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Bean School, Wabaunsee County
Jamie Schendt writes a history of Bean School (District #3 one room school) in Wabaunsee County. Serving an integrated landscape of both white and African American farmers, Bean School was attended by Washington Owen, first black graduate of KSU. The…
Morton City, Hodgeman County
Theodore Brown traces the origins of the little-studied Hodgeman County Exoduster settlement. Using archival material from Jetmore Museum and his own family history, he documents the stone masonry skills brought to western Kansas by former slaves in…
St. Boniface, Scipio, Anderson County
This is a study of the origins of St. Boniface Parish. The author takes you from the early beginnings founded by Jesuit missionaries as a territorial Catholic church serving displaced native Americans to a 600 acre subsistence farm and monastery run…
Fort Scott, Bourbon County
This paper examines the development of Fort Scott, Kansas from 1890 to 1920 and compares this small city with other towns in southeastern Kansas at the time. The diversification of industry brought by the railroad, combined with a stabilized…
Elbow Community, Pottawatomie County
The Elbow Creek Community in Blue Township, Pottawatomie County, resided approximately five miles from Manhattan, Kansas near the border between Riley County and Pottawatomie County.
Elbow was “settled” in the 1860's, and would officially die with…
Elbow was “settled” in the 1860's, and would officially die with…
Moehlman's Bottoms, Riley County
This paper chronicles the story of Henry Moehlman and the development of Moehlman Bottoms in Riley County, Kansas. Includes effects of natural disasters, early Kansas rural education, historical photos, and present day maps and pictures of Moehlman…
Anness, Sedgwick County
W.H. Wilson founded Anness in the 1880s, in what is now southwestern Sedgwick County. Named after his wife Ann and born out of the overstepping railroad into his farmland. The farm community of Anness never flourished to more than 100 residents and…
Iuka, Pratt County
The western Kansas town of Iuka survives today as a small farm community with a COOP. It was established as an early Pratt County settlement in 1877 by Reverend Andrew Axline. The town thrived until the county boundaries changed and it lost its bid…
Gatesville-Siding, Clay County
Gatesville was named for Lorenzo Gates, who settled on Mall Creek in the fall of 1857. There was a school, a post office, and a railroad, but no town was ever established, even though it was an essential hub for livestock shipping.
Newbury, Wabaunsee County
The land was bought from the Pottawatomie Indians by the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad and sold to German immigrants for a profit. The township of Newbury was established in 1868, and the town bearing the same name followed soon after. The…
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Diamond Springs, Morris County

Diamond Springs first began as a supply point on the Santa Fe Trail, but proslavery forces destroyed it in 1863. After the Civil War, settlers from…