[Excerpt from Dodge City and Ford County, Kansas 1870-1920 Pioneer Histories and Stories. Copyright Ford County Historical Society, Inc. All Rights reserved.]
The first white settlements in America’s Central Plains were forts built for protection against Indians. Because the forts could not supply the needs of the buffalo hide hunters of the 1860s and early 1870s, small towns sprang up, usually near the forts. When the railroads brought shipping points for Texas cattle into Kansas, supply camps were needed approximately every 10 or 15 miles. This was about the distance that a herd could travel in a day. Many of these stopping places have disappeared but others became thriving community centers. Old records show that the town of Bloom began as one of the stopping places along the Fort Dodge-Camp Supply Trail.
Bloom began its existence on the wide, open prairie, 360 miles southwest of Kansas City, over 100 years ago. By the 1880s, many homesteaders were traveling the Fort Dodge-Camp Supply Trial. One such family was Thomas J. Vanderslice and his three sons, Frank, Adolphus and Rudolph. Since homesteaders were allowed only 160 acres each, the Vanderslice men went to the Federal Land Office in Garden City and laid claim to Section 25, Township 29, Range 24 of Ford County. This gave the Vanderslice family control of the entire section. They built three frame houses not far apart but on different quarter sections. Thomas Vanderslice was a lawyer. He did prove up his quarter section, but he and his wife, Laura, maintained another house in Dodge City where he served as probate judge.
The brothers dug a well, had a windmill and planted an orchard. The Fort Dodge-Camp Supply Trail crossed their land and travelers stopped at their well to water and rest their teams. The Vanderslices kept feed for the horses and some groceries to supply the travelers’ needs. They received mail for themselves and nearby homesteaders and called the place Bloomburg, after their hometown in Pennsylvania. The “burg” was soon dropped and the name became Bloom.
In no time at all, the Vanderslice “stopping place” was bustling with activity. This was before the railroad came. All commerce was done by freighters headed from Fort Dodge to Camp Supply. Texans were driving their herds northward and homesteaders were coming and going continually. It was not long until almost every quarter section far and near had been claimed.
The excitement grew even greater when rumors of a railroad began to be heard. Although there are no records to prove the report, it was said that the population of Bloom grew to 800 in 1888, when the western extension of the Rock Island Railroad known as the Chicago, Kansas and Nebraska Railway crossed Section 25. The rails ran a short distance south of the original Vanderslice setting, but the enterprising settlers moved their homes and businesses to the new rails and continued to prosper. In 1888, the town boasted of a two-story hotel, three grocery stores, a town hall, the post office building, print shop, real estate office, two livery barns and a schoolhouse. A newspaper, The Weekly Telegram, printed its first issue April 5, 1888. There were no saloons, no empty houses and no churches. Sunday School was held at the schoolhouse with O.J. Andrews, Superintendent.
Then the dry years came. Many of these homesteaders were not farmers. They were mostly poor people who had come west for free land. They complied with the homestead laws and began to sell or mortgage their homes and leave. They had to, they were starving out. Some struggled longer than others, but by 1893, Bloom was dead.
Even the Vanderslices left, returning to Pennsylvania. Thomas J. had taken out a mortgage from Pioneer Loan & Trust Company in Dodge City, on February 21, 1887, for $800 to buy the patent on his land, eventually receiving it October 22, 1890. But when the loan came due in 1890, he was no longer living in Kansas and so the loan company had Sheriff C.M. Beeson of Dodge City sell it in front of the Dodge City Courthouse. Eventually, A.L. Bradley purchased this land in 1905.
One of the early day homesteaders, Mr. O.S. Albright, was given the job of section boss at Bloom, which enabled him to make a living so that he was able to stay in Bloom. He and his wife moved into the Bloom depot with their young daughter, Annie. All buildings by this time had been tom down or moved except for the depot and schoolhouse.
The Albrights decided Annie should go to school, so they appointed themselves and a section hand to be the official school board and hired a teacher. Jay Andrews, seven years old, also attended with Annie.
In 1901, Mr. Albright quit his section job and began to give his time to his ranch north of Bloom.
