ASH VALLEY, Kan. — Lifetime Pawnee County farmer Tom Giessel notes that he has always been a student of his own historical researches into Pawnee County. He did, however, give a masterful program Tuesday afternoon on Ash Valley, hosted by the Larned chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution; with approval and assistance of the members of the community in attendance.

DAR’s involvement lent a patriotic flair to the proceeding, in recitation and song a traditional part of its regular meeting. After leading the audience in the Pledge of Allegiance and “The Star Spangled Banner,” Clapsaddle then performed Kate Smith’s favorite “God Bless America” with piano accompaniment by Lorna Singer, inviting those attending to join in on the final refrain.

The program for the afternoon was a collaborative endeavor by members Sherry Webster and Jo Ann Roth, Ellinwood, with Roth noting that her grandparents had lived in the Ash Valley community. Following Giessel’s presentation, the group was invited to visit the Ash Valley Cemetery as well as other features expounded upon in Giessel’s narrative.

Not quite a town, 

but more than a village

Giessel opened his program giving much credit to Don Conard, who grew up in Ash Valley as a descendant of the community’s original settlers. “Thanks for the invitation and realize that I’m an amateur at this — I’m not a trained historian — but there’s a lot to be learned about Ash Valley,” he said. “I did want to thank Don Conard, who grew up in Ash Valley. He had heard that I was going to do this and called me up and shared a lot of information that really helped fill in a lot of the blanks.

“We’ll do this program today in consensus, because there is going to be a lot of different opinions on the same idea — it’s all fair game.”

Giessel noted that Ash Valley was never an organized town with a mayor, city council or districts, and so it really doesn’t have a beginning and it really doesn’t have an end. “I’m just going to jump in somewhere and start.”

In the 1860s, there was a considerable Native American presence, with the Kiowa, Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes. They were pushed out in 1859, but then moved back 15 miles straight north of Fort Larned. They liked the streams of water in the area.

“We’ve all heard about the marker and the stone, and there are about as many ideas and stories about that as there is humanity. On the stone gives the date of June 1841. There are folks that say that it’s totally not true, but then there are those that say it is. Don Conard came across a diary of a railroad worker that mentions it. My own idea is that because the Ash Creek Crossing is part of the Santa Fe Trail, and if it was flooded, they’d just go around.

“I can’t say that is true or not true, but there is enough to say that it could have happened.”

Ash Valley was platted in 1917, the year the marker was erected by workers of the Wichita Northern railroad. “When the railroad came in, it was boom time, but historically we’re getting ready to have the Spanish Flu and World War I. In wartime, grain prices are good and farming is good and Ash Valley soil was great for growing wheat. Back then, wheat got up to around $3 a bushel, and in today’s money that would be about $38.”

The Larned Chronoscope in 1917 ran an advertisement to auction lots for Ely, Kansas. Ely, a Larned businessman,  worked with E.E. Frizzell and had a lot to do with getting right-of-ways and permits. They sold lots for three days and the railroad would bring excursion trains out for people to come bid.

“It wasn’t as big of a success as they’d hoped for, but the town got its start.”

The town grew large enough to have platted and named streets, with several businesses, a bank, a baseball field, churches and a rural school. Giessel noted that Broadway Street, which ran east to west, was laid out wider than the rest, at 80 feet compared to the 68 feet of Broadway in Larned. County Road 180 running north and south doubled as Main Street in town. Streets were named for families that settled in the area; the Methodist Church, which was built in 1948, was located on Keast St. The church, now known as the Pleasant Hill Community Center, still uses its Keast Street address as the official record for its 501(c)(3) status.

The three first documented burials in Ash Valley Cemetery were of children less than 2 years old in 1880. When telephone lines were strung, long before residential electric service, Ash Valley had its own exchange separate from the City of Larned, although the lines were strung on poles made from hedge trees.

The residents reclaimed the community’s name from Ely back in the mid-1920s, as the result of Ely’s connection to the Eggleston attempted murder trial scandal in Larned. A petition signed by 75 Ash Valley residents demanded Ely be removed from the record and the name of Ash Valley restored.

The post office was operated from three different locations. The post office operated from 1877 to 1915, then reopened from 1922 to 1941. When the post office was to be closed due to the death of the postmaster, the final postmaster’s daughter Elizabeth Chlumsky, a schoolteacher, served as acting postmaster for 45 days. On the last day of operation, she mailed a group of commemorative envelopes with the Ash Valley KS postmark.

Ash Valley School operated until 1962, when the district was divided between Sanford and Gem. Wayne Hagerman was the school’s sole eighth-grade graduate that year.

In conclusion, Giessel reiterated that the community’s story has no definite beginning and not yet an end. “I think that it has to do with a sense of place,” he said. “That’s what Ash Valley really is. Everyone is attached to it, and remains attached. All around Pawnee County, people still talk about Ash Valley. It embodies a community that was created, and is kept alive. Everybody has a hand in it, and that’s what makes it special.”