Waldeck is a

ghost town A ghost town, deserted city, extinct town, or abandoned city is an abandoned settlement, usually one that contains substantial visible remaining buildings and infrastructure such as roads. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economi ...

Marion County, Kansas Marion County is a county located in the U.S. state of Kansas. Its county seat is Marion and its most populous city is Hillsboro. As of the 2020 census, the county population was 11,823. The county was named in honor of Francis Marion, a b ...

, United States. It is currently a

that was located approximately 3.5 miles north of Lehigh next to a railroad. No buildings remain of this former community.

History

Early history

For many

millennia A millennium () is a period of one thousand years, one hundred decades, or ten centuries, sometimes called a kiloannum (ka), or kiloyear (ky). Normally, the word is used specifically for periods of a thousand years that begin at the starting p ...

, the

Great Plains The Great Plains is a broad expanse of plain, flatland in North America. The region stretches east of the Rocky Mountains, much of it covered in prairie, steppe, and grassland. They are the western part of the Interior Plains, which include th ...

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

was inhabited by

nomadic Nomads are communities without fixed habitation who regularly move to and from areas. Such groups include hunter-gatherers, pastoral nomads (owning livestock), tinkers and trader nomads. In the twentieth century, the population of nomadic pa ...

Native Americans. From the 16th century to 18th century, the

Kingdom of France The Kingdom of France is the historiographical name or umbrella term given to various political entities of France in the Middle Ages, medieval and Early modern France, early modern period. It was one of the most powerful states in Europe from th ...

claimed ownership of large parts of

. In 1762, after the

French and Indian War The French and Indian War, 1754 to 1763, was a colonial conflict in North America between Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and Kingdom of France, France, along with their respective Native Americans in the United States, Native American ...

, France secretly ceded

New France New France (, ) was the territory colonized by Kingdom of France, France in North America, beginning with the exploration of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence by Jacques Cartier in 1534 and ending with the cession of New France to Kingdom of Great Br ...

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

, per the Treaty of Fontainebleau.

19th century

In 1802, Spain returned most of the land to France. In 1803, most of the land for modern day Kansas was acquired by the United States from France as part of the 828,000 square mile

Louisiana Purchase The Louisiana Purchase () was the acquisition of the Louisiana (New France), territory of Louisiana by the United States from the French First Republic in 1803. This consisted of most of the land in the Mississippi River#Watershed, Mississipp ...

for 2.83 cents per

acre The acre ( ) is a Unit of measurement, unit of land area used in the Imperial units, British imperial and the United States customary units#Area, United States customary systems. It is traditionally defined as the area of one Chain (unit), ch ...

. In 1854, the

Kansas Territory The Territory of Kansas was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from May 30, 1854, until January 29, 1861, when the eastern portion of the territory was admitted to the United States, Union as the Slave and ...

was organized, then in 1861

Kansas Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...

became the 34th

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

. In 1855, Marion County was established within the

, which included the land for modern day Waldeck.The History of Marion County and Courthouse
/ref> From the 1820s to the 1870s, one of the most significant land routes in the United States was the

Santa Fe Trail The Santa Fe Trail was a 19th-century route through central North America that connected Franklin, Missouri, with Santa Fe, New Mexico. Pioneered in 1821 by William Becknell, who departed from the Boonslick region along the Missouri River, the ...

. The Santa Fe Trail was active across Marion County from 1821 to 1866. Along the Santa Fe Trail, French Frank's Road Ranch and Cottonwood Holes (for watering) were originally located on the land south of 245th Street. A Santa Fe Trail marker is located on the trail near Waldeck on 245th Street. Also, the

Chisholm Trail The Chisholm Trail ( ) was a stock trail and wagon route used in the post-Civil War era to drive cattle overland from ranches in southern Texas, across the Red River into Indian Territory, and northward to rail stops in Kansas. The trail cons ...

crossed Marion County from 1867 to 1871. Amazingly, Waldeck was near the junction of the Santa Fe Trail and Chisholm Trail, possibly within one mile. In 1887, the

Chicago, Kansas and Nebraska Railway The Chicago, Kansas and Nebraska Railway (CK&N) was formed in 1885 and Marcus Low, a former attorney for the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad, was its president. The CRI&P advanced the CK&N about twenty-five million dollars to begin cons ...

built a main line from Herington through Waldeck to

Pratt Pratt is an English surname. Notable people with the surname include: A–F * Abner Pratt (1801–1863), American diplomat, jurist, politician, and lawyer * Al Pratt (baseball) (1847–1937), American baseball player * Andy Pratt (baseball) (bor ...

