| MEDORA – At the time, there was no reason to save the pale yellow depot that once was a landmark here when the railroad was finished with it. |
| For years, it sat next to the tracks, a reminder to old-timers of the railroad’s deceptions. Residents woke on a Sunday morning in the early 1900s to find Rock Island railroad officials moving the depot from their town to the spot a mile southwest where it rested for years – where its tracks crossed with the newly laid Frisco line. And there was nothing they could do about it. Protesters couldn’t get a court injunction on a Sunday. It’s a tale The News documented in 1960 and one former Reno County Judge Steve Becker details as he sits in his Becker’s Bunkhouse. The two-story red structure where he sells western items is one of the last landmarks in town. The former Ranson Hotel started about the time Old Medora died and the new one sprouted. “It’s the one little quirk that makes it interesting,” Becker said of Medora’s history. Too many river crossings While the Frisco line no longer exists by Medora, the Union Pacific – the former Rock Island – still barrels through the community several times a day. The depot, however, has been gone for decades. Yet, little Medora has never really grown or declined much since residents abandoned the first town near the Reno/McPherson county line, Becker reckons. Somehow, the little village off K-61 has held its own. Founders platted the first Medora in 1887 at the junction of the Little Arkansas River and the Rock Island, about a mile northeast of the current village site. According to Becker’s application to make the Ranson Hotel a National Register of Historic Places site, Medora’s vicinity to the rail line positioned it as a community hub. By 1895, Medora Township had more than 60 families, most of which lived on farms outside the city limits. In 1893, the school district moved a frame schoolhouse into town. Like any town, Medora had business, including a mercantile and post office. With the depot, residents had dreams of landing a second railway, the St. Louis San Francisco – or Frisco as it was commonly called – according to Becker’s research. However, Medora lay northeast of the Little Arkansas River and it would have required multiple river crossings by the railroad. Thus, officials chose to bypass the community. The railroad instead crossed the Rock Island line on property owned by JH Ranson – also spelled Ransome, Becker said. Becker said residents didn’t want to move and fought for the depot. However, when the railroad moved it secretly on a Sunday morning, there wasn’t much option but to give in to the situation. A News story from Nov. 17, 1904 stated “Medora looks rather lonesome since the depot and sidetracks have been moved. There is some talk of a town site being laid out in South Medora soon.” Becker’s research shows, however, that the depot moved in 1905 and that in October 1905, Ranson had filed a plat for a new town to be called Medora Junction. By 1907, much of old Medora was gone, Becker reported. The school district had moved its frame building to the new town and the Rickenbrode Mercantile, Arbuckle Coffee Co. and the Junction House Hotel – later called the Bob Calvert Hotel – all moved, as well. By 1912, new Medora also had a grain elevator, express office and the post office. The town boasted a population of 75. In 1919, crews built what locals called the Medora Sidewalk – a nine-foot-wide highway that went from Medora to Hutchinson – one of the first concrete highways in the west end of the state, according to The News. When autos became more common, the state had to tear out the highway from Hutchinson to Medora, with construction heading to McPherson until World War II halted the work. Becker said that eventually, residents dropped the Junction off the name, calling themselves just Medora. Just a wheat field For now, Medora still sits along K-61. In coming months, the town will be bypassed as crews continue work on the new K-61 four-lane highway that goes from Hutchinson to Medora. Becker, however, isn’t worried. There really isn’t anything dead about Medora. Too many people know about his bunkhouse, which is open Thursday through Saturday each week. And regular customers frequent Polk’s Market, a longtime staple for fresh fruit and apple cider. While the school, used as a learning center, moved out of town last year, the pews fill for two Sunday Services at Medora Community Bible Church. Becker’s building is one of the oldest, if not the oldest, structure in town. After being used as a motel, the front was renovated to become a grocery/fuel stop along the highway. When Becker purchased the building in 2004, it was an antique shop. The upstairs still has the features of a hotel, including a lobby/parlor. Previous owners used it as living quarters. Becker always saw the building as iconic for passersby on the highway, which is why he bought it. “I didn’t want someone to raze it,” he said. “It is an old building and it is in need of so much work. But I didn’t want to see someone tear it down.” As for old Medora – today it is just a wheat field. A 1916 story in The News stated that part of the old townsite at that time was a farm owned by Pat Shea. The remainder, back then, however, couldn’t be sold because the man who owned it had gone missing 10 years before. Ed Mayfield, one night, had stopped at Rickenbrode store and paid a small bill he owed. He remarked about the weather and left. “That was the last that has been seen of Ed Mayfield,” The News reported. “The mystery of his disappearance has never been solved.” Moreover, no evidence of foul play was found. |
