USA > Kansas > Wyandotte County > Kansas City > Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas. Historical and biographical. Comprising a condensed history of the state, a careful history of Wyandotte County, and a comprehensive history of the growth of the cities, towns and villages > Part 32
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A worthy institution of learning, not connected with the free- school system, is Fowler's Free Kindergarten, at 301 North James Street, in Kansas City. This school was founded and established in 1883 by Miss Annie Fowler, daughter of George Fowler, of the firm of George Fowler & Son, pork and beef packers. Miss Fowler after- ward married Prof. Frederick Troutan, of the Dublin schools in Ire- land, and now lives with her husband in that old city on the "Emer- ald Isle." Mr. George Fowler purchased the lot on which the kindergarten building now stands for $3,000, and erected the house- a two-story brick-at the cost of another $3,000, and he supports and maintains the school at an expense of $1,000 per annum. The school is tanght ten months in each year, and all is free-there being no tuition or other expenses for pupils to pay. The school is held in the second story of the building, which was fitted up for the pur- pose. The average attendance of pupils during the last school year was thirty eight. Mrs. Alice Cheney is principal of the school.
In the same school-room is taught an industrial or sewing school. This latter school was established in 1881, by Mrs. George Fowler. Mrs. Alice Cheney is also principal of this school, and has several assistants. It is also maintained by Mr. Fowler at an expense of from $300 to $400 per year. The tuition and material used are free to all pupils. During the last school year among the materials consumed
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was eight bolts of muslin. The sessions are taught from 2 o'clock to 4 o'clock on every Saturday, for ten months in the year. There were 157 pupils enrolled during the last school year, all being from eight to sixteen years of age, and they came from all parts of the county! The girls are taught to sew in the best manner, and the garments on which they practice are given to them. The sewing is performed according to the best English methods. The last school year of both the kindergarten and sewing school closed June 27, 1890, with an English feast, and both teachers and pupils retired for vacation. The next school year commences two months later. Good sewing is one of the essential features of a young lady's education, and schools of this kind ought to be encouraged. The patrons of these schools owe much to the gratitude of Mr. Fowler.
In addition to the above there are the following private schools in the city: St. Anthony's German Catholic School, 615 North Seventh, Rev. Aloysius Kurtz, principal. St. Bridget's Catholic School, 69 North First Street, Sister Benedicta, Superior. St. Mary's School, 802, 804 North Fifth Street. St. Thomas' parochial school, 628 Pyle Avenue, Mary McQuinn, principal. Samaritan Mission, 47 North First Street, Emily P. Newcomb, superintendent.
There is a large Roman Catholic population in Kansas City, and many of their children are educated in their own schools, which ac- counts to some extent for the small per cent of the scholastic popula- tion enrolled in the public schools. Wyandotte County boasts of no colleges or institutions of learning (save the Blind Asylum) higher than those already mentioned.
A school known as the Wyandotte Academy was founded in Sep- tember, 1878, by Prof. C. O. Palmer. By the spring of 1879 the at- tendance had so increased that he found it necessary to abandon tem- porary for permanent quarters. Accordingly, at the end of the fol- lowing summer, a large two-story brick structure was erected for the academy on the corner of Ann and Seventh Streets. Both sexes were admitted to this school, and it was carried on successfully until supe- rior educational facilities provided by the free-school system made it no longer a necessity. The academy was closed in the spring of 1886, and the building was purchased by the Kansas City Board of Education, and is now used for the public high school. The lot con- taining this building, and the lot adjoining it on the south, contain- ing the school board offices, were purchased for $16, 300.
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CHAPTER XVII.
CHURCHES OF THE COUNTY-A REVERSAL OF THE USUAL ORDER OF EVENTS AND THE INTRODUCTION OF CHRISTIANITY BY THE IN- DIANS-CHURCH BEGINNINGS IN DIFFERENT DENOMINATIONS-DI- VISION OF THE METHODIST CHURCH INTO "NORTH" AND "SOUTII" CHURCHES-THE CHURCHIES OF TO-DAY-STATISTICS SHOWING THEIR NUMBER, THEIR MEMBERSHIP, AND THE NUMBER AND VALUE OF THEIR HOUSES OF WORSHIP.
Beware what spirit rages in your breast, For ten inspired, ten thousand are possess'd .- Roscommon.
