such a town was actually staked off and laid out in Atchison county at a very early period. The only old-timers who remembered it were James B. Low, of Colorado Springs, formerly of Mount Pleasant, “Uncle Joe” Potter, and W. J. (Jack) Bailey. All three settled in the southern part of Atchison county in 1854. Mr. Low settled with his parents in Walnut township in the fall of that year, and says that Martinsburg was laid out that fall. It was situated in what is known as the Mercer bottom, on land belonging to Felix Corpstein and Fred Poss, in the west half of section 24, a little northeast of the present site of Potter, or immediately adjoining it. What is known as the Mercer spring, one of the finest in this section, was included in the town site. Mr. Low and his brother went out to look at the place in the fall of 1854 and decided to spend the winter there. It consisted at that time of a few huts and a small store, and never amounted to any more than a village, if it could be called that, although Mr. Low says the town site originally comprised about 100 acres, and a few lots were actually sold. The store was a small frame building, erected by one Alex Hayes, who had previously taken a claim on Plum creek, near Kickapoo. Mr. Low thinks this was the first frame building in Atchison county. Hayes carried a small stock of goods. This was long before the town of Mt. Pleasant, in the same vicinity, was ever dreamed of, and even before Tom Fortune opened a store there. It seems that the chief promoters of Martinsburg were two brothers named Martin; hence the name. Not much is known concerning them, or what became of them. “Uncle Joe” Potter says that one of them came to his house on one occasion when he and his brother, Marion Potter, were making rails. Martin stood around a while and finally insinuated that they were foolish for working so hard, and in a confidential way, “just the same as told them,” as Mr. Potter expressed it, that they could make lots of money and make it easy stealing horses, whereupon Marion Potter promptly ordered him off of the place, and told him never to return. James Low’s father bought the town site of Martinsburg in the fall of 1855 and moved onto it in the spring of 1856, converting it into a farm. Thus perished Martinsburg. Even the name did not survive in the memory of the settlers, and it was only by accident that it was recently recalled after a lapse of fifty-four years. At an early day the locality became known as Mercer’s Bottom, after Joe Mercer, one of the earliest settlers, and it is known by that name today. It is not known what became of Mercer. James Low says the last time he saw him was in Denver, in 1859. Mercer was a queer character. It is told of him that he lived in a little cabin and subsisted principally on mussels, which he found in Stranger creek. Alex Hayes, the Martinsburg storekeeper, has also been lost trace of, but Dick King says there was an oldtimer named Alexander Hayes, who died many years ago and was buried in the Sapp graveyard at Oak Mills. The town site of Martinsburg was a favorite camping place for soldiers and emigrants passing over the old Military road in the early days on account of the fine spring, the large meadows and the protection of the hills around it. To catch this tide of emigration was, in all probability, the object of those pioneer town projectors in selecting this site.

BUNKER HILL.

There appears to be no data available which enables the historian to determine exactly where this town was located, but a prospectus publication March 18, 1858, in Freedom’s Champion, states that it was on Independence creek, within ten miles of Atchison and twenty-five miles of St. Joseph. Its chief promoter was Dr. Charles F. Kob, of Atchison. Dr. Kob was a German physician and surgeon, who located in Atchison at an early date. He had been a surgeon in the army, and a member of the Massachusetts and Connecticut medical societies. He lived and practiced medicine in Boston for some time. About the only advantage for Bunker Hill, set forth in the prospectus, was that coal was found around the place, but Bunker Hill never seemed to have any coal in her bunkers. She failed to flourish and no Bunker Hill monument perpetuates her memory.

LOCUST GROVE.

Locust Grove was never laid out as a town site. It was a stopping place on the old stage route to Topeka, and the postoffice from Mount Pleasant was moved there in 1862.

HELENA.

