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1873 in Winfield
Winfield Courier, Saturday, January 18, 1873. [Editorial.]
A home in the west more attractive than this in its location and offering a wider scope to the ambitious businessman and mechanic with a limited capital to commence a growth in business, remains as yet undiscovered.
Winfield is most favorably located along the eastern skirt of the Walnut Valley (remarkable for its fertility of soil and the abundance of fine timber lining its shores and tributaries) and presents to the weary traveler in search of a place with which to anchor his hopes of a fortune in the west a most inviting prospect.
The church and school advantages are superior to most towns of its size.
The Baptist church is a handsome stone edifice, neatly furnished with all the necessaries calculated to adore the interior of the building to make it in keeping with the exterior.
The house built by the Methodist fraternity is also a model of taste and an ornament though not yet completed. Services are held regularly every Sabbath.
A thoroughly graded school, under the supervision of Rev. Parmelee and assistant, is being taught in the elegant two-story stone school-house. Citizens point with no small degree of pride to their facilities for giving the young a foundation on which to build a useful knowledge.
Sections sixteen and thirty-six of every congressional township are set aside for school purposes and when sold to settlers, creates a fund to aid in the advancement of the school interests of the state.
The manufacturing business is fast being developed in our midst, that will invite to our town the sturdy farmers of some of the western counties that are now unknown to us.
A three and one-half story stone mill is rapidly approaching completion, built by Messrs. Bliss & Blandin, with an expenditure of twenty thousand dollars, and before it will be entirely completed will absorb at least five thousand more. This company are now introducing their superior machinery into the building and will have all in operation before the first of March. When the time arrives that will demand additions, they will be promptly made.
Andrew Koehler, a miller of experience, has a frame structure underway to be used also for milling purposes. The design to secure power by tunneling through a neck of land to gain a fall of water without damaging the stream was an original idea and will prove a flattering success.
These mills will both be run by waterpower, the economy of which in a country where fuel is an object, as it is here, will be realized when the profits of a year’s business will be computed.
The COURIER is read weekly by two hundred families to whom it is mailed regularly.
Winfield Courier, Saturday, January 18, 1873.
R. S. Waddell, Esq., has taken the material of the Elk Falls Examiner to Winfield, Cowley Co., and will issue a paper there about the 11th inst. While we consider it a misfortune for Elk Falls that its citizens could not support a newspaper, we congratulate the citizens of Winfield upon the acquisition not only of a splendid printing office, but in Mr. Waddell, an enterprising citizen and an accomplished gentleman. Bo has our good wishes and hopes that he may succeed in his new field of labor. Longton Ledger.
Winfield Courier, Saturday, January 18, 1873.
Ellis & Black are selling Groceries at cost.
Winfield Courier, Saturday, January 18, 1873.
New Goods. McMillen and Shields are receiving large quantities of goods from the east.
Winfield Courier, Saturday, January 18, 1873.
Mail. Stages from the East which have heretofore run tri-weekly are now making two trips a week.
Winfield Courier, Saturday, January 18, 1873.
A Presbyterian Church was organized at Arkansas City on last Sabbath, 12th inst., by Rev. A. R. Naylor, of Winfield.
Winfield Courier, Saturday, January 18, 1873.
Papers. Copies of this weeks’ issue can be had at this office on subscription, or at the News Store of W. M. Boyer, Esq., on Main street.
Winfield Courier, Saturday, January 18, 1873.
Repairs. A. H. Green is tearing out the old front and putting an open business front into his house, adjoining W. H. H. Maris’ dry goods store.
Winfield Courier, Saturday, January 18, 1873.
An extra line of musical instruments, violins, guitars, etc., with a choice variety of silverware is now being received by J. N. Yerger in bank building.
Winfield Courier, Saturday, January 18, 1873.
New Sign. Ellis & Black, the enterprising successors of T. H. Benning, in the corner store, have ornamented the front of their establishment with a new and neat sign, the workmanship of T. J. Jones.
Winfield Courier, Saturday, January 18, 1873.
