XVII. EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS
FIRST SCHOOLS, PRIVATE INSTITUTIONS—ESTABLISHMENT OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS— EARLY SCHOOLS AND PIONEER TEACHERS—DISTRICT SCHOOLS—STATISTICS— MANUAL TRAINING—ATCHISON COUNTY HIGH SCHOOL—COUNTY SUPERINTENDENTS OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION—ATCHISON CITY SCHOOLS—PRIVATE SCHOOLS—MT. ST. SCHOLASTICA’s ACADEMY—PAROCHIAL SCHOOLS—MIDLAND COLLEGE AND WESTERN THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY—ST. BENEDICT’S COLLEGE.
During the turmoil and confusion that accompanied the movement of population into Atchison when the town and county were organized, the question of schools appeared to be a secondary one. It was not until the bitter days of 1854, 1855 and 1856 had passed that the attention of the people was directed to this important question. The first schools in Atchison were private institutions, and a number of them flourished until after the beginning of the Civil war. Among those which were first in the educational field here was the Baptist Seminary, at the northeast corner of Eleventh and Santa Fe streets. It was a school for young women and was conducted by Mr. Stork. Later Mrs. Lizzie Abbott, who afterwards became the wife of Judge Cassius C. Foster, conducted a young ladies’ school at the northeast corner of Sixth and Laramie streets, and in the eighties Miss Mary Teasdale conducted a private school at the same place. Miss Lizzie Bay, the daughter of Hugh Bay, a prosperous farmer living southwest of Atchison, was also active in early day educational affairs, and so was Mrs. Amanda Blair, at that time Miss Amanda Meeker, who is a resident of Atchison in 1916. Mrs. Blair was the first teacher in Atchison county. While there was no activity in educational affairs during the period just mentioned, the first Territorial legislature did, in fact, pass a law in the summer of 1855 providing for the establishment of common schools, but the history of the Atchison county school system did not begin until 1858. The city of Atchison, District Number 1, was organized August 5, 1858. On September 13th of that year a meeting was held in the law office of Franklin B. Adams, and the following school officers were elected: James A. Coulter, director; Dr. William Grimes, treasurer, and Franklin G. Adams, clerk. O. F. Short was the other member. Phillip D. Plattenburg, who had previously served as county superintendent of Fulton county, Illinois, was elected principal of the schools and Mrs. Blair his assistant. School was opened the first week in November, in two rooms over Bury’s Grocery Store, on the corner of Fourth and Commercial streets, where the Y. M. C. A. building now stands. The next year the corps of teachers had increased to four, and Miss Lizzie Bay and Miss Melissa Kipp, who subsequently became the wife of Chief Justice Martin, became the other two teachers. The school was moved to the old Masonic building further west on Commercial street, where it was conducted for two years. Mr. Plattenburg was also appointed county superintendent, and the first teacher’s certificate issued by him in Atchison county was to D. W. Rippy, who died in Severance, Kan., in 1914, the richest man in Doniphan county. Mr. Rippy taught the first school in the Second district, organized near the Waggener farm, southwest of Atchison. Mrs. Blair had her teaching certificate when she arrived in Atchison, as one was issued to her by Dr. Plattenburg in Fulton county, Illinois, before she came to Atchison. Her school opened in Atchison the first Monday in November, 1858, and she had charge of the primary and intermediate departments. Dr. Plattenburg received a salary of $100.00 a month and Mrs. Blair a salary of $45.00, which was increased to $50.00 by Dr. Plattenburg giving her $5.00 of his own salary. Mrs. Blair had sixty-five pupils. Mrs. Blair says that the first spelling match in Atchison county took place in W. D. Rippy’s school. She participated in the spelling match, and was spelled down on the word “Poisonous.”
Mr. Plattenburg served in the capacity of principal and superintendent of schools until May, 1861, when the schools were closed for lack of funds. Because of the Civil war very little progress in education was made, and the records of the county superintendent’s office for that period are not available. The earliest record in the office of the county superintendent concerning the schools of Atchison county is found in an old record book of July 7, 1863, as follows:
“Through the kindness of the present board of County Commissioners, E. Leighton, B. Wallack and C. G. Foster, this book was furnished for the records of the public schools of Atchison county. It is hoped that every superintendent, into whose possession this book may fall, will perform every duty devolving upon him officially, and make every effort to advance the cause of education.
“ORLANDO SAWYER, “Superintendent of Public Instruction, “Atchison County.”
In spite of the fact that the records of County Superintendent Sawyer, who held his office from 1863 to 1867, are somewhat incomplete, they contain much interesting information.
The average length of the school term for the first year was three and one-half months, and in some districts, owing to the distance and the rigors of the winter climate, school was held only during the summer months. Among the early teachers in this county were Miss Lizzie Keith, who taught in District No. 29 in 1863; Miss Mary A. Shields, who taught in District No. 16 in the same year; Miss Helen L. Bishop, of District No. 26, and Miss Stewart, of District No. 31. Miss Bishop was a pioneer in advocating the teaching of vocational subjects in the public schools, including domestic science, manual training, agriculture and sewing, and for her zeal in this respect she was derided and laughed at. Women teachers in those days, as now, outnumbered the men. The following are the names of those who received teacher’s certificates in 1863: July 8, Michael Roach; July 27, Mrs. Esther Thayer; July 30, W. D. Barnett; August 15, Mary A. Shields; August 15, Solomon K. McCrary; August 27, Richard Dunn; September 14, Martha Stewart; September 25, Allen Abbott; September 27, Adelia Guest; October 11, Carlos E. Pease; October 14, John C. Butman; November 23, I. J. Adams; December 1, R. S. Cook; December 4, L. A. Messenger; December 4, Harriet Hollister, and December 4, W. R. DeWitt.
There were thirty-one districts in the county in that year, and the amount of State funds apportioned to Atchison county was $295.30. The school population was 1941, with an enrollment of 1,072, and an average daily attendance of 500. Twenty-nine teachers were employed, twenty-two women and seven men, with an average monthly salary for the men of $25.20 and $16.75 for the women. The total valuation of school houses was $1,050, and the amount of money received from the county was $827.05. The following is a list of the Atchison county school officers in the year 1863:
District No. 1: P. H. Woodard, director; M. S. Gaylord, clerk; F. Bier, treasurer; District No. 3: Peter Boyer, L. A. Messenger and A. Wheeler; District No. 5: Nathan McClintic, Hosea Norris and James Cravins; District No. 6. W. H. Bowen, J. W. Cain and Jonathan Hartman; District No. 8: S. Cummings, Milo Carleton and Lewis Brockman; District No. 9: George Scarborough, Joseph Scarborough and Jacob Pochler; District No. 10: Jacob Beck, Frederick Neerman and James A. Smith; District No. 11: John Graves, Henry Shell and Henry Widner; District No. 15: John W. Best, George Lamberson and Boaz W. Williamson; District No. 17: Hiram Quiett, Chas. Williamson and Wm. Cummings; District No. 18: W. J. Young, F. L. Fortune and A. J. Reed; District No. 19: Henry Cline, F. Leighton and W. J. Mayfield; District No. 20: W. J. Oliphant, D. H. Sprong and Dandridge Holladay; District No. 21: Dwight Williams, Jacob Reese and John J. Halligan; District No. 22: F. Roach, C. B. Keith and Joseph Speer; District No. 23: W. A. Adams, W. H. Seever and W. M. Hamm; District No. 24: James R. May, E. S. Evington and Jefferson Gragg; District No. 26: R. Breedlone, C. May and James Fletcher; District No. 27: James F. Butcher, C. G. Means and W. L. Davis; District No. 28: Andrew C. Pittman, David Earhart and George H. McPherson; District No. 29: Anderson Pate, James M. Wylie and H. T. Gill; District No. 30: P. B. Chadwick, J. W. Roberson and R. A. Van Winkle; District No. 31: Samuel Vanatta, William Hamon and Hamilton Bailey; District No. 33: Benj. Rivers, Silas A. Hooey and J. Plotner; District No. 34: D. Kottle, John S. Van Winkle and A. King; District No. 35: A. A. F. Randolph, D. M. Stillman and Joshua Wheeler; Union District No. 1: J. A. Anderson, M. C. Willis and George Storch; Union District No. 2: James Cooley, L. H. Masterson and Wm. H. Cook; Union District No. 3: W. J. Brown, Thos. A. Snoddy and J. Lasswell, and Union District No. 4: Richmon Dalton, Albert Henson and Frederick Eleman.
The next record that can be found of the progress of schools in this county is of 1868, when Norman Dunshee was county superintendent. In that year there were forty-six organized school districts, and a school population of 3,878, with a total enrollment of 2,247, and an average daily attendance of 1281. The term for white children was increased to five and one-half months and for colored children to ten months. There was a total of sixty-four teachers, of whom thirty-seven were women and twenty-seven men. The wages of the men were $42.92 a month, and for the women, $28.76 a month, and there was a total of $15,117.87 paid out for wages. The amount received from the State was $2,627.09, and an additional source of revenue was from the pounding of stray livestock, which brought into the school fund of the county that year $589.58. The amount raised by district school tax was $24,373.21, and there were forty-three school houses in the county, of which twelve were built of logs, twenty-six of frame construction, and five of stone, with a total valuation of $16,750.00. During the interim between 1863 and 1868, the Third Kansas Teachers’ Association met in Atchison. The meeting was held July, 1865, and there were fifty-nine teachers present in Price’s Hall. John A. Martin, John J. Ingalls and Geo. W. Glick attended the meeting and made addresses.
In comparison with the figures of those days, the figures of 1915 are interesting, and they are here given as follows:
School population, June 30, 1915 3,530 Total enrollment, 1914–1915 2,477 Average daily attendance, 1914–1915 1,915 Teachers employed, 1915–1916, including county high school, males 23, females 81 104 Teachers employed 1915–1916, including county high school, holding State certificates 19 Normal training 33, first grade 22, second grade 27 Teachers without previous experience 21 Teachers serving first year in present positions 56 Teachers more than two years in present position 16 Average experience of teachers: One-teacher schools 5 years Graded schools 6 years Average length of term in weeks: 1914–15 1915–16 One-teacher schools 30.4 30.65 Graded schools 35.3 35.33 Average salary of male teachers: 1914–15 1915–16 One-teacher schools 63.75 67.25 Graded schools 84.77 85.81 Average salary of female teachers: 1914–15 1915–16 One-teacher schools 58.16 57.45 Graded schools 59.64 60.00 Average attendance per teacher: 1914–15 One-teacher schools 21 Graded schools 26 Average cost per pupil per month in attendance: 1914–15 One-teacher schools $ 3.69 Graded schools 4.38 Amount expended for school purposes: 1914–15 One-teacher schools $39,756.47 Graded schools 19,212.88 County high school 17,719.71 ————— Total $76,689.06
Common school graduates, 1915: Boys 57, girls 71, total 128. High school graduates, 1915: Boys 17, girls 19, total 36. Total number of libraries in rural schools 63 Number of volumes in rural libraries 4,314 Number of schools having room or basement furnaces 66 Number of county certificates issued during year: First grade 9 Second grade 24 Third grade 7 Total 40 Number of first grade renewed 5 Number of State certificates registered 7 Number teachers normal training certificates registered 13 Number of first grades indorsed 3 Number of second grades indorsed 1
The city of Atchison is not included in any of the above statistics.
It is interesting to note that the vision of Miss Helen E. Bishop of 1863 has been realized, for in every school in Atchison county, not only agriculture is taught, but in about one-third of the schools, plain sewing and various kinds of fancy needlework are taught also, and while no rural school as yet is equipped to teach cooking, a number of the teachers are directing some work along this line and it is done in accordance with the teacher’s directions in the homes, with the assistance of the mothers. More attention than ever is also being given to drawing and music. Earnest efforts are being made by superintendents and teachers to secure the coöperation of parents by means of community gatherings. In many districts teachers’ associations, literary societies and debating clubs have been organized, in which parents as well as children are taking a great interest. Many of the districts have availed themselves of the opportunity to use the stereopticon lectures sent out by the University of Kansas. Lecture courses are being made in some of the schools, and provisions have been made for serving hot lunches for children. Medical inspection is also provided for, through the efforts of teachers. One of the most interesting and valuable features introduced into the rural school work of the county in recent years is the community school fair. The plan is to have three to five schools unite and meet at a school house, where the children enter exhibits of corn, cereals, seeds of various kinds, vegetables and fruits, and in addition to these are also exhibited canned fruits, peaches, jelly and loaves of bread, and other samples of the art of cooking, together with articles of fancy needlework and plain sewing. Many prizes are awarded for the best exhibit, and the result is that much interest is stimulated among the children in these accomplishments. The county farm agent is also lending great assistance in organizing school gardens, and boys’ and girls’ clubs of various kinds for the purpose of agricultural development. Much attention is also paid to the supervision of the children at play, on the theory that all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy, and the equipment for the playground of various kinds has been supplied. Six rural schools of the county have organized basketball teams.
Besides the rural and graded schools, Atchison county has four high schools. Muscotah maintains an accredited four-year high school, offering a college preparatory and general course, and the school building which was destroyed by fire January 13, 1916, will be replaced by a larger and better school, reference to which has already been made in this history.
Under the direction of J. S. Blosser, an excellent two year high school is maintained in Huron.
THE ATCHISON COUNTY HIGH SCHOOL.
In 1888 Atchison county, in accordance with an act of the Kansas legislature of 1866, established the second county high school in the State, and it was due to the efforts of Senator B. F. Wallack, and also the efforts of the public spirited citizens of Effingham, that this school was located there. The first board of trustees of this school were as follows: A. J. Harwi, A. S. Best. J. E. Logan, F. E. Cloyes, L. R. Spangler and W. E. Knight. John Klopfenstein, who was at that time county superintendent, became the first president of the board.
The present site, which comprises a spacious campus of eight acres, was purchased by the city of Effingham and donated to the county. A handsome pressed brick and stone building was erected in compliance with plans and specifications designed by Alfred Meier, of Atchison. The building, costing more than $22,000.00, was completed in June, 1891. School opened September 14, 1891, with F. J. Squires, principal, assisted by J. O. Ward, Miss Julia Heath, and Miss N. Grace Murphy. Three courses of study were provided for: Normal, general and college preparatory.
On the night of November 6, 1893, the building was destroyed by fire. School was opened the next morning and was continued the remainder of the year down town in lodge rooms, churches, and the public school building. The present building, erected on the same site, was ready for occupancy by the fall of 1894.
Following are the names of the principals who have served the school: J. F. Squires, 1891 to 1893; S. J. Hunter, 1893 and 1896; J. W. Wilson, 1896 to 1907; W. H. Keller, 1907 to 1908; E. H. McMath, 1908 to 1911: J. R. Thierstein, 1911 to 1915, and A. J. McAllister and G. W. Salisbury. 1915 to 1916.
The county high school exists mainly to afford free high school education to every boy and girl in the county. Since its students come principally from the rural districts, it must educate them to become better homemakers and better farmers, and to appreciate more fully the advantages of rural life. It must also help prepare better teachers for the rural schools and train them for business as well as for college.
It has grown in efficiency and influence until it is recognized as one of the best high schools in the State and is on the accredited list of the North Central Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools. This means that our school is recognized by the colleges of Kansas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, West Virginia, South Dakota, Wyoming and Colorado, which admit our graduates without examination.
The faculty has increased in number from four in 1892 to twelve in 1915. The number of graduates in 1892 was two, in 1915, thirty. Since its organization the departments of commerce, music, manual training, domestic art, domestic science, and agriculture have been added, a farmers’ short course established, and a demonstration farm in connection with the work in agriculture put into operation.
The school is well equipped in laboratories, and has a library of 3,000 volumes, and all the leading magazines and papers. A lively interest is taken in athletics, both Young Men’s Christian Association and Young Women’s Christian Association have a large membership. Every year the students have the benefit of a splendid lecture course.
From its halls have been graduated 387 young men and young women, who are now filling positions of honor as doctors, lawyers, ministers, teachers, superintendents, farmers, bankers and missionaries, and are found in nearly every State in the Union and in some foreign countries.
Atchison county further increased its educational advantages in June, 1915, by establishing at Potter, a rural high school, in accordance with a law passed by the legislature in 1915. This district is known as Rural High School, District No. 1, and comprises 26½ square miles, including portions of nine school districts, five of which lie wholly in Atchison county, and the four others jointly in Atchison, Jefferson and Leavenworth counties.
August 9, 1915, the first school meeting in this district was held, and J. E. Remsburg was elected director, T. F. Hall, treasurer and D. H. Strong, Jr., clerk. It was not necessary for this district to vote bonds for a building, because Union District No. 1, which includes Potter, and is a part of the new high school district, already had a beautiful modern four-room structure, which was leased to the newly organized high school district. A. T. Foster was elected first president, and Miss Sarah Armstrong, assistant. The school opened September 6, 1915, with an enrollment of eighteen pupils. The course of study is that prescribed by the State, board of education, and covers four years.
The year 1915–16 has been a year of progress for the schools of Atchison county. The State department of education, by virtue of authority given them by the State legislature in 1915, established a definite standard of efficiency for the rural schools of the State, and formulated plans for standardizing rural schools. As a result, two rural school supervisors were added to the State department. J. A. Shoemaker, county superintendent of this county, was appointed as one of those supervisors, and was succeeded in office by Miss D. Anna Speer, who is making one of the most earnest and efficient county superintendents this county has ever had. It is universally conceded that the board of county commissioners made no mistake when they selected Miss Speer as a successor to Mr. Shoemaker. Miss Speer is making an earnest effort to bring our schools up to the standard set by the State department of education, in which she is receiving the cordial coöperation on the part of the school officers, parents and children of the county. The work that is being accomplished here has been highly commended by Miss Julia Stone, one of the new State supervisors, and three schools, approved by the supervisor, have the honor of the first three “Standard Schools” in northeastern Kansas. These are: New Malden District No. 45, H. S. Mahan and Eugene Crawford, teachers; Lancaster District No. 10, O. E. Seeber and Miss Ione Gibson, teachers, and White Clay District No. 6, J. M. Pennington, teacher. In 1915 the County Normal Institute was combined with Midland College Institute, at Midland College. A six weeks’ session was held, June 15 to July 28. Besides thorough reviews of all subjects required for county teachers’ certificates, numerous courses for college credit were offered. The corps of instructors consisted of county superintendent, Miss D. Anna Speer: professors, W. E. Tilberg. E. M. Stahl, S. L. Soper, D. W. Crouse. C. F. Malmberg and Bruno Meinecke.
The following is a list of county superintendents of public instruction of Atchison county from the beginning of our history to the present time:
Philip D. Plattenburg, served September, 1858, to May, 1861. Orlando Sawyer, served July, 1830, to January, 1867. Norman Dunsher, served January, 1867, to January, 1869. Thomas F. Cook, served January, 1869, to January, 1873. J. E. Remsburg, served January, 1873, to January, 1877. Mr. Martin, served January, 1877, to January, 1879. W. H. Tucker, served January, 1879, to January, 1883. A. G. Drew, served January, 1883, to January, 1885. J. F. Class, served January, 1885, to January, 1887. George A. Ward, served January, 1887, to January, 1889. John Klopfenstein, served January, 1889, to January, 1893. Samuel Ernst, served January, 1893, to January, 1895. C. E. Reynolds, served January, 1895, to January, 1899. John Klopfenstein, served January, 1899, to January, 1901. E. E. Campbell, served January, 1901, to May, 1901.
