Greenwood County
KSGenWeb
On the western border of our county is a series of hills known as Flint Ridge. While there are some out-cropping ledges and some surface rock these hills are mostly covered with grass. In the shelter of the ravines it has grown a foot or more this season. There are innumerable springs of clear water. The tillable land extends nearly to the base of the bluffs. We think that before many years some of the most profitable stock farms in the state will be found lying against this ridge. If the fires could be kept out of it, it would be but a short time before an abundant growth of timber would spring up in the ravines.
The Lawrence lands in Greenwood County were selling for $2 and $3 per acre.
The Herald was enlarged to a seven-column paper on April 9, 1870.
The country south and west of us is settling up rapidly. Colonies pass through here every few days, while the number of single teams is enormous. Work has been commenced on the churches in this place. There will be large buildings and will seat several hundred people.
(May, 1870) Eureka is incorporated. The city dads are I.R. Phenis, A.F. Nicholas, W.L. Stoddard, L.H. Platt and C.A. Wakefield.
The Methodists have let the contract for their church, to e finished on June 15. It is to be of pine, 24 x 44 and 12 feet high, and cost $1325 all completed, seats, painting and all.
The Norwegians are making an effort to establish a church in which there will be preaching in their own language. They will probably succeed.
(April 1) Our paper comes out in curious shape. But it was a matter of necessity. A supplement is given to make up in part for the diminutive size of our issue last week. After this we shall have more room.
GROWTH OF EUREKA - Two years ago the town of Eureka consisted of four log houses. Today (March) it has two dry goods and grocery stores, three grocery and provision stores, two hardware stores, one furniture store, one drug store, one newspaper and printing office, three firms of carpenters and builders, one butcher, one shoemaker, one saddler's shop, one blacksmith shop, one painter and glazier, one photograph gallery, one watchmaker, one land agency, one livery stable, one bakery, four attorneys, two clergymen, one physician, one notary public and conveyer and not a single loafer. We have also a good school, three church organizations, a flourishing literary association and Odd Fellows Lodge, etc.
To show the substantial character of this growth, we may say that with the exception of the two clergymen, one attorney and one shoe-maker, every business man owns the property he occupies or is preparing to build; and there is not a piece of property in town ornamented with a mortgage.
A stream of immigrants comes into this part of the state each day, and day after day we see our streets filled with canvas-covered wagons headed West. It looks as if the whole East had the Kansas fever.
(March) We have ordered the new material for enlarging our paper and expect it soon. Of course, it will increase our expenses considerable, If any of our subscribers happen to have a two-dollar bill that they have no particular use for, they may send it to the Herald - that is, if they happen to owe us.
Immigration still continues to pour into this county. Scarcely a day passes without some newcomers. Yesterday there were ten families in town who propose to locate near here.
A pair of panthers have strayed into the neighborhood of Otter Creek and are considered unwelcome. The hunters of the neighborhood are invited to meet at Walter McGrew's on Friday, February 18, early in the morning and have a good time catching them. The panthers are expected to be at home on that day. (Later) The panthers have dwindled down to catamounts. Next week they will be wild cats of Bill Ward brindle dog.
A postoffice has been established on Elk River, called Howard. T.J. Barnes is the postmaster.
NEW BUILDINGS - A.D. Miller had his frame up and partially enclosed. Biggs and Hunter have their new building nearly completed. Rossel has his frame up. Mr. Biggs is getting together the material for a new store room on Main street. Adair & Sons are about ready to put up a new store room and work has been commenced on the new hotel. We doubt if there is any town in this section of the state in which more good buildings are going up than in Eureka. We counted 24 new buildings and substantial improvements and enlargements during the last six weeks.
There are several families of colored people in this vicinity. We learn that they contemplate establishing a night school for the benefit of the adults as well as the younger ones.
Hodgson has fresh beef on hand each day. Price from three to ten cents per pound.
A noisy town in northern Kansas brags that it had $7000 worth of buildings erected in six months. We have done more than that in six weeks.
H.S. Jones sometime since invested a trifle in sending the Heralds to his friends in the East. The first copy went to Galesburg. It caused an attack of Kansas fever there and two enterprising men came out here and bought a farm up the river. Another paper brought three families and one other will come soon. the Kansas fever is yet prevailing in those neighborhoods and several others may come.
