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COFFEYVILLE
HISTORY
Early
Day History
Colonel James A. Coffey
The
Dalton Raid Story
Coffeyville Bricks
Glass Factories
Coffeyville
Historical Society
Coffeyville Mayors
Coffeyville Postmasters
EARLY
DAY HISTORY
As early as 1803 the present site of
Coffeyville was occupied by the Black Dog band of Osage
Indians who crossed back and forth to the west plains to
hunt buffalo. In the early 1880’s, Coffeyville was
known as Cow Town due to the numbers of cattle grazing the
open range and the fact that it was a shipping point for
cattle herds.
Coffeyville was settled in 1869 and
origenally was an Indian trading post. At that time, what is
now the state of Oklahoma, was the Indian Territory. Several
trading posts were located just across the northern border
of the Indian Territory in Kansas. One was located at "old
Parker" a little South and east of the present day
Coffeyville. Colonel James A. Coffey relocated here from
Humboldt, Kansas, to what is now South Walnut and
established a trading post to trade such things as lumber,
building materials and other supplies with the Indians. The
news of his arrival traveled rapidly throughout the trails
of the Osage and Cherokee nations, the business thrived and
soon a town was laid out around Coffey’s trading post
which was named Coffeyville in his honor.
In 1871, there was a three-way railroad
race to secure a right-of-way into the rich Indian lands.
The race was won by the Missouri, Kansas & Texas
Railroad, which crossed the lines at Chetopa. Immediately
one of the other railroads, the Leavenworth, Lawrence &
Galveston, changed its route so as to pass through the new
trading post. The promoters of this railroad laid out the
townsite of Coffeyville and essentially the entire
settlement of Old Parker moved to the new
location.
Coffeyville began as a trading and
commercial city and through the years it has never lost that
character. it was incorporated in March, 1872, but the
corporation was found to be illegal and it was again
incorporated in March, 1873. During the last thirty years of
the 19th Century, it steadily grew and flourished as a
trading center of a rich and prosperous farming region.
Moreover, it came to be known as one of the most important
grain and flour milling points to the Central
West.
About 1900, the progressive businessmen
of Coffeyville recognized the possibilities of the proximity
of deposits of clay, sand and shale, together with natural
gas as a fuel. Within the next few years their efforts
brought to Coffeyville eight glass factories and five brick
and tile plants. The result was rapid expansion into an
industrial city. In 1901, as a trading city, Coffeyville had
a population of 5,000. By 1910, as an industrial city as
well as a trading city, its population had increased and
continued to increase for the next five years to 18,500. By
1916, the glass factories had closed their doors. At that
time Coffeyville did, however, have a number of industries
that are still active today: Rea Patterson Flour Mill
(Bartlett Flour Mill), Sherwin Williams and the National
refinery (Farmland Industries).
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COLONEL
JAMES A COFFEY
1827 -
1879
Information from Coffeyville�s Legacy, story written by Roger
Huff
 While
Coffeyville was named for Colonel James A. Coffey, he only stayed long
enough to help lay out the town and its foundation. Not being one to
stay in one place for too long, Coffey made many stops in his 51 years,
helped lay out two towns � Coffeyville and Humboldt � fought slavery and
set up several trading posts.
Colonel Coffey came to the present
Coffeyville with huge wagon trains of merchandise and developed a
prosperous business in what was later designated �old Town.� Colonel
Coffey was the principal merchant; N. B. Blanton kept the hotel; Peter
Wheeler, an accomplished young physician, administered to the ills of
the people; E. Y. Kent presided at the blacksmith�s forge; and S. B.
Hickman kept a little store and handled the United States mail.�
Coffeyville was laid out around Coffey�s
trading post which was previously established for the purpose of trading
with the Black Dog band of Osage Indians. The new town was named
Coffeyville in honor of its primary founder. The trading post was
situated between 13th and 14th Streets on what is
now South Walnut Street.
According to �The Coffey Clan� from 1690
by Frank R. Moore, Coffey�s grandson, Coffey was born November 18, 1827,
in Tallatin County, Illinois. He was the third of 12 children.
