USA > Kansas > Wyandotte County > History of Wyandotte County, Kansas, and its people, Vol. I > Part 47
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OTHER MASONIC BODIES.
Wyandotte Chapter No. 6, Royal Arch Masons, was organized in 1866, and Wyandotte Couneil No. 6, of Royal and Select Masons, was organized in 1877. Ivanhoe Commandery Knights Templar, was organized in 1882. Other Masonie bodies are:
Armourdale Lodge No. 271, A. F. and A. M.
New Lodge No. 272, A. F. and A. M.
The Masonic Board of Relief.
Martha Conclave No. 1, True Kindred of Masons.
THE SCOTTISH RITE MASONS.
A notable event in Masonic history was the organization at Kansas City, Kansas, of the Scottish Rite bodies of the Valley of Kansas City, and the building of a great temple which is the home of the organiza- tion covering a large part of Kansas. These bodies consist of four chapters, as follows :
Lafayette Lodge of Perfection, No. 10, fourth to the fourteenth
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degree, organized October 31, 1898, with twenty members. Today it has nine hundred members.
Vietory Chapter Rose Croix, No. 7, fifteenth to eighteenth degree, organized May 10, 1899, with eighteen members. Today it has almost eight hundred members.
John H. Brown Council, Knights of Kadosh, No. 7, organized May 10, 1899, with thirty members. Today it has seven hundred and fifty members.
Caswell Consistory, No. 5, organized February 26, 1900, with fifty members. It now has over seven hundred members.
SCOTTISH RITE TEMPLE, KANSAS CITY.
The first officers of the Scottish Rite bodies were: Venerable master, William Warren Rose, thirty-second degree; senior warden, William Clark, thirty-second degree; orator, Charles Blood, eighteenth degree ; secretary, Earnest Joseph Lutz, thirty-second degree; M. of
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C., Robert J. MeFarland, eighteenth degree; expert, Edward E. Thomas, thirty-second degree; junior warden, Albert Fryatt, eight- eenth degree; almoner, Bert Dill, fourteenth degree; treasurer, Henry Fred Wulf, thirty-second degree; Captain of Host, James McCully, fourteenth degree; assistant expert, Andrew Moffitt, eighteenth degree; and tiler, Francis Camillus Weaver, eighteenth degree.
After receiving the Master's which is the third degree, one can proceed to take the Scottish Rite degrees.
BUILDING THE TEMPLE.
The Scottish Rite Masonic body was organized in 1900, and a building site with an old church was purchased from the African Methodist church at the corner of Seventh street and Ann avenue. It was purchased for $15,000 and the building was remodeled, by spending $75,000 in addition to purchase price. It was occupied as a Masonic Temple until October 19, 1906, when the building was de- stroyed by fire. The present structure was erected in its place by the following committee : Ernest J. Lutz, president; James P. Wiles, vice president; Robert B. Wolf, secretary and treasurer; Albert J. Holz- mark, William J. Wright, Jr., T. C. Russell, W. L. Wood, Jerry Grindrod and Henry F. Wulf.
This same committee raised $75,000 and the committee had on hand at that time $25,000 in cash. Fifteen thousand dollars was spent, in addition, for fitting up the stage with paraphernalia and electrical scenery, which latter amount has been paid over. The total indebted- ness is now $75,000. Mr. W. W. Rose was the architect. The temple has a large banquet hall, in which 450 people can easily be accommo- dated; a Blue Lodge room for the different Masonic bodies, and an auditorium with seating capacity for 1,500 people. The stage is sixty-two feet deep and fifty feet wide-one of the largest stages in the state of Kansas. Altogether, the building is the best equipped Scottish Rite Temple in the state.
THE ODD FELLOWS.
