History of Webster
by
Jean Lindsey
[This is twenty-third in a
series featuring the 24 communities in the Alliance. Jean Lindsey grew up
in the Webster community and has collected the history for many years. She
has served on the Alliance board. The valley communities will be presented
in alphabetical order, so long as the community provides the material by
deadline (September 1). Next issue will be Woodston, completing this
series.]
CAROL (Grover) Devlin wrote in her recent book, What Do You
Do with the Yolks? (2009), a personal memoir of life in rural
Kansas in the 1940s,
these words about Webster:
“Eight miles west of Stockton on Highway 24, one of Kansas’
main paved east/west highways, intersected a dirt road that dipped into a
valley a couple of miles south. Nestled under a canopy grove of trees, a
rarity in western
Kansas,
which was practically treeless, sat the town of
Webster.
My lifelong quest for tranquillity stems from the too-few years of my youth
spent there with our relatives. Snatches of conversation and the memories of
that town are forever imprinted in my mind.
“Thick trees made the sound and feel of the air in the
grove remarkable: everything so quiet, calm, soft and cool. The combination
of the town being in a low valley, as well as in a grove of trees, protected
it from the Kansas wind. Birds were plentiful, and as they settled in for the
evening, twittering softly to each other, cicadas tuned up throughout the
town. Mourning doves cooed back and forth to each other. A car passing in
front of my grandparent’s house created great interest.
“Webster’s streets were lovely, silky dust, so soft to walk
on barefooted, much better than asphalt and concrete, which burned our feet.
We rarely wore shoes in the summer and enjoyed watching the floury dust puff
up between our toes. Rain barely penetrated the fine, dense dust. Puddles
formed on top of the dust and dried fusing together a smooth quarter-inch
crust, which broke into odd shaped puzzle pieces that curled up around the
edges. We loved to step on them barefooted and feel the crinkly crust
dissolve into fine powder without leaving a trace of the puddle.
“A lone gas pump, with its hose hanging on the side, stood
in front of the store. The store carried all the necessities for daily
living: groceries, hardware, parts for cars and farm equipment, ice cream,
and a counter where they served light meals and coffee. Grandpa caught up on
the news with the locals while we rummaged through the ice in the pop chest
for our favorite drinks. Mine was Chocolate Soldier, but sometimes I got
orange or grape Nehi as a change of pace.”
In 1876 a trading point was established eight miles west of
Stockton in the
broad Solomon Valley to serve buffalo hunters and early settlers in
Belmont
Township
in the western part of Rooks County. Due to an abundance of underground
water, deep fertile soil, and the flowing Solomon River, a settlement was
soon established on the south side of the river with one store, but due to
flooding soon moved across the river.
There were still buffalo and antelope in the area in the
spring of 1878 when the village called
Belmont was surveyed but
not filed at the county courthouse until March 24, 1881. A patent for 48
acres for the town of
Webster was issued in June 1885, surveyed June 23, with the plat
filed two days later. The new patent for
Belmont for 120 acres was
issued September 15, 1885, adjoining the south side of Webster. Both towns
shared two common avenues, Main Street which ran north to south connecting
them, and Broadway Street
running east and west separating them. On November 10, 1885, both towns were
surveyed, platted again, and listed as Webster with no mention of Belmont.
Neither town was ever incorporated. When application was made for a post
office named Belmont, it was denied as that name already existed in
Kansas,
so Webster it was!
Webster boomed in 1885 when the railroad was being
built from Downs
west along the Solomon River into Rooks County. During 1886, 36 new
buildings were constructed, the lumber hauled 60 miles from Hays. In 1888
the Webster Enterprise reported that nearby farmers and Webster’s 300
residents were served by two doctors, two churches, a school, and 24
businesses, and had an advertisement showing a manufacture of soda pop. But
the railroad came only as far as
Stockton. Again, in 1907, Webster’s hopes were revived with a
north-south railroad being surveyed. The road bed was built from
Plainville to just north
of Webster when the money panic hit the country and rails were never laid.
The Solomon River was important in the lives of
Webster residents: it was necessary for watering livestock; ice was cut and
stored for summer use; it was used for baptisms and boating, swimming,
fishing, and ice skating were all enjoyed. To cross the Solomon there was a
ford about a mile southwest of town. There was an early wooden bridge,
location unknown, which soon washed out. Blacksmith Will Cline stated in an
interview that “I made over four hundred plow lays from the iron pilings of
the old bridge.” (Blauer) On
August 23, 1888, a $2424
contract was let for an all steel bridge which was completed just south of
town by November 1888, which stood until being washed out by the 1951
floods. It was soon replace by a low water bridge.
