Johnson County KS Archives History - Books .....Chapter VII Spring Hill 1915
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Book Title: History Of Johnson County Kansas

CHAPTER VII.
SPRING HILL.

Location and Enterprises-Banks-Churches-Reminiscences of Spring Hill-The Old
Hotel-The Pioneer Store-Early Days at Spring Hill -Stage Line and Early Business
Ventures-Locating the Town and Organization of Town Company-Spring Hill
Beginnings-War Times.

SPRING HILL-LOCATION AND ENTERPRISES.

  At the present time Spring Hill is one of the best trading points on the
Frisco railroad in eastern Kansas. The Spring Hill Cooperative Association,
organized in 1877, have the largest store in the city, and own their building,
80x100 feet, with opera house in the second story. It carries an excellent line
of merchandise, has a very fine trade and is one of the solid financial
institutions of the town. J. R. Lemen is its efficient manager. Bunger Nelson
also carry a general stock of merchandise in the Odd Fellows building and are
progressive merchants, building up a permanent trade. E. Davis & Son have a
model furniture store and undertaking parlors and are competing with the larger
towns in their line. George Ellis carries a full line of hardware and is doing a
good business. H. H. Neff, druggist, is an up-to-date man in his line. C. E.
Baily is one of the pioneers in the drug business, having been here for about
thirty years. Other well conducted lines are harness, M. E. Black; meat shop,
Ralph Hines; barber shops, E. A. Roofe and Jack Burns; R. E. Harbison's tin
shop; Allen's jewelry store; Frank B. Jamison, hay and feed and extensive buyer
and shipper of stock; W. F. Hunter and A. H. Starbuck each run blacksmith shops;
Mrs. M. E. Baily, millinery. The Eagan restaurant and bakery is an up to date
shop. The Spring Hill elevator, of which J. S. Null is manager, does an
extensive grain business, and the City Hotel, under the management of James
Wykoff, gives fine service to the traveling public. Physicians are: Dr. R. E.
Eagan, Dr. O. C. Thomas, Dr. H. M. Beaver, Dr. S. G. W. Stevens, and L. V. Gast,
dentist. The Spring-Hill Lumber Company under the management of G. A. Simpson
carries a complete line of building materials. Mellor and Rose are contractors;
John Lambert, carpenter and plumber; W. M. Mollison, livery; Roy Payne,
pantatorium; George S. Sowers, 20th Century stationary; J. L. Todd, Spring Hill
creamery; W. E. Tisdale, real estate; W. F. Wilkerson, insurance; G. W. Moore,
garage; C. W. Dunn, drayage and veterinary; Dr. Pearson, fancy poultry; C. D.
Flanders, fancy poultry; George Mower, contractor; Col. W. C. Graves,
auctioneer; Bush Newton, Overland dealer; Fred Ricketts, postmaster; W. W.
Wickens, Mi-Jo. Telephone Company; Clyde Elliot, manager of municipal lighting
plant.

  The city a few years ago voted $6,000 bonds and installed a municipal light
plant and the streets are well lighted. The engines and dynamo are in a neat and
concrete building, the property of the city.

  An excellent band is also kept by the merchants' association. The Spring Hill
Grange Fair, which this year will give its eleventh annual exhibit, began in
1904 as a stock and farm exhibit on the street and the second year leased two
acres of ground from Mrs. Mathews, adjoining the city on the south. These two
fairs being so successful, the fair board the next year leased fifteen acres of
ground, fenced it and erected a floral hall, put up stables and pens for stock,
and each year since additions have been made till now the fair is one of the
best attractions in eastern Kansas, to those interested in fine stock and farm
products, this too without horse racing, considered as one of the great drawing
features of a fair in the years past.

  The Spring Hill High School stands high as an educational institution of the
county, and is an accredited school at the State University. A parent-teachers
association has been organized recently and its meetings add much to the real
worth of the school.

  The Spring Hill "New Era," established in 1889 by J. W. Sowers, W. F.
Wilkerson, editor and owner at the present time, is an excellent country
newspaper and covers the field adjacent to Spring Hill completely. Mr. Wilkerson
is a practical and thorough newspaper man and his untiring work and straight
business methods are appreciated by the business men of the town in a
substantial way. The "new Era" articles written by Mr. Wilkerson are widely
copied by the press. The worth of the average town as a place of residence is
measured often by the progressive features of its newspaper. Spring' Hill owes
much of its advancement in the past ten years to the aggressive fight of the
"New Era" for better things and the wide-awake citizens of this thriving little
city have begun to appreciate this fact.

BANKS.

