Garnett, Kansas – Anderson County Seat

Garnett, Kansas, is a city in and the county seat of Anderson County, located northeast of the central part of the county. As of the 2020 census, the city’s population was 3,242, and its total area was 3.20 square miles, of which 3.10 square miles is land and 0.10 square miles is water.

In 1856, Dr. George W. Cooper, a physician and newspaper editor from Louisville, Kentucky, met George A. Dunn in Kansas City, Kansas. Dunn had just returned from surveying parts of Kansas, including Anderson County. Cooper, desirous of founding and colonizing a town, made his plans known to Dunn, who proposed to go with him to Pottawatomie River in Anderson County. The pair then headed south, intending to lay out a town and then secure the location of the county seat. Finding a fine spring of water on Section 30, Township 20, Range 20 East on Iantha Creek, they returned to Kansas City, and soon after, Cooper returned to Louisville, Kentucky.

In March 1857, Dr. Cooper again visited the townsite and, in May, had it re-surveyed, staked out, and platted. He also built a double log cabin at the point where Fourth Street later crossed the railroad tracks.

Dr. Cooper then returned to Louisville and made lithographed maps of the townsite, which he used for advertising. He then set to work organizing a colony. The Town Company elected new officers: W.A. Garnett, President; Robert B. Hall, Vice President; Theodore Harris, Secretary; G.W. Cooper; and George A. Dunn.

The town was named Garnett in honor of W.A. Garnett, the president of the town company, a wealthy businessman of Louisville, and an early promoter of the town. Arrangements were made to send a colony from Kentucky, and machinery was purchased for a saw and grist mill, but the colony could not leave that year.

In the meantime, Dr. Preston Bowen moved from Shannon and opened a store in this log house, the first business house in Garnett. Others who arrived were Captain John G. Lindsay, who built the first dwelling on the townsite, William Smith, Dr. Thomas Lindsay, and Thomas Owen.

On July 25, Dr. Cooper and Robert Hall arrived with a portion of the Louisville colony, bringing machinery for a sawmill and a flour mill, which were erected immediately. The colony comprised Charles Hidden and family, F.G. Bruns and family, W.C. and Robert B. Hall, Theodore Harris, Dr. George W. Cooper and family, Mrs. Adaline Duren and family, John Lambdin and family, and M T. Williams and family.

M.L. White from Illinois came to Anderson County with his father, James E. White, in May 1857. He assisted him on the farm in Walker Township until 1867 when he came to Garnett. He was employed as a clerk in the mercantile business for four years, after which he engaged in this business grocery store of Meeker & White. This firm dissolved in 1874, and White embarked on the grain business, buying and shipping. He ceased this in September 1876 and embarked in a grocery store with a stock of about $600. In the following years, his trade increased, and he soon had a fine stock of about $3,500.

The town company filed the plat in the office of the Probate Judge on August 1, 1857. At about the same time, another store and dwelling houses were built. When Garnett was first founded, no mail route extended through it. The nearest post office was two miles distant at Cedar Bluff (Shannon).

On August 8, 1857, William C. Hall, Isaac N. Locke, and Joseph Barclay presented a petition and a plat of the north half of Section 30, Township 20, Range 20, under the town name of Troy. On September 8, George Wilson, the Probate Judge, pre-empted the above-described land as a townsite to be held in trust for its occupants.

In December 1857, the town companies of Garnett and Troy were united under the name of the Town Company of Garnett. During the year, several buildings, including the mill, were erected. Many improvements were made in the next few years, and many people settled in Garnett.

In 1858, the Garnett Town Company built a schoolhouse on the northwest corner of Seventh Avenue and Oak Street and donated the building to the district on the formation of School District #2. This was the second school district formed in the county. The schoolhouse was the first public building in Garnett and, for several years, was also used for all public meetings and court purposes.

The same year, Garnett House Hotel was established. Built by D.W. Houston, one of the town’s organizers, the Garnett House began operations as a hotel in the fall, overseen by Hiram Tefft. It was the first hotel in Garnett and is the only surviving antebellum structure in the town today. Over the years, it has also served as a school, a residence, and a doctor’s office.

