The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1899-06-30
STORY OF A TOWN
Reno City and How It Ceased
TO Exist.
ITS WOMEN. CHAMPIONS
They Were the Last to Give
Up the Struggle.

Mayor Hensiey Of FL Reno, who was in
Wichita yesterday on his way to Portland.
Ore in a reminiscential conversation in
The Eagle office, brought out some points
in the unique history Of Reno City. the
town which once throbbed with the indus
try of 1900 or more inhabitants, and which
is today wrapped in the cloak Of silence
common to peaceful bottom farm. The
sound Of hammer and the rasp OF saw, the
jangle of mart, the chaffering buzz of
commercial competition, these and their
echoes have given place to the chirp Of
robin. the buzz of insect and the whirr of
amphibian; man to vegetation; ambition
and aspiration to sunlight and alluvial
heat.
When original Oklahoma opened, some
5000 people or more brose across the
prairies for a proposed townsite, that Of
Reno City, located about two miles and
half from the present city Of FL Reno.
With that ready expedition. usual with
Oklahoma towns. the inhabitants Of the
place fashioned themselves into a happy
community within the space of very few
days, sharing alike the common pride in
town and common faith in its destined
greatness. For the town Of Reno City had
been located on the survey Of the coming
Rock Island railroad. and with the road
once there, expansion in population and
trade was inevitable.
The same day a small party OF men, in
formed in the ways of railroads and the
mysteries of town-building, picked out the
present site of FL Reno and took posses
sion thereof Reno City may have heard
of this supposed rival on her south. but
Reno City was largely deaf in her great
ness, and blind in her belief Of the favors
of destiny.
It so happened as the prosperity of Reno
City grew apace that among the leading
spirits of the town three women became
ruling spirits OF public enterprise. One
Of these was Mrs. Polly Young. a person
Of splendid attachments and some wealth.
The other was Mrs. Morris. also of some
property; the third Mrs. A B. Davis, a
woman of strong mind and given also to
| music. being a composer of some note.
Reno City had the air of metropolis
It had stores without end, banks. daily
newspaper. Mrs. Morris built a hotel and
| called 1t The Caddo. With a feminine
turn, she frequently made additions to it..
not with masculine and homely practic-
ability, but always with an artistic touch.
For she bracketed verandas on IT, fas-
tened charming oriole porches high up on
| its sides, and place cunning dormers
| above II.
So Reno City grew. One day an evil
fa5 &Ia ho rasl l.
road survey had been changed. and 1t did
not come within two miles OF Reno City.
It was derided, this rumor, at first, but
when it stood established as a fact, there
was CONSERVATION. 1t was here that the
three women rushed to the front in de-
Tense. OF their town. They pleaded with
| the citizens to stand fast and true. They
| had their influence in a great many places,
but a little stream of inhabitants began
| to trickie over to the townsite of Ell Reno.
| And although the three women. with their
! cohorts behind them. faced the tide and
tried to keep 1t back, the little stream to
| FL Reno grew larger and larger, and when
| the spiked track did slowly lengthen itself
| into the new country, and did worm itself
far out of call of Reno City, and did stop
| at FL Reno, with all the suddenness of
having found a terminus. the stream out
of Reno City into Ell Reno became a tor
rent.
And In the midst Of II all, those three
women stood true to their town. They
not only exhorted the citizens to remain;
they bought lots to attest their own faith
in Reno City.
Later the Cheyenne and Arapahoe coun-
l - e
sought a new ditch to make a stand.
The Rock Island line above FL Reno runs
along what was then the Indian meridian
dividing old Oklahoma from the Cheyenne
and Arapahoe country. The Reno City
people decided to get a new townsite at
the opening, the townsite to be on the
eastern edge Of the new country and on
tn Rock Island railroad. But Fate was
against them. Indians had taken allot-
ments all along the railroad where the
road approached the new country, and
Reno City had to give up.
Mrs. Morris was the first Of the three
| women to accept the inevitable. She re-
solved to move her hotel. The Caddo. TO
| FL Reno. 1t was a sorrowful day when
she told Mrs. Davis and Mrs. Polly Young
| that this was her intention. The hotel
was a very large one, and a temporary
bridge had to be built across the river 10
get it to FL Reno. The day 1t arrived in
that city marked an epoch In the towns
history and an epoch in the lives Of Mrs.
Davis and Mrs. Polly Young. who still,
with a constantly diminishing population.
held the fort at Reno City.
Finally Mrs. Polly Young lowered the
lance Of opposition and notified Mrs. Da-
Wis that she was going away. And move
away she did. leaving Mrs Davis alone
true to Reno City and in possession Of a
large part Of the townsite, which she had
! purchased lot by lot some Of them as low
az 50 cents each.
And Reno City dwindled and dwindled.
| and one day a new cottage began 10 rear
| its skeleton two-5y-fours in F, Reno. and
somebody asked who was building II, and
| the contractor said Mrs Davis. Ard they
| carried the news to Mrs. Morris And IL
was not long after that when Mrs. Davis.
with a long. sad look. took leave OK the
deserted site OF Reno City with more sor-
row than Moor ever cried adieu to Gran
| ada. and moved over 20 e Reno. And
that was the end Of Reno City.
AAX0D AMI TUE lN0IANC