Historical Pageant

Title

Historical Pageant

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Subject

Kansas History--Wellington, Kansas History

Kansas History--Sumner County History

Kansas History--1941 Historic Pageant for Wellington, Kansas

Description

1941 Historic Pageant Script about the founding and settlement of Sumner County and particularly of Wellington, Kansas. This script was Dorothy Ruth Dey's working copy and has Dorothy's handwritten notes. Dorothy Dey, born in 1907 in Wellington, Kansas and died in California in 1999 in Bakersfield, CA at the age of 91, taught in the Wellington Public Schools for many years. She taught geography, history, and Latin. The Pageant was presented by the Wellington Public Schools on May 1st and 2nd, 1941. According to Wellington Daily News articles, 650 school children participated in the pageant performed at the Wellington Memorial Auditorium to capacity crowds. Directed by Clark A. Evans

Creator

Dey, Dorothy

Shockey, Pauline

Stamm, Harley E.

Source

Wellington Public Library, Wellington, Kansas

Publisher

Wellington Public Library, Wellington, Kansas

Date

ca. 1940-1941

Relation

Dorothy Dey History Collection, Wellington Public Library, Wellington, Kansas

Format

application/pdf

Language

English

Type

Manuscripts

Coverage

1871 - 1941



Citation
Dey, Dorothy, Shockey, Pauline, and Stamm, Harley E., “Historical Pageant,” Wellington Digital Collections, accessed March 28, 2024, https://wellington.digitalsckls.info/item/17.
Text

Historical Pageant Presented
by
The Wellington Public Schools
Libretto
Dorothy Dey
Pauline Shockey
Harley E. Stamm
Directed By: Clark A. Evans
PAGEANT DETAILS AND ORGANIZATlON OF PRATICE.
The Orchestra will report each morning of the practice.
The High School Chorus will also report each morning for practice.
Practices will run froM 8 to 9 o’clock each school day in the Auditorium of the High School.

Thursday, April 17,—time 8 to 9 A. M.— High School Aud.
Practice Scene VI. — The Coming of the Railroad.
Committee Flaming - Willey —- Hoyer, Chmn.— Vaughn—Sherrard—Mitchell - E. Evans.

Friday, April 18--------------time 8 to 9 A. M. ——High School Aud
Practice Scene III.------------------THE FIRST SESSION OF COURT.
Committee: Trekell, Chmn.—Shockey— Lynn—Lewis—Havel—Cobb.

Monday, April 21---------------time 8 to 9 A. M.——High School Au.
Practice Scene IV-------------- WELLINGTON’S FIRST CHRISTMAS TREE.
Committee: Kimmell, Chmn.—Riley— Armstrong—McCall—Coleman— Wade.

Tuesday, April 22 — time 8 to 9 A. M.——High School Aud.
Practice Scene VIII—- WELLINGTON WORKS, PLAYS, SINGS AND SWINGS.
Committee: C. Evans, Chmn.—Felt—B. Clark—

Wednesday. April 23 -— time 8 to 9 A. M. -----------------------High School Aud,
Practice Scene V-——THE INDIAN SCARE,
Committee: Cessna, Chmn.—Felt — Martin—Dyarman—Snyder—Hall.

Thursday, April 24 time 8 to 9 A. M. ----------------------High School Aud.
Practice Scene II--------------WELLINGTON’S FIRST FOURTH OF JULY CELEBRATlON.
Committee: Felt, Chmn. — Wycoff—Smith—Clark—C. Jones—Haworth.

Friday, April 25--------------time 8 to 9 A. M. ------------High School Aud,
Practice Scene VII-------------THE PERIOD BETWEEN 1890 and 1914.
Committee:-----------C. Evans, Chmn.——Felt—Clark.

Monctay. April 28 — time 8 to 9 A. M..---------------------High School Aud.
Practice Scene IX--------------PATRIOTIC SCENE.
Committee: —---------Logan, Chmn. —Kimmell—Dey—Shockey.

All committee members should report for their practice. Teachers will be relieved as best we can. High School teachers will remain with their 8 to 9 class until we can relieve you for each practice your committee has called.

The following High School students will report each day for practice until they are released for practice. Remember this is from 8 to 9 o’clock.

Howard Wallace Eimer Headley Ted Quillen
Bill Argo Keith Litton Andy Keithline
Austin Helm Bill Seal Mrele Cannon
Bob Renn Bob Craig Carl Litton
Raymond Rusk Lloyd Boston. Bert Mooorhead
Lawrence Cole Tom Boys
Dean Wirth Murray Snider
Bill Atchison
(Page 2)

(Names of people who are to report each morning until further notice)
Buddy Pearson
Arnold Weigand
Dean Beard
Robert Brown
John Agee
Harold LaFary
Dean Nichols
Gene Porter
John Ternes
Walter Cox
Carl Ward
Ted Quillen
Gillis Burkhart
Lois Overby
Thelma Hobbs
Dorothy Landreth
Georgina Adams
Fanny Jane Jones
Patti Ate
Lela Bishop
Maxine Tisdall
Florence Dailey
Clareca Davis
Nadine Luster
Shirley Hooten
Pilar Frado
Betty Sparman
Mildred Harris
Marta Pound
There will be two days left (April 29 and 30) after each scene of the pageant has been rehearsed. This will be used to cautch up on the odds and ends of pageant details.
Viola Wood
Mary Sherrard
Jean Saunders
Colleene Gasper
Collette Gasper
Mary Lindsey
Esther Shoffner
Frances Belshaer
Mary Ruth Diggs
Rolla Ordway
Rosemary Bowers
Vivian Farnsworth
Carlene Ash
Virginia Baker
Rachel Bolay
Dorothy Cooley
ln the High School the hour that is left out each day will be the hour where the students will meet in their classrooms from 8 to 9 each morning. Please explain this to the students.
It seems not to have been quite clear to some of them.

TEACHERS: Please read this list of names and practices to your students so they will know when they are to report. Keep this bulletin at hand where it can be referred to for questions from students.

