We begin with a couple of pictures of the dresses of Prostitutes. Yes, we are in the wild west after all. I am remained of a town in Arizona called Jerome. It's a beautiful town on the side of a mountain. It was a mining town ,turned ghost town that was taken over in the 60's by artists and hippies. I was in a gift shop and ran across a postcard of 2 women standing in front of a doorway.I turned it over and yep,they were ladies of the evening.Called in the Wild West "Soiled Doves". I bought a book about the town and discovered the Madam was one of the richest persons in town, the first one with a paved sidewalk and paid to rebuild the school when it burned down.
I wondered,certainly such things went on in Kansas, We know what Miss Kitty did for a living on "Gunsmoke" even if the times were too tame to tell the story on TV.Well Newton apparently hasn't forgotten and tells the story of a shoot out, one of the underplayed great shootouts in the history of the wild west:
http://www.legendsofamerica.com/ks-hideparkgunfight.htmlIf I was reading the cards in the exhibit right,the gunfight involved one of the ladies of the evening. Or the article linked could be something different.
I told the volunteers at the library this was my first time in town. Not exactly true. When I was 7 and 9 I passed through Newton about 4 O'Clock in the morning on the train.We took the SuperChief to Temple,Texas to visit family. Newton is a train town and it was the first stop on the trip, It was sound asleep every time we went through. About half of one room of the Museum was dedicated to the train history of the Santa Fe railroad. The Station is down the street, I didn't make it there.
One of the major parts of the Santa Fe Railroad has got to be the Harvey Restaurants and the Harvey Girls.The need on the western lines grew for restaurants.The trips were long and hard and people needed a break, enter an Englishman with an idea. Quality food at an affordable price with smiling ,cheery,hard working waitress. Books tell the food was amazing the waitresses in starched white and black dresses more so.
Women were hired from around the country for 6,9,12 months contracts, they left home at a time when most had not been very far from home. The girls lives in Dorms often on top of the restaurants and worked hard shifts when ever the trains passed through. The Restaurants were immaculate,linen and silver ware represented the finest dinning anywhere.The girls often stayed for years and settled down in new territories and in doing so helped populate the west.The Call was not only "Go West Young Man" but Go West Young Women. I recently read a book on the subject and I will get to a review of it soon. We will meet more of the Harvey story in Halstead.
At one time Kansas was an Ocean and at one time Dinosaurs walked the state.Here is the tooth of a wooly mammoth found in 1966 during the building on 135 Highway.
Thoughts on the Museum, It was well organized,stories told with an incredible passion.Schools as always were celebrated, as were the experiences of the trails westward. I loved the stuff about churches, the 1959 prom dress, and state championship banners.
The story on the train depot is it was in use until 1970 when the passenger trains stopped coming through town, It was in disrepair and threatened with being torn until it was discovered it was located 500 yards from a building on the National Historical Register and couldn't be torn down.Towns people got together and re stored the building.It's opened 3 hours a day on weekends and staffed by volunteers.
Yes we have more trains and more Harvey girls, this exhibit comes from a woman living in Halstead who sometimes shows up on Sunday to hang out. In fact I was asked if I wanted to speak with her. I didn't really know what to say and so I didn't ask for the volunteer to call her to see if she'd come by. I should have I suppose.
Halstead was the home of Adolph Rupp the legendary basketball coach of the Kentucky Wildcats,winner of 5 National Championship and really the start of the Kentucky Tradition. Kansas has an interesting Basketball history. The first coach of the University of Kansas was Dr James Naismith, the inventor of the game, he is buried in Lawrence. Another Basketball Powerhouse in University of North Carolina. Carolina had success before Dean Smith of Topeka showed up, but a lot more after he did. Ralph Miller,Gene Keady,and Lon Kruger all Kansans who have coached in College and Pros. Many,many others as well, Kansas has a proud Basketball tradition that it has exported through the country.
A 1910 horse drawn fire hoses. The Museum also features an exhibit on barb wire,artifacts from the local bank ,train stuff and stuff from old churches. I have to say this is one of the best little Museums I've been to. It's not everyday an offer comes along to talk to someone who donated stuff in one of the corners comes along.worth much more than the donation I put in the box. I loved the display of train spikes. Next why I came to Halstead .....
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