New Arrival. Ten teams arrived this week from the railroad, bringing the new machinery for Bliss & Blandin’s Grist mill. It will be placed in the house at once, and all reasonable efforts will be used to have it in running order by the first of March.
Winfield Courier, Saturday, January 18, 1873.
Lost by Fire. Wm. Barker, who lives on the Black Creek east of town, lost by fire, his stable, a valuable stallion, and some twenty-five bushels of corn and eight or ten tons of hay. Negligence and absence from home the cause of the disaster. Losses will amount to about two hundred dollars.
Winfield Courier, Saturday, January 18, 1873.
A sociable is to be given by the ladies of the Congregational Church society next Tuesday evening.
Winfield Courier, Saturday, January 18, 1873.
Real Estate. S. C. Smith, the obliging and efficient real estate agent, called on us this week, and left his advertisement for insertion. He reports houses in demand and hard to find at any price. Mr. Smith is an active, reliable businessman, handling a considerable amount of lands and houses for sale and rent, besides being a heavy property owner in person.
Winfield Courier, Saturday, January 18, 1873.
Pugilistic. A little mill on the principal street in the town between two foreign gents was prematurely stopped by the appearance on the scene of Sheriff Parker. One, the defendant, in a diminutive law suit over a twenty cent ring, the other a principal witness, disagreed over some of the proof deduced in the trial, and concluded to settle it in the most chivalrous style the time and place would permit of, but the sheriff objected and a neighborhood sensation was ruined. One would have thought a ride of twenty miles after the prisoner on a cold night, the charge against whom was the stealing of a ring of no value, would have cherished such a feeling between the parties that a hasty separation would be the last thought occurring to either one.
Winfield Courier, Saturday, January 18, 1873.
A KANSAS DOMICILE. Eyes were opened in wonder and mouths distended in merriment at the introduction of a portable house, fully equipped with sleeping and culinary departments, moving gracefully up Main Street, drawn by sneezing horses, on Tuesday last. The foundation was laid on the running gear of a wagon, was framed in the most approved style, while the architecture of the building would shame those best versed in ancient and modern styles. We think it was propelled by steam, though the smoke from the pipe protruding from the roof may have emanated from the kitchen. Rents are high, and if one could be had large enough to accommodate our wife and numerous children, together with the print shop, we think she could be induced to invest a dollar.
Winfield Courier, Saturday, January 18, 1873.
Removal. A. A. Jackson succeeded in moving the gallery building from the north end of town on the lot south of the livery stable.
The lower room will soon be occupied by Geo. Tapley as a saloon and billiard hall. The upper room will be used as a public hall.
Winfield Courier, Saturday, January 18, 1873.
Still the work of improvement goes along, and will until some other street is commenced, for at present the vacant lots on Main street in the business portion of town are limited to a half dozen.
Winfield Courier, Saturday, January 18, 1873.
We are under renewed obligations to our old and esteemed friend, L. B. Paul, who keeps the Wholesale and Retail Grocery store on Main Street, for late favors.
Winfield Courier, Saturday, January 18, 1873.
Goldie Triplett, formerly of this place, now traveling for a New York house, has been stopping in town for a few days. He is on the road to Texas.
Winfield Courier, Saturday, January 18, 1873.
E. B. Kager has gone to Topeka.
Winfield Courier, Saturday, January 18, 1873.
John R. Smith has just returned home from a trip Eastward. He was in town Tuesday.
Winfield Courier, Saturday, January 18, 1873.
J. J. Sprague of the Lagonda House returned from the East last Monday.
Winfield Courier, Saturday, January 18, 1873.
“Billy” Anderson has gone to Wichita for business and sport.
Winfield Courier, Saturday, January 18, 1873.
Greenlee & Co. are selling large lots of fruit trees in the county and receiving a vast amount of real estate to sell and rent. Their contracts now exceed twenty thousand acres of land, some of it the finest in the valley of the Walnut. They are also conveyancers, assisting in drawing up the papers of a sale.
Winfield Courier, Saturday, January 18, 1873.
