Early History of Independence Kansas

Independence, Kansas, strategically located near the Verdigris River and built on solid limestone bluffs, was founded in August 1869 by settlers intent on making it the county seat. Its growth accelerated through early settlers, businesses, and transportation, despite setbacks like legal disputes over the county seat. Key milestones include the establishment of schools, churches, and a thriving newspaper, “Independence Pioneer.” The city faced fires and economic challenges but saw renewed growth in the early 1900s with manufacturing and infrastructure development, leading to a population increase and establishing Independence as an essential regional hub.

In all southeastern Kansas there is no other city whose location possesses so many advantages as does that of Independence. Built at a point where the bluffs come close to the Verdigris, and have a solid foundation in the “Independence limestone,” which outcrops forty feet thick at the river bridge just east of the city, the site selected for the future metropolis is high and well drained, and sufficiently rolling to render the scenery picturesque, while furnishing fine natural drainage. Possessing so many advantages, and lying so near the geographical center of Montgomery County, it was almost inevitable that the city should become the county seat of the new county. And this was of course what the company of Oswego men who came here on the 21st of August, 1869, under the lead of R. W. Wright, intended from the start it should become. Indeed, they made no secret of this intention but boldly proclaimed it on the first night they spent here when camping out at Bunker’s cabin, which was located on what is now the Pugh family home on North Ninth Street. This is one of the highest points in the city and was then, and for some time afterward, known as “Bunker Hill.”

Speaking about this cabin of Frank Bunker’s, in a Historical Sketch of Montgomery County delivered as a Fourth of July address in 1876, the late E. E. Wilson, who was the leading historian of the pioneer days of the county and from whose writings we shall have occasion to draw very liberally in the preparation of this chapter, says, that at that time Bunker complained that the cabin, “instead of being treasured up in canes, base ball clubs, ear rings and pulpits, like other land marks, has been prostituted to the vile instincts of domestic fowls and beasts that perish.” In other words it had been converted into a hen roost and cow stable.

Besides Frank Bunker, the other early settlers in the vicinity of Independence were his brother, Fred Bunker, W. O. Sylvester, Paddy Gilluhi and George Reed, all of whom are said to have come in June 1860. The first claimants to any part of the original townsite of Independence were Frank Bunker, Shell Reed and W. O. Sylvester. Bunker was induced afterward to move the lines of his claim so as to make room to plat the city, and “Bunker’s Addition” to the northwest of the city was one of the first, and probably the first addition to the city.

While the United States government did not conclude a treaty with the Osage Indians for a cession of their lands in this county until July 1870, individual settlers had been making treaties with the red skins for larger or smaller tracts of land for a couple of years previous, and, in September 1869, George A. Brown, after a protracted council, concluded and solemnized an agreement for the cession to him, of a tract of land lying between Rock Creek on the south and Elk River on the north, the Verdigris River on the east and Walker and Table Mounds on the west. Probably, at that time, Brown had no idea that the whole of the tract to which he thus acquired an irregular and not exactly legal title would become the site of the Greater Independence of the future — and there are plenty of people today who do not yet see that this entire territory is bound to be covered by the city and its suburbs during the first half of the twentieth century. The region embraced is an irregular one, about five miles long by as many wide, and embraces very nearly twenty-five square miles of land. For this tract, a single acre of which now has a land value of over $25,000, Brown paid the munificent sum of $50. The stipulations of the treaty were few and plain. Each party bound itself to promote peace between the two races. Brown was to build all the houses he wanted, and Chetopa, the Indian chief who took the part of grantor, was to have free pasturage for his ponies. Finally, Chetopa began to count the houses that were going up on this tract and to estimate what his revenue would have been at the customary tax of $5.00 each. He came to the conclusion that he had been swindled, and asked Brown for a new council to rescind the treaty. Brown was equal to the occasion and pictured in glowing terms what the immaculate word and unstained honor of a great Indian warrior required in the observance of such sacred and binding obligations, demanding, if it were possible, that he would forever disgrace himself and his tribe by going back on his plighted word. Still, Chetopa insisted that there were too many houses, and that his people were being imposed upon. The upshot of the matter was a further stipulation: that the $50 already paid should exempt the town, and that the settlers outside might pay him $3.00 per claim in addition.

While the Oswego people brought the name “Independence” with them all ready to apply to their county seat that was to be, they found a competitor in the town of “Colfax,” which Geo. A. Brown had already laid out, a mile or more to the northwest, where the first city cemetery was afterward located by Mayor DeLong. At the age of three weeks this town was already provided with a full equipment of streets and alleys and beginning to take rank among the towns of the county. After looking the ground over on the day following their arrival, Brown was persuaded to abandon Colfax and cast his fortunes with the Independence party. With a pocket compass, a survey of the town site was made by Captain Hanmer, E. R. Trask, Frank Bunker and one or two others, which approximately determined the boundaries of the city that was to be.

For a time we can do no better than to follow Mr. Wilson’s narratives as closely as may be. He says: “Returning to Oswego they organized the Independence Town Company, contracted for the publication of the ‘Independence Pioneer,’ for the location of a saw-mill and for the carrying of a weekly mail from Oswego. A week later L. T. Stephenson returned to manage the business of the company and began the erection of a double log hotel, known as the ‘Judson House.’ In September a celebration was held, the main feature of which was a barbecue. Speeches were made by E. R. Trask, R. W. Wright and L. T. Stephenson. All the settlers in the vicinity, perhaps one hundred in number, were congregated. The refreshments consisted of the ox, four kegs of beer and two barrels of bread. They were brought from Oswego by J. N. DeBruler’s ox team. In crossing the Verdigris the team became unmanageable and dumped the whole outfit into the river. No time was lost in fishing it out, and of course especial care was taken to save the beer, which came out undamaged.”

About October 1st, 1869, E. E. Wilson and F. D. Irwin opened a store, having received their first invoice of goods, by wagon, from Fontana, Miami County, which was as near as the railroad then ran. Customers were infrequent in those early days and the proprietors employed their leisure in making hay, where is now the intersection of Main Street and Penn Avenue. Lumber was scarce before the saw-mills got to running, and none was to be got nearer than Oswego. But the crop of hay was immense, and the pioneers busied themselves in the erection of hay houses in which they found very comfortable shelter during the winter, and which gave the city its first nickname “Haytown.”

In October 1869, too, R. S. Parkhurst, better known as “Uncle Sammy,” arrived from Indiana with a colony of eighteen families thereby doubling the population of the town. These provided themselves with hay houses also. And it is worthy of note that of all the sixty-niners who laid the foundations of this growing city, Mr. Parkhurst and O. P. Gamble are the only ones still living here. Although at an advanced age Mr. Parkhurst is still hale and hearty and is taking a most active interest in every movement for the upbuilding of the city and its industries. Since the beginning of the present year he made a talk in a public meeting at the Auditorium, telling something about those early days, in which he stated that he never then expected to see Independence become what she is today, but at the same time unhesitatingly affirmed that he now expected to live to see her with a hundred thousand population.

On the 16th of November 1869, Alexander Waldschmidt reached Independence with his saw mill. Immediately Carpenter & Crawford located east of town on the Allison farm, and A. L. Ross at the mouth of Elk River. All were running in December, but Carpenter & Crawford sawed the first lumber. Their enterprise may be inferred from the fact that for the first week they carried water in pails from the river to run their engine. Mr. Waldschmidt was very enterprising and proved one of the most important factors in the building of the town. He erected the first grist-mill in the county, on the river just above the site of the present ice factory, and began grinding grain there in the fall or winter of 1871. He also made the first shipment of flour from the county. While all the other north and south streets of the city bear numbers, the one next the river is named “Waldschmidt Avenue,” in his honor.