Sherman and Dodge have contracted to put up 12 new houses in the north part of town.
The school house in town being too small to accommodate all the scholars, the school has been divided. Miss Tucker having charge of the advanced scholars and Miss Gilbert the primary department, the latter being in the town hall. Is it not time we had a large school house in Eureka?
The city of Eureka was incorporated in May, 1870.
The Methodists dedicated their new church on Sunday, June 20, 1870. Rev. T.J. Leak preached the dedicatory sermon. The discourse was one of very great power. After the sermon, a collection was taken up to pay the debt of the church and the sum of $280 was raised. $950 was subscribed before, the Ladies Sociable paid $115 and furnished the house with lamps, carpets, etc. The whole cost of the building was $1335, all of which is paid, or provided for and the church was dedicated free of debt.
The Congregational Church was dedicated on Sunday, July 13, 1870.
Sept. 8, we have just got us a good job press and a supply of new job type. We can now do job work, plain or colored, including bill heads, cards, programs, posters, blanks, etc. at reduced prices.
We are glad to see that the Emporia people are about to do something to make a passable road over the Cottonwood bottom. If they don't, our merchants will be obliged to ship via Burlington or Humboldt. Teamsters charge awfully for hauling loads through that mud.
The Herald for nearly two years the pioneer newspaper of southwestern Kansas, is so no longer. New papers have been established and now a printing press is going into Howard County. But a little more than two years ago Howard County had but about a dozen inhabitants. Butler was sparsely populated and the counties south and west of it were almost uninhabited. Now in this same area there are no less than eight newspapers, some 20 or more flourishing towns and a population that is counted by thousands. Greenwood has kept pace with all this improvement and now ranks as one of the best counties in the state. (10-20-1870)
A new postoffice has been established between this place and El Dorado, on the head of Spring Creek, called Collin's Post Office, and George Clemens has been appointed postmaster.
Ordinance 16 of the city of Eureka, passed in June, 1871, fixed the salary of the city clerk at $150 per year, payable quarterly. The city treasurer's salary was 1/2 of 1 per cent of all monies received and distributed by him. the city marshall received $100 per year. (July 6, 1871) We got out half a sheet this week because we have not had sufficient working force in the office to get out a whole one. We shall issue a whole one next week and a larger paper afterward.
Ordinance No. 22 (August) stated it was unlawful for any person or persons to stack hay, straw or grain on any lot fronting Main street between River and Fifth streets.
Moore, Weaver & co., located at the corner of First and Main streets was dealing in drugs, medicines, paint, lamp chimneys, fancy toilet articles, flower seeds, patent medicines and Singer sewing machines.
Several of Eureka's fairest daughters were out for a horseback ride. They presented a beautiful appearance as they rode through the streets. Eureka boasts a number of accomplished horsewomen.
Our New Schoolhouse
The contract for the building of the new schoolhouse in Dist. 4 (city of Eureka) has been awarded to our capable townsmen, Messrs. Martz and Reich, who are to push to work forward to as early a completion as so large a contract and the safety of the structure will permit. The building is to be built of brick. The cost will be about $15,000.
Stages are now running from Eureka to Elk Falls, where they connect with other lines for all parts of Howard County.
With this number, the Herald enters on the fourth year. Three years ago, when Eureka was a town of 29 inhabitants, we worked off the first number of the Herald in a miserable log cabin, by the light of a tallow candle, fastened in a monkey wrench. Our material was hauled from Topeka, that being the nearest railroad point. In fact, there was not a mile of railroad running in the state south of the Kansas Pacific. There were stage lines running from Lawrence to Emporia, also from Topeka. But south and west of the Neosho, there were no public conveyances. There was a mail route from Burlington to Eureka, on which we had semi-weekly service. There was also weekly service from Emporia via Madison, to Verdigris Falls, and also from the latter point to Pleasant Grove. The Otter Creek neighborhood had a few inhabitants and from that to the south line of the state there were not a dozen white inhabitants. Butler County had a very sparse population. There were a few traders, etc. in Sedgwick, but all south and west was entirely uninhabited by the whites.
