USA > Kansas > Marshall County > Blue Rapids > Blue Rapids centennial, 1870-1970 > Part 8
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He retired from practice of medicine in 1929 and he and Mrs. Fillmore went to Long Beach, California to make their home.
Dr. Fillmore was a member of the Masonic Fraternity, Eastern Star, Knights of Pythias, Woodmen and Royal Neighbors.
He also was a member of the Township Board, City Council, School Board and in church activities.
WILLIAM BURR SR.
William Burr Sr. was the first known Mason among the earlier settlers. He invented and manufactured a special form of a plow designed to break up the prairies of northeast Kansas.
Samuel Craft operated a steam saw mill near the Blue River manufacturing hardwood and cottonwood lumber.
Dorothy Stratton, daughter of a Baptist minister of Blue Rapids, about 1912 was head of the Spars and a Director of the Girl Seouts of America.
In the history of Blue Rapids, many notable and splendid men and women, among them Fred A. Stocks, C. J. Brown, Walter Brown, S. F. Paul, John Frost, G. G. Strong, S. R. Edwards, Fred Hunter, son of an early hardwareman and nephew of Dr. William Hunter was chancellor of Oregon State College, R. C. Coleman, principal of our school in 1895, is now a millionaire of Coleman Lamp and Stove Company.
R. S. Craft was elected president of the first board of directors of Prospect Hill Cemetery Association.
F. Cooley was elected president of the Blue Rapids Cemetery Association, known as Fairmont Cemetery.
Gideon Fitzgerald, a carpenter and contractor who located in Blue Rapids in 1870.
John A. Loban, successful merchant and religious leader.
Dr. William Coulter who with his sons and grandsons dominated the drug trade in Blue Rapids. His son, Clarence Coulter served several terms as mayor and many years as postmaster.
Judge John V. Coon and his son, E. J. Coon, lawyers. JOHN V. COON
John V. Coon was born in Phelps, New York, March 30, 1822. He was of German descent and was a loyal friend to people of his lineage. He was educated at Hobarts College, New York. In 1842, he was married to Charlotte M. Miller. Their marriage was a very happy one. His aged widow still survives him. Judge and Mrs. Coon were the parents of one son, Emir J. Coon, who died many years ago.
In 1844, J. V. Coon and his young bride moved to Elyria, Ohio, where in his chosen profession, the law, he gained prominence and wealth. The panic of 1873 swept much of the wealth away and he again turned his footsteps westward, locating in Blue Rapids. He discovered the presence of gypsum among the ledges, near there, and he and his son, Emir, built the first mill west of the Mississippi river for the manufacture of plaster of Paris from gypsum. To John V. Coon and Emir J. Coon, Marshall county owes the origin of the largest single manufacturing industry within its borders today. These two men exemplified the highest types of manhood. They were able, cultured, broadminded and generous, ever looking forward to the growth and development of the county and the state, along educational, political and religious lines. On November 6, 1894, Judge Coon was elected county attorney of Marshall county. On January 4, 1895, he was buried.
The sympathies of a very large circle of friends were extended to the surviving members of his family. Mrs. John V. Coon, his widow, aged ninety-six years, and the widow of her son, Emir J. Coon, reside with Honorable James G. Strong, county attorney, and his wife, Fanny, who is a daughter of Emir J. Coon.
J. B. BROWN
J. B. Brown was one of the three commissioners sent to Kansas to select the location for the colony. He was one of the strong forceful men of the colony and his counsel was sought during many troublous times. He was always hopeful and optimistic during the darkest hours. He believed ardently in the future of Blue Rapids and was an honored and respected citizen of the town and of Marshall county. He died on March 11, 1885, and his death was felt as a personal loss to all those who knew him. His good name stands as a monument to his kindred and friends.
Mr. C. J. Brown was a member of the original town company and an active supporter of its enterprises. In April, 1872, he assumed charge of the real estate business of Olmstead, Freeland & Company. In 1874, he was elected to the state legislature, and in 1876, to the State Senate. He was later elected clerk of the supreme court, which position he filled for many years. He was married on September 10, 1881, to Mrs. Julia Greer of Topeka.