When practices are over at 9:00 a.m. all high school students will remain in the auditorium until classes change at 9:10 a.m.
Jack Grim
John Hendricks
Benny Jefferies
Paul McIntire
Gerald Thomas
John Baucom
Bob Gaddie
Harold Headley
Dean Miller
Margaret Beal
Barbara Reed
Mary M. Waugh
Thelma Stands
Marion Weaver
Helen Miller
Dorothy Foley
Ethel Johnson
Arlene Little
PAGEANT DETAILS AND ORGANIZATION OF PRACTICE
The Orchestra will report each morning of the practice. The High School Chorus will also report each morning for practice. Practices will run from 8 to 9 o'clock each school day in the Auditorium of the High School
Thursday, April 17, —time 8 to 9 A. M - High School Aud.
Practice Scene VI. —The Coming of the Railroad.
Committee: Flaming — Willey — Hoyer, Chmn. — Vaughn —Sherrard — Mitchell — E. Evans.
Friday, April 18 — time 8 to 9 A.M. —High School Aud.
Practice Scene IV III. —THE FIRST SESSION OF COURT.
Committee: Trekell, Chmn — Shockey — Lynn — Lewis — Havel —Cobb.
Monday, April 21 -— time 8 to 9 A.M. — High School Aud.
Practice Scene IV — WELLINGTON’S FIRST CHRISTMAS TREE.
Committee: Kimmel, Chmn. — Riley — Armstrong - McCall —Coleman — Wade
Tuesday, April 22 — time 8 to 9 A.M. — High School Aud.
Practice Scene VIII — WELLINGTON, WORKS, PLAYS, SINGS AND SWINGS.
Committee: C. Evans, Chmn. — Felt — B. Clark -
Wednesday, April 23 — time 8 to 9 A.M. — High School Aud.
Practice Scene V — THE INDIAN SCARE.
Committee: Cessna, Chmn. — Felt —Martin —Dyarman — Snyder —Hall.
Thursday, April24 —time 8 to 9 A.M. — High School Aud.
Practice Scene II — WELLINGTON'S FIRST FOURTH OF JULY CELEBRATION.
Committee: Felt, Chmn. - Wycoff — Smith Clark — C. Jones —Haworth.
Friday, April 25 — time 8 to 9 A.M. — High School Aud.
Practice Scene VII —THE PERIOD BETWEEN 1890 AND 1914.
Committee: — C. Evans, Chmn —Felt — Clark.
Monday, April 28 —- time 8 to 9 A.M. — High School Aud.
Practice Scene IX — PATRIOTIC SCENE
Committee — Logan, Chmn.-- Kimmell —Dey — Shockey
All committee members should report for their practice. Teachers will be relieved as best we can. High school teachers will remain with their 8 to 9 class until we can relieve you for each practice your committee was called.
The following High School students will report each day for practice until they are released for practice. Remember this is from 8 to 9 o'clock.
Howard Wallace
Bill Argo
Austin Helm
Bob Renn
Raymond Rusk
Lawrence Cole
Elmer Headley
Keith Litton
Bill Seal
Bob Craig
Lloyd Poston
Tom Boys
Dean Wirth
Ted Quillen
Andy Keithline
Merle Cannon
Carl Litton
Bert Moorhead
Murray Snider
Bill Atchison
(Page 2)
(Names of people who are to report each morning until further notice).
Jack Grim Frank Thomas Mary Margaret Felt
John Hendricks Shirley Hooten Margaret Beal
Benny Jefferies Pilar Frado Barbara Reed
Paul Mclntire Betty Sparman Mary M Waugh
Gerald Thomas Mildred Harris Thelma Stands
John Baucom Marta Pound Marion Weaver
Bob Gaddie Viola Wood Helen Miller
Harold Headley Mary Sherrard Dorothy Foley
Dean Miller Jean Saunders Ethel Johnson
Buddy Pearson Colleene Gasper Arlene Little
Arnold Weigand Collette Gasper Lois Overby
Dean Beard Mary Lindsey Thelma Hobbs
Robert Brown Esther Shoffner Dorothy Landreth
John Agee Frances Belshaer Georgina Adams
Harold LaFary Mary Ruth Diggs Fanny Jane Jones
Dean Nichols Rolla Ordway Patti Ate
Gene Porter Rosemary Bowers Lela Bishop
John Ternes Vivian Farnsworth Maxine Tisdall
Walter Cox Carlene Ash Florence Dailey
Carl Ward Virginia Baker Clareca Davis
Ted Quillen Rachel Bolay Nadine Luster
Gillis Burkhart Dorothv Cooley
There will be two days left (April 29 and 30).
After each scene of the pageant has been rehearsed. This will be used to catch up on the odd ends of pageant details.
In the High School the hour that is left out each day will be the hour where students will meet in their classrooms from 8:00 to 9:00 each morning. Please explain this to the students. It seems not to have been quite clear to some of them.
TEACHERS: Please read this list of names and practices to your students so they will know when they are to report. Keep this bulletin at hand where it can be referred to for questions from students.
When practices are over at 9:00 a.m. all high school students will remain in the auditorium until classes change at 9:10 a.m.
(These pages were transcribed from extremely faded copies of Dorothy Dey's Pageant Script Working Copy.)
Committees
Electrical Ed Schrag, Chairman
Lynn Randels
Art Onah Riley, Chairman
Esther Evans
Dorothy Harvel
Susie Wyckoff

Woodwork Harold Cessna, Chairman
Kenneth Lewis
Clifford Barnhart

Costumes Jane Swartz, Chairman
Jane Sherrard
Mary Ruth Morrow
Christine Whinery
Lora Lynn

Stage Managers Warren Willey, Chairman
Melvin Buzzard
Lawrence Maris
Norville Neve
John Ames

Libretto Harley Stamm, Chairman
Pauline Shockey
Dorothy Dey

Dramatic Advisors Esther Felt
Dorothy Trekell

Music Clark Evans
Mildred Kirmmell
Nina Waterman
Dorothy McCall
Charlaine Armstrong
Helen Louise Smith
Willisene Hoyer
Kathryn Harrell

Disciplinary Eleanor Markley Mary Shriver
Helen Galloway Iona Vaughn
Bertha Clark Nelle Mitchell
Anita Martin Dorothy Jones
Harley Stamm Lela Cobb
Cletis Jones
Myrtle Fisher
Thelma Porter
Nidella Logan
Christine Sniggs
Ola Evans

Dances & Physical Education Loramae Vickers
Lucille Bussard
General Publicity Claude Kissick, Chairman
Narrator Willard Flaming
Pageant of the History of Wellington
(Narrators description of the selection and surveying of the selection and surveying of the townsite)
Scene I. The First Church Service
(April 9, 1871)
(Scene) An unfinished house,
1. Prayer
2. Hymns
3. Narrator remarks concerning the sermon preached
4. Hymn
5. Benediction

(Approximate time)
10 minutes

(Narrator tells the story of the famous furrow)
Scene II. Wellington's First Fourth of July Celebration
(July 4, 1871)
1. Crowd gathering
2. Flag raising
3. Quartette - singing
4. Contests - Climbing a greased pole; chasing a greased
pig; sack race; pie eating contest.
3. Dance - Waltz, Square Dances

Scene III. The First Session of Court
(Music by Band)
(Details to be worked out)

(Narrator describes the building and dedication of the first school house.)
(9th and B - 1872)

Scene IV. Wellington's First Christmas Tree
(Scene) The School House
Christmas tree from Slate Creek decorated with a few candles, homemade trinkets and wrapped in green tissue paper. The building is lighted with six tapers stuck in bottles.
1. Christmas Carols
(Nativity scene behind the curtain in silhouette with a panorama of passing characters)

Scene V. The Indian Scare
1. Indian Camp
Dances, songs, games.
(Curtain)
2. Narrator reads the story of the Indian scare
3. Hanging of the four horse thieves who caused the scare (One short scene in silhouette)
Scene VI. The Coming of the Railroad (Santa Fe)
(Narrators description)
1. Scene showing the locomotive and the driving of the last Spike.
(In silhouette)
2. Railroad workers - in camp singing railroad work songs
Scene VII. The Period Between 1890 - 1914
(Narrators Description)
1. A bicycle built for two.
2. Act from a "Gay Ninties"
Vaudeville
3. The movies - (One reel of silent film)
4. The new automobile
(Merry Oldsmobile)
(Got Out and Get Under)
Scene VIII. Wellington Works, Plays, Sings and Swings
(Narrators description of Progress)
1. Panorama of activities including----—
A. Football B. Choruses
C. Physical Education
D. Twirlers
E. Basketball
F. Pep Club G. Band
H. Various Phases of class work and grade school activities.
Scene IX. Patriotic Scene
1. Spanish American War Period 2. World War Period 3. Modern Patriotism
Pageant of the History of Wellington
Trumpet Call
Voice: This is the story of our town, Wellington, which today is an attractive, progressive, friendly community but where, only seventy years ago, there was naught but broad prairie acres and a few sturdy pioneers who saw the vision of that which was
to be.
Narrator: The history of Wellington really begins seventy-one years ago, in 1870, when the first settlers began their trek into southern Kansas that they might seek claims and establish homes on the broad prairies amid the Indian tepees and the buffalo wallows,
By July 20, 1870, when the first census was made, there were in this locality sixteen dwellings and twenty inhabitants, of whom sixteen were men and four were women. The latter were the daughters of the oldest man in the County, Ric Greaves. In 1870 all these gave their address as Wichitaw.
However a year later caravans of homeseekers began to arrive and thus it was that on April 2, 1871, the Wellington Town Company, consisting of Dr. P. A. Wood, Capt. L. K. Myers, Dr. C. R. Godfrey, Major A. A. Randall, A. A. Jordan, John S. McMahan, R. A. Davis and John P. McCullough, laid out the lots for the town of Wellington. Mrs. McCullough, the mother of Mrs. H. W. Andrews, who is the only person now in Wellington who has lived here continuously since then, cooked dinner for these eight men on that day. On, April 4, Capt. Myers, who was the father of Mrs. W. M. Martin, began surveying the town site. Mr. R. A. Davis, an Englishman, who was a great admirer of the Duke of Wellington, was responsible for the selection of the name for the new town.
Trumpet Call
Voice: And they who had the vision of our town, Wellington, realized that only through the help of God could their dream come true. Thus they assembled to worship and give thanks to Him.
Narrator; On April 9, 1871, the residents of the very young settlement gathered together to attend the first church service in Welling-
ton. The meeting was held in an unfinished house belonging to
A. W. Shearman, which was used as a place of abode by the founders of the little town and also was opened on April 15 as Wellington's first merchantile establishment. All the settlers near at hand were present for this first religious service. The minister was a Reverend Shafer, who had been staying for some time with the McCulloughs. His daughter played a small melodean to accompany the singing.
(The curtain rises on Scene I — the first church service)
SCENE I - FIRST CHURCH SERVICE
The curtain is drawn and the people are seated or standing around the house listening (Women seated, men and boys stand in or around the house)

