Edna, Kansas

 

Edna, Kansas, is a small town in Elm Grove Township of Labette County. As of the 2020 census, the city’s population was 388, and it had a total area of 0.36 square miles, all land.

On May 30, 1872, the first school board members were elected in the township. The first school building was built in the fall of that year. W.J. Millikin taught the first term in 1872-1873.

In 1876, a two-story frame school building was erected. That year, Alexander Patterson and Mr. Booth opened a general store in an 11-by-14-foot shanty at this point. That fall, they built a frame store.

The first general store was opened on June 20, 1876, by Mr. Booth and Alexander Patterson in a claim shanty measuring 11 by 14 feet, belonging to Jeptha Lackey. That fall, this firm brought from Chanute the material for a frame building they had torn down, and with it they put up a new store building in Edna.

The first post office in Edna was established on April 4, 1878. It was named for a child, Edna Gragery.

Patterson and Booth continued operating the general store until 1879, when they sold it to Frank Clark. Other stores were opened from time to time.

In the early 1880s, Edna was on the tri-weekly stage line between Coffeyville and Chetopa, at which time, it had a general store, a blacksmith shop, and a population of about 50.

In 1883, Dunlap & Co. opened a hardware store. That year, H.S. Wimmer and William Gear erected a flour mill, which was put in operation in the spring of 1884.

Work began on the Denver, Memphis & Atlantic Railroad on May 22, 1886, at Chetopa, extending the road west from that point. By the end of June, it had been completed as far west as Edna. On July 2, 1886, the first train arrived in Chetopa from Edna, and during the summer, Coffeyville was reached.

The town was laid out at that time, and the town plat was filed on August 21, 1886.

On December 8, 1886, the Edna Enterprise began publication with J.J. Fields as editor and Harry Mills as publisher. It was a small six-column folio. The publication continued for about five or six weeks, when the office’s goodwill was sold to C.M. Brown of the Mound Valley News.

The Edna Era succeeded the Enterprise, which C.M. Brown started on January 19, 1887. He moved the Mound Valley News office to Edna, where he published the Era for about three months, until it ceased publication, leaving Edna without a paper for a short time.

On January 25, 1887, C.T. Ewing, who was in the banking business at Thayer and Cherryvale, opened the two-story stone International Bank at Edna, with J.M. Berry as cashier. Typical of bank buildings of its era, it was built on a corner lot at a major downtown intersection. The structure was cited in the Edna Star as “a credit to our little city.” Edna was apparently fairly prosperous at that time for the same newspaper listed the following businesses operating in the town: two hardware stores, two drug stores, one jeweler, four general stores, one bank, one millinery, two restaurants, one flour and feed store, one billiard hall, two meat markets, one lawyer, two livery stables, one boot and shoemaker, three doctors, two insurance agents, one hotel, a picture gallery, saddle shop, barber shop, broom factory’and flour mill. J.M. Berry was succeeded on November 1, 1888, at the International Bank at Edna by C. H. Zabriskie.

An extensive fire took place on February 13, 1889, on the west side of Delaware Street, burning out the business houses of G.W. Reasor, W.P. Dollar, and Josiah Arnold.

On April 15, 1887, J.D. McKeehen, as editor and proprietor, brought out the Edna Enterprise newspaper under his management, having theretofore purchased the material of the old office. He continued the publication until September of that year.

The Edna Star was started by John Truby and W.A. Peffer, Jr., and was first published on October 28, 1887. On the last day of April, 1888, J.H. Morse became its editor and continued its publication until the close of June of that year.

The Edna Independent was established on December 14, 1889, by G.W. Liever and A.C. Veach. In June 1890, Liever sold his interest in the paper to Mr. Veach, who continued to publish it alone.

A one-story stone structure adjoining the bank building was built by G.W. Reasor in 1891.  Another fire occurred in December of that year on the east side of Delaware Street, consuming the business houses of Frank Martin, Frank Holton, L. Powell, Alexander Dunlap, and C.M. Rinker.

