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, Volume II, Part 107

Author: Blackmar, Frank Wilson, 1854-1931, ed
Publication date: 1912
Publisher: Chicago, Standard publishing company
Number of Pages: 960

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, Volume II > Part 107

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WASHBURN COLLEGE, TOPEKA.

The preamble of the charter and some of the articles read as follows: "Desiring to promote the diffusion of knowledge, and the advancement of virtue and religion, we do associate ourselves together for the object and purpose herein certified, to-wit: Article I-To establish at or near the city of Topeka, the capital of Kansas, and secure the incorporation of an institution of learning of a high literary and religious character to be named Lincoln College, which shall commemorate the triumph of liberty over slavery in our nation and serve as a memorial of those fallen in defense of their country.

"Article II-To make said college an engine for the furtherance of those ideas of civil and religious liberty which actuated our fathers in the Revolutionary struggle, and which are now achieving a signal vic- tory in the triumph of free principles.

Article III-To afford all classes, without distinction of color, the advantages of a liberal education.

"Article IV-To aid deserving young men to obtain an education, such as shall fit them for the Gospel ministry, thereby helping to supply the pressing demand for laborers in the states and territories west of the Missouri river."

In the spring of 1865 a building was erected at the corner of Ninth

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and Jackson streets and the same year Col. John Ritchie deeded to the college 160 acres-the present college campus. The school opened as an academy in Jan., 1866, with Rev. Samuel D. Bowker as principal, Edward F. Hobart and George H. Collier as assistants. In 1868 Deacon Ichabod Washburn of Worchester, Mass., donated $25,000 toward an endowment. In appreciation of the gift the trustees changed the name to Washburn College. In June, 1869, Dr. H. G. Butterfield was elected to the presidency and served until Nov., 1870. Peter McVicar, his suc- cessor, was elected in Feb., 1871, and remained in the executive chair until June, 1895. In 1871 the city of Topeka purchased the academy building for $15,000. . In 1872-73 the school was held in a store building near. the corner of Tenth street and Kansas avenue. In 1873-74 it occupied a stone building at the corner of Eighth street and Kansas avenue. In 1874 the college moved to its building, which had been erected by subscription on "College Hill." In 1879, through means secured in Hartford, Conn., Hartford Cottage was erected. In 1882, through a bequest of J. C. Whitin, "South Cottage" for young women and Whitin Hall for young men were erected. In 1884 Charles Boswell of West Hartford gave $10,000 toward the erection of a library build- ing, the trustees secured an additional $5,000 and the Boswell library was erected. In 1885 Miss Mary W. Holbrook of Holbrook, Mass., gave $5,000 toward the erection of a building for young women. McVicar Chapel was completed in 1890. In 1895 the Carnegie library was erected and the Boswell building was taken for offices. In 1902 a merger was formed with the Kansas Medical College and plans were made to broaden the scope of college work. A school of law was organized and the departments of music and art were enlarged into a school of fine arts. "The college is controlled by a board of 18 trustees, . one-third of whom are chosen each year without regard to denomina- tional affiliations. While Christian in character and influence, the col- lege is thoroughly non-sectarian in all its work."

From 1896 to 1901 George Herrick was president of the college. His successor was Norman Plass, who was elected in 1902, and he in turn was succeeded in 1908 by Frank K. Sanders.

Washburn College has a campus of 160 acres, 13 buildings, a corps of instructors numbering 114, and 6 departments in which were enrolled 783 students in 1910.

Washington, the county seat of Washington county, is located north- west of the center of the county at the junction of the Chicago, Burling- ton & Quincy and the Missouri Pacific railroads. It is an incorporated city of the third class, has a municipal waterworks, electric lights, an opera house, a $15,000 high school building, a public library housed in a $5,000 building, 3 banks, 2 weekly newspapers (the Republican- Register and the Palladium), first class hotels, telegraph and express offices, and an international money order postoffice with six rural routes. All lines of retail establishments and the professions are well represented. The population in 1910 was 1,547.