J.G. Hiatt, of Hiatt & Lanter, merchants, was originally from Indiana and came to Anderson County in July 1858 with his father, working on the family farm. Two years later, he purchased land four miles from Garnett and began farming independently. In the fall of 1861, he enlisted in Company A, Second Kansas Cavalry, and fought in the Civil War. In February 1871, he engaged in the grocery business in Garnett but disposed of this 18 months later and engaged in the livery business. Afterward, he was employed as a salesman in the general merchandise business. On January 1, 1879, he engaged in the mercantile business with C.W. Durstine. After Durstine died, his interest was sold to J.T. Lanter in February 1882.

Lanter, also from Indiana, moved to Anderson County, settling near Greeley in 1857. Identifying with the Free State party was sent as a delegate from Anderson County in 1858 to the Osawatomie Convention, which organized the Republican party in Kansas. In May 1858, he was elected to the Territorial Legislature on the Free-State ticket under the Leavenworth Constitution. That year, he was a delegate to the Ottumwa Convention, in which 19 counties that the Bogus Legislature had disenfranchised were represented. In the spring of 1860, he was elected County Assessor. In 1872, he was elected to the State Legislature, where he was active and instrumental in defeating Pomeroy for the United States Senate. In 1873, he was appointed one of the trustees for the State Insane Asylum. He was elected Mayor of Garnett in 1874 and served one term. In 1872, he organized the Citizens’ Bank at Garnett and was elected President, which position he filled for several years. In 1878, he was mainly interested in lead mines at Galena, Kansas, and in February 1882, he became associated with J.G. Hiatt in the mercantile business. The firm carried an excellent stock of general merchandise of $8,000 and did an extensive trade.

In April 1859, the county seat was moved to Garnett, and the records were removed from Shannon. That year, the mail route was changed from the west side of Cedar Creek to via Garnett, and Garnett’s post office was established on July 16, 1859, with Dr. Thomas Lindsay as postmaster.

The United Presbyterian Church, one of Garnett’s oldest organized religious societies, built the first church in 1860. One of the largest organizations of the denomination in the State, it supported a college in Garnett for a time. The First Baptist Church congregation was organized the same year.

In the following years, a slight improvement was made, as nearly every able-bodied man residing in the town was either in the army or was enlisted in the State militia during the Civil War.

The town was incorporated in October 1861, and its first trustees were G.W. Per, G.A. Cook, William McLoughlin, B.F. Ridgeway, and Thomas Lindsay.

In 1862, the first school building was sold to H. Cavender for $300, and a two-story frame schoolhouse was built on the corner of Third Avenue and Cedar Street for $3,500.

The Garnett Plaindealer was the first newspaper published in the county. It was established in January 1865 by I.E. Olney, who continued its publication until his death in the fall of 1866. After that, it was conducted by his widow until the spring of 1870. It was edited, at different times, by William Duncan, George W. Cooper, and Adrian Reynolds for most of that period.

L.H. Osborn from Champaign County, Ohio, came to Anderson County in August 1866 and followed agricultural pursuits on a farm comprising 160 acres located five miles west of Garnett. He also taught school for a time. In 1875, he was elected Superintendent of Public Instruction for Anderson County, moved to Garnett, and filled the office for two years. In 1877, he was appointed agent for the Anderson County Co-operative Association and managed their store. In January 1880, he purchased a mercantile with D.O. Thomas, and Osborn & Thomas did a large business and carried a well-assorted stock of about $7,000. Mr. Osborn was elected to the City Council in 1881 and was a member of the School Board for several years.

After the Civil War, the county began to be settled quite rapidly.

The Honorable Lester K. Kirk, from Ohio, came to Anderson County in the Spring of 1866, located near Garnett, and for a few months, raised sheep. He then moved to Garnett and practiced law. He was elected the first Mayor of Garnett in 1870, a member of the State Legislature in 1876, and, in 1879, elected for a four-year term to the State Senate from the Seventeenth District.

