Dighton
The town site was founded in 1878 by
four men from Great Bend, Kansas, who brought with them a surveyor
from Rush County to help them find their land. A post office was
established on March 26, 1879, and it was named Deighton, after
the surveyor, Richard Deighton, who returned to his home and did
not settle in Lane County. The name change to Dighton is attributed
to the first issue of the Lane County Herald, printed on May 1,
1885 with "Watson, Dighton Po., Kansas" in the masthead.
The editor never explained the change.
William A. Watson, a Methodist minister,
arrived in the area in the spring of 1880, and in July 1881, he
platted 40 acres of his quarter. He named the town after himself:
Watson. He later purchased a homestead in 1885 in the northwest
quarter of the town and platted 40 acres with the name of Watson's
Addition. John Schiereck platted Schiereck's Addition to Watson
in May 1885, and Ed Walker platted Walker's Addition to Watson
a little bit later.
A group of people from Wichita came
to Watson in late 1885 and established a town named Dighton on
Schiereck's quarter. When the county was organized in 1886, both
Dighton and Watson wanted the county seat. Watson was selected,
but its name was changed to Dighton. By 1887, the population was
560, and there was also a financial book at a time when many western
Kansas towns were also experiencing boom times. Dighton continued
to progress and with its standing as the county seat was and continues
to be the largest town in Lane County.
The ethnicity of its settlers is unknown.
Sources
"A Historical Record of
Lane County, Founded June 3, 1886." Dighton, KS: Lane County
Historical Society, 1961.
Stanley, Ellen May. "Early
Lane County History: 12,000 B.C.-A.D. 1884". Newton, KS:
Mennonite Press, 1993.
Stanley, Ellen May. "Early
Lane County Development". Newton, KS: Mennonite Press, 1999.
