USA > Kansas > Cloud County > Miltonvale > Miltonvale : the western terminus of the narrow gauge, to 1910 > Part 3
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Harvesting of the wheat was an interesting process. The wheat was cut with a cradle, i.e., a scythe which had a small shelf on which the wheat lay. This wheat was tipped off in a row and another cut was taken. After a time the self-drop mower made faster work of the cutting. It had a small platform just back of the cutter bar which tipped after so much wheat was cut. The farmer would then go down the row and bind the wheat by hand into small bundles which were later stacked or thrashed. 47
It was a large undertaking to feed a harvest crew and a lot of food was consumed. Cornbread, potatoes, tomatoes, green beans, peas, radishes, onions, homemade sauerkraut, noodles, fried chick- en, pork, and dried or canned beef were some of the foods served. For dessert there were fruits, such as apples, peaches, wild plums, wild elderberries, wild choke cherries, and wild grapes, or molasses cake frosted with egg frosting, which was a special treat, or custard pies, for eggs and milk were always available on the farm. The Brooks family, having come from Kentucky originally,
47 Interview with Pleasant Fry, July 12, 1955.
34
had to have their southern fried chicken and corn meal mush. Major Brooks also raised tobacco, a product extensively raised in Kentucky. 48
As shown in Table 3, Illinois contributed the largest number of settlers to Starr township, outside of Kansas itself, with Iowa, Missouri, and Ohio following in that order. Ireland made the greatest contribution of any foreign country with Germany second. There were no large foreign settlements in Starr township but to the northwest, in Aurora township, there were a number of French Canadian settlers. In the townships of Solomon, Lyon, and Meredith, to the west of Starr township, there were settlements of Irish. 49 These and other settlers, because of economic fac- tors and the attraction of cheap land or because of the "boom" advertising, or other reasons, settled their business affairs, packed their bags, and traveled west to swell the number of those settling in the area around Miltonvale, bringing rapid growth and prosperity to this small railroad terminus.
48
- Interview with Miss Elizabeth Fry, July 12, 1955; inter- view with Mrs. Clara Kuhnle, July 16, 1955. 49 W. H. Carruth, "Foreign Settlements in Kansas," Kansas : Univ. Quarterly, Vol. I, Oct., 1892, pp. 74-75.
35
CHAPTER III
THE GROWTH OF MILTONVALE
Miltonvale, as a trade center, began when W. T. Matthews moved his store to town from Starr Center in 1881. Following this, in the spring of 1882, George Myer began construction of a livery barn. Other businesses soon followed, among which was the hardware store owned by R. B. Miller and C. M. Phelps. By July of 1883 this business had enlarged until they were carrying a full line of hardware, clocks, jewelry, and farm implements. In the line of machinery they handled the Moline Plow Company's products, the Osborn and Company's harvesting machines, the Caldwell wagons, the Favorite, Tiger and Moline wire tooth rakes, and the Massilon thresher and patent self slacker.1
By March of 1883 a real building boom was in progress. The need for more buildings was pressing, for all the residences of the town were occupied and all the rooms over the business estab- lishments were being taken as rapidly as they were completed. Continued growth of the town seemed assured. 2
Shay, R. L. Catlin, and Ira Angelo, owners of a mill com- pleted the spring of this year, advertised the sale of meals, chopped feed, bran, and two brands of flour, "The Silver Leaf" and "The Rising Sun." Within 60 days their flour was being inquired about from distances as far east as Baltimore.'