The first lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows was Summunduwot Lodge No. 3, instituted in October, 1859, with these six charter members: Silas Armstrong, Sr., J. A. Fligor, I. H. Miller, I. N. White, Joseph Rosenwald and J. W. Garrett. The lodge met for several years in the old Constitution Hall, but in 1876 finished a new hall on the site of the present Odd Fellows building, at the northeast corner of Sixth street and Minnesota avenue. This pioneer body has been the main lodge of that order for more than fifty years and today it has a large membership.
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Wyandotte Encampment No. 9 was instituted in 1869, with Joseph C. Welsh, Dr. Fred Speek, H. W. Cook, Joseph Dalton, W. B. Bowman, Solomon Balmer and O. K. Serviss as charter members. It is still in existenee and holds regular meetings twice each month, on the first and third Thursdays.
Teutonia Lodge No. 68 was instituted in January, 1871, by Joseph C. Welsh, the distriet deputy.
Other Odd Fellows lodges in Kansas City, Kansas, are Kaw Valley No. 315, Pride of the West No. 484, Quindaro No. 559 and Chelsea No. 564.
The Patriarchs Militant are represented by Wyandotte Canton No. 1.
The Rebekah degree has three lodges-Wyandotte No. 6, Rainbow No. 461 and Golden Rule No. 501.
KNIGHTS OF PYTIIIAS.
The order of Knights of Pythias has five subordinate lodges in Kansas City, Kansas. The oldest of these is Fellowship Lodge No. 2, which was chartered April 11, 1882. Myrtle No. 1, was chartered February 5, 1880, and was for many years the oldest lodge of the order in Kansas. It was consolidated with Fellowship a few years ago and the latter then took first rank as the oldest lodge.
Germania Lodge No. 1 was instituted July 9, 1881. Other sub- ordinate lodges of the Knights of Pythias are Fearless No. 97, Wide- Awake No. 153 and College No. 201. Freia No. 195 was one of the old lodges of the Knights of Pythias in Kansas City, Kansas.
Wyandotte Division No. 10, Uniform Rank Knights of Pythias, is the oldest and now the only division of the Uniform Rank in Kansas City, Kansas.
Calanthe Temple No. 1, Pythian Sisters, has been in existence sinee early in the eighties. Wide-Awake Temple No. 59 is a strong organization of the sisterhood which has been in existenee nearly thirty years.
Fellowship and Wide-Awake lodges, and Calanthe and Wide- Awake temples, meet in the Pythian hall at No. 624 Minnesota avenue."
THE A. O. U. W. LODGES.
Tauromee Lodge No. 30, organized January 15, 1880, is the oldest of the lodges of the Ancient Order of United Workmen in Kansas City, Kansas. Next to it is Franklin No. 187. For several years there were many of these subordinate lodges in that city, but they were gradually consolidated with Tanromee and Franklin under a plan looking to economy of administration.
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Harmony No. 18 is the one lodge of the Degree of Honor now in Kansas City, Kansas, although it has only been a few years since there were several lodges of this Women's auxiliary to the A. O. U. W.
GRAND ARMY OF THE REPUBLIC.
The noble and patriotic order of the Grand Army of the Republic has two posts in Kansas City, Kansas, although the ranks of the veterans of the Civil war, among whom and for whom the order originally was formed, have thinned out until now but a few remain. Burnside Post No. 28, the oldest of these, was organized in 1881. It holds regular meetings in the Odd Fellows hall at Sixth street and Minnesota avenue. George I. Ransom Post No. 303, organized in the Armourdale distriet about twenty-five years ago, holds its meetings at No. 823 Osage avenue. The Women's Relief Corps, auxiliary to these two posts, and the Coun- cils of the Ladies of the G. A. R., still maintain organization.
THE ELKS LODGE.
