Quarry community endured for two decades
By ROWENA PLETT
Staff writer
There once was a place in Marion County called Quarry. It was established in the 1880s but faded away by the end of the century.
Quarry was located approximately four miles northeast of Marion in section 15 of present-day Center North township. (It was about one mile west of present-day U.S.-56/77 between 220th and 230th.)
The commercial center was so named because of the rock quarries which existed in the vicinity. The historic Chingawassa Springs Health Resort was established nearby, at a bend in Clear Creek.
Although the name Quarry isn't mentioned in histories of Chingawassa Springs, the trade center obviously was enhanced by the decision to develop the springs area into a health resort and to promote commercial sale of limestone from the quarries. It was the roaring '80s. Business was booming and speculative enterprises abounded.
Quarry as a place was put on the map in 1888 when the Chicago, Kansas, and Nebraska Railroad (Rock Island after 1890), which ran from Junction City to Peabody, built a spur to it.
The Marion Belt and Chingawassa Railroad was built in 1889. It provided a means for people to get from Marion to Chingawassa Springs and train cars to haul out stones from the quarries.
There were two routes. One ran down the middle of Third Street from the Santa Fe Depot. It stopped at the Elgin Hotel to pick up passengers. From the north end of town, it turned east across Mud Creek (now Luta Creek) to a stone quarry north and east of the present-day athletic fields.
From there, it turned northeast to Chingawassa Springs and Quarry. (See map)
The second route ran from the Chicago, Kansas, and Nebraska track on the west side of Marion to quarries northwest of Marion. According to a National Geological Survey map (date unknown), a connecting link was built to the Santa Fe spur somewhere north of Marion.
Quarry's country correspondent for the Marion Record was known as Billy Cucumber. On Oct. 12, 1888, he wrote the following glowing report about the "city."
"There is more stone shipped from this point than anywhere in Marion County. The railroad company takes all the stone.
"The metropolitan hotel, owned and controlled by Proctor & Hudson, is the best in the city. They have a big run of customers. Snyder & Kuhn also have a nice hotel and set a good table.
"Mr. Isac Kuhn is selling a good many corner lots at a very low figure.
"Mr. Henry Randolph, recently married, has moved with his family to the city and as a consequence increased the population of the city to six.
"Mr. Harry Hege, postmaster at this place, will leave for his old home in Pennsylvania next Monday and Calvin Kuhn will assume duties of postmaster.
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In her account of the history of Chingawassa Springs, the late Lucy Burkholder wrote that Quarry had a small general store.
In a letter written in 1925 by Alex Case, he noted that in June 1890, a medical doctor had an office in one of the hotels.
Quarry School District #108 was organized in 1888. It was located one-half mile west of Quarry and was active until 1951, when the students were dispersed to Marion and Centre schools.
In the mid-1930s, Alvin and Marjorie Nienstedt lived on a farmstead located near the quarries and Chingawassa Springs.
Later, they lived on another farmstead (the Stebbens place) a little farther west. It was east of Quarry school. Their son Ken and his older sister Lou Jean attended the school when he was a first grader. The family moved from the area in 1944.
Ron and Don Druse, twin sons of Mr. and Mrs. Charlie Druse, also attended Quarry school.
Chingawassa Springs Health Resort did a brisk business in the summer of 1892.
A Dr. Piper was the medical supervisor and C.F. Brooker operated the hotel. Thousands attended a Fourth of July celebration at the springs.
The June 24, 1892, issue of the Marion Record reported that four trains a day were leaving Marion for Chingawassa Springs.
In 1893, the enterprise fell on hard times as the nation experienced a financial crisis, and Chingawassa Springs Health Resort closed for good.
Rock continued to be quarried throughout the 1890s and beyond. Mail service to the Quarry community probably continued until 1905, when Marion began providing rural mail delivery.
A large, abandoned five-acre quarry north of the springs filled with water and became known as Rainbow Lake, after the varied-color layers of rock surrounding it. Picnics and other recreational events were held in the vicinity for many years.
All that remains of the trade center of Quarry is a raised bed of earth where the railroad spur once ran.
(Sources: Marion County Kansas, Past and Present, by Sondra Van Meter, 1972; "A History of Chingawassa Springs," by Lucy Burkholder, Marion Library; Kenneth Nienstedt, Marion.)
