USA > Kansas > Sedgwick County > History of Wichita and Sedgwick County, Kansas, past and present, including an account of the cities, towns and villages of the county, Vol. II > Part 16
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Most of the business men of the thriving little city are pio- neers and have lived there for the greater part of their lives. Among them are some of the founders of Sedgwick county. Clear- water wants more people. It has the room and there is lots of valuable ground around it for the city to spread. There are very
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few empty houses in the town, but as the business men say, there is lots of lumber there to build new ones with and they want to see the new ones going up. More people, is the constant cry of the residents. Among the active business people of the town in the past and present may be mentioned F. Herroion, Magill and Bliss, Hammers Bros., A. Bauter, Jesse Elliott, T. McCready and the Howard Milling Company, while H. R. Watt and the Chambers Brothers are prominent farmers in its vicinity. John R. Stanley is the very accommodating postmaster of the town.
COLWICH. By DAN E. BOONE.
In the early eighties there was a bunch in Wichita called the "Big Four." This Big Four was made up of Col. M. M. Murdock, N. F. Neiderlander, M. W. Levy and A. W. Oliver. Of this aggre- gation of men who did things, M. W. Levy is living in New York and A. W. Oliver and N. F. Neiderlander are living in St. Louis. Colonel Murdock, the able editor of the Wichita "Eagle" for many years, has passed to the great beyond. The Big Four exploited and promoted the Wichita and Colorado railway from Wichita to the northwest. It was originally designed to go west- ward leaving Hutchinson six miles to the northward. When the line reached Elmer, six miles south of Hutchinson, L. A. Bigger and some of the business men of Hutchinson got busy. They went to New York and personally saw Jay Gould, the wizard of Wall street at that time; Gould was then, as his heirs are now, the moving force behind the Missouri Pacific railway. The "Big Four" had a deal on hand with the Missouri Pacific people to lease the Wichita and Colorado railway to them, and this was subsequently done; suffice it to say that the Hutchinson influence turned the line into that town.
Early in the building of that line and the second station out of Wichita, was established the town of Colwich. This name was made of compounding the two names Wichita and Colorado; only the founders turned the name around. The town was established on sections 15 and 16 in Union township. The land was purchased of Lewis Rhodes; the first town company was made of the following named well known citizens of Union town- ship and Wichita: C. F. Hyde, Geo. W. Steenrod, Henry Haskins,
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Dan E. Boone, Kos Harris, M. W. Levy, L. D. Skinner, N. F. Neiderlander, and M. M. Murdock. The railway company put in the railway and the town company put in the land. Henry Haskins was the first postmaster. N. A. Sterns is now the post- master of Colwich. The town is the center of a very fine farming country.
DAVIDSON.
Once upon a time when the Kansas Midland railway built from Wichita to the northwest, just north of Wichita, it passed what was then known as the Burton Car Works. The Car Works had been promoted by J. O. Davidson, who was also the treasurer of the Kansas Midland Railway Company. The Construction Company then building the Kansas Midland railway, and John B. Dacey its manager, thought it would be a nice compliment to Mr. Davidson to name the station at the car works "David- son." This was done and a nobby depot was erected at that point.
The hard times came on and the car works faded away; the houses began to take wings, the works closed down, many of the houses were moved to farms, some went to Oklahoma on wagons and some were torn down and thus moved away. It began to dawn upon the people of Wichita that the manufacture and repair of cars miles away from fuel and material was an abnormal condition of affairs. With sorrow they saw what promised to be a successful manufacturing plant gradually fade from the landscape. The Burton Car Works are no more, and having no further use for the depot at Davidson, the railway company moved it to another point, and now the Frisco trains go by Davidson without even whistling. The siding has gone and nothing remains of Davidson except a very fine patch of alfalfa which probably pays better returns than the station.
DERBY. By J. FITCH HOUCK.
The history of Sedgwick county would certainly not be com- plete without some mention being made of the town of El Paso, now Derby, situated ten miles south of Wichita on section 12, township 29, range 2 east.