In the autumn of 1897 a number of Elks, belonging to No. 26, of Kansas City, Missouri, but residing in Kansas City, Kansas, formed the project of organizing a local lodge. So successful were their efforts, that on April 23, 1898, a dispensation was granted to C. S. MeGonigal, H. S. Swingley, S. B. Morse, C. D. Grant and W. L. Wood to organize Wyandotte Lodge, No. 440. On April 30, 1898, the lodge was installed, officers elected, and the new members of the order initiated. The work was done by Topeka Lodge, No. 204. The membership consisted of eighteen, who joined by demit from Kansas City Lodge No. 26, and one hundred and eighteen new brothers, then initiated into the order for the first time. Officers elected were as follows: Exalted ruler, William L. Wood; esteemed leading knight, John E. MeFadden; es- teemed loyal knight, Henry S. Swingley; esteemed leeturing knight, George A. Rively ; secretary, C. S. McGonigal ; treasurer, O. J. Peter- son, and chairman of board of trustees, Charles D. Grant. Mr. Peter- son and Mr. Grant have held their respective offices continuously sinee the lodge was organized. The lodge now has a handsome building on Minnesota avenue for its exclusive use, erected at a cost of $40,000. Its membership is 600.
THE EAGLES.
A fraternal organization that does much good for its members and their families is the Fraternal Order of Eagles. Wyandotte Aerie, the oldest in the state, was organized in 1901, with a membership of several hundred. The Aeric had spacious lodge and elub rooms on the fourth floor of the Wyandotte building, at Fifth street and Minnesota avenue,
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until, in 1910, it moved to a new building of its own on Ann avenne, facing the Public Library grounds.
OTIIER SECRET SOCIETIES.
Among the many other secret societies which have had to do with the life of Kansas City, Kansas, for many years, may be mentioned the following :
Ancient Order of Hibernians, Division No. 2.
Knights of Columbus, Damian Conneil No. 826.
Independent Order Foresters, Wyandotte Council No. 600, organ- ized in 1880.
Degree of Pocahontas, Umatilla Council No. 18.
Improved Order Red Men, Cheyenne Tribe No. 19 and Splitlog Tribe No. 85.
Knights of Father Matthew, St. Mary's Couneil No. 44, and Ladies Auxiliary St. Mary's No. 12, St. Josephs No. 16, and the Junior Auxil- iary to St. Mary's.
Royal Arcanum, Zenith Council No. 1,276.
Royal Highlanders, Murray lodge No. 531.
Royal Fraternal Union, Armourdale Conneil No. 76.
Select Knights and Ladies Supreme Lodge, E. H. Wheeler, re- corder, and subordinate lodges, Armourdale No. 69, Railroad No. 123, Riverview No. 130 and Wyandotte No. 71.
Triple Tie Benefit Association, Wyandotte Couneil No. 3.
Tribe of Ben Hur, Gaspard Council No. 1.
Sons and Daughters of Justice, Dewey Couneil No. 15.
Woodmen of the World, Wyandotte Camp No. 46 and Armourdale Camp No. 49.
National Union, Fireside Council No. 421 and Gem Council No. 430.
Loyal Mystie Legion of America, Kansas City Council No. 224.
Royal Neighbors of America, Laurel Camp No. 84, Oak Leaf Camp No. 490 and Violet Camp.
Knights and Ladies of Security, Metropolis and Sunrise Couneils.
The Modern Woodmen of America has six camps of which Red Bud No. 600 is the oldest. The others are Granite No. 1,412, Prosperity No. 2,976, Riverview No. 4,095, Armourdale No. 5,237 and Quindaro No. 6,831.
Knights of the Maceabees tents are Active No. 7, Argentine No. 61, Kansas City No. 11, Riverview No. 60 and Rosedale No. 96.
The Ladies of the Maceabees have Sunflower Hive No. 1 and Rose Hive No. 22.
There are ten lodges of the Modern Brotherhood of America, of which J. S. Silvey is manager for Kansas and eastern Oklahoma. The lodges are Cyclone No. 323, Edelweiss No. 1,650, Elba No. 920, Ever- green No. 1,499, Kaw No. 1.212, Silver No. 1,718, Silver City No. 1,414 Velebet No. 1,900, Willis No. 879 and Wyandotte No. 442.
CHAPTER XXXVII.
RAILROAD BUILDING IN KANSAS.
