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1904-05.
City Directory of Abilene, Kansas.
American Directory Co.
CHICAG
R
O
THE NEWBERRY
69/200 200
1904-05.
City
Directory
of
Abilene,
Kansas.
American Directory Co.
2
ABILENE CITY DIRECTORY.
CASE'S Department Store,
ABILENE, KANSAS.
Dry Goods, Gents' Furnishings, Cloaks, Suits, Carpets, House Furnishings, Groceries, Boots and Shoes, Millinery, Books, China, etc.
"Department Store Low Prices on Everything."
44.227
CONTENTS.
ABILENE --
Its Early History
5
The Boom Days .... 11
Then Came The Flood. .. 15
Abilene of Today.
17
Public Schools.
Prominent Business Enterprises. 25
CHURCH DIRECTORY-
Methodist Episcopal Church. 39
First Presbyterian Church. 41
Trinity Lutheran Church 43
Grace Reformed Church ..
45
The First Baptist Church
.47
The Evangelicai Church .47
The Christian Church.
Brethren Iu Christ Church
49
United Brethren Church
49
St. Andrews Catholic Church 51
St. Johns Episcopal Church
.51
Christian Science Church
49
Mt. Zion Second Baptist Church
53
African Methodist Church .. 53
LODGE DIRECTORY .-
Masonic Bodies.
.55-57
Knights of Pythias
Modern Woodmen of America.
.59
Royal Neighbors
59
Ancient Order of United Workman
61
Degree of Honor ..
61
Independent Order of Odd Fellows
63
Rebekahs
.63
Occidental Mutual Benefit Association
63
Fraternai Aid 65
65
Tripie Tie Benefit Association.
Sons & Daughters of justice
.67
Ancient Order of Pyramids
67
Knights of the Modern Maccabees 67
Gran i Army of The Republic
69
Woman's Relief Corps
.69
Modern Woodmen of America
Supreme Tent of Knights of the Maccabees
Independent Flambeau ('inb
1
SCHOOL DIRECTORY
73
OFFICIAL CITY DIRECTORY
75
CLASSIFIED BUSINESS DIRECTORY 77
CITY DIRECTORY
97
TELEPHONE DIRECTORY
150
1
ABILENE CITY DIRECTORY.
THE
Lockhart Furniture COMPANY.
We have over 9,000 square feet of floor space and every foot occupied. We carry a complete line of medium and high grade Furniture.
Our Carpet room is well equipped and thoroughly stocked with Carpets. Rugs, Mattings, Oileloth, ete.
Our Art Department is designed to satisfy the taste of the most fas- tidious.
Draperies, Lace Curtains, Portiers, etc. We carry a large assort n > 1 of up-to-date styles.
We are headquarters for School and Office Furniture.
Remember, too:
1. We guarantee satisfaction in goods and prices.
2. We deliver goods free of charge.
3. Our workmen are master mechanies and artists. We guar- antee all work.
The Furniture Exchange,
In response to a very pronounced demand for some medium through which exchange of goods, no longer satisfactory on account of change of style of goods or enlarged resources or increased neces- sity of possessor, might be accomplished with the greatest conveni- ence and profit to the owner, we established an exchange.
For particulars eall up, office phone No. 20: residence phone No. 157.
ABILENE.
Its Early History.
When the rush of the forty-niners carried them over the vast desert lands of Kansas, no man in all that army of rushing prospectors dreamed that this country would ever be inhabited by white men. Civilization had stopped at the Missonri river. Beyond that point was a vast desert inhabited by Indians, buffalo and antelope. As years passed on and the mad rush for C'alifornia ceased, a few of the more conservative frontiersmen, the early empire makers of America, began pushing into this desert land, making their
Wild Bill's Cabin Hoilebe.
homes along the streams and carving ont of the vast plain one of the greatest states of this mighty Union.
In the fall of 1856, T. M. Hersey came west through fields waving in grass, peopled only by nature and the native Indian, until he reached the place where now stands the city of Abilene. There on the west banks of Mud Creek he located his elaim. Here was built the first log cabin that was to make a prosperous city.
