Ted Ihde's Blog: Ted Ihde author of “Thinking About Becoming A Real Estate Developer?”
October 5, 2025
Overland Park…in the very beginning.
In real estate, developers acquire land, then plat a subdivision. For Overland Park, Kansas, that is how it all began. As a platted subdivision.
This platted Kansas subdivision – the one which evolved into today’s Overland Park – came to be through entrepreneurship espoused by a Johnson County entrepreneur. This entrepreneur, William B. Strang, Jr., his contributions to the Kansas City region coming through his establishment of a local rail service which connected Kansas City to Olathe, Kansas. Leading to the formation of Overland Park.
Thinking About Becoming a Real Estate Developer?
William B. Strang, Jr. founded the Missouri and Kansas Interurban Railway. Strang founded his railroad in 1906. Two years prior to Henry Ford’s Model T entering into production.
When Strang founded his Missouri and Kansas Interurban Railway, there were no cars on Kansas City roads. One could not drive in to Kansas City, Missouri from Johnson County, Kansas. And in 1906, train travel in Kansas City was a luxury. A luxury with longer distance routes. A train to St. Louis. A train to Chicago. When Strang founded his Missouri and Kansas Interurban Railway there was no specific train route which took passengers from Kansas City, Missouri to Johnson County. No railroad was offering this local service. Yet Strang believed this could be an economically viable route. Hence, the origin of the Strang Line.
Headquarters for Strang’s Missouri and Kansas Interurban Railway could be found in downtown Kansas City, Missouri. At the corner of 7th and Walnut. In the Railway Exchange Building.
With Missouri and Kansas Interurban Railway headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri, Strang proceeded to build several depots in Johnson County, Kansas. The largest of Strang’s depots was the one he built at what is today the corner of 80th Street and Santa Fe Drive. In Overland Park.
William B. Strang, Jr. was a 20th Century railroad entrepreneur. He was also a real estate developer. A speculator. Strang built spec homes. The sale price for one of Strang’s spec homes – as well as demand for spec homes built by Strang – was driven by an idea: you can own your own new home in Johnson County.
To this point, Strang’s rail service enabled city dwellers in Kansas City, Missouri to gain access to the Johnson County suburbs. And, so too, to new homes built in Johnson County by William B. Strang, Jr. New homes being built where today we find Overland Park.
William B. Strang, Jr.’s Olathe-to-KCMO Missouri and Kansas Interurban Railway contributed to the success Strang attained as a real estate developer. In that Stang’s Missouri and Kansas Interurban Railway increased access to new suburban Kansas homes Strang was then building. In turn, driving up demand for Strang’s homes. The result? Higher sale prices for Strang’s homes.
William B. Strang, Jr. arrived in what would go on to become Overland Park in the earliest days of the 20th Century. He arrived in Johnson County 1905. Upon his arrival, Strang proceeded to acquire land on which the downtown for today’s Overland Park now sits. Strang’s initial Johnson County land acquisition – the land acquisition which led to an Overland Park – totaled 600 acres.
A 600-acre acquisition…
A real estate developer…
The coupling of an idea: new homes/increased access to new homes…
A railroad entrepreneur…
The makings of Overland Park…
As a city, Overland Park was incorporated 55 years after William B. Strang, Jr. set foot in Johnson County. Overland Park was incorporated in 1960. Yet, by 1960, the railroad which laid the groundwork for the formation of Overland Park was no longer. The last Missouri and Kansas Interurban Railway train car pulled into Olathe in 1940…20 years prior to the incorporation of Overland Park.
Those 600 acres William B. Strang, Jr. purchased in Johnson County in 1905… Those subdivisions to the southwest of Kansas City, Missouri, those out in the Johnson County suburbs… One of those subdivisions was named “Overland Park.”
Overland Park… Originally, one of William B. Strang, Jr’s subdivisions. The undertaking of one Johnson County real estate developer who became a railroad entrepreneur.
A railroad entrepreneur whose subdivisions ignited the construction of new homes to the southwest of Kansas City. New homes which increased in value as a result of new access – by rail, circa the Missouri and Kansas Interurban Railway – to these new homes which were being built. Several of which were being built by William B. Strang, Jr. The train entrepreneur who was also the real estate developer.