For many months the Herald was the pioneer paper of the southwestern portion of Kansas, it being the only paper south of the Neosho. How it struggled for existence, some of its readers know. But that picture we do not care to draw again. The present and the future look much brighter to us than the past.
It is difficult to realize that but three years have passed during which such wonderful changes have taken place. Railroads have been built from Kansas City to the south line of the state. The M.K.&T. Road has been completed to a connection with the Missouri Pacific, and its main line is being rapidly pushed south toward Texas. The Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe is also completed most of the distance to the Arkansas. A road has been constructed from Kansas City to Ottawa which will soon be extended to the southwest via Burlington and Eureka. A road is now being constructed from Fort Scott to Humboldt, which will also be extended west through Eureka.
When the Herald was started, there were but three or four towns south of the Neosho that had even a name and the total population of the whole did not exceed seventy. Now the whole country to the state line south, and a long way west of the Arkansas river is dotted with towns which count their population by the hundred, and all of which are sharing the general growth and prosperity.
Eureka, from a hamlet of a dozen shanties, has grown to be a city of a thousand inhabitants, with its hundreds of stores and dwellings, to which will soon be added a fine school house and a good courthouse. The stone school house, when commenced, was to be the largest and finest building in Greenwood county. But such was the growth of the town that before the building was completed, it was seen that it was planned on too small a scale, and further expense on it was stopped. It has never been completed.
In place of Palmer's little mule, which put in his semi-WEAKLY appearance here and constituted almost entire connection with the outside world, the Southwestern Stage Company's lines put us in daily connection with the north, east and west, while several other routes, tri-weekly, semi-weekly and weekly, diverge in various directions.
The Herald has shared in the general prosperity. It started out as a six-column paper, was enlarged to seven columns, and we, this week, present it to its readers again enlarged and otherwise improved. With regard to its future course, we can only say that, as in the past it will be Republican in politics. At the same time it will advocate the fight and condemn wrong under all circumstances.
We hope in the future, as business increases and as our means increase, to keep the Herald in the front rank. We shall make it just as good as its income will admit of, and as several experienced publishers have said, the fact that the Herald has survived during the first year of its existence shows that we can do a very great deal in the future. If we can be excused for a little boasting we will just say that the Herald has a good subscription list, all volunteer, no canvassing having ever been done for it. The size of this list, the rarity of discontinuance, and the promptness of payment by its subscribers show that the efforts of its editor to make a good paper here have not been failures.
We offer our hearty thanks to all who have befriended us, and earnestly ask the cooperation of all in our efforts to build up a paper which shall be an honor to our city and county.
There were 60 business hoses on Main street in January, 1871.
In June, 1871, a terrific storm descended on El Dorado and surrounding area. Over 100 houses were demolished and the loss estimated at $450,000. More than farmers were in the path of the storm. A canvas was made in Greenwood County to aid the suffering citizens of Butler County.
Last Saturday the people of this district voted to issue $15,000 to build a schoolhouse. Only four votes were cast against the bonds. This action shows what kind of people we have here. Ever ready to take hold of any public work, they do so with a will whenever called upon. Eureka now pays a large portion of the taxes of this county, and we have yet to hear the first grumble at paying taxes for any public purpose. We think that a schoolhouse will be built here which will be an honor not only to Eureka but the whole of Greenwood County.
A Sabbath School had been organized at the Quincy schoolhouse with J.E. Walters as superintendent. He is teaching school in Greenwood City (Pleasant Grove) and has a full school.
It is a well-founded fact that a newspaper does more toward building up a town and county than any other known thing. Yet, there are many who expect a first-class paper at the very start; and because it does not happen to contain as much and as choice reading as the leading papers in the big cities, they do not help to keep it up. But how is it expected to furnish a first-class paper for nothing? Our flour cost money, so does our paper and we have to pay our printers, yet we are expected to furnish a paper "brimful of reading matter" for nothing. To make a paper pay and readable, you should encourage it, not run it down. Subscribe for it and get others to do so and send us items from all points. We are anxious to help to settle our county with good, honest and industrious men and nothing helps to do so as much as a live paper.
