Did You Know This About Geary County History?”
By Dr. Ferrell Miller
Geary County Historical Society Board Member
“The Start of the CKL Baseball Season in 1909”
The 2020 high school baseball season began March 2 of this school year and will last until the State Baseball playoffs May 28-30. Professional baseball is in Spring training and it won’t be long until all our favorite teams will take the field for “America’s Favorite Pastime”. In 1909, the baseball season started much later and ended in September.
In April of 1909, baseball was in the news. The Central Kansas League (or CKL) season was going to open on June 14, 1909 with four western towns playing the four eastern towns. That meant Minneapolis, Beloit, Ellsworth and Salina were scheduled to play against Junction City, Abilene, Manhattan and Clay Center. The season would end September 1st with Junction City playing at the Minneapolis field in April of that year.
Preparations for the season were underway. The local park was situated halfway between Junction City and Fort Riley and was directly east of the streetcar line spur. A grader was put to work to cut off a layer of ground in order to get rid of the weeds and alfalfa. Then a second layer was to be removed and the ground scraped with excess dirt moved to the center of the field, which would be higher than the rest of the grounds. A ditch was dug around the field for drainage purposes. The grandstand was built immediately back of home plate with a seating capacity of 600. Two bleachers on either side of the grandstand would hold another 500 people and a place for parking rigs and automobiles would be on each side of the bleachers. It was decided to charge an admission fee of 10 cents for buggies and automobiles. The field was expected to be in shape by May 15 at which time the players would be on hand to try out. The first game on the new field would be played on June 1, 1909.
Many local baseball fans are anxious for “Brigade” baseball to begin again during the 2020 season. It is fun and exciting to watch young baseball players on a summer evening as the lights gradually come on at Rathert Stadium at 900 W. 13th Street in Junction City. There is the smell of popcorn and hot dogs in the air and exciting when watching players get base hits, home runs and an occasional steal of a base. Good times!!!
“Widow Clarke – Pioneering Woman With Spirit “
Women’s History is celebrated in March in the United States. Gaylynn Childs, retired Executive Director of the Geary County Historical Society, shared this story in 1984 about “Widow Clarke”.
“Many women were among those early “heroes”. One of the most determined and courageous was the lady who was known through most of her life in Geary County as “Mrs. Widow Clarke”. Mary McGown came to America from Ireland in 1850. She married a young Englishman by the name of Charles Francis Clarke while in St. Louis. After several campaigns against the Indians, Sgt. Clarke and his family were posted to Fort Riley in January of 1858.
Soon after this, Charles wrote to his parents that he had bought a bridge at the fort for $2,000, paid in installments and he collected tolls from the heavy traffic traveling to the western gold fields. (This was the first bridge over the Republican River built by the government in 1856 and located near where Grant Avenue crosses the river today.)
Charles and Mary had five sons and acquired a small farm located about a half mile from the fort where they raised corn and cattle while managing the bridge traffic. Clarke got tired of being away from his family on long campaigns and left the Army.
A severe drought in 1860, followed by a heavy winter caused flooding. The bridge washed away in early 1861. The Clarkes quickly purchased a ferry boat to carry the traffic across the river.
With the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861, Charles went back into the Army. This time he served as a captain of “light cavalry”. Captain Clark contracted scarlet fever and died.
The farm had remained untilled during the war years and the ferry became Mary’s economic mainstay. Although she had the deed to the ferry and the bridge property, her right to private ownership and operation of the ferry was challenged by town businessmen and she struggled to keep the ferry operating. She purchased three new boats to handle the traffic.
In 1864, a group of prosperous Junction City merchants formed the Republican River Bridge Company for the purpose of erecting a toll bridge over the river. The Committee offered Mary $1,500 for the rights. Begrudgingly, Mary gave in saying that “ferrying is done for now”.
Mrs. Clark had been able to live on post since her husband’s death on the strength of her ferry business. But in 1865, she was given a week’s notice to move and her ferry property had been appropriated. She purchased a small stone house at Fourth and Adams Streets in Junction City. During this period, Mary opened her home on West Fourth Street for all Catholic services and contributed much to the erection of St. Xavier’s Catholic Church.
Mary rented a part of her house for a while and sold portions of her farm to provide for her family and herself. At her new residence, Mary planted a garden, milked two cows and had chickens and turkeys. She gave her boys music lessons and managed to send each of her sons to school at St. Mary’s College. Mary McGown Clarke died in 1873.”