As the curtain opens Howard Wallace offers prayer (not as a minister but as
a member of the congregation).
’’Dear God, We ask Thee to bless us on this day. Help us with our new venture, May we always remember that Thou art the best, the only guide for our future."
In Jesus’ name - Amen
Hymn: "Come Ye, Thankful People". Group sing the first verse, and joined
by the regular chorus for the remainder.
Sermon: (remarks by Howard) ’’Folks, we’re here to start a new town. No
one knows how successful we’ll be, but one thing that always contributes to the success of any community is the church. Somehow it just seems to hold things together. Everybody is happier and a whole lot more hopeful if there is a church on which to rely. We are starting out by giving the church an important part in our town. By the Grace of God may it always remain so in Wellington.
Hymn: "Onward Christian Soldiers"
Benediction: (Howard) - "Our Father, we ask Thee to be with us during the coming
week. Help us and guide us in all that we do.
In Christ’s name - Amen

(Day time scene - no lights, but just dim out at end and wipe out scenes then pull curtain)
Properties: A few song books, benches (boards and nail kegs), several Bibles in
congregation).
(Curtain falls on Scene I)

Narrator:
*
Narrator:
From the day of that first church service until now, Wellington has always boon a "church town”# For some time thoro was no church or school building in Wellington but thoro was preaching ovory Sunday in a room of the hotol hy ministers of different denominations* Thoro was a Sunday School organization supported by donations and a "mile" society and everybody attended regardless of membership or religious beliefs*
Somewhat later temporary organizations of tho various religous groups wore effected and meetings wore held abovo business houses, in the back of stores, or whorover ompty spaco was available. The Presbyterian Church was organized first on June 23, 1872, by the Reverend W* W® Boggs of Oxford with seven charter members. On June 13. l880. «hcy dedicated their first house of worship. This buiidirg was destroyed by tho cyclono and tho present building -was dedicated October 31* 1297* In 1873 the Methodists met for the first time in tho schoolhouse ana that same year they built their first church. In 1386 a brick church was constructed at the comer of Fourth and G Streets which was re placed in 1913 by tho building that now stands on Harvey Avenue. May 21, 1879, was the beginning of tho Baptist Church in Wellington. Their first building was dedicated on Easter Sunday 3.882 and the church used at present was completed in 1918. Tho Christians held their first service in tho court room of the old stone court house. The first • minister was called in 1884; a brick church was built in 1908 011 the same site where the church now in use was built in 1923* The first meeting of the Lutheran group was hold in November 1887; the group was organized July 14, 1888; their church was finished in May 1892 and, destroyed by tho cyclone, was rebuilt and dedicated on January 13, l893» In 1897 the Catholic Church held a mooting in a frame structure located on East Lincoln Stroot. Tho present church was dedicated in 1902. The Seventh Day Adventist Church was organized March 3, 1901 and until their church was built a year or so later, they met in private homes and a rented hall over one of the store buildings. The Church of Christ, Scientist, was built in 1912. The exact date of the Church of Christ's organization is not known, but they met a number of years on North H Street until the present building was dedicated on October 13, 1933.
In 1871, about the same timo that the Wellington Town Company began their settlement, several other towns alwo saw their beginning in Sumner County; Those wore Oxford, which was at first called Nop-ta-wah, Caldwell, Belle Plaine, Moridian and Sumner City. When the county seat fight was ended, Meridian and Sumner City were moved a part of Wellington. Although no one scorns to know just why Meridian was abandoned, tho early-day residents of Wellington relate an interesting story of Sumner City, which was located where the Old Chisholm Trail crossed Slate Creek, three miles north and five miles west of Wellington.
In 1872 Sumner City was a flourishing city. Its hotel, blacksmith shJUP, litrery stable, and general store were the beginnings*of a metropolis. The great wagon trains, often twenty-five teams long, which followed the Chisholm Trail from Wichita, passed through Sumner City and not through Wellington. The great bellowing herds from Texas, following the Trail, lumbered through Sumnor City and not through Wellington*
And so the enterprising citizens of Wellington, well aware of the importance of such "tourist trade" in the impending county seat contest, decided to do something to attract the travelers away from their rival

city. Some of the doughty frontiersmen went to a point well south of Wellington and ploughed a great curving furrow across the prairies. The curve swung away from the rival town and took in Wellington, coming back to the trail far north of Sumner City at Clearwater, Guides were posted at the state line, and when the herders asked about the way to Wichita, the guides answered: ’’Follow the Furrow”. The herders did follow the furrow, Sumner City was left abandoned, Wellington got the cattle trade and the county seat.
Trumpet Call
Voice And they who had the vision of our town, Wellington, were well aware that there must be festive occasions to lighten the hardships endured by these robust pioneers. Thus, eagerly they made plans to celebrate the Fourth of July.
Narrator July 4, 1871, was a memorable occasion in the history of Wellington. Although, the community was but ten weeks old, and there wore only 117 men and 13 ladies present, nevertheless the audience included every man, woman, and child that lived within miles of the city. Early in the morning the people began to assemble that they might mot miss out-on any of the events of the glorious day. By half past one, when all. had arrived, they sat down together at a rough table of planks which had been arranged near the site of the present Stewart Store. The men had gone to Slate Creek and cut poles for a frame which was constructed above the tables and covered with branches as protection from the blazing sun. The basket dinner, in which venision and buffalo moat was the principal item, was free to all. It is said that enough food was left over for another meal, so it was packed, put in the cellar of the Bates hotel and used for supper. A swing was set up just west of the tables for the children.
There is no record that hundreds of dollars of firworks were wasted, but it is recorded that patriotic men raised the flag pole, seventy-five feet high, and the loyal ladies made a flag, ten by twenty feet, which floated all day long over the young city. Old-timers tell the tale that from the second story windows of the Bates Hotel one could view the flag raising at Sumner City. How the Wellington crowd did cheer when their flag floated out from the top of the pole first. Reverend Shafer delivered the oration. Although there was no hundred piece band to parade in splendid uniforms, yet these stocky frontiersmen stood with their wives and daughters and sang national hymns and songs to the music of Mrs. William N. Smith’s melodoan and Dr. Godfrey’s fiddle.
When night came they had a regular county dance at the Rosencran's Hotel. Messrs. Godfrey, Fargo, and Smith furnished the music and Ab Shearman called off the square dances. It was a day long remembered by all.
The Curtain rises on Scene II
Scene
Wellington’s First Fourth of July Celebration
Street scone in background. There are picnic tables and benches and an arbor sheltering the tables. Nearby is a flagpole on which a flag has been run up. Some people are sitting at the tables,
some are moving about.
The orator for the day speaks—
"And now in conclusion my fellow citizens, our thriving city has always been first in many ways. It was first at dawn of this fair day, when our flag was raised on high before that of our rival neighbor, Sumner City. I have called your attention to to the fact that now, several brick and stone buildings and numerous frame buildings are now to be seen, where only a few weeks ago Buffalo wallows and Indian teepees stood.
We fondly hope and believe that this fine Democratic Government of ours will soon grant at least a section of land -- Yes
360 acres of rolling prairie to every man willing to prove it up.
Wagon trains will continue to come from Wichita, bringing needed provisions, until in the near future railroads will take their place. This town will grow until it reaches Slate Creek on the south and to the north farm after farm will become city lots.
Friends and neighbors, some of you may even live to ride in a mule drawn street car. Some of you may see the day when the streets of this city will be lighted by gas lights. And I can even see into the future when prosperity will have increased to such an extent that in place of the wagons that we now see, fine comfortable carriages will carry you to and fro on our new roads.
There will be hardships, we all know that. Though crop failures and drouths may come we must keep the faith of our fore fathers, who almost a century ago brought forth a new nation, as Abraham Lincoln, our late president said, "A nation which is conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal."
Master of ceremonies take charge:
"Let us all rise and sing," (Rises and starts singing) (fiddle and melodeon join in.) 1. Battle Hymn of the Republic
2. Tenting on the Old Camp Ground •
"Now, Step forward ladies and gentlemen to carry on the festivities of the occasion!"
Relays: sack, potatoes and pie eating contest
Following this the lights dim and the square dance at night takes place. Someone plays the fiddle and the melodean for the singing and dancing.
The curtain falls on Scene II


