Early History of Coffeyville

The development of Coffeyville, Kansas, began in 1871 when officials of the Leavenworth, Lawrence & Galveston Railroad established a new town site north of the original settlement, within the Osage Diminished Reserve. Platted by railroad engineer Octavius Chanute as the “Railroad Addition to the City of Coffeyville,” this area was incorporated as a city of the third class in 1872, sparking a rivalry with the older town situated on the Cherokee Strip. Legal and political conflicts followed, culminating in a court-ordered unification of the two settlements in 1873. Coffeyville’s subsequent history reflects its steady growth as a commercial, transportation, and manufacturing center, driven by the discovery of natural gas, the expansion of railroad connections, and the development of municipal infrastructure. Despite early challenges and competition from neighboring towns, Coffeyville evolved into a significant hub in southern Kansas by the early twentieth century.

In the spring of 1871, when the Leavenworth, Lawrence & Galveston railroad (now the Santa Fe) was nearing completion to the south line of the state, certain officers and employees of the company selected a tract of land lying immediately north of and adjoining the site of the “Old Town” of Coffeyville, but located within the Osage Diminished Reserve, for town-site purposes. This tract of land, being a part of section 36, township 34, range 16 east of the sixth principal meridian, was surveyed and platted by Octavius Chanute, chief engineer of the above-named railway company, as “Railroad Addition to the City of Coffeyville,” and it was entered for the “benefit of the occupants” by W. H. Watkins, probate judge, on the 22d of June 1871. On the 20th day of October of the same year, Mr. Chanute filed his plat in the office of the register of deeds for Montgomery county, and thus was launched on the uncertain sea of commercial endeavor, another aspirant for the honor of being rated the best town in southern Kansas.

The following winter the friends of the new town procured the enactment, by the state legislature, of a special law authorizing the incorporation of the village of Coffeyville as a city of the third class. This law was signed by the governor on the 20th day of February 1872, and a few days later was presented to H. G. Webb, judge of the district court for Montgomery county, together with a petition praying for the issuance of the necessary order for carrying the law into effect. This order was issued on the 5th day of March 1872, fixing the limits of the new city so as to include only the “Railroad Addition” before mentioned.

Judge Webb’s order incorporating the city of Coffeyville fixed March 16, 1872, as the date for holding the first election for city officers, and designated election officers as follows: Judges, T. B. Eldridge, G. W. Curry and J. M. Scudder; Clerks, H. A. Kelley and A. W. Hoit; Canvassing Board, J. G. Vannum, G. J. Tallman and D. P. Hale. These election officers being duly qualified before Eli Dennis, J. P., on the 18th of March, proceeded to perform their duties in accordance with the order of the court, and made proclamation of the result of the election as follows:

Mayor elect, A. B. Clark; Councilmen elect, W. H. Bowers, G. W. Curry, G. J. Tallman, D. Blair and E. S. Eldridge; Police Judge, G. A. Dunlap.

The mayor and councilmen elect having been duly qualified, held their first meeting on the 22d of March, and completed the organization by the appointment of L. N. Kneeland, city clerk and Peter R. Flynn, marshal.

Thus it came about that the territory platted as an addition to the village of Coffeyville became the incorporated city of Coffeyville to the exclusion of the town to which it was presumed to be only an addition.

This anomalous circumstance was presumed to be justified by the fact that the Cherokee Strip, on which the old town was located, was not open for entry at the time of the incorporation, and, therefore, not under the jurisdiction of the court for such purposes, but, as will be seen later on, this view was not accepted by the settlers on the original town site.

The Cherokee Strip of that day was not the Cherokee Strip opened to settlement a few years ago, and now a part of Oklahoma territory, but a narrow strip of land (about two and one-half miles wide at this point) acquired by treaty with the Cherokee Indians when the final survey was made to locate the 37th parallel of latitude which marks the southern boundary of the state of Kansas.

