Eva Brooks

EVA BROOKS
BORN          DIED
APR.12       DEC.24
1891.           1903.

12-year-old Eva Brooks died on Christmas Eve 1903. Very little of her and her family are mentioned in the Baldwin City newspapers. Her father, Lewis Brooks, was born a slave in Kentucky and came to Kansas in 1883, settling in Baldwin City--specifically Media (West Baldwin). There is no mention of a wife/mother or siblings and even the one mention of Eva isn't clear if they are the same person.

In October 1903, it was reported that the little child of Lewis Brooks was severely scalded. In January 1904, Lewis Brooks buried his infant daughter. I am just assuming they are the same child and lax reporting contributed to the confusion.

Eva is buried in Oakwood Cemetery. On August 29, 1920, Lewis died. His obituary doesn't mention where he was buried.

Whatever Happened to the Heber Institute

The only photograph of the Heber Institute

As early as 1856, a group of Episcopal churchmen settled in Prairie City, Kansas and established a congregation under Rev. Charles Reynolds. At the urging of Bishop Thomas Vail, a college was established and construction of a two-story stone structure had begun.

The building was constructed by George Miller and H.E. Dodge, but due to a lack of funds, the school was scrapped for the time being. The school building, which had one room on each floor, was used as a meeting house. One of the more famous uses was a visit from Horace Greeley who spoke in front of 400 people. The building was complete enough to open the Episcopal Church's State School for Boys, now named the Heber Institute. The Institute was named for Rev. Heber of New York. I could find no record of who Rev. Heber was. Despite a push to get some kind of upper-level school in Prairie City, it's close proximity to Baldwin City and Baker University doomed any endeavor.

Dr. Henry J. Caniff finally got a school in the Heber Institute building in 1858 and called it District 1, it being the first organized school district in Douglas County. The old Heber Institute was used as a school and community meeting place for numerous years until 1903. At some point between 1858 and 1871, the district number was changed to 78 and in 1903, it was decided to consolidate Prairie City Number 78 and Peach Grove Number 45 into Prairie City Number 87. With this, a new school was built with brand new furniture on land donated by Robert Miller, which burned down in 1919 and was replaced later that year. This building still stands at the corner of North 150 and East 1550 roads.

As for the Heber Institute building, it was sold to Timothy Keohane and Capt. Nathaniel Cradit who dismantled the building in 1905 to construct a story and livery on High Street. It later served as a Ford dealership, a recreation club, and barbershop. Today, the building is used as a fitness center and apartments.

South and southwest elevation view of Keohane & Cradit Building, 2023.
📷Megan Bruey and Stan Hernly

Trail Park

Trail Park is a triangular parcel at the intersection of North 400 and East 1700 roads on the north edge of Baldwin City, Douglas County, Kansas. It features a granite marker that is situated along a portion of North 400 Road that has been in use since its creation as part of the Santa Fe Trail. Remnants of the trail are visible in the fields to the northwest of the park.

In 1907, Civil War veteran Isaiah Stickel and his wife, Jennie, donated to Baker University this small half-acre parcel along the trail route to commemmorate the Santa Fe Trail. The Baldwin Republican described this parcel as "a tongue of land having a connection to the original trail itself...because no where else is the old Trail used as a public highway." At least nowhere in the vicinity had the trail path itself been converted to a public roadway.

The four foot tall red granite marker was installed by the Daughters of the American Revolution. The students of Baldwin City also raised money to help with the installation. The unveiling was October 11, 1907. The original bronze plaque, designed by Maude Miles, was stolen in 1967 and replaced with a marble replica. The original bronze face served as a pattern for the marble replacement now adorning the face. The local Santa Fe Trail Historical Society of South Douglas County installed the new marble plaque in 1968 or 1969.

The small park included the signs/markers and no other features. There is the 1907 DAR marker, a metal commemorative sign erected in 1983 by two Baker University alumni, and a late 20th Century wood sign erected by the local Santa Fe Trail Historical Society that identifies the park. The DAR erected seven markers in Douglas County.¹ Of the seven, this was the only one erected with a bronze face.

