(Semi-) Ghost Towns of Doniphan County, Kansas

Doniphan County is the most northeastern county in the state of Kansas, with a population of 7,510 according to the 2020 census. The county seat is Troy (pop. 964), and its most populous city is Wathena (pop. 1,246). The county was established on August 25, 1855, then organized on September 18, 1855. It is named for the U.S. cavalry commander Colonel Alexander W. Doniphan (1808–1887) of Liberty, Missouri, who played an important part in the Mexican–American War. According to Wikipedia, Doniphan was a zealous partisan in the failed effort made to extend slavery into Kansas.^[i]

On an earlier trip I explored the Byre and Bluff barns of Doniphan County as described elsewhere on these pages. On a sunny day in early April 2023 I returned to the county to visit some of the ghost towns and towns that are all but ghost town, travelling on K-7 from Atchinson just south of the county line to the town on White Cloud at the banks of the Missouri River in the north-western corner.

The stretch of K-7 from Leavenworth to White Cloud was designated The Glacial Hills Scenic Byway in early 2003. The name comes from the rolling hills and rock-strewn valleys carved by ancient glaciers. The receding ice left behind a beautiful landscape and highly fertile farmland, with soil made up of windblown loess. According to A.T. Andreas’ History of the State of Kansas (1883), the county was comprised of 25 percent bottomland, 84 percent rolling prairie and timberland that included black walnut, hickory, oak and cottonwood. In 1883, 242,560 acres of land in Doniphan County, about 60 percent, was under cultivation. Doniphan is the southernmost town within the county. An 1858 description was printed in the Historic Plat Book of Doniphan County, Kansas (1882),

Doniphan is situated on the Missouri River, thirty miles above Fort Leavenworth, at the great bend of the river, exactly midway between the mouth of the Kaw and the Kansas and Nebraska boundary line. It is situated near the confluence of Independence Creek a short distance above the mouth, and thus furnish good natural road beds, with easy grades, in every direction in the interior of the county. The valleys through which the river runs embrace large districts of the finest bottom land in the west.

Doniphan Ghost Town.

The Brenner Vineyards Historic District (circa 1860-1911) is located on the west edge of the town of Doniphan, Doniphan County, Kansas. The historic district is a reminder of the vineyards that were developed in Doniphan County in the late 1800s.^[ii]

The nomination form for the Vineyards Historic District provides a brief history of the town of Doniphan.

The village of Doniphan, Kansas was once a major winemaking center of the Midwest. Its humble beginnings date to 1852, when Josephus Utt, an agent for the Kickapoo Indians, erected a trading hut near the bank of the Missouri River. Two years later on November 11, 1854, the organizers of the Doniphan Town Company met in St. Joseph, Missouri, to elect company officers. The Doniphan town site was surveyed the following spring by James F. Forman. Town lots were sold in 1855, some for as high as $2000 and building soon commenced.

The town was ideally located, known by boatmen as an excellent steamboat landing. The government land office moved to Doniphan in 1857, but only remained there for a year before moving to Kickapoo. The outlook remained optimistic, described in 1859 by abolitionist and pioneer editor James Redpath in his Handbook to Kansas Territory.

“Doniphan, it is admitted by every one, has the best rock-bound landing, and the best townsite on the Missouri river any where above St. Louis. It has running through it a fine stream of water, which by a trifling outlay which will soon be expended, can be made to flow through five of the principal streets. A wealthy company has been chartered for the construction of a railroad for St. Joseph, through Doniphan, for Topeka, connecting the Kansas and Missouri rivers. The stock is subscribed – ten per cent paid in. That part of it from St Joseph to Doniphan will be completed as soon as me connection is made with Hannibal, Lots can be purchased at Doniphan on more liberal terms than at any other town on the Missouri. We say to the emigrant, come to Doniphan; believing as we do, that it is destined to be the great emporium of the upper Missouri. The population is about one thousand.”

