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Call them “quirky,” “eccentric,” “quaint,” “unique,” or just about any other number of adjectives that one can come up with. We present here a list of eighteen (18) items of note that are a celebration of what has managed to separate Osborne County from the rest of the herd over the years and yet is exactly what makes the county a haven for the Kansas Explorer and lovers of all things rural – the Notable Notables.
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American Legion Memorial Highway, countywide. The idea of U.S. Highway 281 being officially named in honor of the American Legion originated in Osborne, Kansas.
It is a further note of local pride that the North Hill, a mile north of Osborne, Kansas, is the highest natural point that Highway 281 crosses over on the entire North American continent.
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The Challenge of the Windmill, Covert. When a new high school building was being constructed in the community of Covert in 1923-1924 one improvement was to build a watertower behind the schoolhouse to maintain a good water supply for the school. As the tower stood atop a hill, a well was dug to the east at the foot of the hill. A large windmill was then erected that would pump the water up the hill to the tower. It wasn’t very long before the boys made it a competition to see who would dare to climb the highest up the windmill, where they would tie their class colors to it so all would know how high they got. This competition drew the attention of the school principal, who told the students to stop climbing the windmill, as someone could fall and get hurt. He promised severe punishment to anyone who broke the rules.
In the meantime Mary Richards was boarding with her uncle while attending school at Covert, and he made her the person responsible for greasing the windmill’s parts when needed, That meant climbing up to the windmills’ metal fans at the top. Mary had no problem with heights and regularly did this. After hearing some boys brag about how high they had climbed, Mary decided to show them. The next time she climbed to the top to grease parts she took along a scarf with her class colors and tied it to one of the fans for all the world to see.
Rumors were rampant in school on who it was who had it all the way to the top. Then Mary was told to go to the principal’s office. She stood in front of his desk as he sat and stared at her in silence for some time, drumming his fingers on the wood. Finally he spoke. “All right, Mary,” he sighed, “you’re a girl and so I cannot punish you. You can go. Just don’t tie that scarf ever again to the fans, alright?”
The second Covert Rural High School building burned down in 1951. Both the watertower and the windmill still stand amid the remains of the now ghost town of Covert, Kansas.
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Concrete Advertising, Osborne. In 1914 local contractor & builder Franklin A. Rothenberger was hired by the city of Osborne to construct two culverts, one on the north side and one on the south side of the city park. Total cost of the two structures amounted to $660.00. Frank wrote his name and the year of completion in the concrete on the east retaining wall of the north culvert, a tradition that he did with every large job. This also doubled as a cheap and free way of advertising. Frank’s name and the date can still be seen there today, 107 years later.
Main Street culvert next to the United Methodist Church in Osborne.
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The Concrete Cover at Main & Second Streets, Osborne. When Osborne City was founded in 1871, one of the first planned projects was to establish a large well for the community. This well was dug in the center of the intersection of Penn and Arch Streets (today’s Main and Second Streets) at the then-western end of the downtown district. The well was used for many years before it was decided to fill it in. Over time the well has periodically caved in, causing damage to the street above, and every time the concrete cover over the well has been repaired. So the next time you are crossing the intersection of Main and Second Streets, you will now know just why there is that square piece of concrete there in the middle of all the brick.
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The Emergency Door Latch/Bar, Downs. Chances are that you’ve all seen and used one. Usually called either a panic bar or an emergency exit bar, they are now required by law to be on the doors of public buildings in most countries around the world. And they all derive from an invention that Osborne County Hall of Fame member William Penn “Bill” Ruth dreamed up in his home’s garage at 812 Osborne Street in Downs, Kansas.
Bill was a blacksmith who opened an automobile garage in Downs in the 1920s. He became a good mechanic who loved to tinker with new ideas for inventions. By 1937 Bill had become somewhat crippled, and it was hard for him to maneuver around his car in his garage at home and open the garage door to drive his car out. So he dreamed up a pneumatic door latch that he attached to the inside of the garage door. When he backed the car into it, a bar depressed and the door automatically flew open. Bill patented his garage door latch, but he never made a cent on it. The large companies all waited until his patent ran out, and then proceeded to market their own panic bars. Bill’s family later donated that first emergency door latch to the Kansas State Historical Society.