The story of the struggle for the location of the county seat is referred to elsewhere in this history, and need not be detailed again here. From the first a majority of the people of the county favored Independence, and it was only a question of time when their will should be obeyed. At the election in November 1869, the first vote was taken, and it was only by throwing out the northern precinct, known as Drum Creek, on a technicality, that a majority was secured for Liberty, by the east side board of commissioners then in office. This was the first backset Independence received, and, though she has had them in plenty since, she has always done as she did then—buckled on her armor and fought it out on that line. And in almost every instance, she has won in the end, as she did the following May in the courts, and the following November at the polls, in the county seat fight.

Unfortunately our State Historical Society did not begin business until 1875, and prior to that date newspaper files are not accessible, and only occasional copies of Independence newspapers of earlier dates have been preserved. Indeed, the burning of the office of the “Independence Tribune,” with its files, in February 1883, and of the “Independence Star,” with the files of the earlier issues of the “Independence Kansan,” in December 1884, resulted in a loss of material for early history that is not only irreparable but well nigh incalculable. The first newspaper published in Independence was the “Independence Pioneer,” of which one of the first, if not the first, copy issued, bearing date November 27th, 1869, and another dated January 1st, 1870, are to be found in the collection at Topeka, but no others. In the former issue most of the business cards are of Oswego firms, but among the Independence advertisers are Wilson & Irwin’s grocery and Kalstin & Stephenson’s real estate, insurance and general conveyancing office. In the latter we note that Kalstin & Coventry are in the hardware business at Independence; Allison & Bell, general merchandise; Dr. Swallow, dry goods, provisions and groceries; Chas. Wise, furniture; Chas. Coventry, drugs and groceries; Brown & Risburg and Knokle & DeBruler, meat markets. At Westralia, Crawford & McCue announce themselves as attorneys at law and land agents.

The “Pioneer” was printed at Oswego until some time in January 1870, when it became, in fact as well as in name, an Independence institution, and was furnished with an outfit of type and a press here. In one of its earlier issues it tells an interesting story about a pioneer settler in the neighborhood of Independence who was living in a log house and whose wife woke him one night to startle him with the information that the baby was gone. Lighting a candle and making a search, no trace of it could be found in the cabin, but on going outdoors it was discovered lying on the ground unhurt and fast asleep, having rolled out of bed between the logs that formed one side of the cabin.

In its editorial column, the “Pioneer” had begun the work, in which we are still engaged, of booming Independence and Montgomery County; and from the issue of January 1st, 1870, the following forecast is worth quoting:

“The valley of the Verdigris river, which but a few months ago was only visited by Indian traders occasionally, is now teeming with intelligent, enterprising immigrants from the eastern and northern states; and settlements and towns have sprung up as if by magic. Supplied, as the valley is, with abundance of timber for fencing, its vast quarries of white and brown sandstone for building purposes, and its inexhaustible beds of excellent coal—it does not require a very vivid imagination to picture a future exceeding in brilliancy the past history of western improvement.

Independence is growing. Forty frame buildings have been erected in as many days since our saw mills have been turning out lumber. The work of building has went (sic) on right merrily, and substantial frame buildings have taken the place of booths, huts and hay houses that a few weeks ago were scattered promiscuously over our townsite. Four months ago the tall prairie grass waved where today are scores of buildings and the scenes of busy life. To one unused to the rapid growth of the west it would seem the work of magic.”

Nothing here, it will be observed, about natural gas, vitrified brick, cement plants, rolling mills, window glass factories, paper mills, electric railways, four-story Masonic Temples, or $60,000 hotels. So, ever does the reality surpass the most enthusiastic dreams in a developing civilization.

The first school house in Independence was built in the winter of 1869–70, and was dedicated April 16th, 1870, with literary exercises which are said to have been of unusual merit. The school was opened April 21st, with Miss Mary Walker, the first female teacher in the county, in charge. The building was afterward remodeled and occupied by the United Brethren church. The first teachers’ institute in the county was held at Vandiver’s Hall in the summer of 1879, and was conducted by Prof. Boles.

In the fall of 1869 the first Sunday school was organized in the hay house of Mrs. McClung. The first sermon was preached by T. H. Canfield in the same house. Rev. J. J. Brown organized the First Presbyterian Church of Independence April 3, 1870, and the Methodist and Baptist churches were organized the same month. The Baptists erected the first church building, which was dedicated March 12th, 1871, Rev. Mr. Atkinson, of Oswego, officiating.

The 1870s

About February 1870, R. W. Wright addressed a meeting at Wilson & Irwin’s store in advocacy of an east and west railroad. On the first day of June 1870, the people greeted the arrival of the stage coach from Oswego. The story of the voting of $200,000 in bonds to enable the county to make a subscription of stock to the same amount to the Leavenworth, Lawrence & Galveston Railroad Company, which was the second among the many adverse events in the history of our city, is elsewhere told.

Until along in 1870, says W. H. Watkins, in his sketch of the city’s history published in the “Independence Kansan” on January 2, 1878, the principal part of the business was transacted on Penn. Avenue, between Laurel and Myrtle Streets, or north of the present location of Baden’s store. The road, as traveled, did not follow the avenue south of that point but shot across lots from Myrtle to Main, reaching the latter at the corner of Sixth, where Zutz’ grocery now stands. The merchants then in business on the north side of Main Street found it necessary to have their signs over their back doors. To the north of the crossing of Main Street and Penn. Avenue was a quagmire, and loaded teams frequently stalled there.

Mail facilities were meager during the first winter in “Haytown,” and the government did not act as promptly in establishing a post office as it has since, in the Indian Territory on similar occasions. While the county seat was at Verdigris City, it is said that the postage on letters brought in varied from ten to twenty-five cents, according to the state of the weather; but at Independence a service was arranged from Oswego. L. T. Stephenson being the first carrier, and the charge being uniformly ten cents straight. He was succeeded by M. L. Hickey, and he by J. C. Woodrow, who carried the mail until the advent of the stage coach. At first letters in and out were charged for alike, but later the only charge was for those brought in. One poor fellow thoughtlessly wrote a line to a Boston paper telling about the new El Dorado here in southern Kansas, and his next mail cost him two dollars. When the mail arrived, there was a roll-call of the letters and each man stood ready with his fractional currency to pay postage on his letters.

On the 1st day of July, 1870, the people greeted the arrival of the first stage coach from Oswego, and on the first of July F. D. Irwin was appointed postmaster at a salary of $12.00 per year. At the present time the salary of the postmaster is $2,300, and the payroll of the office, including the salaries of four city and five rural delivery carriers, amounts to $12,250 per annum.

The Fourth of July 1870, was appropriately celebrated in a grove south of town on Rock Creek. Nearly 200 people were present, and Captain M. S. Bell was the orator of the day.

On the 25th of July 1870, J. D. Emerson, as probate judge, in accordance with the petition of a majority of the voters, incorporated the place under the style of “the inhabitants of the town of Independence,” and appointed the following board of trustees: E. E. Wilson, J. H. Pugh, J. E. Donlavy, R. T. Hall and O. P. Smart. Of this first governing body of the city, O. P. Smart, alone, is still a resident here. They met the next day and organized by electing R. T. Hall, chairman; and on the 15th of September they appointed J. B. Craig as clerk. Their first ordinance provided that the board should meet on the second Tuesday of each month. They next decreed that all sidewalks on Main Street and Penn. Avenue should be twelve feet wide. The third made it unlawful to drive any animal of the horse or mule kind through the streets faster than a trot, or more than seven miles an hour. The fourth prohibited gaming-tables and all devices for playing games of chance, also bawdy houses and brothels.

