Butler County’s Eighty Years ~ 1855-1935
by Jessie Perry Stratford
A History of Butler County Biographical Sketches and Portraits with Foreword by Rolla A. Clymer
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R. S. Howerton, president; Murray Gilkeson, secretary. Rotary Club – Dr. James A. Alley, dentist, president; George Harrington, secretary. Kiwanis Club – Harvey Smith, president; Roy N. Book, secretary. American Legion Post – Leonard Whitehill Post, No. 189, Ralph Grady, commander; Milan Hedrick, adjutant. Auxiliary – Leonard Whitehill Post Auxiliary, No. 189, Mrs. Isabelle Kirkwood, president; Bertha Shore, secretary. Local 246, International Association Oil Field, Gas Well and Refinery Workers of America; Jack Schindler, president; E. B. Watson, secretary. Churches – Methodist, Rev. E. M. Fly; Christian Church, Rev. Dan Smith; Baptist – Rev. L. R. Johnson; Nazarene – Rev. F. C. Savage; St. James Catholic – Rev. M. Gorges.
Benton has a population of 215, with an assessed valuation of real estate, personal, railroad, telephone, oil and pipe line properties amounting to $118,297.
Clyde McGrew, a Benton banker for thirty years, is mayor. Councilmen are B. F. Johnson, Cecil Widyck, J. O. Pitcher, W. R. Hinnenkamp and E. J. Haase. Mrs. Thekla McCune Wait is city treasurer, and W. B. Minor is city clerk.
J. R. Crump’s drug store occupies a new brick building, and the adjoining new tile buildings, owned by George Medworth and F. M. Pitcher, are occupied by a grocery owned by Allen Hart, and a barber shop and lunch room. The frame buildings which stood on these sites burned in February, 1932.
School board members are Clyde McGrew, president; I. M. Guinty, clerk; C. H. Simmons, treasurer. Jess Firestone is pastor of the Methodist church.
L. C. Hill owns the general dry goods and grocery store. George Medworth and Clyde McGrew have the Ford agency; R. C. Burr the garage; Moots Brothers and E. B. Haase the two hardware stores; B. F. Johnson owns a produce house and L.O. Phillips manages the produce house owned by the K. V. Hall Produce Company; J. L. Robinson is the blacksmith; W. B. Minor is local manager of the Conley Lumber Company; John Mullins owns the barber shop; Mr. and Mrs. E. W. Simons own and operate the Benton lunch room; E. J. Haase is drayman and ice dealer; E. W. Moots manages the Larabee Flour elevator.
Mrs. Anna Winegarner is postmistress. Mrs. Susie Marnane has charge of the telephone office. C. M. Bodle is Missouri Pacific station agent.
Cassoday, in Sycamore Township is one of the important points not only in northeast Butler County, but in Kansas. It is in the midst of a great grazing territory. In the spring of 1934, approximately 25,000 head of cattle were unloaded from 600 stock cars, at Cassoday and turned into the surrounding pastures, where, after six months of grazing on the rank, bluestem grasses, they are in fine condition for Eastern markets.
The first building erected on the townsite was a two-story frame dwelling and store room owned by O. Beaman. For years this was the only building on the tract. Later, the Orient company surveyed a proposed line for a railroad branch, a plat was laid out and buildings started. The plat for town lots was laid on the south side of the Orient grade.
In 1878, James Robinson and family came to Kansas from Decatur, Illinois, remaining in Chase County until 1885, when Mr. Robinson bought 160 acres of unbroken land, one-half mile east of the new Cassoday townsite. The farm is still owned by the Robinson family and is occupied by Fred Burk. Mr. Robinson headed a company that organized the Cassoday State Bank and was its cashier. This company bought the eighty acres north of the Orient grade, platted it in town lots and most of the town now lies north of the railroad tracks. Mr. Robinson died in 1912.
When the post office was moved to the new town from old Sycamore Springs, Miss Edna Robinson was appointed postmistress. She continued in the office until her marriage to Dr. Hurd. Her brother, Herbert Robinson, succeeded her as postmaster, and for the past seventeen years, has held the office. When the family first came to the community, Herbert Robinson was ten years of age. He is universally liked. In March 1898, Herbert Robinson and Miss Daisy Hoy were married. Their son, LeRoy is connected with the promotion sales department of the Sinclair Oil Company at Kansas City, Mo. As postmaster, merchant, band member and civic leader, Herbert Robinson has fostered many projects for the best interests of the town.
