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Bethel was German settlement

By ROWENA PLETT

Staff writer

According to current Kansas postal records, a post office was opened in 1870 at the home of a settler five miles east and three-quarters of a mile north of present-day Lincolnville.

Located in the far east- northeast corner of Marion County just south of the Morris County line and two miles west of Chase County, it was named Bethel. Its postmaster was Thomas J. Sampson.

Five years later, in 1875, a wood-frame one-room school house was built near the Sampson home, and Sampson served as clerk of the board. The school was designated Bethel School District No. 8 and served mostly German settlers living on more than 12 sections of land.

According to Polk's Kansas Gazetteer and Business Directory of 1880, the Bethel community had 50 inhabitants. A stage coach mail and passenger service made stops three times a week. Fares were from $1 to $1.50. A man by the name of Evans was postmaster, and J.W. Finn was Justice of the Peace.

The post office served the community a brief 13 years according to Kansas postal records. It was closed in October 1883. However, the school was rebuilt and continued to serve the community for many years.

In 1885, the original school building was replaced with a new building of native stone at a location less than a mile south (along present-day 290th).

Students of all ages attended until the early 1900s, when it became a grade school. The highest attendance was in 1921, when there were 38 pupils. The school continued in operation through the 1959-1960 year.

The site of the original post office today is the farm of Naomi Nelson and son Tom of Burdick.

The sturdy limestone school house is one of the few country school buildings still standing in Marion County. Little is changed from its original construction except for the tin roof. It sits on ground now owned by Gary Krause of Council Grove and leased by his brother Dennis.

The community celebrated the school building's centennial in 1985. It was organized by Nancy Groneman of Lincolnville and her sister, Vida Gianakon of Hutchinson. More than 130 people including former students and teachers converged on the site.

That same year, Kansas State Historical Society listed Bethel School on its register of historic places.

An Aug. 17, 1985, article in the Marion County Record gave a fascinating description of life in a typical country school, drawing on detailed records from Bethel School.

In 1875, the school had 17 students ranging in age from five to 21. Property tax levied to support the school district was 25 mills — 2 1/2 for the library, 10 for the building, 10 for the teacher, and 2 1/2 for fuel and incidentals.

The teacher's salary went up or down from year to year, depending on the local economy.

In addition to academics, in the 1920s girls in grades four through seven learned to sew, patch, and darn. Boys learned woodworking.

Gradual improvements and additions were made. In 1943 a piano was added, and in 1950, the heating source changed from coal to propane.

Tom Nelson said he was old enough to enter school in the fall of 1959 and could have attended Bethel School. However, his parents decided instead to send him to Burdick Grade School.

Student numbers had dwindled to less than 10, and school sessions were discontinued the following year.

The Kaw Indian Trail

According to the late George P. Morehouse, who grew up just north of the Bethel post office, the Kaw Indian Trail ran near Bethel.

The trail began at the Kaw village four miles southeast of Council Grove, entered Marion County at Bethel, then continued west to near present-day Lincolnville and on into McPherson and Rice counties.

John Madden, another early settler along the trail, said long lines of ponies dragging teepee poles and carrying squaws and papooses were familiar in those days.

He said sometimes Civil War veterans were seen among the Indian hunters.

"These blue-coated braves were always kindly received and treated well by the settlers along the trail," he said.

In 1868, Cheyenne Indians used the Kaw Trail to raid the Kaw village. It was one of the last big Indian raids in Kansas, and local settlers took refuge for many days because of the many Indians traveling through.

(Sources include Transactions of Kansas State Historical Society, Vol. VIII, 1903-1904, and Kansas Historical Quarterly, Vol. XIV, 1915-1918.)

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