hchm-curator, Author at Harvey County Historical Society

“A Most Valued Woman:” Elizabeth Clarke Boyd

Posted on April 10, 2015October 3, 2024 by hchm-curator

by Kristine Schmucker, HCHM Curator

“Newton thus loses one of her most valued women and one who has done great things for the city along cultural lines.” Evening Kansan Republican, 13 November 1923.

Some people leave a legacy that stretches beyond their lives. Elizabeth Clarke Boyd, who moved to Newton in 1887, created a foundation for many cultural activities in Harvey County.

Born in London on July 12, 1852 to Robert and Mary Clarke, Elizabeth Clarke came to the U.S. after her parents died. She graduated from the Boston Conservatory of Music and in 1884 from Shimer College (also known as Mount Carroll Seminary). In addition, she was “recognized as a concert singer.” She was the head of the Music Department at Bethany College in Topeka until her marriage to Dr. Gaston Boyd.

Elizabeth Clarke Boyd

Dr. Gaston Boyd was a respected physician in the Newton community. In addition, he was involved with the forming of Harvey County and the city of Newton since the beginning. In 1868, he married Jennie Williams. They moved to the rough new town and lived in an apartment above Dr. Boyd’s building at 623 N Main in Newton. They had five children, two daughters, Lois and Mable died of diphtheria in 1877. Tragedy struck the Boyd home again on May 5, 1886. Jennie Boyd was giving her 8-year-old daughter, Edith, a music lesson in the parlor. During the lesson, Mrs. Boyd was “taken with a sinking spell and the child ran first for the house girl and then for her uncle B.Y. Boyd.” The Newton Kansan reported the events of the next few minutes:

“Her sufferings lasted but a few minutes, and when Dr. Boyd arrived the spirit of the loving wife whom he had but a few minutes before left in good spirits . . . had passed to the world beyond, leaving a husband, two children and a babe two months old.”

The infant son, Gaston Guillam, died six month later. Dr. Boyd was alone with two young children, twins Eric and Edith.

He met and married 35 year old Elizabeth Clarke in 1887.

The late 1880s were a time of growth in Newton and the interest of the leading citizens was on cultural activities. The new Ragsdale Opera House was complete, new homes were going up on west Broadway and east 1st. The violent cow boy era was indeed gone. Into the era of excitement and interest in cultural improvement Dr. Boyd brought his new wife, who had a passion for music and education. They made their home at 408 West Broadway in Newton.

Boyd Home, 408 Broadway, Newton. Photo taken in 1990. HCHM Photo Archives.

Director of Music for Newton Schools and Local Organizations

Mrs. Boyd immediately put her skill as a musician and concern for education to use. She took a position as the first director of music in the Newton schools. She had the talent of recognizing and encouraging talent in others and a “number of Newton people were encouraged through her to look toward higher attainment.”

She also felt it was important that adults have the “opportunity for musical expression.” The Newton Musical Union was formed under her direction for that purpose. Members participated in a music festival in Hutchinson with choruses from all over the state singing some numbers as one big group with Mrs. Boyd as the director.

Newton Musical Union, Hutchinson, Ks May 1897

Mrs. Boyd also helped with the organization of the Treble Clef Club and served as the first president. The Treble Clef Club still meets today. She was the director of the choir at St. Matthews Episcopal Church in Newton.

Composer of music

: “The Gay Street Fair.” Words and Music by Mrs. Gaston Boyd, Published by W.F. Roehr Music Co., Topeka, Ks, 1899. Sheet Music Collection, HCHM Archives

: The Gay Street Fair – pg 1

: The Gay Street Fair – pg 2.

: “Victory: An L.T.L. Marching Song” by Mrs. Gaston Boyd, Published by Mrs. Gaston Boyd, Newton, Ks, 1909. Sheet Music Collection, HCHM Archives

: Victory – pgs 1-2.

“Flag of a Thousand Battles” by Mrs. Gaston Boyd, in the Assembly Hymn & Song Collection, 1912, 1914.

Author of Poetry

: Handwritten Draft of “Morning Hymn” by Mrs. Gaston Boyd. HCHM Archives

: Type written copy of poem, “Morning Hymn” by Mrs. Gaston Boyd. HCHM ARchives

“Johnny-Jump-Up” poem by Mrs. Gaston Boyd, illustrations by Edith K. Woodbury, 1919.

State and National Organizations

Throughout her life, Mrs. Elizabeth Boyd was involved in a number of national and state organizations, often holding leadership positions. Some of the these organizations included the Woman’s Auxiliary for the Diocese of Kansas (Episcopal Church) Educational Secretary, Vice-President of the Kansas State Music Teachers Association, Kansas Authors Club, president of the Women’s Temperance Union, World’s Advising Council of Music and president of the Kansas World’s Fair Music Board.