Webster School
District #23 was organized March 20, 1879, in an old log house with a
dirt floor, the 21 grade school pupils sitting on planks on blocks of wood.
The school session was taught for three months during the summer of 1882,
and the teacher’s salary was $12 per month with the privilege of boarding
with Webster families. That fall a small one-room limestone rock school was
built. In 1886 a two-story frame grade school building costing $1200 was
built. It was a village school until 1911 when it consolidated with
adjoining districts in Belmont and Rush townships, totaling 27 sections.
Consolidation was an experimental project, Webster being only the second in
the state. The new school,
Union #3, voted bonds to build a modern two-story brick
building with grade school in the lower story and high school upstairs. It
was dedicated
January 1, 1914, the students being transported by horsedrawn, heated and
enclosed busses. The high school was soon fully accredited with courses in
Vocational Agriculture, Home Economics, Normal Training, and Music, with the
first class graduating in 1918. In the 1920s it was the only school in
Rooks
County qualified to meet the requirements of the U.S. Department of
Agriculture. Soon a shop was built west of the school and an auditorium with
new opera chairs was added on the north. A room was added west of the shop
when the government lunch program began in the 1940s.
Religion was an important part of the lives of the
pioneers of Webster. Records of early church denominations show: (1) That an
early Catholic missionary priest from Plainville included Webster in his
circuit but a church was never established; (2) Seventh Day Adventist’s
preached in homes, the school house, and other locations, but had no church
building; (3) The Methodist Episcopal Church was on a circuit with the Mt.
Pleasant and Liberty country churches, with the first regular pastor sent to
the Webster charge in 1881. They and the Baptists held separate worship
services in a little stone building, also used as the town hall. In 1886
plans were begun to build a church. The Baptists were in charge of the
enterprise but both groups worked together to build a small wooden
structure. Both denominations worshipped in this building for several years
until difficulties between them arose.
The Methodists purchased a hall on
Main Street, previously a
pool hall and saloon. In 1892 they selected a building site and laid the
cornerstone, but due to hard times the project was abandoned. In 1901 a
small parsonage was built, with an addition in 1905. Again, in 1910, they
began to raise funds to build a new church. $3200 was raised in the first
two months and the foundation begun. Miss Alice Mott was visiting in the
community at the time and offered to give $250 if the church be named
Philander Mott Memorial in honor of her father. The donation was accepted
and the church became known as the Philander Mott Memorial Methodist
Episcopal Church. The $6000 cinder block building with beautiful stained
glass windows was free of debt for the June 11, 1911, dedication service and
greatly enjoyed by the community for 33 years until destroyed by fire on
Sunday evening, December 17, 1944. Some thought that in pre-warming the
church for the evening Christmas program a small stove exploded causing the
fire, but others said it was arson. In 1947, $500 of the $2000 insurance
check was used to purchase Fairview District #99 country school house which
had recently consolidated with Webster. Church services were held in the
High School auditorium until 1950. The school was moved to the church
location, remodeled and refurbished, mostly by volunteer labor, with
dedication services held
May 21, 1950;
(4) Early Methodist church records show that the
Baptist Church was active
in the early years. A 1915 newspaper article mentions them trying to get
services started again. One source said the small stone church was built by
the Baptists. Memories tell us that their last services were held around
1922; (5)
The Pentecostal Assembly
started holding services in the small stone town hall building on Main
Street in the early 1920s. When the Baptists closed their doors, the
Assembly purchased their property.
In early years, times for entertainment were few,
but they made the most of them. The Last-Day-of-School Celebration, hay rack
rides in the summer, sleigh rides and ice skating in the winter, literary
debates, box suppers, church activities and revival meetings, organizations,
and sporting events were all times to socialize. School sports were:
basketball (both boys and girls), baseball, and football, although football
was taken out in the early 1920s due to a death occurring in a game.
Residents were active in many organizations: Union Labor Organization,
Knights of Labor, Grand Army of the Republic, Sons & Daughters of Justice
Lodge, Woman’s Christian Temperance Union, Ladies Aid, Young Women’s
Christian Association, Rooks County Poultry Club, Neighbors Circle, Home
Extension Unit, and the 4W-4H Club to name a few. But the big annual affair
in Webster was the Jubilee Celebration, in later years called Pioneer
Settlers Reunion. It was a two-day affair held after harvest under the
towering cottonwoods in the “grove” with a basket dinner, visiting band,
political speeches, a merry-go-round, baseball games (including a girl’s
team), horse shoes, checkers, and children’s games on the schedule.
