Butler County Genealogy Trails Kansas

AUGUSTA – TOWN & TOWNSHIP

William G. Cutler's History of Butler County, Kansas - Augusta

History of Augusta Township

Augusta Township was organized April 4, 1870, by the county commissioners, on petition of C. N. James and others. It included the present territory of Augusta, Bruno and Spring and the north half of Pleasant, Walnut and Bloomington townships. These township officers were appointed: Daniel Stine, trustee; A. Palmer, treasurer; C. N. James, clerk. The first election was held at Augusta, May 14, 1870, a special election to vote on the proposition to move the county seat from El Dorado to Chelsea. The vote was 119 for, and 9 against the proposition. The next was a special election on June 27, 1870, to vote $25,000 in bonds for county buildings at El Dorado. The vote was 253 against and none for the proposition.

At the first general election these officers were elected: Daniel Stine, trustee; E. R. Powell, treasurer; H. M. Winger, clerk; William Treweeke and W. D. Mead, justices of the peace.

The present boundaries of Augusta Township were established by the county commissioners April 4, 1870. The town of Augusta was incorporation February 8, 1870, upon petition of C. N. James and eighty other taxpayers of the town. C. N. James, Thomas H. Baker, W. A. Shannon, G. W. Brown, and J. R. Nixon were appointed trustees. C. N. James was elected mayor. In 1868, Shamleffer and James opened the first store near the corner of Third and State streets, in a log building.

On January 2, 1869, the postoffice was established with Mr. James as postmaster, and the postoffice and the town were given the name of Augusta, in honor of his wife, Augusta James. Immediately across the street from the postoffice the first hotel was built and operated by Mr. Mitchell.

Prior to this time, adventures and explorers of this region recognized the commercial importance of this location for a city, and two town companies were formed. They platted this location in 1857 and 1858. Its natural advantages were advertised and exploited by promoters in the East. One of these towns was named Arizona and the other Fontanelle. There were both located on the present townsite. A survey was made which started from a known boundary line stone on the Neosho River, near Humbolt, and was run due west through this county. It was discovered that the townsites were on the Osage Indian tract and were not subject to sale. These towns died, as did also the hopes of their founders and the eastern investors who desired to make fortunes.

It is said that C. N. James, in 1868, purchased the relinquishment on which the original townsite is located for $40. Daniel Stine was the oldest permanent white settler of Augusta Township. He came to Butler county in 1858. William Hildebrande had preceded him and had taken a claim east of El Dorado on what is now the county farm.

In 1868, the government concluded a treaty with the Indians whereby they relinquished their claim to a strip twenty miles wide on the north side of their reservation. This was known as the Osage Indian trust land, the northern boundary of which is about six miles north of Augusta. In 1869, A. Palmer brought in a saw mill which was located on the west banks of the Walnut river. The first residence of the town was erected in 1869, on the corner of State Street and Fourth Avenue. This building, occupied and owned by G. W. Ohmart, was built almost entirely of native lumber from the Palmer mill. October 1, 1870, the United States land office was located at Augusta. This was largely due to the influence and energy of Thomas H. Baker, who afterward served in the state legislature. Andrew Akin was registrar and W. A. Shannon, receiver. The land office brought with it a large influx of immigration to this county, and Augusta had its first boom. The county settled rapidly, and immigrants pouring down the valley were enraptured by the broad fertile valleys, the beautiful streams and abundance of walnut and other valuable timber fringing them.

Augusta was especially favored by being in the center from which these fertile valleys radiated. The Whitewater River from the north, the Walnut from the northeast, Indianola Creek from the northwest, centered at this point, and Four-Mile Creek, a few miles to the southwest, and the Little Walnut River and Hickory Creek, to the southeast, made an ideal location for the central point of a rich agricultural community. About this time the Santa Fe Railroad Company made a survey from Emporia, with a view to extending its line from that place, but for some reasons not definitely ascertainable, the company abandoned the project and extended its line west to Newton, and afterward to Wichita.