By the first of September, 1883, there were 304 inhabitants
1 Miltonvale News, July 6, 1883.
2 Ibid., March 23, 1883.
3 Ibid., June 1, 1883; July 6, 1883.
36
in the village of Miltonvale, which made it eligible for incor- poration as a city of the third class. A petition was submitted to Judge Wilson, of the District Court of Cloud County, on Septem- ber 10, requesting that the village of Miltonvale be incorporated "as a city of the third class, under the name and style of 'The City of Miltonvale. '"4 On October 13 the first city election was held, with a mayor, five councilmen, and a police judge to be se- lected. The two major political parties in this very important election were the "Down Town Rats" and the "Up Town Bullies." Both major tickets for mayor were headed by C. E. McDaniel, and William S. Phelps was the selection of both parties for police judge. 5
The latter part of this month saw the opening of the Commer- cial Hotel, with N. H. Eaves and a Mr. Wood as owners. In November the following structures were being erected or completed: a new meat market for Leon Lamore; a new school house; a new restaurant for J. Ingram; a new addition on the rear of the Jesse McDowell building; a warehouse on the rear of the Kuhnle store; and new residences for C. M. Phelps, R. B. Miller, Dell Barber, Ed Lamore, and F. S. Antes. Preparation was underway also for a new drug store and a bakery. 6
Besides the business establishments listed in Table 5, there was a school, a church, two G. A. R. posts, an Odd Fellow's Lodge, and two city parks. Among the professions were three school
4 Ibid., Sept. 14, 1883.
5 Ibid., Oct. 12, 1883.
6 Ibid., Oct. 19 and Nov. 9, 1883.
37
Table 5. Miltonvale business establishments as of May, 1884.7
Business establishment
: Number :
Owner or manager
Bakery
1
J. Ellis Jones, proprietor
Bank
2
Hathaway & Stowe; W. R. Davis
Barber shop.
2
S. H. Aldrich
Blacksmith shop
2
J. Robert Wilson
Boarding house
6
Carpenter shop
1
City Transfer line
1
Ackley & Matthews
Coal firm
3
Robb & Bright
Drug store
2
C. E. Scott; Charles Proctor
Dry goods and grocery
5
James McLead; S. J. Neal; C. E. McDaniel; Flora Brothers;
G. Kuhnle
Flour mill
1
Shay, Catlin & Angelo
Furniture store
1
J. Jennings
Grain firm
4
C. E. McDaniel; G. G. Funnel; Matthews & Howe; Robb & Bright
Hardware store
3
Miller & Phelps; Broadus & Kirch; Phelps & Ertel
A. V. Stepp
Hotel
1
Ice house
2
Implement house
2
Robb & Bright
Insurance office
6
Charles Stock; Blackwood & Smith; Pinkerton & McDonald
Laundry
1
Livery stable
2
Judson Remington; James Gordan
Lumber yard
2
Charles Taggert; George M. Whitney
Meat market
2
Joseph Coyer; Lamore & Young
Millinery store
2
Mary E. Heusted; Ida M. Phelps
Printing shop
1
Pinkerton & McDonald
Real estate office
3
Pinkerton & McDonald; Charles
Stock; Blackwood & Smith
Repair shop
2
Restaurant
3
J. Ingram; William Watson
Shoe shop
2
Skating rink
1
Tin shop
1
Miller & Phelps
Other :
Art gallery
1
Depot
1
Kansas Central Railroad
Post office
1
Round house
1
C. M. Phelps, postmaster Kansas Central Railroad
Telegraph office
1
:
7
Ibid., Feb. 15 through May 15, 1884.
Harness shop
2
N. H. Eaves
38
teachers, a music teacher, a minister, three physicians, a lawyer, a dentist, a jeweler, a telegraph operator and four printers. Besides these, there were auctioneers, milkmen, and painters.8
An experienced jeweler, A. Buchmann, located a store in September of 1884, and the following March, C. W. Jordan erected a new general store.9
A brick factory was established in Miltonvale in the latter part of 1885 with J. B. Wicklin as the manager. The product was sold without any trouble.10
A third bank was begun August 1, 1886, called "The Miltonvale State Bank." The bank was organized under the then new state law and started business with a capital stock of $5,000. The follow- ing officers operated the bank: W. P. Rice of Clyde, Kansas, president; W. E. Bush of Orwell, Vermont, vice-president; Edward Weck, cashier; and I. G. Cushman, assistant cashier.11
In the latter part of January, 1887, a board of trade was or- ganized in Miltonvale, whose task seemed to be that of bringing in new business establishments and deciding whether others would be allowed to begin business in the town. After the board was or- ganized, the first item considered was the establishment of a creamery and cheese factory in the town. After many convincing statements were presented to the board, they purchased stock as follows : Holt & Co., $1,000; Ira Angelo, $100; T. C. Bond, $100; J. H. Burbank, $250; C. E. McDaniel, $100; Babbit & Johnson, $100;
