Newton was not a place to be in the early 1870's. It had a reputation as the bloodiest, the most unlawlful and wickedest city in the West. After the western terminal for the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway was established here it brought with it a host of gunslingers, gamblers, cowboys and railroad crews of every kind. The Newton Station, the fourth depot in Newton on the AT&SF Railway, which was modeled after Shakespeare’s house on Stratford-on-Avon was constructed during the height of the great depression. The Monarch Steam Mills were built around 1879 and approximately 7 years later was purchase by a young Russian immigrant who needed the mill to handle the “Turkey Red’ hard winter wheat which he urged immigrants from Russian to bring. This high-yielding wheat variety eventually gave Kansas its recognition as the “Breadbasket of the World.” The mill is now known as Old Mill Plaza, a colection of local businesses and a restaurant.

Hon. Bradley D. Jantz