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 74
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Frederick Collins of Belleville was appointed commisisoner to the American exposition in London in 1877, but the legislature made no appropriation, and if Mr. Collins ever made a report of his work a copy of it can not be found.
At the Paris exposition of 1878, Floyd P. Baker was commissioner, Eugene L. Meyer of Hutchinson and Mason D. Sampson of Salina, hon- orary commisisoners. Most of the exhibit at Paris on this occasion was of an educational nature. Topeka furnished some 600 specimens of daily class work, in all grades up to the high school, and photo- graphs of several of the city school buildings. Lawrence furnished about 250 specimens of class work in the public schools and a view of the state university. Similar work was exhibited by Fort Scott, Atchi-
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son, Leavenworth, Ottawa, Emporia, Salina, Hiawatha, and a number of other cities and towns in the state. A full account of the exhibit and awards is given in the report of the state superintendent of public instruction for 1878.
The next industrial exposition in which Kansas took part was at New Orleans in the winter of 1884-85. On Feb. 2, 1884, Gov. Glick appointed Frank Bacon commissioner and George Y. Johnson assistant commis- sioner. Mrs. W. R. Wagstaff and Mrs. Augustus Wilson were appointed lady commissioners. The exposition opened on Dec. 16, 1884, and remained open to visitors until May 31, 1885. In his message to the legislature in Jan., 1885, Gov. Martin said: "The commissioners in charge of the Kansas exhibit at the New Orleans exposition advise me that they are laboring under great disadvantages because of the limited appropriation made for their collecting and arranging a display of our products and industries. The legislature appropriated $7,000, and this was supplemented by $4,000 from the exposition managers. With this sum the commisisoners have done all in their power to maintain the reputation of Kansas, but they report, and other gentlemen who have visited the exposition have advised me, that our display does not do justice to the resources and development of the state. None of the state institutions has contributed to it, and educational exhibits are practically lacking."
At that session the legislature passed an act appropriating $2,500 for a display of women's work. Notwithstanding the disadvantages under which the commissioners labored on account of the meagre appropriations Kansas took 65 first and second premiums. First prizes were awarded on wheat, corn, flour, sorghum sugar, apples and cattle.
In 1889 another great exposition was held in Paris, France. The Kansas legislature of that year passed an act, early in the session, authorizing the governor to appoint a commissioner, on or before April I, who could speak French, said commissioner to prepare and have printed in the French language such pamphlets and circulars as would properly set forth the resources of the state. An appropriation of $5,000 was made to carry out the provisions of the act. On March 7, 1889, Gov. Humphrey appointed Emil Firmin, who went to Paris and during the exposition was active in advertising Kansas abroad. No attempt was made toward an exhibit of products, that portion of the work being confined to reports of the state departments, etc. A gold medal was awarded for the best agricultural report, and silver medals for the pub- lications of the state labor department and the department of public instruction. The Kansas City Journal, referring toe the awards, after mentioning the fact that the Anheuser brewery of St. Louis took second premium for beer and Kansas for education, adds: "Missouri thus gets a premium for lager beer and Kansas for education. Kansas is ahead at Paris."
A delegate convention, called by the state board of agriculture, met at Topeka on April 23, 1891, to take the preliminary steps to insure an
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exhibit of the state's products at the Columbian exposition, to be held at Chicago in 1893. That convention decided that $100,000 would be necessary to make a display that would do credit to the state. A "bureau of promotion," consisting of 21 persons-3 from each Congressional dis- trict-was appointed, with instructions to start the work, and with power call a convention for the selection of a permanent board of man- agers. A convention was accordingly called to meet in the senate chamber in the state capitol on Sept. 16, 1891, when the following board of managers was chosen: At large, A. W. Smith and Frederick Well- house; Ist district, W. A. Harris; 2nd, R. W. Sparr; 3d, E. H. Brown ; 4th, A. S. Johnson ; 5th, W. H. Smith ; 6th, William Simpson ; 7th, O. B. Hildreth.
·Meetings were held in various parts of the state, county societies organized and funds collected to defray the expenses of gathering and arranging an exhibit. In October a committee visited Chicago and selected a site on the exposition grounds for a state building. On Feb. 17, 1892, the plans submitted by Seymour Davis of Topeka were accepted by the board, the contract for the erection of the building was let on April 28 for $19,995, and on Oct. 22 it was dedicated with appropriate ceremonies.
