Runnymede, Kansas

Runnymede is an unincorporated community in Harper County, Kansas, United States.

History

Runnymede was touted by an Irish promoter as a planned community in Kansas to wealthy Irish and Great British families in the United Kingdom as a place in a "dry" state where their sons could come to begin a career as gentlemen farmers. Begun in 1888, the speculative though impressive scheme essentially collapsed within four years. The livery stable burned down in 1890. Other buildings were moved two miles south close to the new constructed rail line. In 1891, the large church was moved to the city of Harper, Kansas where it now serves as a museum. The centerpiece of the town was a hotel that was partly disassembled and moved into the recently opened Cherokee Strip in Alva, Oklahoma in 1893. It remains in use there today, thanks to a successful local effort at restoration.[1] Runnymede's church was moved to Harper, Kansas in 1893, where it remains.

A post office was opened in Runnymede in 1879, and remained in operation until it was discontinued in 1944.[2]

The community was named after Runnymede in England.[3]

William Desmond Taylor joined the Runnymede community in August 1891.[4]

Area attractions
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References
  1. Early History-The Runnymede in Kansas, 2007. Retrieved 22 November 2016.
  2. "Kansas Post Offices, 1828-1961 (archived)". Kansas Historical Society. Archived from the original on October 9, 2013. Retrieved 11 June 2014.CS1 maint: unfit url (link)
  3. "Profile for Runnymede, Kansas". ePodunk. Retrieved 11 June 2014.
  4. On August 8, 1891 Taylor (as W. Deane Tanner) sailed to New York from Liverpool on the RMS Umbria with F. J. S. Turnly, per passenger lists. Taylor's arrival at Runnymede was noted (as Tanner) in the Harper Sentinel on August 28, 1891. In a 1914 Hollywood interview Taylor briefly discussed his time spent at Runnymede. "William D. Taylor: Actor, Athlete, and Irishman", Movie Pictorial, 6 June 1914.
  5. Kansas Historical Marker - Old Runnymede

Further reading
See also: List of books about Harper County, Kansas
  • Miller, Nyle H. (Spring 1975). "An English Runnymede in Kansas". The Kansas Historical Quarterly. Topeka, Kansas: The Kansas State Historical Society. XLI (1): 22–62. Retrieved 31 May 2020.
  • McNeal, T. A. (1922), "The Kansas Runnymede", When Kansas was Young, New York: The Macmillan Company, pp. 57–61



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