Keck Post Office
Contributed and transcribed by Woodson County Commissioner Bill Linde.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
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.
--------------------------------------------------------------
				KECK Post Office
 
	The town derived its name from Alfred A. Keck, who was a native of 
Indiana. From 1861 to 1865 he served in the Civil War. Following his 
discharge he came back to the farm and in October started west with his 
family. He purchased 240 acres, twelve and one half mile northwest of Yates 
Center that had been a part of the McCord Sheep Ranch, Located in the S.W.
1/4 and the south half of the N.E.1/4 of Sec. 20, with the farmstead located
in about the  center of the farm. A large, two story house and barns set 
among a grove of trees. In 1887, Alfred A. Keck was elected sheriff of 
Woodson county. In 1889 he was re-elected to the same office. During these 
four years Mr. & Mrs. Keck lived in Yates Center. After his terms were over 
they moved back to the farm, evidently in early 1892.
 
	 At that time the ambition to establish a town began to be a reality. 
Abner Yates, founder of Yates Center, assisted Keck in the plans for a town. 
It was believed that the Santa Fe Railroad would run a line from Yares Center 
through the Keck site to Gridley.
 
	 On 11 October 1893, a plot for the town of Keck was laid out in the 
northeast corner of the southeast quarter section 20, twp. 24, range 14. The 
Keck farmstead was almost a quarter mile to the west and north of the new 
townsite. The vision for a town on the prairie in northwest Woodson County 
was dimmed greatly when any plans for a railroad were not carried out.
 
	 The post office of Juse was operated in the town of Keck before being 
changed to Keck. Sometime around 1880, Jesse Pickering purchased a farm in 
the southeast quarter of Sec. 9. In July, 1884, Pickering established a post 
office in his home and gave it the name of Juse, in honor of his daughter, 
Miss Jerusha Pickering. This was the first post office established that far 
west along Turkey Creek.
 
	 On 17 June 1895 George A. Farnum became the new postmaster of Juse 
and moved it into his store at Keck. The post office remained as Juse until 
it was changed over to Keck on 10 January 1896 making George Farnum the first 
postmaster of Keck.
 
	On 14 June 1897, Alfred A. Keck became postmaster of Keck. 
Alfred Keck had built the house, just to the west of the church, that he used 
as the store and post office. Mr. Keck kept the store and post office for 
the next seven and a half years. But the bubble had bursted 
 ........the dream of a town had faded away.