Pierceville
The Western Trail (a cattle trail) played a
part in the founding of this town. The Barton Brothers drove a
herd of 3,000 cattle over the trail, and the cattle were the first
to feed on the government lands in Western Kansas. In the fall
of 1872, they came to the area and established a ranch along the
Arkansas River. The Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad was
laying its tracks out to this part of Kansas, and they chose the
Barton Ranch as headquarters for the town site. It was named Pierceville
in honor of Chas. W. and Carlos Pierce, who were members of the
original Atchison & Topeka Railroad company.
The post office was established on June 10,
1873, and the town began to grow with a store and dugouts. Then
tragedy struck a little over a year later on July 3, 1874. Indians
who had been defeated in a fight in Texas were heading north and
were looking for settlements along the Santa Fe Railroad. Once
they got to Pierceville, they set fire to the store and chased
the train that came through the town firing their arrows at the
train and into the windows. It was learned later that this was
the same group of Indians who had attacked the German family and
killed the parents, a son and a small child before kidnapping
the four daughters. The girls were with the Indians during the
attack on Pierceville. They were rescued later.
It wasn't until 1878 that a house and a store
were built and the post office was reestablished on July 24. The
town was platted in 1886 and the population was 400. There was
a newspaper, hotel and a hardware store. By 1930, the population
was 166.
The ethnicity of its settlers is unknown.
Sources
Blanchard, Leola Howard. Conquest
of Southwest Kansas: A History and Thrilling Stories of Frontier
Life in the State of Kansas. Wichita, KS: Wichita Eagle Press,
1931.
Finney County Historical Society.
History of Finney County. Garden City, KS: 1950.
Lindner, F. Claudine. History
of Garfield County, Kansas. Masters Thesis, University of Wyoming,
1949.
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