On this strip, which was not opened for entry until about two years after the Osage Diminished Reserve lands came into market, was located the original village of Coffeyville and the thriving town of Parker and this is the circumstance previously referred to which gave Coffeyville the advantage and ultimately enabled her to win out in the fierce struggle for supremacy waged between the two towns in the early seventies. Parker, with a better site, a larger population and a stronger financial backing, had to yield to her younger rival because her town company could not tell how long investors would have to wait for titles to the lots on which they were asked to make improvements.

Having secured incorporation and effected the organization of a municipal government there was much rejoicing and mutual congratulation among the people of Coffeyville, but the new city’s troubles were by no means at an end.

In addition to the fight made by the lusty young city of Parker, there was war between the two Coffeyvilles. There was blood in the eye of the people of the “old town” because of the coup by which the new town had secured separate incorporation and robbed the old of its United States postoffice, which had been moved across the line. Frequent stormy meetings were held at which the situation was discussed and the people of the old town, having a sufficient club in that clause of the constitution which provides, “that in all cases where a general statute can be made applicable, no special law shall be enacted,” finally prevailed so far as to force their neighbors to surrender their charter and seek re-incorporation under the general statute.

A petition was circulated and signed by the people of the two villages and presented to B. W. Perkins, then judge of the district court, praying for the incorporation of the two villages into a city of the third class in accordance with the general law governing such incorporations in the state of Kansas. This petition was filed on the 25th of March 1873, and an order issued designating the 7th day of April as the date for holding the first election, appointing election and canvassing boards and defining the boundary limits of the city so as to include the platted territory comprised in both villages.

The election being held as per order of the court one hundred and sixty ballots were cast and the canvassing board declared the following officers elected: Mayor, Dr. G. J. Tallman; Councilmen, J. M. Hidden, W. A. Moore, T. J. Dean, A. J. Hanna, and W. M. Moberly; Police Judge, John A. Heckard. The mayor and councilmen elect being duly qualified, met on the 16th of April and completed the organization of the new city government by electing W. A. Moore, president of the council and appointing the following subordinate officers: City Clerk, Luther Perkins; Marshal, E. M. Easley; Treasurer, W. T. Reed; and Street Commissioner, George Tuck.

Local troubles thus being happily adjusted the warring factions found time to unite their efforts against the rival town of Parker which, for reasons already mentioned, soon abandoned the unequal contest, but not until the attention of investors had been diverted to other points. Liberal inducements were offered to the leading merchants of Parker and also to the banking firm of Parker, York & Co., to remove to Coffeyville, which were finally accepted. This desertion of her strongest business firms broke the fighting spirit of the Parker people and the town collapsed as suddenly as it had grown into prominence, but the result was almost as fatal to Coffeyville, as that town was so completely checked that it was several years before her population reached the number boasted by her unfortunate rival at the end of the first year of her meteoric existence.

In the early eighties the town again began to grow and on the 20th day of July 1887, by proclamation of Governor John A. Martin, it was declared to be a city of the second class, the preceding spring enumeration having shown a population exceeding two thousand persons. The census of 1900 shows a population of 4,053 and the assessor’s returns for 1903 show a population of 7,075.

Financial and Commercial

From the earliest period of its history Coffeyville has been the business center for an extensive territory from which her merchants and tradesmen have drawn a large and lucrative business. Men who began business here in the early days with a small capital have grown rich, and the number of business failures have been remarkably few, and those few have been due to incapacity rather than to lack of business opportunity.

In the early days all immigrants had a little money, received from the sale of their belongings in the states from which they came, and, being made up mainly from a class little accustomed to handling money, they seemed to think their purses like the “widow’s cruise of oil,” could never be wholly emptied. Many of them lived so expensively that when the time came for entering the lands they were reduced to the necessity of borrowing money at exorbitant rates of interest with which to pay the entry-fees and make necessary improvements.

