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 17
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feet high. Marshall has gone, it is only a memory but the grove is there as a land-mark; a few scattered cellars and small excava- tions mark the spot of the early village, the village of Marshall beside the softly flowing river.
MOUNT HOPE.
Mount Hope, located on the Missouri Pacific Railway, Wich- ita-Geneseo branch, is twenty-five miles from Wichita and is one of the most prosperous towns in the county. It is a thriving little city of about 700 wide-awake and progressive souls. It is per- haps the only city in the United States that has the four main corners of the town on that many different sections of land. Years ago when Mount Hope was laid out by the founders they bought up four sections of land and began to build houses of every de- scription on them. Later on the First National Bank Building was erected. The plot of ground on which the bank now stands was then the northeastern point or corner of one of the sections of land. A little while later the building now occupied by the Race Mercantile Company was erected on the southwestern corner of another section. Following that the buildings now owned and occupied by the Kennedy General Merchandise Com- pany on the northwestern corner and the restaurant of W. C. Fauss on the southeastern part of another section were built, thus making the four principal corners of the city occupying four different parts of different sections. As the city grew and spread out these sections were sold out gradually until today the former owners of those sections of land have no interest in them whatever.
Mount Hope is prosperous in every way. It has up-to-date business concerns, fine churches and an excellent school building. The enrollment this year exceeds 300, which is remarkably well for a town of its size. In one part of the business section three different business concerns are located in the same building. They are the office and printing establishment of The Clarion, the store rooms of C. A. Marshall and E. E. Tyler. The town itself lies some distance back from the railroad, and the street up which one passes on his way to the business part, is lined with beau- tiful shade trees of every description. Mount Hope is really, in a botanical sense of the word, the greenest town in Sedgwick county. It has the prettiest shade trees of any town in the
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county for its size. Tall stately cottonwoods and maples line both sides of Main street from the depot all the way up town and far beyond the main corners, which are really beautiful to behold when they are covered with their foliage during the summer months.
Two banks, one of them a national bank and the only one in the county outside of Wichita; three restaurants, one weekly newspaper, general merchandise stores, one drug store, an in- dependent telephone system, two first class hardware stores, two barber shops, one men's furnishing goods store, one jeweler, one meat market, two livery barns, one elegant opera house with a seating capacity of 600, one lumber yard, two blacksmith shops, one photograph gallery, one millinery store, two elevators and several doctors. Mount Hope's opera house is one of the finest in the state. It is fitted up with opera chairs, seats which are seldom found in theater buildings in much larger places, and a stage 40x30. Three elegant sets of scenery and all the property and furniture necessary to produce some heavy attractions are to be found within the building. It has two floors and a fine lighting system. The building which is also used for the city hall as well as the opera house, was erected at a cost of over $8,000.
No history of Mount Hope would be complete without a men- tion of Thos. H. Randall, its founder, long since gathered to his fathers, full of years and with the earnest respect of his friends whose name was legion. William A. Daily, Jas. P. McCormick and C. C. Thomas were always at the front in anything concern- ing the welfare of Mount Hope. This town is the natural half- way station between Wichita and Hutchinson.
MULVANE, KANSAS. By J. A. WHITTY, in Kansas Magazine.
Mulvane, Kansas, is located on the county line between Sum- ner and Sedgwick counties, five miles west of the corner of Sum- ner, Sedgwick, Cowley and Butler counties. The city was laid out by the Mulvane Town Company in August, 1879, and was named in honor of Joab Mulvane, a prominent Santa Fe official who was instrumental in locating both Wichita and Mulvane on
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the line. Mulvane was incorporated as a city of the third class by the Sumner County District Court under Judge E. S. Torrence on the 27th day of September, 1883. The first city election was held on the 6th of November, 1883, at which time A. D. Doyle was elected mayor. There is no better farming country in the United States than that which surrounds Mulvane.
The Santa Fe Railroad has recognized Mulvane as one of the important points on her system. This is evinced by the fact that nearly $100,000 have been spent there during the past year on the yards, new brick depot and electric switch plant. The Mul- vane Mutual Telephone Company is owned and successfully op- erated by local people and with local capital. The Mulvane Ice Company is noted for the purity of its product. The Petrie Poultry Packing Company, packers of eggs and poultry, does an immense business.