8 Loc. cit.
9 Ibid., Sept. 18, 1884; Mar. 12, 1885.
10 Ibid., Nov. 19, 1885.
11 Ibid., Jan. 13, 1887. Hollibaugh, op. cit., p. 843.
39
Jack McDowell, $100; J. H. Bock, $100; C. Proctor, $100; making a total cash investment of $1,950. The board of directors elected J. H. Burbank as president, and the title given to the business was the "Miltonvale Creamery Association." By the middle of May the cheese and butter factory was in operation and business was very active, with 2,200 pounds of milk brought to the factory on May 12. The amount was expected to rise to 3,000 pounds daily when the factory was in full production. 12
June of that year saw a cigar factory established and running "full blast."13 A new opera house was also completed by the end of this month. It was begun in the spring of 1887, and was opened by the Ruby Lafayette Dramatic Company's presentation of "Foggs Ferry," on August 15 of that year. The price of admission for this opening was 50 cents for adults and 35 cents for children. 14
All of this year there had been much activity with regard to the Santa Fe building a trunk line through Abilene and Miltonvale to Concordia. Finally the railroad arrived November 25, 1887, and the first passenger train over this road pulled into Miltonvale December 29.15
Growth from May of 1884 to January of 1888 included the fol- lowing establishments which would be added to those listed in Table 5; the total number amounting to about 95 at the beginning of 1888: one bank, a blacksmith shop, a book store and news depot,
12 Miltonvale News, Feb. 3 through May 12, 1887.
13 Ibid., June 9, 1887.
14 Ibid., May 5, June 30, and Aug. 18, 1887.
15 Ibid., Dec. 1, 1887; Jan. 5, 1888.
40
two brickyards, a cigar factory, a coal dealer, a creamery and cheese factory, a drug store, an elevator, a feed store, three hotels, two livery barns, two millinery stores, a newspaper, an opera house, and a real estate firm. Of course, several of these establishments were located in the same building. There were also two new churches, a Y. M. C. A., a W. C. T. U., a Masonic Lodge, a Workmen's Lodge, and, among the professions, another physician and two more lawyers.16 By 1888 the town had become full grown. This period of growth was not without its setbacks, however, especially with regard to fire.
Before the town was a year old, the cry of "Fire!" was heard in her streets. Early Sunday morning of July 8, 1883, people were aroused from slumber when W. T. Matthews' store was dis- covered aflame. Nothing was saved from this store. The bank building next to it also burned, as did three other buildings. The bank, known as the Pioneer Bank of Miltonvale, was operated by Hathaway & Stowe. The postoffice was situated in this building and A. A. Stowe, the postmaster, had his living quarters over the bank. A small portion of Stowe's household goods was saved; the stamps, loose change, and some registered letters were saved; and a cupboard containing a quantity of blanks and stationery belonging to the banking business was carried from the burning building. The small safe contained money and some papers which were not destroyed. The drug store and residence of Dempster Scott was burned along with his stock of drugs but most of his home furnish- ings were saved. Mrs. S. E. Lamport's building, which was