FIRST RAILROADS CHARTERED-TIIE ATCHISON TEN YEARS IN BUILD- ING-THE GRANGER LINES-PACIFIC LINES-THE SANTA FE SYSTEM- THE "JOY ROADS"-THE "KATY" SYSTEM-THIE "FRISCO" BUILT -- FIRST RAILROADS STARTED FROM WYANDOTTE -WHEN THE "K. P." REACHED LAWRENCE-ASSASSINATION OF HALLETT-HALLETT'S VISIT TO PRESIDENT LINCOLN-EASTERN CAPITALISTS INTERESTED-HALLETT A RAILWAY GENIUS-FIRST COUNTY GRANT TO THE MISSOURI PACIFIC- BUILDING THE SANTA FE-WHEN THE MEMPHIS WAS BUILT-THE NORTHWESTERN-WHEN THE ROCK ISLAND CAME-THE CHICAGO-GREAT WESTERN-RAILROAD VALUES AND TRACKAGE-GREAT RAILWAY SHOPS AND TERMINALS-THE GREAT STILWELL ENTERPRISE.
The great overland trails, over which supplies, brought up the Missouri river by steamboats, were taken by wagon trains to the Indians, trappers, cowboys and the settlers between the Missouri river and the Pacific coast, usually sought the divides between the water courses. The divide between the Kansas river and the Osage and Arkansas rivers was followed by the Santa Fe trail; the Oregon trail was along the divide between the Kansas and the Platte rivers; while the Military road, from Ft. Leavenworth to Ft. Scott and southern points, followed the high ground down through Wyandotte county and, crossing the Kansas river, pursued its way southward. But these same rivers formed a water-level for the railroads that pushed their way out towards the Pacific coast and to the north and south.
Thus it is not difficult to understand how the meeting place of the Kansas and Missouri rivers also became the junction for the great lines of railroad that have been constructed through the demands of com- merce and of civilization. As evidence of this, the Union Pacific, the various lines of the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific and those of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe follow the Kansas river valley from Kansas City, Kansas, out through Kansas and thence to the Pacific coast, or to the Gulf, or down into old Mexico. The Missouri Pacific, with its many lines, pursues its way from Kansas City, Kansas, along the Missouri river to the east, the north, the northwest, the south and
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the southeast, with a main line west to the coast; while the Kansas City, Ft. Scott and Memphis (now a part of the 'Frisco system) and the Missouri, Kansas and Texas, strike out through Rosedale, Wyandotte county, to the south, the southeast and the southwest.
This shows that nature had much to do with the making of Kansas City, Kansas, and Kansas City, Missouri, as great eenters for the rail- roads of Kansas meeting here the railroads of Missouri, embracing now seventeen different systems and nearly forty separate lines.
THE FIRST RAILROADS CHARTERED.
The first railway project to materialize in the territories of Kansas and Nebraska was that of the Leavenworth, Pawnee & Western, char- tered by the legislature of the territory of Kansas in 1855. The plan was to construct a road from Leavenworth to the western boundary of the territory, and thence to the summit of the Rocky mountains, in the present state of Colorado. It was one of five charters to railway corporations at that session, and with a single exception was the only one that materialized to the extent of actual construction. In 1857 the company was organized at Leavenworth, Kansas, with a capital of $156,000 subscribed.
In May, 1857, grading on the line was commeneed and its location completed to Pawnee, on the site of the present Fort Riley military reservation. Little further was done, however, until after the act of Congress of July 1, 1862, granting government aid to the construction of a Pacific railroad and telegraph line. One clause of the act author- ized the Leavenworth, Pawnee & Western to build a line from Wyan- dotte, at the mouth of the Kansas river (the terminus of the Pacific Railroad of Missouri) to some point on the one hundredth meridian. In the following year the Union Pacific Railway Company, Eastern Division, was organized under the act of 1862, and it purchased the franchises and all rights of the Leavenworth, Pawnee & Western. From this time the road became a part of the general Pacific Railroad project, and was pushed forward as a part of it.
