Coolidge
The Santa Fe Railroad had a division
point located in Old Granada and they moved it to Coolidge in
1881. The town began to grow, and by the following year, Coolidge
had houses and stores that were being built. 1886 and 1887 saw
the town grow rapidly with a population of 1800. There were 3
lumber yards, 3 dry goods businesses, 5 eating places, 7 grocery
stores, and even an opera house that burned down shortly after
it was completed. There were also several newspapers that kept
track of the news of the area. Two large merchandising firms,
Otero and Sellers and Chick Brown and Company, were both located
in Coolidge.
After an election for the county seat
in April 1886, in which Syracuse claimed it won, it was determined
that Syracuse used fraudulent names including the names of people
from Shawnee County, Kansas and Mills County, Iowa. On May 31,
1887 an election was held and Coolidge received the majority of
votes with the endorsement of the citizens of Kendall.
Kendall was still the temporary seat
as the Kansas Supreme Court continued to hear cases on the county
seat war through February 1888. In April, 1888 the court determined
that no town had been legally chosen the county seat, so Kendall
remained as the temporary county seat. Another election was held
June 20, 1888, and Coolidge was the winner; however, in July the
U.S. Land Office issued a document proclaiming Syracuse as the
permanent county seat. Records and office equipment were moved
from Coolidge to Syracuse on November 16, 1888.
A roundhouse that could hold 27 engines
and a Harvey House were in place by 1886, which is when the city
was incorporated.
Syracuse became the home of the railroad
division in 1902, and by 1910, the population of Coolidge was
less than 250.
The ethnicity of its settlers is unknown.
Sources
"Hamilton County, History".
Syracuse, KS: Hamilton County Historical Society, 1979.
Fitzgerald, Daniel. "Ghost
Towns of Kansas." Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas,
1988.