16 Ibid., Jan. 12, 1888.
41
occupied by E. E. Heusted's furniture store with dwelling rooms above, was emptied almost completely before it burned. Aldrich's barber shop burned down but its contents were saved. The absence of wind and the heavy dew of the early morning kept the fire from spreading and causing much greater damage. The total loss amounted to more than $20,000. Just the month before, a heavy rain and wind storm struck the town, destroying James Gordon's livery barn and moved two other buildings from their foundations and caused other damage. Little had been done to clear up that earlier damage when the fire struck, which left the few months old town in rather sad shape. However, two weeks later these buildings were being rebuilt and several new ones were being erected. 17
An unsuccessful attempt was made July 15, 1885, to burn down the whole business portion of Miltonvale, when a fire was started in the basement of W. L. Babbitt's hardware store. Gasoline and kerosene were mixed together and set afire, causing an explosion which wrenched the building, broke several panes of glass, and damaged the interior. Harvey Matthews, who was found badly burned about the face, was arrested and sentenced to one year imprison- ment.18
The following year, again on a Sunday morning the first of August, 1886, at about two o'clock, there was the cry of "Fire!" This time the mill was aflame. There was no water system in the
17 The Clay Center Times, July 12, 1883; The Concordia Empire, July 12, 1883; The Miltonvale News, June 15 and July 20, 1883. 18 The Miltonvale News, July 16, 1885 and Feb. 24, 1886.
42
town and little could be done to save the building. The loss was estimated at about $16,000. This was one of the most important industries of the town and its loss was quite a blow, not only to Miltonvale, but also to the surrounding community.19
In August of 1889, a fire department was organized and the city council voted to aid this organization to the amount of $65, but there seems to be little evidence that the department was of any great value to the town. 20 In 1893 the Mathews & Bond ele- vator was set on fire by a spark from a Santa Fe engine. After court claims with the Santa Fe were settled, there was still a loss of $3,600.21
At about 5:30 in the afternoon of November 15, 1900, the creamery burned to the ground. The owner carried $1,000 insurance and intended to rebuild immediately.22
Probably the greatest loss to the city by fire came on April 24, 1904, when 17 buildings in the business district were reduced to ashes. Little was saved because the buildings were of wood construction and were rapidly consumed. Little insurance had been taken out because the insurance companies were not anxious to carry the risk as there was no fire protection and the buildings were of wood construction and built close together. 23
The losses sustained by this fire were estimated as follows :
19 Miltonvale Star, Aug. 5, 1886.
20 Miltonvale News, Aug. 29, 1889.
21 Hollibaugh, op. cit., p. 849.
22 The Miltonvale Press, Nov. 16, 1900.
23 The Miltonvale Record, April 29, 1904.
:
43
Hawks estate, six buildings, $5,000; J. M. Courtney, general merchandise, $3,500; L. E. Wideman, building, $800; L. E. Wideman, grocery stock, $2,200; T. C. Bond, building, $900; Joe Benoit, building, $1,200; W. L. Lowry, building, $600; W. L. Lowry, grocery stock, $700; Gus Buche, building, $1,000; Gus Buche, harness stock, $1,400; Phil Young, building, $1,000; Anton Urban, build- ing, $900; Urban & Weddel, restaurant, $300; J. H. Wil- liams, building, $500; J. H. Williams, jewelry stock, $700; Carrie Hubbell, millinery stock, $800; J. B. Good- reau, lunch room, $800; Record office, $1,000; 0. B. Elliott, cash, $250; 0. B. Elliott, household goods, $250; Mike Kircher, household goods, $400; J. W. Honey, photographer, $300; Dr. B. P. Smith, office, fixtures, and instruments, $300; H. P. Symons, carpenter tools, $300; Julius Moore, barber, $100; Stinson Hanson, build- ing, $400; Dr. Hallowell, dentist, $300; Will Austill, ice cream outfit and tools, $100; J. W. Ayres, painter, $100; Fred Koster, telephones, $100.24
making a total estimated loss of $26,200. The town never did fully recover from this disaster, as is evidenced by vacant lots in this part of the business district today.
Another fire on August 21 of this same year destroyed the four-room brick grade school building when it was struck by light- ning. During the winter of 1904-05 school was held in the differ- ent churches while a new four-room brick building was being con- structed.25
The depression of the late eighties and early nineties had a definite effect on the growth of the town as the population fig- ures in Table 6 plainly show. There had been a steady increase in population in Starr township in the years 1878, 1879, and 1880. In 1881 and 1882 the increase was quite small, but there is a def- inite jump in 1883 from a population of 581 to 718; this being the period of the arrival of the Kansas Central Railway and the
24 The Miltonvale Record, April 29, 1904.
25 Ibid., Sept. 28, 1933.
44
Table 6. Population growth from 1878-1910.26
Year (March 1)
:
Cloud County
:
Starr Township
:
City of Miltonvale
1878
11,118
396
1879
12,656
455
1880
14,151
554
---
1881
14,838
567
---
1882
15,261
581
1883
16,186
718
304 (Sept.)
