Pawnee County History

History Pawnee County

Pawnee County Kansas was created in 1867 and named for the Pawnee Indians, who inhabited the area as their hunting grounds.

Th e land recognized as Pawnee County was a hightraffi c area long before its boundaries were offi cially plotted and a permanent settlement began in 1872.

Pawnee County’s most recognized citizen is Clyde W. Tombaugh (1906-1997), who discovered the planet Pluto in February 1930. Tombaugh graduated from Burdett High School in 1925. He discovered Pluto while working at the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff , Ariz.

Other notable Pawnee County natives include Hall of Fame coach Gene Keady, former Purdue basketball coach; Ralph Terry, former New York Yankees pitcher; Gary Patterson, Texas Christian University head football coach; John Zook, All-Pro NFL player and All Big 8 player at the University of Kansas; Mitch Webster, major league baseball outfi elder; Hal Patterson, Canadian football player; and Belle Jennings Benchley, past director of the San Diego Zoo.

Pawnee County currently includes the cities of Garfi eld, Burdett, Rozel and Larned.

Th e buff alo and Indians roamed freely for centuries before the white soldiers arrived in 1859 to establish a military post at Fort Larned to assist in commerce and travel along the Santa Fe Trail. George Custer, Kit Carson, William Cody, Black Kettle, Satanta, and Yellow Bear were but a few of the legendary people frequenting the fort.

Th e establishment of Fort Larned on the Santa Fe Trail was signifi cant not only for defense of the trail, but also to assist settlers in the area.

Th e Hancock-Custer expedition, referring to General Winfi eld S. Hancock and Colonel George Custer, arrived at Fort Larned on April 7, 1867, and the two men conducted meetings with Cheyenne Chiefs Tall Bull and White Horse in an attempt to satisfy Indian displeasure at white settlers. Th e meeting delayed problems along the Santa Fe Trail.

It was Henry Booth (18381898), retired captain of Company L, 11th Kansas Calvary, who petitioned the state for offi cial organization of the county in 1872, naming it aft er the familiar Pawnee River as well as recognizing the Pawnee Indians who inhabited the area historically. Booth served in the Kansas Legislature, serving as the Legislature’s Speaker of the House.

Th e organization of Pawnee County is colorful. A colonizer from Chicago, Dr. Samuel Grant Rodgers, had arrived in the Pawnee County area and he and his associates had laid out a town, naming it Petersburg in honor of an offi cial of the Santa Fe Railroad, T.J. Peters. Today it is called Kinsley.

Realizing that Petersburg was a threat to Larned, as both towns were within the original boundaries of Pawnee County, Booth and other Larned promoters moved at once toward organization of the county. A law passed that same year by the Legislature prescribing that a petition asking for organization of a new county was to be signed by “40 householders who were legal electors of the county.”

Th ere were not 40 legal electors in Pawnee County, but Booth and A.H. Boyd secured the signatures by an extra-legal procedure. One report said they stopped an immigrant train that was toiling westward along the Santa Fe Trail and forced the men in the party to sign their petition.

Booth forwarded the petition to Gov. James M. Harvey recommending F.C. Hawkins as a good man to take the census.

Governor Harvey accepted Booth’s recommendation and appointed Hawkins. Nine days later Hawkins fi nished his enumeration and fi led his certifi ed report with the governor. It showed a population of 674 men, women and children, an amazing fi gure in view of the diffi culty Captain Booth had experienced in fi nding 40 legal electors to sign his petition.

Dr. Rodgers was in Chicago recruiting settlers for his colony while Booth and his associates were taking the preliminary steps toward county organization. It is assumed that Dr. Rodgers went to Topeka and that he registered a protest with the governor and secretary of state, but they must have convinced him that nothing could or should be done to delay the organization of Pawnee County.

Gov. James M. Harvey’s proclamation admitting Pawnee as the 65th county was dated November 4, 1872 by Henry Booth, A.H. Boyd, Timothy McCarthy, and George J. Cox. Larned became the permanent county seat of Pawnee County in an election held on October 7, 1873.

Dr. Rodgers and Booth were opposing candidates for state representative. Rodgers won the seat, but Booth, although denied membership in the Legislature, had considerable infl uence in that body. Th e boundaries of Pawnee County were changed, cutting 12 miles off the south, which left out Dr. Rodgers’ town, Petersburg, and adding six miles on the north, taken from Rush County and six miles on the east, taken from Staff ord County.

Th is, Booth observed, “brought Larned nearer the center of the county and strengthened it as the county seat.” It also cut off Petersburg and practically every other town in the county.

When in 1874, a petition was presented to the Legislature asking that the original boundaries of Pawnee County be restored, the Legislature again came to the rescue of Booth and his county seat by returning one township to Pawnee – the one containing Garfi eld – and creating Edwards County from the “orphan townships.”

Interesting sites in the county include the nine original buildings at Fort Larned, the Pawnee County Courthouse (former), the Eagle Optic Building, the Masonic Building, the Campbell House (1886) and the Patterson House (circa 1876).

Th e Larned Presbyterian Church was organized on July 15, 1873. Th e fi rst county fair was held in 1876. Currently it is a 4-H fair. Th e fi rst school district was Pawnee Number 1, formed in Larned on June 24, 1873.