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Chase County Kansas Historical
Sketches
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The Hudson's JANITORS
Reminiscences from Harry Hudson, who retired
in 1953, after serving the Chase County Courthouse
as custodian for thirty two years:
When I moved to Cottonwood Falls from my
home in Chariton, Iowa in 1910, Owen Jones was
custodian of the courthouse. Owen told me later
that he had served the county in the capacity for
seventeen years when he resigned. Jim Atkinson
who was the father of Mrs. Fred Siler and Mrs, Ernest McKenzie served after Owen Jones but I do
not remember for how long.
I started to work in June, 1921. At that time
the basement did not contain any offices, and was
all dirt floor, except for two squares of cement.
One cement square held the old furnace which sat
in what is now part of the engineers office. The
other cement square was in the northwest corner
of the basement in what is now the bindweed supervisor's office. At that time this was the men's restroom. The only vault in the basement was behind
the old furnace room and this, too, had a dirt floor.
Later on a new vault was constructed in the northeast corner of the basement, but it still had a dirt
floor. Lots of the old records had rotted away from
being stacked on the damp dirt floor. At a later
date, the county commissioners decided it should
have a cement floor, so they instructed me to be in
charge of a prisoner from the jail who should run
the cement and lay the floor. This we did, The old
furnace was badly in need of replacement so a new
one was installed in a new location of the basement where it sits today. Part of the sheriff's quarters was in the back of the basement but there were
no offices at all, just storage, coalbins, and rats.
And there were plenty of the latter and large ones
too.
In 1921 the hall floors were made of six inch
flooring and terribly worn down in the center of
each board and very rough and full of splinters.
The office floors were covered with linoleum, and
they were badly worn and had large splotches of
paint on them where earlier painters had not wiped
up after painting walls, etc. Later, the old hall
floor was removed and a new maple floor was laid
but the county board did not feel that they could
afford to lay a sub-floor also, so it was laid without. Consequently, in damp weather the floors
would expand and they contract in dry weather and
large cracks would appear between the boards.
At this time some of the little boys of the town
had been crawling through the windows of the second floor, and out the round window of the third
floor to play on the cornices of the building and
also up in the cupola. It was decided that this could
be dangerous and this practice was stopped.
The room on the east side of the third floor
was used as a jury room. It was heated in the winter during court days by a small round oak heating
stove. During a murder trial that I recall, the jury
slept overnight in this room under guard The county
had to borrow and buy blankets and cots for their
use. At this time the room directly back of the
court room on the east which is now used as a jury
room was used as a womens' jail cell.
Among the custodians' more pleasant jobs
were to wash the many spittoons each morning, mowing the large lawn with a push mower which I did
for twenty years before a power mower was available also keeping the cedar irees trimmed.
I retired in 1953 and Mac Ballew took my
place. After he resigned Eugene Rheeling became
custodian and he was followed by Les Cooper.
Written By: Roberta Heathman (daughter)
Sponsored By: The Harry Hudson Family
Chase County Centennial, 1872 - 1972
by Lorna Marvin
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