Helena was located and named in this county, and the plat thereof was filed March 18, 1857, by James L. Byers, one of the proprietors of the town company, and was located on the north half of section 28, township 5, range 18, on the Little Grasshopper river, in Grasshopper township, at the crossing of the old Military road, five miles north of the present site of Effingham. The town appears on an old township map of eastern Kansas, published by Whitman & Searl, of Lawrence, in 1856. It shows it to have been on the east branch of Grasshopper river, about fifteen miles west of Atchison, and north of the Ft. Laramie and California roads.

CAYUGA.

Cayuga was laid out by a New York colony in 1856, and was named for Cayuga, N. Y. It was also in Grasshopper township, on the old Military road, one and one-half miles from Lancaster township line on part of the east half of section 18, township 5, range 18. It was surveyed by Dr. A. C. Tabor, and the plat was filed October 9, 1857, by George L. Willson. Provision was made in the town site for a public park and a young ladies’ seminary. It was claimed that it had at one time 400 inhabitants. Among the members of the town company were Messrs. Smooks, Fuller, Higby, Atherton, Ontis, Meeker, William Adams, Chase and Dr. Taylor. The land on which the town was located was “junked” as a claim by a Mrs. Place, and thereafter the town gradually went out of existence. It is said to have had a good two-story hotel and a number of business houses.

In the plat which Royal Baldwin, president of the town company, filed April 6, 1859, the name of this town is given as Kennekuck. It was located on the southeast quarter and the southwest fractional quarter of section 3, township 5, range 17. Its streets were sixty feet wide, except Broadway, which was 100 feet wide, and Market street, which was eighty feet wide. One block was donated for a market house, and another block for a park, for religious and educational purposes. The streets were numbered from 1 to 10 and the cross streets were named as follows: Elm, Linn, Cedar, Poplar, Broadway, Market, Walnut, Weld, Perry and Baldwin. The town site was vacated by the board of county commissioners December 15, 1871. Kennekuk was a station on the Overland stage route, twenty-four miles west and north of Atchison. During the overland stage days Thomas Perry ran an eating station there, and Mrs. Perry, who was a grand cook, always had a smoking hot dinner ready with the best of coffee, for the occupants of the stage coaches. In the early days dances were held in the Perry home, and Hon. D. W. Wilder, the author of the celebrated “Annals of Kansas,” used to trip the light fantastic toe there, and it is said that he courted the girl who afterwards became his wife, in the Perry home.

Frank A. Root, who was an express messenger on the overland stage, says, in his book, that Kennekuk was the first “home” station out from Atchison, and the drivers were changed there. In 1863 it was a little town of perhaps a dozen houses with one store and a blacksmith shop. The Kickapoo Indian Agency was one of the most prominent buildings there, and was located near the old road in the northwestern part of the town. The town was laid out by William H. Wheeler, a surveyor and speculator, and was named for the Kickapoo chieftain, John Kennekuk. George Remsburg says that the town was platted in June, 1854, but the dedication on the original plat in the court house would indicate that it was platted on the date first mentioned in this sketch.

Hon. A. J. White, the son of Capt. Robert White, and at one time a member of the legislature from this county, and one of the leading farmers of the county, claims that Royal Baldwin was the first white settler in Kennekuk, and that he was appointed Indian agent for the Kickapoos there by President Pierce before Kansas was opened for settlement. Mr. Remsburg also says that many noted travelers stopped at Kennekuk, including Mark Twain.

According to Captain Elberhant, of Golden, Colo., the Kickapoo Indians once had a village on the Grasshopper river in Atchison county, called Kapioma, after the chief of the band, and it is from this source that Kapioma township took its name. Captain Berthoud says that Father Duerinck, a native of Belgium, who was probably the first Jesuit priest in Atchison county, gave the pronunciation of the name of his Atchison county station as Kah-pi-oma, accent on the syllable “Kah.”

