Guest Post: Carry Nation Comes to Enterprise

Carry Nation and Marshal Benham.
Photograph courtesy of the Dickinson
County Heritage Center.

Starting today, our blog will begin to feature guest posts on Dickinson County history and heritage every now and then.  Our first guest post is brought to you by Amy Feigley.  Amy is a member of the Dickinson County Heritage Center staff, and also works as a paraprofessional educator.  In today's post, Amy tells us the history of Carry Nation and her fateful visit to Enterprise, Kansas.

The year was 1901. Carry Nation had been making her rounds in Kansas smashing saloons. But, on the twenty-third day of January, she paid a visit to this sleepy little town, which was nestled in Dickinson County along the Smoky Hill River. At seven o'clock in the morning while most residents of this town were beginning their day, Carry Nation was plotting hers.

Mrs. Nation was brought to this town by Catherine Hoffman, who was the wife of C.B. Hoffman and mother of Mayor Emmett Hoffman. Mrs. Hoffman was, what one might say, a believer in women's rights . Once arriving in Enterprise, Mrs. Nation made her way to the Hoffman residence. While there, she remained in seclusion for several hours. At three o'clock that afternoon, Mrs. Nation, along with Mrs. Hoffman and several other women from the community, marched down main street, with her ever so famous hatchet nestled in the crook of her left arm and singing loudly 'Am I a Soldier of the Cross?"

Having been informed of Mrs. Nation's announcement, local saloon owners John Schilling and William Shook, drew their shades and locked their doors. They, along with other residents of Enterprise, waited to see what Mrs. Nation had planned next. She made her first stop at Schilling's saloon. After attempting to enter the building, she then shouted to Schilling. When a reply from Schilling was not made, she proceeded by demolishing his bar. With just a few crashing blows, she managed to "break the place up.” She smashed the mirror, the bar, knocked off decanters and bottles. Then, along with the aid of a mysterious veiled woman, drug a dozen cases of beer across the floor and smashed them one by one.

After demanding her to leave the saloon, Marshal Benham backed away as she waved her hatchet before his face. After pushing her and touching her shoulder, Marshal Benham saw nothing but pure anger in Mrs. Nation. She then lunged her hatchet at him. After all was said and done, she left with Mrs. Hoffman. After supper, she returned to downtown Enterprise, but this time had a run in with the Mrs. John Schilling, whose husband owned the other saloon in Enterprise. The two began to brawl. Mrs. Nation received cuts to her face and a deep gash over her eye. 

The next morning, she was back at it again. Not wanting to give in, she not only had plans on smashing the saloons, but also the saloon owners. The crowd gathered around as rotten eggs began flying towards Mrs. Nation's dress. Mrs. Nation's followers then proceeded to attack Mrs. Schilling and her companions, who fled down the street as fast and quickly as they could, in every direction possible. Within a few days, Mrs. Nation left for Topeka.

If you happen to drive down main street in Enterprise, make sure you stop and look at a plaque that is situated above the door of one of the bars that Carry Nation smashed. 

Information from this story courtesy of Reed Hoffman and "Carry Nation" by Herbert Asbury.

Matt Visits the Wonders of Kansas #1: The Kansas Museum of History

Every now and then, I will be visiting locations that were selected for the Kansas Sampler Foundation’s 8 Wonders of Kansas lists.  The Kansas Museum of History in Topeka was selected as a top 8 Wonder of History.

I recently paid a visit to the Kansas Historical Society’s Museum of History over the Independence Day holiday weekend.  It had been a while since my last visit to the museum (I believe I was in Middle School the last time I toured the place).  It has been interesting to visit other museums over the past year to say the least.  Since I began working in a museum, I feel that I look at other museums in a new light.  I am not just there to learn about the historical narratives that the exhibits teach me, I am also there to see how the museum and exhibits are constructed, and get new ideas for the future.  

The Kansas Historical Society has a fantastic space for their museum.  The ceilings are very high, allowing them to feature many large and tall artifacts such as a windmill, covered wagon, Native American tipi, airplane, and of course, a train.  If I have one critique about an element of the museum’s exhibits, it is that some of the exhibit labels are difficult to read.  Now this can partly be attributed to lighting, however many artifacts on display cannot have direct light on them.  The museum would definitely not want to cause accelerated light damage, so changing the lighting would not be the solution.  One possibility would be to change the coloring of some of the labels.  I think this would help quite a bit.

But I am not writing this to complain about exhibit minutiae, I am here to promote history!  If you have never been to the museum, it begins with a fascinating look at Native American life in Kansas.  This area of the museum features many American Indian tools, and a Plains Indian grass lodge and tipi.  It is difficult to describe how cool it is to see a tipi actually made from bison hides.  Pending on the size of the tipi, it could take twelve to sixteen hides to make the outer covering of a tipi.  If you think about the process and hard work it took to create something like this, it is truly amazing.

The museum also features interesting exhibits on the Santa Fe Trail, Oregon Trail, and Bleeding Kansas.  The Bleeding Kansas period has always held special interest to me.  It is incredible to look at how Kansas was at the forefront of national politics (and people were killing each other over these issues!).  I feel the museum does a good job of showing both sides of the story, and showing how many people were invested in their respective causes during that period in time.

The train, in which you can walk through a section, is probably the museum’s superstar.  Inside the drover’s car, visitors can learn a little bit about the Kansas cattle towns and Joseph McCoy.  Outside of the train are many artifacts relating to changing technology and town growth.  

Probably my favorite part of my visit was getting to see the museum’s current exhibit in their temporary gallery.  The exhibit is entitled 150 Things I Love about Kansas, and will be on display for the remainder of this year.  The exhibit features a plethora of objects related to what makes Kansas great.  Most notable for me was a dress worn by Carry Nation.  Also featured was a painting of the famous hatchet-wielding woman, painted after her visit to the town of Enterprise in Dickinson County.  In the painting, her face is bruised due to women attacking her while she was in Enterprise to smash up Schilling’s Saloon.  It was such a cool piece of history to see, since I already knew the story of her visit to the town.  Fascinating stuff to see.

If you have never visited the Kansas Historical Society, be sure to do so.  I have only scratched the surface of what you can see in this blog post.  Also, if you have seen the museum before, I highly recommend returning, so you can see the current exhibit.

To learn more about the Kansas Museum of History and the Kansas Historical Society, be sure to visit their website.