The breaking up of an immense acreage of virgin soil loaded the air with malaria and a great deal of sickness resulted. It thus happened that extravagant living and sickness, combined, brought some years of hard times, which were bad for purely financial concerns. The two local banks, those of T. B. Eldridge and Noah Ely & Son, failed, and a few small merchants were forced to close their doors, but with these exceptions the mercantile and financial institutions of Coffeyville have always been above suspicion of weakness.

The neighboring farmers have either mastered their early difficulties or sold out to later comers who were in easier circumstances. Mortgages have been paid off and many farmers, after getting their places well improved and well stocked, still have a good bank account.

This condition of the farming interests makes the merchants prosperous and puts it in the power of the banks to take care of every legitimate demand for money at reasonable rates of interest. The merchants on their part are loyal to the banking institutions, as was well exemplified during the last financial crisis, when banks all over the country were being forced to close their doors by a wild scramble to withdraw deposits. When it became evident that the general panic would spread to this locality, the merchants joined in a published statement, declaring their entire confidence in the stability of the local banks and pledging themselves to keep on deposit every dollar that could be spared from their business, instead of using it to discount their bills, as had been their custom. This action immediately restored the confidence of outside depositors and doubtless averted financial disaster.

Railroads

The people of Coffeyville have always been keenly alive to the value of transportation facilities and have given such encouragement to the construction of railroads as could be extended without over-burdening the taxpayers. As previously stated the Leavenworth, Lawrence & Galveston railroad (now the Santa Fe) was built to this point in 1871. Since that time the D. M. & A., the P. V. L. & W. and the I. M. & S., (Missouri Pacific lines) and the M. K. & T., connecting with the main line of that road at Parsons, and recently extended to Bartlesville, Indian Territory, have been constructed, thus giving the city transportation lines in seven different directions and connecting her with three great railroad systems.

Natural Resources

The territory tributary to Coffeyville is not surpassed by any part of the state in fertility of soil and the variety of crops which may be profitably grown. The Verdigris river furnishes an abundant supply of pure and wholesome water and is capable of supplying water power sufficient to operate many factories.

The city and surrounding country is underlaid with immense deposits of shale suitable for the manufacture of brick and tile of superior quality. Great ledges of limestone of good quality crop out in many localities and some of the neighboring hills furnish inexhaustible quantities of a superior quality of building stone and flagging.

This city is in the very heart of the gas belt and was the first in southern Kansas to discover and develop this valuable fuel. On the 20th day of March 1890, the city council granted to J. McCreary a franchise to furnish the city and the inhabitants thereof, natural gas for domestic and manufacturing purposes, and appropriated a thousand dollars toward the expense of making a development test. A drill was at once set to work, almost in the center of the town, and at a depth of a little more than eight hundred feet a strong flow of gas was found. Since that time more than forty wells have been drilled with not more than half a dozen failures, and the supply of gas appears to be inexhaustible, as the oldest and most severely taxed wells are still yielding a good flow.

Since the preparation of this paper was begun oil has been found, and while the first well can not be called a “gusher,” it produces oil in paying quantities and it is believed that a profitable field has been discovered on the very edge of the corporate limits.

Manufactures

The discovery of natural gas, the cheapest and cleanest of all fuels, together with the city’s unsurpassed transportation facilities, has invited the attention of manufacturers in various lines and the place is surely and steadily developing into a manufacturing center of importance.

Already the output of milling stuffs is 2,000 barrels per day; the largest straw board mill and egg-case filler factory west of the Mississippi is located here; the city has a plow factory; foundries and machine shops; a window glass plant; ice plant; numerous small factories, and a brick plant whose product is known from the Rocky Mountains to the Gulf of Mexico. Ground has been broken for a second glass plant to begin operation during the year 1903, and two other brick and tile plants are now almost ready to begin work.