Mr. Brown has been one of the foremost citizens of Marshall county, since he became a resident and has been prominently identified with every forward movement along political, social and religious lines. His long service with the supreme court gave him a wide circle of friends over the state and his advice on public matters is sought by the most prominent people of the state. He is genial and courteous, resolute and courageous in all matters and is universally respected.
WALTER P. BROWN
The story of Marshall county boys who have made good, would make a very long and interesting chapter, and that chapter would certainly include the name of Honorable Walter P. Brown of Blue Rapids. Born in Genesee county, New York, in 1862, he was nine years old when he came to Marshall county with his parents in 1871. He was educated in public schools of Blue Rapids and had business training in the wholesale hardware store of Blish, Mize & Silliman in Atchison.
In 1889, after eight years of work for the Atchison firm, in almost every department of that great establishment, Walter Brown started the Brown Brothers hardware firm in Blue Rapids. In 1908, Mr. Brown was elected to the State Senate and served the four year term with great credit to his district and to himself. In his own community and in the county, he was a recognized leader for the things that are worthwhile.
Mr. W. P. Brown passed away on March 10, 1924. He was laid to rest in the Fairmont Cemetery.
W. F. BOYAKIN
The name of Doctor Boyakin was for so many years a household word in Marshall county, that a few lines must be written in his memory. He was born in North Carolina, May 30, 1807, graduated from Mary College, Tennessee, in 1826 and studied law with James K. Polk, the thirteenth President of the United States.
Boyakin came to Marshall county in 1868 and resided here until his death. On the anniversary of his one-hundredth birthday he delivered the Decoration Day address in the Turner Hall at Marysville.
He helped to build the first Methodist church in St. Joseph, Missouri. He was a graduate in law and medicine and a
licensed minister. When he was born, Thomas Jefferson was President of the United States and Aaron Burr was being tried for treason. Boyakin lived through the administrations of seventeen Presidents and saw many stars added to our flag. He was twenty years old when Queen Victoria ascended the throne of England. He was a widely -read and greatly- traveled man and possessed a remarkable memory. He served the county in many positions, but chiefly as an educator. He died on June 5, 1908, at his modest home on Elm Creek, where he had always lived and where his family still resides. W. A. Calderhead, then a member of Congress, delivered the final eulogy.
CARROLL D. SMITH
Carroll D. Smith, lawyer, was born October 11, 1882, in a house that stood on the site of his present residence. He is a son of Horace Smith, who with his brother Seth, emigrated from Onondaga county, New York, to Marshall county in 1869. His mother was born Laura Dawes in Lenawee county, Michigan. She moved with her parents from Grinnell, Iowa, to Blue Rapids in 1872.
Mr. Smith was graduated from the Blue Rapids high school in 1899. He taught a term in a country school and then was employed for several years in the office of the Blue Rapids Times as a printer, meanwhile devoting his time to studying legal textbooks.
On February 18, 1904 having passed the requisite examination, he was duly admitted to practice in all the courts of Kansas by order of the Supreme Court at Topeka, and the following May was enrolled as a member of the bar of the District Court of this county. For a time he was in partnership with the late J. G. Strong, then returned to his employment in the newspaper office, but in 1907, opened a law office on his own account and remained in practice for fifty-two years. He served as city attorney of Blue Rapids, was a member of the legal board during both World Wars and filled many professional appointments. He is an honorary member of the American Bar Association and was for four years president of the Marshall County Bar Association. He is a member of the Masonic and Odd Fellow fraternities.
Carroll D. Smith
JAMES O. WHEELER
James O. Wheeler, born February 11, 1845 in Wabash County, Indiana was reared to manhood in his native state and bred to farm pursuits. He was deprived of his father's care by death when a lad of seven years and shortly afterward was wholly orphaned by the death of his mother.
During the Civil War, he entered the ranks of the Union Army enlisting August 4, 1863. When 18, in Company C, 118th Indiana Infantry as a private. He endured the ordinary hardships and privations of life in the army and made for himself a good record as a brave and faithful soldier.
