April 15, 1886, Winfield Courier - Letter from Winfield Scott
Collection: Winfield Scott
Title
April 15, 1886, Winfield Courier - Letter from Winfield Scott
Subject
Winfield, KS
Scott, Winfield
Winfield Courier
Description
Winfield Scott wrote a letter to the Winfield Courier to share is memories of Winfield and the plans he began to build a church with his congregation.
Creator
Scott, Winfield
Source
Winfield Courier, Winfield, Kansas
Publisher
Winfield Public Library, Winfield, Kansas USA
Date
1886-05-15
Rights
Format
text/plain
Language
English
Type
Clippings
Citation
Scott, Winfield, “April 15, 1886, Winfield Courier - Letter from Winfield Scott,” Winfield Digital Collections, accessed June 24, 2026, https://winfield.digitalsckls.info/item/205.
Text
WINFIELD COURIER
'
D. A. Millington, Editor
Official Paper of Cowley County
THURSDAY, APRIL 15, 1886
EARLY HISTORY
A Letter From Winfield Scott, D. D. Angel Island, Cal., Apr.2, 1886 ED. Courier:—In your journal of March 24th, just received by me, is cop-ied a little private note I wrote the Rev. Mr. Reider. It was written with no idea a publication, or of giving any matter of historical interest of your place. It has led me to wonder whether the pioneers and old settlers of Kansas are as greatly interested in the rise and progress of your State as I have been. I was not a pio-neer and do not claim any of the honor and glory that attaches to the grand characters that made history when Kan-sas fought her way through fire and blood to freedom. Going onto her soil in January 1865, I was in time to see the development of a great State, in a most wonderful manner. At that dat Wes-ton was the western terminus of the H. & St. Joe railroad and we rode in a coach
from there to Leavenworth. I resided in Kansas until January 1872, and saw the building of the Kansas Pacific, the L. L. & G., Missouri River, Ft. Scott & Gulf and Neosho Valley railroad and have riden over those lines when towns along them containing from 500 to 1,000 ; inhabitants each had risen like magic j from the prairie sod, and in so short of j time that not an old shingle could be | seen upon a single roof.
It was during the latter part of Decem-ber, 1870, that I visited Walnut Valley. a few months before this a Leavenworth man had gone there. Among my friends were the families of Messrs. Andrews, Hickok and Rev. C. W. Tottsey. They
sent me an invitation to visit them, tell-ing mw of the new country ans of the name of the new town after myself and
that they expected it would be the coun-ty seat. I had known of many (prophet-ic towns of euphonious and high sounding names that never existed except in im-agination, or in a growing letter of an en-thusiastic squatter, or worse than that, only on ta highly embellished and care-fully platted cardboard, that I was not especially influenced by the town or the promise to immortalize, my name, but I did want to see what was then known as the great ‘‘southwest” that was booming from the rushing tide of immigrants all going
thither, I knew of the warm welcome, to,
, I should receive from the large hearted old friends then on the ground. Accompanied by my old col-lege chum, Prof. D. H. Robinson, of the State University, we went to Emporia by car and took a team and drove to Eureka where we were joined by my brother, S. Scott, now
of Clay Center. From there we went west to Butler county, through El Dorado, Augusta, and Douglass, all rival towns, each full of prophesy and proph-ets, of their own success and the other failures.
Augusta was named after Mrs. Au- . gusta James, the wife of Mr. C. N. James, my parishoner. I spent a day or -two at Augusta, preaching evenings. I / remember well the afternoon when we • forded a stream, passed through a strip of timber and drove over the gently slop-ing ridge when we had the first view of ' the town of Winfield. The Main street was laid out and enough stores and houses rudely built, with foundations of other buildings laid to define where the intended main street was to be. The record I made in writing to an eastern journal was this: “On the center a beautiful plateau of land, in the very heart of the valley is rising a splendid town. Four months ago two or three houses marked the place where it was to be. To-day there are twenty-seven buildings, twenty more arc rising and about thirty more lots have been se-cured."
I met there, besides the friend mentioned, D. A. Millington, an enter-, prising business man, whom I had I known in Leavenworth, and he believed |in the town and met me with, certainty and championed with liberalitv and en-thusiasm my proposition to raise money for a Baptist church in Winfield. I preached every evening while there and hunted deer in the daytime. The first day I killed three deer. Just across the creek west of the town site. I borrowed and used a rickety old shotgun, with stock tied up with strings to hold things to -gether. My luck as a hunter all came in the first day, and that, too in the fore noon.
