USA > Kansas > Marshall County > Blue Rapids > Blue Rapids centennial, 1870-1970 > Part 7
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As the year progressed a box of 108 volumes arrived from Cooperstown, New York, and popular Senator Ingalls contributed two books.
It was not long until the men impressed with the earnestness of the ladies in their project and the service rendered by the library to the community decided to lend assistance. One of the few remaining $300 lots located on the east side of the public square was donated by the Town Company as a building site. Enthusiastic with the acquisition of a site, the Ladies Association commenced money raising ventures to finance construction of a building.
First attempt at fulfilling the need for culture was a lecture at Fitzgerald Hall by Professor W. H. McHarg, for the magni- ficient sum of 15 cents admittance. The lecture which was well attended dealt with the burning issue of the need for a library.
During the year, crops had been short due to a grasshopper invasion and work was scarce. To furnish work to a great many men out of employment, the mayor, C. E. Olmstead offered to make a donation of $250 to start the building if the ladies would raise a like amount to match from the citizens.
The ladies began a series of lectures, festivals and enter- tainments to carry on the building. Money was loaned by indivi- dual members and friends of Professor McHarg in New York gave $50.00. A "Lady Washington Tea Party" benefit, a high social event during October netted $63.
Laying of the cornerstone of the new building, October 20, 1875, was a historic moment recognized by the town citizenry as the members of the library board met at Mr. Hinman's store and were conducted to the new building by a brass band. Mayor McPherson placed a sealed can in the stone containing the constitution and by-laws, and a history of the association and C. E. Mussey made an appropriate speech, complimenting the ladies on their success.
However, the construction of the two-story building slowed down because of the lack of funds. In April an entertainment of music and tableaux added $43 to the building fund. To save money, the library which now contained more than 1,000 volumes was moved to T. F. Hall's store which was offered to the library rent free.
By the early part of 1876, the ladies occupied the back room of the library building for the library but the upstairs and front room were still unfinished.
When the front or main room was completed, alcoves lined the walls, but later were removed as impractical as people would visit in the booths disturbing those who came to read. Later the back room was occupied by Mrs. Holmes for her painting class and both the basement and upstairs were rented when completed. Funds secured from the rental were used to make necessary payments for maintenance.
For more than 65 years the Ladies Library Association existed in Blue Rapids raising funds for the maintenance of the library. However in 1941, it was converted to a city library and is now supported by a small tax levy.
Many of the volumes of books which formed the library neucleus may still be found on the shelves.
The books in the library are catalogued according to the Dewey decimal system.
Popular institution of long standing has been the children's story hour each Wednesday afternoon during the summer months. The library is also open each Saturday afternoon until nine o'clock in the evening.
Books are loaned to the library from the Kansas Traveling Library Commission which help supplement our own collection.
EARLY BLUE RAPIDS BUSINESSES
W. P. BROWN AND BROTHERS HARDWARE STORE WAS LOCATED ON THE WEST SIDE OF THE "SQUARE" . NOTE THE INTERESTING ITEMS FOR SALE.
BLOCK OF EVERGREENS IN NEVINS' BROS. NURSERIES
JOHN L. RODKAY'S GENERAL REPAIR SHOP AND IMPLEMENTS
Although the names associated with the founding of the library and the first board members similar to the names of the first town settlers, are now only a memory in the early history, the stone building which has continuously housed the library for nearly 80 years, is a monument to their inspiration.
Now 16 years later on May 6, 1967, at the age of nearly 96 years the Blue Rapids Public Library is continuing to grow and improve its service to the community.
Increased library service began on October 18, 1966, when the rotating book service began its rounds to the local partici- pating libraries. Book collections of approximately 100 volumes were selected by the local librarian from the book van and loaned to the patrons. The books remain in the library for one month when the van returns to pick up the books and leave new ones.
The rotating book collections are a part of the cooperative services of Kansas Libraries now planning for systems of libraries. These systems are an association of autonomous local libraries working together to improve library service to all residents of the state and we are proud that our library is a part of the system.
At the present time the library contains approximately 5,475 volumes, a variety of magazines and 100 or more volumes from the North Central Kansas Library rotating book van.
The number of subscribers to the library are steadily increasing, and we are especially pleased by the number of chil- dren who are coming in to get library cards. It is the children of today who will be the adults of tomorrow. The library is now open three days a week, Monday, Wednesday and Saturday from one o'clock until six o'clock. Miss Doris Short is the present Librarian.
