USA > Kansas > Atchison County > History of Atchison County, Kansas > Part 6
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Caleb May remained a successful farmer and leading citizen of the county for many years after this convention, subsequently drifting to the Indian Territory, where he died.
John J. Ingalls became United States senator from Kansas, where he remained for eighteen years, part of the time as president protempore of that body.
John A. Martin became one of the leading military heroes of Kansas, and served as governor of the State from 1886 to 1888. He played an im- portant part as an officer of the convention, as also did Mr. Ingalls, who, Samuel A. Stinson says, was the "recognized scholar of the convention, and authority on all questions connected with the arrangement and phraseology of the instrument." For this reason he was made chairman of the committee on phraseology and arrangements. Robert Graham was chairman of the committee on corporations and banking, and on the ballot to locate a tem- porary capital of the State Atchison received six votes. Topeka received twenty-nine and was chosen as the temporary capital and afterwards became the permanent capital of Kansas.
CHAPTER VI.
ORGANIZATION OF COUNTY AND CITY OF ATCHISON.
ONE OF THE THIRTY-THREE ORIGINAL COUNTIES- THE CITY OF ATCHISON LOCATED-TOWN COMPANY-SALE OF LOTS-INCORPORATION OF TOWN- EARLY BUSINESS ENTERPRISES-ORGANIZATION OF COUNTY-COMMER- CIAL GROWTH-FREIGHTING-FIRST OFFICERS-FREE STATE AND PRO- SLAVERY CLASHES-HORACE GREELEY VISITS ATCHISON-ABRAHAM LIN- COLN MAKES A SPEECH HERE-GREAT DROUTH OF 1860-CITY OFFICIALS.
Atchison was one of the thirty-three original counties created by the first territorial legislature, which convened at Pawnee, July 2, 1855, and subse- quently adjourned to Shawnee Mission, July 6, 1855. and was named for Senator David R. Atchison, United States senator from Missouri, concerning whom much has been said in previous chapters. The county was surveyed in 1855 and divided into three townships, Grasshopper township comprising all that section lying west of the old Pottawatomie road: Mount Pleasant town- ship, all east of the old Pottawatomie road, and south of Walnut creek, from its confluence with the Missouri river to the source of the creek and a parallel line west to the old Pottawatomie road, and Shannon township, all that section of the county north of Mount Pleasant township. Subsequently, this sub-di- vision was further divided into eight townships, now comprising the county, to-wit: Grasshopper, Mount Pleasant, Shannon, Lancaster, Kapioma, Cen- ter. Walnut and Benton. The county is located in the extreme northeastern part of Kansas, save one, Doniphan county, by which it is bounded on the north, together with Brown county, and on the west by Jackson county, and on the south by Jefferson and Leavenworth counties. It has an area of 409 square miles, or 271.360 acres.
The site of the city of Atchison, the first town in the county, was selected
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because of its conspicuous geographical location on the river. Senator Atch- ison and his associates attached great importance to the fact that the river bent boldly inland at this point. They felt that it would be of great commercial advantage to a town to be thus located, so July 4, 1854, after a careful consid- eration of the matter, in all of its phases, Senator Atchison and his Platte county, Missouri, friends dedicated the new town. They felt that they had located the natural gateway through which all the overland traffic to Utali, Oregon and California would pass. After they had settled with George Mil- lion, the first known white settler of the territory, and attended to other unim- portant preliminaries Dr. J. H. Stringfellow made a claim just north of the Million claim, and with Ira Norris, James T. Darnell, Leonidas Oldham, James B. Martin, George Million and Samuel Dickson, agreed to form a town company, and they received into their organization David R. Atchison, Elijah Green, E. H. Norton, Peter T. Abell, B. F. Stringfellow, Lewis Burnes, Dan- iel D. Burnes, James N. Burnes, Calvin F. Burnes and Stephen Johnson. A week later these men gathered under a large cottonwood tree, near Atchison street, on the river, and organized by electing Peter T. Abell, president ; Dr. J. H. Stringfellow, secretary, and Col. James N. Burnes, treasurer. Peter T. Abell, president of the town company, was an able lawyer, and a Southern man, with pronounced views on the question of slavery. But he was a man of judgment, and a natural boomer. He was a very large man, being over six feet tall and weighed almost 300 pounds. When he became president of the town company he was a resident of Weston, Mo., and lived there until a year after Atchison had been surveyed. Subsequently, Senator Atchison assigned his interests in the town company to his nephew, James Headley, who after- wards became one of the leading lawyers of the town. Jesse Morris also be- came a member.
