founder of the First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Atchison. She was
the original first reader when she came to Atchison from Kansas City in
1894. In March, 1895, she began a class in instruction at the Byram
Hotel. This was the beginning of the local church. On September 7, 1895,
the followers met in temporary quarters in the Ingalls’ building, at
Seventh and Commercial streets, seven being present. The church was
organized April 9, 1895, with seven charter members. The first
testimonial meeting was held January 3, 1896, and January 15, 1896, the
first Sunday school was organized, with seven children in attendance.
Before the end of 1896 the church was moved to more commodious quarters,
at the southeast corner of Fourth and Commercial streets. These quarters
were soon outgrown, and in March, 1897, the German Methodist church at
Ninth and Santa Fe streets was purchased and the first services held
there were on July 4, 1897. This church was dedicated in April, 1900, by
Mrs. G. W. Pennell, who had become first reader, and from the start had
been a constant and enthusiastic worker. Ten years later, March 28,
1910, lots at the northwest corner of Fourth and Santa Fe streets were
purchased, as a site for the permanent church. Land was secured and the
foundation started September 11, 1911; corner stone was laid July 7,
1912, and first services held in the Sunday school room May 25, 1913.
First services were held in the auditorium September 7, 1913, and the
church dedicated October 19, 1913. Among the permanent members of the
church are Mr. and Mrs. G. W. Pennell, Mr. and Mrs. James W. Orr, L. H.
Munson, Miss N. S. Donald and Miss Emma Maage, the first reader, and D.
W. Rowe.
The present church edifice was erected largely through the liberality of
Mr. Pennell, at a cost of $50,000, and is pronounced an architectural
gem.
ST. PATRICK’S, MT. PLEASANT.
St. Patrick’s congregation, near Mt. Pleasant, was founded in the early
fall of 1857, by the Rev. Father Augustine Wirth, O. S. B. He came from
Doniphan, Kan., over the prairies and through dense timber on foot, not
having the means to buy a horse or secure any kind of a conveyance, in
the summer of 1857. The Benedictine Fathers had been sent west by an
American founder, Rt. Rev. Boniface Wimmer, O. S. B., to establish a
priory in the eastern part of Kansas. They settled in the hills of
Doniphan, and from this county they founded and attended missions in
Atchison, Brown, Nemaha and Jefferson counties. Among the first parishes
established by these priests was one near Mt. Pleasant. Mt. Pleasant at
that time was quite a commercial center, owing largely to the overland
freighting outfits that passed through there on their way to Denver and
the Pacific coast. Patrick Durkin, who is a resident of Walnut township
in 1916, and the late John Delaney were teamsters on this route, and had
many interesting experiences and struggles with Indians and Jayhawkers.
Following the first visit of Father Augustine, after he had told the few
Catholic settlers how he had traveled on foot from Doniphan, a small
congregation collected enough money to pay for a horse, saddle and
bridle, and presented it to him.
Father Augustine attended to the spiritual demands of the early Catholic
settlers in the Mt. Pleasant district about once a month during the
period of his services there. There was no church edifice during that
period, and divine services were held in the humble log cabins of the
Catholic settlers, usually at the homes of John Knowles, Owen Grady, Ned
Cotter, Bernard Fee and James McArdle. Mary Honorah Clare was the first
child baptized at St. Patrick’s parish, September 28, 1857. The first
marriage was that of James Barry to Catherine Hennesy, May 9, 1857, at
the home of Edward Cotter. The ceremony was conducted by Rev. Augustine
Wirth. In the fall of 1857 the first church was built, which was a small
affair, constructed out of native timber. It was poorly constructed and
was of short duration, as it was blown down by a strong wind one cold
winter day, and wrecked beyond repair. Following the destruction of the
first church, the members concluded to build a more substantial edifice
of stone, and in the spring of 1866 the walls were built. The stone work
was done by the late Nicholas Greiner, a German stone mason, who came to
Sumner in the late fifties, and subsequently died, one of the wealthiest
farmers of Walnut township. The church was dedicated December 8, 1866.
In addition to the church proper, the Catholic settlers of Walnut
township, near Mt. Pleasant, have also erected a commodious parish house
for their priest, and a hall for public meetings.
The following is a list of the priests in charge of St. Patrick’s Church
since it was established:
Irregular pastors.—Rev. Augustine Wirth, O. S. B., September, 1857, to
November, 1859; died, December 20, 1901. Rev. Edmund Langenfelder, O. S.
B., November, 1857, to December, 1860; died, April 18, 1885. Rev. Philip
Vogt, O. S. B., February, 1860, to January, 1861; date of death not
known. Rev. Emanuel Hartig, O. S. B., December, 1860, to June, 1861;
died, September 1, 1910. Rev. Thomas Bartel, O. S. B., April, 1862, to
August, 1867; died, November 30, 1885.
Regular pastors.—Rev. Timothy Luber, O. S. B., January, 1864, to March,
1871. Rev. Placidus McKeever, O. S. B., March, 1871, to August, 1873;
died, September 22, 1896. Rev. Maurice Lynch, O. S. B., August, 1873, to
August, 1875; died, December 13, 1887. Rev. Eugene Bode, O. S. B.,
August, 1875, to April, 1880. Rev. Raymond Danial, O. S. B., April,
1880, to September, 1880; died, September 25, 1910. Rev. Peter Kassens,
O. S. B., September, 1880, to April, 1881. Rev. Adolph Wesseling, O. S.
B., April, 1881, to April, 1883; died, September 24, 1891. Rev. Urban
Tracy, O. S. B., April, 1883, to April, 1885; died, May 13, 1915. Rev.
Timothy Luber, O. S. B., April, 1885, to April, 1890; died, March 29,
1901. Rev. Augustine Baker, O. S. B., April, 1890, to December, 1893;
died, June 23, 1909. Rev. Thomas Burk. O. S. B., December, 1893, to
December, 1897. Rev. Columban Meaney, O. S. B., December, 1897, to
December, 1910; died, January 8, 1911. Rev. Ignatius Stein, O. S. B.,
January, 1911, to September, 1912. Rev. Lawrence Theis. O. S. B.,
September, 1912, to September, 1913. Rev. Robert Salmon, O. S. B.,
September, 1913, to September, 1914. Rev Lawrence Theis, O. S. B.,
September, 1914; still in charge (1916).
TRINITY CHURCH, EPISCOPAL.
This church was organized November 3, 1857, as St. Mary Magdalene’s
Church, by Rev. Lewis R. Staudenmayer, John H. Stringfellow, Joseph P.
Carr, G. W. Bowman, William O. Gould, John M. Maury, James W.
Stringfellow and Daniel Adams. The Rev. L. R. Staudenmayer, a German, of
middle age, was the first pastor, and the first property owned by the
parish was at the northeast corner of Kansas avenue and Ninth street,
where a small rectory was built in 1859. The first vestry was as
follows: Richard C. Mackall, A. Hanson Weightman, James L. McClure,
Philipp Link, John M. Maury and Joseph P. Carr, and in October, 1859, a
committee from the vestry was authorized to procure estimates for
building a church on its property upon Kansas avenue at a cost of
$1,500. The foundation for this edifice was laid and some money
expended, but the resignation of Mr. Staudenmayer in January, 1860, and
his removal from the city, brought to a standstill the construction of
the edifice. The court house and Price’s Hall were used as places of
worship for ten years. The Rev. Faber Byllsby succeeded Mr.
Staudenmayer, and in 1863 the Rev. John E. Ryan succeeded Mr. Byllsby.
After Mr. Ryan’s resignation, in September, 1864, Bishop Thomas H. Vail
was made rector of the church, and notwithstanding the manifold duties
which pressed upon him as bishop of the diocese, he gave much of his
time to his work here, with the assistance of his son-in-law, Rev. John
Bakewell, who proved to be a very successful rector. It was during his
rectorship that agitation for a new church building was started, and due
to the efforts of Mr. Bakewell, Col. William Osborne, Richard A. Park,
Judge Otis and E. S. Wills, the present church edifice at the corner of
Utah avenue and Fifth street was erected, at a cost of $20,000. It is
built of stone, in the early English style of Gothic architecture, slate
roof and interior finished in black walnut and pine, and stands today
one of the ornaments of Atchison. In 1871 Mr. Bakewell resigned and was
succeeded by Rev. F. Nelson Meade in January, 1872, and continued in
charge until April, 1874, when he was succeeded by the Rev Thomas G.
Garver, who resigned in September, 1875. Rev. Frank O. Osborne became
rector in February, 1876, and was succeeded by Rev. Abiel Leonard. Rev.
M. Leonard found a congregation of 150 communicants, who in May, 1882,
erected a two-story brick rectory on T street for him. It was during the
Rev. Mr. Leonard’s rectorship that St. Andrew’s Mission, on west
Commercial street, was built. Mr. Leonard was succeeded by the Rev.
Francis K. Brooke, who in turn was succeeded by the Rev. John Henry
Hopkins, who built a parish house adjoining the church, which was opened
for use in 1905. Upon the resignation of Mr. Hopkins, Rev. John E.
Sulger became rector, but he remained only a short time, and was
succeeded by the Rev. John Henry Molineux. Rev. William R. Cross
succeeded Mr. Molineux, and then came the Rev. Francis S. White, who
remained in the parish until 1911, and was succeeded by the Rev. Otis E.
Gray.
The present vestry of the church is composed as follows: E. A. Mize,
senior warden; Dr. W. G. Beitzel, junior warden and clerk, and W. W.
Hetherington, T. L. Lawrence, Clyde Hastings, J. W. Barlow, W. J.
Brownson, Henry Diegel and Sheffield Ingalls.
ST. MARK’S ENGLISH LUTHERAN.
The history of English Lutheranism in Atchison is interesting. The work
of establishing St. Mark’s was fraught with hardship and discouragement.
Several of the early efforts failed. But the battle was renewed and
success at last achieved. Early in 1867 J. H. Talbott, through the
_Lutheran Observer_, called attention to Atchison as a point for a
Lutheran mission. By correspondence he secured the interest of Rev.
Morris Officer, then secretary of the general synod’s home mission
board. At the convention of the general synod at Harrisburg, Pa., in
1868, the Rev. Officer persuaded the Rev. M. G. Boyer, then pastor at
Marklesburg, Pa., to become a missionary to Atchison. Rev. Boyer and his
young wife arrived here June 30, that year. Price’s Hall, South Fourth
street, between Main and Commercial, was rented and fitted up as a
meeting place. Services were begun and a Sunday school organized. On
September 20, 1868, the congregation was organized with twenty-five
members. The first church council consisted of C. Weber and H. Gehrett,
elders; J. H. Talbott, J. Beamer, H. Snyder and F. Brendt, deacons.
In the spring of 1869 the board of church extension granted the
congregation a loan of $500, which amount was invested in the purchase
of an excellent lot on Kansas avenue. There were bright hopes of having
a chapel soon, but these hopes were scattered when an aged minister
advised delay on account of the financial stringency of the times, and
the numerical weakness of the church. Among the members at this time was
the Rev. A. W. Wagnalls, afterward one of the founders of the publishing
house of Funk & Wagnalls, New York City. While here he was in the real
estate business. At his suggestion the congregation purchased a fifteen
acre tract adjoining the city of Atchison on the northwest, which
section was platted and offered for sale with the hope of making enough
profit to erect a church building. “In this the Lutherans were
disappointed,” says the historian, “for they sold only enough lots to
pay for the land.”
After that venture the congregation used the Congregational church
building. About that time many English Lutherans left the city. Rev.
Boyer resigned at the end of the year 1869, and for ten years the church
was without a pastor. The Rev. Wagnalls supplied the pulpit now and then
until his removal in 1876, but finally the congregation disbanded. The
lots belonging to the church were sold for taxes, but were redeemed at
the eleventh hour through Mr. Talbott’s efforts, and deeded to the board
of church extension.
In 1880 the Rev. W. I. Cutter, a returned missionary to India, with the
assistance of Rev. David Earhart and his daughter, Mrs. H. E. Monroe,
gathered the English Lutherans together again. Mrs. Monroe was then
conducting a private school known as the “Atchison Institute,” and she
offered her school room as a place of worship. On the eighth of August
the congregation was reorganized and the following officers elected:
Elders, J. H. Berlin, W. H. Kuhns and N. D. Kistler; deacons, J. L.
Heisey, E. D. Kistler, and John Fusselman; trustees, J. H. Talbott, W.
H. Smith and S. J. Clark. Rev. Cutter served as pastor two years. During
part of this time aid was received from the Home Mission Board. In 1882
this aid was withdrawn and Rev. Cutter resigned.
Not until 1884 did the second organization flourish. In November of that
year the Rev. George S. Diven was commissioned to come to Atchison and
revive the mission. New interest was taken and the rejuvenated
congregation held its first service in the home of Henry Snell at 921
South Seventh street. The Odd Fellows’ hall was then secured as a place
of worship and a Sunday school was organized. Under the leadership of
Pastor Diven this school is said to have quickly become the largest in
the city. That year the pastor reported sixty members.
Atchison’s boom season occurred during Rev. Diven’s pastorate, and
everything was rushed along at a tremendous pace. The movement for a
Lutheran college for Atchison started at this time. The location of
Midland College here was largely due to the efforts of Rev. Diven and
his congregation, supported by the public spirited citizens of the city.