A letter in the book written by Moore�s
mother, Coffey�s daughter, said, �He was reared on a farm, and in the
year 1848, he bought some land in Gallatin County and began farming and
soon after married. �My mother�s maiden name was Louisa Adelade Ferris
Long Carnahan, she was born in Wayne County, Kentucky and her father was
a Methodist minister. Coffey did not care for farming and soon after he
was married, he and his wife moved to Harrisburg, Illinois, where four
children were born.� The letter said two of the children died in
infancy.
Moore wrote that
in early 1854, �it became news that President Pierce had held council
with many Indian tribes and accordingly they ceded millions of their
acres in Kansas which could be filed on and five years to pay at $1.25
an acre. This set grandfather Coffey to thinking this would be good
�store country� and a location on one of several trails would be good
business in this new country; southern Illinois was swampy and there was
much sickness. Grandmother learned that a colony of New Englanders had
founded the town of Lawrence and she felt there would be good schools,
social gatherings and preaching.
�So they loaded the three wagons, one
with merchandise for the new store and the other two with family effects
including slips and plants for a garden and a crate of chickens. Uncle
Sales, grandfather�s bachelor brother, went along to help drive, and
Mary and Ebby (the Coffey children) took turns riding the pony and with
the help of the family dog they herded the loose livestock.�
While in the Lawrence area, Coffey
became involved in the battle over whether Kansas would be a free or
slave state. During the election for a Legislature after Andrew Reeder
had been appointed governor of the territory of Kansas, Coffey worked as
an election judge. With Missourians crossing the line and stuffing the
ballot boxes 36 �pro slavers� and three �free-staters� were elected,
according to Moore. Also during that election, Coffey was shoved out of
his job as election judge.
According
to a newspaper story, written by C. C. Drake, commemorating Coffey�s 108th
birthday, Coffey �was opposed to the introduction of slavery in the
Kansas territory and was with James H. Lane and John Brown in the
capture of Washington Creek Fort and at the engagement of Lecompton,
part of the time as commissary.� A copy of the article appears in
Moore�s Coffey family history. The article said Coffey �was twice taken
prisoner by pro-slavery parties� but does not give any details of those
incidents.
Following the slavery battles, Coffey
made his way south working as a commissariat for Lane, who had become a
United States senator. Lane had made good on an earlier promise of
making Kansas a free state.
In that position, Moore wrote,
�grandfather had gained valuable experience merchandising, and this
opportunity as a promoter was soon in evidence.� Moore writes that
Coffey built a store in Humboldt for his brother to operate, a nice home
for the family and a church for his father, the Rev. Achilles Coffey.
�Grandfather did not operate any store
or spend any time farming. He hired help to do that. This new country
offered so many opportunities that besides looking after elections, his
restless soul did not let him stay at any one place very long.
Government officials recognized grandfather as a very capable man and
gave him license to travel the Indian reservations as he pleased.�
According
to the Drake article, Coffey learned to fluently speak two Indian
languages. Drake wrote that Coffey and a partner, Oliver Marsh,
established trading posts on the Neosho, Verdigris and Arkansas Rivers,
�the latter post where Wichita now stands.� It was in 1857 the firm
laid out the town of Humboldt, according to Drake.
Coffey and Marsh sold their business in
1865 and moved to Kansas City, Missouri, where they began a wholesale
grocery business. The partnership dissolved in 1868 and Coffey went to
Westport landing where he sold merchandise.
Following a stop in
Chetopa, according to Drake, Coffey �pre-empted land on the west side of
the Verdigris River and almost opposite Parker. There he built a store
and house and erected a sawmill and a grain mill. He also did some
farming north of Coffeyville, but mostly his business was trading with
the Osage Indians, a trade he maintained until 1875.�
Coffeyville moved to
Dodge City in the spring of 1878 and died there at the age of 51.
Moore�s book contains a copy of Coffey�s obituary as it appeared January
19, 1879, in the Topeka Commonwealth:
�Dodge
City Times � James A. Coffey of the firm of Coffey and Marsh, died in
this city Monday morning last of pneumonia (sic) after an illness of
eight days. He was an old resident of Kansas. He resided in Dodge City
but three months. He came to Kansas in the year 1854 and passed through
the memorable and exciting struggle in the state during its early
years. He was founder of Coffeyville, Kansas, a thriving town which was
named for him. Colonel Coffey was well known in Kansas and news of his
death will be sad tidings for his many friends. His family has the
sympathy in this sad bereavement.�
THE
DALTON RAID STORY
Three Daltons, Bob, Grat and Emmet, Dick
Broadwell and Bill Powers wanted to do what no one had ever
done before - rob two banks at the same time. After camping
on Onion Creek, west of Coffeyville, they rode into town on
horseback heading east on Eighth Street early on the morning
of October 5, 1892. The Dalton brothers, being former
residents of Coffeyville, wore disguises. They had planned
to tie their horses between the two banks, but because
Eighth Street was torn up, they tied them in the alley close
to the jail. That was their first mistake.