1884
18,448
571
407 70027
1886
20,509
630
est.
28
770 (est.)
1887
20,149
546
(est. )29
616 (est.
1888
20,061
546
614
1889
18,321
546
419
1890
18,523
480
559
1891
16,978
464
459
1892
16,757
524
564
1893
17,528
509
516
1894
17,043
527
415
1895
16,974
494
408
1896
15,549
471
389
1897
16,366
453
415
1898
17,105
455
409
1899
17,511
444
390
1900
17,779
471
404
1901
17,836
461
418
1902
17,633
469
444
1903
17,453
514
379
1904
17,592
518
392
1905
18,193
505
405
1906
18,417
587
415
1907
18,244
430
440
1908
17,492
451
477
1909
18,587
483
582
1910
18,348
465
902
629
1885
:
26 Abstract of Statistical Rolls, for the years 1878-1910, as recorded in the County Clerk's office of Cloud County. 27 The total population for the township, including Milton- vale, was 1,329. The Miltonvale News, May 14, 1885, gave the population of Miltonvale as 700 so I deducted this figure from the township total of 1,329, thus leaving 629 for the township.
28 The total population for the township in 1886, including Miltonvale, was 1,401. I compared this year with the years 1885 and 1888 and estimated the population of Miltonvale for 1886 as being approximately 770. 29 The total population for the township in 1887, including Miltonvale, was 1,162. I compared this year with the figures of the township in 1888 and 1889 and estimated the population of Miltonvale for 1887 as being approximately 616.
45
definite establishment of the town of Miltonvale. From 1884 on, the population figures of Miltonvale are not included in the township figures in Table 6, but the increase of the total popula- tion continued through 1886; the figure being 1,401 in that year. Optimism was running high for these were "boom" days. Inflation and speculation were evident in Miltonvale as well as elsewhere. In the spring of 1887 lots were selling at four times the price sought in the fall of 1886.30 The coming of the Santa Fe was pushing land prices up tremendously. Speculation in land was evidenced as shown by the following news item:
The beautiful 40 acres of timber land adjoining the City of Miltonvale on the northwest, and known as the Ira Angelo timber claim, will hereafter be known as Wood- land Park. It has been purchased by an eastern gentleman and is on the market for sale, and if not sold by May 1, 1887, will be divided into acre lots and sold. 31
The heavy snow storms of the winter of 1886-87 and the drought in progress in the summer of 1887 could not dampen the spirit of the editor of the Miltonvale Chieftain, for he saw the town on the verge of a boom, "not a mushroom boom, but a good solid growth. Already we see and hear evidences of the start. With the advent of the Santa Fe cars, men from different parts of the country will be here to invest their capital and erect houses. "32
The coming of the Santa Fe may have delayed the "bust" and hard times in Miltonvale that were settling down upon the whole
-
:
30 Miltonvale News, March 3, 1887.
31 Ibid., April 21, 1887.
32 Miltonvale Chieftain, July 21, 1887.
46
frontier but the following descriptive account of this period would apply to Miltonvale as well as the rest of Kansas and other states:
The summer of 1887, giving evidence of impending crop failure, called a halt to the boom. As the hot weeks wore on the number of real estate transfers and the prices paid for land and lots declined precipi- tately .... Eastern investors, learning of the turn of events in the West, no longer clamored for western se- curities; while countless numbers of real estate men, mortgage vendors, railway promoters, and bankers went out of business altogether, many of them hopelessly bankrupt. The cattle industry on the northwestern plains was all but destroyed. The hot summer of 1886 had left the range in poor condition, and the winter of 1886-87 had been merciless. When spring came at last only a few pitiful remnants of the great herds remained. Speculative live-stock companies lost all they had in- vested; "cattle barons" and "bovine kings" ceased to exist; the ranges were almost stripped of cattle in a vain effort to satisfy the demands of creditors. Hard times settled down upon the whole frontier, not to be shaken off for a decade.
