Reprinted from Kanhistique with permission from the publisher.
by Abigail St. John
Garden City
When I lived in the state of Oregon I was fascinated with the idea that you could personally buy a town, be sole owner and manage the town like any other business purchase. Likewise, moving a whole town because it couldn't pay its debt drew me to research the following story.
At the start of the year 1885 the old town of Ulysses was nothing but a desolate prairie inhabited only by wild horses, jack rabbits, rattle snakes, antelopes and two families, the Sullivans and the Joyces. In the spring a well was dug and water was found at 40 feet. Since water was hard to find in southwest Kansas this was an excellent commodity to draw homesteaders. The only thing wrong, they put down the well in town and it was found to be "the only bad water" in the county. It had a high alkaline content — making it undrinkable.
Garden City Daily Sentinel, which was one of the most influential newspapers in western Kansas, said that Ulysses was "one of the best towns in southwest Kansas, and a town where capitol can be safely invested." The Ulysses Tribune wrote "an investment now made in Ulysses cannot help but pay a big profit. Easterners flocked into Ulysses to file claims until by the fall of 1885 the town grew to 1,500.
George Washington Earp, first cousin of the famous Wyatt Earp of Dodge City, was Ulysses' founding father and built the first house, which also became the first hotel.
September 1885 Grant County boasted of a population of 4,000 and nearly every quarter section had a homestead on it. Before the year was over, there were four hotels, 12 restaurants, 12 saloons, a bank, six gambling houses, a large schoolhouse, a church, a newspaper office, an "opera house" (that never put on an opera), that was used as a community center and served as the courthouse.
Ulysses wasn't the only town in Grant County — there were nine others. Appomattox, a town which lay northwest of Ulysses about four miles had the natural advantage of a better location than Ulysses, being located on the open plains where there was purer water. They became embroiled as rivals for the county seat — each wanting to be known as the "metropolis of the Southwest" and knew it took votes. The problem was how to get the votes. Ulysses let it be known that every man who voted "right" would be paid a ten dollar bill. Appomattox couldn't come up with funds to pay their voters.
Ulysses on the other hand very openly hired "professional voters" — men who followed county seat elections all over the west. They were brought into Ulysses and housed, all expenses paid for the 30 days required for residency and on election day brought to the polling place.
Professional "shooters" were also brought in mainly from Dodge City, which included Bat Masterson, to insure no blood shed and "security of the ballot box." Needless to say there was no trouble on election day, Oct. 18, 1888.
The funds for this shamelessly, flagrant act of buying votes came from warrants and bonds that were to go for city improvements. Almost all of $36,000 was used to secure the county seat. These warrants and bonds were sold to businessmen and insurance companies in the east. The majority of the citizens did not know to what purpose these warrants and bonds were being issued. The Council that passed the warrants did not question the ethics of the transaction, they felt the ends justified the means; namely, securing the county seat. After all Ulysses was growing leaps and bounds — the paying off of the bonds would not be a problem.
Appomattox did holler foul and charged Ulysses with fraud. Depending on the account you read, some say the State Supreme Court ruled (three years later) in Appomattox's favor while others said another election was ordered and Ulysses won, but it didn't matter. The town Appomattox after losing to the fraudulent vote, folded.
No one could foresee the hard times and financial panic that 1893 would bring. The summer drought of 1889 brought failing corps, depreciated price of cattle, and failed banks. At the same time, the Oklahoma Strip was opening, promising greener pastures. The population dropped from 1,200 to 40. One day alone 40 wagons left Ulysses for the Oklahoma Strip.
During the 1890s and into the early 1900s Ulysses lay in ruin, no taxes being paid because all the taxpayers had moved, which meant no payment was being paid on the bonds and warrants.
Not too much thought was given about the bonds until 1908 when the bonds became due. No one is sure how much the bonds were worth but the Grant County newspaper in 1909 states the bonds were worth $84,000. The city had begun to grow again, a population of about 100 but still impossible to pay off the bonds. All the leaders and citizens connected with the bonds were gone, either dead or left the area. The fact remained the bonds needed to be paid and the people wanted to do the honorable thing.
Some of the bondholders brought suit against the city. An attorney from Dodge City was hired by the citizens of Ulysses to try and locate the old bonds in an effort to compromise them since they could not meet the obligation. They couldn't find most of the bonds and offered 25 cents on the dollar to the ones they could find. The bondholders turned down the offer wanting full payment. The citizens realized the city council would be required to levy a tax to pay for the bonds and bank interest, a tax that would bring heavy increases of 600 percent in realty taxes and 362 percent increase on personal property taxes, which would be impossible for the citizenry to pay.
Mr. R.R. Wilson, a prominent and respected leader, was the first to suggest they move the town and let the bondholders have the land on which the town stood and which wasn't worth much.
In a letter to Mrs. Ethel Miller, Mr. Wilson writes, "When we decided to move the town, I made a trip to Kingman County, Kansas, and bought the quarter of land we moved the town to. I deeded the land to the New Ulysses town company and we surveyed the quarter into a town-site and started to move the town. The history says we put the houses on rollers and moved the town in two days. This is wrong. We commenced to move the town about the first of February, 1909, and were about three months moving the town. We had no rollers. We used skids and loaded the houses on wagons and used horses for power. There were no tractors or trucks then. It took several days to move since some of the buildings had to be cut and moved a section at a time. The history says the bondholders got an order from the court to give them the houses in the town. This is wrong as there were no court orders issued and we were not molested in any way. Also, the history says when visitors came to town they were held prisoner until the houses and stores were moved. What a falsehood this is, as we never thought of such a thing. Everybody was peaceable and attended to his/her business." (Slight changes in quote made to clarify the meaning and intent.)
The townspeople were accused of "secretly" moving the town, since they didn't want the bondholders in the East to know, but they didn't have to work too hard at being secretive as they were so isolated. The Stage Coach line was the only means of communication with the outside world. Consequently, the town could be moved without the easterners knowledge.
There were only eight or 10 buildings, including houses, to move. The first building on the new townsite of "New" Ulysses was a barn that belonged to H.F. McCall. Since it took several days to move the building, neither the general store nor the bank suspended business while the move was taking place. The hotel, shaped like a horseshoe, had to be sawed into three sections to move. The general store was another large building that required a block and tackle or windlass arrangement to move it uphill to the townsite. The family who owned the store had rooms in the back of the store and continued to live in it during the move.
The post office, courthouse, and schoolhouse were the only buildings left on the old townsite until June 1909. During that month a new county seat election took place and by a vote of 247 to 34, New Ulysses was elected as county seat. After the election, the courthouse was moved after having to be cut in two sections. The schoolhouse was the only thing built with the original bond money for $13,000.
New Ulysses was incorporated only after the city was assured that the moving of the town was legal and that the duped bondholders could not collect a cent. Later laws were passed in the Kansas legislature preventing a like occurrence again. By the passing of that law, it bestowed upon Ulysses the honor of having been the only town in Kansas to "leave town."
The "New" was dropped in 1921 and to this day is called Ulysses and is still in Grant County —both named after the President of the United States.
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