Shawnee County KS Archives History - Books .....Chapter XIII 1905
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Book Title: History Of Shawnee County, Kansas

CHAPTER XIII.

Drought of 1860-Depression Resulting from the War-How the City Appeared in
1862-Prominent Business Firms and Professional Men-The Growth from 1865 to
1870-Renewed Activity in Real Estate Transactions-The Railroad Situation-Wagon
Routes from Topeka-Association of Old Settlers.

    Topeka's growth, as well as that of Shawnee County, was greatly retarded by
the memorable drought of i860. The labors of agriculture at that time were
entirely confined to the raising of corn and vegetables, of which a scant supply
matured. It is estimated that the population of the city and county decreased
fully 20 per cent, in that year and the general stagnation was added to by the
outbreak of the Civil War. Following the close of the war, the tide of
immigration again set in, capital sought investment, property felt the stimulus
of increased value, there was abundant work for the mechanic and laborer, and
enterprises of great pith and moment were undertaken with a confidence inspired
by the general firmness, politically and socially, that marked the new life in
Kansas.

RETROSPECTIVE.

    In the year 1862 Topeka had a population of less than 700. All that portion
of the country north of the river was practically uninhabited, there being but a
few log houses in the valley between Indianola and the river. Dr. Franklin L.
Crane was farming that portion of the city lying north of Fifth street and' east
of Monroe, including the land where the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe depot now
stands. Col. Cyrus K. Holliday lived on the farm adjoining Dr. Crane's on the
south, now the center of a big city where the family residence has been
maintained for 50 years. South and east of Kansas and 10th avenues was John
Ritchie's farm. South and west of the Ritchie property were the claims of Col.
Joel Huntoon, Milton C. Dickey, J. C. Gordon and Daniel H. Horne. Southeast of
the city were the farms of W. B. Wade, L. C. Conwell and Justus Brockway, and
close by were farms belonging to Dr. S. E. Martin, R. S. Martin, John Long and
D. R. Young. Fry W. Giles had a farm on the Shunganunga, and was operating an
express and stage office in town. The Topeka House stood on the present site of
the Government Building, and opposite it was the Garvey House. The Chase House
stood where the Stormont office building now stands, and on Sixth avenue were
the Tuttle and Ashbaugh hotels.

    The lawyers of that time were John Martin, A. H. Case and W. P. Douthitt.
The physicians were S. E. Martin, Deming & Miller and B. F. King. The ministers
were Revs. Lewis Bodwell, Charles M. Calloway, J. H. Defouri, Ira Blackford,
John A. Steele and E. Alward. The leading store was conducted by Hamilton &
Company, Fielding Johnson and George W. Veale being the "Company." H. W.
Farnsworth. and Willis Gordon were millers, Jacob Smith was the proprietor of a
tin shop, George O. Wilmarth owned the post office book-store, Charles C. Kellam
was postmaster, William Marshall was the only tailor, Thomas Archer was
constable and J. C. Miller, justice of the peace. In the block on the west side
of Kansas avenue, between Sixth avenue and Seventh street, there was then only
one building, and south of that on the avenue was vacant prairie. The young
ladies of that period were Miss Mary Ward, Miss Belle Chase, Miss Murphy, Miss
Miller, Miss Allen, Miss Blush and Miss Farnsworth, and the list of young men
included George, Frank and Orville Crane, T. B. Mills, J. C. French, George
Trott, David Seagraves, Perry Tuttle and Henry C. Lindsey. The only business men
of the early '60's who have continued uninterruptedly from that date to this are
John W. Farnsworth and Jacob Smith. Mr. Farnsworth changed his business from dry
goods to queensware, and Mr. Smith's tin-shop became the basis of the present W.
A. L. Thompson Hardware Company.

AFTER THE WAR.

    Topeka's activity suffered no abatement between the years 1865 and 1870. In
that period many fine business blocks were erected and handsome residences
built. It was also the era of bridge building, railroad projection and general
improvement. School houses and churches were built, sidewalks laid and much
public work done. The city rapidly outgrew its original dimensions, and the
first farm claims were nearly all converted into town lots. Many additions were
platted and taken into the city, known as Young's, Horne's, Crane's, Ritchie's,
King's, Holliday's and Huntoon's additions. The Kaw Indian land opposite the
city, on the north side of the Kansas River, came into market through an act of
Congress authorizing the Indians to sell their property, and reservation No. 4
of the land belonging to the half-breeds was bought and platted for town
purposes. Eugenia was the name first given to the town, but the territory was
attached to Topeka in April, 1867, and thenceforth took the name of North
Topeka, being the first ward of the main city.