Words to song written by Mrs. Gaston Boyd for the W.C.T.U. HCHM Archives

Elizabeth Clarke Boyd, mother, teacher, musician, composer and writer, died November 2, 1923. At her memorial service members of the Treble Clef Club sang a song written by Mrs. Boyd.

Typewritten copy of ‘Vesper Hymn” by Mrs. Gaston Boyd. HCHM Archives.

“the number that which touched the hearts of most deeply was a Vesper hymn of which the words and music were the composition of Mrs Boyd herself.”

She was 71 years old.

Sources:

“Sudden Death,” Newton Kansan 6 May 1886, p. 3. (Obituary for Jennie W. Boyd)
“Dr. Gaston Boyd,” Evening Kansan Republican 22 November 1919, p. 7.
Evening Kansan Republican November 13 & 123, 1923, p. 2. (Obituary for Elizabeth Clarke Boyd)

Boyd, Mrs. Gaston (Elizabeth). Women in Music, in The Congress of Women: Held in the Woman’s Building World’s Columbian Exposition, Chicago, U.S.A, 1893, edited by Mary Kavanaugh Oldham Eagle, Chicago, Ill: Monarch Book Co., 1894. p. 570 – 573.
. Teaching Music in Graded Schools without a Supervisor, Western Journal, Topeka, Ks, in Music: A Monthly Magazine Vol 15, 1899, p. 601-603.
Frances Shimer Quarterly 3:2, p. 33.

City of Newton Burial Records online at http://newton.harvey.ks.govern.com/cmquery
“Pioneer Women in Harvey County,” The Homesteader 3:2, May 2007.
Poems for publication by Elizabeth Clarke Boyd, 1919. HC Residents, Box 1B,File Folders 31, 32, HCHM Archives.
Sheet Music Collection, HCHM Archives.
Photo Archives, HCHM.

“The Doodle-bug:” the Missouri Pacific Railroad in Harvey Co

Posted on April 2, 2015 by hchm-curator

by Kristine Schmucker, HCHM Curator

The railroad is a huge part of daily life in Harvey County, from waiting at a crossing or hearing the long whistle, trains are a fact of life. The AT&SF Railroad has a strong history in Newton and Harvey County, but it was not the only railroad to provide much needed connections to the rest of the U.S.. The Missouri Pacific Railroad also has a long history in Harvey County. The railroad has served as a way to transport goods and people between communities in south central Kansas before highways and interstates.

In the spring of 1886, the St. Louis, Fort Scott & Wichita Railroad began building a line northwest from El Dorado. By summer, the tracks had reached Newton. The line was completed on 19 November 1886 in McPherson.

Missouri Pacific Depot, Hesston, ca. 1900, HCHM Photo Archives.

This 62 mile railroad became a part of the Missouri, Pacific Line with stations east of El Dorado, as well as in El Dorado. Additional stations were located in Butler County at Oil Hill, Hopkins, Potwin, Brainerd, and Whitewater. In Harvey County, Annelly, McLain, Newton, Trousdale (later Zimmerdale), and Hesston each had a Missouri Pacific Depot.

Missouri Pacific Depot, Hesston, 1920. Photo taken by Lawrence E. Hauck, HCHM Photo Archives.

The McPherson County towns of Moundridge, and Elyria were stops with the line and ending in McPherson.

Missouri Pacific Railroad Map, drawn by S. Hackney, 3/1988. HCHM Archives Flat Files, 14-6-A.

In Newton, the depot was located along N. Kansas Ave at east 6th, which was about a half a mile east of the Santa Fe Depot on Main Street. A circular wooden water tower was located just north of the depot until the late 1920s. The tower was relocated south of east 1st due to increased automobile traffic.

Missouri Pacific Depot, east 6th, Newton, 1919. Note Water Tower in the background. Building torn down in 1987.

The “Mop” (Missouri Pacific) branch passenger train used original equipment through the late 1910s which included a small brooks steam locomotive with a high smokestack, a single combination U.S. Mail and baggage car and one passenger coach. In the cab of the locomotive, the engineer and the fireman could barely see each other over the boiler head. The switch to a diesel engine was made in the late 1940s.

G.E. Miller, train engineer “on the Doo-bug” (doodlebug). HCHM Photos

The cars were made of wood and of the “open vestibule variety” and passengers had to “hang on for dear life” when the train was moving.

The “Mop” freight locomotive usually had low steam pressure at the stop in Newton. As a result, the wet exhaust often “put nasty spots on nearby clothes lines” frustrating those that lived nearby.

Mop “mixed train daily” No. 756 at the Kansas Ave and 4th St. intersection, 1920. Photo by Lawrence E. Hauck, HCHM Photos.

In 1924, the updated passenger Train No. 741 went from Newton to McPherson. At McPherson, travelers could board “the Doodlebug,” a Union Pacific branch McKeen gasoline powered rail car, and continue to Lindsburg, Assaria and Salina. At the time, this was the most efficient way to travel from Newton to Salina.