The Mulvane State Bank, established in 1886, is one of the soundest banking institutions in Sumner county. It has a capital of $25,000.00 and a surplus of $12,500. W. C. Robinson is its president and C. F. Hough is cashier. C. F. Hough, cashier of the Mulvane State Bank, is also treasurer of the Mulvane Ice and Cold Storage Company and secretary of the Mulvane Mutual Telephone Company. The town has no bonded debt. Chas. Hodgson has served the people of Mulvane as postmaster for twelve years. Mulvane citizens boast of the fact that their town was the former home of Governor W. R. Stubbs. S. F. Fields, the present mayor, came to Mulvane in 1880. He is a thorough- going business man with modern ideas. He is greatly admired by his fellow citizens, which enables him to render valuable serv- ice to the town.
Mulvane is indeed to be congratulated upon locating the Hel- vetia Milk Condensing Company. There is ample assurance that Mulvane will be located upon an interurban railway between Wichita and Winfield within a year from the present time. It is understood that the Interurban Construction Company of Wich- ita and the Siggins Company, of Arkansas City and Winfield, are securing right of ways that will pass through Mulvane. Both companies are road builders. The Wichita concern is now build- ing a line from Wichita to Newton. The Siggins Company is well backed financially and has several elegantly equipped roads al- ready in operation and upon a paying basis. Mulvane has most excellent public schools. .
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FARMER DOOLITTLE IS INSPIRED OVER MULVANE.
By Farmer Doolittle.
Wichita people know that this city is growing and they are firm in the belief that the Peerless Princess is now and will con- tinue to be the gateway to the great Southwest. There is, how- ever, one pleasing feature of the growth of Wichita that a good many people overlook, and that is the growth of surrounding towns. A great city is always surrounded by large towns. This fact was presented to me in a rather forcible manner when I attended the old settlers' meeting at Mulvane last Thursday. I carried one end of the surveyor's chain through the tall prairie grass about a quarter of a century ago that set the bounds of the main business street of Mulvane. The town today has a popu- lation of a little less than 2,000, but on every hand there are evi- dences that this town which Mrs. Clay Hilbert elected should be named for J. R. Mulvane, of Topeka, is going in the near future to become a considerable city.
Mulvane is modest and hides its fine residence section on the higher land east of the railroad behind the finest trees. Back of these forest trees the town has the appearance of the newer parts of Wichita. There are fine cottages, cement walks and nicely kept lawns. Here one can see what nice things a railroad can do for a town. The Santa Fe has raised the grounds about the fine new passenger depot. In some places the fill is about thirteen feet and the wide switch yards are the prettiest I have ever seen. This company has five roads running out of Mulvane. There are a great many trains passing through the town every day. Elmer Emery, who opened the first Santa Fe office in an old box car, has charge of all the railroad business of the town. If all the railroad men were as reliable and accommodating as Emery it would be an easy matter to account for the popularity of this great railroad. The milk condensing factory recently es- tablished there is an immense affair, but it will soon be enlarged to about double its present capacity. There are numerous fine residences just completed and others are being erected. I will refer to two men who illustrate the wisdom of Horace Greeley's advice : "Young man, go west and grow up with the country." Mr. Robinson, who opened the first dry goods store and sold prints, overalls and picket ropes to the first settlers, is now the
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merchant prince, doing business in his own brick block. And Dr. Shelly, who used to ride a pony out to see the people when they caught the malaria from the mosquitos, now rides in a fine auto- mobile and owns a big dairy farm east of the city. They did not get ahead of the growth of the country, but they kept neck and neck with it.
Mulvane is on the border of Sedgwick county. The town has recently made a fine forward movement. Its people are very energetic and prosperous. Farmer Doolittle is one of the best writers in Kansas, and an editorial writer of great experience on the Wichita Eagle, the leading daily of the Southwest .- Editor.
OATVILLE.
