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COFFEYVILLE HISTORY
EARLY
DAY HISTORY Coffeyville was settled in 1869 and originally 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). 1827 -
1879
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 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.  COFFEYVILLE
BRICKSDue 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.
Coffeyville
Bricks GLASS FACTORIES 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
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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.
information@coffeyville.com