TIMELINE
Before 1850 Osage Indian territory

1850 Area was opened to Euro-American settlement

1867 Montgomery County is created by legislatures, by cutting Wilson County in half.  It will be organized by a proclamation of June 3rd, 1869.  The county is named after General Richard Montgomery.

1869 P.C. Brown sets aside 10 acres of his farm to be used as a cemetery, and the first marked grave is placed in the Fairview Cemetery.

1870  Much of the land around Cherryvale is homesteaded.

1871  Town site laid out. 

1872   First school was built near Fourth and Carson Streets. Miss Mary Greenfield taught the first class in the summer of 1873.

1873  The first major fire to damage the town happens this year.  First flour mill established.  What would later be known as Cherryvale has forty businesses at this time.  The Herald Newspaper publishes its first news paper here in Cherryvale.

1874 Population is 200

1875 Severe grasshopper plague hits the area

1877 Cherryvale Globe Newspaper established, which burnt to the ground in 1879.  The paper was printed in Kansas City until 1880

1879 Population of Cherryvale is 250, Cherryvale Globe Newspaper burns to the ground.  The paper was printed in Kansas City until 1880

1880 Population has grown to 690 in one year.  Cherryvale is incorporated.  1880 The first form of law enforcement is established when Marshal J. C. Cunningham is appointed City Marshal on April 5th, 1880.   The Cherryvale Opera House Company was organized.   The city had five saloons in town at this time.  Exchange Bank (Now Peoples State Bank) opens.

1881 Prohibition takes effect in Kansas.  Cherryvale voted in the fall of 1880 in favor of a state law to outlaw the sale and manufacture of spiritual liquors.  Soon after this law is put into effect, bootlegging becomes popular in and around the area of Cherryvale.  Logan Park is created after the Lawrence, Leavenworth & Galveston Railroad deed six acres of land to the city.  The park is named after General John A. Logan.

1882 Population of Cherryvale is 1800.  Since Cherryvale had six brick factories, most of the streets, sidewalks, and downtown buildings were constructed from these bricks. 1882 saw the advent of sun-dried brick streets. The wood planked sidewalks were replaced in 1898 with kiln bricks from the Corbin plant and later, in the early 1900s, the brick sidewalks were widened to sixteen feet. Late 1800s saw the multiple use of gas throughout Cherryvale as a result of its immense underground natural gas fields and its use as a clean cheap fuel.  The first issue of the Cherryvale Torch was made in February, 1882

1884  The Liberty Fire Company was established, bring the first fire department to Cherryvale.  It was a private fire company.  The Cherryvale Bulletin newspaper is established.

1886  The Cherryvale Republican newspaper is established.

1887  First natural gas well was drilled at Fourth and Labette Streets. By the turn-of-the-century, more than 30 gas wells were producing inside the city limits.

1888 The cigar factory, Cahters & Stahl who pioneered political campaigns on cigars, was built at 103 1/2 East Main Street. The firm would produce 17,000 cigars each month and now is one of the best known cigar firms in the Midwest.

1889  Population of Cherryvale is 2400                

1892  Frank Bellamy writes the "Pledge of Allegiance" as part of a local contest to express allegiance to the US Flag.  Only 16 years of age at the time he submits the pledge to the "The Youth Companion" who publishes it on Sept 8th, 1892 only giving credit to Anonymous. When asked why they did not give credit to him, they state that all items submitted to them remain their property.

1895  First Old Solders' Southern Kansas Reunion was held in Cherryvale. 

1896  Robert H. Cloughley, a railroader, built the first steam driven automobile west of the Mississippi. The engine was similar to a railroad steam engine. The streamer auto company after about one year due to lack of financial backing.

1898  Frank Bellamy as a student in Cherryvale Central High School, Frank Bellamy brought the Pledge of Allegiance into national focus as a winner in a 1892 national student contest. The pledge was first officially used in a national celebration coinciding with the opening of the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. A veteran of the Spanish-American War, he is buried in Cherryvale's Fairview Cemetery.  Edgar Zinc Company opened at a cost of $350,000.  

1898  Cherryvale Evening Clarion newspaper is founded.

1899  Water came to the downtown area in  from Lake Tanko and a local and long distance telephone system was installed. 

1901 Cherryvale was booming with a glass factory, shovel and barrel factories, a marble works, an iron works, two grain elevators serviced by the railroads, and a bicycle factory.

1903 City Marshal William G. Jones is killed in the line of duty.

1904 Population of Cherryvale is 4706, the first sewers were put into service.

1905 Around this time the city takes fire protection.  The department is one of the oldest full time manned stations in the state of Kansas. The school colors were orange and black

1906 Population of Cherryvale grows to nearly 7000.  Louise Brooks is born, and lives at 531 East 7th Street.

1907 Population of Cherryvale is drops to 6018.  The city jail is listed in the city directory as being on the East side of South Labette between Main and Fourth.