The Kansas legislature of 1901 changed the date of beginning of superintendent’s term from the second Monday in January to the second Monday in May, thus creating a vacancy in the office for four months. Mr. Campbell was appointed by the county commissioners to serve during that period.
John Klopfenstein, served May, 1901, to May, 1903. O. O. Hastings, served May, 1903, to May, 1907. J. W. Campbell, served May, 1907, to March 18, 1909, when he died. J. A. Shoemaker, served March 23, 1909, to July 1, 1915. D. Anna Speer, served July 1, 1915, and still remains superintendent.
ATCHISON CITY SCHOOLS.
It was lamentable, but, nevertheless true, that there were many residents of the city of Atchison of the early period in its history who doubted the justice of supporting free schools. In 1860 the school board refused to levy a tax for school purposes in the city of Atchison. Following this, however, a more progressive spirit prevailed, and free schools were regularly supported by annual tax levies. For ten years the schools occupied rented quarters, excepting two frame buildings in South Atchison. The basement of the Congregational church, the lower floor of the old Masonic building that stood near the corner of Eighth and Commercial streets, the upper floor of the Auld building on Commercial street, near Sixth, Price’s Hall and probably other buildings were used during those years.
There was little or no general supervision of the work of the schools up to 1866, little or no system, and little distinction between public and private schools.
During this unorganized period the business affairs of the schools were administered by a district board of three members.
Under a law approved March 1, 1867, the Atchison city schools were organized June 3, 1867, at which time the first board of education of Atchison was elected, as follows: First ward, Wm. Scoville, Wm. C. Smith; Second ward, M. L. Gaylord, L. R. Elliott; Third ward, John A. Martin. Julius Holthaus; Fourth ward, Geo. W. Gillespie, Jacob Poehler. In the organization of the first board, Wm. Scoville was elected president, John A. Martin, vice-president, and M. L. Gaylord, clerk.
The board consisted of eight members until Atchison became a city of the first class in 1881, at which time the ward representation was increased to three members each, giving a board of twelve members. At the organization of the first enlarged board, J. C. Fox was elected president; J. B. Kurth, vice-president. The time of organization was the first regular meeting in August, a change from the former time, the first regular meeting in May, which was the law till 1881. During this year the time of organization was extended three months, giving fifteen months’ service under the organization of May, 1880. Another change made at this time was the election of a clerk not a member of the board. At the organization, August 1, 1881, M. Noll was elected clerk. He was succeeded in October, by C. N. Seip, who was followed in May, 1882, by James H. Garside.
By the addition of the Fifth ward, 1884, the board organized in August, that year had fifteen members. The board organized in August, 1885, had ten members. This representation continued till the law of 1911 provided for the reduction to six members, and for a term of four years instead of two years. The reduction was completed in 1913, and since August of that year the board has had six members, elected without regard to city wards.
The presidents of the board from 1871 have been as follows: For the year ending in May, 1872, H. S. Baker; J. T. Coplan, to May, 1873; J. K. Fisher, to May, 1874; A. J. North, three years, to May, 1877; John Seaton, two years, to May, 1879; A. F. Martin, two and one-fourth years, to August, 1881; J. C. Fox, to August, 1882; John B. Kurth, to August, 1883; J. C. Fox, to August, 1884; Seneca Heath, two years, to August, 1886; E. A. Mize, five years, to August, 1891; R. C. Meade, to August, 1892; J. T. Hersey, two years, to August, 1894; J. F. Woodhouse, to August, 1895; J. T. Allensworth, to August, 1896; W. L. Bailey, to August, 1897; Chas. S. Osborn, ten years, to August, 1907; H. H. Hackney, eight years, to August, 1915; Alva Clapp, now serving his first year.
While the records of the early days are not available, there are indications that the chaos of the early schools was reduced to order in the middle sixties, the graded system unifying the free schools being established at that time by D. T. Bradford, who served as superintendent and principal of the high school for four years. In those early days the superintendent taught during the greater part of his time.
Mr. Bradford was followed by a Mr. Owens, who served one year and was followed by R. H. Jackson. Available records show that Mr. Jackson was superintendent in August, 1871, and served till June, 1876. How long he served prior to the election of May, 1871, is not indicated by records at hand.
The superintendents following Mr. Jackson are as follows: I. C. Scott, to 1878; C. S. Sheffield, to 1880; R. C. Meade, to December, 1886; F. M. Draper, to 1889; Buel T. Davis, to 1891; John H. Glorfelter, to 1901; Nathan T. Veatch, serving at present (January, 1916).
The principals of the high school serving prior to the union of the duties of superintendent and principal of the high school were, P. D. Plattenburg, Orlando Sawyer and David Negley.
The course of study in the high school then was Latin, followed later by the Latin-Scientific. Little change was made for years, except the introduction of German in the fall of 1871. For more than thirty years there was little change in the subject matter of the work. The most important change during those thirty years or more was the complete organization of the high school by Superintendent R. C. Meade, in 1880, at which time a distinct principal was placed in charge of the reorganized high school. The first principal under the new plan was F. W. Bartlett. Definite classes were started and the first class graduated June 7, 1881, in Corinthian Hall, as follows: Jane Boone, Arthur Challiss, Blanche Challiss, Daisy, L. Denton, Della Estes, Mary E. Fox, Frances L. Garside, Lilly G. Hathaway. Maggie R. Hedges, May Hosier, Victor Linley, Nellie G. Reid, Mary E. Scott, Annie Underwood, 14. Total graduates to date (January, 1916), 568.
F. W. Bartlett was principal of the high school until 1883. The following is the list of principals since 1883: J. B. Cash, to 1883; Geo. D. Ostrom, to 1887; J.T. Dobell, to 1895; C. A. Shively, to 1900: W. C. Jamieson, to 1902; A. H. Speer, to 1909; W. H. Livers, to 1910; J. T. Rosson, to 1911 H. P. Shepherd, now serving his fifth year.
The superintendent and principal aided by one assistant taught the high school subjects till 1882. With the opening of school in September, of that year, the high school course of study was changed from two years to a full three-years course. Miss Sarah E. Steele and Miss Anna M. Niklaus were assistants during those early years.
The addition to the teaching force, the lengthened course and the tendency toward greater latitude in the choice of subjects soon doubled the high school enrollment. The start toward vocational studies began in September, 1881, when, at the suggestion of J. H. Garside, bookkeeping was made an optional study.
The growth of the high school was gradual. During the late eighties, another year was added to the course and an additional assistant was employed. Manual training was added in December, 1903; sewing, 1907; commercial subjects were added from time to time till the introduction of a full business course, including shorthand and typewriting, in 1910; normal training, 1909; cooking, 1910; physical training, 1910; elementary agriculture, 1913; school nurse, January, 1914; special music director, 1915. The addition of courses and optional subjects has so increased the high school work as to require eighteen teachers, in addition to the principal, and the enrollment has grown to 393. The school is on the accredited list of the University of Kansas and of the North Central Association of Colleges. A school paper, the Optimist, is now in its sixth year. A Glee Club and orchestra have been organized. A Young Men’s Christian Association and a Young Women’s Christian Association are doing good work. The athletic association is giving an outlet for the surplus energy in football, basketball, etc.
Grades and teachers were added in the different buildings until there are now (January, 1916) five buildings having full eight grades of work, one building with three grades, and the Branchton school having two grades. The Branchton building belongs to district 65. Manual training for the boys and sewing for the girls are given in sixth, seventh and eighth grades and high school. All the grades have the benefit of inspection by the school nurse, and instruction in music by the special director.
In 1882 the teaching force was thirty beside the superintendent. This grew to forty-one by 1901, and to sixty-five in 1915.
During March, 1881, it was resolved that a “kindergarten” be opened during the next term. No record is found indicating the opening of such school. The kindergarten was not made a part of the system till 1910. Such work was offered earlier in rooms granted by the board. This was, however, the result of private enterprise.
At the opening of the new high school building in 1910, the first public kindergarten was established. In the spring of 1914, another kindergarten was opened in the new Washington school.
The corner stone of the Central building was laid in August, 1868. This building was destroyed by fire in October, 1869. The construction of a new building on the old foundation began as soon as plans were completed. This was the three-story brick building, costing $35,000, torn down in 1908, to make room for the magnificent high school building completed in 1910, and occupied for all school purposes in September of that year. On October 5, 1892, the name was changed to “The Ingalls School.”
The building begun in 1869 and, when completed, said to be “one of the finest in the State,” was opened in 1870 and served without change till 1903, when a three-story addition, costing $5,264.00 was built to provide for the office, manual training, one high school room and sanitary fixtures. It was finally outgrown after serving thirty-eight years. While the present building was being constructed, the high school was housed in the old three-story Douglas building, Fifth and R streets, and in two rooms of the old Washington building, Sixth and Q streets.
During the two years’ waiting for the new Ingalls building the colored pupils from Douglas school were housed in a vacant store at Sixth and Spring streets for one year, and in Lincoln school for part of the second year, and the grades of Ingalls school were housed as follows: Seventh and eighth, banquet room of Odd Fellows Hall; sixth, Martin school; fifth, Pioneer Hall; second, third and fourth, basement of Congregational church; first, basement of Presbyterian church; manual training, in old fire department for the first year, and in a vacant store room till the latter part of December of the second year, when it was moved to the new building.
The present high school building, the Ingalls school, cost about $103,500. The equipment and added lots at the southwest corner of the block, improvement of grounds, etc., will bring the present value of the property at least to $130,000.
Governor George W. Glick was largely instrumental in the work of securing the lots for the Ingalls school. The ten lots purchased prior to the erection of the first building cost, approximately, $3,500. Lots 8 and 9 in the same block secured by condemnation in 1911, cost $2,250.
The three-story brick building at the corner of Fifth and R streets, built in 1873 at a cost of $15,000, was originally called Washington school. A three-room, one-story frame building, erected on this site in the middle sixties, was the first building owned by district No. 1, and served till 1873. The lots cost $1,200 and the building $2,425. At that time a frame building at the corner of Sixth and Q streets was used by the colored pupils and was called Douglas school. This was built in the middle sixties. It was at first a two-room, one-story building. Later, a third room was added. The lots cost $820. This was the second building owned by district No. 1. Early maps of Atchison show the locations of Washington and Douglas here given.
The names “Central,” “Washington,” “Franklin,” “Lincoln” and “Douglas” were authorized February 2, 1880.
In 1884 work began on two new buildings, one a ten-room brick building to take the place of the frame building called “Douglas,” and the other an eight-room brick building at Sixth and Division streets, named North Atchison school. The one at Sixth and Q streets cost $18,682, and was occupied for school purposes January 5, 1885. The white pupils in “Washington” school were taken to the new building, and the colored school formerly housed in “Douglas” was taken to the “Washington.” The names were also transferred soon after the new order of things was established.
The ten-room Washington building was used till the close of school for vacation, December, 1913. On January 5, 1914, the school began work in the present beautiful building, south of R street, between Fifth and Sixth streets. The old property at Sixth and Q streets was sold for $2,300, but the name of the school was retained. The new building with grounds and equipment cost $63,000. The site was secured by condemnation and cost $5,350.
The original “Washington” remained the “Douglas” until the completion of the new Douglas on Sixth, between U and V streets. The pupils of “Douglas” were housed in “Lincoln” till late in the fall of 1909. The site of this building, lots 18, 19, 20 and 21, block 35, South Atchison, was secured in March, 1909, in exchange for lots 10 and 11, same block, the old hospital property, which had previously been donated to the board of education for school purposes, the money involved being the payment of some back taxes by the board.
The North Atchison school, Sixth and Division streets, was occupied for school purposes in September, 1885. The lots cost $800 and the building, equipment and retaining walls, $5,381.94. On October 5, 1892, the name of this school was changed to “The John A. Martin School.” This building was used till the last of May, 1915. Immediately after the close of school, May 28, 1915, it was wrecked to make way for the new building now in course of construction. The added ground, secured by condemnation, cost $6,200 and the building, equipment and improvement of grounds will cost, approximately, $56,500. During the year 1915–16 this school is housed in the Ingalls building.
The West Atchison school building, named Franklin school, February 2, 1880, was, originally, a three-room, one-story brick, costing $2,617.10. This was changed to six rooms by the addition of a second story in 1883, at a cost of $2,498, and was remodeled and changed to an eight-room building in 1908, at a cost of $12,500, and reoccupied early in 1909. The lots cost $400. During the change in Franklin, the pupils were housed in the “Green-Tree House” and in a vacant store room at 1521 Main street.
The Lincoln school (colored), Eighth and Atchison streets, was originally a three-room, one-story brick building erected in 1871 at a cost of $2,425. The lots cost $750. In 1883, this was changed to a six- room building at a cost of $2,498. This is the only school building in the city not modernized.
The records reveal some interesting things. In 1878 it was decided that “the work of the grades should be completed in eight years.” In 1884 an attempt was made to establish a branch high school in South Atchison. While this failed, it was voted that “a sub-junior grade be maintained in the Washington school.” This was discontinued within a few years.
In March, 1883, it was ordered that the schools close because of lack of funds. The city council came to the rescue and appropriated $4,000 for school purposes. The schools re-opened March 29.
The school year was shortened several times in those early days.
The school spirit is in splendid condition. The increased material equipment is adding greatly to the educational opportunities. “Continuation schools” have been conducted for several years, with good attendance.
The improvements have been made without bonds, excepting the $100,000 issue for the high school in 1908. The total bonded indebtedness (January, 1916) is $122,000. Of this amount, $4,000 will be paid July 1, 1916. Of the issue of 1908, $94,000 remain unpaid, and will fall due in 1923. The $24,000 refunding bonds issued in 1913 will be due in 1933. The board of education is not using the full limit of its taxing power.
It is only fair to add a tribute at this point to the faithful, enthusiastic and efficient work rendered by Prof. Nathan T. Veatch to the public school system of Atchison. During the period of his service here, Atchison has seen its greatest development in its public school system, and this has not only been brought about by the fine public spirit that exists here but by the splendid co-operation which Prof. Veatch has given it.
PRIVATE SCHOOLS.
In addition to the private schools that existed here in an early day, there were a number of private schools which did good work in Atchison subsequently to the Teasdale school, which was operated here in the eighties. Mrs. Harriet E. Monroe rendered the cause of education in Atchison county an invaluable and also an imperishable service. Mrs. Monroe founded the Atchison Institute. In 1871 she erected a building at the northwest corner of Third and Kansas avenue, to which a wing was added in 1876, and three years later the large brick building, all of which are still standing. The property represented an investment of $25,000, and the success of Mrs. Monroe’s enterprise was phenomenal. She received no bonus or assistance from city, county, State, church or individual. She had nine students when she started her school, and subsequently increased her enrollment to 300. She had a musical department and an art department, and they were admitted to have no superior in the Missouri valley at that time. She also conducted a kindergarten, primary, intermediate and academic grades. Also a collegiate department, consisting of preparatory, scientific, classical and literary courses, together with the normal and commercial courses. She had thirteen teachers. Her vocational department covered all the arts of domestic economy and domestic science, before which she employed most eminent women in their special lines to deliver lectures. Mrs. Monroe was then, and is now, a truly remarkable woman. Her school was a forerunner of Midland College, and when it came to Atchison in 1887, Mrs. Monroe closed her school shortly thereafter and has since been a resident of Washington, D. C. She is a highly educated lady of refinement and culture, and has spent much time upon the lecture platform.
Following the Monroe Institute, some years later, Prof. Flint conducted a Latin school here, which was largely attended. Mr. Flint was succeeded by Prof. Foot, and as an outgrowth of these two schools, Misses Helen and Abigail Scofield opened a preparatory school, and successfully conducted it for a number of years, when they were succeeded by Miss Mary Walton, who ran her school in the building owned by Mrs. J. W. Parker, on Laramie street, between Third and Fourth streets, until a few years ago.
In 1916 the public school system is augmented in its work by several parochial and denominational schools, conducted by the Catholics and the German Lutherans.
MT. ST. SCHOLASTICA’S ACADEMY.
One of the first sights to impress the visitor to Atchison is the imposing collection of buildings which crowns its southern hill, now commonly known as Mt. St. Scholastica.
Mt. St. Scholastica is practically as old as Atchison itself, the first sisters having come here in 1863. Few who gaze upon the massive and commodious array of buildings, surrounded as they now are by well-kept lawns, spacious meadow and woodland, stop to think of its humble beginning and the many trials which beset the early foundation. But the first sisters were in time to feel the effects of the Civil war and the hardships attendant upon the same.
At the request of Rev. Augustine Wirth, O. S. B., then prior of St. Benedict’s College, and the first pastor of the church in Atchison, Rev. Mother Evangelista and six companions were sent from the Benedictine convent in St. Cloud, Minn., to establish a school in Atchison. Two more sisters were sent the following April. As these latter were on their way, they were detained at Hannibal for two days. The funeral cortege of President Lincoln having reached that city at the same time as the sisters, one of their sad privileges was that of attending the obsequies of the martyred President before continuing their journey Kansasward.
The little convent, situated at the corner of Second and Division streets, near St. Benedict’s church, was the cradle of the present institution. Second street at that time was not a street at all, but rather a passageway cut through the hazel brush, then so abundant in Atchison.
The academy organized its classes December 1, 1863. It was incorporated in 1873. Its roster bears the names of many of Atchison’s best families of both town and county.
In the summer of 1877 the Price villa was purchased. A new building was added in 1889. The third building was commenced in 1900. The buildings are surrounded by thirty-eight acres of woodland and meadow.
Besides the academy in Atchison, the sisters supply teachers for a large number of missions or parochial schools in Kansas, Nebraska, Missouri, and Iowa, also one large school in Walsenburg, Colo. The institution in Atchison is the center or mother house of all these branch houses, and in vacation all the sisters from the missions assemble here for the annual retreat, and for the summer normal.
The venerable Mother Evangelista, the first mother and foundress, was succeeded in office by Sister Theresa, who governed the community as Reverend mother for the next twelve years. Since that time Mother Aloysia has ably carried on the work of her predecessors.
The early days of Mt. St. Scholastica, like the early days of Kansas, were times of struggle and hardships. Yet, these brave pioneer sisters were of the true Kansas type, and tell us that they never for a moment regretted their mission to the Sunflower State. They tell us, too, that the sunflower itself had a strange power to cheer and encourage their early days. Its sturdy stalk and bright disk seem so fit a type of faith, labor and grateful content, that, even to the present day this rustic flower always finds a place in the convent garden.
The later history of Mt. St. Scholastica is too well known to need repetition. Its actual growth began with the purchase of Price villa in 1877, since which time progress has been steady and vigorous.
A most comprehensive plan of study is pursued at Mt. St. Scholastica. It includes all branches needful for a thorough, literal and refined education, the outcome of long years of experience and thoughtful consideration. That this fact is appreciated, not only by neighboring cities and towns, may be seen by consulting the academy roster, which records a long list of names from many and various sections of the country. Besides the academic or classical course, Mt. St. Scholastica furnishes a complete commercial course, together with special advantages for the study of music and art.
The home life of Mt. St. Scholastica is ideal. The association of fellow-students amid wholesome environments has the tendency to bring out and develop every noble and womanly quality, while the beneficient and judicious guidance of the sisters wisely leads to the attainment of those lofty principles so needful to right living.
Sacred Heart parochial school, in Atchison, is also controlled by the Benedictine sisters, and is supported by tuition. Its curriculum extends through the grades, and the school is under the direction of Sister Monica, O. S. B., and one assistant. Both boys and girls attend, and the enrollment in 1916 is seventy-four.
