This view of the Glotzbach store in Paxico, Kansas, circa 1920, shows the Glotzbach brothers, Carl and Isadore, and an unidentified woman standing on the front porch.

A Tale of Three Towns: Old Paxico, Newbury and Paxico

By Doug Hiegert

The land we know as Kansas, along with most of the Central Plains in 1850, was unorganized territory with various Indian reservations in what is now the state. Kansas Territory was opened to white settlement on May 30, 1853, and in 1859, Wabaunsee County was officially organized as Richardson County. Newbury Township, in which our three communities are located, was at that time still part of the Potawatomi Indian Reservation. An act of the Federal government in 1868 allowed the Indians to sell their lands, and in 1869 the entire reserve was opened to white settlement.  The Federal government had also given part of the land to the Santa Fe Railroad Company for $1 an acre in an effort to attract settlers and start towns.

John Copp operated a store at the site of the first Paxico. When the “new Paxico” was created in 1887, Copp moved his building one mile west to the new town.

Old Paxico, the Strowig Mill and the Mill School

Old Paxico was located one mile east of Paxico on the north bank of Mill Creek.  In 1869 John and Mary Copp moved to the north bank of Mill Creek.  Mr. Copp was a farmer and eventually opened a general store and had a post office.  In 1878 Mr. Copp sold a parcel of land on the south bank of Mill Creek to John Riederer and the Strowig brothers, William and Robert.  They erected a three-story limestone mill in 1879.  By 1912 or 1913 the mill was becoming less profitable to operate so operations ceased.  The mill deteriorated quickly; the roof blew off, in 1935 half the dam was destroyed by flood waters, and the 1951 Flood took out the rest of the dam and the southeast corner of the building.  In 1972 the last of the mill’s walls were pulled down.  The early settlers around “Old Paxico” formed District 59 or the Mill School in 1876.  The school house was also the community center for the area.  In time, the Union Hall replaced the school as a meeting place. In 1881 a post office was established at the Mill or “Old Paxico”.  The town was named after an Indian medicine man named Pashqua, but changed to a more common spelling, “Paxico”.

William and Robert Strowig and the latter’s father-in-law, John Riederer, purchased property on the banks of Mill Creek at Snomoko Road and in 1879 constructed a mill to produce flour. The mill was a 26-foot x 36-foot building, three stories high, and it had the capacity to produce 75 barrels of flour, daily. In 1913 when small mills became unprofitable, the Strowigs closed the mill, and slowly, over the following years, the building collapsed and was finally removed in 1972.

Paxico

Mr. George Anderson, a St. Marys financier, thought the railroad would be laid closer to the creek than to Newbury so he purchased land from Mr. M. Gehrt on the site of today’s Paxico. He formed the Paxico Town Company with C.D. Brownell and Wesley Bolton.  A charter was granted to the town company on the 30^th of December, 1886.  By mid-October 1886, the railroad had selected a spot on the Gerhard Nuttman’s land for the depot.  In February of 1887 Anderson & Co. were busy putting up a two-story building to accommodate their stock which they planned to remove from their store in Newbury.  Mr. Winkler and A.R. Strowig purchased lots to build a lumber yard.  Plans were made to move the wagon and blacksmith shop from Old Paxico to the new townsite.  George Banniger had also purchased the Union Hall at Old Paxico and planned to move it to the depot location for his store and post office.  At noon on Friday March 18, 1887, the track layers on the Rock Island Railroad reached the new town of Paxico with the rails.

This view of a train arriving at the Paxico, Kansas depot shows Otto Glotzbach waiting with his dray wagon to get supplies off the train.

In 1886 the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad abandoned their plans for an east-west route across Wabaunsee County and sold their right of way to the Rock Island Railroad.  With the activity in the new town, Old Paxico began to fade from the scene.  Newbury was beginning to slow as well, and an article in the Alma Enterprise of April 1, 1887 stated well the sentiments of the people.  It read “Old gentleman Paxico and lady Newbury have lived an unhappy married life, continually quarreling but in the past few months matters have changed.  A son has been born to them (New Paxico) and the old man has died.  This, we hope, will terminate the war.  Now let old mother Newbury shun no exertion to raise him well, feed him well that he may grow rapidly, and after he becomes grown she may expect that he will be grateful to his aged and widowed mother.”

