-by Greg Hoots- Ferdinand and Christine Herrmann were a young German couple, married for five years when they immigrated to America in 1874, settling in Alma, Kansas, a rural Wabaunsee County town with […]
Herrmann’s Shoe and Harness Shops
Prohibition Blues: The Life and Times of Bill Page
-by Greg Hoots- When one hears about Prohibition, the image that comes to mind is the decade of the “roaring twenties”, complete with gangsters toting machine guns and wild nights in the […]
Cold Case: Murder on Eight-Mile Road
-by Greg Hoots- William Thomas Smale came to Kansas in 1869 as a 14-year old youth when his family immigrated to the United States from Canada. Smale’s father was a farmer, and […]
Photo Friday: The Sweeney Bridge
-by Greg Hoots- This is a photograph of the Sweeney Bridge, an iron bridge under construction over the Kaw River in early 1911. The bridge was located in Kaw Township in Wabaunsee […]
Photo Friday: The Alma Colored Band
-by Greg Hoots- As the small towns of the Flint Hills began to develop between 1880 and 1900, one of the needs felt by the early settlers was to have a city […]
Photo Friday: Memories of Jake’s Place
-By Greg Hoots- When I met Jake Copeland, he was retired and living on “the point” at Lake Wabaunsee. He had closed Jake’s Place, his bar in Eskridge, and was enjoying life […]
Law and Order: The Anthony King Murder
-By Greg Hoots- Chapter 1 Anthony and Marie King were a typical young married couple. Anthony King, born in 1871, was a clerk in a store when the pair wed, and as […]
Eskridge Alumni Association Digitizes Eskridge High School Class Photos
The Eskridge High School Alumni Association recently contracted with Flint Hills photo historian, Greg Hoots to digitize forty-six graduating class pictures that once adorned the walls of Eskridge High School in Eskridge, Kansas. […]
Photo Friday: The Infamous Dr. Smith(s)
-by Greg Hoots- Here’s a great historic photo from the Bat Nelson collection. It’s a real photo postcard, postmarked 1909 showing the interior of Dr. W.H.H. Smith’s pharmacy in Alta Vista, Kansas. […]
The History of Wabaunsee County Newspapers
-by Greg Hoots- In April of 1867 Alma, Kansas became the county seat of Wabaunsee County, following two contested elections which found Alma and Wabaunsee vying for the placement of the county’s […]