St. Louis College is another parochial school, offering work through the grades, and admitting both boys and girls. It is maintained by St. Benedict’s parish. Number of teachers employed is six, and the Rev. Gerard Heinz, O. S. B., is principal. Enrollment in 1916 is 293.
St. Patrick’s parochial school is located near St. Patrick’s church, in Union District No. 2, about seven miles south of Atchison. Two teachers are employed in the school, and Ven. Sr. Merwina, O. S. B., is directress. It is controlled and supported by St. Patrick’s parish, and its curriculum extends through the grades. Boys and girls attend the school, and the enrollment in 1916 was sixty-seven.
St. Ann’s school is a Catholic parochial school, at Effingham. It is controlled and supported by St. Ann’s parish. Both boys and girls enroll in the school, which completes the work of the grades. The past year, forty-six pupils were in attendance. Two teachers are employed, one of whom is Sister Sr. M. Marcellina, O. S. B., the directress.
The Trinity Lutheran parochial school is controlled and supported by the Trinity Lutheran parish, corner of Eighth and Laramie streets. The curriculum extends to the eighth grade, and work is offered to both boys and girls. The enrollment in 1916 is fifty-three, and Rev. Carl W. Greinki is principal.
MIDLAND COLLEGE AND WESTERN THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY.
The board of education of the general synod of the Evangelical Lutheran church, after considering propositions from a number of cities in the Middle West, decided on Atchison as the most suitable location for a Lutheran institution. It is easy of access from the whole territory from which students are most likely to come, and the offer of the city to give $50,000 in money for buildings, twenty acres of land for a campus and professors’ houses, a half interest in the sale of 500 acres of land, and to furnish 200 students the first year, was a tempting offer.
Owing to some difficulties that arose, this offer was not entirely fulfilled, but the twenty acres of ground was donated, and about $33,000 put into buildings. The college was opened on the fifteenth of September, 1887, with 101 students registered.
In 1888 the main building, known as Atchison Hall, was begun, and turned over to the board of trustees in the spring of 1889, and formally dedicated on the 30th day of September of the same year. The institution was given over to the care of a self-perpetuating board. From time to time the constitution has been changed, so that the trustees would be elected by the synods supporting the college.
At the present time the board is composed of twenty-nine members; four are elected by the board from the citizens of Atchison, six from each of the Kansas, English Nebraska and German Nebraska synods; two from the Rocky Mountain and Iowa synods each, and three from the Alumni Association, with the president of the college advisory member, ex- officio.
Rev. Jacob A. Clutz, D. D., was elected first president, and served efficiently in that capacity for fourteen and one-half years. In 1904 Rev. M. F. Troxell, D. D., pastor of the English Lutheran church of St. Joseph, Mo. was elected president, and was succeeded by Dr. Rufus B. Peery.
In 1891 Oak Hall, a dormitory for girls, was erected, to which, about ten years later, the annex was added, giving accommodations for thirty young women. In 1893 the gymnasium was erected, the money being solicited by the students of the institution. Through the solicitations of Dr. Clutz, a splendid six-inch telescope was donated, and an observatory built in 1899. Through the efforts of Dr. Troxell a proposition was secured from Andrew Carnegie to donate $15,000 towards the building of a library, provided the same amount could be raised for its upkeep. From the synods on the territory, alumni and friends of the college, this amount was secured, and the handsome library building was erected during the winter of 1910–1911, and formally dedicated on May 30, 1911. A legacy of $5,000, given several years before, was added to the building fund in order to have a public hall, and a memorial tablet was placed in the hall to the memory of the generous donor, Rev. J. G. Griffith, D. D. On the retirement of Dr. Clutz, his home was bought by the college board for the use of the president.
The Western Theological Seminary was organized in 1895, and the first president and professor, Rev. F. D. Altman, D. D., was inaugurated.
The German department of the seminary was added a few years later, with Dr. J. L. Neve as dean of the department. The home owned by ex-Senator John J. Ingalls was secured in 1908 for seminary purposes. It is admirably adapted to that purpose. At the annual meeting of the college trustees in 1910 the board of education turned over the management of the seminary to this board.
ST. BENEDICT’S COLLEGE.
St. Benedict’s College is the product of Benedictine activity in Kansas, in the cause of Christian civilization. Father Boniface Wimmer, O. S. B., the founder of the Benedictines in the United States, settled in Pennsylvania in 1846, and ten years later he sent missionaries in all directions, and where they settled, promptly there, too, their schools soon were founded. Father Henry Lempe, O. S. B., was the first Benedictine to touch upon Kansas soil in 1856, and he inspired Bishop Miege, S. J., of Leavenworth, with the idea of inviting Abbott Wimmer to make a foundation in Kansas, and thereafter Father Augustine Wirth, O. S. B., was sent out to Doniphan, in 1857, but in 1858 he moved to Atchison. Father Augustine’s management of the college continued until 1868, when he was succeeded by Louis M. Fink, O. S. B., who remained at the head of the institution until 1871. It was under Father Louis that the first printed catalog of St. Benedict’s College appears. Father Giles Christoph, O. S. B., succeeded Father Louis, and held the position three years, from 1871 to 1874, and was succeeded by Father Oswald Moosmueller, O. S. B. The college is situated on the hills north of Atchison and commands an extensive view of the Missouri river and surrounding country. In 1908 the college planned to erect a new group of buildings to crown the brow of the hill, east of the old college, new St. Benedict is to be not only first class, but it is to be a monument of beautiful architecture, which will be in Tudor Gothic and uniform throughout. The administration building, already erected, comprises the first of the group, part of which comprises living quarters of the students. It is a fire-proof building of re-inforced concrete and vitrified brick, spacious, well ventilated, and conveniently arranged. The buildings in the old group are of substantial structure, well fitted to serve their purposes. They comprise an auditorium, recitation room, kitchen and dining rooms, scientific laboratories, museum of natural history, music and typewriting departments. The college has two distinct libraries, one for the exclusive use of the students, and the other, the college library proper. The students’ library contains upwards of 5,000 volumes, in addition to a number of papers and magazines. The college library proper, maintained for the use of the professors, occupies four rooms and the monastery, and it contains more than 27,400 bound volumes and over 5,000 pamphlets. The scientific laboratories are adequate for present use, and the museum is one of the best of its kind in this part of the country. The playgrounds of the college are large and well suited to afford all manner of healthful exercise for the students.
The courses available in the college are the academic, the collegiate, business and stenographic, which are presided over by twenty-two professors, and in which are 300 students. St. Benedict’s is one of the finest Catholic institutions in the West.
XVIII. BENCH AND BAR
EARLY MECCA OF LEGAL TALENT—ORGANIZATION OF JUDICIAL DISTRICT—EARLY JUDGES—PROMINENT PIONEER LAWYERS—MEMBERS OF THE ATCHISON COUNTY BAR.
Atchison county has always been particularly proud of the high order of talent that has graced its bench and bar. From the very earliest days of its history, the legal profession has been well represented here. Men who have reached a high order of distinction in the profession have had their beginning at the bar of this county. In fact, this county has been somewhat unique in this respect, for there is perhaps no other county in Kansas that has furnished a greater number of distinguished representatives of this noble profession, who have shed their luster upon the fair name of the State. For a long period, indeed, Atchison seemed to be the Mecca towards which the best legal talent from all quarters of the country gathered, and it was the Atchison bar that furnished three chief justices of the supreme court of Kansas, one United States district judge, an attorney-general, a governor, a United States senator, and a general counsel for a large railroad system.
No attempt will be made in this chapter to give a complete roster of names of the many lawyers who have successfully practiced their profession here. The list is too numerous, but reference will be made to a number of conspicuous leaders, whose names stand out prominently in the history of the State, and whose careers have enriched the story of success and achievement.
Atchison county was one of the counties of the second judicial district, which composed, in addition to Atchison county, Doniphan, Brown, Nemaha, Marshall and Washington counties. The first judge of the district was Hon. Albert L. Lee, who lived at Elwood, Doniphan county, and served from January 29 to October 31, 1861. He died in New York City December 31, 1907. The second judge of this district was Hon. Albert H. Horton. Judge Horton was born in Orange county, New York, March 12, 1837, and was educated at Farmers’ Hall Academy, in that county, and at Ann Arbor University. He was admitted to practice in the supreme court of New York, at Brooklyn, in 1859, and continued the practice of his profession at Goshen until 1860, when he removed to Kansas, locating at Atchison. His first public office here was city attorney, to which place he was elected in the spring of 1861, upon the Republican ticket, and the same year was appointed by Governor Robinson judge of the second judicial district, and held this office, by election, until 1866, when he resigned. He was a Republican presidential elector in 1868, and in 1869 was appointed a district attorney of Kansas by President Grant, which office he held until 1873, when he was elected a member of the house of representatives from this county. Three years later he was elected to the State senate, and was also a delegate to the National Republican convention in June of that year, and in the same year was appointed chief justice of the supreme court of Kansas by Governor Thomas A. Osborn, to succeed Hon. S. A. Kingman, who was before that time a prominent practitioner in Atchison. In 1877 Judge Horton was nominated on the Republican ticket to the office of chief justice of the State, and he served in that capacity for seventeen years, at the end of which time he returned to Atchison and formed a partnership with Hon. B. P. Waggener. Judge Horton was an able jurist and lawyer, a strong argumentative and fluent speaker. He displayed marked ability as a parliamentarian while in the legislature, and was, altogether, a man of strong mental capacity, good judgment, coupled with executive ability, and much practical experience. After a number of years’ practice here, following his resignation as chief justice of the State, he subsequently was reëlected to the same position. He died on the second day of September, 1902.
Judge Horton was succeeded as judge of the district court of this district by Hon. St. Clair Graham May 11, 1866. Judge Graham served as Judge until January 11, 1869, and was on the bench at the time that the celebrated Regis Liosel land contest was tried in Nemaha county, in which John J. Ingalls, another Atchison lawyer, represented some claimants to 38,111 acres of land in the counties of Nemaha, Marshall, Jackson and Pottawatomie. It was one of the celebrated cases of that day. The litigation grew out of a French land grant, which subsequently was confirmed by an act of Congress in 1858.
Judge Graham was succeeded by Hon. Nathan Price, of Troy, Doniphan county, January 11, 1869. Judge Price served until March 1, 1872. He practiced law in the district for a number of years thereafter, and died in Troy March 8, 1883. B. P. Waggener, who began his wonderful career as a lawyer during the administration of Judge Price, and who has been in the active practice in Atchison since that time, is authority for the statement that Judge Price was one of the most brilliant judges that ever adorned the bench. He is described by Mr. Waggener as being a man of a powerful personality, and thoroughly grounded in the principles of the law.
During this period in the history of the county, Atchison had one of the strongest bars in the State of Kansas. Among the able lawyers then in the active practice were: P. T. Abell, about whom much has appeared in this history; Gen. Benjamin F. Stringfellow, Alfred G. Otis, John J. Ingalls, George W. Glick, Samuel C. Kingman, J. T. Hereford, Gen. W. W. Guthrie, Albert H. Horton, Cassius G. Foster, S. H. Glenn, F. D. Mills and David Martin, and one of that number, Mr. Waggener, is also authority for the statement that Benjamin F. Stringfellow was the most brilliant. General Stringfellow was a brother of Dr. John H. Stringfellow, one of the founders of Atchison, and, like his brother, was a strong pro-slavery leader. He was famous before he came to Atchison, because of his widely known views with regard to the opening of Kansas as a slave State, and for the depth and force of his arguments upon the points then at issue. General Stringfellow was born in Fredericksburg, Va., September 3, 1816, and before coming to Kansas he was a resident of Missouri. He first located in Louisville, Ky., and then went to St. Louis, and from St. Louis to Huntsville, Mo., finally locating at Keytesville, where he settled down in his profession, and was recognized as being a young lawyer of fine ability. He declined the position of circuit attorney, but upon the earnest solicitation of the governor, he finally yielded and entered upon the duties of that office, and subsequently was elected without opposition, and held that office for a term of four years at a salary of $250 a year. He subsequently was elected to the legislature, with the largest majority ever received in a county, and immediately became a very active, popular and influential member of that body. Shortly thereafter the position of attorney-general of the State of Missouri became vacant, and General Stringfellow was appointed to that place. He held the office of attorney-general for four years. It was then that he formed a partnership with Hon. P. T. Abell, which continued until the fall of 1851, and they removed to Weston, Platte county, Missouri, in the fall of 1853.
At the opening of Kansas to settlement in 1854, General Stringfellow found the abolitionists preparing to get control of the country, and, in opposition to the formation of the Massachusetts Immigrants’ Aid Society, he took part in the organization of a pro-slavery organization at Weston, Mo., known as the Platte County Self-Defensive Association, of which he was secretary, and one of its most active members. General Stringfellow, foreseeing the conflict, insisted that the only means of preventing or deferring it, was to make Kansas a slave State, and thus retain sufficient power in the United States Senate to defeat aggression by the abolitionists on the rights of the South. General Stringfellow, with all the power and enthusiasm of his southern temperament, labored ceaselessly for the success of his cause. He was the active man of what was generally called “Atchison, Stringfellow & Company.”
When the pro-slavery forces finally succeeded, and the destiny of Kansas was fixed, General Stringfellow went to Memphis, Tenn., in 1858, but not liking the climate, and compelled by his financial interests to look after property in Atchison, he brought his family here and became a resident of Atchison county in the fall of 1859, and remained here during all the bitter conflict that followed, beloved and respected by friends and opponents alike. He submitted gracefully to the final decision, and, while never seeking office, and influenced in his political action by what he deemed the best interests of the people of the State, he cordially coöperated with the Republican party in Kansas, but he was preëminently a lawyer, although he had a large outside business interests during his residence here. He was active in the organization and construction of the Atchison & St. Joseph railroad, which was the first railroad connecting Kansas with the East, and was its first attorney. Shortly before his death he made a trip around the world. He died in Chicago in the early nineties.
A few years after General Stringfellow immigrated from Missouri into Kansas, there came another famous lawyer, who was also formerly an attorney-general of Missouri, Gen. Bela M. Hughes. General Hughes was also one of the brilliant lawyers of an early day, who remained in Atchison but a few years as general counsel for the Overland Stage Line. Before coming to Atchison, General Hughes was a resident of St. Joseph, where he was the president and general counsel for the Central Overland California & Pike’s Peak Express Company. When this line was sold, under a mortgage foreclosure, to Ben Holladay, in 1862, General Hughes came to Atchison. He served as general counsel for Mr. Holladay until the line was purchased by Wells, Fargo & Company. He was retained by this company as its general counsel, which continued to operate the overland stage line, until a railroad was built across the plains, meanwhile moving to Denver, where he was elected the first president and general counsel of the Denver & Pacific railway, the first railroad to enter Denver, in July, 1870, and he later became general counsel for the Denver & South Park railroad, and a member of the last territorial legislature of Colorado. General Hughes was born in Kentucky, educated at Augusta College, and removed with his parents at an early date to Liberty, Mo. He was a member of the Missouri legislature, prosecuting attorney, and receiver of the United States land office at Plattsburg, from which place he went to St. Joseph. In his early youth he was a soldier in the Black Hawk war, serving with the Missouri volunteers. He took up his residence in Denver in the late sixties, when the city had less than 5,000 inhabitants. He died in Denver in 1904, at the age of eighty-six years.
Judge Samuel C. Kingman was born in Worthington, Mass., June 6, 1818. He attended a common school and academies of his home town, and became proficient in higher mathematics and Latin, but his regular attendance at school ended when he was seventeen years old. He was always a sickly man, and at times during his life was compelled to lay aside all study and attention to active affairs. At the age of twenty he drifted to Kentucky, where he remained eighteen years, teaching school, reading law and practicing as an attorney. He held offices as county clerk and county attorney in Kentucky, and was a member of the legislature of that State in 1850. In 1856 he came to Iowa, and in the following year moved to Brown county, Kansas, where he lived on a farm for a year, and then opened a law office in Hiawatha. Judge Kingman was a member of the Wyandotte Constitutional convention, which framed the constitution of the State, and the same year was elected a judge of the supreme court, taking his seat upon the admission of the State into the Union in 1861, holding his office for four years. In 1866 he was elected chief justice, and reëlected in 1872, but because of ill health he resigned in 1877, and retired from active professional life. Judge Kingman was for a time a resident of Atchison and a law partner of John J. Ingalls. He died in Topeka September 9, 1904.
Cassius G. Foster, another one of the brilliant galaxy of lawyers, who practiced in Atchison during the term of Judge Price on the bench, was born at Webster, Monroe county, New York, June 22, 1837. He was brought up on a farm until he was fourteen years of age, and having only the advantages of a common district school, he attended high school at Palmyra, N. Y., after which he went to Michigan, where he lived on a farm near Adrian, where he worked for his uncle. Meanwhile, he attended school at the academy in Adrian. He studied law with Fernando C. Beaman, of Adrian, and afterwards removed to Rochester, N. Y. In June, 1859, he came to Kansas, having previously been greatly interested in the Free State struggle, and upon arriving in Atchison, he formed a partnership with Judge S. H. Glenn, and immediately won for himself a high position at the bar of the State and Federal courts. He was elected State senator from Atchison county in 1862, and was mayor of Atchison in 1867. He practiced law here until 1874, when he was appointed United States district judge of Kansas.
Hon. P. L. Hubbard, of Atchison, succeeded Judge Price on the bench March 2, 1872, and served until January 8, 1877, and following Judge Hubbard, Hon. Alfred G. Otis was elected judge of the second judicial district January 8, 1877, and served until January, 1881. Judge Otis was born in Cortland county, New York, December 13, 1828, and came to Kansas in October, 1855, and immediately became engaged in land litigation, which at that time was very active here. During the early career of Judge Otis in Atchison county, and for many years thereafter, land litigation was the chief source of revenue for lawyers. There were no great corporations then as now; no railroads for clients, and aside from land litigation and a general practice of the law, including criminal cases, there was but little business for lawyers. At that time the criminal practice was not looked upon with the same disapprobation on the part of the profession as it is in these days. A good criminal lawyer then was an ornament to the profession, and a good criminal advocate was in constant demand and his services brought him large remuneration. Judge Otis was a Democrat, but a Union man, and in addition to his activities in his profession, he was also prominent in the business affairs of the town, and for a long time took an active part in the management of the Atchison Savings Bank, of which he was for many years president. Judge Otis died in Atchison May 7, 1912.
Judge Otis was succeeded by Hon. David Martin in January, 1881. Judge Martin served until April, 1887, and was one of the eminent members of the Atchison county bar. In personal appearance he was unique among his fellows, and in physical appearance was the counterpart of Dickens’ famous Mr. Pickwick. He was a partner of B. P. Waggener for a number of years, and was subsequently elected to the position of chief justice of the supreme court of Kansas, where he served with great distinction. He was a thorough lawyer and a scholar. He died at Atchison March 2, 1901.
It was between the terms of Judge Price and Judge David Martin that the bar of Atchison county reached its greatest eminence, and, while there have been good lawyers here since that time, there never has been a period in the history of the county when there were so many brilliant practitioners at the bar. During several years following Judge Martin, the second judicial district, which constituted Atchison county alone, was torn by internal dissension, and upon the resignation of Judge Martin, Hon. H. M. Jackson was elected to the bench, April 1, 1887, and served until January, 1888. There never was a more conscientious or painstaking lawyer a resident of Atchison than Judge Jackson. He was not only a fine lawyer, but he was a good citizen, useful to clients and the public alike. At his death, May 7, 1912, he left a large practice, which has since been conducted by his son, Z. E. Jackson. Following a bitter contest, Hon. W. D. Gilbert succeeded Judge Jackson in January, 1888, and served until 1889, and then came Hon. Robert N. Eaton, whose term began in January, 1889, and ended in January, 1893. Judge Eaton was succeeded by Hon. W. D. Webb, who in turn was succeeded by Hon. W. T. Bland, who served from January, 1897, to January, 1902, and resigned to go into the wholesale drug business. Hon. Benjamin F. Hudson, one of the oldest practitioners at the bar, succeeded Judge Bland and served until October 11, 1909, and was succeeded by Hon. William A. Jackson, the present judge, a sketch of whose career appears in another part of this history.