Narrator Before the excitement of the Fourth of July was forgotten, the citizens had become interested in the agitation over the choice of a county seat for Sumner County. In spite of the fact that in 1870 Governor Harvey had appointed a commission to organize this county, the only thing that had been done was to pitch a tent on the banks of Slate Creek some two miles from Wellington. Here the commissioners spent their time hunting, fishing, playing cards and loafing.
When the first election was held on September 26, 1871, Wellington received the most votes with Oxford running a close second. A second election was held to decide the contest between the two towns. One day while waiting for this election a dozen men, believing that possession was nine-tenths of the law, started for the commissioners' camp to move them and the county books to Wellington. Just as they arrived, they spied, coming over the rise in the prairie, a strong party from Oxford on exactly the same errand. As the Oxfordites became aware of the situation, they gave a yell, whipped up their horses and came up just after the books had been thrown into the wagon for Wellington. A lively time ensued and hot words wore exchanged furiously. Having left one commissioner and the coat-tails of a second to the valiant rivals from Oxford, the Wellington party drove off at a lively gait with two commissioners and the county books.
The second election resulted in an easy victory for Wellington, but on the day set for the official canvass of the vote, the wily Oxford citizens sent a lawyer with the necessary papers to enjoin the commissioners from canvassing the vote. While the lawyer was spending the night before the canvass at the hotel, his papers, carefully stowed away inside of his coat, were substituted for others less valuable. Very chagrined was the rising young attorney next morning when he discovered he had presented only blank sheets of paper to the commissioners. The board gave him a short time to produce the correct papers, but as they were not forthcoming, the votes were counted with Wellington receiving the majority. Thus on April 9, 1872, Wellington was duly declared the county seat of Sumner County.
Trumpet Call
Voice And they who had the vision of our town, Wellington, decreed that there
should be law and justice here and that no man should suffer undue harm and no man should escape whatever punishment his misdemeanours merited.
Narrator The first session of court held in Wellington convened on April 10, 1872, with Judge W. P. Campbell of Eldorado presiding. There were twelve cases on the docket. C. S. Brodbent was the first clerk of the court and D.
N. Caldwell the first practicing attorney in Wellington.
Mr. Caldwell came to this city on September 11, 1871, to take up the practice of law. The following year he returned to Bloomington, Ill., to be married. On July 17, 1872, the young attorney and his bride, having traveled to Wichita be rail and thence to Wellington by covered wagon, arrived here to set up housekeeping. Two months later they moved to the location where Mrs. Caldwell still resides. Mr. Caldwell participated in two bitter county seat controversies and otherwise had much to do with the development of southern Kansas. A short time after this community was incorporated as a third class city on November 3, 1874,
Mr. Caldwell was elected the first mayor of Wellington and served the full term of two years. In the following years he held numerous other public offices, and when he retired a few years before his death, he had served the citizens of Wellington as a legal adviser for over sixty years.
A little frame building, moved from Meridian and placed on North Washington Avenue, did duty as Wellington's first court house. In 1874 a two story stone building was erected on the present site of the City Hall by the Wellington Township. The county leased the structure for ten years and paid rent by finishing the building. Since the lease expired in 1884, the county commissioners were authorized, by the November election of 1882, to levy a tax of five mills for the years 1883 and 1884, to provide for a new court house. Frank White and Squire Smith received the contract to build, for $56,900, according to the specifications, the largest and most conveniently arranged public building in the West. This court house, which was completed on May 3, 1883, served the county until it was condemned in July 1940.
However when the first term of court assembled, none of those buildings were yet available so the session was held in a frame building just west of the present Baptist Church and parsonage.

Very crude and meager was the furniture in the court room. A big wooden box served as the judge’s desk. There were two battered tables for the accommodation of the lawyers. Behind a railing stood several battered round-back chairs which had been provided for the jury. Boxes
and boards, ranged around the walls, furnished seats for the by-standers. The trial docket consisted of a single sheet of foolscap and the bar docket and the journal were of the same.
From such a humble beginning as this first court came the splendid legal facilities enjoyed by the citizens of Wellington today.
(The Curtain rises on Scene III - The First Session of Court)
Scene (Interior of the first school house be used as stage setting with the
following properties.
a. Big wooden box or stand for judge’s desk.
b. Two battered tables.
c. Round-back chairs for jury.
d. Railing in front of jury chairs, o. Gavel, spitoons.
Costumes be those of ordinary dress of the time with the exception that the judge and lawyers werar black with flowing ties.
First Session of Court
Time: The session of court opens at 10 A.M. It is a warm spring
morning, April 10, 1872. Wellington has won the County Seat-fight the day preceding.
Characters: Judge Campbell-rough enforcer of the moral code in all the
13th Judicial District. He wears black suit, flowing tie, stiff collar.
Burns, Lawyer - A young, rather awkward fellow, wears a black suit,
somewhat wrinkled and worn.
Randolph, Plaintiff’s Lawyer-A well-kept shrewd looking man,
hair parted in middle, black suit.

Stickey, Defendant-A mild sort of man, roughly dressed, hair unkept yet showing signs of a comb, a very
deserving man.

Jones, Plaintiff - burly, rough looking man in overalls, wears
heavy hobnail shoes, very dirty.

Clerk of Court-Very efficient sort of person, moves quickly,
precise, neatly dressed, rather effeminate.
Sheriff-Robust, big, makes his presence felt yet says not a word.
Jury-Fivo men, roughly dressed with one exception; All proud of duty given them. Actions betray character of each.
As the scene opens the Sheriff has one foot on a chair and is chewing (tobacco) loudly. The jury is just being sworn in by the distracted Clerk, aghast at each man’s lack of dignity. The judge appears very stern and self-important.
Clerk "Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help you God?”
Juror I do - If I hafta. Thats' what the Jedge there says."
Judge Campbell (raps on desk, which is a large wooden box) "The
court come to order. You who’er so jubilant about your county seat victory yesterday - lets’ have some
law and order. Lawyer Burns what’s your plea?”

Bums, Defendant’s Lawyer ”Here, John Stickey, come up to the stand
and tell your story.”
Clerk of Court (holding Bible, swears in defendant) Do you - (repeated
quickly).
Burns (Loud voice) "Is it right, Mister Stickey, that you filed a
claim on your piece of land?”
Stickey "Shore is, filed that claim last July. Why, I been livin’ out there on the piece. Mike Johnson, warn’t you out to my place during that blizzard last January. Sure, he was. Mike knows, (points to Mike, one of the jurors.)
Burns: "Now, Stickey, what we want is the facts. Who'd you file your
claim with and when?"
Stickey (Thumb in his overall strap. Speaks as if memorized) "Filed it last July 3. Came to town for the Fourth of July Celebration. Filed it with Mr. Albert Homer Noodhuff, blacksmith down on main street."
Randolph, Plaintiff's Lawyer "I object, your honor. There’s no such filed
claim on record. My client has as much legal right to that land as Stickey there. Everybody knows he went back to Illinois for his family and up and left the claim."
Stickey "Not for long, you———-"
Judge "Objection sustained. Proceed, Mr. Randolph.
Randolph (walks quickly to stand, concerned) "Mr. Stickey, did you or did you not threaten to shoot my client on the sight if he didn’t get off your land? Speak up!(Silence follows.)
Randolph (to Judge) Wal, now if Stickey won’t defend himself, I reckon you better hear something from my client here, Mr. Mort Jones."
Jones (a huge follow, walks awkwardly to stand). "Here I am. Just try and make a liar out of me. (as he pushes aside the clerk of the court) What I done, I done, and I say the land’s mine.

