Small Towns of Kansas (1)
In his Cyclopedia of State History, Frank Blackmar writes the following about Barnes.[i]
Barnes, an incorporated town of Washington County, is a station on the Missouri Pacific R. R. 13 miles southeast of Washington, the county seat. It has a money order post office with three rural routes, express and telegraph offices, telephone connection, a bank, a weekly newspaper – the Barnes Chief-Methodist – Lutheran and Christian churches, good schools, and in 1910 reported a population of 454. It is the principal trading and shipping point for Barnes township, in which it is situated.
Barnes was originally called Elm Grove when it was founded in 1870. It was renamed Barnes in 1876 in honor of A. S. Barnes, a stockholder of the Central Branch Union Pacific Railroad. The population according to the 2020 census was 165.
Washington is the county seat of Washington County, Kansas. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 1,071. Washington was established in spring 1860, and in the same year was named the county seat. Until the end of the Civil War, it was protected by two stockaded buildings, the Washington Company House and Woolbert’s Stockade Hotel. The first post office in Washington was established in November 1861. Again quoting from Frank Blackmar.[ii]
Washington, the county seat of Washington County, is located northwest of the center of the county at the junction of the Chicago Burlington & Quincy and the Missouri Pacific railroads. It is an incorporated city of the third class, has a municipal waterworks, electric lights, an opera house, a $15,000 high school building, a public library housed in a $5,000 building, three banks, two weekly newspapers (the Republican-Register and the Palladium), first class hotels, telegraph and express offices, and an international money order post office with six rural routes. All lines of retail establishments and the professions are well represented. The population in 1910 was 1,547.
The town was founded in the spring of 1860 by a town company of which George G. Pierce was president. A “company house” was built to which each member of the company contributed seven logs. In November of the same year Washington was made the county seat.
The first school was opened by Miss Agnes Hallowell in 1861 in the “company house.” The first stock of merchandise was put in by Mr. Bowen. A building erected of perpendicular logs by E. Woolbert as a hotel was used as the first court-house and was known as the “Stockade court-house.” When the war broke out the growth of the city was arrested and it did not begin again until the spring of 1866, when there was a large immigration. The first newspaper, the Western Observer, made its appearance in 1869, and a $9,000 school building was erected that year. In May 1873, the town was organized as a city of the third class. In 1877 the Central Branch of the Union Pacific R. R. reached this point and a new era of prosperity began. By 1880 there were nearly 1,000 inhabitants. The population in 1890 was 1,613, and in 1900 it was 1,575.
Waterville is a city in Marshall County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 658. Waterville was founded in 1868 by the railroad company. It was named after Waterville, Maine, the hometown of a railroad official. The first post office in Waterville was established in February 1868. Waterville was incorporated as a village in 1870 and as a city the following year. From Blackmar.[iii]
Waterville, a city of Marshall County, is located on the Little Blue river and the Missouri Pacific R. R., 16 miles southwest of Marysville, the county seat. It has telegraph and express offices, weekly newspapers, grain elevators, banking facilities, a public library, an opera house and good schools and churches. Three rural delivery mail routes go out from the post office.
Waterville was settled in 1857 by Stearns Ostrander. A mill was built in 1858 by William Pearsoll who operated it as a combination grist and sawmill. The original owner of the land which became the town site of Waterville was David King. It passed through the hands of G. H. Hollenberg, William Osborn and R. M. Pomeroy, the last named conveying it to the Central Branch R. R. The railroad company established the town in 1868, and several business buildings were erected. Waterville was incorporated as a village in 1870 and was made a city of the third class the next year. The population in 1910 was 704.
Photographs taken on April 13, 2023
[i] Blackmar, Frank. Kansas. A Cyclopedia of State History, Embracing Events, Institutions, Industries, Couties, Cities, Towns, Prominent Persons, Etc. Volume II. Chicago: Standard Publishing Co., 1912, p. 152.
[ii] Blackmar, Frank. Kansas. A Cyclopedia of State History, Embracing Events, Institutions, Industries, Couties, Cities, Towns, Prominent Persons, Etc. Volume II. Chicago: Standard Publishing Co., 1912, p. 889-890.
[iii] Blackmar, Frank. Kansas. A Cyclopedia of State History, Embracing Events, Institutions, Industries, Couties, Cities, Towns, Prominent Persons, Etc. Volume Ii. Chicago: Standard Publishing Co., 1912, p. 895.