Great Bend, Kansas - History and Information


Great Bend - Page 2

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In the meantime, another newspaper was launched in 1874 called the Great Bend Register which would last for decades and in 1876, another called the Inland Tribune in 1876. Also occurring in 1876, A.S. Allen put up a very neat and well finished two story stone and brick building on the corner of Curtis Avenue and Nagie Street, the first floor of which he used as a drug store, the upper floor being divided into offices. About the same time Gray & Baily erected a building of a similar character on the north side of the square, which was occupied as a hardware store by W. H. Dodge & Son. A flouring mill was also built by W. W. P. Clement. In 1877, the first church was built by the Catholics. Up until that time, the various congregations had met in private homes. The following winter, a Methodist Church was built, followed by a number of others in subsequent years.
Great Bend today, Kathy Weiser, April, 2009.

The next year, in 1878, Great Bend saw some very substantial improvements, including the building of the Union Block on the west side of the square by J. H. Hubbard and Burton and the Moses Brothers. The two-story stone and brick building contained two good store rooms beneath and several offices and a Union Hall above. On the north side of the square G. L. Brinkman erected a two story stone and brick building and on Nagie Street, G. P. Townseley put up a building of similar material, the lower story of which was used as the post office, while the upper story is used as the printing office of the Inland Tribune. Directly opposite to this building, on the same street, C. F. Wilner built a good two-story stone and brick, in which he housed a furniture store. Adjoining the Tribune building on the west, Troilett Bros. and D. Merton put up, each, a one-story building, having stone walls and brick front. Other buildings included the frame Occidental Hotel, built by C. E. Birdsale, and the Central House, built by John Barth. Three grain elevators were also built and the Walnut Creek Mill was greatly enlarged and refitted with new and improved machinery.

More homes and buildings were erected in the next several years, but building began o slow down. In 1882; however, a much larger brick schoolhouse was built. It was also in this year, that Great Bend saw one of its saddest times in its history. Beginning in December 1, 1882 and lasting until February of the following year, a small pox epidemic broke out. It began at the end of November, 1882 when an African-American man named Gilmore was on his way East from New Mexico and being sick, left the train at Great Bend. He soon found his way to a one-room "shanty" in the northeast part of the town, where he was taken in by a man named John Howell. Gilmore was soon diagnosed with having the most malignant type of small-pox and when word got out, many fled to escape the dreaded plague. Though Howell's home was closely quarantined, it was too late, and so many people contracted the disease that the entire town was placed under strict quarantine for two months. Nobody was allowed to come or go and the streets were deserted. The mail was stopped, churches and schools were closed, all society meetings were discontinued, and people were prohibited from assembling in groups. In the end, some 30 people contracted the disease, 15 of whom died including Gilmore and John Howell.

By the early 1900s, Great Bend was called home to more than 1,000 people and supported some 34 businesses including eight merchandise stores, seven grocery stores, three hardware stores, two banks, three grain elevators, two flour mills, and a brick-yard.

Great Bend, Kansas in 1910.

Though it’s lawless cowtown days were over, violence still periodically erupted in the town and on April 30, 1885, the first lynching occurred in Great Bend, when the murderer of a pool hall owner was lynched. A few years later, the “frontier” was almost gone when the last buffalo was killed in the county in 1889.

A second lynching occurred on June 16, 1898 when some 300 vigilantes lynched the murderer of a 15-year-old girl named Myrtle Hofmaster.

Over the years, the city continued to grow as a regional trade and service center, and increased dramatically when oil was discovered in the 1930s. From 1930 to 1940, the town’s population nearly doubled as some 3,000 oil wells began to produce in the surrounding area.

During World War II, a U.S. Army Air Corps training base was situated in the city. The town’s population peaked in the 1960’s at close to 17,000. In 1973, the Fuller Brush Company relocated its factories in Great Bend, moving from Connecticut after the founder's death.

Though its population has dropped to about 15,300 today, Great Bend continues to flourish as a medical, legal and technical service center, as well as a regional shopping and entertainment provider.

Great Bend's and Barton County's rich history can be seen at the Barton County Historical Society Museum and Village. The museum preserves the area history in several restored historic buildings, including an 1871 pioneer home, 1898 church, 1910 train depot, 1915 one-room school house, and a small post office. It is located at 85 S. Hwy 281. The Kansas Oil & Gas Hall of Fame Museum, located at 5944 W. 10th Street, features the history of local oil and gas production in the area.

Contact Information:

Great Bend, Kansas

1209 Williams

Great Bend, Kansas 67530

620-793-4111

Compiled by Kathy Weiser/Legends of Kansas, updated

May, 2010.

About the Article: Much of the historic text in this articles comes from Kansas: A Cyclopedia of State History, edited by Frank W. Blackmar, published in 1912 as well as Kansas: History of the State of Kansas, by William G. Cutler; published in 1883. However, other sources have also been used, the content combined, and heavily edited.

A one room school house is part of the Barton County Historical Society Museum and Village, April, 2009, Kathy Wesier.

Great Bend's original Santa Fe Depot appears to be unused and falling into disrepair today. April, 2009, Kathy Weiser.

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