There was also horse racing one-half mile east and north of
town. The following article from the Rooks County Record,
August 13, 1915 stated:
The fourth annual Jubilee Celebration in Webster was
a great success, both as to attendance on both days, and the quality of
entertainment given. The weather was particularly pleasant and nothing
occurred in the way of heat, wind or rain to disturb the comfort of the
happy crowds assembled. Saturday found a crowd of fully 2000 under the
towering cottonwoods of the public park.(called ‘The Grove’). The Woodston
band was discoursing excellent music, several refreshing stands, amusement
booths and a merry-go-round were operating. People were moving about
greeting acquaintances seldom met except on such gala occasions, all wearing
that happy look betokening conditions and circumstances favorable to peace
of mind and comfort of body, a quiet and jolly crowd. It had rained the
night before helping to swell the crowd for the threshers laid off all
hands, including the farmer and his family and all went to the Webster
Reunion. The chief entertainment on both days was baseball, even girls
teams.
g
The people of Webster exhibit a surprising
enterprise for so small a place, but they are adopting the course that will
in time make a big little town. It already has the model country
school of Rooks County if
not the whole Northwest, an elegant church building, several large supply
stores and a considerable trade territory. There are a number of fine
residences, one of which is a bit of the palatial equal to a city mansion.
The large city park, mentioned above, which many a town twenty times its
size might envy. In fact, Webster already is a mighty good town to live in.
We returned home feeling that the celebration had been most enjoyable.”
These celebrations were held until around 1921. (Blauer)
In the 1920s and 1930s there was still a post
office, a bank, several repair shops, an elevator (without a railroad
track), a hardware store, at least three grocery stores, two churches, and
approximately the same number of residents as earlier. Four newspapers tried
their luck in Webster: Webster Eagle, 1885-1887; Webster Enterprise,
March-November 1888; Merchants Journal, 1894-1895; and Webster Blade,
1909-1913.
There were two telephone centrals: one on the south side of
town answered to
Belmont;
the other answered to Webster. Joe Randal was Webster’s first telephone
operator and repairman in the early 1900s. To be connected, you cranked one
long ring and when he answered you would say “Hello Joe, give me (name)” and
he would connect you to your party.
Dr. Sackrider was an interesting early doctor in
Webster. He used only three kinds of pills and an old-time standby remedy
called “calomel.” He would tell his patients that he would give them a dose
of sweet calomel and send them to heaven. One man was told he would give him
a dose of calomel, then come back tomorrow for another dose if he was still
alive. The doctor ate only fish and tea made of cottonwood leaves but every
time he saw smoke coming from someone’s chimney he would go eat with them.
The women in town hated to start a meal because he would soon be at one of
their homes for dinner. (Blauer)
With the coming of cars, a highway was built from
Stockton following the
river on the north side, going through Webster on Broadway Street and on
west to Alcona. In 1920 the highway was moved two miles north, leaving
Webster isolated. The last bank closed in 1929. In 1948 the Rural
Electrification Association brought electricity to the area and dial
telephones were installed in 1952.
As early as 1932, Webster resident, Mrs. Lavina Fry, was in
correspondence with
Kansas
State officials urging that a dam be built over the
South
Solomon
River
for flood control. Her scrapbook held 228 column inches on the subject from
the Rooks County Record, 22 letters, and her statement that she had 82 from
the state regarding a dam as well. In 1938 an organizational meeting was
held in Webster and a committee formed to circulate petitions, getting 1186
signatures, which were sent to the Army Corps of Engineers. In 1940 the
Kansas Reclamation Association was formed to promote such projects. The
Water Resource Division of the Kansas State Board of Agriculture became
interested. The Webster Unit was approved and authorized for construction
under the Flood Control Act of 1944 as a unit of the Missouri River Basin
Plan. Following the Kansas River Flood of July 1951, which was very
destructive all the way to the
Mississippi River
and which also washed out Webster’s steel bridge, there was increased demand
for adequate flood control. This led to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation
surveying three sites in the area: (1) one mile west of
Stockton;
(2) between Stockton and Woodston; (3) the Webster town site location.
Approximately one million dollars was appropriated for the foundation of the
dam which was completed December 2, 1953, but there were still doubts about
Congress allowing money to complete the dam. But after much persuasion from
Kansas politicians and citizens, the last of December 1953 a contract for
Completion of the Webster Dam was awarded in the amount of approximately six
million dollars with work to begin in March 1954 and to be completed in July
1956. (Brown)
After many town meetings, the new town site was
founded two miles southeast of old Webster. A new $186,000 school structure
was built and the
Methodist
Church
and several residences moved to the new location. Sixty-six adults and
fifty-nine children moved out of the Webster Reservoir area, but only a
dozen or so residents moved to the new town, the rest moving to other
locations of their choice. Approximately 30 buildings were moved to the
Stockton
area. One of the largest was the home built by J. J. McCombs in 1915 and
mentioned in the Jubilee Celebration article. Stockton Monument Service
moved the 278 bodies from the Webster Cemetery, most to Stockton and the
remainder to other parts of the state. Dr. H. C. Brown, the last medical
doctor in Webster, moved his practice to Stockton. The Methodist and
Pentecostal Assembly Churches, Fry’s Store, and Northup’s Store that
included the post office, were the last churches and businesses in Webster.