The library is located next to the Frank Marvin General Store. Business Men's Clubs and other organizations held meetings on the second floor of the library.
RAILROADS
In the 1860's the Federal Government was very anxious to have a railroad constructed from the Missouri River to the Pacific Coast and this feat was accomplished by the building of the main line of the Union Pacific extending from Council Bluffs, Iowa, to Ogden, Utah, where it connected with the Southern Pacific. Another company was organized which built a railroad west from Kansas City, known as the Union Pacific Eastern Division and sometimes as the Kansas Pacific. Still another company was organized at Atchison, Kansas to build a road west from that point and as its route lay between the other two roads it was named the "Central Branch" of the Union Pacific. Construction was started immediately after the Civil War and it reached Waterville, one-hundred miles west of Atchison in December, 1867. The Federal Government granted a subsidy of land and bonds to apply on the cost of building it.
SNOWPLOW IN USE AFTER HEAVY SNOWFALL
On January 17, 1868, a special train under the charge of J. S. Pierce, conductor, conveyed the government railroad commissioners, General N. B. Buford, General Frank P. Blair and William N. White, to Waterville, the terminus of the hundred miles. A small party of Atchison citizens accompanied the party. Accounts state that the ride was a pleasant one and was made at good speed. A heavy snow storm set in during the progress of the inspection and the return trip to Atchison was through the storm all the way.
NORTH WAGEN BRIDGE
A scene of the old North Bridge across the Blue River that carried all the traffic for U. S. Highways 77 and Kansas Number 9 highway after the East Bridge was destroyed during the 1941 flood. The Highway for Number 9 followed "The Narrows" along the river.
Along about 1883, Jay Gould, the railroad magnate of that time, was getting a corner on the railroads of the country and he purchased the Central Branch. He had purchased the
HISTORY OF A FIGHTER "THE FLOUR MILL" SHOWS THE STRENGTH OF BLUE RAPIDS IN THE EARLIER DAYS OF THE COMMUNITY
BLUERAPIDS MILL & ELEVATOR CO.
The world loves a fighter. The business world admires a man or a firm that has been knocked down but braced up again and surmounted the obstacles in its way. Among the Blue Rapids firms hard hit by the flood, was the milling firm of P. Anderson and Co., composed of Peter and Anders Anderson. The above cut represents their flouring mill and elevator as it stood on the banks of the Blue. The mill had just been completed and a good business started when the high water of 1902 came and flooded the elevator, filled with fine wheat, and the grinding floor of the mill, entailing heavy losses. When the waters subsided the wheat was dumped out and the mill cleaned up and business resumed. Then came the unprecedented floods of last spring which wrought havoc galore to this firm, ruining thousands of bushels of wheat, temporarily destroying the water power by which the mill was run, and the new river channel threatening with each recurring raise to engulf the building in the waters. Discouraged but not entirely disheartened, Anderson and Co. decided that they would move their mill to higher ground. Accordingly they purchased the big elevator on the Missouri Pacific tracks, a mile away from the river, together with a building site for a mill. The Blue Rapids Milling and Ele- vator Co. was organized with P. Anderson as president, C. E. McAtee, vice-president; J. L. Barnes, secretary and Anders Anderson, treasurer.
October 1, the big task was started of tearing to pieces the above mill, piece by piece, hauling it a mile away to their new location, and there putting it together again. The whistle of the big engine that is to run the combined mill and elevator blew for the first time last Monday morning and announced that the big job of moving all the machinery, tearing down the mill and rebuilding it and replacing the machinery had been accomplished, and that the new concern
was ready for business, and it's a plant that any firm might be proud of, one that is an honor to our town.
The milling firm, by its purchase of the elevator, which is one of the largest on the Central Branch line of road, has an immense storage capacity for wheat, as well as being thoroughly equipped for the handling of all kinds of grain.
The flour mill is probably one of the most up-to-date mills that can be found in the west. Not only was the machinery the best made when put in the mill, but it has been kept right up-to-date, additional labor-saving devices and improved methods being constantly added. Since the mill has been rebuilt there has been added not only sufficient new machinery to increase the capacity a third more, but also one of the latest purifiers and one of the most modern sifters with 80 different sifting pans. The capacity of the mill has been increased to 200 barrels of flour every 24 hours. Mr. Peter Anderson, one of the best millers in the West, will give his personal attention to the milling department, which is a guarantee that the standard of flour will be of the highest grade.