HRISTIANITY generally advanced with the white settlement in the early history of the western country, but it came to this county, or rather was first recognized and observed here, by the Wyandotte Indians. And strange as it may seem, it is, nevertheless, true, that the Methodist Episcopal Church in Kansas City, Kas., had its origin in the Wyandotte reservation on the Sandusky River, Ohio. There, in 1819, a church was or- ganized under the auspices of the mission department of the Ohio Methodist Episcopal Conference, it being the first Indian mission ever established by that body. It grew and prospered in good works, being supplied with missionaries from that conference. In September, 1839, Rev. James Wheeler took charge of it as missionary, and when the Wyandottes moved to this territory in 1843, he accompanied them, and the church organization remained intact without change. Leaving it in the care of its local preachers and officers, Rev. Wheeler visited the Missouri Methodist Episcopal Conference in session at Lexington, and there the bishop continued him as mission- ary to the Wyandottes, and transferred him accordingly, and thus he remained with them until May, 1846. When these people landed
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here they had in their church organization five classes, nine class leaders, three local preachers, four or five exhortors and a membership of 200 souls. Their removal from Ohio did not cause them to neglect their religious duties, but they held regular services in their camp on the strip of low land across the river, where they spent the summer of 1843, in the midst of great afflictions on account of disease, and where they lost many of their number. In January, after they start- ed to build their cabins on their new reservation, they began to build a house in which to worship their God, and in April following the October in 1843, when they first occupied their lands, their new church was ready for use. It was a log building, which stood about half a mile west of the present Chelsea Park. When the first service was held in it in April, 1844, the puncheon floor, completed along one end, answered for a pulpit, and the "sleepers," for the balance of the floor answered as seats for the audience, which consisted of the whole neighborhood. It was wholly completed by May 24, following, when the missionary returned and held the first quarterly meeting therein on Saturday and Sunday following. The same year a two- story frame parsonage was built. They afterward sold their log church and erected a brick church, which they entered in November, 1847. It stood on what is now the Mary A. Grindrod tract, as shown on the present map of the city, about half a mile west of the North- Western depot. A school-house was built on the east side of Fourth Street, between Kansas and Nebraska Avenues, and occupied July 1, 1844. Occasional public services were held here, both in English and Wyandotte. The English-speaking class met here, and the first Sab- bath-school was organized in June, 1847. Rev. James Wheeler re- mained until May, 1846. He was succeeded by the Rev. E. T. Peery, who, though sent by the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, kept the records of the church in the name of the Methodist Episcopal Church. In July, 1848, the official board petitioned the Ohio Conference for a missionary, and the Rev. James Gurley volunteered to come as their missionary. He arrived in November. Previous to his arrival, Rev. Abram Still, M. D., presiding elder of the Platte District (which in- cluded the Indian missions in this region), came to hold his first quar- terly meeting in October, 1848. Dr. Still preached Sabbath morning on the text, "My peace I give unto you," after which Mr. Peery or- ganized the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, with forty-one mem- bers. There were in the house 110 members of the Methodist Epis- copal Church, and sixty-nine refused to go into the new organization.
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Many of the old members of the church had died since they came to the West, and, at this time there were but 160 remaining. Renewed efforts were made to induce the members of the old church to unite with the new, but the highest number ever obtained was sixty-five, and soon after Mr. Gurley's arrival some of these returned to the old church. But, nothwithstanding there was a large majority in the Methodist Episcopal Church, the building was stoned, so as to en- danger the house and disturb the services when Mr. Gurley preached in it, and the official board decided to withdraw from it for a time, to a vacant dwelling house. The last week in February, 1849, the United States Indian agent, at Wyandotte, expelled Mr. Gurley, at the instance of some members and adherents of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, though he had committed no offense against the law, nor caused any of the disturbances. They existed before he came, and continued until 1857. The next Saturday after Mr. Gurley's expulsion, the presiding elder, Dr. Still, crossed the Missouri River in a skiff, swimming his horse amidst great blocks of ice, to hold his second quarterly meeting in the old dwelling house. Thirty persons united with the church upon this occasion. As soon as the spring rains were over the services were held in a grove, and be- fore winter another log church was built near the present Quindaro cemetery. Rev. Squire Gray-Eyes and J. M. Armstrong were sent to the Missouri Conference at St. Louis (August, 1849), to petition for a missionary. Rev. G. B. Markham was appointed, and arrived in a few weeks. He remained two years, being followed by Rev. James Witten in October, 1851. His wife was in failing health and died January 1, 1852. She was buried near the log church, the first inter- ment in the Quindaro Cemetery. Rev. George W. Robbins was appointed presiding elder in October, 1850, and was continued three years. Following Father Witten as missionary were Rev. M. G. Klepper, M. D., October, 1852; Rev. J. M. Chivington, autumn of 1853; Rev. J. T. Hopkins, presiding elder; Rev. J. H. Dennis, fall of 1854; Rev. W. W. Goode, D. D., presiding elder, and su- perintendent of the work in Kansas and Nebraska Territories. He moved his large family from Richmond, Ind., to a small brick house, about two miles from the confluence of the Missouri and Kansas Rivers. Soon after these preachers came twelve persons returned from the Southern Church to the old church. One of them was Mat- thew Mudeater, the Wyandotte chief; and the other Mrs. Hannah Walker, the wife of William Walker, the provisional governor of
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Kansas. She was a white woman. All the white women in the church and Wyandotte Nation had united with the South Church, ex- cept one, and she was rejoiced when an English-speaking class was reorganized, after a lapse of seven years, at Dr. Goode's house. There were present Dr. Goode and family, Rev. J. H. Dennis, wife and daughter, Mrs. Hannah Walker, Lucy B. Armstrong and two of her family, who were then members of the church, and the former missionary, Father Witten, more than the requisite number for a primitive class. The class was continued until Dr. Goode moved into Iowa in October, 1855, to take charge of the work in Nebraska. Rev. L. B. Dennis succeeded him as presiding elder of all of Kansas north of the Kansas River.