Up to this time the work had been carried on by the citizens, the board of managers chosen in Sept., 1891, acting without authority of law. But on March 4, 1893, Gov. Lewelling approved an act authorizing the appointment of a board of managers, to consist of seven members, one from each Congressional district, and not more than three of any one political party. An appropriation of $65,000 was made to further the work of preparing an exhibit at Chicago. As the time was short, the governor acted promptly by appointing the following members of the board: Ist district, George W. Glick; 2nd, H. H. Kern; 3d, L. P. King; 4th, T. J. Anderson; 5th, A. P. Collins; 6th, Mrs. A. M. Clark; 7th, M. W. Cobun.
The new board met and organized on March 7, Mr. Cobun being elected president. Mrs. Clark was subsequently elected secretary. The new board indorsed the acts of the old one, assumed its indebtedness, and pushed forward the work of getting the exhibit in place before the opening of the exposition. Among the products exhibited in the Kansas building and the main buildings of the general exposition were spec- imens of agricultural products, salt, silk from the station at Peabody, live stock, minerals, timber, etc. Interesting exhibits were made by several railroad companies, photographs of the packing interests of Kansas City and public buildings were shown, the various higher edu- cational institutions showed specimens of class work, drawings by pupils, photographs of buildings, etc. One exhibit that attracted wide attention was the collection of 121 North American mammals arranged under the direction of Prof. L. L. Dyche of the state university.
In the matter of awards, Kansas fared as well as any of her sister states. The state university, the agricultural college and the state nor-
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mal school all received premiums for the exhibits; none of the state exhibits failed to receive at least "honorable mention," and over 200 premiums were awarded to individual Kansas exhibitors.
In the decade beginning in 1895 there was what might be aptly termed an "epidemic of expositions." Notable among them may be mentioned the expositions at Atlanta, 1895; Nashville, 1897; Omaha, 1898; Paris, 1900; Buffalo and Charleston, 1901; and the Louisiana Purchase Expo- sition at St. Louis, 1904. Kansas commissioners were appointed for the American-Mexico exposition for 1895, but for lack of adequate appropriations the exposition was not held. Commissioners were also appointed for the Atlanta and Nashville expositions, but no appro- priations were made by the state for the collection and arrangement of exhibits. Kansas grain and fruit received honorable mention at Atlanta.
A bill was introduced in the Kansas legislature in 1897 to provide for the expense of having the state represented at the Trans-Mississippi exposition at Omaha the next year, but as the holding of the exposition was not at that time assured, the bill failed to pass. Subsequently, when the exposition became a certainty and promised to be a great national affair, the state board of agriculture unanimously adopted a resolution asking that Kansas be represented. Mayors, councils and commercial clubs of various cities also asked that something be done to assure an exhibit of Kansas products at Omaha. Accordingly, on March 28, 1898, Gov. Leedy appointed George W. Glick, John E. Frost, A. H. Greef, A. W. Smith and A. C. Lambe a board of state managers to collect and arrange the exhibit. In the organization of the board, Mr. Glick was elected chairman; Mr. Frost, vice president and treasurer, and Mr. Greef, secretary. Ready money being essential to success, the governor called for contributions and especially asked the railroad companies to guarantee $15,000 to the fund. The Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe, the Missouri Pacific, the St. Louis & San Francisco and the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific responded promptly, the aggregate amount of their subscriptions being $14,542.90. Corporations and private citizens con- tributed enough to bring the total up to $21,073.90.
With the funds thus obtained a state building was erected on the exposition grounds, at a cost of $3,500, and dedicated on June 22, 1898. Space was obtained in the agricultural, mineral and liberal arts build- ings, and the work of arranging the exhibits was prosecuted with vigor. The state received awards on educational work, fruits, agricultural and dairy products and live stock, and a large number of premiums were given to individual exhibitors for live stock, field, orchard and dairy products, honey, etc.
At the special session of the legislature in Dec., 1898, Gov. Leedy explained the situation and asked for the passage of an act to reimburse those who had made it possible for Kansas to be so creditably repre- sented. The special session failed to make an appropriation as requested, but the regular session of 1899 passed an act appropriating $21,073.90 to repay the railroad companies and others who had con- tributed.
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In his message to the legislature of 1899, after referring to the Omaha exposition, Gov. Stanley said: "It is expected that provision will be made by Congress through the department of agriculture for an exhibit of corn and corn products at the international exhibition to be held at Paris in the year 1900. Many of the corn producing states are expected to aid this exhibit by an appropriation. Kansas is a great corn producing state, and should take advantage of this opportunity to identify itself with this undertaking."
