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History |
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HISTORY
Edward Gibbon: I have but one lamp by which my feet are guided, and that is the lamp of experience. I know no way of judging of the future but by the past...
Alden Speare Lehigh -- one of the incorporated towns of Marion county, is located in Lehigh township on the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe R. R. 16 miles west of Marion, the county seat. It is the trading point for a large and wealthy agricultural and stock raising district. It has a bank and a newspaper printed in German called "Das Echo." All lines of mercantile enterprises are represented. There are telegraph and express offices and a money order postoffice with one rural route. The town was incorporated in 1901. The population in 1910, according to the government census, was 385. Lehigh was platted in 1881 by Alden Speare of Boston, a railroad official and land speculator. L. Monniger was the first merchant and postmaster. According to John Rydjord in "Kansas Place-Names," Lehigh was probably settled by Pennsylvanians and named for a coal town in that state. "The name was the English version of Lechauwekink, a Delaware name meaning at 'the fork of the river.' It was shortened to Lechau, which later became Lehigh." Distances: Purcell to Lehigh, 88.60 miles. Purcell to Chickasha, 41.20 miles. The Oklahoma Central Railway was incorporated in Oklahoma as the Canadian Valley and Western Railway Company, with charter issued September 19th, 1904. Mr. Dorset Carter served as the first president. The directors of the company changed its name to Oklahoma Central Railway Company on August 19th, 1905. Construction began in 1905 and was completed on March 1st, 1908. Mr. R.L. McWillie served as first chief engineer on location and construction. After June 1st, 1906, on to the time of sale, Captain F.C. Hand served as Chief Engineer with Mr. Geo. W. Risteen, Denver, Colorado, as Consulting Engineer. First Time Cards issued: Lehigh to Byars, January 1st, 1907 Lehigh to Purcell, February 26th, 1907 Purcell to Chickasha, March 1st, 1908 The Oklahoma Central went into receivership on June 2nd, 1908. Asa E. Ramsey served as Receiver with Dorset Carter acting as Chief executive Officer. The railroad was sold at a Receiver's sale on July 31st, 1915, and was purchased by the bondholders reorganization committee in the name of the Oklahoma Central Railroad Company. A new charter was obtained July 31st, 1914. The railroad was then leased to the A.T.& S.F. Ry. Co., for five years, starting August 1st, 1914. The Santa Fe Railway Company owns 10,000 acres of coal land at Lehigh. When building the line, the original goal was to run in a southwesterly direction to reach Paris and Longview, Texas and it was so chartered. At Lehigh, our track ends about 0.90 of a mile east of the depot, where it connects with the #8 mine track of the Fulsome Morris Coal Co. (Santa Fe Company). There is a wye track which connects with #6 mine track west of the Lehigh depot, which forms a part of the wye, and which we use. Around M.P. 6, there is about a three mile side track leading to Chase's Mine, with a switch leading to the Keystone Mine.
SANTA FE RAILROAD DEPOT Current(2003) location is at Walton, W side of 1st Ave between Main & Blaine Sts. It is being used for storage.
The Lehigh, KS depot is perhaps the only surviving example of a Santa Fe depot with what might be called the "1880" bay window design. Although the classic Santa Fe dormer-gable bay window style, with its three 12-pane windows, had already emerged by 1880 (see Alden, KS), built 1872), a number of depots built around 1880 used this four-window style instead. Roof brackets were also evolving at the time Lehigh was built. Close examination shows that the brackets have a few more decorative touches than the usual "cobweb" style used on Santa Fe depots built before 1910. The bay had its own roof tucked under the eaves, with two 8-pane windows on the front and one 8-pane window on each angled face. Depots known to have used this style of bay include some on the McPherson District (Conway, Lehigh, and possibly Galva, KS), the 1880-built Alma branch (Alma, Eskridge, and Harveyville, KS), at least one depot on the Atchison District (Meriden, KS), and some one- and two-story depots on the main line in Colorado and New Mexico (the original depots at Starkville, CO, Raton and Lamy, NM). It is possible that Santa Fe had a set of standard depot plans that used this bay, as the Lehigh depot appears to have been nearly identical to Conway and Harveyville, KS in most dimensions.
Like most Santa Fe depots built in Kansas in the 1880's, Lehigh was almost certainly built with board and batten siding; the narrow clapboard siding shown was likely the result of a post-1910 rebuild. Several other depots on the McPherson District showed evidence of a similar rebuild. An early photo of the Conway depot in Grant & Bohi's The Country Railroad Station in America shows it with board and batten siding, while a more modern image in McMillan's Wheat Lines and Super Freights shows clapboard. The depots at Galva and Little River also ended their careers with clapboard siding, though the rest of their architectural details suggest the board-and-batten era.
Updated: 11-19-07 |
