Named for Commodore Stephen Decatur who was in command of the
warship United States during the War of 1812. He was
later in a dual with Commodore James Baron and was killed.
The first record found is that of an expedition crossing Decatur
County lead by Fremont in 1843. The county's first settlers came
in the later part of 1872 when a group of buffalo hunters came
to the Sappa valley on a hunting expedition. By early spring of
1873, Decatur County was receiving an early rush of immigrants.
Several town sites were started, but they were soon abandoned.
A number of settlers from Bohemia arrived in the area on April
17, 1873 from Omaha, Nebraska where they had been residing. They
were said to be industrious American citizens which was a good
quality to have to be a pioneer. Their homes were in what is known
as the Big Timber Community. (Click here
to read an online article about this community.)
In April 1874, a town site was platted and surveyed for J. A.
Rodehavor, who named it Westfield, which later became the Oberlin
town site. Twenty-eight miles to the southwest, several families
from Iowa took up claims in what became known as the Hawkeye settlement.
Decatur County was created by an act of the Kansas Legislature
in 1873 and the first post office opened in April 1874. The county
was organized by Governor John P. St. John in November 1879 and
Oberlin was named the permanent county seat.
The site of the last Indian raid in Kansas occurred in Decatur
and Rawlins counties in September 1878. Forty settlers were killed
by the Cheyenne Indians led by Dull Knife and Little Wolf as they
crossed into the two counties. NIneteen of the settlers killed
on September 30 were in Decatur County.
Sources
Decatur County Historical Book
Committee. "Decatur County Kansas". Lubbock, TX: Specialty
Publishing Company, 1983.
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