Grainfield, Kansas Main Street by Kathy Alexander.
Grainfield, Kansas, is a small town in Grainfield Township in northern Gove County. As of the 2020 census, its population was 322, and its total area was .48 square miles, all of it land.
Occidental Hotel Advertisement.
The town started in 1879 when the Kansas Pacific Railroad sent John B. Beal from Abilene, Kansas, to establish a new town. That year, the railroad came through the area, and Beal erected a $10,000 stone hotel called the Occidental House. A post office was established in May 1879. It was named for the wheat fields in the vicinity. The railroad platted the town in June.
Several buildings, including two stores, were built before the hotel was compiled. A depot was first opened in August of that year. In four months, it was a full-fledged town with all the conveniences of life and a population of 150. However, crop failures soon drove most of the first farmers out of the area.
The Grainfield Republican newspaper was established in 1880 but was published for only one year. In June 1881, the Grainfield Advance newspaper was established, but after four months, it was discontinued.
In 1884, Grainfield had Methodist and Presbyterian Churches, a district school, a general store, a hardware store, a meat market, a shoemaker, a blacksmith, a druggist, a doctor, and a lawyer. At that time, it shipped grain and livestock, and the mail was delivered daily to C.M. Burr, postmaster, by stagecoaches running to Kenneth, Shibboleth, and Oberlin.
Grainfield Cap Sheaf Newspaper.
Grainfield Cap Sheaf newspaper began publication in July 1885. The longest-running newspaper in the city, it was published through June 1923.
In 1886, when the area began to boom again, cattle in the county were worth far more than the crops produced. Gove County was organized in 1886 with a population of 3,032. In 1887, the population increased by more than a third, and production tripled. Early in March 1887, the Grainfield Town Company, which had taken over the site from the railroad, was reorganized with seven principal partners. Their first step was to build a structure that would provide a meeting hall and impress the passersby that Grainfield was an attractive, permanent town. On March 25, the local newspaper announced: “A large brick block will be built on Main Street this season with store rooms below and opera hall above.”
Late in April, specifications were published for bids to construct the Opera House basement. J.B. Beal, chairman of the building committee, noted that the town company would d furnish the stone and lime on the site. The Union Pacific Railroad hauled in the stone for the foundation. The new building was located two blocks north of the depot, approximately in the center of town. M.P. Kavanaugh completed excavation for the Opera House cellar by May 6. In early June, three stone masons from Bunker Hill began work on the basement walls. At the same time, a brick kiln northwest of the town was “fired up,” and bricklaying began in the middle of August and was finished on October 7. Afterward, the iron front was put in, and the roof was laid. Fred Boyer was in charge of the carpenter work.
The two-story brick Queen Anne-style rectangular building with its ornate cast iron front was built by the Grainfield Town Company for $15,000.
“The Grainfield Opera House is undoubtedly the finest building between Salina and Denver.“
— Grinnell Golden Belt Newspaper
Opera House in Grainfield, Kansas, by Kathy Alexander.
The auditorium was used for dances, church programs, social events, and performances, including vocalists, lecturers, musicals, drama, silent and later moving pictures, vaudeville, and comedians. A private school was once held upstairs, and the first high school classes in town were downstairs. Over the years, numerous businesses were housed in the building.
The Grainfield Town Company was organized in 1887 with John Beal as president.
Early in 1888, the Gralnfield Cap Sheaf newspaper moved into the north half of the building. The Rafferty Brothers moved their mercantile store into the south half late in February 1888. A harness shop was housed behind the printing office on the ground floor. Upstairs were offices and meeting rooms.
In 1894, Grainfield was on the Union Pacific Railroad. At that time, it had two churches, a school, a weekly newspaper, a meat market, two hotels, two general stores, two blacksmiths, a shoemaker, an implement dealer, a barber, a lawyer, a grocery hardware store, and a population of 250. Stagecoaches ran daily to Gove and Dighton.
Early in the 20th century, a grocery store operated in the Opera House. In the following years, the Opera House changed hands many times.
The Grainfield Advocate newspaper was first published in July 1905. It ceased publication at the end of January 1908.
By 1910, Grainfield was incorporated, had a bank, a grain elevator, several mercantile establishments, a money order post office with one rural route, telegraph, and express offices, and a population of 309.
Grainfield, Kansas Street Scene, about 1920.
Catholic Church in Grainfield, Kansas.
Enlargement of the north and west entrances to the Opera House probably occurred during the 1920s when the Shaw Motor Company used the whole ground floor.
In 1941, the Occidental Hotel was boarded up due to a lack of demand. By that time, travelers could make it to larger towns.
The opera house was added to the National Register of Historic Places in November 1980. The Grainfield Opera House evidences early settlers’ aspirations and practical needs in western Kansas. This building presents substantially the same appearance as when completed in 1887. It is located on the southwest corner of Main and Third Streets.
Grainfield’s population peaked in 1980 at 417.
Grainfield is served by Wheatland USD 292 public school district, headquartered in Grainfield.
Grainfield is 11 miles north of Gove, the county seat, and 34 miles west of WaKeeney.
©Kathy Alexander/Legends of Kansas, December 2024.
Grainfield, Kansas Business Buildings, courtesy Google Maps.
Also See:
Sources:
1884-1885 Gazetteer and Business Directory
1894 Gazetteer and Business Directory, R. L. Polk & Co.
Blackmar, Frank W.; Kansas: A Cyclopedia of State History, Vol I; Standard Publishing.
Grainfield – Facebook
National Register of Historic Places
Wikipedia