Doniphan’s early topography was described in an article dated May 25, 1932 in The Kansas Chief.

Doniphan stands where the corkscrew Missouri makes a sharp turn to the west, and is hurled back upon itself by a huge wooded bluff To the north and south rise heavily timbered bluffs, dipping to form the level bottom on which the town lies nestled from the prevailing storm currents of winter. Behind it are fertile fields, magnificent vineyards and numerous farms in a high state of cultivation.

Doniphan mushroomed in population and construction. Two large warehouses were built along the wharf that could accommodate 15 boats a day. The 40-room St. Charles Hotel was erected in 1857. The boom did not last long and by the late 1860s businesses began moving away, some to Atchison, seven miles to the southwest. The town survived, likely due to its rich agricultural surroundings. The struggle to endure began, but Doniphan caught a glimpse of hope in 1870 when the Atchison & Nebraska Railroad pulled into the town’s new depot. That year, the population reached 1245 residents. The town became well known as a grain port. Adam Brenner, later the founder of Doniphan Vineyards, built an $18,00 grain elevator with a capacity of 40,000 bushels. The elevator, full of grain, caught fire in 1872 and burned to the ground. Qnly $3000 in insurance was recovered, so it was not rebuilt. In 1882, the town had a school, three churches, three stores, two saloons, one hotel, two or three boarding houses, two blacksmith shops, one shoe shop, one harness and saddle maker, two drugstores, two physicians, one butcher, one printing office and four wine cellars.

The death of Doniphan came one night in 1891. Prior to that year, the Missouri River had gradually eroded its banks at the Doniphan landing. The river quickly rose one night in June that year, and within hours, swept away thousands of yards of railroad track. As the waters retreated and a new southern channel was formed, sand and mud sealed the ends of the waterway near Doniphan, leaving the town without a railroad or a river. Where steamboats once docked was now an inland village beside a large pool of water. The railroad rebuilt two miles to the west and by 1911, the town was described by The Kansas City Star as “desolate and almost deserted.”

In 1949, Doniphan had a grocery store, filling station and a school building, but only approximately 50 residents. The Army Corps of Engineers emptied Doniphan Lake in the 1950s. As late as 1954, commercial buildings still stood in the town, although few businesses were still present. The two-story brick former general store was still used by the Doniphan Masonic Lodge. The town has since declined and currently (in 2004) has a population of less than 50 people.

Jacob and Adam Brenner, brothers, were born in Deidesheini, Bavaria, the heart of Germany’s wine country. Both brothers and their families were settled in Kansas by 1860. They each began their own winery in Doniphan County and remained there for their lifetimes, raising families and producing wine.

Adam Brenner was often referred to as the “father of Doniphan” and had the largest wine-making enterprise. He arrived in the area in 1857 and began working in general merchandising and as a grain shipper. He is listed in the 1860 federal census as a merchant and in the 1870 census as a commission merchant. In 1867, he built Doniphan’s grain elevator, the first built in Kansas.! The elevator was destroyed by fire in 1872 and was never rebuilt. In 1865 he began setting out his vineyards in Doniphan County, encouraged by the Kansas State Horticultural Society. He began with three acres, increasing his crop yearly until he was the proprietor of 450 acres, 75 devoted to the largest vineyard in the state, which he named Doniphan Vineyards. He built a two-story brick warehouse on the south end of Doniphan’s Main Street. This building had a frontage of 42 feet and was 65 feet deep accommodating business offices, as well as bottling and packing rooms. The entire cellar held 30,000 gallons of wine.