During the turbulent years that followed the organization of the second judicial district, down to 1916, there was no greater lawyer at the Atchison county bar than B. P. Waggener, about whom there appears an historical sketch in another part of this history. Mr. Waggener, in addition to being a native genius, inherited or acquired a faculty for unremitting toil. These qualifications make him stand out in 1916 as a brilliant leader of his profession in Atchison county. He has been associated as a partner with many men who have been preëminent in their profession at different periods in his career, Horton, Martin and Doster, all of whom served as chief justices of the State, were his partners, and in addition to these, Aaron S. Everest was at one time a partner under the firm name of Everest & Waggener. In January, 1876, this firm was appointed general attorneys for northern Kansas of the Missouri Pacific and the Central Branch railroads, and from that date to 1916 Mr. Waggener has been in the constant service of this road, first as general attorney and later as general counsel for the states of Kansas, Nebraska and Colorado.
Col. Aaron S. Everest was an interesting member of this bar. He was a native of Plattsburg, N. Y., and located in Kansas in 1871. His first partner was A. G. Otis, and when he and Mr. Waggener were associated, they were not only attorneys for the Missouri Pacific Railway Company, but for the Pacific Express Company, the Western Union Telegraph Company, three Atchison banks, the Atchison Bridge Company, and the firm was also connected with the Union Pacific Railroad Company. Mr. Everest retired from active practice a number of years before his death, having acquired a comfortable fortune in the practice of law and in business operations. He died in St. Louis a number of years ago.
The present membership of the Atchison county bar is composed of lawyers of fine abilities, and the active members are as follows: James W. Orr, for many years a partner of Mr. Waggener, and now special counsel for the Government in important litigation against the Central Pacific railroad; W. P. Waggener, general attorney for the Missouri Pacific Railway Company in Kansas; J. M. Challiss, former county attorney, and a member of the firm of Waggener, Challiss & Crane, of which A. E. Crane is the other member; W. A. Jackson, district judge; Charles J. Conlon, county attorney, C. D. Walker and T. A. Moxcey, both of whom were former county attorneys; W. E. Brown, city attorney; Z. E. Jackson, of the firm of Jackson & Jackson; Judge J. L. Berry. P. Hayes, Hugo Orlopp, E. W. Clausen, Ralph U. Pfouts, Charles T. Gundy, judge of the city court, George L. Brown, William Q. Cain, and Andrew Deduall.
XIX. MEDICAL PROFESSION
FIRST PHYSICIANS—EARLY PRACTICE—PIONEER REMEDIES—MODERN MEDICINE AND SURGERY—PROMINENT PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS—ATCHISON COUNTY MEDICAL SOCIETY.
Any history of this county would be incomplete did it not dwell at some length upon the activities of the splendid service rendered the community by the physicians and surgeons who were among the earliest arrivals upon the frontier, and have presided at the births and administered to the sick and dying for the past sixty years.
It was peculiarly fitting and appropriate when Atchison was born, that a prominent physician of those days was on hand to assist in the delivery. In truth, Dr. J. H. Stringfellow was not only the physician in charge, but he also was one of the parents, and from that time to the present the medical profession has been active in the affairs of the county. There have been many splendid representatives of the profession here since the days of Dr. Stringfellow, and the vicissitudes and trials and hardships they went through make up a romantic chapter in our history. The oldest physician in the city of Atchison in 1916 in point of service is Dr. E. T. Shelly, and it might be said, without disparagement to others, he is not only the oldest, but he is perhaps held in as high esteem and respect as any other physician who ever practiced here. Dr. Shelly combines the qualities that make for good citizenship. He treats his profession as a good Christian treats his religion. He is a man of ideals, of vision, of integrity, and his life rings true. Yet, withal, Dr. Shelly is not a professional hermit. While his profession comes first, he does not allow it to exclude him from an active interest and participation in the affairs of life. He is a student of political and economic questions, an essayist, and a vigorous advocate of a liberal democracy. His views on these questions are wholesome and instructive, but it is to the profession of medicine that Dr. Shelly addressed himself in a recent interview the author of this history had with him, and his views were expressed as follows:
“What changes have occurred in the practice of medicine since the days of the first physicians here! He did his work on horseback with his medicines in saddle-bags thrown over the horse, and often had to go many miles to visit a patient over a sparsely settled prairie with roads that were little more than trails. The streams he had to cross were bridgeless, and the larger ones could be crossed only at fords, which, after heavy rains or during freezing weather, were very dangerous.
“Today, in this section of the State, these primitive conditions can hardly be imagined. Nearly every country doctor now has an automobile, and crosses gullies and streams on concrete bridges and travels over ‘dragged’ roads. Instead of passing through a sparsely settled country, he finds a fine large farm house on nearly every ‘quarter’ or ‘eighty’ supplemented by a substantial barn and spacious granaries. He passes a school house every few miles and occasionally a rural church, and lives in a comfortable, modern home in a flourishing, well kept country town.
“In the science and art of medicine the change has been no less marked than in its general practice.
“Until forty years ago, doctors possessed a few great remedies which they often used very skillfully, but the knowledge of the nature of disease was very slight. Treatment was largely symptomatic; that is, remedies were expected chiefly to combat certain symptoms, rather than to treat underlying causes.
“A notion very prevalent until then, and which has not yet disappeared entirely, was that there is a remedy for every disease, and that whenever a patient is not cured of his illness it is due, not to the limitations of the healing art, but to the fact that treatment was not begun early enough, or his doctor didn’t know enough, or didn’t care enough to give him the right medicine. About that time it began to dawn on the most thoughtful and capable medical men that the course of disease can usually not be quickly checked; that most diseases run a definite course; that most patients recover spontaneously, or the disease persists to the end and is not much influenced by any of the remedies used. About that time medical men began to appreciate also another fact: that underlying most diseases, there is a natural tendency toward recovery, which means that most diseases will cure themselves if given time enough.
“While medical men insist that the practice of medicine is both a science and an art, they are also perfectly willing to admit that it is neither an exact science nor a perfect art. In other words, modern medicine admits that it has not yet scaled the heights or fathomed the depths of scientific knowledge in regard to the nature of disease or of its cure. It is still willing to learn. Indeed, it realizes the fact that there is still infinitely more to learn than has yet been found out. And there is no avenue of human knowledge which it is not willing to explore in order to find out things that will get the sick well and keep the well from getting sick.
“A stunning blow to the old notions of the nature of disease and to the old methods of treatment, was administered about thirty years ago by the discovery that most diseases are due to infinitely small, living organisms, called germs or bacteria, which prey upon, or poison the tissues of the body, and thereby disturb, more or less seriously, some, or all, of the normal functions of the body. The scientific laboratory thereupon became the shrine of modern medicine; a new epoch in medicine had arrived.
“This new epoch meant not only that medical and surgical disorders were henceforth to be treated in a much more scientific and rational way than they had been in the past, but that one of the greatest scientific conquests of the ages was underway—the intelligent prevention of disease. Preventive medicine had been born. Soon thereafter a new and unprecedented popular interest in medical matters became prevalent. Newspapers, magazines and the public forum took a hand in popularizing this new knowledge of the nature of disease and the methods of preventing disease, which was founded on the new knowledge. Disease began to be looked on no longer as only a mysterious dispensation of Providence, but as a thing which, as scientific medicine advanced, was more and more to come under the knowledge and control of science.
“In no domain of modern medicine have greater advances been made than in surgery, due chiefly to the discovery of the role which germs play in the causation of surgical troubles. Because of the discovery of the necessity of asepsis (the absence of germs) in surgical operations and its practical application, operations, which, if done thirty years ago, would have been almost invariably fatal, can now be done nearly with impunity. Then, surgical operations in large surgical clinics were done by men in Prince Albert coats. Today, the surgeon and his assistants are arrayed in sterilized white gowns and rubber gloves with caps for their heads and special coverings for mouth and nose, which are worn in order to prevent any unfiltered, contaminated vapor from these orifices coming in contact with the freshly made wound. Where proper precautions are taken, and no pus or other filth has come in contact with the wound, some of the most extensive operations are followed by immediate repair, without the formation of pus in the wound. To enumerate even a small part of the triumphs of modern surgery would occupy too much space and is uncalled for here, and these triumphs would have been impossible before the advent of surgical cleanliness.
“But modern medicine does not stop at treating or curing people. It does something even bigger and better—it tries to keep them well. Indeed, the medical profession is the only immolating profession there is—the only profession that is all the time trying, by its efforts in the direction of preventive medicine, to destroy its only source of income—the treatment of disease—by doing all within its power to make disease less and less prevalent. It is continually urging better personal and public hygiene and sanitation. Because medical men understand the stunting effects of ill health on the growing mind and body of the child, they are urging careful medical inspection of schools and school children, and they call for better health conditions in the family, the factory, and the mine, and they denounce without measure unhealthy child labor. Modern medicine tries to banish from the home and school, as nearly as may be, that brutal precept—“He that spareth the rod, hateth his son”— because it knows that the irritable, petulant, stubborn child may be a sick child, or has fools for parents, while the incorrigible boy or girl needs the attention of an expert in nervous and mental diseases rather than the brutality of an impatient, ignorant parent or policeman.
“Modern medicine enters the jungle and by proper sanitary rules and regulations makes a deadly, miasmatic swamp a model of cleanliness and healthfulness, as was done in the Panama canal zone, and without which the building of the canal would have been impossible.
“Modern medicine seeks to help and to save mankind, not only from physical ills, but from moral ills as well. By the careful study of the influence of inheritance and environment on the development and the conduct of the child, it tries to make his physical inheritance as favorable as possible, and his economic and social environment as helpful as may be, realizing that much of our moral delinquency is due to unjust civic and economic conditions.”
It would require a volume to tell the story of the lives of all the early-day physicians of this county. Investigation discloses the fact that they were numerous, and that in addition to Dr. Stringfellow, who gave more of his time to political matters than to his profession, there was a Dr. D. McVay here prior to 1860. He was a southern gentleman, but apparently had more discretion than valor, for he fled from Atchison at the beginning of the Civil war. Dr. William Grimes, concerning whose life brief mention has been heretofore made in this history, was a physician at Atchison in 1858. Dr. W. W. Cochrane was another physician of the old school, a courtly, amiable gentleman, and a good physician. He was for a number of years treasurer of the Kansas Medical Society, and was a pioneer among physicians in administering chloroform in childbirth cases. Dr. Arnold was here in 1859, and later, on a trip to Denver, he was scalped by the Indians. Dr. Joseph Malin, of Weston, Mo., who married one of the McAdows, was a physician in Atchison in 1861, and Dr. J. V. Brining practiced in Atchison in 1862, and remained a practitioner here until 1914.
Dr. William Gough, who had been a Confederate army surgeon, located in Atchison shortly after the war. He practiced in St. Joseph before coming to Atchison, and also at DeKalb, where he married Mrs. Annie Dunning. From DeKalb he moved to Rushville, and then came to Atchison, where he formed a partnership with the late Dr. J. M. Linley. Together they enjoyed an extensive medical and surgical practice, until 1887, when Dr. Gough moved to Los Angeles, Cal., for the benefit of his health. He died there in 1908. Dr. Gough is described by his friends as being a man of large physique, the soul of honor, and displayed the utmost care and gentleness in the care of his patients.
Dr. W. L. Challiss came to Atchison in 1857, and while standing high in his profession, gave most of his time to business affairs, and practiced only spasmodically. There was also a Dr. Buddington in Atchison in 1864, who ran a drug store at Fourth and Commercial streets.
One of the most interesting members of the medical profession in an early day was Dr. Charles F. Kob, a German physician, who lived here about 1858. Dr. Kob had been a surgeon in the army and a member of the Massachusetts and Connecticut Medical Society. He founded the town of Bunker Hill, on Independence creek, ten miles north of Atchison, to which reference has already been made in this history. He lived and practiced in Boston before coming to Atchison. Dr. Amaziah Moore was another very early day physician, who located on a farm three or four miles west of Lancaster, in 1857. He came from Ohio. In 1861 he helped organize a company for the Civil war, which became Company D of the Second Kansas cavalry, of which he was captain.
Dr. John C. Batsell lived about two and one-half miles northwest of Monrovia. He was a native of Kentucky, and was born in Marion county March 16, 1818. He was reared and educated in his native county, where he took up the study of medicine, and became proficient in the science. He commenced the practice of his profession in Valeene, Orange county, Indiana, where he continued successfully for over seven years. In the autumn of 1855 he came to Atchison county, along with John Graves and others, and after looking around, went to DeKalb, Mo., where he remained until the spring of 1866, when he returned to Atchison county, and preëmpted a quarter section, upon which he lived, northwest of Monrovia. He engaged in the practice of medicine in connection with farming, being frequently called into Doniphan and Brown counties. Malarial diseases prevailed to a great extent in those early days, and the people were in straitened circumstances. He furnished medicine and attended to their wants, losing largely in a financial way, as the greater portion of the first dwellers moved away. In 1863 Dr. Batsell organized one-half of Company D, Thirteenth Kansas, of which he was tendered the captaincy, but declined and accepted the position of first lieutenant. On account of serious illness he only served three months in the army. He was major of the Thirteenth Kansas during the Price raid, and at the close of the war was elected to the legislature by the Republican party. He was originally an old-line Whig, but upon the organization of the Republican party he joined it, as he was in favor of the abolition of slavery. During his latter years he discontinued his practice and devoted his time to his farm. He died about ten years ago.
Dr. David Wait came from Missouri to Kansas in 1859 and settled on a farm near Eden postoffice, now known as the Vollmer farm. He was a striking-looking man and was looked upon as very proficient in his profession. He was an ardent Union man. In fact, Dr. Moore, Dr. Batsell and Dr. Wait were all of great help to the Union cause in the days before the war.
Among other leading physicians of the county, outside of Atchison, of the early days, were Dr. J. F. Martin, Dr. S. G. Page, Dr. C. C. Stivers, and Dr. Desmond, concerning whom the following information is available:
Dr. J. F. Martin was one of the first practitioners in Atchison county. He was a native of Bourbon county, Kentucky, and was born September 29, 1828. He graduated at the Transylvania Medical University, in 1854, and afterwards took a course of lectures in St. Louis Medical University. Subsequently he removed to DeKalb, Mo., where he practiced until 1856, coming to Kansas about the same time that Dr. Batsell came. He had a large practice in Doniphan and Brown counties. He practiced ten years, and returned to Decatur, Ill., in 1866, where he remained seven years, and returned to Kansas, locating in Effingham. He died in Effingham in 1877.
Dr. S. G. Page, a native of Juniata county, Pennsylvania, was born July 16, 1845. He attended Bellevue Hospital Medical College in New York in 1867: came to Kansas in 1868, and located in Center township, five miles south of Effingham, where he located on a farm which he operated a few years, and then located in Effingham.
Dr. C. C. Stivers, a native of Brown county, Ohio, was born January 6, 1842. He enlisted in Company A, Sixtieth Ohio Volunteer infantry; participated in the battles of Bull Run, Cross Keys and Port Royal. Returning from the war, he took a course of lectures at Miami University in Oxford Ohio; located in Eden in 1877 and practiced until 1881, when he became a resident of Effingham. In 1880 he attended Keokuk Medical College, graduating from that institution. He had the reputation of being a brilliant conversationalist and a very interesting gentleman.
The first doctor to locate at Lancaster was Dr. Desmond, who went there in the latter seventies. While there he married a Miss Streeper, of Good Intent, and about 1885 moved to Stewartsville, Mo. Dr. Desmond was succeeded at Lancaster by Dr. A. L. Charles, who came there from Bunker Hill, Russell county, Kansas, where he had gone four years previously, after graduating from the Kansas City Medical College. Soon after locating at Lancaster, Dr. Charles married Miss Alice Keeney, who lived near Lancaster. Dr. and Mrs. Charles raised a family of seven children, the eldest of whom is the Atchison surgeon, Dr. Hugh L. Charles. Mrs. Charles died of pneumonia in the Atchison hospital in January, 1915. Dr. Charles has been a very successful physician. He enjoys the profoundest respect of his colleagues throughout the county, who regard him as an ideal physician. It is needless to add that he also enjoys the utmost confidence and esteem of a clientele whose numbers are limited only by his ability to serve.
The first physician at Mt. Pleasant was Dr. Eagle, who located there during territorial days and practiced for a number of years. Dr. Jacob Larry also located at Mt. Pleasant about 1856. He was a South Carolinian, and a graduate of Charleston Medical College. During the war he was a surgeon in the army. He located in Iatan, Mo., and was building up a large practice when he committed suicide by taking strychnine and then blowing his brains out with a pistol. Before moving to Iatan Dr. Larry induced Dr. John Parsons, of King’s Bridge, N. Y., who also had been an army surgeon, to come to Mt. Pleasant. Dr. Parsons practiced there several years, and his practice became so large that he finally induced Dr. George W. Redmon to locate at Mt. Pleasant and assist him. Dr. Redmon located there in the fall of 1872, and remained a number of years, later locating at Oak Mills. There was also a Dr. W. W. Crook at Mt. Pleasant, in the seventies. Dr. Crook also practiced in Doniphan, and later moved to Wyoming. Dr. P. R. Moore was another physician who located in Mt. Pleasant township during the seventies, as was also Dr. Johnson. Dr. Charles H. Linley, now a resident physician of Atchison, practiced in Mt. Pleasant for a number of years, and following Dr. Linley came Dr. Miller and Dr. Rice. Dr. Roberts had a small drug store and practiced medicine at Oak Mills in the early days. He was addicted to the liquor habit, and was found dead in his office one morning. He had been preceded in practice at Oak Mills by Dr. Earle, who lived about half way between Oak Mills and Kickapoo, and who settled there during the fifties.
Dr. J. M. Linley came to Atchison March 14, 1865. He was born in Concord, Ky., October 28, 1837. He attended college at Princeton, Ky., and was graduated from Miami Medical College at Cincinnati, Ohio, in March, 1858, and subsequently attended lectures in Bellevue College, New York. He was post surgeon at New Madrid, Mo., in 1864. Dr. Linley was one of the most successful practitioners of Atchison and was held in high esteem. In 1891 he went abroad and attended clinics in hospitals of Berlin and London. He died in Phoenix, Ariz., November 28, 1900.
The following are the members of the Atchison County Medical Society as reported in 1915: Dr. C. H. Johnson, Dr. H. L. Charles, Dr. M. T. Dingess, Dr. E. J. Bribach, Dr. Robert Dickey, Dr. E. P. Pitts, Dr. C. A. Lilly, Dr. Charles Robinson, Dr. C. H. Linley, Dr. T. E. Horner, Dr. F. A. Pearl, Dr. P. R. Moore, Emmingham, Dr. S. M. Myers, Potter, Dr. G. E. White, Effingham, Dr. G. W. Allaman, Dr. W. F. Smith, Dr. Virgil Morrison, Dr. E. T. Shelly.
