COUNTY ORGANIZATION AND OFFICERS.
The proclamation of the Governor, organizing the County of Trego was issued
June 21, 1879, prior to which time it had been attached to Ellis County for
judicial and revenue purposes. The following is a copy of the proclamation:
"PROCLAMATION Organizing the county of Trego and locating the temporary
county-seat.
WHEREAS: A memorial signed by two hundred and fifty house-holders residents of
Trego County, Kansas, and legal electors of the State, whose signatures have
been duly attested by the affidavits of three householders thereof, showing
that said county had 1,500 inhabitants, and praying for the organization of
the same; said affidavits setting forth that they had reason to, and did,
believe said memorial to be true, and,
WHEREAS: It appears from actual enumeration by census returns duly made and
certified according to law, by an officer regularly appointed, commissioned,
and qualified, that there are 1,500 bona fide inhabitants in said county of
Trego. Now, therefore, know ye: - That I, John P. St. John, Governor of the
State of Kansas, by authority of law vested in me, have appointed and
commissioned T. W. Miller, H. C. Bryant, and W. H. Fuson, County Commissioners,
and George Pinkham as County Clerk for said county of Trego and do hereby
designate and declare the town of Wakeeney to be the temporary count-seat.
In testimony whereof I have hereunto subscribed by name and affixed the great
seal of the State.
Done at the city of Topeka the twenty-first day of June, 1879.
JOHN P. ST. JOHN, Governor."
By virtue of this proclamation, a meeting of the Board of County Commissioners
was held at the office of Morse & Hays, on June 26, 1879. The board organized
by electing T. W. Miller Chairman. At that meeting the county was divided into
three townships, namely, Ogallah, embracing all the eastern portion of the
county; Collyer, the western portion, and Wakeeney the central. Each of the
townships thus created was made a Commissioner District.
The ordering of an election for county and township officers, to be held on
the 26th day of July, 1879, completed the business transacted by the board at
its first meeting. At the election thus ordered, the first held in the
county, the following named persons were elected to the respective
offices: - County Commissioners, Enos Glick, D. Barclay and J. C. Brown; County
Clerk, George Pinkham; Treasurer, John Weckel; Probate Judge, W. H. Fuson;
Register of Deeds, A. H. Deppe; Sheriff, J. F. Allen; Coroner, J. W. Scott;
County Attorney, J. C. Phillips; Clerk of District Court, A. B. Poler,
Superintendent of Public Instruction, J. K. Wilson; Surveyor, T. K. Peck;
Justices of the Peace, Wakeeney Township, B. C. Rich and C. C. Yetter; Collyer
Township, J. L. McGarvey and W. H. Burnham; Ogallah Township, E. L. Drake.
For county-seat Wakeeney had fifty-one votes and Ogallah thirteen, and
Wakeeney was declared the permanent county-seat.
The first Representative to represent the count in the Legislature was J. F.
Keeney, who was elected at the November election in 1880.
The following is a list of the county officials of 1883: J. W. Welsh, C. C.
Ridgeway, A. W. Purinton, Commissioners; George Pinkham, County Clerk; A. W.
Blair, District Clerk; W. H. Fuson, Probate Judge; George T. Stones,
Treasurer; J. F. Allen, Sheriff; A. M. Allen, Register of Deeds; John Nelson,
County Attorney; O. W. Barnes, Superintendent of Public Instruction; C. J.
Ferris, Surveyor; Joshua Groft, Coroner.
SCHOOL AND OTHER STATISTICS.
The school history of the county will serve as an indicator as to how the
county has retrograded in point of population within the past two or three
years. In 1881, the school population of the county, between the ages of five
and twenty-one years, was 825, being 448 males and 377 females. In 1882, the
total was 719, being 402 males and 317 females, showing a decrease in one year
of 106. The total number of pupils enrolled in 1880, in the public schools of
the county, was 404, and in 1882 the number was 188, being a falling off in
enrollment of 216. The average daily attendance at the public schools in
1881, was 274; in 1882 it was 78, the difference between the two years being
196. There are in the county twenty-two organized school districts, and the
number of teachers employed during 1882, at different times, was twenty-seven,
the male teachers being eight, and the female nineteen. The average salary
per month paid to male teachers was $27.37, being less by $3.13 than in 1881.