  Spring Hill has two excellent banks. The Spring Hill Banking Company, the
oldest bank organized, has a capital stock of $20,000 and a surplus of $15,000,
deposits $100,000. This bank for the past fifteen years has been under the
careful supervision of A. P. Williams as cashier, with his daughter. Miss Anna,
as assistant cashier, and is one of the solid institutions of eastern Kansas.
Eli Davis is president, Loren Crawford, vice-president, W. C. Palmer, secretary.
Directors are W. M. Adams, S. R. Hogue, W. M. Tibbetts, George S. Sowers, P. O.
Coons, Lizzie Bunnell, Eugene Davis and W. H. Rutter. Stewart Simpson is
assistant cashier and bookkeeper at the present.

  The Farmers State Bank was organized April 1, 1912, with a capital stock of
$20,000. It has a surplus of $6,000 and deposits of $50,000. Irwin Williams, a
home boy, was selected as cashier at the organization of the bank and his
careful business methods and pleasing manners are bringing the bank rapidly
forward in the confidence of the people. Miss Osa Williams is assistant cashier.
Thomas Williams is president, J. W. Sowers vice-president, George Ellis,
secretary. Directors are R. R. Crawford, H. B. Dickey, George Osborn, J. L.
Pettyjohn, E. E. Smith, W. C. Rohrer, Alex Hines, A. C. Stiles.

  The city park in "old town,' planted in trees many years ago, affords a cool
retreat from the hot rays of the summer sun and has an amphitheater where public
meetings are held in the warmer months.

CHURCHES.

  The first year of the settlement of Spring Hill there were no churches or
schools in town. Mr. James B. Hovey in an interesting letter written in 1874
gives the following data:

  "The spring of 1858 opened and found us without a school or church. Our
community had been too small up to that time to support either, but the writer,
thinking the time had then arrived when we might sustain occasional preaching,
went in search of a minister of the Gospel, one who would be willing to preach
occasionally, at first, with a view to establish a regular stated service for
our people. A preacher of the Methodist Episcopal church was found by the name
of Hurlbert (if I recollect rightly), who lived about two miles east of Baldwin
City. He agreed to be on hand on the following Sunday; and hold service at my
house. (I don't know but it might be as well to say here that my house being
somewhat commodious was made use of for all public occasions: it was used for a
hotel, postoffice, justice's office, voting, public meetings, preaching, and
just before the war for a store and stage stand.) When Sunday came he was on
time; in fact we were on the lookout for him and saw him coming miles away on
the prairie, in those days one could always tell a minister as far as the eye
could reach. They always traveled on horse back-the horse invariably had a sort
of pious regulation trot, and carried the inevitable ministerial saddlebags. He
had no sooner got there than the house was filled. The people crowded in from
all directions. Some came on foot, some on horse back, and some with ox teams, a
few in two-horse wagons, but none in buggies, for, buggies at that day were as
scarce as railroads. The meeting was such an unexpected success, and the
preacher so encouraged that another appointment was given out, and from that
time we had stated preaching. In a few weeks the time came for a quarterly
meeting and the congregation had grown so the old hotel would not hold them. So
all at once just a week before the meeting the people set about building a house
which could be used for a church and school house. Everything was ready on the
ground and the building completed, all inside of one week, and the first
quarterly meeting of the Methodist Episcopal church in Spring Hill was held in
that building on Sunday, where on the Sunday before not a stone or brick was to
be seen. Elder L. B. Dennis, of Lawrence, was our first presiding elder, and he
was so pleased with our enterprise, and with the large congregation that turned
out on that occasion, that he at once took a lively interest in our people and
town, and had a regular station esablished here. In the meantime a church had
been organized and the interest continued to increase till we were supplied with
a resident minister, the Rev. Richard P. Duvall.

  "The roster of Methodist ministers from i858 to the present time is as
follows: The first minister was R. P. Duvall, who stayed till March, 1867. Then
Rev. Hogue followed in 1867, William Whitney 1868, O. H. Call 1870, Cole 1871,
J. Biddison 1872, J. C. Tilford 1875 (Mr. Tilford is the father of Mrs. J. W.
Sowers, who still lives in Spring Hill), J. O. Roberts, 1877, Walker 1879, Frank
Hayes, 1881, J. S. Smith 1884, William Whitney 1885, son of the pastor of 1868;
Don S. Colt 1887, S. A. Laugh 1888, L. A. Markham 1889, J. A. Thompson 1891, M.
L. Everett 1891, W. P. Elliot 1893, C. G. Crysler 1896, C. S. Frank 1899, C. J.
Horned 1901, C. G. Crysler 1902 to complete the term of Horned, who resigned,
Thomas McConnell 1903, W. J. Mitchell 1906, A. J. Bruner 1909, M. E. Goodrich
1910, D. A. McCollough, the present pastor, came in 1912. The first church was
built in 1871 and is now used by the colored Methodist Episcopal church. A new
brick church began in 1911, was dedicated in August of that year and cost
$10,000. The membership at present is 191. The Sunday school has an average
attendance of 125."