In the spring of 1857 his family followed him. Slowly during that
.
6
ABILENE CITY DIRECTORY.
J. A. GRAVES & CO.
Real Estate:
City Property,
3 Farm, Ranch, and
Pasture Lands.
-
Fire,
Insurance: Lightning, and Tornado. - Life Insurance: Mutual Life of New York. Cheaper than assessment Insurance.
Low Rate Farm Loans With Privilege of Prepayment.
Phones: Office, No. 304; residence, No. 194.
UP-TO-DATE.
Where you will find a Large Variety of Exclusive Styles in
Men's, Boys' and Children's Clothing, HATS AND CAPS
Our Furnishing Goods for this season embrace the smartest and most correct styles in
Underwear, Hosiery, Shirts, Handkerchiefs, Neckwear, Sus- penders, Gloves and Belts.
Only one thing to do-get the habit of buying of
HARRY C. LITTS,
Abilene's Fashionable Clothier and Hatter. TELEPHONE NO. 190.
7
BY THE AMERICAN DIRECTORY COMPANY.
year a half-dozen families moved into the neighborhood and formed Diekin- son County. The town of Abilene was not laid out until 1860. The original town site was on the land belonging to C. H. Thompson. It comprised only 40 acres on the east side of Mud Creek. This did not include the log cabin of Hersey. In 1861 Abilene, after a hard fight, was made the County seat of Dickinson County.
Among the first to locate in the town was --- Jones, commonly known as "Old Man Jones." He erected a log house which he turned into a store, where among other things that were sold, was whiskey.
One by one settlers kept dropping in and log houses commeneed to be quite numerous. Shortly after Jones opened his store, Dr. Moon built a more pretentious one which was known for many years as the Frontier Store. For the next four or five years the town grew slowly. It was only a Frontier Station, a stopping place for the settlers pushing farther west. Then came the Kansas Pacific Railroad in 1866. How quickly the town changed. Lum- ber was shipped in. The building of log houses ceased and frame stores and dwellings began springing np over the prairie. The town was enlarged. Abilene had its first boom.
About this time Joseph G. McCoy, the pioneer western cattle shipper arrived in Abilene. Mr. MeCoy was a man of large means and he had con- ceived the idea of making Abilene the shipping point for Texas cattle. The Kansas Pacific Railroad was interested. Circulars were printed and distrib- nted all over Texas, setting forth the advantages and benefits drovers would derive from driving their herds to Abilene. Not satisfied with this, advertis- ing agents were sent into Texas and Eastern newspapers were brought into use. Abilene became known all over the United States. Eastern buyers were told of the immense herds of cattle that would be here at a certain time. This gave Abilene a wide notoriety and a great many people flocked here. Antici- pating a rich harvest from the drovers, cattlemen and cow-boys, a class of people whose society could well be dispensed with in any community, located in the town. No sooner was Abilene established as a cattle point, than the town was surrounded by a crowd of gamblers, blacklegs and their followers. This class built houses and prepared for their harvest. Up to this time there was no regular hotel and in order to accommodate the crowd of cattlemen. i. was necessary that one should be built. To meet this requirement, Mr. McCoy built what was in this time, quite a pretentious hotel and named it the "Drovers 'Cottage." He had a hotel but no one would run it. Back to St. Louis went Mr. MeCoy and there secured Mr. and Mrs. Gore who came to Abilene to take charge. After running it one year for Mr. McCoy, Colonel Core purchased the hotel and for the balance of his life gave the traveling public a home that will always be remembered.
Abilene had now embarked on a period of as wild a history as a civil- ized town ever had. While the business of the town grew and flourished, its morals became worse. From 1867 to 1872, Abilene was an ont and out cow- boy town. In 1869 Abilene was incorporated into a City of the third class.
8
ABILENE CITY DIRECTORY.
Pianos and Organs
Shipped Direct from Factory to Purchaser.
PRICES:
Pianos $85.00 up | Organs $12.50 up
CONOVER
CONOVER
Any instrument you want at the lowest possible price. Write for further information.
