Manning's work made Winfield the county seat, Winfield Daily Courier, April 7, 1990
Collection: Edwin C. Manning
Title
Manning's work made Winfield the county seat, Winfield Daily Courier, April 7, 1990
Subject
Manning, Edwin C.
Winfield Daily Courier
Winfield, KS
Sandbulte, Jane
Cowley County, KS
Description
This article describes how Manning was able to establish Winfield as the seat of Cowley County. A brief biography of his life after settling in Winfield is also included.
Creator
Sandbulte, Jane
Source
Winfield Daily Courier, Winfield, KS USA
Publisher
Winfield Public Library, Winfield, KS USA
Date
1990-04-07
Rights
Format
text/plain
Type
Clippings
Citation
Sandbulte, Jane, “Manning's work made Winfield the county seat, Winfield Daily Courier, April 7, 1990,” Winfield Digital Collections, accessed June 23, 2026, https://winfield.digitalsckls.info/item/232.
Text
Manning’s work made Winfield the county seat
(Editor’s note: This is the sec-ond in a two-part series of articles about Col. E.C. Manning, Win-field’s founder. Photos and refer-ence materials were provided by the Cowley County Historical Society.)
By JANE SANDBULTE News Editor
In early 1870, E.C. Manning sent a man on horseback at least three times a week to Douglass, the south end of the mail route, for the neigh-borhood mail. He received a paper that published the daily proceedings of the Kansas Legislature and in that way discovered that a bill had been introduced in the Senate to organize Cowley County and estab-lish the county seat at Creswell (an early name for Arkansas City).
Manning hastily sent three men on horses with instructions to obtain names of all settlers in the valleys of the Arkansas, Walnut and Grouse rivers. He asked them to report to him in three days with at least 600 names.
On Feb. 23, 1870, the men met at Douglass and swore to the census
and signed a petition to be presented to Gov. James Harvey, asking him to issue his proclamation organizing Cowley County, naming temporary county officers and designating Winfield as the county seat.
Manning set off for Topeka by stagecoach and arrived there in time to find the bill on its third reading in the Senate. He failed to secure the defeat of the bill but managed to prevent its passage in the House before its adjournment. Then Man-ning took his papers on Feb. 28 to the governor, who acted upon them, organizing the county and naming Winfield as the temporary seat.
When those in the Creswell area learned that the bill to make their town the county seat had “died a bornin’ ”, tension in the county mounted, but later attempts to make Creswell and also Tisdale the coun-ty seat were unsuccessful.
In Manning’s autobiography, he wrote: “How many log foundations in the bends of the Grouse, Walnut and Arkansas were enumerated as families of five or ten persons named Jones or Smith in that census
(SEE: Manning, page 3)
FIRST COURTHOUSE — Col. E.C. Man-ning persuaded Kansas’ governor in 1870 that
Winfield should be the county seat. In 1873, the courthouse pictured above was built in the block
where the two succeeding courthouses were also constructed. The original courthouse served the county for 36 years. (Photo courtesy of Cowley County Historical Society)
Manning organized county
(Continued from page 1) will never be known. The census takers have all ‘crossed the river' and ‘dead men tell no tales.’ ”
Manning also wrote: “Although congress had on July 15, 1870, passed an act providing for the purchase of the Osage reservation, and throwing it open to settlement, still the land was not surveyed and no one knew just what was or what would be theirs. Nor could settlers be sure of any tract of land except the particular forty their improve-ments occupied until it was surveyed and platted into town-ships, sections and quarter sections.”
In January 1871 the land in this vicinity was cut into quarters by the government surveyors, but it took a long time to plat the surveys, send them to Washington for approval, and return the copies to the land office at Augusta. The settlers were, of course, anxious to hear of the return of the plats so they could
travel to Augusta in time to get the land they wanted.
Manning wrote: “The Winfield town company, composed of (D.A.) Millington, (J.C.) Fuller and Man ning, had long ears and one of those ears was laying very close to the land office building in Augusta on July 9, 1871, when the plats arrived.
“Cautiously after dark that Sab-bath a team crept away from Win-field with three passengers, stopped at Judge Ross' residence on the north and took him in, and arrived in Augusta at sunrise July 10 and when the land office opened in the morning, the Winfield town site was the first tract of land entered in Cowley county. Manning’s eighty on the west was the next in order...”
In addition to being Winfield’s first merchant, Manning planted the first wheat in the county, was appointed Winfield’s first postmaster and was elected the county’s first representative to the Kansas House, all in 1870.
After his wife’s death in 1873, Manning returned to his native New York to recover from poor health. In late 1875 he returned to Winfield and became the editor of the Win-field Courier, which had been founded in 1871.
Because of continued health problems that drove him “out of doors”, Manning sold the Courier in 1877 and began constructing build-ings. One was the Grand Opera House, which was located for many years on the northeast corner of 11th Avenue and Main Street.
Manning continued to be interested in politics and was re-elected to the House in 1878. He also wrote articles for various journals and served as the president of the Kansas State Historical Society.
Manning was married three times and was the father of three children.
Following his death in 1915, Manning was buried in the mausoleum at Highland Cemetery, which he had helped develop.
Winfield (Kan.) Daily Courier, Sat., April 7, 1990 3
OPERA HOUSE — The Grand Opera House, built by E.C. Manning in 1887, was located on the northeast corner of 11 th Avenue and Main Street. It seated more than 700 people and was described
as having an enormous stage, a splendid crystal chandelier with 64 gas burners, beautiful prosce-nium boxes and plush seating. (Photo courtesy of Cowley County Historical Society.)