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The Face of The Sidewalk Superintendent on the Courthouse Clocktower, Osborne. In 1906-1909 the new county courthouse was being constructed in Courthouse Square at Osborne, Kansas. A group of stonemason were hard at work every day to trim and face the Post Rock and Cottonwood Limestone used in the structure. Retired farmer John Wineland lived across the street to the west and would saunter over on a daily basis to watch the progress of all the work. After a while he started to make suggestions to the workers on what they could be doing better. At first they took the suggestions with good grace, but after a while John’s insistence that they follow what he said began to interfere with their work. Finally the head stonemason told John that unless he stopped bothering his workers they would carve his face in the wall of the building, for they knew it very well. He did not, and they did. Today the face of John Wineland can be seen on the south face of the clock tower from the alley behind the courthouse. From this vantage point “The Sidewalk Superintendent” can forever watch everything that goes on, and on a daily basis.
in June 2013. The carving measures three feet tall.
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The Gold Rush of 1880, Hawkeye Township. It was fast, and it was quick, but it did indeed occur – the only recorded gold rush in Osborne County history. In late December 1879 and early January 1880 a well was dug on the homestead of Mr. William Singleton of Hawkeye Township to the northwest of the village of Bloomington. Some interesting mineral deposits were found during the digging, and shown around Bloomington. A score of fellows (some say more) then headed up toward Singleton’s place, and, knowing nothing about gold mining or other petty details, began searching the land for surface gold and digging for near-surface gold. They trespassed all over Singleton’s land and those of his neighbors, and caused quite an uproar. Then the Osborne County Farmer newspaper of January 15, 1880 published a story on the event under the headline of GOLD! GOLD! – SUPPOSED DISCOVERY OF THE EXISTENCE OF THE PRECIOUS METAL IN OSBORNE COUNTY! In it was printed the following letter, which summed up things rather neatly:
“MR. EDITOR: The exact location of the gold fields is on the beautiful and picturesque tablelands about six and a half miles northwest of Bloomington. It was rumored on the streets, on Thursday the 9th inst., that gold-bearing quartz had been found on the above-mentioned section of country, and after it had been put to the various tests, was pronounced genuine. It was decided to make up a party to inquire into the matter, and after making preparations in the line of picks, pans, mortars and liquids (the last-named article to be used in case of sickness or snakebites only), we started for the supposed El Dorado, and, after numerous inquiries, we at last arrived at the hardy pioneer’s dugout. It then became necessary to interview the lady of the house (as her husband was not at home), to find out where the precious metal was to be found, which duty devolved upon our musical friend (a professional masher, by the way), who very soon learned from that very amiable woman that it was none of our business whether any gold was found on their claim or not. But a vast amount of flattery being used, we were very reluctantly informed that the discovery was made at the bottom of a well, or shaft, a short distance from the aforesaid dugout. We gathered up all the old lariat ropes that could be found about the place, and. after a good deal of pulling and hauling to test the strength of the rope, the least weighty of our outfit was lowered to the bottom of the well. On examination, the sand and gravel was found to contain real, genuine gold, but not in paying quantities. It is an old adage of the illustrious Solomon that ‘gold is where it is found.’ – LENGTHY THE ASSAYER.”
the approximate location of the 1880 discovery of gold.
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The Green Screen Door of the Alton Public Library, Alton. A local source of pride in the town of Alton, Kansas can be found on the front door leading to the local library – a genuine, old-fashioned green-painted screen door. The decades-old door still has its “Rainbo Bread” advertising, as well as that satisfying slam sound when closing that brings back many fond memories to those patrons fortunate enough to use it. Its often the little things in life that bring the most satisfaction, and the good people of Alton are wise enough to know this, and so maintain this fond nod to yesteryear.
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High School Mascots, countrywide. By the 1920s high schools everywhere began choosing various mascots – human, animal, or otherwise – to represent their athletic teams. The seven high schools of Osborne County joined in this movement, though Covert Rural High School held out until after World War II, when it finally chose a mascot. So here’s to the Alton Wildcats, and to the Covert Wildcats, and to the Downs Dragons, and the Lakeside Knights, and the Natoma Tigers, and the Osborne Bulldogs, and the Portis Tigers, and to all the teams, individuals, moments, and memories that they have come to represent over time.
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“Homestead Literature Capital of Kansas”, countywide. Did you know that Osborne County, Kansas is officially the Homestead Literature Capital of Kansas, via a proclamation enacted by the Osborne County Commissioners in 2003? Well, now you do.