The record of the Sabbath service is as follows: I preached in a store not completed. The front end of the build-ing being out, we had for the congrega-tion a wide open door. My pulpit was the end of a work bench with my over coat doubled up for a desk. The seats were 2x8 scantling resting on nail kegs and boxes, and yet the entire room 20x36 was full morning and evening with an appreciative audience. We had a good choir and an organ. At the close of the morning sermon a church was organized with twelve members. During the eve-ning
and the next day a subscription of $460 was secured, which was increased to about $700, sufficient to enclose a stone building 24x40 with 14 ft. walls of your stone quarry,
this is the record: "1 have
never seen in the west as pure white magnitia limestone as these quarries af- ‘ ford. It can be laid in the wall for $2.25 per perch, thus furnishing durable and very cheap building material for the poor as well as the rich. It seems a lit-tle unique to think of a very poor man, 'iving in a magnificent limestone house roofed, shingled, finished and furnished throughout with the best quality of grained black walnut, all this because it was so cheap - the difference between the dwellings of the poor and the rich being in the cut of the stone and the carve of the wood.” In returning home I volunteered to drive somebody's team for them and made the trip alone. From a point north of Chelsea I struck out across the Flint hills to go to headquar-ters of the east branch of Fallriver, traveling by
compass, this is the record: “For first time in Kansas I laid out upon the prairie, supperless and alone with oats and hay for the horses, a robe
blankets with God’s moon and stars in the heavens over me and the precious spirit of Jesus in the heart of happy night was spent, while joy came in the morning. I know now why Abraham in journeying, rejoiced in settling by his al-tar and I can see how happy spirits can be inspired to make heaven resound with hallelujah.”
Thus was the publication of the little items of history, which seem to in-terest you have tempted me to give you a few more items of history on more general matters which may awaken in others old memories and reveal to the younger generation what a luxury it was to live and work when the founds-
tions of enterprises were being laid.
Which now add so much to the thrift stability and peace of a great state. I was always proud of Kansas. I pro-claimed it east and west as the "poor mans paradise, where continuous quar-ter sections could have more bona fide settlers on them than any western state" My interest and pride in the state has
never waned.
Go to Albright & Co’s for loans on real estate, either city or country.w15tf
Original Format
paper
Title
April 15, 1886, Winfield Courier - Letter from Winfield Scott
Subject
Winfield, KS
Scott, Winfield
Winfield Courier
Description
Winfield Scott wrote a letter to the Winfield Courier to share is memories of Winfield and the plans he began to build a church with his congregation.
Creator
Scott, Winfield
Source
Winfield Courier, Winfield, Kansas
Publisher
Winfield Public Library, Winfield, Kansas USA
Date
1886-05-15
Rights
Format
text/plain
Language
English
Type
Clippings
Citation
Scott, Winfield, “April 15, 1886, Winfield Courier - Letter from Winfield Scott,” Winfield Digital Collections, accessed June 24, 2026, https://winfield.digitalsckls.info/item/205.Text
WINFIELD COURIER
'
D. A. Millington, Editor
Official Paper of Cowley County
THURSDAY, APRIL 15, 1886
EARLY HISTORY
A Letter From Winfield Scott, D. D. Angel Island, Cal., Apr.2, 1886 ED. Courier:—In your journal of March 24th, just received by me, is cop-ied a little private note I wrote the Rev. Mr. Reider. It was written with no idea a publication, or of giving any matter of historical interest of your place. It has led me to wonder whether the pioneers and old settlers of Kansas are as greatly interested in the rise and progress of your State as I have been. I was not a pio-neer and do not claim any of the honor and glory that attaches to the grand characters that made history when Kan-sas fought her way through fire and blood to freedom. Going onto her soil in January 1865, I was in time to see the development of a great State, in a most wonderful manner. At that dat Wes-ton was the western terminus of the H. & St. Joe railroad and we rode in a coach
from there to Leavenworth. I resided in Kansas until January 1872, and saw the building of the Kansas Pacific, the L. L. & G., Missouri River, Ft. Scott & Gulf and Neosho Valley railroad and have riden over those lines when towns along them containing from 500 to 1,000 ; inhabitants each had risen like magic j from the prairie sod, and in so short of j time that not an old shingle could be | seen upon a single roof.
