Month: April 2024

When widow Sara Searle Madison learned that the Hartland, Kansas town company was offering free lots to anyone who would locate there and build a hotel, she accepted the offer. Ahead of her arrival in 1885, she shipped a train car load of lumber and hardware along with household goods to the town site which was just north of the Arkansas River about a 20-minute train ride west of Lakin. Accompanying Mrs. Madison to Kearny County were two daughters, Lena June Madison and Jessie Cochran, and the Cochran children. Sarah’s son-in-law, Henry Cochran, was already working at Hartland for the town company and had been the one to inform Sarah of the opportunity that awaited her in the up-and-coming community.

“The train slowed down right in the midst of the open prairie – an immense cattle pasture it looked like, with some lank, long-horned cows grazing on the buffalo grass or following the narrow trails down to the river. Not even a shack to be seen, not a human being. Just cows!” Sarah recalled years later. “You can imagine the look of consternation and disappointment that spread over our faces when the conductor stopped by my seat and said, ‘Lady, this is Hartland.’”

There was no depot there yet, and the train slowly chugged about a mile further west before stopping in the middle of a large patch of sand burrs. There stood Henry with some of the town company men who were ready to welcome the new arrivals and help them from the train with their baggage.

“I’ll never forget when the night came on that first time. It seemed just a vast expanse of loneliness and desolation with us at the center. But as we sat and talked, and the men told of the plans and projects, and a cool, refreshing Kansas breeze came up, we sort of caught the spirit of the west, and soon were enthusiastically planning our little part in the big development.”

The town lot that Sarah had been given was not nearly large enough for a hotel so she had to purchase another lot. The family lived in a large tent for a couple of months while the Madison House was under construction, and the lodge was finished none too soon as the people began coming to the small burg in droves, beckoned there through glamorous and alluring circulars and pamphlets advertising the benefits of settling at the “Rose of the Valley.” By February of 1886, the boom was on at Hartland.

“From every train alighted 100 or more passengers, eager and excited, anxious to see a real estate man and get located,” wrote Sarah. Some came on the daily stagecoach, and others made their way in wagons loaded down with their belongings. In a few months, Hartland’s population reached 1,000, businesses sprung up left and right, and a school and depot were erected. A large number of the arrivals went across the free bridge that had been built across the Arkansas there and took up homesteads in the sandhills and further south in the new town of Ulysses.

Sarah’s business boomed too as claim holders, travelers, cowboys, ministers and teachers found more than shelter at the Madison House. The atmosphere there was made as homey as possible as so many of the boarders were young men and women whose own homes and families were in some distant state. Musicians often provided entertainment to the guests, and visiting ministers delivered inspiring messages. Many young women who were proving up claims were glad to help cook for their board, and Sarah’s family worked hard to provide plenty of good wholesome food.

According to the Hartland Times, the Madison House was one of the best conducted hotels in this part of the state. Sarah was a hospitable and motherly hostess who formed lifelong friendships with many of her guests and acquaintances. Among those who stayed at the Madison House were Buffalo Jones, the irrigation king of this region and one of the founders of Garden City, and Logan Garten who later became a well-known newspaper man and was secretary of the park board and public utilities commission in St. Joseph, Missouri at the time of his death.

Just as she had witnessed Hartland’s growth, Sarah Madison was there to see the city fall. The town company abandoned its interests there when the salt industry drew attention back to Hutchinson where the company had been organized. Then the court house burned in 1894, and Lakin regained the county seat in the special election that followed. Hartland’s residents scattered in various directions. Sarah’s two lots were traded off for a sack of flour, and the Madison House was taken down and rebuilt in Lakin on the northwest corner of Garfield and Lincoln as a dwelling for the Cochrans and “Grandma Madison” as her friends called her. It was there that Sarah quietly passed away in her sleep in 1936 at the age of 97. Since then, the hotel that once offered respite to many a weary settler has sheltered various families. Many of the older residents of Lakin still refer to the structure as the Lucas house as it was occupied by the Dick and Mildred Lucas family for many years, but since August of 2008, the Jarrod and Jennifer Groth family have called it home.

SOURCES: Diggin’ Up Bones by Betty Barnes; History of Kearny County Vol. 1; “Looking Back 50 Years” by S.E. Madison and India H. Simmons; findagrave.com; archives of the Hartland Times and Hartland Herald; and Museum archives, with special thanks to Jennifer Groth.

Lumber and hardware have been sold at the store front located at 110 S. Main in Lakin since 1916, but the roots of the store can be traced even further back. In March of 1906, the Mosher & Armstrong lumber business was transferred to Joseph C. Hart. Joining Hart in the venture were Thornton N. Thorpe, E.R. Thorpe, George H. Tate Jr. (Harry), John Tate and Charles Loucks. The company began operations as Hart & Thorpe with Joe Hart and Thornton Thorpe as managers.

By August that year, the firm was advertising as Hart, Thorpe & Co. The business sold coal and farm implements in addition to carrying a full line of building materials including lumber, shingles, lathe, doors, paint, cement, windows, stoves and more. Hart, Thorpe & Co. operated out of a small frame building on the east side of Main Street near the railroad tracks, and everything was sold “at prices as low as honest trade principles” permitted.

