Complete Devastation

[W. Gray]

This might look like bombed out Germany but it is what is left of the Elk County courthouse after the big fire.

Janet, the Elk County Fair poster and a few other Elk County photos, such as this one, are on the Kansas Memory web site of the Kansas State Historical Society at http://www.kansasmemory.org/

[patyrn]

What year was this fire?  I assume it was in the same location of the present courthouse.?.?

[frawin]

What year was this fire?  I assume it was in the same location of the present courthouse.?.?

It burned October 24,1906. I have pictures of it before it burned, mine came from the Hottinger collection.

[W. Gray]

Here is a weak photo of the courthouse that burned in 1906. It was in the same location where the third courthouse is now. The building cost $40,000 via a bond issue to build in 1886. It replaced the courthouse on Wabash Street that was built 1875-1879 at a cost of $5,000. $3,000 was by donation and $2,000 came from the county.

The Wabash Street courthouse was erected as a promise from the people of Howard City to build a courthouse at no expense to the county. This promise was made in return for Howard City being retained by the Elk County male voters as the county seat in the county seat elections of 1875. Apparently, the tradition at the time when building public buildings at no expense to the people was for the donations to provide a basic building shell (the $3,000) and then it was up to the county to use taxpayer money to finish the inside as they saw fit. Anything more than $2,000 in taxpayer money would have required a vote by the people for bonds.

One of the reasons it took four years to build the Wabash Street courthouse was that the citizens of Howard City and then Howard dragged their feet when it came to giving for the effort. After the new $40,000 courthouse opened in 1886, the Wabash Street courthouse housed a business establishment until it burned to the ground around 1895.

There is a neat little building next to the old Howard State Bank that was supposedly built to store some or all of the "stuff" that was saved from the big 1906 fire.

By the way, when the male citizens of Elk County were asked to approve bonds to build a courthouse in Howard, the rhetoric then sounded a lot like the rhetoric surrounding the recent school bond election.

[Janet Harrington]

I just made this web site one of my favorites.  Thanks, Waldo, for sharing it.

[Ms Bear]

Very interesting site, I added it to my favorites so I could go back to it often.  Thanks for adding the link for it.

[W. Gray]

Another view of the burned out second courthouse.

[W. Gray]

A better photo of the second courthouse that stood for twenty years before burning to the ground.

[Mom70x7]

That is so grand looking.

Sigh.

[W. Gray]

There might be some town buildings in the lower right but it is difficult to tell.

The building in the background seems substantial also.

There was no information as to the directional setting of the photo.

There was a sheriff residence and jail on the south side of the courthouse at one time, but whether this existed when the old courthouse was there, I do not know. I know it was an old building and was ripped out around 1950, or so.

Janet once posted an old photo of the current courthouse taken from the northwest corner and the sheriff building was in the background. From what little view is available, it does not seem to be as substantial as the building in the second courthouse photo.