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Horton — once “Little Chicago”
I have passed through Horton Kansas en route via Hwy 159 between Topeka and Hiawatha. It seemed a place succumbed to chain stores and fast food chains.
Yet I took a pause for an “off the beaten path” gaze, and spent a week here — to discover a connection to railroad history, the Pony Express, and in modern day, a resonating local pride.
Here’s what I learned so far, by talking with locals and reading literature handed to me.
The Horton population nears 2,000. It is endearingly known as “The Electric City,” as Horton is the first Rural Electrification Administration (REA) cooperative in Kansas. That was an innovative project to string electricity throughout rural areas, in the 1930s.
Before then, in the 1880s, Horton became a railroad hub along the Rock Island and Pacific lines. The township grew so fast, enthusiasts called Horton “Little Chicago,” predicting it would boom larger than Chicago Illinois in size.
That didn’t happen. Yet Horton thrived throughout the railroad heyday. And it declined as railroad passenger and freight service declined.
Horton always remained influenced by its agricultural surroundings. Today, citizens are proud of Horton history, including its territory being along the historic Pony Express route.
Downtown, business owners like Luke Pollock proprietor of The English Leather Shop, and Thomas Reed, proprietor of The Electric City Emporium, set up shop in historical buildings that date back to the 1880s.
The most recent exciting news is the city now undertakes a “Reinvent Horton” initiative catapulted by a city meeting with Marcus Lemonis, host of the television show “The Profit.”
The initiative involves having sidewalks torn up to be replaced, and setting new lampposts Community members are invited to take ownership of downtown by cleaning buildings and yards. Folks gather almost every Saturday morning to partake.
Freight trains pass along the nearby tracks regularly, mostly pulling coal cars, cargo cars, and grain cars. I hear the train whistles, and wonder if they sounded the same during the train heyday.
Probably not, yet they still carry a rhythm that echoes back in time.
While on the town outskirts, Mission Lake lies beautiful with almost 100 campsites along the shore. The campsites are empty as winter approaches, to thrive next spring.
All these things one would not know by passing through the thoroughfare Highway 159. I am pleased to have veered for a closer look, and will keep you posted as I explore more.
Meanwhile for more information, visit the City of Horton website.
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