Barton County KS Archives History - Books .....Ellinwood History 1912
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Book Title: Biographical History Of Barton County

Ellinwood

THE certificate of ownership and dedication of the original plat of Ellinwood is
dated September 6, 1873, and signed by Alden Speare, president of the Arkansas
Valley Town Company. It was acknowledged before George L. Goodwin, a notary
public, in Suffolk County, Massachusetts. The plat was certified to by John M.
Cummins, a surveyor, but bears no date. He did not do the actual work of survey,
neither did Colonel Ellinwood, but it is understood that J. W. Jackson, one of
the quaint characters of that time did the field work. The town company could
not file the plat until it got title from the railroad company, and the latter
could not obtain title from the government until the road was built to the west
line of the state. This was done in 1872 in the month of December. This caused
delay in the filing of the town plat, but the plat was finally filed for record
with Register of Deeds D. N. Heizer, October 28, 1873 at 9:05 p. m.

  The first plat included the south half of block 1, and all of blocks six,
seven, ten and eleven. The railroad right of way, a short side track on the
north side of the main track, and the depot were shown on the blue print of the
plat. The depot was shown to be directly south of the Wolf hotel building. Santa
Fe, Topeka and Atchison avenues and Humboldt, Washington and Bismark streets,
named and located as they are now. There was nothing south of the railroad
included in the original plat.

   Ellinwood is located on section 31-19-11, and the center of the section is
the southeast corner of the lot on which a part of the business section of the
town is built Washington street is commonly called Main street, it being the
main business thoroughfare.

   The supplemental plat which includes all of section 31, north of the river,
except the forest reservation of 25 and 71-100ths acres and all south of the
railroad and east of Schiller street, was filed for record July 8, 1S78. The
name of the surveyor does not appear. The plat shows the same uneven banks of
the river as on the plats of the original government survey. The river has
receded from a great distance since this work was done. Both the Catholic and
Protestant cemeteries appear on the plat.

[photo] Main Street, Ellinwood

   All the streets extending north and south were given German names except the
main business street which was named Washington. The north and south streets
beginning on the east side are Wielan, Gothe, Schiller, Bismark, Washington,
Humboldt, Arndt, Wilhelm and Fritz. The avenues beginning on the north in their
order are Northern, Colorado, Barton, Ellinwood, Atchison, Topeka, Santa Fe, and
south of the railroad are Chestnut, Maple, Walnut and Cedar. The names of all
the streets remain the same as when platted. As the original settlers were not
German, nor was the controlling element of the old timers, the Arkansas Valley
Town Co., that owned this town, German. The query has often been asked why the
streets are given German names. The answer usually is, all the settlers will
remember C. B. Smith, probably the ablest German immigration agent who ever did
business in the State of Kansas. He happened to select this locality as one of
the points on the Santa Fe road where he would colonize German buyers of real
estate. On his maps for circulation among the Germans he marked the territory
adjacent to Ellinwood Germania. C. B. Smith, the German immigration agent of the
Santa Fe Railroad Co. caused this part of Kansas to be settled by Germans.

[photo] Plowing Outfit of G. H. Ernsting Near Ellinwood

City Government

   Ellinwood became a city of the third class, April 22 1878. On that date a
petition signed by nearly every qualified elector on the townsite was presented
to District Judge Samuel R. Peters at Newton, Kansas. The judge immediately
issued an order creating the City of Ellinwood. Its boundary lines were the
exterior lines of section 31-19-11, according to the original government survey.
The order directing the first election was given and the election was held on
the first day of May, 1878, at the office of J. D. Donstadt, and George Bowers,
George B. Gill, and Vancil S. Musil selected to be judges, and W. B. D. Monow,
clerk. It also named J. D. Ronstadt, George W. Ashton and Charles W. Williamson
to act as the board of canvassers. The latter were ordered to meet at the close
of the polls and canvass the returns. The board met as directed and chose J. D.
Ronstadt as clerk. The election resulted as follows: Mayor, F. A. Steckel, 43;
J. D. Ronstadt, 14; Councilmen, Wm. Mangelsdorf, 56; Wm. Meisner, 46; George W.
Ashton, 41; John W. Conroy, 39; O. M. Dotson, 35; L. M. Story, 20; W. W. D.
Monow, 20; John Mousel, 15; James Ward, 9; John Wind, 1. Police judge, George
Towers, 56. Certificates of election were issued as follows: Mayor, F. A.
Steckel; councilmen, Mangelsdorf, Meisner, Ashton, Conroy and Dotson. Police
judge, Towers. The first council met and with all present, organized. H. J.
Reints was city clerk by appointment, and the mayor appointed all the councilmen
a committee on ordinances and then adjourned to May 7. No other business was
transacted and the first business meeting of the council was held May 14. At
this meeting a petition was granted Beal and Phipps to keep a dram shop, and a
like petition was granted to Hess and Harmick. The council passed ordinance
Number 1, which provided for the drafting and compiling of ordinances for the
city of Ellinwood. At this meeting fourteen ordinances were passed, all relating
to the duties of the city officers, except thirteen, relating to elections,
fourteen concerning animals running at large and 15, relative to the sale of
intoxicating liquors. The first council of Ellinwood laid the foundation for the
building of a city and their work was thorough and had for its purpose the
betterment of the community and the people residing therein.

Schools

  Ellinwood was included in the second school district to be organized in Barton
County, in 1872, and was known as school district number 2. The first school was
taught by Miss Carrie Bacon, daughter of Isaac Bacon. Later she married Thomas
Towers. The first term of school began September 1, 1873, and ended January 1,
1874. For teaching this term Miss Bacon received the sum of $125.00. The
scholars were housed in a small frame building owned by William Misner. The
school was later taught in a frame school building built especially for a school
on the ground now occupied by the modern school building of-which the town is so
justly proud. Among those who attended the first school in Ellinwood may be
mentioned Kittie Ellsworth, Wm. Halsey, John and Sina Hewitt, May Whitten, Lotta
and Frank Towers, Charles L. Bacon, James and Lillie Hutchinson and Abraham
Forsyth. The schools of Ellinwood have progressed with the town and nowhere in
the state can there be found better educational advantages than are obtainable
in Ellinwood. Ellinwood has a population of about 1,300 and is growing every
year in importance as a trading point and as a shipping point for agricultural
products. It is on the main line of the Santa Fe railroad about forty miles west
of Hutchinson and eleven miles east of Great Bend. It is also the western
termimus of the Florence branch of the Santa Fe. This line runs through some of
the richest portions of the state. Ellinwood has modern stores representing
nearly all lines of retail trade, the best of churches and schools and its
population is steadily growing in like proportion to other parts of Barton County.


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