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Cassoday High School board of education includes E. G. Wickers, Charles G. Knab and Dwight Harsh. F. A. Burk, C. I. Sturgeon and Perry Whitham from the grade school board. Rev. Elmer Reimer is pastor of the Methodist Church. Ed Oldfield and O. W. Meyer have grocery stores; J. M. Read a hardware store; Carrie E. Lines and Mrs. C. Cannon operate restaurants; Walter Mulanax has a blacksmith shop. M. P. Jones has a hotel; M. C. Danby has a garage and filling station; J. A. Anderson a grocery; A. G. Gennette a barber shop; B. J. Frank, a dry goods store; C. A> Eilert a dry goods store of which Mrs. W. T. Wallace is manager. R. M. Conkling has a lumber yard and hardware store.
Mrs. C. R. Edwards is president of the Mutual Helpers’ Club. There also is a Ladies Aid Society. Mrs. J. H. Fitzinger is president and Mrs. H. Robinson, vice president of the Cassoday Literary Society.
A. A. Rich is manager of the Western Creamery and Produce House; M. J. Hursh is president and H. R. Robinson secretary-treasurer of the Cassoday Mutual Telephone Company.
Cassoday high school was completed and equipped at a cost of more than $40,000 in 1925.
(George Snell)
Douglass, which has a population of 766 and real estate, personal, railroad, telephone, oil and pipe line properties assessed at $405,954, is a city of home owners.
During the prosperous years following the World War and oil development, Douglass improved materially in the matter of modern residences. The city water for Douglass is provided by wells of pure, soft water from the gravel hills east of the town. These wells were drilled by the city in 1930. Electric lights, natural gas and sanitary sewage are conveniences. Principal streets are paved with brick and many residence streets are improved by gravel from the gravel beds south of the town.
The Douglass gravel industry has been important in the town’s development, yielding considerable revenue. Harry C. Whaley, who supplies sand and gravel commercially, is known extensively as “The Sand Man of Douglass, Kansas.”
Although Douglass profited by the oil development, it is essentially dependent upon agriculture and the livestock industry. However, since 1933, when the stimulating influence of the acidizing treatment of small producing oil wells was first applied to the industry in that section, Douglass has had a revival of oil interests in its territory and as 1935 approaches, there are test wells drilling on four sides of the townsite. Several small wells have been completed as good producers by the aid of the new acid process.
The Douglass school system is the largest wage-paying institution in Douglass and it is a source of pride among Douglass folk that their school is credited in Class A rank.
The Santa Fe Railway Company is the heaviest taxpayer in Douglass Township, while the elevator, under ownership and able management of L. D. Brandt, employs the largest number of wage earners and disburses the greatest sum of money of any private industry. The House Hardware – a landmark at Douglass – serves the farming community excellently. This business is capably managed by H. M. House; son of the pioneer merchant, the late George E. House. The Wilson Brothers Drug store is known for its good service and high standing in merchandising ethics. The Corner Drug Store, which location has endured for two generations, is operated by H. A. Gates. H. T. Holcomb conducts the general store which he has operated more than thirty years. D. W> Farnsworth has had many anniversaries as city baker. Guyot Brothers operate a market and grocery par-excellent in the location for many years occupied by their father, the late C. P. Guyot. O. V. Jewell has a thriving business in meats and groceries in the Opera House block. Douglass Dry Goods Company, opened for business in the Masonic building in October 1934, and the Irwin Funeral Home, opened in the spring of 1934, are important additions to the business circles.