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The town was founded in the spring of 1860 by a town company of which George G. Pierce was president. A "company house" was built to which each member of the campany contributed seven logs. In November of the same year Washington was made the county seat. The first school was opened by Miss Agnes Hallowell in 1861 in the "company house." The first stock of merchandise was put in by a Mr. Bowen. A building erected of perpendicular logs by E. Woolbert as a hotel was used as the first court-house and was known as the "Stockade court-house." When the war broke out the growth of the city was arrested and it did not begin again until the spring of 1866, when there was a large immigration. The first newspaper, the Western Observer, made its appearance in 1869, and a $9,000 school building was erected that year. In May, 1873, the town was organized as a city of the third class and the following officers were elected: Mayor, J. S. Vedder; clerk, E. N. Emmons ; police judge, T. J. Humes ; city attorney. J. W. Rector; treasurer, Charles Smith; marshal, M. Patrie. In 1877 the Central Branch of the Union Pacific R. R. reached this point and a new era of prosperity began. By 1880 there were nearly 1,000 inhabi- tants. The population in 1890 was 1,613, and in 1900 it was 1,575.

Washington County .- The first territorial legislature in 1855, created a county named Washington, with the following described boundaries : "Commencing at the southern boundary of the territory of Kansas, 15 miles west of a dne south course from the mouth of Walnut creek, on the Arkansas river, and running from thence north 100 miles, thence west to the east line of Arapahoe county, thence south along said line to the south line of Kansas, thence east along the said line to the place of beginning."

The southeast corner, as described by this act, was on the southern boundary of the state, about 6 miles west of the present line separating Sumner from Cowley county. The northeast corner was about 3 miles east of the little village of Waldeck in the present county of Marion. As originally created, this old Washington county included the present counties of Reno, Stafford, Pawnee, Edwards, Hodgeman, Kearny, Hamilton, Stanton, Grant, Haskell, Gray, Ford, Kiowa, Pratt, Kingman, Harper, Barber, Comanche, Clark, Mead, Seward. Stevens and Morton; the southern part of McP,herson, Rice, Barton, Russell Ness, Lane, Scott, Wichita and Greeley; nearly all of Sumner, Sedg- wick and Harvey and a little of the southwest part of Marion. Peketon county (q. v.) was created by the legislature of 1860, and embraced all of Washington county as created by the act of 1855.

In 1859 the present county of Washington was created with the following boundaries: "Beginning at the northwest corner of Marshall county, thence west along the base line or northern boundary of the territory to the intersection of the 6th principal meridian; thence south along said principal meridian to the Ist standard parallel; thence east along said parallel to the southwest corner of Marshall county; thence north with the western boundary of Marshall county to the place of beginning."

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The county was named in honor of George Washington. It was not organized at the time of its creation, but was known as Washington township of Marshall county, remaining practically unorganized terri- tory until 1860. As at present organized, the county is bounded on the north by the State of Nebraska; on the east by Marshall county; on the south by Riley and Clay, and west by Cloud and Republic. It is 30 miles square and has an area of 900 square miles.

French, in his Louisiana Historical Collections, says that as early as 1724 French traders went among the Pawnees, who hunted from the Platte as far south as the Arkansas river. In the spring of 1842 a party . of emigrants passed through what is now Washington county on their way to the Columbia river. They were in charge of Dr. White, an agent of the government in Oregon territory. Fremont in his report of the expedition to the Rocky mountains the same year reports on June 22 that "a pack of cards, lying loose on the grass, marked an encampment of our Oregon emigrants; and it was at the close of the day when we made our bivouac in the midst of some well timbered ravines near the Little Blue."

Within a few years this part of the state became marked by many trails. Missionaries, traders and gold seekers all passed over the well worn highways but few stopped to make their homes. A trail known as the "parallel road" to the gold mines in 1849, passed nearly east and west through the central part of Washington county. Cutler in his History of Kansas says, "In 1845 the Mormons passed through the county on the way to their new homes in Utah. One of their favorite camping grounds was at 'Mormon Springs,' on Ash creek, 3 miles south of Washington City." For many years afterward the road the Mormons followed could be traced through the county. It was especially plain northwest of the Little Blue river near the Nebraska state line. Until the spring of 1854 traders, missionaries and Indian agents were prac- tically the only white men in this portion of Kansas.