It was not known when the rebuilding of the mill was started, at what time the water power would be restored and available, so the company contracted for a fine Corliss engine of 100 horsepower capacity to furnish power for the mill and elevator. We are told that there is not as fine an engine in this section nearer than Holton. The engine and boiler are housed in a large fire-proof power-house in Separate rooms. It is the intention later on to make use of the company's 100 horsepower of water power by putting in a dynamo and conveying the power by wire to the mill, thus being equipped with the cheapest power on earth and also having steam to use during periods when high water renders the water power unavailable.
(Taken from the March 17, 1904 issue of the Times.)
Missouri Pacific in 1880, and this Central Branch later became part of the Missouri Pacific.
The town of Waterville was built around the terminal of the railroad and was founded by Judge Ward L. Lewis, formerly of Maine, and the grandfather of the late John L. Berry. For a number of years and until the railroad was extended further west, Waterville was the metropolis of Marshall County.
The Union Pacific railroad bridge in the background was used across the Blue River until it was razed to make way for the Tuttle Creek Dam project.
A close-up view of the Union Pacific Railroad Bridge that crossed the Blue River. Note the windmill that pumped water to the plaster mill and depot for water supply for the steam engines.
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UNION PACIFIC DEPOT; MOTOR CAR; HACK TO TRANSPORT PEOPLE TO TOWN
The Manhattan and Blue Valley railroad was built in 1886, following the Blue River to Manhattan, Kansas, going through Marysville, Schroyer, Blue Rapids, and Irving, in Marshall County. Later this was named the Lincoln and Manhattan Branch of the Union Pacific. It was often referred to as the "Manhattan Cut-off." This was in use until 1960 when the valley land was taken for Tuttle Creek Reservoir construction.
Flooding river leaves ice along Union Pacific tracks, 1911 1
Residents of Blue Rapids were favored with a visit from President Theodore Roosevelt as his presidental coach arrived at the Union Pacific depot. A short address was made from the platform to the public.
Twice in the history of Blue Rapids, presidents rode over the Union Pacific on special trains.
UNION PACIFIC
4060
Jason Yurann was one who believed this the most promising site in the state for a city with great industrial possibilities. He was often referred to as "Colonel Sellers," as known to lovers of Mark Twain.
Yurann has always, in season and out of season, through evil or good report, been a loyal worker for Blue Rapids. Blue Rapids would not be complete without recognition of what he has done in her interest.
Jason Yurann was laid to rest in Fairmont Cemetery. People of our Community purchased a marker for Mr. Yurann.
IMPORTANT PEOPLE
JASON YURANN
Jason Yurann was born at Lancaster, New York and passed away in 1922.
He could be called the Mr. Blue Rapids, as he was primarily responsible for the founding of Blue Rapids.
He settled in Irving, Kansas in 1865. In 1868, he returned to New York and spoke at a General Assembly of the Presby- terian Church at Batavia, New York, the county seat of Genesee County, he told them of our country, the Blue Valley.
He was given an excellent education and was especially proficient in the use of the English language. He was shrewd, forceful and foresighted personality with a remarkable ability to discern the motives and acts of others which he deemed detrimental of his own interest.
In his prime he was a man of commanding presence and an impressive personality, these united with a pleasing social quality.
He always professed a great interest in religion. He was ordained as an elder in the Presbyterian Church.
For a time Jason Yurann was employed in Washington D. C. as a postal employee. He studied law to become a lawyer. Later he returned to Blue Rapids to be a real estate agent and a loan broker in which he was very successful.
Yurann, when at general assembly, succeeded in finding a preacher, Rev. Charles F. Mussey who was interested in coming to Blue Rapids, and in the fall of 1869 a preliminary meeting of those interested in Kansas was held at Batavia, New York.
A colony was organized with the following officers: Rev. C. F. Mussey, President; Taylor Holbrook, Vice President; S. A. Parmalee, Treasurer and C. J. Brown, Secretary. A location committee consisting of Rev. C. F. Mussey, A. J. Bovee, and J. B. Brown came and located in the present site of Blue Rapids. Our thanks to Jason Yurann, as he was the one who succeeded in encouraging these men to come to our Blue Rapids.
JASON YURANN
JOHN MCPHERSON
John McPherson was born in Scotland in 1835. He learned the trade of a cabinet maker and joiner. He answered President Lincoln's first call of troops in 1861 and served throughout the Civil War and retired as a captain.
