Have You Ever Heard of Kaw City?

I’ve never been one to get hyped up about history. Does this strike you as an odd fact after reading my previous posts? Well, it is true. It wasn’t exactly a subject that captured my attention in school. I was never very good at remembering dates and putting events in some sort of chronologic perspective was not exactly my fortè. However, I did well in the subject, thanks no doubt to some sort of memory tool or another that allowed me to recall pertinent information, spit it out on a test & subsequently forget it. Nonetheless, I always held the subject in high regard because I thoroughly believed the statement by George Santayana that, “those who cannot remember [or learn from] the past are condemned to repeat it”. Somewhat contradictory, isn’t it? Enter my life. Ha! Seriously though, I understood the importance of studying, learning & retaining the information, but in the mind of a studious young lady the things I was supposedly “learning” were flying at me from every direction & some of it stuck & some of it just didn’t! Thankfully, in my older, wiser years (sure hope there are a lot more of those to come) I have begun to appreciate the erratic mind of my youth. Surprisingly enough, I’ve retained a lot more than I ever thought possible.

 That brings me to my topic for today; a little bit of history regarding the “village” of Grantville & how Maplecroft Farm came to be in existence. It is quite interesting, I believe, to see how the beginning of a county and its towns shaped the landscape that we live in today. Obviously, the “landscape” I am referring to is not the literal lay of the land & its geological formations. That landscape is somewhat absolute & relatively unchanging. I may visit that topic in a future post as this region of Kansas, particularly the Kaw River Valley where Maplecroft is situated, is commonly regarded to be quite picturesque. I am talking about how our society has evolved, where our ancestors chose to homestead, how our cities have developed and basically how the “chips” fall! 

According to the Kansas Historical Society, the Kansas Territory was opened to non-native settlement by the U.S. government in 1854 (http://www.kshs.org/kansapedia/settlement-in-kansas/14546). "This is one of the oldest settled portions of the county," according to William G. Cutler's History of the State of Kansas, JEFFERSON COUNTY, Part 24, KAW TOWNSHIP. The first white settlers who came to Kaw Township were Jefferson Riddle, J.T. Wilson, J. Kuykendall, and R.P. Beeler. They settled this area in 1854. (http://www.kancoll.org/books/cutler/jefferson/jefferson-co-p24.html#KAW_TOWNSHIP). To put that in perspective, if you can recall from your formative history lessons, Kansas became the 34th state to join the United States of America on January 29, 1861. This was during the chaotic period of our history when the state was referred to as "Bleeding Kansas" due to the violence that ensued over the slavery debate. Kansas entered the union as a free state.

What I find particularly interesting is that the town of Grantville likely would have been located about one and a half miles north of its present location. Our farm could have looked much different today if Kaw City had been a success! According to William G. Cutler's History of the State of Kansas, “In the spring of 1857 a town company, of twenty-five members, was formed, and a town site, consisting of 320 acres, was laid off, and called Kaw City. Its location was on the east side of the Big Muddy, at the base of the hills, at the place where the wide valley of the Kansas River begins.”

Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunate for us, the site of Kaw City was not a success and in 1865 the Kansas Pacific Railroad built a station at our present day site of Grantville. In 1866, the first passenger train came through. (http://www.kancoll.org/books/cutler/jefferson/jefferson-co-p24.html#KAW_TOWNSHIP).

My father recounted to me the following information regarding Maplecroft, much of which is also recorded in William G. Cutler's History of the State of Kansas.

“John Kuydendoll was granted title to 146 acres on Big Muddy Creek, which was at that time called Traverse Creek, in 1856. James S. Townsend purchased this same tract in 1856 and brought a stock of goods from Platte City, Missouri and opened a store in a small log cabin. J.S. Townsend traded his claim for a hotel in Oskaloosa and Mathew R. Dutton became the third owner. He began construction of a large limestone house and barn on the property about 1870. On Dec 1, 1873, Hanson Zebulon Frisbie purchased the property and called it Maplecroft.” (Generations of Love, A Story of the Frisbie Family, 1992 by Leisa M. Frisbie). The Frisbie family has owned the property ever since & still live there to this day.

Photograph of the home and the original limestone barn, date unknown. Owner, George Frisbie (1864-1951) and his wife, Etta Frisbie, are pictured sitting in the rockers on the porch.

The limestone barn and carriage house that sat to the south of the limestone house burnt to the ground on March 1, 1946. The south barn sits adjacent to the west barn at a right angle. The existing wood frame barns were rebuilt on the original limestone barn foundation. Currently, the two barns remain standing, albeit in deteriorating condition. Much water damage has occurred to both barns, particularly the west one which still has the original shake shingle roof. The south barn has fared a slightly better fate, as it has a metal roof. However, the affects of several bad ice storms and time are cause for immediate attention if the barns are to be saved.

  Photograph I took of the existing wood barns in 2006. The west barn is pictured at left and the south barn at right.

Obviously, there is plenty of work to be done at the farm today. The structures are in need of repairs & the grounds need clearing & cleaning. Beef cattle are no longer raised here. Therefore, many trees have grown in the cow lot next to the barns & will need to be removed before the structures can be stabilized and repaired. Can they be saved? Some say yes, others say no…I say I still have hope.