One hundred years ago in Kansas, September, 1918:

September 6, 1918

  • Glenn L. Martin, former Salinan, had invented a war plane which was being manufactured at Cleveland.  It had a 75-foot wingspread, two 400-horsepower engines, and a capacity of 2,400 pounds.
  • Student Army Training Corps units were being set up at K.U., K.S.A.C., Emporia Normal, Fort Hays Normal, McPherson, St. Mary’s, Baker, Cooper, Ottawa, Midland and Washburn.

September 8, 1918

  • Miss Day Monroe, Topekan, with the New York Food Commission, was managing forty canning centers in New York City.
  • The Kansas Library Assn. met at Oklahoma City.  It was reported that 2,500,000 books had been placed in army camp libraries.

September 9, 1918

  • Ninety-three I.W.W.’s (International Workers of the World, or “Wobblies”) were admitted to the federal penitentiary at Leavenworth.

September 12, 1918

September 17, 1918

  • A Lyon county farmer paid a $25 fine for failing to rake his wheat field and for feeding wheat left under the separator to his hogs.

September 18, 1918

  • Col. P.M. Hoisington, Newton, was named commander of the new Kansas National Guard.

September 20, 1918

  • A Hutchinson baker who violated flour-saving rules waived trial and closed his shop for the duration.
  • A government order brought all building under federal control.

September 22, 1918

  • Topeka was the “chicken center” of the United States.  Seven thousand birds were dressed daily and shipped to Eastern cities and to England.  Chicken-pickers received about three cents a fowl and could earn $30 a week.

September 26, 1918

  • The Battle of the Argonne, “greatest in military history,” began.  The 35th Division formed the left flank of the First Army Corps.

September 27, 1918

  • Cigarettes were forbidden for all men enrolled at the S.A.T.C. at KU.

September 28, 1918

  • Neither the German Language nor the German classical music was to be barred at KU.

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.