in the Peabody area was W.C. Coble, from
North Carolina, who set up
ranch headquarters about 2+ miles east of the current city of Peabody (now section 36 of
Catlin Township). The first settlement made in the area was in September 1870, by a colony of settlers from
Wisconsin. In October, more settlers arrived. During the first month, the colony officers laid out a town on the north-half of section 4 township 22 and surveyed it into lots. The town was named
Coneburg after the town company president John Cone. The town site was located between the current 9th Street and Division Avenue. During the winter of 1870, some of the settlers returned east to get supplies and bring out their families. In 1871, while the other settlers were gone, dissatisfaction arose in the community and it began to break up.
Claim jumping of the Coneburg town site and nearby land started to occur, thus causing a legal mess. In 1870, T.M. Potter
homesteaded the south-half of the same section of land. In spring of 1871, he and five other men started the
Peabody town company. Since the land title for the Peabody town site had no legal disputes, businesses immediately moved from Coneburg. In June 1871, the town of Peabody was platted, and it included the land where the railroad was built on June 9. A post office was established in Coneburg on January 25, 1871 then moved to Peabody on October 30, 1871. In April 1872 during legal disputes, Coneburg became
North Peabody. A revised
plat of Peabody was made in July 1875 and a supplemental
plat of North Peabody was made in April 1878. Because of the disputes, the street that ran down the middle of the border between the two towns was called "Division Avenue." The two towns merged into the city of Peabody in 1879. The town of Peabody was named in 1871 after F.H. Peabody, of
Boston, formerly vice-president of the
Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway company. In 1996 it merged with
Burlington Northern Railroad and renamed to the current
BNSF Railway. Most locals still refer to this railroad as the "Santa Fe". The first depot was built south of the tracks. Later a
train wreck destroyed it and a second depot was built on the north side of the tracks. Rail service was still very strong five decades later. In 1925, three westbound and four eastbound trains made stops at Peabody. By 1893, this branch line was incrementally built to
Fort Worth, Texas. It foreclosed in 1891 and was taken over by
Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railway, which shut down in 1980 and reorganized as
Oklahoma, Kansas and Texas Railroad. The company merged in 1988 with
Missouri Pacific Railroad finally merging in 1997 with
Union Pacific Railroad. Most locals still refer to this railroad as the "Rock Island". Its depot in Peabody was demolished in the early 1960s. In 1875, Peabody held its first agricultural "county fair" and continued to hold them annually for many years. In September 1885, the
Kansas State Fair was held at Peabody during the first four days of the month. An outstanding feature of the state fair was "the First Monument to
General Grant", who died shortly before the fair. The temporary monument was an
obelisk about tall, and built from forty
bushels of ears of corn. The fair had a
grandstand, which could hold 2000 people, to view horse races. The race track was used for a variety of events, including horse walking teams in harness,
trotting, running, pacing, mule racing, and daily
chariot races. A dining hall was built that was capable of feeding 10,000 people each day. In 1900, the Marion County Agricultural Society sold the fair grounds to the city, which renamed it the
Peabody City Park, and its entrance is located at the corner of Locust and 2nd Streets. who earned his owner $40,000 in race purses and then was sold for $44,000. Joe Patchen sired
Dan Patch in 1896, a horse that sold in 1907 for $60,000. Other famous local racing horses included trotters McKinney, and Silver Sign. Silverthorne toured
Austria where he competed for three years against the best race horses in
Europe.
20th century Peabody and Watchorn areas experienced an
oil boom from 1918 to 1920 in the oil fields of the
Mid-Continent oil province. The influence of the petroleum industry remained strong in Peabody, and resulted in the greatest change upon the community in the shortest time. More than 100 residences were constructed in October and November 1919. From 1918 to 1919, the population increased by 75% or more, but later decreased as oil booms in other Kansas areas needed the workers. Currently Watchorn is a ghost town consisting of oil wells but no remaining historical structures. The
New Santa Fe Trail road was routed through Peabody in the late 1910s. The road entered the north-east side of the city on Old Mill Rd, and exited on the south-west side on 60th Street (known as the
Old Trail). The trail became
U.S. Route 50 in the late 1930s when the new highway was routed east to west on 9th Street. In 1998, the highway was moved about 1.5 blocks north so it could go over a new railroad overpass. Up to 150 prisoners were quartered at the Peabody branch camp. The Peabody Main Street Association has won numerous awards since it was founded. Peabody had four previous listings on the NRHP:
Peabody Historical Library Museum (in 1973),
Peabody Township Library (in 1987),
J.S. Schroeder Building (in 1991), and
W.H. Morgan House (in 1996).
21st century (Phase II) south-east of Peabody at corner of Timber Rd and 20th St in
Marion County. (
Whitewater Center Church in background) (2010) In 2010, the Peabody Main Street Association received 5 state awards. In the same year, the
Keystone-Cushing Pipeline (Phase II) was constructed east of Peabody, north to south through
Marion County. There was quite a bit of controversy over road damage, tax exemption, and environmental concerns (if a leak ever occurs). In 2012, the
Peabody City Park was placed on the
National Register of Historic Places (NRHP), the sixth in Peabody. ==Geography==