The DAR marker and Trail Park was added to the Kansas State and National Register of Historic Places in 2012 and 2013, respectively. The other two signs are non-contributing to the property.

Lieutenant Isaiah Stickel was born in April 1830 in Illinois. At 20, Stickel enrolled in McKendree College in Lebanon, Illinois. He graduated in 1855, but deferred graduation until the next year as he was the only senior in that class. Stickel became a schoolteacher for a few years until enlisting in the Illinois Cavalry on June 30, 1861 to fight in the Civil War. He was promoted to First Lieutenant in August 1862. He was discharged on April 6, 1866.

After the war, he relocated to Kansas settling in, at first, Padonia, near Hiawatha, and then Centralia, near Seneca, where he farmed and worked a mercantile business. In 1895, he moved to Baldwin City where he became very active in Baker University and the United Methodist Church, serving on the Board of Trustees, who authorized the construction of the old Methodist Church.² He then claimed a soldier's plot in western Kansas and moved out there for a bit, but returned to Baldwin where he died in 1911.

Jennie (Spaulding) Stickel was born in New York on December 3, 1840. She married a Mr. Gaylord in 1861, who died during the Civil War. Jennie then became an army nurse for the remainder of the war. She moved with her uncle to Centralia, Kansas where she met and married Isaiah in the winter of 1871. She was also a very active member in the Methodist Church, the Women's Relief Corps, and the Women Christian's Temperance Union. She passed away April 12, 1916. Isaiah and Jennie had three children with only one surviving into adulthood. Their house, built around 1910, still stands about a quarter mile northwest of Trail Park.

1. The seven, from east to west, are at Black Jack, Palmyra, Trail Park, Brooklyn, Willow Springs, Globe, and Flag Springs (Simmons Station).

2. The original Methodist services were held in a small cabin north of Palmyra from 1854 until 1858 when the Old Castle was completed. Services were next held in the Old Stone Church (1868), now Pulliam Hall, on Baker University campus. Services were then held in Centenary Hall (1884). The old Methodist Church was a beautiful stone and brick building completed in 1904, that sadly burned down in 1930. The fourth and and final church was completed in 1932.

53 Miles West of Kansas City

Stull was originally founded as the Deer Creek community at the headwaters of Deer Creek. The community was settled mainly by people of German ancestry and by 1857, six families were living in the vicinity. In 1859 the Evangelical Emmanuel Church was organized. There was apparently a great need for sermons as Reverend C. Berner noted that he held two meetings in Deer Creek, a very dark community where no one seemed to know about conversion. By 1867, the members had collected enough money to construct a church. Land was donated by Jacob Hildebrand for both the church and an adjoining cemetery. The church cost $2,000 to build and stood until being demolished in 2002.

Stull church. Photo by unknown. Taken from the Territorial Capital Museum
in Lecompton, Kansas.

Church rubble. 2014.

A post office was organized on April 27, 1899 but was discontinued in 1903. The post office asked the town to submit a list of names for the post office and, showing a lack of imagination, the post office chose the name Stull, named after Sylvester Stull, the town’s first and only postmaster.

Stull Post Office announcement, Lawrence Daily Journal, May 13, 1899

The first business in Stull was established in 1899 when J.E. Louk opened a general store in the living room of his house. The telephone switchboard was operated in the back of the house as was the post office. John Kraft moved to Stull in 1904 and entered into a partnership with Louk but 18 months later Louk sold his share to Kraft. H. Clark Swadley built another store across the street from the Kraft store but it closed when Kraft bought the store and moved in. In 1938, Kraft sold the store to Charles Houk who operated the store until 1955. In the 1920s, Stull nearly had a bank and the Kaw Valley InterUrban Railway was going to be extended from Lawrence to Emporia but for one reason or another neither materialized.

May 11, 1899 Jeffersonian Gazette article on the
Louk grocery store and post office.

In the late 1910s, Stull petitioned for a highway route from Lawrence
to Topeka through Stull. The road instead was built through Big Springs
and is now U.S. Highway 40.