He married and came to Blue Rapids on July 4, 1870, and succeeded Taylor Holbrook as mine host of the hotel maintained in Colonial Hall. On behalf of a partnership composed of himself, his father-in-law, C. Y. Reed and Henry Halburt, he accepted the proposition made by the Town Company to donate five lots of the Public Square to anyone who would erect and operate a hotel of certain specified dimensions.
Captain McPherson withdrew from the partnership and engaged in real estate, loans and insurance business.
He organized the Fairmont Cemetery Association. He possessed real ability as an architect and designed the Presby- terian Church and public library building and said to have had a hand in planning the State Bank building and Magnesian Block on the north side of the square.
In 1895, he organized the Opera House Company and the structure -at the corner of 6th and Genesee Street was built from plans he prepared.
1897 - after what was possibly the hottest political battle ever waged in Blue Rapids, McPherson was appointed post- master and served several years.
1870 - his eldest daughter Nellie died in the fall, being the first death in the colonist.
DR. RUFUS S. CRAFT
Dr. Rufus S. Craft - He was born February 11, 1831 to Samuel and Elizabeth (Hines) Craft. One daughter survived;
Julia Ann, wife of Henry I. Hewitt and one son survives, George Hewitt.
In 1865, Dr. Craft who was interested in mill enterprises, heard of the waterpower on the Blue River and came to Blue Rapids, Kansas to inspect it and found it to be the best water power in the state. Dr. Craft bought 70 acres which now adjoin Blue Rapids on the west and borders on land bought in connec- tion with the water power.
In 1870, he sold to the Genesee Colony which laid out the town. As a physician here his services were in constant demand over the country.
As a business man he was trusted and as a citizen he was justly held in high esteem.
DR. RUFUS S. CRAFT
WILLIAM THOMPSON
The people of Blue Rapids City and vicinity, regard Mr. Thompson with warm interest as being the oldest settler. He came to northern Kansas in 1858. He accepted the position of Postmaster of Blue Rapids in 1885.
He was married in 1838 to Miss Mary Jane Ohlhausen of Rock Island County, Illinois. They were parents of 8 children.
JAMES G. STRONG
James G. Strong was born at Dwight, Illinois in 1870. His father moved the family home to St. Marys, Kansas in 1882. In 1889, he enrolled at Baker University at Baldwin, Kansas.
In 1891, Strong located in Blue Rapids, his father operating the McHale flour mill under a lease and he was associated with him in the enterprise. He also opened a real estate, loan and insurance office.
He was united in marriage to Miss Frances Coon. Two children were born of this marriage. Their son, George E. Strong, and a daughter Erma Strong.
In 1895, Mr. Strong was admitted to the bar and served as city attorney for Blue Rapids. Probably his most important law suit was for certain stock holders in the Yurann's Blue
Rapids Company for the winding up its affairs in which he won both in district and supreme court.
In 1906, he became owner of the Blue Rapids Telephone Company and for a time also owned the Waterville system. He disposed of a half interest in the Blue Rapids system to H. F. Kaump.
In 1913, he organized the Marshall County Power and Light Company which purchased and rehabilitated the Blue Rapids Water Power.
In 1916, he was elected county attorney for Marshall County.
In 1918, he was elected to represent the old Fifth District in Congress and filled this post for fourteen years. He was communicant and vestryman of St. Mark's Episcopal Church.
FESTUS COOLEY
Festus Cooley was born probably in Ohio in 1820, came to Blue Rapids in 1874 and became the individual owner of the sector of the Public Square. He improved the property and business buildings as there was a demand for them and soon he derived a handsome revenue.
He was one of two men outside the Stocks families who were invited to purchase stock in the State Bank of Blue Rapids when it was incorporated in 1891 and he filled the office of Director and Vice-President. He passed away in 1895.
EDWIN M. BRICE
Edwin M. Brice, born in Nottingham, England came to the United States in 1861. Years that followed he worked at his trade - printing. Also served in the Union Army during the Civil War.
He went to Chicago and became foreman of the Chicago "Advance". In the great Chicago fire he lost his position and lost his home. He next purchased half interest in a weekly paper published at Oberlin, Ohio.
In 1877, he came to Blue Rapids and purchased a half interest in the "Times" and bought the other half interest the following year. He was an active member of the Congre- gational Church.
