USA > Kansas > Shawnee County > Topeka > Radge's Topeka city directory : Shawnee County taxpayers and an official list of the post-offices of Kansas, 1887-8 > Part 1
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43
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ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01099 8943
Gc 978.102 T62R 1887-88 5003366
REYNOLDS HISTORICAL GENEALOGY COLLECTION
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9
ESTABLISHED 1869
DIRECTORY
OF THE
CITY OF0
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ОРЕКА
FOR 1887-8
PRICE THREE DOLLARS
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Allen County Public Library. Ft. Wayne, Indiana
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in
BARTHOLOMEW & CO. 5003366
REAL ESTATE
AND
Loan Agents, 609 Kansas Avenue, Topeka, Kansas.
BUY and SELL REAL ESTATE,
PLACE LOANS, COLLECT RENTS,
Take Charge of Property and Pay Taxes for Non-Residents.
Correspondence Solicited.
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2013
http://archive.org/details/radgestopekacity00polk_4
JOHN D. KNOX & CO.,
INVESTMENT Bankers and Loan Agents,
620 KANSAS AVENUE, TOPEKA, KANSAS.
DO A GENERAL BANKING BUSINESS, BUY AND SELL DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN EXCHANGE. DRAW DRAFTS IN AMOUNTS TO SUIT, PAYABLE IN ALL PARTS OF EUROPE.
First Mortgages on Realty Bought and Sold.
ACCOUNTS of BANKS, BANKERS, MANUFACTURERS, MERCHANTS AND OTHERS RECEIVED ON THE MOST FAVORABLE TERMS. COLLECTIONS PROMPTLY REMITTED at LOWEST RATES.
Interest Paid on Time Deposits.
6 Months, 5 per cent. per annum. 12 Months, 6 per cent. per annum.
Money Loaned for Investors at Current Rates, Free of Expense to Lender ; Collection and Remittance of Interest and Principal made without charge.
PERSONS DESIRING LOANS UPON REAL ESTATE,
Whether Town or Farm Property, can, at this Bank, obtain Money at Low- est Rates. Call or Write for Terms. Money Loaned without delay.
Certificates of Deposit, Payable on Demand, or Bearing Interest, payable at a specified time.
Our Real Estate Department
EMBRACES IMPROVED FARMS, GOOD LANDS, TOPEKA LOTS AND CITY PROPERTY. FOR SALE CHEAP AND ON FAVORABLE TERMS. Knox's Investors' Guide sent Free upon Application.
1
GEO. W. CLARK. LOUIS S. MILLINGER. BRUCE STEPHENSON.
GEO. W. CLARK & CO .. Real Estate Agents.
TOPEKA, KANSAS.
We Take Charge of Property, Collect Rents, Pay Taxes, and Loan Money on Improved Property.
IMPROVED AND UNIMPROVED
Lands and City Property
BOUGHT, SOLD AND EXCHANGED.
Office, 102 East Seventh St.
CORRESPONDENCE SOLICITED.
1
růseka
IT HOGRAPHING
Bank Note 60
Lithographyers
ENGRAVERS
BLANK BOOK MAKERS
AND MANUFACTURING STATIONERS
BONDS, CERTIFICATES OF STOCK,
DRAFTS, CHECKS. CERTIFICATES OF DEPOSIT.
LETTER NOTF AND BILLHEADS HALU GARDE INVITATIONS AVE
ESTIMATES & DESIGNS FURNISHED
00
826 KANSAS AVE
1
Makes Investments for Capitalists. CORRESPONDENCE SOLICITED.
Geo. W. Watson
Overture.
T HE publie favor with which the previous editions of the Direc- tories of this city have been received, has been very gratify- ing to the undersigned, and has induced him to further enlarge and perfect the present work, to keep pace with the unprecedented growth of the city.
In the compilation of its manifold contents, waifs have been gath- ered from statistics, official rosters, secret societies, religious, social and charitable organizations, educational institutions, and from the private havens of domestic life, which have all been carefully arranged and are herein presented under their appropriate headings.
