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Homesteading in Trego County
Voda
At its beginning, Voda was a Union Pacific switch station called “Colona.” As a settlement developed in the early 1900's, 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.
Kristof Post Office
Located in George and Ann Kristof’s home in Colona (what became Voda), the Kristof post office was established in January of 1904. It became the Voda Post Office when it was moved two months later.
Although the ethnicity of many of its settlers remains unknown, Postmaster Frank Bordowsky eventually moved to Czechoslovakia.
The exact location of the post office remains unknown.
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.
Source for the Kristof Post Office
Shearer, Ruth. “Ghost Towns in Trego County.” Chap. in Local History as Presented to
the Trego County Historical Society. 2d ed. n.p. 1974.