W.W. Kirkpatrick of Kirkpatrick & Witherspoon, proprietors of the Elevator Mills, was born in Ohio and reared on a farm in Indiana. He came to Kansas in 1867 and lived in Monroe Township, Anderson County, where he followed agricultural pursuits for some years. In 1876, he and A. Harbison built a grain elevator at Garnett, with a capacity of 7,000 bushels. In 1878, they added a sawmill and built an adjoining flour mill in the fall of 1881. In the fall of 1881, Mr. Kirkpatrick moved to Garnett and partnered with J.O. Witherspoon in July 1882.

The Garnett Courant was the second newspaper published in the county. It was established in October 1868 by W.H. Johnson, but after a few weeks, it was discontinued.

The First Presbyterian Church congregation was organized in 1868, and a church was built in 1870.

In the Spring of 1869, Jacob Blum came to Garnett, established himself as a livestock dealer, and had a meat market. By the early 1880s, he had a large trade. He was also a partner in Scott & Co.’s grocery business. He owned two large stone buildings, his own brick business building, and a fine residence attached to four acres, primarily fruit trees.

R.T. Stokes, an undertaker and dealer in furniture, carpets, etc., was originally from Indiana. After serving in Company B, Tenth Missouri Infantry, and being promoted to the Quartermaster’s Department during the Civil War, he came to Kansas in August 1865. He worked in the United States Commissary Department at Leavenworth, Kansas, before coming to Garnett in March 1869 and establishing an implement business, which he operated for ten years. In 1879, he purchased an interest in Garnett Mills. In October 1880, he bought out his partners, conducting the mills alone until October 1881, when he sold out and went to Kansas City, where he was employed as a traveling salesman. Returning to Garnett in 1882, he embarked on undertaking and furniture.

Nicholas Pontious, from Ohio, arrived in the county in September 1869 and farmed in Monroe Township for seven years. Afterward, he opened a restaurant in Garnett and operated it for a year. He then operated the Garnett House Hotel for two years. Afterward, he spent his time teaming, drying, etc. In 1881, he served as a city constable and, in January 1882, was appointed to the position of Deputy Sheriff.

The town improved slowly until the building of the Leavenworth, Lawrence & Galveston Railroad in the spring of 1870 was completed to Garnett on March 1. The same year, the city’s government changed to that of a third-class city, and the town then began to grow rapidly.

At the same time, M.A. Crouse and George E. Wittich, from Ohio, arrived in Garnett and engaged in the general merchandise business with a stock of about $1,300. They built up a large and lucrative trade throughout the neighboring country and, in August 1882, sold out to Pollard & Pierce. Both men were also engaged in real estate speculations in Kansas City and were stock owners of the Clay County Cattle Company in Texas, which had  15,000 acres of land and about 6,000 head of cattle. Mr. Wittich also gave his time to his mining interests in Colorado, where he is interested in several different mines.

Early in Garnett’s history, a Methodist Episcopal Church congregation was formed, and a large church was built in 1870.

In 1870, John R. Foster & Co. established a bank that continued business until 1872, when the Anderson County Savings Bank was incorporated with a capital of $50,000. The first Board of Directors was W.H. Conover, E.I. Meeker, Thomas W. Foster, William Spriggs, Isaac Knouff, John R. Foster, A. Bergen, J.P. Crane, and W. F. Smith. W.H. Conover was elected President, and John R. Foster was cashier. The bank did general banking and collection business and enjoyed extensive patronage.

Leslie J. Perry purchased the Garnett Plaindealer newspaper in 1870, sold the old material, and established a new office. The following year, the office was sold to John S. Wilson, who published the paper for about two years, when it was purchased by W.R. Spooner, who added new material, enlarged the paper, and edited it until September 1874, when it was sold to Kauffman & Iler. S.H. Dodge then became editor. In 1877, Solomon Kauffman purchased the entire office and assumed the editorial management. In 1880, the firm name became Kauffman & Brooke, and the junior member of the firm was the editor. The Plaindealer was a prominent and well-edited newspaper printed on a Campbell power press. It was Republican in politics and had a large circulation.

