[Excerpt from Dodge City and Ford County, Kansas 1870-1920 Pioneer Histories and Stories. Copyright Ford County Historical Society, Inc. All Rights reserved.]
In 1884, Andrew Russell visited eastern Ford County and said it appeared a “good place for a town site.” He organized the Ford Town Company with Reuben Small, William Shaw, and Russell as Treasurer. Appraisers named were G.W. Milton, Judge Whitelaw, and Chalk Beeson of Dodge City. Ford got its name apparently as the site of the only ford on the Arkansas River in eastern Ford County. The plat was filed at the Garden City land office on May 15, 1885.
Soddies and dugouts were the first homes for the early settlers. Fuel came from buffalo or cow chips and a little driftwood along the river. Cattlemen were not pleased at the arrival because it interfered with their free ranging stock.
Pat Ryan was an early settler, coming from service with General Custer in the 7th Cavalry. He built the first bridge across the Mulberry Creek in 1885. After his early death in December 1885, at the age of 45, his widow continued to run the ranch and enlarge it until 1939, when she sold out to Charles Pelton.
Just north of Ford on the Arkansas River, a settlement known as Ryansville, named after Pat, was platted in September 1885. During the early years a spirited rivalry was carried on by the two towns, seeking settlers in order to incorporate their cities. Through some late night dealings, C.E. Hatfield, an employee of the Ford Town Company, obtained a deed that gave Ford the right to land on which the Wichita Western Railway was to build their line. Then the Rock Island turned over its right of way to Ford and Ryansville caved in. The local newspaper moved south and the Ford City Boomer was born, the first in the town. Ryansville also lost its business buildings and Ford gained the Windsor Hotel, the Brunswick Hotel, a drugstore, lumber yard and several houses. The two towns settled problems by forming the Union Town Company and Ford annexed 30 blocks.
A bridge spanning the Arkansas River was completed in December 1885. The first train passed through Ford on November 25, 1887, and by April the next year, there were six trains daily on the line.
The blizzard of 1886 was a terrible blow to Ford, only recently organized. Many settlers had not completed their shelters when the storm struck on January 4 and temperatures dropped to 10 degrees below zero. There were many reports of covered wagons being lost in the storm as settlers sought new homes in the area and cattle by the score perished in the snow. Mayor Webster, of Dodge City, declared an emergency and converted wagons into sleds to haul supplies to the outlying areas, as well as seizing 10 carloads of coal from the Santa Fe Railroad to help the suffering people. Enterprising pioneers survived by shipping hides and bones to the east for profit from the many carcasses salvaged in river and creek beds.
Another hazard for the people of Ford and surrounding farms was the frequency of prairie fires against which they had little defense, except the river and fire guards plowed around their buildings and feed. Many farmers lost buildings, feed and livestock.
The first school house was built in 1885, near the present City Hall. Miss Nettie Herzer had 30 children in school that year. The next year, 82 children were on hand for schooling so a new building, at the cost of $750, was erected and ready by September 1888.
Ford celebrated as well as suffered in those early years. The 110th anniversary of the 4th of July was one of the first occasions. Other events included the District Fair which saw 300 in attendance in 1886, a “weight” supper sponsored by a church in which a gentleman would draw a lady’s name out of a hat then pay half a cent per pound of her weight to eat with her. One unsanctioned prank by young men of the area was a chicken roast. People learned to lock their coops, but one group of young pranksters lifted a hen house off its base, and took enough chickens for a good roast. Their names are still on record.
Many people left for “back east” when the drought of the early ’90s caused crop failure several years in a row. Ford dwindled in size to about three or four houses, one hotel and one merchant. Another influx of families arrived in the early days of the new century, 1900. By 1910, Ford was on the mend. A physician, Dr. F.M. Coffman, set up practice and continued it for the next 45 years. There were approximately 300 people in the town and three general stores, a hardware store, a meat market, a confectionery, a restaurant, two blacksmith shops and other stores. Three grain elevators shipped out over half a million bushels of wheat. Cattle, hogs, hay, poultry and produce were shipped out by rail and wagon as well.
The city jail was erected that year but apparently wasn’t used until six years later. The editor of the paper suggested using it as a chicken house. Cement sidewalks were put in and the first of the Old Settlers’ Reunions was held on September 8, 1910. Basket dinners, speakers, foot races, barrel races, a concert by the Ford band and a baseball game made it a full day. The Ford Township Old Settlers ‘ Association was formed and still is in force.
Serious and contagious diseases such as typhoid, diphtheria, scarlet fever and smallpox took their toll of families in those early years. Quarantines and other efforts were made in 1914, by Dr. Coffman, the Ford County health officer, to stem these diseases.
Business grew and improvements continued through 1915. There was a new school, two churches, a newspaper, five elevators, a lumberyard, a drug store, garage, blacksmith shops, meat markets and more. The first commencement exercises in all of Ford County took place in Ford on May 21, 1914, when eight students graduated from the eighth grade.
In May 1912, a series of tornadoes destroyed barns and granaries, and tore out many trees. That year, a new school building for lower grades and the high school freshman class was dedicated. A street light was installed that year at the corner of 6th and Main by the bank, a joint project of the city council and commercial club. In 1913, there were 2,000 people in Ford, for the Old Settlers’ Reunion. By 1916, the crowd was estimated as 5,000. Headliner in the reunion parade that year was Clyde Cessna who had piloted his home-built plane from Great Bend to Ford, a distance of 100 miles, the longest non-stop flight to date in Kansas. Another unique practice in Ford was the annual city cleanup pioneered by Dr. Coffman.
