Eureka, A live Town
An article in the February issue of the 1923 Eureka Herald reviewed the various building projects that had taken place over the last twelve months in Eureka.
“Eureka is not booming, but it is moving at a rapid pace and is enjoying a growth which many towns would herald as a big boom, and it has been going on for more than a year.
“More residences have been built in Eureka during the past year than in any similar period of time in the town’s history. Carpenters, plasterers, painters, plumbers and mechanics of all kinds have been in great demand.
“Eureka has long had as fine of business blocks and business streets as any town its size in the state, but also in this section of the town there have been many improvements during the past twelve months. The Leader Garage, (Seventh and Main Streets and is still there) a beautiful brick and concrete building, was completed in November 1922, the Grove Block, a modern two-story office building, was completed about the same time.
(North of the Christian Congregational Church, later burned, Eureka Federal Savings built there, now Jackson Bros.) The New Masonic temple, being erected at a cost of $65,000, will be ready for occupancy this spring. (later burned and replaced by the post office at Third and Oak Streets) Bonds in a similar amount have been voted for the erection of the Community Building (Memorial Hall) to be built at once, (finished
in 1924). The Lyndon Hotel (where the public library is now) and Brown Palace are beginning to accommodate the increasing patronage of the popular hotels. $85,000 is being spent in building a new grade school building, (Random School at Seventh and Sycamore Streets, gone now) “Other public improvements to Eureka include 60 blocks of new pavement which is being laid at this time, making in all fifteen miles of paved streets, an amount double that of any other town its size in Kansas. An appropriation of $55,000 has been made for water works extensions.
“Notwithstanding all these improvements, rental properties, both business and residence, are at a premium in Eureka. Every house that is built can be rented under contract at a profitable figure before the foundation is completed.
‘“Oil” is the magic word that has brought unprecedented prosperity to Eureka and Greenwood County and oil is the commodity that is bringing wealth untold to those who had the courage, the faith and the capital to develop this wonder field.
“Greenwood County is a vast territory and much wildcatting remains to be done, but a number of rich pools of oil, the Eureka, the Sallyards, the Teter, the Thrall, the Allen and Burkett, the Virgil, the Seeley, and others have been developed. Greenwood County is now the banner oil producing county in Kansas. December and January reports show more new wells completed and production secured in Greenwood County than in any other county in the state. Eureka is the logical center of the field. The big business of developing this wonderful territory will be carried on from Eureka, the supplies will be shipped and trucked from here, the heads of the various producing companies and many of the workmen will live here. Small wonder, then, that Eureka is experiencing what many towns would call a boom.”
