PETERTON

NAME: Peterton COUNTY: Osage ROADS: 2WD GRID: 3 CLIMATE: Snow in winter. Hot in summer. BEST TIME TO VISIT: Spring

COMMENTS: 2 miles north of osage city, ks. REMAINS: Few houses, barns, church, an old coal weighing foundation, and original schoolmasters house.

It was started in the late 1800's. It was built specificaly to be a mining town. In its prime, it had more than 600 residents. It was purchased by T.J. Peter, Supt. for the Atchison Topeka Santa Fe RR. They named the small village Cenntenial City but changed it to Peterton after T.J. Peter. It had 4 churches, many brothels and bars, 2 strip mines, 2 general stores, 2 stabels, a doctor, a judge, a band, 2 hotels, and many small buisnesses. Since coal kept the town going, bars and strip joints were a popular hang out. Many murders, theft, and burglery went on in Peterton. There were no police so the town at night was in chaos. It was rummered that they had church at 6 am on Sunday just so they could go out and drink. It was a dirty town with much sin. In the 1870's a train wrecked in Peterton with coal and 4 passengers were killed. One commited suicide, reasons unknown. They apparently buried the engine in the ground because they couldnt put it back on the tracks. It still lies there under 5 ft of dirt, waiting to be dug up. The town expanded through the late 1800's and began to decline because of cheaper coal elswhere. The town slowly died down and the school closed in 1964 because of lack of funds and students. The town soon only ocuppied only farmers and ranchers. Tornadoes ran through the town later on and most was destroyed. Today little remains of the once large town. Some farmers have stumbled across old bottles or cans. William Prescott once stumbled over some small cart tracks that carried coal across fields. He also found and old footpath people took between towns, most were poor and didnt have much transportation. The only residents that live thier now are a couple of familes and a muffler buisness. Peterton was the largest coal town ever in the state, and now is mostly forgotten. Submitted by: Brian Lee Carriger

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