The Valley Falls Historical Society was incorporated Jan. 10, 1968, as a nonprofit educational institution.
On that date the articles of incorporation were received, signed and filed by the Secretary of State. The corporation is chartered for a term of 100 years.
The seal of the historical society is an adaptation of the seal of the Kansas territory. The grasshopper on the shield commemoriates the original name of Valley Falls (Grasshopper Falls on the Grasshopper River in Grasshopper Township) and also denotes the great grasshopper plague which devastated the community.
The lower portion of the shield contains a representation of the old mill and the falls on the river, the reason for the town being established. The tree is the old white maple that stood on the west side of the river just east of the old “wagon bridge.”
The tree to which, tradition tells us, Isaac Cody was tied and beaten by proslavery men.
The male and female figures looking in opposite directions represent the past and the future. The female, who is Ceres, Goddess of Agriculture, looks into the past with head held high in pride of what has been. The male figure in homespun and buckskin, looks toward the future with an alert and determined countenance. relaxed, but his gun in his hand if needed.
The log and ax are symbolic of the crude beginning with log cabin and equipment hewed from the cottonwood, walnut, and sycamore, which grew along the streams and up the draws. Elsewhere the native priairie grass stretched to the horizon. (From the Valley Falls Vindicator, Jan. 25, 1968.)
The society’s museum will be closed Saturday, Jan. 9, due to weather conditions. For information on tours, call Betty Jane Wilson, society president, at 945-3576.
No comments:
Post a Comment