Jacob Brenner, born in 1816, came to Doniphan in 1860. He is listed in the 1860 federal census as a grape grower and in the 1870 census as a farmer. He was married In Deidesheim, Bavaria in 1841 to Barbara Raufer, also born in 1816. The couple had five surviving children. Jacob Brenner acquired 40 acres south of his brother’s farmstead. As an experiment, he planted 200 vines on 15 acres he named Central Vineyards because it lay between the vineyards of his brother Adam and his son George. His first 100 gallons of wine encouraged him to continue and increase production. George Brenner’s operation was smaller than those of his brother and son, but well recognized and substantial in its own right. His wine cellar, located adjacent to his house, had a storage capacity of 10,000 gallons. He is listed in the 1885 Kansas state census as owning 30 acres worth $1000. Fifteen of the acres were planted as a vineyard that year, and he also had 25 apple trees and three cherry trees. His livestock that year included one cow and three horses.

Wines from the Brenner vineyards were promoted as superior and highly rated. Advertisements for the wines boast of their superiority over “ordinary wines” brought to the Doniphan area. The vineyards of Adam, Jacob and George employed dozens of workers for every harvest. Adam’s large operation hired more than 100 workers during some harvests, in addition to a year-round staff. Due to the restrictions of prohibition, the wines of both brothers were promoted as specially made for medicinal and sacramental purposes.

Doniphan Ghost Town.

The Brenner Vineyard Historic District contains two parcels, the south parcel includes St. John the Baptist Church and the vineyard of Jacob Brenner. Not much is left of the Adam Brenner vineyard, located on the north parcel of the historic district, and I did not take any pictures of the remnants. The district is north of the town of Doniphan, a short distance west on 95th Road to Lone Star Road.

High atop a bluff facing 95th Road stands the well-maintained St. John the Baptist Church, build in 1867-1868. From the nomination form,

the two-story church is constructed of soft red brick with a limestone foundation and a wood shingle roof. Side gables project from the gabled roof in the chancel^[iii] area. The church is built in a simple vernacular design with Gothic detailing evident in the pointed arched windows and the pointed brick corbelling under the cornice. The entrance to the church is on the east side of the building, placed within a square bell tower that rises above the one-and-a-half-story roof. The double wood entrance doors are topped by a stained-glass transom with a Gothic arch. A smaller Gothic double-hung window is placed directly above this entrance; four double-hung stained-glass windows are placed on the north and south sides of the nave. The north and south sides of the chancel each has two 9/9 clear double-hung windows with Gothic arched transoms. All windows have stone sills and arched brick lintels. Two brick chimneys project from either end of the chancel and stucco-clad chimney projects from the southwest corner of the nave. A cistern is located south of the church. The church is in excellent condition.

Doniphan County was the first Kansas location for Benedictine missionaries, who soon moved to Atchison. This brick church was built as a replacement for Doniphan’s first Catholic church, constructed in 1856 and destroyed by fire in 1863. Adam Brenner donated the two-acre block for this church, which is now the oldest Catholic church in Doniphan County and one of the oldest in Kansas. It is located adjacent to the Jacob Brenner home. It housed a lending library in the 1860s and 1870s. The church was redecorated in 1962 and new pews, altar and lectern were added with an electric heating system in 1965. St. John the Baptist Church never had a residing full-time priest but was provided visiting priests from the Benedictine Abbey in Atchison. The parish ceased operations in 1991 and became a stational church, approved for special masses such as weddings and funerals.

The church’s guest house was built around 1947 to accommodate visiting priests. It is a concrete block building that measures roughly 25 feet by 25 feet, located approximately 20 feet west of the church. A central brick chimney fronts the house’s south façade and a small gabled overhang shelters the entrance. The building has a front gable asphalt roof with an eastern shed garage extension. Two windows are located on each of the south north and west sides. The east overhang contains two privies on the north side. The house is in good condition.

The Jacob Brenner House is located south and slightly west of the church and faces east toward Lone Star Road. The one-and-a-half-story house has brick walls clad in wood clapboards, currently topped with fiberboard siding installed around 1992. It is likely that Jacob Brenner began building this house shortly after his arrival in Doniphan in 1860. The house has received several alterations and may have expanded circa 1900, when Brenner’s youngest son, Nicholas, is listed in the federal census as the head of the household. Non-historic siding was added to the house around 1992, but the building retains its historic form. The house has been vacant since 1994. In 2004 the house was said to be in good condition, but since then time has taken its toll.