REMINISCENCES OF SPRING HILL.
(By W. R. Rutter.)

  I came to Kansas in 1855 and went to Lawrence. When I arrived in the
neighborhood where Spring Hill now is, in 1857, there were but very few people
then on the ground. There were some Indians living on Bull creek, and among the
whites I remember were James B. Hovey, William Mavity, S. B. Myrick, E. F.
Davis, A. B. Simmons, W. A. Jenkinson, George Sprague, James McKoin and H. E.
Brown. A town company was organized but it was not regularly incorporated until
1858.

  The first building in the town was the hotel at the northeast corner of the
public square, a two-story frame, known as the Spring Hill Hotel. It was 30x40
and stood on one of the highest points in the town.

  The postoffice was established in the fall of 1857, but the mail had to be
carried from Olathe, often on foot by A. B. Simmons, J. P. Lockey and myself. It
was a dreary task, sometimes through the snow, and a lonesome job.

  In that winter four of us thought we would enliven things by advertising for a
wife. Thus we did in the Boston "Journal." which brought several responses of a
warm and amorous nature. One widow from St. Louis, Mo., carried on a
correspondence with increasing interest with one of the boys, and at last
reached the climax by telling him how much she thought of him and said that "the
children called him pa." A young lady in Kentucky early expressed a willingness
to see "the southern lily transplanted to the side of the northern rose." An
elderly female from Maine wrote that she had $1,500 and that her husband must
have as much. This let the boys out. Out of all the fun came one genuine
attachment. One of the boys arranged to go to New York City where he was to meet
his lady on a ferry boat, and should know her by her being dressed in black and
carrying her handkerchief in her hand. This was carried out and they were
married and came to Spring Hill to live. She was a finely educated lady, a fine
Latin scholar and a musician.

  Mr. George Sprague was the first to erect substantial farm buildings in 1857,
putting up a good house and barn, building fences and making things look like
home. S. B. Myrick settled on the northeast quarter of section 15, directly
north of my claim, and Davis was on the north of him. The first store was opened
by W. G. Davidson. These were quickly followed in the next year by many others,
nearly all of whom have gone.

  The first newspaper of Spring Hill was started December 7, 1870, and was
called the Spring Hill "Enterprise." It was a Republican paper but in 1872 it
changed hands and the name was changed to the "Western Progress."

  The Presbyterian church of Spring Hill was organized December 4, 1864, with
ten members. Rev. H. Reed was the first pastor.

  The following persons have served as pastors: J. W. Rankin, N. A. Rankin,
James C. McElroy, A. Carroll, N. Young, A. M. Reynolds, William Howell, A. V.
Stout, W. A. Rankin (second time), A. M. Mann, W. H. Course.

  The church building was erected in 1871 by J. C. Beckley and is situated in
old town one block east of the Old Hotel.

THE OLD HOTEL.
(By Ed Blair.)

Over the prairies for miles and miles.
  Slowly the stage coach rolled  along, 
With now and then the crack of a whip.
  And a "Get up there" or a bit of a song, 
The bluestem waved and the flowers wild
  Nodded and becked as the stage went by 
(In the soft June days) and when autumn came
  The fires of the prairie lit up the sky, 
And after the ride was a rest for a spell,
  For the passengers here at the old hotel.

'Twas a welcome sight to the traveler worn
  The light that flecked from the windows here. 
And far in the night were the slow teams urged,
  That the drivers might bask in its warmth and cheer, 
For equality reigned at the old hotel.
  Where the traveler told of his wanderings far, 
Of his hopes and ambitions, of what he had been,
  Of all that had happened his fortune to mar; 
And the innkeeper listened to what had befell,
  Till the clock struck twelve in the old hotel.

'Twas here Greeley came by the old stage line,
  And stopped awhile for a welcome rest, 
And saw for the first the prairies so wide,
  That inspired his advice, "Young man, go west."
But the trail now bears the name of a street;
  By the hotel's walls move a city's throng, 
And the corn and wheat now nod and bend
  On the sod where the bluestem waved so long; 
But the hotel stands, yet through its door,
  The guests from the stage coach come no more.