In an affidavit of H. H. Skiles, volume 69, page 63, in the records of the office of the register of deeds of Atchison county, Kansas, the following appears:

“This affiant further states that there was in 1857 and 1858 a company formed, called and known as the Kapioma City Company, and the individuals composing that company were B. Gray, S. C. Russell, W. W. Weston, H. H. Skiles and W. Y. Roberts, who united themselves together for the purpose of laying out, locating and establishing a town called Kapioma, on what was then known as Grasshopper creek, just north of its confluence with Straight creek, in the western borders of Atchison county, Kansas. The entire purpose and scheme in laying out and establishing a town fell through and was wholly and totally abandoned by all and every person connected with it without prejudice to any one, and the title to the land intended by the company to become town property reverted to the original owner. The law required to establish a town was never complied with.”

MASHENAH.

Mashenah, apparently, was to be a rival town of Kennekuk. The cold and quiet records now on file in the court house would convey the idea that Royal Baldwin must have fallen out with the original promoters of Kennekuk and decided to establish a town of his own, so, accordingly, he filed a plat of this town September 21, 1857, showing it to be located in the northeast quarter and the northwest quarter of section 2, township 5, range 17. One block was set aside for a college and another for a park. Its streets were numbered 1 to 21, and the cross streets were named as follows: Oak, Pine, Plum, Vine, Elm, Linn and Cedar.

ST. NICHOLAS.

The only record that can be found of this town is that Thomas Poteet filed a plat thereof April 20. 1858, showing it to be located in the southwest corner of section 6, township 7, range 20.

This is another town about which there is little information available. The plat was filed June 20, 1857, by James R. Whitehead and shows it to have been located in the west half of section 1, township 5, range 17. The streets were numbered from 1 to 18, and the cross streets were named Buchanan, Emily, Mary, Carolina, Jefferson, St. Joseph, Ellwood, Able, Alexander, and there were two public squares, called North and South.

PARNELL.

The plat of Parnell was filed December 24, 1883, by J. C. Hotham, and shows the town site to be located in the southwest corner of the southeast quarter of section 20, township 6, range 20. It is located on both the Santa Fe and the Missouri Pacific railroads. The station was named for a hero of the Civil war, James L. Parnell, a private soldier in Company F, Thirteenth Kansas volunteer infantry, who was killed during the skirmish at Haare Head, Ark., August 4, 1864. Parnell was the original settler on the site of Parnell and was one of the first citizens of Atchison county to respond under President Lincoln’s call of July, 1862. He enlisted in the Thirteenth Kansas. Ex-Sheriff Frank Hartin was a comrade of Parnell in Company F and married into the Parnell family.

SHANNON.

Shannon was platted by G. W. Sutliff February 22, 1883. and is located in the northwest corner of the northeast quarter of section 1. township 6, range 19, about eight miles west of Atchison, on the Parallel road. The town consists of one store building, in which the postoffice is located, and a few residences, together with railroad station and a small elevator.

ELMWOOD.

Elmwood was platted by Anna Hoke and J. S. Hoke April 12, 1873, and was located on the south half of the northeast quarter of section 2, township 6, range 20. This was a “paper” town, and the only record now available of it is the plat on file in the court house at Atchison.

Cummingsville was platted by William Cummings December 16, 1872, and was located on the north half of the southwest quarter of section 1, township 7, range 19, on the line of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe railway, southwest of Atchison, in Center township, and took its name from the founder of the town. The original plat provided for two streets, Market and Main, but on September 21, 1883, Samuel C. King filed a plat, creating an addition to Cummingsville, composed of four blocks. The first settler on the townsite was Robert Kennish, who located there in November, 1872, and was appointed postmaster when the postoffice was established the following fall. Mr. Kennish opened the first store in Cummingsville in December, 1872, and he for many years was station agent there, one of the oldest in the service of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe railway. He was a much beloved character. He died a few years ago at the home of his daughter, Mrs. Nelson W. Cox, who lives in Cummingsville with her invalid husband, Nels Cox, who for eight years served Atchison county in the capacity of clerk of the court. In April, 1873, C. D. Harrison and family located in Cummingsville, and their child, Lorenzo, was the first child born on the townsite, and his was also the first death, Lorenzo having died March 25, 1875. In the winter of 1880–81, R. C. Ripple taught the first school, and the Methodist church (South) was built in 1880. Cummingsville now is a town of over 100 residences, and in addition to its bank, it has several good stores, a cream station and an elevator. Much grain and live stock is shipped out of Cummingsville annually.