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The first settlers on the land were John H. Huffbauer and J. Hout Winnich. They laid out the town and had it platted in the spring of 1871. The first store to locate in the place was a general merchandise one, established by Schlicter and Smith, who immediately proceeded to fail in business when they sold out to Neely and Vance. About this time a ferry-boat was put in operation so that the people from the west side of the river could get into town, but in 1873 the two townships, Rockford and Salem, with the help of the county commissioners built a fine bridge. This, of course, put the ferry boat out of commission, but during the flood of 1877 the bridge went out and for two years El Paso was without communication from the west side. At this time another bridge was put in which answered all purposes until the present fine steel bridge was built. The first train to enter was the A. T. & S. F. July 18, 1879. The next improvement being a depot building built the following November. On the first of March, 1879, the town saw its first fire, which nearly destroyed every building in the place, but the citizens being men of the get up and push variety, the town was soon rebuilt and a new town company organized. From this time on the place seemed to jump and some of its inhabitants fondly hoped and actually believed it would beat Wichita. When the town was reorgan- ized, George Litzenberg (afterward known throughout the state as Farmer Doolittle), started a general merchandise store, and after running it successfully for several years sold out in order to take up his new occupation, that of writing for the press. His first endeavor in that line being on the Wichita "Eagle." E. F. Osborn, now residing in Mulvane, built the first hotel but did not run it long until he sold out. Joseph Mock built the first blacksmith shop and did all the plow sharpening for miles around.
As was the custom in those days every town, no matter how small, had to have a place where wet goods were disposed of and so as to be in the push L. E. Vance opened up a saloon and it is needless to say did what in those days was called a landoffice business. In 1880, the Santa Fe railway changed the name of the town from El Paso to Derby, and from that day to this, Derby has always kept in the lime-light so to speak. John Brunton built and operated the first grain elevator which afterward burnt down but was rebuilt by other parties. In 1872 Judge McCoy settled in that town and being the only student of Black-
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stone soon had all the legal business of the community to attend to. The judge had one son, eight years of age, who attended our public school and in a short time he became our fourth of July orator. In after years he studied law and was admitted to the bar, but the practice of law did not seem to agree with him so he gave it up in order to accept a clerkship in the Wichita postoffice, and by strict attention to business he has steadily advanced to assistant postmaster, which position he holds at the present time.
Among the early settlers of the place were Osborn, Eaton, Mc Williams, Snyder Bros., Woodard, Pittman and Garrett. Anna Mary Garrett having the distinction of being the first white child born in the county.
The first timber used in the place was hauled from Salina, 118 miles, but at the present time we have a large lumber yard of our own, run by Davidson and Case Lumber Company. In the early seventies the Tucker Bros. came from Ohio and located here, H. C. being a doctor started a drug store and until the time of his death had all the practice in the southern part of the county. John and Wayne went to farming. John in after years held the offices of county clerk and treasurer.
The Independent Order of Odd Fellows was instituted in 1874, and at the present time is in a flourishing condition, own- ing their own property, a fine two-story building. The Methodist, Presbyterian, Baptist, German Lutheran and Catholic all have churches of their own, which would be a credit to any town of twice the size of Derby.
FURLEY.
Furley is a hamlet on the Rock Island railway, in Lincoln township. It was named in honor of Dr. C. C. Furley, since deceased, and at one time an eminent physician of Wichita. In an early day the medical firm of Furley & Russell was widely known in this locality. Dr. Furley was identified with a pros- pective railway company, known as the Omaha, Abilene and Wichita Railway Company. It proposed to unite the towns named. When the Rock Island came into Kansas it covered a large por- tion of the new company's proposed line. In the adjustment of routes the naming of Furley fell to Dr. Furley and his asso- ciates, and so the town was named Furley, and it perpetuates the name of an eminent surgeon and an early settler. The town is
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located upon the northeast quarter of section 16, in Lincoln township, and it is fortunate in being upon one of the great trunk lines of railway. There are railways and railways, and branch lines and feeders and all that, but it is not every town so fortunate in its location as to be upon a great trunk line, and it means something. The building of this line of the Rock Island developed the country fast. It gave the farmers a new market ; it gave them easy access to Wichita, the shire town of the great county of Sedgwick. Around Furley are fine farms. Uncle Philo Griffin is one of the old settlers. D. R. Bump is a prosperous farmer on the southwest. The Harrison estate owns extensive land holdings near Furley; Jasper Howrey lives east of the town; Obediah Jordan, Chris Shepard, William Hiser, H. I. Merrell, Owen Yazel, James McGrew, Oren Smith, and Oscar Matson are familiar names in Lincolr. township.