The winery building dates from ca 1875 and is located approximately 75 feet west of the Jacob Brenner House. The two-story frame building is covered in clapboards, has a side gable metal roof and a stone foundation. Jacob Brenner began planting his vineyards in 1864 and it is likely that this building was constructed once he was assured that his agricultural endeavors would be successful. The John Louis Huss family moved to the property in the 1930s and used the building as a granary. A north section of the building was demolished in the 1940s and the north wall was clad in salvaged siding. The metal roof was also added to the building during this building period.

The Brenner Barn sits 100 feet southeast of the Jacob Brenner House. The frame one-and-a-half-story building has a stone foundation and a gable asphalt roof (added in the early 1990s) with a hay hood in the south façade; the frame of the barn is joined by wood pegs and clad in wide vertical siting, formerly board and batten siding. The interior’s second-story flooring is extant, although first-story stalls have been removed. The building is in fair condition.

The corncrib; located just west of the barn, is an open-slatted structure that measures approximately 12 feet wide by 20 feet deep. The walls of the crib slant inward to the base of the structure. The corncrib rests above the ground on stone and brick supports and has walls that angle outward. The gable roof is covered in wood shingles. The building is in good condition.

Finally, the chicken house was built by the Huss family around 1963.

The Jacob Brenner House sits a short distance to the west of the Church.

Chicken Coop and Winery Building.

Brenner Barn.

Brenner Barn, Winery Building, and Brenner House.

On a hill overlooking the countryside, northeast of the town remnants of Doniphan, sits the Cemetery, well maintained and apparently continues to be used for burials.

Doniphan Cemetery.

Continuing north on Kansas 7 gets us to the hamlet of Sparks, 4.2 miles east of Highland. Legends of Kansas has the following information about this town.^[iv]

Sparks, in Doniphan County, started as a place called Highland Station. This railroad point was on the Burlington & Missouri River Railroad about four miles east of Highland, Kansas. It is a ghost town today.

The town was located in the winter of 1869-70 by a company partly formed of Highland men and partly of representatives of the railway. The townsite covered 40 acres that J. A. Kennedy owned. It was named for John Sparks, an area pioneer. After laying out of the town, a depot was built, Kennedy and B.F. Herring opened a general store, and a second store was opened the same year by L. Degginger. J. Browning opened a hotel, and a blacksmith shop began. The post office was established on January 31, 1871, with J. A. Kennedy as postmaster. A Union church was built in 1881, which was used for all denominations.

On October 5, 1908, the town and post office names were changed to Sparks. The population in 1910 was 175.

But Sparks declined in the following years, and its post office closed on September 16, 1971.

Today, the town is called home to about nine people.

Sparks, Kansas.

The Glacial Hills Scenic Byway ends in White Cloud, in the northwestern corner of Doniphan County. Legends of America describes this town as “semi ghost town”.^[v]

Located on the bluffs of the Missouri River, White Cloud was one of the earliest and grandest towns in a new and fledgling Kansas Territory. The port town was a popular stop for the big steamboats carrying supplies bound for the west. Often the docks were crowded with wagons in the port community, which boasted a population of over 2,000 in its heyday. The town continued to thrive until after the Civil War when in 1860, the first “iron horse” touched Kansas soil, and supplies began to travel via the rails.

Long before the white men came to the area, the land belonged to the Ioway tribe. The tribe’s chief, Ma-Hush-Kah, or White Cloud, lived near the Missouri River at Iowa Point in a double-hewed log house. In 1854, Ma-Hush-Kah lost his life in a battle with the Pawnee Indians, who were mortal foes of the Ioway. The Indian Chief was buried near a large tree overlooking the Missouri River, below Iowa Point. After his death, Nan-cha-nin-ga, or No Heart, succeeded as head chief of the tribe.

