OUR STORY

Quality Not Quantity

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Haviland Firsts

The first Quaker (Friends) Sunday School met in a home in April, 1884.
 

The first school was started in 1884.
 

The Haviland Town Company was formed in May, 1886.
 

The first post office was established in June 1886.
 

The charter for Haviland, Kansas was filed July 12, 1886.
 

The first wheat crop was harvested in 1886.
 

The first source of water was hauled to Haviland from Dowell (Wellsford), four miles east.
 

The first business ventures, responding to needs of a new farming  community in the late 1880's, consisted of grocery, general merchandise  and dry goods, meat market, bakery, post office, blacksmith shop, livery  barn, feed store, lumber yard, hotel and restaurant.
 

The first fire-fighting equipment in Haviland consisted of two  two-wheeled carts, each carrying a 150-gallon tank and a considerable  length of hose.
 

The first baseball team was organized in 1886.
 

The first doctor was W. L. Moon in 1887.
 

The first school frame building was built in 1887.
 

The first railroads arrived on the same day in 1887.  They were the Santa Fe and the Rock Island.
 

The first newspaper was, The Haviland Tribune, was published in 1887 and edited by Will Neal.
 

The first Methodist Sunday School met in the school house in 1888.
 

The first secondary school in Kiowa County was the Haviland Academy  organized in 1891.  The first principal was Albert F. Styles.  The first  board of trustees members were Isaac Woodward, Ira Woodward, R. D.  Woodward, Josiah binford, Nathan Brown, and A. K. Kemp.  The first  graduating class in 1896 included two members:  Raymond Binford and  Claud S. Woodward.
 

The first newspaper was The Haviland Tribune.
 

The first telephone system in 1901 had only three phones.  Bryant  Brothers Hardware was linked with Bill and Johnny Bryant's homes.
 

The first day of business for the Haviland State Bank was in 1903.  The first loan was for $25.00.
 

The first Rural Free Delivery mail routes in Kiowa County began in  Haviland when Riley Hanson plotted two routes and carried them by horse  and buggy in 1903
 

The City was incorporated April 3, 1906.
 

The first election was held April 24, 1906 in Woodman Hall.  Judges and  clerks were appointed and approved by the County Commissioners and  attested by W. L. Fleener, County Clerk.
 

The first City Council members were:  Mayor George Kelly; Councilmen T.  H. Harris, C. S. Woodward, W. B. Bryant, and Bard E. Matthews.   The  first business of the new council was passing a $1.00 tax on each dog  within the City.
 

The first City Marshal was John Vance; City Clerk, W. L. Baier; City  Treasurer, W. J. Hodgson; Police Judge, T. A. Cauthers; Justice of the  Peace, M. K. Maret; and Notary Public, B. H. Albertson.
 

The first cement sidewalks were put in on Main Street in 1908.
 

The first brick building was erected in 1908 by William Bryant.
 

The first autos introduced to Kiowa County were at Bryant Brothers, Haviland, through their Buick agency, in 1908.
 

The first resident pastor for the Methodist Church was Virgil L. Darby, in 1908.
 

The first hired pastor for the Friends Church was Homer L. Cox,  in 1909.
 

The first brick store was built in 1909.  Bryant Brothers came complete with an elevator to reach all three floors.
 

The first, and only, City Hall was built in 1915.  This building was  designed with two sections:  the south section first housed a small jail  compartment and a council room; the north section first housed the  early fire truck.  
 

The first contract for electric power, with A. E. Johnson of Greensburg, was negotiated in 1915.
 

The first public high school was established in 1915.
 

The first classes of Kansas Central Bible Training School  (now Barclay College) started in September 1917.
 

The first social function of the Haviland American Legion Auxiliary was a box supper.
 

The first Kiowa County soldier killed in action was Cyrus Gause in 1918.
 

The first Haviland High School graduates to marry were Frank and Blanche  (Freeman) Meisel in 1921.  They were the first couple to marry at the  Wellsford Methodist Church and the first couple that Reverend Loren Kemp  married.
 

The first Boy Scout Troop was organized in 1925.
 

The first elected woman sheriff (1928) in the United States was Mabel  Brown Chase of Haviland.  She served one term.  Her husband, Frank,  served as undersheriff.
 

The first Play Day was the first Friday of October, 1928.
 

The FBC Ladies Auxiliary held its first sale in 1932.  There were 18 women present and close to $300 was raised.
 

The first public library was opened in February 1938.
 

The first to go from Kiowa County under the draft for compulsory  military service in 1941 were Delbert Meireis and Dale Obenchain of  Haviland and Byron Shutts from Greensburg.
 

The first aviation began in Kiowa County shortly after WWI when Byron  Yeoman of Haviland bought a war surplus Curtis Standard Airplane and  learned to fly it.
 

The first issue of the "Haviland Journal" was printed on March 17, 1950.
 

The first woman manager of a grain elevator in Kansas was Nelle Spain of  Haviland.  She began in 1949 and held that position until April 1951,  then worked as bookkeeper until 1956.
 

The first service was held in the new Friends Church in 1963.
 

The first circular irrigation system of its kind in east Kiowa County was put in by Elmer E. Davis in 1967.
 

The first women to serve on the Haviland Security Patrol were Ora Phillips and Zella Bachman.
 

The first Kansan breeder of Spotted Poland China hogs to win a championship in a type competition was Dale Konkel in 1970.
 

The first Little Olympics, involving elementary students in Haviland,  Mullinville and Greensburg was held in Mullinville in 1970. 

The first woman pilot in Kiowa County was Haviland's Carolyn Worden in 1972.