— compiled by Betty Jane Wilson, society president
The Kansas New Era, December 11, 1873, nearly one century and a half past of Valley Falls history, reported "Hard Times. No Potatoes in Town."
Without further comment on the town's nutrition plight continued, "Five inches of snow last Sunday. Sleighs and sleds of every conceivable kind and description could be seen on our streets last Saturday. We saw a portly gent sit down on the pavement of Sycamore Street very suddenly last Saturday morning. He wears spikes in his boot heels now.
"All day last Sunday a huge and stern looking statue, with a large club in his hand, kept watch and war?? in front of Mr. Lutt's house on Walnut Street, but during Sunday night it vanished away like a phantom; it is needed less to add, it was a snowman."
A few months earlier, September 1873, the same publication published a now historic listing of businesses and professionals of the pioneer village, Grasshopper Falls, later christened Valley Falls.
Following are those who dared to share in the town's growth:
W.D. Lane, Attorney; A.M. Cown, homeopathic physician and surgeon; J. Becand, notary public; Valley Bank and Savings; Sawyer and Mitchell, Broadway Meat Market; J.T.B. Gephart, physician; E.M. Coluin, Mgr., Cataract House; Frazier and Wetherholt, grocers; L.A. Myers, drugs, books, stationary, Magazines; Lord and Waite, manufacturers and dealers in books and shoes;
Weber and Keplinger, dealers in ready made clothing, groceries, etc.; Beland, Meyers and Best, dealers in drugs, medicince, groceries, etc.; J.J. Winterburg, manufacturers and dealers in saddles, harness and collars; W.D. Ward, house and sign painting and paper hanging; Wm. Crosby, dealers in stoves, tinware, and implements; J.W. Eshelman, auctioneer; John R. Lambert, auctioneer; Wm. Clark, justice of the peace and police judge; Strickland and Bliss Hardware, tin ware and agricultural implements;
W. E. Parker, grain, coal, plaster and cement; A. W. Post, Grasshopper Falls Mill; Crosby and Kendall, dealers in dry goods, groceries, clothing and boots; E.M. Hutchens, Broadway Livery; L.F. Eggers, Attorney at Law and land agent; I.O.O.F. Crescent Lodge No. 86; Masonic Lodge; L. Northrup, physician and surgeon; D.J.B. Gish physician and surgeon; T.A. Aitkin, dentist; Prof. A.F. Gibsen, violen lessons; Felix Theibaud, restaurant; A. Wirtz, watchmaker and jeweler; W.C. Butts, land agent; Valley Bank and Savings; Great Western Blacksmith and Wagon Shop, V.F. Newman and Co.; Pioneer Shop Blacksmithing, S.H. Dunn; F.A. Dudgeon and Co., coal and lumber.
The museum will be open starting at 10 a.m. Saturday.
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