Like a granite slab 'mong the tangled vines
  That bursts to view in a lonely wood, 
(Where once in the long, long years ago
  A party of silent mourners stood), 
Brings back to the mind the years that have flown;
  The years that have flown, yes, by the score. 
So the old hotel, with its sinking sills,
  Calls back to the pioneer days of yore, 
A slab in the woods with but few to tell
  Of its history now-is this old hotel.

  The Old Hotel at Spring Hill, Kans., is one of the historic buildings of
Kansas and should be preserved as a historical museum of the border. It was the
first building of Spring Hill, built in 1857, and the old stage line ran by its
door. It was built on the northeast corner of the square in what is now called
Old Town. The building of the Frisco railroad caused the present business
district to be removed a half mile east of the old town site. The building is a
two-story and its frame work is made from native lumber. It has four rooms 15x18
below and two above with a seven-foot hallway in which a three-foot stairway is
built. The stairway is boxed up underneath and recently a trap door was
discovered inside of this, which, no doubt, had been made to be used as a hiding
place during the border warfare. While there was no cellar underneath the
building, the floor was high enough to admit a man's body and a score of persons
could have been secreted there with no danger of discovery. On the north side a
kitchen, twelve feet wide, extends the full length of the building. Everything
about the building from the heavy oak sills, the old style hardwood flooring,
the doors, windows and general style of construction, suggest the pioneer days.
Up the old stairway you will want to go sure when you visit the place and there
you will find two big rooms, big enough for four beds each, yet how many were
accommodated at a time few indeed know at this time. The bridal chamber above
the approach to the stairway is 6 1/2 x 7 1/2 feet in size, and suggests the
only privacy about the building. The building cost $3,000, and the lumber used,
with the exception of the frame, was hauled from Leavenworth. At the time of the
building of the hotel some maple trees were set out and two of these are still
growing, the largest, standing south of the door, being nine and one-half feet
in circumference. A well dug at the same time just north of the building is
twenty-five feet deep; has never been dry and still furnishes water to many in
this part of town. One hundred feet north of the hotel a stage barn was erected
where eight head of horses were kept and cared for.

STAGE LINE AND EARLY BUSINESS VENTURES.

  The drivers on the stage line changed horses here, and it was the duty of the
stage barn owner to have these horses ready to hitch up as soon as the stage
arrived. These stage barns were erected about every ten miles along the route
and but a few minutes was ever lost in changing horss. Four horses were driven
at a time. Pat Murphy came to Johnson county with Jared L. Sanderson, who was
interested in carrying mail and operating stage lines. Sanderson first
established a stage line from Sedalia, Mo., to Warrensburg; then later, in
1863-64, a line from Kansas City Mo., to Ft. Scott, Kans., making a contract to
carry the mail for four years at one cent per year. Mr. Sanderson figured that
the passenger traffic, freight and express would make him a nice profit and he
could afford to carry the mail, as by doing so he would keep competitors out,
and it proved a profitable venture. He also operated a line from Kansas City to
Santa Fe, a distance of 700 miles. A daily mail and express from Kansas City to
Ft. Scott, with stations ten to fourteen miles apart where horses were changed,
was kept up till the Missouri River and Ft. Scott & Golf road was built in 1869
and 1870. The first station was at Gum Springs, then followed in regular order,
Beattie Mahaffies, northeast of Olathe; Squiresville, Spring Hill, Paola, Twin
Springs, Moneka, north of Mound City; Ft. Lincoln and Ft. Scott. Eight horses
were kept at each barn and a telegraph line was established along the route. Two
changes of horses were made each day, one in the forenoon and one in the
afternoon, and Mr. Murphy had charge of the stable at Spring Hill. When Pat
first came George Sprague kept the Farmer's Hotel, now the residence of James
Cuddeback, and the stage barn was located near, under the charge of Mr. Sprague.
He afterwards moved to the Old Hotel and the stage barn was built just north of
it. Here later William Sowers conducted the hotel and had charge of the barn.

  The location of the different buildings around the square at the time Mr.
Murphy came was as follows: W. G. Davidson's general store was located on the
site of D. S. Curtis's residence at the southwest corner of the square. This was
the only building on the west side. Rankin & Steel had a general store near the
southeast corner, west of Mrs. Hattie Skinner's residence. On the east side,
where George Reeder lives at present, stood the store of Brown & Willis. Willis
was a brother-in-law of Eliphalet Newton, and south of this store was a hardware
store owned by W. Day. .Alexander Davis and William Nichols ran a blacksmith
shop on the east side, also located on the lot where the residence of C. G.
Wilson now stands. On the northeast corner, opposite the Old Hotel, was located
the first store building. A store was opened here in the winter of 1857-58 by W.
G. Davidson. Afterwards a Mr. Johnson kept a general store here and kept a
barrel of liquor on tap also.