In February, 1885, the church was incorporated as St. Mark’s English
Lutheran Church. Rev. Diven resigned in 1887 and was succeeded by the
Rev. W. F. Rentz, in April, 1888. Rev. Rentz set to work at once to
secure a lot and erect a church building. The present location, corner
of Sixth and Park streets, was purchased for $5,000. The southern end of
the lot with the dwelling on it (now the Keith home), was sold to the
pastor for $1,750. The chapel (now the Sunday school room) was erected
in 1888, the cornerstone being laid August 19, and the church dedicated
December 16. The building and equipment cost $4,010. Pastor Rentz served
nine years, resigning in May, 1897.
The Rev. L. S. Keyser, now professor of dogmatics in Hamma Divinity
School, Wittenberg College, became pastor November 7, 1897, and served
most acceptably until April 7, 1903. During his pastorate the church
became self-supporting, after receiving aid for fifteen years from the
Home Mission Board. The Rev. R. W. Hufford, D. D., served as pastor from
January 9, 1904, to November 27, 1904. After a vacancy of nine months
the Rev. A. E. Renn became pastor August 18, 1905.
The outstanding achievement of Rev. Renn’s pastorate was the erection of
the present church building. The movement began October 21, 1907. Plans
were adopted March 17, 1908, and the building committee ordered to
proceed. The cornerstone was laid during the summer following. The
building was erected under the supervision of A. B. Zimmerman,
contractor, and cost, including organ and furnishings, about $14,000, a
marvel of church financing. The opening service was held May 23, 1909,
and marked an epoch in Kansas Lutheranism. During this pastorate the
congregation adopted the historic Lutheran vestments for pastor and
choir, and advanced in churchly worship. Rev. Renn resigned September 1,
1911.
The Rev. Howard C. Garvic was installed pastor the first Sunday in
March, 1912. No pastor of St. Marks surpassed him in zeal and energy for
the upbuilding of the Lord’s kingdom. Day and night he labored in
personal appeal and in teaching classes of adults and children. In a
little more than two years 175 names were added to the church roll,
constituting the largest growth of any pastorate. The death of the
pastor in the prime of manhood in March, 1915, produced a profound
impression upon St. Mark’s and the city of Atchison. The Rev. Robert L.
Patterson. D. D., became pastor October 17, 1915.
ST. BENEDICT’S ABBEY.
St. Benedict’s Abbey, church and college, are conducted by the
Benedictine Fathers. The first Benedictine father that came to Kansas
was Henry Lemke, O. S. B., who arrived in Doniphan in 1855, where he
laid the foundation of a monastery. He was shortly followed to Kansas by
a number of brother workers, who were sent here by Father Boniface
Wimmer, O. S. B., who founded the monastery of St. Vincent’s, in
Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania. They immediately opened a Latin
school with a few pupils, but Very Rev. Augustine Wirth, O. S. B., soon
discovered that Atchison would surpass Doniphan, and on this account the
Catholic brothers transferred their home to Atchison in about 1859. The
Rev. Augustine Wirth, O. S. B., came to Atchison from Doniphan once a
month to hold religious services, which were conducted in the home of
Charles Burnes, located on the southwest corner of Second and L streets.
The following year Father Augustine built a frame parish church in which
services were held for the first time on Christmas day. In this rude
structure the faithful worshipped until about 1865, when the parish,
having increased to such number, it became necessary to build a larger
church. Under the aggressive leadership of Father Augustine, the
parishioners concluded to invest in this structure $25,000. Francis
George Himpler, now living in New York, and for many years a partner of
the late J. P. Brown, was employed as architect. The work was pushed
forward and instead of the proposed church, a magnificent Basilica was
conceived, and the construction of it was carried forward with great
earnestness. The foundation was completed in 1866, and the cornerstone
was laid in October. The Rev. John Hennessy, O. S. B., who later was
archbishop of Dubuque, and one of the most eloquent orators of the
church, delivered the dedication sermon. To obtain brick for the church
walls, Father Augustine bought expensive machinery, and, under the
supervision of the late Peter Bless, started a brickyard in East
Atchison, but the undertaking proved a failure, as the bricks were not
serviceable for the church. Instead of using them in the construction of
the church they were used to build several cottages and store buildings
in the immediate neighborhood and, later on, when suitable bricks were
obtained, the work on the church was continued, and by the summer of
1868 the walls were finished to the window sills.
Father Augustine resigned June 18, 1868, and went to Minnesota, and
subsequently died while pastor at Melrose in that State, December 19,
1901, at the age of seventy-three years. He was succeeded by the Very
Rev. Louis Mary Fink, O. S. B., July, 1868, and it was during his
pastorate that the church was solemnly dedicated Trinity Sunday, 1869,
but it was not completed at that time, and, in fact was not completed
for many years thereafter. The church is built in Roman style and is 152
feet long and fifty-six feet wide. Father Louis was succeeded by the
Very Rev. Giles Christoph, O. S. B., who was appointed prior in July,
1871. In January, 1875, Very Rev. Ouswald Moosemueller, O. S. B., became
prior. Under his direction the church flourished and he is particularly
remembered for his exertions in founding and building up a good library
for the church and school. The members of the church had grown
sufficiently large, so that the priory was promoted to an abbey April 7,
1877, and on September 29 of that year Rev. Innocent Wolf, O. S. B., was
elected abbot, and still retains his place (1916), loved by all. Rev.
Innocent Wolf’s election as abbot was celebrated with appropriate
ceremonies, and the Very Rev. Boniface Verheyen, O. S. B., was appointed
pastor, and at that time the status of the house was as follows: Rt.
Rev. Innocent Wolf, O. S. B., abbot; Very Rev. Boniface Verheyen, O. S.
B., prior; Very Rev. Pirmin Kaumly, O. S. B., prior of St. Benedict’s;
Rev. Augustine Wirth, O. S. B., Emanuel Horlig, O. S. B., Rev. Timothy
Luber, O. S. B., Rev. Peter Kassens, O. S. B., Rev. Eugene Bode, O. S.
B., Rev. Adolph Wesseling, O. S. B., Rev. Ferdinand Wolf, O S. B., Rev.
Winfried Schmidt, O. S. B., Rev. John Steoder, O. S. B.; and Rev.
Matthew Bradley, O. S. B. Besides these there were four priests from St.
Vincent’s, Pa., who acted as assistants, whose names were Rev. Ambrose
Huebner, O. S. B., Rev. Casimir Elsesser, O. S. B., Rev. Theodore
Schmitt, O. S. B., and Rev. Anslem Soehuler, O. S. B. There were seven
clerics, ten lay brothers, five candidates and ten scholastics. Rev.
Charles Stoekle, O. S. B., succeeded Father Adolph as pastor of St.
Benedict’s Church in 1890, and remained pastor until 1898, when he was
succeeded by Rev. Longinus New, O. S. B., who was one of the most
beloved and active pastors of the church. He was a priest burning with
zeal and he delighted in preaching. He was a powerful speaker, and his
sermons were always well prepared and written out. He had a strong
voice; used plain and simple language, and spoke with such zeal and
sincerity that he left a lasting impression on all of his hearers. His
health failed him, however, and he was compelled to seek a southern
climate, and died in a hospital at Birmingham, Ala., March 2, 1899, aged
fifty-three years, and in the twenty-eighth year of his priesthood. He
was succeeded by Rev. Girard Heinz, O. S. B., who was appointed to take
his place January 1, 1899, and Father Girard remains the pastor of the
church in 1916.
[Illustration:
St. Benedict’s Abbey, Atchison, Kan.
]
[Illustration:
Rt. Rev. Innocent Wolf, O. S. B.,
President St. Benedict’s College, Atchison, Kan.
]
FIRST GERMAN EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH.
This church was organized in 1866 by Rev. C. F. Liebe, home missionary
of the Evangelical Lutheran synod of Missouri, Kansas, Ohio, and other
states. The first regular minister was Rev. Mr. Menge, who was installed
in 1867. Rev. G. Landgraf succeeded Mr. Menge in December and was
installed the first day of that month. The church building at the corner
of Tenth and Commercial streets was dedicated at the same time. In 1869
a parsonage, adjoining the church, was erected, and the following year
C. Janzow, of Weston, Mo., succeeded Mr. Landgraf, who in turn was
followed by Rev. C. Hartman, who died in the fall of 1872, and after
which the call was extended to Rev. W. Zschoche, of Miami county,
Kansas. Under the pastorate of Rev. Mr. Zschoche the congregation
increased to a membership of 130, and a day school was conducted in
connection with the church by Mr. Zschoche until 1881.
Rev. C. Vedder succeeded Rev. Zschoche, who in turn was succeeded by
Rev. Theodore Bundenthal, whose untimely death in the latter part of
1915 deprived the church and its congregation of one of the best
ministers it ever had. Mr. Bundenthal was succeeded by Rev. Frederic
Niedner, who is in charge of the church in 1916. The present church
building at the corner of Eighth and Laramie streets was built in 1889.
There are 500 communicants and the church is affiliated with the
Missouri synod.
In addition to the churches already enumerated, there are several negro
churches, of which the Ebenezer Baptist Church, organized in 1867, and
the African Methodist Episcopal Church, organized in the summer of 1868,
are the most prominent. There are also several other denominations
represented in Atchison, including the Latter Day Saints, and the Holy
Rollers.
CHAPTER XVII.
EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS.
FIRST SCHOOLS, PRIVATE INSTITUTIONS—ESTABLISHMENT OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS—
EARLY SCHOOLS AND PIONEER TEACHERS—DISTRICT SCHOOLS—STATISTICS—
MANUAL TRAINING—ATCHISON COUNTY HIGH SCHOOL—COUNTY SUPERINTENDENTS
OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION—ATCHISON CITY SCHOOLS—PRIVATE SCHOOLS—MT.
ST. SCHOLASTICA’s ACADEMY—PAROCHIAL SCHOOLS—MIDLAND COLLEGE AND
WESTERN THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY—ST. BENEDICT’S COLLEGE.
During the turmoil and confusion that accompanied the movement of
population into Atchison when the town and county were organized, the
question of schools appeared to be a secondary one. It was not until the
bitter days of 1854, 1855 and 1856 had passed that the attention of the
people was directed to this important question. The first schools in
Atchison were private institutions, and a number of them flourished
until after the beginning of the Civil war. Among those which were first
in the educational field here was the Baptist Seminary, at the northeast
corner of Eleventh and Santa Fe streets. It was a school for young women
and was conducted by Mr. Stork. Later Mrs. Lizzie Abbott, who afterwards
became the wife of Judge Cassius C. Foster, conducted a young ladies’
school at the northeast corner of Sixth and Laramie streets, and in the
eighties Miss Mary Teasdale conducted a private school at the same
place. Miss Lizzie Bay, the daughter of Hugh Bay, a prosperous farmer
living southwest of Atchison, was also active in early day educational
affairs, and so was Mrs. Amanda Blair, at that time Miss Amanda Meeker,
who is a resident of Atchison in 1916. Mrs. Blair was the first teacher
in Atchison county. While there was no activity in educational affairs
during the period just mentioned, the first Territorial legislature did,
in fact, pass a law in the summer of 1855 providing for the
establishment of common schools, but the history of the Atchison county
school system did not begin until 1858. The city of Atchison, District
Number 1, was organized August 5, 1858. On September 13th of that year a
meeting was held in the law office of Franklin B. Adams, and the
following school officers were elected: James A. Coulter, director; Dr.
William Grimes, treasurer, and Franklin G. Adams, clerk. O. F. Short was
the other member. Phillip D. Plattenburg, who had previously served as
county superintendent of Fulton county, Illinois, was elected principal
of the schools and Mrs. Blair his assistant. School was opened the first
week in November, in two rooms over Bury’s Grocery Store, on the corner
of Fourth and Commercial streets, where the Y. M. C. A. building now
stands. The next year the corps of teachers had increased to four, and
Miss Lizzie Bay and Miss Melissa Kipp, who subsequently became the wife
of Chief Justice Martin, became the other two teachers. The school was
moved to the old Masonic building further west on Commercial street,
where it was conducted for two years. Mr. Plattenburg was also appointed
county superintendent, and the first teacher’s certificate issued by him
in Atchison county was to D. W. Rippy, who died in Severance, Kan., in
1914, the richest man in Doniphan county. Mr. Rippy taught the first
school in the Second district, organized near the Waggener farm,
southwest of Atchison. Mrs. Blair had her teaching certificate when she
arrived in Atchison, as one was issued to her by Dr. Plattenburg in
Fulton county, Illinois, before she came to Atchison. Her school opened
in Atchison the first Monday in November, 1858, and she had charge of
the primary and intermediate departments. Dr. Plattenburg received a
salary of $100.00 a month and Mrs. Blair a salary of $45.00, which was
increased to $50.00 by Dr. Plattenburg giving her $5.00 of his own
salary. Mrs. Blair had sixty-five pupils. Mrs. Blair says that the first
spelling match in Atchison county took place in W. D. Rippy’s school.
She participated in the spelling match, and was spelled down on the word
“Poisonous.”
