Wabaunsee, Kansas – Extinct in Wabaunsee County

 

Wabaunsee, Kansas, a tiny town in Wabaunsee County, was one of the earliest settlements in the area. It was named for former Potawatomi Chief Wabaunsee. As of the 2020 census, the population of the community and nearby areas was 104. It is also officially an extinct town, as its post office closed decades ago.

The first three towns of the State were Leavenworth, Lawrence, and Wabaunsee, in the order of their settlement. For many years, Wabaunsee was the only town west of Topeka.

The first settlers were Joshua Smith and Robert Banks from Massachusetts, who were here when J.M. Bisby and his companions came from New York in 1854. That year, the first steamboat passing up the Kansas River was the Excel, led by Captain Baker, in 1854.

In the spring of 1855, the American Missionary Association of New York sent Reverend Harvey Jones and his family to Wabaunsee. Before long, the town of Wabaunsee was founded by nearly 100 emigrants from New Haven, Connecticut. They were inspired by a sermon by well-known abolitionist Henry Ward Beecher, who gave money to help supply rifles for the men to defend themselves. The rifles were smuggled through pro-slavery areas in crates marked “Beecher’s Bibles.” Wabaunsee gained a post office on December 29, 1855, with J.H. Nesbitt serving as the first postmaster.

In the spring of 1856, a colony of 65 members of the Beecher Bible and Rifle Company arrived. They had sent five men — A.A. Cottrell, J.J. Walters, Benjamin Street, T.P.C. Hyde, and a Mr. Webb to look up a location where there was no townsite company to interfere with them in making the rules and regulations they wished.

The Connecticut Kansas Colony, also known as the Rifle Colony or the New Haven Colony, was organized at New Haven, Connecticut, by Charles B. Lines when the northern states were incredibly excited about the Kansas-Nebraska Act and its concept of squatter sovereignty. The purpose of the organization was to help make Kansas a Free State. The “Beecher Rifle Colony” appellation grew out of the farewell meeting for the colonists held in March 1856 in New Haven, with Henry Ward Beecher giving a vigorous anti-slavery speech. One of the purposes of the meeting was to provide the colonists with arms for their protection.

In those early days, the settlers lived in small houses enclosed with “shakes.” Chairs, bedsteads, and other furniture were made from cottonwood and elm poles. Although the weather was no colder in those days than it is now, the suffering from the cold was terrible, as the houses were not sufficient to keep out the cold, and the comforts of life were few. Food was often scarce, and people sometimes lived solely on “hulled corn” for weeks at a time.

At this time, the feeling between the pro-slavery and Free State parties ran very high, and each side was carrying guns and ropes. The President of the United States, the Secretary of War, and all the Territorial officers were doing all they could legitimately to make Kansas a slave state. Bogus sheriffs with bogus warrants were sent out after Free-State men. Three men who were being hunted down came to Wabaunsee in June 1856 from Topeka, where they had been working on a Free-State constitution. They were Dr. J.P. Root, J.J. Walters, and W. Griswold. Late that year, Wabaunsee became part of the Underground Railroad.

Captain William Mitchell, the first president of the “Beecher Company,” resided in the village and performed the double duty of running a store and being a station agent on the Underground Railroad.

Being shut off from the main line of travel, Wabaunsee was not the scene of much of the conflict, but the Rifle Company was engaged in the struggle all the way through. They took part in the early struggles around Lawrence and Franklin and repulsed an attack by Missouri bushwhackers. Nearly every member of the Wabaunsee settlement went to the seat of war. Several Free-State men from upper Deer Creek, a settlement west of Wabaunsee, joined them. They were gone for six weeks and engaged in every skirmish that took place in or near Lawrence. The last battle occurred when a whole body of border ruffians who were camped at Franklin came down the main line to Lawrence and were repulsed by the Beecher Rifle Company from a ravine about half a mile from town. This victory has been credited to “the Lawrence Stubbs,” but it really belonged to the Wabaunsee boys, as the “Stubbs” were not on the ground, according to the statement of Wabaunsee men.

On their return, the men found everything had gone wrong at home. The cattle had eaten the crops, many of the boys were sick, there was no money to buy medicine, and a sack of flour cost $6 to $9. The winter of 1856-57 was harsh, with the people out of food and clothing. However, in the spring, things brightened up, and some new settlers were added to the colony. In the early days, the pro-slavery men referred to Wabaunsee as the “Abolition nest.”