EDEN P. O.

Eden was located about eight miles northwest of Atchison, and Charles Servoss was appointed the first postmaster there in 1858. The postoffice was located on a farm adjoining the Johnson Wymore farm on the south. Servoss resigned as postmaster in 1863 and removed to Detroit, Mich. He was succeeded by H. C. Lee, who kept the office on a farm adjoining the Wymore farm on the west. Mr. Lee was a grandfather of Miss Kate Platt and Mrs. S. F. Harburger, formerly of Atchison, and the father of Mrs. Flora B. Hiatt. Mr. Lee held the office until 1872, when Francis Schletzbaum, Sr., was named as postmaster, and removed the office to his farm, which adjoined the old Wymore farm on the north. The postoffice remained there until it was discontinued upon the establishment of free rural delivery service in 1900.

Potter is pleasantly situated on a slight rise or knoll in the beautiful valley of Stranger creek, and near the southeast corner of Mt. Pleasant township. From the first it has been the principal station on the Santa Fe railroad, between Atchison and Leavenworth, being situated about midway between the two cities. It is an attractive little town, with well graded streets and good cement sidewalks, and a number of attractive residences. While it is one of the younger towns of the county, it has made strides that make it compare favorably with some of its older sisters, in volume of business at least, if not in population.

Potter, as the home of the white man, dates back further than any community in the county. Elsewhere in this history will be found an account of Paschal Pensoneau, the old French trader, who established himself on Stranger creek, near the present townsite, during the early forties.

The building of Potter is the third and the most successful attempt to establish a town in that vicinity. The first attempt was at Mount Pleasant. This was one of the first towns started in Kansas, and here was located the first postoffice in Atchison county. It prospered for a time and was a candidate for the county seat. It gradually declined, and since the establishment of Potter, has been little more than a memory. In the early days, some say before Mt. Pleasant was started, a town was laid out near the big Mercer spring, just northeast of the present site of Potter, and called Martinsburg. It was extensively boomed, but outside of a small store and a few huts, it never advanced beyond the paper stage.

Early in 1886 the Leavenworth, Northern & Southern railway, now a branch of the Santa Fe, and known as the “Pollywog,” was built and a station located where Potter now stands. A town was platted and called Bennett Springs, after James Gordon Bennett, the well known eastern journalist. The mineral springs on the Masterson farm near the townsite were attracting considerable attention at the time, and it was thought that a popular resort could be built up there. The medicinal properties of the water were discovered by Dr. Rice, a local physician, and subsequently analyzed by experts, who confirmed Dr. Rice’s conclusions, and a number of people claimed to have used the waters in liver, kidney and other complaints with good results. Henry C. Squires, afterwards a Potter banker, conceived the idea of establishing a health resort here, and named it in honor of James Gordon Bennett, who, it was thought, would use his influence towards getting eastern capital interested in the project. The expected financial backing was not forthcoming, however, and the proposed development of the springs was never made.

In the meantime the railroad people had christened the town Potter, in honor of Hon. Joseph Potter, owner of the quarter section on which the town was laid out, and, while the name of the town still appears on the tax rolls as Bennett Springs, the original name having never been legally changed, the town is now generally known as Potter. Joseph Potter was the original settler, having preëmpted the land on which the town stands, in 1854, and the first sales of lots in Potter were deeded to their purchaser thirty-two years later direct from the Government preëmption owner. The taking up of the land, filing, etc., cost Mr. Potter about $220 for 160 acres, and when it was divided up into town lots it brought him $200 an acre. Mr. Potter entered part of this land with a land warrant given him for services in the Mexican war.