XX. INDUSTRIAL AND COMMERCIAL
MUCH WEALTH AND ENTERPRISE ABOUND—MANUFACTURING—MILLING—EXTENSIVE WHOLESALE HARDWARE AND GROCERY ESTABLISHMENTS—PLANING MILLS— VARIOUS JOBBING AND RETAIL INTERESTS.
Industrial enterprises of Atchison county, so far as manufacturing and jobbing interests are concerned, are confined exclusively to the city of Atchison. There are no mills or factories or large manufacturing institutions in any of the smaller towns of the county. Outside of Atchison the labor and industry of the citizens are directed in agricultural pursuits; the tilling of the soil, the breeding of live stock and the development of all the other arts of husbandry, but in the city of Atchison there are a number of establishments which give employment to labor, and which in a number of instances ship their finished products to all parts of the United States and into the ports of foreign countries.
Atchison, however, strictly speaking, is not a factory town, nor a great manufacturing center. There have been times in its history when it was more important, commercially, than now, but that was in the days before the great onrush to Kansas City. Yet the town today is a substantial, solid community, where much wealth and enterprise abound, and where there has been a steady, healthy commercial growth.
The largest manufacturing plant is the John Seaton Foundry Company, and the Locomotive Finished Material Company, an associated enterprise, established by the late John Seaton, who moved to Atchison from Alton, Ill., in 1871, having been induced to come to Atchison by a handsome donation from the citizens of the town. Mr. Seaton originally manufactured much architectural work; iron and brass casting, boilers, jail and sheet iron work. For a while it was conducted under the firm name of Seaton & Lea, but shortly before the death of Captain Seaton, a few years ago, the Locomotive Finished Material Company was organized to put the finishing touches on castings and at the death of Mr. Seaton, H. E. Muchnic became president and general manager of the company, with John C. Seaton, Clive Hastings, W. S. Ferguson and G. L. Seaton as associate directors. The average number of employees is about 226, when the total horse power is 500. They have a payroll of over $14,000 a month, and are doing a large business with railroads and other big industrial plants throughout the country.
The Manglesdorf Brothers Company is one of the oldest establishments in the city. It began in 1875 as a side line in connection with the retail grocery business, by August and William Manglesdorf, and is now conducted by the sons of the founders. It is one of the largest seed houses in the West. The business was incorporated in 1887, and the officers in 1916 are as follows: August Manglesdorf, president: A. F. Manglesdorf, vice-president: Ed. F. Manglesdorf, vice-president: F. H. Manglesdorf, treasurer, and F. W. Manglesdorf, secretary.
The business has grown to such an extent that it was thought advisable to close out the retail end of it and it is now conducted as an exclusively wholesale seed house. The new warehouse, which the firm now occupies, was erected last year and gives it one of the largest and most complete plants in the West. The new building is modern in every way, strictly fire-proof and provides an enormous space for storing and handling the stocks, which are accumulated for the spring trade. The seed line, perhaps more than any other, is a seasonable one, and by far the greater proportion of the year’s business must be crowded into a few spring months. It is necessary, therefore, to move goods quickly and in large quantities, when the season is on. For this purpose, the warehouses are equipped with suitable machinery and devices, which are kept up to the highest possible efficiency for handling and cleaning the seed. The stocks are obtained in all parts of the world. When crops fail in one part of the country, it is the business of the seed dealers to supply the deficiency from some other sections, where conditions have been more favorable. Thus, the source of supply and the outlet for it are constantly shifting and it requires keeping in touch with the progress of the crops and market conditions in many different producing districts.
The firm does a considerable export business also, particularly in blue grass and timothy, which are produced here, cheaper and in better quality than they are in Europe. During each year the firm’s travelers cover the States of Kansas, Oklahoma, Missouri, parts of Nebraska, Colorado and Texas. Its line of garden seeds may be obtained from the local merchants in nearly every town in this territory.
The Bailor Plow Company, of Atchison, organized in 1910 with an authorized capital of $50,000. J. M. Schott, president; Charles Linley, vice-president; W. P. Byram, secretary; E. V. Jones, treasurer and manager. Manufacturers of a two-row cultivator. S. E. Bailor, then of Beatrice, Neb., some twenty years since built and began experimenting with a two-row cultivator. About 1905, the late David Rankin, of Tarkio, Mo., placed fifty Bailor cultivators in use on his 25,000–acre farm near Tarkio, giving them a thorough test for efficiency. The result was such that he induced Bailor to build a plant for their manufacture at Tarkio. In 1910 the Atchison Commercial Club, which had previously investigated the possibilities of Bailor’s factory as a valuable addition to this city’s industrial institutions, induced him to locate his business in Atchison. The Bailor Plow Company was promoted and incorporated by the following successful business men: Balie P. Waggener, Henry Klostermeier, T. R. Clendinen, at that time president of the Commercial Club; O. A. Simmons, vice-president of the First National Bank; E. V. Jones, J. M. Schott, W. P. Byram, Charles Linley, at that time treasurer of Atchison county, and S. E. Bailor, inventor of the cultivator. During the year 1910, the first year of operation in Atchison, one hundred cultivators were sold. The year 1915 shows an output of product valued at about $250,000. The company’s plant has a floor space of 25,000 square feet; forty men are on its payroll and it disburses in wages over $50,000 per annum.
The National Poultry and Egg Company. This institution is one of the largest of its kind in the West, and is located on the corner of Fourteenth and Main streets. Under the able management of G. E. Hanna, it has steadily increased its capacity and enlarged its business operations until at the present time it employs an average of fifty-four men and women a month and pays out in wages almost $30,000 each year. The plant and machinery represent an investment of about $70,000 and its sales are over a half million dollars a year. It is engaged in buying and selling poultry, eggs and butter, and ships fancy dressed poultry to eastern markets.
Deer Creek Creamery Company. This company has a capital stock of $10,000; employs eight men and four girls, with an annual payroll of $8,000. In addition to the employees in the local office, it also employs twenty men in the country to operate its numerous cream stations. The company manufactures over a half million pounds of butter a year, and it puts up and sells in Atchison from 80,000 to 100,000 gallons of milk every year, in addition to 6,000 or 8,000 gallons of ice cream. Over $125,000 annually is paid out to Kansas farmers for cream; about $25,000 of this amount going to farmers in the immediate vicinity of Atchison. It is one of the growing institutions of the city, and the excellence of the products it turns out is the cause for its constant increase of business.
Atchison is also the home of two large manufacturers of saddlery. The Atchison Saddlery Company is the successor to Louis Kiper & Sons and occupies a large building on Kansas avenue between Fourth and Fifth streets. Its officers are George Diegel, president; George T. Lindsey, vice-president, and Henry Diegel, secretary-treasurer. It has a capital stock of $150,000; employs seventy-nine people. It ships its products into many States of the West and has been doing an exceedingly large business in the past few years.
Kessler-Barkow Saddlery Company was incorporated several years ago, with G. T. Bolman, president; F. A. Barkow, vice-president, and H. B. Kessler, secretary and treasurer. This company has a capital and surplus of $85,000, and employs sixty-five people, and has an average annual payroll of about $40,000.00. It manufactures harness and saddles for the jobbing trade exclusively and has large accounts with the Blish, Mize & Silliman Hardware Company, Montgomery, Ward & Company and Sears, Roebuck & Company.
The Atchison Leather Products Company is another growing institution of Atchison, the officers of which are the same as that of the Kessler- Barkow Saddlery Company. This company are producers of cut leather parts of all kinds, and are large buyers of scrap leather. It has a capital stock of $7,000.00 and employs fifteen people. Its sales for 1915 amounted to over $65,000.00, and it also handles various leather specialties and automobile accessories.
Atchison is also the home of three large mills. The Blair Milling Company, the Cain Milling Company and the Lukens Milling Company, and these mills handle an average of 20,000 to 25,000 cars of grain annually, and ship out finished wheat and corn products of 4,000 to 5,000 cars every year. The Lukens Milling Company has recently erected cement storage tanks for storage of grain, of the capacity of 125,000 bushels, and the Blair Elevator Company, which is operated by J. W. and W. A. Blair, in 1915, also erected cement storage tanks to the capacity of 200,000 bushels. The growth of the mills of Atchison is logical, for they are located in a rich agricultural section, and consequently the mills are among the most important enterprises in the city. In each case the mills of Atchison are being operated by the sons of its founders. The Blair mill was established by E. K. Blair, in an early day of the history of Atchison, and is now managed by his sons, J. W. and W. A. Blair. The Lukens mill was founded by David Lukens, who came to Atchison in 1857. He operated a sawmill and raised corn in Missouri bottoms until 1877, when he built the Diamond Mills, now conducted by his sons, Arthur Lukens, Edwin Lukens and David Lukens. The original Cain Mill Company was established by John M. Cain and Alfred Cain, and its successor, the Cain Milling Company, is operated by Douglas M. Cain, the son of Alfred Cain.
Atchison is also the home of two of the largest wholesale hardware stores on the Missouri river, both of which began operations here at approximately the same time. The operations of the Blish, Mize & Silliman Hardware Company are the largest of the two companies. This company travels thirty men and has an office and store force of eighty- eight men and women. It has an annual payroll of $115,000.00. It was founded by D. P. Blish, E. A. Mize and J. B. Silliman, who were all related by marriage. The company began in a small way as a successor to J. E. Wagner & Company, and has branched out in its business until it covers several States and territories. It occupies a magnificent re- inforced concrete fire-proof structure at the corner of Fifth and Utah avenue, and its business has been increasing from year to year.
The A. J. Harwi Hardware Company is owned and controlled largely by F. E. Harwi, the son of its founder, and a full account of its operations appears in a sketch of the life and career of A. J. Harwi in this history.
Atchison is particularly proud of the fact that it is one of the best jobbing centers in this part of the country, and in this connection the wholesale grocery business is well represented in the two splendid firms of the Dolan Mercantile Company and the Symns Grocery Company. The Dolan Mercantile Company was established by W. F. Dolan, one of the pioneers of Atchison, who started in a small way as a retail grocer merchant, and died leaving a splendidly established wholesale grocery business, which is now conducted by M. J. Horan and Leo Nusbaum. This house, under the able management of these two young men is rapidly making for itself a big reputation among wholesale dealers and grocers. In addition to jobbing regular lines of merchandise this company has recently installed its own plant for the manufacture of fluid extracts, baking powder and pancake flour, and also roasts its own coffees. It has a large traveling force, visiting the States of Nebraska, Missouri, Kansas and Oklahoma, and the Dolan brands are well known throughout this whole territory.
The Symns Grocery Company was established by A. B. Symns, who came to Kansas from West Virginia, with his three brothers, in 1858, where he settled in the town of Doniphan and engaged in mercantile pursuits, until he removed to Atchison in 1872. He opened a wholesale and retail grocery here in that year, and continued in business without a partner until March, 1878, when the firm became Symns & Turner, under which name it was run until 1880, when it was changed to A. B. Symns & Company. It was subsequently incorporated into the Symns Grocery Company, and at the death of A. B. Symns, the business was run by J. W. Allen, J. E. Moore, C. A. Lockwood and Tom Gray. It operates in about the same territory that the Dolan Mercantile Company operates in, and its present enterprising management is keeping up the splendid reputation established by its founder.
The Odell Cider & Vinegar Company is a new institution in Atchison. A. Leo is manager, and $30,000.00 is invested in the plant and equipment here. This company pressed out over 200,00 bushels of apples in 1915, and made 650,000 gallons of vinegar. Forty men are employed during the pressing season, and over $30,000.00 a year is paid out for apples, which are converted into 150,000 gallons of vinegar, which is shipped to various points in the United States during 1915.
The Stevenson planing mill employs twelve men, with a payroll of about $10,000.00 a year and annual sales aggregating $27,000.00. S. R. Stevenson, who for many years was employed by the old Atchison Furniture Company, is at the head of this business. He settled in Atchison in 1865, and learned cabinet making with Dickinson & Company, of this city.
It would require a volume to properly elaborate upon the operations of the various commercial enterprises of Atchison. What has been given is the merest outline of the industrial activities here. The brief reference to the several business houses and manufacturing plants is made merely for the purpose of showing the character of the industrial life of the county.
In addition to those enumerated there are other jobbing and manufacturing interests operating, in some instances on as large a scale, and in other instances on a smaller scale, but which in themselves are just as important. Reference has not been made to the Klostermeier Hardware Company, one of the largest jobbers in hardware in northeastern Kansas, or to L. W. Voigt & Company, large shippers of fruit, vegetables and produce, or to Kean & Tucker, operating along the same line; neither has the James Poultry Company been mentioned, which is one of Atchison’s growing concerns. There are also manufacturers of cigars, brooms and barrels; large distributors of automobiles and automobile accessories, and candy manufacturers. The Railway Specialty Company, manufacturers of gasoline propelled railway track cars is making substantial progress. From a small beginning it has forged ahead, under the able management of Clive Hastings, until it has reached a point where it will soon take its place among the leading track car manufacturers of this country. Already the company has shipped its cars to foreign parts, and it has also supplied many of the large railroads of the United States with its cars. The Weiss Cornice Company is the latest arrival in Atchison. This company makes metal cornices, window frames and other builders’ fire-proof specialties. It recently moved here from Kansas City and is already a large employer of labor. The Washer Grain Company, established by Maj. S. H. Washer, does a large grain business, and is still managed by Major Washer, who recently passed his eightieth birthday. He is ably assisted by his son, W. R. Washer, who is also otherwise prominently identified with the commercial and shipping interests of the county.
Atchison also is a fine retail center, and draws trade from the surrounding territory for a distance of from fifty to seventy-five miles. It has fine dry goods stores, which carry the latest merchandise; good shoe stores, millinery shops, grocery and hardware stores and shops of all kinds, all of which are run by enterprising merchants. Atchison is a good town in which to live; a city of beautiful homes; fine paved and well lighted streets; a good water system and adequate street car service, and a fine, prosperous set of people. The future of Atchison, as a commercial center, is particularly bright, and it may look back with a justifiable pride to what has already been accomplished, and forward to a better day that is yet to come.
XXI. PUBLIC BUILDINGS AND INSTITUTIONS
ATCHISON POSTOFFICE—COURT HOUSE—COUNTY HOSPITAL—YOUNG MEN’S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION—STATE ORPHANS’ HOME—ATCHISON PUBLIC LIBRARY—ATCHISON HOSPITAL—MASONIC TEMPLE.
The first postoffice in Atchison opened in a small, one-story, stone building, on the south side of Commercial street, between Second and Third. The room was about 20×26 feet in dimensions, but large enough for the purpose for which it was intended at that time. The location of the postoffice was removed in 1856 to the store of Messrs. Woolfolk & Cabell, on the levee. During the war in Kansas, in August, the headquarters of the United States mail service were removed to the law office of P. P. Wilcox. From there the office was removed to a building on the north side of Commercial street, between Third and Fourth, and it was there that in July, 1882, the free delivery system was inaugurated in Atchison, which, with her money order department fully equipped the postoffice. A number of years later agitation was started for the erection of a new postoffice, and through the efforts of Senator Ingalls a site at the northeast corner of Seventh and Kansas avenue was purchased from Dr. Cochrane by the Government, and the contract was awarded for the erection of the postoffice June 24, 1892, at a cost of $61,703.17.
The names and terms of the postmasters of Atchison since the founding of the office are as follows: Robert S. Kelly, March 15, 1855; John H. Blasingham, December 20, 1855; Henry Addoms, July 28, 1857; John A. Martin, April 26, 1861; Benjamin B. Gale, March 5, 1874; John M. Price, February 6, 1879; Melleville C. Winegar, March 10, 1882; H. Clay Park, March 30, 1886; Solomon R. Washer, March 20, 1890; Edgar C. Post, June 7, 1894; James M. Chisham, June 3, 1898; William D. Casey, December 14, 1910; Louis C. Orr, December 29, 1914, who is postmaster in 1916.
COURT HOUSE.
The present court house of this county occupies lots 1, 2 and 3, in block 65, Old Atchison, and the contract for the building was entered into on the twenty-first day of May, 1896, and accepted by the board of county commissioners September 13, 1897. The total cost of building and fixtures was $83,154.48.
COUNTY HOSPITAL.
The present county hospital for the poor is located on the southeast quarter of section 14, township 6, range 20. The farm was purchased from R. A. Park October 7, 1903, for $9,540, and the hospital was erected January 3, 1905, at a cost of $27,501. The average cost of operating the hospital and farm of 160 acres is approximately $2,109.16 per year, and the average number of inmates is thirty. The present superintendent is J. S. Clingan.
THE YOUNG MEN’S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION.
On December 2, 1911, there met in the office of C. S. Hull a small group of men interested in securing a modern Young Men’s Christian Association building for the city of Atchison. Although this is the first formal meeting of which there are any minutes recorded it is known that the idea of an organization and building had long existed in the mind of William Carlisle, and that encouragement was given him by many others. At the meeting held on December 2 the Atchison Y. M. C. A. Promotion Club was formally launched with Claude B. Fisk as president.
At the next meeting, held January 1, 1912, an executive committee, composed of R. W. Ramsay, W. B. Collett, Fred Oliver, and C. S. Hull was elected and the secretary was authorized to invite John E. Manley, State secretary of the Young Men’s Christian Association, to be present at the next meeting of the club.
On March 6, 1912, the club met at the Byram Hotel for luncheon. Mr. Manley was present at this meeting and outlined a plan for a campaign to raise the necessary funds to erect a modern building. The luncheon meeting adjourned to meet at the office of H. H. Hackney at 4 p. m., at which time a business committee of twenty-five men was appointed. The following composed this committee: H. B. Mize, Fred Oliver, Eugene Howe, W. B. Collett, C. S. Hull, George Guerrier, R. W. Ramsay, Sheffield Ingalls, D. M. Cain, F. W. Woodford, A. F. Heck, August Manglesdorf, Jr., T. A. Moxcey, Eugene Pulliam, E. W. Clausen, Clive Hastings, H. H. Hackney, N. T. Veatch, W. P. Waggener, W. J. Bailey, Charles Linley, Roy Seaton, Claude Fisk, J. A. Shoemaker, Holmes Dysinger. This committee was later increased to twenty-seven, and the names of W. A. Carlisle and W. A. Jackson were added.
The first regular meeting of the provisional committee, as it was now called, was held at the Blish, Mize & Silliman offices March 13 and a permanent organization effected. State Secretary Manley was present. R. W. Ramsay, the present incumbent, was made president at this meeting; Charles Linley, vice-president; C. S. Hull, recording secretary, and George Guerrier, treasurer. T. C. Treat at this time tendered the use of a room in the Simpson building for an office for the organization, which was gratefully accepted.
At a meeting of the executive committee, held March 18, 1912. L. V. Starkey was employed as general secretary and took active charge of the building campaign April 15.
At the meeting held April 22 it was decided to raise $100,000 by public subscription, and the following team captains were elected: S. R. Beebe, O. A. Simmons, H. B. Mize, John R. Taylor, F. M. Woodford, L. M. Baker, Charles A. Brown, W. D. Casey, W. W. Hetherington, and W. A. Jackson.
The charter for the organization bears the date of April 6 and was duly acted upon and signed by the committee of twenty-seven at a meeting held April 22.
In a ten days’ campaign conducted May 15–25, 1912, an amount approximating $85,000 was raised by popular subscription. The headquarters of the campaign were in a room furnished by J. C. Killarney at 105–107 North Fifth street.
The latter part of June, 1912. the site at the northeast corner of Fourth and Commercial streets was contracted for and work begun at once on the building. On December 4, 1913, the splendid building which now occupies that corner was formally opened for the regular work of the association. The membership soon reached 450, and has been maintained at about that point ever since.