The last stamping at the Webster post office, never known by any other name,
was June 30, 1953. The 1954 High School class was the last to graduate from
the old 1911 brick building, one of the many brick and limestone buildings
demolished due to building of the Dam.
The dam was completed
July 26, 1956. Water was
impounded May 13, and by
July 23, 1956, water covered 700 acres, marking the end of old
Webster. The program of dedication was held
October 5, 1956, in
Stockton with a parade on Main Street and a dance in the evening at the city
auditorium. The official dedication was held the next day, October 6, at the
Webster Dam site with a free barbecue meal. Mrs.Lavina Fry, Mother of the
Webster Dam Project, was seated among the attending dignitaries. (Brown)
The main purpose of the dam is for flood control, but
irrigation, recreation, fishing, and wildlife habitat are all important
reasons for its construction. The dam stores flood runoff of the South Fork
of the Solomon
River to permit the irrigation of 8500 acres of lands in the lower valley
between Woodston and Osborne. The maximum water storage during a flood
period is 415,000 acre feet, covering a surface area of 19 square miles.
When the dam was built the highway was moved a mile south to be closer to
the lake, and a small airstrip was put in at the south end of the dam (which
has since been closed). (Brown)
Now the little village of new Webster includes five
resident families and two seasonal homes. The church, later used as a
community building, and the school are both privately owned. After a fire,
the convenience store/bait shop closed in 1997. The last high school
graduating class was in 1963, and the grade school transferred to
Stockton in 1969.
All that is left of the town of old Webster are
pictures and fond memories, but more important has been the control of flood
waters for towns and farms along the South Fork of the Solomon River below
the Webster Dam. Over the years there have been times when the lake was so
low you could walk the streets of old Webster, but at this writing it is two
feet above conservation level. As water is still coming in, they are letting
a little out to keep it from flooding the river road south of the lake. Now
the area abounds with hunters, fishermen, boats, campers, hikers, bird
watchers, and other wildlife and nature enthusiasts.
Devlin wrote:”The
Webster Lake now covers
700 acres including the town of
Webster.
They say you can’t go back home, but I can still transport, in my mind, back
to the peaceful evenings in Webster and experience complete tranquility.
Life in Webster imprinted on my soul the true meaning of peace and love. The
grove of trees will always be there for me.”
References:
1930 - History of
Webster, Kansas, Resident interviews by Beulah Kellogg
1952 - Webster, Kansas
History, Resident interviews by Jeanice Blauer
1956 - Webster Dam
Dedication including writings of Carl Brown
1980 - Lest We Forget,
Rooks County Historical Society
2001 - Microfilm search
of old Rooks County Record at Stockton Library by Jean Lindsey
1997/2002 - Interviews
with Chris Bedore, Duane Dunning, Myrtle & Mike Hassett, Beulah Kellogg,
Harold Lowry, Neva Marshall, Gladys Northup, Don & Earl Richardson, Elva
Walker, and Frank Walker by Jean Lindsey
2009 - Carol (Grover)
Devlin, What Do You Do with the Yolks?: A Happy Childhood on the Prairie of
Western Kansas (iUniverse).
CONNECTING TEXT AND PLACE
THE SV24 Alliance made a dream come true. That is to have
authors read on the land their writings spring from, giving history and
energy to the landscape. And to have artists there to share in that reading,
and then, in turn, lead a painting class to help all there capture the
visual reality: the landscape enhanced by text.
In the fall of 2008, three such experiences occurred in
Simpson, Stockton, and Hoxie, with artists working in pastels, water colors,
and ceramics. In every case, the sense of wonder and delight, that special
inner pleasure that says, “This is good. This is worthwhile. I’ve grown
today,” was the response to these text to landscape experiences.
This initial project was designed by the
Alliance
and supported by the Kansas Arts Commission. Our response is to encourage
local groups to create similar blended workshops in their communities. The
ingredients are: (1) an artist willing to share a technique; (2) a writer or
two willing to relate the tales and moods associated with the area; and (3)
friends looking for a unique, thoughtful exploration of landscape. Together,
they will create a mutually delightful event.
If you would like more information on this process, please
contact Joan Nothern,
e-mail
jnothern 334@usd334.org
or phone 785-568-0120.
If you do try this collaborative experience uniting text
and landscape, please send us information on the results. We would like to
be a partner in bringing voice and art together in the
Solomon Valley.
