"Did You Know This About Geary County History?”
By Dr. Ferrell Miller
Geary County Historical Society Board Member
“Portable Fence Posts”
Jim Hoy has a chapter in his book Flint Hills Cowboys: Tales from the Tallgrass Prairie, about the Chapman Posts. He wrote the following: Chapman Posts are a particular type of fence post that is unique to our area. Sometimes the post is referred to as a “pipe-in-rock post,” a “rock-and-iron pipe post,” or a “parent post.” Jim calls it a “Chapman Post” from the name of the man who obtained the patent.
There are three different types of Chapman Posts – a barbed wire post, a woven wire post, and a corner (or gate) post. Most common is the one designed for use in fencing cattle pastures with barbed wire; another is intended for corrals or for pastures where woven wire is needed and the third is a corner or gate post to which strands of fence-line wire are attached and stretched.
What makes all three types different from other posts is that they are constructed from a combination of steel pipe and limestone. They are intended not to be set into the ground, but rather to set on top of it.
Almost all of the patented posts are in the central Flint Hills area around Dunlap and Council Grove, although some are also to be found in Geary, Riley and Wabaunsee counties. A couple of necessities that mothered this invention included the enacting of herd laws, which signaled the end of open range in the Flint Hills and the rocky topography of the Flint Hills that made drilling or digging holes for typical fence posts difficult.
No written records survive, but oral tradition credits the former slaves who settled at Dunlap, Kansas with the invention of the pipe-in-rock post. (Dunlap, Kansas is located in Morris County. The 2010 census lists a population of 30.) No one knows for sure the name of the inventor. However, Harrison Fulghum was living in Dunlap when he was contracted by the Chase and Aye ranches to build what later became known in the northern Flint Hills as “Fulghum Fences.” Harrison Fulghum later settled in Geary County. Whether Harrison Fulghum or some other black Dunlap resident invented the rock-and-iron post, it was Philip Chapman who took out the patent.
Another advantage of a Chapman Post, besides being portable and not needing post holes, is they are imperviousness to rot and fire, which is no small thing in an area where pasture burning is an annual practice.
After eighty to one hundred years, a few Chapman Posts are holding up wire on Flint Hills fences. Examples may be seen along Moyer Ranch Road between Humboldt Creek Road and MacDowell Creek Road. However, many of Harrison Fulghum’s and Philip Chapman’s creations either lie in ditches or adorn parking lots.
“Thomas W. Dorn Played An Important Role In Our Community”
The late Marilyn Heldstab, former Geary County Historical Society Director, wrote an article about Thomas W. Dorn, which was published in the J.C. Union newspaper on January 3, 1993. This is some of what she wrote.
Thomas W. Dorn, 76 years old, a resident for 55 years and City Clerk for approximately 40 years, passed away about 4:30 Friday evening at the City Hospital. Mr. Dorn took sick on Wednesday, August 10, 1922 at his home at 312 N. Adams and died on August 12, 1922. He was a talented musician and was the organist at the Universalist Church for 20 years.
The Dorn family came to Kansas from Vermont and settled near Wakefield. Mr. Dorn came to Junction City at the age of 21 and was employed as a salesman for the S.W. Pierce Music Store. He sold organs to numerous Geary County farm families and for many years was the only pipe organist in Junction City. When Mr. Pierce sold the store and opened the Central National Bank, Mr. Dorn became his cashier. Insurance was another line of business which Thomas Dorn continued until his death.
He was interested in the legitimate stage and was manager of the City Opera House in the days when world famous actors and actresses played to large audiences from Fort Riley and Junction City. Thomas was also the first manager of the Bell Telephone Company in Junction City.
Dorn had managed the original opera house after A.P. Trott retired from the position in 1894. The original opera house burned on January 14, 1898. Because of its importance in the community, it was rebuilt within eight months and was again managed by Dorn. By 1915, the new movie industry had completely changed the entertainment field. At that time Dorn relinquished the opera house management to John W. Wendel.
In September of 1919, the local newspaper announced that “T.W. Dorn would open the opera house on September 24, 1919 renovated, renamed and regenerated under the new name of City Theater”.
Dorn’s business life happened on the 100 block of West Seventh Street. His insurance office was at 124 W. Seventh. Its location was referred to as the Raber Building in his ads. The City Clerk’s office was in the front portion of the Opera House building at the corner of Seventh and Jefferson Streets.
T. W. Dorn house as it looked before it was torn down to provide parking for the Church of the Covenant, Episcopal. The house was located at 312 N. Adams.