McDonald
McDonald was preceded by a town named
Celia, which was located three miles east of the present location.
It had been platted by H. B. Franklin and there was a lot of interest
in the new town. However, the Lincoln Land Company and the Chicago,
Burlington, & Quincy Railroad had laid tracks a half-mile
north of Celia and wanted the town to be moved to a new location.
The new town was platted on June 7,
1888 by the Lincoln Land Company, but the office of Register of
Deeds shows that the document was filed on January 7, 1889; sales
of lots began after that. The town was named after R. L. McDonald,
a homesteader who had land and gave some to the town. Most of
the buildings in Celia were moved to McDonald, including a restaurant
and the Mercantile Store, but there were some who chose not to
relocate. McDonald became a trading center for the western part
of the county, but did not grow much bigger beyond the peak boom
years of 1906-1907.
The ethnicity of its settlers is unknown.
Sources
Hayden, Ruth Kelley. "The
Time That Was: The Courageous Acts and Accounts of Rawlins County,
Kansas, 1875-1915". H.F.Davis Memorial Library, Colby Community
College, Colby, KS, 1973.
"History of Rawlins County,
Kansas". Rawlins County Genealogical Society, 1988.
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