CABINET PHOTO - HISTORIC KANSAS GHOST TOWN OF EUSTIS CIRCA 1880'S - PLEASE READ!

Description

CABINET PHOTO - HISTORIC KANSAS GHOST TOWN OF EUSTIS CIRCA 1880'S - PLEASE READ!
-
What an incredible cabinet card which paints an amazing story and tells the history of a town in Kansas that would not survive. Please read the historic details and why this is a fantastic piece of visual history to own.
In the Spring of 1885, P.S. Eustis and O.R. Phillips orgainized the Lincoln Land Company and laid out the town of P.S. as an agent of the Burlington & Missouri River Railroad, had the distinction of having the town named in his honor. In July of 1886 a post office was opened, which can be seen in another cabinet card I am selling separately.
After being named the temporary county seat in September, an election was held on November 8th to allow voters to decide which town, Sherman Center or Eustis, would be the permanent county seat. Eustis won and construction began on a courthouse. The following Spring, another election was held in and Eustis came out victorious.
For reasons unclear, another election was called for in August of 1887 bu a county committee to once and for all determine the county seat. Representatives of Voltaire and Sherman Center and someone named B. Taylor who owned land in the central part of the county made their pitches before the committee. Eustis declined to make a presentation. At the next meeting of the county committee, representatives of the newly established Goodland, Kansas made a well-received presentation.
Of the almost fifteen hundred votes cast in the Fall election, Goodland won 872 of the votes. The official vote tallies could not be completed, however, after injunctions were filed which prevented county commissioners for canvassing the vote. Therefore, between November 1887 and January 1888 the county seat issue unsettled, with court battles and more commission meetings.
On January 13, 1888 the matter began to reach a boiling point when a group from Goodland marched to Eustis intending to seize the county records. A war of words ensured in the newspapers throughout the county. The rivalry heated up to the extent that the Governor John Martin sent the Kansas National Guard to monitor the situation. However in early May,  Eustis had withdrawn it objection after Goodland had hired a posse of sorts which captured on the county commissioners and forced him to allow the county records to be removed - no shots fired and ended the dispute.
Not long afterwords, the citizens of Eustis bgan to move to the new county seat, eventually leading the town's demise and becoming a Ghost Town of sorts.
The cabinet card depicts the nearest building with the huge sign on the side with the word, "MONEY" superimposed over the HOSTETTER & SHRADER FARM LOANS. Their signage is repeated on the front as to include LOAN AGENTS * REAL ESTATE LOANS. We have to assume the two men out front are Hostetter and Shrader the proprietors of this business. A funny detail is the main laying in the shade at the back of the building. A simply fantastic and rare cabinet card of a town in Kansas went through some of the same types of government turmoil to today's government situation.
NOTE: I would like to thank another Ebay member wrote this to me about this image. "I actually believe this is a photo of the main street of Goodland Kansas showing the windmill and to the right a white building with four windows which was the Ennis Drug Store at 8th & Main (formerly Boulevard). At that time the main business district of Goodland ( 1887 -1890)was one block north and one block south of the windmill. Most buildings from Eustis were moved to Goodland during 1887-88, and Eustis ceased to exist." The image was sold to me with the information I first posted. I believe that many of the buildings and landmarks in Eustis could have easily been moved to Goodland, Kansas.
NOTE: I am also selling a second image of Eustis in another listing. The image is looking down the classic main street in this Kansas town.
CONDITION
:
Please view my detailed photos for the actual condition of the image and as part of my description. The antique cabinet card is in amazing condition for its age. Obviously there is some age fading to the print, but a fantastic set of details of several buildings of this historic short lived town in Kansas history. There are absolutely no notations on the rear of the mount or info on the photographer who made this image. The mount is in excellent antique condition.
Please feel free to view my other items I have listed in my EBAY STORE!
See "ABOUT ME"; click the "me" icon next to my Ebay ID nic-o-matic for more information regarding my new website of 19th Century Photographic imagery I have for sale.
United States bidders only please! Foreign bidders may request approval to bid several days in advance prior to the end of my auctions and must agree to my foreign sales terms!
I am proud to have been a member of the Ebay community since 2001. Please note my 100% positive feedback record and please bid with confidence. Please ask all questions prior to bidding. I truly strive to make your EBAY experience an enjoyable one.