Missouri Pacific Passenger Train No. 742 crossing east 4th St., Newton, summer 1920. Photo by Lawrence E. Hauck.

The “doodlebug” left Newton daily at 10:23 and arrived in McPherson at 11:35 in the morning. In the afternoon, the return trip started at 1:50 and arrived in Newton at 3:09. The Missouri Pacific passenger train continued to operate into the 1930s.

With improved highways and the increased use of cars, passenger service on the doodlebug became obsolete. By the 1950s, the route was “freight only.” Since then, the “modest railroad segment” has been an important mover of crude oil, grain, flour, lumber and other commodities for the businesses in the communities along the route.

The Missouri Pacific officially merged with the Union Pacific Railroad on 1 January 1997.

Sources

“Newton and the Missouri Pacific 1886-1986,” by S. Hackney, with photos by Lawrence E. Hauck, 3/1988. Flat Files, 14-6-A, HCHM Archives.
http://www.up.com/aboutup/special_trains/heritage/mopac/index.htm
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~mostfran/railroad/mopacrr_history.htm
http://www.american-rails.com/missouri-pacific.html

“Now is the Time to Build: Court House Needed”

Posted on March 27, 2015March 31, 2015 by hchm-curator

by Kristine Schmucker, HCHM Curator

Following the Bretch Building, the courthouse was once again housed in the Masonic Building at the corner of Broadway and Main, Newton.

Masonic Building, 700 N. Main, Newton, c. 1897. Postcard, with large flags added. This building housed the Harvey County Counthouse in 1880-1888 and again in 1896-1906.

According to several in the community, this building was less than ideal for a courthouse. The Evening Kansan Republican published a letter on June 9, 1904, written by Newton lawyer, J.S. Henderson in which he “calls attention to a few facts” regarding the need for a courthouse building.

Main Street, Newton, looking north. Presbyterian Church and St. Mary’s Church on the right, Methodist Church on the left. ca. 1905.

The present building at Broadway and Main had several drawbacks according to Henderson. It was “undesirable, inconvenient, insecure, small and does not furnish the conveniences or the proper accommodations for . . . the business of the county.” He gave the example of the jury rooms where the conditions ranged from “a sweat-box in summer to a refrigerator in winter.” The vaults that store the important documents of the county were small, dark and gloomy. He noted that the “present vaults would not withstand a fire.”

By this time, both McPherson and Reno counties had beautiful new courthouses “built by the people there-of without any oppressive or noticeable burden on them.” According to Henderson, the cost would be minimal and would come to roughly $3 a year for five years for Harvey County residents. He also noted that the annual rent the county was paying for the current location was $1250. If they acted soon, “the railroad, telegraph and telephone companies would pay one fourth of the cost of the building.”

Finally, he appealed to a sense of pride in the county. He compared the county to a family and noted that the county family “should own and maintain a home . . . a building to which each and every individual of the county could point with pride and say ‘our court house’.”

It would be two more years before Harvey County had its own courthouse. Architect, James C. Holland was hired. Holland was a well known architect in Kansas, working on many public buildings including schools, churches and the Marion County Courthouse.

Blueprint, Harvey County Courthouse, 1906, James C. Holland. HCHM Archives, Newton, Ks

A common feature of courthouses designed by Holland was the symmetry of the building around a central Gothic tower.

Building the courthouse, ca. 1905. Harvey County Jail is the limestone building in the background.

Postcard of Catholic Church, Court House and Presbyterian Church, shortly after the courthouse was completed. Note the hole for the clock. ca. 1907.

The stately new courthouse building was indeed “a building to which each and every individual of the county could point with pride and say ‘our court house’.”

Parade in front of Harvey County Courthouse, 1917. Lucile Mitchell Miller Collection HCHM Photos.

Other blog posts related to the Harvey County Courthouse:

Sources:

Henderson, J.S. “Court House Needed,” letter to the editor. Evening Kansan Republican, 9 June 1904, p. 1.
“J.S. Henderson Called By Death,” Evening Kansan Republican 15 April 1947, p. 1.
Blueprints for the Harvey County Courthouse by J.C. Holland, 1905-06, HCHM Archives.
“James C. Holland” at http://www.kshs.org/kansapedia/james-c-holland/16802.
“National and State Register of Historic Places – Kansas Historical Society” at http://www.kshs.org/natreg/natreg_listings/search/prop:/city:/county:/arch:holland.
“Courthouses Designed by J.C. Holland” at http://jameshollandrealestate.wordpress.com/2011/07/11

Our new exhibit, 50 years of Service: the Harvey County Courthouse is open during museum hours. Admission is free. Coming soon to our web site, an on-line exhibit featuring the courthouse.