Mardin has a new sausage machine. Its capacity is about half a mile of bologna per day. It is so constructed as to be easily cleaned and kept in order. Its cutting power is equal to any emergency. Meat cut for one cent a pound. Bring in your raw material and have it made into the genuine article. Mules must be cut in two, dogs, cats and other small game may be brought in whole. The thing cost something over $100. We hope Mardin will get customers enough to enable him to keep at work.
We do wish that some people would consider the propriety of publishing everything that transpires in a community. We have a common interest, though we do not all see it in the same light. We are like a family. Now, no family proposed to make known all its private transactions, all the little misdeeds of its members. In like manner, no community ought to publish to the world all that is wrong, mean or vile within it. Of course we do not refer to flagrant crimes or to wrongs against which the people should be cautioned. Nor do we say that wrong should be condemned. We do not see what good it does to publish all the dirt about people in town that can be raked together. If A. got drunk, or B. went fishing on Sunday, as some A's and B's do in every town, what is the use of making a personal fight on them? Our principles are well known, and we are against wrong at all time and under all circumstances. We can, however, fight it without personality.
Little matters sometime indicate the condition of affairs in a town quite as plainly as anything else. Good sidewalks, neat fences, shade trees and such improvements give evidence of thrift. We are glad to see so many of our citizens are preparing to do their share toward adorning the town by fencing and putting out shade trees. Every week there are more new sidewalks built. some are putting down rock. Neat chimneys have taken the place of the unsightly stovepipes which were used before brick was to be had. All these things go quite far to show that Eureka is in a prosperous condition, as do the many new buildings going up in every part of town.
The first fire company was organized in October, 1872, consisting of not less than 20 able bodied men to be styles as "Eureka Hook and Ladder Company, No. 1." The city council offered to procure suitable apparatus for extinguishing fires. Officers consisted of captain, first assistant, second assistant, engineer, secretary and treasurer.
The scaffolding has been removed from the courthouse and the flag raised on the staff for the first time on election day in November.
Average salaries paid to male teachers was $46 per month. Average for female teachers, $38.
The track on the fairgrounds was laid out by Mr. Clark, the county surveyor. The trace was half-mile in length and consisted of two semi-circles untied by two parallel tangents.
The grounds selected by the directors of the Agricultural Association for the fairgrounds consisted of 70 acres east of eureka and took in 10 or 15 acres of timber and permanent water. The price was $17 per acre.
Twenty-four school building were being built in Greenwood County during the summer of 1872.
An ordinance was passed in January, 1872, prohibiting any swine running at large in the city.
The Greenwood Agricultural Society was organized in March, 1872.
The city clerk reported the city had purchased two tracts of land for cemetery grounds. Nine good street crossings had been built, a good bridge had been erected at the crossing of Elm and First streets and nearly three-fourths mile of sidewalks had been built. A good calaboose had been built and the spring had been fenced and improved.
School District No. 44 (Salt Springs) had finished a new and substantial schoolhouse, 18 by 32, 12 feet high. They would soon put in patent seats and would have a two-months school. The town of Salt Springs is still improving. There is a good store, a drug store, one boarding house, a doctor's office and another store being built.
A town in the southeast, larger than Eureka, boasts that is has eight stone buildings. Eureka has 12. The smallest is a good-sized dwelling house. There are fewer towns in Kansas that are better built than Eureka. Travelers say it is one of the neatest towns in the state.
The first annual fair in the county was held October 2 and 3, 1872. Various classes included horses, jacks and mules; sheep; swine; poultry; mechanical department (including manufactured harness, saddles, bridles, etc.); farm products; horticulture and dairy; ladies' department; paintings and drawings - and bread and condiments.
The Eureka Herald diminished in size with the September 26 issued - a five-column paper.
The Kaw Indians are to be removed south to their new reservation. Mr. Stubbs, Kaw agent, has charge of the removal and is contracting for oxen and transportation for this purpose.
A grand celebration was observed on the 4th of July. The parade formation was in this order: Martial music, mounted battalion, foot battalion, silver cornet bank, orators and chaplain, other officers of the day, county officers, mayor and city council, independent military and fire companies, Masons, Odd Fellows, etc., citizens on foot, and other men, women and children of the county.