A history of Sedgwick county would be incomplete without a write-up of Oatville. When J. W. Miller first laid out his plans to build the Wichita, Anthony and Salt Plains Railroad (what a name for a railroad), the first station out of Wichita to the south- west was named Oatville. This station was upon the land of James P. Royal. The weary traveler through this vale of tears, embark- ing at Wichita upon a Missouri Pacific train, with his life in his hands, as he nears the town of Oatville always wonders why the railway there runs upon a direct north and south line. He is riding upon what was once the Wichita, Anthony and Salt Plains Railroad, now the Missouri Pacific Railway. The influence of James P. Royal and his old-time partner, Newton H. Robinson, put the iron rails upon a half section line through the land of Mr. Royal and upon his half section line. These men named the town and platted it upon the section line running east and west . between Sections 11 and 14 in Waco township. James P. Royal still lives upon his fine farm just west of the town. Newton H. Robinson, one of the brightest men in Sedgwick county, has passed to his reward. Bernell Bigelow is the postmaster at Oatville; he has held this place for many years. Oatville without Bernell Bigelow would be like the play of Hamlet with Hamlet left out. The coming generation around Oatville, and the boys now wear- ing kilts, twenty-five years hence will probably get their mail at Oatville from Bernell Bigelow, postmaster. By reason of its contiguity to this city, Oatville will probably never make a metropolis, but it is a pleasant place to live, in sight of the lights upon the Boston Store, and most any day James P. Royal and
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his family can hum into town in his automobile. The Bigelows, Carrs and Turleys are familiar names about Oatville.
PECK.
Peck is one of the few towns in Sedgwick county that has the distinction of being on two railroads and in two counties. It is located fifteen miles south of Wichita on the Rock Island and is twenty-one miles from the same place via the Santa Fe by way of Mulvane. The fare, however, is the same over both roads from the county seat. The postoffice, one general store, blacksmith shop and a lumber yard are in Sumner county, while the rest of the business houses are in Sedgwick county. Peck really belongs to Sedgwick, despite the fact that the postoffice is in the other county, for most of the people live on this side of the line.
The little city has a population of approximately 300 and was incorporated several years ago. It has a mayor and city council and takes on all the airs of a city several times its size, and well it might, for it has boosters living in it. Every resident of that thriving little city is a booster and has been ever since he has lived there. Within the Sedgwick county side of the town are located one large elevator, two general stores, one restaurant, one hardware store, a livery barn, one drug store, one pool hall, one hotel, and the bank. The city has a large and handsome school building and two churches with large congregations. The depot is situated some little distance from the main part of the town, but that is owing to the fact that the Santa Fe and Rock Island cross several hundred yards from that part of the city. Both roads use the same depot. The fine farm holdings of Henry Stunkel are near Peck; the Kerley brothers are prosperous stock dealers and farmers in and near Peck; the Roll brothers reside to the northward of the town, while William Roll is an active business man in Peck. Everybody knows Hiram Hitchcock, the most genial man in Sumner county. His fine farm is just south of the town. There is no finer farming land in Kansas than the valley of the Ninnescah, adjacent to this town.
SCHULTE.
Schulte sprang into existence upon the building of the Orient Railway from Wichita southwest. It is a hamlet located in a
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fine portion of Waco township, on the section line directly west of Oatville. The town is named for Peter Schulte, a well known German farmer of that locality. The location is upon section 7 of Waco township. Here is located a fine Catholic church and a strong German parish of this church; also several stores, an elevator and blacksmith shop. Fine farms abound and the people are prosperous. John Springbob, Henry Gadeke, Charles Zim and D. W. Wilson are prominent farmers in this township and in the vicinity of Schulte.
SEDGWICK.
That part of Sedgwick which is in Sedgwick county is located on the northwest quarter of section 3 in Valley Center township. Most of the town is in Harvey county, which bounds Sedgwick county upon the north. Sedgwick as a village contains about 700 people. It is a delightful village, peopled by a prosperous community, and borders on the Little Arkansas river, one of the most beautiful streams in Kansas. It contains banks, schools and churches and also some live merchants and very pleasant homes. Valley Center township is one of the most fertile bodies of land in Sedgwick county and its fine farms are unsurpassed in the entire state.
