Banner | Bosna
| Buckeye | Collyer
| Colona | Coyote
| Cyrus | Gibson
| Mendota | Ogallah
| Park's Fort Schreader
| Smytheville | Stockrange
| Trego | Trego
Center | Trego Station |
Tregola | Valley
| Voda | WaKeeney
| Willcox
Homesteading in Trego County
Voda (see also
Kristof Post Office)
At its beginning, Voda was a Union Pacific
switch station called “Colona.” As a settlement developed
in the early 1900s, its name became “Voda,” the Czech
word for “water.” The settlement grew to include a
school, a blacksmith shop, a general store, and two grain elevators.
Local Czech settlers built the Voda Hall where dances and meetings
were held.
Voda Hall:
Photograph courtesy of the Trego County Historical Society.
Voda Picture with Names courtesy of the
Trego County Historical Society.
Almost as quickly
as the settlement grew, its population declined. After a previous
opening and closing in 1904 and 1907 respectively, the post office
reopened in 1912. It closed a final time in December of 1913.
Although people still live in the Voda area, most businesses have
been abandoned.
Sources
Harvey,
Ethel M. “Postal Service in Collyer.” Chap. in History
of Collyer, Kansas. n.p.
n.d.
“John
C. Fremont was First White Man to Cross Trego County. First Settlers
along the
East Line – Organized in 1879.” Western Kansas World,
7 March 1929.
Kroeger,
Nadine. Interview by author. Trego County Historical Society.
WaKeeney, KS.
5 August 2002.
Telephone
Interview by author. 15 March 2002.
Shearer,
Ruth. “Ghost Towns in Trego County.” Chap. in Local
History as Presented to
the Trego County Historical Society. 2d ed. n.p. 1974.
