Once a booming town with a school, creamery,
blacksmith shop, and other businesses, Banner was founded primarily
by Civil War veterans in the late 1870s. Among its first settlers
was A. W. Purinton who ran both a store and a post office next
to his home (see picture below). Established in 1879, the post
office closed in 1918. Today, little remains of the settlement.
The ethnicity of its settlers remains unknown.
Sod Church
A. W. Purinton Home:
“The Banner Community.”
Broadsheet at the Trego County Historical Society.
(The first rock house at Banner and the
Post Office and Store at the A. W. Purinton
home. The Arnold, Courtney, and Purinton families and Miss Maggie
Miller present.)
More Pictures
Sources
“The
Banner Community.” Broadsheet at the Trego County Historical
Society.
WaKeeney, KS.
Harvey, Ethel M. “Postal Service in Collyer.” Chap.
in History of Collyer, Kansas. n.p.
n.d.
Kroeger, Nadine. Interview by author. Trego County Historical
Society. WaKeeney, KS.
5 August 2002.
Shearer, Ruth. “Ghost Towns in Trego County.” Chap.
in Local History as Presented to
the Trego County Historical Society. 2d ed. n.p. 1974.
|