William B. Strang, Jr. Real estate developer. Railroad entrepreneur. Founder of Overland Park.
This platted Kansas subdivision – the one which evolved into today’s Overland Park – came to be through entrepreneurship espoused by a Johnson County entrepreneur. This entrepreneur, William B. Strang, Jr., his contributions to the Kansas City region coming through his establishment of a local rail service which connected Kansas City to Olathe, Kansas. Leading to the formation of Overland Park.
Thinking About Becoming a Real Estate Developer?
William B. Strang, Jr. founded the Missouri and Kansas Interurban Railway. Strang founded his railroad in 1906. Two years prior to Henry Ford’s Model T entering into production.
When Strang founded his Missouri and Kansas Interurban Railway, there were no cars on Kansas City roads. One could not drive in to Kansas City, Missouri from Johnson County, Kansas. And in 1906, train travel in Kansas City was a luxury. A luxury with longer distance routes. A train to St. Louis. A train to Chicago. When Strang founded his Missouri and Kansas Interurban Railway there was no specific train route which took passengers from Kansas City, Missouri to Johnson County. No railroad was offering this local service. Yet Strang believed this could be an economically viable route. Hence, the origin of the Strang Line.
Headquarters for Strang’s Missouri and Kansas Interurban Railway could be found in downtown Kansas City, Missouri. At the corner of 7th and Walnut. In the Railway Exchange Building.
With Missouri and Kansas Interurban Railway headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri, Strang proceeded to build several depots in Johnson County, Kansas. The largest of Strang’s depots was the one he built at what is today the corner of 80th Street and Santa Fe Drive. In Overland Park.
William B. Strang, Jr. was a 20th Century railroad entrepreneur. He was also a real estate developer. A speculator. Strang built spec homes. The sale price for one of Strang’s spec homes – as well as demand for spec homes built by Strang – was driven by an idea: you can own your own new home in Johnson County.
To this point, Strang’s rail service enabled city dwellers in Kansas City, Missouri to gain access to the Johnson County suburbs. And, so too, to new homes built in Johnson County by William B. Strang, Jr. New homes being built where today we find Overland Park.
William B. Strang, Jr.’s Olathe-to-KCMO Missouri and Kansas Interurban Railway contributed to the success Strang attained as a real estate developer. In that Stang’s Missouri and Kansas Interurban Railway increased access to new suburban Kansas homes Strang was then building. In turn, driving up demand for Strang’s homes. The result? Higher sale prices for Strang’s homes.
William B. Strang, Jr. arrived in what would go on to become Overland Park in the earliest days of the 20th Century. He arrived in Johnson County 1905. Upon his arrival, Strang proceeded to acquire land on which the downtown for today’s Overland Park now sits. Strang’s initial Johnson County land acquisition – the land acquisition which led to an Overland Park – totaled 600 acres.
A 600-acre acquisition…
A real estate developer…
The coupling of an idea: new homes/increased access to new homes…
A railroad entrepreneur…
The makings of Overland Park…
As a city, Overland Park was incorporated 55 years after William B. Strang, Jr. set foot in Johnson County. Overland Park was incorporated in 1960. Yet, by 1960, the railroad which laid the groundwork for the formation of Overland Park was no longer. The last Missouri and Kansas Interurban Railway train car pulled into Olathe in 1940…20 years prior to the incorporation of Overland Park.
Those 600 acres William B. Strang, Jr. purchased in Johnson County in 1905… Those subdivisions to the southwest of Kansas City, Missouri, those out in the Johnson County suburbs… One of those subdivisions was named “Overland Park.”
Overland Park… Originally, one of William B. Strang, Jr’s subdivisions. The undertaking of one Johnson County real estate developer who became a railroad entrepreneur.
A railroad entrepreneur whose subdivisions ignited the construction of new homes to the southwest of Kansas City. New homes which increased in value as a result of new access – by rail, circa the Missouri and Kansas Interurban Railway – to these new homes which were being built. Several of which were being built by William B. Strang, Jr. The train entrepreneur who was also the real estate developer.