Quite a large grain business is done in Sedgwick, which has very fine grain shipping and elevator service. An interurban line of railway is already completed from Wichita to Sedgwick and this line is also projected to Newton and Hutchinson. Its natural diverging point is at Sedgwick, whose people are hoping for great things upon its completion. The Sedgwick nurseries are famous over the state. The Little river valley affords fine water, shade, and excels in the raising of alfalfa. Ordinarily it produces fine crops of corn. Sedgwick is located midway between Newton and Wichita and seventeen miles north of the latter place upon the main Texas line of the great Santa Fe system. The town was laid out when the latter line was built from Newton to Wichita.
ST. MARK.
There are four German townships in Sedgwick county. They are Union, Sherman, Garden Plain and Attica township. The Germans who farm in these townships, and they are among the
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best farmers of the state of Kansas, are largely Catholics. Near the center of the territory embraced in these townships is located the town or hamlet of St. Mark. This point is the seat of a magnificent Catholic church and school. The parish is a large one and a most prosperous one. Some of the wealthy German farmers of this section reside here. They are the great wheat raisers and their farms are in a fine state of cultivation. This town has no railway, but that does not matter, for there are fine railway facilities all around them and they are growing richer and more prosperous each year. J. Smarsh, John B. Simon, John Betzen, Peter Betzen, Moses Jay and Peter Strunk are familiar names in this locality.
SUNNYDALE.
Sunnydale is a postoffice in Grant township. It is located upon the southeast quarter of section 15, in this township, and adjoins the well known McCracken fruit farm. The business consists of a general store and a cluster of houses. Grant town- ship has no railroad and the Hamlet of Sunnydale lacks railway facilities. The farming country surrounding the town is first class and in a high state of cultivation. S. H. Harts, Isaac T. Ault, William McCracken and J. O. Mead are familiar names in Grant township. Many of the old settlers have become well off, still own their farms, which are rented, but their owners reside in Wichita.
VALLEY CENTER.
Valley Center, as its name implies, is situated in the valley of the little Arkansas river, ten miles north of Wichita. When the Santa Fe line of railway was built from Newton to Wichita, E. P. Thompson was a member of the legislature from Sedgwick county. Mr. Thompson, owning a large body of land in Kechi township, was importuned to go into a townsite deal with the railway company for a townsite several miles south of the present location. Being of a highly sensitive nature and fearing that his motives would be misconstrued, Mr. Thompson refused. His refusal located the present town of Valley Center on section No. 36, in Valley Center township, and this town has both the Santa Fe and Frisco lines. For many years the Carpenters and the Dewings and the Beaches were the leading families of Valley Center. Henry C. Boyle was
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a leading spirit of the town, so were Willis Davis and Orville Boyle, the present head of the Chamber of Commerce. The town has a staunch friend in the person of Mr. Boyle, who is at this time promoting and building the Interurban line from Wichita to Newton and Hutchinson via Valley Center. The grade is almost completed at this time from Valley Center to Wichita and the project is being pushed as fast as possible. The early settlers are all away, some of them are dead. Al Johnson, one of the old landmarks and business men of the town, is in Wichita. But still the town goes on, fully illustrating the old theory that "No man is a necessity." Around the town are expansive fields of alfalfa and this industry is in a most flourishing condition in Valley Center, Grant and Kechi townships. Fine farms are the rule and the soil is a perfect garden spot, while the Little Arkansas river meanders to the west of the town. O. G. Jacobs, S. I. Perrin, H. W. Reynolds and George R. Davis are business men and land owners in Valley Center and its neighborhood.
VIOLA.
Years ago upon the building of the Englewood branch of the Santa Fe Railway in Viola township, on section 33 it established a depot and called it Viola. The town slumbered for years, con- tent with a small trading point where Nighswonger & Robinson sold most of the things in a mercantile way and one or two stores transacted the business of the town. But there came a change in matters; the Orient Railway headed out of Wichita, it crossed the fertile Ninnescah valley and crossed the Santa Fe at Viola. The town woke with a start, new people came in, new buildings were built, new blood was infused, and Viola became a thriving village. It found itself upon a great trunk line of railway from Wichita to Old Mexico, and in direct communication with the metropolis of southern Kansas. Viola township is a fine body of land; it excels in the raising of wheat and corn. The Nighs- wongers, Robert Little, C. Wood Davis, M. R. Davis, Miller Dobbin, James Grimsley, Manford Miller, W. H. Ware and W. L. Porter are familiar names in Viola township.