Oscar J. Andrews homesteaded near Bloom in 1885, riding a lumber wagon to the spot he eventually claimed and marking it with a buffalo skull (which later disappeared, to his disappointment). His first wife, Mary, had died before he came West. He married Margaret Straney Manning in Dodge City, in 1887 and later moved to Colorado, for five years, with his young family but returned to Bloom and took over his ranch. So these two families were the only residents for a bit.
By 1903, there were a few other cattlemen around even though the town itself was empty. W.C. Burnham, W.H. Buckhannan, A.R. Gillett, J.E. Losey, C.J. Winkelman and L.C. Olson came in, then George Cox, O. Crone, E.C. Shelton, Henry DeArman among others. By 1908, farmers were all around Bloom and plowing up sod to produce wheat, corn and feed for livestock. A grain car was used from which to sell wheat and eventually a post office opened in the depot, then Mr. Albright saw the need for a store and erected one south of the railroad tracks. Two years later, Bloom was again bustling with a hardware, lumber and grain company, a bank, a general store, hotel, drug store, a few residences and a church.
Mr. Howard A. Kinney filled many capacities as law officer from 1911, since there was no formal law enforcement. Since Bloom had become a large farming community, thousands of men came during harvest and threshing times, so he was kept busy keeping some of the tougher ones in line. Bloom and Minneola, together, hired a detective to mix with the hobos and gamblers to keep Mr. Kinney informed as to their doings. They kept Dodge City and Ashland jails full most of the summer. Bloom did build a little temporary jail to hold over the prisoners until further arrangements could be made to take them to the county jail.
A Commercial Club was organized in I 911, to boost Bloom to the area, but it was difficult to increase population of a small town farming community. There was a hot air balloon ascension to celebrate the second annual Farmers’ Picnic, August 10, 1912, at 7 p.m. By 8 p.m., it was full of gas and sailed away, then a man dropped from it by parachute as a treat to the large crowd.
By 1915, Bloom was still bustling with another church, a realty company, a T.M. Deal Lumber Company, a dozen tractors had been purchased by farmers in a one-month period and a school opened, also a barber shop. The Bloom Hardware Company sold binders and headers. Dr. Goodwin came to town, there was the Shelor Garage and Blacksmithing and concrete crossings were put in on Main Street plus several blocks of concrete walks. The Booster sold for $1 a year and there was a Bloom Telephone Exchange, restaurant and meat market. In 1917, a high school was built and dedicated February 13, 1918. However, 1918-19 found no high school being taught due to no teachers because of World War I. The first graduation occurred in 1922.
Bloom continued on and never again has been down to two families! In 1995, Mrs. Sam Scott, Annie Albright Scott’s daughter-in-law, reports that Bloom still has its elevator and gas station and the depot is still a home, plus many other homes. The county owns the school building and began tearing it down some time back, but the job remains unfinished and the school only half gone. But Bloom retains its small-town charm and friendliness to this day.
THE COUNTRY STORE OF BLOOM, KANSAS
What nostalgic memories those three words bring to mind. What mouth-watering, back-warming ear-tingling memories are associated with that institution. And an institution it truly was. While the little pioneer church nourished the soul and the little red school house nourished the mind, the country store nourished the body, sometimes the mind and who knows, perhaps the soul.
I lived during the country store days. Our store was known as the S.O. Albright, General Merchandise. Large letters proclaimed this on the prairies of Bloom and it could be seen far and wide to assure the good people of the whole community that here they could find sustenance for body and often mind and soul. It was a little white frame building, but in those days an “edifice” 40 by 80 feet was not to be ignored. It faced Main Street and if things became a little uncomfortable or crowded inside there was the porch. How friendly, how warm, how hospitable was that porch and that interior. Time was of no consequence. Always there was time for that friendly greeting, that choice bit of news, and that just “setting.” The comfort of that pot-bellied stove set in a sawdust box that was the welcome receptacle of the Olympic shooters of tobacco juice. Pipes were the vogue, but all seemed to enjoy the long-drawn-out pleasure of the quid. All national problems were resolved and settled through the media of the “chaw.” Who can say but that is a fine way to settle affairs, no haste, no rancor, the matter at hand. Would we had a bit more of this these days. There is so much good psychology in this chewing thinking, yes, and spitting out what is on the mind. This country store was truly a world in itself. No daily papers, no radio, no television, only word-of-mouth and the mail.
