LOST TOWNS OF BOURBON COUNTY. Excerpted from "Collections of the Kansas State Historical Society, 1911-1912", Edited by Geo. W. Martin, Secretary. Vol XII., State Printing Office, Topeka, Kansas 1912, pages 447-450. submitted by Teresa Lindquist (merope@radix.net); (copyright) 2001 by Teresa Lindquist ----------------------------------------------------------------------- KSGENWEB INTERNET GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY COPYRIGHT NOTICE: In keeping with the KSGenWeb policy of providing free information on the Internet, this data may be used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material. These electronic pages cannot be reproduced in any format for profit or other gain. Copying of the files within by non-commercial individuals and libraries is encouraged. Any other use, including publication, storage in a retrieval system, or transmission by electronic, mechanical, or other means requires the written approval of the file's author. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- LOST TOWNS OF BOURBON COUNTY. Complying with a request from the secretary of the State Historical Society, Mr. C. E. Cory, of Fort Scott, undertook to dig up some account of the lost towns of Bourbon county, with the following result: In 1871 the coal-mining interests established "B" switch on the west half of the northeast quarter of section 27, township 26, range 25. A town was afterwards built there, whose name, Clarksburg, (23) commemorates the maiden name of the wife of one of the early settlers. It was the home of those who worked in the "strip" banks, and the town at one time contained 800 people. The site was never platted and is now farm land. On the establishment of the rural free delivery even the post office was discontinued. In 1870 a coal baron did an immense business in stripping and shipping coal in the southeastern part of Bourbon county. In 1871 he platted a town on sections 19 and 30, township 26, range 25, and its name, Godfrey, (24) keeps him in mind. After growing to a population of 1200 people, with freight shipments equal to those of Fort Scott, the town dwindled with the passing of the coal business, until now there is not even a post office. It was here and at Clarksburg that George W. Finley, now of Topeka, cut a wide swath in those old days in the coal business. From that neighborhood, also, John Perry started the business which afterwards became the Keith & Perry Coal Company, and later the Central Coal and Coke Company. At that time Perry used to haul coal to the station with four oxen. If John should lose the two or three millions which he has gathered up he could come back here and do as good a job as ever, for wealth has not spoiled him. (25) Appleton, section 12, township 27, range 25, was started by Capt. E. R. Stevens in 1866. Captain Stevens was a Wisconsin man, and he, with Adam Hoffman and Eugene Goss, formed the town company. A post office was established, but when Memphis was platted, one mile northwest on the railroad, most of Appleton moved over. The village of Wheeling, Mo., was just across the state line road. In 1874 the town of Memphis, located on section 1, township 27, range 25, was platted on account of the little coal switch built from the old Missouri River, Fort Scott & Gulf railroad by B. P. McDonald and others. The railroad station at first was Elnor. This coal switch was afterwards taken over by the Gulf road, and thus later became a part of the enormous Memphis system. When the road was constructed to Memphis, Tenn., the railway company, unable to have two stations of the same name, asked the people of the village to change its name. A public meeting was held, post-office directories were studied, and finally J. I. Million, then and now a prominent citizen, caught the name Garland from the Garland stoves which were then coming into popularity. This was in 1885. The name pleased the people, and so the name of the town and post office became Garland, and in 1910 had a population of 276 Appleton, Memphis, Wheeling and Elnor have long since been forgotten. In 1861 Gen. James H. Lane decided that Fort Scott was not needed on the map. It was a proslavery town, and Lane had no love for it. He organized the town of Fort Lincoln, named after the President, on the Osage river, about four miles west of where Fulton now is, section 27, township 23, range 24. Preparations were made by him to burn Fort Scott, but the plan failed. (26) The town of Fort Lincoln is only a memory. In 1859, when the free-state people had settled in Bourbon county in sufficient numbers, they decided that Fort Scott should not be the county seat. An election was held and the county seat was removed to Marmaton, (27) where it remained until 1863, when the city of Fort Scott, under the subterfuge of building a city hall, erected a very nice courthouse at the corner of National avenue and Second street, where the Carnegie library now stands, which was given to the county and used until the present courthouse was built. The Fort Scott Monitor, always one of Fort Scott's most important business enterprises, was founded at Marmaton by D. B. Emmert, (28) one of the men who used to make things happen here. The Marmaton referred to was not the Marmaton of to-day, a station on the Missouri Pacific railway. It was located three-fourths of a mile south of that place, on the southwest corner of section 31, township 25, range 24. The town started off in pretentious style. A three-story hotel and a lot of good residences were built, and everybody thought that the future of the city was secure. There is nothing there now but a well and some rose and currant bushes run wild. In 1878 the coal switch referred to in connection with Garland reached a point three miles south of Garland, and a town was started on the farm of John B. CaIdwell, section 23, township 27, range 25. It had a post office and a railway station, both named in honor of Mr. Caldwell. Its 500 inhabitants have long since gone away, and the town site now produces good corn. The town of Dayton, named after Dayton, Ohio, was located on the northwest quarter of section 14, and the northeast quarter of section 15, township 24, range 23. The plat was filed January 10, 1863. It never was even a village, however, and the post office was long ago discontinued. In the beginning of its career it was called Sprattsville. The town of Harding, named after Russell Harding, general superintendent of the Missouri Pacific Railroad, was platted in 1888 by John N. Post, on the northwest quarter of section 6, township 24, range 24. The town was still-born, however, and is as large now as it was then. The post office, store and blacksmith shop make up the town. In 1855 Rayville, northwest quarter section 31, township 23, range 24, was started, and the village and post office named after Josiah Ray, an early settler there. The town site was platted, lots were sold and the deeds recorded, but I have been unable to find any record of the plat. It was a well-known rendezvous for the Jayhawkers and a station on the stage line from Westport to the South. General Lane, Colonel Montgomery and John Brown were frequent visitors, and many old citizens of Fort Scott still tell stories of the lavish hospitality and good cheer of the then coming metropolis. The town is no more. The streets, alleys and prospective parks are farm lands, and the post office was long ago abandoned, Mapleton and Fulton supplying mail to the people of the neighborhood. === NOTE 23.-The 1891-'92 directory of Fort Scott and Bourbon county gives Clarksburg a list of thirty-one male residents of voting age. NOTE 24.-Godfrey was on the Kansas City, Fort Scott & Gulf railroad, five miles south of Fort Scott, and in March, 1877, had 100 inhabitants, two stores, a schoolhouse and a church, and shipped fifty cars of coal daily. In 1891-'92, according to the directory of Fort Scott and Bourbon county, there were 130 male residents of voting age in the village, and in 1902-'03 the total population was but 34. NOTE 25. [biography of JOHN PERRY] NOTE 26.-See Kansas Historical Collections. vol. 11, p. 229 et seq. NOTE 27.-On February 11, 1858, the town of Marmiton was incorporated. It was located on section 31, township 25, range 24. Later the inhabitants objected to the spelling of Marmiton and petitioned the county court to change it. This was done by substituting the letter a for the i. The river had been named Marmiton by the French traders, the word meaning scullion or kitchen boy. The suggestion to the French traders may have come through finding some Indian pot or cooking utensil by the stream, the French word "marmite" meaning a pot or saucepan. NOTE 28.-[biography of DAVID B. EMMERT]