The first permanent white settler in what is now Washington county was James McNulty, who came to Kansas from Iowa in July, 1857, and the following February located on Mill creek about 5 miles west of the present city of Washington. He built a cabin, the first in the county, and brought his family to live there. Ralph Ostrander accom- panied McNulty and his family and settled on an adjoining claim. In the spring of 1858 Gerat H. Hollenberg, George G. Pierce and D. E. Ballard came to the county, and the following year they located a town site a little north of the center of the county, but this location was abandoned in the fall and the site of Washington was chosen. Jacob and Daniel Blocker staked out claims on Mill creek, in what is now Mill Creek township, in the fall of 1858. At the time they were the only settlers west of Washington city. William Mercer located a claim on the stream that now bears his name. Rufus Darby and a man named Woodard, with their families, stopped near Ballard's crossing of the Little Blue in July of the same year, but when the survey was made,

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it was discovered that their claims were on school land, and the follow- ing year they moved to Mill creek. S. F. Snider, who later became the first probate judge of the county, built three cabins northeast of Wash- ington in what is now Charleston township; Jonathan Snider and S. Stonebreaker located in the same section; and in the winter of 1858-59 George Foster took up land in the southeastern part of the county.

The Civil war necessitated the withdrawal of the troops from the frontier posts. The Indians, learning that the soldiers were occupied elsewhere, began to quarrel among themselves. In the spring of 1864 · the Cheyennes and Arapahoes appeared on the war path along the Little Blue in Marshall and Washington counties, following the Otoes to their village. They first attacked John Ferguson's house on Mill creek ; plundered O. S. Canfield's home; took Rufus Darby prisoner as he was returning from Marysville, and then marched toward Wash- ington, where another band was plundering the Hallowell cabin. From there they followed down the creek and took the household goods at G. M. Driskell's. Rich Bond and Andy Oswald were taken prisoners, but were soon released. The people living in the southern part of Washington and the northern part of Clay county fled south and gathered at Orville Huntress' cabin near the present city of Clay Center, where about 200 of them remained encamped for a month.

In August a war party of the Arapahoes and Cheyennes again appeared on the Little Blue about 6 miles above the present town of Hanover, where they murdered and scalped a family by the name of Eubanks. In the fall there were continued Indian troubles and a num- ber of settlers gathered at Hume's log cabin at Washington for safety. In 1868 another raid was made in Cloud, Republican and Washington counties, but so far as is known, only one man was killed, the Indians confining themselves to plundering, running off stock, etc.

Washington was organized as a county on the second Monday in April, 1860, and the fourth Monday an election was held for county officers. George F. Caldwell, Joseph Malin and William Hoffhine were elected commissioners; D. E. Ballard, clerk and register of deeds ; M. G. Driskell, treasurer; William Langsdale, sheriff; James O'Neill, surveyor; Thomas M. Bowen, county attorney; John M. Hoffhine, superintendent of public schools; S. F. Snider, probate judge; William Mercer, assessor; Charles Bruce, coroner. The county was in the 5th council district and the 6th representative district. George Pierce was the first man to represent the county in the lower house of the last terri- torial legislature, and D. E. Ballard represented the county in the first state legislature.

The Washington Town company promised to give several lots to the county as an inducement to the voters to favor it as the seat of justice. The election to decide the permanent location of the county seat was ordered for Nov., 1860. Washington, Rogersville (on Judge Snider's farm in what is now Charleston township), and West Union (a paper town about 4 miles west of Washington on the McNulty claim), were

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the contesting towns. Judge Snider withdrew Rogersville on the day of the election and threw its 7 votes to Washington, which became the county seat.

At the first meeting of the commissioners, which was held in a log house built by the town company, the county was divided into two civil townships-Washington and Mill creek.

The 12th judicial district was created in 1871. A. S. Wilson was appointed judge and William Hoffhine, clerk. It is believed that the first white child born in the county was Michael Cook, whose birth occurred in 1859.

The first number of the Western Observer, the first newspaper in the county, appeared on March II, 1869, M. J. Kelly being the owner and editor and his office was located in the old stockade court-house. (See Washington.)

The first railroad to enter the county was the St. Joseph & Western, which was built across the northeast corner in 1872. After crossing the eastern boundary it ran southwest to Hanover, then followed the course of the Little Blue northwest to Hollenberg. The Junction City & Fort Kearney was built in 1877-78. It crossed the eastern boundary about 3 miles south of the Little Blue, ran northwest to Greenleaf, then south- west to Clifton, with a branch diverging at Greenleaf to Washington. At the present time excellent transportation facilities are provided by the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy, which crosses the county from northeast to southwest; the St. Joseph & Western, now the St. Joseph & Grand Island; the Missouri Pacific, formerly the Junction City & Fort Kearney; the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific, which crosses both the northwest and the southwest corners of the county. This gives the county 106 miles of main track railroad.