OSBORNE COUNTY PROCLAMATION
A Proclamation designating Osborne County, Kansas as
“The Homestead Literature Capital of Kansas”
WHEREAS, in 1936 Osborne County native John Ise published the book Sod & Stubble, an account of his family’s hardships and triumphs in establishing and maintaining a homestead near Downs in Osborne County during the period 1871-1910; and
WHEREAS, in 1937 longtime Osborne County resident Howard Ruede published posthumously the book Sod-House Days: Letters from a Kansas Homesteader 1877-1878, an account of his hardships and triumphs in establishing and maintaining a homestead in the Kill Creek community of west-central Osborne County; and
WHEREAS, Osborne County enjoys an elite position in the Great Plains region of the United States in terms of local literature written about the homesteading period of 1870 to 1910, to wit: Calvin Reasoner, Historical Sketches of Osborne County (1876); Alfred Saxey, Historical: A Sketch of Osborne County from its Earliest Settlement to the Present Day (1879); Zachary T. Walrond, The Annals of Osborne County (1882); Junction Steam Print, Handbook of Osborne County, Kansas (1884); Downs Times, Downs, Its Location, Advantages, History, Etc. (1885); Frank Barnhart (editor), The Best County in Kansas: Osborne (1889); William Mize, Gold, Grace & Glory (1896); S. S. Van Sickel, Real Life on the Plains (1896); Anna Winslow, Jewels In My Casket (1910); Benjamin Matchett, Autobiography (1923); Nellie Dunham, Fifty Years In Kansas (1925); John Ise, Sod & Stubble (1936); Howard Ruede, Sod-House Days: Letters from a Kansas Homesteader 1877-1878 (1937); Nettie Korb Bryson, Prairie Days (1939); Orville Grant Guttery, Ten Years in Bull City (1942); Darrel Miller – Pioneer Plows and Steel Rails (1961), Waconda Land-The Legends and the Reality (1979), Life in A Railroad Town (1996), Life on the Central Branch (1999); Niles Endsley, History of Bull City 1870-1970 (1970); Gladys Enoch, Osborne County Revisited 1871 to 1971 (1971); Osborne County Centennial Book Committee, Loom of A Century (1971); Nellie McDaneld – Covert Kansas (1973), History of Portis, Kansas (1973); Burton Gregory, Mount Ayre 1874-1974 (1974); Osborne County Genealogical & Historical Society – The People Came (1977), Osborne County Kansas, Volume II 1870-1930 (1981); John Stephenson Downs: The First Hundred Years (1977), Downs Did It (1979); Elizabeth McReynolds, History of the Mount Ayr Camp Meeting (1979); Natoma Centennial Book Committee, Natoma Kansas 1888-1988 (1988); Ada Billings, Sarah (1991); Alton Pride Committee, Bull City-Alton 1870-1995 (1995); Von Rothenberger – Sod & Stubble: The Unabridged and Annotated Edition [with John Ise] (1996), A History of the 1871 Pennsylvania Colony of Osborne County, Kansas (1998), Images of America: Osborne County, Kansas (1999); Area Volunteer Committees, The Osborne County (Kansas) Hall of Fame (1998); Downs Historical Society, Downs and Its Country (1998); Homer Smuck with Janis Johnston and Carol Peterson, Mt. Ayr-A Kansas Quaker Community (2000); and
WHEREAS, the books Sod & Stubble by John Ise and Sod-House Days by Howard Ruede are recognized by both scholars and the general public at state, regional, national, and international levels as being classic examples of everyday life during the homesteading period; and
WHEREAS, the historical value of these literary works continues to be important today in that they tell the story of our own heritage, of the struggle by those first settlers to try and try again to carve out new homes in the vast plains of Kansas and beyond – a struggle of learning to live with the environment, of learning how to adapt to circumstance, of becoming active participants in creating the society around them; and
WHEREAS, the educational value of these literary works continues to be important today in that they tell the story of how we Kansans came to be who we are as a people, a story of what fortitude and tenacity can accomplish that is as relevant today as it was then; and
WHEREAS, the economic value of these literary works is important both to Osborne County and to the State of Kansas in terms of heritage tourism, in that for over sixty-five years two generations have read these works and are currently expressing great interest in visiting the actual sites and region that these works portray: Now, therefore,
Be it resolved by the County Commissioners of Osborne County, Kansas: That we proclaim Osborne County to be “The Homestead Literature Capital of Kansas”; and
Be it further resolved: That the county clerk of Osborne County be directed to send a copy of this proclamation to the official county newspaper, the Osborne County Farmer, for formal publication.