The 110 S. Main location was completed in December of 1916, and the company celebrated with a grand opening on December 20. The event was largely attended and included refreshments and dancing with music furnished by the Bon Ton Orchestra. The new, larger building allowed Hart, Thorpe & Co. to expand its stock, and customers could buy anything from fine china to guns and ammunition.

When John Tate died in 1922, his interest was acquired by Cecil Tate. In December of 1923, the local papers announced that the Thorpes had sold their interest in the store to the partnership of J.C. Hart & Company; thus, the business name was changed to J.C. Hart & Co. Hart and J.R. (Ralph) Hutton managed the firm. Hutton had been working there since 1919 when he returned from serving during World War I. When Joe Hart died in 1933, his share went to his wife, Mabel, and two children, Bert and Thelma, and Hutton took over as sole manager. Under his leadership, the firm became one of the largest retail businesses in volume in the area and was one of the larger area distributors of oil and gas well drilling additives from about 1939 to 1959.

Harry Tate’s share was retained by his heirs after his death in 1944, and Hutton bought out Bert Hart’s share of the firm in 1949. When Mr. Loucks died in 1960, his interest was retained by his wife, Rhoda.

On February 1, 1965, the Tate family purchased the interests of all the other partners, and the name of the lumber, hardware, and appliance firm was changed to Tate and Company. According to the April 15, 1976 Independent, members of the Tate family who owned interests in Tate & Co. included Lakinites Brad Tate, Maude Tate, Peggy Davis, and Florence Fletcher; Violet Tate and her son, George Tate, both of Garden City; and Victor Tate, Missoula, Montana.

In November 1974, Don Hammons moved from Denver with his family to manage the firm, and in April 1976, he bought the business which continued under the name of Tate and Co. until January of 1977. Then it was given the name of Hammons Lumber and Hardware, Inc.

The building has gone by the name of Main Street Supply since 2001 when Shannon and Kelley McCormick purchased the enterprise along with Kelley’s parents, Les and Wilma Adams. Shannon said he and Kelley have been the sole owners since 2018 when Les and Wilma retired, and he has no immediate plans to sell or retire. Shannon thoroughly enjoys the work and his customers; plus, the business holds fond memories for him. His grandfather, Pete McCormick, was one of the managers for Tate & Co., and Shannon used to meander around the store on a Flying Turtle scooter as a kid in the 1970s. Tate & Co. sold the popular riding toy.

Shannon and Kelley’s daughter Brooke was three years old when they bought the business. She rode around the shop on her trike, and Shannon said they also sometimes pulled her around in the mop bucket to entertain her. Those rides were a rite of passage that their son, Bode, later enjoyed. Now a senior in high school, he works at Main Street Supply for his parents while Shannon and Kelley’s grandchildren venture about the store on the trike or in the mop bucket.

SOURCES: Diggin’ Up Bones by Betty Barnes; History of Kearny County Vol. I, and archives of The Advocate, Investigator and Lakin Independent with special thanks to Shannon McCormick.

A spell of sadness came over the Lakin community in August of 1939 when news spread that the youngest child of John and Mary V. O’Loughlin had taken his own life. Thomas Joseph O’Loughlin was born in Lakin on April 12, 1900. He attended Lakin Grade School and graduated from the eighth grade in 1915. In January of 1916, one month after his father’s death, young Tom left Lakin to attend St. Mary’s College at St. Mary’s, KS, just as his older brothers had. On Oct. 14, 1918, while still at St. Mary’s, he enlisted in the student army training corps. Having completed his term of service, he was honorably discharged on Dec. 20, 1918 and returned to Lakin. His excellent character was noted on his military record.

Tom attended to the ranch and farm work of the family enterprise and worked in his brothers’ store as well. He also worked harvest in eastern Kansas. For a time, he ran a successful restaurant venture, but his love of the outdoors lured him back into farming and stock raising.

Tom O’Loughlin was a much-loved, good-natured friend to all. He always remembered those he met, always spoke to all of high and low degree, and was willing and ready to help in times of trouble. He was known for his Irish humor and often participated in community and school events including skits and fairs. He particularly enjoyed dances.

Tom was a charter member of the American Legion Shepherd-Moore Post No. 208. He also held membership in the Old Settlers.

It was said that Tom spread sunshine wherever he went. Why then would a successful young man of good health take his own life? On June 28, 1933, Tom and his 10-year-old nephew, Billie O’Loughlin, were standing in the barn at the O’Loughlin property just southeast of the city limits. A bolt of lightning struck the barn and coming to the ground struck both Billie and Tom. Tom’s sister Helen saw both victims fall and ran to the barn. Although he had burns on his body, Tom quickly recovered from the shock, but Billie was killed instantly. Speculation is that Tom never quite recovered from the incident. It was in the same barn that Thomas Joseph O’Loughlin hung himself six years later.

Diggin’ Up Bones by Betty Barnes; History of Kearny County Vols. I & II; archives of The Advocate and Independent; and museum archives.