The entire cost of building, including site and furnishings, amounted to $113,000.
The Y. M. C. A. building contains thirty-four living rooms with a capacity for fifty men. These rooms are now kept filled practically all the time. A restaurant is operated on the ground floor and there are excellent facilities for handling banquets and committee meetings. The building is always at the disposal of church societies and other organizations for gatherings of any kind.
There is a gymnasium, 44×72 feet, thoroughly equipped with all necessary apparatus and a white tile-lined swimming pool, 20×50 feet. With a separate entrance on Fourth street, there is a special game room for boys ten to fifteen years of age.
The present board of directors is composed of R. W. Ramsay as president; B. L. Brockett, vice-president; H. H. Hackney, recording secretary; Charles Lanley, treasurer; Messrs. W. B. Collett, M. T. Dingess, Claud B. Fisk, J. A. Fletcher, C. C. Ham, W. W. Hetherington, Martin Jensen, J. F. Krueger, H. P. Shepherd, and F. M. Woodford.
The present general secretary, Ira J. Beard, came to the association in April, 1914. Emmett T. Ireland is the present physical director, and George Kassabaum is the assistant secretary.
On the fourth of December, 1914, an anniversary banquet was held in the gymnasium, celebrating the first year of the association in its new building, and the reports of the work accomplished at that time dispelled any feeling there may have been on the part of some that such an institution could not be successfully maintained in Atchison. This banquet was attended by 200 enthusiastic friends and members of the association, and Governor Arthur Capper was a guest of honor.
Membership in the Young Men’s Christian Association is open to any boy or man of good character who is over ten years of age. Membership in the Atchison association is accepted and honored in all other Young Men’s Christian associations throughout the country. The dominant purpose of the association is the building up of Christian character.
STATE ORPHANS’ HOME.
The legislature of the State of Kansas at the session of 1885 enacted the first law for the establishing of a Soldiers’ Orphans’ Home at Atchison, Kan. For the purpose of erecting the first building the legislature appropriated the sum of $24,300 on condition that the land should be donated to the State.
The act of the legislature provided that said Soldiers’ Orphans’ Home “shall be an institution for the nurture, education and maintenance, without charge, for all indigent children of soldiers who served in the army and navy of the Union during the late rebellion, and who have been disabled from wounds or disease, or who have since died in indigent circumstances, and other indigent orphan children of the State.” The institution was located at Atchison, Kan., on the present site which was purchased from the late J. P. Brown and donated to the State. In pursuance of the act of the legislature a portion of what is now the main building was erected and by a subsequent appropriation was finished, and the first children were admitted on July 1, 1887.
The original building was a four-story brick building with a basement. The fourth story was made into a dormitory, with five rooms for employes. The third story consisted of a smaller dormitory, lavatories, rooms for employes and sleeping room for the superintendent. The second story had school rooms, superintendent’s office, parlor, lavatories and rooms for employes. The first floor rooms were dining room, kitchen, store room, school rooms. The basement was used for boilers, store rooms, laundry and boys’ lavatory.
The laws regulating the home were amended and enlarged by the legislature at its session of 1889, so that all children sound in mind and body and over two years of age and under fourteen years, belonging to any one of the following named classes shall be eligible for admission to the home: “First, any child dependent upon the public for support; any dependent, neglected and ill-treated child who is an object of public concern, and whom the State may have power to exercise and extend its protection and control.”
This act of the legislature so increased the number of eligible for admission to the home that it soon became necessary to enlarge the building. In 1891 the legislature again appropriated the sum of $7,000 for the erection of the west wing, to be the same width and height as the main building, and to increase the length by thirty feet and this gave play room, sitting room, school room and sleeping room for the kindergarten children, also a room in which the John A. Martin Memorial Library was placed, and a reading room in the upper story for the larger boys.
Connected with this appropriation was $1,000 for a hospital building which is detached from the main building by about 100 feet.
The growth of the institution and the number desiring admission made it necessary to again ask for an appropriation for more buildings. At the session of the legislature of 1895 the legislature appropriated $91,800 for the erection of the east wing and for three cottages, 50×42 feet, and a building for domestic purposes, 40×110 feet, which contains the chapel, children’s dining room, one large school room, kitchen, store room, one employes’ dining room and eight rooms for employes.
At the legislative session of 1907 an appropriation of $25,000 was made for the purpose of erecting a new cottage on the Orphans’ Home grounds, to be used for the purpose of caring for destitute crippled children who were otherwise unprovided for under the various acts of the legislature providing for the Orphans’ Home. The foundation for this building was commenced on the seventeenth day of October, 1909, and the building was completed, and ready for the occupancy of children July 1, 1910. The law providing for only children sound in mind and body between the ages of two and fourteen years shall be admitted. This cottage at the present time is used for the older girls of the institution and it seems very well adapted for that purpose.
The legislature of 1903 very generously appropriated $20,000 to build a brick pavement from the city to the home. This road was completed to the city limits in 1904. Since that time the city has extended its pavement so that now there is a pavement road all the way from the home to the business district of Atchison.
The two latest improvements of great value to the home are, first the connecting up of the home with the Atchison Water Company, so that now we receive a supply of water adequate for all purposes. This was done in 1913 and 1914. Previous to that time water had been obtained from various sources and the supply was always poor in quality and very inadequate in quantity. This apparently settles the question of water, so far as this institution is concerned, and we now have a plentiful supply of the purest of water. Second: From the very first beginning of the home the question of sewage disposal has been one of great difficulty and a source of much annoyance and discomfort to those around about, particularly the neighboring farmers. For years the sewage of the institution flowed out through the pasture land and fields of our neighbors, and various attempts to build sewage disposal plants were made by the board of control and others who had charge of the State institutions, but with little or no success. At the present time we are engaged in connecting up the institution with the city sewer system at a cost of approximately $6,000.
The original cost of the land occupied by the State Orphans’ Home, and purchased from J. P. Brown, as hereinbefore mentioned, was $16,000.
No institution in this State occupies a more beautiful and sightly location. It is situated at an elevation of 275 feet above the Missouri river, and overlooking the winding course of that stream for miles, with the city of Atchison at its feet and with the view north and west unobstructed for miles, it is the wonder and admiration of all who behold it. It is impossible for me to state exactly or to ascertain exactly the cost of the institution, properly known as the State Orphans’ Home, but it is approximately in the neighborhood of $300,000.
The first superintendent was John Pierson; his wife, Mrs. M. A. Pierson, was his matron, and the celebrated Dr. Eva Harding, now a physician, located in Topeka, and running for the Democratic nomination for Congress in the First district, was his physician. Mr. Pierson was not very long in this office. The records do not show just how long, but he was succeeded by Charles E. Faulkner, who is now serving as superintendent of the Washburn Memorial Orphans’ Asylum, at Minneapolis, Minn. It was during Faulkner’s administration that most of the improvements heretofore noted were made. Faulkner was succeeded by C. A. Woodworth in 1898 and served but two years, when H. H. Young was appointed. He served but a short time and was succeeded by E. L. Hillis, who held the office until the time of his resignation, April 1, 1907, because of ill health. Mr. Hillis was succeeded by E. C. Willis, of Newton, Kan., on April 10, 1907, who remained superintendent until he was succeeded by Mrs. E. K. Burnes on the first day of September, 1913. Mrs. Burnes held the place for two years, being succeeded by E. C. Willis on the first of September, 1915, who is still the superintendent at the present time.
More than 6,000 have been inmates of the home at sometime or another, and of the 6,000 only 200 are here at the present time. All of the others who are still living are out in the world and doing for themselves like other people with various degrees of success. Some of them are doing well; others exceedingly well, and are occupying good positions, or are in business for themselves.
Very sincerely,
EDWARD C. WILLIS, Superintendent.
ATCHISON PUBLIC LIBRARY.
Major W. W. Downs was the promoter of the association. He was at Kansas in the spring of 1879 and opened its doors to the public November 17 of that year.
He was at that time superintendent of the Central Branch railroad and realized the need of reading and amusement rooms for the young men in this city. He succeeded in interesting a number of influential Atchison women in the work and promised a generous personal donation and the coöperation of the various railroads centering here.
It was unfortunate that before the doors of the library swung open the Central Branch changed officials. In spite of this discouragement the Atchison ladies continued to work, and since its organization it has always been managed by a board of fifteen women.
Funds are raised by the sale of membership and donations and a small monthly stipend from the city. J. P. Pomeroy subsequently made a splendid donation, amounting to $10,000, and later on, A. J. Harwi contributed a like amount for the support of this institution. It now has almost 11,000 books on its shelves besides hundreds of magazines and pamphlets.
Mrs. Leontine Scofield was appointed librarian in January, 1883, and has held that position from that time until 1916 uninterruptedly. She has endeared herself to the thousands of patrons who have visited this institution, and her familiarity with the place and her fidelity to the work especially fits her for this important place.
The following Atchison ladies are the officers of the association in 1916: Mrs. W. W. Guthrie, president; Mrs. F. E. Harwi, vice-president; Mrs. W. S. Beitzel, recording secretary; Miss Effie E. Symns, corresponding secretary; Mrs. Fannie W. Linley, treasurer. In addition to these ladies the following are directresses: Miss Nellie Allen, Mrs. R. F. Clark, Mrs. L. R. Seaton, Mrs. G. W. Glick, Mrs. E. S. Wills, Mrs. W. H. Schulze, Mrs. J. M. Challiss, Mrs. D. C. Newcomb, and Miss Mary Lukens. Mrs. J. J. Ingalls is an honorary directress of the association.
ATCHISON HOSPITAL.
The first attempt to found a hospital in the city of Atchison originated in 1884, and after a general meeting for organization a board was appointed which purchased and re-constructed a building situated on South Seventh street between U and V, and the institution was open to the public May 20 of that year.
The following named Atchison ladies were prominently identified with the movement that was responsible for the building of the first hospital in Atchison: Mrs. A. A. Carey, who was the first president of the association; Mrs. J. J. Berry, Mrs. W. W. Campbell, Mrs. E. A. Mize, Mrs. D. P. Blish, Mrs. C. B. Singleton, Mrs. J. J. Ingalls, and Mrs. C. S. Osborn.
After five years of activity this building as a hospital was closed through lack of support and the misapprehension of the purpose of a hospital on the part of the community.
From about 1889 until 1912 the hospital necessities of Atchison were provided by private institutions and cases were sent outside of the city, but in the fall of 1912 the need for a hospital within the city had become very apparent, and as a result the following public spirited citizens of the city associated themselves together for the purpose of building a modern hospital: W. P. Waggener, president; R. W. Ramsay, vice-president; Otis E. Gray, secretary; Joseph M. Schott, treasurer. The directors with the above officers were: Frank Harwi, T. M. Walker and L. R. Seaton. They instituted a campaign for the purpose of raising $50,000 to purchase a site and construct and equip a building for a general hospital.
The campaign was to a very large degree successful, sufficient money being raised in this initial effort to warrant the directors in purchasing a site, the square block situated on North Second street between N and O streets, where a fire-proof building was constructed to accommodate thirty-five patients with a maximum capacity of fifty. The building is equipped with the most modern appliances for hospital activities. The operating room was modeled and equipped after the suggestion of the most celebrated surgeons in the country, and since the opening of the hospital to receive patients in July, 1914, its success has been assured and its need demonstrated. It possesses appliances and equipment conservatively valued at $65,000.
The present board of directors are: W. P. Waggener, president; Frank E. Harwi, vice-president; O. E. Gray, secretary; Joseph M. Schott, treasurer. Directors: R. W. Ramsay, H. E. Muchnic, Eugene Howe and Leo Nusbaum.
The purpose of this institution is to take care of the sick and injured of the community without distinction of race, color or creed. Those who can afford to pay are expected to pay the fees of the institution. No one is refused attendance by reason of his or her inability to pay for such service. The biological and X-Ray laboratories are among the best equipped in the State and these laboratories with their equipment, like most of the furnishings and equipment of the hospital, are memorials of the former residents of Atchison county.
MASONIC TEMPLE.
This magnificent new home for the Masonic orders of Atchison is a three- story structure of re-inforced concrete fire-proof construction with basement. It is built of gray Brazil, Indiana, vitrified brick and trimmed with ocean colored terra cotta. The first floor is a store room and on the second floor there are a number of offices and the banquet hall with kitchen facilities. The third floor is used exclusively for Masonic purposes, and in the rear portion of the third floor is a mezzanine floor with fire-proof lockers. The lodge room is embellished with an ornamental plaster cornice and with Scagliola columns and pilasters. The ceiling is circular with a large dome, and the memorial room is finished with ornamental plastering in elaborate Egyptian design. The total cost of this building with furniture and equipment was close to $60,000.
XXII. SOCIETIES AND LODGES
ATCHISON COUNTY PROTECTIVE ASSOCIATION—BENEVOLENT AND PROTECTIVE ORDER OF ELKS—FRATERNAL ORDER OF EAGLES—OTHER SECRET SOCIETIES—CATHOLIC SOCIETIES.
One of the strongest county organizations among the farmers is the Atchison County Protective Association. It had its origin in a vigilance committee which was organized at Good Intent and Shannon, in 1883. For three years this committee operated as a vigilance committee and was organized under the Central Protective Association, August 31, 1886, by William Conners, of Winthrop, Mo. L. P. Dubois, concerning whom a biographical sketch appears in another part of this history, was the first president of the Good Intent lodge, and W. H. Smith was the first secretary. Hon. T. J. Emlen, county treasurer of this county, was the first treasurer of Shannon Hill lodge, and J. I. Holmes was the first secretary.
The first work that was done by the consolidated lodges was in running down a thief who stole a team of horses from the late Rolla Streeper. Members of both lodges were taxed $10 each to defray the expense of the chase. J. H. Barry was sheriff of the county at that time and captured the thief in Nebraska.
Following this capture the lodges decided that the expense was too great to be borne by them alone and so the Atchison County Protective Association was formed in the spring of 1889. The first president was C. S. Prim, and the second president was Hon. W. T. Bland, third president was Elias Graves. W. H. Bush was the fourth president, and he held office for ten years and was one of the most popular, tactful and conscientious officials the association ever had. Will Dooley, of the Good Intent lodge, was president of the association in 1916, and no better man ever filled the position. The Hon. Edward Iverson, ex-county clerk, and now cashier of the Exchange State Bank, at Atchison, has been secretary of the association since 1901. The association has now a membership of 1,500 and with twenty-five lodges, and is affiliated with the Central Protective Association.
BENEVOLENT AND PROTECTIVE ORDER OF ELKS.
This lodge was organized January 17, 1901, with 150 charter members. W. T. Bland, for many years district judge of this county, was elected the first exalted ruler. The lodge occupied temporary quarters for a number of years, and erected its present building at a cost of $20,000 and dedicated it in 1907. The present membership of the Elk’s lodge is 326, and the names of the past exalted rulers, in addition to W. T. Bland, are as follows: Charles Linley, T. S. Young, J. M. Challiss, James W. Orr, W. S. Washer, Fred Giddings, W. P. Waggener, B. W. Vickery, W. D. Harburger, Charles A. Brown, G. W. Myers, H. B. Bilimek, and Walter E. Brown, whose term expires March 31, 1916.
ATCHISON AERIE, NO. 173, FRATERNAL ORDER OF EAGLES.
The Atchison Aerie, No. 173, of the Fraternal Order of Eagles, was instituted on October 3, 1901. The officers in 1916 are as follows: Past worthy president, Owen Grady; worthy president, John V. Smith; worthy vice-president, Fred Rambke; worthy chaplain, F. E. Kaaz; treasurer, L. M. Baker; secretary, W. H. Smith; trustees, S. S. King, Carl Schmitt, E. N. Underwood; aerie physician, Dr. C. F. Finney.
The aerie meets every Wednesday evening. The cost of the present building was about $35,000. The building belongs to the Eagles’ Benevolent Association. The present membership is 550.
SECRET SOCIETIES.
Ancient Order of United Workmen—Atchison Lodge, No. 4, first and third Thursdays at Odd Fellows’ Hall. L. M. Baker, recorder.
Ancient Order of United Workmen—Mulford Lodge, No. 137. Second and fourth Thursdays at Odd Fellows’ Hall. W. A. Wilson, recorder.
Ancient Order of United Workmen—Degree of Honor—Columbia Lodge, No. 85. Second and fourth Thursdays.
Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks—Atchison Lodge, No. 647. First and third Tuesdays at 611 Kansas avenue. George R. Hooper, secretary.
Central Protective Association—Atchison Lodge, No. 32. Meets at call of president. W. H. Smith, secretary.
Court of Honor—(See Ancient Order of United Workmen.).
Eagles—(See Fraternal Order of Eagles).
Elks Club House—(See Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks).
Fraternal Aid Association—Atchison Council, No. 7. First and third Wednesdays at Security Hall. Rosa S. Voorhees, secretary.
Fraternal Order of Eagles—Atchison Aerie, No. 173. Every Wednesday at Eagles’ Hall. W. H. Smith, secretary.
Grand Army of the Republic—A. S. Everest Post, No. 493. First and third Mondays at court house.
Grand Army of the Republic—A. S. Everest Woman’s Relief Corps, No. 148. First and third Thursdays at court house. Mrs. John Noron, secretary.
Grand Army of the Republic—John A. Martin Post, No. 93. Fourth Sundays at court house. Willful A. Stanley, adjutant. C. H. Burrows, commander.
Independent Order of Odd Fellows—(See Odd Fellows).
Improved Order of Red Men—Miami Tribe, No. 15. Every Monday at Red Men’s Wigwam. J. M. Tarman, sachem.
Independent Order of Foresters—Court Atchison, No. 1741. Meets at call of Chief Ranger. George R. Hooper, secretary.
Kansas Fraternal Citizens—Atchison Assembly, No. 15. First and third Thursdays at Odd Fellows’ Hall. Walter North, secretary.
Knights and Ladies of Security—Atchison Council, No. 267. Meets every Thursday at Security Hall. Courtney Turner, secretary.
Knights and Ladies of Security—Harmony Council, No. 1375. Second and fourth Thursdays. C. H. Burrows, secretary.
Knights of the Maccabees—Atchison Tent, No. 2. First and third Tuesdays. F. M. Woodford, record keeper.
Knights of Pythias—Golden Cross Lodge, No. 7. Every Thursday at Security Hall. W. M. Thistle, keeper of records and seal.
Masonic—Active Lodge, No. 158. Ancient Free and Accepted Masons. Second and fourth Mondays at Knights of Pythias Hall. A. W. Nicholson, secretary.
Masonic—Washington Chapter, No. 1, Royal Arch Masons. Second and fourth Thursdays at Asylum, 724½ Commercial street. J. E. Henderson, secretary.
Masonic—Washington Commandery, No. 2, Knights Templar. First and third Thursdays at Asylum, 724½ Commercial street. J. E. Henderson, recorder.
Eagle’s Benevolent Association—Meets at call of president. W. H. Smith, secretary.
Masonic—Washington Council, No. 2, Royal and Select Masters. Third Saturdays at Asylum, Masonic Temple. J. E. Henderson, recorder.
Ancient Free and Accepted Masons—Washington Lodge, No. 5, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons. First and third Mondays at Masonic Temple. J. E. Henderson, secretary.
Ancient Free and Accepted Masons—Order of Eastern Star—Martha Washington Chapter, No. 215. First and third Fridays at Masonic Temple. Miss Alice Noron, secretary.
