Trails to the Past: Lyon County, Kansas History

Lyon County Kansas History

The first settler in the county was was Charles H. Withington, who came in 1846 and settled along the Santa Fe trail a short distance from the future town of Allen. He established a store in 1854, which was the first one in the county as well as in the general area other than Indian trading posts. His store was a hotel as well as a supply station. In April 1855, Oliver Phillips arrived in the county and settled on the One Hundred & Forty-second Creek. About the same time others arrived in the area: Chris Ward and J.S. Pigman; later in the same year saw the arrival of Charles Johnson, James Pheanis; David Vangundy, John Rosenquist, Joseph Moon, Rev. Thomas J. Addis, Lorenzo Dow, R.H. Abraham, William Grimsley, Thomas Shockley, Joseph Hadley, William H. Eikenbery, Joel Halworth, Dr. Gregg, Mr. Carver, James Hendricks, Albert Watkins, John Fowler, G.D. Humphreys, and L.H. Johnson.

More settlers arrived in 1856 and 1857, and now the problem of securing mail became a serious one. The post office was established in Emporia in the fall of 1857 after the resignation of the postmaster in Columbia. W.H. Fick became Lyon County's first postmaster.

The first school was established in 1858 and taught by G.W. Torrence. The first newspaper was begun in 1857 in Emporia by Hon. P.B. Plumb; the first sawmill in 1857 on the Cottonwood River by G.D. Humphreys; the first marriage was between Charles Carver and Sarah Vangundy in January, 1856; first birth was in a family by the name of Hennick in 1856.

The population of Lyon County was about 3,500 people in 1860, but many settlers left after a serious drouth affected the area. The coming of the Civil War in 1861 put an end to business and industry in the area.

Lyon County supplied many soldiers in the Civil War:

-- Emporia Guard, consisting of 50 men under the leadership of W.F. Cloud. Took part in the Battle of Wilson's Creek in Missouri, which saw the death of General Lyon.
--47 men recruited by A.J. Mitchell formed an artillary company.
-- L.T. Heritage recruited a company of men to serve within the state. They became Company B of the 8th Regiment.
-- 150 Lyon County men responded to the call by President Lincoln. P.B. Plumb formed a company in the 11th Regiment, and they were engaged in a battle at Prairie Grove where several died.
-- In 1864 300 more Lyon County men answered the call to help repel an invasion by General Price.

The first railroads were completed in Lyon County in 1870: the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe line arrived from Topeka; The Missouri, Kansas and Texas line was completed the same year and ran in a southerly direction across the state. Later came the Another line of the Atchsion, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad ran from Kansas City, through Lyon County and on into Chase County; and a third line ran from Emporia into Greenwood County. The Missouri Pacific crossed Lyon County from east to west in the northern part of the county.

Abstracted from "Kansas: A Cyclopedia of of State History," by Frank Blackmar, 1912

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