Ad appearing in the Jan. 9 issue - Will the gentleman who visits our wood pile after night be kind enough to steal some of the knotty sticks. We do not like to chop them any better than he does. His tracks in the snow show where he went. FIFTH & SYCAMORE.
On January 8, the following resolution was passed by the city council - "Resolved, That watering horses at the public spring is forbidden."
The country people grumble about the loose horses and cattle in town. We don't blame them. If a farmer has anything a cow or horse can eat in his wagon, it is pretty sure to be injured if not entirely eaten by the hungry brutes that roam the streets.
A saloon was started in the winter of 1873, south of the Metropolitan Hotel, but was of short duration.
The Presbyterians bought the Town Hall following the tornado of 1873, remodeled it and used it for a church.
The city tax levy in 1872 was 7 1/2 mills on the dollar and the county tax was 10 mills.
The cornerstone of the Methodist Church was laid September 16, 1873.
Something new - women's milking shoes, at the Badger Store.
DOCTOR'S FEES
Adopted by the physicians of Greenwood County on September 2, 1873: Office prescription or advice - $1.00 to $5.00. Visits within city limits - $1.50. Visits to the country - first mile, $2.50, each additional mile, 75 cents. Midwifery, ordinary case - $10; plural birth, $10 for each child. Night visits 50 cents extra. For opening boils, etc. - $1.00 to $5.00. Fractures - $5.00 to $50.00. Excision of tonsils - $15.00 to $25.00. Amputation - $50.00 to $200.00. Extraction of teeth - $2.00 each. Administering ether - $3.00.
HOW TO MASTER A PRAIRIE FIRE
(from the Herald, November 20, 1873)
Get on a horse - one with style preferred - ride with reckless haste to the point on the line of fire where the greatest body of men are about to go, and at once order them to do it, repeating the order until you find they are about to do something else, and change your order accordingly. At a favorable opportunity, spring from your saddle, grab a handful of soot and dirt, blacken your face so as to have the appearance of desperate work having been done by you. Yell at every man you meet not to do something he hasn't though of. Keep your horse in constant motion and when you see the last sprit of fire subdued by the men who didn't do the yelling, ride back home and after managing to meet your friends and neighbors and tell them how you saved Brown, Smith and others from destruction, wash your face. I saw about 15 men go through the above program and it did make things lively.
THE TORNADO OF 1873
Last Monday evening it clouded up and along towards midnight the entire sky was overcast. The lightening was incessant and vivid. About one o'clock the wind came and apparently from all directions at once. The roaring was terrific, the Methodist Church went down with a crash, a complete wreck. Mr. Kefauver's house was blown to fragments. (Mrs.) Martz's barn was scattered all over the prairie. Small buildings and sheds in the path of the tornado were upset and knocked to pieces. The town hall was badly twisted. Dr. Wassam's office was blown against the Eureka Herald building, forcing the cornice through into the bookstore and letting in water. If Eureka had not been more solidly built that the average Kansas town, it would have had another El Dorado or Coffeyville disaster. (7-3-73)
A school boy in Eureka, in writing a sketch of Washington, ended his essay with "Washington married the famous belle, Martha Curtis, and in due time became the father of his country."
The grasshoppers put in their appearance in August. The great body of them, a cloud that reached fourteen miles east and seven miles west of Eureka passed over, going south. for four hours they kept up a steady stream. On Sunday, another cloud went south.
A new postoffice had been established at Flint Ridge. G.G. Grasselli was postmaster.
There are quite a number of Indians camping in this county, but they are Sacs and will do no harm.
They had a bully scare over on Otter Creek the other day. A party of the Sac Indians had been out west and not being strong enough to fight the raiding Indians, returned. Some unsophisticated individual got scared and raised the alarm. the whole neighborhood came near to stampeding, when one of the old settlers took it into his head to examine and soon found the hundred fierce warriors to be six peaceful Sacs with their squaws and papooses. The alarm soon subsided and the Indian raid will furnish fun for the Otter Creekers as long as the generation lasts.
The Eureka Cavalry say they are like locomotives - each one has a tender behind.
