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You know you're from Erie, Ks when., 403 S. Main, Erie, KS (2026)

08/31/2026

We always appreciate Erieites comments about Erie’s history!!!

Please join these commentors telling about their Memories of the Palmers. We are working on Mildred’s story.

Comments about the Palmers:

***Kathy Brennon: I remember the auction after she died all the old medical equipment. I always thought it was a lcool looking house too bad it couldn’t be saved.
***Pamela Veselinovic: As a child, I befriended Miss Palmer and spent many hours sitting in her house, talking. Yes there were many feral sick cats with eye infections.
The house was cold and Miss Palmer cooked on her heating radiators. She offered me cookies and grapefruit and I did take them to be polite. She was very sweet to me. I remember her well. As an adult I can’t help but to wonder why people didn’t assist her with her yard and house maintenance.
***Linda Meyer: Oh my how wonderful to read this. I remember going to Miss Palmer’s house when we sold campfire girls candy. A lot of people thought she was scary. She was always nice. She had a hunched back which made her look scary, but she was just a lonely old lady. I can’t wait to read more about her. Thank you for the history.
***Barbara Smith Thompson: I remember that house, as children we thought it was kind of spooky. My memory of Mildred was when she was walking uptown she was old, her shoulders rounded, she wore white gloves and a hat.
***Kerry Jordan: The house had two front doors, the left one to the living room and the right one to a small waiting room with an apothecary cabinet occupying the wall facing the door. On the right of the waiting room was a door to Dr Palmer’s exam/operating room. He had the first xray machines in KS, the cathode tube is in the KU History of Medicine Museum. Helen Hines looked in on Mildred Palmer regularly during the last years of Miss Palmer’s life. Mrs Hines recounted that she had her appendix removed in that office.
***Mary Stephens O’Neal: We lived across the street north of this house. Moved there in 1942. Mildred lived there with lots of wild cats. I got bit by one and had to have rabies shots. It was overgrown with trees and weeds. My sister Patty got poison ivy so bad she ended up in the hospital. Needless to say, we didn't play over there anymore. I have lots of memories of that house.
*** Deb Daniel Carlson: My family lived in the house north of the Palmer house for a short amount of time. We thought it was spooky too!
***Carol Stephens: Remember this home that was across Grant Street west of the old Christian Church. Remember Miss Palmer had a ĺot of cats. Great article!
***Kerry Jordan: I saw a letter from the KU History of Medicine museum acknowledging the gift of the cathode ray tube, and I think they also have the Leyden jars which hold the electrical charge. But the large oak cabinet containing the generator was still there when Miss Palmer passed away. With her niece’s agreement we contacted the museum about the generator, but they were not interested. It was sold at the estate sale along with most of the office furnishings, a physician from Wichita with an interest in medical history bought them. According to Miss Palmer’s 1910 Encyclopedia Brittanica, cranking the generator could create an electrical spark which could jump 6 inches. The charge could be stored in the Leyden jars which stood on the front, and when a switch was closed it would be routed through the cathode tube, generating an X-ray pulse. To my knowledge there was no lead sheathing around the room.

# Dr Palmer’s office photos are donations from Kerry Jordan:
# Dr. Palmer’s photo was enhanced by Nancy Womeldorff Calkins!!