No appropriation was made, but through the enterprise of individual exhibitors and the arrangements of the national administration, Kan- sas corn and apples won victories at Paris, a bronze medal being received on fruits and three gold medal diplomas on other products. All medals issued by this exposition were of bronze.
Kansas was not represented at the Charleston exhibition of 1901, but for the Pan-American exposition at Buffalo the same year the fol- lowing commissioners were appointed: W. A. Harris, Linwood; A. R. Taylor and John Madden, Emporia; F. D. Coburn, W. H. Barnes and Mrs. A. H. Thompson, Topeka; L. F. Randolph, Nortonville ; H. F. Sheldon, Ottawa; C. A. Mitchell, Cherryvale; E. C. Little, Abilene ; W. H. Mitchell, Beloit; J. E. Junkin, Sterling; Ewing Herbert, Hiawatha, and Mrs. S. R. Peters, Newton. Mr. Randolph was elected president of the board, and accompanied by Messrs. Sheldon and Barnes, went to Buffalo to select a site for a state building, but the legislature failed to make an appropriation and the idea of a state exhibit was abandoned. The horticultural society, however, made a display of fruits and won a silver medal.
A company, known as the "Kansas Semicentennial Exposition com- pany" was organized at Topeka about the beginning of the present century, for the purpose of holding an exhibition to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska bill, which was approved by the president on May 30. 1854. John E. Frost was elected president of the company ; H. M. Phillips, secretary, and F. D. Coburn, treasurer. The legislature of 1901 was asked to appropriate $300,000 in aid of the project, and while many of the members were in sympathy with the movement, it was deemed inadvisable to attempt to hold an exhibition contemporary with the Louisiana Purchase exposi- tion, hence the appropriation was not made. An effort was made to keep the organization intact, with a view to celebrating the semi-cen- tennial of admission in 1911, by holding a great industrial fair of some sort. As late as Jan. 29, 1906, a meeting of those favoring the under- taking was held at Topeka, and the following committees were ap- pointed : Organization, Eugene F. Ware, chairman ; ways and means, John R. Mulvane, chairman ; administration, J. A. Troutman, chairman. Various plans were discussed, the press of the state lent its aid to the scheme, but the state declined to encourage it by appropriations and the company passed out of existence.
On March 2, 1901, Gov. Stanley approved an act authorizing the ap-
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pointment of five persons as commissioners to provide for an exhibit of Kansas products at the Louisiana Purchase exposition. The commis- sion was given wide powers, having authority to select a site and erect a state building, which was to be sold at the close of the exposition and the proceeds turned into the state treasury. An appropriation of $25,000. was made for the fiscal year ending on June 30, 1902, and $50,000 for the year ending on June 30, 1903. In July, 1901, the governor appointed as commissioners John C. Carpenter, J. C. Morrow, C. H. Luling, R. T. Simons and W. P. Waggener. The board organized on Oct. I by the election of Mr. Carpenter as president ; Mr. Morrow, vice-president ; Mr. Luling, secretary, and Mr. Simons, treasurer.
At the time of the appointment of these commissioners it was thought the exposition would be held in 1903. When it was postponed to 1904 the legislature of 1903 passed an act extending the term of office of the commissioners and making an additional appropriation of $100,000. As Kansas was the first state in the Union to make an appropriation, it was awarded one of the best sites on the grounds at St. Louis for a state building, which was under the charge of Mrs. Noble L. Prentis- during the exposition. Among the exhibits in this building was a collec- tion of paintings and drawings, the work of Kansas artists. Exhibits were also made in the agricultural, horticultural, dairy, live stock, min- eral forestry and educational departments. Grand prizes were awarded for the general horticultural and agricultural exhibits ; gold medals to- the boards of education of Kansas City, Topeka, Wichita and Junction City, and for the mineral exhibit and the school for the deaf; silver medals for the exhibits of the state university, the state normal school, the traveling libraries, the collection of maps and photographs, dairy products, the high schools of Kansas City, Topeka, Wichita and Pitts- burg, and 12 others for county and elementary school exhibits. In addi- tion to these awards, numerous premiums were received by individual exhibitors in the various departments.