Modern Brotherhood of America—Atchison Lodge, No. 427. Second Tuesdays at Red Men’s Wigwam. Charles Pantle, secretary.
Modern Woodmen of America—Unity Camp, No. 356. Second and fourth Fridays at Odd Fellows’ Hall. T. J. Ritner, clerk.
Mystic Workers of the World—First and third Tuesdays at Security Hall. Herman Haase, secretary.
Independent Order of Odd Fellows’ Hall—Southwest corner Fifth and Kansas avenue, second and third floors.
Independent Order of Odd Fellows—Friendship Lodge, No. 5. Every Tuesday at Odd Fellows’ Hall. W. H. Smith, secretary.
Independent Order of Odd Fellows—Hesperian Encampment, No. 6. First and third Fridays at Odd Fellows’ Hall. A. W. Heisey, secretary.
Independent Order of Odd Fellows—Rebekahs—Friendship Lodge, No. 288. Second and fourth Mondays at Odd Fellows’ Hall. Mrs. Bessie Jost, secretary.
Independent Order of Odd Fellows—Schillers Lodge, No. 33. Every Wednesday at Odd Fellows’ Hall. Charles Feierabend, secretary.
Order of Eastern Star—(See Ancient Free and Accepted Masons).
P. E. O. Society—Chapter J. Kansas. Every second Friday at homes of members. Mrs. Anna Lungwitz, secretary. Public rest room, 109 South Fifth avenue.
Daughters of Rebekah—(See Independent Order of Odd Fellows).
Red Men’s Wigwam—Third floor, 500 Commercial street.
Royal Arcanum—Atchison Commandery, No. 1035. Scott Jones, secretary. Meets at call of regent.
Royal Neighbors—Atchison Camp, No. 1044. First and third Fridays at Odd Fellows’ Hall. Mrs. Emma M. Christian, recorder.
United Commercial Travelers of America—Atchison Council, No. 99. Fourth Saturdays at Masonic Temple. George R. Hooper, secretary.
Woodmen Circle—Atchison Grove, No. 13. First and third Mondays at Odd Fellows’ Hall. A. W. Heisey, secretary.
Woodmen of the World—Atchison Camp, No. 9. First and second Mondays at Odd Fellows’ Hall. Judge J. P. Adams, clerk.
Security Hall—524–526 Commercial street, third floor.
CATHOLIC SOCIETIES.
Carroll Club—First and third Tuesdays at St. Louis College Hall. LeRoy Ostertag, secretary.
Catholic Mutual Benevolent Association—No. 20. First Thursdays at St. Louis College Hall. Werner Nass, secretary.
Knights of Columbus—Sacred Heart Council, No. 723. Second and Fourth Thursdays at Hall, 511½ Commercial street. William T. Jochems, financial secretary; Charles Smith, recording secretary.
Ladies’ Catholic Benevolent Association—No. 602. First and third Tuesdays at St. Louis College Hall. Agnes Langan, secretary.
St. Joseph’s Benevolent Society—Second Sundays at St. Louis College Hall. Joseph Tinschert, secretary.
Odd Fellows—Abdallah Shrine Club—Meets at call of president. J. E. Henderson, secretary.
Masonic Charity Association—Meets at call of president. A. W. Nicholson, secretary-treasurer.
Ladies’ Catholic Benevolent Association—No. 942. Second and fourth Tuesdays.
XXIII. THE AFRO-AMERICAN RACE
EARLY DAY CONDITIONS—THEIR ADVANCEMENT—PRIOR DICKEY—HENRY C. BUCHANAN— EUGENE L. BELL—CHARLES INGRAM—CHARLES J. FERGUSON—HENRY DICKEY—DR. FRANK ADRIAN PEARL, M. D.—DR. W. W. CALDWELL, M. D.
The story of the African race in Atchison county makes an appeal to the thoughtful and intelligent student of history. It is not a mere platitude to say that the negro has made marvelous progress in many lines, and not the least striking illustration of this assertion is to point to what he has accomplished in this county under circumstances that have not been altogether propitious. The record of African bondage here is not voluminous, but it is sufficient upon which to base a story of his development. As early as 1856 a reference to slavery in Atchison county is found in the Squatter Sovereign, which on September 16 of that year contained the following advertisement:
$500 REWARD.
Ran away from the subscribers on the night of September 9, two negro boys, Ned and Harrison.
Ned is about eighteen years old, stout and well built, about five feet, eight inches high, and weighs about 170 pounds. At the time of his leaving was dressed in a brown velvet coat.
Harrison is a bright mulatto, about five feet, four inches high, weighs about 120 pounds, is about sixteen years old, and was rather shabbily dressed.
Said negroes took with them two horses.
One black, six years old, branded H on left hip, quite thin, about fifteen and one-half hands high.
One claybank, dark mane and tail, rather bony, six years old, about fifteen and one-half hands high, paces.
Five hundred dollars reward will be given for the apprehension and safe return of the negroes, or $250 for the recovery of either of the negroes and horses.
A. J. FREDERICK, R. H. CABELL.
Atchison, K. T.
A search of the files of the Squatter Sovereign fails to disclose the sequel to this advertisement. Whether or not “Ned and Harrison” were subsequently apprehended and the reward paid must be left to the imagination, but doubtless they were among the four million black men from whose limbs, a few years later, Abraham Lincoln struck the shackles, and whose descendants this day are breathing the pure air of freedom. There is no definite record of the number of slaves in Atchison county at the time the advertisement in the Squatter Sovereign appeared. When the first census was taken in 1855 no counties had been established and the territory in Atchison county was included in the fifteenth election district. This census provided for the enumeration of the slaves in the territory, and as far as can be determined, the following men in and around Atchison were slave owners: D. A. N. Glover, three; W. M. Size, five; John Samuel, one; R. A. Walker, one; Charles Echer, three; S. F. Raz, three; and Grafton Thomasson, the sawmill man, of Atchison, owned three, one of whom drowned herself in the Missouri river, which fatality was the direct cause of the famous Pardee Butler incident. It is a far cry from “Ned and Harrison” to Prior Dickey and Henry Buchanan, successful farmers of Walnut township, and it will be the object of this chapter to show how far that cry is, by tracing somewhat intimately the lives and careers of Dickey and Buchanan, and other leading negroes of the Mills neighborhood.
Prior Dickey was born in Barren county, Kentucky, March 9, 1861, a son of Jackson and Edith Dickey, the father a native of West Virginia, and the mother of Kentucky. The first eighteen years of his life were spent in Kentucky, and in 1879 he came to Kansas, and his first employment was in a rock quarry at Millbrook, Graham county. He possessed $3.75 when he landed in this town. He helped build sod houses, and in fact turned his hand at anything that offered for his board and lodging. During the spring of 1880 he walked from Millbrook to Concordia, a distance of 200 miles, in search of work. He was accompanied by a friend, Calvin Trotter, and their joint capital was $1.25. After reaching Concordia, and also having gone without food for two days, he secured work with a railroad construction crew, and was sent from Concordia to Atchison, and thence to Rich Hill, Mo., and later to Texas, where he worked on the extension of the Missouri, Kansas & Texas railway. When this work was finished he started for Kansas, and wishing to save his money stowed himself in a box car. While the train was at a standstill in a Texas town, a white man knocked on the door, demanding admittance. Prior was scared, and stealing out of the opposite door, started to run. The white man called out, “Stop, neighbor,” and Prior stopped. They became friends, and came north together in the box car. On arriving at Ft. Scott, Prior gave his white friend $1, fed him at a restaurant, and sent him on his way. From Ft. Scott he came to Atchison, and later was employed in railroad construction work of various kinds in Nebraska, on the Central Branch railroad in Kansas, the Wabash in Missouri, and elsewhere. In 1833 he secured his first employment on a farm, a field of endeavor in which he has since made a signal success. From ten dollars a month to twenty-one dollars, with board and lodging, was his wage. Prior possessed a spirit of thrift and saved his wages. In 1885, while working for Medad Harvey, in Grasshopper township, Atchison county, he bought his first forty acres. On this place he put his father and mother, bringing them from Kentucky. They lived here until their deaths, that of the father, in 1895, and the mother in 1911. Prior’s example in caring for his aged parents, even refusing to marry on account of attendance on his mother, is worthy of emulation. Three years after his first purchase of land he bought his second forty, a year later a third forty, then an eighty, and later from John J. Ingalls, he bought a 160 acre tract. He is also the owner of a 160 acre farm in Oklahoma, and his various holdings total over 500 acres. He is a capable and industrious agriculturist, employs modern methods, is in close touch with the advancement in scientific farming, and is a successful breeder of high grade cattle and hogs. His herd of grade Herefords is the equal of any in the county and numbers over fifty head. His property is well improved and well kept. He is a stockholder in the State Bank of Potter and conceded to be no mean financier. He is a stanch Republican and states “not a black man in the United States can conscientiously be anything but a Republican.” He cast his first vote in Graham county in the first election held in that county after its organization. He is a Mason and a Baptist. A sister and her children comprise his household. Possessed of ambition to succeed and gain an assured position in his adopted State, of untiring energy, intelligence and the quality of thrift, Prior Dickey has developed into a citizen who is worth while.
Henry C. Buchanan was born in Lincoln county, Kentucky, on April 8, 1844. His father was a slave, owned by Dr. Thomas Montgomery, and named Martin Montgomery, and his mother was Violet Shanks, a slave girl, owned by Archie Shanks. Their son was born on the Shanks plantation. Following the death of Archie Shanks, his daughter, Sarah, inherited the boy, Henry, along with thirty other slaves. She afterward married a man by the name of Buchanan, and this family name was given the boy. He grew to young manhood on the Buchanan plantation, and was given fair treatment, but not any schooling. In 1864 he left the plantation and enlisted in the Fifth United States cavalry, at Camp Wilson, on the Kentucky river. He served about twenty-two months and was mustered out at Little Rock, Ark. He then returned to the old plantation in Kentucky, and found it had been made a Government post. He was fairly well posted on farming, as he had been one of the best field hands on the Buchanan plantation, and this fact being known to the land owners of the neighborhood, he had no difficulty in leasing a portion of the old plantation. A brother-in- law was associated with him in this venture, but Henry was the manager. He later leased land in the adjoining county. His farming was profitable, and he saved his money, eventually accumulating enough capital to engage in the general merchandise business in Lancaster, Ky., on a small scale. In 1881 he concluded to go west, and chose Atchison Kan., as his place of location. He arrived here at the time of the great flood, and shortly afterward opened a grocery and produce store on Fifth street. He continued in this business until 1891, when he sold out, and with the proceeds bought 100 acres of land in Walnut township. This property he improved, and as the years have passed he has added to the acreage, until now he owns 400 acres. The property is well improved, well kept and well farmed. He was married in 1878 to Belle Hogans, of Garritt county, Kentucky, who died in 1899. Handicapped by the lack of education, he has spared no reasonable expense in the matter of educating his children, and his sons are now carrying forward their father’s farm enterprise along modern lines, and are well educated, intelligent members of the community. A deceased daughter, Luella B., graduated from the Atchison county high school, at Effingham. Henry Buchanan has always been a Republican. He has served as precinct committeeman, and as a member of the election board at several elections, and also as judge of election. He is a member of the Baptist church, and has been a member of the board of trustees of his local church for many years. Measured from the standpoint of a man who has done the things which have come to his hand from time to time, he has done those things well. He has assisted in the development of the county’s agricultural resources, has been thrifty, and has gained the respect and esteem of the residents of his township and county.
Eugene L. Bell, prosperous farmer, Walnut township, was born at Oak Mills, Kan., July 28, 1875, a son of Joseph and Sydney (King) Bell, natives of Missouri and Kentucky, respectively. Joseph Bell, the father, was born in October, 1844, in Platte county, Missouri, of slave parentage. He lived in Missouri until 1863, and then located in Leavenworth, Kan., where he joined the United States army, becoming a member of Company G, Seventy-ninth regiment, United States Colorado infantry. He served until the close of the Civil war, taking part in fourteen battles. After the war he married Miss Sydney King at Leavenworth, Kan. In 1872 he removed to Oak Mills, Atchison county, and settled on a farm in Walnut township. He was one of the pioneers of this settlement and developed a fine farm. Mr. Bell took an active part in matters pertaining to the betterment of his community and was an exemplary citizen. Many of the noted men of his day in Kansas were his warm and steadfast friends. Mr. and Mrs. Bell were the parents of nine children, six of whom were reared to maturity: Eugene L., the subject of this review; Mrs. Birdie Norman, of Omaha, Neb.; Mrs. T. C. Brown, and Miss Pearlie Bell, of Chicago, Ill.; Humphrey Bell, of Pittsburgh, Pa.; and Mead Bell, of Cleveland, Ohio. Joseph Bell died May 30, 1914. Mrs. Bell died April 18, 1903. Like her husband, she ran away from slavery to Kansas.
Eugene L. spent his boyhood days assisting his father in cultivating the home farm, and managed to attend school about two and one-half months out of the year until he attained the age of nineteen years. He then began to hustle for himself and completed a three years’ course in the Atchison county high school at Effingham. Ambition and a desire to educate himself led him to make sacrifices in order to prepare himself to better cope with the struggle for a livelihood. The priceless boon of an education was his after considerable effort, and he graduated from the county high school in 1896. He then returned to the avocation of farmer and rented land in Walnut township, which he cultivated for some years. Mr. Bell is the owner of a fine farm in Walnut township.
He was married December 26, 1901, to Miss Mamie Churchhill, of Monrovia, Kan., a native of Hardin county, Kentucky. They settled in Atchison, Kan., and lived there three years after this marriage. Mr. Bell then moved to Walnut township and taught school for two terms in District No. 20. He then bought forty acres of land, on which he has since made his home. Seven children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Bell: Inez, Orville, Eugene, Leslie, Jr., Justin, Irene, Pearlie, Ruthanna. Mrs. Bell died December 7, 1912.
Mr. Bell has been the local newspaper correspondent of his neighborhood for several years and has a decided literary talent. For the past eighteen years he has been connected with school district No. 20 in the capacity of teacher and school trustee. He is a progressive Republican in his political affiliations, and has been honored by his party. On May 27, 1915, he was appointed by Governor Capper as a member of the board of trustees of Quindaro University, Kansas, and also received a complimentary appointment to attend the Farmers’ Congress as a negro delegate, held at the Panama Exposition at San Francisco. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church of Atchison, and has been a member of the Masonic fraternity for the past fifteen years. Mr. Bell has taken a prominent part in the educational and civic life of Atchison county. He has served as a delegate to county and State conventions of his party, and filled the position of doorkeeper and sergeant-at-arms in the house of representatives at Topeka. His newspaper experience includes a term of employment in the printing department of the Omaha Bee when nineteen years old, where he learned typesetting, going from there to Chicago and attending the World’s Fair. After this experience he returned home with the intention of securing an education and succeeded. Mr. Bell is one of the well respected citizens of his community, and is one of the recognized leaders of his race in Kansas. His father, Joseph Bell, was a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, Scott Post, of Hydro, Okla., whither he removed in 1900.
Charles Ingram, a well known farmer, of Walnut township, whose agricultural plant is located four miles distant from the town of Potter, Kan., consisting of 160 acres of good land, is a native of the Southland. He was born in 1855, a son of Hart and Vinia Ingram, both of whom were born and reared in Tennessee. Just previous, or some years before the opening of the Civil war, his parents left Tennessee and came to Buchanan county, Missouri, as chattels of Jesse Ingram. The Ingram farm was located about four miles distant from St. Joseph, Mo. Here they toiled in the fields of the master and owner until given their freedom by Mr. Ingram near the end of the Civil war. The owner, on setting his slaves free, told them to go out and hustle for themselves. Hart Ingram and his family came to Kansas and lived during their first winter here in Atchison. He then located on a farm in Mt. Pleasant township, and worked for Mr. Speck for five years. He then rented land of John King for one year, after which he invested his savings in forty acres of land in Walnut township, upon which he resided until his demise.
As a youth Charles had no opportunity to acquire an education, and after his marriage in 1880 he rented land for several years, and eventually saved enough money to make a payment on forty acres of farm lands. He immediately made his home on his purchase and has added to his possessions until he is now the owner of 160 acres of excellent farm land, with good, comfortable dwelling and improvements. Charles Ingram was married in 1880 to Margarette Farner, of Atchison county. Five children have blessed this marriage, who are all receiving the benefits of a good school education by their ambitious parents.
Mr. Ingram is a Republican in politics, and is a member of the Baptist church. He is a man of high and strong character, which has been developed in the stern and exacting school of adversity. Mr. Ingram has seen the time when he was unable to borrow even twenty-five dollars, and his credit is now good for as much as $2,500, should he desire it. One of his daughters, Grace, is a graduate of the Atchison county high school at Effingham, and the others have been given similar opportunity. Grace Ingram taught school in Atchison county before her marriage. Mr. Ingram is a striking example of the progress which his race has made since the negroes have been freed from bondage.
Charles J. Ferguson, farmer, of Oak Mills, Kan., was born in Platte county, Missouri, in April 1881, a son of Daniel and Sarah (Williams) Ferguson, the former a native of Kentucky, and the latter a native of Missouri. The parents of Charles came to Kansas from Missouri in 1881, and settled on a small farm of twenty acres, which Daniel bought with his savings, and still owns. Charles attended school in District No. 20, and was reared on the parental farm. After his marriage in 1900 he began doing things for himself and has become the owner of 100 acres of fine farm lands, overlooking Bean Lake, and located in Walnut township. Mr. Ferguson has attained to his comfortable position of affluence by industry, economy, and good financial management, and began his career with practically nothing. He was the first man in Walnut township to ship a carload of wheat, and others have since followed his example. He shipped his first carload of wheat in 1910 and has become noted as a grower of small grain, having raised 1,690 bushels of wheat in 1914, and raises on an average over 1,200 bushels annually. He was married March 7, 1900, to Eliza, a daughter of H. C. Buchanan, and is the father of the following children: Granville F., born December 19, 1900; Sarah, born March 1, 1902; Sheffield, born January 12, 1905; Rothschild, born September 8, 1908; Luella, born June 17, 1910: Decina, born May 31, 1912.
Mr. Ferguson is a Republican in politics and has taken an active and influential part in the affairs of his party in Atchison county. He was elected a member of the county central committee in 1908, and has held this position since that time. He is treasurer of the school board of District No. 20 of his township. He is a member of the Knights of Tabor, of Atchison, and is well thought of and highly respected by all who know him.
Henry Dickey, farmer, of Walnut township, was born February 24, 1850, in Barron county, Kentucky. He was a son of Jackson and Edith Dickey, who were slaves until freed by the Emancipation Proclamation. After the Civil war, which resulted in the Dickeys becoming freemen, the parents remained in Kentucky until 1884. Henry was at that time working on a farm in Kentucky for fifty cents a day, and he wished to better his condition and that of his parents. Accordingly, he came to Kansas in search of a location, and found it in Atchison county. After his brother, Prior Dickey, joined him in this county, he and Prior pooled their interests and invested in farm lands until they now own over 500 acres of land in partnership. They also own forty head of fine Hereford cattle, seven-eighths pure bred stock.
Mr. Dickey was married February 23, 1903, to Celia Kerford, a daughter of Abraham Kerford, a well known colored family of Atchison county. The Kerfords came from the home county of Abraham Lincoln, in Kentucky. One child has been born to Mr. and Mrs. Henry Dickey, Sarah E., born September 24, 1906.
