Anna box depot in Pawnee Station, Kansas by H. Killam, 1959.
Pawnee Station, Kansas, in Bourbon County, was established by the Kansas City, Fort Scott & Gulf Railroad in 1871. It is an extinct town today.
A post office was established on the ten-acre townsite on January 31, 1871, with H. B. Brown appointed postmaster. The post office was called Pawnee Station.
Immediately following the founding of the town, H. B. Brown and Peter Smith each began dealing in the general merchandise business. The first residence was built by Mrs. Bender, the next by D. T. Brown, and the next by H. B. Brown. A hotel building was erected in 1871 by Crawford & Botsford, who ran it for a time as a public house. Later it was taken over by Botsford alone and then by L. G. Griffith.
A frame school house was built in the fall of 1871, and a man named Harris taught the first school in the winter of 1871-72. That winter, a man named Conkling put in a general store. The Godfrey Coal & Mining Company began mining operations in the area and also engaged in general merchandising in 1873. At about the same time, the Laidlaw Brothers started a general store. Two years later, the Fort Scott Coal & Mining Company began business, dealing in coal and merchandise. A man named Smith started a hardware business about the same time.
In 1877, T. D. Harris erected a store and began the general merchandising business. T. M. Grisham bought the Fort Scott Coal Company’s store and continued the business. The Laidlaw Brothers failed in business, and the business was taken up by the Enterprise Company, which also soon closed out before passing into the hands of Hugh McKay. Peter Smith sold out to Ryan & Woolf, and T. D. Harris to Hibbard & Sharp.
In the early 1880s, the mercantile business was represented by two establishments, including G. W. Barton and H. B. Brown, dealers in coal, lumber, grain, hay, and general merchandise. At that time, the town’s population was about 100, and it was a considerable shipping point for grain, hay, livestock, and produce.
In 1910, Pawnee Station was situated on the St. Louis and San Francisco Railroad, continuing as a supply point for the nearby farming district. At that time, the railroad station was called Anna, the town had a money order post office, and a population of 87.
Its post office closed on April 30, 1945.
It was located bout ten miles southwest of Fort Scott.
©Kathy Alexander/Legends of Kansas, August 2022.
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