The following is taken from the Summerfield Bicentennial History book. It was written and edited by Mrs. Harriet Hughes Wright and Mrs. Lydia Palmer Jones.  It is used with the permission of the City of Summerfield. It has been modified by correcting several  typographical errors.  A update to this section is being planned.

Introduction

To Nathanial Hedrick, pioneer and ex-soldier of the Civil War, belongs a two fold distinction.  He was the original homesteader of the northwest eighty acres in St. Bridget, now block No. 6. However, his most notable accomplishment was the planting of a large grove of trees around his house.  The young forest on the prairie consisted of maple, cottonwood and fruit trees and covered ten acres.  When Summerfield was founded sixteen or seventeen years later, the northwest section was built in this half-grown forest, and the settlers were obliged to clear off timber and grub stumps to make space for buildings.  During the fifty years, which had elapsed since that time, some of those trees continued to grow until stricken by drought and died.  Two of those trees were in front of Dr. Stephens or Dr. Vinsant's office and the National Bank and the blacksmith shop.  One old maple tree or a portion of it is in front of George Smith's house now.  Many trees have been cut down and removed from the City Park.

Marshall County ranked between fourth and sixth in the state.  Richland township ranked very high in the county because it had more extra good land and the farms were nicer laying than in any township in the county.  The conditions were far different in St. Bridget township.  The land was fertile and the bottom lands produced heavy crops.  Summerfield's firewood and posts for the farms were mostly supplied from the timber along the creeks in St. Bridget township.  Rock from the quarries from east of town and west of town were used as foundations; and the jail is made of rock.
 

History Of Summerfield

At the Golden Jubilee in 1938, it was stated that Summerfield, "like ancient Gaul, enjoys the dubious distinction of being "divided" but there the comparison ends; for our "parts" are but two, namely, St. Bridget and Richland townships."

The town started with almost a hundred tents set up south and east of town (near where Charles Goodwin's live now) where the men worked building the right-of-way and laying rails for the new railroad that was to join the St. Joseph and Grand Island to the Burlington railroad.

During the year 1888, the Kansas City and Northwestern Railroad Companies were engaged in surveying a route for a proposed line from Kansas City to Beatrice, Nebraska.  As an aid in that construction the company requested a $15,000 bond issue and in return promised to locate a city within three miles of the Nebraska line.  St. Bridget hoped a town would grow up there.  The Townsite Co. located the town in the northeast part of Marshall County, most of it in St. Bridget and one block wide and one-half mile long in Richland township.

Summerfield was born, we might say, in the fall, October 12, 1889.  The Summerfield Townsite Company purchased 160 acres of land, located in St. Bridget township from John Smiley and eighty acres from C. F. McCulloch, which was located adjoining it.  J. P. Taylor was the financier of this venture arid managed the mapping out of the site into lots for the sale.  The auctioneer was William Speak of Axtell.  Sometime later an addition, known as Joseph's Addition was added to the townsite.  This consisted of about sixty-seven acres purchased from W. H. Joseph located in Richland Township.

The town was named in honor of Elias Summerfield, who was the managing superintendent of the railroad at that time.  Virginia, Nebraska was the terminal of the road and not to Beatrice as planned.

As soon as the land was plotted out and the lots sold, the buildings seemed almost to spring from the earth and the town within a short time became an active town in the business world.  The two additions and four blocks from the Smiley Addition were incorporated into the city.  The petition for incorporation, signed by Frank Thomann and 39 others, was granted October 12, 1889.  The city limits defined in that document are still intact, with the exception of six blocks, three of which are fractional, in the south-east comer of the original plat, which have been vacated and were owned by John Gallagher as farmland.  The land the house is on was annexed to the city in order that Earl Blakeway could legally serve as an officer in the city.  Clement Stueve has that land now.  Also a small extension of the boundaries was made on the southwest corner of the town when H. A. Berens had his resident property incorporated, so he could serve as the mayor of Summerfield.

According to record, Ordinance No. I was not published in the SUN until May 5, 1893.  These enactments were probably adopted and put into effect during the first city administration without publication.  The first city election was held November 7, 1889.  The mayor, R. G. Cunningham, had for his council I. J. Nichols, H. E. Adams, C. J. O'Neil, Dan Swartout and R. M. Miller.  J. M. Kendall was elected city clerk and E. H. Rundle was appointed guardian of the law over the one hundred individuals who constituted the population of the new city.

The jail is as old as the town.  The rock was probably donated for the city jail and perhaps the Transue brothers made and riveted the two cells with four bunks inside the building.  There were two windows for light and a place for a heating stove.  It has been re-roofed but otherwise standing as it did in 1888 or 1889.

Taken from the Summerfield SUN, October 16, 1903: "The town kept on growing and trade increasing with each year until now it is one of the best trading points in northern Kansas and southern Nebraska and has bright prospects for growing trade."