All of it - got my tent pitched on it, hain’t I - no splittin’ up with Stickey, thar, the lamb."
Stickey "Split up, my land, I say you won’t. And if anybody could make anything but a liar out of you, Mort Jones, you cattle rustler."

Jones "Why, I’ll be. You upstart. I’ll fix you. Just name the time and place."
Judge Campbell "Here, gentlemen, but that is a mighty big name for you.
Burns and Randolph, do you have any facts, any witnesses.
Can’t prove a thing by what Stickey and Jones say."
Burns "Wal, Sam Adams says-—- ——"
Randolph "My chief witness said he’d be here at ten sharp but—----"
Judge (roughly)"Court or not — We’re go'in to find out about this
land. Case dismissed until tomorrow - same time."
Narrator: Among the other fine public buildings which, in the last seventy years, have been erected to serve the community are the numerous, school buildings which today dot the map of Wellington. The first school in this locality, a subscription school, was begun in 1871.
At that time the prairie grass grew so tall that children could lose their way in it so at least one father ploughed a furrow through the grass so that his children could reach school safely. Mrs. B. Cooley was the teacher.
On Sept. 19, 1872, Wellington’s first school house was completed.
Mrs. Cooley continued to teach in this school for a short time; then the community assumed the responsibility of the education of its young people and employed as teachers Prof. John T. Showalter and Mss Mary Evans, who afterwards became Mrs. Will Cox. This first school house was the customary little white one-roomed building. Its location was at the present corner of B and Ninth Streets. The playground had no limit for at that time there were no houses in the residence part now known as the First Ward. The children were not confined within the block nor feared to cross the street lest a passing auto run them down. In fact neither blocks nor streets were visible. All around was prairie, marked only by the foot paths worn by the children coming to and fro. The land around the school was covered with buffalo wallows which when water was left in them by the spring rains, made fine wading. Over the prairies roamed the children at recess and gathered daisies, sheep sorrell, wild onion blossoms and other native flowers, and, unmindful of the absence of a physical director, engaged in old-fashioned games of prison base, blackman and baseball.
The high school was organized in the old First Ward Building in 1883 with thirty pupils. It was placed on the accredited list of the State Teachers College at Emporia in 1886, the year the first class was graduated. The class was composed of Blanche Snell (salutatorian), Fred Bohanna, Morgan Martin, Fred Buttrey, Lyman Edwards, and Louise Simmons (-valedictorian). In 1891-2 the classes were held in various buildings down town while the Third Ward Building was being built. In 1892 a four year high school was organized in the present Third Ward Building which had just been completed.

In 1897 the high school became the Sumner County High School, the first county high school in the state to be accredited by the North Central Association. Thomas W. Butcher, now president of Kansas State Teachers College at Emporia, launched the county high school on its career. At that time the high school was moved from Third Ward to the old Fourth Ward School Building which stood for many years in the northwest corner of town and, with numerous additions during the passing years, served young people from all over the county for over a quarter of a century. On July 1, 1920, the county high school was taken over by the city and became the Wellington High School. The student body moved, in January, 1929, from the old brick structure on North Olive to the fine building now in use.

Trumpet Call

Voice: And they who had the vision of our town, Wellington, were moved by the Christmas season much as are the people of today. Therefore, bearing gifts for their friends, they gathered together in true holiday gladness.
Song - In Excelsis Deo -


Narrator During the days of the union Sunday School there was a union Christinas tree each year. All of the community brought presents for family and friends to deck the tree, and after the Sunday School program, the presents were distributed. This custom was later abandoned for the Sunday School children's treat.
The Curtain rises on Scene IV - The First Christmas.
Curtain opens with school house in middle of stage, candles are lighted and spot light is centered on the room. decorated Christmas tree

The chorus is singing "In Excelsis Deo", and part of the people are singing
while others are taking charge of the decoration of the tree. Curtain Goes Up
After the song has been finished.
First Party: "This is our first Christinas in Wellington, our new home.
on the prairie."
Second Party: "Remember how we celebrated Christmas back east?"

_____________"We had a real pine tree".

"And a yule log.

First Party: "Yes, but we have our own land here and a chance to get
for ourselves all the things we’ve ever had and much more."
A little boy who has been cutting intently suddenly stands and holds up a string of paper-dolls he has made.
"See what I’ve made for the Tree."
Everyone laughs and some assist in putting his contribution on the tree. The children join hands and dance around the tree, some standing back and clapping rhythm only. "Deck the Hall with boughs of Holly."
As they finish some child goes to the teacher’s desk and brings the Bible to one of the elderly women and asks for the Christmas Story. The woman starts to read:
"And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all should bo taxed.
And all went to be taxed, everyone into his own city.
And Joseph also went up from Galilie, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem.
To be taxed with Mary, his espoused wife, being great with child And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in the manger; because there was no room for them in the inn."
(Then it is taken up by the Narrator)
Narrator: "And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.


And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them: and they were sore afraid.
And the angel said unto them. Fear not: for behold I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day, in the city of David, a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.
And this shall be a sign unto you: ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes lying in a manger.
And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth, peace, good will toward men. And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which has cone to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.
And they cae with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger.
Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of Herod the King, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem,
Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.

When they had heard the King, they departed: and lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was.
And when they had come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense and myrrh.”
Scene: As the narrator reads a spot light picks up a tableaux of shepherds
and three wise men coming to the scene of nativity, which is the crib scene with the mother surrounded by angels.
The scenes are located on either side of the school house and can be spotted while the candles of the school house are extinguished and it is practically unnoticeable.
The chorus sing: ”0 Come All Ye Faithful”, during reading of Scripture and ”0 Holy Night”, while tableau is shown.
The Curtain falls on Scene IV.
|
Narrators Although the Yuletide brought the joy of giving to family and friends, however meager the gifts must necessarily be, to the pioneer the Christmas season meant also the beginning of the long hard winter when the blizzards, fiercer even than the blazing suns of July and August, swept again and again over the country-side.
Many were the hardships and privations during the early settlement of this country and at times it seemed almost impossible for a great number of the settlers to get enough food to eat and fuel to keep warm.
The crops were short and there was much malaria. The first houses were small and often were neither plastered nor ceiled. The meager household furnishings usually consisted of just enough cooking utensils to get by, a pine table, a few chairs, a bed without springs and with a tick filled with buffalo grass, a board for a cupboard and flour sacks for curtains. Usually there was no well and water had to be carried four or five blocks. Buffalo meat, bacon, and bread were the principal articles of diet and many had not that much to cat. Potatoes were used only as a side dish and often-times food was cooked with wood hauled fifty to seventy-five miles from the Indian territory. Until the coming of the railroad, coal was too expensive.
Notwithstanding the many inconveniences of early times, the settlers made the best of their surroundings and enjoyed themselves together.
No formal calls were made in those days, but friends often went to spend the day. While the children played, the women sewed and visited, the men came in at noon for dinner, and even though the homes were small, there was always room for an extra guest overnight.
In the absence of any other fruit, the house wives used the wild plum and grape to put up for winter use. Wild game was plentiful, buffalo, antelope, deer, wild turkey, quail and other small game and the streams teemed with fish. After a few years when civilization had driven the buffalo westward, men used to form hunting parties and go to the unsettled counties of Harper and Barbour for buffalo. It was on one such hunting expedition in early winter that a party of men were overtaken one night by one of those sudden and severe blizzards. The next morning, with no protection and unable to (start) get a fire and cook on the open prairie on account of the strong wind, they, walking beside their wagons to keep from freezing, made their way as best they could to the canyons of Barbour County. Here they found shelter and were able to make a fire and thus survive for a few days until the storm passed and they were able to return home. The most of the men, being young and hearty, escaped with only frozen cars, fingers, and toes, but Reuben Riggs, who was getting along in years, could not withstand the exposure and died a few days after returning home. The years of 1871, '72, '73 were feast years compared to 1874, the year that brought the Indian scare, drouth, and the grasshoppers. On July 25, 1874, the grasshoppers came in such vast numbers that they literally darkened the sun and completely destroyed that little which was left of what had been the prospects of a good crop until dimmed by drouth. The swarms of green insects ate the leaves off the trees and stripped the corn so that the fields looked like canebrakes in the dead of winter. There was much suffering during the following winter among people as well as livestock that it was a guess how people could get through the winter. Many had to be assisted in the way of food and clothing. These were the times that tried the souls and mettle of the early settlers. Some gave up in despair and drifted back to their old homes while others, with mere nerve and determination,
stuck to the country and won a home despite hardships, drouth, grasshoppers and Indian scares.