Mr. Plattenburg served in the capacity of principal and superintendent
of schools until May, 1861, when the schools were closed for lack of
funds. Because of the Civil war very little progress in education was
made, and the records of the county superintendent’s office for that
period are not available. The earliest record in the office of the
county superintendent concerning the schools of Atchison county is found
in an old record book of July 7, 1863, as follows:
“Through the kindness of the present board of County Commissioners, E.
Leighton, B. Wallack and C. G. Foster, this book was furnished for the
records of the public schools of Atchison county. It is hoped that every
superintendent, into whose possession this book may fall, will perform
every duty devolving upon him officially, and make every effort to
advance the cause of education.
“ORLANDO SAWYER,
“Superintendent of Public Instruction,
“Atchison County.”
[Illustration:
Old High School Building, Atchison, Kan.
]
In spite of the fact that the records of County Superintendent Sawyer,
who held his office from 1863 to 1867, are somewhat incomplete, they
contain much interesting information.
The average length of the school term for the first year was three and
one-half months, and in some districts, owing to the distance and the
rigors of the winter climate, school was held only during the summer
months. Among the early teachers in this county were Miss Lizzie Keith,
who taught in District No. 29 in 1863; Miss Mary A. Shields, who taught
in District No. 16 in the same year; Miss Helen L. Bishop, of District
No. 26, and Miss Stewart, of District No. 31. Miss Bishop was a pioneer
in advocating the teaching of vocational subjects in the public schools,
including domestic science, manual training, agriculture and sewing, and
for her zeal in this respect she was derided and laughed at. Women
teachers in those days, as now, outnumbered the men. The following are
the names of those who received teacher’s certificates in 1863: July 8,
Michael Roach; July 27, Mrs. Esther Thayer; July 30, W. D. Barnett;
August 15, Mary A. Shields; August 15, Solomon K. McCrary; August 27,
Richard Dunn; September 14, Martha Stewart; September 25, Allen Abbott;
September 27, Adelia Guest; October 11, Carlos E. Pease; October 14,
John C. Butman; November 23, I. J. Adams; December 1, R. S. Cook;
December 4, L. A. Messenger; December 4, Harriet Hollister, and December
4, W. R. DeWitt.
There were thirty-one districts in the county in that year, and the
amount of State funds apportioned to Atchison county was $295.30. The
school population was 1941, with an enrollment of 1,072, and an average
daily attendance of 500. Twenty-nine teachers were employed, twenty-two
women and seven men, with an average monthly salary for the men of
$25.20 and $16.75 for the women. The total valuation of school houses
was $1,050, and the amount of money received from the county was
$827.05. The following is a list of the Atchison county school officers
in the year 1863:
District No. 1: P. H. Woodard, director; M. S. Gaylord, clerk; F. Bier,
treasurer; District No. 3: Peter Boyer, L. A. Messenger and A. Wheeler;
District No. 5: Nathan McClintic, Hosea Norris and James Cravins;
District No. 6. W. H. Bowen, J. W. Cain and Jonathan Hartman; District
No. 8: S. Cummings, Milo Carleton and Lewis Brockman; District No. 9:
George Scarborough, Joseph Scarborough and Jacob Pochler; District No.
10: Jacob Beck, Frederick Neerman and James A. Smith; District No. 11:
John Graves, Henry Shell and Henry Widner; District No. 15: John W.
Best, George Lamberson and Boaz W. Williamson; District No. 17: Hiram
Quiett, Chas. Williamson and Wm. Cummings; District No. 18: W. J. Young,
F. L. Fortune and A. J. Reed; District No. 19: Henry Cline, F. Leighton
and W. J. Mayfield; District No. 20: W. J. Oliphant, D. H. Sprong and
Dandridge Holladay; District No. 21: Dwight Williams, Jacob Reese and
John J. Halligan; District No. 22: F. Roach, C. B. Keith and Joseph
Speer; District No. 23: W. A. Adams, W. H. Seever and W. M. Hamm;
District No. 24: James R. May, E. S. Evington and Jefferson Gragg;
District No. 26: R. Breedlone, C. May and James Fletcher; District No.
27: James F. Butcher, C. G. Means and W. L. Davis; District No. 28:
Andrew C. Pittman, David Earhart and George H. McPherson; District No.
29: Anderson Pate, James M. Wylie and H. T. Gill; District No. 30: P. B.
Chadwick, J. W. Roberson and R. A. Van Winkle; District No. 31: Samuel
Vanatta, William Hamon and Hamilton Bailey; District No. 33: Benj.
Rivers, Silas A. Hooey and J. Plotner; District No. 34: D. Kottle, John
S. Van Winkle and A. King; District No. 35: A. A. F. Randolph, D. M.
Stillman and Joshua Wheeler; Union District No. 1: J. A. Anderson, M. C.
Willis and George Storch; Union District No. 2: James Cooley, L. H.
Masterson and Wm. H. Cook; Union District No. 3: W. J. Brown, Thos. A.
Snoddy and J. Lasswell, and Union District No. 4: Richmon Dalton, Albert
Henson and Frederick Eleman.
The next record that can be found of the progress of schools in this
county is of 1868, when Norman Dunshee was county superintendent. In
that year there were forty-six organized school districts, and a school
population of 3,878, with a total enrollment of 2,247, and an average
daily attendance of 1281. The term for white children was increased to
five and one-half months and for colored children to ten months. There
was a total of sixty-four teachers, of whom thirty-seven were women and
twenty-seven men. The wages of the men were $42.92 a month, and for the
women, $28.76 a month, and there was a total of $15,117.87 paid out for
wages. The amount received from the State was $2,627.09, and an
additional source of revenue was from the pounding of stray livestock,
which brought into the school fund of the county that year $589.58. The
amount raised by district school tax was $24,373.21, and there were
forty-three school houses in the county, of which twelve were built of
logs, twenty-six of frame construction, and five of stone, with a total
valuation of $16,750.00. During the interim between 1863 and 1868, the
Third Kansas Teachers’ Association met in Atchison. The meeting was held
July, 1865, and there were fifty-nine teachers present in Price’s Hall.
John A. Martin, John J. Ingalls and Geo. W. Glick attended the meeting
and made addresses.
In comparison with the figures of those days, the figures of 1915 are
interesting, and they are here given as follows:
School population, June 30, 1915 3,530
Total enrollment, 1914–1915 2,477
Average daily attendance, 1914–1915 1,915
Teachers employed, 1915–1916, including county
high school, males 23, females 81 104
Teachers employed 1915–1916, including county
high school, holding State certificates 19
Normal training 33, first grade 22, second grade
27
Teachers without previous experience 21
Teachers serving first year in present positions 56
Teachers more than two years in present position 16
Average experience of teachers:
One-teacher schools 5 years
Graded schools 6 years
Average length of term in weeks: 1914–15 1915–16
One-teacher schools 30.4 30.65
Graded schools 35.3 35.33
Average salary of male teachers: 1914–15 1915–16
One-teacher schools 63.75 67.25
Graded schools 84.77 85.81
Average salary of female teachers: 1914–15 1915–16
One-teacher schools 58.16 57.45
Graded schools 59.64 60.00
Average attendance per teacher: 1914–15
One-teacher schools 21
Graded schools 26
Average cost per pupil per month in attendance: 1914–15
One-teacher schools $ 3.69
Graded schools 4.38
Amount expended for school purposes: 1914–15
One-teacher schools $39,756.47
Graded schools 19,212.88
County high school 17,719.71
—————
Total $76,689.06
Common school graduates, 1915:
Boys 57, girls 71, total 128.
High school graduates, 1915:
Boys 17, girls 19, total 36.
Total number of libraries in rural schools 63
Number of volumes in rural libraries 4,314
Number of schools having room or basement
furnaces 66
Number of county certificates issued during year:
First grade 9
Second grade 24
Third grade 7 Total 40
Number of first grade renewed 5
Number of State certificates registered 7
Number teachers normal training certificates
registered 13
Number of first grades indorsed 3
Number of second grades indorsed 1
The city of Atchison is not included in any of the above statistics.
It is interesting to note that the vision of Miss Helen E. Bishop of
1863 has been realized, for in every school in Atchison county, not only
agriculture is taught, but in about one-third of the schools, plain
sewing and various kinds of fancy needlework are taught also, and while
no rural school as yet is equipped to teach cooking, a number of the
teachers are directing some work along this line and it is done in
accordance with the teacher’s directions in the homes, with the
assistance of the mothers. More attention than ever is also being given
to drawing and music. Earnest efforts are being made by superintendents
and teachers to secure the coöperation of parents by means of community
gatherings. In many districts teachers’ associations, literary societies
and debating clubs have been organized, in which parents as well as
children are taking a great interest. Many of the districts have availed
themselves of the opportunity to use the stereopticon lectures sent out
by the University of Kansas. Lecture courses are being made in some of
the schools, and provisions have been made for serving hot lunches for
children. Medical inspection is also provided for, through the efforts
of teachers. One of the most interesting and valuable features
introduced into the rural school work of the county in recent years is
the community school fair. The plan is to have three to five schools
unite and meet at a school house, where the children enter exhibits of
corn, cereals, seeds of various kinds, vegetables and fruits, and in
addition to these are also exhibited canned fruits, peaches, jelly and
loaves of bread, and other samples of the art of cooking, together with
articles of fancy needlework and plain sewing. Many prizes are awarded
for the best exhibit, and the result is that much interest is stimulated
among the children in these accomplishments. The county farm agent is
also lending great assistance in organizing school gardens, and boys’
and girls’ clubs of various kinds for the purpose of agricultural
development. Much attention is also paid to the supervision of the
children at play, on the theory that all work and no play makes Jack a
dull boy, and the equipment for the playground of various kinds has been
supplied. Six rural schools of the county have organized basketball
teams.
Besides the rural and graded schools, Atchison county has four high
schools. Muscotah maintains an accredited four-year high school,
offering a college preparatory and general course, and the school
building which was destroyed by fire January 13, 1916, will be replaced
by a larger and better school, reference to which has already been made
in this history.
Under the direction of J. S. Blosser, an excellent two year high school
is maintained in Huron.
THE ATCHISON COUNTY HIGH SCHOOL.
In 1888 Atchison county, in accordance with an act of the Kansas
legislature of 1866, established the second county high school in the
State, and it was due to the efforts of Senator B. F. Wallack, and also
the efforts of the public spirited citizens of Effingham, that this
school was located there. The first board of trustees of this school
were as follows: A. J. Harwi, A. S. Best. J. E. Logan, F. E. Cloyes, L.
R. Spangler and W. E. Knight. John Klopfenstein, who was at that time
county superintendent, became the first president of the board.
The present site, which comprises a spacious campus of eight acres, was
purchased by the city of Effingham and donated to the county. A handsome
pressed brick and stone building was erected in compliance with plans
and specifications designed by Alfred Meier, of Atchison. The building,
costing more than $22,000.00, was completed in June, 1891. School opened
September 14, 1891, with F. J. Squires, principal, assisted by J. O.
Ward, Miss Julia Heath, and Miss N. Grace Murphy. Three courses of study
were provided for: Normal, general and college preparatory.
On the night of November 6, 1893, the building was destroyed by fire.
School was opened the next morning and was continued the remainder of
the year down town in lodge rooms, churches, and the public school
building. The present building, erected on the same site, was ready for
occupancy by the fall of 1894.
Following are the names of the principals who have served the school: J.
F. Squires, 1891 to 1893; S. J. Hunter, 1893 and 1896; J. W. Wilson,
1896 to 1907; W. H. Keller, 1907 to 1908; E. H. McMath, 1908 to 1911: J.
R. Thierstein, 1911 to 1915, and A. J. McAllister and G. W. Salisbury.
1915 to 1916.
The county high school exists mainly to afford free high school
education to every boy and girl in the county. Since its students come
principally from the rural districts, it must educate them to become
better homemakers and better farmers, and to appreciate more fully the
advantages of rural life. It must also help prepare better teachers for
the rural schools and train them for business as well as for college.
[Illustration:
Atchison County High School, Effingham, Kansas
]
It has grown in efficiency and influence until it is recognized as one
of the best high schools in the State and is on the accredited list of
the North Central Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools. This
means that our school is recognized by the colleges of Kansas, Oklahoma,
Missouri, Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, Indiana,
Illinois, West Virginia, South Dakota, Wyoming and Colorado, which admit
our graduates without examination.
The faculty has increased in number from four in 1892 to twelve in 1915.
The number of graduates in 1892 was two, in 1915, thirty. Since its
organization the departments of commerce, music, manual training,
domestic art, domestic science, and agriculture have been added, a
farmers’ short course established, and a demonstration farm in
connection with the work in agriculture put into operation.
The school is well equipped in laboratories, and has a library of 3,000
volumes, and all the leading magazines and papers. A lively interest is
taken in athletics, both Young Men’s Christian Association and Young
Women’s Christian Association have a large membership. Every year the
students have the benefit of a splendid lecture course.
From its halls have been graduated 387 young men and young women, who
are now filling positions of honor as doctors, lawyers, ministers,
teachers, superintendents, farmers, bankers and missionaries, and are
found in nearly every State in the Union and in some foreign countries.
Atchison county further increased its educational advantages in June,
1915, by establishing at Potter, a rural high school, in accordance with
a law passed by the legislature in 1915. This district is known as Rural
High School, District No. 1, and comprises 26½ square miles, including
portions of nine school districts, five of which lie wholly in Atchison
county, and the four others jointly in Atchison, Jefferson and
Leavenworth counties.