Stull was fairly isolated before automobiles and modern roads as it was a two hour trip from Lecompton, three hours from Lawrence and four hours to Topeka. School was held in the Deer Creek School, sometimes called the Brown Jug because it was painted brown. Baseball was also popular in Stull as was holding picnics and fairs in Lane’s Grove half a mile south of town.

Deer Creek School, District 48. 1879-1963.
Illustrated by Goldie Piper Daniels.

Despite being barely a small town for all of its existence, Stull was not without its share of tragedies. In 1908, young Oliver Bahnmaier wandered away from his house and was found later in a field that his father had burned. Charles Kizer died of exposure after walking home from work one weekend. Another man was reported missing by his family and was found by the search party hanging from a tree. In recent years, Stull has gained a reputation of being haunted and a meeting place for the Devil and a stairway to Hell. These claims have, unfortunately, led to rampant vandalism in the cemetery and trespassing.

Oliver Bahnmaier obituary.
Lecompton Sun, April 9, 1908.

"If they make it we have it, if we can find it" was the motto of the John Kraft store. John Kraft and his family moved to Stull in 1904 and went into partnership with J.E. Louk in a store. Soon, Louk sold his share and the Kraft store served the community until 1938 when they sold the business to the Charles Houk family, who ran it until 1955. His son, Christian Kraft, built a machine shop where his family's store was which stands today.

John and Louisa Kraft. From FindAGrave.

From the book Soil of Our Souls: Histories of Clinton Lake Area Communities by Martha Parker and Betty Laird: "The people who settled on the fertile land near Deer Creek were mostly farmers. They brought with them a rich heritage which has been imparted to the present generation living in the Stull community."

A view of the large pine tree in the old section of Stull Cemetery. Sadly, it was removed in 1998. From a file 
at the Territorial Capital Museum in Lecompton.

A poem from a student at Deer Creek School was found among their records when Goldie Piper Daniels was doing her research on rural schools of Douglas County, Kansas. It's unknown who wrote it.

Today I started to school.

I learned some words and a number of rules;

I drew some pictures with colored chalks,

The teacher said I mustn't talk.

At recess we played some games,

I learned most all the children's names;

Most of them seemed to be all right

But one big boy tried to start a fight.

It makes me tired to sit so still,

I don't like school and never will.

But the little boy that sits in front of me

Is just as cute as he can be.

Orbondale and Miller Spring

George Orr and Orbondale

In 1887, M.H. Newlin sold his farm southeast of Lawrence to George Ainslie Orr, from New York. That same year, George had married Mary Bunion. Within only a few short years, George Orr's farm, which he called Orbundale, was a well-stocked ranch and a jewel of Wakarusa Township. 

Orbundale was located along Banks Street, now 19th Street, adjacent to the Robert Miller house. Orr also owned 320 acres of land in Willow Springs and the city directories listed his occupation as a gardener. The Orr farmhouse still stands along Clare Road. George Orr passed away in 1929, Mary passing a couple years before him in 1927. Both are buried in section 7 of Oak Hill Cemetery.

Orr farmhouse along Clare Road, Lawrence, Kansas.

Miller Spring

1857 map of northern Wakarusa Township highlighting B.W. Miller's property.

Miller Springs, also called Miller or Millerburg, was located about one mile west of Downtown Lawrence in 1854-1855 along the California Road. The land was owned by Brice W. Miller and on August 12, 1854, shortly after the first Emigrant Aid Party arrived in the Lawrence area, a meeting was held there. The meeting was for the Actual Settlers Association and was comprised of settlers who came into Kansas from Missouri.

Miller Spring was located in the southwest quarter of Section 26 of Wakarusa Township which would place it near present-day 6th Street and Kasold Drive.

The Unitarian Church of Lawrence and Kennedy Valley

I.

The Unitarian Church was started shortly after Lawrence was founded. Reverend Ephraim Nute began services in May 1855 atop Mount Oread. Reverend Nute was instrumental in constructing a church at 933 Ohio Street. Services in the church began in March 1857 but the church wasn’t completed until 1859 when a clock and bell were installed.

The first Unitarian Church building. The first public school in Lawrence was
located in the basement.