That Topeka has preserved with commendable pride her well- earned reputation of the metropolis of Kansas, is clearly demonstrated by the great increase in her population, the gratifying statistics of her commercial and financial interests and the price of "corner lots."
The population of the city and suburbs as taken for reference in this work approximates to Thirty-eight Thousand and Seren Hundred bona fide inhabitants, being an increase of more than Ten Thousand over the same computation made for our last issue two years ago, when the official returns published by the city assessor for the State census showed over One Thousand more.
On the following pages is presented a concise and interesting sketch of the city's progress and prospects, to which the attention of those unacquainted with the superior advantages now offered here to capitalists and manufacturers is especially invited.
In the alphabetical arrangement of names, the house numbers are given to conform to the decimal system that has recently been adopted for the city, which will be found both convenient and desirable. In the index of contents will be found reference to other valuable matters herein contained, which are respectfully submitted. Confident of the reliability of the. material information given, the work is presented without apologies to a generous public, as the result of careful and laborious work, at the price named on the title page.
TOPEKA, KAS., May 20, '87.
SAM. RADGES. -3
SAMPLES
OF LATEST NOVELTIES IN CLOTH FURNISHED BY RODGERS & STRANAHAN, TOPEKA. WRITE.
--
THE
Arkansas Valley Town and Land Co.,
Stormont Building, TOPEKA, KANSAS. I Rooms 9, 11, 13 and 15. 1
« TOWN PROPERTIES >
ON THE GREAT ATCHISON, TOPEKA & SANTA FE RAILROAD, SOUTHERN KANSAS RAILWAY, AND
THE CHICAGO, KANSAS & WESTERN RY.
One Hundred and Fifty Towns and Cities in Kansas under one Management.
UNSURPASSED OPPORTUNITIES FOR BUSINESS MEN AND SPECULATORS.
CORRESPONDENCE INVITED.
ADDRESS
R. M. SPIVEY,
GEN'L AGENT.
W. A. COATS,
SEC'Y AND TREAS.
1
Go to Geo. VI. Watson,
Successor to WATSON & THRAPP, REAL ESTATE OFFICE. and get a List of Property he has For Sale.
A Toast to Topeka.
BY JAMES L. KING.
I T is appropriate that this Directory should begin with an article about Topeka-something in the nature of a modest "first course," before the formal and more substantial bill of fare is en- tered upon. All former editions have had the benefit of a similar beginning. In fact the city is so accustomed to taking the lead, that by sheer force of habit she gets in front of her own Directory, and marches proudly in advance of the alphabetical procession.
However trite it may sound, no one can write intelligently about Topeka without employing the word "boom." Where all the citi- zens of a thriving community conspire to beat the bass drum in uni- son, and shriek in grand chorus about railroads and manufacturing enterprises "of great pith and moment," nothing less explosive and gingerish than "boom " is admissible in doing the subject justice, and giving emphatic and picturesque expression to the sentiments and emotions which crowd the enthusiast's brain.
But there are booms and booms. They come in every shape, and in great variety. There is the sudden boom, the artificial boom, the temporary boom, the speculative boom, the boom with whiskers on it, the imitation boom, the jib-boom and the steady, reliable, progressive boom, such as Topeka has enjoyed for a number of years, and which is now at its perihelion. As fast as new streets are marked out, (and the daily temperature is exceedingly low when new streets are not marked out,) the word " boom " goes on the lamp post in the highest style of the sign-painter's art. Topeka's boom was not picked up on the ten-cent counter. It is the best there is in the market, the joint work of nature, the newspapers. the board of trade and a legion of real estate agents, to which may rightfully be added the individual effort of the public-spirited citizens, each, male and female, working as a committee of one on ways and means of accelerating the speed of the boom. In other words, Topeka is a collective noun, signifying a boom with wings on it, and a " get-there" attachment.
TRIMMINGS OF THE VERY BEST QUALITY ARE ALWAYS USED SZEBY RODGERS & STRANAHAN.