1909 Vivian Vance is born, and lives at 309 West 6th Street.

1910 First trolley car rolls into town.

1912 Leatherock Hotel built, 420 North Depot Street. The only local hotel left among the 19 hotels built in Cherryvale's bygone era.

1913 Cherryvale Carnegie Library, 329 East Main Street.  Early 1909, the Cherryvale Women's Club set a goal to establish a library with an adjoining room for rural women to rest and visit after their long horse and buggy ride to shop in town. In 1912, a grant from the Carnegie Foundation provided the necessary funds for construction of a permanent building. The handsome, pressed brick building from local Cherryvale brick factories, with Carthage cut stone pillars, a concrete foundation, and oak floors with beamed ceilings was registered on the National Register of Historic Places in August, 1987. The library has extensive files and books on local/state history and a large video collection ranging from children's to educational to do-it-yourself to recent movie releases. There is also an incomplete collection of Cherryvale High School yearbooks. It is open Tuesday to Friday, noon to 6pm, and Saturday, 8am to noon year round. Phone, 620 336-3460.

1924  Grace and Earl Newton start a plumbing and electric business at 116 W. Main that will later be known by all as Newtons Hardware

1930  Serious drought "the dust bowl" hits the area hurting the cattle industry.

1932  Edgar Zinc Company shuts down.  The factory was the largest zinc plant in the World, at the time.

1933  Pretty Boy Floyd who grew up in Cookson Hills of Oklahoma. Is known to pass through Cherryvale.

1934  The first basketball played by the "Cherryvale Fighting Cherries." happened this year on Dec 1st.

1937 Population of Cherryvale is drops to 3800

1939  The city building was located at 119 N. Neosho

1940 The last Brick yard closes

1946 Big ice storm hits the area dropping 10in of ice in and around Cherryvale.  It takes over three weeks to restore power.

1949 Another big ice storm hits the area.

1951 Cherryvale hit by a tornado on June 25th around 2:00AM leaving a trail of minor damage and debris.

1954 The Santa Fe Railroad deeds the City of Cherryvale as a New Years gift the entire Lake Tanko property.  Soon after this the lake  opened for fishing, and the area was cleaned up and turned into a park.  The Cherryvale National Guard Field Artillery unit (297th) was activated.

1961  Tri City Airport opens north of Cherryvale.

1962 Big Hill Lake authorized by Congress, Cherryvale Police Department receives its first police dog on Jan 23rd.

1967 Population of Cherryvale is 3100

1969  High School athletic team changes its name from "The Fighting Cherries" to "The Chargers"

1990 Population of Cherryvale is 2,511

2000 Population of Cherryvale is 2,386

2005  Population of Cherryvale is 2,266

2006 The population of Cherryvale grows to 2,271

       Did we miss something that you feel needs to be added?  Send it to mdennis@cherryvaleusa.com

Quick Facts

*  Cherryvale once had eight grocery stores and six barber shops.
*  Cherryvale has one of the oldest full-time fire departments in the state.
*  Teddy Roosevelt, and Warren Harding have both spoke at Logan Park
*  Cary Nation who became famous in Wichita for chopping up a bar with her hatchet was know to have stayed in Cherryvale at the Commercial Hotel.
*  Charles Lindbergh used the Cherryvale and the railroad tracks as a reference point when he got off course during a flight from San Diego to St Louis
*  Kate Bender who was part of the family known as the Bloody Benders worked at the opera house in Cherryvale. The family lived north of Cherryvale near what is now known as 400 highway and Browns Road - More Info

Notable natives

Sam Avey  - Legendary Wrestling Promoter
Louise Brooks - Dancer, silent film star, and author
Frank Bellamy - Mr. Bellamy wrote the "Pledge of Allegiance" in 1892 when he was 16 years old as part of a contest to express allegiance to the US Flag.  When published by "The Youth Companion" on Sept 8th, 1892 the publishers only gave credit to Anonymous.
Billy Sandow - Manager for World Champion Ed "Strangler" Lewis
Vivian Vance - She who played Ethel Mertz on I Love Lucy.
Leason Heberling Adams - Geophysicist. In 1920, he and E. D. Williamson published their invention of a new method of annealing optical glass. Adams gained further renown for his research into the elastic properties of minerals and rocks at high pressure, especially as related to the composition of the Earth. He was professor of geophysics at the University of California, Los Angeles (1958–65) until his retirement.