People in the vicinity created a dam on the Mulberry, to make a pond big enough for fishing, boating and swimming. It became a popular recreation site in 1915. Electric lights were turned on October 21, 1916, with lines from Dodge City. Three days later the lights went out, because of a dead buzzard found on the line.
A new Methodist-Episcopal Church was dedicated on May 16, 1915. The first high school graduation was on June 1, 1916, with five students: Marguerite (Snook) Patterson, Vivian (Small) Smith, Nelle (Dooley) Fowler, William Snook, and Vance Firestone.
During World War I, more sod was broken to help feed a war hungry world and harvest hands gradually replaced cowboys. New steam powered equipment replaced horses in many fields.
The Ford Rural High School was opened for classes in 1919, on Ford’s Main Street. A community-owned radio was introduced in the early 1920s at Ford. People congregated in the real estate office to listen. The Ku Klux Klan was active in Ford, during the 1920s and burning crosses on the hill were a regular sight.
Oil play and irrigation wells came in around 1922. A new bridge over the Arkansas River was constructed with state and federal funds of $50,000 in 1924. Prior to that, dedicated effort by citizens persuaded the county commissioners to allow the highway from Wichita to continue to Dodge City through Ford.
William Wilcoxen was one of the few people in Ford to be granted a patent. In his case it was for apparatus for receiving grain from the harvesting machine into a hopper and then the granary. The following year he was drowned crossing the flooded Mulberry Creek on horseback. Wayne Riegel, on a raft on a creek, also lost his life.
In the spring of 1931, a 24-inch transcontinental pipeline burst four miles east of Ford, near the Jerry Leffler home. Residents in the home raced on foot for help, despite the terrible heat, but their outbuildings were lost to the resulting fire. A crater 30 x 40 feet was blasted out by the explosion. The smoke could be seen for 70 miles.
Ford, as other communities in the area, experienced the dust storm decade of the ’30s with many unpleasant memories of those bad times. A city hall was built with assistance in 1935 and is still in use.
In April 1937, an all-woman slate was voted in, despite heavy opposition from two other parties. Kathleen Emrie was elected mayor, Mrs. F.M. Coffman, Mrs. George Curtis, Mrs. L.L. Roop, Mrs. E.H. Patterson, and Mrs. M.M. Stockstill were elected to the council. Mrs. W.P. Warner was named police judge. The first order of business was to ban beer in the business section and within 300 yards of school and churches. No beer was to be on sale after 9 p.m. and no dancing in a place where beer was sold was allowed. High license fees were set for dealers.
They celebrated the town’s 59th anniversary with style at the Old Settlers’ Picnic on August 26, 1937. Mayor Kathleen Emrie gave the address of welcome.
The drought and depression lifted with the end of the ’30s but war followed. The whole community got behind the war effort. In 1945, the Dodge City Daily Globe listed a complete roster of servicemen and women and nurses in the war effort with a description of their whereabouts and duty at the time.
In 1951 flooding washed out the north approach to the Ford river bridge and the area was declared a disaster by the federal government. It was several weeks before it was passable again and much damage was done to fences, farmland and buildings because of the force of the water.
On Easter Sunday April 9, 1950, the Community Chorus of Ford, Kingsdown, Mullinville, and Bucklin presented an oratorio, “The Holy City,” in the Ford school auditorium. Director was Mrs. Rossia Noland. Blue ribbons at the 4-H fairs were numerous for Ford youngsters in the ’50s and later. The Ford High School Alumni held an all classes reunion in 1966, to celebrate its first graduating class 50 years earlier. A new elementary school was dedicated in 1954, ushering in the final years of the Ford school system. In the following years, students, athletes, and the community achieved honors and trophies galore, reflecting a fierce pride in their education system. Each year large numbers of alumni attended reunions.
Blizzards and tornadoes took their toll in the ’70s. The Duane Riegel family hosted 54 stranded motorists in the January blizzard of 1971.
In May 1972, the last and largest class in 56 years was graduated from the Ford High School. The grade school continued to operate for seven more years and then after 94 years, this important part of the Ford community was closed because of the unification of schools in Kansas. Since that time, alumni continue to gather and on May 23-24, 1981, had one of the largest gatherings ever held for a 60th anniversary celebration and program.
Ford gained in population in 1980, due to the Ford County Feedlot building a large yard north of the town. A new 1.6 million dollar bridge replaced the old Arkansas River Bridge on U.S. 154. A new restaurant, The Blue Hereford, opened that year as a popular gathering place for locals and travelers.
The Ford Centennial Committee was formed in the fall of 1984, for the event set for Memorial Weekend, May 25-27, 1985. There was great cooperation and many were involved in plans for the event. Diana Derstein submitted the winning design for the logo for the event. Belt buckles, key chains and medallions bore the insignia and dedication:
“This buckle commemorates the efforts, advancement and achievements of the men and women of the Ford community over the past 100 years. We dedicate this buckle to future generations that they will accomplish as much, if not more, than the past generations.” It was written by Allen Williams, chairman of the committee.
Adapted from the Ford Centennial Book (1885-1995)
Evelyn Steimel
Dodge City and Ford County, Kansas 1870-1920 Pioneer Histories and Stories is available for purchase from the Ford County Historical Society.