ONAGA SINCE THE BEGINNING

The Kansas Central Railroad was the prime factor in the founding of Onaga. Paul E. Havens, president of the railroad, filed a plat of Onaga, October 15, 1877. The town was surveyed and to it an addition was made on November 6, 1878. the original town site was located on land belonging to Mr. E. D. Gillett and Mr. George DeGraw. It is located on the west slope of the Vermillion River, on a series of hills rising to the north of a small stream, known as Hise Creek.

The railroad winds along the base of the hills between the town and the creek. The depot was located at the foot of the main street, known as Leonard Street, which runs eight blocks north of gradually rising ground.

The majority of the business houses, then as now, were located on Second, Third and Fourth Streets, and in the first block of Third Street, west of Leonard. In January 1878, Amos E. Landon and J. B. Hubbell and their families were the only people in the town site. However, it wasn't long before others, hearing of the new town site, came here to live, building business places and residences. September 15, 1877, the first building, a hotel, was started by Amos Landon. Mr. Paul Havnes, president of the Central Townsite Company, used a pick to break the wild turf for the chief cornerstone of the Landon House. The hotel was a frame building, 20X50 feet, and a story and a half in height. a third building, constructed during the month of November 1877, was a saloon operated by Mr. David Scott of Elk Creek. His petition to secure the license contained over one hundred signatures.

By November 1878, when the town was just a year old, there were eighteen different kinds and places of businesses, and a considerable number of residences. Henry Rolf, a grocery man from Chicago, came to Onaga in the fall of 1878, and erected the first stone bulding. This structure, including the basement, was three stories high. The third floor was made into a public hall. This building is now the Onaga Pharmacy.

A. Hyman came to Onaga from Leavenworth in the spring of 1878. His sales amounted to more than $30,000 the first year. Thomas O"Meara had been in the mercantile business in Atchison and America City, before moving to Onaga in April 1879, with his stock of goods.

In the early days of Onaga, the hardware and lumber business was very profitable. Four Thomas brothers came here from Muscotah, Kansas in 1879. They built a large building, 18 X 130 feet, two stories high. Their business interests were quite extensive, and included a banking business, a large grain elevator, the largest stock of lumber west of Leavenworth, hardware, and heavy farm implements.

Rogers Brothers Hardware Company came here in the spring of 1878, and built a storeroom 30X60 feet, two stories high and also sheds for implements. Gurtler Brothers bought the stock and building. In May 1894, they had the building torn down by Mr. Sargent and his crew. A larger building of stone was built on the site. It measured 25X100 feet, and was two stories high. In June 1971, it was removed to allow construction of a drive-in window on the west side of the present First National Bank building.

During the summer of 1885, there was need for a half a dozen rental properties and, as most of the desirable building sites had been taken up, Gunn's Additon was added to the town site. A fire department was not established in the city until 1887, although there had been a need for one long before that time. The first fire occurred in the fall of 1878. A grain elevator, corn cribs, 300 bushels of corn, 600 bushels of barley and a small engine were destroyed. the first fire which really threatened the town occurred in February of 1883. It started on the second floor of a building occupied by a saloon. That building with its contents and the buildings on each side of it were destroyed.

A second disastrous fire broke out in December, 1886. This time, it started in the livery barn which was consumed, and due to a high wind, the fire spread rapidly, burning a meat market and the Batson House, the town's only hotel. Consequently, by City Ordinance No. 34, a City Fire Department was established in June , 1887. It was made up of a chief and his assistant, and a sufficient number of volunteers to handle the engine and hose. The equipment consisted of a hand engine with 1,200 feet of hose and two large cisterns, purchased at a cost of $2000. Not until after individual businessmen took it upon themselves to provide lights in front of their places of business did the city administration recognize that the need existed.

In 1889, Miller Brothers and A. Hyman installed street lamps in front of their business houses. Druggist J. A. Kester placed a gas lamp in front of his store in January, 1898, and kept it in running order at his own expense. In August of that same year, a number of businessmen installed similar lights which burned gas generated from gasoline. At last, the city completed arrangements for the installation of seven street lights in January, 1899.

Other businesses operating in Onaga in the spring of 1879, were a drugstore owned by C. A. Stokes, a conductor on the Kansas Central Railroad; a shoe store started by M. George Walker in 1878; a harness shop owned and operated by R. S. Reihl; a livery stable built by J. H. Randall in the spring of 1878; a horse shoeing trade owned by Ledlington and Randall, who also made plows and buggies; and two stone masons, Charles Music and Washington Miller, who were masters in their trade.

February 9, 1911 work was begun on a water works system for Onaga. On that day, a gang of men began digging the big well on a piece of ground which the city purchased from John Selback for that purpose. It was the original intent to have the tower and tank situated on a piece of ground belonging to Wesley Gurtler, north of his residence, but this was changed. J. W. Dunn donated a lot to the city which was on the north side of the park. Upon investigation, it was found that this piece of ground was three feet higher than the original site for the tower and tank. This fact, together with the site from Mr. Dunn, caused the change in location.

Onaga has frequently had problems with shortages of water. Numerous wells have been dug southeast of Onaga, along the Vermillion River. In mid-1878, arrangements were made between the City of Onaga and a rural water district to provide water to the town. the water supply has been a serious concern of the city from the beginning. There was a town well and pump in September, 1878, which supplied the entire community; as many as 500 bucketsful were taken out daily. When the town well gave out, residents were compelled to carry water from Hise Creek in the south part of town. In the winter of 1879, the creek was frozen over and it was necessary to haul water from the Vermillion, about a mile from town. The town well proved inadequate in the spring of 1894, as the wells and most of the cisterns failed.

The early council had shown more interest in street improvements than in lights, water, or fire protection. They felt that the condition of the streets and sidewalks reflected the prosperity and progress of the town. Street crossings and gutters were installed in 1880. The open gutters crossing the main street were changed to the underground type in 1886. They were covered with an old plank, making travel along the streets much easier. The first crossings were of pine plank, which soon began to splinter; these were replaced with oak plank. Later, the city installed stone crossings, which soon provided much more satisfactory.

A sidewalk to the school house was built by popular subscription in 1882, and other walks were built by property owners at the same time. In 1896, the city council ordered several blocks of sidewalks constructed. The first cement walk was built by the Onaga State Bank in 1899.

Another project to improve the appearance of the streets aroused public interest in the summer of 1900. the city council passed a resolution removing the hitching racks from the streets. The racks were unsightly and obstructed the streets. A few teams tied along the streets prevented others from driving up to the business houses to unload their produce or load purchases. This move met with decided opposition. a few merchants solved the problem by placing tie rings on the sidewalks in front of their property. In 1909, the city council placed hitching racks between Third and Fourth streets, east of Leonard Street. Some of the posts and tie rings are still in that vicinity.

While the railroad was responsible for the founding of Onaga, it did not adopt a policy of fostering actively the development of the country through which it ran. Its mismanagement gave rise to a succession of grievances by the citizens of Onaga.

The Kansas Central began running trains to Onaga in December 1877. This was the terminus until 1880. The service was notoriously bad from the beginning. A demand for the railroad to replace the narrow gauge line with the standard gauge was begun in the early eighties and each year the railroad officials assured their patrons that the demand would be met, but it wasn't until 1890 that anything was accomplished.

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