William B. Strang, Jr. Real estate developer. Railroad entrepreneur. Founder of Overland Park.
August 30, 2025
Indiana University…and how our Hoosier school came to be
In 1820, the academic institution at which the Six Million Dollar Man first began his college football career as a defensive end thanks to an IU athletic scholarship, the Midwest school which now has nine campuses and nearly 90,000 students, the university we now know to be Indiana University, was founded. Founded, that is, first, as an Indiana seminary.
Classes began at this Hoosier seminary four years after the school’s founding.
Those early classes at Indiana’s university were held in Bloomington. Just as IU classes are held in Bloomington this autumn. While at that time – early in the 20th Century – at the onset of IU’s storied history, there had not yet been a university label affixed to our Bloomington school.
See, before Indiana University officially became Indiana University, Indiana University had been educating Hoosiers in the town of Bloomington as Indiana College. After initially educating Hoosiers in Bloomington as Indiana Seminary.
Our early Hoosier seminary. First established as Indiana Seminary. Later becoming Indiana College. Later becoming Indiana University.
Indiana Seminary became Indiana College in 1828. Four years after Hoosier students first attended classes at Indiana’s university. Then known as Indiana Seminary.
Eight years after the school which went on to transition into Indiana University was first established. And twelve years after an Indiana university was to be established in the Hoosier state. To be established, through Indiana charter. An Indiana university. The formation for a university, by way of Indiana’s state constitution, which was written in 1816.
Indiana University, Indiana’s university, that is, owning its designation as a university – officially becoming Indiana University – twenty two years after a doctrinal mandate for an establishment of an Indiana university.
So, Indiana’s university became IU eighteen years after the school’s founding. And “Iu” became IU twenty two years after a Iu was to be established. By way of state charter.
Indiana’s state constitution – which paved the way for an “Iu” and then IU – was written at Indiana’s original state capital. Indiana’s constitution…the framework for IU.
And in 1816, when Indiana’s state constitution was drafted, when the formation for an Indiana university was penned into state charter, Indiana’s state capital was not the state capital which Indiana has today.
While today, Indianapolis is Indiana’s state capitol, in 1816, Cordyn was the Hoosier State’s capital.
So, Indiana’s state constitution was written in Cordyn. And through that 1816 Hoosier doctrine drafted in Codyn, we have our legislative framework for what would go on to become an Iu. Later becoming, IU.
In Codyn, Indiana, with the use of a feathered pen…the birth of IU.
Four years later, four years after Indiana’s Constitutional Convention was held in Cordyn…the founding of IU.
Indiana’s university…
An Iu. First, Indiana Seminary. Later becoming Indiana College. Later becoming Indiana University.
IU. Where Steve Austin, aka, the Bionic Man, once played defensive end.Thinking About Becoming a Real Estate Developer?
Classes began at this Hoosier seminary four years after the school’s founding.
Those early classes at Indiana’s university were held in Bloomington. Just as IU classes are held in Bloomington this autumn. While at that time – early in the 20th Century – at the onset of IU’s storied history, there had not yet been a university label affixed to our Bloomington school.
See, before Indiana University officially became Indiana University, Indiana University had been educating Hoosiers in the town of Bloomington as Indiana College. After initially educating Hoosiers in Bloomington as Indiana Seminary.
Our early Hoosier seminary. First established as Indiana Seminary. Later becoming Indiana College. Later becoming Indiana University.
Indiana Seminary became Indiana College in 1828. Four years after Hoosier students first attended classes at Indiana’s university. Then known as Indiana Seminary.
Eight years after the school which went on to transition into Indiana University was first established. And twelve years after an Indiana university was to be established in the Hoosier state. To be established, through Indiana charter. An Indiana university. The formation for a university, by way of Indiana’s state constitution, which was written in 1816.
Indiana University, Indiana’s university, that is, owning its designation as a university – officially becoming Indiana University – twenty two years after a doctrinal mandate for an establishment of an Indiana university.