Instruments tuned and repaired by skillful and compe- tent workmen.
Prices right. Satisfaction guaranteed or money refunded.
Prompt attention to mail orders.
Leave your orders with us for Sheet Music.
ABILENE MUSIC Co.,
ABILENE, KANSAS.
9
BY THE AMERICAN DIRECTORY COMPANY
In the summer of 1870 Wild Bill (James B. Hickock) came to town. He was a wild fearless gambler and a general bad man but one who was feared by the cow-boys. The following year he was appointed city marshal. He could draw a revolver in less time and fire with surer aim than any man in the west, nor did he stand long on the order of drawing. He thought no more of killing a man than he would a dog. He was afterwards killed by a cow-boy in Deadwood. In 1870 a brick and stone court house was erected
WILD BILL (JAMES B. HICKOCK.
at the corner of Second and Broadway. This was the first building other than wood. In 1872 the cattle trade left Abilene and moved west; with it went the gambler and the element that had made Abilene a terror. Then began a steady,healthy growth. The county had filled up, farmers were prosperous and the great desert had become a vast paradise. Brick buildings were built, the town was enlarged and people flocked in from the East. For the next ten years Abilene had no end of prosperity.
January 1882 will be a month long remembered in Abilene. Abont one o'colek on the morning of the 17th of the month, the court house was discovered to be on fire. "Fire ! Fire ! Fire !" rang out in the stillness of the night and soon the bells of the city spread the alarm. In a short time the fire was beyond control and the flames leaping the streets consumed nearly two blocks of the best business honses in the town. The loss was over $100,- 000 besides nearly all of the County records were destroyed. The loss was a severe blow to the town but the people went bravely to work and soon a $30.000 court house was constructed in its preseat location. In 1901. $20,000
10
ABILENE CITY DIRECTORY.
Shearer's Shoe Store.
The Big Shoe Store.
The Shoe Store that carries the up-to-date Shoes.
The first one in the field with the NEW STYLES at prices that are right.
SHEARER, THE SHOE MAN, CORNER THIRD AND NORTH BROADWAY.
Buckeye Meat Market.
Dealers in Beef, Pork, Veal, Mutton, Poultry, Fish and Sausages.
Fresh and Selt Meats.
Both Home Killed and Cold Storage,
Lee's Poultry and Stock Remedies, Grit, Oyster Shell, Green Ground Boneand Chicken Feed.
COPYRIGHT
SWEET AND SOUR PICKLES. RELISHIES, KRAUT. MINCE MEAT AND FRESHI LARD.
S. L. GISH & CO.,
303 NORTH BROADWAY. TELEPHONE NO. 47.
11
BY THE AMERICAN DIRECTORY COMPANY
was spent in enlarging and beautifying this building until now Abilene has , a $50,000 court house, one of the finest in Central Kansas. The burned dis- triet, which contained only frame buildings, was built up with substantial two and three story brick bloeks. Thus the spirit which the City has always had, the push that came with the old cow-boy days and has always been in the town, carried it over its first set back.
-
DICKINSON CUONTY'S COURT HOUSE.
BOOM DAYS.
For the next five years Abilene was on the rising tide of prosperity. Values began to advance. Property was rapidly changing hands, with every change making a leap in price. Then came the Boom with all its wild forget- fulness of the old struggling days. The town and country demanded new railroad facilities. In 1887 $276,000 worth of bonds were voted and the Rock Island built an extension from Herington through Abilene to Salina. The Santa Fe built north from Strong City to Abilene, there branching, the main line going north to Superior, Nebraska, and a branch running to Salina. Now with these railroad facilities, the demand was for manufactories. New addi- tions were laid ont, farms became town lots, entire additions were ent up into lots and sold at $100 each, the ironey being used to give bonuses to new enter- prises. The Johns Carriage Factory built an immense plan costing $40,000 and bezan work with over three hundred hands. A lock fue.ory secured a
12
ABILENE CITY DIRECTORY.