The average salary per month paid to female teachers in 1882, was $23.61,
being an increase of $3.61 over the salary paid in 1881. There are only eight
school buildings in the county, containing, in all, nine rooms. The number of
districts sustaining public schools for three months during the school year
ending July 31, 1882, was twenty, and the number of districts failing to
sustain a three months' school, was two. The county has no school
indebtedness, and the estimated value of school property in the county is
$1,300. The number of mills on the dollar levied on the taxable property of
the county for school purposes was 11.25. The balance in the hands of the
District Treasurer on August 1, 1881, was $159.95; the amount received from
district taxes, was $3,978.27; from State apportionment, $470.72, and from all
other sources $1,148.59, making a total of $6,057.53. The amount paid for
teachers' wages during the year ending July 31, 1882, was $3,045.27; for
rents, fuel, repairs, etc., $863.76; for buildings and furniture, $927,27; for
all other purposes, $139,79, making a total of $4,976.29, leaving a balance in
the hands of the District Treasurer on August 1, 1882, of $1,081.24. The
first school taught in the county was a private school which was opened in
1879 by a man known as Rev. W. S. Woodruff, whose stay in Wakeeney, owing to
circumstances rather suspicious, was exceedingly short. The building he
erected for a school was a two-story frame, which was afterward purchased by
the district and is the one now used for school purposes.
The years 1878-79 witnessed a great influx of people to Trego County. The
immense crops of wheat that were raised in some of the western counties in the
former year, led many to believe that the aridness of Western Kansas was more
imaginary than real, and the beautiful appearance of the surface as it
stretched out wide and green, had a tendency to strengthen this belief.
Laboring under this impression, hundreds of people seeking homes in the West
took claims in Trego County and located there. The starting of the town of
Wakeeney in 1878 attracted a great many people there, and the population of
few counties in the West increased with greater rapidity than that of Trego
County. By 1880, the population of the county was estimated at between 3,000
and 4,000, the town of Wakeeney alone claimed about one-third of the whole.
Those who had located in the county expecting to follow farming, soon
discovered that they had made a mistake, and for the last two or three years
the exodus from the county has been as great as the influx was in 1878-79.
Very many took claims, upon discovering the inadaptability of the soil for
farming purposes, did not remain to perfect their title to the lands on which
they had located, but emigrated to other and more favorable localities. Many
others who have battled since 1878-79 against the disadvantages of climate and
failure of crops, are only waiting to perfect their titles to their claims,
when they can leave them without any risk of their being "jumped." Others
again who came to farm, and who had means, have gone into the stock business
and are doing well; but the settlers who came with little means, and whose
chief dependence was upon their own labor and that of their teams have been
obliged to leave. This falling away in the country population had its effects
upon Wakeeney, as without a farming community to support it, the town could
not prosper, there being no other industry upon which it could rely, and hence
hundreds of people who went to Wakeeney, with the intention of permanently
locating there, and who had built houses for themselves, were, obliged by
circumstances, to relinquish their homes and seek elsewhere; and at present
the entire population of Trego County is very little more, if any, than that
of Wakeeney four years ago, not exceeding, according to the best information
obtainable, more than 1,500.
The growth of the county in material wealth has not been very great, and some
of the most valuable improvements are rendered worthless by non-use. The
statistics furnished by the township assessors for the year ending March 1,
1882, show that the number of acres included in farms in the county, was
63,180. The number of farm dwellings erected during year was twenty-one,
valued at $4,993, being an average of $237 each, which would indicate the
buildings were of rather inferior order. In 1880, the number of acres sown to
winter wheat was 5,428, but in 1881 the average was only 1,770, showing a
falling off in one year of 3,658 acres. In 1880 the acreage of rye was 128
acres, and in 1881 it was 191, and increase of 63 acres. The number of acres
planted to corn in 1880 was 5,924, and in 1881 the number was 3,986, a
decrease in one year of 1,938 acres. A corresponding decrease also occurred in
all other field crops, the total acreage in 1880 being 16,047, whereas in 1881
it was only 10,287, a decrease of 5,760 acres, which was still further
decreased in 1882. The value of garden products marketed in the county in
1881, was $303; and the value of eggs and poultry sold was $1,076. The amount
of cheese made in the county during the year was 435 pounds, and of butter the
amount was 30,872 pounds. At the commencement of 1882, the live stock in the
county was: Horses, 518; mules and asses, 123; milch(sic) cows, 869; other
cattle, 2,389; sheep, 20,421, and swine 380. These figures show that raising
hogs is not considered profitable, and that the attention of stock-men is
given to cattle and sheep. The value of animals slaughtered or sold for
slaughter in 1881 was $3,173; and the amount of wool clipped was 33,945
pounds. There is not a single fruit tree in the county reported in bearing,
and the number not in bearing are: Apple, 2,929; pear, 161; peach, 15,481;
plum, 1,012; and cherry, 150. It is a mooted question, negatively answered by
some, and affirmatively by others, whether fruit trees or trees of any kind,
can be successfully cultivated in the county, which can only be solved
conclusively by time. It would seem that the faith of the people in the
success of arboriculture is not exceedingly strong, as the number of acres
reported in the count, devoted to artificial forestry is only 30, of which 3
are walnut, 13 honey locust, 11 cottonwood, and 3 of other varieties. There
is but little fencing in the county, the total being 1,298 rods, divided as
follows - Board fence, 40 rods; stone, 64; hedge, 40; and wire, 1,154. The
value of agricultural implements in the county is set down at $8,196.