The town company, having been regularly organized, the townsite was divided into 100 shares. Each of its members retained five shares : the balance of thirty being held for general distribution. Abell, B. F. String- fellow and all of the Burnes brothers were received as two parties. Henry Kuhn, a surveyor, surveyed 480 acres, which comprised the original townsite. Mr. Kuhn and his son returned to Atchison forty-five years later, and for a short time ran the Atchison Champion. On September 21, the first sale of town lots was held, amidst great excitement and general interest. It was a gathering which had both political and business significance. Senator Atch- ison, from Missouri, with a large number of his constituents, was there, and Atchison made a speech, in which one reporter quotes him as having said :
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"People of every quarter should be welcome to the Territory, and treated with civility as long as they showed themselves peaceable inen."
Someone in the crowd called out, "What shall we do with those who run off with our negroes ?" "Hang 'em," cried a voice in the crowd. To this Mr. Atchison replied, "No, I would not hang them, but I would get them out of the Territory- get rid of them." One version of the speech was to the effect that Senator Atchison answered his questioners hy saying, "By G-d, sir, hang every abolitionist you find in the Territory." But the best account of the meeting was printed in a Parkville, Mo., newspaper, and was reported by an eye witness, who said :
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TURE & CAPPET CO.
A View in Commercial Street. Looking East, Atchison, Kansas
"We arrived at Atchison in the forenoon. Among the company was our distinguished senator, in honor of whom the new city was named. There was a large assemblage on the ground, with plenty of tables set for dinner, where the crowd could be accommodated with bacon and bread, and a drink at the branch, at fifty cents a head. The survey of the town had just been completed the evening before. Stockholders held a meeting, to arrange par- ticulars of sale, and afterwards, as had been previously announced, General Atchison mounted an old wagon and made a speech. He commenced by men- tioning the bountiful country that was beginning to be settled ; to some of the circumstances under which a territorial government was organized, and in the
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course of his remarks, mentioned how Douglass came to introduce the Nebraska bill, with a repeal clause in it. He told of how Judge Douglass requested twenty-four hours in which to consider the question of introducing a bill for Nebraska, like the one he had promised to vote for, and said that if, at the expiration of that time, he could not introduce such a bill, which would not at the same time accord with his own sense of right and justice to the South, he would resign as chairman of the territorial committee, and Democratic caucus, and exert his influence to get Atchison appointed. At the expiration of the given time, Judge Douglass signified his intention to report such a bill.
"General Atchison next spoke of those who had supported and those who had opposed the bill in the Senate, and ended by saying that the American people loved honesty and could appreciate the acts of a man who openly and above-board voted according to the will of his constituents, without political regard or favor. He expressed his profound contempt for abolitionists, and said if he had his way he would hang everyone of them that dared to show his face, but he knew that Northern men settling in the Territory were sensi- ble and honest, and that the right feeling men among them would be as far from stealing a negro as a Southern man would.
"When Senator Atchison concluded his remarks, the sale of town lots began, and thirty-four were sold that afternoon, at an average of $63.00 each. Most of those that were sold were some distance back from the river, and speculators were not present, so far as it could be determined, and lots that were sold were bought mostly by owners of the town. Prices ranged from $35.00 to $200.00."
At this meeting the projects of building a hotel and establishing a news- paper were discussed, and as a result, each of the original 100 shares was assessed $25.00, and in the following spring the National Hotel. corner of Second and Atchison streets, was built. Dr. J. H. Stringfellow and Robert S. Kelley received a donation of $400.00 from the town company, to buy a printing office and in February, 1855, the Squatter Sovereign, which subsequently did so much for the pro-slavery cause, was born.
