Kearny County Historical Society Museum

29/01/2025

The U.S. House of Representatives voted to admit Kansas as a state in April of 1860, but the Senate was under the influence of pro-slavery leaders and refused. The failure to admit Kansas became a national political issue. At the Republican’s national convention the following month, Abraham Lincoln was nominated as the Republican candidate for president. A strong proponent for Kansas, Honest Abe had visited the territory and spoke at several sites in December of 1859. When he won the presidency, news of his election caused 11 southern states to withdraw from the Union and set up a separate government. As each state withdrew, their senators and representatives resigned their seats in Congress, vastly reducing the number of those in the Senate who opposed Kansas’s admission. The Senate passed the Kansas Bill, and President Buchanan signed the bill officially admitting Kansas to the Union on January 29, 1861. While on his way to Washington for his inauguration in 1861, President-elect Lincoln had a stop off at Philadelphia’s Independence Hall where he hoisted the first United States flag bearing the Kansas star on February 22 (George Washington’s birthday).

The difficulties that Kansas faced in gaining statehood led John J. Ingalls, secretary of the first Kansas state senate, to suggest the state motto of “Ad Astra per Aspera” which is Latin for “To the Stars Through Difficulties.” The motto was placed at the top of the state seal, and below it 34 stars, representing Kansas as the 34th state to join the union, are boldly arranged. Pictured in the right-hand corner of the seal is a rising sun for the east. Commerce is represented on the seal by a river and a steamboat, and agriculture as the basis of Kansas’s future prosperity is represented by a settler’s cabin and a man plowing with a team of horses. Also depicted are a wagon headed west and pulled by oxen, as well as a herd of retreating buffalo being pursued by two Native Americans on horseback.

In 1903, the sunflower was adopted as the state flower by the Kansas Legislature, and on Kansas Day in 1925, the western meadowlark was announced as the state bird of Kansas. In an election coordinated by the Kansas Audubon Society, nearly 50,000 of 121,000 votes were cast by Kansas school children for the meadowlark; however, the Kansas Legislature did not officially make it the state bird until 1937. Adopted in 1927, the Kansas state flag was designed by Lincoln, Kansas seamstress Hazel Avery. The flag was modified in 1961 by adding the word, “Kansas,” in gold block letters below the seal.

The cottonwood was adopted as the state tree in 1937, and in 1947, “Home on the Range” became the official state song.” In his cabin on Beaver Creek near Smith Center in 1871 or 1872, Dr. Brewster Higley wrote the lyrics to the song which was originally entitled, “My Western Home.” Druggist Dan Kelly composed the music. In 1955, the American buffalo was named as the state animal, and the honey bee was adopted as the state insect in 1976. It was not until 1986 that the ornate box turtle was established as the state reptile. These are but a few of Kansas’s more well-known state symbols, but did you know that our state soil, established in 1990, is harney loam silt, and the barred tiger salamander was named state amphibian in 1994? In 2010, little bluestem was named the state grass, and the tylosaurus and pteranodon became the state fossils in 2014. In 2018, limestone was established as the state rock, galena the state mineral, jelinite the state gemstone, and channel catfish the state fish. In 2019, chambourcin was named the state’s red wine grape while vignoles, the state white wine grape. In 2022, the sandhill plum was recognized as the state fruit, and silvisarus condravi, the woodland lizard that lived from the Early to Late Cretaceous Period, has been the state land fossil since 2023.

Alexander Le Grande Copley, a teacher in the Paola school system, is credited with the origination of Kansas Day. On January 29, 1877 after spending two weeks gathering information on the geography, history and resources of Kansas, Copley’s students presented their maps, drawings, songs and speeches to their community. The event was so well attended that there was not room for everyone in the small school. Copley later became the superintendent of Wichita schools and implemented Kansas Day there. Copley attended county teachers’ institutes and state teachers’ association meetings where he encouraged teachers to celebrate Kansas Day. In 1882, at the first meeting of the Northwestern Teachers Association, a decision was made to publish a small pamphlet which included information about Kansas, its songs and sample speeches suitable for the observance of Kansas Day. The 32-page booklet was simply called, “Kansas Day.” At the next State Teachers Association meeting in Topeka, every teacher took home one or more copies. For a short time, the booklet was used as a textbook in the state normal school at Emporia.

The popularity of Kansas Day continued to grow and is celebrated by teachers and students across the state. For the past several years, Lakin Grade School students have enjoyed Kansas Day tours at the museum where they learn about Kansas, the Santa Fe Trail, one-room schools, pioneer life and local history. Today, January 29, we welcome Lakin’s third graders and celebrate the 164th birthday of our grand state. Happy Birthday, Kansas!

