Category: Early History
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The Early History of Lake Wabaunsee: 1933-1945
– By Greg Hoots – In 1925 the Kansas Forestry, Fish and Game Commission was formed, and soon that agency began constructing state lakes across Kansas. In Wabaunsee County, a group of sportsmen, businessmen and community leaders organized an attempt to convince the Fish and Game Commission to build a lake in their county. With…
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Paxico
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…
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McFarland
Located in the beautiful Mill Creek Valley, McFarland was founded by S.H. Fairfield in June of 1887. The town was platted at the junction point where the Rock Island Railroad branched Northwest to Denver and the Pacific coast, and southwest toward the Gulf of Mexico. Mr. Fairfield named his new town “McFarland” after his friend…
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Maple Hill
The name “Maple Hill” was coined by Isabella (Bourassa) Higganbotham, who was appointed the settlement’s first postmaster on May 1, 1862, providing mail service to the few families in the area. Maple Hill Township was established ten years later. Settlement increased dramatically with the arrival of several wealthy Eastern families. William A. Pierce, son of…
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Lake Wabaunsee
Learn more about the story of Lake Wabaunsee by clicking the link below: The Early History of Lake Wabaunsee: 1933-1945
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Harveyville
Harveyville, Kansas was founded in 1880 by the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway, who platted the town with the completion of the ATSF-owned Manhattan, Alma & Burlingame Railroad. There had been settlers living in the general area of Harveyville for some 25 years before the town was formed. Henry Harvey and his sons homesteaded…
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Eskridge
Eskridge, Kansas was founded in 1869 by Colonel Ephraim. H. Sanford who platted the town built on the rolling prairie of Wilmington Township. Sanford’s town was located at “the Corners”, an intersection Bronc Rider Road and Eight Mile Road, just about a mile east of the current downtown. Sanford was an accomplished criminal attorney,…
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Alma
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Alta Vista
The town of Alta Vista was established in 1886, first named Pike, a name which was changed to Cable City and then Alta Vista when platted by the surveyors and engineers of the Chicago, Kansas and Nebraska Railroad in 1887. Among the first buildings constructed were the Messenger store, the Fairview Hotel and the…