GARDEN PLAIN.
Garden Plain sprang into being upon the building of the Wichita & Western railroad from Wichita to Kingman.
Its citizenship is made up largely of a thrifty German popu- lation, who own fine farms in its vicinity. Garden Plain, situated midway between Cheney and Goddard, on the Santa Fe, Wichita & Western branch, twenty-one miles west of Wichita, is an ideal place to live. The environments are delightful and the climate agreeable. The little city has a population of abont 350, and has some of the finest store buildings in the county. It is an old town, having been in existence for over a quarter of a century. The little town has three large and well stocked general mer- chandise stores, one exceptionally large hardware store, one large drug store, one livery stable, one hotel, one bank, one lumber yard, two elevators, one millinery store, two meat markets, one restaurant, three churches and large and commodious school house, which is practically new. The bank has the largest de- posits of any town its size in the state, and is constantly increas- ing them. The stockholders are all influential farmers and busi- ness men of the community and men who have lived there the greater part of their lives. It is located in a handsome one-story brick building, erected a few years ago, and its officers and directors have been connected with it ever since its organization. The country immediately surrounding Garden Plain is well adapted
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to the raising of corn, oats, wheat and garden stuff. Wheat being the principal product, it finds a ready market in Wichita, for the elevator is never allowed to fill up. Before that is accom- plished the grain is shipped to Eastern markets or to nearby towns. Corn also finds a ready market, and a great quantity of the grain is shipped annually.
Reaching Garden Plain upon the railroad the traveller always sees the familiar figure of Billy Taylor, who is the postmaster and who carries the mail to and from the trains. Among the active business men of Garden Plain may be named, Wulf Bros., Hahn Bros, and Martin Oebel.
GODDARD.
Goddard is located on section 31 in Attica township. It was laid out and a railway station established upon the building of the Wichita & Western Railway. It became a good trading point from the first, and the tourist upon the trains running through that town always expects to see Henry Williams and Smith, the landlord, at the depot. They meet all trains and the town would be lonesome without them. Chris Shepard used to be there and buy hogs and cattle, but growing easy financially he bought some land at Furley and now enjoys the results of his strenuous labors. In an early day Orrin Herron run a livery stable in the town; Orrin used to drive the various candidates about that portion of the county and in those days he could pitch bundles, load hay or feed a threshing machine. Al Lyman used to live there and William Black used to live north of the town; he was a county lawyer and was in all of the early law suits of that section. Goddard is fourteen miles west of Wichita ; the country around is essentially a wheat raising country. Ferdinand Holm, Charles M. Miles, Martin Holm, John Roeder, O. M. Pittinger, M. L. Henshaw, Samuel Eberly, Sam Nolan, and C. P. Schafer are familiar names in this township.
GREENWICH.
Greenwich is a hamlet in Sedgwick county, and it has a popu- lation of about 100 souls. It contains schools and churches and several good stores. The building of the St. Louis, Fort Scott & Wichita railroad called Greenwich into being, it is about twelve miles east of Wichita. The railroad is now operated by the Mis-
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souri Pacific Railway Company. Greenwich is located upon the southwest quarter of section 15 in Payne township; this town- ship was named in honor of Capt. David L. Payne, the original Oklahoma boomer. Payne's ranch, one of the old time ranches run by Captain Payne, was located in this township a little south and west of Greenwich. Payne township is a fine body of land, and is in a high state of cultivation. Mess Phillips and son carried on a general store in Greenwich for many years. The Phillips family, Devores, Herman Herr, H. W. Ruble, and Hjadens are very familiar names in and about Greenwich. Payne town- ship is a full congressional township and is six miles east and west and six miles north and south. The township raises hogs and cattle, small grains of all kinds grown in this part of Kan- sas and Greenwich afford a most excellent grain market.
THE TOWN OF HATFIELD.
