By Ron Wilson, director of the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development at Kansas State University.
Division. That’s what kids learn in math class. It was also an important term for railroads. In earlier days, a railroad’s division point was the location which marked the end of one crew’s shift and the beginning of the next, so it was a kind of hub. Today we’ll learn about a community which celebrates its history as a railroad division point and military fort.
Jayne Pearce is the President of the Fort Wallace Memorial Association in Wallace, Kansas. She is proud of the deep history in this region, especially with the military and the railroad.
The military was brought in to protect travelers. In 1865, a new route was opened between Atchison and Denver, called the Butterfield Overland Despatch (no this is not a misspelling – this was the actual name), including the Pond Creek Way Station in Wallace County.
Wagon trains and stagecoaches brought immigrants and goldseekers along this trail, but Indian attacks became frequent. Soldiers were dispatched to protect the travelers.
A military post named Camp Pond Creek was established. In 1866, it was relocated and renamed Fort Wallace in honor of a Civil War general. The town of Wallace was established in 1869.
A second growth factor was the railroad. When the rail line came through, the Union Pacific established the town of Wallace as a division point. That meant that it was the dividing point between the crews traveling east or west bound, so the crews would stop at Wallace for the night.
All this caused Wallace to be a boomtown. Visitors included Buffalo Bill Cody, Wild Bill Hickok, General Custer, and Calamity Jane. Two colorful characters became rival businessmen here: A French Canadian named Pete Robidoux and an Irish immigrant named Thomas Madigan. They each opened general stores which were said to be the largest stores between Kansas City and Denver – and to charge prices twice that of the larger cities.
But then the bubble burst. The railroad division point moved, the soldiers left, and the population declined. Madigan cut his prices, but Robidoux refused. One day in 1893, not a single person crossed his store’s threshold. In disgust, Robidoux boarded up his store with $20,000 worth of goods inside and never went in again.
Today, one can still find a Madigan Street and a Robidoux Street in Wallace. The beautiful Robidoux home is being restored.
Fort Wallace was decommissioned in 1883. Nothing remains of it except a nearby cemetery. By the 1930s, that cemetery was in bad shape, and a group of local citizens created the Fort Wallace Memorial Association to protect and maintain it. Then the association had the vision to open a museum in the town of Wallace. In 1960, the museum was relocated to a new building along Highway 40. The museum has been expanded and enhanced through the years.
Inside the entrance of the museum are two similar black safes: One belonged to Thomas Madigan, and the other to Pete Robidoux. These symbols of the two old rivals still stand, on opposite sides of the doors.
Jayne Pearce says, “A bunch of very dedicated volunteers have taken care of the museum and expanded it through the years.” Three additional buildings have been added to the museum complex, including a railroad depot. Another building is the original Pond Creek Station, complete with bullet holes from old Indian raids.
The museum was expanded again in 2006, when the Joe Smith family donated funds for an addition. The addition houses a remarkable collection of Indian and cavalry relics gathered through the years. Like these artifacts, this museum is a hidden treasure, found in the rural community of Wallace, Kansas, population 66 people. Now, that’s rural.
Division. It’s what kids learn in school, but division point is also the name for a key railroad hub. Wallace, Kansas was a key division point in its day, and that history and more is captured in the Fort Wallace Museum. We commend Jayne Pearce and all the volunteers who make a difference by honoring this history. This museum is a place of a division point, and also of vision.
And there’s more. We’ll learn about this museum’s special sculptures next week.
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The mission of the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development is to enhance rural development by helping rural people help themselves. The Kansas Profile radio series and columns are produced with assistance from the K-State Research and Extension Department of Communications News Unit. A photo of Ron Wilson is available at http://www.ksre.ksu.edu/news/sty/RonWilson.htm. Audio and text files of Kansas Profiles are available at http://www.kansasprofile.com. For more information about the Huck Boyd Institute, interested persons can visit http://www.ksre.ksu.edu/huckboyd/.
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