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n 1918, the town of Beaver, the youngest in Barton County, was formed. Two men, Clyde Forney and Calvin Piester, were instrumental in promoting the town. Piester played an important role as a town founder, having the town platted and becoming the sales agent for town lots at its start four years prior. Even prior to its founding, he and pal Forney recruited the Farmers State Bank of Redwing, a town a few miles south, to relocate there. Soon after, the Farmers National Bank and a small grocery store also came to town. Details of town life were documented by correspondents and appeared in the pages of the Hoisington Dispatch and the Great Bend Daily Tribune. A correspondent for the Great Bend Daily Tribune offered a glimpse of the busy young town at harvest time in the July 3, 1919 edition. A number of families were already established in the area, though it was not specified if they lived in town or in the surrounding countryside. There were the Feyerbends, the Stoskopfs, two groups of Charles, Jacobs, Lurmans, and Moos. Activity included a number of visits from friends and family from surrounding communities of Odin, Claflin, Heizer and from further away, including Ellis and even Grand Junction, Colorado. Mr. C.L. Charles and his wife, Maggie, invited a crowd to their home for Sunday supper, and the home was hopping with the Stoskopf girls, Fern and Daisy, and other young friends of the Charles’ children.
“All reported a good time and a swell supply by the cook, C.L. Charles.” Mishaps were also reported; “Raymond Charles had the misfortune of getting his foot cut in a binder Friday.” Shopping trips to nearby Claflin were documented. There were also reports of fishing on the Smoky Hill River, and plenty of socializing happening between the families. Beaver even raised a town band in the
short time it existed. “Last Tuesday evening the Beaver Band gave a serenade at the T.H. Allen home.” Building news included the near completion of the Wolf Elevator of Beaver, and news that the Farmers State Bank would be putting up a new bank building at Beaver. In the February 5, 1921 edition of the Hoisington Dispatch, a notice for bids appeared. “Bids will be received until Feb. 14, 1920, for the construction of about 10,000 square feet of cement sidewalk and crossing to be built in Beaver, Kansas. For plans and specifications, address J.G. Feyerbend, Beaver, Kansas.” In the same edition, the report, “Beaver Is Hustling.” “The beaver is one of the most industrious of animals and the citizens of Beaver, one of the new Barton County towns, evidently expect to live up to the name.” Elsewhere in this issue they have a notice for bids for the construction of a large amount of concrete sidewalk of four and eight foot widths. The town is not incorporated so taxes cannot be levied against property for such purposes but they circulated petitions and secured the signatures of all property owners in the sidewalk district that each property owner will bear his proportionate share of the improvement. Beaver’s growth years are long behind it now, true. But there are signs of life, including a grain elevator, Beaver Grain Corporation, and Miller Time, a bar and grill. A handful of residents still enjoy a quiet rural lifestyle as well.
