USA > Kansas > Kansas; a cyclopedia of state history, embracing events, institutions, industries, counties, cities, towns, prominent persons, etc. with a supplementary volume devoted to selected personal history and reminiscence, Voilume I > Part 72
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Sane persons who are merely epileptics are admitted and many of these acquire a good common school education, as the hospital is edu- cational as well as curative. Nearly all the inmates can be taught some simple form of manual labor, and many leave the hospital improved in both mind and body. The institution has been under the charge of Mr. Perry ever since it was established.
Equal Suffrage Association .- (See Woman Suffrage.)
Erie, the judicial seat of Neosho county, is located 3 miles east of the geographical center of the county, a little north of the Neosho river, and at the junction of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe and the Mis- souri, Kansas & Texas railroads in Erie township. It is lighted and heated by natural gas, which is found in the vicinity. Among its busi- ness enterprises are sawmills, flour mills, grain elevators, a creamery. oil refinery, canning factory, 2 banks, 2 weekly newspapers, and numer- ous mercantile establishments. It has express and telegraph offices and an international money order postoffice with five rural routes. The population in 1910 was 1,300.
Erie was founded in 1866 as a compromise between two rival towns in the vicinity-"Old Erie" and Crawfordsville. In November of that year, the two towns having both been abandoned, a new site was selected and a town company formed by D. W. Bray, Luther Packet, Peter Walters and J. F. Hemilwright. A dozen others were admitted to membership later. The first house built was a log cabin by Mrs. Elizabeth E. Spivey. The building was afterward used as a school house and church, for a boarding house, and for various other pur- poses in the early days. The first store was erected by Dr. C. B. Ken- nedy, Dr. A. F. Neely and J. C. Carpenter in 1867, and the same year a hotel was erected by J. A. Wells. The first residence was put up
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by Virgil Stillwell. Carpenter & Porter opened the first law office early in 1868. The postoffice was established in 1866, with A. H. Roe as postmaster, and was moved to the new town in 1867. The first child born was Byron C. Wells, son of J. A. and Matilda Wells. In July, 1868, the county offices were moved to Erie. After a contest lasting several years the county seat was permanently located at Erie by a decision of the supreme court in 1874.
The early growth of Erie was remarkable. It developed from a single log house in 1867 to a town of 800 inhabitants in 1869, and this in spite of the extreme difficulty of obtaining lumber and other build- ing materials. Its growth was checked by a destructive fire in 1872, and by a cyclone which swept the county the next year. The com- bined financial loss to Erie was $20,000. A depression followed and the town dwindled to 300 inhabitants, due to having no railroad. How- ever, when the Atchison, Topeka & Santa built a line, running east and west in 1863, the town began to show prosperity again. New brick buildings were erected and new enterprises started. In 1887 the Missouri, Kansas & Texas R. R. running north and south was built through Erie. In 1899 the Erie Gas and Mineral company was formed, which drilled and discovered oil and gas. The telephone exchange was added to the conveniences in 1901.
Erie was organized by a decree of the probate court in 1869, and the following men were appointed trustees: J. A. Wells, G. W. Dale, John McCullough, Isaac M. Fletcher and Douglas Putnam. The trus- tees met on Dec. 30 of that year and declared the place a city of the third class. J. A. Wells was elected mayor and appointed all the other officers. The first newspaper was the Neosho County Record, estab- lished in 1876 by George W. McMillin.
Esbon, an incorporated city of Jewell county, is located in the town- ship of the same name, 13 miles west of Mankato, the county seat. It is a station on the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific R. R., has 2 banks, a weekly newspaper (the Times), Christian and United Brethren churches, good public schools, a money order postoffice with four rural routes, a number of good stores, telegraph and express offices, tele- phone connections, and is the principal shipping point between Man- kato and Smith Center. Esbon was incorporated in 1904 and in 1910 reported a population of 347.
Eskridge, an incorporated town of Wabaunsee county, is situated in Wilmington township, 16 miles southeast of Alma, the county seat, on the Burlingame & Alma division of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe R. R. It was first laid out by E. H. Sanford in 1868, but the town did not become a reality until after the completion of the railroad in 1880, when the railroad company selected a town site adjoining San- ford's. The first house in the place was built by Dr. Trivet in June, 1880. In 1881 a school house was erected, and that fall the first school was opened with Miss Emma Henderson as teacher. The same year the first store was started by William Earl, and the first church in the town was erected.