WAKEENEY.
Wakeeney, the county-seat of Trego County, is located on Section 9, Township
12 south, Range 23 west of the Sixth Principal Meridian. The town was founded
by James F. Keeney and Albert E. Warren, of Chicago, who purchased two entire
townships of land from the Kansas Pacific Railway Company. The town site was
surveyed and platted in March, 1878, by Peck and Ellsworth, and on the 3rd day
of April, 1878, the town plat was filed for record.
Prior to the founding of Wakeeney, there was a station on the line of railway,
about one mile west of the new town site, named Trego, but when Wakeeney was
surveyed and platted, the depot at Trego was moved to Wakeeney. The town derived
its name from its founders, the first two letters of Warren's name having been
taken for the first syllable of the name of the town - Wa -- to which
was added the full name of the other founder, Keeney, and by a combination of
the two, the word Wakeeney is derived, which is frequently written Wa-Keeney.
When Warren and Keeney made their purchase of the tract of land on which
Wakeeney is located, in the fall of 1877, there were but very few settlers in
the county, not more than a dozen permanent settlers in all. John Henry was
found located on the claim about a mile west of Wakeeney, George Pinkham about
a mile and a half northwest, Arthur Pratt and family were also located on a
claim, the other settlers being Harlow Orton, Earl Spaulding, J. K. Snyder,
Do. O. Adams, George Brown, George McCaslin and Peleg Richards. These
constituted about all the settlers in Trego County, when Warren and Keeney
arrived in the fall of 1877. Having selected and purchased the lands they
desired, and made arrangements for locating the town, Warren and Keeney
returned to Chicago and did not return to Trego County until the following
spring.
Before the survey of the town site was completed, people began flocking to
Wakeeney by the score, the majority of them going from Chicago. The first
house built on the town site was put up by Peck & Ellsworth, late in 1877,
and was used as a real estate office. At that time these gentlemen lived in a
"dug out" at Trego Station. The first business house in the town was erected
by C. P. Keeney at the foot of Franklin Street, and is the two-story frame now
occupied as a general merchandising store by Thomas Caddick. About the time
that building was erected, Warren & Keeney put up the Commercial House,
directly across the street from Caddick's store. This is a frame building,
and was the first hotel built in the town. Never did people flock to a place
as they did to Wakeeney. Merchants by the score, professional men by the
dozen, mechanics and tradesmen by the hundred, and speculators by the horde,
all rushed to Wakeeney as though it was a new Eldorado. About one hundred
carpenters were kept busy night and day, and yet houses could not go up fast
enough to accommodate the people. Buildings would be occupied long before
they were finished, and although they sprung up as if by magic, "more houses"
was still the cry. The immense crops of that year added to the rush, and during
the fall of 1878 and spring of 1879, Wakeeney was literally jammed with people.
In 1879, Warren & Keeney entered into an arrangement with the railway company
to build a depot, by which the company was to pay them so much if they
finished it in one year, and so much if not finished within a longer period.
The railroad company gave Warren & Keeney notes, and they in turn sold the
mechanics, that worked on the building, town lots, for the payment of which
half their pay was deducted until the lots were paid for. The building is
constructed of a kind of chalk limestone, and is the neatest finished depot on
the entire line of road. It is 40 x 80 feet, and is built for beauty as well
as usefulness, with wide platforms on either side, and verandas, which are
supported by four large columns, the whole surmounted by a beautifully
finished and ornamental cupola.
The year 1879 saw no check to the rush of people to Wakeeney, and the place
grew with astonishing rapidity. Improvements were made as fast as workmen
could make them. The Oakes House was built in that year by D. Barclay. It is
a very fine building, 30 x 100 feet, with a large ell on the north end. It is
built of sawed stone and finished in good style, but has been closed up for
some time, owing to want of patronage. The Grand Central Hotel was also built
in 1879 by B. W. S. Huffaker. It is a two-story building, half stone and half
wood, and is still used for hotel purposes. A third hotel built in 1879 was
the Union House, put up by W. C. Olson. It is a two-story frame building, of
fair dimensions, and is still occupied as a hotel. A fourth one was the Trego
House, but this is no longer used as a hotel.
Throughout this year all these hotels were constantly crowded to overflowing,
and landlords were put to their wits' end to furnish accommodations for all
the guests that arrived. Aside from the hotels built in 1879, many good,
substantial improvements were made. Lawrence & Hall put up a very fine
two-story building on the east side of Franklin Street. There was no neater
building in Western Kansas, and was finished off in very elegant style, having
large plate-glass windows in front, and the whole building fitted up,
apparently, regardless of expense. The first floor was used as a store by Mr.
