Barber County, Kansas: History
Barber County was formed in 1867 from parts of Washington County, Peketon County, and Marion County. Organized in 1873, it was named after Thomas Barber, a free-state man killed during Bleeding Kansas. The county's name was initially misspelled as “Barbour” before being officially changed to “Barber.”
The land that would become Barber County was formerly part of the "thirty mile" and "three mile" strips, previously owned by the Osages and the Cherokees respectively. These lands were ceded to the United States Government by the treaty of July 15, 1870, and were then offered for pre-emption, but not for homesteading or timber claim entry. Early settlers noted the numerous buffalo wallows in the county.
The first settler in the county, a man named Griffin, settled in the winter of 1871-72 near Sun City. Indians opposed to white settlement soon brought conflict, including an 1872 raid resulting in the death of trader E. H. Mosely. Defensive stockades were subsequently erected in Medicine Lodge and Sun City.
Settlements such as Kiowa and Medicine Lodge were established, with rapid settlement occurring in the summer of 1873. Notable events included the county's first child born in 1873 and its first wedding in 1874.
In the summer of 1874, an Indian raid resulted in the murder of several settlers along the Medicine Lodge River. Various accounts attribute the raid to Indian opposition to white settlement or the actions of disguised white assailants aiming to cover up their illegal activities in the county. To protect citizens, stockades were built, and militia groups were organized in Medicine Lodge and Sun City.
Buffalo once roamed abundantly in the county, but by the 1880s, their numbers had significantly diminished. Their former habitat, however, made excellent range for cattle, and in 1870, Barber and Comanche county ranchers formed a cooperative known as the Comanche cattle pool. The discovery of gypsum deposits along the Medicine Lodge River led to the establishment of a plaster company in Sun City in 1891.
The Medicine Lodge Bank was robbed in 1884 by a gang led by Henry Newton Brown, the marshal of Caldwell in nearby Sumner County. The bandits were pursued, captured, and thrown in jail. That night, a mob overpowered the Medicine Lodge sheriff, shot and killed Brown, and hanged the other men from a tree.
Temperance advocate Carrie Nation smashed her first saloon in Kiowa, Kansas in 1900. Today, her former residence is a National Historic Landmark.