08/30/2026

DOCTOR JEREMIAH A PALMER - WORK ETHIC AND ABILITY
Not long after the Palmers moved to Erie, on Nov. 13, 1903, the Republican record reported: “Dr. J. Allen Palmer received an Xray machine. It is the first of such modern medical equipment of its kind to be brought to Neosho Co. Dr. Palmer is one of the most progressive physicians in the state. He keeps up with advancements of the times. The machine he now has excels any in Kansas because it is the newest and the latest improved model available on the market.” That must have caused a great deal of excitement.
Dr. Palmer worked a 7 days week and almost 24 hour days sometimes. We know this because according to his journal, he was a very hands on doctor. He made house calls if necessary and when people couldn’t pay, he let them owe him or took things in trade. Most people who have seen his journal and were lucky enough to see his office have a greater respect for him. His work logs describe all kinds of medicinal advertisements in them which shows that he tried to keep up with the times and the pulse of the medical establishment. He had several advertisements for medications that could be used to treat different diseases.
He was also a fun loving person because in the Erie Record, almost every week there were stories about the parties that he and his family attended or gave in their home. The home was spacious and well appointed and Josie and Mildred enjoyed giving parties. Dr. Palmer was a member of many organizations and was involved in city affairs on a high level. One thing that stuck out was the city had an ordinance against playing tennis on the city courts on Sunday, so Dr. Palmer and the Cambern family got together and Palmer built a court on the Cambern land which was southwest of the current river bridge (that bridge was not there when the court was used). That way he and his friends were able to play tennis on Sunday. It is interesting that one of the people who played on the court was a Reverend.
It must be noted that though Dr. Palmer was a very kind and wonderful doctor, most of his wealth probably did not come from being a doctor. As said before, he sometimes didn’t take payment on time and took trade. He made most of his money in the oil holdings he had and he also purchased and rented out a great deal of land around Neosho Co., which was passed on to his wife and daughter when he died.
On June 6, 1931 the beloved Dr. Palmer died at the age of 66. He had been ill for a few years before his condition worsened and he was taken to Johnson Hospital in Chanute. Before this he had nearly ceased his practice. It was hoped that he would recuperate with rest and relaxation, but it was not to be. What is so sad is that neither he who was a wonderful doctor could NOT operate on himself, so the saying - Physician heal thyself - would not work here and his good friend and colleague Dr. Lake had passed on in 1923, thus it was not to be.
There was an out pouring of exclamations of his virtue and his abilities as a doctor. His obituary was full of these exclamations and we have found most of them to be true. All of Erie was saddened when he died and paid their respects in many ways.

Dr. J. A. Palmer, new Doctor in Erie, KS not only moved to Erie, bought a house with a perfect place for his office and met his surgery partner in 1903, he purchased the very FIRST X-RAY machine in the State of Kansas for his office.

08/29/2026

Dr Palmer’s X-RAY MACHINE

DID YOU KNOW THE X-RAY WAS DISCOVERED BY ACCIDENT??

X-rays were discovered on November 8, 1895, by the German physicist Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen. He found out about them by accident in 1895 while testing cathode-ray tubes in his lab. He noticed that an invisible ray could pass through solid objects to cast shadows on a fluorescent screen..His first X-Ray was of his wife’s hand.
By 1903 Dr. Jeremiah Palmer had studied about and purchased an x-ray machine noted as the first x-ray machine in the state of Kansas. He installed his X-ray in his office which was located in his office which was in the northeast rooms of his house. We don’t know when, but probably sometime after his death his X-Ray machine was given to KU Medical Center im Lawrence.
His X-ray was associated with KU, though local and historical accounts place the machine or its commemorative history via the KU Medical Museum historically noted in Lawrence rather than an active display at the main KU Medical Center campus in Kansas City.
Details regarding the machine and its origin:
• Dr. Palmer's Machine: Acquired in 1903 for use in Erie, KS, it is widely documented by local historical groups as the very first x-ray apparatus brought into Kansas.
• Museum Location: Archival and community historical notes indicate that the machine or its comparable-unit display heritage ties back to the university's historical medical museum collections previously housed in Lawrence (the main KU campus), rather than the clinical KU in KC.
***Kerry Jordan: I saw a letter from the KU History of Medicine museum acknowledging the gift of the cathode ray tube, and I think they also have the Leyden jars which hold the electrical charge. But the large oak cabinet containing the generator was still there when Miss Palmer passed away. With her niece’s agreement we contacted the museum about the generator, but they were not interested. It was sold at the estate sale along with most of the office furnishings, a physician from Wichita with an interest in medical history bought them. According to Miss Palmer’s 1910 Encyclopedia Brittanica, cranking the generator could create an electrical spark which could jump 6 inches. The charge could be stored in the Leyden jars which stood on the front, and when a switch was closed it would be routed through the cathode tube, generating an X-ray pulse. To my knowledge there was no lead sheathing around the room.

