Manhattan/Riley County, 1900-1910

Population Timeline

1900
  • Manhattan:  3,438
  • KSAC Enrollment:  1,321
1902
  • KSAC Enrollment:  1,140
1904
  • Manhattan:  4,567
1910
  • Manhattan:  5,723

Selected Events Timeline

1900

  • Begin work to lay Manhattan sewer to Kansas River.  This is a private sewer system owned by H.P. Wareham.
  • Commercial Club founded April 30, 1990.

1901

  • Begin door to door delivery of mail; put numbers on houses and street names at all crossings.  Work begun in 1901; 1902 carriers chosen and delivery starts.
  • Change city water from Blue River to wells.
  • Manhattan Library Association formed to raise money for a public library.
  • September - City passes resolution on murder of President William McKinley.

1902

  • Balloon ascension in Manhattan.
  • April - First automobile in Manhattan, C.F. Chumard uses it as a delivery wagon.  In 1904 Chumard sold the auto to J.J. Paddock.
  • Presbyterian ladies publish cookbook.
  • August - Organize a Golf Club in Manhattan.
  • September - Golf Links built in City Park.

1903

  • Fire at Riley destroys six buildings.
  • President Roosevelt stops at Manhattan Depot for a visit.
  • May - Tornado at Bala kills two children.
  • June - Major Kansas River Flood.  Bridges on the Kansas River, Blue River at Manhattan are destroyed/damaged.  Kansas River by Manhattan changes course; Blue River begins change that continues in 1908 and is complete by 1915 flood.
  • Randall Keele, an African American, serves on Manhattan School Board.
  • Mrs. Mary B. Davis takes over as publisher/owner of the Manhattan Mercury after the death of her husband, J. J. Davis.
  • Sanatorium Park Place, 412 N. 11th Street (founded by Drs Clarkson and Silkman) is bought by M.M Davis and Louise Spohr.  They change the name to Park Place Hospital in 1905.

1904

  • Tatarrax Monument erected in City Park to commemorate J. V. Brower's belieft that Coronado visited this area.
  • December - Wreck on the Rock Island crossing by the Union Pacific Depot.

1905

  • May 3 - Chauncey Dewey, Clyde Wilson and W. J. McBride were dismissed from the last of a series of cases filed against them two years prior for the alleged murder of members of the Berry family.  The prosecution had failed several times to begin the trial, although the defendants were ready.
  • June - Two new rural telephone lines, McDowell Creek and Ashland.
  • June 13 - Thomas E. Will, Associate Editor of Social Ethics, and Secretary Treasurer of the Socialist Party in Kansas (former President of KSU) was acquitted of criminal libel in the district court at Kansas City.  He was charged with writing an editorial which "defamed" the character of W. J. Kelchner, Kansas City.
  • August - Pete Dye, formerly of Manhattan, is with the White Sox.

1906

  • January 7 - Earthquake felt in Riley County.
  • Odd Fellows (I.O.O.F.) buy the Manhattan Beach Resort for use as an orphanage and later a retirement home.

1907

  • September - Sacred Heart Academy begun.
  • November - Charles Vernon buys the Manhattan Mercury.

1908

  • February - Rename streets so numbers and blocks match, done at insistence of the Post Office to aid in mail delivery.
  • Flood.
  • November - Begin building the streetcar system, owned by West Brothers.  First cars run regularly June 12, 1909.
  • Manhattan City sewer system started.  Now publicly owned.
  • July - Henry Jackson Waters assumes duties as KSAC President.

1909

  • February - Daily Mercury starts.
  • April - Riley County Democrat (weekly) started.
  • August - Motor Club organized.
  • July 20 - Manhattan Republic publishes The Price of a Menagerie, What it costs to gather a zoo.
  • September - Peter Olson, shoemaker, sells out to son Ben.
  • September 17 - Republic reports no more common drinking cups.

1910

  • January 1 - Manhattan Republic, Manhattan Mercury and Riley County Democrat consolidated.  Consolidated paper edited by C.A. Kimball and C.M. Vernon.
  • January 25 - First eight page all home print daily paper printed in Manhattan by the Mercury.
  • April - Linemen string wires to Manhattan for electric current from Rocky Ford Dam.
  • July - George Southern gets an ambulance.
  • August - Department of Milling established at KSAC, the first in the United States.

Buildings and Construction Timeline

1900

  • Build Manhattan Beach Resort, Eureka Lake.
  • Bridge across the Kansas River at Ogden.

