It has been erroneously written that
Barnes was named after the man who owned
& operated the first lumber yard. The
first lumber yard was run by a man named
Henry Wiegard in a building beside the
railroad tracks & was sold to E.K.Felt
in 1883. A Barnes Enterprise article
dated January 1887 states that Frank
Edgar, son of Mr. & Mrs. J.R. Tripp,
received from A.S. Barnes (an official
of the railroad) after whom our town is
named, an elegant silver cup, in
fulfillment of a promise made by him.
Mr. Barnes forwarded a message to
Superintendent Downs by telegraph
stating that to the first male child
born in Barnes he would give a silver
cup, & to the first female a bible. The
cup is pure silver, lined with gold, &
bears the inscription: “Christmas, 1886.
Frank Edgar Tripp, First Born in Barnes,
Kas. A.S.B.”
The railroad was instrumental in
getting land & platting the towns along
their tracks, February 1, 1882. This
information was found in an article:
Barnes is on the Missouri Pacific
railroad, six miles west of Waterville &
six miles east of Greenleaf. It has a
depot, a switch, & a general store
(Maplewood Grange store was moved
there), hotel & post office (Elm Grove
also moved there), all kept by Henry
Ober. It has a Lutheran Church, that
cost $1,000, in which the Methodists
also hold religious services with J.
Shaurer minister. The country
surrounding is as fine as the sun ever
shown upon, but so much of it is vacant.
This would be one of the finest places
in the West for a small colony to
locate, where they have the advantage of
railroad station, & excellent land as
well. The water is pure, good & plenty &
the soil, a deep black loam, with clay
subsoil, way down. Its fertility is not
surpassed in the county, nor State. At
Barnes A nice little trading point could
very readily be built up, & as soon as
the vacant land is all settled, & surely
at the prices we are offering it, that
day is not far distant, a good little
town will spring up here. The man who
comes to us first for a bargain near
Barnes will make a lucky strike. We
sincerely consider this the choice
locality in the county for bargains, &
will gladly furnish any desired
information concerning it. If any man or
party of men who wish to look this land
over, with a view to business, will
notify us a day in advance of the time
they will be there, we will be on hand
with our ponies to show them the corners
& give figures. We have two quarters in
the center of town, for sale at a
bargain just now.
Early day businessmen who took
advantage of buying the land in Barnes
is J. R. Tripp, Henry Weigard, W. E.
Stone, Martin Brothers--Albert, James,
J. F., & Leander, Henry Ober, Mathew &
W. S. McKelvy, J. I. James, C. H. Bruce,
Mrs. E. PaDelford, M. Solt, G. F.
Larmatine, John McFadden & James Finley,
W. L. Bloomfield, Simon, Monroe, C. J. &
L.C. Solt, Dr. J. S. Wallace (Physician
& Surgeon) & Abe Beecher, W. W. Jones,
E. K. Felt, Albert Hazen, Clinton
Hogue, Mark J. Kelley, Mark H. Williams,
M. Dunsmore, A. H. Dearborn, E. & Maggie
Thompson, Adelia Earll, D. Martin, G. M.
Kindel, J. Kappel, A. L. Hatton, Alex
Shannon, James McGhie, McKelvy Bro’s (M
& W. S. McKelvy), F. R. Dikeman, John
Wells, James Maycroft, Alonzo Ballard,
John Freeby, R. E. Kindel, G. M. Kindel,
Ed Paddleford, G. M. Kappel, Mary
Landgraf, S. Transue, Dr. H. L. Taylor,
Alex Shannon, Dr. John Seufert John M.
Wells, Henry Husselman, Wright
Wertenberger, Mark H. Williams, Mark J.
Kelly, M. O. Reitzel, E. K. Wolverton ,
J. M. Wolverton.
For more information, please contact
the Washington County Historical
Society.