08/28/2026

HOUSES OF ERIE, KS

105 N Grant

Dr. Jeremiah Allen Palmer Purchased the three story home circa 1900. It had a basement and two floors including a room big enough for his office on the First Floor. It even had a door a bit north of the House front door to the front porch making it perfect for his doctor’s office.

Jeremiah Allen Palmer and his wife Josephine “Josie” Palmer

Dr. J. A. is a wonderful example of an immigrant who came to our border to make a better life for himself and contribute to our society. He was born in Canada, State of Ontario in the Township of Toronto to Jeremiah Watson Palmer and Mary Ann (Washer) Palmer. He was at least a third generation Canadian since it was discovered that his grandparents William Palmer and Eleanor (Granger) Palmer were also residents of the same towns within Toronto Township- Bowmanville & Whitley- Ontario, where Jeremiah Allen Palmer grew up and attended area schools.
After finishing High School, he continued on to prepare himself for the medical profession. He attended and graduated from the Toronto Medical College and immediately continued his education at the Trinity Medical College of Coburn, Canada. His attendance at Trinity was apparently to study the advanced field of Surgery.
He was only 22 years of age when he had completed his medical degrees and immigrated to the Green Bay, Wisconsin in 1887.
Green Bay was his first medical practice & also where he met and married his wife Josephine or “Josie”, (“as people called her”), Elise (or Elsie) Resch. Josephine’s parents were Michel and Amelia (Frank) Resch. Her father had immigrated from France to Wisconsin sometime before 1860.
Josie and Jeremiah (J. A.) were married March 30, 1889 in Green Bay, Wisconsin. This is also where their 1st child , Mildred, was born on June 11, 1890.
Sometime between when Mildred was born in 1890 and their 2nd child Caryl’s birth on April 10, 1892, the Palmer’s moved to Illinois. This is known because Caryl’s Army enlistment papers show his birth place as Alvin, Ill. Alvin is about 20 miles north of Danville, Ill in Vermillion Co. Dr. Palmer most probably had a Practice in nearby Rossville, Ill, as well as in Danville, since in some of his daughter, Mildred’s, affects was found a note in a diary stating that the Palmer family had once lived in Danville, and a man’s wallet was also found that had “Dr. J. Allen Palmer” and “Rossville, Illinois” stamped into the leather in gold letters. Their 3rd child Jeremiah Allen, Jr. or June, as he was called, was born in that area of Illinois also, about 1895. While they were in Vermillion Co. Ill, Dr. Palmer also applied for and received his United States Naturalization officially making him a U.S. citizen in 1894.
In about 1896 the family made another move. This time to Kansas, NOT to Erie, though, but to Florence, Kansas in Marion Co. about 35 miles North of El Dorado, KS, on the Cottonwood River. The family was in Florence from early 1897 until September, 1903. We know this information because his patient journal is in the MemErie Historical Museum that begins in 1897 and ends July 16, 1903 for that town.
During his time in Florence, Dr. Palmer established himself as an examining physician and pension examiner for the Santa Fe Railroad. That may have had something to do with his next move to Erie, Kansas.
The July 31, 1903 Erie Republican Record newspaper reported that Dr. J. Allen Palmer and wife, of Florence, Ks, this week, purchased the residence of O.T. Baker at the corner of First and Grant Streets for the sum of $1550.00, which seems like a lot of money for that time period. It must have been a fairly new house. (It is thought that Mr Baker built the house in the late 1890s).
J. A. also purchased interest in some oil leases locally and was expected to move to Erie about September 1.
Sept 18, 1903’s newspaper, The Republican Record printed under the “Professional Cards” column on the front page of the paper was where J. Allen Palmer’s first advertisement as physician and surgeon having his office in his residence on 1st and Grant in Erie. His phone number was No. 37.
Also in that newspaper issue under “local paragraphs” the paper reports: Dr. J. Allen Palmer is improving the looks of his dwelling with a nice coat of paint.
As a sideline, it should be noted that another Doctor also began his practice in Erie at about that same time - Dr. Milton Emerson Lake’s first advertisement of his practice appeared in the paper on Oct. 2, 1903, just 2 weeks after Dr. Palmer’s was printed. He advertised his office was in the Lake Drug Store & gave his residence as being on the south side of the New Courthouse square, which was not built yet, as the same Oct. 2,1903 newspaper ran an article that the foundation of the NEW COURTHOUSE had just been completed.
Now was this just a coincidence or were they acquainted before coming to Erie?? It should also be noted that Dr. Palmer and Dr. Lake worked together on numerous occasions as reported over the successive years of their careers by the Republican Record. It is possible that they had met while Dr. Palmer practiced in Illinois as Vermiliion Co., Ill is on the border of Indiana and Illinois. Or it’s possible that they attended some of the same medical training schools and became friends early on. We may never know. But we do know that the doctors worked together when Mrs. Beanblossom (wife of the owner of the lumberyard in north Erie (where the [C]USD 101 bus garage is located) needed a very delicate female operation. Very progressive for anywhere at the time and it happened in Erie, Kansas!!!
By the way, she survived and wrote a thank you to both doctors printed in The REPUBLICAN RECORD!
More about Dr Palmer: tomorrow