    Some of the buildings erected and new institutions established in the period
between 1865 and 1870 were the following: The Mortimer Cook Building at the
southwest corner of Kansas and Sixth avenues; the Baker & Tinkham Block,
opposite Crawford's Opera House; Grace Episcopal Church, at the northwest corner
of Jackson and Seventh streets; the Tefft House, where the First National Bank
Building now stands; Charles F. Kendall's dry goods store; E. W. Baker &
Company's wholesale grocery establishment; an iron foundry established on the
corner of Second and Jefferson streets; a flouring mill erected at the corner of
Kansas avenue and Third street, and another one in North Topeka, built by L.
Laurent; the Topeka Bank, Kansas Valley National Bank, Capital Bank, and the
Giles & Jewell Bank, opened for business; the Adams Building, North Topeka; and
the Union Pacific Hotel and Depot, North Topeka. The principal residences built
were those of Jesse H. Crane, on Madison between Fourth and Fifth streets; Hugo
Kullak, northwest corner of Topeka avenue and Seventh street; and Jacob Smith,
southwest corner of Harrison and Fifth streets.

BUSINESS AND PROFESSIONAL MEN.

    In addition to those already named, the well-known business and professional
men of that period were: Barnum & Company, George C. Kenyon, Bates & Company, C.
A. Butts, Geiger & McGrath and G. F. Merriam, dry goods; A. J. Arnold, Rowley
Brothers, Stringham & Brown and C. C. Kellam, druggists; Benjamin Haywood, John
Worth and Andrew Seiler, furniture; Guilford Dudley, private banker; Crane &
Byron, blank books; A. H. Thompson, dentist; John P. Cole, Whitton & Weiss, E.
G. Moon, Rodgers Brothers, Craigue & Company and R. E. Randolph, groceries; J.
A. McLaughlin, firearms; Smith & Hale, J. M. Baird, E. H. Blake & Company and T.
H. Whitmer, hardware; Burkhard & Oswald, harness; Hartsock & Gossett, hides;
Henry Clarkson, Gavitt & Scott, Orrin T. Welch and Stone & Bodine, insurance; j.
& R. Thomas, Shellabarger & Leidigh and C. Reed, lumber; J. Lee Knight and J. V.
Wintrode, photographers; James Douglass, John Lahmer and Fred Ortman, jewelers;
David Brier, Bishop Crumrine, Edgar W. Dennis, M. P. Garretson, John Guthrie, N.
F. Handy, Lewis Hanback, A. W. Hayes, John M. McDonald, Noah C. McFarland, Ross
Burns, John Mileham, J. H. Moss, J. H. Putnam, B. J. Ricker, Thomas Ryan, John
G. Searle, Hugh M. Spalding, A. H. Vance, J. G. Wood, J. G. Waters and A. L.
Williams, attorneys; W. S. Baker, George Dick, Eli Lewis, John McClintock, M.
Bailey, L. G. Murphy, M. F. Price, W. W. Rodgers, Silas E. Shelden, E. Tefft, D.
W. Stormont and George Wyman, physicians.

    The Episcopal Female Seminary was in operation at the corner of Topeka
avenue and Ninth street, under the patronage of Bishop Thomas H. Vail. Rev. J.
N. Lee was principal and Mrs. R. N. Baldwin, vice-principal. Miss Minnie Beales,
Kansas' most famous vocalist, was one of the teachers. The Masons, Odd Fellows
and Good Templars were the only secret societies in existence. The Union Pacific
Railroad had been extended as far west as Carson, Colorado, and the Atchison,
Topeka & Santa Fe line was running trains to Emporia. The wagon roads leading
out of the city were marked as follows: To Grasshopper Falls, Kansas avenue due
north across Soldier Creek; to Tecumseh, Sixth avenue east; to Clinton, 10th
avenue to Shunganunga bridge, thence south; to Burlingame, Jackson street south;
to Auburn, 10th avenue west to Fillmore street, thence in a southwesterly
direction; to Mission Creek, on the Auburn road to the crossing of 11th street,
and then branching off to the west; to Wabaunsee, Sixth avenue west.

ASSOCIATION OF OLD SETTLERS.

    At various meetings of the Old Settlers' Association of Topeka, the
following persons signed the roll of membership, giving their names and the date
of their citizenship:

    1854-John Armstrong, Freeman R. Foster, Caroline S. Scales, L. S. Long,
William C. Gibbons, J. S. Freeland, S. E. Martin, W. W. Phillips, Fry W. Giles,
George W. Berry, J. S. Freeland, J. W. Miller, E. J. Haynes, John Long and Mrs.
E. J. Dailey.