Convinced by bitter experience that they had pushed too far into the arid West, people who had moved hope- fully into western Kansas, Nebraska, Dakota, or beyond before 1887 now began to retrace their steps .... Fully half the people of western Kansas left the country between 1888 and 1892.33
Two of the three banks of Miltonvale suspended business in 1888, and the third one was forced into the hands of a receiver in 1890.34 The Miltonvale Chieftain blamed crop failures and hard times for its inability to publish a paper "up to our expectations this year."35 Before the year was out, this paper had quit business. A number of newspaper publications attempted to estab- lish themselves in Miltonvale between 1887 and 1897, eight or nine
:
33 Hicks, op. cit., pp. 31, 32.
34 Hollibaugh, op. cit., p. 843.
35 Miltonvale Chieftain, July 21, 1888.
47
in all, but after a few months or a year they went out of business. Even the Miltonvale News, which had begun publication soon after the town was founded, ceased publication in 1891.36
It was not an unusual sight in 1888 to see the white topped "prairie schooners" wending their way through Miltonvale, heading east.37 This same year the United Presbyterian church congrega- tion found it "financially impracticable" to meet their liabili- ties and support their pastor. 38 By 1889 several parties had left Miltonvale for other sections of the country in the hope of bet- tering their financial fortunes.39
The population figures as listed in Table 6 for Starr town- ship for 1887 show a drop in population of 17 percent or 239 people. The drop in 1888 was only two in the township but in 1889 the drop was 195, all of these people having left the City of Miltonvale. This amounted to about 32 percent of the population of Miltonvale, proving a tremendous setback to the town's growth.
There was a very good corn crop in the fall of 1889 but the price, which went as low as ten cents a bushel, was not enough to more than pay for the raising of the corn so it was used as fuel in place of coal. In 1893 "hard times" were still in evidence for tramps were quite numerous in the streets of Miltonvale that year. 40
-
36 History of Kansas Newspapers, p.
37 Miltonvale Chieftain, Sept. 29, 1888.
38 Ibid., Oct. 13, 1888.
39 Miltonvale News, Jan. 17, 1889.
40 The Weekly Press, Aug. 4, 1893.
48
Construction in the town was at a standstill for the most part during these depression years and its growth did not resume until after the building of Miltonvale Wesleyan College in 1909. In the spring of 1908 a meeting of the business men of Miltonvale with President Abbott, of the Kansas Conference of the Wesleyan Methodist Church of America, resulted in an offer from the Com- mercial Club and some influential citizens to donate ten acres of land and $12,000 towards the establishment of a Wesleyan school in Miltonvale. This offer was accepted and the building committee, on March 26, 1909, accepted a bid of $13,348.50 for construction of the college building. The school opened in the fall of that year with 60 students enrolled by the end of the first day, the first year's total enrollment being 144.41 By 1910 the popula- tion, as shown in Table 6, had reached a new high in the town of Miltonvale with a total of 902, although the total population of the township was 34 less than the all time high of 1,401 as listed in 1886.
41 William G. Smith, The History of Church-Controlled Col- leges in the Wesleyan Methodist Church, pp. 194, 204. Unpub- lished Ph. D. Thesis, New York University, 1951.
49
CHAPTER IV TRANSPORTATION AND COMMUNICATION
Before the west could be fully settled, many difficulties had to be overcome. Fuel, water, cultivation of the soil, and market- ing one's products were a few of the many difficult problems which had to be solved. Improvement of transportation facilities helped solve the fuel and marketing problems while improved com- munication contributed to the solution of soil cultivation and the water problem, for as ideas were exchanged, new inventions were developed to help improve the production output of the land.
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