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Eskridge is the second largest town in the county. It has 2 banks, an international money order postoffice with four rural routes, elec- tric lights, a weekly newspaper (the Tribune-Star), express and tele- graph service, graded schools, telephone connections, a large retail trade, hotels, the Kansas Wesleyan Bible school, churches of five dif- ferent faiths, and is a shipping point of considerable importance. The population in 1910 was 797.
Essex, a money order post-hamlet of Finney county, is located on a small tributary of the Pawnee river, 18 miles northeast of Garden City, the county seat. The population in 1910 was 28. Charleston is the nearest railroad station.
Ethelton, a rural postoffice and neighborhood trading point of Seward county, is located on the Cimarron river in Seward township, about 20 miles northwest of Liberal, the county seat and most con- venient railroad station.
Eudora, one of the largest towns of Douglas county, is located in the northeastern part of the county on the south bank of the Kansas river and the, Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe R. R., 7 miles east of Lawrence. Early in the summer of 1856 a company of Germans organ- ized in Chicago, Ill., for the purpose of making a settlement some where in the west. From 50 members it grew to 600 stockholders and in March, 1857, a locating committee left for the west to select a town site. They spent some time in Missouri and Kansas and finally decided upon the site where Eudora now stands. A tract of 800 acres of land was bought from the Shawnee Indians through Pascal Fish, their chief, who was to receive every alternate lot. The land was surveyed and named Eudora in honor of the chief's daughter. When the com- mittee returned to Chicago it was determined to colonize the place and men representing different trades and professions were sent out by the association, under the leadership of P. Hartig. These pioneers arrived at Eudora on April 18, 1877, and at once erected rude cabins and made other improvements. Pascal Fish had built a cabin on the town site before the advent of the whites, which was used as a hotel and locally known as the "Fish House." In May a sawmill and corn cracker was sent out by the association and was put in operation. The first store was opened the following summer and the village began to flourish. A postoffice was also established in the summer of 1857, with A. Summerfield as the first postmaster. On Feb. 8, 1859, Eudora was incorporated under the territorial laws and ten years later the town was divided into two wards for municipal purposes. It is now an incor- porated city of the third class. A fresh impetus was given to the town with the building of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe railroad, and it has become the shipping and supply point for a rich agricultural dis- trict. Eudora has many beautiful homes, good public schools, sev- eral general stores, hardware and implement houses, a drug store. wagon and blacksmith shops, a money order postoffice, express and telegraph facilities, 2 banks, and a population of 640, according to the U. S. census of 1910.
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Eureka, the judicial seat and largest town in Greenwood county, is located south and a little west of the center of the county on Fall river and on the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe and the Missouri Pacific rail- roads. It is 158 miles southwest of Atchison and 109 miles south of Topeka. Eureka has all the modern improvements expected in a city of its size. It is lighted by electricity, has natural gas for lighting, heating and commercial purposes, a fire department and waterworks. Among the business enterprises are a wagon factory, broom factory, flour mill, 4 banks, good hotels and two weekly newspapers. All the leading denominations of churches are represented and the schools are unsurpassed in the state. This is an important grain, live-stock and produce shipping point. There are telegraph and express offices and an international money order postoffice with five rural routes. The population, according to the census of 1910, was 2,333.
Eureka was located in 1857, and the first building was a school house built of short planks hewn from logs. This was a general purpose house and was used for all public purposes. The town site belonged to David Tucker and Levi N. Prather. Mr. Tucker bought out Prather for $160, and in 1867 sold the whole site to the town company for $50. The postoffice was established in 1858, with Edwin Tucker as postmaster. There was no store until after the war, and all goods had to be brought from Kansas City or Atchison with ox teams. The first store was a community affair. James Kenner agreed to keep the store, with the understanding that if it interfered too much with his occupation of farming, he would turn it over to Edwin Tucker at the end of the year. This he did. The store was opened on April 1, 1866. Among the first business and professional men were: Dr. Reynolds, the first physician; McCartney, blacksmith, 1866; Judge Lillie, the first lawyer, 1868; Hawkins, the first carpenter, 1867, and Mr. Akers, who was the first landlord of the company hotel.