Farming and stock raising interests of the Blue Rapids Township acknowledge a most worthy representative in Mr. Wheeler. He was properly called a self made man who in early life was thrown upon his own resources and had many difficulties to contend with.
He had seen much of the pioneer life in Kansas witnessing with warm interest, the growth and development of the region.
He had very little to begin with but later he was a well-to-do man and a man of standing in his community.
He served as School Director in his district, although he never held office socially, hewas a member of the G. A. R., Robert Hale Post in Blue Rapids.
On March 13, 1866, he married Sally A. Stewart. To this union a son, William Harrison and a daughter, Henrietta M. (Mrs. Henrietta Burkett) were born.
FRED A, STOCKS
Honorable Fred A. Stocks was Representative of the 48th District in the House of Representatives of the Kansas Legislature and the only son of Mr. George B. Stocks. He was born in Lena Stepenson County, Illinois, March 25, 1863. He came with his parents to Blue Rapids, Kansas in 1872 at the age of nine.
He attended common schools here. Later he attended college at the State University of Kansas at Lawrence, where he graduated with honors in 1884.
In 1889, he was chosen to deliver the Master's Oration on the occasion of his taking the degree of M. S.
On leaving the University, he entered the bank of Blue Rapids as cashier and manager as equal partnership with his father, who had purchased the bank and building in 1884.
Since that time he became sole manager of the affairs of the bank which was entrusted to his care.
He was placed upon several important Committees. He was on the Ways and Means Committee on the Committee on State Affairs and appointed chairman of the sub committee of the Ways and Means to investigate the affairs of the State University.
Mr. Stocks was a member of the Masonic Fraternity, also a member of the Phi Kappa Phi Society.
Mr. F. A. Stocks passed away in 1901. Burial was in Prospect Hill Cemetery.
SEWAGE PLANT
The sewage plant, located north of town, was erected in the spring and summer and opened for use on August 16, 1955. This plant cost the taxpayers of Blue Rapids, $72,000.
ACTIVE ORGANIZATIONS - 1970 Rotary International No. 4343, Chartered in 1937. Lion's Club, Chartered in 1955. Sportsman's Club, Chartered in 1959.
EDFORD
BLUE RAPIDS
1979
CENTENNIAL
HEADQUARTERS 4GION
CLUB
ROON
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AMERICAN LEGION HALL
American Legion, Chartered in 1920. American Legion Auxiliary, Chartered in 1923, Rechartered in 1934.
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I.O.O.F. - REBEKAH HALL
Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Chartered in 1898, Re- chartered in 1951. Rebekah, Chartered in 1898. Encampment and Auxiliary, District Organization, Chartered in 1954.
MASÓNIE TEMPLE
MASONIC LODGE
Masonic Lodge No. 169, A. F. & A. M., Chartered in 1876. Blue Valley Lodge No. 112, A. F. & A. M., United with No. 169 in 1958.
Elnora Chapter, Order of Eastern Star No. 179, Chartered in 1896.
Irving Order of Eastern Star No. 379, United with Elnora Chapter in 1959. Order of Rainbow for Girls, Chartered in 1957.
Order of DeMolay, Chartered in 1967.
SCOUT GROUPS Girl Scouts, Organized in 1932, Revived in 1941. Boy Scouts, Organized in 1926.
4-H CLUB
Wide Awake, Organized in 1932.
FEDERATED CLUBS Tuesday Afternoon, Organized in 1894. Happy Hour, Organized in 1934. Twentieth Century, Organized in 1935.
CHAMPIONSHIP BASKETBALL TEAM OF MANHATTAN DISTRICT, MARCH 17, 1921
The Blue Rapids girls' basketball team won the championship for this district at the tournament at Manhattan last Friday and Saturday. They drew Irving as their first opponent and easily defeated them by a score of 27 to 6. Cleburne was next team to fall before the girls. By defeating Enterprise and Clyde the girls entered the state tournament at Lawrence but were defeated.