The Paxico Hotel, located at 201 Newbury in Paxico, was originally located mile north in the town of Newbury but was moved a mile south to the new town of Paxcio. This real photo postcard dates from about 1910. Photo courtesy Greg Hoots

Hotel Paxico was located where the Post Office now stands.  The original building was built in Newbury and moved to Paxico in 1887 by Mr. George Anderson.  The Grade School was organized in 1888.  Paxico High School was formed in 1909, and a brick school building was erected in 1922. The high school closed in 1974.

Newbury and Sacred Heart Catholic Church

In 1869 Martin Muckenthaler journeyed to St. Marys, and Fr. Rimmele S.J. and an Indian guide brought him to the area of Newbury where he purchased 160 acres from the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad.  He moved his family here in July of 1869. When Martin arrived the second time he met John Mock, Mock’s father, and Adam Glotzbach who were also attracted to the area by newspaper articles.

This Sacred Heart Catholic Church at Newbury, seen in this 1907 real photo postcard, was built in 1884 and burned in 1921.Photo courtesy Greg Hoots.

On April 27, 1870 a charter was granted to the Newbury Town Company. The Santa Fe Railroad owned half-interest in the town and named the town Newbury after the birthplace of an official of the railroad company.  The company expected the railroad to be laid through Mill Creek Valley, so the town was laid out on a grand scale, covering almost a section of land with an eight-acre public square.

Newbury Square, circa 1930.

In 1871 there was an election to determine where the county seat would be located.  The town company offered to erect a building and donate its use as the courthouse along with the public square to the county.  Newbury lost the election, dashing many hopes, and some settlers moved. Around this time, a company of men from Ohio arrived, hoping to purchase land and settle in the area. Among those in the Ohio Company were P.H. Moser, Charles Stalker and Charles Stringham.  They were businessmen and started some of the first businesses in Newbury.

Click on any image below to see photos in a gallery format.

Wabaunsee County native Eddie Meinhardt pumps gas into a customer’s car at his first gas station in Paxico, Kansas in 1956. Meinhardt spent nearly a half a century as a leading businessman in Paxico, operating his stations, antique stores and a campground. One can see the Paxico depot in the background. Photo courtesy the Eddie Meinhardt family.

This view of a train arriving at the Paxico, Kansas depot shows Otto Glotzbach waiting with his dray wagon to get supplies off the train.

This view of the Glotzbach store in Paxico, Kansas, circa 1920, shows the Glotzbach brothers, Carl and Isadore, and an unidentified woman standing on the front porch.

This interior view of the Glotzbach store in Paxico, Kansas is dated 1921. Identified standing left to right are, Carl Glotzbach, Ben Glotzbach, Isadore Glotzbach, and clerk, Magdalene Rosenstingle.

A group of cars advertising a Chautauqua event stops at the intersection of Main and Newbury Streets in Paxico in this real photo postcard view from 1910. Car caravans were a popular method of promoting local events in the early 20th century. Chautauqua meetings were popular meetings providing educational, religious and social programs.

Tom Bolton sits in a spring wagon in front of Muckenthaler Lumber Company, located at the intersection of Main and Newbury Streets in Paxico, Kansas in this real photo postcard, circa 1910.

Jack Pride’s Auto Livery spanned the transition from horse-powered transportation to the automobile in the early 20th century. This real photo postcard dates from around 1910.

Zercher Photo of Topeka, Kansas created this real photo postcard featuring the Paxico Hotel in the early 1910s. The hotel originally sat in Newbury, Kansas a mile north of Paxico, but when the new town of Paxico was created in 1887, the hotel was moved to 201 Newbury Street in Paxico. Photo courtesy Greg Hoots.

John Michaelis, left, and Joe Hund stand in front of the State Bank of Paxico in this real photo postcard, circa 1910.

William and Robert Strowig and the latter’s father-in-law, John Riederer purchased property on the banks of Mill Creek at Snomoko Road and in 1879 constructed a mill to produce flour. The mill was a 26-foot x 36-foot building, three stories high, and it had the capacity to produce 75 barrels of flour, daily. In 1913 when small mills became unprofitable, the Strowigs closed the mill, and slowly, over the following years, the building collapsed and was finally removed in 1972.

This view of flood waters from Mill Creek surging down Main Street in Paxico is dated 1935. The intersection of Main and Newbury Streets is visible in the center of the photo.

This 1935 view of flood waters of Mill Creek inundating the Paxico business district looks north on Newbury Street.

This tintype photo from about 1900 shows Louis F. Palenske’s saddle and leather shop, located at the intersection of Main and Newbury Streets in Paxico, Kansas. To the left one can see the Paxico Hotel, located at 201 Newbury Street.