WACO.
Waco is located in Salem township and there is no better farming country in the state of Kansas. It is the fertile valley
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of the Cowskin. Waco at present has no postoffice. It is sup- plied by rural delivery from Peck. John Deihl, whom most everybody in that locality knows, carries on a general store at Waco. There is also a blacksmith shop here. The hamlet is located at the junction point of sections 20-21, 16 and 17, in Salem township. Here is also located a commodious town hall and a roomy school house, where the kindergarten politicians of Sedgwick county often hold meetings and inflict their small oratory upon the farmers and practice upon the people. The town is also noted for good yellow-leg chicken dinners, served in the town hall by the good housewives of Salem township. To these feeds are always invited the ambitious young lawyers of the county capital, who after the feed and when full of chicken, berry pie and frosted cake make the welkin ring, greatly to the delectation of Wilbur Huff, Tom Green and Uncle John Copner. Waco is now fondly hoping for a railroad and an interurban line from Wichita would be most acceptable to the people of Waco and Salem township.
WICHITA HEIGHTS.
Six miles north of Wichita, on a section line which in Wichita is Lawrence avenue, where the Frisco line of railway crosses the highway on its way to Valley Center, is now a flag station known as Wichita Heights. During the building of this railway in 1887, on the land now owned by Isaiah Smyser, was located the future great city of Wichita Heights. The entire 160 acres of land, then the old William McCollock farm, was purchased by some Boston men, who laid out the entire quarter section. They had Ransom Brown survey it, lay out the corners and take out the lots. This enterprising surveyor drove pegs all over that hill and a town company was formed which was capitalized at $150,000. A rather pretentious depot building was built, the building being a rustic affair, and considerable good steel rails were wasted in locating and laying out extensive yards at this point. A general store was put in operation and a postoffice was established. It was a town of great expectations, but there was really no call for Wichita Heights. With the waning of the boom the town waned. It is an old and very trite saying that the stream cannot rise higher than the fountain, and today Wichita Heights is but a memory. The company, however, left
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one desirable thing on the townsite. It planted a fine grove of trees near the crossing, and this grove with its maples and cottonwoods alternating is now a refreshing thing to the weary traveler upon a hot day. The greatest returns ever made to the company from this townsite was on one occasion when Charley Simmons paid them $17 for hay cut on their land. Wichita Heights has faded away; gone like a hard trotting nightmare of finance, down the back alley of time. Adios, Wichita Heights.
WESTERN SEDGWICK COUNTY.
There is no denying the fact that the western portion of Sedg- wick county is the most fertile portion of the county and now produces the best crops of the county. The time was in the early history of the county when the old settlers at that time declared that the western portion of Sedgwick county was only fit for the ranging of cattle. This was at a period of time when G. W. C. Jones, Judge Tucker, Hank Heiserman and others used to hunt buffalo down on the Ninnescah river, in the locality where, Clearwater now is. But notwithstanding this avowal of the old settlers, the tide of immigration flowed in it, flowed westward and crossed the Arkansas. The buffalo were pushed westward, the settlers pushed out into range 4, later on into Kingman county, and finally the loan companies began to loan money on farms as far west as range 8 west. In the meantime the western part of Sedgwick county was put under the plow. The sod was turned, sod corn was planted and in the fall following all of this land was put into fall wheat. A good yield followed and western Sedgwick county took its place as a fertile agricultural country and has since remained so. Corn, oats, wheat and alfalfa abound, Kaffir corn and cane is grown in abundance, the buffalo sod gave place to crops, the buffalo was driven from his ancient pasture field, his place was taken by the big steer and his sister, towns and villages sprang up, postoffices were established, and later on mail routes reached nearly every farm house. At this time in western Sedgwick are good farms, good farm houses, and big red barns, Shorthorn and Hereford cattle, and fat hogs galore.
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