-
1
Geo. W. Watson
is too well known to require reference given as to his reliability. Office 534 Kansas Avenue.
20
RADGES TOPEKA DIRECTORY.
In writing of Topeka it has been customary to go back to the ear- liest period of civilization in Kansas, when time was counted by moons, and distance measured by the flight of wild birds. The his- toric Kaws have usually furnished a starting point for everything pertaining to the city. It is time to hold these untutored ancestors in "reserve," and proceed from Kaws to effect. If any tribe is to be credited with a share of Topeka's glory, let it be the " Modoes," who have so long soothed us with melodious song.
As this article is designed only as a prelude to the finest business volume ever compiled in the West, it will not be necessary to linger upon the early exploits of the pioneer, or to depiet the thrilling scenes and romantic surrounding of our forefathers. For all practical pur- poses, it is sufficient to know that the city was thus abundantly blessed in the paternal relation, and that our four, six or eight fathers did a very commendable piece of work in locating the town. They did not want the earth, with Burnett's mound for a collar button, and the sinking sun for a western boundary, but contented themselves with a fair patch of ground for the erection of buildings, reserving broad and commodious thoroughfares, so the hum of commerce would not in after years be obliged to turn sharp corners and dodge up the alleys. They were wise in their day, and their sublime unselfishness is attested by the fact that after three decades of time have decayed, there is still an occasional eighty acres left to form another addition, without encroaching upon the territory of Douglas, Jackson, Potta- watomie, Wabaunsee or Osage counties.
Although not herself given to scandal, Topeka has always been talked about. As the capital of the greatest and grandest State in the Union, she has attained a prominence not enjoyed by any other city, East or West, in politics, music, education, art, science, and the philosophy of progressive euchre. Topeka is at once a standard, a model and a marvel. Once a small Hamlet, now an enlarged edition of Shakespeare. Once a village, now a metropolis. Once a jumping- off place for territorial prospectors. now the center of a populous em- pire. Here you will find the largest and handsomest street in the world, and business men who nightly give thanks that a number of the old settlers are still spared to share the expense of paving it. Here the belated pedestrian, wandering in from the suburbs, encounters a coal hole which has been shifted off its base by an earthquake and blown into the air by an explosion of steam; it has broken its drill, lost its core, gone through mud, natural gas, brimstone and fire
ONLY THE BEST WORKMEN ARE EMPLOYED BY RODGERS & STRANAHAN.
-
If you don't know Watson,
bear in mind that he is one of the Oldest Real Estate Operators in the State, and that he is reliable.
RADGES TOPEKA DIRECTORY. 21
clay; endured the gibes of spectators, and the profanity of small boys; has suffered these and various other vicissitudes of life, but has never relinquished its grip, and is still going down, down, with char- acteristic Western tenacity, and will yet find coal, or stab somebody on the other side of the globe.
On this virgin soil prohibition and female suffrage are continually coquetting for popular favor, and the silk worm and sorghum plant are objects of tender solicitude. All the choice wheat, the mammoth corn, the fat cattle, the big pumpkins, the overgrown watermelons and the prize vegetables come from Kansas. Her products comprise the fastest horses, the most cultured hogs, the wooliest sheep, and the finest fruit that ever hung upon the bending bough. In cerealine, cheese, cotton, catnip, chickens, chromos, chow-chow and county-seat contests, the world is challenged to beat us. All the " Castoria" comes from our castor beans, and the " Bloom of Youth " is distilled from our sunflowers and dandelions. The Kansas breeze is a benediction of peace, a promise of prosperity and a warranty of future glory. The upturned sod of the prairie has solved the problem of civilization. People "out West" no longer wear Bowie knives in their boots, or have double hip pockets made to accommodate an arsenal of horse pistols, brass knuckles and sand bags. Those of them who still defy the cattle interest by wearing boots find them entirely free of either knives or snakes. As St. Patrick expelled the serpents from the bogs of Ireland, so St. John banished them from the foot covering of the convivial Kansas, and has left his fellow-statesmen to drink his health in a foamless beaker of spring water, cold tea and immature cider. At last we are temperate: the constitution is built that way. Mor- ality and virtue are the reigning influences. The laws are respected, even obeved; the death penalty has practically been abolished, and the only form of capital punishment left to the lords of creation is the duty of escorting some fair lady to a ward caucus or sitting tete-a-tete with her upon the school board and giving mutual direction to the in- telleetnal marksmanship of the juvenile idea.