The week beginning on Sept. 26 was Kansas week, and Sept. 30 was Kansas day. On that day hundreds of Kansas people attended the exposition. After a parade a mile long, President Francis, of the exposi- tion company, made an address congratulating the state upon the char- acter of the exhibits. He was followed by Gov. Bailey, who gave an interesting review of Kansas institutions and her individual develop- ment. Henry J. Allen also delivered an address, and David Overmyer spoke on the "Spirit of Kansas." It was indeed "Kansas Dav."
No exhibition was attempted by the state in the Lewis and Clark expo- sition at Portland, Ore., in 1905. On June 20, 1906, Gov. Hoch appointed John E. Frost commissioner to select a site for a state building at James- town, Va., contingent upon an appropriation by the state. Gov. Hoch, F. D. Coburn and others worked to secure the passage of an act authoriz- ing an appropriation and the appointment of a board of managers, but the general assembly declined the overtures and Kansas was not repre -- sented at Jamestown.
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Extinct Towns .- In the early settlement of any state a period of specu- lation precedes that of actual development. Kansas was no exception, for no sooner was the Kansas-Nebraska bill passed than there was a rush of speculators into the new territory and hundreds of towns were located, many of which were never promoted any further than the plat- ting of the site. The majority of these first towns were later abandoned. In 1902 George W. Martin, secretary of the Kansas Historical Society, sent out printed forms to county officials and old settlers in an effort to get a list of these extinct towns, but only a few counties responded.
Anderson county reported eight towns, Iantha, Fairview, Elba, Pot- tawatomie City, Hyatt, Cresco, Shannon and Canton. They were all founded in 1856-57-58, and none of them lasted longer than 1860, except Pottawatomie City, which was abandoned in 1868.
In Atchison county Summer was the only town reported. It was located on the river front in 1856, and a lithograph made in 1857 shows it as considerable of a town. It had a daily paper in that year. It was almost destroyed in 1860 by a tornado.
Appleton, founded in 1870, and Memphis, in 1874, were reported from Bourbon county ; in Butler county Milwaukee, founded in 1871, is ex- tinct, and Whitewater has been moved; in Coffey county Aurora, founded in 1857, was abandoned in 1864 because there was no water; Neosho City, California and Nashville, founded in 1856-57-58, lasted till 1859-60, and Hampden, founded in 1855, lasted until 1866; Lazette, in Cowley county, existed from 1871 to 1880.
In Doniphan county, Cincinnati, in Iowa township, Buffalo, near Eagle Springs, Charleston, which occupied about the same site, Iola, near Fanning, Winona, on the county line west of Highland, Lafayette, on the Missouri river in Center township, Columbus, in Burr Oak town- ship, at one time having 220 inhabitants, Petersburg, on the river be- tween Palermo and Geary, Rodgersville, 3 miles north of Troy, Evans- ville, Fairview, and Whitehead are all extinct. Whitehead, also known as Bellmont, was once the county seat. Crawfordsville and 'Georgia City, in Crawford county, were abandoned in 1869 and 1872 respectively ; in Decatur county, St. John and Decatur City are extinct; Douglas county reported II towns: Douglas City; Oread. 12 miles northeast of Burlington ; Marshall, 8 miles west of Lawrence ; Franklin, 5 miles south- east of Lawrence on the Oregon trail; Pacific City and Louisiana, 10 miles south of Lawrence; Washington, in the southwest part of the county ; Prairie City, 14 miles south of Lawrence ; Bloomington, about II miles southwest of Lawrence; Sebastian, 2 miles southeast of Frank- lin, and Benicia, just east of Douglas City, which was at the month of Big Springs creek.
In Ellis county Rome was absorbed by Hays City. (See Ellis County.) Five towns were reported from Franklin county-St. Bernard, east of Centropolis ; Mt. Vernon, 7 miles southeast of Ottawa; Cheming, within 2 miles of the present town of Princeton; Ohio City, which was the county seat from 1862 to 1864, and Minneola (see Capital). The report
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from Geary county includes the following: Chetolah, Pawnee (q. v.), Whiskey Point and Ashland. Boston, a county seat aspirant of Howard county ; Chantilly, in Keary county ; Dimon, Delaware and Alexandria, in Leavenworth county, are among the missing. The abandoned towns of Linn county were: Douglas and Farmer City, in Paris township; Keokuk, Brooklyn, Moneka (two and one-half miles from Mound City), Mansfield and Linnville (each six miles from the same place), Paris, on the same site as Linnville, once the county seat, and Twin Springs, 9 miles west of LaCygne.
