Blooming Grove, Kansas.
Linn County.
Potosi Township map, 1906.
On the county map you can find Blooming Grove in township 21-south and range 21-east. On the township map you can find Blooming Grove in section 5.
Blooming Grove & Trading Post, Post Office History.
Blooming Grove post office open September 2, 1857 and ran to June 22, 1880, first postmaster was Samuel Nickel, name changed to Trading Post. Trading Post post office open June 22, 1880 and ran to August 30, 1902, first postmaster was Austin W. Hail.
Burinessman of Blooming Grove, 1867.
Adkins C. S., Groceries.
Allen & Rollins, Saddler.
Caughman George, Shoemaker.
Doud A. C., General Store.
Early & Bergen, Physician.
Eomunston A., Hotrl.
Ellis & Brothers, General Store.
Graner & Pickren, Saw Mill.
Howard & Livitz, Brickyard.
Hongerford & Mc Dowell, Blacksmith.
Kelso R. S., Physician.
Lane & Pennoe, General STORE.
Record J. B., Groceries.
Rhodes & Whitman, Cabinet Makers.
Seigler F. B., Pottery.
Spane George, Carpenter.
Trading Post, Kansas, 1883.
This town is located on the banks of the Marais des Cygnes, about four miles
from the State line, and is one of the oldest settlements in the State. The land
where it stands was purchased at an early day of a Frenchman named Jarien, by
another Frenchman named Chouteau, the latter carrying on a heavy trade with the
Indians; hence this post was called the Chouteau Trading Post. There was no town
laid out here until 1865, when the Montgomery Town Company was organized, and
the town of Montgomery laid out and platted October 17, that year, just east of
the present town site of the trading post; but the town not being a success was
finally abandoned. Trading Post is located on Section 5, Township 21, Range 25,
and was laid out and platted in March, 1866, by Dr. Massey and George A.
Crawford. But everything in this town dates from the Marais des Cygnes massacre.
Previously to this time, John F. Campbell was keeping store here. Soon after it,
Dr. Massey & White opened a store in a log house near the bridge. A
grist-mill was erected in 1857. It has been purchased and much improved by J.
& A. Brockett, and is now one of the finest mills in the State. It is two
and a half stories high, and has two run of buhrs. There is a saw-mill attached.
During most of the year, it is run by water, but during the dry season, in
August and September, the motive power is steam. It is not ascertainable who
preached the first sermon at the Post, but John R. Williams, a Baptist minister,
preached to an outdoor congregation, in August, 1856. There are two church
organizations in this vicinity, one Baptist, the other Southern Methodist, both
of which use the "Swayback" church, situated three miles north and one mile east
of the Trading Post as a house of worship. There is also a United Presbyterian
organization, four miles east, known as the State Line Church. The present
schoolhouse, a two-story frame, was built by the Masons in 1865, and the lower
half sold by them to the district.
The first birth in the vicinity was that of Jasper and Newton Nichols, twins,
in 1855; the first marriage that of Samuel Brown to Miss Hobbs, in 1856; and the
first death that of Mrs. Bartemas, in 1856.
Blooming Grove Lodge, No. 41, A., F. & A. M. , was organized in 1862,
with twelve members. Its charter officers were: A. C. Doud, W. M.; William Goss,
S. W.; W. W. Silsby, J. W.; Samuel Brown, Secretary; Jackson Lane, Treasurer.
The present membership is fourteen.
Trading Post contains at present three general stores, one drug store, two
blacksmith shops, one agricultural implement dealer, and about 100 inhabitants.