I hereby certify that the above Proclamation originated with the Osborne County Commissioners, and was adopted by that body
November 17, 2003 – Dated
Betty Pruter – Chair, Osborne County Commissioners
Vienna Janis – Osborne County Clerk
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Lady in the Rock, Covert Township. Somewhere amid the gullies and hills of Covert Township, Osborne County, Kansas, is a carving of a lady in the native limestone reported to last be seen fifty years ago. The following story was published in the Osborne County Farmer newspaper of June 11, 1970:
A couple of weeks afterwards the case of the mystery carver was cleared up by W. W. “Bill” Rouse, who explained that it was probably the work of Robert Lockard. Bill recalled that he and Lockard were in high school when they did some carving in the rocks that he thought was down in and around the McFadden place south of Osborne. Lockard went on to become a professor of Art and Architecture at Kansas State University and then at Texas Tech University.
So if you are ever out and about in Covert Township, please be on the lookout for the Lady. It would be nice to know if she is still there.
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The Light Switch on the Courthouse Third Floor, Osborne. Up at the top of the east staircase on the third floor of the Osborne County Courthouse there can be found a light switch high on the outside of the wall of the staircase leading up to the building’s attic. And to even reach it one would have to hang out over the open stairwell. So why put it in such an inaccessible place? And exactly what was its purpose? It is not the on/off switch for the enclosed staircase that it is attached to. A suitable mystery for a building that was named one of the finalists for the 8 Wonders of Kansas Architecture in 2008.
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Loafers Bench, southwest corner of First and Main Streets, Osborne. For around a century many a friend, both young and old, spent some time on this bench, as they watched the world go by and pondered both the important and the not-so important questions of their time. Back in August 1909 the Osborne County Farmer newspaper noted that:
“A long bench has been erected just east of the Exchange National Bank and hereafter all matters of national importance, just as the tariff war in Russia and all matters of international dispute will be settled there. The city council granted permission to erect the bench and H. N. Crist took up a collection of enough money to build it.”
Over the years the bench became a part of the downtown scene, and was for the most part occupied frequently. So much so that on March 1, 1973 the Farmer published the following poem composed in honor of the Loafer’s Bench:
In time the cost of upkeep for the bench was questioned, and finally in the late 2000s the Loafer’s Bench was permanently removed, and a century’s worth of conversation and camaraderie came to an end.
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“The Outlook”, Tilden Township. For nine decades a silo stood as one of the great landmarks of Osborne County. Located along County Road 388 in the northeast corner of Section 30 in Tilden Township, the concrete structure was erected in the 1910s on R. L. Parrott’s The Outlook Stock and Poultry Farm. The name “The Outlook” was painted at the silo’s top. It served for decades as a navigational landmark to those in the region, and it was a quite a shock to a great many when the silo came down in the 1990s. “The Outlook” may be gone, but it will not soon be forgotten.
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The Hog Fight, countywide. Beginning in 1885, the most unusual court fight in Osborne County history commenced. There is simply nothing else quite like it to be found in the county’s 150 years of legal dockets. We will let the story that ran in November 1886 in the Osborne County Journal newspaper tell the tale:
$10.65
A HOG THAT HAS BEEN A HOG AND MADE A REPUTATION THAT WILL LIVE LONG AFTER HIS HOGSHIP HAS TURNED HIS TOES TO THE DAISIES. ONCE SOLD FOR $10.65, BUT LAWED OVER UNTIL THE COSTS HAVE AMOUNTED TO OVER $4,000.00 – ENOUGH TO BUY A TRAIN-LOAD LIKE HIM, TO SAY NOTHING ABOUT THE LAWYERS’ FEES IN THE CASE, WHICH MAY AMOUNT TO A SUM SUFFICIENT TO BUY A FEW MORE CARLOADS.
“On November 5th, 1885, the celebrated replevin suit of Lawrence vs. Young, which has attracted more attention than any suit ever instigated in this county, was brought before His Honor, H. F. Hildebrandt, a Justice of the Peace of Penn Township, this county, and was set for trial on November 11th. On that day it was continued for trial to the 18th, and was heard before the following named jurors; J. M. Smith, Philo Parsons, George Boring, W. K. Hays, R. L. Rickerson and G. S. Riley. After due deliberation they were unable to agree, and they agreed to disagree, standing five for the plaintiff and one for the defendant.
The second adjudication was held before the same Court, and the following named jurors, on the 20th day of November, 1885: W. F. Smith, W. E. Conner, Ed. Wilcox, John Stivers, Frank Duncan and M. Chapman. It was impossible for these six men to agree on the ownership of his hogship, and they were discharged, standing five for the plaintiff and one for the defendant.