Trumpet Call
Voice: And they who had the vision of our town, Wellington, learned one
day to their astonishment that not yet had they conquered the broad acres and won them entirely from those earlier inhabitants, the wild Indians who first roamed those wide-open plains.
Narrator: No early day settler of Wellington ever forgot the year of 1874.
That was the year of the drouth, the grasshoppers, and the great Indian scare.
The United States.of America tried to locate a band of Sioux in
the Indian territory...The Sioux would not stay. They started home
but General Miles brought them back. When the Sioux set out for home a second time, the Osages became stirred up in the general excitement and went on the war path.


The curtain rises on Scene V — The Indian Scare (outdoor background)

Scene—Indian camp life—games, songs, no music except tom-tom-
The curtain falls on Scene V
Narrator: The news that the Indians were coning spread like wild fire. People flocked to the towns for protection and Wellington, in one night, from a town of four or five hundred became a metropolis of two thousand. Nearly every house wife in the community fed and housed more than a dozen people for several days. Governor Osborn of Kansas issued the call to arms. Three military companies were organized, one at Arkansas City, one at Wellington, and one at Medicine Lodge, Tom Riley was captain of the Wellington company. The men marched out. Those on horseback rode ahead to scout for the Indians only to discover that all was peaceful. When it became known that there was no Indian uprising, the people went back to their claims, Wellington and her neighboring towns again resumed their normal population.
In the early days there was no dam on Slate Creek, but there was a heavy growth of weeds and underbrush with here and there a wildcat. On the far bank much of the time were dozens of Indian tepees and many painted and blanketed Indians. Actually the Indians were harmless, but "Indian scares" came with such frequency that many parents lived in terror. With no railroad, telephone or telegraph, many rumors were accepted as stark truth. Whenever there came a report of Indians on the warpath, the women and children would gather into the second story of the courthouse while the men, heavily armed, remained downstairs to man every window against the attack. Scouts were sent towards the Indian country to spy on the enemy and report the first sign of a raid. None ever came.
When the ranchers and herders returned home after one such night behind their barricade, they discovered what had been responsible for that particular rumor of an Indian attack. Three stock thieves, taking advantage of the deserted farms, had made a great haul that night. So incensed were the victims of the thievery that they tracked down the guilty robbers and finally captured them in a wooden caboose. The vigilantes pinned on the breast of each a green piece of paper bearing the word "Horse Thief" and hanged just south of the Slate Creek bridge. After that stock thievery was not so rampant for there was spread far and wide the tale of the three horse thieves named Brooks, Hasbrook, and Smith.
(3 minute intermission—audience may stand and rest)
Trumpet Call Scene VI is the Railroad Scene
Trumpet Call
Voice: And they who had the vision of our town, Wellington, realized at
last the fulfillment of one of their greatest dreams, the coming of the railroad.
Narrator: In 1872 the nearest railroad was at Cottonwood Falls with a stage line to Wichita. A little later the stage line was extended to Wellington and the railroad to Wichita, which place remained the terminus for several years. All goods had to be freighted by means of the covered wagon, drawn by horses or oxen, and streams forded as there were no bridges. These same covered wagons, with lighter spring wagons and horseback riding on Indian ponies were means of conveyance for the settlers also. In 1873, taking the stage in the morning Wichita, a traveler to Wellington came through Derby, then called ElPaso, to a pontoon bridge crossing the Arkansas River
at about the site of Mulvane, though Mulvane was not yet thought of.


From there the stage traveled on to Belle Plaine where a stop was made for dinner and a change of horses. From Belle Plaine the road came straight across the country and crossed Hargis Creek about two blocks north of Community Park. The traveller from Wichita to Wellington, have-ing set out early that morning, reached his destination that afternoon about four o' clock. In 1877 when the Hunter Mill was moved to Wellington from Bloomington, Ill., it was shipped by rail to Wichita, floated on barges down the Arkansas River to Oxford and moved by wagons to Wellington.
Such were the problems of transportation in the early day. Late in the year 1878 rumors became rife that the Santa Fe was to be. extended to Wellington. Eventually a camp for the railroad workers was constructed and men seeking employment on the new project began to drift into the community. Great was the excitement as the rails approached nearer and nearer# An old nap gives the exact location where the Santa Fe located their first depot. If put back now, it would cover the ground on which a few years ago Mr. Charles Martin built his home* The platform would extend out into Seventeenth Street towards the Washington School and would also reach a short distance into Washington Avenue# The station building stood, northeast and southwest.
The coming of the Santa Fe Railroad brought a great boom to Wellington in the early eighties, and the large salt mines in or near the town attracted hundreds of people from distant states* The growth of the community was phenomenal. In 1871 there had been but eight business houses in the little village. In 1878 the population had increased to approximately a thousand and frame buildings were scattered along two blocks of Washington Avenue. By the year 1886 the population had been increased to 7157. Street and lots were laid out far east of Prairie Lawn Cemetery, two miles east of the present limits on Highway 160, west to Slate Creek, and north to the old fairgrounds. Lots far from the built-up portion of town were priced as high as $3000. Street car tracks were laid on Washington Avenue, out to the fairgrounds, and to the northwest of the city and southeast to the Southern Kansas Railroad, located near the present site of the yards# Motive power for the cars was provided by mules. From March 1, 1883, to July 1, 1884, alone, 432 residences and 31 new business houses were built.
At this time there were four miles of street railway, three schools with accommodations for a thousand pupils and seventeen teachers, a business college, the Woods Opera House, the Arlington Hotel, the Marble Block (where the Smith Clothing Store is now), the court house, four banks, and the city water works.
With the progress of years the board sidewalk appeared and the lamp post with its dim gas light along the streets, the picket fence and phaetons.
Though perhaps no one ever dreamed of the progress that would follow the coming of the railroad, no wonder there was great excitement on that day in 1879 when the final spike was driven and the railroad came at last to Wellington.
MAYOR: Ladies and gentlemen: The coming of this Santa Fe Railroad into our city fulfills our fondest hopes and ambitions. Our dreams are coming true.


We are proud of our little city and this occasion today adds to our desire to make Wellington one of the most important wheat shipping centers of the middle west.
For a long time we have been looking foreward to this with expectancy to this day when the driving of this last spike will connect us with other parts of our great country.



The Curtain rises on Scene VI — The Coming of the Railroad (outdoor background)
A railroad work camp: Workers come in with dinner pails and work tools, singing "I’ve Been Working on the Railroad”• Some enter the building, others wash outside at the wash bench, others sit beside barrels and boxes and begin playing horse shoes, mumble peg, or whittling.
An engineer enters and sings a verse of "Casey Jones"; all join in on the chorus. (School chorus sings also)
A quartette assembles and sings "0, Susanna". A bell rings; the group exits as if going in to supper. As the group leaves, the music begins to "She’ll Be Coming Round the Mountain”, and while the music continues the curtain drops briefly to remove a few of the stage properties. (and lights go down.)
As the curtain rises (music still continues) a train bell and whistle are heard, and the first train has arrived in Wellington.