In 1856, just two years after the Kansas-Nebraska Act opened the territories to white settlement, two enterprising men named Enoch Spaulding and John H. Utt laid out plans for White Cloud. A log cabin was the first structure erected, and frame buildings soon followed, including a drug store and a few frame houses, one of which was used as a hotel. The town was named for Ma-Hush-Kah, the noted chief of the Ioway.

In early 1857, the White Cloud Town Company was formed with $45,000 in capital, with officers James Foster, Dr. H.W. Peter, and W.J. Gatling, who invented the Gatling gun. Members of the Town Company included Utt, Spaulding, and Cornelius Dorland, who would later become White Cloud’s first mayor.

Initially, they faced problems with property rights until a famous land sale was held on July 4, 1857. Two thousand people arrived for the big sale on four steamboats, and the bidding was spirited, with the final sale of lots amounting to $23,794. Celebrating in grand style, a barbeque was served, speeches were made, and the St. Joseph’s band played music in the background. No sooner was the celebration over than the stock company began to build White Cloud in earnest.

The new community attracted a doctor and an attorney in the same year. A post office was opened in a building that adjoined the drug store. A mill owner named Mr. Orton drove a deep well in a stockyard near the river where his fattened cattle were remarkable. Later it was found that his well was fed by natural mineral springs. Mr. C. Dorland was made the first mayor of White Cloud. The burgeoning community was quickly on its way to becoming a prominent city upon the Missouri River.

A steam ferry that was said to be one of the best along the river arrived from Wellsville, Ohio, on June 3, 1858. Operated by Captain John Lock, who lived on a long-gone island in the middle of the river north of White Cloud, the steamboat met with an accident in 1867. The riverboat was so badly wrecked that it could no longer service customers, but in May 1868, a new boat was built, and service was continued.

School was first taught in a small frame structure in the northwest part of the town. However, the building was struck by lightning, and the school closed for a time. A new brick school was built, and lessons resumed in February 1872.

By 1883, White Cloud boasted four general stores, two grocery stores, three drug stores, a hardware store, a furniture store, two restaurants, two hotels, a livery stable, a barbershop, a gristmill, a sawmill, two shoe shops, two blacksmith shops, a jewelry store, a billiard hall, a harness shop, a wagon shop, a meat market, a printing office, a millinery store, two attorneys, four doctors, and several construction proprietors.

Though the population had dropped dramatically with the railroad’s arrival, White Cloud, in 1910, still supported two banks, a weekly newspaper, an opera house, and several other businesses. Stages ran daily to Forest City, Missouri. However, there were only 735 residents.

White Cloud today is known for its many historic buildings; the entire downtown district has been placed on the National Register of Historic Places. One poignant reminder of White Cloud’s heyday is the Poulet Mansion, where you can still see the elegant design and intricate details. However, this building, as well as several others, are slowly falling into disrepair.

The only evident industry in White Cloud today is a grain elevator, where grain is still shipped downriver on barges to St. Joseph, Kansas City, and St. Louis. There are no open retail businesses, but the bank and the post office hang on.^[vi]

White Cloud is not quite a “ghost,” as it still called home to about 115 and has a post office. However, it is easy to see that its prime is long past, evidenced by the abandoned stores on Main Street and the “closed” signs hanging in the windows. Still, this quiet little town, seemingly unaffected by the passing of time, is a lovely place to visit and get away from the hassles of the city.

As noted, the entire downtown area of White Cloud is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The nomination form gives a detailed description of the properties contributing to the district, for those who are interested in architectural and historical details.^[vii] Quite frankly, I did not find downtown White Cloud all that interesting or picturesque and was rather disappointed when visiting.

Historic District, White Cloud, Kansas.