Original Format
Paper
Title
Manning's work made Winfield the county seat, Winfield Daily Courier, April 7, 1990
Subject
Manning, Edwin C.
Winfield Daily Courier
Winfield, KS
Sandbulte, Jane
Cowley County, KS
Description
This article describes how Manning was able to establish Winfield as the seat of Cowley County. A brief biography of his life after settling in Winfield is also included.
Creator
Sandbulte, Jane
Source
Winfield Daily Courier, Winfield, KS USA
Publisher
Winfield Public Library, Winfield, KS USA
Date
1990-04-07
Rights
Format
text/plain
Type
Clippings
Citation
Sandbulte, Jane, “Manning's work made Winfield the county seat, Winfield Daily Courier, April 7, 1990,” Winfield Digital Collections, accessed June 23, 2026, https://winfield.digitalsckls.info/item/232.Text
Manning’s work made Winfield the county seat
(Editor’s note: This is the sec-ond in a two-part series of articles about Col. E.C. Manning, Win-field’s founder. Photos and refer-ence materials were provided by the Cowley County Historical Society.)
By JANE SANDBULTE News Editor
In early 1870, E.C. Manning sent a man on horseback at least three times a week to Douglass, the south end of the mail route, for the neigh-borhood mail. He received a paper that published the daily proceedings of the Kansas Legislature and in that way discovered that a bill had been introduced in the Senate to organize Cowley County and estab-lish the county seat at Creswell (an early name for Arkansas City).
Manning hastily sent three men on horses with instructions to obtain names of all settlers in the valleys of the Arkansas, Walnut and Grouse rivers. He asked them to report to him in three days with at least 600 names.
On Feb. 23, 1870, the men met at Douglass and swore to the census
and signed a petition to be presented to Gov. James Harvey, asking him to issue his proclamation organizing Cowley County, naming temporary county officers and designating Winfield as the county seat.
Manning set off for Topeka by stagecoach and arrived there in time to find the bill on its third reading in the Senate. He failed to secure the defeat of the bill but managed to prevent its passage in the House before its adjournment. Then Man-ning took his papers on Feb. 28 to the governor, who acted upon them, organizing the county and naming Winfield as the temporary seat.
When those in the Creswell area learned that the bill to make their town the county seat had “died a bornin’ ”, tension in the county mounted, but later attempts to make Creswell and also Tisdale the coun-ty seat were unsuccessful.
In Manning’s autobiography, he wrote: “How many log foundations in the bends of the Grouse, Walnut and Arkansas were enumerated as families of five or ten persons named Jones or Smith in that census
(SEE: Manning, page 3)
FIRST COURTHOUSE — Col. E.C. Man-ning persuaded Kansas’ governor in 1870 that
Winfield should be the county seat. In 1873, the courthouse pictured above was built in the block
where the two succeeding courthouses were also constructed. The original courthouse served the county for 36 years. (Photo courtesy of Cowley County Historical Society)
Manning organized county
(Continued from page 1) will never be known. The census takers have all ‘crossed the river' and ‘dead men tell no tales.’ ”
Manning also wrote: “Although congress had on July 15, 1870, passed an act providing for the purchase of the Osage reservation, and throwing it open to settlement, still the land was not surveyed and no one knew just what was or what would be theirs. Nor could settlers be sure of any tract of land except the particular forty their improve-ments occupied until it was surveyed and platted into town-ships, sections and quarter sections.”
In January 1871 the land in this vicinity was cut into quarters by the government surveyors, but it took a long time to plat the surveys, send them to Washington for approval, and return the copies to the land office at Augusta. The settlers were, of course, anxious to hear of the return of the plats so they could
travel to Augusta in time to get the land they wanted.
Manning wrote: “The Winfield town company, composed of (D.A.) Millington, (J.C.) Fuller and Man ning, had long ears and one of those ears was laying very close to the land office building in Augusta on July 9, 1871, when the plats arrived.
“Cautiously after dark that Sab-bath a team crept away from Win-field with three passengers, stopped at Judge Ross' residence on the north and took him in, and arrived in Augusta at sunrise July 10 and when the land office opened in the morning, the Winfield town site was the first tract of land entered in Cowley county. Manning’s eighty on the west was the next in order...”
In addition to being Winfield’s first merchant, Manning planted the first wheat in the county, was appointed Winfield’s first postmaster and was elected the county’s first representative to the Kansas House, all in 1870.
After his wife’s death in 1873, Manning returned to his native New York to recover from poor health. In late 1875 he returned to Winfield and became the editor of the Win-field Courier, which had been founded in 1871.
Because of continued health problems that drove him “out of doors”, Manning sold the Courier in 1877 and began constructing build-ings. One was the Grand Opera House, which was located for many years on the northeast corner of 11th Avenue and Main Street.
Manning continued to be interested in politics and was re-elected to the House in 1878. He also wrote articles for various journals and served as the president of the Kansas State Historical Society.
Manning was married three times and was the father of three children.
Following his death in 1915, Manning was buried in the mausoleum at Highland Cemetery, which he had helped develop.
Winfield (Kan.) Daily Courier, Sat., April 7, 1990 3
OPERA HOUSE — The Grand Opera House, built by E.C. Manning in 1887, was located on the northeast corner of 11 th Avenue and Main Street. It seated more than 700 people and was described
as having an enormous stage, a splendid crystal chandelier with 64 gas burners, beautiful prosce-nium boxes and plush seating. (Photo courtesy of Cowley County Historical Society.)
Original Format
Paper