The first lots in the town were sold to the late James Stalons, for many years a justice of the peace, preacher of the Gospel and prominent citizen of the county. The first house on the townsite was built by Thomas J. Potter in 1882, four years before the town was laid out. The house is still standing. The first business house in the town was erected by Charles Klein, who operated a store there until his death. A year or two after Potter was started the postoffice was removed from Mt. Pleasant to the place, and James B. Weir was the first postmaster. The first hotel was operated by Mrs. Elvira Pierce. Dr. Barnes had the first drug store, and was also the first physician; Frank Blodgett, the first hardware store, and B. F. Shaw & Company, the first furniture store. The first barber was Thomas Seever; the first blacksmith, Lou Chilson; the first butcher, John Yost; the first carpenter, P. H. Fleer; the first painters, George Brown and Grant Cass; the first stone masons, S. B. Morrow and Frank Maxwell; the first shoemaker, Patrick Murphy; the first stock buyer, Henry Show; the first school teacher, Albert Limbaugh; the first railroad agent, C. L. Cherrie; the first lumber dealer, David Hudson; the first harness maker, Harry Rickets; the first rural mail carrier, Frank White. Frank Mayfield operated the first livery stable; the first elevator was built by James Hawley; the first church building was that of the Methodists. The first Methodist preacher was Rev. John W. Faubian, and the first Christian preacher, Rev. T. W. Cottingham. The first telephone exchange was operated by Charles and George Sprong. The first lodge was Echo Lodge, No. 103, Independent Order of Odd Fellows. The first bank was the Potter State Bank. Potter has had three newspapers, the first, the Potter Press, was established by E. E. Campbell, in 1898. In 1900 Mr. and Mrs. Eppie Barber started the Potter Leaf. Three years later Charles B. Remsburg bought the Leaf’s circulation and launched the Potter Kansan, which is now owned and published by his father, J. E. Remsburg.

Potter is one of the most flourishing towns of its size in Kansas. Though its population is less than 200, it boasts of two banks, the aggregate resources of which amount to nearly a quarter million dollars. There probably is not another town of its size in the State that has two banks. The town has two good elevators which during the years 1912, 1913 and 1914 handled on an average of 140,000 bushels of grain a year. These elevators are operated by Fred Ode & Sons and James Robinson. The railroad station at Potter does a business that amounts to something like $40,000 annually. The shipping of live stock is an important industry here. The principal buyers are Tinsley, Potter, and Timple Bros. Much fruit is grown around Potter, and as high as $20,000 has been paid out for apples during one shipping season.

Potter has a rural high school, the first of its kind established in the State, and an $8,000 school building.

The town has two general stores, those of W. A. Hodge and P. P. Knoch; a hardware store, operated by B. F. Shaw; a grocery store, by Thomas J. Potter; a furniture store, by Frank Beard; a drug store, by G. E. Coulter; a hotel, by Mrs. G. F. Pope; two blacksmith shops, by R. E. Brown and G. F. Pope; a livery stable, by H. G. Hawley; two barber shops, by George Brown and Frank Blankenship; a cement tile factory, by Grisham & Maxwell; a millinery store, by Mrs. T. J. Maxwell; a telephone exchange, by E. C. Yoakum; a newspaper, The Potter Weekly Kansan, by J. E. Remsburg; two physicians, Dr. G. W. Redmon and Dr. S. M. Myers. Dr. A. E. Ricks, of Atchison, has a branch dental office here; the Lambert Lumber Company, of Leavenworth, has a commodious and well stocked yard here, with Samuel Parker as manager. There are two churches, Methodist and Christian, two public halls, and one lodge hall. L. M. Jewell conducts an insurance, real estate and loan business. There is also a garage, and other business enterprises in the town.

MOUNT PLEASANT.

In 1854 Thomas L. Fortune, Jr., a Virginian, settled on the “old Military road” and opened one of the very earliest stores in Atchison county, around this store springing up the village of Mount Pleasant. A postoffice was established here in 1855, and Mr. Fortune was appointed postmaster. Being an inventive genius, he finally gave up his store business and devoted his energies towards perfecting and building a road-wagon, to which reference has heretofore been made, and which he thought would revolutionize the freighting business across the plains.