    1855-H. W. Curtis, Mrs. John Long, Mrs. C. A. Giles, Mrs. Augusta W.
Lescher, Mrs. Mary Herbert, Charles H. Lovejoy, Josiah Jordan, Sarah C. Stone,
Franklin G. Adams, C. G. Howard, W. H. Moffitt, G. W. Gillis, Martha Allen,
William P. Thompson, Mrs. C. S. Baker, Mrs. Susanna M. Weymouth, Marion E.
Thomson, A. H. Slayton, Josiah B. McAfee, Anna R. McAfee, T. B. Pitcher, Samuel
J. Reader, Susan Howey, Richard Russell, Hale Ritchie, William H. Weymouth, Mrs.
Celeste M. Forbes, Mrs. Jennie M. Nellis, Mrs. Louisa T. Oakley, Sarah E. Doane,
Abner Doane and Mrs. Sarah Curtis.

    1856-Joel Huntoon, John S. Fkey, John Elliott, W. H. Fitzpatrick, George E.
Flanders, Thomas H. Haskell, G. S. Gordon, Walter Oakley, John P. Greer, Kate
Farnsworth Akin, Harvey D. Rice, William Owen, Maria M. Martin, Jasper M.
Howard, Samuel Dolman, Minda K. Dolman, E. Marple, H. K. Winans, Alpheus Palmer,
R. A. Randlett, W. D. Paul, William Wallace, J. B. Miller, James M. Harvey, Mrs.
G. S. Gordon, Edward Chapman, Mrs. Edward Chapman, Hiram W. Farnsworth, John W.
Farnsworth and William Chase.

    1857-Avery Washburn, Mrs. L. P. Huntoon, Rebecca Brittain, E. G. Moon, N. J.
Moon, Henry W. McAfee, Mrs. Freeman R. Foster, Mrs. J. M. Foster, Martha M.
James, Mrs. W. H. Fitzpatrick, Miss Rena Fitzpatrick, Miss Mary Fitzpatrick,
Mrs. Elizabeth Fisher, Jacob Smith, William P. Douthitt, E, M. Chase, Jane T.
Randlett, T. H. Lescher, Olive A. Owen, Flora C. Harvey, M. J. Freeland, Amanda
G. Person, Charles F. Spencer, J. S. Stansfield, James Mecham, V. B. Howey, G.
W. Packard, J. M. Bryan, D. W. Boutwell, Mrs. E. V. Boutwell, Emily R. Douthitt,
Christian Bowman, Josephine Stafford, A. J. Huntoon, Ellen S. Huntoon, Daniel
Thompson, Frank A. Root, William S. Bennett, W. W. Climenson, Mrs. C. Crawford,
L. M. Ayers, Peter Fisher, Henry Taylor, David L. Lakin, Mrs. Ann Spencer,
Castorn Washburn, Sarah A. Elliott, M. P. Hillyer and Georgiana Packard.

    1858-A. F. Barker, T. A. Barker, Kate Rudolph Wilson, James V. Douthitt, H.
D. Fisher, E. M. Fisher, Lucius Kingman, E. A. Goodell, Sarah Goodell, Mrs.
Martha Paine, Mrs. Emma Campbell Hudson, Allen Holcraft, George W. Weed, D. O.
Crane, Mrs. H. M. Prouty and Mrs. F. A. Root.

    1859-F. M. Fletcher, R. J. Miller, Amond Benton, Mrs. Ella Phillips, Mrs.
Mary A. Rice, Emma Bodwell Stagg, Miss Zu Adams, Mary Marple, Sophie G.
Ashbaugh, John F. Carter, Allan Maxson, Mrs. W. W. Phillips, Hattie Fletcher,
Emily Thompson and Elizabeth Taylor.

    1860-Guilford Dudley Baker, Elizabeth Flanders, G. W. Dailey, Matilda Steele
McFarland, Martha A. Herriott, Floyd P. Baker, Robert B. Steele and Marcia G.
Gordon.

    1861-Emma B. Stagg and Josephine E. Ashbaugh.
    1862-Miss Lou Climenson.
    1863-George D. Butts and Mrs. C. A. Butts.
    1864-Sarah A. Elliott and C. S. Baker.
    1865-Robert Robinson and James A. Troutman.
    1866-Anna Foster, Henry Evans, Mrs. Henry Evans, William J. Stagg and Anna
S. Crane.
    1867-Celestine Stoker, George D. Hale, George S. Evarts and Emma Evarts.
    1868-Francis S. McCabe, George P. Bates, Oresta H. Bates. B. F. Golden and
Mrs. S. A. Robinson.
1869-Joseph Andrews, J. Gandion, A. A. Ripley and Sarah E. Evarts.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from:

HISTORY OF SHAWNEE COUNTY, KANSAS
AND
REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS

EDITED AND COMPILED BY
JAMES L. KING
TOPEKA, KANSAS 

"History is Philosophy Teaching by Examples"

PUBLISHED BY
RICHMOND & ARNOLD,
GEORGE RICHMOND; C. R. ARNOLD.
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS,
1905.


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