Honoring Early Rose Hill, Kansas

Articles and Stories

Pleasant School

March 20, 2014:

Work progresses on the restoration of Pleasant School with employees of Confederated Builders replacing the south face of the building with new construction and insulation. The handicap ramp will also be replaced but the original window framing inside the building and light fixtures are original furnishings. The new bathroom has been roughed in and electrical work has begun. Weather the last two weeks has slowed down the workers but they are still hoping to keep to a 90 day time table for completion. When complete, the building will be climate controlled year round.

New Building

The Rose Hill Historical Society is very excited to start a new chapter at the Museum. We were offered an interest-free loan from members and long-time benefactors. One that we just cannot turn down.
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Reminiscing On The Past 100 Years Of RH History

By Chris Wendt

Published in The Rose Hill Reporter, November 1, 2012

Rose Hill is celebrating it’s quasquincentennial anniversary of 125 years. A historical record of family histories is being compiled to capture the first-hand accounts of families who have been a part of Rose Hill since it’s humble beginnings in 1887. Founding fathers of the past and new families who will make the future will be represented.

Rose Hill Skyline Forever Changed As Tower Falls

By Chris Wendt

Published in The Rose Hill Reporter, March 19, 2009

Young and old alike turned out to witness the fall of one of Rose Hill’s famous landmarks on Sunday afternoon, March 15, 2009.

Everyone wanted to be able to say that they were there on the day that the original Rose Hill water tower came tumbling down behind the Rose Hill Bank located at 107 N. Rose Hill Rd.

Railroad Changes Face Of Rose Hill

By Chris Wendt

Published in The Rose Hill Reporter, Thursday, September 6, 2012

Like most small prairie towns of the midwest, Rose Hill began to grow with the coming of the railroad across the flatlands. But it also had its share of growing pains. Read More

RH Sports Date Back To 1900

By Chris Wendt

Published in The Rose Hill Reporter, Thursday, July 26, 2012

Rose Hill has a rich sports history, one that reaches back to the earl 1900‘s. Baseball was one of the most popular sports and was played by both the Rose Hill Town Team and at the Rose Hill High School. Two players went on to play pro ball in the major leagues.

One of the earliest town team rosters was listed in the Douglass Tribune on September 24, 1900 and included players Jesse Dennett, William Meanis, F.B. Staley, I. Keister, Charles Dennett, John Dennett, Hitchcock, Gilmore and Gillenwater. These players also met 30 years later in Rose Hill for a team reunion.

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Futhey Captures Bygone Era

By Chris Wendt

Published in The Rose Hill Reporter, Thursday, July 19, 2012

Tractors, wooden washing machines, hand pumped rug sweepers, you name it and chances are Marshall Futhey has it in his extensive antique collection.

Futhey and his family go back four generations in Rose Hill, on both sides, with most of the family clan still living on S.W. Prairie Creek Rd. just east of Rose Hill where he has resided most of his adult life. He was born not far away on 47th St. and Rose Hill Rd. in 1922. Yes, that makes Marshall 90 years young. He still sits on a tractor and drives the grain trucks during the wheat harvest, working with his son Gail.

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Rose Hill 1916 July 4th Celebration

By Chris Wendt

Published in The Rose Hill Reporter, Thursday, June 28, 2012

The Fourth of July used to be marked by large family reunions, picnics in the parks and at the lake. Grandma would fry chicken and make potato salad and the kids would crank the ice cream freezer.

Rose Hill and El Dorado got right neighborly in 1916 and shared a community celebration. According to recollections from an old newspaper clipping from the Douglass Tribune, a big county style dinner was planned in El Dorado. The town had done a great deal of advertising for the event touting that all of the entertainment for the day would be free. Read More “Rose Hill 1916 July 4th Celebration”

Bombers Crash in Rose Hill

By Chris Wendt

Published in The Rose Hill Reporter, Thursday, May 3, 2012

It was 2:15 a.m. on the 15th of July in 1945 and the world was still entrenched in WWII. In the night sky above Rose Hill, a B-25 Bomber was flying a routine training mission, returning to Pampa Army Air Field, Pampa, TX.

Aboard the plane was 18 year-old pilot Milton Fagundes of Brazil and American co-pilot, flight cadet Quentin Elsey. The Army Air Corps had en

tered into an agreement with several foreign governments to train their young men to fly military aircraft. Such was the situation that July night.

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Bandits Hold Up Rose Hill Bank

By Chris Wendt
Published in The Rose Hill Reporter, Thursday, March 29, 2012

Rose Hill BankThe Rose Hill Bank was the target of robberies in 1921 and 1953. According to the Douglass Tribune issue of Nov. 18, 1921, the Rose Hill State Bank was broken into and the vault robbed on Thursday night, Nov. 10, of the previous week. The next morning at 8 a.m. Marston McCluggage, son of the cashier JF McCluggage, saw that the curtains over the bank window had been pulled down.