08/27/2026

GUIDED TOUR OF THE RENOVATED NEOSHO COUNTY COUNTRY SCHOOL.
Thanks to Dave Oas & Roger Pruitt.
TAP ON LINK BELOW!

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/19MWhRdqUw/?mibextid=wwXIfr

08/26/2026

ERIE BRICKYARDS & KILNS
An interesting thing happened since we posted about Erie having BRICKYARDS for “burning” bricks for building construction. We ran across a message we received a few years ago asking about Erie having brickyards in the past. So we decided to address that question again.
Erie did indeed have brickyards, in fact, there were 5 altogether from 1883 - 1889, if you count the huge one located between East 5th-6th Streets and the MK&T RR.
The messenger was Marsha Phillippi. She reads our page off and on and when she ran across a brick in Oxford, KS that had “ERIE” imprinted on it she was interested enough to ask if we would like to have the “ERIE” brick.
WOW. What a wonderful thing for someone to do, let alone someone - we found out had no connection with Erie at all except for reading our FB page. How astounding and wonderful.
Of COURSE, we would love to have it. So, she returned to the shop in Oxford where she saw the brick and bought it for us. We offered to pay her for it, but she wanted to donate it to the museum. Another kind and amazing thing to do.
We were so grateful that when she asked how she could get it to us, we began trying to figure out people in her area who would be willing to meet her and get the brick and then bring it to Erie. She just said, "I could drive over with it!!!"
Can you imagine???, another wonderful gesture!We weren’t sure she actually knew how far Erie was from her location, but she insisted.
When she arrived we filled out the paperwork and she took a quick trip thru the museum. She was impressed with all the memorabilia and information about Erie that our museum held and we were excited to be able to add her gift to our that collection. It will make a wonderful addition to the treasures we already have.
We are STILL very thankful to Marsha Phillippi for adding to our collection with something we did not have.
What a Treasure!!
Please come in to the museum or STOP BY & call one of the members’ phone on the door to be let in to spend time visiting Erie’s PAST.

08/25/2026

The BRICK BLOCK - 1885

March 21, 1884 there is a listing of all of the town’s assets and ONE BRICKYARD
along with hotels, banks and various stores. Preparations for this momentous task began long before the construction phase began.

The contract for the Brick Block will be let next week.

May 1, 1885.
The men who are responsible for the building of The Brick Block are: W T Dutton, H B Bell, G W Black and M S Johnson.

The contract for the er****on of a brick block: 100 feet front, 50 feet deep and two stories high, has been let to Mr. S. A. Parker. This block is located on the west side of the square (today’s Courthouse Block) and when completed will be a great credit to the city of Erie and a monument to the enterprise of the proprietors, Messrs. W. T. Dutton, G. W. Black, M.S. Johnson and H. B. Bell.
S. A. Parker is preparing a brick yard just a little south-west of the court house (in 1870-1904 the Courthouse was on EAST 4th Street west of the tracks) was where clay is obtained with very little difficulty.
Mr. Parker who has the contract for the five brick business houses in the course of construction will make Erie boom for the next 90 days with 1,000,000 bricks. May 14,1885.

