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Remember When: A Community Review

By Billie Aye - | May 16, 2007

10 years ago: April 16, 1997

June and Henry Jacobs will celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary from 2-5 p.m. Sunday, May 4, at the Church of Christ, Bonner Springs.

Local history still alive in Jarbalo: We think we found a local who’s, probably more local than most of the locals who claim to be local. His name is Gordon Barnhardt. He’s 93 years old, born on the land he still lives on out in the Jarbalo area. He has a complete eye of the century. Though he reads newspapers to get a view of the outside world, Tonganoxie (only 10 miles from his house) might as well be a world away as far as Barnhardt is concerned. His 93 years are a witness to 21st century’s country life in the Jarbalo area. His history and folklore spins tales of murder mysteries, forgotten railways and the decline of a once-booming community. Our guide in this history lesson is 76-year-old Fred Leimkuhler (co-owner of Quaker View with his wife Martha), who picked Brian Waterman and me up for a spin through the dusty country back paths that lead to Barnhardt’s rustic prairie cottage off Gilman and Jarbalo roads. “This is just like going back in time 60/70 years,” Leimkuhler says on our way out there.

Our doorbell rang and just outside the door stood three little girls with a lot of beautiful yellow flowers. Yes, you guessed it … dandelion flowers for Helen, and you’ll never know how much joy they brought into our life. Remember when your daughter or son brought you that same bouquet with smiles on their faces? The little ones were Leah McCaffrey, Jenessa Vincent and Angela. Thanks, little ladies. (From Helen Schilling’s column, Happenings in And Around Tonganoxie.)

25 years ago: April 14, 1982

Joyce Warren, a junior at Tonganoxie High School, has been selected a first runner-up in the Youth Tour Contest, sponsored by the Leavenworth Jefferson Electric Cooperative. She will be attending the “Energy Seminar” in Steamboat Springs, Colo., from July 10 to 16, 1982. Joyce is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. George Warren, Rt. 3, Tonganoxie.

Deaths: Archie Jay Stewart, 71, of Kansas City, Mo., passed away April 8, 1982; William Salmon passed away Friday, April 9, in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Births: Debbie and Kevin Davoren of Bonner Springs, are proud to announce the birth of their first child, Hannah Aileen, born March 11, 1982; Edward and Sylvia Kesinger are proud to announce the arrival of a son, Brandon Lee, born March 25, 1982.

McLouth News: Mr. and Mrs. Harold McHenry attended memorial services on April 1 for Elizabeth Dick Ressmeyer in Leavenworth. Mrs. Ressmeyer grew up in McLouth.

Mrs. Carrie Doege celebrated her 88th birthday Easter Sunday at her home along with others in the family who were enjoying April birthdays. (Mrs. Doege had made a hundred Easter cards, with hand tatting designs, to distribute to the participants at the nutrition site Thursday. Her daughter, Anna Mary, painted the Happy Easter.)

50 years ago: May 2, 1957

Deaths: Mrs. Bernice Howard Galyardt, Kansas City, Mo., passed away April 29, 1957, at the age of 42 years; Mr. Arthur J. Grady, Tonganoxie, passed away May 2, 1957, at the age of 64 years.

Linwood: Mr. S. P. Collins celebrated his 87th birthday April 30. His sister, Mrs. Annie Marshall, celebrated her 85th birthday, April 24. A family covered-dish luncheon was held at the Collins home Sunday.

The jokes about the Tonganoxie skyline need to be revised. The four new concrete elevator wheat storage tanks tower above the business district and are some 15 feet higher than the four tanks built in the early ’20s.

Births: Mr. and Mrs. Albert Theno announce the birth of a son, Albert Edward, born April 23, 1957; Mr. and Mrs. Jesse Brown announce the birth of a daughter, April 28, 1957.

Mr. and Mrs. Chris Meints and Mr. and Mrs. Bob Meints attended the funeral services for their aunt, Mrs. Sophie Seute, who passed away at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Minnie Younger, near Easton.

Mr. and Mrs. Raymond Crosby and daughters, Linda and Peggy, spent last weekend visiting relatives in Grove, Okla., and Anderson, Mo.

A score of men from the Jarbalo community completed razing the Methodist Church last Saturday. The big old frame church building was erected in the late 1880s. A new Methodist Church will be built on the site. The Jarbalo Methodist Church celebrated its 50th anniversary in 1938.

75 years ago: April 7, 1932

Deaths: Milton Hubbard Bowman, one of the pioneer residents of this community, passed away at his home in the east part of Tonganoxie last Sunday morning, aged 85 years and 5 days. Death came while he was asleep. Burial was in the family plot on Hubbel Hill; Eben Karr, aged 72 years and an old-time resident of Tonganoxie vicinity, passed away Sunday at his home in Leavenworth; A number of Tonganoxie people knew Judge Horace Phinney of Oskaloosa, who died Sunday in a Kansas City hospital.

Mrs. Fred Papenhausen attended the annual reunion of her sisters at the home of Mrs. Pat Delanhey in Kansas City, Kan., from Thursday until Sunday of last week. The two other sisters present were Mrs. Fred Dobler of Kansas City, Mo., and Mrs. John Jackson of Onaga. Their husbands joined them Sunday for dinner and all spent a merry day together.

Mr. and Mrs. C. H. Sturgis were called to Mirabile, Mo., last Thursday by the sudden death of Mr. Sturgis’ brother, who died quite unexpectedly that morning of a heart attack.

The deer for the state park were brought over from Gage Park, Topeka, last week. One of the animals was injured in the trip and died. He was taken to the University in Lawrence, where he will be used for mounting purposes. The other bucks were in the deer pen Sunday, and more will be brought later on.

100 years ago: April 18, 1907

Rev. Thomas Scott, well known here, and who preached here and at Glenwood for several years, died last week in Marysville, Marshall County.

Cliff Hill Items: George Robb is farming Mr. Dyer’s farm for him this season.

It is true that the Kansas climate has changed. Spring has been changed to winter and winter to spring.

Edminster: A number of our young folks attended the dancing party at Mr. Papenhausen’s Friday evening.

Mr. and Mrs. John Seaton celebrated their golden wedding anniversary in Atchison with a family reunion. They were married in Alton, Ill., in 1857 when Mr. Seaton was 23 and the bride was only 16.

Lucky Bill’s Traveling Tent Show will be in Tonganoxie, Wednesday, April the 24th.

A cow ate the ear off a New York dude who was spending a day in a hammock in Kansas. Those Kansas cows always did have an abnormal appetite for green stuff.

It is with deep regret that the people of Tonganoxie bade farewell to Reverend Father Degan of the Sacred Heart Parish. During his short stay in Tonganoxie, Father Degan not only won the love of his parishioners but the friendship and cooperation of non-Catholics.