The first fire of any importance in Eureka was in June when the stage stable, the horses and equipment burned. Of the six horses destroyed, four belonged to the Stage Company, one to the Humboldt route and one was the property of the El Dorado mail carrier. The fire taught the residents a few lessons. One is that there may as well not be any fire apparatus as to have it stored where it is now. Another is that it is poor economy not to furnish axes. The fire apparatus must be mounted on wheels and put in some accessible place, if it is to be made available.
Last Saturday (January 7) our streets presented a lively appearance, being crowded with teams, many of which were attached to sleighs and things for the purpose of improving the sleighing, which for this climate, was good.
Sparrows are to be introduced into this state. They will eat up the insects.
Last Thursday the ladies of Eureka circulated a remonstrance against granting license for the sale of spirituous, vinous, malt or other intoxicating liquor for the ensuing year. This was done quickly and quietly in a couple of hours, and thoroughly. Only about 20 citizens refused to sign it. This is the first appearance of the ladies organization in public, and it will probably be the last, yet they will not neglect the temperance cause, for they recognize the fact that something more than closing the saloon doors is necessary. They will continue to work in the temperance cause, and we trust that through their efforts many may be saved from the fate that now appears to await them - that of filling a drunkard's grave.
Ordinance No. 41 stated it would be unlawful for any person or persons to set up or keep a saloon or place for the purpose of selling, retailing or giving away any beer, soda water or lemonade without first taking out a license for that purpose.
An "Instant Dress Elevator" - to be inserted under a lady's skirt, would change a long skirt into a walking skirt. The skirt could be raised while passing over a muddy place, and then let it fall again. It was recommended to keep the bottom of the ladies' skirts out of the dirt and mud. Cost - 45 cents.
In November, a Presbyterian church was organized on Homer Creek, ten miles north of Eureka, with ten members. W.D. Moore and F.J. Cockran were chosen and ordained elders. This little church begins its existence under hopeful circumstances and with the good will of the community.
Ordinance No. 46 stated that is was unlawful for anyone to build a camp fire within the city of Eureka.
(September) This city is getting a truck for the Hook and Ladder Company.
We hope that the building on the northwest corner of the public square is only a temporary arrangement. At this distance from railroads and telegraphs the Sheriff is obliged to have his horses where he can get them at minute's warning. There should be a small, neat building in the rear of the courthouse, which should be the property of the county. The present arrangement is a hard times plan, to be dispensed with as soon as possible. And while speaking of courthouse matters, would it not be well to notice those piles of dirt and sweepings in the corner?
Bank up the earth around your houses so that the wind cannot get under the floor. It will save you lots of cordwood this winter.
The attention of the Street Commissioner is respectfully called to the condition of the cross walks on the east side of Main Street. There is a puddle at the south end of each one.
Great horse race last Saturday - Jackson vs. Lindsy - entries "male ponies" - distance two blocks - tremendous enthusiasm - Marshal arrests the principals - Lindsy pays his fine - Jackson "never done it" - he demands a trial by jury - jury summoned, accepted and sworn - prosecution objects and jury discharged - case tried before "His Honor" - 14 miles in 15 days is not "furious driving" - prisoner goes free rejoicing - city pays the bill. (It was discovered a few days later that the ordinance under which the proceedings were had was repealed some time ago.)
CHEAP LANDS
There are better bargains now offered in Greenwood County than there ever were before. Now is the time to get cheap land in the most prosperous county of the southwest. People who want to come to a community where they are not panic stricken, nor grasshoppered, nor begging, will find this county just the place. Men without capital, who are doing well where they are, have no reason to move. But the farmer with a small capital, say from $500 to $2000, can do better here than anywhere else. Land can be bought on very easy terms, living is reasonably cheap, and there is money in hard work. To such men Greenwood County offers unequaled advantages.
A tour of inspection was made by the fire company in May, with some of the following results: several houses had stovepipes running through the roofs which were not safe; the stone livery stable had a pipe running too near the wall and running through a wood partition; one man didn't have a chimney, trash was in the yard and there was a hay stack on the lot and many stovepipes were too close to wood in the roof.
J.D. Biggs, who started for Missouri, did not go there. He found that it was no use looking for a better place than Greenwood County, so he turned around and came back.
