Wichita, Kansas, was established in the broad Arkansas River valley at the confluence of that river with the Little Arkansas River.

The “unofficial” town had yet to be surveyed when 200 to 300 people inhabited the town in August of 1869. The Chisholm Trail crossed the river at that point bringing Texans with their wild Texas longhorn cattle right through the frontier settlement.

With drovers restocking their camps on their drives north to Abilene, Wichita’s mercantile business was booming. Homesteaders could rely on the businessmen of Wichita to provide all their needs.

Businessmen were already taking note that a railroad could secure a thriving economy for the emerging cattle town. In the midst of a booming economy the town was finally officially recorded on March 25, 1870.

That was fine for settlers on the west side of the river, but the river crossing to get to Wichita could pose a serious disadvantage to the farmers south and west of the river.

A few enterprising entrepreneurs initiated a town company to organize a supplemental trade center west of Wichita christened Elgin, Kan.

The Feb. 25, 1871, Wichita Vidette observed that the citizens of Elgin were preparing for vigorous growth in the spring.

Already, “Mr. Hughes (Hugh) has his stock of goods sufficient to supply the immediate wants of the settlers on the other side of the Arkansaw.”

Construction was expected to commence on three new buildings the next week.

“Our friends of Elgin anticipate that the summer roses will find their town assuming city proportions.”

The March 3, 1871, Weekly News-Democrat at Emporia reported that extensive preparations were underway in building the new town west of the Arkansas River. Elgin’s representatives announced that an official designation from the Post Office Department was imminent.

Citing the difficult, and sometimes dangerous crossing into Wichita, the paper noted, “By the last of March the trade of that side of the river can be accommodated without crossing.”

Apparently, Elgin’s city fathers were unaware that another Elgin had been established in Howard County (later changed to Chautauqua County). That fact was realized when their application for a post office revealed that the other Elgin had been awarded a post office just days before their application on Feb. 27, 1871.

The town company adopted the name of Delano “partly out of compliment to the secretary of interior, and partly because of its oddity and Milesian origin.”

The fabled Gaelicspeaking Milesians, also known as Gaels, wandered the earth for centuries before establishing settlements from the Iberian peninsula to northwest France and finally Ireland. Delano family origins trace to the de Lannoy name in northwestern France. Secretary of the Interior Columbus Delano was considered President Grant’s “right hand man,” and was persistently present in the news cycles of the day. The influential family included a later United States President, Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

The Elgin Town Company legally changed the name of the corporation to the Delano Town Company on March 13, 1871, and recorded the plat for Delano with the Sedgwick County Register of Deeds on May 17, 1871. The original town comprised nine square blocks with the center block making up the town square. Delano’s post office opened April 5, 1871. John Edwin Martin served as the first postmaster.

Besides Mr. Y. S. Hugh’s large stock of dry goods, groceries, boots, and shoes, Jennison and Walker’s Hotel featured a first class saloon with the finest wines, liqueur’s, Cigar’s, and Tobacco, as well as a good stable with “the best Corral is the Country for Horses and Cattle.”

A lumber yard operated by James A. Hadley, formerly of Emporia, Kan., provided building materials for the flourishing town and the settlers taking claims as far south as the Kansas border with Indian Territory. Sporting houses, otherwise known as saloons and dance halls, became popular attractions. The Chisholm Trail led directly to Delano, making the town a wide-open Cowboy resort. There was talk of a railroad coming to Wichita with cattle yards on the west side of the river. Folks began to refer to Delano as “West Wichita.”

Characters such as Rowdy Joe, Rowdy Kate, and Red Beard catered to the revelry. The sporting girls organized Sunday morning stark-naked Amazon races to the river, and murder and mayhem reigned supreme during Delano’s formative years. There will be more Delano stories to come.

Today, Delano remains a sporting community, although the sport has changed from saloons and dance halls to the home of baseball’s Triple-A Wichita Wind Surge in their brand-new Riverfront Stadium. Who knows? Baseball games could have been played with Amazon spectators cheering for the home team on The Way West.

“The Cowboy,” Jim Gray is author of the book Desperate Seed: Ellsworth Kansas on the Violent Frontier, Ellsworth, KS. Contact Kansas Cowboy, 220 21st Road, Geneseo, Kan. Phone: (785) 531-2058 or kansascowboy@kans.com.