City of Axtell, Kansas Webpage
City of Axtell, Kansas Webpage
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| City Hall | St. Michael School | New Hospital | Axtell Depot |
A new city building was built in 1961 to house the fire trucks and a community room on the west end of Main Street. In 1973, the library and city office was moved to this building.
Also in 1961, the new St. Michael's parochial grade school building was nearing completion. The local cafe was taken over by Miss Mildred Perry from Mr. and Mrs. Bob Baldwin.
The Axtell Telephone Co., which was organized in 1899 with 44 phones, had by 1908, 450 phones with 22 rural lines covering 225 square miles and employed four people. On August 1, 1962, Blue Valley Telephone Co. took over the phone system from Axtell Mutual Telephone.
Also in 1962, the first of many community carnivals was held to help defray the costs of the building of the new hospital. The first carnival was tied into the 25th anniversary of Dr. Hash being a doctor. An estimated 2,000 people were present for the event with more than 400 of "Dr. Hash's babies" registered and also attending. The community was saddened, though, with the death of S. V. Hanna, Axtell's dentist. He was killed in a pickup wreck in Wyoming. Polio vaccines were also offered in the fall of 1962 to the community at 25¢ per dose.
The year 1965 showed the unification of school districts. Axtell patrons voted to unify with Summerfield and Bern school districts. The votes were as follows: Axtell --- 117-78, Summerfield --- 129-23, and Bern --- 168-26.
The state sales tax also showed an increase from two and one-half percent to three percent. An all-electric home was completed by the REC, which is the present Charles Shaughnessy home. The CB Club served refreshments at the Mackville corner over the Labor Day weekend to travelers. New business owner was Regis Rochel who bought the Standard Station from Albert Dick. The community carnival in 1965 wiped out the debt for the hospital. The portable TB x-ray unit was also in town. It traveled to communities so people would have an opportunity for a free assessment as to whether or not they had tuberculosis.
Due to a need for more water, the community drilled for wells north of town on the Peschel farm. A new well and waterline into town was added to the system. In 1988, the city was again looking for a water source as the state regulations were changing, forcing the city to close the park wells. In May of 1989, the city pumped its first water from Rural Water #3 in Beattie, adding another nine miles of pipeline and another pumping to the system. The city today pumps the majority of its water from the Rural Water district but still pumps the north well also.
In 1966, the old Union Pacific railroad depot was also closed and boarded up. In the same year the Blue Valley Telephone began the process of burying its telephone wires under the ground.
In 1968, a number of business changes were made.
Interesting events of 1969 were as follows:
Over the years, music has been a vital part of the Axtell community. Semi-monthly concerts were held in 1970 at Scott's Recreation Parlor. Anyone interested in music or just liked to play were encouraged to attend. Regular members were as follows: piano, Max Dinsmore; guitar, John Hill; accordion, Loyal McAtee; violin, Charles Gallagher; harmonica, Bill Glynn; and Scotty on the kazoo.
Other events and highlights of 1970 were:
Click on years below to go to that era:
1872-1890 -- 1891 - 1900 -- 1901 - 1910 -- 1911 - 1920 -- 1921 - 1930 -- 1931 - 1940 -- 1941 - 1950 -- 1951 - 1960 -- 1961 - 1970 -- 1971 - 1980 -- 1981 - 1998
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