Compiled by Betty Jane Wilson, society president
Soon after the town site for Grasshopper (Valley) Falls was laid out and plans for the saw and grist mill building were begun, the town was surveyed by Isaac Cody in the spring of 1855. The town was officially named Grasshopper Falls. Andrew J. Whitney, one of the founders, was named postmaster on Dec. 21, 1855.
The original cabins of the settlers were not built on the town site. The first building on the town site was built by Adam T. Pattie, a pro-slavery man from Leavenworth, who located here in August of 1855, and built a frame building on the corner of Sycamore and Sarah streets. The building was used for a store and saloon.
On January 29, 1856, Adam T. Pattie was appointed postmaster of Grasshopper Falls. Pattie talked pro-slavery sentiments from his saloon and acted the spy on Free State men, sold whiskey, and made money. The Free State men organized a company for offensive and defensive warfare and, under the leadership of one Clark from Iowa, one night made a raid on Pattie's establishment, confiscating everything. Pattie left without ceremony and never returned.
The winter of 1855-56 was one of the most severe winters ever remembered by early settlers. It was bitter and cheerless. Early in December, a deep snow fell, which lay all winter. For six long weeks the sun was powerless to melt ice and snow. In the words of Miss Ring, pioneer school teacher, "The hardships and privations endured by the energetic and unflinching pioneers can never be known or experienced by emigrants now coming to Kansas for homes."
The Valley Falls Historical Society Museum will be open from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 7.
1 comment:
It's good to know a little history from the past. The people behind the mill construction really did their best to finish the construction perfectly. I admire their efforts to do the constructions by hands. If there were only sand stabilisation equipment and other construction tools before, they would have had done the construction faster.
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