KANSAS
Not for what she hath done for me,
Though it be great,
For what she is, her majesty,
I love my State.
Thomas Emmet Dewey

SOURCES: Sunflowers, A Book of Kansas Poems; The Story of Kansas by Bliss Isely and W.M. Richards; Kansas … Our State by Goebel, Heffelfinger and Gammon; Kansas State Historical Society, and Museum archives.

22/01/2025

Have you ever thought about being part of a group who has an interest in history, family research, photo digitizing or similar topics? A genealogy society supports family historians and genealogists through shared knowledge and resources. Members benefit from research support, networking opportunities, library access and camaraderie from sharing the same interests.

On Thursday, January 30, at 2 p.m., persons interested in forming a genealogy society in Kearny County are invited to the museum for an organizational meeting. This group would meet once monthly, and meeting details and agendas/programming would be planned by members. Betty Greer of Deerfield will be the coordinator.

Send a message to learn more

17/01/2025

Barney O’Connor was quite the character. The Canadian-born Irishman had already lived a colorful life before his arrival in Kearny County. One of 10 children, he moved with his family from Canada to Lincoln, Nebraska in 1870, and soon found his way to Kansas where he secured work as a cowboy. He was the first boy to ride horseback between Wichita and Medicine Lodge, accomplishing the difficult and dangerous feat in 1871 at the tender age of 14. That same year, O’Connor went to Matagorda, Texas, and drove a herd of cattle back to Newton which was at that time the terminus of the Santa Fe Railroad.

Barney eventually hired on as a pony express rider on the old Hutchinson-Medicine Lodge trail, and in 1874, he played a major role in one of the last Indian battles of Kansas. He started out early one morning on his regular route but had travelled only a few miles when he sighted a large war party of Indians camped on Sand Creek. Barney raced to Medicine Lodge to give warning then led a troop of 35 mounted soldiers back to where he had spotted the encampment.

In the spring of 1884, O’Connor organized a posse of men to chase down four men who had attempted to rob the Medicine Lodge bank and killed the bank president and cashier in the process. The gang of criminals was led by the very jaded Henry Brown, city marshal of Caldwell, Kansas, and his deputy, Ben Webster. With Barney at the helm, the posse pursued the gang with shots flying all the while until they cornered the would-be robbers in a canyon about eight miles west of Medicine Lodge. The gang was taken to the jail at Medicine Lodge, but an angry mob broke them out of jail and hung them, including Marshal Brown who was killed while trying to run away. As a memento of the escapade, O’Connor took a time piece from one of the assailants and a Wi******er rifle from another. The watch, which did not belong to the criminal who was wearing it, led to Barney being arrested about 11 years later when it was spied upon his wrist.

Later in 1884, O’Connor proved up a claim north of Lakin where he engaged in cattle raising and farming. He and Frank McAlister, a pal from the Medicine Lodge area, established Parlor Livery Feed and Sale Stable, and many of their horses were used for the mail hacks in an area of Western Kansas from Wallace to Hugoton which was known as Hugo at the time. O’Connor was also president of the Northwestern Stage line.

Soon, Barney was appointed as Undersheriff of Kearny Township of Finney County. In January of 1886, he was shot while helping a deputy United States marshal bring in a suspected horse thief by the name of Al McClure. McClure was wanted in Montana Territory and was working on a ranch on Bear Creek when O’Connor and the marshal went to bring him in. O’Connor knew McClure and thought he could be trusted so he didn’t handcuff the suspect. All three men were in a buggy riding back to town when McClure grabbed O’Connor’s revolver from his hip pocket and aimed it at the marshal’s head. Barney sprung into action, and the bullet intended for the marshal hit O’Connor’s left arm just above the elbow. A scuffle ensued, but McClure was finally secured and brought to Lakin without further ado. In December of 1886, Barney received the appointment as Deputy United States Marshall.

O’Connor also took a prominent part in the Kearny County seat battle after Hartland cowboys stole the records from Lakin, strapping on his guns and riding to Hartland with Tommy Morgan to retrieve the county books. Six-shooter in hand, O’Connor stood over the election judges while votes were counted in February of 1889.

