what about the plastic animals?

At Forty Degrees

Following White Cloud I made a brief, like ten minutes brief, return to Nebraska.

First, though, I had to stop at the point of the beginning  -the spot where surveying of Nebraska and Kansas literally begins.  The actual spot is on top of a steep bluff so I just took a picture of the state line.  Back in 2008 I stopped at the more famous point of beginning at the corner of Ohio, West Virginia and Pennsylvania awhile back.

Before crossing the bridge into Missouri I took a swing through what is left of downtown Rulo, Nebraska.  It was pretty desolate, Rulo's population peaked at 877 a century ago, but I liked the 1939 WPA auditorium.

On to Missouri!

The Story of the Piggy Bank (Or Not)

There's an easily overlooked plaque in front of a church on Main St. in White Cloud.  It's well worth seeking out because it tells the story of young Wilbur Chapman and his pig Pete.

In 1913 Wilbur heard a traveling missionary tell of the plight of lepers.  He was so moved he sold his prized pig Pete and donated the money to help a boy with leprosy.  Word got out about Wilbur's good deed.  Mrs. Robert Randolph Harrison of Richmond, VA, who apparently didn't have a first name of her own, realized not every kid could raise and sell a pig.  Instead she conceived the idea of distributing cast iron pig-shaped banks in which children could save their coins.  By 1938 the American Mission to Lepers distributed had 100,000 of the "pig banks".

Lots of sources, including the beloved Roadside America, say these pig banks were the origin of piggy banks.  The popularization of the name "piggy bank" may have stemmed from this but pig banks have been around for a long, long time.

Pig banks probably got their name from jars made from "pygg" clay that people in England during the Middle Ages used to store small items.  By the 18th century pygg became corrupted to pig, and the makers of pig jars began making them in the shape of the animal that shared their name.

Roadside America, in that same link above, also claims that E. B. White named Wilbur the Pig in Charlotte's Web after Wilbur Chapman.  Try as I might I could not find anyone else making this claim.  Stlll, it makes for a good story.  Anybody know if it is true?

White Cloud Grain Elevator

Cheryl hasn't posted a photo of a Kansas grain elevator in more than a week.  That's way too long so I'm taking matters into my own hand.

White Cloud is in the far northeastern corner of Kansas.  On that bluff behind the elevator is where I took the "four state" photo.  Before the railroads bypassed the town White Cloud was a thriving village of 2000 people.  Today the population is closer to 200.  Scenes from the movie Paper Moon were filmed in White Cloud and what's left the downtown is on the National Register of Historic Places.

Had I known that last tidbit I might have taken pictures of the buildings.  Instead I took a couple pictures of a plaque next to the church.

Let's All Go to the Dairy Barn

I was passing through Wathena, just a couple miles west of the state line when I came upon the Dairy Barn.  A more welcome sight was never seen by the weary traveler.  This called for a celebration so I splurged on the $1.60 hot fudge sundae.

It was late in the afternoon and that spoiled my appetite for dinner, but I didn't mind.  In part I didn't mind because I also splurged on a room at the Drury Inn in St. Joseph that night.  I knew they had a laundry room for guests, but I didn't know they also had a complimentary evening munchie service.  I loaded up on baked potatoes, carrot and celery sticks and beer for dinner.

My original plan was to explore St. Joseph a bit, but I was beat and had laundry to do.  The next day was going to be another long day so I skipped St. Joseph and returned to Kansas to see a place would be famous in the worlds of thrift, charity and literature if anyone other than a handful of Kansans knew it existed.

Standard Welcome to Troy

Sigh.  No ice cream in Troy, despite the nifty welcome sign cluster.

The Standard Oil sign appears to be the design Amoco (nee Standard Oil of Indiana) used from 1946 to 1960.

The City of Beautiful Maples

Hiawatha bills itself as the City of Beautiful Maples.  In the early 20th century Theodore H. Korthanke planted the seeds from a maple tree in his yard in a nearby vacant lot.  Korthanke then shared the seedlings with anyone in town that wanted one.

I did not take any pictures of the trees, nor did I notice the Korthanke Fountain.  If you look carefully at the top photo you'll see that the maples are well-protected from an invading deer army.

Do you know what is missing in Hiawatha?  Two things. 

First, there is no Main Street.  The primary east-west street is Oregon St., named after the Oregon trail.  The east-west streets north of Oregon are named after Native American tribes who lived north of the trail.  The streets south of Oregon are named after - well, you can figure it out.  The north-south streets are numbered.  There is a Longfellow Street.

Second, there is no ice cream stand.  This was upsetting!  My hopes dwindled when I drove by the abandoned Dairy Queen.  Since when does a small town DQ go out of business?

While I was walking around downtown I asked a couple of teenagers if there was an ice cream stand in town.  I might have well asked if they could direct me to the Brooklyn Bridge.  "Ice cream stand???  No, there's no ice cream stand."  Sadder words have never been uttered.

Disheartened by the lack of ice cream in northeastern Kansas (what did those Pony Express riders eat when they stopped in town?), I continued glumly onward toward St. Joseph.

The Davis Memorial

John Davis married Sara Hart over her family's disapproval.  When Sara passed away after 50 years of marriage in 1930, John built an elaborate memorial to her.  It is estimated that he spent over a hundred thousand dollars on the memorial during the depression.  Was it out of devotion to his late wife?  Was it out of guilt for not treating Sara better?  Was spending on the memorial to keep her family from getting an inheritance?  The city of Hiawatha desperately needed a hospital and swimming pool and could have used a donation.  Was Davis embittered toward Hiawatha?  Nobody knows for sure.

There are eleven statues depicting John and Sara at different stages of their lives.  John lost his left hand to an infection at some point.

Welcome to Fairview

Fairview, Kansas isn't much bigger than the sign that welcomes you to town.  No ice cream stands were spotted.  On to Hiawatha.  Surely the overheated traveler can get an ice cream in Hiawatha.

Seneca City Hall

Well this was quite charming.  The City Hall building in downtown Seneca was circled by colored lights.  I couldn't find any information on the bulbs other than they were illuminated for holidays and parades. It looks like the lights are part of the buildings original design.  I wonder how difficult it is to get replacement bulbs?

I walked up and down Main Street and then decided it was time for ice cream.  I didn't see an ice cream stand.  How disappointing.  Oh, well, maybe there would be one down the road in Fairview.

The Second Largest Hand-Dug Well In Kansas

Long-time readers may recall I made a pilgrimage of sorts several years ago to the World's Largest Hand-Dug Well in Greensburg, Kansas.

On this spring's trip I realized that i would be within easy reach of the second largest hand-dug well in Kansas.  I don't know if being the second largest hand-dug well in Kansas also makes it the second largest hand-dug well in the world.  There's one blasphemous report of a hand-dug well in England that is deeper than the Big Well in Greensburg.

Why are both Kansas wells referred to as the largest, not the deepest, of their kind?  Are they measuring by volume?

The well is in the city park on the west side of Seneca, across the street from the high school.  As you can see, the well is protected from tourists by a fence, a tank and a tornado siren.  I braved the security perimeter to get a closer look.  For the more curious the well is open by appointment.

Satisfied that I was now one of the very few non-Kansans to have visited its two largest hand-dug wells (how many people can make that claim?), I decided to take a swing through downtown Seneca and get an ice cream cone before heading toward Hiawatha.