Elk Falls

[W. Gray]

While I was in Howard, I was pleased to see Elk Falls (the falls) made the front page of the Wichita Eagle in a large full color picture.

Apparently, the story line was Elk Falls may be the biggest falls in Kansas?

A photo of Butcher Falls in Chautauqua County on the same page was pale by comparison.

I don't know, I think I have seen falls along the Neosho and elsewhere in SE Kansas that might be bigger.

There is an Ozro Falls in Chautauqua County that I have only seen in old pictures and it looks impressive. Not tall but wide. One of these days, I would like to find it.

On this trip, we took a drive down to Boston and took a picture of Main Street. There are a lot of cows in the photo.

[Diane Amberg]

Cows on Main Street?

[frawin]

Last Sunday my wife and I attended the Elk Falls High School annual Alumni Reunion, we took Myrna's mother, it was her 73rd year since graduating from Elk Falls in 1935. We have had the pleasure of taking her every year for several years. The last year they had High School there was in 1961. The only school structure left is the old gym, which is where they have the annual reunion. What a great group of people, they really enjoy the gathering and renewing old acquaintances.
Frank

[sixdogsmom]

Diane, Boston is a townsite that has since been incorporated into a local ranch. Waldo can probably supply the details more accurately than I. There was quite a battle one time over the county seat. You should pick up a copy of the Elk county history while you are here, it is interesting, although has some inaccuracies as most narrative historys do. Hope we run into one another while you are here. Have a safe trip!

[sixdogsmom]

Waldo, awhile back when we were on the way to Kansas City, we took a side trip to see Neosho Falls. It is a pretty good trek down a decent dirt road. The town is nearly deserted, although it looks to have been a resort in times past. Google says that the population is 177, and yes the falls are quite a lot larger than Elk Falls. The Neosho river is a lot larger river than the Elk, it would have been fun to see it in the ago times.

[Diane Amberg]

Thanks, SDM!

[W. Gray]

Diane,

Here is a photo of the Main Street of Boston.

Somewhere along here was the town well at the corner of Main and Summit.

The town cemetery is to the south on private property.

Boston had seven miles of surveyed streets.

The citizens messed up big time by creating the Boston War. In the overall scheme of things they were right but the Kansas Supreme Court did not agree with them. Neither did the governor.

The town disappeared when the post office moved to Moline in 1879.

[W. Gray]

I would like to add that had it not been for the Boston War, there more than likely would be no Elk County.

There would still be a Howard County.

Howard would still be Howard City and might be nonexistent or have only a handful of people.

Elk Falls would still be county seat.

Although there were division factions in the county, the state legislature in early 1874 defeated a bill to create Elk County in the north and retain Howard County in the south.

The Boston War, which essentially closed down Howard County for two months, was the catalyst prompting the legislature to change its mind in 1875.

[Diane Amberg]

Daddy did tell me about the wrangling over the county seat, but I didn't know the specifics about Boston. Thanks to you both.