The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1915-06-12
Our FIRST HOUSE
First Building Erected in To-
peka Was a Dwelling.
Was Built of Logs Cut From the
Timber Nearby.
ROOF OF BRUSH and GRASS
1t Stood Near the River on
Kansas Avenue.
First Town Meeting Held With
i'm It's Walls.
ROOF OF BRUSH and GRASS

The first building erected in To-
peka, was a dwelling house which
stood near the south bank of the Kaw
near what is now tn foot of Kansas
avenue. The building was formed of
rough crooked logs cut in the locality.
1t was about fourteen feet long and
twelve feet wide, and had low
pitched roof made of brush covered
with prairie grass. On the south side
was the only opening, doorway hav-
ing a piece of cotton cloth for door
At the west end of the house was
crude chimney made OF stones piled
up without mortar.
There was no floor but the earth.
The spaces between the logs were NIL
ed with brush daubed with mud. ana
earth was banked up against the north
side of the house to keep out the cold
wind.
The cabin was built late in the fall
of 1854 by four young me from New
England, who had come west in quest
of fame and fortune. Their names
were NJ. c. Dickey, J. B. Chase, Enoch
Chase and George Davis. About the
time the cabin was completed the lit
tie party was joined by five other men,
all total strangers to one another and
hailing from widely separated locali-
ties.
On December 4, 1854, having stroll
ed to the top of the divide between the
river and Shunganunga creek, and
from there viewed the wide expanSe
of beautiful prairie, all decided that
this was place for permanent set
tlement. Some were in favor of build
ing a fort for the protection of the
surrounding settlers, while others
wanted to start a tOwnSite.
The townsite idea prevailed, and
business meeting was at once called
for the purpose of organizing town
site company. That fellow in the
Il nf he -txv in
dicating Cyrus K. Holiday, had bet
ter take the chair And Mr.. Holiday
consented. The chair from which he
presided was a sack of flour, nothing
better being available at the time. F.
w. Giles was made secretary Of the
meeting.
Townsite Staked Out.
Each man present agreed to stake
out claim in the immediate vicinity,
and from this aggregation of claims
square was surveyed. BY the follow
ing summer several families had
settled on the townsite. One sixth of
all the lots were donated to the Emil
grant Aid society of Massachusetts as
a considera ton for erecting a mill, a
school house. and a receiving house.
The nine men composing the origi-
MI Topeka Townsite company were
Cyrus X. Holiday, F. W. Giles, ]. B.
Chase Enoch Chase George Davis,
M. c. Dickey, Charles Robinson, Dan
lei Horne and L. D. Cleveland. Five
of these men were from the state of
Massachusetts,; two were from New
Hampshire; one was from Pennsyl-
vania, and one was from Iowa.
Charles Robinson became, in 1861,
the first state governor of Kansas,
and Cyrus K. Holiday was the origi-
nal president of the Atchison, Topeka
& Santa Fe railroad, now one of the
longest and greatest railroad systems
in the world.
All the men who inhabited the first
house in Topeka have passed to the
great beyond, but they all long sur
vived this little cabin in which their
active careers began. Fs@ -
One night in the late spring of 1855
while all were sleeping in their
clothes and boots on the hay-covered
earth of the cabin floor, they were
Weakened by a binding glare-the hay
roof of their little home had caught
fire from the wretched chimney.
only to rescue themselves and their
slender stock of coarse provisions
from the flames, but also to pitch
from the door a key of gun powder,
netting which then and there
might have ended a number of bril-
liant careers. and changed the his
tory of Topeka and even that of the
world.
The object seen in the accompany
ing picture, hanging near the CHM
ney at the end of the house, is quar-
ter of beef furnished the party by Mr..
J. K. WaySman,. who had settled five
or six miles to the southeast the pre-
vious summer. After much solicita-
ton he was persuaded to kill one of
his small herd of cattle and sell it to
the occupants of the cabin.