In the winter of 1855-56 the health of Rev. J. H. Dennis, who was continued missionary, rapidly failed, and near the 1st of May, 1856, he left Wyandotte for his mother's house in Indiana, where he died the following August. His memory is blessed. Before he left, on the night of April 8, 1856, both churches were burned by incendia- ries. Rev. William Butt, who had been appointed to the Leavenworth, Delaware and Wyandotte Mission, moved here November, and preached in a school-house near Quindaro. In April. 1857, he was appointed presiding elder, and Rev. R. P. Duval succeeded him as missionary. Services were held in Lucy B. Armstrong's house from April to the last of December, 1857, when the old frame church, corner of Wash- ington Avenue and Fifth Street, was completed. The same year a brick church was built at Quindaro. The first quarterly meeting of the Methodist Episcopal Church, after Wyandotte City was settled by white people and the church was reorganized, was held on Mrs. Arm- strong's premises, September 1, 1857. The public services of the Sabbath were held on her lawn, under the shade of the trees. There was gathered a vast concourse of people from Wyandotte and Quindaro and the country around. Presiding Elder Butt preached the morning sermon, and Rev. J. M. Walden, local preacher, politician and editor of the Quindaro Chindowan, delivered the afternoon sermon. After Mr. Duval, came as missionaries (April, 1858) Rev. H. H. Moore, who remained one year; Rev. G. W. Paddock, two years; Rev. Strange Brooks, March, 1861 ( Rev. N. Gaylor, presiding elder), one year; Rev. M. D. Genney, March, 1862 (Rev. W. R. Davis, presiding elder), one year. The annual conference was held at Wyandotte, Bishop Simpson presiding. Mr. Genney was first lieutenant in the United States volunteer service. He attended conference and resigned his
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lieutenancy, but it was not accepted. With the exception of about four months, during which time Rev. C. H. Lovejoy had charge, the Wyandotte and Quindaro Mission was without a pastor this year. At the conference held in Lawrence, in March, 1863, Rev. Strange Brooks was appointed presiding elder of the district, and Rev. M. M. Haun, missionary. In 1864 Rev. A. N. Marlatt was appointed missionary, remaining about ten months, when a man was appointed who had been transfered to another conference, and therefore did not fill the ap- pointment at Wyandotte. Rev. D. G. Griffith, a young local preacher, did not complete the conference year. In March, 1866, Wyandotte was made a station, Rev. D. D. Dickinson was appointed pastor, and Rev. J. E. Bryan sent to the Wyandotte and Quindaro Mission, Rev. H. D. Fisher, presiding elder. In March, 1867, came Rev. H. G. Murch, and in March, 1870, Rev. S. G. Frampton. The latter remained one year, but failed to keep up the Quindaro and Wyandotte Mission ap- pointments, partly because most of the Indians were about moving to the Indian Territory. These appointments were therefore dropped. Rev. S. P. Jacobs remained two years from March, 1871, during which time a neat parsonage was built. Rev. H. K. Muth was appointed in March, 1873, Rev. William Smith, who succeeded him, remaining two years. The corner-stone of a new church, the foundation of which had been laid on the corner of Kansas Avenue and Fifth Street, was laid by Rev. William K. Marshall, and the basement was dedicated by Bishop Thomas Bowman in January, 1876. Such is the history of the planting of Christianity in Wyandotte County. The church thus established, prospered and grew in numbers, and is one of the most popular in Kansas City to-day. Following are brief accounts of the beginning of other religious growths on this soil: Of the 110 members of the original Methodist Episcopal Church organized by the Wyan- dotte Indians in 1843, forty-one joined the Southern branch when it was formally organized in this city by the Rev. E. T. Peery, in Octo- ber, 1848. In 1873 the present brick edifice, corner of Minnesota Av- enue and Seventh Street, was commenced, and fully completed in 1881, at a cost, with parsonage, of $6,500. Some of the earlier pastors were, Revs. B. F. Russell, Daniel Dofflemayer, J. T. Peery, Nathan Scar- ritt, William Barnett, H. H. Craig, D. C. O'Howell, Joseph King, D. S. Heron, E. G. Frazier, G. J. Warren, T. H. Swearingen and J. W. Payne.
