During the first decade of the 1900’s, Lakin experienced a building boom. Among the contractors/carpenters at this time was Horace Grant Stocking, Jr. Stocking was a man of many talents: performer, one-room school teacher, barber, Modern Woodmen of America deputy, county surveyor, appraiser, store keeper, representative for the Aetna Building and Loan Association, election judge, and highly active Presbyterian Church member.
Born in 1872 in Indiana, he came to Kearny County in 1887 with his parents, Horace Grant, Sr. and Melvina Lovelace Stocking. He first taught in the rural schools, but in 1892, after spending the summer at Anthony, Kansas learning the barber trade, he returned to Lakin and opened up his own barber shop on Main Street. The following year, he married Sarah Edna Long, daughter of Benjamin and Lou Long. The couple had four sons: William, Clyde, Max, and Glen who was the youngest and died just a few months shy of his second birthday.
By the early 1900s, Stocking had partnered with his nephew, Will Bailey. The duo did carpentry work, painted, papered and performed general repairs. In 1905, they purchased a cement stone and brick-making machine. Stocking bought out Bailey’s share of the business in 1907. Horace and his crew not only built the city jail but several houses in town and even did some work in Deerfield. He was responsible for a good portion of the sidewalk work in Lakin not just for residences but for Main Street, along Waterman Avenue, and at the school.
The early settlers had to depend upon their own talents for much of their entertainment and recreation, and Horace had a great deal of musical talent both as a vocalist and as an instrumentalist. He played the mellophone and cornet, performed in vocal groups, and served as music director at church. He was also known to act in local productions. He and his sister, Alice, even did a stint touring with the Ellis Dramatic Company. In 1900, The Lakin Investigator reported that Stocking had returned from a tour where he gave “elocutionary entertainments in several towns west of here with flattering results. Mr. Stocking has given a great deal of attention to his art and deserves success.”
Stocking identified with every movement to make Lakin a better city to live in. He was an active church and Sunday school worker, member of the Knights and Ladies of Security, and also served as president of the Board of Education. According to The Independent, Horace did much to make our schools successful, and his untiring effort in that line was much appreciated by the community.
In December of 1915, the Stocking family moved to Texas. Horace had been ill for nearly a year and was hoping that the Gulf breezes would improve his health. Their time in Texas was short-lived. The following year, they returned to Kansas and settled at Winfield, but Horace frequented Lakin often. He died in 1942 in Florida at the home of his son William.
While he may not have lived in Lakin as long as some of the old settlers, Horace Stocking did leave his mark on this community, and some of his handiwork remains. For example, he was the contractor on the building where Golden Plains Credit Union is located. One of the residences he built, located on the southeast corner of Lincoln and Garfield, is currently on the market. Many know this house as the Speer home, and just across the alley to the east is the home that Stocking built for his family.
SOURCES: History of Kearny County Vol. I & II; Diggin’ Up Bones by Betty Barnes; Museum archives; and archives of The Lakin Investigator, The Advocate, The Lakin Independent, and Miami News