The materials for construction were conveyed from Beattie and Axtell even before train service was instituted.  The first grocery store was erected by McGinty and Hurd.  Incidentally, Mr. and Mrs. Frank Hurd were the proud parents of the first child born in the town.  The "native son" was christened Summerfield.  The first postmaster was Captain James Hemphill, who was also the successful candidate for Mayor in the second election to be held in the city.  Mr. Menzo W. Terry, school teacher, farmer and attorney, succeeded him in becoming postmaster.

Early day carpenters were in demand.  Among them were David Wilson, George Van Allen, James Monroe and the Webster Brothers followed by William F. Palmer and Cal Dunkle.  Lock and Mann in 1903 were busy selling Chalendar pumps.  Transue Brothers were busy blacksmithing and horseshoeing.  Art Shaffer was called the little horseshoe man.  Over five miles of new sidewalks were laid around the town.

The town kept growing and increasing with each year.  William Matthews was the proprietor of Summerfield's first bowling alley.  The Commercial livery barn was built, it was a necessity then.  Chris Mohrbacher, Jr. and R. G. Cunningham had a general store and implements: Russell Schutt, a firm from Axtell, lumber yard: Fleming and Trekell, lumber yard; Dan Swartout, general store.  Changes were made often and soon other names appeared on the business houses.  J. H. Moore had general merchandise; Wuester and Thomann, pharmacists; Fleming and H. E. Adams, lumber; Mohrbacker Brothers, photographers; Charles Usher, livery barn; Henry Maitland, real estate, justice of the peace, notary public: Burnett House, hotel; F. Baringer, groceries; Walsh and Brady, general merchandise; the Misses Moriarity and Creevan, millinery and dress making; Smiley and Loch, mercantile; C. J. and J. C. O'Neil department stores; G. C. Moore and W. A. Huston, restaurants; Swartout, Smith and Sons general merchandise and Barney Myers and E. Miller had a meat market.  It wasn't very long until Thomas Hutton set up his blacksmith shop.  There were three barbers, T. W. Corcoran, Charles Washington (negro) and John Martin; August Eisenbach and Jacob Hoffman opened a bakery; and then farmers felt the need of elevators.  The soil surrounding Summerfield is of black loam and very fertile so corn, wheat, oats, and hay were the staple crops, but all kinds of feed and vegetables grow well here.  Two elevators were built for handling the large amount of grain raised.  The first firm of grain buyers were Davis and Gilchrist from Seneca with George Hibbard as the manager of the business.  The first elevator built was erected by the O'Neil brothers and constructed in 1890.  The second elevator built was put up in 1891 by F. Thomann and A. J. Brunswig.  This was sold to Joe Baer of Beattie and he changed the name to the Summerfield Elevator Company.  A third elevator was known as The Farmers Elevator Co. and it operated for six years.  After 1903, George Craven became a prominent figure in the grain business and a noteworthy leader in community affairs.

Summerfield was taking giant strides to make the town the best in the northern part of the state of Kansas.  The town had a good start and kept moving forward.  In 1903, there were fifty-seven business houses.

Churches were erected for worship.  In 1889, the United Presbyterian Church was built and their pastor was Reverend J. C. Calhoun.  The Methodist Church was served by Reverend W. D. Hamilton and Reverend Father John Hurley was the first Catholic pastor of Holy Family Church when it was established in 1891.

The schoolhouse was planned and built in 1889, and in 1892 was added to, improved and equipped for the purpose of disseminating knowledge.

With the growth of trade and business, banks were needed.  The State Bank of Summerfield was built in 1889.

The first newspaper was published by Edward and Harry Felt.  They shared a room on the second floor of the I. J. Nichols building.  The first floor was a livery barn and feed stable.  This building was destroyed by fire in 1892 and other plans were made to continue the newspaper, The Summerfield Sun.

A fire destroyed the livery stable of A. A. Gearhart, and he lost many horses.  Later, A. B. Garrison had a stable at the same location, north of the Commercial Hotel.  A great Fire occurred on June 29, 1894.  The headline in the Summerfield Sun July 6, 1894 stated "Summerfield visited by a $25,000 blaze.  Nothing left but the foundations, to mark the spot where once stood five of our largest business firms." It was on Friday night and the fire alarm was sounded about 1:30 at night.  There was a south west wind blowing and with all hands helping with the bucket brigade, it was almost a hopeless battle.  The fire moved through the wooden buildings rapidly.  The stone walls of J. H. Moore and Sons new building was the only hope left of checking the flames.  The energetic workers kept a constant stream of water on Mr. Sidwell's building until the walls collapsed; thus the fire spent its strength.  The losers were: Mr. H. H. Lourey and Co., $7,000 and insured for $4,500; R. W. Hemphill, $3,500 and insured for $1,500; Wuester and Thomann, $3,000 and insured for $1,000; Summerfield Hardware and Implement Co., $9,000 and insured for $3,000; and J. H. Moore and Son, $7,000 and insured for $500.  The origin of the fire is a mystery but from appearances it was work of incendiaries.  Arrangements were made to continue with their businesses.  One ad stated, "We are selling goods as cheap as before and lots of things cheaper." The hardware sold many things that went through the fire for 50 cents on the dollar.  H. H. Lourey's store was situated on the comer where H. A. Berens and the I.G.A. store is today.  Discouraged but courageous, the townspeople set in operation plans for larger and more substantial buildings.

