Atchison County History
"A New Centennial History of Kansas," Charles Tuttle, 1876
Atchison County was named in honor of the proslavery
leader David R. Atchison, whose zeal deluged the territory in
sorrow for several years. He was for a short time vice president
of the United States, and evidently hoped that his zeal for slavery
would give him the higher nomination. There are 409 square
miles of territory in the county, with a population in 1875 of
20,187, having increased nearly 5,000 since 1870. The males
exceed the females by 785 in this county. Manufactures and
mining occupy about 19 per cent, of the population, agriculture 31
per cent., and trade and transportation about 3-1 per cent. The
capital seat is Atchison, long the head quarters of the proslavery
party and the locale of the squatter sovereign, but now much
more wisely engaged and prosperous in proportion. The face of
the county shows about 15 per cent, of bottom lands, the rest
being upland. Prairie and forest divide the area in the proportions
of 90 and 10. The bottom lands range from two miles to
one-fourth of a mile in breadth. The timber growing in this county
is valuable for manufactures. The principal streams are, the
Independence creek, which runs east to the Missouri; the Big
Grasshopper, which runs south to the Kansas; and the Little
Grasshopper, its tributary; Deer creek, tributary to Independence;
Walnut creek, flowing into the Missouri; Camp, Little Stranger
and Big Stranger creeks, which empty into the Kansas. The
county has good well water at from twenty to thirty feet in depth,
and springs are numerous. Coal has been found, but so far only
in small quantities; the other mineral treasures found are
sandstone and limestone, well nigh inexhaustible, yellow oxide of
iron, in and around the capital, fire clay of good qualtity, and
excellent pottery clay. The city of Atchison has a very
charming appearance on the western bank of the Missouri river at the
extreme western point of the great bend. This city is the western
terminus of the Missouri Pacific, the Chicago, Rock Island and
Pacific, and the Hannibal and St. Joseph railroads; it is the
northern terminus of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe line
the eastern terminus of the central branch of the Union Pacific;
the southern terminus of the Atchison and Nebraska; and the
western terminus of the Burlington and Missouri line. The
Kansas City, St. Joseph and Missouri River line also runs through
Atchison ; hence the city is a great railroad centre, and one of
the chief commercial towns in Kansas. There are published in
the city, three daily, three weekly, and three monthly papers,
the principal of which are the Daily Champion, Patriot and
Courier, the last named being German. The Champion of
Sunday, June 13, 1875, was published on the first paper manufactured
in the state, at Blue Rapids. There are two national banks and
two private banks in the city. There are four public school
buildings, the principal of which cost $50,000, besides St.
Benedict's college and three private academies. There is a very
handsome Catholic cathedral, and seven other admirable church
buildings. There is also an iron and brass foundry of considerable
dimensions, and there are four large furniture factories run by
steam, three steam flouring mills with a capital of $110,000, a
steam saw mill with a capital of $70,000, cigar factories,
breweries, wagon and carriage factories, agricultural implement
factories, a steam stone dressing factory, and other important works.
The city has a population of 10,927. The papers published in
Atchison supply the whole county.
There are other centers of less importance, but considerable,
and among them are distributed a water power flouring and grist
mill in Grasshopper township, with a capital of $2,000; a saw and
grist mill in Walnut township; two water power flouring and
grist mills in Kapiowa township; two wind power flouring mills
in Centre township; and a cheese factory at Effingham. The
water powers on the Grasshopper are very valuable, but they are
only utilized partially, and will eventually give employment to
many thousands of both sexes before many years have passed.
When the locust plague fell upon Kansas in 1871, Atchison
county was self supporting, and received no external help as might
have been expected, from the fact that the county was the first to
become connected with the railroad system of the continent, and
was the only county in Kansas so placed before the war. There
are 67 organized school districts in the county, and 71 school
buildings, the property being valued at $120,000; besides which
there are other facilities for education, including St. Benedict
College, in charge of the Benedictine Friars; an academy for ladies
under the patronage of the sisters of the Benedictines; and a
large parochial school connected with the same church. The
churches in Atchison county number altogether thirteen edifices,
which belong to the Presbyterians, Baptists, Congregational,
Methodist, Episcopal, Catholic and Lutheran organizations. The
central branch of the Union Pacific Railroad Company owns all
the unsold lands in the county. There is no information afforded
by the returns as to libraries, public or private, but the latter
must be numerous and extensive. There are 2,673 acres of laud
in the county occupied as nurseries, orchards and vineyards, and
apiaculture has commanded much attention, as there are 505
stands of bees returned, from which 3,874 pounds of honey were
collected in 1874. The bridge over the Missouri River at
Atchison is a very handsome and substantial structure of iron on stone
abutments, and supported by stone piers. It is used for railroad
purposes, and is sufficiently high to permit the navigation of the
river to proceed unimpeded.
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Atchison Co. KHHP
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This website created Jan. 24, 2012 by Sheryl McClure.
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