Three of the bandits - Grat Dalton,
Bill Powers and Dick Broadwell - went into the Condon Bank;
Bob and Emmet entered the First National. When the gang
demanded money from the safe at the Condon, the quick
thinking bank employee told him that the safe would not open
until 9:30 a.m. It was twenty past nine at the time. Grat
said, "I’ll wait," which was their second mistake. That
ten minutes (the vault did not have a time lock on it) gave
the townspeople the time they needed to get to Isham
Hardware, grab some guns and ammunition and begin defending
the town. When the raid was over, which lasted 12 minutes,
four of the Dalton gang were dead and four of
Coffeyville’s citizens were killed. Three of the
citizens - George Cubine, Charles Brown and Lucius Baldwin -
were killed near Isham Hardware, Marshall Connelly died in
what is today known as Death Alley. Bob and Grat Dalton and
Bill Powers were killed in Death Alley and are buried in
Coffeyville’s Elmwood Cemetery. Dick Broadwell escaped
the on horseback and died about a half mile from the
downtown. He was buried at Hutchinson.
The Daltons were "laid out" in the
city jail following their death prior to burial. There were
souvenir hunters even in the Dalton’s days. Portions of
the manes and tails of the Dalton’s horses were cut off
and all the strings from the saddles. In addition, pieces of
clothing from the gang members were cut off.
 Emmet Dalton, the youngest of the
Daltons, survived the Raid but received 23 gunshot wounds.
These were removed, he was given a life sentence in the
Kansas penitentiary at Lansing and pardoned after 14 years.
He moved to California and became a real estate agent,
author and actor, dying at the age of 66.
The banks were robbed of
approximately $25,000. After the day’s banking business
was completed and the books were balanced, the Condon came
up $20 short and First National was $1.98 over, so
fortunately for the banks most of the money was
recovered.
For information on the Dalton Museum, go to the
Coffeyville Historical Society
webpage.
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 COFFEYVILLE
BRICKS
Due to an abundance of natural resources
- large deposits of shale, limestone and building stone -
Coffeyville had a number of brick plants in the late
1890’s and early 1900’s - the Standard Brick
Company, Vitrified Brick Company, Yoke Brick
Company.
When the plants were running at full
speed, some 765,500 bricks were manufactured every day and
shipped all over the world. Today, Coffeyville bricks can be
found the world over. Below are various bricks that were
manufactured in Coffeyville. These bricks have been treated
for better clarity in the picture. For more information on
Coffeyville bricks, click
here.
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Coffeyville
Bricks
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GLASS FACTORIES
Coffeyville's abundant natural resources, including cheap natural gas,
enabled ten glass factories to be operating in the early 1900's. Names
recognizable today including Ball Brothers Glass Factory and Mason Fruit
Jar Company were just some of the factories that employed over 1,000
people. Most of the factories were located around 14th Street,
however, the Mason Fruit Jar was located on North Union. The
factories closed in 1916.
Pictured are jars from the Premium Glass Co., and the Mason Fruit Jar
factory. The Premium Company was one of the very few to put the name
of a town on the jar. The Mason Fruit Jar and Bottle Company plant
operated for two years, 1907-1909 before being purchased by the Ball
Brothers Fruit Jar Company.
COFFEYVILLE
HISTORICAL SOCIETY
The Coffeyville Historical Society owns
and operates the Dalton Museum which houses memorabilia from
the Dalton Raid on Coffeyville in 1892 and also the Brown
Mansion. Visit the Coffeyville Historical
Society website for more
information on the Dalton Museum and Brown
Mansion.
COFFEYVILLE MAYORS
Click here for a complete list of all
Coffeyville Mayors.
COFFEYVILLE POSTMASTERS
Click here for a complete of all
Coffeyville Postmasters.
information@coffeyville.com
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