The stock business, the agricultural resources, the original politics and the effervescing spirit of Kansas, together with prohibition, female suffrage, district-school bonds, the refugee movement, and a hundred other novelties, have made Kansas uncommonly well known in the land. The first authentic boomer came to the front in Kansas. Dr. Tanner first learned to starve in Kansas. The genius who traveled around the world on a bicycle first saw the light in Kansas. Kansas inaugurated
No Misfit Garments allowed to Leave the Store
OF RODGERS & STRANAHAN.
1
GEO, W. WATSON
is located on the corner of Sixth and Kansas Avenue. Formerly Watson & Thrapp.
22
RADGES' TOPEKA DIRECTORY.
the war of the rebellion and then put it down. Kansas invented the cowboy, the buzz saw, the barb-wire fence and the chesnut-bell. We have caged the grasshopper plague, circumvented the cyclone, har- nessed the blizzard, extracted motive power from the drouth, and a proposition is now pending to unravel the inter-State commerce law by an application of electricity.
All these State achievements have naturally benefited Topeka, and given the city an universal advertisement. In the polite swearing circles of the effete East, the profane expletive, " Land of Goshen," has been supplanted by "Land of Topeka." As a consequence there has been a steady increase in values every year in Topeka, while the career of other cities has been a gaunt dream of bankruptcy and blasted hopes. While others are struggling along, trying to keep up appearances and disguise the tendency to bronchial distress and pul- monary affection, Topeka pays her grocery bill promptly on the first day of every month, and the only thing pulmonary in her environs is the Pullman-airy cars which jostle each other across the prairie in the attempt to overtake the fast mail.
---
Envious critics assert that this is not a timber country. But look at Topeka, with her board of health, board of pardons, board of base- ball coroners, board of abstract writers, board of retired hackmen, board of labor agitators in front of the First National Bank, board of salvation army disturbers, board of regents of the starch factory, board of censors of amateur shows, board of boodlers of the goose- berry works, board of trade, bored of bootblacks, board sidewalks, board by the week, bored for coal and all aboard.
Topeka never does anything by halves. She booms intuitively. Nothing is too good for her. The United States Government has at- tested its belief in Topeka by a liberal investment. The State of Kansas is represented here in magnificent public improvements. The county of Shawnee is continually adding to her interests, and the city council keeps pace with the music of the hammer and trowel, and lev- ies the poll tax with frightful regularity.
At the risk of a charge of painting the prospect coleur de rose, it may be said that the time is not far distant when Topeka will be the champion inland city on the map. It requires no prophetic eve to picture the period when not only Kansas avenue but Jackson and Quincy streets, with the intersecting blocks, will be built up solidly with business houses, and the whole territory adjoining the river on either side will be a hive of industry, with mills, shops, elevators, fac-
118 East Fifth Street
is our new number.
Rodgers & Stranahan. Call and see us.
Farms
in Shawnee and Ad- joining Counties, and
City Lots
Cheap, at GEO. W. WATSON'S REAL ESTATE AGENCY.
RADGES' TOPEKA DIRECTORY.
23
tories, packing houses, market places, lumber yards, mission schools and a morgue. The river itself will be lost in the multiplicity of bridges, chief among which will be a grand span of stone and steel the entire width of Kansas avenue, joining the north and south in trans-Kaw wedlock, from which they can never be divorced by the freshets of spring, the gales of summer, the storms of winter or the wiles of the unscrupulous pettifogger. Instead of the Father of Waters we will have the " Father of Bridges." It will be a panorama of life by day and a commercial flambeau by night. It will have statues at the corners, a triumphal arch in the center, Skinner's ice chest on the northeast embankment, a sand barge resting at the foot or feet of the city park, with Felitz island in the distance, and chromatic music by the water-works whistle.
