School photos from Saratoga, Kansas, a dead town in Pratt County

I was cleaning out my email and noticed this old photos of the Saratoga school that was sent to me last summer. To find out about Saratoga, a dead town in Pratt County, click here. A clump a trees at the site mark where the school stood.

These photos are courtesy of the Pratt County Historical Society.

Saratoga, Kansas - a video of Dorotha Giannangelo telling the story of the town

Here Here's a video of 91-year-old Dorotha Giannangelo - a Pratt County historian and author of five historical books about the county. She talked to me about the dead town of Saratoga, which was part of a 10-year battle Pratt County seat. Saratoga lost. Pratt won. And today, Saratoga is history. The story of Saratoga is one she learned from her father, J. Rufus Gray, who wrote the book “Pioneer Saints and Sinners.” But, Giannangelo notes, it is a story that has faded with time. Most who travel the paved road to the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism’s operations office just a half-mile south of the Barkers’ farmstead would never know there ever was a town here that once supported nearly 600 people. There is no evidence left that they are driving on one of Saratoga’s main roads or that they go right by where Saratoga’s square once sat. And, yet, she adds, there are a few deep-rooted Pratt families who can’t forget the turbulent history, either. “There are still hard feelings,” she said, rattling off a few names of those still bitter 130 years later that the battle for the county seat didn’t go a different way.

Saratoga, Kansas - it died after losing election for the Pratt County seat

When a town dies, there is no funeral.

But at Saratoga's Summit Hill Cemetery, the wild Iris' still bloom. And perhaps, on occasion, someone remembers a loved one with flowers on Memorial Day.

I ventured here on a cold and rainy day, stopping by the Carter Barker home. His home is situated in where a platted town should be - but nothing remains of Saratoga, except for the 10-acre cemetery.

By the size of the cemetery, they had plans for a big community. But when Saratoga lost the county seat to Pratt, located just a few miles to the west, the town disappeared. I'll have a story in Sunday's Hutch News about the town and its death.

Dorotha Giannangelo has written five books on Pratt County history. She is a great source of information on Saratoga.

Besides the cemetery, there are a few brick remains of the school atop this hill by the trees.

Some of the things found around Saratoga that are on display at the Pratt County Museum.

Here's a rendition of the old flour mill.

Another pictorial shows the school.

Residents set aside 10 acres for the cemetery. They definitely expected to get the county seat honor.s Here's what it would have looked like. A quarter of the cemetery was designated for the town's African American settlers.

Some of the graves are cracked. Some have been stolen over the years.

The cemetery's condition isn't great. But a man named Price Gibbons set up a fund for upkeep before he died a few years ago.

The stone for Jane Martin rests against a tree.

I believe her name was Lizzie Eisenhour.

One of the few graves still standing - His name was Miles.

A few things on Saratoga, Kansas -a dead town in Pratt County

Source: Fort Hays State University

Saratoga, Kansas, once had aspirations to be the Pratt County seat.

Today, it is just a wheat field.

Here are a few things I've discovered while researching this story. I'll be heading to Saratoga Friday.

Click here for a link to whose buried in the little Saratoga Cemetery.

An excerpt from volume II of Kansas: a cyclopedia of state history, embracing events, institutions, industries, counties, cities, towns, prominent persons, etc. ... / 

There were a few settlers (in Pratt County) in 1876, but in 1877 over 100 families came, many of them from Iowa. The county was attached to Reno that year as a municipal township. The bogus organization was set aside in the fall of 1878, and in the spring of 1879 the citizens petitioned the governor for organization. A census taker was appointed and upon receiving the returns Gov. St. John issued a proclamation organizing Pratt county, with Iuka as the temporary county seat and the following temporary officers: County clerk, L. C. Thompson; commissioners, John Sillin, Thomas Goodwin and L. H. Naron. The election was held on Sept. 2nd, when the following officers were elected: County clerk, L. C. Thompson; clerk of the district court, Samuel Brumsey; probate judge, James Neely; treasurer, R. T. Peak; sheriff, Samuel McAvoy; county attorney, M. G. Barney; superintendent of public instruction, A. H. Hubbs; register of deeds, Phillip Haines; surveyor, J. W. Ellis; coroner, P. Small; commissioners, John Sillin, L. H. Naron and Thomas Goodwin.

For county seat there were three candidates, Saratoga, Iuka and Anderson. In the count the commissioners threw out three townships on account of irregularities. This gave the election to Iuka, but caused so much dissatisfaction that a recount was taken, including the votes previously thrown out. No candidate then had the majority and a new election was ordered. Anderson withdrew. The election was held Aug. 19, 1880. An attempt on the part of Saratoga to buy votes became public before the election, Iuka received an overwhelming majority and was declared the permanent county seat.
The next year some of the county officials were found guilty of swindling the county by issuing scrip illegally, in the two years after the county was organized they had taken nearly $75,000 or about $40 for every man, woman and child in the county. They were prosecuted and new officers elected. In the fall of 1885 there was another county seat election. The candidates were Iuka, Saratoga and Pratt. It was one of the most bitterly contested county seat elections ever held in the state. Saratoga had 546 votes and Pratt 324.

As the total number of voters at Saratoga was but 200 fraud was charged, the commissioners sustained the charges and declared Pratt the county seat. The matter was taken into the courts, and pending the decision the feeling ran high. The Saratoga and Pratt partisans were all armed and trouble was hourly expected. The Pratt men went to Iuka and forcibly removed the county records. On the way back they were attacked by the Saratoga men, who succeeded in capturing the treasurer's safe, which they took to their town. The next day Saratoga made an attack on Pratt in a fruitless effort to get the other county property.

By this time the more peaceable citizens asked the governor to send militia to restore order. Gov. Martin sent Adjt.-Gen. Campbell and Col. W. F. Hutchinson to the county. They stationed guards at both towns and allowed no one to carry arms. Finally the supreme court handed down its decision and ordered the records taken back to Iuka. Matters quieted down, but the county seat contest was not yet forgotten, and in Feb., 1888, a petition was presented to the commissioners asking for a special election to relocate the county seat.

The election was held on Feb. 29 of that year, and Pratt was the winning candidate. The question was settled at last.