HAND BOOK OF OSBORNE COUNTY, KANSAS
Press of Junction Steam Print. Kansas City, MO. 1884. 57 pgs, dozens of woodcut illustrations extolling the virtues of Osborne County particularly in the areas of cattle and livestock grazing., plus information concerning other businesses. Obviously in this post civil war period the booklet was to promote immigration and settlement in Osborne County.
Founded by a group of 67 Pennsylvania setters on May 1, 1871, under the leadership of Colonel William Bear. It became the county seat in November of 1872 and incorporated as the city, Osborne, in 1878. Town-sites were surveyed along the South Fork of the Solomon River. With the printing of this promotional, 1884, the county had roughly 12,000 immigrants being a combination of Easterners wanting to move west and Europeans, both groups looking for a better life. The growth was also fueled initially by the Bull City – Russell Freight Trail followed shortly by the Central Branch of the Union Pacific Railroad which later became part of the Missouri Pacific.
Source: Osborne County Genealogical and Historical Society
Very scarce, OCLC locates only 3 copies, wear consistant with age, overall in vg cond.