ICH
The girls on the team are as follows: Left to right, Opal Long, Elizabeth Edwards, Harriett Woolley, Doris Short, Lela Fuller, Julia Lamb, Velma Roark, Bernice Monteith, Gracie Seldon, and the Coach Marjorie Doyle.
HAZARDS OF BLUE RAPIDS' EARLY DAYS
BLIZZARDS
In January of 1888, the worst blizzard that ever raged across Marshall County came into the county. Only sign of a change in the weather was a darkness on the horizon. Settlers worked at wood chopping in shirt sleeves that day. By mid-morning snow began to fall and by mid-afternoon a foot of snow lay on the ground. Then suddenly the wind changed
to hurricane force and by 4 o'clock the sky was as dark as night. The snow was soft, powdery flakes driven hard to suffocating force by the wind.
Thermometers registered 34 degrees below zero before morning and there were 10 foot drifts. There were no lives lost but livestock perished and the settlers were concerned that their shacks might be torn down or they would freeze to death before morning. Those who went through that storm never wished for another such vigil.
GREAT PRAIRIE FIRE
On November 17, 1873, a great prairie fire swept across Marshall County in a strip 8 to 10 miles wide, starting at Oketo on the Otoe Reservation. The wind from the northwest swept the fire to the east bank of the Blue River. Grant Ewing wrote that he remembered the fire well, for his mother carried her children to the middle of a 4 acre field of wheat and threw blankets over them. The heat drove rabbits, coyotes and deer into the same field, all too badly frightened to harm one another or to fear human beings.
CYCLONE
Friday, May 30, 1879, was the day of the terrific fury of a storm which approached Blue Rapids from the southwest. The gypsum mill of J. V. Coon and Son had the roof torn off, the roof of Wright flour mill was raised. The west roof of the woolen mill was carried away and the flood beat in on the machinery. Fortunately no lives were lost and Blue Rapids suffered slight loss in comparison with the beautiful little city of Irving.
DROUGHT
In 1879-80 with a dry, hot summer and failure of crops, business was retarded and enterprise delayed. Resources were running low and people became disheartened. But soon courage returned as the weather changed.
THE GREAT FLOODS
June 4, 1903. The Swanson Warehouse fell over and some material from that and the paint room floated off and the interior of the plant was covered with mud.
Damage at the cereal mill, to the machinery and mill products was not beyond repair but 7,000 bushels of corn went down the river.
None of the houses on the flats were taken entirely away but several were moved.
A red flag was hung from Mr. Hula's house Friday morning. The raise in the river during the night making it impossible for them to leave their house which was surrounded by water. Mr. Stryker saw the signal and attempted to geta boat, but as he and his sons couldn't find one, they went to work and made a raft to rescue the family. Just as they got it about done, A. and J. Scott came from the north side of the waters in a boat and brought Mr. Hula's family to dry land. They had to put their livestock in the upstairs of the house to keep them from the water.
The old Copper shop across the road from the Fowler Mill raised up about 8 o'clock Friday morning, turned part way around and started down the river. . .
It was reported water was 6 to 8 feet deep in Union Depot in Kansas City.
There was a great scarcity of boats. Some of the boats along the river had floated off and some were under water and others on the opposite side of the river. Several new boats were made in quick order.
HIGH WATER NOTES - JUNE 2, 1903
The river was from 32-34 feet above normal. Boats rowed up the draw west of Genesee Street. The wagon bridge east of Irving went out about 8 o'clock Friday morning.
As the water receded the wheat fields that water had covered came again to view -- where there had been no current the wheat is looking well.
The water got into Guthrie Brothers ice house about 6 feet, but how much of their summer's supply of ice is damaged. It is safe to state that no white man ever saw the Blue River as high as it has been the past week and even the traditional high marks of the Indians have been surpassed.
W. H. Thompson says that in the 50's a band of Pottawatomie Indians camped along the old trail just below the Daniel Davis house a short distance from Spring Branch and they said the white man hadn't seen big water -- and they had seen water up over the trail. Will says that inasmuch as the water never touched the portion of the trail mentioned -- they regarded the Indians story as a "heap big lie" -- but the water got up to the trail the past week, and the Pottawatomies were probably telling the truth.