The third trial in the Justices’ Court was held on the 4th day of December, with the following named jurors in the jury box, viz: W. H. Snider, Willard Stoner, Isaac Shaw, H. S. Porter, N. L. VanWormer, and John H. Smith. These men were able to settle the vexed question as to who was the owner of the hog, as far as they were concerned, but not with the utmost satisfaction to all the parties in the case. They found that the defendant had a clear title to Mr. Hog, and their verdict was, to return him to defendant, or plaintiff pay $10.50 in money to the defendant, together with the costs in the case, which amounted to the sum of $311.85.
To this verdict the plaintiff took vigorous exceptions, filed an appeal bond on the 12th day of December, and the case was taken to a higher Court, and the hog put in the pen to await the verdict of men. On the 9th of February, 1886, the case of Lawrence vrs. Young was called by the clerk in the District Court, the parties answered ready, and the case was heard before the following jurors; S. E. Sturdevant, S. P. Shuay, H. A. Taylor, John Mincher, Zeno Mendenhall, David Jewell, J. W. Pinber, W. S. Hayden, J. F. Hoover, C. G. Paris, C. S. Knous and H. S. Hamilton. This jury wrestled with facts in the case, and after long deliberations, were discharged by the Court, they being unable to agree. This jury stood ten for the defendant, and two for the plaintiff.
The second trial over the ownership of the hog was commenced on the 25th day of October, 1886, before the following named jurors: W. A. Getty, I. A. Lukins, C. R. Wright, W. H. Boughner, A. J. Boothe, D. G. Brown, David Bryan, J. M. Clark, N. B. Clauce, C. Crawford, R. Eddy, and C. Frazer, who, on the 4th day of November, returned a verdict for the plaintiff, J. C. Lawrence. The attorneys who have fought this case for the plaintiff are Walrond, Mitchell, and Heren, of Osborne, and Ellis & Ellis, of Beloit, while the defendant was represented by Hays & Pitts, and E. J. Robinson, of Osborne.
Z. C. Young, the defendant in the case, is indemnified by D. J. Flintzer, the party who sold the hog to him, and is the real party defendant. All the parties interested in this long and tedious lawsuit are all citizens of this county, and are men of good standing here. J. C. Lawrence resides in Corinth Township and has been a Justice of the Peace in that township, and formerly belonged to the firm of Hancock & Lawrence. Z. C. Young is a worthy and respectable business man of Downs. D. J. Flintzer is a farmer residing in the southeast corner of this township [Penn], is of German descent, and one of the oldest citizens of this county.
This is the history of the hog. Whether or no he may yet have an unwritten history in our courts, the deponent sayeth not.”
In short, Flintzer sold a hog to Young for $10.65, and then neighbor Lawrence butted in and claimed the hog and brought suit against Young to replevin it. The suit was tried four times in district court, and the costs outside of lawyer fees footed up to $4,000.00 – $114,617.73 in 2021 dollars. Both Flintzer and Lawrence had to sell their farms to pay costs, and when Lawrence won the hog he owned no place to put it.
Osborne County Journal newspaper of November 10, 1886.
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“Portis Beat Alton ‘59’”, Portis. In March 1959 the high school rivals Alton Wildcats and Portis Tigers basketball teams met in Randall, Kansas in the finals of the Class BB regional basketball tournament. The stakes were high, as the winner would earn a berth into the state tournament. At the half Alton had a narrow lead of 29-27, but by the end of the third quarter Portis had pulled ahead, 41-36. At the end of the game the score was Portis 55, Alton 48. It was Portis’ first state tournament berth in 38 years, and the team was so excited that when they got back home someone painted the words PORTIS BEAT ALTON ’59‘ on the city well building that stood at the southern edge of the town. The graffiti has remained there for the past 62 years, a reminder of both youthful exuberance and of a once-great small school rivalry.
That March was the best in Osborne County history for the county’s five boys high school basketball teams, as all five participated in regional basketball finals. Natoma beat Osborne in the Palco Class BB regional tournament to earn their own bid into the state tournament alongside Portis.
Fast forward to 2021, when a disgruntled Alton supporter could not take it anymore and spray painted out the offending graffiti on the well building. Defenders of Portis’ honor came forward and the defaced message was cleaned up and restored, to once again proudly proclaim Portis’ great triumph on a certain March evening in ’59.