For twenty-seven years he continued as editor and publisher of the paper but during the last ten years of this period, L. B. Tibbetts was his partner in its publication. He sold his interest to Charles C. Tibbetts in 1904. Later he left to make his home in Florida about 1910. He departed this life in 1928.
CHANNING J. BROWN
Channing J. Brown, born at Oakfield, northeast portion of Genesee County, New York, on October 13, 1847. He received his college education at Hamilton College in Clinton, New York, and devoted some time to the study of law.
He was frequently referred to as a lawyer. He attended the first meeting that was called by Rev. Charles Mussey to consider the organization of a company to found a town in Kansas. His father, John B. Brown and wife and the rest of the family came to Blue Rapids with three other sons, Walter P. Brown, Frederick K. Brown and Ernest J. Brown; also two daughters, Mrs. Alice Armstrong and Miss Stella Brown who later became Mrs. Charles K. McHarg.
For a half a century the family filled an important place in the financial, commercial and social life of Blue Rapids. When the town was incorporated as a city in 1872, Channing Brown was appointed the first city clerk and the earliest records of the municipality are in his handwriting.
In 1874, Brown was elected to the lower house of the legis- lature when he was 27 years of age. Two years later he was promoted to the State Senate and became widely known as a politican. He became clerk of the Kansas Supreme Court in 1879.
ALBERT E. SWEETLAND
Albert E. Sweetland, born in Genesee County, New York in 1839. He became an expert accountant and was for several years head bookkeeper for a large wholesale house in Buffalo, New York. However, he decided to reenter active life and came to Blue Rapids in the fall of 1871 to look over the town and country.
He entered into partnership with John A. Loban.
This firm of Loban and Sweetland prospered and eventually occupied the west two-thirds of the Magnesian block on the north side of the square. They had a very extensive stock of business. Mr. Loban passed away in 1886, and in 1893, Mrs. Sweetland purchased from the Loban heirs, Mr. Loban's interest and operated the store until 1904.
Prices on some of his merchandise were as follows: gingham, 8¢ a yard; dimities, 5¢ a yard; corded chambrays, 13¢ a yard; picques, 11¢ a yard; parasols, 45¢ to $1.95 each.
Mr. Sweetland was regarded by fellow citizens as a fine, uprighteous man. He served as Mayor, councilman and a member of the Board of Education. He was also president of the Blue Rapids Commercial Club.
Mrs. Sweetland was one of the organizers of the Tuesday Afternoon Club. When the Opera House was in financial trouble, Mrs. Sweetland saved it from passing into the hands of strangers.
DR. ROLLIN S. FILLMORE
Dr. Rollin S. Fillmore, born in Elkton, Illinois on December 22, 1854, and passed away November 1, 1944. He lost both of his parents when he was young and made his home for a time with his aunt Cass and uncle Frederich Merrill. While attending normal school, his desire was to study medicine, probably because his father was a physician.
In later years he enrolled in Missouri Medical College. After his first year in medical college he opened an office under tutelage of Dr. L. P. Stookey in the town of Fayettville, Illinois. In the fall he returned to Medical college and remained until graduation. On December 21, 1885, he was united in marriage to Miss Ada Louise Burn. To this union three children were born, Louise Euphene, Rollin Slossin, Jr. and Benjamin Dewitt. Louise married Dr. R. W. Weston.
Rollin Slossin, Jr. graduated from Medical department of Washington University of St. Louis, Missouri the same college where his father had graduated twenty nine years previously.
Benjamin Dewitt was a civil engineer. He was very success- ful and along with some engineers, went to Brazil to construct the Leopoldine railroad across swamps to Rio de Janeiro.
Dr. and Mrs. Fillmore located in Blue Rapids and for forty-six years was our doctor here and to our adjoining towns of Irving, Bigelow, Frankfort, Waterville, Marysville and Cleburne, also the surrounding country.
Physicians' fees and physicians' collections are entirely different things. With a country doctor, long hours and small fees usually went together.
In early days, doctors made the charge of one dollar per visit and that included the medicine. In the country they charged one dollar per visit and fifty cents a mile.
Dr. Fillmore believes his largest fee was $450.00 but this was for several weeks attendance on the patient.
In his day, he received for his services, such things as a goat, small potatoes, sugar and etc., not always money. His means of transportation, first on horseback and carried the old fashioned saddlebag. He then drove a team of stallions, then later a team of small horses. In 1908, he got his first new car, a Rambler he bought at Kansas City, Missouri.
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