People off the train enter left.
People from town enter right.
Among those present are the Mayor, Railroad Officials, Indians, workers and town people.
The Mayor gives his welcome. The Railroad Official hands the Mayor a gold spike which he places in the rail and tie. The official then hands him a sledge hammer and the spike is driven in.
Just at the finish of the above scene the band strikes up "I've Been Working On the Railroad" and the chorus sings a special arrangement of it.
The curtain falls on Scene VI.
Narrator But boom days cannot last forever. The bubble was finally pricked
and the wild speculation collapsed. The population did not decrease, however, to any great extent until the strip opened in 1893. At that time fully half of the population of all the border towns left to seek new homes. By 1895 there wore only 3500 people residing in Wellington.
With the nineties there came a more steady, substantial development to the community, but in that decade there came also the worst catastrophe in the city’s entire history, the cyclone which struck about nine o’clock on the evening of May 27, 1892.
The day had been sultry and oppressive and the air seemed filled with electricity. It was a wild, terrifying evening. Trees, whipped furiously by the wind, bent dangerously — only to straighten and stand completely motionless in the moments of calm which alternated frequently with the violent gusts. The heavy storm cloud which began to bank up on the western horizon showed almost green, as nearly incessant lightning ripped zig-zag lines through its rolling folds and set off resounding thunderbolts which added to the night’s terror. Shortly after eight o’clock it began to rain, first gently, and then gradually the storm increased in violence till the water fell in sheets and the wind rose to the proportions of a tempest.
About a quarter of nine there was a brief lull and then the storm broke forth with renewed fury. As the wind increased to a gale, to the attent ears of five thousand people, there came the indescribably, unmistakable roar of the cyclone, and the whirling, death-dealing cloud, on its mission of devastation, went roaring, smashing, thundering by. The clamor of the storm was intensified by the din of falling walls and rolled-up metal roofs and the crash of collapsing buildings as they went to pieces like eggshells. Clouds of debris and wreckage, roofs of houses and heavy timbers, were driven before the furious blasts like straw and sent dashing into the structures still standing in the path of the tornado. It was all over in an instant. Before people had time to realize, to think, or to act, the horror was upon them, had done its fell work in the darkness, and was gone.

The storm, which probably had followed a course parallel to the Santa Fe tracks, had originated near Harper, where the depot, elevators, and other buildings were laid flat, and box, stock, and coal cars were piled up, mashed, twisted and strewn around. It entered the city from the southwest, swept across G Street north of 8th Street, jumped the houses facing F Street, but dropped down again and took practically everything from the west side of Jefferson to the east side of town.

As it crossed the Rock Island track, in the draw below, it picked up, as though they were toys, two large box cars and carried them clear over to the Santa Fe track, leaving them in the ravine beside the grade. The Presbyterian Church was struck broadside and toppled over; the Episcopal Chapel was reduced to a shapeless mass. Washington Avenue, between 7th and 9th was so littered with wreckage that it was impassable. The rows of buildings along the street from the Court House to the Burgess Livery Stable, a distance of two blocks, went down in undistinguishable ruin. The Phillips Hotel on the corner of Seventh Street where the Antlers stands today fell like a house of cards. It was here that most of the deaths occurred. A partial list of demolished buildings, published in the paper a few days later, names twenty-five business houses. Not a brick above the first floor of the First Ward School, which had been built in 1883 at a cost of $18,000, was left standing. Many private dwellings were crushed to kindling wood but some were lifted from their foundations, twisted around, and left facing a now direction. Strewn in great disorder all over the east side of town wore rolls of metal roofing, broken doors, windows, whole sections of roof, and here and there a tree, stark and bare of leaf, some actually denuded of their protective bark. Fire broke out in the Cole-Robinson Building on the Eighth Street corner a few minutes after the storm, added to the terror and confusion.

Out of the calamity came many stories, some weird, some humorous, some almost unbelievable. The New Lutheran Church, used for the first time only the Sunday before, was turned upside down on its steeple, but the floors remained intact, the chairs as they were, and the Bible still open at the same page used the previous Sunday. A four-by-four, sixteen feet long, was driven into the hard road by the Christian Church and was not broken. A barber and his customer were found dead side by side, the barber with the razor still in his hand, the customer with his face half-shaved. About a mile and a half west of town a farmhouse was blown away and the farmer was found dead on his featherbed high in tree-tops. (when help came all that remained was a
featherbed on which the farmer who had been an invalid was lying.

Two children, blown from a block or two away, landed in the First Ward schoolyard and recognized eachother when the lightning flashed.
Lumber from the Rock Island Lumber Company was carried along by the wind and then dropped down in a neat pile in a backyard several blocks away# As soon as possible after the storm the bewildered residents of the community started the appalling task of rescue and restoring of order# Men piled boxes on a bonfire to make light to help with the work of searching the wrecked buildings for the dead and injured# A hospital was set up in the homo of Clarence Smith and the scores of people who wore hurt were taken there. Most Wellington men and women worked all that night,
Saturday and Saturday night clearing up the wreckage and caring for the dead and wounded. And when the task was finishing, there
were thirteen bodies lying side by side in a darkened church#

During the next few days fifteen thousand strangers roamed about the streets and clambered over the ruins; Wichita alone furnished 4500 and Winfield 1,500. People came from as far north as Herrington,
Florence, and Hutchinson and as far west as Medicine Lodge.

But as the boom days passed, so too passed the days of catastrophe. Streets were cleared, buildings and homes were rebuilt and Wellington once more was on her way toward becoming a thriving prosperous little city.
Trumpet Call
Voice The time came when they who had the vision of our town Wellington,
were gone but behind them they had left those who still carried on and strove to accomplish the fulfillment of their dream.
Narrator From the time of the cyclone until the days of the World War life in Wellington pursued the even tenor of its way; Children were bom, young people married and set up new homes, old people departed — leaving their loved ones behind. The younger generation were kept busily engaged at school — the older generation at their varied tasks. New buildings were built and the town began to assume its present-day appearance.
In 1907 Wellington boasted of about the same things as it does now, chiefly that it is situated in the heart of "one of the finest farming communities in Kansas”, the Santa Fe Division Point, and Rock Island connection, its flour mills, schools, churches,
Commercial Club, court house, and the usual run of beautiful residences. At that time there were nine newspapers in the city; four dailies and five weeklies. They were listed as follows:
The Daily Mail, The People’s Voice, The Sumner County Republican, Sumner County Star, Wellington Daily Leader, Wellington Daily News, The Monitor-Press, The Wellington Journal, and the Wellington Leader. Garages were conspicuous by their absence but several livery stables were noted, as were blacksmiths. February 3, 1909, the Woods Opera House was wrecked by fire; the National Bank of Commerce and the Wagner Novelty Company were also burned out.
The opera house which had been Wellington’s principal place of amusement had been built in 1883 by John G. Woods, the town’s wealthiest citizen and one of its most public-spirited men. It was opened in the fall of that year with a performance of "The
State’s Attorney” by the then noted comedian, John Dillon.
4
In 1907 the gas plant was built, 1908 the city building , 1910 St,
Luke’s Hospital, 1916 the city library and the Hatcher Hospital.
In 1919 the bonds were voted for the big park west of town, known now as Woods Park, and for the improvement of Community Park, now the Sellers Park. In 1922 the Memorial Hall was added to the city’s properties.
The population which had been 4245 in 1900 had increased to 7034 in 1910.

Meanwhile there were picnics and parties, holiday celebrations and entertainments at the Opera House. Occasionally a circus came to town and once a year the Chautauqua came for a week’s stay.
The more adventuresome of the community tried out the new horseless carriages and viewed with awe that strange, now sort of entertainment, the movies.
The curtain rises on Scene VII - The Period Between 1890 - 1914

Sign directing people to show——
1. Bicycle Built for Two - ride around on stage during music - pantomine to go to show.
2. Gay Nineties Dance

Curtain falls on Scene VII.
(Between Scene 7 and 8 - scit in front of "Mr. Elliott's Crazy Notion and music “Merry Oldsmobile.)
(Music fills in the time between scenes 7 and 8) ~

Trumpet Call
Voice If they who had the vision of our town, Wellington, could return
to the present Wellington with its beautiful shade trees, its
parks, its miles of paving, its splendid schools, its commodious
public buildings, and its comfortable homes, ----- surely they
would feel the dream had come true. How we wish that those men and women who endured so much seventy years ago, could enjoy
the fruit of that early beginning and the glorious fulfillment as Wellington works, plays, sings, and swings.

