The Leavenworth weekly times. [volume] (Leavenworth, Kan.) 1870-1880, 1879-01-09

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value, till some of those which were orig
inally sold for $50 have since changed hands
at figures going as high as $4,000.
THE FIRST HOUSE.
The day upon which work was commenced
on the first house in the new city, is not
definitely fixed, but it was at some time be-
tween the 10Th Of June and the lst of July,
1854, and from that time until Leaven-
worth took her place as the first city in the
Missouri Valley, there was no halt in her
onward march; her growth was steady, and
marvelously rapid. Various circumstances
combined to stimulate
THE GROWTH OF THE TOWN.
In the first plsce,,h location selected vas
one which seemed to have been naturally
designed for the site of city. The land was
just sufficiently rolling TO afford complete
natuI al system of drainage; its geographic
cal location made it the entrepot to
the State of Kansas, to which the tide of
emigration was at that time setting, and
made it also the most desirable Quitting
point for the vast multitudes of Pixies Peak
gold seekers, who came in two or three years
after the town was laid out, as we'll as the
natural headquarters for the immense plains
business carried on between the Missouri
river and Colorado and Utah. There be-
ing no railroads in this part of the country
at that time, business with the eastern
States was transacted almost entirely BY
steamboat, and as Leavenworth had
THE BEST LEvEE on THE RIVER,
and the only levee at all times reliable
she became at once a great favorite with
the boating interest, and the amount Of
business which the city in those days trans
acted by means of the now deserted Mis-
souri, river, would be surprising to people
in this age of railroads. The proximity of
the town to Fort Leavenworth also served
to greatly stimulate its growth; the trade
Of the large number Of soldiers usually at
the garrison, was no uncomfortable item to
q town, and
FORT LEAvENwoRrH
being the general distributing point for all
the posts on the frontiers furnished profit.
able employment as freighters to hundreds
Of Leavenworth men, besides making q
good market for much of the surplus pro-
duces of the country. Then, few years Ia
ter when the war commenced, Leavenworth
again felt the great advantage OF her near
ness TO the Fort. Standing in a position of
safety and security under the guns of Fort
Leavenworth, the city enjoyed an immunity
from
THE RAvAGEs OF WAR
then desolatipg and laying waste her rivals
all around her, and the thousands who
were fleeing for safety from other and less
favored places found here CITY of refuge.
And thus it was that during the continu-
ance of the war, while neighboring towns
were standing still or going backward,
Leavenworth continued to make
RAPID PROGRESS;
her population daily increased in numbers,
works of public improvement were inaugu-
rated and carried out, money was plenty,
business of every kind was good, and every
body prospered. But this growth, though
great and rapid, was rather of . dollhouse
character, and not natural, and this pros
perity, though it made business good for
everybody in the city, and left many of the
people rich, was owing largely to the mis-
fortunes of other places and had no endur-
ing foundation. Consequently
WHEN THE WAR CLOSED,
when the people no longer felt it necessary
to their security of life and property to live
under cover of the national guns, the causes
which had been operating 30 potently to
give the town q forced growth, we're cut
Of, and she was left to stand upon
HER OWN MERITS,
to depend for her growth upon her own le-
gitimate and durable advantages, to COM
pete with her rivals even.handed, and to
build her business upon business founda-
lions. While the people were learning
these things, there was a period, extending
through several years, of general business
depression, and trade in all branches was
dull. Those who had acquir-
ed the habit, during the war, of sitting
quietly in their shops and growing rich up
on the business that came TO them unsought
were very 10th to accept the
NEW ORDER OF THINGS.
and very slow in learning the important
truth, that business is to be
had, in this age of the world, only BY work. |
ing for it Some we're forced, BY necessity,
to accept the situation, others, becoming
gave place to new men, who |
pushed their business into all the country
which nature and our admirable railroad |
system have made tributary to the city,
sent their runners" out to neighboring |
towns, and spread their business before the
people Of the State through
THE COLUMNS OF THE EEwsPARERs.
Thus the relapse in the city, prosperity
was generally overcome, and several years |
ago the town resumed its growth upon
healthy and durable basis.
PERMANENT AND COSTLY INPRovK,1ESn
have been made, the trade of the city has
been increased and extended, reaching out
into all sections of our own State and into |
Nebrasks, Colorado. Texas and
New Mexico, manufacturing enterprises
have grown in extent and number, and at
The present time the city, though eympa-
hiking with the general depression which
prevails in business circles throughout the
shows unnistakable evidence of |
'teady and permanent growth, With . reeu-
arly increasing trade established upon .
'ure and reliable business basis.
FIRST ELECTION.
The first election in Leavenworth for;
;ity officers was held on the Sd of Septem-
YER, 1855. The names of the several gen.
lemen who have since had the honor Of
tanding at the head of the municipal gov
.rnment, are as follows:
L. Thos. I. Slocum, September 1855, to
January, 1856.
2 VIM. E Murphy, January, 1856, TO
September, 1857.
3. Henry J. Adams, September, 1857, 10
September, 1855. l
4. II. B. Denman, September, 1850, to
September, 1889.
5. H. B. Denmsn, September 1859, to sep-