The first newspaper was the Eureka Herald, published by S. G. Mead, the initial number of which appeared in Aug., 1866. The first school was taught by Edwin Tucker in 1858. The first bank, which was also the first bank in the county, opened in the summer of 1870. It closed the first of the next year. The Eureka Bank, opened in Nov., 1870, and continued to do a successful business. In 1867 the town was laid out and lots were sold. It was incorporated first in 1870, with the following trustees: I. R. Phenis, A. F. Nicholas, L. H. Pratt, Harley Stoddard and C. A. Wakefield. The next year it became a city of the third class with Ira P. Nye as mayor and George H. Lillie as city clerk. Eureka became the county seat and the first term of court was held in May, 1867, but adjourned without transacting any business.
Evangelical Association .- At the close of the eighteenth century a great religious awakening took place in the United States, which was at first confined to the English speaking population. In time the revival reached the Germans living in eastern Pennsylvania, whose ancestors
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in the preceding century had fled from the Rhenish provinces of the Palatinate. Jacob Albright, a German Methodist minister, who was drawn more and more to his own people, devoted himself to work among them in their own language. It had not been Albright's idea to form a new church, but the opposition of the Methodists to the mode of worship by his converts made a separate organization neces- sary. In 1790 Albright began to travel as an evangelist. Ten years later he organized a class of converts, which in 1807 was organized as a church at a general assembly held in eastern Pennsylvania. Annual conferences were formed and the first general conference was held in 1816. Albright was elected bishop, articles of faith and the book of disciples were adopted, but the full form of church government was not completed for some years.
While at the beginning the activities of the church were confined to the German language, it was soon widened by taking up work among the English speaking population. The faith spread into the other middle states, west to the Pacific coast, and north into Canada. A division occurred in 1891, which resulted in the organization of the United Evangelical Church, which took a large number of ministers and members. In doctrine and theology the Evangelical Association is Arminian and its articles of faith and' plan of organization corre- spond very closely to those of the Methodist Episcopal church. The bishops are elected by the general conference for a term of four years, but are not ordained or consecrated as such. They have the general oversight of the church, preside at the annual conferences, and, as a board, decide all questions of law between general conference sessions. Presiding elders are elected for four years by the annual conference, pastors are appointed annually, on the itinerant system, the time limit being five consecutive years in any field except a missionary con- ference.
The Evangelical Association was established in Kansas sometime in the '70s. At first congregations were formed and churches erected in the eastern part of the state, but as settlements pushed farther west the people carried their faith with them and congregations were formed all over the state. In 1890 there were 96 church organizations with 50 church edifices and a membership of 4,459. During a little over a decade and a half the association has increased but about 400, while the United Evangelical church, etablished in 1891, now has a mem- bership of 547.
Evanston, a hamlet of Leavenworth county, is located in the west- ern portion on the Stranger creek 5 miles north of Jarbalo, the nearest railroad town, and II miles southwest of Leavenworth, the county seat, from which it has rural free delivery.
Eve, a hamlet in the extreme northwestern part of Bourbon county, is situated on a tributary of the Little Osage river. It has rural deliv- ery from Bronson.
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Everest, an incorporated town of Brown county, is situated in Wash- ington township on the Missouri Pacific R. R. 19 miles southeast of Hiawatha, the county seat. A Catholic church was established there in 1868, but the town dates its beginning from the completion of the railroad and the fact that the company decided to establish a station at that point. One of the first important business enterprises in Ever- est was the elevator erected by the Farmers' Elevator and Mill com- pany in July, 1882. Everest has 2 banks, a money order postoffice with two rural routes, a metal stamping works, graded schools, a weekly newspaper (the Enterprise), telegraph and express offices, telephone connections, a hotel, Catholic and Methodist churches, and a number of well stocked mercantile concerns. The population in 1910 was 436.
Ewell, a small village of Sumner county, is a station on the Missouri Pacific R. R. 33 miles southwest of Wichita and 5 miles south of Con- way Springs, from which place it receives mail by rural delivery.