In the spring of 1889, Barney and his family left for Hutchinson, but the nomadic Irishman was not one to let the grass grow beneath his feet. Eventually, the O’Connor family relocated near Boise, Idaho. In 1892, a herd of 4,000 steers were shipped from Flagstaff, Arizona to Wyoming where Barney took over and drove the cattle overland more than 800 miles to Saskatchewan, Canada. By the mid 1890’s, O’Connor was back in central Kansas but became entrenched in legal woes for peddling liquor. Next, he made his way to Kansas City, Missouri where he operated a livery stable, but O’Connor returned to Lakin in 1904 and located in the sandhills. In 1909, he moved to Garden City. In 1911, Barney purchased the 1,700-acre Pig Pen Ranch on the Cimarron River in northeast Grant County which had been originally established by fellow Irishman and Lakin’s founding father, John O’Loughlin. O’Connor’s holdings grew to more than 6,000 acres.

In 1924, Barney suffered a stroke which left him almost helpless, and nine years later he died at his Garden City home on the corner of Seventh and Chestnut streets. The Lakin Independent wrote that “O’Connor’s life was filled with experiences that would have filled many a Wild West novel, and which would have eclipsed those of many a frontiersman who was less reticent about his experiences.” It was said that Barney traveled all over the country from Old Mexico to Canada on horseback with nothing but a gun and a pair of boots.

Bernard H. O’Connor was buried at Valley View Cemetery in Garden City, and beside him rest the remains of three young sons. Daniel died at the age of 18 months and was Barney’s firstborn with first wife, Mercy Catherine Young. Bernard Young, also born of his marriage with Mercy, was struck and killed by a train at Walla Walla, Washington when he was 11. Bernard Keroher O’Connor, the first child of Barney and his second wife, Dove Agnes Keroher, died at 5 months of age. Barney had four other sons: Patrick, Michael and James with his first wife, and Collins with his second. The large yellow house on the corner of Kansas Street and Russell Road in Lakin was originally the O’Connor home.

SOURCES: Conquest of Southwest Kansas by Leola Howard Blanchard; History of Kearny County Vol. 1; Find a Grave; Ancestry.com; and archives of The Helena Star, Wichita Star, Wichita Daily Eagle, Garden City Irrigator, Kearny County Advocate, The Lakin Investigator, Pioneer Democrat, and Lakin Independent.

09/01/2025

Today, January 9th, is National Law Enforcement Appreciation Day. Kearny County Museum appreciates all the officers, both past and present, who have put their lives on the line to keep citizens safe. Kearny County has a long and storied list of lawmen dating back to the 1800s.

The first man charged with keeping the peace in our area was John Henry Carter who was appointed undersheriff of Kearny Township in 1879 when what is now Kearny County was part of Ford County. Southwest Kansas was considered part of the wild, wild west at that time, and Carter’s heroics are well documented. In 1882, a lucrative reward was offered for the capture and conviction of Thomas Wooten (sp.) and James McCullom who had robbed and murdered a railroad section foreman near WaKeeney. After hearing that the fugitives had been seen in our neck of the woods, Carter guessed the duo was headed to Point of Rocks Ranch in the extreme southwest corner of the state.

Carter secured a good horse and reached the area about nightfall but learned that no strangers had been seen there. He cautioned the ranch's owner and cowboys to show no surprise nor suspicion if the men arrived later. After everyone had gone to their bunks, two men rode up on worn-out horses and asked to spend the night. They were given coffee and food and allowed to sleep in their blankets on the kitchen floor which was next to where Carter was to sleep. But Carter saw no sleep that night, remaining constantly alert for any movements from the suspected men.

At dawn, lawman Carter slipped his rifle over the kitchen window sill and made his way out of the house, walking through the area where the desperadoes were still wrapped in their blankets. Carter secured his rifle and went to a deep buffalo wallow between the house and where Wooten and McCollom’s horses were tied. The wallow afforded John partial concealment. Wooten came out of the house and started for the horses, and when he was about 50 feet away, Carter shouted, “hands up.” Wooten swiftly pulled two revolvers out and sent bullets flying in Carter’s direction. Carter returned fire, missing with his first shot but hitting Wooten with his second which left a silver-dollar-sized hole in the man’s shoulder.

McCullom reached the scene, and seeing his compadre lying on the ground in great agony, fired several bullets at Carter. The shots missed the lawman but raised a cloud of dust. McCullom then rushed towards Carter before firing his last charge. Carter waited until McCollom was within such close range that his vision was clear, took aim and killed McCollom with one shot. Carter brought Wooten to Lakin where the killer’s wound was dressed. Trego County undersheriff Joseph Lucas came to Lakin and took custody of the prisoner, but Lucas was later assaulted at WaKeeney by a masked angry mob who took Wooten. Some accounts say the mob hung Wooten while others say he escaped; regardless, Carter was deprived of the very handsome reward despite a concerted effort to secure a special $1,000 appropriation from the Legislature for his bravery. One account claimed that Carter did receive $300 for his efforts.

