Banner | Bosna
| Buckeye | Collyer
| Colona | Coyote
| Cyrus | Gibson
| Mendota | Ogallah
| Park's Fort Schreader
| Smytheville | Stockrange
| Trego | Trego
Center | Trego Station |
Tregola | Valley
| Voda | WaKeeney
| Willcox
Homesteading in Trego County
Colona (see also Voda)
At its beginning,
Voda was a Union Pacific switch station called “Colona.”
As a settlement developed in the early 1900s, its name became
“Voda,” the Czech word for “water.” The
settlement grew to include a school, a blacksmith shop, a general
store, and two grain elevators. Local Czech settlers built the
Voda Hall where dances and meetings were held.
Voda Hall:
Photograph and caption courtesy of the Trego County Historical
Society.
Voda Picture
with Names courtesy of the Trego County Historical Society.
Almost as quickly
as the settlement grew, its population declined. After a previous
opening and closing in 1904 and 1907 respectively, the post office
reopened in 1912. It closed a final time in December of 1913.
Although people still live in the Voda area, most businesses have
been abandoned.
Kristof
Post Office (see also Voda)
Located in George and Ann Kristof’s home
in Colona (what became Voda), the Kristof post office was established
in January of 1904. It became the Voda Post Office when it was
moved two months later.
Although the ethnicity of many of its settlers remains unknown,
Postmaster Frank Bordowsky eventually moved to Czechoslovakia.
The exact location of the post office remains unknown.
Sources for Colona/Voda
Harvey, Ethel M. “Postal
Service in Collyer.” Chap. in History of Collyer, Kansas.
n.p.
n.d.
“John C. Fremont was First White Man to Cross Trego County.
First Settlers along the
East Line – Organized in 1879.” Western Kansas World,
7 March 1929.
Kroeger, Nadine. Interview by author. Trego County Historical
Society. WaKeeney, KS.
5 August 2002.
Telephone Interview by author. 15 March 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.
Source
for the Kristof Post Office
Shearer, Ruth. “Ghost
Towns in Trego County.” Chap. in Local History as Presented
to
the Trego County Historical Society. 2d ed. n.p. 1974.