The Catholic Church congregation, which held regular services for several years, built a stone church in 1871, and the Christian Church congregation built a small building in 1872.

In 1872, a large two-story red brick schoolhouse with white cut-stone trimmings was built on the corner of Third Avenue and Pine Street, or $28,000. On the inside, it was finely finished with black walnut and oak. The ceilings were high, and the ventilation and heating apparatus were good. The first floor contained four rooms, and three on the upper floor.

J.M. Craig, a druggist initially from Indiana, arrived in Garnett in May 1872 and engaged in the drug business in company with J.A. Gailey. A year later, he sold out his interest and embarked on his own drug business. He had a nice store and fixtures, carried a stock of $2,000 to $2,500, and had a good trade. In 1874, he was elected Probate Judge of Anderson County, serving for four years.

The Garnett Weekly Journal, Anderson County’s official newspaper, was established on January 3, 1873, by Dr. George W. Cooper. It soon gained a large circulation and was considered independent in politics.

After the financial crash of 1873 and the grasshopper devastation the following year, Garnet’s growth stagnated for two or three years. Afterward, the town began to increase in population and the number of business houses.

The African Methodist Episcopal Church erected a small stone building called Quinn Chapel in 1874.

That year, a brick schoolhouse considered one of the best in this part of the state was built on the southwest corner of Third Avenue and Pine Street.

J.D. Woodworth, born in New York, established a lumber and building materials store in Garnett in 1874. In the fall of 1876, he purchased a hardware stock and conducted both businesses alone until the spring of 1878, when he took on a partner, C F. Henson. The business was first called J.D. Woodworth & Co., but the name was changed to Woodworth and Henson in January 1881.  The company had an extensive trade, carrying in the yard all kinds of lumber, hardware, and building materials amounting to about $12,000. They also did quite a business in the manufacture of tinware.  In April 1882, Mr. Woodworth sold out his interest and, to some extent, engaged in real estate dealings. He was appointed a County Commissioner in 1876 and elected in 1877. He was elected Mayor of Garnett in the spring of 1881 and re-elected in 1882.

In 1876, the Elevator Mills, a large grain elevator, was built by Kirkpatrick and Harbison. In 1878, a sawmill was attached. In 1881, the flour mill was added. It was run by steam and had a capacity for sawing 2,000 feet of lumber and producing 40 barrels of flour daily. Kirkpatrick & Witherspoon were the proprietors in the early 1880s.

The fire department was organized on February 1, 1877, with one engine, a hose cart, and hook and ladder fixtures.

Isco P. Sutton was elected Sheriff of Anderson County in 1877 and re-elected in 1879. Originally from Missouri, he emigrated to Walker Township in Anderson County with his family in June 1855. He served in Company L of the Sixteenth Kansas Cavalry during the Civil War. In January 1878, he moved his residence to Garnett.  In February 1881, he became associated with George L. Putnam in the livery business, and in the fall of 1882, he was elected Representative from Anderson County.

In 1878, Garnett was an important station on the Leavenworth, Lawrence, and Galveston Railroad. It had a flour mill, a furniture factory, a carriage factory, numerous stores, three hotels, two newspapers, a bank, a marble works, a number of professionals, including physicians, attorneys, druggists, and a dentist, five churches—Methodist, Presbyterian, Baptist, Christian, and Colored—and a fine union school erected for $33,000. At that time, the population was about 1,000.

In 1879, the Arizona Division of the Missouri Pacific Railroad was built, and the city continued to grow steadily with business houses and residences built of a substantial character, many constructed from brick and stone.

In November 1880, Dr. D.T. Brown, originally from Illinois, came to the city and built an extensive medical practice.