So, Indiana’s university became IU eighteen years after the school’s founding. And “Iu” became IU twenty two years after a Iu was to be established. By way of state charter.
Indiana’s state constitution – which paved the way for an “Iu” and then IU – was written at Indiana’s original state capital. Indiana’s constitution…the framework for IU.
And in 1816, when Indiana’s state constitution was drafted, when the formation for an Indiana university was penned into state charter, Indiana’s state capital was not the state capital which Indiana has today.
While today, Indianapolis is Indiana’s state capitol, in 1816, Cordyn was the Hoosier State’s capital.
So, Indiana’s state constitution was written in Cordyn. And through that 1816 Hoosier doctrine drafted in Codyn, we have our legislative framework for what would go on to become an Iu. Later becoming, IU.
In Codyn, Indiana, with the use of a feathered pen…the birth of IU.
Four years later, four years after Indiana’s Constitutional Convention was held in Cordyn…the founding of IU.
Indiana’s university…
An Iu. First, Indiana Seminary. Later becoming Indiana College. Later becoming Indiana University.
IU. Where Steve Austin, aka, the Bionic Man, once played defensive end.Thinking About Becoming a Real Estate Developer?
August 24, 2025
UCONN, and how the Huskies’ school came to be
In the year 1822, a boy by the name of Charles Storrs had been born into a world of Mansfield, Connecticut agriculture. The Storrs family…a family of Mansfield farmers.
While Charles Storrs’ 19th Century life found its origin in agriculture, Charles Storrs ventured out. Beyond his family’s humble Mansfield farm.
Charles Storrs migrated from an agricultural world, into Connecticut mercantilism. Going on to sell silk. For a Hartford manufacturer.
While Charles Storrs started out on a family farm in Mansfield, he attained his wealth by way of successes found in Connecticut mercantilism.
And, to the benefit of Charles Storrs’ home state of Connecticut, Charles Storrs turned back from his mercantile successes. Turning back to where it all began in Mansfield for Charles Storrs. Turning back, to agriculture.
The success of Charles Storrs…
In 1854, Charles Storrs ascended from silk salesman, to entrepreneur. By partnering with his older brother Augustus Storrs to establish Storrs Brothers.
Charles Storrs headed the company he founded, the company which bore his name, from the company’s inception in 1864, on through 1879.
In 1880 Charles and Augustus Storrs donated 170 acres – along with several buildings – to the State of Connecticut. This land that Charles and Augustus Storrs granted to the State of Connecticut was conveyed with a condition. The condition for the land conveyance being, for Storrs’ farmland to become the ground on which a Connecticut agricultural school would be established. A college. An agricultural college.
These 170 Mansfield acres went on to become a Connecticut village. Storrs, Connecticut.
The agricultural school intentioned through the Storrs’ land conveyance went on to become a college – Storrs Agricultural College. Charles and Augustus Storrs, being the College’s founders.
Storrs Agricultural College evolved into the University of Connecticut. I.e.: UCONN.
One of those old buildings which had been given by the Storrs Brothers to the State of Connecticut went on to become the very first Storrs Agricultural College campus building – Edwin Whitney Hall. Which today, on UCONN’s campus, is the Edwin Whitney Residence and Dining Hall.
Today, the village of Storrs, Connecticut remains anchored in academia. The village’s stalwarts being UCONN. As well as the Connecticut Repository Theatre.
UCONN’s address? 110 Storrs Road, Storrs, Connecticut.
Thinking About Becoming a Real Estate Developer?
While Charles Storrs’ 19th Century life found its origin in agriculture, Charles Storrs ventured out. Beyond his family’s humble Mansfield farm.
Charles Storrs migrated from an agricultural world, into Connecticut mercantilism. Going on to sell silk. For a Hartford manufacturer.
While Charles Storrs started out on a family farm in Mansfield, he attained his wealth by way of successes found in Connecticut mercantilism.
And, to the benefit of Charles Storrs’ home state of Connecticut, Charles Storrs turned back from his mercantile successes. Turning back to where it all began in Mansfield for Charles Storrs. Turning back, to agriculture.