It was back in 1883 that a small, but determined bunch of men in Wichita headed by the redoubtable Col. J. W. Hartzell, projected a line of railway from Wichita to McPherson, to a connection with the Union Pacific at that point, and in an ex- uberant moment they drove Colonel Hartzell's black team to Mt. Hope, where a railroad meeting was held, attended by Bill Daily, Tom Randall and Jim McCormick, and the farmers for miles around; Uncle Cooney McCormick was there and so was Uncle Vincent from over the line in Haven township. This meeting was most enthusiastic, and it was resolved to build this line at once. Then began an era of rustle and hot haste along the proposed line, and aid was voted by the townships of Delano, Park, Union and Haven joined, and under the stress of the time and of the prospects, Bill Williams and Henry Haskins put their farms into a town site and the town of Hatfield was placed upon the map of Sedgwick county. The first store was placed in a corn field, streets were laid out and some Wichita men showed their faith in the town to the extent of building several buildings in Hatfield. Grant and Luckel put in a general store and a post- office was applied for and everything looked favorable for a town; but Colonel Hartzell was a financier only on paper, the railroad was not built on the line proposed, Colwich overshadowed Hatfield, Andale and Maize were actual towns on a sure enough railroad. The Grant and Luckel store was moved to Maize, the
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town site relapsed into a corn field, it seems that providence never intended it for anything but a corn field. It could not escape its manifest destiny, a corn field it was, and is, and always will be, to the end of time. Exit Hatfield.
HUCKLE.
Huckle is now numbered among the extinct towns of Sedg- wick county. It was located in Ohio township. This station was located through the efforts of Hon. R. J. Huckle, of Sumner county, who owned a fine farm to the south of the station; it was at the time of the building of the Leroy & Western Railway, a subsidiary line of the Santa Fe system. At one time the Santa Fe Company projected a numerous lot of lines, so many that it was thought there would not remain sufficient farm land after the proposed lines were constructed. Suffice is to say that the Leroy & Western was projected westward from Mulvane. This line was built to Englewood, Kan., on the southern border of Kansas; illy advised people at that time claimed that this line should have been built out of Wichita, but the Santa Fe pursuing its policy of building up a large number of towns and no large ones, thought proper to build this line westward from Mulvane and operate their trains from Wichita southward to Mulvane, and then turning a square corner and running westward from that point. The ways of railway projectors are past finding out, and in this way the Leroy & Western was operated at this time. But we were speaking of Huckle, which was laid out at this time and flourished for a season, but the Rock Island came along and crossed the Santa Fe at Peck, this was too near to Huckle, and after a vain and inglorious struggle, Huckle gave up the ghost and faded from the map, it is now only a memory. A weary and unsightly pile of cinders now marks the spot where once was a station at Huckle; the railway company made some kind of a right-of-way deal with Mr. Huckle and they still hang onto that. The Leroy & Western Railway Company has been absorbed by the Santa Fe, and they usually do as they please in Kansas, at least that is what Bob Huckle thinks. Some months since Huckle began a suit against the Santa Fe in the district court, but after one or two hitches at it, the case petered out and like its namesake had faded from the map, this case faded from the records. Today not a single building exists upon the town site
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of Huckle, but the railway company still hangs onto the 200 feet right-of-way through the town.
JAMESBURG.
The early settlers of Sedgwick county will recall the town of Jamesburg; the main distinguishing feature of this town was that it was situated near the Cowskin creek and not far from the farm of Aaron Seiver. All around it was some of the very best land in Sedgwick county and the fine bottom lands of the Cowskin. North and northwest it was settled by a very thrifty German class of farmers and west of it Esquire McCallister, in an early day, held court in his front yard. In this court it was the habit of Frank Dale, Dave Dale, T. B. Wall, O. H. Bentley, W. E. Stanley and others of the early day lawyers of Sedgwick county to appear and try law suits of various kinds and en route to Esquire McCallisters they always crossed the Cowskin creek, just west of the town of Jamesburg.
There was in those days an angling road leading eastward from Jamesburg towards Wichita. This was the main artery of travel, and after a case was tried in Esquire McCallister's front yard, the jury usually retired to a convenient straw stack to deliberate upon their verdict. In those days there was no convenient jury room, properly warmed and lighted, but only the sighing of the summer wind as it whistled around the cor- ner of the stack in Esquire McCallister's field. The personnel of this court was never complete without the presence of Will- iam Black, of Garden Plain township, who could scent a lawsuit for miles away, and who always in some way took a hand in any lawsuit from his locality, which embraced the four town- ships of Attica, Afton, Union and Garden Plain, and he some- times deadened over the line. Later on the fifth parallel neigh- borhood passed away, the railway was built and the towns of Colwich, Andale, Goddard, Bentley and Mt. Hope were built, and Esquire McCallister court faded away with Jamesburg. The old Justice and William Black were gathered to their fathers, the old-timers went to the territory and Jamesburg today is but a memory in the minds of the old-timers.