Costing $500, the bell and clock were shipped from Boston by way of New Orleans. The ship carrying the cargo sank but the bell and clock were recovered, sent back to Boston for repairs then shipped again, this time by rail until Jefferson City, Missouri and then by boat from there to Leavenworth. Bushwackers vowed that the bell would never reach Lawrence and guarded every road to keep it from arriving. But a young free stater “Little Billy” Hughes volunteered to transport the bell from Leavenworth to Lawrence by an ox-team for $30. He also said he’d travel unarmed and alone.

He loaded a wagon with the bell and then several layers of hay and dishes. Hughes was stopped at the outskirts of Leavenworth “What have you got, Yankee?” “Dishes.” The ruffians climbed into the wagon and dug through two layers of the dishes and then sent Hughes on his way. Ten miles later, Hughes was approached again. Hughes denied having the bell. “Don’t give us any Yankee lie,” and the ruffians dug through three layers of dishes before letting Hughes continue on his way. Hughes reached Lawrence and loaded the bell onto John Baldwin’s ferry. As they traveled across the Kansas River, they rang the bell announcing their arrival. Inscribed on the bell is “Blessed are the people that know the joyful sound; they shall walk, O Lord, in the light of Thy countenance.”

Marker at 933 Ohio Street. Photo by Brian Hall.

Unitarian Church bell in a display case in Lawrence High School. Photo from
The Lawrence Journal-World.

A new church was constructed at the corner of 12th and Vermont Streets when the old church had to be abandoned. The bell was sold to the Lawrence school system where it was passed from high school to high school and currently resides in the lobby of Lawrence High School at 19th and Louisiana Streets. The Unitarian Church remained at 12th and Vermont until 1944 when the church closed. The church was disbanded and the building was demolished to make way for St. John’s Catholic School.

In 1957, the Unitarian Fellowship was reorganized and in 1961 they purchased the Pleasant Valley School along North 1100 Road where they have resided and expanded since.

Pleasant Valley School, now the Unitarian Fellowship Church. Photo by
Brian Hall.

II.

Map of Kennedy Valley along the Wakarusa River in Wakarusa Township, Douglas County. Map created by
Brian Hall.

William Bainbridge Kennedy arrived in Douglas County, Kansas in June of 1855. William and his wife Elizabeth pre-empted the northeast quarter of Section 19 in Wakarusa Township (bordered on the north by the Wakarusa River and on the east by E 1500 Road/County Road 1055). His mother, Margaret Ralston Kennedy settled in the southwest corner of Section 23, his brother, O.P. claimed the southeast quarter of Section 23 and two other brothers, Jonathan and Leander claimed land just southwest of their mother’s on the northeast quarter and southwest quarter of Section 27. Thomas Kennedy would later claim the southwest quarter of Section 19. Because of the prominence of Kennedys, the area, bordered by the Wakarusa River on the north, Washington Creek on the west, present-day North 1100 Road on the south and present-day East 1500 Road on the east, would become known as Kennedy Valley.

The Kennedy Valley school district had 5 different school buildings over the years. The district began in 1855 with Margaret Kennedy teaching at the Asa Dutton homestead. The next school was located on an acre of land in the northeast quarter of Section 26 and used until 1865 when a school built of stone was constructed. The next school was built in 1895-96 but burned down in 1919 and replaced with a modern, for the times, stucco building.

Wakarusa Valley historian Martha Parker taught at Kennedy Valley from 1948-50 when the district was known as Pleasant Valley. It is uncertain why or when the name changed from Kennedy Valley to Pleasant Valley. The Pleasant Valley School is currently used for the Lawrence Unitarian Church. ▩

Maths Homework

The Crank

Joshua Hernandez Berkey was born March 11, 1852 in Post Oak Springs, Tennessee. As a young child he was moved to Wisconsin. His father, Jacob Berkey was a showman and traveled extensively, taking Joshua on the road with him until his sudden death in 1871 at 47. Settling in Monroe, Wisconsin, Joshua became a pharmacist but over the several years, became interested in the temperance movement to restrict alcohol. In 1880, Joshua moved to Denver where he became interested in journalism. He liquidated his assets in 1883 and moved to Sumner County, Kansas where he bought a farm and started a temperance newspaper called The Crank.