C.H. Zabriskie remained in charge of the International Bank until it failed in May of 1892. The town was without a bank for several years, a situation which the editors of the local papers regularly decried.

On the application of its citizens, an order was made by the Board of County Commissioners on July 3, 1892, incorporating the town as a city of the third class. On July 20, the first election was held, at which time, the following officers were elected: Mayor, J.H. Hoole; police judge, J.H. Reasor; councilmen G.W. Reasor, T.G. Harris, H.H. Clark, A.C. Veach, and J.C. Arnold. The first meeting of the mayor and council was held July 25, 1892, at which J.E. Blunk was appointed and confirmed as city clerk.

On August 9, four ordinances were passed. The first levied an occupation tax on all the various kinds of business conducted there; the second provided for the maintenance of the peace; the third prohibited stock from running at large; and the fourth provided for licensing dogs.

The Edna Independent was last published on October 21, 1893. Mr. Veach then sold the “Independent” to parties who wanted to commence publication of a paper in Parsons and who wanted it to appear as a paper that had been published at least one year, in order to enable them to secure the county printing.

After selling this paper, A.C. Veach began publishing the Edna News, which first appeared on October 28, 1893, and ran its last issue on September 8, 1894. Mr. Veach then removed his plant to Arkansas.

A fine brick store building was erected that year, and W.E. Staige commenced the publication of the Edna Sun on November 22, 1894.

In September 1897, the new Edna State Bank was established in the former International Bank building. However, in June of the following year, the bank closed its doors due to a lack of confidence in that institution after the principal owner, Harry Mason, was arrested. All depositors were paid off in full.

The new First State Bank of Edna opened for business on July 21, 1899, with $5,000 in capital stock and soon became prosperous. Two more substantial brick buildings were built that year, and a large grain elevator was also erected.

In late September 1899, the Edna Enterprise reappeared under Dr. Johnson’s management. On January 1, 1900, the paper passed under the editorial management of J.L. Griffith, who conducted it for one year. On January 1, 1901, William A. Blair and George Reasor became the owners of the paper under the firm name of Reasor & Blair.

In 1901, an addition to the school enlarged it to six rooms.

On February 5, 1905, the First State Bank of Edna’s charter was changed to the First National Bank of Edna. That year, the Edna Enterprise newspaper was discontinued

In 1910, Edna was on the Missouri Pacific Railroad, which at the time had two banks, two grain elevators, a flour mill, a machine shop, express and telegraph offices, an international money order post office with three rural routes, and a population of 489.

This school served until November 27, 1917. On December 3, 1917, a new brick school building was built. It had three stories, including the basement, and contained 14 rooms.

The Edna Sun newspaper was discontinued on January 31, 1924.

The grade school was standardized in 1930.

The First National Bank was the only bank in Labette County to survive the economic pressures of the Great Depression. Like many banks in small midwestern towns in the thirties, operations at the First National were occasionally disrupted by robberies. The first robbery occurred on July 24, 1930, and the second on March 23, 1931. The bandits in the second escapade were shot dead as they emerged from the bank building by the dentist who had his offices in the second story of a building across the street.

The Edna Public Library opened in 1950.

On September 30, 1962, the First National Bank’s charter was again changed, this time to the First State Bank of Edna. It remained in the old bank building until February 1978, when a new bank was completed across the street. One month later, the Edna Historical Society purchased the building for use as a museum.

Edna High School was closed as part of school unification. The Edna High School mascot was the Pirates.

Edna’s population peaked in 1980 at 537. By that time, the Missouri Pacific Railroad no longer ran through the community. The tracks were later removed.

The First State Bank building, built in a Classical Revival style, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982. It is located at the southwest corner of Delaware and Main Streets in Edna.

Today, the community is served by the Labette County USD 506 public school district. Its elementary school is still open.

The eleven-acre Edna City Lake is 1.5 miles South and 2 miles West of Edna. Here, RV hookups are available.

Edna is about 23 miles southwest of Oswego, the county seat.