A great parade and celebration was held on July 4 (Monday). fifty wagons were in the procession, together with two cornet bands and a martial band. Everyone walked, or rode, to the grove, west of town, for the program and speeches. Fireworks completed the day's program.
The Eureka library had over 40 volumes of miscellaneous reading and was not in debt. Ninety cents was the membership fee.
L.V. Harkness, who lived on Spring Creek, lost 430 sheep during the high water in July, along with 4000 rails.
The city council passed an ordinance cutting off all pay for councilmen and reducing the Mayor's salary one-half. His new annual salary was $25, payable quarterly.
Immigrants were passing through the city daily. Most of them went in search of homesteads or pre-emption claims.
The Hook and Ladder boys burned a fire guard around the city in October.
The change at the courthouse well is a big improvement. Instead of the wheezy old pump forever getting out of order, there is a neat well house and curb with buckets. The old pump was an expensive thing and never in good order.
There was an ordinance prohibiting the sale of coal oil after dark. It was an unsafe practice and was ordered stopped at once.
Frazier Brothers had a fine stable, with good buggies and gentle horses - no fear of runaways or breakdowns, and no extortionate prices charged.
The material of the old stone schoolhouse, District No. 4, was sold at auction in November for $40.
Greenwood County shipped a half-million dollars worth of cattle in 1875, all fed and fattened here.
A new postoffice has been established on West Creek, to be called Hamilton. Mrs. Harriett Johnson will be postmistress.
Park Place schoolhouse was situated on an elevated piece of ground at or near the center of district 8. The house was 38 x 36 feet and would accommodate 60 or 70 persons very comfortably.
The city appropriated $10 for 59 shade trees to be planted in the cemetery.
A petition was received by the city council praying for a night herd law in the city of Eureka. No action was taken as in the summer month the cattle were out on the prairie and did not annoy people.
Wouldn't it be a good plan for the city to build a cross-walk from the courthouse across Main street? In muddy weather pedestrians have a hard time getting over. (A walk 2 1/2 feet wide, built of two-inch plank, firmly spiked, was authorized by the city council, at a cost not to exceed $20.
The city council, in its annual report, stated $21.75 had been spent to grade Main street; $100 was used for shrubbery in the courthouse grounds; $125.39 had been paid out to the fire department for apparatus and fire protection for the year; and city officers received $218.75 as salaries.
For sale - One yoke of good work oxen. Seven miles southwest of Eureka.
In May, 1876, the Hook and Ladder Co, appointed at committee to examine the supply of water in various wells over town that would be available in case of fire. Nine wells were listed, some with pumps and buckets.
The Bee Hive store advertised 16 yards of calico for $1.00; 14 yards of brown muslin for $1.00; and bleached muslin, 12 yards for $1.00. The steer market in Kansas City was from $3.50 to $4.75 and hogs were selling for $4.40. There were 9,140 acres of wheat in Greenwood County in 1876; 19.145 acres corn; 5,950 acres oats; 3,600 horses, 4,755 milch cows, 17,428 other cattle; 81,288 peach trees and 65,272 apple trees. The population was 5,526.
The city calaboose was sold to a farmer for $38.75 to store rye in. It had had old rye in it before, but the farmer thought his rye would not make so much disturbance.
Eureka held a grand celebration on July 4, the centennial year of American Independence. An actual count showed 228 wagons in the parade with 1900 persons, exclusive of those on horseback.
A Eureka Board of Trade was organized in August, 1876.
Total county expenditures for the year amounted to $14,262.71.
City Ordinance No. 59 prohibited neat cattle, horses, mules and asses from running at large within the corporate limits of the city between the hours of 9 p.m. and 5 a.m.
A very large colony settled on the Verdigris in the neighborhood of Shell Rock. They belonged to the sect called Amish (something like the Mennonites) and were mostly of German origin.
Thirty-four school districts in the county had paid off their entire bond of tax.
A public well was dug on Third street, west of Main, at a cost of $79.85.
In January 1877, S.G. Mead sold his interest in the Herald to Col. H.C. Rizer and G.F. Dunham.