Ewing, Thomas, Jr., soldier and first chief justice of the State of Kansas, was born at Lancaster, Ohio, Aug. 7, 1829. He was the third son of the statesman of that name, who was one of the leaders of the Whig party while a member of the United States senate and served in the cabinets of Presidents Harrison and Taylor. The Ewings are Scotch-Irish, being descended from Findley Ewing, of lower Loch Lomond, Scotland, who was presented with a sword by William II for conspicuous bravery at the siege of Londonderry. The first Ameri- can ancestor was Thomas Ewing, whose son, George, was ensign and subsequently lieutenant of the Second Jersey regiment in the Revolu- tionary war. On the maternal side, Gen. Ewing's great-grandfather was Neil Gillespie, who came from Donegal, Ireland, to western Penn- sylvania late in the eighteenth century. Chief Justice Ewing received a common school education and when only nineteen years old was appointed secretary of the commission to settle the boundary between Ohio and Virginia. He also served as private secretary to President Taylor during his administration. After the president's death he entered Brown University, where he graduated in 1854. A year later he received his degree from the Cincinnati Law School and was admit- ted to the bar. In Nov., 1856, he removed to Leavenworth, Kan., and became a member of the law firm of Sherman, Ewing & McCook. Mr. Ewing soon took a place at the head of his profession and played a conspicuous part in the great political struggle of the territorial era as a free-state man. When the free-state men met in convention in Dec., 1857, to decide whether the opponents of slavery in the territory should take part in the election of Jan. 4, 1858, Mr. Ewing urged that they vote. This motion was defeated and with twelve others Ewing retired. They organized and nominated men for all the offices, each candidate being pledged to vote for a new constitution that should for- ever prohibit slavery in Kansas. Ten days before the election Ewing and his twelve associates started to canvass the territory. The sur- veyor-general, John Calhoun, whose duty it was to await the election
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returns, tried to defeat the free-state party by declaring the pro-slavery men had won, and went so far as to start for Washington, to submit the Lecompton constitution to Congress for the purpose of having Kansas admitted as a slave state. Mr. Ewing was able to get the free-state territorial legislature to appoint a committee, of which he was the head, to investigate the election returns. (See Walker's and Denver's Administrations.) At the election for state officers on Dec. 6, 1859, the first held under the Wyandotte constitution, Mr. Ewing was elected chief justice for a term of six years, and took his seat on the bench in Feb., 1861, when the state government was established. In the summer of 1862 he aided in recruiting the Eleventh Kansas. He was appointed colonel on Sept. 14, and soon after resigned as chief justice to take command of the regiment. He took part in the actions of Cane Hill, Van Buren and Prairie Grove, and on March 13. 1863, was commissioned brigadier-general of volunteers by President Lin- coln, for "gallant and meritorious services." Until June, 1863, he com- manded the first division of the Army of the Frontier, under Maj .- Gen. Herron. The division was then discontinued and Gen. Ewing was assigned to the command of the District of the Border, comprising all of Kansas north of the 38th parallel and of the western tier of coun- ties in Missouri north of that line. His command was kept actively at work in repelling guerrilla raids. Gen. Ewing found that such men as Quantrill and Yeager had an impregnable base of operations in the three border counties of Missouri, with spies scattered throughout the country. After the Quantrill raid and sack of Lawrence, he issued "General Order No. 11" (q. v.), a severe but necessary measure which effectually cleared the border of a population supporting the guerrillas. The order was sustained by the general government. but in the Demo- cratic national convention, which met in New York city on July 6, 1868, he was defeated for nomination for vice-president because of this order. The assaults made upon him by his political enemies in Kan- sas and Missouri, caused Gen. Ewing to ask for a court of inquiry, but the president refused to order it and at the same time enlarged the district under the general's command. In Feb., 1864, when the District of the Border was divided by the erection of Kansas as a depart- ment. Gen. Ewing relieved Gen. Fish of the command of southeastern Missouri, with headquarters at St. Louis. In the fall of 1864, he was actively engaged against Gen. Price, who invaded Missouri. On Feb. 23, 1865, Gen. Ewing resigned his command and on March 13, was breveted major-general. At the close of the war he resumed his law practice in Washington, but returned to his native state, Ohio, in 1870. In 1873 he was a member of the Ohio constitutional convention and served in Congress from 1877 to 1881. He opposed the use of Federal troops at the state elections; favored the remonetization of silver, and was one of the leaders of the movement to preserve the greenback currency. In 1879 he was the Democratic candidate for governor of Ohio. Three years later he removed to New York city and entered
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into partnership with Southard & Fairchild, subsequently the firm became Ewing, Whitman & Ewing. He was the founder of the Ohio society in New York and its president for three years. In 1856 Gen. Ewing married Ellen E., daughter of William Cox of Piqua, Ohio. They had three sons and two daughters. Gen. Ewing died Jan. 21, 1896, as a result of an accident on a street car.