THE ATCHISON TEN YEARS IN BUILDING.
In the meantime, the Kansas territorial legislature had chartered another road, the St. Joseph & Topeka, projected from the Missouri river, opposite St. Joseph, to Topeka, Kansas. The charter lapsed without an actual construction, however, and a new project, in substance the same, resulted in the incorporation of the Atehison & Topeka Rail- road Company, February 11, 1859. The same men were back of the new road, and the only material change was that of the eastern terminus.
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Droughts and the Civil war combined to discourage the promoters, however, and nothing was actually done toward constructing the line until the congressional land grant to the state of Kansas for the pur- pose of encouraging railway construction opened the way to the needed aid. The grant was made available to the Atehison & Topeka Company in 1864, to the extent of a grant of 6,400 acres of land per mile of road actually built in the state, conditioned on its completion to the western boundary of the state within ten years. The name of the corporation had, in the meantime, been changed to the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad Company, and the road was projected in the general direction of the old Santa Fe trail toward Santa Fe, New Mexico.
The promoters of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe had little ready money at their disposal, however, and as it was almost impossible to realize on their land grant at that time, the road was not actually built until after both Kansas and Nebraska had been spanned from east to west by the Union Pacifie Company under its charter of July 1, 1862.
THE GRANGER LINES.
From 1855 to 1860 was a period of great railway activity west of the Mississippi, the Granger lines being engaged in pushing out for western traffic just then. It was these projects, between the Mississippi and Missouri rivers, that offered the inducement for the building of the Kansas and Nebraska lines. £ At this time there were several lines already mentioned, building westward besides the Hannibal & St. Joseph. The Pacific Railroad Company of Missouri was building west- ward from St. Louis toward Kansas City, which it reached in 1865.
Two lines, the Chicago, Iowa & Nebraska and the Cedar Rapids & Missouri, were building aeross Iowa, with Omaha as the objective point. Those roads were a part of a single project, to connect the Mississippi and Missouri rivers at Fulton, Illinois, and Omaha, Nebraska. The roads were leased to the Galena & Chicago Union Railroad, and were under its control when the Cedar Rapids & Missouri reached Omaha in 1866. In the same year the Chicago, Roek Island & Pacific pur- chased the rights of the Mississippi & Missouri River Railroad, which was building toward Council Bluffs, lowa, and in 1869 completed the road into that city. The Burlington & Missouri River Railroad was headed for the mouth of the Platte river at the same time, and still another road, the Dubuque & Pacific, now a part of the Illinois Central .system, was building toward Sioux City. This line was opened in 1866.
THE PACIFIC LINES.
The idea of the Pacific railroad had been before the country for several years, and the secession of the southern states removed the block
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on the part of those desiring a southern route, making the location of the line, in 1862, a simple matter. With the added necessity of making the most of its western resources and the original impetus of the Pacific railroad project, the government loaned its credit and offered large land subsidies to assist the transcontinental line. Everything that could be done to hasten the building of the road was offered by the provisions of the charter.
According to the charter provisions, three lines were to be built westward from the Missouri river-one from Omaha, Nebraska, oppo- site Council Bluffs, Iowa; one from Atchison, Kansas, the terminus of the extended IIannibal & St. Joseph ; and one from Kansas City ( Wyan- dotte, as the town was then called on the Kansas side of the line). These were to unite at the one hundredth meridian, and thence the line was to be extended to the Pacific coast, a total distance of more than 1,700 miles. In order to secure the speedy building of the line, the generous subsidies granted by the government were conditioned upon the completion of the road to the coast by July 1, 1876. The subsidies, the largest ever granted a railway company (with the exception of the Northern Pacific), consisted of loans of government bonds at the rate of $16,000 per mile on the level plains, with an allowance of twice that amount in the plateau regions, and three times as much for the worst of the Rockies. In addition there was a grant of twenty seetions of land per mile for the whole distance.