Twelve towns were reported from Lyon county, viz: Columbia, one mile east of Emporia on the Cottonwood river, named for Charles Co- lumbia, a half-breed Indian ; Agnes City ; Breckenridge City ; Elmendaro, formerly county seat of old Madison county; Forest Hill; Highland Park ; Kansas Center ; Withington ; Pittsburg ; New Chicago ; Waterloo, and Fremont.
Marshall county reported six dead towns-Gertrude, Merrimac. Not- tingham, Ohio City, Vermillion and Sylvan. Montgomery City, Morgan City, Parker and Bloomfield were reported from Montgomery county. In Nemaha county the extinct towns were: America City, on the south line of the county, and Farmington, 6 miles north of Seneca, both founded in 1858; Ash Point, on the St. Joseph trail; Central City ; Rich- mond, once quite a town, but being the losing candidate in the county seat fight, did not survive; and Lincoln, in Mitchell township.
From one to four towns were reported in a number of counties, among which were Ladore and Prairie du Chien, in Neosho county, and Sidney, an aspirant for county seat honors in Ness county. Ten towns were vacated by the legislature in Osage county, viz: Prairie City, Wash- ington, Switzer, Georgetown, Indiana City, Versailles, Havana, Lexing- ton, Olivet and Penfield ; Saratoga, in Pratt county, a half-mile north of the fish hatchery ; Trano, in Rawlins county, on the west line, died out, and Celia, a town of 300 inhabitants, was vacated by the legislature of 1889; in Reno county Oakdale was made a suburb of Hutchinson ; Ida, New Tabor, Saepo and White Rock, in Republic county ; Chico, Mari- posa and Buchanan, in Saline; Indianola and Uniontown, in Shawnee: Kenneth, at one time a town of 200 inhabitants, and county seat of Sheridan ; Watertown and Germantown, in Smith county, and Austin, Meridan, London and Sumner City, in Sumner county.
During the boom period of the 'Sos there was another era of mush- room and paper towns, especially in the new counties in the western part of the state. The eight legislatures which convened from 1889 to 1903 inclusive vacated 112 of these towns in the counties west of the sixth principal meridian.
F
Fact, a small hamlet in the northeast corner of Clay county, is about 15 miles from Clay center, the county seat, and 8 miles from Palmer, the nearest railroad station, from which mail is received by rural deliv- ery. The population in 1910 was 26.
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Fairhaven, a rural hamlet of Norton county, is located about 8 miles southeast of Norton, the county seat, and about the same distance north of Densmore, from which place mail is received by rural carrier.
Fairmount, a village of Leavenworth county, is situated in the eastern portion on the Union Pacific R. R. about 9 miles south of Leavenworth. The town was laid out in 1867 and soon became a prosperous settlement. The Methodists and Presbyterians both built churches at an early day ; a school was one of the first considerations, and today the village has four stores and one factory. There is a money order postoffice, tele- graph and express facilities, and in 1910 the population was 100.
Fairmount College, situated in what is known as Fairmount addition, Wichita, dates back to 1886. It was originally intended to be a first class college for women-the "Vassar of the Plains." The site, a beau- tiful piece of ground, overlooking the Arkansas valley, was selected by Rev. J. H. Parker and H. A. Clifford, and work on the main building was begun in 1887. The collapse of the Kansas "boom" and consequent business depression hindered the movement, and it was not until 1892, when the Congregational Educational Society of Boston took charge that the building was completed. A school called "Fairmount Institute," for both men and women, was opened as a preparatory school, with Rev. M. Tunnell as the first principal. He was assisted by two teachers. In 1906 the school had grown so that it had a faculty of twenty instructors.
Fairmount College proper was organized in 1895 and opened in Sep- tember of that year, with Dr. N. J. Morrison as president. The acad- emy was still maintained for the preparation of students for the college, or other colleges and scientific schools, and for practical business, teach- ing and housekeeping. The college offers a regular four-year course and has special departments of art, music and domestic science. The college owes its origin and chief financial support to the Congregational church, but it nonsectarian. The endowment has been received from the citizens of Wichita and people in the east.
Fairport, a money order post-village of Paradise township, Russell county, is situated on the Saline river, 15 miles northwest of Russell, the county seat. It has a flour mill, a good local trade, and in 1910 reported a population of 75. Paradise is the nearest railroad station.
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