August 9, 1915, the first school meeting in this district was held, and
J. E. Remsburg was elected director, T. F. Hall, treasurer and D. H.
Strong, Jr., clerk. It was not necessary for this district to vote bonds
for a building, because Union District No. 1, which includes Potter, and
is a part of the new high school district, already had a beautiful
modern four-room structure, which was leased to the newly organized high
school district. A. T. Foster was elected first president, and Miss
Sarah Armstrong, assistant. The school opened September 6, 1915, with an
enrollment of eighteen pupils. The course of study is that prescribed by
the State, board of education, and covers four years.
The year 1915–16 has been a year of progress for the schools of Atchison
county. The State department of education, by virtue of authority given
them by the State legislature in 1915, established a definite standard
of efficiency for the rural schools of the State, and formulated plans
for standardizing rural schools. As a result, two rural school
supervisors were added to the State department. J. A. Shoemaker, county
superintendent of this county, was appointed as one of those
supervisors, and was succeeded in office by Miss D. Anna Speer, who is
making one of the most earnest and efficient county superintendents this
county has ever had. It is universally conceded that the board of county
commissioners made no mistake when they selected Miss Speer as a
successor to Mr. Shoemaker. Miss Speer is making an earnest effort to
bring our schools up to the standard set by the State department of
education, in which she is receiving the cordial coöperation on the part
of the school officers, parents and children of the county. The work
that is being accomplished here has been highly commended by Miss Julia
Stone, one of the new State supervisors, and three schools, approved by
the supervisor, have the honor of the first three “Standard Schools” in
northeastern Kansas. These are: New Malden District No. 45, H. S. Mahan
and Eugene Crawford, teachers; Lancaster District No. 10, O. E. Seeber
and Miss Ione Gibson, teachers, and White Clay District No. 6, J. M.
Pennington, teacher. In 1915 the County Normal Institute was combined
with Midland College Institute, at Midland College. A six weeks’ session
was held, June 15 to July 28. Besides thorough reviews of all subjects
required for county teachers’ certificates, numerous courses for college
credit were offered. The corps of instructors consisted of county
superintendent, Miss D. Anna Speer: professors, W. E. Tilberg. E. M.
Stahl, S. L. Soper, D. W. Crouse. C. F. Malmberg and Bruno Meinecke.
The following is a list of county superintendents of public instruction
of Atchison county from the beginning of our history to the present
time:
Philip D. Plattenburg, served September, 1858, to May, 1861.
Orlando Sawyer, served July, 1830, to January, 1867.
Norman Dunsher, served January, 1867, to January, 1869.
Thomas F. Cook, served January, 1869, to January, 1873.
J. E. Remsburg, served January, 1873, to January, 1877.
Mr. Martin, served January, 1877, to January, 1879.
W. H. Tucker, served January, 1879, to January, 1883.
A. G. Drew, served January, 1883, to January, 1885.
J. F. Class, served January, 1885, to January, 1887.
George A. Ward, served January, 1887, to January, 1889.
John Klopfenstein, served January, 1889, to January, 1893.
Samuel Ernst, served January, 1893, to January, 1895.
C. E. Reynolds, served January, 1895, to January, 1899.
John Klopfenstein, served January, 1899, to January, 1901.
E. E. Campbell, served January, 1901, to May, 1901.
The Kansas legislature of 1901 changed the date of beginning of
superintendent’s term from the second Monday in January to the second
Monday in May, thus creating a vacancy in the office for four months.
Mr. Campbell was appointed by the county commissioners to serve during
that period.
John Klopfenstein, served May, 1901, to May, 1903.
O. O. Hastings, served May, 1903, to May, 1907.
J. W. Campbell, served May, 1907, to March 18, 1909, when he died.
J. A. Shoemaker, served March 23, 1909, to July 1, 1915.
D. Anna Speer, served July 1, 1915, and still remains superintendent.
ATCHISON CITY SCHOOLS.
It was lamentable, but, nevertheless true, that there were many
residents of the city of Atchison of the early period in its history who
doubted the justice of supporting free schools. In 1860 the school board
refused to levy a tax for school purposes in the city of Atchison.
Following this, however, a more progressive spirit prevailed, and free
schools were regularly supported by annual tax levies. For ten years the
schools occupied rented quarters, excepting two frame buildings in South
Atchison. The basement of the Congregational church, the lower floor of
the old Masonic building that stood near the corner of Eighth and
Commercial streets, the upper floor of the Auld building on Commercial
street, near Sixth, Price’s Hall and probably other buildings were used
during those years.
There was little or no general supervision of the work of the schools up
to 1866, little or no system, and little distinction between public and
private schools.
During this unorganized period the business affairs of the schools were
administered by a district board of three members.
Under a law approved March 1, 1867, the Atchison city schools were
organized June 3, 1867, at which time the first board of education of
Atchison was elected, as follows: First ward, Wm. Scoville, Wm. C.
Smith; Second ward, M. L. Gaylord, L. R. Elliott; Third ward, John A.
Martin. Julius Holthaus; Fourth ward, Geo. W. Gillespie, Jacob Poehler.
In the organization of the first board, Wm. Scoville was elected
president, John A. Martin, vice-president, and M. L. Gaylord, clerk.
The board consisted of eight members until Atchison became a city of the
first class in 1881, at which time the ward representation was increased
to three members each, giving a board of twelve members. At the
organization of the first enlarged board, J. C. Fox was elected
president; J. B. Kurth, vice-president. The time of organization was the
first regular meeting in August, a change from the former time, the
first regular meeting in May, which was the law till 1881. During this
year the time of organization was extended three months, giving fifteen
months’ service under the organization of May, 1880. Another change made
at this time was the election of a clerk not a member of the board. At
the organization, August 1, 1881, M. Noll was elected clerk. He was
succeeded in October, by C. N. Seip, who was followed in May, 1882, by
James H. Garside.
By the addition of the Fifth ward, 1884, the board organized in August,
that year had fifteen members. The board organized in August, 1885, had
ten members. This representation continued till the law of 1911 provided
for the reduction to six members, and for a term of four years instead
of two years. The reduction was completed in 1913, and since August of
that year the board has had six members, elected without regard to city
wards.
The presidents of the board from 1871 have been as follows: For the year
ending in May, 1872, H. S. Baker; J. T. Coplan, to May, 1873; J. K.
Fisher, to May, 1874; A. J. North, three years, to May, 1877; John
Seaton, two years, to May, 1879; A. F. Martin, two and one-fourth years,
to August, 1881; J. C. Fox, to August, 1882; John B. Kurth, to August,
1883; J. C. Fox, to August, 1884; Seneca Heath, two years, to August,
1886; E. A. Mize, five years, to August, 1891; R. C. Meade, to August,
1892; J. T. Hersey, two years, to August, 1894; J. F. Woodhouse, to
August, 1895; J. T. Allensworth, to August, 1896; W. L. Bailey, to
August, 1897; Chas. S. Osborn, ten years, to August, 1907; H. H.
Hackney, eight years, to August, 1915; Alva Clapp, now serving his first
year.
While the records of the early days are not available, there are
indications that the chaos of the early schools was reduced to order in
the middle sixties, the graded system unifying the free schools being
established at that time by D. T. Bradford, who served as superintendent
and principal of the high school for four years. In those early days the
superintendent taught during the greater part of his time.
Mr. Bradford was followed by a Mr. Owens, who served one year and was
followed by R. H. Jackson. Available records show that Mr. Jackson was
superintendent in August, 1871, and served till June, 1876. How long he
served prior to the election of May, 1871, is not indicated by records
at hand.
The superintendents following Mr. Jackson are as follows: I. C. Scott,
to 1878; C. S. Sheffield, to 1880; R. C. Meade, to December, 1886; F. M.
Draper, to 1889; Buel T. Davis, to 1891; John H. Glorfelter, to 1901;
Nathan T. Veatch, serving at present (January, 1916).
The principals of the high school serving prior to the union of the
duties of superintendent and principal of the high school were, P. D.
Plattenburg, Orlando Sawyer and David Negley.
The course of study in the high school then was Latin, followed later by
the Latin-Scientific. Little change was made for years, except the
introduction of German in the fall of 1871. For more than thirty years
there was little change in the subject matter of the work. The most
important change during those thirty years or more was the complete
organization of the high school by Superintendent R. C. Meade, in 1880,
at which time a distinct principal was placed in charge of the
reorganized high school. The first principal under the new plan was F.
W. Bartlett. Definite classes were started and the first class graduated
June 7, 1881, in Corinthian Hall, as follows: Jane Boone, Arthur
Challiss, Blanche Challiss, Daisy, L. Denton, Della Estes, Mary E. Fox,
Frances L. Garside, Lilly G. Hathaway. Maggie R. Hedges, May Hosier,
Victor Linley, Nellie G. Reid, Mary E. Scott, Annie Underwood, 14. Total
graduates to date (January, 1916), 568.
[Illustration:
“The Ingalls School,” Atchison, Kan.
]
F. W. Bartlett was principal of the high school until 1883. The
following is the list of principals since 1883: J. B. Cash, to 1883;
Geo. D. Ostrom, to 1887; J.T. Dobell, to 1895; C. A. Shively, to 1900:
W. C. Jamieson, to 1902; A. H. Speer, to 1909; W. H. Livers, to 1910; J.
T. Rosson, to 1911 H. P. Shepherd, now serving his fifth year.
The superintendent and principal aided by one assistant taught the high
school subjects till 1882. With the opening of school in September, of
that year, the high school course of study was changed from two years to
a full three-years course. Miss Sarah E. Steele and Miss Anna M. Niklaus
were assistants during those early years.
The addition to the teaching force, the lengthened course and the
tendency toward greater latitude in the choice of subjects soon doubled
the high school enrollment. The start toward vocational studies began in
September, 1881, when, at the suggestion of J. H. Garside, bookkeeping
was made an optional study.
The growth of the high school was gradual. During the late eighties,
another year was added to the course and an additional assistant was
employed. Manual training was added in December, 1903; sewing, 1907;
commercial subjects were added from time to time till the introduction
of a full business course, including shorthand and typewriting, in 1910;
normal training, 1909; cooking, 1910; physical training, 1910;
elementary agriculture, 1913; school nurse, January, 1914; special music
director, 1915. The addition of courses and optional subjects has so
increased the high school work as to require eighteen teachers, in
addition to the principal, and the enrollment has grown to 393. The
school is on the accredited list of the University of Kansas and of the
North Central Association of Colleges. A school paper, the _Optimist_,
is now in its sixth year. A Glee Club and orchestra have been organized.
A Young Men’s Christian Association and a Young Women’s Christian
Association are doing good work. The athletic association is giving an
outlet for the surplus energy in football, basketball, etc.
Grades and teachers were added in the different buildings until there
are now (January, 1916) five buildings having full eight grades of work,
one building with three grades, and the Branchton school having two
grades. The Branchton building belongs to district 65. Manual training
for the boys and sewing for the girls are given in sixth, seventh and
eighth grades and high school. All the grades have the benefit of
inspection by the school nurse, and instruction in music by the special
director.
In 1882 the teaching force was thirty beside the superintendent. This
grew to forty-one by 1901, and to sixty-five in 1915.
During March, 1881, it was resolved that a “kindergarten” be opened
during the next term. No record is found indicating the opening of such
school. The kindergarten was not made a part of the system till 1910.
Such work was offered earlier in rooms granted by the board. This was,
however, the result of private enterprise.
At the opening of the new high school building in 1910, the first public
kindergarten was established. In the spring of 1914, another
kindergarten was opened in the new Washington school.
The corner stone of the Central building was laid in August, 1868. This
building was destroyed by fire in October, 1869. The construction of a
new building on the old foundation began as soon as plans were
completed. This was the three-story brick building, costing $35,000,
torn down in 1908, to make room for the magnificent high school building
completed in 1910, and occupied for all school purposes in September of
that year. On October 5, 1892, the name was changed to “The Ingalls
School.”
The building begun in 1869 and, when completed, said to be “one of the
finest in the State,” was opened in 1870 and served without change till
1903, when a three-story addition, costing $5,264.00 was built to
provide for the office, manual training, one high school room and
sanitary fixtures. It was finally outgrown after serving thirty-eight
years. While the present building was being constructed, the high school
was housed in the old three-story Douglas building, Fifth and R streets,
and in two rooms of the old Washington building, Sixth and Q streets.
During the two years’ waiting for the new Ingalls building the colored
pupils from Douglas school were housed in a vacant store at Sixth and
Spring streets for one year, and in Lincoln school for part of the
second year, and the grades of Ingalls school were housed as follows:
Seventh and eighth, banquet room of Odd Fellows Hall; sixth, Martin
school; fifth, Pioneer Hall; second, third and fourth, basement of
Congregational church; first, basement of Presbyterian church; manual
training, in old fire department for the first year, and in a vacant
store room till the latter part of December of the second year, when it
was moved to the new building.
The present high school building, the Ingalls school, cost about
$103,500. The equipment and added lots at the southwest corner of the
block, improvement of grounds, etc., will bring the present value of the
property at least to $130,000.