(Band plays a modem number)
The curtain rises on Scene VIII - Wellington Works, Plays, Sings, & Swings.
(Scenes from various school organizations)
Risers at back - School Children
Pep Club Twirlers
1941 Historical Pageant - Dorothy Dey copy
Scene VIII
Circle of little green chairs
6 - 1st graders from First Ward with primers
Teacher - Margaret Seal
2 Tables of students - books and chairs
Bill Seal - Bobby Craig - John Ternes
Arlene Little - Colleene Gasper - Collette Gasper
Mary Sherrard - Lois Overby
Arnold Wiegand(Weigand?) - Clareca Davis
Barbara Reed
Debate table - 2 chairs - Patti Ate - Bob Renn
Painter-Emma Newberry sewer - Marjorie Wood chemist
Music breaks - students re-arrange chairs in center back
Parade - Pep Club
Twirlers
Cheerleaders - Marceil - Helen - Clifford - Barbara football - Keith - Jack basketball - Frank Tomlins Duane Snyder
Music Breaks
Seniors - Evelyn Boatright
Robert Stewart
Band furnishes music 2 big tables 15 chairs 1 debate table 6 green chairs
Down front on stage - Football
Basketball Tumbling Team
The Curtain falls on Scene VIII (Music fills in part of the time between scenes 8 and9)
Trumpet Call
Voice Perhaps they who had the vision of our town, Wellington, are all
but forgotten; yet still the consciousness of their presence lingers here. Our pioneer fathers and mothers had come to stay. They, who bravely met the privations and hardships of the past, left behind them a heritage that their sons and daughters and their grandsons and granddaughters should also make whatever sacrifices might be necessary to preserve that for which they had struggled so long and had held so dear —— a town, a state, a nation where all might live abundantly.
Narrator Seventy years is a long time. Perhaps with the passing of this
era the seventy years which encompass the history of Wellington will prove among the most interesting in the history of all ages. During those seventy years the citizens of this land have known three great wars. During that time the nation has spread from the Atlantic to the Pacific and forty-eight stars have become a part of our flag. During that time has come the telephone, the electric light, the phonograph, the wireless, the X-ray, the moving picture, the talking picture, the airplane, artificial refrigeration, the radio, the automobile, the tractor, the combine.
During that time has come much new knowledge in the fields of medicine, psychology, agriculture, art, and education. During that time also have come gangsters, machine guns, and economic problems. But never during all these years has there been any lessening of loyalty and patriotism in those ideals on which this nation was founded.

Curtain rises on the first part of Scene IX.

Narrator "There is a vision in America. Today the people of America are lifting their eyes from the small, warm ways of home to watch a young country awake and stretch itself. Their hearts quicken to the tempo of steel and steam, the thrust of great machines, newly-forged. On farms and in city streets, in homes and shops and mills, their will is firm — to keep the freedom for their children that their forefathers won for them.”
1941 Historical Pageant - Dorothy Dey copy
Scene IX
1. As curtain goes up - spot the two on the rock as narrator reads "The Vision of America"
2. Spot Pioneer Mother during 2 verses of America the Beautiful
3. Spot Foreign Group - 1 verse There are Many Flags of Many Lands
4. Spot Soldiers - play "God Bless America”
5. Spot Boy & Girl Scouts - read Athenian Creed
6. Spot Liberty-add: First: 1st Red lights
2nd Red and blue lights 3rd Red, blue and white lights
7. Trumpet call for presentation of colors
8. Spot flags coming down the aisle
9. Star Spangled Banner Curtain
House Lights on







3
Step

Boy


















Girl








4 Steps

Spanish American War





03 Steps
Russian






2 Steps




03
1 Step




English



France

0
Holland


Floor

Mexico




Swede

Spain
1941 Historical Pageant - Dorothy Dey copy Vision of America
Girl - Marceil Peterson Boy - Bob Renn Foreigner
Mexican - Murray Snyder Scotland - Lloyd Poston Holland -James Quillen Spain - Tom Boys
Russian - Jean Saunders French - Mary Farmer Swede - Mildred Harris German - Louise Rengel
Soldiers - World War- Walter Cox
Harold Headley
Spanish American - Dean Miller
Gillis Burkhart
Pioneer mother Mary Margaret Felt
Flag boys - Robert Richmond
Robert Ewing
Liberty- Margaret Matthews
Wed. - begin at 2:15 - for complete rehearsal Wed. at 7:30 = scenes with lights
Scene 9 Patriotic - 7:30 = Wed =
6 - railroad
4 - Christmas

No. of People
Boy
1
Girl 1
Costumes
See McCalls Mar., 1941 P54
Properties and staging
(Patriotic Scene)
Staging
Rocky Summit 2 steps up
Lighting
Blue and purple lighting effect as in picture
Music and
Speak


We1lingtn Pageant
Description of Scene
As curtain is raised — all people on the stage — but in the darkened stage are not seen until spotlight is thrown on them -- also make use of drop curtains.___________
Narrator reads "The Vision of America”.
I.
Modern boy and girl
Write to McCalls for permission to use that speech "The Vision of America".






Movie
screen
lowered
Lights go
down and
lantern slide
of "Pioneer
Mother"

thrown on screen.
as he finishes Chorus sings "Am. the Beautiful" verses softly
II
Mr. Schrag can give information about getting that slide.
4
Boys costumes & flag Mexican Scotland (Eng. flag Holland Spain
Girls costumes and flag Russian French Swede German
Remove screen and picture of
Remove curtain from flag group International
Lights go down

"There are many flags of Many Lands".
Begin at floor level
2 step German Russian 1 step Eng. France Holland floor Mex.
Swede
Spain
Brighter lights for this III at end of 41 song and lights go lower a gradual glow in back of stage as for sunrise getting brighter at each scene.
Ill
International Grouping.
At end of this song— this group lays down flags - & gradually half turns to face the glow at back center.

As scene is changed---Solo of "Your Land and my Land" or
"I Am An American".
No. of People Costumes Properties Staging Lighting Music and Speak Description of Scene
Boy 2 2 Girl 2 World War Costumes 2 Sp. Am. War Costumes World War or 3 steps up . on 1 side. of stage balanced on other side Sp. Am. War 3 steps up Spotlights on each sid e Pick out Sp. Am. War soldiers -and World War soldier on opposite side Music to be played -not sung "God Bless America” s gradually louder IV be Sp. Am. War soldier World War soldier They gradually (not to be seen moving) face toward sunrise.
but V
3 3 3 Boy Scouts Boy Scouts continue on continued. Girl Scout -
in costume on 4 steps to pick up Boy Scouts - turning
3 Girl up these 2 toward sunrise.
Scouts in on 1 side groups.
costume. of stage These
balanced groups may
on other need to be At end of
side Girl hidden by this nar-
Scouts 4 drop cur- rator read
steps up. tains until "Let beauty
time. be the
state"
(how dressed ) VI
2 boys Liberty Full light- as narrator As boys come forward
carrying standard at ing as last finishes with flags (which side
1 Am. flag least 6 curtain Trumpet An., which side Kans.)
2 1 State flag steps up. raised to play Call from back of auditorium.
Steps from show Statue to Colors Boys go to foot of
1 Margaret auditorium of Liberty then Statue of Liberty -
Matthews for level to --bright orchestra All rest on stage turn
Liberty in the stage golden "Star toward Liberty - hands
costume for flag lights Spangled outstretched as the in
carriers. Banner". salute to flag -
Liberty in sunrise.
Stage At last of
darkened song
Boys Girls Auditorium lights on
14 9 and curtain dropped.
1941 Historical Pageant - Dorothy Dey copy

Narrator Read the Athenian Creed

We will never bring disgrace to this, our city, by any act of dishonesty or cowardice. We will fight for the ideals and sacred things of the city, both alone and with many. We will respect and obey the city's laws and do our best to make those above us, who may forget or disregard them, to do likewise. We will try always to make people realize their duty toward the city. Thus in all ways we will pass on this city - not only less, but greater, better and more beautiful than it was given to us.
The curtain falls on Scene IX

THE END
1941 Historical Pageant - Dorothy Dey copy

Constructive Criticisms

Court scene -

1. should have played up "Tiger Bill" Campbell
2. Gave dignity to all the other "firsts" of Wellington - but not to the court.

Railroad scene - boys wearing overalls not at all correct - should wear checkered shirts, jeans and red bandannas.

Original Format

Typed script, 46 pages, 8 1/2 x 11 inches, in stapled binding with typewritten cover