On the 16th of November 1871, the trustees voted to accept the provisions of the act governing cities of the third class. Immigrants had come in rapidly during the spring and summer, and on November 29th, a little more than fifteen months from the time the town was laid out, a count was made of 800 people. On the date named an election for city officers was held. J. B. Craig was elected the first mayor, receiving 93 votes to 89 cast for E. E. Wilson. The councilmen elected at the same time were: A. Waldschmidt, Thomas Stevenson, W. T. Bishop, F. D. Irwin and G. H. Brodie. Irwin failed to qualify and on December 8th, Goodell Foster was appointed to serve in his place. On the same date William Hendrix was appointed the first marshal of the young city, and Councilmen Waldschmidt and Bishop were made a committee to draw up plans for a city prison; while the task of drawing up a set of ordinances was confided to Mr. Foster.

On the 5th of January 1871, Prentis & Warner were authorized to erect hay scales in the street north of Pugh’s drug store. This is, perhaps, the only business house then in existence, which, in all the thirty-two years that have since elapsed, has changed neither its name, its business nor its location, “Pugh’s Drug Store” being still located at the southeast corner of Penn. Avenue and Laurel Streets. At this meeting the first dram shop license recorded was granted to Henry Kaiser, who was to pay a fee of $50 for a period of six months.

On the 23d of January, the city printing was awarded to the “Kansas Democrat,” which was published by Martin VanBuren Bennett, at the rate of three cents a line. On February 2, Mr. Bishop was appointed a committee to see about deepening the two public wells. The work was done by Lewis & Mossman, who were paid $52.08 for going down 29 feet in one of them. On the 20th of February, it was ordered that a well be sunk at the corner of Laurel Street and Penn. Avenue.

March 30th, 1871, C. M. Ralstin as city clerk reported a population of 1,382 souls. On the same day John J. Jack was licensed to keep a grocery and sell beer, on payment of $25.00 and the giving of a $2,000.00 bond. On the same date H. A. Jimmerson was granted a dram shop license. By this time the wants of the thirsty must have been pretty well provided for, with three public wells and as many saloons.

The city election held April 5th, 1871, resulted in the choice of E. E. Wilson as mayor and J. E. Donlavy as police judge, and on the following day J. D. Emerson was appointed city clerk and T. P. Trouvelle, city marshal. The first record of a prohibition sentiment appears on September 15th, when Judson & Saylor and H. Vanderslice applied for permission to sell liquor, presenting petitions signed by 130 people, and a remonstrance signed by another 130 people was presented at the same time. Notwithstanding the remonstrance, the licenses were granted, Councilmen Waldschmidt and Gray voting aye and Bishop no. December 7th, Goodell Foster resigned as city attorney and Colonel Daniel Grass was appointed to succeed him. Three weeks later, on the 29th, Grass resigned and J. D. McCue was appointed. Among other citizens who afterward became prominent here and elsewhere, who were honored with appointments to this office, were William Dunkin, George Chandler and George R. Peck.

In 1871 the title of the Independence Town Company, which was responsible for the existence of the city and to whom it owed so much, began to be seriously questioned, and for the next year the matter was kept prominently to the front. Between the spring of 1871 and that of 1872 the growth of the city was most rapid. Two hundred houses were built and the population rose from one thousand to twenty-three hundred. This was more than the entire gain during the succeeding ten years, and made the period a marked one in the history of the young city. In the summer of 1871 the Town Company was losing ground rapidly. The lot so long occupied by Jasper & Boniface as a meat market was jumped by them during that summer, and a building started. The title to this lot was held by a man at Fort Scott by certificate from the Town Company, but those interested in maintaining the titles of this company assembled and hitched a couple of yoke of oxen to the building, drove the carpenters off and partially hauled the building into the street. It was, however, the last show of vigor on the part of the Company. Its influence was on the wane, and lots were soon being taken everywhere, regardless of its warnings. Houses began to be built on wheels and hauled on to vacant lots at night, or they were claimed by some other act of occupancy. After the defeat of the company, the good work it had done for the city was fully recognized, and, writing of it in 1878, W. H. Watkins says: “It is of the past and the time has come to acknowledge the good work it did. Its object has been grandly attained but the benefits have inured to others. It entered into politics, met with success and disaster and came to its end in litigation. It dug wells, built houses, established a newspaper and by its wise policy induced people to locate here.”

Following the voting of county bonds in aid of the Leavenworth, Lawrence & Galveston railroad, in June 1870, which was accomplished by the most unblushing fraud, that road was built down the east line of the county in July 1871, and a great many people thought that a death blow had been struck at the new city. Its people were not made of the stuff to be easily discouraged, though, and from the very day that it was decided that the road should be built there they went to work to secure a line from Cherryvale. Committee followed committee in rapid succession, and received from the railroad officials the same courteous treatment and accomplished the same barren results. So anxious were the people, that, during this time, it was privately hinted by an employee of the company that a cash contribution of four thousand dollars and one hundred town lots, in addition to the $7,500 per mile in bonds, would secure the branch beyond question. The town lots were selected and individual notes to the amount required were placed in the hands of J. B. Craig and E. E. Wilson. After a whole round of failures, Frank Bunker, M. D. Henry and Charles W. Prentiss succeeded. This was late in 1871, and the demand was so urgent that a bond in the sum of $50,000 was signed by a majority of the voters as a guarantee that the bonds would be voted so that the work might begin at once. An election was held Sept. 30th, and $125,000 in bonds voted. Frank Bunker, by a generous donation of land, secured the location of the depot on his premises, and the road became known as “Bunker’s Plug.” The railroad was built in December 1871, and the first train of cars whistled into Independence on New Year’s Day 1872. The terminus remained here for seven years—until 1879—making this a wholesale point for the supply of the entire southern Kansas trade for a hundred miles to the west and contributing very materially to the growth and prosperity of the city.

A word more is fitting in regard to Frank Bunker, whose name will be indissolubly connected with the early history of the city and who, perhaps, did more than anyone else to promote its welfare in those pioneer days. He died at Andover, Massachusetts, on the 12th of August 1876. In an obituary notice shortly after that date, the “Independence Kansan” said: “But little happened in which Frank was not consulted or did not take an active part. His vivacity, brilliant wit, dash and droll anecdotes made him sought after in society. When disposed, few men were more entertaining than he could be and none was warmer hearted.” And E. E. Wilson says of him in his history of the county: “Frank Bunker was a man of some rare native talents and, in some directions, of fine culture. A natural musician, an easy and brilliant writer, in conversation he deluged his hearers with song and story. His fund of humor was rich and his witticisms truly a bonanza. His long continued ill health had made him whimsical and, at times, very irritable, but withal Frank was a genial fellow and a generous friend. After travelling from the Pacific to the shores of Africa in a vain search for health he died in Massachusetts in the autumn of 1876.”

During the year 1872, Independence and Montgomery County were in the heyday of their early prosperity and enjoying what is known as a “boom.” E. E. Wilson had been the second mayor the previous year, as he was the first storekeeper in 1869, and was followed in that office by James DeLong, formerly consul at Tangiers, Morocco, and a most eccentric character. So soured was he with the world that we who knew him only in his later years invariably referred to him as the “chronic growler.” It was during his administration that the removal of the Osage District Land Office to this city occurred. Speaking of the removal of this office from Humboldt to Neodesha, in December 1871, Mr. Wilson says: “On the 8th of December the United States Land Office passed on its way from Humboldt to Neodesha. As it passed down Main Street and north on the avenue it was not a very imposing pageant, but its intrinsic value of $10,000.00 was determined before it passed the limits of the town.” If the Neodesha people paid that much to secure it they made a very poor bargain, for no later than March 20th, 1872, the same office was opened for business in Independence, where it remained until discontinued by order of President Cleveland in the spring of 1885. The means used to secure its removal to this city are detailed in another chapter of this book, devoted to Senator York’s betrayal of Senator Pomeroy. The city council appropriated $3,000.00 to secure the land office, but of this amount it was found necessary to spend only $1,900, and even this small fraction of an “intrinsic value of $10,000” would not have been paid, so it is said, by DeLong’s economical administration, had it not been that “the town site was hanging in the land office.”