Example, a rural postoffice in Lockport township, Haskell county, is located near the northeast corner of the county, 12 miles from Santa Fe, the county seat, and about the same distance from Pierceville, the nearest railroad station.
Excelsior Colony .- Early in May, 1869, a colony of Scotch mechanics from New York city located in Jewell county. Lewis A. Walker was president and A. Macdonald secretary of the organization, the mem- bers of which selected claims on White Rock creek, between Burr Oak and Johns creek. This section at that time was on the frontier, and for protection against the hostile Indians the settlers erected a blockhouse about 2 miles east of the present Holmwood. On May 25 some of the settlers and colonists in that immediate neighborhood peti- tioned Gov. James M. Harvey for protection against the Indians, who they reported had killed and scalped about 20 settlers. Arms, am- munition and authority to raise militia companies were asked. Relief not coming as promptly as the situation demanded, the colonists decided to abandon their location. Some of them, while moving their effects to a place of safety, were attacked by Indians and robbed of all their possessions, but succeeded in escaping alive.
But three women were with the colony at this time. During the summer the company probably underwent a reorganization. being known later as the Excelsior Cooperative Colony of Kansas. John F. McClimont was president ; Henry Evans, vice-president, and Hugh Mc- Gregor, secretary. At the time the colony was composed of about 200 families of Scotch mechanics and farmers who came to New York and there effected an organization. The cheap lands in the west proved an attractive inducement for their settlement in Kansas, and at a meet- ing held in New York, at their hall, on Oct. 2, 1869, John F. McClimont, Hugh McGregor and Alex Whyte (or White), Jr., were appointed a locating committee and immediately entered upon their duties. They must have spent the most of their time in Kansas, for inside of forty days they addressed a communication to Gov. Harvey, dated Topeka, Kan., Nov. 12, 1869, in which they said: "We, the undersigned, have been appointed a committee for the purpose of selecting a location for the colony. We have spent four weeks in the inspection of various localities and have finally resolved upon settling upon a tract embraced in townships I and 2, of the ranges 1, 2, 3 and 4, west meridian, being situated in Republic county.
"Our colony numbers 200 families, composed of farmers and me- chanics of various trades. It is our intention to found a town in the center of our location for the purpose of carrying on various mann- factories.
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"We would respectfully submit the following propositions, viz .: I- A free grant of one section of state land for the purpose of founding a town as near as possible in the center of the location. 2-A loan of breech-loading arms, with ammunition, for the protection of the colony against the inroads of hostile Indians. 3-That you furnish the officers of the colony with a copy of the statutes of the State of Kansas, with such other information as you would consider desirable for the further- ing of the interests of the colony.
"If you would kindly answer the propositions at your earliest con- venience, you would be conferring a great favor upon,
"Your most obedient servants,
"JOHN F. MCCLIMONT, "HUGH MCGREGOR, "ALEX. WHYTE, JR., "Locating Committee.
"Please address John McKenzie, acting secretary, Cooperative Hall, 214 Bowery, N. Y."
The colony left New York soon after and arrived in Republic county early in Dec., 1870. All were poor and the first money they earned was turned into a common treasury, the proceeds being used for the purchase of a yoke of oxen to haul stone to build a colony house. After this was built the members occupied it until the spring of 1871, when they separated to work at their trades to obtain money to develop their claims. It is said that seventeen of these colonists had never driven a horse. They applied themselves to the task of developing their claims and of those who remained many are now among the most well-to-do citizens of the state.
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