The Long-Bell Lumber Company is the survivor of the number of lumber firms which catered to the oil field development during 1916 to 1924. C. A. Carlman has survived many competitors as the produce man. John Fetteroff is the jeweler and mends the time pieces for the community. Garages are conducted by Martin Brothers, Dunagan & Sons, R. O. Gresham and Raymond Baum. Filling stations are operated
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by Martin Brothers, the Cities Service, R. O. Gresham, Vernon Wallace, W. H. Thornborough, Thurston Grubb and Dunagan and Sons. Bulk station agents are Charles W. Burgess, Walter Essex and Vernon Wallace. Dry cleaning and shoe repairing are handled by Harry Rehels. W. F. Howard is the efficient station agent and Uncle Sam complimented youth last spring by naming Harry Clary, postmaster. Paul C. Bare operates an insurance agency. J. B. Vandergriff conducts the Arcade restaurant. Others are operated by Sara Shanks and Otis Martin.
Douglass community is served by two physicians, while the dental service of Dr. C. A. Ogg has held high esteem and the patronage of a generation. The Douglass Theater, a 1934 addition to the business service, has satisfactory patronage.
Recreation parlors are conducted by C. H. Shanks and W. P. Dunagan. Barbers are S. Dennis, Homer Wakefield, and W. H. Irvin. Freda Kenney conducts the deluxe beauty shop.
The Exchange State Bank, for 35 years has been an efficient, sound and accommodating institution. City officers are J. M. Guyot, mayor; H. M. House, L. D. Brandt, W> Z. Essex, L. A. Cronk and Elmer Martin, councilmen. Jessie Davis is city clerk; Grant Shade, marshal. L. D. Brandi, J. F. Bush and John Deatherage are members of the school board.
Douglass maintains four churches. Rev. Harry S. Scott is minister of the pioneer church, the Congregationalist. Rev. George Watts has been returned the fourteenth time as minister of the Methodist Episcopal church. Elder L. L. Roberts, who supervised building the fine brick edifice for the Christian congregation in 1914, is again serving after an absence of many years. Elder C. H. Casada serves the Church of Christ congregation which erected a fine new frame church building in the spring of 1934. Newton E. Terrill is Post commander.
A central point for shipping cattle is DeGraff, north of El Dorado. The population is estimated at fifty. Robert Harvey is postmaster and owner of the lumber yard and hardware store. James Houston has a general store and O. N. Isely has a grocery store and filling station. L. H. Tim is the Santa Fe agent. Mrs. Earl Ellis is president of the Parent-Teacher Association. G. W. Locke is superintendent of the Sunday School which has an average attendance of sixty. Paul Heymann, G. W. Locke and M. S. Shields are members of the school board.
On August 31, 1923, the El Dorado Times said, editorially: Butler County can be proud of DeGraff. Not a dissenting vote was cast at the election held this week to vote bonds for a new $17,000 grade school at that place. Farmers and oil men both may not feel flush during the present temporary pinch, but they won’t begin to skimp on the schools. When it comes to a question of the welfare and progress of the schools, they dig down into their pockets and pay the taxes to put up better buildings, organize larger teaching staffs and give the children more advantages. In this they are building for the next generation that shall be more proficient to meet its complex problems than the present. The attitude of Butler County towards its schools is one of the brightest stars in its crown. Rapidly a school system is being built here that will be mighty hard for other counties to equal.
Elbing, with a population of 110 and an assessed valuation of real estate, personal, railroad, telephone, oil and pipe line properties amounting to $50,971, has as mayor, M. M. Bishop. Concilmen are W. F. Cosaud, G. Rothermel, William Mathoit, H.E. Baumgartner and Harold Baumgartner. C. H. Sooby is clerk and D. W. Sooby, city treasurer. H. B. Schmidt is postmaster. A. H. Cartwright is proprietor of the Cartwright Mercantile Company; Henry Epp has a grocery and is buyer for the cream station; Sooby Brothers have a garage and blacksmith shop. Elbing has two churches, the Zion Mennonite and the Missionary Church. William Rothermel is wood worker and hardware merchant. Among other enterprises are the Kirkwood Lumber Company and the Larabee Elevator Company, grain buyers. School officials are W. F. Cosaud, Clayton H. Sooby and William Entz.
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(By Estel Marie Pickrell)
Leon has a population of 572 and an assessed valuation of real estate, personal, railroad, telephone, oil and pipeline properties, amounting to $244,034.
