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C. C. Hutchinson founded the Hutchinson town site
in 1871. He made a deal with the Santa Fe Railroad
to establish a community where the railroad was
to cross the Arkansas River and bought about one
square mile of land for $15 an acre. His cousin,
W. E. Hutchinson, surveyed the land and laid out
the town using buffalo bones as markers. The town
organized its own government in 1872. |
Hutchinson's early development was quiet compared
to other wild and woolly Kansas frontier towns
such as Wichita, Dodge City and Abilene, due
to a law passed by the Kansas Legislature
to forbid cattle drives from passing through
Reno County.
The town was also relatively tame for another
reason - C.C. Hutchinson was a Baptist preacher
and had definite beliefs concerning liquor.
As he sold lots in the new town, he made stipulations
banning the sale or consumption of alcoholic
beverages on the property. If the landowner
broke the rule, the land reverted back to
Hutchinson. |
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Santa Fe Train at Santa
Fe Depot at Walnut and Third |
The railroads had a profound effect on the
development of Hutchinson and Reno County.
Hutchinson was served the Santa Fe, Rock Island,
Missouri Pacific and several smaller railroads.
This access to rail traffic allowed Hutchinson
to succeed as a center of trade for farmers
who homesteaded and cultivated the surrounding
land. |
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Carey Salt Plant - c. 1940 |
The salt extraction industry would also influence
and benefit the Hutchinson/Reno County area.
In 1887, Ben Blanchard was drilling south
of Hutchinson hoping to find oil. Instead,
he located a very large deposit of salt. A
boom occurred in the following years - nearly
20 companies started to extract salt using
pumps to force water down a pipe into the
deposit. Once the water evaporated, the remaining
salt was sold for table salt or industrial
uses. By the turn of the century, most of
the salt companies had consolidated to become
more efficient including Morton Salt, Carey
Salt, Hutchinson-Kansas Salt and Barton Salt.
Carey Salt, founded by Emerson Carey, was
the first salt mine in Reno County. Rather
than using the evaporation method, Carey sent
men down to cut blocks of salt whole from
the deposit. The mine is still in operation
today, although under different ownership.
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William Kelly Flour Mill
with Santa Fe Train |
Hutchinson/Reno County businesses grew to
support the agriculture surrounding the area.
Grain elevators, to store the grain before
it sold, and milling companies, to grind the
wheat into flour, were also important to the
area. Since its beginning, annual agriculture
fairs were held in Reno County. The events,
held
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Early Kansas State Fair
Exhibition |
at various locations throughout the county,
grew larger each year. By the early 1900s
the local event had significantly grown, had
moved to its present location, and was recognized
by the state legislature as "The Kansas
State Fair".
The grocery business has also been important
to the community's growth. J.S. Dillon opened
his first store in the 1920's. Over time the
company became Dillons and has since grown
to over 200 stores statewide. The company,
now a division of Kroger, Inc., still maintains
a distribution center and headquarters in
town.
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Early J.S. Dillon and Sons
Grocery Store |
During World War II and the following decade,
Reno County was home to the Hutchinson Naval
Air Station located southeast of Hutchinson
where flight training for Naval pilots was
conducted. The site is now an industrial tract
with a variety of businesses. |
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