The Crank was an odd publication. In its first issue, it talked about the Confederacy and France. It threatened people who didn't take out an ad in the paper. It seemed to try to mix legitimate news reporting with humor but it doesn't really come through. Supposedly, The Crank became a popular newspaper with decent circulation. Unable to publish a nationalized newspaper in a small town such as Geuda Springs, Berkey ended publication with the tenth issue with a promise to continue publishing in Kansas City. There's no evidence that happened but multiple Cranks began popping up across the country and the popularity of Berkey's original catapulted him into good standing with the anti-alcohol movement in the country so much so he began traveling the country giving lectures. He left Kansas in 1891 returning to Wisconsin and even running for governor there under the Prohibition Party in 1896.

logo to The Crank

Berkey continued to run unsuccessfully for offices in Wisconsin under the Prohibition ticket, losing each time. He was found drowned in a lake June 17, 1911 in Crystal Lake, Illinois, the circumstances of his death at 59 unknown.

Hail Wakansa!

Wakansa was possibly a misspelling for Wakarusa. In this Lawrence Journal article from May 24, 1888, it mentions Mr. and Mrs. Orr of Wakansa Township. If this is mentioning Mr. and Mrs. George Orr, they lived on a farm east of Lawrence along what is now 19th Street.

This article from the Western Call out of Beloit on August 1, 1879, mentions the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe railroad laying track between Topeka and Wakansa. Again, it could be a misspelling as a town named Wakarusa is located in Shawnee County, which has a railroad connecting from Topeka.

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Dick Tracy

You had him! You had Dick Tracy right where many only dreamed to have him and you get distracted by a bird?! You deserve that kick in the face.

The Born Loser

For the most part, you won't be using math--no offense to math teachers out there--except in very specific circumstances. The biggest is, of course, controlling your own finances and budgeting. Next will be figuring out percentages. Anything having to do with shapes probably won't get used unless you need to figure out the area of something. The biggest thing that math gives you is helping you problem solve, to go back and check your work to see if what you did was correct.

The Comics Kingdom website is down again. I don't know why because who would want the population of the world to miss out on this...

Wilbur Weston has just fallen to his death!! I know we should all be saddened by the death of this...well, I don't want to say beloved...character but let's just think of this as a new beginning. Besides, Wilbur was fated to die on a cruise and despite the gifting of a cat toy, Libby the Cat plays for keeps.

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Old Uncle Sam

The oldest documented person who ever lived was Jeanne Calment, a French woman born in 1875 and died in 1997. Her alleged longevity has come into question recently as skeptics note that her supposed age of 122 comes nowhere near other long-living centenarians. The next closest age is 119. Skeptics claim that the real Jeanne Clement died in 1934 and that, for some reason, her daughter, Yvonne, assumed her identity. While many don't believe that happened, stating that Yvonne died in 1934 of tuberculosis, there are several curiosities that the skeptics question. If you would like to read more about that, there is a wonderful New Yorker article you can read.

Jeanne Calment, 1996, at the age of 121
photo from The Independent

Samuel Shepard was born to White Cloud and an unknown slave woman, owned by James Shepherd in Lee County, Virginia in April sometime between 1784 and 1790. Most mentions of Samuel spell his name Sheperd. With his owner and at least two other slaves, Peter and Ben, Samuel arrived in Jackson County, Missouri. Apparently, Samuel was a very skilled woodworker. It's not known everything that he worked on or built but the 1827 Jackson County Courthouse still stands. For years it was the only courthouse between Independence and the Pacific Ocean.

1827 log cabin courthouse in Independence, Missouri.
Photo from VisitKC.

It is unknown when Samuel gained his freedom. Some report speculate he got it with the Emancipation Proclamation while other reports say he bought his freedom due to his woodworking skills. Either way, Samuel was a free man and moved to Lawrence, Kansas--again, some reports say 1862 and others 1863. He was recorded on the Census as living in Lawrence in 1870. For years, Samuel was a fixture in the community. He was well-known and well-liked. Samuel was initially married to Elizabeth Hutchinson who died around 1875. Together, they had ten children but only two survived into adulthood. He later married Julia Newson and the two lived together with Sam's daughter and son-in-law, Mattie and Joshua Hamilton.

