February 7, 2009
Kansas
Pretty Prairie is west of Wichita. It probably doesn't get much traffic.
I'm not sure about the spelling, but if you say the name of the town and the high school mascot, it all makes sense.
Heading south out of Pretty Prairie.
I think I just rode through town without realizing it. There is no problem with stopping on the road.
The first railroad, H O G (Hutchinson, Oklahoma & Gulf), came in 1890. The railroad named the station Carvel, because there was a Cleveland, Oklahoma on the line. In February 1892, the first elevator was built by Al Winslow and Jack L. Liggett with material from the Howell & Stout mill in Kingman.
The town was at its peak in the early 1900's. The Methodists, organized in 1892, built a church in 1905. There were two elevators, two lumber yards, two general merchandise stores, a hotel, a physician, a post office, a blacksmith, a telephone exchange and a fire department.
The school closed in May 1958. It had been organized August 14, 1879, two months before the town was organized. The post office closed October l, 1957. The church disbanded in December 1967; the building was sold and torn down. The school house is now used as a township hall. The only surviving business is the Bunge Elevator. There are eight homes and twenty four inhabitants.
excerpt from: http://skyways.lib.ks.us
If those young bloods who were running horse races
in our streets last Sunday will refrain from disturbing the peace
hereafter there will probably be nothing more said about it, but a word
to the wise is sufficient.
- 1909 newspaper account from Cleveland, KS
Riding east out of Cleveland.