ABILENE IS A FAVORED DRUG MARKET.
C. E. Northcraft & Co.
HAVE MADE IT SO.
They cater to the wants of the people with the best stock of
Drugs, Sundries, Glass and Painters' Supplies IN CENTRAL KANSAS.
to Prescription work is their specialty. They like family trade. Remember the name,
C. E. NORTHCRAFT & CO., EVERYBODY'S DRUGGISTS, No. 204 North Cedar Street, Abilene, Kansas.
RICE, JOHNIZ & NICOLAY.
DEALERS IN ...
Lumber and Coal,
Lime, Cement, Stucco, Brick.
RIVERSIDE COAL.
J. T. NICOLAY, Manager.
Telephone No. 147.
13
BY THE AMERICAN DIRECTORY COMPANY.
bonus, also a pottery works and the Sisters of St. Joseph erected one of the finest college buildings in the State. The City Hall which has no equal in towns of four times the size of Abilene was erected at a cost of $20,000.
ABILENE'S CITY HALL.
During all this time the town was will. A street-car line was built, gas wells bored, the people even held mass meetings to remove the State Capital to Abilene. On this wave of prosperity every man expected to become rich. In 1888 the inflated values began to fall. The farmers had also been intoxicated by these same wild visions. Farms and homes had been mort- gaged and the banks had guaranteed the loans. The outcome was failure. Farms were sold under mortgages and values went down. Men who were supposed to be riel awoke to find themselves land and property poor and a mortgage eating the property. The carriage works failed. Later the build-
ABILENE BANKS
BROADWAY LOOKING NORTH.
15
BY THE AMERICAN DIRECTORY COMPANY.
ings burned and the addition laid out to raise its honus became farm land. The pottery works folded its tents in the night and quietly stole away. The lock works failed and of the many enterprises that were fostered hy the town, the Sisters of St. Joseph College and the City Hall alone remained as a reminder and a credit to the town's hoom days. Shipe's street car mules died and the line was torn up. The town like a spoiled child had had its play. Now came the years of serious work, the reclaiming of wrecked hopes and fortunes and bravely did the people go to work. They awoke serious and sensible. .
Ahilene was not alone in this wild dream. It had for company every town and hamlet in the State and the awakening came to all alike. In the years that followed business men grew conservative, careful and with it all, successful. Failure did not daunt. It was an ohjeet lesson. It showed the breakers and marked the shoals. As the tide receded the strength of the town was hushanded and when low water mark was reached, the town was in good shape. Homes which had heen sold under mortgages were purchased hy lahoring people at low prices. The business men had paid their obligations and taken their losses. The lesson though hard had heen well learned.
In 1896 and '97 the tide turned and prosperity with a solid foundation began. Values reached their normal level. Nearly every man owned his own home. Business hecame better. New enterprises started up, not hy bonuses, but on their own merits. Men who had carried over heavy loads of eneum- bered property hegan to realize on their investments.
THEN CAME THE FLOOD.
In the latter part of May, 1903, all Kansas was drenched in a deluge of rain. On Monday the 28th, Ahilene experienced one of the worst floods in its history but it was nothing compared with what followed. On Thursday morning, with the ground saturated and water standing in the streets, rain hegan falling in torrents and for twelve hours the fall averaged one inch per hour. By five o'clock in the evening the water was three feet deep in some of the streets and this was caused only hy rain which had fallen in the city. At six o'clock Mud Creek left its banks and hy nine o'clock every street was a raging torrent. The water continued to rise rapidly until midnight. Marks on buildings showed the water to have been five feet deep on some sidewalks and in low places the depth was at least ten feet.
At about 10:30 o'clock the three story building at the corner of Third and Cedar and the two story hlock adjoining collapsed with a crash that was heard even ahove the roar of rushing waters.
To all this excitement of the flood was. added the horror of fire. At 11 o'clock the warehouse in the Inmber yard of Rice, Johntz and Nicolay caught fire from water coming in contact with lime and all buildings and lumher were hurned to the water. No attempt could he made to extinguish the fire as water from four to five feet deep was rushing around and through the yards. The wind was hlowing directly toward the business district and had it not heen for the fact that everything was thoroughly soaked, half the city would probably have been destroyed.
