100 years ago in Kansas, November 12 – 25, 1917.

November 12, 1917

  • The 117th Ammunition Train, also known as the Kansas Ammunition Train, arrived in France.

November 17, 1917

  • Koon C. Beck, Hutchinson, processed rabbit meat, which he sold for 12 cents a pound.  Hunters received three to five cents per rabbit for bounty and eight cents a pound for meat.

November 19, 1917

  • Brig. Gen. James Guthrie Harbord, Americus, graduate of K.S.A.C., was made chief of staff of the American Expeditionary Forces in France.  Click here for earlier post.

November 20, 1917

  • Slackers were being put on record.  McPherson county became the first to list those who did not contribute to the Red Cross, the Liberty loan and the Y.M.C.A. war fund.

November 21, 1917

  • Federal and state officials were arresting members of the Industrial Workers of the World (I.W.W.) in Butler county oil fields.  County and city jails were full.

November 24, 1917

  • A business men’s “Prohibition Special” left Topeka for Washington, where Congress was considering the bill to submit prohibition to the people.  Governor Capper headed the group.

November 25, 1917

  • A drive was made for old shoes to be sent to French and Belgian war refugees.

 

Blair Tarr is the Museum Curator of the Kansas State Historical Society. He oversees the three-dimensional collections of the Society, but has special interests in the Civil War, Wichita-made Valentine diners, and Leavenworth's Abernathy Furniture. In the last few years he has also done a lot of cramming on The Great War. He is a past president of the Kansas Museums Association and the Civil War Round Tables of both Kansas City and Eastern Kansas. He is currently a board member of the Heritage League of Greater Kansas City.