As population increased the original townships have been divided to form Barnes, Brantford, Charleston, Clifton, Coleman, Farmington, Franklin,.Grant, Greenleaf, Haddam, Hanover, Highland, Independence, Kimeo, Lincoln, Linn, Little Blue, Logan, Lowe, Mill Creek, Sheridan, Sherman, Strawberry, Union and Washington.

The surface of the county is rolling, except in the western part and along some of the streams, where it is hilly. The alluvial lands along the water courses average a half mile in width and aggregate about one-eighth of the area. Timber belts along the streams consist of elm, cottonwood, ash, walnut, box-elder, maple, honey-locust and bass-wood. The Little Blue river enters the county from the north about II miles west of the northeast corner and flows in a southeasterly direction into Marshall county. Its main tributary is Mill creek. Limestone and sandstone are plentiful in all portions ; mineral paint exists near Hollen- berg; there are several veins of cement stone; salt springs exist in Mill Creek townships; deposits of salt underlie the central and western portions, and a bed of gypsum 60 feet thick, underlies the northeastern portion, at a depth of 200 feet.

The chief agricultural products are corn, Irish potatoes, millet and

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oats. Winter wheat, sorghum, Kafir-corn and alfalfa are also raised In 1907 there were 325,000 bearing fruit trees in the county. The popu- lation in 1910 was 20,239, and the assessed valuation of property was $39,917,625. The total value of farm products for the year was $5,603,358.

Washington Monument .- About the middle of the last century the Washington National Monument Association was formed for the pur- pose of erecting a monument at the national capital to commemorate the valiant deeds of George Washington, commander-in-chief of the Continental army in the Revolutionary war and first president of the United States. The corner-stone was laid in 1848, and the work was continued under the supervision of Robert Mills, who was employed for that purpose by the association until 1877, when, for want of funds, the work was suspended. A little later the unfinished structure was turned over to the Federal government, which placed Lieut .- Col. T. L. Casey in charge, and in 1884 the monument was completed. It is one of the tallest monuments in the world, having a total height of 555 feet, 5 inches. The foundation covers an area of about 16,000 square feet, and the shaft, which is 70 feet square at the base, is built of Maryland marble. Inside this shaft is an elevator for conveying passengers to the top of the monument, whence one can obtain a splendid view of Washington and its environs. The total cost was about $1,500,000, of which the original association expended about $300,000, the rest of the cost being defrayed by the general government.

In the fall of 1848 the monument association conceived the idea of having each state in the Union contribute a stone, bearing a suitable inscription, and to have these stones placed in the monument where the inscriptions could be read by visitors. Kansas was not then even an organized territory. The first attention paid to the subject in the state was by Gov. Harvey in his message of 1872, wherein he recommended an appropriation to provide a stone and transport it to Washington. Nothing was done at that session and the matter rested until 1881, when Gov. St. John again urged the legislature to make an appropriation. Accordingly, the session of that year appropriated $200 "for the Kansas State Historical Society to use in procuring a suitable stone," etc. The matter was placed in the hands of a committee of the society ; the stone was contributed by John Stewart of Saffordville, Chase county; the inscription was designed by Henry Worrall, according to the idea fur- nished by the committee, and the stone was prepared and inscribed by W. H. Fernald of Topeka.

Waterloo, a hamlet of Kingman county, is located in Galesburg town- ship 10 miles northeast of Kingman, the county seat, and 5 miles north of Murdock, the nearest railroad station and shipping point. It has a money order postoffice. The population in 1910 was 75.

Waters, Henry Jackson, president of the Kansas State Agricultural College, was born on his father's farm in Missouri; attended the com- mon schools; was prepared for college and taught the rudiments of