The town company required each settler to build a house at least sixteen feet square upon his lot, so that when the survey was made in 1855 many found themselves upon school lands. Among those who put up homes in 1854 and 1855 were James T. Darnell, Archibald Elliott, Thomas J. C. Dun- can, Andrew W. Pebler, R. S. Kelley, F. B. Wilson, Henry Kline and William Hassett. The titles to the lands owned by these residents remained unsettled until 1857, when titles to all lands within the townsite and open to settlement
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were acquired from the federal government, and subsequently the title to school lands was secured by patents from the Territory, and in this way the town company secured a clear title to all lands which they had heretofore con- veyed, and re-conveyed the same to the settlers and purchasers. Dr. J. H. Stringfellow, proprietor of North Atchison, an addition to the city of Atchi- son, employed J. J. Pratt to survey that addition in October, 1857. It con- sisted of the northeast quarter of the northeast quarter of section 36, township 5. range 20. Samuel Dickson, who was the proprietor of South Atchison, had that addition platted in May, 1858, and John Roberts, who was the proprietor of West Atchison, had his addition surveyed in February, 1858, a few months before Samuel Dickson surveyed South Atchison. C. L. Challiss' addition was surveyed about the same time. Other additions to the corporate limits of Atchison have been made, and are as follows: Branchton, Bird's addition, Brandner's addition, Bakewell Heights, Batiste addition, Florence Park, For- est Park, Goodhue Place, Garfield Park, Highland Park, Home Place, How- ard Heights, LaGrande addition, Lincoln Park, Llewellyn Heights, Lutheran Church addition, Mapleton Place, Merkles addition, Parker's addition, Park Place, Price Villa addition, River View addition, Spring Garden, Style's ad- dition. Bellvue Heights, and Talbott & Company's addition.
Atchison was incorporated as a town by act of the Territorial legislature. August 30, 1855, but it was not incorporated as a city until February 12, 1858, after which the charter was approved by the people by special election, March 2, 1858. In the fall of 1856, Atchison had obtained a great many advantages over other towns along the river, by a judicious system of advertising. The Squatter Sovereign printed a circular November 22, 1856, which was scat- tered broadcast. The circular was as follows:
"To the public, generally, but particularly to those persons living north of the Kansas river, in Kansas Territory :
"It is well known to many, and should be to all interested, that the town of Atchison is nearer to most persons living north of the Kansas river, than any other point on the Missouri river. The country, too, south of the Kansas river above Lecompton, is also as near Atchison as any other Missouri river town. The roads to Atchison in every direction are very fine, and always in good repair for wagon and other modes of travel. The country opposite Atchison is not excelled by an section of Missouri, it being portions of Buch- anan and Platte counties, in a high state of cultivation, and at a considerable distance from any important town in Missouri, making grain, fruit, provisions and all kinds of marketing easily procured at fair prices ; a matter of no small consideration to settlers in a new country.
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"The great fresh water lake, from which the fish markets of St. Joseph and Weston are supplied, is also within three miles of Atchison.
"Atchison is now well supplied with all kinds of goods ; groceries, flour, corn, meal, provisions and marketing of all kinds are abundant, and at fair prices. To show the compatibility of Atchison to supply the demands of the country, we here enumerate some of the business houses, viz: Six large dry goods and grocery stores, wholesale and retail; six family grocery and pro- vision stores, wholesale and retail : one large clothing store : one extensive fur- niture store, with mattresses and bedding of all sorts; one stove, sheet iron and tinware establishment, where articles in that line are sold at St. Louis prices ; several large warehouses sufficient to store all the goods of emigrants and trad- ers across the plains, and to Kansas Territory ; one weekly newspaper-The Squatter Sovereign-having the largest circulation of any newspaper in Kansas, with press, type and materials to execute all kinds of job work : two commodious hotels, and several boarding houses ; one bakery and confection- ery ; three blacksmith shops ; two wagon makers, and several carpenter shops; one cabinet maker ; two boot and shoe maker shops, and saddle and harness maker shops; one extensive butcher and meat market: a first rate ferry, on which is kept a magnificent new steam ferry boat and excellent horse boat, propelled by horses ; a good flat boat, and several skiffs ; saw mills, two pro- pelled by steam and one by horse-power ; two brick yards, and two lime kilns.
"A fine supply of professional gentlemen of all branches constantly on hand equal to the demand.
"A good grist mill is much needed, and would make money for the owner."