Governor George W. Glick was largely instrumental in the work of
securing the lots for the Ingalls school. The ten lots purchased prior
to the erection of the first building cost, approximately, $3,500. Lots
8 and 9 in the same block secured by condemnation in 1911, cost $2,250.
The three-story brick building at the corner of Fifth and R streets,
built in 1873 at a cost of $15,000, was originally called Washington
school. A three-room, one-story frame building, erected on this site in
the middle sixties, was the first building owned by district No. 1, and
served till 1873. The lots cost $1,200 and the building $2,425. At that
time a frame building at the corner of Sixth and Q streets was used by
the colored pupils and was called Douglas school. This was built in the
middle sixties. It was at first a two-room, one-story building. Later, a
third room was added. The lots cost $820. This was the second building
owned by district No. 1. Early maps of Atchison show the locations of
Washington and Douglas here given.
The names “Central,” “Washington,” “Franklin,” “Lincoln” and “Douglas”
were authorized February 2, 1880.
In 1884 work began on two new buildings, one a ten-room brick building
to take the place of the frame building called “Douglas,” and the other
an eight-room brick building at Sixth and Division streets, named North
Atchison school. The one at Sixth and Q streets cost $18,682, and was
occupied for school purposes January 5, 1885. The white pupils in
“Washington” school were taken to the new building, and the colored
school formerly housed in “Douglas” was taken to the “Washington.” The
names were also transferred soon after the new order of things was
established.
The ten-room Washington building was used till the close of school for
vacation, December, 1913. On January 5, 1914, the school began work in
the present beautiful building, south of R street, between Fifth and
Sixth streets. The old property at Sixth and Q streets was sold for
$2,300, but the name of the school was retained. The new building with
grounds and equipment cost $63,000. The site was secured by condemnation
and cost $5,350.
The original “Washington” remained the “Douglas” until the completion of
the new Douglas on Sixth, between U and V streets. The pupils of
“Douglas” were housed in “Lincoln” till late in the fall of 1909. The
site of this building, lots 18, 19, 20 and 21, block 35, South Atchison,
was secured in March, 1909, in exchange for lots 10 and 11, same block,
the old hospital property, which had previously been donated to the
board of education for school purposes, the money involved being the
payment of some back taxes by the board.
The North Atchison school, Sixth and Division streets, was occupied for
school purposes in September, 1885. The lots cost $800 and the building,
equipment and retaining walls, $5,381.94. On October 5, 1892, the name
of this school was changed to “The John A. Martin School.” This building
was used till the last of May, 1915. Immediately after the close of
school, May 28, 1915, it was wrecked to make way for the new building
now in course of construction. The added ground, secured by
condemnation, cost $6,200 and the building, equipment and improvement of
grounds will cost, approximately, $56,500. During the year 1915–16 this
school is housed in the Ingalls building.
The West Atchison school building, named Franklin school, February 2,
1880, was, originally, a three-room, one-story brick, costing $2,617.10.
This was changed to six rooms by the addition of a second story in 1883,
at a cost of $2,498, and was remodeled and changed to an eight-room
building in 1908, at a cost of $12,500, and reoccupied early in 1909.
The lots cost $400. During the change in Franklin, the pupils were
housed in the “Green-Tree House” and in a vacant store room at 1521 Main
street.
The Lincoln school (colored), Eighth and Atchison streets, was
originally a three-room, one-story brick building erected in 1871 at a
cost of $2,425. The lots cost $750. In 1883, this was changed to a six-
room building at a cost of $2,498. This is the only school building in
the city not modernized.
The records reveal some interesting things. In 1878 it was decided that
“the work of the grades should be completed in eight years.” In 1884 an
attempt was made to establish a branch high school in South Atchison.
While this failed, it was voted that “a sub-junior grade be maintained
in the Washington school.” This was discontinued within a few years.
In March, 1883, it was ordered that the schools close because of lack of
funds. The city council came to the rescue and appropriated $4,000 for
school purposes. The schools re-opened March 29.
The school year was shortened several times in those early days.
The school spirit is in splendid condition. The increased material
equipment is adding greatly to the educational opportunities.
“Continuation schools” have been conducted for several years, with good
attendance.
The improvements have been made without bonds, excepting the $100,000
issue for the high school in 1908. The total bonded indebtedness
(January, 1916) is $122,000. Of this amount, $4,000 will be paid July 1,
1916. Of the issue of 1908, $94,000 remain unpaid, and will fall due in
1923. The $24,000 refunding bonds issued in 1913 will be due in 1933.
The board of education is not using the full limit of its taxing power.
It is only fair to add a tribute at this point to the faithful,
enthusiastic and efficient work rendered by Prof. Nathan T. Veatch to
the public school system of Atchison. During the period of his service
here, Atchison has seen its greatest development in its public school
system, and this has not only been brought about by the fine public
spirit that exists here but by the splendid co-operation which Prof.
Veatch has given it.
PRIVATE SCHOOLS.
In addition to the private schools that existed here in an early day,
there were a number of private schools which did good work in Atchison
subsequently to the Teasdale school, which was operated here in the
eighties. Mrs. Harriet E. Monroe rendered the cause of education in
Atchison county an invaluable and also an imperishable service. Mrs.
Monroe founded the Atchison Institute. In 1871 she erected a building at
the northwest corner of Third and Kansas avenue, to which a wing was
added in 1876, and three years later the large brick building, all of
which are still standing. The property represented an investment of
$25,000, and the success of Mrs. Monroe’s enterprise was phenomenal. She
received no bonus or assistance from city, county, State, church or
individual. She had nine students when she started her school, and
subsequently increased her enrollment to 300. She had a musical
department and an art department, and they were admitted to have no
superior in the Missouri valley at that time. She also conducted a
kindergarten, primary, intermediate and academic grades. Also a
collegiate department, consisting of preparatory, scientific, classical
and literary courses, together with the normal and commercial courses.
She had thirteen teachers. Her vocational department covered all the
arts of domestic economy and domestic science, before which she employed
most eminent women in their special lines to deliver lectures. Mrs.
Monroe was then, and is now, a truly remarkable woman. Her school was a
forerunner of Midland College, and when it came to Atchison in 1887,
Mrs. Monroe closed her school shortly thereafter and has since been a
resident of Washington, D. C. She is a highly educated lady of
refinement and culture, and has spent much time upon the lecture
platform.
Following the Monroe Institute, some years later, Prof. Flint conducted
a Latin school here, which was largely attended. Mr. Flint was succeeded
by Prof. Foot, and as an outgrowth of these two schools, Misses Helen
and Abigail Scofield opened a preparatory school, and successfully
conducted it for a number of years, when they were succeeded by Miss
Mary Walton, who ran her school in the building owned by Mrs. J. W.
Parker, on Laramie street, between Third and Fourth streets, until a few
years ago.
In 1916 the public school system is augmented in its work by several
parochial and denominational schools, conducted by the Catholics and the
German Lutherans.
MT. ST. SCHOLASTICA’S ACADEMY.
One of the first sights to impress the visitor to Atchison is the
imposing collection of buildings which crowns its southern hill, now
commonly known as Mt. St. Scholastica.
Mt. St. Scholastica is practically as old as Atchison itself, the first
sisters having come here in 1863. Few who gaze upon the massive and
commodious array of buildings, surrounded as they now are by well-kept
lawns, spacious meadow and woodland, stop to think of its humble
beginning and the many trials which beset the early foundation. But the
first sisters were in time to feel the effects of the Civil war and the
hardships attendant upon the same.
At the request of Rev. Augustine Wirth, O. S. B., then prior of St.
Benedict’s College, and the first pastor of the church in Atchison, Rev.
Mother Evangelista and six companions were sent from the Benedictine
convent in St. Cloud, Minn., to establish a school in Atchison. Two more
sisters were sent the following April. As these latter were on their
way, they were detained at Hannibal for two days. The funeral cortege of
President Lincoln having reached that city at the same time as the
sisters, one of their sad privileges was that of attending the obsequies
of the martyred President before continuing their journey Kansasward.
The little convent, situated at the corner of Second and Division
streets, near St. Benedict’s church, was the cradle of the present
institution. Second street at that time was not a street at all, but
rather a passageway cut through the hazel brush, then so abundant in
Atchison.
The academy organized its classes December 1, 1863. It was incorporated
in 1873. Its roster bears the names of many of Atchison’s best families
of both town and county.
In the summer of 1877 the Price villa was purchased. A new building was
added in 1889. The third building was commenced in 1900. The buildings
are surrounded by thirty-eight acres of woodland and meadow.
Besides the academy in Atchison, the sisters supply teachers for a large
number of missions or parochial schools in Kansas, Nebraska, Missouri,
and Iowa, also one large school in Walsenburg, Colo. The institution in
Atchison is the center or mother house of all these branch houses, and
in vacation all the sisters from the missions assemble here for the
annual retreat, and for the summer normal.
[Illustration:
Mt. St. Scholastica’s Academy, Atchison, Kan.
]
The venerable Mother Evangelista, the first mother and foundress, was
succeeded in office by Sister Theresa, who governed the community as
Reverend mother for the next twelve years. Since that time Mother
Aloysia has ably carried on the work of her predecessors.
The early days of Mt. St. Scholastica, like the early days of Kansas,
were times of struggle and hardships. Yet, these brave pioneer sisters
were of the true Kansas type, and tell us that they never for a moment
regretted their mission to the Sunflower State. They tell us, too, that
the sunflower itself had a strange power to cheer and encourage their
early days. Its sturdy stalk and bright disk seem so fit a type of
faith, labor and grateful content, that, even to the present day this
rustic flower always finds a place in the convent garden.
The later history of Mt. St. Scholastica is too well known to need
repetition. Its actual growth began with the purchase of Price villa in
1877, since which time progress has been steady and vigorous.
A most comprehensive plan of study is pursued at Mt. St. Scholastica. It
includes all branches needful for a thorough, literal and refined
education, the outcome of long years of experience and thoughtful
consideration. That this fact is appreciated, not only by neighboring
cities and towns, may be seen by consulting the academy roster, which
records a long list of names from many and various sections of the
country. Besides the academic or classical course, Mt. St. Scholastica
furnishes a complete commercial course, together with special advantages
for the study of music and art.
The home life of Mt. St. Scholastica is ideal. The association of
fellow-students amid wholesome environments has the tendency to bring
out and develop every noble and womanly quality, while the beneficient
and judicious guidance of the sisters wisely leads to the attainment of
those lofty principles so needful to right living.
Sacred Heart parochial school, in Atchison, is also controlled by the
Benedictine sisters, and is supported by tuition. Its curriculum extends
through the grades, and the school is under the direction of Sister
Monica, O. S. B., and one assistant. Both boys and girls attend, and the
enrollment in 1916 is seventy-four.
St. Louis College is another parochial school, offering work through the
grades, and admitting both boys and girls. It is maintained by St.
Benedict’s parish. Number of teachers employed is six, and the Rev.
Gerard Heinz, O. S. B., is principal. Enrollment in 1916 is 293.
St. Patrick’s parochial school is located near St. Patrick’s church, in
Union District No. 2, about seven miles south of Atchison. Two teachers
are employed in the school, and Ven. Sr. Merwina, O. S. B., is
directress. It is controlled and supported by St. Patrick’s parish, and
its curriculum extends through the grades. Boys and girls attend the
school, and the enrollment in 1916 was sixty-seven.
St. Ann’s school is a Catholic parochial school, at Effingham. It is
controlled and supported by St. Ann’s parish. Both boys and girls enroll
in the school, which completes the work of the grades. The past year,
forty-six pupils were in attendance. Two teachers are employed, one of
whom is Sister Sr. M. Marcellina, O. S. B., the directress.
The Trinity Lutheran parochial school is controlled and supported by the
Trinity Lutheran parish, corner of Eighth and Laramie streets. The
curriculum extends to the eighth grade, and work is offered to both boys
and girls. The enrollment in 1916 is fifty-three, and Rev. Carl W.
Greinki is principal.
MIDLAND COLLEGE AND WESTERN THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY.
The board of education of the general synod of the Evangelical Lutheran
church, after considering propositions from a number of cities in the
Middle West, decided on Atchison as the most suitable location for a
Lutheran institution. It is easy of access from the whole territory from
which students are most likely to come, and the offer of the city to
give $50,000 in money for buildings, twenty acres of land for a campus
and professors’ houses, a half interest in the sale of 500 acres of
land, and to furnish 200 students the first year, was a tempting offer.
Owing to some difficulties that arose, this offer was not entirely
fulfilled, but the twenty acres of ground was donated, and about $33,000
put into buildings. The college was opened on the fifteenth of
September, 1887, with 101 students registered.
In 1888 the main building, known as Atchison Hall, was begun, and turned
over to the board of trustees in the spring of 1889, and formally
dedicated on the 30th day of September of the same year. The institution
was given over to the care of a self-perpetuating board. From time to
time the constitution has been changed, so that the trustees would be
elected by the synods supporting the college.
At the present time the board is composed of twenty-nine members; four
are elected by the board from the citizens of Atchison, six from each of
the Kansas, English Nebraska and German Nebraska synods; two from the
Rocky Mountain and Iowa synods each, and three from the Alumni
Association, with the president of the college advisory member, ex-
officio.