THE PIONEER STORE.
(By Ed Blair.)

The counters were not polished (only where the loafers sat),
  But little light shone through the window small, 
A sack of Rio coffee made a snug bed for the cat,
  The shelves extended half way up the wall. 
'Twas just a "general" country store, at least they called it so,
  Perhaps because they generally were out 
Of what the people wanted, and the customers must go
  With things with which they often were in doubt.

But stores are only ventures and the first must feel its way
  And this was like all others of its kind; 
Some groceries and hardware, just enough to load a dray,
  Was largely then with what the shelves were lined. 
But there was more than merchandise dispensed there every day,
  When settlers from the Wea and Ten Mile, 
And roaring, raging Bull Creek, and the Blue, ten miles away,
  Spat on the stove and visited a while.
The stories of the growing corn ("Nigh on to boot-top high")
  The planting of the hedge (the future fence), 
The digging of the spring and well and finding water nigh,
  Were stories then of interest intense, 
And sandwiched in with others was the yarn from Uncle Dan
  Of yesterday when crossing at the ford 
He caught six cats with just one bait, the way his story ran,
  The least of them as long as Berkshire's sword.

And Uncle Bill would tell 'em how he sewed his buttons on,
  For batching was an art he'd mastered well, 
And how the nails helped out a lot with buttons off and gone,
  "Or locust thorns sometimes would do as well;" 
And when a livety yarn was told the boys would gather 'round
  A little keg that sat against the wall, 
And turn the spigot slightly and pass the cup around,
  The memories of old times to recall.

Yes, there was "booze" in Johnson's keg and money, too, for him,
  And the reservation Indians also knew, 
And when they, too, "mixed in" to smoke, the candle light grew dim,
  And then they surely had a motley crew. 
Sometimes the hotel cleared its floor and gave the boys a dance,
  And then this keg of Johnson's took a hand, 
And e'er th' boys attending spent th' "wee sma' hours," perchance
  A part of those connecting couldn't stand.

The booze is gone, an outlaw now-for this no tears are shed-
  But many things we've lost that are no gain: 
The stronger ties of friendship in the early days, that led
  A pioneer for miles through snow or rain 
To help a needy brother when the fever threatened life,
  Or help him save the meager crops he had. 
For hearts grew strong and brave and true mid poverty and strife
  And the good things ever crowded out the bad.

  The "Uncle Dan" referred to above was the invincible 'Dan Ramey, of Spring
Hill." Uncle Bill (William Rutter), worked as a carpenter on the Old Hotel and
was a pioneer of 1857. Berkshire's sword is still hanging in the Grange store at
Spring Hill. This sword was carried by Lieutenant Berkshire in the '60's and is
one of his treasured relics of the war.

  Mr. Hovey built the old store building and it was afterwards purchased by
William Sowers, at the same time the Old Hotel was bought.

EARLY DAYS AT SPRING HILL.

  David Sprong had a residence near where the residence of J. W. Janes now
stands. A Mr. Lindsay built the residence now occupied by Mrs. L. J. Holdren.

  The stone houses now owned by J. A. Hopkins and W. C. Graves were built before
Mr. Murphy came to Spring Hill, and, having been remodeled and replastered, are
as substantial as the day they were built. The building now known as Cook's Hall
on south Main Street, was originally the Odd Fellows Hall and stood on the site
now occupied by the residence of Mrs. Hattie Skinner at the southeast corner of
the square. The Ancient Free and Accepted Masons also had a hall on the
southwest corner of the square, which was moved when the railroad was built to
the lot now owned by Mrs. Null on Main Street. The building was later burned
down and a brick store stands there, now occupied as a bakery and restaurant.
Mr. Murphy moved his building now standing-northeast of the depot from the north
side of the square west of the Old Hotel. Mr. Murphy transacted business in this
building for forty-two years.