After its location here, the officers of the land office were P. B. Maxon, register; and M. W. Reynolds, receiver. The subsequent registers were W. W. Martin, M. J. Salter and C. M. Ralstin. The receivers were: E. S. Nichols, H. M. Waters and H. W. Young.

In March 1882, there was found here a population of 2,300, and the governor was petitioned to make Independence a city of the second class, which he did by proclamation on March 20th. The following day the city was divided into four wards, with the same boundaries as today except that the fifth ward has since been carved out of the second. The first election under the new title was held April 5th, when James DeLong was elected mayor, receiving 445 votes to 146 for L. T. Stephenson. Osborn Shannon, DeLong’s son-in-law, was elected police judge; T. P. Trouvelle, marshal; J. I. Crouse, treasurer; and A. D. Gibson, justice of the peace. The first board of education was elected at the same time, and it is noteworthy that two of its members, Mrs. J. M. Nevins and Mrs. H. T. Millis, from the first ward, were the first women elected to office in the city. The members of the council elected at the same time were J. M. Nevins, Wm. Dawson, S. A. Wier, John Beard, John Kerr, J. Moreland, Joseph Bloxam and E. T. Sears. Of these six, Dawson and Sears still reside here.

April 6th, owing to the prevalence of smallpox, wholesale vaccination was ordered and the following physicians appointed to do the work: For the first ward, Dr. Musterman; for the second ward, Dr. Thrall; for the third ward, Dr. McCulley; for the fourth ward, Dr. Miller.

The year 1872 was one of the most prosperous ever witnessed in Independence. The transplanted members of the community were taking root and growing together into a homogeneous citizenship, while times were good and values so far above the $1.25 an acre the lands cost to enter, that everybody felt rich. During this year, seventy-one school houses were built in the county at a cost of $70,043, and the fourth ward brick school building at Independence completed at a cost of $23,000.00. Though it was nicknamed “the Tannery,” on account of its box-like outlines, and came into bad repute in later years because of a cracking of the walls which was thought to render it unsafe, it served its purpose in making a home for a generation of school children, and when it was demolished in 1902, it was found to be substantial enough to have stood for centuries.

In March 1872, the city council ordered the issue of $10,000.00 in city scrip to pass current as money, and to run until January 30, 1874. It cost $650.00 to get this scrip printed. Half of it was in one dollar bills and half in two dollar bills. Travelers would carry this novel currency back to their homes in the East unnoticed and then write back to know if the bank was good. Half a million dollars in interest-bearing debt had been incurred by the county in the first three years of its existence, and times could not but be prosperous for the fellows who had the spending of the money. Right athwart this boom, almost without warning, came the panic of 1873, to be followed the next year by a rainless season, drying and parching everything on the farm, except the mortgage and taxes. And then, to cap the climax, came the Rocky Mountain locusts or grasshoppers, with digestion for everything except interest. And plenty of farmers were under contract to pay three percent a month for the use of money. The fat years were followed by others as lean as Pharaoh’s kine.

In April 1873, DeLong was re-elected mayor, and he continued his strenuous fight for the settlers and against the old town company with all the sturdy vigor of his nature. One of the old settlers characterizes him as “the Cromwell of Independence.” He was erratic, unselfish and zealous, and labored without stint to secure the land for the settlers and relieve them from the necessity of buying their homes from the town company. At the same time he charged every man six dollars for a deed to a lot, as expenses, and he and those associated with him never made any accounting of the money. In fact, it is understood that, during the time the settlers were paying for their lots, DeLong was living out of the income he received from the office in this irregular way. He was not penurious and did not lay up money but was always ready to spend it for the town and the people. He was autocratic in his methods and did a great deal to build up the city. He was pugilistic, too, and always ready for a fight. The issue of city scrip was his scheme, and, notwithstanding the doubtful legality of the undertaking, he carried it through very successfully. The stuff circulated and was never at a discount. Every dollar of it was eventually redeemed, and the result of the undertaking might well be used as an argument in favor of municipal currency. Altogether DeLong was, in many ways, the strongest and most unique personality in the city’s history, and, had a popular novelist known him and his works, he might have served as a leading character in some work of fiction. His declining years were soured and embittered, however, by dwelling upon the ingratitude of the people for whom he had labored, and he seemed to have a grudge against the world.

The most prominent event of the year 1874 was the burning of the railroad depot on January 15th, which resulted in the purchase of a fire engine by the city council within a week. The DeLong dynasty ended on the 7th of April that year, with the election of D. B. Gray as mayor.

The new fire engine did not prevent the most destructive fire in the history of the city on February 13th, 1875, when eighteen business buildings were consumed. Down the east side of the avenue, from where Baden’s dry goods store stands now, and up the north side of Main Street to the location of Zutz’ grocery, everything went, except Brown’s three-story brick, where the Baden clothing house now stands. That was reserved to be burned later. That year W. E. Brown was elected mayor and William Dunkin city attorney. The session of the South Kansas Conference of the M. E. Church, which convened March 3, and was presided over by Bishop Merrill, was one of the leading events of the year. At the election for city officers this year, W. E. Brown won the mayoralty, having 278 votes to 169 cast for ex-Mayor DeLong. Wm. Dunkin now became city attorney, and J. L. Scott was continued in office as police judge. The steady growth of a prohibition sentiment was indicated by the instructions given the city attorney in March to draw up an ordinance to prohibit dram shops from keeping open on Sunday. The last mention of the city scrip appears in November of this year, when it was ordered that $2,000.00 of that currency lying in Hull’s bank, and which had been redeemed, be re-issued to take up outstanding warrants, and that the rest be destroyed.

The years between 1873 and 1881 are not prolific of material for the historian of Montgomery County’s capital. Hard times had the new country in its grip, and it was simply a matter of “hanging on” and “waiting for the clouds to roll by,” with the business men then there. Independence, having reached about 3,000 in population, came to a standstill and remained a country trading post merely, except for the wholesale business in the region to the southwest. Merchants advertised but sparingly in the local papers until the later seventies and there was nothing to indicate the brilliant future in store for the city.

Reckless expenditure of public funds had become unpopular and in December 1875, a proposition to use $10,000.00 in building a dam across the Verdigris River to furnish water power for factories was voted down, only 90 favoring it to 176 who opposed.

In 1876, there was not even life enough to get up a contest over the mayoralty, and F. C. Jocelyn had all the votes cast, except nine scattering. S. S. Peterson, who subsequently served with distinction as sheriff of Wyandotte County, was elected city marshal, and Joseph Chandler city attorney, both of them being repeatedly re-elected in following years. In August of that year the citizens were worried by a rumor that the United States land office was to be removed, and the city council appropriated $100.00 to defray the expenses of sending Colonel Daniel Grass and Edwin Foster to Washington to prevent such a calamity.

In January 1877, a counterfeiters’ den was discovered in a house at the foot of the hill on East Main Street, and Marshal Peterson arrested three of the manufacturers of the “queer” and turned them over to the United States authorities. Not only were molds, frames and all paraphernalia of this illegal business found, but 124 half dollars and 16 quarters, well enough executed to pass readily. The same month the land office authorities awarded to L. T. Stephenson the one hundred and sixty acres adjoining the city on the south for which he was contesting, and the mayor was permitted to enter for the settlers the Emerson tract in the southwest part of the city between 10th and 18th streets. In April, William Dunkin was elected mayor, the minority candidate again being ex-Mayor DeLong, whose only ambition in life appears to have been to get back in the chair of that office again. Michael McEniry was chosen as police judge, a position he held for many years and filled with dignity and discretion.