It was during the latter part of Decem-ber, 1870, that I visited Walnut Valley. a few months before this a Leavenworth man had gone there. Among my friends were the families of Messrs. Andrews, Hickok and Rev. C. W. Tottsey. They
sent me an invitation to visit them, tell-ing mw of the new country ans of the name of the new town after myself and
that they expected it would be the coun-ty seat. I had known of many (prophet-ic towns of euphonious and high sounding names that never existed except in im-agination, or in a growing letter of an en-thusiastic squatter, or worse than that, only on ta highly embellished and care-fully platted cardboard, that I was not especially influenced by the town or the promise to immortalize, my name, but I did want to see what was then known as the great ‘‘southwest” that was booming from the rushing tide of immigrants all going
thither, I knew of the warm welcome, to,
, I should receive from the large hearted old friends then on the ground. Accompanied by my old col-lege chum, Prof. D. H. Robinson, of the State University, we went to Emporia by car and took a team and drove to Eureka where we were joined by my brother, S. Scott, now
of Clay Center. From there we went west to Butler county, through El Dorado, Augusta, and Douglass, all rival towns, each full of prophesy and proph-ets, of their own success and the other failures.
Augusta was named after Mrs. Au- . gusta James, the wife of Mr. C. N. James, my parishoner. I spent a day or -two at Augusta, preaching evenings. I / remember well the afternoon when we • forded a stream, passed through a strip of timber and drove over the gently slop-ing ridge when we had the first view of ' the town of Winfield. The Main street was laid out and enough stores and houses rudely built, with foundations of other buildings laid to define where the intended main street was to be. The record I made in writing to an eastern journal was this: “On the center a beautiful plateau of land, in the very heart of the valley is rising a splendid town. Four months ago two or three houses marked the place where it was to be. To-day there are twenty-seven buildings, twenty more arc rising and about thirty more lots have been se-cured."
I met there, besides the friend mentioned, D. A. Millington, an enter-, prising business man, whom I had I known in Leavenworth, and he believed |in the town and met me with, certainty and championed with liberalitv and en-thusiasm my proposition to raise money for a Baptist church in Winfield. I preached every evening while there and hunted deer in the daytime. The first day I killed three deer. Just across the creek west of the town site. I borrowed and used a rickety old shotgun, with stock tied up with strings to hold things to -gether. My luck as a hunter all came in the first day, and that, too in the fore noon.
The record of the Sabbath service is as follows: I preached in a store not completed. The front end of the build-ing being out, we had for the congrega-tion a wide open door. My pulpit was the end of a work bench with my over coat doubled up for a desk. The seats were 2x8 scantling resting on nail kegs and boxes, and yet the entire room 20x36 was full morning and evening with an appreciative audience. We had a good choir and an organ. At the close of the morning sermon a church was organized with twelve members. During the eve-ning
and the next day a subscription of $460 was secured, which was increased to about $700, sufficient to enclose a stone building 24x40 with 14 ft. walls of your stone quarry,
this is the record: "1 have
never seen in the west as pure white magnitia limestone as these quarries af- ‘ ford. It can be laid in the wall for $2.25 per perch, thus furnishing durable and very cheap building material for the poor as well as the rich. It seems a lit-tle unique to think of a very poor man, 'iving in a magnificent limestone house roofed, shingled, finished and furnished throughout with the best quality of grained black walnut, all this because it was so cheap - the difference between the dwellings of the poor and the rich being in the cut of the stone and the carve of the wood.” In returning home I volunteered to drive somebody's team for them and made the trip alone. From a point north of Chelsea I struck out across the Flint hills to go to headquar-ters of the east branch of Fallriver, traveling by
compass, this is the record: “For first time in Kansas I laid out upon the prairie, supperless and alone with oats and hay for the horses, a robe
blankets with God’s moon and stars in the heavens over me and the precious spirit of Jesus in the heart of happy night was spent, while joy came in the morning. I know now why Abraham in journeying, rejoiced in settling by his al-tar and I can see how happy spirits can be inspired to make heaven resound with hallelujah.”
Thus was the publication of the little items of history, which seem to in-terest you have tempted me to give you a few more items of history on more general matters which may awaken in others old memories and reveal to the younger generation what a luxury it was to live and work when the founds-
tions of enterprises were being laid.
Which now add so much to the thrift stability and peace of a great state. I was always proud of Kansas. I pro-claimed it east and west as the "poor mans paradise, where continuous quar-ter sections could have more bona fide settlers on them than any western state" My interest and pride in the state has
never waned.
Go to Albright & Co’s for loans on real estate, either city or country.w15tf
Original Format
paper