  The first white citizen of Spring Hill township was James P>. Hovey. In a
letter from him to Mr. Oliver Gregg in 1874, he gave the following excellent
sketch of the early days of Spring Hill and Spring Hill township:

  "About the middle of March, '57, I started for Leavenworth with a view to
locating there, but the enormous value put upon property there, at that time,
led me to abandon that point. I then proceeded to Kansas City, where I heard
such glowing accounts of the "Shawnee Lands" in Johnson county that I decided to
see these lands and locate there, if they answered the description given them.
In the latter part of March I went to Olathe. There I found Dr. Barton, a clever
genial gentleman, who took pains to show me the vacant claims about Olathe, but
the fact is, I was frightened at seeing so much prairie with no timber near. So
the good Doctor told me about the land around the head of East Bull creek, where
there was, then, a most lively country and good timber. After spending the night
with him in his cabin (which was the only house there then), where some eight or
ten of us, all strangers to each other, slept in a row on the floor, with a
blanket apiece under us for a feather bed, and one over us for covering. It was
the fashion then to carry a pair of blankets, because one hardly knew where
night would overtake him, or what he would find in the way of sleeping
accommodations. Having breakfasted with the Doctor, on the plain fare of the
day, corn bread and bacon, I started, under his directions, to find the head of
East Bull creek. There were no roads, not even a trail to guide one, I was on
horseback, and went, with the help of a pocket compass, to find a certain
quarter section, I have forgotten its number, with its township and range on a
memorandum, nine miles south of Olathe, which I found without difficulty. I was
then to go down Bull creek one mile and a half to find the cabin of a Shawnee
Indian, who bore the name of George Washington, whom I found to be a good sort
of an Indian, or as he would say: "Me good Shawnee man."

  You will recollect that among the provisions of the Lecompton constitution was
one allowing all the Kansas Indians to vote "who had adopted the manners and
customs of the white man." That meant the manners and customs of the average
border ruffian of that date. The Indian who chewed tobacco, smoked, drank
whiskey, and cursed the "d-d abolitionists" was entitled to vote, so they nearly
all voted.

  George Washington, though he smoked and chewed, seldom drank and was a very
good Indian. His dress consisted of a broad rimmed hat, a red calico shirt, and
a pair of moccasins, which, of course, entitled him to vote. His family
consisted of a wife and two children, and with them I made home for some few
weeks, there being no white folks anywhere near there. The nearest place to a
white man was seven miles south of me, near Ten Mile creek in Lykin county, now
Miami county, where there was a small settlement of Missourians which they
called St. Marysville.

  On the east there was not a habitation till we reached the State line. On the
north, Olathe was, the nearest place, and on the west at the junction of Santa
Fe and Little Santa Fe roads, where Gardner now stands. Mr. O. B. Gardner and
some others were getting out material on Bull creek to put up cabins.

  Bill McCamish, who had married a Shawnee woman, was living on Bull creek, at
the crossing of the Santa Fe road, which was then a camping- place for Santa Fe
trains, but was afterwards laid out for a town and called after its owner,
McCamish.

  The east fork of Bull creek was known as Little Bull.

  At the time of my entry on Little Bull as an actual settler in March, 1857,
there were four Shawnee families living there, nestled out of sight in the
timber of the creek. They were George Washington and family, Solomon Madder and
family, Black Wolf and family, and one other family whose name I have forgotten.
They were all peaceable and quiet sort of Indians who minded their own business
and kept pretty much away from the whites.

LOCATING THE TOWN AND ORGANIZATION OF TOWN COMPANY.

  On going to the place where Spring Hill is located, I was struck with the
natural beauty of the place. The view from the elevated point selected for the
public square was grand, and the distance one could see was wonderful. After the
town of Aubry was built, twelve miles east of Spring Hill, we could see the
houses there every clear day, and the timber adjoining the town of Ossowatomie,
eighteen miles southwest of Spring Hill, could be distinctly seen. I settled on
the southeast quarter of section 15, township 15, range 23. From my Shawnee
landlord I bought some timber and alone, with the aid of my horse, commenced to
build a cabin. This was the first claim occupied in that part of Johnson county
or in Spring Hill township. Being so well pleased with the locality and being
somewhat enthusiastic in my estimation of its future, it having all advantages
of timber and water, and on a line that must be traveled between Olathe and
Paola, I concluded, to myself, you know, as there was no one else to conclude
with, that this was a good place for a town. So singly I set the ball in motion
and stuck my stakes, the northwest and southwest quarters of section 14,
township 15, range 23, for a townsite. It was an easy thing to stake a town
site, but the next thing was to keep it, especially when there was no town
company, nor any sign of one, but I trusted to luck and the Squatters'
Association. Dr. Barton was my friend and the leading spirit in the association.
There was an understanding that if an actual settler, relative of a member of
the association, thought of coming to Kansas, such a member might take a claim
adjoining his own for the benefit of his relative and hold it thirty days. Well,
I took the chances that way, for my brother-in-law, to hold one quarter, the
other I had to watch, and whenever I found settlers searching for claims, I
would volunteer to show them good claims, and in that way I got a good number of
settlers around me, and saved the town site. The first man that come along was
William Mavity. In about two weeks after I landed there I put him on the
southeast quarter of section 14, township 15, range 23. He was unable to improve
his claim at that time, and I kept him in my employ all that season. Then S. B.
Myrick and E. F. Davis came together and took claims adjoining each other,
Myrick taking the northeast quarter of section 15, township 15, range 23,
directly north of my own and adjoining the town site on the west, and Davis
taking the quarter adjoining Myrick on the north, but both soon found that their
claims were on Indian head rights, and Myrick went to Olathe, but Davis stayed
and took another, which joined the town site on the north and I took him as a
partner to hold half the town site. We two then held it till we got it platted
and surveyed, which was completed May 18, 1857. It devolved upon me to give it a
name, which duty I fulfilled, calling it Spring Hill, after one of the most
beautiful places I had ever seen-the suburban town near Mobile, Ala., Spring
Hill, a most charming spot surrounded by beautiful groves, and flower gardens in
endless variety. It occurred to me that the surroundings of the new town were
capable of being made, by culture, as beautiful as the older one for which it
was named.