Brick laying on the New Brick Block will begin next week. May 29, 1885.
We heard that the business rooms in The Brick Block are all rented at good prices. July 24, 1885.
A twelve foot walk has been put down in front of the new brick block opposite the public square (our Courthouse block). Aug 7, 1885.

Information comes from The Erie Record

08/24/2026

1800s BRICK KILNS

In the 1800s, air-dried ("green") clay bricks were burned using temporary open piles called clamps or inside permanent brick-built structures like updraft or downdraft kilns fueled by wood or coal for up to two weeks.

THE FIRING FIRST:

• DRYING FIRST:
Freshly molded wet bricks were first sun- and air-dried in yards for weeks to remove moisture; firing wet bricks too fast would turn the trapped water into steam and explode them.

STACKING: Dry bricks were meticulously hand-stacked with small finger-width gaps (flues or tunnels) left at the base and between rows to let heat and smoke draft upward through the massive pile.

SEALING: The exterior of the stack or kiln was plastered over with a thick layer of wet clay and mud or covered with turf to trap heat and control airflow through the massive pile of bricks.

THE BURN: Wood or coal fires were lit in the bottom tunnels and kept burning continuously, 24 hours a day, reaching searing temperatures near 1,800°F to 2,000°F (approx. 1,000°C) over 5 to 10 days.

COOLING & SORTING: The fires were banked down and the structure allowed to cool very slowly for another week to prevent thermal shock and cracking.

RESULTING BRICKS: Because heat distribution was uneven in 19th-cen-tury clamps and kilns, a single burn produced a wide range of brick qualities.
People examen each brick for any suggestion of not being perfect.

The BRICK BURNERS who burned all of the 1,000,000 BRICKS used to create the BRICK BLOCK of 5 business houses for Erie’s Businessmen.
That made Erie a very busy town.

08/23/2026

Houses of Erie, KS

221 S Grant - The Buskirk family lived here
**Ronda Greve Stevenson: Always admired this lovely home. It once had a beautiful perineal garden on the north.
**Ronda Greve Stevenson: Seems like my grandmother talked of Sam and Myrtle Humbert/Humburt living there or near there.

This house was built in 1899 by Odin/Oden P. Baker who was living with his family in LaDore at the time.
His family consisted of his wife- Ella Elizabeth Rice Detrick Baker, her 2 children from her first marriage to Joseph Detrick, Ervin "Erve" & Frankie (a girl) Detrick, Ella's mother Mary Melissa Parsons Rice & O P & Ella's children- Cecil R & Lucille Letha Baker.

**Oden P Baker was born 14 May 1871 in DeKalb Co., MO to Phillip Peter & Lucinda Elizabeth Baker Baker. He was one of seven children: Charles H, 1863-1956; Amber, 1866-1866; Anna, 1868-1951; Oden, 1871-1960; Darlin Katherine, 1874-1955; Samuel, 1877-?; Isaac Franklin, 1879-1960 & William M., 1883-??. The family emigrated to Abilene, Dickinson, KS before 1880. O. P. met Ella Elizabeth Rice Detrick who had been married before bring 2 children to the marriage to Joseph M Derrick: son Erwin Orion “Erve” 1883-1918 & daughter Frankie F, 1889-1976. Joseph Detrick died 7 Jan 1891. **O.P. & Ella married 20 Feb 1895 in Sandstone, Vernon, MO. and had 2 children: Cecil R, 1898-1923 & Lucille Letha, 1900-1997. In **1900 the Baker family lived in Ladore, Neosho, KS, but soon moved to Erie where they moved into a beautiful 2 story home on the corner of 3rd & Grant NW corner - 221 S Grant. It is thought that O P had this house built in 1899. Mr Baker owned & operated a Mercantile store in Erie with a partner, Mr. Stephens, Baker & Stephens for a number of years. About 1920 he either sold his part of that business or the partners dissolved the business and Oden worked for a lumberyard. This must have been a period of time where he thought about his future because by 1925 the family had re-established itself in El Dorado, KS.
****O P & Ella & family, including Ella’s mother, Mary Malissa Parsons Rice, continued to live there until around 1925 when the family moved to El Dorado, Butler, KS. O P owned and operated a Retail Furniture Business there for the rest of his life. He died 4 Nov 1960 at age 89. Ella died 11 Sept 1942.Both seemed to consider Erie their home because after their deaths Oden & Ella both were brought to Erie to be buried as was their daughter Lucille & her husband Dewey Albert Lee Martin.