JUNE 9, 1908
The Blue River a mile wide and doing great damage.
The valley of the Blue is covered with water. The rains became torrents, three and a half to five and a half inches falling at a single storm and the Big and Little Blues kept getting higher and higher until all records -- save that of 1903 were broken. Saturday night, three and a half inches fell here and it was more in other places and the rise of the river was reached Sunday forenoon when the water ran over the floor of the bridge at the power dam -- running over all the floor except a stretch in the center,
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HIGH WATER MARKS
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The old "East" Bridge that went out during the 1941 flood.
Blue River Bridge on Highways No. 77 and No. 9. It was dedicated in October of 1950.
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Flood scenes of the worst flood in the history of Blue Rapids in 1941.
1941 -- JUNE 8
Worst flood in 38 years -- Certain-Teed Mill suffers the greatest single loss in plant merchandise damage. . . . Water rose at the rate of two feet an hour and by June 9,
the river reached the stage where the city experienced its most devastating flood.
The east span of the big iron bridge east of town gave way at ten o'clock Tuesday morning into the river. Shortly after noon the remainder of the structure fell prey to the rapid water and collapsed into the stream. According to varied reports a box car, washed from the siding at Certain-Teed Mill north of town, struck the bridge when it collapsed.
The old iron bridge at the dam, which had been condemned for a number of years, withstood the racing waters, and although the floor of the bridge shows an upheaveled condition, because the water at its height was running over the floor, it seemed no less the worse. The water broke out of the river bank at the east end of this bridge, and the current crowded the base of the hills downstream.
The entire fair grounds was covered with water. The only portion of the race track that was visible was a small stretch at the southwest part of the grounds.
As the river at its peak reached from the hills on the north to the hills on the south, the tracks on the Union Pacific railroad bridge went under water, the debris drifting down the stream lodged against the big iron structure.
One mule was drowned at the Certain-Teed Mill. The Ware- house was filled to the ceiling as the water kept rising and box cars were shifted from the siding at the mill. About $10,000 worth of printed paper bags were lost in the storage room. As the water came in, electric motors were raised as high as possible. Work men led 9 of the mules out of the barn but one balked and could not be led away. It later ran into the deeper water and was seen going downstream in the swift current.
In the lowlands along the river, practically every home was under water. Grain, livestock and household goods were moved up, at the Ted Stryker home on the river; but 24 hours later the water level was half way up on the barn doors, in the home, and in the other buildings. The water stretched southward more than a half mile from their home, to the foot of the hills.
Damage to grain and row crops on all river bottom farms was tremendous and the loss of feed and livestock was a surprising figure.
Inundated homes in the residential sections along the river were badly wrecked. Floors were bulged, woodwork marred, and those under water required plastering. Household furnish- ings not removed were a total loss.
The railroad fill was not damaged but several hundred yards of track had to be replaced.
The city was in darkness from Monday until Tuesday night. A new substation was erected and there was a limited supply of "juice".
As after all floods that have ravaged the Blue Rapids area, business again resumed the normal pattern of living by the end of the summer.
DAM BRIDGE UNDER WATER
"Old But Tough" should be the caption here as this cut shows the old bridge over the dam at Blue Rapids. Folks all said this old structure would be the first to go, but it is used to floods and withstood the pressure with only a steady shattering of the diagonal rods that held it rigid. This scene shows that the floor was several feet under water.
In 1903, the water reached the railing on the bridge about 2 feet higher. The last measurement that could be taken at the government bridge the water measured 31.9 feet but went about 4 feet higher which made the river at 31 feet above normal.
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DAM BRIDGE UNDER WATER
ICE JAMS
Many ice jams have occurred on the Big and Little Blue Rivers. The winters were cold and hard.
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Scenes of the big ice jam in 1911. Many such scenes oc- curred along the river and Union Pacific railroad tracks.
