OLD INDIANOLA 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, pp 427-429. 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. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- OLD INDIANOLA. (1) Indianola was situated about a half mile west of the Reform School, near the bank of Soldier creek--in fact part of the town was on the east bank of the creek--in Jackson county, when the county line was the Kansas river. The town was founded in 1854 and was about the same age as Topeka. The founders were H. D. McMeekin and a man named Tutt, of Weston, Mo. Mr. McMeekin left Topeka years ago, after having conducted for many years the old Tefft House, now the National Hotel. Tutt returned to Missouri before the war, and in fact he had always considered that his home.(2) In one particular Indianola had the advantage of Topeka. It was on the government road from Fort Leavenworth to Fort Riley, which was also the stage road. The heavy trade on the military road missed Topeka entirely, and consequently Indianola was a very active place, while Topeka was considered nonprogressive and inactive. Topeka was a free-state center, and Indianola was a proslavery town and was therefore a favored spot with the government in the fifties. While Indianola was decidedly proslavery in the sentiment of its citizens, there were few open ruptures between the proslavery and the free-state settlers, who were numerous in the vicinity of the village. The proslavery people belonged to the better class. Although Indianola was known as a proslavery center before the war, its inhabitants were not disloyal after the war commenced. In fact, company F of the Fifteenth Kansas cavalry was recruited at Indianola soon after the sacking of Lawrence by Quantrill. Orren A. Curtis, father of Congressman Charles Curtis, was elected captain of this company. An eyewitness tells the following incident in this connection: "After the organization of the company had been completed Captain Curtis formed his men in line on the main street, and, riding out in front of them, he delivered the following speech: 'Now, gentlemen, I want you to follow me. Ther's [sic] no place where Jack Curtis dassent go.'" Company E of the Eighth Kansas infantry was also recruited from the vicinity of Indianola. This was the regiment commanded by John A. Martin, which made a brilliant record for gallantry at Chickamauga, Missionary Ridge and elsewhere. The hotel which stands as a monument to the prosperity of Indianola was built in 1860 by William Clinton. He had married a woman old enough to be his mother, and by that means had got a good sum of money. They kept a hotel in a log house for a short time, and then built the one that still stands. It was not long after this that Clinton was apprehended for rifling the mails. He was the postmaster, and disappeared, and with him went the young, handsome Mrs. Deborah Harding, who left a husband behind. The hotel was soon after sold to James Kuykendall, and after that a man named Sawyer came into possession. The hotel building, weatherboarded in walnut, is sixty feet long and forty-five feet wide, with an L eighteen by twenty feet. It is a two-story building, with a high attic, which was used for a lodge room. The southwest corner was a commodious barroom, which was separated by a narrow hall from a room used as a parlor and another room occupied by a general store. The dining room was on the north side of the building and was forty feet long and twenty feet wide. The kitchen was in the L. On the second floor of the hotel were nine very small bedrooms. The only reason for making these rooms so small was undoubtedly to provide space for the very large hall. This hall is twenty feet wide and extends the whole length of the building--sixty feet--and was the dancing hall of the village. Dancing was about the only means of enjoyment in the fifties and sixties, so it is not difficult to understand why a commodious hall was provided by the architect of the hotel at the expense of sleeping rooms. As late as January, 1868, a big public ball was held in this hall. It was given by the Masons, and the members of the legislature, which was then in session in Topeka, were especially invited, and a large number of them attended the dance. This was really the last large social event in the town of Indianola, for its sun was already low in the horizon. Indianola was sacrificed on the altar of the Kansas Pacific railroad, and Topeka started the fire. In 1865 the Kansas Pacific railroad was surveyed, and the survey missed Topeka but went through Indianola. It was then planned that the railroad should not follow the bend of the Kansas river to reach Topeka, but run straight across the country from Calhoun Bluffs. The people of Indianola were naturally delighted, and their enthusiasm was heightened when a contractor arrived and gave the contract to the citizens for cutting the ties for the new road. There was plenty of timber along Soldier creek, and the people of the town and neighborhood went to work with a will. The right of way had been secured and the cutting of the ties was done under the supervision of a man named Jones, one of the railroad contractors. The ties were cut and delivered, but when pay day came Mr. Jones was not to be found. And then the people heard that Topeka had taken their railroad, and it was not long until new grade stakes were driven, leaving Indianola far to the north. The people hitched up to their wagons and hauled the ties home and built corn cribs of them, and their dream of greatness was over. They said that Topeka had more money than they did and made the railroad promoters an offer they could not refuse; but the Kansas Pacific railroad was built, and it did pass through Topeka and missed Indianola three miles. It was through the efforts of James H. Lane, then United States senator, that the railroad was built to both Lawrence and Topeka. The story is told in Speer's Life of General Lane. [See also Historical Collections, vol. 11, p. 534, note 15.] When the railroad had been completed and trains were running the people simply took their town and moved to Topeka. The hotel was too large to move, and so it still stands--a crumbling monument to the town that was. NOTE 1.--Reprinted from the Topeka State Journal of November 16, 1901. See, also, Miss Fannie Cole's paper, "Pioneer Life in Kansas," in this volume, for much interesting information relating to Indianola and Whitfield. NOTE 2.--The proprietors of Indianola were H. D. McMeekin, John F. Baker and George H. Perrin. McMeekin hought the land for the town site from a Pottawatomie half-breed, Louis Vieux, and the town was laid out in November, 1854. The first public sale of lots was on June 27, 1855.--Cutler's History of Kansas, p. 534.