Norman H. Ives was now postmaster, being the third incumbent of that office, A. H. Moore having succeeded Irwin, the first appointee. L. M. Knowles was superintendent of the city schools. In June, J. B. Hoober began the erection of a two-story brick hotel on West Main Street over which he presided for so many years and which is still running, with the name changed from “Hoober” to “Heckman.” At this time the saloon business must have been one of the principal industries of the city, and the manufacture of drunkards going on apace. There were eleven licensed grog shops, and the revenue they paid into the city treasury amounted to $3,800.00 a year.

The year 1877 was rendered notorious, not only in Independence but throughout the country, by the “Hull Baby” case. Hull’s bank here was one of the strongest financial institutions in southeastern Kansas, in fact the only bank in the county that weathered the financial storm of 1878 without suspending payment for an hour. It was established by Latham Hull, of Kalamazoo, Michigan, and his two sons, Charles A. and Edgar, were connected with it. Charles, the elder one, was a bachelor, but he fell a victim to the wiles of a clever adventuress and married her. No sooner was this former “schoolmarm” installed as the mistress of the banker’s home than she began to sigh for other worlds to conquer. Charles’ father had offered a standing prize of $5,000.00 for the first male grandchild born in the family. Carrie’s fingers itched to get hold of that roll, and she procured, from an orphans’ home at Leavenworth, a young infant of the requisite sex, to which she pretended to have given birth. The fraud was too transparent to impose long on the parties interested, and her husband disowned the brat and began suit for divorce. Not to be outdone, the alleged mother began suit against Latham Hull, her father-in-law, Edgar Hull, her brother-in-law, George Chandler, their attorney, and the Home for the Friendless at Leavenworth, for alienating the affections of her husband and damaging her character to the extent of $6,000.00. In December the divorce case of Charles Hull versus Carrie Hull was heard and decided in the district court. Mrs. Hull claimed to be in very poor health, so that her testimony could not be taken publicly, and those who were expecting to see all the dirty linen in the case aired in court were disappointed. Charles got the decree, however, but Carrie was allowed $300 alimony, the household goods and $200 for counsel fees, which, considering the wealth of the husband, was not all that she might have expected. Yet she was still eager for the main chance and proceeded to construe the “household goods” clause very liberally. In fact, she tore a mantel out of the house which she thus claimed a right to dismantle, and sold it. For this offense she was arrested on the 8th of January following by Sheriff Brock. As he did not like to take her to jail he remained in the house to guard her until she could have a hearing in court or secure bail. During the night Constable Nelson came with another warrant to arrest her on a suit by Dr. McCulley, to whom she had mortgaged her goods for medical attendance. The constable was refused admission and had to tear off a shutter to get in. And when he did, he found not a thing left of all the goods the court had awarded Carrie, except the cradle of that famous baby, which she still retained. Of course, another arrest followed. When at last the heroine of this romance got free from the meshes of the law, she went west seeking fresher fields and pastures new. While her money lasted she cut a great swath at Pueblo, Colorado, as a rich young widow; and finally wound up there by bewitching the landlord of the hotel where she made her home, who deserted wife and children to elope with her.

Early in 1878 the school board expended $501.50 in the purchase of block No. 1 in Concannon’s addition, and proceeded to erect a four-room school building there at an expense of $8,000. One of the city papers complained that the location was too far out for the little folks. Now, with another building at the same place the difficulty is that it is too far in. The election for mayor this year was hotly contested and George W. Burchard won by a majority of 90 over A. C. Stich. Burchard had been both a Republican and a Democrat, and had edited both the “Tribune” and the “Kansan,” but he was able and popular. April 5th, another counterfeiters’ outfit was unearthed in the old land office building and Matt M. Rucker arrested for the crime of making money on his own account. In the summer of this year the present city building was erected.

About this time the railroad question was exciting lots of interest as it was known that the St. Louis & San Francisco line was to be extended west from Oswego, and Independence was anxious for something more than the “plug,” which was all she yet had. Besides, there were propositions for a road southwest from Parsons, and the papers of that day are full of the reports of meetings held and committees appointed to bring hither three or four different lines, the initials of whose titles mean nothing now. Probably if all the citizens of the town had pulled together, the “‘Frisco” would have come here instead of edging off to the north from Cherryvale and angling through Wilson County. But there were divided counsels in those days, and a jealousy between property holders on the north and south sides which would not permit them to work together harmoniously, and so the line was lost and the population which would otherwise have come to swell the census of Independence went to build up Cherryvale. Probably Independence would have been a city of 15,000 many years sooner than it now will, if the “‘Frisco” road had been landed. Not only did the year 1878 witness the loss of this road, but the same year the “plug” was extended out into the counties to the west, and the city’s trade thereby materially circumscribed.

In April 1870, Burchard was re-elected mayor, defeating Dr. W. A. McCulley, 172 to 260. In September of that year Cary Oakes, who was then county treasurer, lost a suit instituted by the county to recover $4,078.30 which he had unwittingly allowed to get into the Mastin Bank at Kansas City the day before that institution closed its doors. It was in the shape of a draft from the state treasurer for the school fund account, and Oakes had put it in Turner & Otis’ bank for collection. They forwarded it to their correspondent at Kansas City, and it disappeared in that hole which at the time engulfed so many other fortunes.

The 1880s

In the year 1880, the law in relation to city elections was changed, giving to mayors a two years’ term; and the year witnessed so little of interest here that it must remain a blank, so far as these annals are concerned. In the spring of 1881, L. C. Mason was elected to the head of the city government, defeating B. F. Masterman. The following summer the people who have seldom refused to do anything asked of them to promote the educational interests of the city, voted $4,000.00 in bonds to repair that ill-fated fourth ward school building which had cost $23,000.00 in the start. This year the board of education drew the color line by providing a separate building for the accommodation of pupils of African descent, but they all refused to attend, and the courts decided they could not be discriminated against in that way. The prohibition law went into effect on May 1st, and, before the year was over, twelve drug stores in the county, of which five were located in Independence, had taken out permits to enable them to supply alcoholic medicine to the thirsty.

February 5th, 1882, witnessed the second disastrous fire in the history of Independence, five buildings on the west side of Penn avenue, south of the bank building on the corner of Myrtle street, going down, while two more were badly damaged. All the five were wooden structures, though, and when they came to be replaced with substantial brick and stone buildings two stories in height, it was evident again that what had seemed to be a calamity was really a blessing in disguise.

May 25th, the new iron railroad bridge in process of erection over the Verdigris was swept away by the flooded stream and went down about ten minutes after a heavily loaded passenger train had passed over it. The loss to the company was $20,000.00. At the close of this year, the city counted among its acquisitions during that period a canning factory, a four-story stone flouring mill, a foundry and a woolen mill. The location of so many manufacturing plants was secured at considerable effort and expense, and was thought to indicate that the future of the city was assured. Of the four, the Bowen flouring mill alone proved a permanency.

January 15, 1883, the $10,000.00 in bonds asked by the school board for the erection of a new school building in the first ward were voted by the bare majority of twelve. A two-story seven-room building was put up during the year, to be torn down just twenty years later to make room for one that was more modern and of larger size.