In August of 1887 when talk was circulating in the area about the Governor appointing a temporary sheriff here, both Chantilly and Hartland endorsed Carter for the position. Nearly 500 voters signed a petition asking the Governor for Carter’s appointment. “If Governor Martin should see fit to appoint John H. Carter to this office the people will secure a careful, honest and courageous Sheriff, and one whom the lawless element yet remaining in the county have a wholesome fear,” decreed The Hartland Times.

“That gentleman has lived on his present farm ten years, and has succeeded, by careful management and industry, in making himself comfortable well off. During that time he has seen the country grow from a border territory, ruled by the cowboy, and occupied only by cattle and their owners, to its present thriving condition of handsome towns, farm homes, school houses and other evidences of advanced civilization. But such changes were not made without trouble, and though he himself engaged in cattle raising, John Carter was always in the front, protecting the rights of the weak settler . . . he has done the state signal service in arresting murderers and other desperate criminals, always at the risk of his life, and sometimes when human life had to be taken in order to protect law abiding citizens.”

This was a time of rampant hijinks and game play between towns vying for county seat and some shady characters vying for offices. Governor Martin appointed R.F. Thorne, not Carter, as the first Kearny County sheriff, but John Carter’s public service did not end there. He served multiple terms as a county commissioner, as an officer with the Hartland Republicans, school director for the Hartland school district, was undersheriff again in the 1890s, and was a member of the GAR, having served in the Civil War.

Born in 1844 at Collinsville, Illinois, John arrived in the Hartland area eight years before the town was platted. He built a homestead and filed a timber claim on his property which was adjacent to the townsite near Indian Mound and the famed Chouteau Island. Carter’s was the first timber claim proved up in the county, and the grove was a popular venue for early-day celebrations. Carter also ran a butcher shop and farmed. He and his first wife, Mary Penn Carter, had four children: Amy, Ezra, Hattie, and Alice who was the first girl born in this county. John Carter died at the age of 80 at San Diego, California in 1924.

SOURCES: History of Kearny County Vol. 1; Southwest History Corner by India Simmons; Buffalo Jones’ Forty Years of Adventure by Charles Jesse Jones; archives of The Hartland Times, Lakin Pioneer Democrat, Lakin Herald, Western Kansas World and Topeka Daily Capital; Museum archives; and Ancestry.com. Special thanks to Charlotte Carter Isaacs, great-great granddaughter of John H. Carter.

01/01/2025

Our staff has been dealing with health and other unexpected issues this past month, but we hope to be back to our regular hours soon. New Year’s blessings to one and all!!

24/12/2024

Merry Christmas one and all from Kearny County Museum and Historical Society!

Memories, like candles, burn brighter at Christmas time.

Charles Dickens
Image credit to the author

10/12/2024

Due to unforeseen circumstances, the Museum is temporarily closed to visitors. We apologize for the inconvenience and hope to reopen soon.

08/12/2024

Congratulations to Joe and Colleen Eskelund, Kearny County Historical Society’s 2024 royalty! 👑🎄👑

25/11/2024

As if the Dust Bowl didn't make matters difficult enough, a deluge of grasshoppers made the bleak farming situation of the 1930s even more complicated. To battle the pests and ultimately save his alfalfa crop, Orlie White began raising turkeys on his Kearny County farm located on the north shore of Lake McKinney. According to a story written by his wife, Prudence, “Turkeys were the best grasshopper catchers in the world.”

Orlie had a dealership with Red Wing Hatcheries in California for 'broad-breasted turkeys,' an improved meat bird. The poults arrived by freight train, and each was taught to drink water and then put in a heated brooder house for the first few months. White built three brooder houses to house 1,000 poults the first year. These structures were on skids so they could be pulled by horse or tractor to fresh ground and a new supply of grasshoppers, sometimes as often as every two to three days. These moves were also made to lessen the threat of a disease called blackhead to which the turkeys were very susceptible. In making these moves, the feeders and roosts were pulled slowly a quarter to one-half mile to the new location. Sometimes the turkeys would follow, but more often than not, they had to be driven.

“If a few managed to get away through the line of drovers, the whole flock would suddenly turn, and half-flying, stampede back to the old location,” wrote Prudence. Drovers would have to protect themselves as best they could from the onslaught of “hurtling birds, flapping wings and choking dust.”