The first business house in Atchison was established by George T. Chal- liss, at the corner of the Levee and Commercial streets, in August, 1854. The National Hotel was not built at that time, so. Mr. Challiss established a tem- porary camp, and his workmen were accommodated under an elm tree near the river. The Challiss store building was torn down in 1872. George T. Chal- liss and his brother, Luther C. Challiss, were clerking in a dry goods store at Booneville, Mo., in the spring of 1854. George T. Challiss returned to his old home in New Jersey on a visit, and upon his return, in August, he came direct to Atchison. He came by boat to Weston, Mo., where he met P. T. Abell, president of the town company, and Abell prevailed upon him to come to Atchison in a buggy, crossing the river here on George Million's ferry. Mr. Abell donated Mr. Challiss the lot upon which he built his store, and he went to Rushville and bought enough cottonwood lumber to build it. When he arrived in Atchison, he had $4.50 in money, but later on borrowed $150.00
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HISTORY OF ATCHISON COUNTY
from his brother, Luther C. Challiss, at Boonville. He enjoyed a good busi- ness from the beginning, and carried a large stock of both dry goods and groceries.
The town of Atchison was the one big outstanding factor in Atchison county when the territory was organized, but at the same time that Abell and Stringfellow and others "were shaping up the town," others were busy organ- izing the county. As the city was named for General Atchison, so likewise was the county at the time of its creation by the first Territorial legislature that assembled at Pawnee. The first board of county commissioners was selected and appointed by the Territorial legislature, August 31, 1855, and was com- posed of William J. Young, James M. Givens and James A. Headley. The first meeting of the board was held September 17, 1855, at the home of O. B. Dickerson, in the city of Atchison. At this meeting Ira Norris was appointed clerk and recorder; Samuel Dickson, treasurer; Samuel Walters, assessor. William McVay had received an appointment as sheriff of the county prior to the meeting of the board, direct from the governor, to fill the office tem- porarily until his successor was subsequently appointed and qualified. On the 18th of September, 1855, being the second day of the session of the first board of county commissioners, Eli C. Mason was appointed as sheriff to succeed McVay, and Dudley McVay was appointed coroner. Voting precincts were established in three townships preparatory to an election of a delegate to Congress, which was to take place the first Monday in October, 1855. At the October meeting of the board of county commissioners, block 10, in what is now known as Old Atchison, was accepted by the board as a location upon which to erect a court house. This property was offered to the county by the Atchison town company for the purpose of influencing the board to make Atchison the county seat. The conditions of the gift were that the court house was to be built of brick and to be at least forty feet square. In the following spring ihe town company donated fifty town lots, and the proceeds of these lots were to be used in the construction of the court house. In June, 1857, the court house was ordered built and it was to be two stories high, the first story to be of rock and the second story of wood. It was 24x18 feet square ; how- ever, the plans were subsequently changed, and, because of the gift of an additional fourteen lots by the town company, of a value of $6,000.00, a more pretentious building was erected in 1859, with a county jail adjoining it. Prior to the erection of the court house, there was a spirited contest between Mt. Pleasant, Monrovia, Lancaster and Summer over the question of the
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county seat. In an election to determine the location, Atchison received a majority of 252 votes over all competitors for the county seat. The estimated total population of the county at the time was 2.745.
In the next few years Atchison grew rapidly and the dreams of Senator Atchison and his associates bade fair to be realized on a large scale. The popu- lation of the town was about 500, and yet there were eight hardware stores. twelve dry goods stores, eight wholesale grocery stores, nineteen retail grocery stores, and twenty-six law firms. The banking business was controlled by the contracting firms of A. Majors & Company and Smoot, Russell & Com- pany. The Atchison branch of the Kansas Valley Bank was the first in the State to be formed under the legislative act, authorized February 19, 1857, with a capital stock of $300,000.00. In the act. John H. Stringfellow, Joseph Plean and Samuel Dickson were named to open subscription books. An or- ganization was effected in the spring of 1858, and the capital stock of the local organization was $52,000.00. The board of directors was composed of Samuel C. Pomeroy, president ; W. H. Russell, L. R. Smoot, W. B. Waddell, F. G. Adams, Samuel Dickson and W. E. Gaylord. There was considerable rivalry between Sumner and Doniphan at the time, and shortly after the organ- ization of the bank, a rumor, which was supposed to have started in Sumner, to the effect that the bank was about to suspend, caused the directors to pub- lish a statement of its condition, showing that its assets were $36,638.00 and its liabilities $20,118.00. S. C. Pomeroy resigned as president before the year was out and was succeeded by William H. Russell. The bank subsequently had its name changed by the legislature to the Bank of the State of Kansas. Mr. Russell, the second president of the bank, make his home in Leavenworth and was an active pro-slavery man, being treasurer of the executive commit- tee in 1856 to raise funds to make Kansas a slave State. This bank continued until 1866, when it went into voluntary liquidation and its stockholders wound up its affairs.