Oh yes, my father partitioned off a comer of the big room, built pigeonhole boxes and the United States mail was distributed after having come through rain and sleet and ice and snow. The Postmistress: I – and how very important I felt and perhaps justly so. Have people ever changed in their eagerness to receive mail?
The most lush California supermarket could not have catered to the needs of the people any more effectively than did the Albright General Merchandise. Two long, long counters made up the display. On one side were the “yard” goods: outing, flannels and unbleached muslins, men’s, ladies’ and children’s shoes. These shoes were leather, too, and had a delightful squeak which announced their newness to the world. There were combs, brushes, hairpins, hat pins, safety pins, buttons, lace, black stockings and ‘Ah,’ ribbons, ribbons. Without a permanent, a tint, nylon or stretch pants, what young filly could not catch a fellow? They did – spinsters were unknown.
Then there was the other counter. This was the mouth-watering area that contained salt-pork, cornmeal, Homestead Flour, cured hams, long, long strings of bologna, black sorghum, thick molasses, and vinegar. One brought containers for much of this fluid material. Kerosene and candles were to be had here, also, and if you think kerosene was just for lamps, you are wrong. Many a raw throat was brought back to normalcy via the sock-kerosene shot. Oh, the luscious fruit if you could afford it or if it was near the holiday season. Dried apples, with a warning not to drink too much water, prunes and dried apricots. For the children and those with childish hearts there was candy in wooden pails. Lemon, peppermint, horehound sticks, ribbon candy in large gargoyle shapes, chocolate drops and the dear little jelly beans in all flavors and colors. My favorite was the black licorice. These candies could be bought by the penny’s worth, the nickel or the dime’s worth. In short, most merchandise was accommodated to the amount of money you could afford or you had.
Now besides all this food for the body and these lovely pretties for the body, there were those hard-as-nails items that the men needed for daily carrying on. A small comer of the store was reserved for these realistic necessities. Nails, lamps, ax handles, pitch forks, buggy whips, lanterns, hammers and saws were things found in every home and could be bought at Albright’s General Merchandise.
Our day is often called the “Gadget Day” If you think these people might have had gadgets-you are right. The coffee grinder was going constantly. But the one that outdid the coffee-grinder was the tobacco cutter. Cut to any size to fit your mouth and your “grinders.” You could get a slice or a plug and, need I say, all men had the dainty habit. If a bit of the juice mingled with the Arbuckles or the Lion’s brand of coffee-who was the wiser? And don’t forget to save the valuable coffee wrappers in exchange for lovely gifts. Trading stamps? These were the forerunners of all this gift business carried on today.
Perhaps the greatest forerunner of the Associated Press was the wall telephone party line. It was not considered unethical to listen in. Maybe you could help a neighbor in distress or at least hear who was coming to visit whom. Refrigeration was unknown, of course, and so there was the cellar and the cooling shed. But butter became sour and eggs, well, the story is told of a woman who left her eggs to attend a meeting, a long, drawn-out meeting, and when she returned, the eggs had proclaimed their non-freshness and hatched out.
Perhaps the system that showed the ever abounding charity of these pioneer people more than anything else was their credit system. Money was not the medium of exchange – long credit terms of a year were not uncommon. Notes, mortgages, butter, eggs and cream were as good as money. This took abounding faith. Even faith had to be used in the trading of eggs and butter. How easily man’s needs were satisfied with what we would consider crude tools, how easily man’s credit was established with what we would consider the greatest foolhardiness. But upon these traits, the America of today was built and upon the remains of these traits, does America still prosper and grow.
Annie E. Scott
Used by permission of Sam Scott, Myrland Scott Hertlein, Wilbur Scott and Josephine Swenson
Dodge City and Ford County, Kansas 1870-1920 Pioneer Histories and Stories is available for purchase from the Ford County Historical Society.