Independence’s third great fire occurred February 17th, when the half block on the east side of the avenue and south of Main street went up in smoke. In M. J. Paul’s three-story brick building on the corner were located, besides his grocery, the “Tribune” office and the Masonic lodge room. Speaking of this fire at the time, the writer of this article said, referring to the burning of the files of that paper: “The early history of Montgomery county can never be so well written since the destruction of these files.” Since attempting to write some of that early history I realize most profoundly the truth of that remark of twenty years ago. The loss of property in this fire was estimated at $75,000.00, on which there was insurance to the amount of $54,000.00.

At the April election Dr. B. F. Masterman won the mayoralty by a majority of 194 over N. H. Ives; and H. D. Grant became police judge.

In April 1884 a local paper says, “the coal bore is down 850 feet and the prospects were then better for oil than coal.” In view of subsequent developments, it seems strange that our oil resources were not sooner brought to light. In June of that year, the Southern Kansas railroad began running a second daily train between Independence and Kansas City, to the great delight of all the people here. The same month the city council granted a franchise to A. H. McCormick for the construction of the system of water works which have since that time supplied the city.

The first murder in the history of Independence was committed August 18th, 1884. It was a Cain and Abel affair, the murderer and his victim being half brothers. The parties were J. H. Blackwell, the slayer, and Charles Neal, the slain. Both were half-blood Cherokee Indians, and jealousy was the cause of the crime. The woman in the case was Mrs. J. W. Maddox, with whom they both boarded. Blackwell was also Maddox’s partner in the tinning business. The tragedy occurred at the cottage home of Maddox on West Main street, just opposite the Christian church. Blackwell was under the influence of liquor when he fired the shot that pierced his brother’s stomach and ended his life.

Just before the November election of 1884, on the evening of October 23rd, sky rockets fired at a Republican rally were responsible for a fire which destroyed three business buildings on the west side of Penn avenue, Shyrock’s restaurant, Conrad Zwissler’s barber shop and Chandler Robbins’ music store. At that election a proposition to issue $50,000.00 in bonds to build a court house was carried.

November 17th, the first steps were taken toward building the Verdigris Valley, Independence & Western railroad, which has since become the Missouri Pacific line through here. The committee selected to prepare a charter for the new line consisted of Wm. Dunkin, F. P. Allen, H. W. Young and M. McFarland. The committee appointed to raise the money for a survey speedily got $1,200.00, although $1,000.00 was all that had been asked.

On the night of December 15th, Commodore Brown’s three-story brick on the northeast corner of Main street and Penn avenue was burned. G. Gottlieb’s clothing house, the “Star” office and the Odd Fellows hall were the victims of this disaster. This fire resulted in the purchase of the “Kansan” office by H. W. Young of the “Star” and the consolidation of the two offices under the name of the “Star and Kansan.”

At the spring term of the district court in 1885 Judge Chandler refused the injunction prayed for against the issue of the court house bonds, but the case was carried up to the state supreme court, and, although the decision was the same there, the legal battle delayed the work of building for nearly a year. At the city election in April there was a very spirited contest for mayor between two prominent citizens, L. A. Walker being supported by the progressives and John McCullagh by the conservatives. Walker was elected by a majority of 48. He was, by far, the most far-sighted and progressive head the city government had ever had, and it is due to him that grades were established throughout the city, and that the sidewalks in the business part of the city were widened from 12 to 16 feet and the old wooden awnings removed. Although Mr. Walker lacked the powers of expression to make himself fully understood at all times, he was a man of very strong individuality and of wonderful mental grasp and poise. He was a deep thinker, and a man of strong convictions and great independence, never following the crowd in his conclusions but always working them out for himself. He was radical in his views and policies and made many enemies, but everyone esteemed him for his integrity and manly virtues. He had many of the characteristics of a leader of men and would have reached higher positions but for the defect adverted to.

During 1885 Independence maintained its record as a bad town for the insurance companies. On March 30th, seven buildings on the west side of Penn avenue, between Myrtle and Laurel streets, were destroyed, including the old Wilson & Irwin store building, which was the first erected in the town. All were wooden buildings, as were all of the five on the south side of East Main street which were burned June 13th. The last fire was evidently of incendiary origin, but as a result of the two, about the last of the wooden shacks were removed from the business quarter, so that the city put on a different aspect thereafter.

On the fifth of September the $35,000.00 in bonds asked for the building of the Verdigris Valley road were voted with practical unanimity, only 1 against to 438 for. The vote was also favorable in Sycamore and Independence townships, insuring the building of the road, and adding some $75,000.00 to the interest-bearing debt of the county. In October W. T. Yoe, of the Tribune, turned the Independence post office over to B. F. Devore, President Cleveland’s appointee, and the first Democrat to hold that office.

The year 1886 was one of the most uneventful in the city’s history. It had reached a population of 3,900, and was steadily growing. The new railroad was completed down to the south line of Independence township. In July, two men, Samuel Umbenhauer and Thomas Birch, were suffocated while digging a well in the northwest part of the city. Frank P. Burchard, a dissipated scion of an excellent family, committed forgery in a real estate transaction and was sentenced to the penitentiary. The most noteworthy event of the year was the laying of the cornerstone of the new court house on November 30th. The event was appropriately celebrated and the ceremonies were imposing. The principal address was delivered by Hon. Wm. Dunkin, and was historical and retrospective in character.

The second murder which stained the annals of our city was committed February 25th, 1887, the victim being Joseph Tonkinson, who was shot after an exciting chase by Frank Meyer, whose sister Tonkinson had been unduly intimate with. Indeed the husband of the woman had given Tonkinson a terrible beating some time previously and threatened his life. As in the first murder case, it was a quarrel about a woman that resulted in the killing. At the city election in April, Mayor Walker was defeated for re-election by H. H. Dodd, who received 456 votes to Walker’s 401. Dan Wassam, a well-known printer, who has since acquired a competency in the real estate business at Neodesha, was elected probate judge. This was what was known in Kansas as the boom year, and Independence had the fever as severely as any city of its size, indulging in dreams of speedily becoming a great metropolis, and marking up real estate values to correspond. Another east and west railroad was projected which even reached the bond-voting stage in Liberty township, but never materialized to any further extent. There began to be whisperings about natural gas, too, though the stories of burning wells were regarded as fairy tales by most level-headed people. Still, in May the city council voted a thousand dollars to pay for prospecting for gas, and the same month granted D. P. Alexander, of Wichita, a franchise for a street railway which he did not build. In December the new court house was completed and the dedicatory exercises occurred, with more historical addresses by Judge George Chandler, J. D. McCue, Captain McTaggart and others.

To judge from the newspapers published in Independence, politics was almost the sole subject of interest during the year 1888. That was not only a Presidential year, but Independence’s honored son, Lyman U. Humphrey, was a candidate for governor. When he returned home, after securing the nomination, he was accorded a most flattering reception by his fellow citizens of all parties, and the city felt itself honored when the vote in November showed that along with Harrison he had received over 80,000 plurality, the largest ever cast for the candidate of any party in the state.

The night of the 13th of January 1889, a landmark of the early days went up in smoke, the stone hotel on East Main street, familiar to the travelling public as the “Main Street Hotel,” was entirely destroyed by fire. The site remained vacant for fourteen years thereafter. On the 28th of February the United States land office here, which had outgrown its usefulness — practically all the public lands in the district having been entered — was discontinued by order of the Interior Department. The contest for mayor this year was between Wilson Kincaid and Dr. G. C. Chaney. Kincaid received 370 to Chaney’s 347 and made a very popular official. November 23, the post office passed from the management of B. F. Devore to that of E. E. Wilson. Mr. Wilson being one of the original settlers and founders of Independence, and having devoted a great deal of time to the records of pioneer days, everyone was glad to see him successful in getting the office, which he conducted with diligence and fidelity. It was his last official position, however, as he died not long after the expiration of his term.