Leon was greatly changed by the advent of oil. In 1921, Marshall No. 1 was drilled east of Leon but was not a commercial producer. In the fall of 1921, Hasty, Smith & Hoyt drilled a test west of Leon on the Boellner land. On the morning of December 15, 1921, the people of Leon were greatly excited by news that oil had been struck in the Boellner well at a depth of 2660 feet.
Tests then were drilled on land belonging to H. F. Snodgrass, State Bank of Leon, Seglem, Van Winkle, Clark and Steinhoff. With these additional wells a new switch spur was built on the Frisco a mile west of Leon, to accommodate the White Eagle which loaded oil in tank cars to be shipped to commercial centers. Houses began to go up near the spur. The new town was called Siville in honor of Silas Clark, but the town that sprang up overnight died about as suddenly. A typical oil boom town. There were 67 producing wells at one time in Boellner Field. This field was considered a link to the Yates, to the south, and the Smock Pool to the north.
To the north of the Boellner field lay the Beadles pool, where the first well was drilled in 1922 as a small oiler. Blankenship Petroleum Company, in September, 1922, drilled in a 75-barrel well on the Shafer farm. This well in 1926, was deepened and began producing 200 to 250 barrels daily. Thirteen wells were drilled on the Schafer land. George W. Mobley is foreman of this lease.
Schafer Pool was developed to the south with drilling in of seven McGinnis wells by Allison & Fitzwilliams. E. G. Orndorff was foreman for years. To the east lays the Davis-Hazlett-Bradford-Frazier pool which at one time had Holford No. 1, and seven Lewis producers. Chas. Dauster is foreman. To the south of this pool is Dixie Oil Company’s five Marshall producers of which Jim Cannon is foreman; to the east is the Larobb lease but all the wells are plugged. To the north of the T. M. and Sarah Tatum No. 1, still a good producer, was drilled in 1927. These four leases, comprising almost a square section, at one time produced more oil than any other similar tract in Butler County.
To the northwest of Leon is the Bluestem-Garden-Mohawk pool, comprising the John Palmer, Grant Dougherty, Sluss, MacLean and Beadles wells. This pool was discovered in 1928 when H. B. Garden of Augusta drilled in the Sluss No. 1 and the Mohawk Company drilled in their Palmer No. 1 good at the start for 400 barrels each. There are now about 75 or 100 wells in this pool. Other wells drilled in as small producers were the Brissey, Oldbury, Reynolds, J. J. Dedrick, Cabeen, C. E. Tatum, Schoenrock, A. J. Palmer, and Nancy J. McCaffree, some of which have been abandoned.
To the east of Leon is the big Knox gasser, drilled in 1923; also the Lill gas well. In 1926 the Seward pool was discovered, one of the best in Keighley district. Discovery of the Keighley pool to the south of the Sewrd well, was made in 1925.
To the south of Leon is the most active pool of 1934 – the Stern wells on the Cromwell-Lewis lease. Five wells are pumping and a new one starting to drill.
This lease is managed by W. C. Meredith, formerly of El Dorado. He and his family came to Butler County in 1921 from West Virginia and to Little Walnut Township in April, 1927. The entire eight Stern wells, five on the Cromwell-Lewis lease, two on the Stanolind, and one on the T. C. Johnson lease, made about 8,000 barrels during September, 1934. To the south of this lease is the Benson-Kramer pool. Tests were put down on the Sidney Blakeman land where they were once 21
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Producrers; on the John Gilson land; several more on the Kramer, and on the Shriver. T. C. Johnson has a big lease in this pool, of which F. J. Woodward is in charge. Karl Easley has charge of the Stanolind production on the Stern land.
With the discovery of oil came other industries and new places of business. The monthly business picked up from a few hundred dollars to between $50,000 and $60,000, in the summer months of 1922. W. E. Hadley has been the Frisco agent at Leon ten years. During the peak of the boom there were six passenger trains daily, now there are two.
May 15, 1922, bonds were voted to construct a $50,000 high school building. Construction was completed in January, 1923, and on February 2, 1923, dedicatory services were held for the new three-story brick schoolhouse with its auditorium-gymnasium, study halls, library and class rooms, modern lighting and heating devices, and manual training and science departments.