KECHI.
The hamlet of Kechi, is located upon sections 12 and 13, in Kechi township in Sedgwick county, and it is a station upon the
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Rock Island Railway; fortunate indeed is any hamlet in Kansas located upon a great trunk line of railway; Kechi is located in one of the best townships in the state of Kansas, it is in the alfalfa belt; the Santa Fe, Frisco & Rock Island railways cross the township and the Missouri Pacific cuts its southeast corner. Because of its nearness to Wichita, Kechi will never hope to make a large town, but it has a good market, good agricultural surroundings and is a pleasant place to live, send the children to school and raise a family. It is a Christian community, and all of the surroundings are strictly moral. The following named are well known and well-to-do farmers of that locality : Garrison Scott, Henry Tjaden, Jacob Rockey, and C. E. Mull.
MAIZE. By J. C. MAJOR.
Maize became a station upon the Wichita & Colorado rail- way, now the Missouri Pacific, when that line reached its present site and a town company was formed, depot grounds laid out and a railway station built. Wm. Williams was the first post- master, a nucleus for a small hamlet was formed, a general store was started and soon after its location, Maize Academy was erected and flourished for a season, however, the location of the town was only nine miles from Wichita; everything seemed to centralize in the larger town and Maize never became a large hamlet. Henry Loudenslager, his brother, Sam Loudenslager, Lewis Rhodes, Leroy Scott, L. B. Dotson and Cornelius Oldfather resided in or near the town and the hamlet felt the influence of their thrift and energy. Later on R. B. Warren, H. B. Marshall, uncle Joe Norris and others took hold of the town, but it still remained a hamlet and will likely do so until the end of the chapter. It is a prosperous farming community around Maize, and a pleasant place to live, however the men like Frank Doffle- meyer and Cal Major upon retiring from their farms moved to Wichita. Maize is the Indian name for corn and Maize, Kan., is truly in the corn belt and this fact gave it its name, which was suggested by the promoters of the Wichita & Colorado Rail- way. Maize is located on section 19, in Park township. For a long time J. C. Major was postmaster. The original town com-
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pany consisted of N. F. Neiderlander, president; Cornelius Old- father, vice-president; M. W. Levy, treasurer, and Kos Harris, secretary. J. C. Major started the first store in the town and sold out to Tapp Bros .; the first church was a Congregational.
THE TOWN OF MARSHALL.
The old residents of Sedgwick county will recall the location of and the town of Old Marshall, on the Ninnescah river, in the western portion of the county. It was on the banks of the north Ninnescah river hard by the flouring mill, of Bill Hays. Lafe Jones was one of the moving spirits of the town, so was John Gader and Fritz Kuhl. Marshall had great hopes of the future, its founders expected to make the large town, between Wichita and Kingman, but the Santa Fe Railway system, then under the management of A. A. Robinson, kept a careful eye upon the tributary territory of the system; that railway company early saw the possibilities of the Ninnescah valleys, the Wichita & Western railway was projected from Wichita to Kingman and westward. The road was originally projected from Sedgwick to Kingman, but the Wichita hustlers took the matter up and were instrumental in securing the right of way from Wichita to the west line of Sedgwick county, this fixed the line and old Marshall a town for great possibilities for the future was left about two and one-half miles to the north east. The railroad was its death knell. Cheney sprang into being, a good location, the railroad, and a fine territory tributary to Cheney has made it the second town in size in Sedgwick county; Marshall has dwindled away; its mill moved away and only a fine grove of cottonwood trees marks the spot of a once flourishing village. It was the evo- lution of the town, from the prairie sod the favorite feeding ground of the buffalo, then a town with its streets and mill, its business houses and its hopes of the future, now back to the buffalo sod. When Marshall was in its prime, the patriotic citizens projected a fourth of July celebration, the morning opened with the usual firing of anvils and fire crackers and all the incidentals of such a celebration in the country. A young lawyer from Wichita was the orator of the day and stood upon a wagon in a grove of cottonwood trees and made his speech, the trees were so small that the bald head of the orator of the day, stuck out above the tree tops. Today some of those trees are more than one hundred
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