The townsite of Mount Pleasant was surveyed in 1857 by John P. Wheeler, agent for the Town Company.

Michael Wilkins and James Laird were the very first settlers in the township, being followed shortly afterwards by Levi Bowles, Jacob Grindstaff, Andrew J. Peebler, Martin Jones, Chris Horn, P. R. King, W. C. Findley, A. S. Speck and Amos Hamon.

The first hotel in the town was opened by Henry Payne, who operated it many years.

T. J. Payne and Philo W. Hull were the next parties to engage in business, Mr. Payne leaving when the new town of Sumner was started, and locating there.

The next to engage in business was P. R. King, who established a general store about 1858. He remained at Mount Pleasant until after the county seat question had been settled, when he removed to Atchison.

In the fall of 1858 a district school was opened. In 1860 the Cumberland Presbyterians erected a church building, having held religious services at the homes of the members prior to this time. Rev. A. A. Moore was their first pastor.

On May 1, 1862, the Church of Christ was organized by Elder W. S. Jackson, with seventeen members, services being held in the school house.

Mount Pleasant Lodge, No. 158, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, of Mount Pleasant, was organized in the fall of 1868 by the following charter members: William J. Young, X. Klein, M. R. Benton, John Hawley. S. K. McCreary, Joseph Howell and Albert Hawley. Their first meeting was held October 20, 1868, with the following as first officers: William Young, worshipful master; X. Klein, senior warden; A. Hawley, junior warden; S. K. McCreary, secretary; M. R. Benton, treasurer.

In August, 1862, the name of the postoffice was changed to Locust Grove.

LEWIS’ POINT.

In pre-territorial times and in the steamboat days, Kansas had many geographical names that are not now to be found on the map. Some of them, where permanent settlements have sprung up, have been perpetuated, but the majority of them do not live even in the memory of the oldest inhabitants. One of the latter is “Lewis’ Point,” near the present site of Oak Mills. Old “Cap.” Lewis is long since dead, his name almost forgotten, and the rapacious Missouri river and “Mansell’s Slide” are now about to devour the “Point.” with which his name was coupled in our early geography. While “Lewis’ Point” was never a place of any prominence, and not even the site of a village or settlement, yet it was a geographical name that was known to every steamboat man running on this section of the river, and is worthy of preservation in our local history. “Lewis’ Point” was at the projection of land lying immediately above Oak Mills, on the Missouri river. It took its name from the fact that Calvin Lewis, an old riverman, settled at this point at an early day, and it became a frequent stopping place for steamboats to take on wood. In those days there was a splendid wood supply in that vicinity. Lewis’ house stood near the site of the old Champton, or William Moody, house, which was destroyed by fire about a year ago.

It is not generally known that a steamboat was ever built on Atchison county soil, much less that Oak Mills was ever the scene of the ship builder’s craft, outside of the construction of Indian canoes and the modern skiffs built by Dick King or some other later-day river man. Yet, it is a fact that Calvin Lewis once built and launched at “Lewis’ Point” a small stern-wheel steamboat, and operated it on the river for several years. In 1855 the first territorial legislature of Kansas passed an act authorizing Lewis to operate a ferry at “Lewis’ Point.”

FARLEY’S FERRY.

The same legislature that gave permission to Lewis to operate a ferry at “Lewis’ Point,” granted the same privilege to Nimrod Farley, to maintain a ferry across the Missouri river, opposite Iatan, Mo. Farley was a well known character in the Missouri bottoms in the vicinity of Iatan, Cow Island, and Oak Mills, in the early days. He lived near Iatan, but it seems that he owned land on the Kansas side, near Oak Mills, which offered a landing for his ferry. He was a brother of Josiah Farley, who laid out the town of Farley, in Platte county, in 1850. George McAdow later became proprietor of Farley’s Ferry and operated it until it was destroyed by Jayhawkers, shortly before the war.