Homesteading in Barber County

Lake City

Reuben Lake had come to Kansas from Illinois in 1865 and settled in Neosho County. In 1873, he came to the area that would be organized as Barber County in September of that year. He was named Sheriff in November.

The town was platted in 1881 after Mr. Lake had established a store; several years later other businesses had gotten their start. Mr. Lake was the first postmaster; he started the newspaper; housed the first school before a school building was built; and in 1885 he built a hotel which just a short while later burned to the ground.

By 1907, the railroad finally had come through Lake City after many town citizens were disappointed earlier that the railroad did not come through in the 1880's. Today all that remains is the elevator - the post office closed in 1993.

The ethnicity of its settlers is unknown.

Sources

Barber County History Committee. "The Chosen Land: A History of Barber County, Kansas."
Dallas, TX: Taylor Publishing Company, 1980.

"Post Offices in Kansas". Kansas State Historical Society. September 28, 2005 <http://www.kshs.org/genealogists/places/postoffices.htm>