The people of Greenwood County were called upon to vote, on April 24, as whether the county should subscribe stock in the amount of $4000 per mile for a railroad in the county. The bond election carried by a majority of 149.
Mr. Tucker had made a trip to Emporia, after resorting to a variety of methods of transportation. He rode in his buggy as far as Dry Creek, which he found anything but dry, thence on by boat, by mule back and afoot. He admired the long mule with the tall ears as a safe, reliable and convenient arrangement for ferrying across deep water.
The city council passed ordinances in June prohibiting the erection of wooden buildings on Main street between River and Fourth; the city marshal was to wear a badge indicative of his office; and the spring near the Eureka Mills was public property and it was a finable offense to dip water from it with a dirty bucket.
The fifth annual fair was held in September.
The first copy of the Madison Times, a 6-column paper was issued in 1877 by Bennett and Trask.
(Nov. 1, 1877) With this issue the Herald greets its patrons from new quarters, the proprietors having leased apartments in the new building recently erected by Olney & Morris. The office will be found on the second floor, first door at the head of the stairs.
But few people can ever enjoy the rare felicitities experienced in moving a printing office. A week ago we were blissfully ignorant of the delights attending such an undertaking - until we embarked in the moving of the office did we ever know anything about the dirt that could be stowed away so securely. There was dust and grease and ink, and ink and grease and dust in all imaginable places, in most inconvenient quantities.
An unusual amount of people were in town on Saturday, November 17, Main street being almost blockaded by teams. There were also an unusual as well as unnecessary number of drunken men on the street, in spite of the moral influence of a saloon.
The Christian Church was rented for additional school space and Mrs. Claycomb secured as the teacher.
At a meeting in the courthouse in September, the Kansas City, Burlington & Santa Fe railroad reported they will extend their line to the south line of the state, through Greenwood County, if the county would aid them to the amount of $4000 per mile, a right-of-way through the county and depot grounds in Eureka, and would build the road and have cars running within eight months.
A circus street parade proved an interesting feature. It was one moving mass of gorgeous brilliancy from the superb band chariot to the concluding cage with a quarter of ferocious looking lions and Bengal tigers. The steam piano was an object of special interest.
Prairie fires raged in the county for several days, burning thousands of tons of hay and other property almost beyond estimate.
More residences were needed in Eureka. Every building in town was filled, some of them containing two or three families.
The flow of immigration still continues. Strangers were daily looking for land. As a general rule, those who are coming brought with them some capital and were prepared to pay cash in full for land.
Olney & Morris received a magnificent new soda fountain. It was of marble and highly ornamental.
The Indians were in town on a Saturday and bought or begged several of the fattest dogs in town.
The Methodist society commenced work on their church edifice in June. The church services were being held in the courthouse while the church was being built.
Dr. Wakefield's team came near making things interesting by running away. They broke loose from Judge Olney's fence while the Doc was in the house. He ran out to stop them, caught the lines and braced himself, but their momentous was greater than his resistance and in a jiffy he found himself making an ungraceful effort to imitate the tumbler who performed on Main street two days previous. The team went not-withstanding the strange antics of people on main street to stop them. They were finally halted on Second street.
A cow succeeded in entangling her horns in the standards of a sled at the rear of the Nye store, overturned the sleigh and frightened horses hitched nearby which nearly escaped before their owners could catch them. Of course, the cow was committing a trespass at the time.
Ivanpah was the name of the new postoffice in the west Fall River region.
R.M. Rizer & Co. (general store) advertised its terms were cash or its equivalent.
Good teams were offered $2.50 to $3.00 for work on the railroad, south of Emporia.
A most grotesque picture was presented on the streets of Eureka by the appearance of a family of "'poo' white trash from North Carliny." The family, father, mother, son and daughter, had no team at all and their household effects were packed in a hand cart which they had hauled all the way from their home in the mountains.
Household hint - To remove iron taste from new kettles, boil a handful of hay in them.
The town of Charleston was removed from its present site to a location south and the new town was called Greenwood.
A new town was laid off at the crossing of the Kansas City, Emporia, and Southern and the Missouri, Wichita and Western railroads and was called Severy. (November) A month later it was a thriving little town of 16 houses.
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