The 1890’s

If “no news is good news,” the year 1890 was one of the best Independence ever experienced, for nothing out of the ordinary happened in the city during that year. It was, however, another political year which will always be prominent in the annals of Kansas. The “Alliance” was then in the height of its prosperity and the columns of the press were filled with accounts of its picnics and public meetings. But it was not an especially prosperous year for Independence, the city having, by that time, experienced the full effects of the reaction from the manufactured boom of the later eighties, and business being dull. Indeed, it began to look as if the town would go to seed, as so many county seats in farming sections which had enjoyed “great anticipations” often do.

At the city election in April 1891, Wilson Kincaid was re-elected mayor without opposition. At the same time J. B. Underhill became police judge. During this year the press was bemoaning the removal of the electric light plant, which had been shut down for some time previous, to Aurora, Missouri. But notwithstanding all that was said and done, our streets remain dark to this day, while a generation of children have grown to manhood and womanhood here.

In March 1892, Tom Boniface, the fat and jolly Englishman who had been in the meat business on East Main street ever since the pioneer days, was convicted of obtaining money under false pretenses and sentenced to the penitentiary. While awaiting sentence he caused something of a sensation by confessing that he and a man named Kinnie, who was then running the market, and L. T. Stephenson, had, the fall previous, stolen cows belonging to George Waggoner and A. C. Fitch. One or both of these gentlemen had bought at the market, and eaten on their own tables, the meat of the cows stolen from them without having the slightest suspicion of the way in which those animals had been disposed of. Stephenson’s prominence as a lawyer, land speculator, county official, and in other positions in the public life of the community since he came here as one of the original settlers in 1869, made his arrest the talk of the town. At that time, and since, many have been charitably inclined to hold him guiltless and Boniface a perjurer who was anxious to pull others down with him. Stephenson was sentenced to the penitentiary, but after he had served a portion of his term Boniface made affidavit that his charge was false, and Stephenson was pardoned and soon removed to New Mexico.

Early in 1893, the Independence city council granted J. D. Nickerson a franchise for natural gas, and he began drilling on the Brewster place, five miles east of the city, after having secured a pledge from the businessmen to pay him $1,000.00 when gas was ready for delivery to the subscribers to the fund. After so many vain attempts to secure gas for the city, this one materialized and before the end of the year the pipes were laid and the city was using natural gas for fuel. This was the beginning of a new era for the city, and, though its recovery from the depression that followed the boom times of 1887 was slow, it was sure and steady. Property began to command better figures and values were more firm. Neglected buildings were painted and the signs of recovery from the “dumps” began to manifest themselves on every hand. While no one fully realized what the new conditions that were beginning to develop would do for the city, confidence in her future was restored, and she started on the up-grade.

On the 7th of March Emmett Dalton was brought into court and pleaded guilty to murder in the second degree for participation in the raid on the Coffeyville banks the previous October, in which the other members of the Dalton gang, as well as several citizens, were killed. Judge McCue sentenced Emmett to the penitentiary for 99 years, and he was at once removed to the train; there being grave fears that an attempt would be made to rescue him. Indeed, during the five months he had been confined in the county jail Sheriff Callahan had maintained an armed guard at the court house in view of the possibility of such an attempt, and it was with a feeling of relief that the people saw this weak and wounded survivor of the most eventful episode in the history of the county depart for Lansing.

In the election of 1893, the contest was along party lines for the first time in many years, and Dr. G. C. Chaney, the regular Republican candidate, received 545 votes to 475 cast for Henry Baden, the citizen candidate.

On the Fourth of July Milton Cannon left his home in this city, stating that he was going to Cherryvale to take a train for St. Louis. He was not afterward seen alive, so far as is known, but five days later his decomposed remains were found in a ravine near the river. Whether he had been murdered was a grave question. Charles Merritt was afterward tried for complicity in the murder, on the theory that Merritt had aided in killing him to avenge the honor of a sister. Merritt was acquitted, but George Stevens, who was the leading witness against him, had been previously convicted of the same crime and sentenced to be hung. He is still in prison expiating an offense of which many question his guilt, and of which he never would have been convicted but for his general depravity. Indeed, most of the parties connected with the case were of such unsavory reputation that it was impossible to give credence to their testimony. This was the third murder committed in the city—if murder it was.

The first day of January 1894, witnessed the worst fatality from the use of gas that ever occurred in the Kansas field, and one that caused a thrill of horror through this entire section. The story of the Reed tragedy is detailed in another chapter in this work. No other event in the history of the city ever caused such a sensation as this did.

Near the close of the same month, the community was again horrified to hear of the suicide of Philip Shoemaker, a prominent citizen and businessman, who hung himself in a granary out at his farm one Saturday morning, during a period of nervous depression.

This year was signalized throughout by tragedies. On the night of March 26th, Night Officer J. D. Burnworth shot and killed an unknown man who was preparing to rob the post office, and who had the drop on him with a loaded revolver pointed at him and within three feet of his breast.

When the election for city officers came off in April 1895, Dr. Chaney, who had been elected mayor two years previous as the regular Republican candidate, was found heading the opposition citizens’ ticket, with Carl Stich, the regular Republican standard bearer. Chaney had 506 votes and Stich 425.

A very pleasant occurrence was the celebration on the 11th of June at St. Andrews church, of the twenty-fifth anniversary of its pastor’s ministry as a priest of the Catholic church. Leading citizens of all denominations united in testifying to the appreciation in which Reverend Father Philip Scholl was held as a man, as a Christian, as a friend of humanity and as one who went about doing good to the sick and sorrowing.

The question of the purchase of the water works by the city was voted on, June 25th, and although the proposition to issue bonds for that purpose received 215 votes to 115 cast in opposition, it was defeated for lack of the required two-thirds majority.

Coming to 1896, the year of the great silver fight for the presidency, we find, as usual when politics absorbs so much of the attention and energies of the people, that very little else of interest seemed to happen. The old adage that “Satan finds some mischief still for idle hands to do,” might be paraphrased to read, “When the politicians don’t keep the people busy, they will find some other mischief to amuse themselves with.” A noteworthy event of the year was the appearance of Samuel C. Elliott, a promising young lawyer who had been county attorney for two terms and had secured an enviable practice, before the probate court as a candidate for the insane asylum. He was sent to Osawatomie where he gradually grew worse and died a few years later.

At the spring election in 1897 W. P. Bowen was chosen mayor by a majority of 277 votes over I. G. Fowler. Under a new law just enacted, the whole corps of city officers was elective, even where they had previously been appointed by the mayor and council, and the ticket this year ran down to street commissioner. J. B. Underhill was elected clerk, Joseph Chandler, city attorney, and H. W. Hazen, police judge. During the year the legal fight to prevent the building of the county high school established by act of the legislature in February, was kept up; but the probability of its success was not great enough to seriously disturb the equanimity of the city. Another chapter in this volume gives the full details of this contest. One of the celebrated cases of the county was tried in the district court early in December, when Henry Sheesley was arraigned for the murder of Captain Daniel McTaggart. The victim was one of the early settlers of the county and had been prominent in political life throughout its entire history. Indeed, he had served in the state Legislature for fourteen consecutive years and had been twice elected state Senator. Sheesley was a tenant of McTaggart’s, renting his flouring mill on the Verdigris, and it was as the outcome of a dispute about a settlement of accounts early in August that the fatal affray occurred. McTaggart was shot and lived but a few hours. Sheesley’s lawyers made a strong effort to prove that he was insane, and he went through the forms of having an epileptic fit in the court room, but the jury concluded that he was responsible for his acts and convicted him of manslaughter. He was sentenced to five years in the penitentiary, which most of those familiar with the facts considered a very light punishment for the offense of which he was guilty.