Photos # 1 & 2 - 221 S Grant
Photo # 3 - map of the block with O P Baker house
Photo # 3 family photo of O P Baker, wife Ella, mother-in-law Melissa Rice, Stepson Erve Detrick, Stepdaughter Frankie Fern Detrick, children: Cecil & Lucille Letha.
Photo # 4 - 1910 Commerative plate Baker & Stephens gave away
Photo # 5 - 1900 Baker & Stephens Store plate with 1910 calendar.

We have not found a map with the business of Baker & Stephens listed

Who else has lived here??
Any photos of the house or inside someone would share?
Please comment….:
***Janelle Smith: My grandmother, Pauline Buskirk, still lives here! She turns 99 on 9/11!!
***Sydney Shaw: The Humberts lived there when I was a kid. They were friends of my grandparents.

08/22/2026

HOUSES OF ERIE, KS
203 North Lincoln

1899 November 5
Leon “Lon” S. Cambern has purchased the J. M. Allen property at 203 N Lincoln from J. M Phelps and is moving into the house.
Mr Cambern will have one of the most beautiful homes in the City of Erie.

This house had other owners, for example, Pat & Ernestine Stephens. They divided the house into apartments and many young people started their individual or married lives in this house.

***Mary Stephens O’Neal: It was a great old house. There was an apartment on the 2nd floor and a couple bedrooms. The top floor was finished. Supposedly during the war men who were working at the Army Ammunition plant in Parsons slept up there.
The garage had 2 small rooms over it. It was rented alot. It was great to have all that room when Patty came home with her 3 kids. I had 2 and Bill had 2. It was sad when it was torn down. Great neighbors.
***Tom Norris: The house had a front porch that ran all the way across the front of the house and there was a side porch on the south side of the house,and a cattle watering trough in the attic.
What can you tell us about the Camberns, Phelps and the Stephens' house and your time visiting or living there???
Please comment!! or send us a message.!!

***Ronda Greve Stevenson: Pat and Ernestine babysat me in this house. Nice memories, watching the Art Linkletter Show and playing with their dog. I'm thinking a weiner dog 🐕 🤔. There was a huge slipper slide in the front yard. Pat taught me how to chew down the chicken leg portion to enjoy the bone marrow. Funny things make memories for kids. Got my first black eye going down the slide and smacking into another kid. Their grandson I believe. A fellow came there that we called "Grandpa Kuzell". He always was fun and would give me a trinket, a spinning windmill once. He was thin and walked with one arm behind his back held in place by the other arm.
***Deb Hinshaw-Vincellette: I have wonderful summer memories visiting my grandparents Pat and Ernestine (Grandma Teenie to us) - My mother was Patty. We lived in Houston during the years they lived in the Lincoln house so we only made it to Erie once a year during the summer. I remember laying in the bedroom (the window to the right of the entrance porch in the picture) with the windows open, the window fans pulling hot air across me and listening to the rumbling engines of the teenagers' cars cruising by on Canville layered with the song of the cicadas. Grandpa Pat's daschund Mike always got table scraps for dinner. The upstairs was a bit of a mystery since we were rarely allowed up there, I think I saw the upstairs apartments only once or twice. Grandpa put up a tire swing in the big tree. And we ran around with the Capote boys next door.
***Linda Raney Weidert: We lived in the upstairs apartment as newly weds in 1967. Loved the clawfoot tub in the bathroom. Pat and Ernestine were the best.

You know you're from Erie, Ks when.

08/31/2026

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