A Grain Center

In the year 1884 a few enterprising citizens, anticipating the inevitable time when the product of the grain fields of Kansas, Iowa and Nebraska would seek an outlet through the Gulf ports, organized a Board of Trade and established a station for the inspection and weighing of grain in transit, and through the local elevators. So successful was this effort that in a very short time Coffeyville became the most important grain station, except Kansas City, in the state. In 1897 the weighing and inspection of grain became, by legislative enactment, a department of the state government, but the business so successfully inaugurated by private enterprise has been continued and this station has now become a close second to Kansas City, and, with the overcoming of the railroad discrimination against the Gulf ports, is destined to eclipse that city. Already, the elevator capacity has been greatly increased and with the demand of the milling interests already mentioned, this city has become a grain market of no mean importance.

Municipal Advancement

Since obtaining a charter as a city of the second class, in 1887, the growth of Coffeyville, in population and commercial importance, although not phenomenal, has been sure and steady, and civic pride has kept pace with the city’s material development.

In 1895 a municipal water works plant was constructed at a cost of $49,000.00. This plant has now been improved and extended until it represents an expenditure of about $85,000.00 and is easily worth, on a basis of earning capacity, $150,000.00. In 1897 the necessary companion piece to a water works plant — a system of sanitary sewers — was constructed at a cost of $22,000.00. This system is soon to be extended so as to cover more than double the territory included in the original sewer district.

Immediately following the installation of the city water works the council created a voluntary fire department and equipped it with a ladder-truck and hand-hose reels, which were operated by volunteer firemen without other compensation than the voluntary contributions of such citizens as felt an interest in maintaining the department for the public good. Two years later an ordinance was passed authorizing the payment of a monthly sum from the general fund of the city for the support of the department, and this appropriation was increased from time to time until 1902, when the department was reorganized by providing for three regularly paid firemen and a volunteer force of six men who are paid a fixed sum for each fire attended by them. The department is now equipped with a drilled team, hose-wagon and other up-to-date appliances owned by the city, and is maintained at a cost of about two hundred dollars per month.

In 1898 the local Commercial Club began to agitate the question of street lighting and in 1901 an electric light plant was installed. This plant was constructed at a cost of $20,000.00 and is owned and operated by the city. About $1,000.00 have been expended in extending the system for commercial lighting and with an additional expenditure of approximately $2,000.00, the plant will be fully self-supporting, so that the streets will be well lighted without cost to the general public.

Schools and Churches

While fostering and encouraging those enterprises which make for the material welfare of a community, the people of Coffeyville have not been unmindful of the necessity of building up those institutions which concern the moral and intellectual well-being of a people.

The city boasts eleven churches, and a school system of which the community is justly proud. In addition to the usual graded schools our system includes a high school in which pupils are equipped for admission to the State University. There are five school buildings, four of which are substantial brick structures, in which twenty-four teachers — and a superintendent over all — are employed, whose combined monthly pay is $1,200.00. The school population is a little less than eighteen hundred, of whom fifteen hundred are enrolled on the school registers of the present year. It has ever been the policy of our people to enlarge their school facilities to keep pace with the increasing population and there is now pending a proposition to vote an appropriation of $30,000.00 for the construction of additional buildings.

Debt and Taxation

Coffeyville’s municipal debt now amounts to $146,444.45 and the rate of taxation for the present year is $6.88 on the hundred dollars. On the face of the record this seems to be a very large debt and a ruinous rate of taxation, but when we reflect upon the manner of assessing taxes in Kansas, and remember that $100,000.00 of this debt is for a water and light plant, which pay a profit largely in excess of the interest charges, and that another $34,000.00 is for special improvements for which only the affected property is assessed, the financial horoscope is not too terrifying, as we are simply in the position of the business man who borrows money with which to engage in a profitable business.

Our real rate of taxation is only about $1.85 on the hundred dollars, as is evident when it is known that our assessment this year (1903) is made on a basis of only 27 per cent of the actual value of the property assessed.