Later, the Whites added three more houses, and increased the number of poults to 2,100. In summer, portable roosts were built as turkeys "have a yen" to be put out in the open at night. To keep coyotes, c***s and other predators at bay, lighted lanterns and sometimes even flares were put around the turkeys and someone slept near the turkeys each night.

Severe dust storms could also prove fatal to young birds. A particularly severe dust storm hit April 9, 1935 and was still raging two days later. Because of the storm, the White’s telephone was not working, and it became necessary for Orlie to ride a horse into Lakin and send a telegram to Red Wing asking them not to send the poults until further notice. When the dust storms died down about two weeks later, the Whites ordered the turkeys again.
Quite a bit of work had to be done before receiving the poults. Boiling hot water was used to scrub the fourteen feeders and water fountains. The brooder stoves were checked out to make sure they were working perfectly, and litter was spread on the floor of the brooder houses. As turkeys tend to crowd into corners and trample or smother one another, the Whites rounded the corners in the brooder houses with wire netting.

On April 29, 1935, Orlie met the early morning train and soon returned with 17 boxes of poults, each box containing 60 poults. Each was given a drink before being set loose in the brooder houses, and in a week’s time, “the little gobblers were strutting.” On May 27, a haziness appeared in the sky, and Prudence drove the little birds from their pen enclosures into their houses. She was not a moment too soon as the storm came fast and she had barely enough time to get them all inside.

“A cloud of darkness settled over us and stayed that way about 20 minutes. Then it began to rain, hail and blew so hard that large branches were broken off the trees. Eventually, the clouds broke, and we could see the Amazon ditch overflowing its banks, and deep water swept through the recently evacuated turkey yards. I shall always recall my good fortune in that I went to check on the small turkeys before lying down with the baby,” Prudence recalled.

Pilots from the Garden City Army base often flew overhead and would dip low enough to see the turkeys which caused the birds to panic. The pilots didn’t realize how much trouble they caused.
“In fact, a hawk flying overhead could cause a like disturbance. Any unusual noise in the middle of the night could send all of them into flight. . . Turkeys could think up the most novel ways to commit su***de, sometimes by hanging themselves on a piece of machinery.”

Because the gobblers required constant watching, the White family was closely confined at home when raising turkeys. They enlisted men to help with the operation, but the World War II draft resulted in a shortage of hired help. Two of their men, James D. Porter and Lawrence Epperson, were called into the service, and both gave their lives for the cause.

White’s turkey business ended by 1942. In addition to saving their alfalfa, the venture also ended up being very profitable for Orlie and Prudence who marketed their birds for the Thanksgiving and Christmas seasons at the Swift plant in Garden City. “We always figured we made at least a dollar per head on every poult we bought.” By 1938, the White’s home had let so much dust in that they had a new one built. According to Prudence, the completed house and furnishings in pre-war 1938 cost $11,000 and was paid for with “turkey money.”

Orlie and Prudence were not the first large-scale poultry producers in Kearny County. According to the Nov. 19, 1904 Investigator, Barney O’Connor was the first poultry dealer here to ship carloads of turkeys out by train. O’Connor loaded his first car on November 15, 1904, and approximately 850 fine gobblers made their way across Kansas and to the Kansas City market courtesy of O’Connor and the Santa Fe Railroad.

Here’s wishing all of our followers and friends a very Happy Thanksgiving! May your turkey be tasty! The Museum will be closed Thursday and Friday.

SOURCES: History of Kearny County Vols. I & II; archives of the Investigator and Museum archives.

15/11/2024

The "Spartan" was adopted as the Deerfield High School mascot in December of 1931. This announcement came via the December 23, 1931 DHS SPYGLASS, the school's newspaper. “The name SPARTANS was unanimously chosen by the student body as an appropriate name for the school, at a chapel program which was held Friday, Dec. 18 in the auditorium. The name Spartan implies that we are brave, mighty and powerful although small in numbers.”

The history behind Lakin’s mascot is not so cut and dry. The naming of a mascot was announced in the School Notes section of the October 16, 1931 Lakin Independent. ““Bronchos” is the name by which the Lakin Rural High School athletic and forensic teams will be known. The journalism class christened them this week.”