The success of Charles Storrs…
In 1854, Charles Storrs ascended from silk salesman, to entrepreneur. By partnering with his older brother Augustus Storrs to establish Storrs Brothers.
Charles Storrs headed the company he founded, the company which bore his name, from the company’s inception in 1864, on through 1879.
In 1880 Charles and Augustus Storrs donated 170 acres – along with several buildings – to the State of Connecticut. This land that Charles and Augustus Storrs granted to the State of Connecticut was conveyed with a condition. The condition for the land conveyance being, for Storrs’ farmland to become the ground on which a Connecticut agricultural school would be established. A college. An agricultural college.
These 170 Mansfield acres went on to become a Connecticut village. Storrs, Connecticut.
The agricultural school intentioned through the Storrs’ land conveyance went on to become a college – Storrs Agricultural College. Charles and Augustus Storrs, being the College’s founders.
Storrs Agricultural College evolved into the University of Connecticut. I.e.: UCONN.
One of those old buildings which had been given by the Storrs Brothers to the State of Connecticut went on to become the very first Storrs Agricultural College campus building – Edwin Whitney Hall. Which today, on UCONN’s campus, is the Edwin Whitney Residence and Dining Hall.
Today, the village of Storrs, Connecticut remains anchored in academia. The village’s stalwarts being UCONN. As well as the Connecticut Repository Theatre.
UCONN’s address? 110 Storrs Road, Storrs, Connecticut.
Thinking About Becoming a Real Estate Developer?
August 17, 2025
Cattle drives and the Chisholm Trail brought us Wichita’s Delano
During the latter part of the 19th Century, at the Kansas end of the Texas-to-Kansas Chisholm Trail, an unruly establishment arose from the dusty streets of this frontier town. This frontier town, located just outside of Wichita. A town, laden with gambling and gun fights. A place where saloons and brothels far outnumbered any churches. At the Kansas end of our Chisholm Trail, this raucous town was a place where cowboys – weary from long cattle drives – could rest up. Enjoy their bourbon. Gamble. Before embarking on their return trip, along the Chisholm Trail. This congregation of cowboys at the northern end of our Chisholm Trail was a Kansas town known to be Delano.
Let’s look at how this town, situated on the western banks of the Arkansas River, came to be.
The emergence of Delano traces its origin to what had been a convergence in the 1870’s. Our convergence being, an overabundance of cattle in Texas. Coupled to a shortage of cattle on the East Coast.
As one part of the country – Texas – had more than enough cattle, while another part of the country – the East Coast – had a shortage of cattle, a business opportunity presented itself. Hence, our Chisholm Trail. Hence, Jesse Chisholm.
Arising from the business of moving Texas cattle up to Wichita, then over to the East Coast, we find our catslyst for the growth of Delano.
To optimize this opportunity in the cattle business, Jesse Chisholm realized that the establishment of a trail starting out in Texas, and ending up in Wichita, would enable cattle to be transported. First, to Wichita. Then, to the East Coast.
Delano was built around the cattle industry in Wichita. Delano’s growth, made possible because of Jesse Chisholm’s 500-plus mile trail. A “cattle highway” which began in San Antonio.
Attributed to the growth of Wichita’s cattle industry, cowboys trekked into Wichita. Wichita was the established city next to Delano which had rules, a sheriff, laws, and a jail. Delano had no such checkpoints.
As our convergence of cowboys, cattle drives and the Chisholm Trail – coupled to a Wichita with rules – grew, growing around the shipment of cattle off to the East Coast from Wichita, so too did Delano grow.
The growth of Delano took place lock step with the growth of Wichita.
Cattle drives from Texas, ending up in Wichita. Wichita cattle, then transported by rail to the East Coast. And in that…we have our inputs which triggered Delano’s stature during the 1870’s.
Facilitating the growth of Wichita’s cattle industry, Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad routes were extended to Wichita in 1882. Access to the ability to now transport cattle by rail increased Wichita’s capacity to ship cattle to the East Coast. Wichita became “Cowtown.”
Just across the Arkansas River from Cowtown, cowboys enjoyed their bourbon. And their gambling. With no sheriff. With no jail. In Delano.