GRASSHOPPER - 1874
In August of 1874, after a summer of severe drought and prevailing west winds the wind changed to the north and with it came myriads of grasshoppers. They presented a haze in the atmosphere and devoured every green thing except peach leaves. Every living thing was stripped except the peaches, and then they began on boards and picket fences -- even handles of hoes and rakes.
Every device for their destruction was employed but to no
avail; but finally a scourge broke out among them and then they perished from the effects of the sting.
People were depressed because of their losses and because they dreaded the reappearance of the plague -- however, never have they reappeared in such numbers as in that terrible year.
There had been bountiful crop prospects that year and one can not imagine the devastation of the crops, even the forest trees were defoliated in a few days. This calamity befell not only Blue Rapids and surrounding communities but much of Kansas and Nebraska. The result was that many settlers from the western part of the state began to leave their desolated country headed back east. There was a continual tide of forlorn, anxious outfits who had to be fed and quartered free of charge, owing to their needy circumstances. The settlers of the Blue Rapids community did their part in aiding the unfortunate.
PROGRESS OF THE PLOWS
The first cultivation of the soil in our territory was by roving Indians, who paused long enough to plant a few seeds to grow a few vegetables.
It was not until the white man came, that the soil was culti- vated in a more measurable way.
As the Indians retreated from the vast acres of the rolling prairie and the few trees that dotted the valley along our streams, the white man had visions of breaking the sod and conversion of growing crops of grass, grain and vegetables.
But when you have a "sod breaker" plow hitched to a team of slow oxen, the work drags along at a snail's pace. Had man been outfitted with the machinery of today the job would have been and easy one.
The virgin prairies were broken by the sod buster plows. One person, usually the father, guided the plow while his wife, son or daughter herded the oxen over the area where the freshly up-turned earth sent forth the aroma which instills the spirit with a new inspiration.
But the breaking up by the sod buster was stepped up by the first mouldboard plow -- a new era in farming had arrived.
As the horses began to replace the oxen, Old Dobbin was hitched to a new iron walking plow. Some called it "footburner," but it was a time saver and helped to yield more acres of grass to the will of man.
Later came the riding gang plow with two shares which cut the earth and raised it to the moldboard (to turn the dirt)
FRED COTTRELL'S CIRCULAR BARN, LAGREST IN THE STATE; 100 FT. DIA .; COST $5000.00
A visit to the "Walnut Row" Stock Farm, two miles east of town, owned by Drennan Brothers, should be particularly interesting to those who admire fine cattle in nice sur- roundings. Their registered Herefords graze on a hundred hills. Here also was erected this summer one of the finest round cattle barns in the country. Our illustration will give you an idea of its artistic beauty (designed and built by Architect Benton Steele, of Halsted, Kansas, and lumber fur- nished by the Blue Rapids Lumber Company). Dimensions are 92 feet in diameter, 40 feet to base of cupola, with capacity of 230 tons in one central now, with feeding room for 100 head of cattle around it. Additional room for large quantities of grain and bedding on floors over cattle and equipped with tracks and carriers to expedite matters in handling material to be stored therin.
BARN ON FARM OF GILFORD HONEYCUT
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BARN ON FARM OF G. B. LAYTON
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To fulfill the inspiration of early settlers, it took cooperation.
with rolling cutters out in front; pulled by four or more horses.
Around 1915, the first tractors began to appear on the farm. With the tractor came the more developed gang plows and the earth yielded as never before.
Plowing has become so advanced that today it has brought about a vast program of the soil.
LIVESTOCK
The first settlers to the community brought their livestock with them. With the coming of the homesteaders vast changes began to take place. More and more fields of native grass were broken and crops planted. A law was passed which re- quired that a herder be kept with the cattle at all times. The barbed wire was invented and with it's coming the purebred cattle industry was developed.
Blue Rapids had the beginning of the Hereford industry in Kansas and was termed HEREFORDSHIRE OF KANSAS. There were more Hereford cattle here at one time than any place else in Kansas. There were more than 2500 Herefords in the county and a Hereford association was organized in the early 1900's. A picture of the barn built at the Riverside park shows where successful sales were held in those early days.