The Frankfort Bee summed up the situation in this way: The loss was $29,500 and the insurance was $12,000 and that left a net loss to the town of $17,500.  A good system of water works could have been built for that amount of money.  A town needs water works.

An ordinance was made that no frame buildings but fireproof stone buildings were to be built.
After Mr. Hemphill's store was destroyed by fire, he started anew.  With a little money he bought the village paper, the Summerfield Sun.  He had a business, a small house partly paid for and more than twenty-five hundred dollars mercantile indebtedness.  From here, after studying law, he was elected clerk of the district court in Marshall county.  In the fall of 1900, he established the Marysville Republican, which he published for two years.  He used his law practice and joined his son in later years.

The new town was not without doctors.  They were Dr. John Matched, Dr. J. H. Murphy and Dr. Johnson and Dr. McClanahan and Dr. L. H. Stephens, dentist.

Of course, there must be a little play with work so Summerfield entered into some social things as lodges, clubs, church guilds and aids, Order of the Eastern Star, United Workmen, Knights and Ladies of Security and church leagues.  Dances were popular among the young people.  The men and boys liked baseball and all the neighboring towns entered in the tournaments.

On a Saturday afternoon, the busy town was crowded with people.  The streets were lined with carriages, buggies and wagons, and a few cars; and the stores carried on a better business than any other of the neighboring towns.  Two hundred thirty-one vehicles were counted on the street one Saturday night.

Summerfield became an active trading center and drew trade from a wide area.  From the Summerfield Sun in 1912: The average yearly business was between $550,000 and $600,000.  There was about 200,000 bushels of grain a year shipped out and retailed by our two elevators.  The stock shipped was about 100 carloads a year and the prices were good for that time.  The sum total at the bank one year was $1,600,000.

The railroad station was rated at $24,000 a year.  That was only on incoming freight and not on what grain and cattle were shipped out.  With that volume of business you can understand why losing the railroad was a damaging blow to the town and to its business merchants.

This country has never been considered a dairy center but at one time there were seven cream stations, testing and selling cream in the city.  And $25,000 worth of cream was sold, this was taken from the Summerfield Sun.  Silos were erected and other improvements were made to continue producing dairy products.  At a later date a Mr. Sommers started a butter factory on the comer east of Myers Hardware.  He sold butter and cottage cheese.  The lack of a good water system caused the operation to close.  Butter had been shipped as far away as New York.

Another big fire on February 26, late Sunday night, destroyed four buildings on the east side of Summerfield.  Before the fire department could control the fire, four buildings were destroyed: the John Hughes building, which was unoccupied; the Pat Finerty building occupied by the Craven Meat Market; the Frank Powell building, occupied by the East Side Barber Shop; and the Johnston building, where Miss Emma Lindenberg had just put in a new stock of millinery; and the Thomann building adjoining these buildings on the north was slightly damaged, The Craven Meat Market was a total loss, the Hughes building was not insured and the barber shop had to start over and Miss Lindenberg bought new supplies and located a shop at the Eureka Hotel.  George and Harry Craven went to Kansas City to buy new market equipment.

The cause of the fire was a mystery.  The owners of the old buildings rebuilt buildings of brick and cement blocks, tiling and stones.  The Thomann building was repaired and Tom Brown's Cafe located in the same place.  The Craven Meat Market moved in with the Bratton Cream Station and Clyde Monzingo went to the post office building.

The complete loss was estimated at about $6,500.00.

The school district stores the school buses in these buildings now.
 

The Ice House

Each winter a crew of men went to the lake, Elias, in January or February (whenever the ice was fourteen or more inches thick) and sawed the ice into chunks.  They hauled the chunk-ice and stored it between layers of saw dust or wheat straw in a building south of where the Lutheran Church is located.  The iceman delivered 10 or 25 pounds of ice to fill ice boxes or for making homemade ice cream.
 

The Pest House

Smallpox, diphtheria and tuberculosis were diseases that caused fear and terror in the hearts of the pioneers.  Across the track and in the northeastern part of town was the Summerfield "Pest House".  Here doctors and friends took care of smallpox patients.  Successful research and medication have almost eliminated these diseases.