The founding of Ness City followed
closely upon the heels of the organization of the county in 1867.
Ness City became the 52nd county to be officially designated by
the state legislature. The county had a name even before it was
surveyed; it was a trend of the times to name the counties in
honor of Civil War veterans. Noah V. Ness was in Co. G. of the
Ks. 7th Cavalry when he was wounded on August 19, 1864 at Abbeyville,
Miss. in the war for the Union. Very little was known about him
prior to the date of his death until recently. There were no known
residents in the county at the time the legislature denoted it
Ness County.
Because the history of Ness City is
so closely linked to the county history, it is important to mention
that the first settlers were brought here by Dr. Samuel Grant
Rodgers, a very controversial figure who made every effort to
organize the county. His plan succeeded against tremendous odds.
His every move was criticized. He was subject to claims of greed
and presumed to have filed false reports and unkept promises to
early settlers. It was never proven that he defrauded the county.
He eventually departed the county never to return. A cloud still
hangs over the records of his ventures. However, he accomplished
his goals: to populate the area and to get the county organized.
Ross Calhoun is regarded as the "Father
of Ness City." He arrived in Ness City in 1877 or 1878 and
straightaway set about the task of establishing a town that he
would call Ness City. Calhoun, who made his soldier's filing upon
the quarter section embracing the original town site in the spring
of 1878, opened a pioneer store the following June. In October
of the same year, he formally laid out the town and invited "the
world and the rest of mankind" to join him in building here.
Other towns and town sites were springing up everywhere and it
followed that a county seat had to be designated. Thus began a
controversy that raged for some time, resulting in much bitterness
and ill will between the citizens of the various townspeople.
The names of Ross Calhoun and N. C.
Merrill are synonymous with the history of the area. Both endeavored
to found a town in the exact center of the county. Each was hopeful
that his town would be the county seat. Neither man anticipated
the turmoil that would erupt before a choice was finally made
by the voters.
Merrill established the town of Clarinda.
Calhoun busied himself with the charge of taking care of the Ness
City populace. Other towns joined in the pursuit to urge the Governor
to select the county seat.
In the beginning it seemed that Merrill
and Clarinda were the favorites. Clarinda had a newspaper called
the "Pioneer." The town could also boast of a general
store, hardware, doctor, drug store and hotel. However it soon
became evident that there was no water. That summer the town was
literally demolished in a windstorm. The editor of the newspaper
and Merrill were no longer friends, so Merrill simply moved to
Sidney where he founded his own paper, "The Walnut County
Times." Ross Calhoun continued to extol the virtues of Ness
County but made little of Ness City. Ness City had no paper of
its own to publicize its advantages. It was thought by many that
Sidney was perhaps the best of the two to be the county town.
It had the privilege of having a resident, J. P. Johnson, who
was a close personal friend of Governor St. John. With Waterport
and Clarinda barely able to enter the race the selection apparently
became a race between Sidney and Ness City. At the onset the fight
became bitter. Each town went to extreme lengths to gain recognition
from the Governor to select their town. In the meantime, Merrill
sold his newspaper to John F. Wood. Wood renamed the paper "The
Ness City Times" and moved it to Ness City. The battle seldom
was just a race for the county seat. Meetings became heated and
usually ended in a brawl. Finally the Governor made a choice.
On April 14, 1880, he designated Sidney as the temporary county
seat appointing J. E. Farnsworth and L. Weston as commissioners.
James Elting was picked to be County Clerk.
An election was scheduled for a later
date with all five interested towns running. Eventually Schoharie
and Waterport withdrew. Election results gave the county seat
to Ness City. Those Ness City supporters were delirious with joy
over the triumph. One resident could not resist the urge to write
the Governor and exult over the triumphant victory. He was elated
and couldn't help but point out that while the Governor had picked
Sidney to be the county seat, Ness City was obviously the voters
choice.
The joy of conquest was short lived.
The Sidney group set out to prove the election was won in Ness
City through bribery. They further accused Ross Calhoun of having
induced the voters by using fraud, corruption and bribes. They
sought to have the election set aside by claiming that it had
been illegal and that the victory had been accomplished only because
Calhoun could offer bribes of gifts and land grants to those who
voted for Ness City. They claimed at least 135 of the votes had
been procured through these means. Finally on February 4, 1882,
the ruling of the Rice County Court showed that Ness City could
indeed retain the title of county seat. The case was appealed,
but the Supreme Court upheld the decision of the lower court.
It appears likely the the promises of Calhoun to the poverty stricken
settlers did influence them to a great extent. The county seat
fight lasted from June 1, 1880 to January of 1883. The awful expense
of time and money created a bitterness that kept the county divided
for many years.
Nelle C. Nye presented the following
to members of the Gradatim Club, (I have no actual date for the
presentation). "In 1880 in Ness County the people had to
decide upon a county seat so a courthouse could be established
so the first county officers would have a place for offices and
a central meeting place for the citizens...The real battle was
between Sidney and Ness City. Jacob Spidle, who was boosting Sidney,
said Ness City should not be the county seat because it had no
water and accused John Gardner of hauling water from Sunset Lake
to fill the wells in Ness City so people would believe that Ness
had an adequate supply. This was refuted by Mr. Gardner in a statement
he had put in the Ness City Times. Ross Calhoun countered Jake
Spidle's water story with one about seeing drift wood around Sidney
and that if the North Fork flooded Sidney would be inundated.
It was a dirty campaign. John Wood reported in his paper that
'a good deal of Scurrility and unruly abuse was indulged in.'
Vote buying, drunkenness, using names of the dead and any number
of things. Ross Calhoun was the first to talk to the governor
and find out what was necessary so he had a little advantage.
Also, he offered much more in the way of real estate. Ross Calhoun
gave to Ness City from his homestead a block for a courthouse
and jail, a lot for a school (Historical Building), every other
block or alternate block in the original town and the use of a
2 story stone building for a period of 10 years. Well, Ness City
won, but Jake Spidle of Sidney sued Ross, stating that he had
listed 5 non voters, charged him with fraud, bribery, corruption
and the same charges the candidates use now. However, he lost
the case."
The present courthouse was built in
1917 on the ground Ross Calhoun gave the county in 1880, thirty
seven years after the great controversy between Ness City and
Sidney.
With the county seat now being established,
the next step was to incorporate Ness City. On July 6, 1886, the
notice to do so was filed and signed. Some of the early city officials
were Fred C. Borthwick, W. D. Miner, Ross Calhoun, Geo. O. Hunt,
A. W. Wilson, Howard J. Floyd, Geo. P. Lohnes, Sam Beardslee,
W. F. Turrentine, O. R. Scott, P. W. Lundy, who was elected mayor
in 1947 and held that position for the next twenty years, Charles
L. Durfee, Basil Marhofer, and Andrew F. Schoeppel. Schoeppel
served as county attorney, became Governor of Kansas and later
was elected U. S. Senator.
Written by Mary A. Bain
The ethnicity of its settlers is unknown.
Contact Us:
Ness County Historical Society
123 Pennsylvania
Ness City, KS 67560
(785) 798-3298