THE MARSHALL COUNTY ( KANSAS ) HEREFORD ASSOCIATION
MARSHALL COUNTY HERE FORD ASSOCIATION BARN
Hiram Woodard had brought from Elyria, Ohio, the first pure white faced cattle to stock his farm northeast of Blue Rapids. Other successful breeders in the Blue Rapids area were: Isaac D. Yarick, Augustus Borck, Charles Drennan, W. B. Huint, Judge W. H. Goodwin, Miss Low Goodwin, Clayton Rodkey, John S. Rodkey, F. W. Preston and Son, Walter Morgan, E. R. Morgan, and J. M. Winter.
Other breeding herds that have become important in the locality are Angus, Shorthorn and many of the dairy breed herds. Now, cattle feeding lots are dotting the country. Cattle, as in the early days, are a mainstay of the farm income.
GENERAL FARMING AREA
The early emigrants of the Blue Rapids community were primarily interested in farming regardless of the industrial growth of the settlement.
Each wagon carried implements to till the soil and as the years have gone by modern methods of farming has enabled the farmer to increase his acreage and modernize his equip- ment. The family sized farm of 1870 has become a thing of the past.
Main crops raised in this area are wheat, alfalfa, oats and row crops of corn, milo, maize and soybeans.
Pictures shown are a representation of early farming pro- cedure and show a progression of methods and equipment.
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STACKING LOOSE HAY BY HAND
FIRST COMBINE REPLACING THE THRESHING MACHINE
SCENE OF CATTLE NEAR BARN
TEAM BRINGING IN WHEAT BUNDLES
SHELLING CORN
MULES USED TO PULL EQUIPMENT
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THRESHING WHEAT
THRESHING WHEAT
1915 A WET YEAR
In 1915, farmers of the area experienced difficulty harvest- ing in the wet fields. A bull wheel was added to the regular binder wheel to give traction and hold the binder from becoming mired down.
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BINDER WITH BULL WHEEL
CONSTRUCTION OF OLD DAM
This log cabin was built in this area 100 years ago.
In an old log cabin with its chimney wide, Hangs an old steel crane, it was grandma's pride. A Wedding gift when a happy bride. The bright new steel like silver shone, Reflecting the fire on the old hearth stone. It was in the days when the pioneer's Built great log cabins with smiles and tears, Hardships they endured for many long years They built for their children log school houses too That they might learn to be honest and true. In the chimney wide on that old, old crane, Hung the hooks for holding kettles of game.
An old tea kettle, as it sung a refrain, To the tired people, who read at night, By the tallow candles feeble light. On the hearth in front of the chimney so wide, Great loaves of bread in the oven would hide, And the sweet juicy pies the pioneer's pride. The fish she would fry, and the biscuits would bake, The hominy boil, then the sweet Johny cake, Those days have all vanished, but the pioneer smiles With their stories of friendship will often beguile As they meet as today coming many a mile, The pioneers leaving you a heritage grand In their history of life in our own Kansas land.
EARLY DAY HOMES
Many homes of various types of construction were found located in Blue Rapids and the surrounding community. One of the earliest homes was the log cabin. Many of the farm homes were of the type found in the picture.
Limestone, which is a native stone of this area, was used in
constructing homesite buildings both in town and in the countryside. Many beautiful homes were found in this area. Limestone rock was used in building these homes in this area. Then many large residences, of frame construction, dotted the area, in and near Blue Rapids. Many of these homes are still in existence.
Many events of the early history of Blue Rapids, the facts mentioned or unmentioned, are hidden by the lapse of time from the compilers of this book.
As you know, this is our centennial year, a year to celebrate. Participate, become part of the celebration and it will become one of the greatest experiences in your life.
A hundred years ago - this is looking back - now look at the present and hope for the future.
Blue Rapids, like many other towns in the middle west, has never become a metropolis, but it can boast of being the only Blue Rapids in America.
A. A. Marvin - Jeweler and Optician
Hill's Meat Market
Blue Rapids Bottling Works, Nevins Bros. and Stephens, Props.
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Interior view of Moser Bros. Clothing Store
RAPIDS 5-17-11
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