A history of Liberal,
since 1888
Postcards, papers and photographs of Liberal from public archives, woven together by decade. Neighbors fill in the gaps.
The story
from WikipediaRead it all ↗Early settler Seymour S. Rogers built the first house in what would become Liberal in 1872. Rogers became famous in the region for giving free water to thirsty travelers. Reportedly, Liberal gained its name from the common response to his acts of kindness, "That's very liberal of you." In 1885 Rogers built a general store, and with it came an official U.S. Post Office. Rogers named the post office 'Liberal'. After the railroad was built close by, a plan for the town site was created in 1888. A year later the population was around 800.
Drought caused some farmers to give up and look for more fertile territory; however, when the nearby Indian Territory was opened, more settlers headed to the cheap land that would become Oklahoma.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Timeline
built from the dates on the items belowFinish Liberal’s story
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
2 of 10 decades since 1900 have photos 🔁Retake an old viewHardware store, managed by Mr. Cl…, 1890: stand where they stood+15 📦Share a family photoSign in to add one+10Liberal, decade by decade
1920s
CommonsDust Storms; Turtle Studio; "Dust Storm in Liberal, Kansas"1935
LOCLeveling fields to prevent wind erosion on project near Lib…1936
LOCFence almost completely buried under drifts of soil. Near L…1936
LOCThe wind fills up the ditches in this "chiseled" field near…1936
LOCSoil blown by "dust bowl" winds piled up in large drifts ne…1936
LOCShifting drifts of dust will soon force this farmer to aban…1936
LOCA farmer's son playing on one of the large soil drifts whic…1936
LOCThe winds of the "dust bowl" have piled up large drifts of …1936
LOCA farmer listing his fields under the wind erosion control …1936
LOCA farmer listing his fields under the wind erosion control …1936
1990s
Then & now
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as Hardware store, managed by Mr. Clarence Y. Martin, father of Glenn L. Martin, in the early days of Liberal, Kansas (1890) and it appears here side by side.
🔁 Retake this view · +15From Wikimedia Commons (2) and the Library of Congress (10). Images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.