Rio, An Extinct Ford County Town

Bucklin Township near US Highway 400 and 135 Road

Many fortunes were made and lost with the expansion of the railroads across Kansas. There was talk at least as far back as 1879 about the Wichita and Western Railroad extending all the way to Dodge City. Unfortunately, the railroad wanted Ford County to sell bonds to help finance the construction and the County wasn’t onboard.

This early 1885 railroad map from the David Rumsey Collection shows the AT&SF going through Dodge but that was the only one. If you click on the image to see to the larger map, you’ll notice it only shows the Wichita and Western as far west as Kingman.

Some local men thought they could capitalize on the planned westward expansion of the Wichita and Western. The Rio Land and Town Company was formed on August 10, 1885.

The town had some big names behind it. Beard was to reside in Rio and act as the town manager. The company announced that speculators would not be allowed to obtain lots and they were only interested in selling to actual settlers.

The Clipper raised an interesting point about the announcement being premature. I wonder if the folks behind the Town Company had reason to believe the Wichita and Western would relent on the bond requirement or if they thought they could steer Ford County toward issuing the bonds needed for the railroad construction.

It is unclear whether Wenie’s trip to Topeka in September of 1885 was meant to drum up support for the Wichita and Western extension or if he planned to try for an independent line from Rio to Dodge City.

Nothing was going to happen in Rio without water. Once the well was dug, the town garnered some interest.

T. E. French moved his hotel from Fonda (another extinct Ford County town) to Rio in October of 1885.

I haven’t found any repository for Rio Rustler archives…yet. But it does appear Mann published the first issue in November of 1885. He appeared in Dodge after the first issue and said he wasn’t sure when the second would appear.

I strongly suspect “ball” was a slight exaggeration. Rio held a party with some music in November of 1885.

After the newspaper’s second issue was printed, Mann apparently packed up and moved to Ryansville.

Rio was given column space in the Times. The town organized a school taught by Mrs. Ullery. All they needed was a building.

Work progressed on the school building in February of 1886. At 20 x 24 feet, it was quite small.

Rio applied for a post office in February of 1886. The application form explains why we can’t have nice things. At the top, it says the post office was to be located in Rio but it was to be called Eugene. So when you look at the Kansas Historical Society’s list of post offices, you will see nothing for Rio. It appears the mail carrier’s first name was Eugene so they went with that.

The town also held its first school district meeting so things were going great. Kind of! If your town’s communication plan is so poor that you’re being lectured by Ryansville, you really need to rethink your game plan.

The school building was completed in April of 1886. Classes were to begin before the end of the month. Lewis C Wright was quite pleased about being named Postmaster of the Eugene Post Office in Rio.

There were pretty entertaining rivalries between Rio and Corbitt, Rio and Ryansville, and ultimately Rio and Mullinville. L. D. Ward moved the Rio Hotel to Mullinville and rented it to T. E. French, who was expected to run a first-class establishment. This seems to have been the same hotel that had been moved to Rio from Fonda!

The move apparently took nearly three days with 34 horses and “a small army of men.”

Rio was very close to the Kiowa County line and the Mallet sought a volunteer correspondent to report on the happenings in Rio in May of 1886. By June, some people were moving their houses to Mullinville.

J. P. Erwin & Co. operated a lumber yard on the south side of the tracks in Dodge. It appears the Rio Town Company had some unpaid bills.

This legal notice for the sheriff’s sale says only Lots 1 and 2 from Block 7 were excepted. The town was platted with 37 blocks so the real estate sales had been pretty dismal.

R. M. Wright and Company settled a lawsuit against the Rio Town Company in March of 1887. Toward the latter part of 1887 people were still trying to organize and combine the towns of Fonda, Corbitt, Bucklin, and Rio but the town of Ford was naturally opposed for selfish reasons.

Mullinville was having absolutely none of it.

And Greensburg played the Bro card.

Look, I’m no cartographer so I really have no idea how a “proposed” railroad finds its way onto an atlas. But the idea was for the Wichita and Western to make its northwest turn toward Ryansville at Rio.

But by the time this atlas was released, the town of Rio was already defunct.

The Official Topographical Map of Kansas from 1887 better reflects the reality of the situation. You can see the Wichita and Western stopped just shy of the Kiowa/Ford County Line west of Mullinville. It also shows the line which later became the Rock Island running to the southwest.

At some point, the two town lots which had been sold were obtained by the owner of the rest of the quarter. The former Rio town site went up for sale in 1904.

By 1905, the entire north half of Section 25 was owned by W. E. Gilliam.

There’s not much going on at the old Rio town site these days besides farming and drilling.

You’ll notice on this 1906 map of Mullinville, the AT&SF right of way south of the cemetery is the old Wichita and Western line, which was no longer in use. That would be why the Rio Hotel was moved to Wall Street! It would have been very close to the depot. The Rock Island line was (and still is) south of the original town site.

The Wichita and Western never made it into Ford County. This excerpt mentions the former depot, which was being used as a residence on the north side of town.

In case you’re wondering, I did track down the old Wichita and Western line and its remnants can be seen to the north of Highway 400 once you get into Kiowa County. It’s easier to make it out using the satellite layer on Google Maps, however. If you start at this spot and follow it east, you can see where there were bridges and how the line crossed Mullinville just south of Ohio Street.

This photo was taken from the cemetery looking southeast at one of those crossings.

I haven’t seen anything with the former Rio Hotel’s street number but it was on West Wall Street, which looks like this today:

As far as the Wichita and Western depot is concerned, I found a spot which seems to be a logical location. This is on Cherry Street just south of Ohio and these buildings would have been very close to the tracks. The third photo is the lot across the street and you can see a level raised area that appears to be what’s left of the railroad.

The library and City Hall were closed and the nice ladies at the bank didn’t have any information. If anyone can tell me whether I’m right, let me know!

It’s very easy to sit back and judge the successes and failures of the past with the outcomes long decided. The people who tried to build something new without the benefit of hindsight deserve recognition for their efforts, doomed as they may have been.

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