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Septarian Concretions, countywide. Concretions are masses of mineral matter formed when minerals in water are deposited about a nucleus (such as a leaf or shell or other particle), forming a rounded mass whose composition or cement is usually different from the surrounding rock. This can occur at the time of deposition, shortly thereafter, or after, or after the sediment has hardened.
Septarian Concretions are a special type of concretion. They occur in the Blue Hills shales of Osborne County and the North-Central Kansas region. The exteriors of septarian concretions are crisscrossed by a network of ridges, which gives some of them the appearance of a turtle shell. Geologists think that these ridges are formed by the shrinkage of concretions, which cause cracks to form in which minerals, such as calcite, are then deposited. When the concretion is exposed to weathering, the softer parts between the calcite-filled cracks are eroded and the calcite extends above the surface of the concretion, like ridges or little walls. The concretions found in Osborne County can range in size from two inches across to monsters over nine feet in diameter and weighing several tons each.
This rock exhibits the high ridges of calcite that can form in certain specimens.
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The Enigma that is Redruth, Grant Township. If one looks along the bottom edge of the 1942 Nebraska State Highway Map, one can find the community of Redruth included on the map as being located in northwestern Osborne County, Kansas, just north of Alton. Yet no one in the Alton region has ever heard of Redruth or even has a clue as to what it might refer to.
After several years of research in the 2000s Osborne County resident Beth McCormick believed that she at last had uncovered some information that holds an explanation. It turns out that for many years in Grant Township during the first part of the 20th Century, there was a small general store on a farm with a barn that had a red roof. It was also known among travelers that for a little extra one could stay overnight in the barn.
It is still a mystery as to why this site appeared on the Nebraska map in 1942, with the red roof of the barn having apparently evolved into Redruth in the mind of some obscure Nebraska state cartographer. Even more curious, the 1942 Kansas state transportation map does not mention Redruth at all!
In the 1980s a man traveling on horseback from Atchison, Kansas came west through Grant Township researching old trails in the area. He had information about a place called “Redruth” that was a major stop on the trail he was studying. Unfortunately, no one remembers who this man was, what trail he was researching, or how to contact him.
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What Happened When the Circus Got Sick, Covert. Back in 1915 two men from the community of Covert attended a circus performance in the nearby town of Osborne. Afterwards the men approached the circus owner and invited him to bring the show the next day to Covert, and gave him directions for the route to get there.
The men returned to Covert and told the townsfolk what as occurring. They had never had a circus perform before in Covert, and so all were excited that next day as the entire community stood along the main road into town, breathlessly awaiting the performers’ arrival. Morning turned into late afternoon, and still the circus had not come. Did they get the directions wrong? Finally as dusk fell the circus wagons slowly limped down the road from the north. The circus owner informed the townspeople that they were very sorry, but the circus could not perform as promised, as several of the animals and even a few of the human performers were very sick and bruised from being tossed around in the wagons from the very bad condition of the roads into Covert.
For the Covert folk this was the last straw, as they had had troubles with the roads in their area for years. They gathered every car they could find in the immediate area and the next Monday drove their car caravan north to the county seat of Osborne, where they met with the county commissioners and demanded that a decent road be built to their town and beyond. Faced with a determined large number of constituents, the commissioners finally agreed, and a new roadway was then constructed from Osborne southwest to Covert and then south to Waldo, Kansas. A second new roadway was also constructed west from Covert to Natoma in the southwestern corner of Osborne County. Today these two routes are known as County Road 671 and County Road 404. They remain to this day two of the best maintained all-weather rock roads in the region.
And all because a circus got sick and could not perform.
Covert to Osborne to demand that new roads be constructed to their community.
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And with this last list we conclude the special 2021 Osborne County Hall of Fame Honors series. Over the past several months we have tried to present a glimpse of the county’s 150 years, and we fully realize that we’ve just barely scratched the surface. So many more topics to explore! We encourage you to continue on your own in uncovering the vast history and heritage of Osborne County, Kansas.
Thank you to all who have contributed to the data compiled for the 2021 Honors and be sure to go out of your way to support, both financially and in person, the Osborne County Genealogical & Historical Society (Carnegie Research Library), the Natoma Heritage Seekers (Pohlman Museum), and the Downs Historical Society (Missouri Pacific Railroad Depot) – all volunteer-operated and in need of all the help they can get. All future preservation of the history of Osborne County is literally in your hands.
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Osborne County Kansas Hall of Fame Honors - 2021 