[Illustration:
Carnegie Library, Atchison, Kansas
]
Rev. Jacob A. Clutz, D. D., was elected first president, and served
efficiently in that capacity for fourteen and one-half years. In 1904
Rev. M. F. Troxell, D. D., pastor of the English Lutheran church of St.
Joseph, Mo. was elected president, and was succeeded by Dr. Rufus B.
Peery.
In 1891 Oak Hall, a dormitory for girls, was erected, to which, about
ten years later, the annex was added, giving accommodations for thirty
young women. In 1893 the gymnasium was erected, the money being
solicited by the students of the institution. Through the solicitations
of Dr. Clutz, a splendid six-inch telescope was donated, and an
observatory built in 1899. Through the efforts of Dr. Troxell a
proposition was secured from Andrew Carnegie to donate $15,000 towards
the building of a library, provided the same amount could be raised for
its upkeep. From the synods on the territory, alumni and friends of the
college, this amount was secured, and the handsome library building was
erected during the winter of 1910–1911, and formally dedicated on May
30, 1911. A legacy of $5,000, given several years before, was added to
the building fund in order to have a public hall, and a memorial tablet
was placed in the hall to the memory of the generous donor, Rev. J. G.
Griffith, D. D. On the retirement of Dr. Clutz, his home was bought by
the college board for the use of the president.
The Western Theological Seminary was organized in 1895, and the first
president and professor, Rev. F. D. Altman, D. D., was inaugurated.
The German department of the seminary was added a few years later, with
Dr. J. L. Neve as dean of the department. The home owned by ex-Senator
John J. Ingalls was secured in 1908 for seminary purposes. It is
admirably adapted to that purpose. At the annual meeting of the college
trustees in 1910 the board of education turned over the management of
the seminary to this board.
ST. BENEDICT’S COLLEGE.
St. Benedict’s College is the product of Benedictine activity in Kansas,
in the cause of Christian civilization. Father Boniface Wimmer, O. S.
B., the founder of the Benedictines in the United States, settled in
Pennsylvania in 1846, and ten years later he sent missionaries in all
directions, and where they settled, promptly there, too, their schools
soon were founded. Father Henry Lempe, O. S. B., was the first
Benedictine to touch upon Kansas soil in 1856, and he inspired Bishop
Miege, S. J., of Leavenworth, with the idea of inviting Abbott Wimmer to
make a foundation in Kansas, and thereafter Father Augustine Wirth, O.
S. B., was sent out to Doniphan, in 1857, but in 1858 he moved to
Atchison. Father Augustine’s management of the college continued until
1868, when he was succeeded by Louis M. Fink, O. S. B., who remained at
the head of the institution until 1871. It was under Father Louis that
the first printed catalog of St. Benedict’s College appears. Father
Giles Christoph, O. S. B., succeeded Father Louis, and held the position
three years, from 1871 to 1874, and was succeeded by Father Oswald
Moosmueller, O. S. B. The college is situated on the hills north of
Atchison and commands an extensive view of the Missouri river and
surrounding country. In 1908 the college planned to erect a new group of
buildings to crown the brow of the hill, east of the old college, new
St. Benedict is to be not only first class, but it is to be a monument
of beautiful architecture, which will be in Tudor Gothic and uniform
throughout. The administration building, already erected, comprises the
first of the group, part of which comprises living quarters of the
students. It is a fire-proof building of re-inforced concrete and
vitrified brick, spacious, well ventilated, and conveniently arranged.
The buildings in the old group are of substantial structure, well fitted
to serve their purposes. They comprise an auditorium, recitation room,
kitchen and dining rooms, scientific laboratories, museum of natural
history, music and typewriting departments. The college has two distinct
libraries, one for the exclusive use of the students, and the other, the
college library proper. The students’ library contains upwards of 5,000
volumes, in addition to a number of papers and magazines. The college
library proper, maintained for the use of the professors, occupies four
rooms and the monastery, and it contains more than 27,400 bound volumes
and over 5,000 pamphlets. The scientific laboratories are adequate for
present use, and the museum is one of the best of its kind in this part
of the country. The playgrounds of the college are large and well suited
to afford all manner of healthful exercise for the students.
[Illustration:
St. Benedict’s College, Atchison, Kan.
]
The courses available in the college are the academic, the collegiate,
business and stenographic, which are presided over by twenty-two
professors, and in which are 300 students. St. Benedict’s is one of the
finest Catholic institutions in the West.
CHAPTER XVIII.
BENCH AND BAR.
EARLY MECCA OF LEGAL TALENT—ORGANIZATION OF JUDICIAL DISTRICT—EARLY
JUDGES—PROMINENT PIONEER LAWYERS—MEMBERS OF THE ATCHISON COUNTY
BAR.
Atchison county has always been particularly proud of the high order of
talent that has graced its bench and bar. From the very earliest days of
its history, the legal profession has been well represented here. Men
who have reached a high order of distinction in the profession have had
their beginning at the bar of this county. In fact, this county has been
somewhat unique in this respect, for there is perhaps no other county in
Kansas that has furnished a greater number of distinguished
representatives of this noble profession, who have shed their luster
upon the fair name of the State. For a long period, indeed, Atchison
seemed to be the Mecca towards which the best legal talent from all
quarters of the country gathered, and it was the Atchison bar that
furnished three chief justices of the supreme court of Kansas, one
United States district judge, an attorney-general, a governor, a United
States senator, and a general counsel for a large railroad system.
No attempt will be made in this chapter to give a complete roster of
names of the many lawyers who have successfully practiced their
profession here. The list is too numerous, but reference will be made to
a number of conspicuous leaders, whose names stand out prominently in
the history of the State, and whose careers have enriched the story of
success and achievement.
Atchison county was one of the counties of the second judicial district,
which composed, in addition to Atchison county, Doniphan, Brown, Nemaha,
Marshall and Washington counties. The first judge of the district was
Hon. Albert L. Lee, who lived at Elwood, Doniphan county, and served
from January 29 to October 31, 1861. He died in New York City December
31, 1907. The second judge of this district was Hon. Albert H. Horton.
Judge Horton was born in Orange county, New York, March 12, 1837, and
was educated at Farmers’ Hall Academy, in that county, and at Ann Arbor
University. He was admitted to practice in the supreme court of New
York, at Brooklyn, in 1859, and continued the practice of his profession
at Goshen until 1860, when he removed to Kansas, locating at Atchison.
His first public office here was city attorney, to which place he was
elected in the spring of 1861, upon the Republican ticket, and the same
year was appointed by Governor Robinson judge of the second judicial
district, and held this office, by election, until 1866, when he
resigned. He was a Republican presidential elector in 1868, and in 1869
was appointed a district attorney of Kansas by President Grant, which
office he held until 1873, when he was elected a member of the house of
representatives from this county. Three years later he was elected to
the State senate, and was also a delegate to the National Republican
convention in June of that year, and in the same year was appointed
chief justice of the supreme court of Kansas by Governor Thomas A.
Osborn, to succeed Hon. S. A. Kingman, who was before that time a
prominent practitioner in Atchison. In 1877 Judge Horton was nominated
on the Republican ticket to the office of chief justice of the State,
and he served in that capacity for seventeen years, at the end of which
time he returned to Atchison and formed a partnership with Hon. B. P.
Waggener. Judge Horton was an able jurist and lawyer, a strong
argumentative and fluent speaker. He displayed marked ability as a
parliamentarian while in the legislature, and was, altogether, a man of
strong mental capacity, good judgment, coupled with executive ability,
and much practical experience. After a number of years’ practice here,
following his resignation as chief justice of the State, he subsequently
was reëlected to the same position. He died on the second day of
September, 1902.
Judge Horton was succeeded as judge of the district court of this
district by Hon. St. Clair Graham May 11, 1866. Judge Graham served as
Judge until January 11, 1869, and was on the bench at the time that the
celebrated Regis Liosel land contest was tried in Nemaha county, in
which John J. Ingalls, another Atchison lawyer, represented some
claimants to 38,111 acres of land in the counties of Nemaha, Marshall,
Jackson and Pottawatomie. It was one of the celebrated cases of that
day. The litigation grew out of a French land grant, which subsequently
was confirmed by an act of Congress in 1858.
Judge Graham was succeeded by Hon. Nathan Price, of Troy, Doniphan
county, January 11, 1869. Judge Price served until March 1, 1872. He
practiced law in the district for a number of years thereafter, and died
in Troy March 8, 1883. B. P. Waggener, who began his wonderful career as
a lawyer during the administration of Judge Price, and who has been in
the active practice in Atchison since that time, is authority for the
statement that Judge Price was one of the most brilliant judges that
ever adorned the bench. He is described by Mr. Waggener as being a man
of a powerful personality, and thoroughly grounded in the principles of
the law.
[Illustration:
S. C. KINGMAN
]
[Illustration:
P. T. ABELL
]
During this period in the history of the county, Atchison had one of the
strongest bars in the State of Kansas. Among the able lawyers then in
the active practice were: P. T. Abell, about whom much has appeared in
this history; Gen. Benjamin F. Stringfellow, Alfred G. Otis, John J.
Ingalls, George W. Glick, Samuel C. Kingman, J. T. Hereford, Gen. W. W.
Guthrie, Albert H. Horton, Cassius G. Foster, S. H. Glenn, F. D. Mills
and David Martin, and one of that number, Mr. Waggener, is also
authority for the statement that Benjamin F. Stringfellow was the most
brilliant. General Stringfellow was a brother of Dr. John H.
Stringfellow, one of the founders of Atchison, and, like his brother,
was a strong pro-slavery leader. He was famous before he came to
Atchison, because of his widely known views with regard to the opening
of Kansas as a slave State, and for the depth and force of his arguments
upon the points then at issue. General Stringfellow was born in
Fredericksburg, Va., September 3, 1816, and before coming to Kansas he
was a resident of Missouri. He first located in Louisville, Ky., and
then went to St. Louis, and from St. Louis to Huntsville, Mo., finally
locating at Keytesville, where he settled down in his profession, and
was recognized as being a young lawyer of fine ability. He declined the
position of circuit attorney, but upon the earnest solicitation of the
governor, he finally yielded and entered upon the duties of that office,
and subsequently was elected without opposition, and held that office
for a term of four years at a salary of $250 a year. He subsequently was
elected to the legislature, with the largest majority ever received in a
county, and immediately became a very active, popular and influential
member of that body. Shortly thereafter the position of attorney-general
of the State of Missouri became vacant, and General Stringfellow was
appointed to that place. He held the office of attorney-general for four
years. It was then that he formed a partnership with Hon. P. T. Abell,
which continued until the fall of 1851, and they removed to Weston,
Platte county, Missouri, in the fall of 1853.
At the opening of Kansas to settlement in 1854, General Stringfellow
found the abolitionists preparing to get control of the country, and, in
opposition to the formation of the Massachusetts Immigrants’ Aid
Society, he took part in the organization of a pro-slavery organization
at Weston, Mo., known as the Platte County Self-Defensive Association,
of which he was secretary, and one of its most active members. General
Stringfellow, foreseeing the conflict, insisted that the only means of
preventing or deferring it, was to make Kansas a slave State, and thus
retain sufficient power in the United States Senate to defeat aggression
by the abolitionists on the rights of the South. General Stringfellow,
with all the power and enthusiasm of his southern temperament, labored
ceaselessly for the success of his cause. He was the active man of what
was generally called “Atchison, Stringfellow & Company.”
When the pro-slavery forces finally succeeded, and the destiny of Kansas
was fixed, General Stringfellow went to Memphis, Tenn., in 1858, but not
liking the climate, and compelled by his financial interests to look
after property in Atchison, he brought his family here and became a
resident of Atchison county in the fall of 1859, and remained here
during all the bitter conflict that followed, beloved and respected by
friends and opponents alike. He submitted gracefully to the final
decision, and, while never seeking office, and influenced in his
political action by what he deemed the best interests of the people of
the State, he cordially coöperated with the Republican party in Kansas,
but he was preëminently a lawyer, although he had a large outside
business interests during his residence here. He was active in the
organization and construction of the Atchison & St. Joseph railroad,
which was the first railroad connecting Kansas with the East, and was
its first attorney. Shortly before his death he made a trip around the
world. He died in Chicago in the early nineties.
[Illustration:
GEN. B. F. STRINGFELLOW
]
[Illustration:
COL. J. A. MARTIN
]
A few years after General Stringfellow immigrated from Missouri into
Kansas, there came another famous lawyer, who was also formerly an
attorney-general of Missouri, Gen. Bela M. Hughes. General Hughes was
also one of the brilliant lawyers of an early day, who remained in
Atchison but a few years as general counsel for the Overland Stage Line.
Before coming to Atchison, General Hughes was a resident of St. Joseph,
where he was the president and general counsel for the Central Overland
California & Pike’s Peak Express Company. When this line was sold, under
a mortgage foreclosure, to Ben Holladay, in 1862, General Hughes came to
Atchison. He served as general counsel for Mr. Holladay until the line
was purchased by Wells, Fargo & Company. He was retained by this company
as its general counsel, which continued to operate the overland stage
line, until a railroad was built across the plains, meanwhile moving to
Denver, where he was elected the first president and general counsel of
the Denver & Pacific railway, the first railroad to enter Denver, in
July, 1870, and he later became general counsel for the Denver & South
Park railroad, and a member of the last territorial legislature of
Colorado. General Hughes was born in Kentucky, educated at Augusta
College, and removed with his parents at an early date to Liberty, Mo.