In 1857 Rev. Rodney S. Nash, late of Lexington, Mo., organ- ized the St. Paul's Episcopal Parish, of Wyandotte. This was the
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pioneer parish of the Territory of Kansas, and was organized un- der the authority of Rt. Rev. Jackson Kemper, the first missionary bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church of the United States. Among the original incorporators were Dr. Frederick Speck, Col. W. Y. Roberts, A. C. Davis, W. L. McMath and James Chestnut. On July 9, 1882, the corner-stone for the church at the intersection of Sixth and Ann Streets was laid, Rt. Rev. Thomas H. Vail, Bishop of the diocese of Kansas, officiating. Kansas was in 1857 only a missionary jurisdiction under the care of the Rt. Rev. Jackson Kemper, the first missionary bishop of the church in America. On July 26, 1859, he issued a call for the purpose of organizing the Territory of Kansas in- to a diocese, and the primary convention was held in St. Paul's Church, Wyandotte, on August 11 and 12, following. Shortly after the or- ganization of the diocese, Bishop Lee, of Iowa, took provisional charge of the same, for about four years, until the first bishop, the Rt. Rev. Thomas Hubbard Vail, D. D., LL. D., was, in December, 1864, con- secrated to the sacred office, and made his first visit to his new field in January, 1865. He made his second visit in the diocese to this parish. Mr. Nash retained the rectorship of the parish until November, 1862, when he resigned, but again resumed it in May, 1864. Early in April of the following year he again vacated the parish, and the Rev. Will- iam H. D. Hatton took charge in June of the same year. Since then there have been several successive rectors.
The First Congregational Church was organized July 18, 1858, at the Methodist Church (North), among the earliest members being the following: W. P. Winner, S. F. Mather, Dr. J. P. Root, Rev. S. D. Storrs, W. F. Downs, D. A. Bartlett, Samuel Crosby, D. C. Collier, J. S. Stockton, Mrs. Mary Walcott, Mrs. Frances E. Root, Mrs. Mary E. Stockton, Mrs. M. Louisa Bartlett, Mrs. Louisa K. Downs, Mrs. M. A. Mather, John Furbish, Mrs. R. B. Taylor, A. D. Downs, E. T. Hovey and wife, Mrs. C. M. Downs, O. S. Bartlett, Jesse Cooper, Mrs. Hester A. Garno (now Mrs. Halford). For six months previous to the organization Rev. S. D. Storrs, of Quindaro, preached in Wyandotte, doing missionary labor, to an audience of from twenty to thirty per- . sons. He became the first pastor of the church, and was succeeded in 1859 by Rev. R. D. Parker, of Leavenworth, who remained eight years. It was during his administration, in March, 1860, that work was commenced on a new church building, corner of Fifth Street and Nebraska Avenne. The edifice was completed in July, and dedicated August 1, 1860. The national fast, appointed for September 26, 1861,
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was observed by this church and congregation, and on that day the Third Iowa Regiment landed here from the battle of Blue Mills, and many of them were at the meeting. On the following evening 250 officers and soldiers held a prayer and conference meeting of intense interest. The ladies of the church administered to the wants of the wounded for many weeks. Among early pastors were Revs. E. A. Harlow and James N. Dougherty. In 1858 Rev. Father Heiman, of Leav- enworth, came to Wyandotte and organized St. Mary's Catholic Mission, with about thirty members. They first met at the house of John War- ren. but during the next year Father Heiman was succeeded by Father Fish, who remained three years, and built a little brick church, 25x50 feet, at the corner of Ninth and Ann Streets. Fathers McGee and Muller succeeded him, each remaining about a year. From want of support the mission was then abandoned for nearly three years. In 1864 Rev. Anthony Kuhls, present pastor, was sent to Wyandotte on trial. Then but thirty poor families belonged to the parish. After the war, however, the affairs of the church assumed a more promising aspect. The old church was sold, and in 1866 the structure corner of Ann and Fifth Streets was erected for $9,000, the site being purchased of Matthias Splitlog for $800 in gold. Connected with St. Mary's Church are sodalities for married men and women, and for young men and young ladies, numbering about 200 members, two insurance unions and two benevolent societies. In 1872 the settlement ten miles west of Wyandotte, called Delaware, built a church of its own, called St. Patrick. In 1880 the eastern portion, across