At first, worship services were held in various places, such as the company tent, a store, log cabins, and even a grove near the townsite. A successful effort to organize a church was made on Saturday, June 27, 1857, with 28 charter members. It was decided that the church should be as unsectarian as possible, and that it was to be known as “The First Church of Christ in Wabaunsee.”

In 1858, the Wabaunsee group sought affiliation with the Congregational fellowship in Kansas and was accepted. A temporary frame building was constructed, and plans were also laid for a stone building. It was a time of hardship and uncertainty, and funds were hard to raise.

The frame building that served as the church was also utilized as a schoolhouse and a place for holding meetings. D.B. Hiatt was the first school

In 1859, the town became the Wabaunsee county seat. That year, the log of the Steamer Guss Linn going from Kansas City to Fort Riley reported:

“May 16, 1859. Reached Wabaunsee, containing one store and fifteen houses.”

The people were beginning to live comfortably when the drought of 1860 and the Civil War the following year brought hardship and trouble. All the able-bodied men went to the front, and most of them saw hard service.

After four years of construction, the Beecher Bible and Rifle Church was dedicated in May 1862. Church member Robert Banks built the church of local limestone with contrasting stone accents. A gable roof and a wooden bell tower crowned the Plains Vernacular style church. The church was entered through a vestibule that provided access to the choir loft stairs, and the central space was divided down the center into men’s and women’s sides.

By that time, some of the members had already gone to fight in the Civil War. Soon, there were only a few boys and older men to carry on the work in Wabaunsee. But after the war was over, the town began to grow again. It never became the great city the people from New Haven had envisioned, but the area grew into a thriving farm community.

In August 1863, following William Quantrill’s Raid on Lawrence, Kansas, Wabaunsee’s citizens provided aid to the devastated town.

During the Confederate General Sterling Price’s raid in the fall of 1864, every able-bodied man in Kansas was ordered to the front. At that time, the Wabaunsee boys saw the hard part of the Battle of Westport, where the Missourians and Kansans were pitted against each other.

After the Civil War, Wabaunsee hoped for a railroad, but it was constructed north of the Kansas River.

After a three-year struggle, Wabaunsee lost the county seat to Alma in 1866. Afterward, the county’s officials’ effects were hauled to Alma in a light wagon.

In 1907, Wabaunsee had one store, where the post office was kept, a Woodman’s Hall, three churches, two schoolhouses, and 25 dwellings.

In 1910, Wabaunsee was on the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad, at which time it had churches, schools, general stores, telegraph and express offices, and a money order post office.

After 50 years of service, Wabaunsee’s declining population forced the Congregational Church to discontinue.

The post office closed on January 31, 1944.

After the historic church stood unused for more than 30 years, the Old Timers Association restored it in 1948, and it is now used for religious services.

The Beecher Bible and Rifle Church building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1971. One of the earliest permanent church buildings in Kansas, this old landmark brings early settlers together every year to celebrate the founding of the church. Some of the old rifles are displayed on these occasions, fulfilling the prophetic words of Beecher, who said,

“Let these arms hang above your doors as the old Revolutionary muskets do in many New England homes. May your children in another generation look upon them with pride and say, ‘Our fathers’ courage saved this fair land from slavery and blood.'”

 

Today, the community remains unincorporated, consisting of several houses and buildings, including the church. The Wamego USD 320 public school district serves it.

Wabaunsee is located about a half mile south of the Kansas River. It is located in Wabaunsee Township along K-18, 12 miles north of Alma, the county seat.

 

©Kathy Alexander/Legends of Kansas, updated June 2025.

Also See:

Extinct Towns of Wabaunsee County

Kansas Main Page

Wabaunsee County, Kansas

Wabaunsee County Photo Gallery

Sources:

Blackmar, Frank. W.; Kansas: A Cyclopedia of State History, Volume I, Standard Publishing Company, Chicago, IL, 1912
Business Directory and History of Wabaunsee County, The Kansas Directory Company of Topeka, Kansas, 1907.
Cutler, William G.; History of the State of Kansas; A. T. Andreas, Chicago, IL., 1883
National Historic Register Nomination
Wikipedia