Due to the efforts of George L. McClenny, superintendent of Leon schools eight years (1919-1927), the new school building was secured. When W. G. Woods became superintendent he also worked to put Leon High School still higher until today it is a member of the N. C. A., and in class A. Mr. Woods was superintendent six years (1927-1933). About 150 students are enrolled. Leon High School has had 476 graduates.
A list of Leon High School teachers from 1915 to the present date includes: L. R. Patrick, John Gibson, George McLenny, W. G. Woods, Lee Corder, and L. B. Neece, superintendents, Ruth Timmons, Mary Ramsdale, Fay Elliott, Elmer Hinkle, Gracia Halstead, Miriam Garvin, W. H. Hogue, Evelyn Ross, Bess Rushmore, Edna Pickrell-Hogue, Ara Marie Willhoite, Helen Carter, Jeanne Kirkendall, Mary K. Minnich, Viola Miller-Peterson, Agnes Jones, Josephine Meldrum-Gilliland, Lena Hubbard-Peters, Helen Stokes, Selma Thorene, Myrl Becker, Harrison Becker, Mr. Herrington, Norman Lupton, Robert O. Blough, Erma Black, Irene Conroy, Zeola Van Winkle, Ellis Braught, Maurine Jenne-Ralph, Edith Vance-Jones, Edith Norris-Gray, Rebecca Smith, Walter Woods, James Klaver, Florence Boots, Evelyn Fulton, Vesta McCune, Helen King-Hurst, Verta Rouse, J. H. McQuerry, Kay Goforth, Olive Johnson-Derfelt, Lois Marshall-Shuler, Helen Whitney-Rigg, Helen Elrick, Leo Shepard, Sybil Sneed, Bob Sanders, Orville Peyton, Beryl Folks, Catherine Lardner, George Cushman, Ruby Mider, Arlone Marshall, Lillian Dedrick, Carl Carpenter, Dorothy Moran, Letha Bissitt and Robert Boley.
A modern, one-story structure replaced the grade school building that was destroyed by fire on June 7, 1927. The approximate cost was $30,000, and it was opened October 3, 1927. Miss Jean McKaig is principal of the grades and with Miss Merle Parks, teaches Junior High. Other teachers of the 18 years are: Maude Cassoday, Nellie Boughton, Wilma McEntarfer, Joy McCauley, Mary Marshall, Nellie Westacott, Lizzie Weaver-Olds, Martha McKaig, Pauline Leidy-Harris, Katherine Lill, Beth Seibert, Elba F. Harris, Mollie Layton, Bess Holm, Fay Leedom, Tillie Bender, Zeola Van Winkle, Evangeline Kiser-Boland, Ruby Seward-Brown, Lillian Dedrick, Estel Marie Pickrell, Bernice Parks-Wilson, Lizzie Sutter-Seward, Bessie Sutter-Dice, Pauline Parks-Riggs, Hazel Gilliland-Guthrie, Olive Hart, Stella Shannon-Nelson, Anna Daniels, Orville Wilson, Edith Hill-Hoefgan, Esther Reynolds-Stiller, Vivian Cruthird, Mildred Layer-Ketterman, Irene Seglem-McCaffree, Fern DeArmond, Hazel Williams, Eula Liggett-Houlton, Irene Williamson, Winifred Marshall-Shriver, Marian Taylor, Miss Hawk, Gladys Leedom, and the present faculty, whose names appear in the chapter of this book devoted to schools.
During the late Sidney Blakeman’s mayorship of Leon, water, electricity and other improvements wer emade. Other mayors swerving are E. C. Van Winkle, Dr. R. J. Cabeen, C. C. Doughty, acting mayor and William Altee Sears, who was elected in April, 1933. Under Mr. Sears leadership, despite the times, expenses of city government and maintenance have been reduced there has been no tax levy for general purposes the past two years. Taxes have remained about the same however, due to the payment on bonds for the light and water improvements, and increase each year in interest thereon.
Leon emerged from darkness in June, 1924. Electricity brought a new electric shop managed by L. R. Lamb, who was succeeded by Melvin V. Garver, of Rosalia. Another improvement in Leon was city water, secured in 1927. Bonds amounting to
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