Several years before Samuel died, a reporter for the Lawrence Daily Journal stopped Samuel on the street and asked him how old he was. "Well, I am suah ovah 100, I suah is." In the winter before his death, Samuel wandered away during an ice storm and practically lost his foot and nearly froze to death. That episode probably didn't help the old man's health and Samuel Shepard, known by many in Lawrence as Old Uncle Sam, one of the most polite old men in town, died February 8, 1909. At the low end, his age is mentioned as 119. At the high end, and what's on his gravestone in Oak Hill Cemetery, is 125.

Samuel's tale gained attention when the Lawrence Journal-World did an article about him when asked about his age of 125. While the article didn't divulge any new information, it did bring attention to Samuel Shepard's story which his descendants hope to uncover.

Samuel Shepard, courtesy of the Jackson County Missouri Historical
Society. They estimate his age to be 105 in this photo.

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Vivian Patee

Mary Elizabeth "Lizzie" McDermott was born in Cleveland, Ohio on January 4, 1860. At the age of 12, the McDermotts moved to the Lawrence, Kansas area where she attended the White School until the age of 16 when she got a job at the Lawrence Tribune. She was employed at the Tribune for a few years until moving to Topeka to work at the state printing office and then to the Topeka Daily Commonwealth. It was in Topeka that she met Claire M. Patee, who managed a traveling theater. They got married in 1884 and she joined him traveling around the country with the theater and soon started appearing on stage as well. It was here that Vivian Patee was born.

ad for the Patee Comedians performing
at the Bowersock Opera House in
Lawrence, Kansas. Sept. 1891.

Clarence M. Patee was born in Ashland, Kansas on May 6, 1857. Claire founded the Manhattan Mercury before becoming involved with the theater, creating his own troupe and performing a variety of plays and musicals. Around the turn of the century, the Patees quickly hopped onto the advent of motion pictures. Claire reportedly helped Thomas Edison with his work on movie projectors and owned one of the first movie theaters in the United States, located in New Jersey and opening in 1898 in Jersey City.

Taking this newfound technology, the Patees returned to Lawrence around 1903 to care for Vivian's stepfather and opened The Nickel, not only the first movie theater in Lawrence but the first one west of the Mississippi River. Patee would later open a theater in Kansas City. The Nickel was located at 708 Massachusetts Street. The location today is home to the Dusty Bookshelf.

The Patee's opened a new theater in 1913, a grand building at 828 Massachusetts Street. The Patees would continue to operate this theater until Clair's death in 1930. It would later be operated by Commonwealth Amusement. Sadly, the building would burn down in 1955 and would be demolished later that year. Part of the new J.C. Penny building (The Antique Mall) and alleyway was built in 1959.

The 1913 Patee Theater

Harlem Renaissance poet, Langston Hughes would spend countless hours in the theaters of Lawrence when he was growing up. He specifically remembers patronizing the Patee until one day he arrived to learn that they put up a sign banning black people from entering their theater. In fact, until Bowersock Theater, now Liberty Hall, opened in 1912, Hughes and the other black residents of Lawrence couldn't enter any of the movie theaters in town.

For most of 1915, Vivian suffered from stomach and bowel ailments that put her in the hospital several times. Vivian passed away on May 24, 1915 in Rosedale Hospital in Kansas City. She was only 54-years-old.

Claire continued working in the theater business. He even published a pamphlet about the movie industry trying to dispel the numerous falsities that permeated about the new industry. Claire passed away in 1930. Along with his wife, he was buried in Oak Hill Cemetery in Lawrence. She had purchased the plot shortly before her death and an elaborate gravestone was installed. The stone mentions her country origins, her time in journalism, and philanthropy but oddly leaves out her time in theater--both performing and entrepreneurship. The epitaph concludes with the journalistic shorthand for the end: "30".

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