. In 1888, this line was extended to Liberal. Later, it was extended to

Tucumcari, New Mexico Tucumcari (; ) is a city in and the county seat of Quay County, New Mexico, United States. The population was 5,278 at the 2020 census. Tucumcari was founded in 1901, two years before Quay County was established. History In 1901, the Chicag ...

and

El Paso, Texas El Paso (; ; or ) is a city in and the county seat of El Paso County, Texas, United States. The 2020 United States census, 2020 population of the city from the United States Census Bureau, U.S. Census Bureau was 678,815, making it the List of ...

. It foreclosed in 1891 and taken over by Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railway, which shut down in 1980 and reorganized as

Oklahoma, Kansas and Texas Railroad The Oklahoma, Kansas and Texas Railroad (OKT) was a railroad operating in its namesake states in the 1980s. OKT I The Oklahoma, Kansas and Texas Railroad was originally created on May 29, 1980, after the demise of the Chicago, Rock Island and Pa ...

, merged in 1988 with

Missouri Pacific Railroad The Missouri Pacific Railroad , commonly abbreviated as MoPac, was one of the first railroads in the United States west of the Mississippi River. MoPac was a Class I railroad growing from dozens of predecessors and mergers. In 1967, the railroad o ...

, and finally merged in 1997 with

Union Pacific Railroad The Union Pacific Railroad is a Railroad classes, Class I freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Pacific is the second largest railroad in the United Stat ...

. Waldeck was a coal and water stop for the railroad during the steam era. To allow for continuous train passage for those not needing to stop, a siding in excess of one mile was built. The siding continues this function for east and westbound commerce to pass to the present day. The construction of this line meant that the Chisholm Trail no longer needed to run the additional 40 miles to

Abilene, Kansas Abilene (pronounced ) is a city in and the county seat of Dickinson County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population of the city was 6,460. It is home of the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Libra ...

(the former northern terminus). Among the last usable structures at Waldeck, cattle corrals were operational until the early 1950s, when diesel locomotives became predominant. The town was most likely named by a Swiss Brethren after the former Waldeck sovereign principality in the

German Empire The German Empire (),; ; World Book, Inc. ''The World Book dictionary, Volume 1''. World Book, Inc., 2003. p. 572. States that Deutsches Reich translates as "German Realm" and was a former official name of Germany. also referred to as Imperia ...

. The land on which Waldeck would stand was sold to the ''Golden Belt Town Co'' in October 1887. The railroad was routed through the land and a depot was built, but the "boom spirit" of the 1880s turned downward, so the land was sold at a loss to the ''Kansas Town and Loan Company'' in the 1890s. A townsite with two blocks was platted on December 7, 1899. A small general store and school were located in the community, but the town failed to grow.

21st century

No structures currently exist in Waldeck; it is therefore considered a ghost town. There is a

marker nearby, on 245th Street.

Geography

Waldeck was located at

coordinates In geometry, a coordinate system is a system that uses one or more numbers, or coordinates, to uniquely determine and standardize the Position (geometry), position of the Point (geometry), points or other geometric elements on a manifold such as ...

38.4305642, -97.3350299 in the scenic

Flint Hills The Flint Hills, historically known as Bluestem Pastures or Blue Stem Hills, are a region of hills and prairies that lie mostly in eastern Kansas. It is named for the abundant residual flint eroded from the bedrock that lies near or at the surfa ...

and

of the state of

. It was on the north side of 245th Street between Bison Road and Chisholm Trail Road in Marion County. It was bordered between 245th Street on the south side and the railroad on the north side. Its platted location was the northwestern quarter of Section 4, Township 19, Range 1. A stockyard was located on the north side of the tracks.''Marion County Kansas : Past and Present''; Sondra Van Meter; MB Publishing House;

LCCN The Library of Congress Control Number (LCCN) is a serially based system of numbering cataloged records in the Library of Congress, in the United States. It is not related to the contents of any book, and should not be confused with Library of ...

72-92041; 344 pages; 1972.''Atlas of Marion County Kansas'' - Plat of Waldeck (page 32); Geo A. Ogle & Co; 103 pages; 1902.
/ref>

References

External links

;Historical

archive of KsGenWeb
Marion County history bibliography

Marion County school bibliography
Kansas Historical Society {{Marion County, Kansas Ghost towns in Kansas