ONE OF THE THIRTY-THREE ORIGINAL COUNTIES—THE CITY OF ATCHISON LOCATED—TOWN COMPANY—SALE OF LOTS—INCORPORATION OF TOWN—EARLY BUSINESS ENTERPRISES—ORGANIZATION OF COUNTY—COMMERCIAL GROWTH—FREIGHTING—FIRST OFFICERS—FREE STATE AND PRO-SLAVERY CLASHES—HORACE GREELEY VISITS ATCHISON—ABRAHAM LINCOLN MAKES A SPEECH HERE—GREAT DROUGHT OF 1860—CITY OFFICIALS.
Atchison was one of the thirty-three original counties created by the first territorial legislature, which convened at Pawnee, July 2, 1855, and subsequently adjourned to Shawnee Mission, July 6, 1855, and was named for Senator David R. Atchison, United States senator from Missouri, concerning whom much has been said in previous chapters. The county was surveyed in 1855 and divided into three townships, Grasshopper township comprising all that section lying west of the old Pottawatomie road; Mount Pleasant township, all east of the old Pottawatomie road, and south of Walnut creek, from its confluence with the Missouri river to the source of the creek and a parallel line west to the old Pottawatomie road, and Shannon township, all that section of the county north of Mount Pleasant township. Subsequently, this sub-division was further divided into eight townships, now comprising the county, to-wit: Grasshopper, Mount Pleasant, Shannon, Lancaster, Kapioma, Center, Walnut and Benton. The county is located in the extreme northeastern part of Kansas, save one, Doniphan county, by which it is bounded on the north, together with Brown county, and on the west by Jackson county, and on the south by Jefferson and Leavenworth counties. It has an area of 409 square miles, or 271,360 acres.
The site of the city of Atchison, the first town in the county, was selected because of its conspicuous geographical location on the river. Senator Atchison and his associates attached great importance to the fact that the river bent boldly inland at this point. They felt that it would be of great commercial advantage to a town to be thus located, so July 4, 1854, after a careful consideration of the matter, in all of its phases, Senator Atchison and his Platte county, Missouri, friends dedicated the new town. They felt that they had located the natural gateway through which all the overland traffic to Utah, Oregon and California would pass. After they had settled with George Million, the first known white settler of the territory, and attended to other unimportant preliminaries Dr. J. H. Stringfellow made a claim just north of the Million claim, and with Ira Norris, James T. Darnell, Leonidas Oldham, James B. Martin, George Million and Samuel Dickson, agreed to form a town company, and they received into their organization David R. Atchison, Elijah Green, E. H. Norton, Peter T. Abell, B. F. Stringfellow, Lewis Burnes, Daniel D. Burnes, James N. Burnes, Calvin F. Burnes and Stephen Johnson. A week later these men gathered under a large cottonwood tree, near Atchison street, on the river, and organized by electing Peter T. Abell, president; Dr. J. H. Stringfellow, secretary, and Col. James N. Burnes, treasurer. Peter T. Abell, president of the town company, was an able lawyer, and a Southern man, with pronounced views on the question of slavery. But he was a man of judgment, and a natural boomer. He was a very large man, being over six feet tall and weighed almost 300 pounds. When he became president of the town company he was a resident of Weston, Mo., and lived there until a year after Atchison had been surveyed. Subsequently, Senator Atchison assigned his interests in the town company to his nephew, James Headley, who afterwards became one of the leading lawyers of the town. Jesse Morris also became a member.
The town company, having been regularly organized, the townsite was divided into 100 shares. Each of its members retained five shares; the balance of thirty being held for general distribution. Abell, B. F. Stringfellow and all of the Burnes brothers were received as two parties. Henry Kuhn, a surveyor, surveyed 480 acres, which comprised the original townsite. Mr. Kuhn and his son returned to Atchison forty-five years later, and for a short time ran the Atchison Champion. On September 21, the first sale of town lots was held, amidst great excitement and general interest. It was a gathering which had both political and business significance. Senator Atchison, from Missouri, with a large number of his constituents, was there, and Atchison made a speech, in which one reporter quotes him as having said:
“People of every quarter should be welcome to the Territory, and treated with civility as long as they showed themselves peaceable men.”
A View in Commercial Street. Looking East, Atchison, Kansas
Someone in the crowd called out, “What shall we do with those who run off with our negroes?” “Hang ’em,” cried a voice in the crowd. To this Mr. Atchison replied, “No, I would not hang them, but I would get them out of the Territory, get rid of them.” One version of the speech was to the effect that Senator Atchison answered his questioners by saying, “By G—d, sir, hang every abolitionist you find in the Territory.” But the best account of the meeting was printed in a Parkville, Mo., newspaper, and was reported by an eye witness, who said:
“We arrived at Atchison in the forenoon. Among the company was our distinguished senator, in honor of whom the new city was named. There was a large assemblage on the ground, with plenty of tables set for dinner, where the crowd could be accommodated with bacon and bread, and a drink at the branch, at fifty cents a head. The survey of the town had just been completed the evening before. Stockholders held a meeting, to arrange particulars of sale, and afterwards, as had been previously announced, General Atchison mounted an old wagon and made a speech. He commenced by mentioning the bountiful country that was beginning to be settled; to some of the circumstances under which a territorial government was organized, and in the course of his remarks, mentioned how Douglass came to introduce the Nebraska bill, with a repeal clause in it. He told of how Judge Douglass requested twenty-four hours in which to consider the question of introducing a bill for Nebraska, like the one he had promised to vote for, and said that if, at the expiration of that time, he could not introduce such a bill, which would not at the same time accord with his own sense of right and justice to the South, he would resign as chairman of the territorial committee, and Democratic caucus, and exert his influence to get Atchison appointed. At the expiration of the given time, Judge Douglass signified his intention to report such a bill.
“General Atchison next spoke of those who had supported and those who had opposed the bill in the Senate, and ended by saying that the American people loved honesty and could appreciate the acts of a man who openly and above-board voted according to the will of his constituents, without political regard or favor. He expressed his profound contempt for abolitionists, and said if he had his way he would hang everyone of them that dared to show his face, but he knew that Northern men settling in the Territory were sensible and honest, and that the right feeling men among them would be as far from stealing a negro as a Southern man would.