  "In the fall of '57 Mr. Davis sold his interest in the town to A. B. Simmons,
William Jenkinson and J. P. Lockey, and soon afterwards I sold shares to James
McKoin, Edwin Walker and H. E. Brown. On the first Monday in January, 1858, a
town company was organized in conformity with the legal requirements for
preempting town sites. J. B. Hovey was elected president and A. B. Simmons
secretary. The town made but little progress during the first few years of its
existence, but the members of the town company were anxious to have the
surrounding country settled with a good class of settlers and took more pains to
get the county settled up than the town, well knowing that if they would have a
flourishing town they must have a flourishing country to support it.

  The first house built in the town was the Spring Hill Hotel. It was built in
the summer of 1857, by J. B. Hovey, and stands on the northeast corner of the
public square, a two-story frame buiuding, the ground floor occupying forty feet
front by thirty feet depth. It stands on the highest elevation in the town, the
view from its upper story windows being very extensive and one of rare beauty.

SPRING HILL BEGINNINGS.

  The oldest farmer in Spring Hill township is George Sprague. His claim joins
the north half of the town on the east, and he made the first improvements and
his farm shows what a practical industrious man can do. Mr. Sprague put up the
first substantial board fence in that vicinity, also raised the first Osage
orange for hedge and built a large frame barn, such as was seldom seen in any
part of the State at that day. He was one of the first farmers to build a good
dwelling in the township. Among other parties that came to Spring Hill about
this time were D. F. Dayton, James Sweeting, B. H. Stiles, and all made
substantial improvements, so we had one of the best improved settlements to be
found in the county.

  On the fifth day of October, 1857, occurred the first election for delegate to
Congress, member of legislature, justice of peace, etc. At this first election,
if I remember rightly, sixteen votes were polled. M. J. Parrott received a
majority for delegate to Congress, Edwin S. Nash for member of State Senate; J.
B. Hovey and H. H. Wilcox were the first justices of peace.

  During this fall the department at Washington granted a postoffice at Spring
Hill, and appointed J. B. Hovey postmaster. But the receipts at the office had
to pay for carrying the mail, and as they were next to nothing at all, the
carrying had to be done just the same. Under these circumstances it was
undertaken as a labor of love and was actually carried on foot during the winter
of '57 and '58 to Olathe, and back once a week, over that bleak prairie,
sometimes through the snow, and there was no beaten road to guide one most of
the time, by A. B. Simmons and W. R. Rutter, though occasionally by Jonathan
Gore and W. A. Jenkinson. They went two at a time for safety, as there was no
road to follow. In 1858 our mail route was changed. We got it through the
distributing office at Westport, and J. H. Jackson, of Spring Hill, got the
contract to carry it weekly. In t86o A. B. Squires took a contract to deliver it
to us tri-weekly. In 1862 we got mail daily, on the regular Kansas City and Ft.
Scott mail route, which had been changed so as to come by way of Olathe.

  During 1859 it was thought advisable to effect a regular organization of a
Republican club. In pursuance of that plan Gen. J. H. Lane spoke at Spring Hill
to a large crowd, and the club was organized with J. B. Hovey, president, and A.
B. Simmons, secretary.

  Early in 1858 A. D. Richardson, then a regular correspondent of the Boston
"Journal," since then attached to the New York "Tribune," became much attached
to eastern Kansas. In going to Osowatomie he stopped at Spring Hill, and was so
highly pleased with everything there that he at once proposed to become
interested in the town. The writer sold him an interest and he was admitted into
the town company on the footing of an original member. Mr. Richardson evinced a
lively interest in the affairs of the town and always used his influence for its
welfare.