Coal. A Mr. Clain, hailing from the central portion of Howard County, exposed for sale on the streets of Winfield, a superior quality of stone coal, mined from the bluffs of Baker Creek, in the vicinity of New Boston. The vein from which this was taken is four feet under the surface, and averages sixteen inches clear coal, and can be easily mined by stripping.
Winfield Courier, Saturday, January 18, 1873.
Salt Licks. We have salt licks on the west of town, that with the introduction of fuel into the market, can be made to yield an abundance of this article to supply the wants of stock raisers.
Winfield Courier, Saturday, January 18, 1873.
Furniture. In passing by the old stand of Jackson & Myers we noticed a large load of Household Furniture being unloaded. Upon inquiry we found that Capt. Greer, who has formerly been selling school furniture in company with Mr. Boyer, has connected with his former business household and kitchen furniture, under the firm name of Close & Greer; where will be found a large and well selected assortment of Household and School House Furniture. Charts, globes, maps, books, and stationery are always kept on hand.
He is the sole agent in this county for the publishers of the Text Books, recommended to be used in our schools by the State Superintendent of Public Instruction. School boards and others interested will do well to give him a call.
Winfield Courier, Saturday, January 18, 1873.
DIED. FREDERICK HOLMES, INFANT. Died of inflammation of the Dura Mater (Otitis), near Winfield, Cowley County, Kansas, January 11th, 1873, FREDERICK, only son and youngest child of N. W. and Catharine Holmes, aged four years, eight months and seventeen days.
Winfield Courier, Saturday, January 25, 1873.
[For the COURIER.]
James McDermott.
Our Representative in the state Legislature has found enough to do in Topeka and has gone to work with a will. His work before organization was to help W. W. Walton through as journal clerk, in which he succeeded so completely that there was no opposition when the vote was taken. On the first day after organization, he presented a bill to amend and define the laws in relation to voting bonds, so as to remove all doubt as to what must be done to make an election legal, and a bill to fund the county indebtedness. Both of these measures are of great importance to this county. COWLEY.
Winfield Courier, Saturday, January 25, 1873.
The following we clip from the Commonwealth, relative to the burning of the depot at Independence. The merchant referred to is undoubtedly W. H. H. Maris.
Some fifteen or twenty thousand dollars worth of goods stored there were totally destroyed. A gentleman living in Longton, Howard county, had only the day before paid $107 freight on a lot of goods and household furniture. A merchant in Winfield, named Miers, was also a heavy loser, and a gentleman named Henry, living four miles west of there, lost a fine piano. There were a number of smaller losses.
Winfield Courier, Saturday, January 25, 1873.
Eggs are scarce and high.
Butter, in light demand at a fair price.
Winfield Courier, Saturday, January 25, 1873.
Singing School. There will be a meeting of the members of the M. E. Church, next Monday evening.
Winfield Courier, Saturday, January 25, 1873.
Bird Dogs for Sale. By calling on J. C. Lillie, at Winfield, a genuine English pointer or Russian setter can be purchased cheap; either are well trained for field sport.
Winfield Courier, Saturday, January 25, 1873.
Writing School. The writing school in the new schoolhouse, under the supervision of J. M. Read, is doing well. An average attendance of twenty scholars, who are improving rapidly.
Winfield Courier, Saturday, January 25, 1873.
S. H. Myton returned this week from a visit to old friends in Indiana.
D. A. Millington, E. B. Kager, and “Biny” [?] Anderson returned from Topeka this week.
W. H. H. Maris left for Independence.
Winfield Courier, Saturday, January 25, 1873.
The friends of W. W. Walton will be pleased to learn of his success in obtaining the appointment of Journal Clerk of the House. He acquitted himself well in whatever he undertook in this county, and gained many very warm friends.
Winfield Courier, Saturday, January 25, 1873.
Notice. Persons knowing themselves indebted to the firm of Myers & Johnson or Jackson & Myers, will save costs by calling upon Mr. Myers at their old stand and making settlement before the 1st day of February.
Winfield Courier, Saturday, January 25, 1873.