One of the most important institutions in Atchison in the early days was the Massasoit House, opened for business September 1, 1858, in charge of Tom Murphy, a genial proprietor, who conducted it for many years. At the same time there were three other hotels in operation in the city. Reference has heretofore been made to the National Hotel, which was elected in 1855 by popular subscription. It was a plain log structure on the north side of Atchi- son street, just east of Second, overlooking the river. The Tremont House was a two-story frame structure at the southeast corner of Second and Main, and the Planters' House was at the southwest corner of Commercial and Sixth
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streets on the site now occupied by the Exchange National Bank, but the Mas- sasoit House was the leading hotel of this section and it was a substantial, somewhat imposing frame building erected at the northwest corner of Second and Main streets on the site now occupied by the Wherrett-Mize Wholesale Drug House. It was three stories high with a basement and was handsomely furnished. It did a large business and was the headquarters for the overland staging crowds. All the lines, which ran in every direction, out of Atchison at that time departed from the Massasoit House. It was a favorite place for political gatherings, and from its balconies many speeches were made by leaders of the political parties of that day. It at one time was the hiding place for a number of slaves who had been secreted in the hotel by their master. Horace Greeley, the famous editor of the New York Tribune, ate his first dinner in Kansas at this hotel, and Abraham Lincoln was a guest on the day that John Brown was executed at Harper's Ferry.
Some idea of the magnitude of the merchandising that was carried on in Atchison in 1858 may be gathered from the fact that during the summer of that year twenty-four trains comprising 775 wagons, 1, 114 men, 7.963 oxen, 142 horses, 1,286 mules conveyed 3.730,905 pounds of merchandise across the Rocky mountains and California. One single train that was sent out that year consisted of 105 wagons, 225 men, 1,000 oxen, 200 mules, fifty horses and 465.500 pounds of merchandise. During the latter part of 1859 and the early months of 1860, forty-one regular traders and freighters did business out of Atchison. During nine months of one of those years, the trains outfitted from Atchison were drawn by mules and cattle and comprised 1,328 wagons, 1,549 men, 401 mules and 15,263 oxen. The Pike's Peak gold mines, which were discovered in 1858, and the prospecting in that region were the causes of the larger part of this enormous business. Denver at that time had a population of about 2.500, and was the center of the mining region around Pike's Peak. In the period just mentioned, thirty-three of the trains that left Atchison were destined for Denver. One of these trains was composed of I25 wagons, carrying 750,000 pounds of merchandise. It extended from the levee on the river far beyond the western outskirts of the city. The outfit was managed by fifty-two men, twenty-two mules and 1,542 oxen. Several of the trains for Denver had from twenty to fifty wagons. One, sent out by Jones & Cartwright, had fifty-eight wagons and carried over 3,000 pounds of merchandise. Among the trains that left-Atchison during the latter part of 1859 were, one for Santa Fe, N. M., another for Colorado City, Colo., two for Green River, Wyo., and four for Salt Lake City. The big-
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gest overland outfit was owned by Irwin, Jackson & Company, who were Government freighters. During one season this firm sent out 520 wagons, 650 men, 75 mules and 6,240 oxen. This firm had a good contract for sup- plying the military posts on the plains, including Forts Kearney, Laramie, Bridger, Douglas, and Camp Floyd, a short distance from Salt Lake City. In addition to these larger overland staging concerns there were a number of lesser outfits sent out by private parties in Atchison, with one, two or three wagons each. Most of the freight conveyed across the plains in wagons was brought to Atchison in steamboats, which unloaded at the levee extending along two or three blocks, beginning at about Atchison street and running south. Very frequently loaded ox trains nearly a mile in length were seen on Commercial street, and some of the prairie schooners would be loaded with hardware or some other dead weight, drawn by six to eight yoke of cattle ; and more wagon trains were loaded and departed from Atchison than from any other point on the Missouri river.
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