16
ABILENE CITY DIRECTORY.
HODGE = BROS.,
WILLS
ESTABLISHED 1875.
Oldest Hardware and Farm Machinery House in Central Kansas.
HARDWARE, STOVES, TINWARE, PUMPS, SEEDS, BUGGIES, AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS, PAINTS, OILS, CREAMERY SUPPLIES.
LOWEST PRICES-BEST GOODS.
HODGE BROS.
ABILENE, KANSAS.
17
BY THE AMERICAN DIRECTORY COMPANY.
Daylight revealed a sight which could be realized only by being seen. Abilene, one of the most pleasant and well ordered eities in Kansas, presented a pieture of wreek and ruin.
The damage to merehants in goods and buildings amounted to over $150.000.
All the railroads had hundreds of feet of traek washed out and their road-beds were entirely destroyed.
Today every seene of this calamity has disappeared. Damaged build- ings have been rebuilt and the flood is only a memory. Of all the towns and cities in the track of this great flood of 1903, Abilene, though suffering among the worst in proportion to its size, was one of the first to recover.
ABILENE OF TODAY.
Today there is not in the broad state of Kansas a city that can boast of more of those things that go to make up a sneeessful and prosperous eity than Abilene. With its broad streets, it beautiful homes, its many industries that furnish to every man who will work an opportunity of sharing in the success of its people, it can truly be ealled a prosperous eity.
Abilene contains more beautiful homes, sitnated in broad well-kept lawns, than any place of its size in the west. It is one of the sights that im- presses the stranger most. From a barren plain without shade to a city that has continuous rows of trees over many miles of briek walks, has only been a step of a few years.
18
ABILENE CITY DIRECTORY.
G. B. MAC KAY, Boarding, Feed and Livery Stable.
Call on us when in need of livery. Good rigs and care- ful drivers.
Farmers' feeding trade given careful attention.
Office and Barn 414-16 West Second St. Telephone No. 45.
THE OLD RELIABLE Badger - Lumber COMPANY,
.... DEALERS IN ....
All Kinds of Building Material.
Special attention given to the best grades of
COAL.
WM. SHANE, Agent. OFFICE AND YARDS, EAST THIRD ST. ; TELEPHONE NO. 4.
19
BY THE AMERICAN DIRECTORY COMPANY.
SAND SPRINGS WATER.
In the sand hills four and one-half miles west of Abilene, nature has placed one of the greatest fountains of pure water in the world. Gushing np from unknown depths in immense volumes of pure cold water is Sand Springs. Here is situated the pumping station of the water works system. The water is pumped to Abilene where almost every home in the city is sup- plied. The supply is far beyond the possible demands. The purity of the water is 99.98 per cent, making it a necessity to the home. In hot summer time it comes from the hydrants, cold, clear and as pure as nature can make it.
SEWERAGE SYSTEM.
During the past year Abilene has built a complete Sanitary Sewerage System at a cost of $15,000. This system will in a short time be extended until the entire city will receive its advantages. The people's health should always be one of the first cares of a city. With its pure water and complete sewerage system and its natural sanitary location, Abilene is almost a health resort.
RAILROADS.
Three railroads enter Abilene. The main line of the Union Pacific, east and west. The Santa Fe, northwest and south east and west to Salina. The Rock Islaud sonth to its main line and west to Salina. Twenty-nine regular trains enter and leave the three depots each day, besides many extra freights aud stock trains. There is no point in Central Kansas that has the shipping facilities of Abilene.
. THE COMMERCIAL CLUB.
The Abilene Commercial Club is composed of over 100 of the business men of the city. The Club was formed for the purpose of giving assistance and encouragement to any worthy enterprise or proposition that would be a benefit to the business of the city. The success that has always attended any proposition that has been backed by this Club is simply a reflection of the push and energy of the business men of the town. Any enterprise that has merit or stability will always receive the unqualified support of this Club. Its present officers are: G. C. Sterl, president ; E. B. Malott, treasurer; C. L. Brown, secretary.