Presbyterian Church. A Presbyterian church was organized by Rev. A. R. Naylor, on last Sabbath, 19th inst., in Winfield, with encouraging prospects. They have preached every alternate Sabbath at 2 o’clock p.m. in the Baptist church. A Board of trustees and also a building committee was appointed.
Winfield Courier, Saturday, January 25, 1873.
Call. C. P. Spaulding of Tisdale made us a hasty call. He reports everything about Tisdale in fine condition.
Winfield Courier, Saturday, January 25, 1873.
A Change. Mr. True of Thomasville is closing out his stock of goods, and will move to the opposite side of the river, where he will engage in farming.
Winfield Courier, Saturday, January 25, 1873.
We are informed by County Treasurer E. B. Kager and Deputy that the state officers demand the payment of taxes before the 1st day of February; if they are not paid prior to that time, the penalty will be added.
Winfield Courier, Saturday, January 25, 1873.
Careless Shooting. A gentleman, while walking along Ninth avenue, was startled by the singing of a ball in close proximity to his face; the same instant came the report of a pistol from the north part of town, giving the direction of the ball.
If you are shooting cats, have respect enough for your neighbors to chase them to the roof of a house and not shoot while they are running the top of a fence.
Serious accidents might arise from too free a use of fire-arms after night.
Winfield Courier, Saturday, January 25, 1873.
The proceeds from the Social, given by the ladies of the Congregational Church Society far exceed the expectations of the most sanguine. The entire receipts were about $27.00; expenditures $4.00. They will repeat the entertainment in four weeks with a change of programme and the introduction of several new and interesting features.
Winfield Courier, Saturday, January 25, 1873.
New Store. Enoch Maris and Dr. Graham, two affable gentlemen, have formed a co-partnership for the purpose of engaging in the drug business. They have perfected arrangements with A. H. Green and secured his newly re-fitted building on Main street, where they will soon display their stock.
Winfield already supports three retail drug houses; but if the addition of another will not seriously detract from them, we say welcome.
Winfield Courier, Saturday, January 25, 1873.
Fire. The following extract from the Kansas Democrat will interest many of our businessmen materially.
“Wednesday evening, this week, Jan. 15th, at about 7 o’clock, the depot of the L., L. & G. railroad was discovered to be on fire. The fire spread over the whole building, and in a short time it was burned to the ground. The business of the day being over, the officers and men had left the building. Before any person could get to the depot, the building was so far burned that but few things could be saved. There was a large amount of goods in store for western towns; Independence freight had all been delivered during the day. The fire might have originated from a spark from the engine that left the depot for Cherryvale about twenty minutes before the fire broke out. The depot building cost about $6,000.”
W. H. H. Maris, among others of Winfield, are probable losers by this conflagration. Mr. Maris started for Independence on Tuesday to look after some teams he sent out for freight three weeks ago that have not been heard of since. We hope the losses sustained will be lighter on everybody than was at first anticipated.
Winfield Courier, Saturday, January 25, 1873.
Mr. Read Robinson, a heavy merchant of Independence, visited town this week.
Winfield Courier, Saturday, January 25, 1873.
Market. Winfield is a good market for everything. The farmers know it for they come twenty miles to sell their produce, or exchange it for home necessaries. The article of fresh meat alone is a fair specimen: At one time we counted four wagons loaded with pork, and two loaded with buffalo and venison, standing in the streets, the owners seeking purchasers who were readily found. Prairie chickens, quail, and other small game can be had at any time.
Winfield Courier, Saturday, January 25, 1873.
Wheat. Winter wheat is doing well in this vicinity, and as far as heard from, throughout the country.
R. Hudson says that four acres on his farm, north of town, sowed with seed imported from Canada, cannot be beaten in the state.
A gentleman from Dutch creek reports the prospects good for a large crop.
The divide between the Walnut and Arkansas rivers west of town is settled by a wealthy and industrious class of farmers, many of whom have 160 acres under cultivation.
A great amount of spring wheat will be sowed in this locality, and judging from the rich soil and the lay of the land, the wheat harvest of Seventy-three will be heavier in Cowley county than in many counties having several years the lead in agricultural improvements.