  During the winter of '57 and '58, the first store was opened at Spring Hill by
W. G. Dividson. He did a very fair business for the amount of stock he kept. In
1860 Mr. Prunty came from Parksville, Mo., built a commodious store and
dwelling, put in a complete stock and did a splendid business.

  On the twenty-second day of March, 1858, an election was held for the election
of township officers when H. H. Wilcox and J. B. Hovey were elected justices; A.
B. Squires and Mr. Wilcox, supervisors, and J. B. Hovey, chairman of
supervisors, William Mavity and Robert Victor, constables.

  In 1859 Spring Hill thought she had enough talent within her border to start a
literary society, so a call was made for that purpose, and the Spring Hill
Literary Society was started with about twenty members. J. B. Hovey was elected
president, Mrs. Charles Spaulding secretary, and Miss Emma Gustin critic. It
flourished for a season then quietly gave up the ghost.

  It was during this year, 1858, the great rivalry sprang up between Gardner and
Olathe on the county seat question. Gardner was not satisfied with the way
Olathe had secured it, and wanted further action on it by the next legislature.
At that period in the history of Kansas it was believed that corner lots, when
judiciously applied, had great weight in the location of county seats,
especially with the previous legislature, whose uneviable name has passed into
history, and which is known as the "bogus legislature" of Kansas, though I am
not aware that Olathe was ever suspected of using any such appliances in her
interest. Gardner's hope was in getting her candidates nominated for the
legislature, through whose influence, if elected, they hoped to secure the
desired change by legislative enactment. Messrs. Lockhart and Hovey were elected
by large majorities. That election was really a test on the county seat
question, and Olathe won. The legislature wisely refrained from meddling with
it, and in Johnson county it never came up afterwards. In 1860, the year of the
great drouth in Kansas, Spring Hill township suffered but little in comparison
with other parts of the State. Though there was great scarcity, and but little
of anything" raised, the calls for aid from our township were very few and
easily supplied. During the summer the writer had frequently to shut all the
doors and windows in the house to keep out as much hot burning air as possible
that. came from the south; we had never experienced anything like it before. In
breathing it, it really seemed that we were breathing" hot air from an oven.
Animals suffered dreadfully, and its blighting effects were felt by everything
animate and inanimate.

WAR TIMES.

  Spring Hill raised two companies for home protection, one a mounted company,
commanded by Capt. James Duff, and one infantry company commanded by Captain
Hovey. One or the other of these companies was frequently requested to stand
guard over some weak neighboring settlement, that had been threatened with fire
and sword by some of the Missouri bushwhackers that infested the border that
season. This kind of irregular service did not suit our men, it was not either
soldiering or farming, though it partook of the hardships of both. Frequently we
had to sleep with our guns in reach and perhaps with our clothes on, ready to
start up with the first note of alarm. During the same season Captain Hill, of
Olathe, commenced recruiting for active service in the field and quite a number
of our men went into his company and with their regiment, Col. R. B. Mitchell's,
participated in the battle of Wilson Creek, under General Lyon. Captain Duff,
together with such of the men that remained, held himself ready for home service.

  In October, 1864, we had our last and biggest scare. Price was coming upon us
like a volcano, with an army big enough to swallow us all down together. Our
situation was critical. General Curtis at once issued an order putting the State
under martial law, and ordered every man to report for duty, had the stores all
closed, and squads of patrolmen bringing in delinquents, not only in cities and
towns, but through the country. In many instances men were taken from their
fields while at work and some were not allowed to go home for a change of clothing.

  The legislature of 1858-59 passed an act opening a State road from Leavenworth
via Olathe, Spring Hill, Paola, and Mound City to Ft. Scott. A military
telegraph line was placed on the road during the war. In due season parties
interested, including the writer, began to agitate the question of a railroad.

  One looks back on those days of trial, when the wolves came howling around our
cabin in the night, and the rabbits used to eat all our young trees in the
winter, the Indian hogs ate up our corn in the summer, and the cattle broke down
our fences at all seasons of the year. And when we used to haul all the water we
used from a spring half a mile away and go twenty-five miles to Westport to
mill; yet after a lapse of sixteen or seventeen years, it is rather pleasant to
look back and reflect on the good those early efforts have accomplished.


Additional Comments:

Extracted from:

HISTORY OF Johnson County Kansas
BY
ED BLAIR

AUTHOR OF
Kansas Zephyrs, Sunflower Sittings and Other Poems and Sketches

IN ONE VOLUME

ILLUSTRATED
STANDARD PUBLISHING COMPANY
LAWRENCE, KANSAS
1915



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