Early in 1898, a vitrified brick plant was established in the city, and the council provided for paving the business streets with its products. About the same time the Independence Gas Company secured a greatly increased gas supply for the city by extending its mains to connect with the wells drilled by the Standard Oil Company out in the neighborhood of Table Mound — that company having drilled for oil, and being willing to dispose of the gas to our home company. From this time on the city had an abundant supply for manufacturing purposes, and efforts went on without cessation to secure their location and make Independence a manufacturing center.

In May 1898, the Twentieth Kansas regiment was enlisted for the Spanish war, and company “G” was recruited at Independence, and for the most part consisted of Montgomery county boys. On the eve of their departure for the state capital, the citizens tendered them a reception and banquet which was largely attended and proved a most interesting occasion, with a grand outflow of patriotic spirit. The officers of this company were: Captain, D. Stewart Elliott, of Coffeyville; First Lieutenant, H. A. Scott, of Sycamore; Second Lieutenant, William A. McTaggart, son of the late Senator McTaggart. When the company accompanied its regiment to the Philippines, it was to leave there two of these three — Elliott and McTaggart falling under Filipino bullets.

This year Independence city voted $13,000.00 in bonds in aid of the extension of the Southwestern line of the Santa Fe down to Bartlesville in the Indian Territory. There were strings attached to the proposition, however, and one of the conditions — that a depot should be built uptown and within about three or four blocks of the crossing of Main street and Penn avenue — the road had no disposition to comply with, so that the vote was futile. Probably this was the last vote of bonds for railroad aid which the city will ever make.

Fire again made holes in the business portion of Independence early in 1899, Anderson’s dry goods store and Gottlieb’s clothing house going up in smoke on the night of the 31st of January, and the LaGrande hotel going to keep them company on the 13th of February. At the session of the legislature this winter the city was empowered to expend $1,000.00 in building the outlet sewer that was so urgently needed and the work was at once undertaken.

Like Mayor Chaney two years before, Mayor Bowen in 1899, having held one term after his election as a regular Republican candidate, became, at the end of the term, an independent candidate for the same office. Unlike Chaney, though, he was elected, by a majority of 55.

The business of the Independence post office having increased to over $18,000.00 annually on July 1st, 1899, it was raised to the second class and the postmaster’s salary increased to $2,000.00 a year. Edwin Foster, one of the pioneers whose name is met frequently in the early chronicles of Montgomery county, was now postmaster. He succeeded George Hill, who was the incumbent during Cleveland’s second administration, and who made, perhaps, the most efficient and popular official who ever filled the office.

Next year the post office income had risen to $20,000.00, indicating a very rapid growth in business, and with the result that before the end of the year free mail delivery was established, with Lon T. Hudson, Frank G. Harper and Dale Hebrank as the regular carriers, and Will Williams as substitute.

Start of the 20th Century

June 10th, 1900, another election was held to decide whether to issue bonds and buy the water works, and the proposition was again defeated, as it had been five years before, the argument most successfully used being that as the franchise of the company would expire in five years it would be poor policy to pay them for a run-down and worn-out plant at this time, when, by waiting, we would be absolved from all necessity to do so and could erect an independent plant in 1905.

This year the Republican ticket for city officers, headed by F. C. Moses, was elected from top to bottom. Mr. Moses was opposed by Guy I. Watt, on a citizens’ ticket, who was beaten by 100 votes. The most important event of the year was the voting of $40,000.00 in bonds for the construction of two new modern school buildings, of twelve rooms each, to take the place of the three existing buildings, all of which were to be demolished. To destroy school houses as good as we then had, seemed to many people like reckless extravagance and prodigality; but the practical condemnation of the Fourth ward building, erected in the pioneer days, made some action necessary and the voters stood by the Board of Education and adopted the very radical proposition they submitted, the election being held on the 30th of April, every ward in the city giving a majority in their favor and the total being 167.

A very pleasant feature of life in Independence during the hot and dry summer of 1901 was the open-air theatre at Gas Park, opposite the court house, where a professional actor, assisted by his wife and some very good amateur talent, gave weekly performances all through the season. Indeed, so popular a meeting place did this become that the union services of the churches on Sunday evening throughout the heated term were held there.

The most destructive wind storm that ever visited the city occurred on the morning of June 21st. For about an hour, between two and three o’clock, the wind not only blew hard but hot from the west, the calm that followed being accompanied by a temperature above 90 degrees and in some localities in the country reported to have been over 100 degrees. The greatest damage was done to the court house where the galvanized iron work of the tower was blown off, and some of the windows broken outward, indicating a cyclonic vacuum in the outside air. Aside from this, the damage consisted principally in the unroofing of buildings and awnings. The wind, however, had a very deleterious effect on the corn crop, though that was a failure all over the country that year.

In 1902, Independence began to see the substance of things hoped for, and her people to realize that she was passing out of the chrysalis stage and becoming a city in fact as well as in name. The “Washington” and “Lincoln” school buildings were completed and school opened in them about the middle of October. The magnificent five-story “Carl-Leon” hotel was building and was opened for business the following February. The Midland Glass Company came from Hartford City, Indiana, and built a factory here, as well as a large addition to the city north of the Santa Fe railroad. Across the river, the Ellsworth Paper Company’s mill was finished and put in operation, and the Adamson Manufacturing Company’s sugar plant was erected and began the manufacture of sorghum syrup. Business buildings of a superior character were put up, and everywhere evidences of the new life the city had taken on were manifesting themselves. Meanwhile real estate was doubling and trebling in value, and the demand for residences was entirely in excess of the supply, notwithstanding they were going up by the score. It was what, in earlier times, would have been called a “boom,” but seemed now to be only a healthful and normal growth. During this year the Independence Gas Company opened the great Bolton gas field, with a capacity of seventy million cubic feet of gas per day, and connected it with our city system by pipe lines, thus making it contribute to our industrial development. At last things were coming our way, and they have continued to do so up to the present time, in a way that makes the air castles of the early settlers look like pinchbeck jewelry.

The enumeration of the spring of 1902 showed a population of 6,208 in the city, a gain of over 2,000 in two years.

On October 1st, a shocking double tragedy was added to the list of homicides that has marred the history of the city. The victims were C. W. Hooper and his divorced wife, Luzetta. They disagreed as to the custody of the children, and he was jealous of her still, although separated. After consulting an attorney in his office over the post office, they stepped out into the hallway, where the man shot the woman and then himself, both dying at once. They had not long been residents of the city, having come here from Wilson county a short time previous.

The city election in April 1903, resulted in the choice of W. B. Bowen for a third term as mayor. The opposing candidate was A. C. Stich, of the Citizens Bank. Both ran on independent tickets, by petition, and Bowen won by 115 votes, after one of the most hotly contested fights the city had ever seen.

Although it is in no sense history, I find it hard to draw this narrative to a close without saying something about the great things in the way of manufacturing industries that it is expected will soon materialize and double or treble the population of the city and extend its boundaries and multiply its business. But these things are, as yet, only ideas in the minds of men and as such only can they be chronicled.

In the retrospect, now that I am taking leave of this task, I cannot fail to realize how very imperfectly it has been performed. In looking over more than a thousand newspapers and culling a few of the more striking incidents of each year, I have not really been writing history, but only chronicling a mere fragment of the story of the life of a growing town. Think of the people who have been born and grown to manhood and womanhood here, of the stories of their lives, of the steady growth of the city, of the shade-embowered streets that now stretch out in all directions; of the thousands of events that have happened here and been found worthy of mention in the city press, and of the tens of thousands of incidents that have not been chronicled, but of which many would possess an interest surpassing those that have been preserved by the types — think of all these things and you will realize with me how little of history is contained in the books that are called history, and how much must remain unwritten in our meager annals.