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.