Just a few days earlier, the new rural high school building had been dedicated in grand fashion with a key address by U.S. Congressman, the Honorable Clifford R. Hope. The school’s completion that fall was a feat in itself. Building contracts were let out in March of 1931 with the stipulation that the building be completed in 120 working days using as much local labor as possible. The opening of school was postponed not because the building wasn’t ready, but because part of the furniture had failed to arrive on time. The first day of classes was September 14, 1931. Some of the classroom desks had still not arrived, but enough of the equipment had been received to start regular school work. The new facility accommodated twice as many students as the 1920-1921 school and included an auditorium with a seating capacity of over 600 and a gymnasium of the same size on the opposite end. This came in handy as Lakin has always loved and supported its teams.

By 1940, both spellings of “Bronchos” and “Broncos” were being used when referring to Lakin teams. “Broncs” began being used in the fall of 1947 when the football team was referred to in the paper. This was the first year for football at Lakin since the sport had been discontinued in the fall of 1921. Perhaps the change was made to coincide with that event; however, the changeover to “Broncs” was gradual. Both terms - “Broncos” and “Broncs” - were still being used. Despite our best efforts, our staff could not locate an official announcement when the final “o” was dropped.

Although Lakin Grade and Middle School students are now also known as “Broncs,” they weren't always. The debut column of “THE COLTS KICK” appeared in the September 25, 1942 Lakin Independent. This was Lakin Grade School news as compiled each week by the English classes of the 6th, 7th and 8th grades. This was the first reference to LGS students as Colts that our staff could find.

The pictures accompanying this post are a random sampling of artifacts from Deerfield and Lakin schools. They are not on display at the Kearny County Museum at this time; however, visitors are welcome to look at our yearbook collection in the Museum library. The Deerfield collection starts in the 1931-32 academic year with small pamphlet-type books produced in-house. In the 1940s, the Spartan transformed to a commercially produced and bound publication. Our Lakin collection begins with the 1916, 1927 and 1931 Prairie Breezes. We have 1949 through 2022 of the Lakin Bronc/Bronco yearbooks.

08/11/2024

Seventy-five years ago, construction of the Veterans Memorial Building on Lakin’s Main Street was well underway, but it had been a project years in the making. By January of 1946, around $18,000 had been donated and another $16,400 pledged for the construction of an all-purpose building that would honor the valorous achievements of the citizens of Kearny County who served our country as soldiers, sailors, marines and Red Cross nurses. That money had been secured through an all-out effort by a building committee composed of Pat Halloran, Bernard Nash, Wayne Clarkson, Ralph Stees and Ralph Hutton, but the amount fell short of what would be needed to complete the project. In addition, many residents had expressed that they felt the project should be funded through taxation rather than donation.

At a special meeting called on January 11, 1946, the American Legion passed a motion to ask citizens by way of a petition if they were in favor of erecting and maintaining a memorial building through taxes. The response was favorable, and at the August primary, a bond issue for $50,000 was resoundingly approved by a vote of 485 to 105. Monies that had been previously donated were returned to the respective donors. Three lots were purchased from Mary Thornbrough, but it was July of 1949 before commissioners approved architectural plans for the building. D.C. Bass & Son Co. of Oklahoma City was awarded the building contract that August.

The building was in use by mid-April of 1950, and an elaborate celebration was planned to dedicate the Kearny County Veterans Memorial Building and the new Lakin Grade School the following month. An estimated 1,600 persons attended the ceremonies on May 8, 1950. The day’s activities opened with a parade that included veteran groups, the Kearny County Saddle Club and the Lakin High School band as well as bands from Garden City and Holcomb. Following the parade, the bands assembled in front of the Memorial Building where together they played the “Star Spangled Banner” following a moment of silence in honor of Kearny County’s war dead. The flag was hoisted as a bugler sounded, “To the Colors.”

Rev. Marvin Brown of Garden City, state chaplain for the American Legion, gave the invocation, and the dedication was made by Wayne Muncy of Dodge City, state commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars. A free barbecue dinner was served by the American Legion, VFW, and VFW auxiliary.

Following the meal and inspection of both buildings, the crowd assembled at the grade school where musical numbers were provided by the grade school’s band and the Lakin Barbershop Quartet. Bernard Nash served as the master of ceremonies, and Col. Ernest White introduced Harry Colmery, former national commander of the American Legion and candidate for U.S. senator, who gave the main dedication address. To complete the festivities, a dance was held that evening at the Rainbow King featuring square-dancing, modern, and old-time music provided by Tait’s Orchestra of Colorado Springs.

Today, just as then, Kearny County appreciates, respects and admires those who have served our country. Veteran’s Day is November 11. If you see a veteran, please be sure to let him or her know how much you appreciate their service.