Source: The Parker Centennial book, published in 1988.
November 12, 1888, the city of Parker was laid out in an apple orchard and named for J. W. Parker who owned the vast orchard. Many flourishing businesses came to Parker as the community was one of the best agricultural townships that the state could boast of. The Missouri-Kansas-Texas railroad ran its first train through on January 1, 1889. In 1906 there were eight trains daily with two passenger trains going through each way. In 1975 the passenger trains no longer run the rails and generally two long freights go through during the day. The old depot has been moved away and now houses antiques.
The first bank was organized October 1, 1890. The banking business was taken from Parker in 1962 and moved to Garnett.
In the early 1890s Parker had two hardwares, four general merchandise stores, one furniture and undertaking business, two excellent banks, two milliners, two restaurants, a jewelry store, a meat market, a barbershop, two livery barns, two blacksmiths, a harness shop, a newspaper, two physicians, a meal and feed grinder, an elevator, and a dentist. The Presbyterian Church and many of the above businesses were destroyed in the 1893 tornado that struck Parker April 12. The miracle of the devastating storm was that no one was killed.
In a 1906 Parker Message the following prices were quoted: "You can get a full 16-ounce loaf of bread for a nickel at Culberson's, Seven bars of Rub-No-More soap for 25 cents, and get your outing flannel at Lewellyn's for 7-1/2 cents a yard." The Parker Market for April 27, 1906, was: Fat hogs -- $5.95 to $6.10 per hundredweight; Fat cows -- $1.25 to $2.81 per hundredweight; and corn, 33 cents a bushel.
Again in June 15, 1912, Parker vicinity was hard hit by another tornado. This time it was mostly in the rural areas southwest of town. Hailstones measured ten inches in circumference. It was a close call for the people of Parker as many remembered the storm of 1891.
In 1906 the Parker Hardware could boast of having the John Deere Agency.
Chautauqua programs were still popular in 1913. Carpenter wages at that time were 50 cents an hour.
The town has had hotels, union halls, automobile agencies, saloons, good schools, active churches, a high school built in 1922, and a new grade school finished in 1952. At the present time, 1975, kindergarten and the first 6 grades of school are held in the high school building: The 1952 grade school was abandoned in 1971 and stood idle until the spring of 1975, when TRI-KO workshop was started in the building.
The Order of Eastern Star and Masonic Lodge No. 341 are still active in 1975.
Through the years the population has varied some. In 1940 it was 312; in 1971, 255; and June 1975, 209.
Parker businesses now consist of a grocery store, a service station. post office, barbershop, tavern, hardware and grain business, blacksmith, veterinarian, library and two churches. From deep mud roads to blacktop surface streets; from water being carried in buckets from wells to a modern water system with a lake south of town; from a bucket brigade to an up-to-date fire truck; ambulance service that will go anywhere it is needed; from an old switchboard party line to a dial system telephone are some of the changes in Parker. Plans in the near future are for a modern sewage disposal system. All this makes Parker a good place to live, work, worship, and retire.