Thursday, July 26, 1973
5
University Daily Kansan
What Was Once the Presbyterian Church May Become a Law Office and Antique Shop
They Sense Progress in Vinland
Kansas' Oldest Library Open Some Summer Mornings
Bv CONNIE PARISH
Kansan Staff Writer
A peaceful tree-filled valley about ten miles south of Lawndale on the site of the small island of Wakland.
Many of the inhabitants are there because their families have lived in Vinland for generations. They have moved there from elsewhere and settled there as a whole, and wholesomeness of a rural community.
Progress slowly is catching up with Vinland, though not all the inhabitants agree that this is necessary to good. For the residents it is good that the proximately 40 persons has maintained its own Vinland Mutual Telephone Co. It is one of the last ringer telephone systems in the world.
This fall the inhabitants in and surrounding the community will have dial phones for the first time. Upgrade Telephone Co. is already laying the lines, and many persons already have their dial phones in their homes, waiting.
TELEPHONE CALLS were to be restricted from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. except in emergencies, because there was only one phone at home when the home telephone office was located. However, Mrs. Delbert Chanay, a nurse, called calls when necessary, even late at night.
One of the oldest inhabitants of the community, Berath Weiler, born in 1890, exiled in Germany.
In 1904, she said, the telephone lines were set up so that all family members were on the same line. This was important, since it cost 5 cents each time you had to ring out emergencies, in cases of emergencies or illness. It was easy to contact all of the family.
"THEY MAY BE things about the dial system we'll prefer, but we won't have the callers doing it."
Eventually families moved away or died, but a feeling of closeness among the nine or ten families on a party line remained. One reason, Weiler said, was that everyone knew that five rings on any line meant an emergency and all were prepared to help. She cited as an example the day her neighbor's house caught fire. Many neighbors
were there to help almost before the five rings had stopped echoing.
OTHER COMMUNITY members, such as the Walter Grethets, who moved outside unland from Kansas City about a year ago, are building an efficient system will be installed.
Vinlandn has been nestsed in the Coal Creek Valley since the 1850s, though it wasn't actually named until 1888 when the inhabitants chose a name so they could have a nickname. The people supposed to be Vinland-community members had chosen the name Vine兰 because many grapevines grew in the nursery belonging to W. E. Barnes, who is the person behind the vine.
The Grethers bought a stone house built in 1869 and have restored it to its original rustic charm. Mrs. Grether said that the new telephone system would erase the only major blot in their idyllic farm home overlooking a beautiful valley.
was 'Vinland' and Vinland it has remained.
WHEN THE APPLICATION for the post office came back, however, the name on it
many of the original settlers came to Vinland in 1854 from New England because of the slavery issue. Mrs. H. W. Hemphil, unofficial community historian, said that her own ancestors came here in 1834 as part of a New England Immigrant Aid Society.
"Lawrence was a hot spot then," she said.
"It was where the action was," which explained why many young people settled in Vinland.
NOT ALL SETTLELS came for the expressed purpose of promoting the abolitionist movement. Some came to farm. W威尔t's grandfather, who had come to Chicago from Norway, homesteaded in Vlinand in 1856. A few other Scandinavian families moved in, but they were outwarded by New Englanders, W威尔 said.
One of the first things the setters apparently did was to build a library. Known as the Goal Creek Library, it was opened in 1908 and is the oldest library in the state of Kansas.
For years, the library has been open only from June through August. Volunteers have kept it open each Thursday morning during the summer when the museum comesummer it is open, however, Hemphill said.
The original red brick building still stands, and has approximately 3,000 books.
"PATRONAGE HAS NOT been very good. Of course this has been a busy season, and there are good libraries in both Baldwin and Lawrence," she said.
An unexpected sight for the visitors venturing to Viland is the airport, Viland Airport, where he lives with Chanay. He and his wife have lived in and around Viland most of their lives. The aerodrome is an FAA and VA-approved flight school, but Chanay is concentrating on training.