All these things may sound visionary, but the future advancement of Topeka is bound to outstrip the liveliest imagination unless it can show up a gait that will beat 2:10. Where else on earth will you find another such network of city railroads-a closely knit hammock of rapid transit and circles? Property facing away from a street railroad is now more valuable than that facing towards it-it is more of a rarity. Where else will you find such a gaudy procession of elevated sprinkling carts-such a gay blending of red and yellow-recalling the magnificent chariots of oriental times, and giving Kansas avenue a circus parade with her daily shower bath.
With a population in 1880 of less than fifteen thousand, the mar- velous increase of one hundred per cent. was attained in five years, the State census of 1885 giving Topeka and its additions over thirty thousand people. To day we have fully thirty-nine thousand, and an even one hundred thousand five years hence is not an extravagant anticipation. A more comprehensive statement of the institutions and population of Topeka will be found in another part of this work, based upon a thorough canvass. Any ordinary statistician ought to be able to demonstrate conclusively that there are more people wait- ing for the joyful call of "next" at one of our barber shops on Satur- day night than can be found on the registration books of many cities claiming to rival Topeka. There is only one Topeka, and certainly no city in the whole country has exceeded her in rapidity of development or permanency of improvement. This expansion has been uniform and compulsory. For a number of years the vacant lots which consti- tuted an important part of our area have been filling up with substan- tial structures demanded by the requirements of modern urban life.
Rodgers & Stranahan's motto is "THE BEST IS THE CHEAPEST." Call and
see them.
1
GEO. W. WATSON
HANDLES RANCH LANDS, FROM 40 ACRES UP TO 100,000 ACRES.
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RADGES' TOPEKA DIRECTORY.
It is absurd to talk about the bottom dropping out of a boom like this-a boom that is copper-bottomed and will not permit a drop under penalty of fine and imprisonment in the new county jail, the finest in the State.
On more than one occasion it has been remarked that Topeka is the headquarters of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad, with her machine and repair shops, her locomotive works, her general offices, and over two thousand prudent and industrious employés. The new Kansas, Nebraska & Dakota line ( Missouri Pacific) is an- other valuable adjunct of Topeka's railway interests, and is becoming more important with cach succeeding day. The Chicago, Kansas & Nebraska ( Rock Island ) has recently arrived in Topeka, and will make this her future home, having brought her general offices along, together with a new iron bridge across the Kansas river, and every convenience for the transaction of business. The Kansas division of the Union Pacific road is one of our firm friends, and has done more in building up the northern part of the city than any other influence. The Leavenworth & Southwestern is another link in the chain and has a share in the favor of the public. The roads at present operated in and out of Topeka are continually extending their lines, opening new territory, and bringing the people of the State into closer rela- tions with the capital. Both the Missouri Pacific and Rock Island roads contemplate building shops here. The Rock Island is already constructing an elegant depot and office building. Other lines of road are projected in various directions from Topeka, and this will event- ually be the most important railroad center in Kansas.
As nearly every place has some distinguishing characteristic, it may not be inappropriate to style Topeka the city of multiform addi- tions. For miles and miles around, under the new dispensation, the emerald meadows have been converted into marts of trade, the once smiling fields now echo to the rattle of the agent's wagon, and the babbling creeks are swimming places for the tired suburban urchins. The barnyard of yesterday becomes the building-site of day after to- morrow, and the pasture wherein the timid lamb was wont to gam- bol, is dotted as if by magic with lemonade stands, street fakirs and fiends with subscription papers. The morning dailies keep track of the additions by the number of their issue as shown in the date line, and when Norton doubles up and attaches a ward on each side of town, the foreman records the plat as "Volume IV, Norton's Second Annex, Lot No. 96, Whole Number 27,382." A clerk (in the Santa
For Dress Suits, Call on RODGERS & STRANAHAN, EAST OF THE POST-OFFICE BUILDING.