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successful agriculture by his father, who was a well-known breeder of Shorthorn cattle and Shropshire sheep and prominently identified with agricultural education. President Waters graduated in the agricul- tural department of the University of Missouri in 1886, and after two years of graduate work was made assistant in agriculture to the Mis- souri experiment station, which position he held until elected professor of agriculture in Pennsylvania State College in Center county, Pa., in 1890. From 1892 to 1895 he was agriculturalist at the experiment sta- tion, coming back to his native state in the fall of that year to become dean of the college of agriculture and director of the Missouri experi- ment station; became instructor in nutrition at the graduate school of agriculture in the University of Ohio, in 1902; was director of the agri- cultural exhibit at the World's Fair at St. Louis in 1904, and at the close of the exhibition went to Europe where he studied for a year and a half at the Universities of Leipzig and Zurich. Upon his return he became instructor of animal nutrition at the graduate school of agricul- ture of the University of Illinois; later was dean of the Agricultural College of Missouri; member of the state board of agriculture, of which body he was president in 1908 and 1909. In the latter year he was elected president of the Kansas State Agricultural College, where he has since remained. He was married in 1897 to Margaret. Ward. Presi- dent Waters has been elected to three honorary fraternities, Phi Beta Kappa, Sigma Xi and Alpha Zeta.

Waterville, a city of Marshall county, is located on the Little Blue river and the Missouri Pacific R. R., 16 miles southwest of Marysville, the county seat. It has telegraph and express offices, weekly news- papers, grain elevators, banking facilities, a public library, an opera house and good schools and churches. Three rural delivery mail routes go out from the postoffice.

Waterville was settled in 1857 by Stearns Ostrander. He was fol- lowed the same year by Ralph Ostrander, P. Bollar, R. Brown, T. Palmer and H. Brown. The next year William Pearsoll, William Hawkinsmith, John Hughes, W. Dickinson, H. Bramer and Mrs. A. Davis located in the vicinity. A mill was built in 1858 by William Pearsoll, who operated it as a combination grist and sawmill. The original owner of the land which became the town site of Waterville was David King. It passed through the hands of G. H. Hollenberg, William Osborn and R. M. Pomeroy, the last named conveying it to the Central Branch R. R. The railroad company established the town in 1868, and several business buildings were erected. Waterville was incorporated as a village in 1870 and was made a city of the third class the next year. The population in 1910 was 704.

Wathena, one of the principal towns of Doniphan county, is located on Peter's creek, 4 miles from the Missouri river on the St. Joseph & Grand Island and the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific railroads. It is Io miles from Troy, the county seat, and 5 miles from St. Joseph, Mo. It is a well improved little city with electric lights and pavements,

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public library, excellent schools and an annual Chautauqua. All lines of business are well represented. There are 2 banks, 2 newspapers, a washing machine factory, feed mill, and a creamery. Fruit-growing is an important industry and there is a fruit growers' association which attends to the marketing of the fruits grown by its members. Poultry is another leading product. There are telegraph and express offices and an international money order postoffice with five rural routes. The population in 1910 was 761.

The earliest settler was Peter Cadue, an interpreter for the Kickapoo Indians, who came not later than 1840 and left in 1847, going to the Cadue reserve. The Kickapoo chief Wathena located on the spot which afterward became the town site, and in 1852 his squaw built him a wigwam where the flour mills were afterward built. The land was sold in 1856 by S. Cox to Milton Bryan, P. Morse and W. Ritenbaugh, promoters of the town, for $750. Wathena was well paid for his improvements. The first building was a log house erected in 1854 by Cox and M. E. Bryan. The first general store was opened by Thompson Kemper in 1856 and was called "The St. Joe Store." The first hotel was established by Albert Heath, who was also the first lawyer. The first druggist was G. Miller; the first hardware man, H. D. Hunt; the first tinner, D. B. Jones; the first blacksmith, F. Leber, and the first physicians were Drs. Smith and Crossfield. From the time the post- office was established in 1854 with M. E. Bryan as postmaster, until the incorporation of the town in 1873 the place was called Bryan's post- office. O. Craig was the first mayor and James Mitchell, city clerk. The first school house was built in 1857.

Wauneta, a village of Chautauqua county, is a station on the Missouri Pacific R. R. in Jefferson township, 12 miles west of Sedan, the county seat. It has telegraph and express offices and a money order postoffice with one rural route. Several of the main lines of business are repre- sented and this station is a receiving and shipping point for a large and prosperous agricultural territory. The population according to the census of 1910 was 100.

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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, Volume II, Part 107

Author: Blackmar, Frank Wilson, 1854-1931, ed Publication date: 1912 Publisher: Chicago, Standard publishing company Number of Pages: 960

Author: Blackmar, Frank Wilson, 1854-1931, ed
Publication date: 1912
Publisher: Chicago, Standard publishing company
Number of Pages: 960