Thorpe, and the upper floor was fitted up for, and used as, the United States
Land Office.
About three o'clock on the morning of February 3, 1880, an alarm of fire was
raised, and people rushed from their houses to see the cause thereof. The
fire were first discovered issuing from the basement of Thorpe's new building,
and might have been readily extinguished before it spread to the building
above, but when the bystanders attempted to enter, Thorpe told them there were
several kegs of powder in the basement, which caused those who came to help,
to give the place a wide berth, and let the fire take its course. No attempt
was made to save anything, and the building, with all its contents, including
all the books and records in the Government Land Office, with ten other framed
buildings, were all totally destroyed. The loss occasioned by the fire was
estimated at $40,000, and though everybody, during the progress of the fire
was expecting to hear a loud explosion, none occurred, so that the powder, if
any there was, must have possessed the extraordinary quality of being
non-combustible. The following summer Verbeck & Blair, whose store had been
swept away by the fire of February, erected a very fine two-story stone
building on the site of the one that had been destroyed, and which they now
occupy as a general store. A grand improvement was made to the town that year
in the erection of the Opera Block by J. F. Keeney. It is an improvement
that would be a credit to any town. The building has an east front of 100
feet, and a south front of 80 feet. It is two stories high, with a basement,
the walls of the latter coming up about two feet above the surface of the
ground. The walls of the building are constructed of chalk limestone, sawed
into blocks of uniform dimension, while the steps, caps and sills are made
from hard limestone, all the material having been taken from quarries adjacent
to town. The lower story is divided into four storerooms, and the upper story
was intended for an Opera Hall and offices.
PRESENT STATUS OF THE TOWN.
The crop failures of the years 1879 and 1880 having convince people generally
that Trego County was altogether unreliable and unsuited for agricultural
pursuits, people began to leave about as rapidly as they had come, and the
zenith of the glory of Wakeeney was reached. Family after family moved away,
and business men packed up their goods and sought more remunerative fields.
Mr. Keeney felt the blow, and his handsome block was left uncompleted, and
stands unfinished at the present time. One of the store rooms in the building
is finished, and is used for the Government Land Office, and some offices are
fixed up temporarily and are rented by the county, and used for county
offices. No attempt has been made to finish any other part of the building,
and while its external appearance is worthy of admiration, inside it plainly
tells of the decline of Wakeeney.
Since 1880 the town has been going down, and all that remains of its once
flourishing business are four general merchandising stores, and one furniture
store to which business is added that of boots and shoes. The town outgrew
itself in its infancy, and soon reached that stage which was soon followed by
a rapid decline.
There are three church organizations in the town, Presbyterian, Congregational
and Methodist. There are no regular church buildings in the place, but the
Presbyterians purchased in 1879 the old Trego depot, which they converted into
a church. The other societies hold service in part of the Keeney Block.
Wakeeney Lodge No. 148, A., F. & A. M., was organized under dispensation June
2, 1881, and was chartered February 15, 1882. It was instituted with twenty
charter members, the first officers being B. J. F. Hanna, W. M.; S. J. Osborn,
S. W.: F. H. Conger, J. W.; W. B. Kritchfield, Secretary, and W. T. Hunter,
Treasurer. The lodge has now a membership of twenty-seven, the present
officers being S. J. Osborn, W. M.; F. H. Conger, S. W.; W. H. Fuson, J. W.;
A. B. Jones, Secretary, and W. T. Hunter, Treasurer.
The United States Land Office for the district embracing the counties of
Ellis, Rush, Trego, Ness, Gove, St. John, Wallace, Scott, Wichita and Greeley,
and part of Lane, Rooks, Graham, Sheridan, Thomas and Sherman, is located at
Wakeeney, having been removed from Hays City there October 20, 1879. The
business men of Wakeeney are Lawrence & Hall, Baldwin, Morgan & Dann, Verbeck
& Blair, and Thomas Caddick, these names representing four general
merchandising stores, and Joseph Lucas, who deals in furniture, and boots and
shoes. F. Ellsworth is a grain and coal dealer, and this list embraces all
the business of Wakeeney.
The Press - The first newspaper established in Trego County, and the
only one now published within its borders, was the Wakeeney World.
The paper was first issued March 8, 1879, under the sole editor and
proprietorship of W. S. Tilton, by whom the paper still continues to be
published. It started as a six column paper, but in August 1879 it was
enlarged to seven columns, and was further enlarged to eight columns in
October 1881. It is folio in form, Republican in politics, and has a
circulation of 400.
The Leader was started in September 1879, by H. P. Stultz. It was a
six column, folio, and Republican in politics. It only lived a little over a
year, having expired in December 1880. The paper was revived in May 1881, by
A. J. R. Smith, but only lived a few months, expiring again in August 1881.
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