Council Grove, Kansas

Morris County

20-15925

Council Grove is a small town in the U.S. state of Kansas and the Prefecture of Morris County. The village with 2321 inhabitants ( 2000) located on the east bank of the Neosho River just south of Council Grove Lake dam. In place of the U.S. Highway 56 crosses the river. He follows here the Santa Fe Trail, a historic trade route, which represented the cultural and economic link between the populated areas on the Missouri River about 100 km away, and the first still Mexican southwest in the mid-19th century.

History

The village owes its name to a meeting of the Osage Indians in 1825, acquired in the Commissioner George C. Sibley on behalf of the U.S. government for goods valued at $ 800 the right to free passage of traders through the territory of the people. Already since 1822, the first year of trading on the route, the first few travelers had the broad but shallow Neosho River crossing on or near the site of the present town.

Riverside were great forests, which settled on the prairies of Kansas later, so that an important resting place established on the trail because of the good firewood supply.

1846 the area was designated as a reserve of the Kansa and established a trading post. It was the core of the later settlement. In the same year the Mexican -American War resulted in large movements of troops on the trail. The victory of the United States and the assignment of almost the entire West of today's United States from Mexico led to a huge boom of trade.

1850, the regular mail traffic was taken and furnished in a Council Grove station. The building also served as a mission station and school of the Methodist Church and is still preserved as a museum. 1854 Kansas was established as a Territory, 1857, the settlement was so far advanced that in Council Grove, a shop and a restaurant were worth, which supplied not only the dealer but also the growing population of the region.

The Hays House Restaurant still exists today and is the longest running restaurant west of the Mississippi River. Seth Hays, the founder, was a great-grandson of Daniel Boone and cousin of Kit Carson, the instrument of sale of land was signed by Abraham Lincoln.

1861 Kansas became a U.S. state, though the American Civil War 1861-65 brought troop movements, but no fighting on the Neosho River. 1866 reached the Union Pacific Railroad railroads the little northerly Junction City and ended trading with covered wagon on Council Grove. The settlement continued, and in 1871 came the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway to Council Grove and built further to the southwest.

Council Grove today

The town developed into the economic center of the agricultural region and has retained its importance until today. In addition, the city thrives on its history, it pulls with historic buildings, old trees tourists.