The airport does keep rental planes for those interested in learning to fly and there is a part-time flight instructor. Chanay also does maintenance on planes and rents bangar spaces or tie downs to area persons who own planes.
Vinland Valley Areodrome . . . Now as a Base for Crop Dusting
Most of the water used in and around Vinland has to be hauled from neighboring communities, Chanay said. Nearly everyone has a well and an electrical pump system, but with modern electrical technology, this water supply is no longer sufficient.
He said they hoped the project could be financed through the Federal Housing Administration, which has given its tentative approval. About 300 patrons in the area have indicated they wish to be a part of the water district, and have paid $25 each as a signing-up fee. The district must pay 10 per cent of the total cost. Chanay said, and he also added, another senior manager assessed the remainder to make up this 10 per cent.
CHANAY IS 15 also of five members of the Board of Directors of the newly incorporated Vindland Rural Water District. He said that for 18 months there had been an enthusiastic movement to form such a board, which was approved by the Douglas County Commission.
VINLAND INHABITANTS like Chanay, voice some concern over Lawrence's dominant role in Douglas County government.
The date of construction depends on the FIA funding, he said, but those in the area should be aware.
All of the county commissioners, Chanay said, live within five miles of Lawrence. Because Lawrence has a larger population than all other Douglas County communities, it is natural that those from Lawrence are better known and win elections, Chanay said.
Kansan Photos
An Ax Waits Mutely Behind the General Store
This does not always lead to equity, particularly in zoning, Chaney said. Anyone who wants to build a house or set up a housing development, as did Clifford McAnish, must have approval from the zoning board. McAnish has built two new homes and is building more in the development named Coal Creek Estates.
"THOUGH I HAVE nothing against any of the board members in particular, it does seem unfair that those sitting in the city can only do what they are supposed to build. I realize we need a zoning committee and some regulations so people won't start getting over, but still it doesn't always feel fair."
Vinland residents also think they should receive some of the urban renewal funds
Going down the main street of Vinland, a visitor does not see many buildings still in use, but the old Grange Hall, built in 1884, is still used. The Grange holds meetings there and their annual Groundhog Day pancrease attracts hungry visitors from miles around.
THE GRANGE STILL provides some of the family entertainment for the area with its annual three-day fair. It's an old and beloved tradition in 1878, and the next will be August 23-25.
"It's been modernized some," Mrs. Chanay said, with tractor pulling contexts like a carousel and always take our children and let them play with no problems. That's why we've never wanted a carnival, so we wouldn't have to worry about rough elements coming out of the window.
Also on the main street is the Viland Marit, one once of two operating grocery stores in New York.
store for over ten years. Some University of Kansas students have lived there since it closed, several inhabitants affirmed, and though the renters were sometimes described as "hippies," no one seemed particularly alarmed.
Three churches—Presbyterian, Methodist, and Church of Christ—were once active in the community. The latter two are still open, but the closed Presbyterian church has been a model for Mrs. Grether, an attorney, said they eventually plan to turn the building into an antique shop and a lawyer's office. Weather has held up the restoration this year, she said, and that have been busy working on it, so they will plan to restore the building someday.
ABOUT 80 CHILDREN in grades 1-6 still attend school in the Vinland Grade School, which Mrs. Chanay said was built about 150 years ago. The school students go to Haldenin for classes.
Vinland inhabitants are very much aware of the outside world. They, too, have watched the Watergate hearings with interest; one resident said she didn't want to judge the President yet, but it was a very serious affair.
Women's liberation has made some impact. "There is a restless men among the women to work," one woman said, and many do work, at least part-time.
Drug busts and related problems have also not gone unnoticed.
Perhaps their awareness of the outside world makes their life in Vinland that much more gratifying, because in the midst of all the problems they can still look upon the valley and breathe the freshness of the air. They are there because they want to be.
Old Vinland Mart Is Home to KU Students