1901

  • C.P. Dewey builds new electric light plant to replace old.  Adds the first artificial ice plant in Manhattan next door in 1903.
  • New (present) Union Pacific Depot built.
  • Wareham begins new building for telephone exchange.
  • Wolf Photography Studio built, open in 1902.
  • November - E.A. Wharton has window decoration with an electric chair in it in commemoration of President William McKinley's murder.

1902

  • Bridge at Ashland built.
  • New City Hall begun, J.D. Walters architect.

1903

  • Vote to accept offer from Carnegie and build new library.  Library was built in 1904, with a basement dug out by local businessmen to save money.
  • Addition to the Gillett Hotel, previously the Hotel Higinbotham.
  • New temporary bridge built over the Kaw at Manhattan.
  • Rocky Ford School, now a Riley County Historical Society museum, built.
  • Congregational Church expands.
  • Douglas School built.  Opens in 2904 as Manhattan's first segregated school building.  Previously, classes were segregated but in the same building.
  • City Hall built on 3rd St. near Humboldt.

1904

  • Bridge over the Kaw at St. George built.
  • March - New wagon bridge over the Blue complete.
  • Permanent bridge built over the Kaw at Manhattan.
  • Water extended to the Cemetery.
  • Union National Bank builds new building at 4th and Poyntz.
  • New Rock Island Railroad bridge being built at Manhattan.
  • New bridge being built at Garrison.
  • New bridge being built at Hunter's Island.

1906

  • Riley County Courthouse built, begun in 1905.

1907

  • YMCA building erected at 11th and Fremont.
  • Riley County Courthouse Clock installed.
  • M.M. Davis and Louise Spohr built a new Park View Hospital on the northeast corner of Juliette and Laramie, occupying it the week of April 11th.

1908

  • Built new Christian Church; moved old church to Moro St. as a home
  • Built new dam at Rocky Ford, allowing for production of electricity. Completed May 1909.
  • The Student Cooperative builds the first brick building in Aggieville for their bookstore at the corner of Moro and N. Manhattan Avenue.

1909

  • February - Contract let for new Post Office.
  • Built Marshall building. Carl Boller, Kansas City architect and George Hopper, Contractor.
  • St. Patrick's Church at Ogden built.
  • Sam Kimble donated land for Cemetery Sexton's house and water tower.
  • October - New Baptist Church begun on corner of Juliette and Humboldt.
  • Smith building, 406 Poyntz, built.
  • October 2 - G.M. Hammond sold lots in "Hillcrest" to S.L. Bardwell, R.E. Eastman, J.B. Walter, Carrol Ewalt.
  • May - Women's Club House being built at 900 Poyntz.

1910

  • Riley County Pest House for contagious disease built adjacent to the Union Pacific Railroad tracks.
  • Work begins on the new Post Office building on the corner of Houston and Fourth.  This is the first post office building built for that purpose in Manhattan.

People of Interest Timeline

1900

  • February 1 - Died, Joseph Denison, 1st President of Kansas State University.
  • April - Andy Lewis, an African American, elected Cons
  • April 23 - Died, Ellen Denison Goodnow, sister of Joseph Denison, wife of Isaac Goodnow, pioneer.
  • June 13 - Died, Judge John Pipher, partner in Cincinnati and Kansas Land Company and the Hartford Steamboat colonization effort, 1st Postmaster, City Council member and Mayor in Manhattan. 

1903

  • Died - Dr. H.S. Roberts, Dr. E.L. Patee, both pioneer Riley County doctors.
  • Died - J.J. Davis, editor of the Manhattan Mercury.

1904

  • November 12 - Died, Andrew J. Mead, founder of Manhattan, an organizer of the Cincinnati and Kansas Land Company and the steamboat Hartford.  Probably the person who named "Manhattan".
  • Mrs. E.B. Purcell persuades Andrew Carnegie to provide funds for a Public Library.
  • Died - C.P. Dewey.

1905

  • Mrs. Adelia Higinbothan donates site of the Riley County Courthouse.

1908

  • October - Died, Albert Griffin, National Prohibition organizer, former editor of the Manhattan Nationalist.

1909

  • Judge Sam Kimble donates site of Cemetery Sexton's house.

People in State Wide & National Government

1901

  • Adjutant General S.M. Fox

Kansas House of Representatives District #47

  • 1901-1903 F.M. Emmons, Manhattan

District Court #21

  • 1903 - 1909 Sam Kimble

Kansas State Senate District #21

  • 1909 P.C. Hostrup