He was a member of the Missouri legislature, prosecuting attorney, and
receiver of the United States land office at Plattsburg, from which
place he went to St. Joseph. In his early youth he was a soldier in the
Black Hawk war, serving with the Missouri volunteers. He took up his
residence in Denver in the late sixties, when the city had less than
5,000 inhabitants. He died in Denver in 1904, at the age of eighty-six
years.
Judge Samuel C. Kingman was born in Worthington, Mass., June 6, 1818. He
attended a common school and academies of his home town, and became
proficient in higher mathematics and Latin, but his regular attendance
at school ended when he was seventeen years old. He was always a sickly
man, and at times during his life was compelled to lay aside all study
and attention to active affairs. At the age of twenty he drifted to
Kentucky, where he remained eighteen years, teaching school, reading law
and practicing as an attorney. He held offices as county clerk and
county attorney in Kentucky, and was a member of the legislature of that
State in 1850. In 1856 he came to Iowa, and in the following year moved
to Brown county, Kansas, where he lived on a farm for a year, and then
opened a law office in Hiawatha. Judge Kingman was a member of the
Wyandotte Constitutional convention, which framed the constitution of
the State, and the same year was elected a judge of the supreme court,
taking his seat upon the admission of the State into the Union in 1861,
holding his office for four years. In 1866 he was elected chief justice,
and reëlected in 1872, but because of ill health he resigned in 1877,
and retired from active professional life. Judge Kingman was for a time
a resident of Atchison and a law partner of John J. Ingalls. He died in
Topeka September 9, 1904.
Cassius G. Foster, another one of the brilliant galaxy of lawyers, who
practiced in Atchison during the term of Judge Price on the bench, was
born at Webster, Monroe county, New York, June 22, 1837. He was brought
up on a farm until he was fourteen years of age, and having only the
advantages of a common district school, he attended high school at
Palmyra, N. Y., after which he went to Michigan, where he lived on a
farm near Adrian, where he worked for his uncle. Meanwhile, he attended
school at the academy in Adrian. He studied law with Fernando C. Beaman,
of Adrian, and afterwards removed to Rochester, N. Y. In June, 1859, he
came to Kansas, having previously been greatly interested in the Free
State struggle, and upon arriving in Atchison, he formed a partnership
with Judge S. H. Glenn, and immediately won for himself a high position
at the bar of the State and Federal courts. He was elected State senator
from Atchison county in 1862, and was mayor of Atchison in 1867. He
practiced law here until 1874, when he was appointed United States
district judge of Kansas.
Hon. P. L. Hubbard, of Atchison, succeeded Judge Price on the bench
March 2, 1872, and served until January 8, 1877, and following Judge
Hubbard, Hon. Alfred G. Otis was elected judge of the second judicial
district January 8, 1877, and served until January, 1881. Judge Otis was
born in Cortland county, New York, December 13, 1828, and came to Kansas
in October, 1855, and immediately became engaged in land litigation,
which at that time was very active here. During the early career of
Judge Otis in Atchison county, and for many years thereafter, land
litigation was the chief source of revenue for lawyers. There were no
great corporations then as now; no railroads for clients, and aside from
land litigation and a general practice of the law, including criminal
cases, there was but little business for lawyers. At that time the
criminal practice was not looked upon with the same disapprobation on
the part of the profession as it is in these days. A good criminal
lawyer then was an ornament to the profession, and a good criminal
advocate was in constant demand and his services brought him large
remuneration. Judge Otis was a Democrat, but a Union man, and in
addition to his activities in his profession, he was also prominent in
the business affairs of the town, and for a long time took an active
part in the management of the Atchison Savings Bank, of which he was for
many years president. Judge Otis died in Atchison May 7, 1912.
Judge Otis was succeeded by Hon. David Martin in January, 1881. Judge
Martin served until April, 1887, and was one of the eminent members of
the Atchison county bar. In personal appearance he was unique among his
fellows, and in physical appearance was the counterpart of Dickens’
famous Mr. Pickwick. He was a partner of B. P. Waggener for a number of
years, and was subsequently elected to the position of chief justice of
the supreme court of Kansas, where he served with great distinction. He
was a thorough lawyer and a scholar. He died at Atchison March 2, 1901.
It was between the terms of Judge Price and Judge David Martin that the
bar of Atchison county reached its greatest eminence, and, while there
have been good lawyers here since that time, there never has been a
period in the history of the county when there were so many brilliant
practitioners at the bar. During several years following Judge Martin,
the second judicial district, which constituted Atchison county alone,
was torn by internal dissension, and upon the resignation of Judge
Martin, Hon. H. M. Jackson was elected to the bench, April 1, 1887, and
served until January, 1888. There never was a more conscientious or
painstaking lawyer a resident of Atchison than Judge Jackson. He was not
only a fine lawyer, but he was a good citizen, useful to clients and the
public alike. At his death, May 7, 1912, he left a large practice, which
has since been conducted by his son, Z. E. Jackson. Following a bitter
contest, Hon. W. D. Gilbert succeeded Judge Jackson in January, 1888,
and served until 1889, and then came Hon. Robert N. Eaton, whose term
began in January, 1889, and ended in January, 1893. Judge Eaton was
succeeded by Hon. W. D. Webb, who in turn was succeeded by Hon. W. T.
Bland, who served from January, 1897, to January, 1902, and resigned to
go into the wholesale drug business. Hon. Benjamin F. Hudson, one of the
oldest practitioners at the bar, succeeded Judge Bland and served until
October 11, 1909, and was succeeded by Hon. William A. Jackson, the
present judge, a sketch of whose career appears in another part of this
history.
During the turbulent years that followed the organization of the second
judicial district, down to 1916, there was no greater lawyer at the
Atchison county bar than B. P. Waggener, about whom there appears an
historical sketch in another part of this history. Mr. Waggener, in
addition to being a native genius, inherited or acquired a faculty for
unremitting toil. These qualifications make him stand out in 1916 as a
brilliant leader of his profession in Atchison county. He has been
associated as a partner with many men who have been preëminent in their
profession at different periods in his career, Horton, Martin and
Doster, all of whom served as chief justices of the State, were his
partners, and in addition to these, Aaron S. Everest was at one time a
partner under the firm name of Everest & Waggener. In January, 1876,
this firm was appointed general attorneys for northern Kansas of the
Missouri Pacific and the Central Branch railroads, and from that date to
1916 Mr. Waggener has been in the constant service of this road, first
as general attorney and later as general counsel for the states of
Kansas, Nebraska and Colorado.
Col. Aaron S. Everest was an interesting member of this bar. He was a
native of Plattsburg, N. Y., and located in Kansas in 1871. His first
partner was A. G. Otis, and when he and Mr. Waggener were associated,
they were not only attorneys for the Missouri Pacific Railway Company,
but for the Pacific Express Company, the Western Union Telegraph
Company, three Atchison banks, the Atchison Bridge Company, and the firm
was also connected with the Union Pacific Railroad Company. Mr. Everest
retired from active practice a number of years before his death, having
acquired a comfortable fortune in the practice of law and in business
operations. He died in St. Louis a number of years ago.
The present membership of the Atchison county bar is composed of lawyers
of fine abilities, and the active members are as follows: James W. Orr,
for many years a partner of Mr. Waggener, and now special counsel for
the Government in important litigation against the Central Pacific
railroad; W. P. Waggener, general attorney for the Missouri Pacific
Railway Company in Kansas; J. M. Challiss, former county attorney, and a
member of the firm of Waggener, Challiss & Crane, of which A. E. Crane
is the other member; W. A. Jackson, district judge; Charles J. Conlon,
county attorney, C. D. Walker and T. A. Moxcey, both of whom were former
county attorneys; W. E. Brown, city attorney; Z. E. Jackson, of the firm
of Jackson & Jackson; Judge J. L. Berry. P. Hayes, Hugo Orlopp, E. W.
Clausen, Ralph U. Pfouts, Charles T. Gundy, judge of the city court,
George L. Brown, William Q. Cain, and Andrew Deduall.
CHAPTER XIX
MEDICAL PROFESSION.
FIRST PHYSICIANS—EARLY PRACTICE—PIONEER REMEDIES—MODERN MEDICINE AND
SURGERY—PROMINENT PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS—ATCHISON COUNTY MEDICAL
SOCIETY.
Any history of this county would be incomplete did it not dwell at some
length upon the activities of the splendid service rendered the
community by the physicians and surgeons who were among the earliest
arrivals upon the frontier, and have presided at the births and
administered to the sick and dying for the past sixty years.
It was peculiarly fitting and appropriate when Atchison was born, that a
prominent physician of those days was on hand to assist in the delivery.
In truth, Dr. J. H. Stringfellow was not only the physician in charge,
but he also was one of the parents, and from that time to the present
the medical profession has been active in the affairs of the county.
There have been many splendid representatives of the profession here
since the days of Dr. Stringfellow, and the vicissitudes and trials and
hardships they went through make up a romantic chapter in our history.
The oldest physician in the city of Atchison in 1916 in point of service
is Dr. E. T. Shelly, and it might be said, without disparagement to
others, he is not only the oldest, but he is perhaps held in as high
esteem and respect as any other physician who ever practiced here. Dr.
Shelly combines the qualities that make for good citizenship. He treats
his profession as a good Christian treats his religion. He is a man of
ideals, of vision, of integrity, and his life rings true. Yet, withal,
Dr. Shelly is not a professional hermit. While his profession comes
first, he does not allow it to exclude him from an active interest and
participation in the affairs of life. He is a student of political and
economic questions, an essayist, and a vigorous advocate of a liberal
democracy. His views on these questions are wholesome and instructive,
but it is to the profession of medicine that Dr. Shelly addressed
himself in a recent interview the author of this history had with him,
and his views were expressed as follows:
“What changes have occurred in the practice of medicine since the days
of the first physicians here! He did his work on horseback with his
medicines in saddle-bags thrown over the horse, and often had to go many
miles to visit a patient over a sparsely settled prairie with roads that
were little more than trails. The streams he had to cross were
bridgeless, and the larger ones could be crossed only at fords, which,
after heavy rains or during freezing weather, were very dangerous.
“Today, in this section of the State, these primitive conditions can
hardly be imagined. Nearly every country doctor now has an automobile,
and crosses gullies and streams on concrete bridges and travels over
‘dragged’ roads. Instead of passing through a sparsely settled country,
he finds a fine large farm house on nearly every ‘quarter’ or ‘eighty’
supplemented by a substantial barn and spacious granaries. He passes a
school house every few miles and occasionally a rural church, and lives
in a comfortable, modern home in a flourishing, well kept country town.
“In the science and art of medicine the change has been no less marked
than in its general practice.
“Until forty years ago, doctors possessed a few great remedies which
they often used very skillfully, but the knowledge of the nature of
disease was very slight. Treatment was largely symptomatic; that is,
remedies were expected chiefly to combat certain symptoms, rather than
to treat underlying causes.
“A notion very prevalent until then, and which has not yet disappeared
entirely, was that there is a remedy for every disease, and that
whenever a patient is not cured of his illness it is due, not to the
limitations of the healing art, but to the fact that treatment was not
begun early enough, or his doctor didn’t know enough, or didn’t care
enough to give him the right medicine. About that time it began to dawn
on the most thoughtful and capable medical men that the course of
disease can usually not be quickly checked; that most diseases run a
definite course; that most patients recover spontaneously, or the
disease persists to the end and is not much influenced by any of the
remedies used. About that time medical men began to appreciate also
another fact: that underlying most diseases, there is a natural tendency
toward recovery, which means that most diseases will cure themselves if
given time enough.
“While medical men insist that the practice of medicine is both a
science and an art, they are also perfectly willing to admit that it is
neither an exact science nor a perfect art. In other words, modern
medicine admits that it has not yet scaled the heights or fathomed the
depths of scientific knowledge in regard to the nature of disease or of
its cure. It is still willing to learn. Indeed, it realizes the fact
that there is still infinitely more to learn than has yet been found
out. And there is no avenue of human knowledge which it is not willing
to explore in order to find out things that will get the sick well and
keep the well from getting sick.
“A stunning blow to the old notions of the nature of disease and to the
old methods of treatment, was administered about thirty years ago by the
discovery that most diseases are due to infinitely small, living
organisms, called germs or bacteria, which prey upon, or poison the
tissues of the body, and thereby disturb, more or less seriously, some,
or all, of the normal functions of the body. The scientific laboratory
thereupon became the shrine of modern medicine; a new epoch in medicine
had arrived.
“This new epoch meant not only that medical and surgical disorders were
henceforth to be treated in a much more scientific and rational way than
they had been in the past, but that one of the greatest scientific
conquests of the ages was underway—the intelligent prevention of
disease. Preventive medicine had been born. Soon thereafter a new and
unprecedented popular interest in medical matters became prevalent.
Newspapers, magazines and the public forum took a hand in popularizing
this new knowledge of the nature of disease and the methods of
preventing disease, which was founded on the new knowledge. Disease
began to be looked on no longer as only a mysterious dispensation of
Providence, but as a thing which, as scientific medicine advanced, was
more and more to come under the knowledge and control of science.
