Chanute, the largest town in Neosho county and one of the most important in southeastern Kansas, is located on the Neosho river in Tioga township at the junction of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe and the Missouri, Kansas & Texas railroads, 14 miles northwest of Erie, the county seat. It is a gas, oil and manufacturing center, having the largest oil and gas wells in the state located in the immediate vicinity. Some of the industries are car repair shops, of which the monthly pay roll exceeds $40,000, brick and tile works, cement plants, zinc smelter, glass factories, flour mills, oil refinery, planing mill, gas engine works, boiler works, egg case factory, machine shops, broom factories, torpedo manufactory, an ice plant, drilling tool factory and lime plant. Chanute has an electric light plant, city waterworks, good fire and police departments, an opera house, 4 banks, 4 newspapers, fine church buildings and excellent schools. Several oil and gas companies have their headquarters at this point. There are express and telegraph offices and an international money order postoffice with six rural routes. The population in 1910 was 9,272.

In 1870 when the Leavenworth, Lawrence & Galveston R. R. (now the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe) crossed the Missouri, Kansas and Texas line within the limits of Neosho county four rival towns sprang up, in the vicinity of the junction. They were New Chicago, Chicago Junction, Alliance and Tioga. Two years of the most bitter animosity ensued until the four were consolidated in 1872, and the name of Chanute given it in honor of Octavius Chanute, a railroad civil engineer. The business buildings of the other three towns were all moved to New Chicago and this location forms the business section of Chanute at the present time. At the time of the consolidation the combined population was 800. The next year the town was incorporated as a city of the third class New Chicago, which was the largest of the four, had been organized as a town in 1870 and incorporated as a city of the third class in 1871, with C. A. Dunakin as mayor. The New Chicago postoffice was established in 1870 with a Mr. Moore postmaster. The first school house in the vicinity was a large, expensive building located in the south end of New Chicago. A bridge was built over the Neosho about 1871, which the citizens of New Chicago managed to have placed in a position to their own advantage.

In 1883 the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe R. R. extended its line from Chanute to Pittsburg, thus connecting the town with cheap fuel. This was followed by a general growth in business and population. A particular boom was experienced by the discovery of oil and gas. The Standard Oil company in 1897 built a pipe line from Benedict, 17 miles away, at a cost of $37,000, which was afterward purchased by the city of Chanute for $65,000. From this line the city derives considerable revenue.

The first newspaper established in Chanute after the consolidation was the Chanute Democrat which was started in 1879 by Bowen & Rite. There were two papers before the consolidation, the New Chicago Transcript, established in Sept., 1870, by George C. Crowther, and the New Chicago Times, established in 1872 by A. L. Rivers, the name being later changed to Chanute Times.