In addition to the Historic District, the school building and the Poulet House are listed separately on the register. The existing school building held its first classes in 1872, as described in the nomination form.^[viii]

The White Cloud School was built in 1872-73 on land dedicated as a public square in 1856. In 1871 local citizens began planning for new educational facilities because an 1865 school building had become overcrowded. A special election held June 9, 1871, resulted in the defeat of a $25,000 school bond proposal; three weeks later, however, the voters approved a $15,000 bond issue, and plans were made to erect a new school house.

The White Cloud School building was designed in late 1871 by an architect referred to in contemporary newspaper sources as Mr. Carr. In all probability he was Erasmus T. Carr of Leavenworth, one of Kansas’ most prominent early architects. Carr came to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas Territory, in the fall of 1855 to take the position of assistant superintendent of repairs and later assumed the superintendent’s post. He designed and built a considerable number of. structures at the fort prior to his departure in 1871, some of which are still standing and are integral parts of the Fort Leavenworth Historic District. He later designed many public and private buildings throughout the state, including part of the state capitol, the state penitentiary, several county courthouses, and many school buildings.

A local brickmaker, John S. Hook, received the contract for grading the school grounds in late December, 1871, but the construction bids were not obtained until March, 1872, at which time the contract was awarded to M. B. Bowers, a local contractor, for $11,000. The structure’s foundation was completed by two White Cloud men, F. M. Bradley and John Whitham, by late June, and the brick work was commenced a month later.

When the school term began on September 9, 1872, the building was not yet ready for occupancy. Work was finally completed several months later, and the doors of the new school house were officially opened on Monday, January 27, 1873. The final cost of the building was $13,500, which was $2,500 above the contract bid. Apparently the school board agreed to pay $1,000 of the extra expense.

Because of increasing enrollment, the school board voted in April 1914, to build an addition to the west side of the structure. The contract was awarded to A. G. Gibson of Shubert, Nebraska, and the addition was completed in 1915-1916. The building was used as an educational facility until 1968. In 1970 the city of White Cloud deeded the school to the Ma-Hush-Kah Historical Society which is presently restoring and using it as a museum.

The White Cloud School, although not itself an outstanding architectural example, was designed by one of the state’s earliest professional architects, Erasmus T. Carr. The building is of importance to the history of White Cloud as it provided educational opportunities for the young people of White Cloud for almost 100 years, as well as facilities for cultural and community activities.

White Cloud School Building.

The Poulet House, a rectangular three-story building with a tower over its main entrance, stands on a hillside overlooking the business district of White Cloud. The Poulet House was built about 1880, by Alexis Poulet, a native of France who came to Missouri in 1847 at the age of 16. After spending several years in Missouri and also New Orleans, he settled in 1857 at Iowa Point in Doniphan County, where he operated a general merchandising business. After the Civil War he moved to White Cloud and operated successively a hardware store, a general mercantile business, and a bank. He became one of the most prominent men of the area. Much like the entire town of White Cloud, the Poulet House is not particularly photogenic or of special interest, and I did not stop to take any photographs.

Some scenes from the 1973 movie Paper Moon starring the father and daughter pairing of Ryan and Tatum O’Neal, were filmed in White Cloud. Apparently, White Cloud is also featured in episode 4 of the 2008 television documentary Stephen Fry in America. I have not seen this episode and have no idea what the documentary is about.

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Photographs on this page taken on April 6, 2023.

[i] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doniphan_County,_Kansas

[ii] Ford, Susan Jezak (2004), “National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination: Brenner Vineyards Historic District / Adam Brenner and Jacob Brenner Farmsteads” https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/GetAsset/NRHP/04001514_text

[iii] The chancel is the space around the altar, including the choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building.

[iv] https://legendsofkansas.com/sparks-kansas/

[v] https://www.legendsofamerica.com/ks-whitecloud/

[vi] When I visited in 2022 only the post office was still hanging on.

[vii] https://npgallery.nps.gov/AssetDetail/NRIS/96000701

[viii] https://npgallery.nps.gov/AssetDetail/NRIS/73000752