“In no domain of modern medicine have greater advances been made than in
surgery, due chiefly to the discovery of the role which germs play in
the causation of surgical troubles. Because of the discovery of the
necessity of asepsis (the absence of germs) in surgical operations and
its practical application, operations, which, if done thirty years ago,
would have been almost invariably fatal, can now be done nearly with
impunity. Then, surgical operations in large surgical clinics were done
by men in Prince Albert coats. Today, the surgeon and his assistants are
arrayed in sterilized white gowns and rubber gloves with caps for their
heads and special coverings for mouth and nose, which are worn in order
to prevent any unfiltered, contaminated vapor from these orifices coming
in contact with the freshly made wound. Where proper precautions are
taken, and no pus or other filth has come in contact with the wound,
some of the most extensive operations are followed by immediate repair,
without the formation of pus in the wound. To enumerate even a small
part of the triumphs of modern surgery would occupy too much space and
is uncalled for here, and these triumphs would have been impossible
before the advent of surgical cleanliness.
“But modern medicine does not stop at treating or curing people. It does
something even bigger and better—it tries to keep them well. Indeed, the
medical profession is the only immolating profession there is—the only
profession that is all the time trying, by its efforts in the direction
of preventive medicine, to destroy its only source of income—the
treatment of disease—by doing all within its power to make disease less
and less prevalent. It is continually urging better personal and public
hygiene and sanitation. Because medical men understand the stunting
effects of ill health on the growing mind and body of the child, they
are urging careful medical inspection of schools and school children,
and they call for better health conditions in the family, the factory,
and the mine, and they denounce without measure unhealthy child labor.
Modern medicine tries to banish from the home and school, as nearly as
may be, that brutal precept—“He that spareth the rod, hateth his son”—
because it knows that the irritable, petulant, stubborn child may be a
sick child, or has fools for parents, while the incorrigible boy or girl
needs the attention of an expert in nervous and mental diseases rather
than the brutality of an impatient, ignorant parent or policeman.
“Modern medicine enters the jungle and by proper sanitary rules and
regulations makes a deadly, miasmatic swamp a model of cleanliness and
healthfulness, as was done in the Panama canal zone, and without which
the building of the canal would have been impossible.
“Modern medicine seeks to help and to save mankind, not only from
physical ills, but from moral ills as well. By the careful study of the
influence of inheritance and environment on the development and the
conduct of the child, it tries to make his physical inheritance as
favorable as possible, and his economic and social environment as
helpful as may be, realizing that much of our moral delinquency is due
to unjust civic and economic conditions.”
It would require a volume to tell the story of the lives of all the
early-day physicians of this county. Investigation discloses the fact
that they were numerous, and that in addition to Dr. Stringfellow, who
gave more of his time to political matters than to his profession, there
was a Dr. D. McVay here prior to 1860. He was a southern gentleman, but
apparently had more discretion than valor, for he fled from Atchison at
the beginning of the Civil war. Dr. William Grimes, concerning whose
life brief mention has been heretofore made in this history, was a
physician at Atchison in 1858. Dr. W. W. Cochrane was another physician
of the old school, a courtly, amiable gentleman, and a good physician.
He was for a number of years treasurer of the Kansas Medical Society,
and was a pioneer among physicians in administering chloroform in
childbirth cases. Dr. Arnold was here in 1859, and later, on a trip to
Denver, he was scalped by the Indians. Dr. Joseph Malin, of Weston, Mo.,
who married one of the McAdows, was a physician in Atchison in 1861, and
Dr. J. V. Brining practiced in Atchison in 1862, and remained a
practitioner here until 1914.
Dr. William Gough, who had been a Confederate army surgeon, located in
Atchison shortly after the war. He practiced in St. Joseph before coming
to Atchison, and also at DeKalb, where he married Mrs. Annie Dunning.
From DeKalb he moved to Rushville, and then came to Atchison, where he
formed a partnership with the late Dr. J. M. Linley. Together they
enjoyed an extensive medical and surgical practice, until 1887, when Dr.
Gough moved to Los Angeles, Cal., for the benefit of his health. He died
there in 1908. Dr. Gough is described by his friends as being a man of
large physique, the soul of honor, and displayed the utmost care and
gentleness in the care of his patients.
Dr. W. L. Challiss came to Atchison in 1857, and while standing high in
his profession, gave most of his time to business affairs, and practiced
only spasmodically. There was also a Dr. Buddington in Atchison in 1864,
who ran a drug store at Fourth and Commercial streets.
One of the most interesting members of the medical profession in an
early day was Dr. Charles F. Kob, a German physician, who lived here
about 1858. Dr. Kob had been a surgeon in the army and a member of the
Massachusetts and Connecticut Medical Society. He founded the town of
Bunker Hill, on Independence creek, ten miles north of Atchison, to
which reference has already been made in this history. He lived and
practiced in Boston before coming to Atchison. Dr. Amaziah Moore was
another very early day physician, who located on a farm three or four
miles west of Lancaster, in 1857. He came from Ohio. In 1861 he helped
organize a company for the Civil war, which became Company D of the
Second Kansas cavalry, of which he was captain.
[Illustration:
DR. W. W. COCHRANE
]
[Illustration:
WILLIAM L. CHALLIS
]
Dr. John C. Batsell lived about two and one-half miles northwest of
Monrovia. He was a native of Kentucky, and was born in Marion county
March 16, 1818. He was reared and educated in his native county, where
he took up the study of medicine, and became proficient in the science.
He commenced the practice of his profession in Valeene, Orange county,
Indiana, where he continued successfully for over seven years. In the
autumn of 1855 he came to Atchison county, along with John Graves and
others, and after looking around, went to DeKalb, Mo., where he remained
until the spring of 1866, when he returned to Atchison county, and
preëmpted a quarter section, upon which he lived, northwest of Monrovia.
He engaged in the practice of medicine in connection with farming, being
frequently called into Doniphan and Brown counties. Malarial diseases
prevailed to a great extent in those early days, and the people were in
straitened circumstances. He furnished medicine and attended to their
wants, losing largely in a financial way, as the greater portion of the
first dwellers moved away. In 1863 Dr. Batsell organized one-half of
Company D, Thirteenth Kansas, of which he was tendered the captaincy,
but declined and accepted the position of first lieutenant. On account
of serious illness he only served three months in the army. He was major
of the Thirteenth Kansas during the Price raid, and at the close of the
war was elected to the legislature by the Republican party. He was
originally an old-line Whig, but upon the organization of the Republican
party he joined it, as he was in favor of the abolition of slavery.
During his latter years he discontinued his practice and devoted his
time to his farm. He died about ten years ago.
Dr. David Wait came from Missouri to Kansas in 1859 and settled on a
farm near Eden postoffice, now known as the Vollmer farm. He was a
striking-looking man and was looked upon as very proficient in his
profession. He was an ardent Union man. In fact, Dr. Moore, Dr. Batsell
and Dr. Wait were all of great help to the Union cause in the days
before the war.
Among other leading physicians of the county, outside of Atchison, of
the early days, were Dr. J. F. Martin, Dr. S. G. Page, Dr. C. C.
Stivers, and Dr. Desmond, concerning whom the following information is
available:
Dr. J. F. Martin was one of the first practitioners in Atchison county.
He was a native of Bourbon county, Kentucky, and was born September 29,
1828. He graduated at the Transylvania Medical University, in 1854, and
afterwards took a course of lectures in St. Louis Medical University.
Subsequently he removed to DeKalb, Mo., where he practiced until 1856,
coming to Kansas about the same time that Dr. Batsell came. He had a
large practice in Doniphan and Brown counties. He practiced ten years,
and returned to Decatur, Ill., in 1866, where he remained seven years,
and returned to Kansas, locating in Effingham. He died in Effingham in
1877.
Dr. S. G. Page, a native of Juniata county, Pennsylvania, was born July
16, 1845. He attended Bellevue Hospital Medical College in New York in
1867: came to Kansas in 1868, and located in Center township, five miles
south of Effingham, where he located on a farm which he operated a few
years, and then located in Effingham.
Dr. C. C. Stivers, a native of Brown county, Ohio, was born January 6,
1842. He enlisted in Company A, Sixtieth Ohio Volunteer infantry;
participated in the battles of Bull Run, Cross Keys and Port Royal.
Returning from the war, he took a course of lectures at Miami University
in Oxford Ohio; located in Eden in 1877 and practiced until 1881, when
he became a resident of Effingham. In 1880 he attended Keokuk Medical
College, graduating from that institution. He had the reputation of
being a brilliant conversationalist and a very interesting gentleman.
The first doctor to locate at Lancaster was Dr. Desmond, who went there
in the latter seventies. While there he married a Miss Streeper, of Good
Intent, and about 1885 moved to Stewartsville, Mo. Dr. Desmond was
succeeded at Lancaster by Dr. A. L. Charles, who came there from Bunker
Hill, Russell county, Kansas, where he had gone four years previously,
after graduating from the Kansas City Medical College. Soon after
locating at Lancaster, Dr. Charles married Miss Alice Keeney, who lived
near Lancaster. Dr. and Mrs. Charles raised a family of seven children,
the eldest of whom is the Atchison surgeon, Dr. Hugh L. Charles. Mrs.
Charles died of pneumonia in the Atchison hospital in January, 1915. Dr.
Charles has been a very successful physician. He enjoys the profoundest
respect of his colleagues throughout the county, who regard him as an
ideal physician. It is needless to add that he also enjoys the utmost
confidence and esteem of a clientele whose numbers are limited only by
his ability to serve.
The first physician at Mt. Pleasant was Dr. Eagle, who located there
during territorial days and practiced for a number of years. Dr. Jacob
Larry also located at Mt. Pleasant about 1856. He was a South
Carolinian, and a graduate of Charleston Medical College. During the war
he was a surgeon in the army. He located in Iatan, Mo., and was building
up a large practice when he committed suicide by taking strychnine and
then blowing his brains out with a pistol. Before moving to Iatan Dr.
Larry induced Dr. John Parsons, of King’s Bridge, N. Y., who also had
been an army surgeon, to come to Mt. Pleasant. Dr. Parsons practiced
there several years, and his practice became so large that he finally
induced Dr. George W. Redmon to locate at Mt. Pleasant and assist him.
Dr. Redmon located there in the fall of 1872, and remained a number of
years, later locating at Oak Mills. There was also a Dr. W. W. Crook at
Mt. Pleasant, in the seventies. Dr. Crook also practiced in Doniphan,
and later moved to Wyoming. Dr. P. R. Moore was another physician who
located in Mt. Pleasant township during the seventies, as was also Dr.
Johnson. Dr. Charles H. Linley, now a resident physician of Atchison,
practiced in Mt. Pleasant for a number of years, and following Dr.
Linley came Dr. Miller and Dr. Rice. Dr. Roberts had a small drug store
and practiced medicine at Oak Mills in the early days. He was addicted
to the liquor habit, and was found dead in his office one morning. He
had been preceded in practice at Oak Mills by Dr. Earle, who lived about
half way between Oak Mills and Kickapoo, and who settled there during
the fifties.
Dr. J. M. Linley came to Atchison March 14, 1865. He was born in
Concord, Ky., October 28, 1837. He attended college at Princeton, Ky.,
and was graduated from Miami Medical College at Cincinnati, Ohio, in
March, 1858, and subsequently attended lectures in Bellevue College, New
York. He was post surgeon at New Madrid, Mo., in 1864. Dr. Linley was
one of the most successful practitioners of Atchison and was held in
high esteem. In 1891 he went abroad and attended clinics in hospitals of
Berlin and London. He died in Phoenix, Ariz., November 28, 1900.
The following are the members of the Atchison County Medical Society as
reported in 1915: Dr. C. H. Johnson, Dr. H. L. Charles, Dr. M. T.
Dingess, Dr. E. J. Bribach, Dr. Robert Dickey, Dr. E. P. Pitts, Dr. C.
A. Lilly, Dr. Charles Robinson, Dr. C. H. Linley, Dr. T. E. Horner, Dr.
F. A. Pearl, Dr. P. R. Moore, Emmingham, Dr. S. M. Myers, Potter, Dr. G.
E. White, Effingham, Dr. G. W. Allaman, Dr. W. F. Smith, Dr. Virgil
Morrison, Dr. E. T. Shelly.
CHAPTER XX.
INDUSTRIAL AND COMMERCIAL.
MUCH WEALTH AND ENTERPRISE ABOUND—MANUFACTURING—MILLING—EXTENSIVE
WHOLESALE HARDWARE AND GROCERY ESTABLISHMENTS—PLANING MILLS—
VARIOUS JOBBING AND RETAIL INTERESTS.
Industrial enterprises of Atchison county, so far as manufacturing and
jobbing interests are concerned, are confined exclusively to the city of
Atchison. There are no mills or factories or large manufacturing
institutions in any of the smaller towns of the county. Outside of
Atchison the labor and industry of the citizens are directed in
agricultural pursuits; the tilling of the soil, the breeding of live
stock and the development of all the other arts of husbandry, but in the
city of Atchison there are a number of establishments which give
employment to labor, and which in a number of instances ship their
finished products to all parts of the United States and into the ports
of foreign countries.