ABILENE PUBLIC LIBRARY.
The Abilene Public Library is upstairs over first room south of Miniek & Taylor's, northwest corner of Cedar and Third Streets. The reading room is free to all, and the privileges of the library are open to the entire county. It is a general library, the aim being to have something upon every subject of interest to the community. It now contains 1495 bound volumes, some valuable pamphlets, magazine files for reference, and current periodicals for the reading table. It is hoped to considerably increase the number of volumes during the year. The Dewey Decimal Classification is used.
The library was founded by three ladies' clubs, the Literary League, the Columbian Club and the Twentieth Century Club, which in November, 1901, formed a permanent organization called the Library Association. By
THIRD STREET LOOKING EAST.
SON SITIW.
77
21
BY THE AMERICAN DIRECTORY COMPANY.
means of lectures, book showers, rummage sales and like methods, sufficient books and money were raised by January 17, 1903, to open the Library with abont 1,000 volumes. The first location was in the MeInerney block, until need for more spacious quarters necessitated a change, December 1, 1903, to the present location. A new ladies' club, the Coterie, was added to the Asso- ciation, December 1, 1903.
The management is in the hands of an advisory board, consisting of the officers of the Library Association and four additional members, one from each elnb. The former was elected by the Association, the latter appointed, each by her own elnb.
The present board consists of:
Mrs. J. M. Gleissner President
Mrs. F. M. Gillette. Vice President
Miss Mace King Secretary
Miss Rachel Malott Treasurer Mrs. J. J. Gooden. Literary League
Mrs. W. W. Davis .Columbian Club
Mrs. M. Harger Twentieth Century
Miss Lotta Northeraft Coterie Miss Lida Romig. Librarian
NEWSPAPERS.
Abilene has two evening dailies, The Abilene Daily Reflector and The Abilene Daily Chronicle; both are bright, newsy papers that have helped to build up the town. There are few papers in Central Kansas that have the support of the merchants as do these.
The Reflector, in addition to its daily, publishes one of the best weekly papers in the State. They have a plant that is complete in every respect.
The Abilene Chronicle also issues an eight-page weekly paper. It has a large cirenlation and is one of the strong Republican papers of Kansas.
The Dickinson County News, edited by J. W. Howe, is the Democratic organ if this section. It is a paper that is read by nearly every Democrat in Diekinson county and is one of the strongest advertising mediums in this section.
The Democrat, edited by Mrs. M. H. Bishop, is a paper that is wel- comed in a majority of the homes of the County. It is Democratie and helps to mold the opinion of that party in Diekinson County.
ABILENE PUBLIC SCHOOLS.
Abilene looks well to the interest of her publie school system. Witte four buildings well equipped and a course of study matriculating with our best colleges, she rightly evinees pride in the edneational advancement of her children. The schools were organized under the laws regulating schools of the second class in 1885. Since then the following persons have served as president of the board of education; John Johntz. T. H. Malott, P. J. Stod-
22
ABILENE CITY DIRECTORY.
J. E. BREWER, . DEALER IN .... Staple and Fancy Groceries, Dry Goods, and Notions.
Deliveries made promptly to any part of the city. Your trade solicited. Call up phone No. 27.
J. E. BREWER.
207 North Broadway.
J. H. MARTIN. H. MARTIN.
The Cash Grocery, MARTIN & GO., Proprietors.
A COMPLETE LINE OF THE BEST IN
Groceries, Cigars and Tobaccos, Fresh Fruits, Vegetables, Candies and Nuts.
316 North Broadway. Telephone No. 5.
23
BY THE AMERICAN DIRECTORY COMPANY.
dard, Mary Hamilton, J. E. Brewer, J. M. Gleissner and Wm. Sherwood. The following have served in the capacity of superintendent: A. V. Jewett. W. D. Moulton, W. W. Reed, J. C. Gray, J. H. Niesley, W. B. Hall.
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