Politically, Mr. Dickey is allied with the Republican party, and has served as a member of the school board of his district. He and his wife are members of the Baptist church. Mrs. Dickey is affiliated with the True Eleven lodge of Atchison. Mr. Dickey is one of the most influential and successful members of the negro race in Kansas, and is considered as one of the industrious and highly successful agriculturists and live stock men of Atchison county.
Dr. Frank Adrian Pearl, M. D., Atchison, Kan., is one of the self-made men of the present generation. He was born September 2, 1886, in the city of Atchison, a son of Ryes and Sarah J. Pearl, the former of whom was a native of Missouri, and removed to Atchison, Kan., shortly after the close of the Civil war. He lived in Atchison until 1888, and then moved to Butte, Mont., where he lived until his demise. After his demise the widow married a man named Davis.
Frank A. was reared to young manhood in Butte, and attended the public and high school of his home city, afterwards pursuing a course in business college. When yet a boy he began to work for himself and early became self-reliant in doing any and all kinds of honest labor. In 1905 and 1906 he studied in the Topeka Educational Institute, and supported himself by hard work while studying in this institution. He then entered Howard Medical College, of Washington, D. C., and graduated from this school in 1912. After his graduation Dr. Pearl located in Kansas City, and for one and one-half years served as interne in the General Hospital of Kansas City. He located in Atchison in August of 1914, and has built up an excellent practice among the people of his race, and has made a name for himself as a skilled and well educated physician. Dr. Pearl is a member of the County Medical Society, the Tri-State Medical Association, embracing Missouri, Kansas, and Oklahoma, and the Kansas Medical Society. He is an independent in politics, and is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. Dr. Pearl is fraternally allied with the Odd Fellows, the United Brotherhood of Freemen, and the Knights of Tabor. He is well educated, courteous, a great student, and is fast making a place for himself in his chosen profession.
Dr. W. W. Caldwell, M. D., of Atchison, Kan., was born in Nashville, Tenn., in 1877, a son of Jefferson and Elizabeth (Bell) Caldwell. His mother was a native of Louisiana and had the entire support of ten children thrown upon her after the removal of the family to Topeka, Kan., in 1880. Mrs. Caldwell was a capable woman of more than ordinary ability, thoroughly untutored, but possessed of a strong character, she determined that her children should be fitted to cope with the battle of life with well trained minds. She early installed into the minds of her children those qualities of character which have produced great men. She possessed an iron constitution and an unconquerable will which enabled her to put in long hours each day at the wash-tub in order to gain the means of feeding the hungry mouths of her children. She also taught each of her offspring to become self-supporting as soon as they were able and encouraged them to strike out for themselves. An instance of her nature is shown in an occurrence in the life of Dr. Caldwell: “When the boy was fourteen years of age he made his way to St. Louis, via ‘the side-door Pullman’ route. He did not like the appearance of things in St. Louis, and returned to the safer haven of his home in Topeka, only to be chided by his mother for his inability to stay away from home and make his own way in the world as she desired him to do.” The night following his return he again left home and did not return until time for school to re-open in the fall, with money in his pocket which would suffice to carry him through the winter. The mother was an expert laundress and kept all of her children in school as long as they desired to go. Two of her daughters nearly finished the high school course in Topeka, but Dr. Caldwell was the only child of the family to acquire a collegiate education and a professional training.
He attended both the public and high schools of Topeka and afterwards studied for three years in the State Normal school at Topeka, and was granted a life teacher’s certificate. While at college Dr. Caldwell made a great reputation as a runner and football player, serving as halfback on the State Normal football team. He acquired his education practically by his own efforts, encouraged by his ambitious mother. In 1892, when he was fourteen years of age, he made his first trip away from home, to St. Louis, but returned home after one month’s stay in that city. His mother having ridiculed him for coming home, he caught the Rock Island flyer out of Topeka that night and rode part of the way to Denver. After a thrilling experience covering a period of two weeks, he finally arrived at the western city, just as he started, without funds, but with the desire to obtain employment. He worked in Denver at any honest employment he could obtain, such as shining shoes, laying concrete, hotel porter, and similar jobs. His hardships were many, but he was eventually well repaid for his early struggles. One place which he held as porter in a barber shop enabled him to lay by a considerable sum of money each week. He was paid ten cents per shine and allowed to keep the money thus earned, and saved eight dollars during his first week. He worked for this shop for three successive summers, and made it a rule to lay by eight dollars each week. When it came time for school to open he would “beat” his way back to Topeka via the overland trains and study during the winter and spring months, and would then again make his way to Denver in time for employment. Thirty-five dollars saved usually sufficed to pay his expenses during the winter months while in school, and he would sometimes make his way home with $300 in his pocket. He kept up this plan of working and studying until he had completed his medical course, entering medical college in 1902, and graduating therefrom in 1906. After practicing in Topeka for one and one-half years he went to Independence, Kan., but remained there only seven months. In 1908 Dr. Caldwell came to Atchison and opened an office for general medical practice. He has made a great success in his noble profession, and has attained to a high position of leadership among the members of the Afro-American race.
Dr. Caldwell was married in 1906 to Araminta Beck, a native of Wamegoa county, Kansas, and to this union have been born children, as follows: Georgia, born in 1909; Elizabeth, born in 1911; Elnora, born in 1908. The mother of these children was born in Kansas City August 20, 1880, a daughter of Leonardo Beck, a stone cutter by trade. Her mother, Mrs. Georgia Beck, was one of the original Fisk Jubilee Singers, who sang in public recitals in many cities of the United States and in England. They sang in the cause of education, the money earned by the recitals going to defray the expenses of erecting the $100,000 Jubilee Hall at Fisk University, Nashville, Tenn. An uncle of Mrs. Caldwell, Col. James L. Beck, commanded the Twenty-third regiment of colored Kansas volunteers which served in Cuba during the Spanish-American war. Mrs. Caldwell is a well educated lady and is a graduate of the Wamego, Kansas, high school, and graduated from Kansas University before she attained the age of twenty years. She is a member of the Eastern Star lodge of Topeka, in which city she taught school for seven years, later teaching one year in Springfield, Mo.
Dr. Caldwell is a member of the Masonic fraternity of Topeka, and is a physician for the Knights of Tabor lodge of Atchison. He is a member of Ebenezer Baptist Church, and is a Republican in politics. In 1912 he received the degree of Bachelor of Arts from the State Normal at Emporia, Kan. On July 30, 1915, Governor Capper appointed the Doctor a delegate to the National Negro Educational Congress, held at Chicago, from August 16 to August 21, inclusive. In 1914 he was presented with a walnut gavel by the Inter-State Literary Association.
XXIV. OFFICIALS
COUNTY—TOWNSHIP AND SCHOOL OFFICERS.
County Clerk—C. M. Voelker. County Treasurer—U. B. Sharpless. Sheriff—Roy C. Trimble. Register of Deeds—L. M. Baker. County Attorney—Charles J. Conlon. County Surveyor—Charles Woodworth. County Superintendent—D. Anna Speer. Clerk of District Court—W. H. Smith. Probate Judge—J. P. Adams. County Commissioner: First district—S. S. King. County Commissioner: Second district—J. H. Glancy. County Commissioner: Third district—Andrew Speer. Member of Legislature: Second district—T. A. Moxcey. Member of Legislature: Third district—A. E. Mayhew. State Senator: Second district—B. P. Waggener.
TOWNSHIP OFFICIALS—SHANNON TOWNSHIP.
Trustee—Joseph Taylor. Clerk—Richard Handke. Treasurer—Edward Underwood.
LANCASTER TOWNSHIP.
Trustee—C. R. Perdue. Clerk—F. H. Kloepper. Treasurer—J. R. Gragg. Justice—C. D. Parrot.
GRASSHOPPER TOWNSHIP.
Trustee—William Stirton. Clerk—L. N. Plummer. Treasurer—Charles McCurdy. Constable—G. R. Shannon.
KAPIOMA TOWNSHIP.
Trustee—F. M. Pratt. Clerk—Walter Ferris. Treasurer—James Robertson. Justice—C. F. Katherins.
BENTON TOWNSHIP.
Trustee—W. S. Heffelfinger. Clerk—J. G. Niblo. Treasurer—W. R. Smith. Justice—W. P. Heffelfinger. Constable—J. W. Acheson. Constable—James Farrell.
CENTER TOWNSHIP.
Trustee—J. E. Gibson. Clerk—Edward Higley. Treasurer—George Schroeder. Justice—S. E. Langworthy.
MT. PLEASANT TOWNSHIP.
Trustee—B. Cummins. Clerk—J. W. Ashcraft. Treasurer—Robert Volk. Justice—William Hartman.
WALNUT TOWNSHIP.
Trustee—S. M. Young. Clerk—J. R. Adams. Treasurer—C. N. Faulconer. Justice—B. Brown.
PRESENT ATCHISON COUNTY SCHOOL OFFICERS, 1915–1916.
Names of officers in the following order: Director, Treasurer, Clerk:
District No. 2—
Charles Cummings, Atchison.
James Neilson, Atchison, Route 6.
George Vanderweide, Atchison.
District No. 3—
H. J. Kuhnhoff, Lancaster.
J. W. Louthian, Huron.
Herman Fuhrman, Lancaster.
District No. 4—
J. W. Lewman, Atchison, Route 3.
Robert Limerick, Atchison.
R. L. Stevens, Atchison, Route 3.
District No. 5—
J. B. Davenport, Atchison, Route 2.
H. W. Sachse, Atchison, Route 1.
John M. Price, Atchison, Route 1.
District No. 6—
William Hartman, Cummings.
C. R. Miller, Atchison, Route 3.
William Krall, Cummings.
District No. 7—
Nicholas Boos, Atchison, Route 5.
Conrad Handke, Atchison, Route 5.
John Vandeloo, Atchison, Route 5.
District No. 8—
S. G. Moore, Cummings.
C. P. Higley, Cummings.
E. Scarlett, Nortonville.
District No. 9—
James Servaes, Atchison, Route 1.
A. B. Howe, Atchison, Route 1.
L. E. Lister, Atchison, Route 1.
District No. 10—
Guy P. Chain, Lancaster.
L. J. Woodhouse, Lancaster.
A. J. Smith, Lancaster.
District No. 11—
John Cowley, Nortonville.
W. A. Meador, Monrovia.
Ed. Neill, Nortonville.
District No. 12—
W. D. Chalfant, Atchison, Route 4.
J. A. Kramer, Atchison, Route 5.
P. Wolters, Atchison, Route 5.
District No. 13—
N. W. Enzbrenner, Atchison.
George A. Thurn, Atchison.
John Schletzbaum, Atchison.
District No. 15—
Harry Strine, Monrovia.
S. Swendson, Monrovia.
C. W. Stutz, Monrovia.
District No. 16—
Roy Grandstaff, Atchison, Route 2.
J. B. Findley, Atchison, Route 2.
J. H. Glancy, Atchison, Route 2.
District No. 17—
M. Amend, Cummings.
M. Jones, Cummings.
T. J. Ferris, Cummings.
District No. 19—
C. Cline, Cummings.
William Donnelly, Cummings.
L. B. Allen, Cummings.
District No. 20—
E. L. Bell, Oak Mills.
C: J. Ferguson, Oak Mills.
J. D. Richardson, Oak Mills.
District No. 21—
F. H. Hawk, Effingham.
William Critchfield, Effingham.
Mrs. C. M. Madden, Effingham.
District No. 22—
W. F. Speer, Muscotah.
E. A. Barley, Muscotah.
James R. Fassnacht, Muscotah.
District No. 23—
F. W. Weber, Horton, Route 1.
L. N. Plummer, Horton, Route 1.
John Shoebrook, Horton, Route 1.
District No. 24—
J. E. Wilson, Huron.
W. H. Grimes, Everest, Route 2.
W. F. Harden, Everest, Route 2.
District No. 25—
T. P. Armstrong, Atchison, Route 3.
J. I. Holmes, Atchison, Route 4.
A. L. Keithline, Shannon.
District No. 26—
F. M. Linscott, Farmington.
Edwin Thorne, Farmington.
William Higley, Monrovia.
District No. 27—
W. A. Dilgert, Atchison, Route 2.
William Christian, Atchison, Route 2.
L. H. Davenport, Atchison, Route 2.
District No. 28—
John Myer, Cummings.
George Schrader, Cummings.
Willard Pike, Farmington.
District, No. 29—
H. L. McLenon, Effingham.
Anton Candreia, Effingham.
William E. Steward, Muscotah.
District No. 30—
Frank Plummer, Arrington.
W. J. Schiffbauer, Arrington.
D. L. Dawdy, Arrington.
District No. 31—
J. E. Hamon, Arrington.
Frank Reichart, Arrington.
John Nevins, Valley Falls.
District No. 32—
D. L. Richards, Effingham.
D. Richter, Effingham.
Frank A. Stever, Effingham.
District No. 33—
John A. Sacks, Oak Mills.
H. Pohl, Oak Mills.
J. R. Adams, Oak Mills.
District No. 34—
John Davitz, Oak Mills.
Frank Zacharias, Oak Mills.
R. E. King, Oak Mills.
District No. 35—
F. B. Maris, Nortonville.
E. M. Glaspy, Nortonville.
Dennis Stillman, Nortonville.
District No. 36—
A. T. Bilderback, Nortonville.
Harry H. Nieman, Nortonville.
John Moeck, Nortonville.
District No. 37—
Henry Fankhanel, Monrovia.
H. A. McLenon, Everest, Route 2.
Stewart McLenon, Monrovia.
District No. 38—
S. E. Langworthy, Nortonville.
J. R. Snyder, Farmington.
H. Bertels, Nortonville.
District No. 39—
F. W. Weit, Effingham.
Bon Hargrove, Effingham.
C. N. Snyder, Effingham.
District No. 40—
J. P. Holmes, Cummings.
Mrs. Cora B. Ferguson, Atchison.
J. M. Martin, Atchison, Route 3.
District No. 41—
Mrs. W. H. Ryherd, Horton.
Gates Saxton, Horton, Route 3.
O. E. Rigdon, Everest.
District No. 42—
John Burns, Effingham.
John Huffman, Nortonville.
J. B. Davidson, Nortonville.
District No. 43—
J. F. Thompson, Muscotah.
W. D. Roach, Muscotah.
Ralph A. Allison, Muscotah.
District No. 44—
R. E. Brooks, Huron.
C. E. Smith, Huron.
A. F. Allen, Huron.
District No. 45—
W. H. Wicker, Horton, Route 1.
Gilbert Pendlebury, Horton, Route 1.
Robert P. Waller, Horton, Route 1.
District No. 46—
Abe Gerard, Atchison, Route 6.
Sam Gelwick, Atchison, Route 6.
M. J. Baker, Atchison, Route 6.
District No. 47—
H. H. Rork, Horton, Route 1.
O. G. Wilson, Horton, Route 1.
W. M. Loser, Horton, Route 1.
District No. 48—
E. C. Evans, Shannon.
George Anderson, Lancaster.
A. Fannen, Shannon.
John Miller, Muscotah.
W. E. Hubbard, Muscotah.
F. M. Pratt, Muscotah.
District No. 50—
E. Whittier, Muscotah.
Walter Stewart, Muscotah.
H. M. Foster, Muscotah.
District No. 51—
H. A. Watowa, Atchison, Route 4.
Everett Shufflebarger, Lancaster.
Mrs. Anna Kumfrf, Lancaster.
District No. 52—
R. L. Finnegan, Atchison, Route 5.
Julius Handke, Atchison, Route 5.
Thomas Kilkeny, Atchison, Route 5.
District No. 53—
Frank Fassnacht, Effingham.
W. J. Lauffer, Effingham.
F. R. Schurman, Effingham.
District No. 54—
W. R. Freeland, Effingham.
Ed. High, Effingham.
W. H. Williams, Effingham.
District No. 55—
F. W. Kaufman, Cummings.
W. K. Stillings, Cummings.
E. B. Nieman, Cummings.
District No. 56—
J. E. Behen, Farmington.
J. G. Cormode, Farmington.
S. Congrove, Farmington.
District No. 57—
Samuel Plotner, Horton, Route 1.
N. E. Jacobs, Horton, Route 1.
C. S. Fairbairn, Muscotah.
District No. 58—
Lawrence Kipp, Horton.
J. H. Claunch, Horton.
G. E. Rork, Horton, Route 1.
District No. 59—
Howard North, Lancaster.
Jacob Buttron, Lancaster.
H. A. Dorssom, Lancaster.
District No. 60—
James Mummert, Effingham.
David Morgan, Effingham.
E. L. Henning, Effingham.
District No. 61—
Charles Gilliland, Atchison, Route 1.
John Downey, Atchison, Route 1.
J. D. Hundley, Atchison, Route 1.
District No. 62—
David Rouse, Everest, Route 2.
James W. Freeland, Horton, Route 3.
Wallace E. Harden, Everest, Route 2.
District No. 63—
Frank Hunn, Arrington.
Thomas F. Cawley, Arrington.
M. McGrath, Arrington
District No. 65—
Robert C. Sparks, Atchison.
T. C. Treat, Atchison.
August Haegelin, Atchison.
District No. 66—
William Walz, Atchison, Route 4.
Louis J. Drimmel, Atchison, Route 4.
R. D. Holder, Atchison, Route 4.
District No. 67—
Thomas Mullins, Atchison, Route 5.
Antox Brox, Atchison, Route 5.
C. E. Wood, Atchison, Route 5.
District No. 68—
Sam Beyer, Arrington.
David Beyer, Arrington.
William Lovelace, Muscotah.
District No. 69—
J. H. Durst, Atchison, Route 4.
Chester Yaple, Atchison, Route 4.
H. S. McGaughey, Atchison, Route 4.
District No. 70—
J. D. Nevins, Arrington.
Henry Reichart, Arrington.
W. P. Yazel, Arrington.
District No. 71—
W. J. Hunter, Atchison, Route 1.
Charles Pantle, Atchison, Route 1.
C. E. Jaquish, Atchison, Route 1.
District No. 72—
William H. McLenon, Monrovia.
Gus. Stutz, Lancaster.
Gustav Gigstad, Lancaster.
District No. 73—
A. G. Higley, Nortonville.
John W. Henry, Nortonville.
W. T. Henry, Nortonville.
District No. 74—
J. P. Cummings, Atchison, Route 3.
A. C. Mayfield, Atchison, Route 3.
J. W. Barber, Atchison, Route 3.
Union No. 1—
John Henninger, Potter.
Frank Beard, Potter.
S. A. Ellerman, Potter.
Union No. 2—
Albert Hanf, Atchison, Route 1.
D. T. Greiner, Atchison, Route 1.
Lawrence Wagner, Potter.
Joint No. 3–50—
Charles Handke, Atchison, Route 6.
Paul Kuhnert, Atchison, Route 6.
Henry Handke, Atchison, Route 6.
Joint No. 6—
H. E. Montgomery, Larkinburg.
E. A. Smith, Larkinburg.
J. J. Mooney, Larkinburg.
Joint No. 70–98—
W. L. Heineken, Effingham, Route 1.
Calvin H. Feerer, Nortonville.
G. B. Van Horn, Nortonville.
Rural High School No. 1—
J. E. Remsberg, Potter.
T. F. Hall, Potter.
D. H. Sprong, Jr., Oak Mills.
Atchison County High School—
D. Anna Speer, President, Atchison.
C. E. Belden, Vice-president, Horton.
Fred Sutter, Treasurer, Effingham.
S. W. Adams, Secretary, Atchison.
H. A. McLenon, Everest, Route 2.
J. A. Kinney, Atchison.
D. H. Sprong, Jr., Oak Mills.