1
1
GEO. W. WATSON, REAL ESTATE AGENT, Topeka, Kansas, can and does sell property cheaper than any agent in the City.
RADGES' TOPEKA DIRECTORY.
25
Fe building, of course) was granted a holiday to look around the city. He was gone a week. A newcomer wrote back to his wife in Massachusetts that he had just purchased a fine corner in the center of the residence portion of Topeka, commanding a fine view of the Normal School building at Emporia. An ordinary wagon load of fresh dirt, while passing down Jackson street, was sold to a syndicate for three dollars per running foot, the purchasers desiring to lay it out in tulip beds and compete with Ben. Curtis and John Martin for the lawn prize offered by Commodore Booge.
* * * X
"IIello, Central! Call Rain's stable!" "Is that you, Mr. Rain ? Send up the two-seated buggy and the span of bays. Yes, put in the embroidered robe and the whip with the red handle. Right away, please-parties are waiting."
Come, gentle reader, let us take a whirl through the suburbs. Lowman Hill was bought, platted and sold within a twelve-month. The Martin & Dennis eighty went off like the traditional cakes. Euclid Park and College Hill, over there, are running neck-and-neck for the Register of Deeds. We have passed Throop's addition and the Williams & Dillon tract, which were so successfully handled that it really inspired the speculative spirit now so prominent in Topeka. The Ott & Tewksbury purchase has attracted general attention. Seabrook is ready to come into town on the rapid transit. Washburn Place is "at home" to home-seekers and is in great demand. Brig- ham's addition has all been taken. Campbell's piece offers special inducements to purchasers. Grand View is one of the sightliest places out of doors. Potwin is known everywhere as an elegant sub- urb. Irving Place is a classic spot. Inside figures may still be ob- tained on Arlington Heights, a most desirable property.
Not tired, are you? All right! It is only a short drive to the J. W. Morris addition, formerly the Thomas farm, from which Chet. was so often taken, like another Cincinnatus from the plow, to run for Sheriff. This is one of the principal points on the Rapid Transit road, and Bartholomew pronounces the lots to be the cheapest in the city. The locality is adjacent to the mills and shops. The laborer residing here can go to his work in the morning while the dew is on the grass, and at night he can support his family by fishing in the river while he listens to the merry song of the cicada amid the leaves.
Here we are at Gilmore Heights, a station on the Deer Creek cable, where your hair is brushed by the jagged edges of the clouds. -4
DON'T FORGET OUR LOCATION,
RODGERS & STRANAHAN IN THE OFFICE BLOCK.
4
If you want to know anything about Real Estate, cal on
Geo. W. Watson,
N. E. Cor. Sixth and Kansas Avenues.
26
RADGES' TOPEKA DIRECTORY.
Although elevated, the lots are not high. If you settle at all you are by the nature of things obliged to settle up. Here you have room to grow-you can spread out, you can look down on other people -- and like Jeshurun you can "wax fat and kick."
This is Highland Park, where Major J. K. Hudson, the retired editor, is making up, in a life of calm contentment, for the turmoil and strife incident to the newspaper business. Thanks to the energy of the proprietor, Highland Park now boasts the largest circulation in the world. The circle railroad will soon connect Highland with Topeka proper, and make it accessible alike to professional men, busi- ness men, and all who desire a perfect home place. As they say in the personal column, Highland "is a valuable addition to the com- munity." It was a magnificent farm. But the Major has put his last crop of Newfoundland oats to press. Where he used to cultivate roasting ears and harrow in his alfalfa, hundreds of people will soon occupy their acre tracts and begin to cultivate each other's acquaint- ance and harrow up the feelings of the neighborhood with proposi- tions to pave Canary avenue, and vote bonds to build a Hardshell Baptist church. Major Hudson has well deserved every stickful of his present run of prosperity, and every man in this Directory wishes him continued success.
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