A RACE TO THE COAST.
With the inducements of these conditional grants before them the promoters of the company began construction in 1865. Ready money was scarce, and hard to secure, however. Only about one-tenth of the authorized two millions of capital was paid in, and for a time it looked as if the grants were to be lost for the want of funds to build the road. On March 15, 1865, the construction was sublet to the famous Credit Mobilier Company of America, and the work of construction was then pushed forward with unheard of rapidity. The construction of the western end of the road was turned over to the Central Pacifie, with the same subsidies and with the privileges of building eastward until a junction was made with the westward construction of the Union Pacific. Within two years there were 559 miles of traek completed on the east- ern end, and a part of the line (Kansas Pacifie) was in operation. Both ends of the line strove to get as large a share as possible of the subsidies. The completed line from the Missouri river to the Pacific ocean was final- ly opened six years ahead of time, when the two construction companies met at Promontory Point, west of Ogden, Utah, in April, 1869.
The junction at the one-hundredth meridian was waived by act of congress, and the Kansas Pacifie, ending at Denver, in 1870 built a
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connecting line, the Denver & Pacific, to Cheyenne, Wyoming. In the meantime, the Central Branch was built westward 100 miles from Atchi- son, stopping in the open prairies at Waterville, solely for the purpose of securing the government subsidy. In 1880 the three lines were consolidated in management and united in name, having more than 1,800 miles, exclusive of the tracks of the Central Pacific west of Ogden, Utah. The capitalization of the company had in the meantime (1870) increased to the following amounts: Capital stock, $36,762,300; first mortgage bonds, $27,231,000; land grant bonds, $10,400,000; income bonds, $9,355,000. The cost of construction averaged about $60,000 per mile for the whole road, aggregating about two-thirds the amount of the capital.
THE SANTA FE SYSTEM.
The next railway in point both of time and importance was the Santa Fe, which was the outgrowth of the old Atchison & Topeka Rail- road already referred to, and which has been one of the great factors in the development of Kansas, for a long time its principal field as well as its home. When the charter was extended, in 1863, the first move was the securing of a government land-grant (through the state of Kansas), but the promoters were unable to get any cash or bond subsidies, and the actual construction was delayed until after the Civil war. In 1869 less than thirty miles were built westward from Topeka, and in the fol- lowing year the line was extended to Emporia, about sixty miles from Topeka, and it was not until 1872 that the line was finished to its eastern outlet at Atchison. Ten months before the expiration of the ten-year period allowed by the terms of their land grant, only 136 miles of the line was in operation, and there were 380 miles to be built to the western boundary of the state. The builders then began to emulate the per- formance of the Union Pacific four years earlier, and the road was pushed forward to the state line two months ahead of contract time. The gift of 3,000,000 acres of land in the state of Kansas was thus secured. The panic of 1873 came on just at this crisis, and work on the new road was suspended entirely for a couple of years, when the west- ern terminus was extended to Pueblo, Colorado, in order to secure enough western business to pay operating expenses on that end of the line.
The Santa Fe was soon compelled to build farther west, however, in order to live at all, for there was practically no business on two- thirds of its line. Ten years later it reached the coast, partly by con- struction and partly by purchase, touching at both Los Angeles and San Francisco. The later development included the opening of a line to Galveston, Texas, in 1887, by lease and construction, and the extension to Chicago in 1888. The later period of the growth of the road was
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also marked by the acquisition of the Kansas City, Lawrence & South- ern, opened in 1870 as the Leavenworth, Lawrence & Galveston Railroad, which was operating nearly 200 miles of line in the eastern part of the state in 1872. This line was one of those that followed on the heels of the Santa Fe and the Union Pacifie, and was obliged to content itself with what aid it was able to secure from the state and from the counties which it traversed. The Leavenworth, Lawrence & Galveston secured something over a million dollars of municipal bonds, and the grant of 125,000 aeres of land from the state, and with this assistance put the road in operation.
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