In the early 1880s, Garnett was at the junction of the Kansas City, Lawrence & Southern Kansas Railroad, and the Arizona Division of the Missouri Pacific Railroad, each with a passenger and a freight depot. The town’s shipping advantages made it one of the most prosperous towns in Southeastern Kansas. Most of the business houses were located around or near the Public Square. Many of them were large and costly brick and stone structures, while most of the others were substantial and well-planned frame buildings. At that time, Garnett Mills was a large steam flouring and grist mill that operated for several years and was located on the site of the Louisville colony mill. The largest mill in the county, it manufactured an excellent quality of flour and was owned and operated by Charles McCrum. The residences were generally neat, comfortable, and attractive, while shade trees ornamented the lots. Almost all business branches were carried on, and with trade from a radius of 15 miles or more, the business interests were prosperous. At that time, eight teachers were employed at the school, which was conducted under the charge of H.M. Upp. The number of students was 598. The town’s population was about 1,600.

On February 1, 1881, Slonaker & Paxton bought the implement business that R.T. Stokes had established in 1870. They carried a stock of $15,000 to $16,000 and did a substantial business in dealing agricultural implements, equipment, wagons, and carriages. They represented the Weir Plow Company, John Deere Plow Company, Mitchell wagons, Bain wagons, Buckeye reapers, Aultman & Taylor threshers, Watertown and Columbus buggies, and also dealt extensively in barbed wire. They were leaders in their line in Garnett and extensive grain dealers. R.M. Slonaker, the firm’s senior member, was a native of Ohio. He came to Anderson County in February 1871, settled in Monroe Township, and followed agricultural pursuits for about nine years, making a specialty of raising livestock before embarking on the implement business. His partner, N.J. Paxton, also from Ohio, came to Garnett, Kansas, in October 1880.

In March 1881, the town suffered a disastrous fire. The flames spread so rapidly that eleven buildings were destroyed within 55 minutes of the alarm being sounded. They were all in the city’s business center, and some contained large stocks of goods. However, little was saved, and thousands of dollars of property was destroyed. Afterward, the entire street was built with substantial brick and stone structures.

In 1881, the United Presbyterians built a new church for $4,000, and the First Baptists built a church for $3,000 the same year.

In March 1882, W.H. Stein built a shop with machinery run by steam power for wood turning, scroll sawing, rip sawing, and planing. He also invented Stein’s Washer, which he patented on April 16, 1878, and manufactured many machines yearly.

In August 1882, Pollard & Pierce purchased the Crouse & Wittich Mercantile. H.G. Pollard, the firm’s senior member, was employed by the old firm for about seven years and soon controlled a considerable trade. S. Pierce, his partner, was from Hagerstown, Indiana. They carried a well-assorted stock of goods of about $15,000 and did the leading business in Garnett.

The same month, another agricultural implement and wagon dealer, Moses B. Snavely, established his business in Garnett. He had a stock of about $3,000 and represented many leading manufacturers, including the Pekin Plow Company, Buford Plows, Abbott buggies, and Weber wagons.

The Grand Opera House, built in 1884, was located on East 4th Avenue, on the north side of the downtown square.

On April 26, 1884, a tornado touched down in Anderson County, Kansas, west-southwest of Garnett. This twister tore a 10-mile path through the Kansas countryside, causing some damage, but no injuries or deaths were reported. However, it damaged homes and barns and was said to have carried a man named David Metheney and his wagon through the air, injuring him but not killing him. Observers reported that the tornado was accompanied by a loud roaring noise like a train passing over a bridge.

As it spun, a fruit farmer named A.A. Adams quickly assembled his box camera and captured a single photo of the tornado—the first photograph of a tornado.

The Public Square in Garnett was the hub of activity in the 1890s. General stores, newspaper offices, administrative offices, restaurants, and the opera house surrounded the Anderson County courthouse. Dr. Hill’s California Concert Company medicine show arrived in Garnett in November 1897. Within the troupe was none other than Harry Houdini and his wife, Bess.