In September, 1870, The Augusta Crescent, the first newspaper, was established by A. A. Putnam and L. J. Perry. These editors were succeeded by J. B. Davis, who changed the name to The Augusta Republican. He was succeeded by U. A. Albin, who in 1874 discontinued the publication with this short valedictory: “The patronage we have received will not justify us in risking a continuance. Since ‘self-preservation is the first law of nature,’ we will endeavor to locate where we can do best.” Afterward The Southern Kansas Gazette was established by the late Charles H. Kurtz. In 1880 Mr. Albin repented, returned, and established the Republican.

In 1872 in a county seat election, Augusta received a majority of 206 over E. Dorado. The removal of the county seat was contested by El Dorado and the matter was taken into the court and decided against Augusta on a technicality. This county seat agitation continued for years, to the detriment of both places, and greatly retarded the development of the county. The same year the land office was moved to Wichita. With the loss of the land office and the county seat, the population of Augusta decreased, and the speculators, who are the mainsprings in townsite promotion, abandoned Augusta. In 1880 the Frisco railroad was completed. Augusta took on new life. In 1881, the Santa Fe extended its line through Augusta to Douglass. Within six months the population doubled. Quarries were opened and good building stone was quarried for local use and shipment. From 1888 to 1898 the general financial stringency retarded the progress of Augusta, as well as all the towns in the state, but Augusta maintained its reputation of being one of the best towns of its size in Kansas because of its favored natural resources.

In 1906, the city, largely upon the advice and earnest solicitation of N. A. Yeager, began development of gas for municipal purposes and commenced to furnish its citizens with gas at a low rate. By 1916 it had developed a gas plant estimated to be worth $100,000, paid for out of the proceeds of the gas. In 1908, the city put in a water system. In 1913, an electric light system was installed, largely paid for out of the gas receipts. In 1916 the city completed a sanitary sewer system. From the development of the oil field, the growth of Augusta has been rapid. In 1915 the population was 1,400; in 1916, 3,575.

To the archaeologist, Augusta presents an interesting field. Across the Walnut River from the present city are ruins of an ancient city covering many times the territory now covered by Augusta. Here are evidences of ancient races of people, and fragments of pottery as ancient as the pyramids of Egypt. Fragments of rock used in the manufacture of tools, which are not found this side of Lake Superior or the Rocky Mountains; hand mils for the grinding of grain, manufactured from stone not found in this vicinity; small mounds extending from section 4 in Walnut Township to section 26, Augusta Township, representing the accumulations, perhaps, of centuries. In these are the fragmentary evidence that delights the antiquarian and appeals to imagination. Here is represented the highest skill, evidencing a civilization far above the American Indian.

This location was selected for its commercial advantages as well as for strategic reasons. The three sides of this—to the east, north and west, define a wall almost perpendicular, ranging from 25 to 50 feet high, at the foot of which runs the deep chanel of the Walnut, making an attack from this direction, with ancient weapons, almost impossible. Here large springs furnish ample water supply of the best kind. The Indian says that many bloody battles were fought to gain and hold this important point. Doubtless this was the best hunting ground in the mid-continent. Here are the first timbered protection and the first permanent water for the game and animal life which must have sought shelter from the blizzards which swept the plains, and the drought which parched the great American desert. Here the rich valleys afforded game for the primeval inhabitants.

According to Indian tradition, the last great battle was fought in the low grounds between the present site of Augusta and the Whitewater and Walnut rivers. If Indian tradition can be relied upon, many thousand braves in hand encounter battled and perished in the last great struggle for this stronghold. Whatever may have transpired before the present civilization conquered this territory is largely conjecture. One civilization succeeding another of different type, one race of people succeeding another, different in character, has been the history of all time. Doubtless it is true of this locality. (Butler County's First 80 Years - By N. A. Yeager, In 1916)