the river, was taken off, and St. Bridget's Church was built, with a resident pastor. The Ger- man Methodist Episcopal Church was organized August 24, 1859, with the following members: Frank Weber, Maria Weber, Louisa Feisel, Maria Feisel, Adelhard Holzbeierlein. Catherine Schatz, Margaret Ort- mann, Henry Helm, August Gabriel. Carl Gabriel, Henriette Gabriel, Gottlieb Knopfer and Margaret Knæpfer. In 1866 the church edifice, corner of Fifth and Ann Streets, was erected at a cost of about $4,000, and was dedicated in September of that year by Rev. M. Schnierly. Among the earlier pastors were Revs. Gottlieb Widmann, George Schatz, Charles Stuckemann, Jacob Feisel, A. Holzbeierlein, Philip May and W. Meyer. The earliest Presbyterian society in Wyandotte was organized in 1857, and existed until the close of the war, when it was discontinued. A new organization was effected by Rev. Alexan- der Sterrett in 1881. The First Baptist Church (colored) was organ- ized in 1862, and a frame building on Nebraska Avenue erected in
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1869. In 1881 the society had grown so large that its trustees pur- chased the site for a more commodious church structure, corner of Fifth Street and Nebraska Avenue. The Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints was organized in October, 1877, with seven members- George Hayward, presiding elder. William Newton was in charge of the society. The leading idea of their faith was that the gospel of Jesus Christ and His agents always has been the same from the beginning. Faith, repentance, baptism by immersion for the remission of sins, the laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost, the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment, are the car- dinal principles of their belief. This organization took Joseph Smith as its guide, repudiating Brigham Young and all polygamists as apos- tates from the true faith. The Congregation of Disciples of Christ was organized Christmas, 1881, through the efforts of Dr. Gentry and Messrs. Johnson, Reeves, Edwards and a number of lady members. Chiefly through Dr. Gentry's untiring exertions a church building was erected on Barnett Street, between Sixth and Seventh. The African Methodist Episcopal Church was organized by Rev. Felix Landor in May, 1880. Mr. Landor was formerly a slave in Louisiana, and, be- ing owned by a French master, spoke that language. At the close of the war he was converted from the Catholic faith, educated by the Freedmen's Aid Society in New Orleans, and sent to this field in Feb- ruary, 1880. The society built a comfortable brick church, corner of Seventh and Ann Streets. A Baptist Church was organized in Wyan- dotte in the spring of 1862. The German Evangelical Church dates its existence from February, 1882. Rev. Charles Kraft was first pastor.
Such was the sequence of the advent of different religious denom- inations in Wyandotte County and Kansas City. Most of the organi- zations exist to this day, and will be found mentioned in the following paragraph. Some of them are yet in the houses of worship mentioned above. Some have removed into better quarters; some are now build- ing, or contemplating building new church houses. All have pros- pered under God's blessing, and have done and are doing good work for civilization and enlightenment.
Baptist .- First, 2 South First Street, Rev. R. Williams, pastor; First (colored), Nebraska Avenue, northwest corner of Fifth Street, Rev. Daniel Jones, pastor; First, of Armourdale, 621 Mill Street, Rev. R. W. Arnold, pastor; First Swedish, 646 Ohio Avenue, Rev. Christopher Silene, pastor; Mount Pleasant (colored), Third Street, southeast corner of Freeman Avenue, Rev. Marcus Mack, pastor;
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Mount Zion, 417 Virginia Avenue, Rev. R. M. Martin, pastor; Pleas- ant View (colored), 941 Everett Avenue, Rev. James Jennings, pastor; Rose Hill Missionary (colored), 825 New Jersey Avenue, Rev. Abner Windom, pastor; St. Paul Free-Will (colored), 1047 Everett Avenue, Rev. Edward Johnson, pastor; St. Philip's (colored), 346 New Jersey Avenue, Rev. M. Phillips, pastor; Wyandotte, Sixth Street, northeast corner Nebraska Avenue, Rev. W. B. Wiseman, pastor.
Christian. - The Christian, 606 Barnett Avenue, Rev. James M. Dunning, pastor; First (colored), Eighth Street, northeast corner of Everett Avenue, Rev. William Hancock, pastor; Mission (colored), south side State Avenue, near Sixth Street, Rev. J. D. Smith, pastor.
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