The traveling show’s entertainment consisted of a “basic roster of mildly risque song-and-dance men, implausibly buxom, bloomer-clad strongwomen, and pathetically deformed children, usually interspersed with some amusingly prehensile monkeys. At intervals, the fast-talking Dr. Hill himself would take the stage to promote the benefits of patent remedies, which generally consisted of heavily sugared water with a few added drops of dynamite-strength whiskey.” As part of the show, Houdini impressed the crowd with his coin and card tricks and mind-reading routines. His most exciting performance was escaping from the local jail, also located in the Public Square, after Sheriff Park Keeney locked him in. At the close of the medicine show in the Public Square, Dr. Hill announced a “great show that the performers were to present that evening, for “trifling admission” of 10¢, 15¢ and 25¢ cents.” The great show was performed in the Grand Opera House.

The Anderson County Courthouse was built from 1901 to 1902. It was designed in the Romanesque style by prominent Kansas architect George P. Washburr. The rectangular three-story structure with a full basement was constructed of red brick with white mortar. The basement story, which projects partially above ground, is built of large rough-hewn blocks of limestone in even horizontal courses. Limestone is also used elsewhere on the building facades to accent windows, trim, and entrance features. The steeply pitched hip roof of red clay tile has small gable roofs over the entrances on all four sides. Each doorway has a fan-shaped window above it.  A silver-painted statue depicting the Roman goddess Justitia stood on the gable roof over the west entrance. The courthouse was dedicated on July 4, 1902, with a crowd of 6,000 in attendance.

In 1910, Garnett was the largest town in Anderson County. It was then on the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe, and the Missouri Pacific Railroads. It had an electric light plant which produced current for lighting and power, waterworks, a fire department, an opera house, three banks, two furniture factories, a flour and feed mill, a planing mill, a creamery, cigar factories, 11 churches, a high school, and graded schools, two daily newspapers — the News and the Review, two weeklies — the Eagle-Plaindealer and the Journal, and several blocks of substantially built business houses. There were also telegraph and express offices, an international money order post office with seven rural routes, and a population of 2,334.

In 1920, Garnett had a population of 2,329.

The Grand Opera House on the north side of the courthouse square burned down in 1924.

Between 1934 and 1936, the Civilian Conservation Corps constructed North Lake Park, including Lake Garnett. The project included a 48-acre man-made lake with a dam and spillway, a road, and the planting of over 300 cedar trees, lilac bushes, rose bushes, and shrubs. Other construction included roads, plantings, two shelter houses, restrooms, a football stadium, and a swimming pool.

Garnett’s population peaked in 2010 at 3,415.

The city includes three places on the National Register of Historic Places: the Anderson County Courthouse, Sennett and Bertha Kirk House, and Shelley-Tipton House. It is also home to the 1858 Garnett House Hotel.

Garnett is famous for its fossil finds from the late Carboniferous period. The deposit is about 300 million years old and contains some of the earliest reptiles on earth.

The Garnett USD 365 public school district serves the community that operates Garnett Elementary School and Anderson County Junior-Senior High School. Garnett is also home to St. Rose Philippine Duchesne Catholic School, built in 1947. St. Rose Philippine Duchesne serves grades K-8 and is a member of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Kansas City, Kansas.

Garnett is at the crossroads of U.S. Route 59, U.S. Route 169, and K-31. Interstate 35 is 19 miles north of here, and Interstate 70 is approximately 50 miles away.

It is 78 miles from Kansas City and 24 miles from Ottawa.

© Kathy Alexander/Legends of Kansas, updated October 2024.

Also See:

Anderson County, Kansas

Anderson County Photo Gallery

Everyplace in Kansas

Kansas Destinations

Sources:

1858 House
1878 Gazetteer and Business Directory, R. L. Polk & Co., Chicago, IL.
Anderson County Historical Society
Blackmar, Frank W.; Kansas: A Cyclopedia of State History, Vol I; Standard Publishing Company, Chicago, IL 1912
Cutler, William G; History of Kansas; A. T. Andreas, Chicago, IL, 1883.
National Register of Historic Places
Wikipedia