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Volga Germans
Fort Hays
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Homesteading in Ellis County

Yocemento

The U.S. Portland Cement Company, with I. M. Yost as president, platted a town site for its cement plant in 1907. Fifteen months later, in mid-1908, the plant was operational. There was a general store, a hotel, and a restaurant at that time.

Many of the town's residents were Hungarians and they were employed at the cement plant. It was these citizens who built the Catholic Church in 1906. Later the church was abandoned as people moved away, and the building was moved to the Buckeye community in 1931 to be used as a community hall.

By 1917, Mr. Yost and the stockholders began losing money on the cement mill, and they went into bankruptcy. The mill was sold to its Denver competitor. Much of the mill was dismantled, but there are parts of it that are still standing as remodeled family homes.

Sources

“At Home in Ellis County, Kansas 1867-1992.” Hays, KS: Ellis County Historical Society, 1991.