Osborne County History
"A New Centennial History of Kansas," Charles Tuttle, 1876
Osborne County was organized in 1871, and named for a
private in the Second Kansas cavalry, who lost a leg on the
Arkansas river, in January, 1865. The area of the county is 900
square miles, and the population in 1875 was 3,467, in which
males preponderate to the extent of 300. Iowa has supplied
nearly a third of the population of Osborne county.
Eighty-three per cent, of the settlers are engaged in farming and 11 per
cent, in mines and manufactures. Twenty per cent, of the area
is bottom land, but only two per cent, forest. The streams are
the north and south forks of the Solomon, with their tributary
creeks, Twin, Covert and Kill. There are some springs, and
good wells range from seven to thirty-eight feet in depth. Coal
has been found, but is not plentiful; good limestone abounds.
There are no railroads yet in the county. The county seat is at
Osborne City, 163 miles northwest from Topeka. There are good
water powers on the two forks of the Solomon and four mills are
already in operation, but the powers are not nearly developed.
The main manufactures are a grist mill, a saw mill, a grist and
saw mill, and a furniture factory, at Penn township; a grist mill
at Sumner, and two others at Bethany and at Liberty townships.
There are no banks in the county, but there are two newspapers,
weekly, published in Osborne. There 49 districts, but only 16
school houses, valued at $6,666. There are several organizations
but no church buildings, and the libraries in four townships
showed a total of 8,549 volumes. This county suffered terribly
from the locusts, as nearly half of the population was destitute
of rations and clothing in consequence of their ravages.
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Osborne Co. KHHP
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This website created Feb. 1, 2012 by Sheryl McClure.
� 2011-2012 Kansas History and Heritage Project
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