MARSHALL COUNTY MAP
Location of Beattie, Kansas
Beattie is in Marshall County, Guittard township, and is located one and one-fourth miles north of U.S. Highway 36 on Kansas Highway 99. It is about 90 miles straight west of St. Joseph, Missouri on U.S. 36.
BEATTIE, KANSAS 66406
Beattie is located on the old St. Joseph & Grand Island Railroad (now the Union Pacific Railroad) one hundred miles west of St. Joseph. The town site was platted in June 1870 by the Northern Kansas Land Company of St. Joseph, Missouri, on land owned by James FitzGerald and J. T. Watkins. The town site comprised 160 acres and the name Beattie was given in honor of A. Beattie, then mayor of St. Joseph, Missouri.
H. M. Newton, James McElroy, R. Shields and J. J. Sheldon were the first to settle in the town. One reason for locating the town was the stone quarries. The stone from the quarries was for many years the finest in Kansas or Nebraska for building purposes. They are now partially abandoned.
Prior to 1865 Hugh Hamilton, H. C. Smith, Eli Goldsberry, E. Cain, J. Totton, G. Thorne, James FitzGerald, P. Jones and some others settled near what is now Beattie. Joseph Totton came to Marshall County in 1858 and settled on a farm three miles north of Beattie. His daughter, Elizabeth Totton was married to George Thorne in 1860.
George W. Thorne had the distinction of being the only man who voted for Abraham Lincoln in 1860 in Guittard Township.
Early History & Early Business
A HISTORY OF BEATTIE
Man and the plow came to the Beattie community in 1870. The shining blade dug deep and the furrows soon yielded crops for the food of the early settlers who were dependent on anything that flew, swam or ran for their food.
The plows that turned the first sod on the Kansas prairies long ago have rusted to decay, buried with the legends of the buffalo herds that once roamed the plains, stretching as far as the eye could see.
Beattie is located on the west branch of the Vermillion River, 100 miles west of the Missouri River on the St. Joseph and Grand Island Railroad. It is in the very heart of the best and most fertile land in Kansas where there is also an abundance of rock formations in this vicinity, said to be the finest in the west.
Beattie was laid out in June 1870 by the Northern Kansas Land and Town Company of St. Joseph, Missouri, on land owned by James FitzGerald and Jerry Watkins. The original site consisting of 160 acres was well chosen by these two men, who each built fine homes, the former on the west side of Beattie and the other on the east side.
When the town was platted, the Honorable A. Beattie, then mayor of St. Joseph, Missouri, accompanied the railroad officials and land company stockholders to the new site. Said he: "I want to give this town my own name and not any Indian names like these other towns," referring to the towns of Hiawatha, Seneca, and others located on the railroad. And so the new town acquired the name of "Beattie."
The writer Emerson said, "all history is biography" and the story of Beattie is not complete without the biographies of Mr. Watkins and Mr. FitzGerald.
The Honorable J. R. Watkins, who gave the land for the east side of Beattie, purchased it from the government in 1860, the railroad coming through the town was platted between the property of Mr. FitzGerald and Mr. Watkins, who gave alternate lots to the railroad company to locate a depot. This land ran up to Center Street of Beattie and on west to Mr. FitzGerald's line.
Mr. Watkins was a successful farmer and stock raiser. He always had fine horses and cattle. He was the first mayor of Beattie, when Beattie was incorporated in 1884 and also one of the first school board members of District 29. Mr. and Mrs. Watkins became the parents of five children, Elvira, John, Florence, Ada and Paul. Only two surviving members remain of this family, Miss Elvira Watkins, Tampa, Florida, and Florence, who is Mrs. William Kane, Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Mr. Watkins, who was a Republican, was a leader in organizing the Beattie Baptist congregation. Timmy O'Neil, grandson of T P. O'Neil, one of Beattie's early wheel horses of the Democratic party, now owns and operates the Watkins' homestead. In 1871 Mr. Watkins built the first dwelling house in Beattie, but it was destroyed by fire when the land was owned by T. W. Finnigin.
An outstanding record among the old settlers was that of the fine man who located just west of the city limits of Beattie in 1859. He, like Mr. Watkins, joined in giving the railroad every other city lot if a depot was located on the new town site.
Mr. FitzGerald engaged in general farming and stock raising. In 1875 he built a fine stone quarry on his own farm. He was married to Miss Mary Nolan and they were the parents of six children. They were Patrick, Ellen, Katie, John, Rose and William. Of this early family only one remains, Miss Katie, who lives on the old home place and Mrs. John FitzGerald, her sister-in-law, makes her home with her. Mr. FitzGerald was one of the original members of the Catholic Church. He aided largely in the organization in 1868, and continued to stand by his church assisting in building the Catholic Church in 1881. He lived to see the parish grow from eight families to 50 families. He served as township trustee for two terms and although a staunch Democrat, he changed his views and became a Republican.
Mr. FitzGerald and Mr. Watkins were some of the real boosters to build Beattie the capitol of the world.