Delano, the perfect “wild west city.” With no law enforcement. With no sheriff. With no jail. With saloons. With brothels. With gambling. The perfect watering hole for Wichita cowboys who traveled the Chisholm Trail.
Today, the Historic Delano District in Wichita is a trendy neighborhood with restaurants and shopping. Wichita annexed Delano in 1880.
Through Delano’s annexation by Wichita, as 1870’s came to a close, Delano was no longer an independent town. Becoming West Wichita. Delano adopted Wichita’s rules.
Delano, as a raucous playground for cowboys – with no sheriff, with no jail – was no more. Thinking About Becoming a Real Estate Developer?
Let’s look at how this town, situated on the western banks of the Arkansas River, came to be.
The emergence of Delano traces its origin to what had been a convergence in the 1870’s. Our convergence being, an overabundance of cattle in Texas. Coupled to a shortage of cattle on the East Coast.
As one part of the country – Texas – had more than enough cattle, while another part of the country – the East Coast – had a shortage of cattle, a business opportunity presented itself. Hence, our Chisholm Trail. Hence, Jesse Chisholm.
Arising from the business of moving Texas cattle up to Wichita, then over to the East Coast, we find our catslyst for the growth of Delano.
To optimize this opportunity in the cattle business, Jesse Chisholm realized that the establishment of a trail starting out in Texas, and ending up in Wichita, would enable cattle to be transported. First, to Wichita. Then, to the East Coast.
Delano was built around the cattle industry in Wichita. Delano’s growth, made possible because of Jesse Chisholm’s 500-plus mile trail. A “cattle highway” which began in San Antonio.
Attributed to the growth of Wichita’s cattle industry, cowboys trekked into Wichita. Wichita was the established city next to Delano which had rules, a sheriff, laws, and a jail. Delano had no such checkpoints.
As our convergence of cowboys, cattle drives and the Chisholm Trail – coupled to a Wichita with rules – grew, growing around the shipment of cattle off to the East Coast from Wichita, so too did Delano grow.
The growth of Delano took place lock step with the growth of Wichita.
Cattle drives from Texas, ending up in Wichita. Wichita cattle, then transported by rail to the East Coast. And in that…we have our inputs which triggered Delano’s stature during the 1870’s.
Facilitating the growth of Wichita’s cattle industry, Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad routes were extended to Wichita in 1882. Access to the ability to now transport cattle by rail increased Wichita’s capacity to ship cattle to the East Coast. Wichita became “Cowtown.”
Just across the Arkansas River from Cowtown, cowboys enjoyed their bourbon. And their gambling. With no sheriff. With no jail. In Delano.
Delano, the perfect “wild west city.” With no law enforcement. With no sheriff. With no jail. With saloons. With brothels. With gambling. The perfect watering hole for Wichita cowboys who traveled the Chisholm Trail.
Today, the Historic Delano District in Wichita is a trendy neighborhood with restaurants and shopping. Wichita annexed Delano in 1880.
Through Delano’s annexation by Wichita, as 1870’s came to a close, Delano was no longer an independent town. Becoming West Wichita. Delano adopted Wichita’s rules.
Delano, as a raucous playground for cowboys – with no sheriff, with no jail – was no more. Thinking About Becoming a Real Estate Developer?
August 10, 2025
“Little Sweden” in Kansas
Located near the center of the Sunflower State you will find a city whose history – and whose present-day “DNA” – link to old world Europe. And to be more specific, to Sweden.
A city nestled cozily in Kansas’s Smoky Valley. A farming community in the heart of Kansas’s wheat belt.
This city, with a two square mile footprint, and just about 4,000 townsfolk, is Lindsborg. “Little Sweden.”
Lindsborg was settled in 1869 by a group of immigrants from Sweden who ventured into America’s heartland. As the influence of Sweden on Lindsborg traces back to this Kansas City’s origin, to this day, three out of ten of those who call Lindsborg “home” have Swedish heritage.
In the very beginning…
Located in McPherson County on the Smoky Valley Scenic Byway, a late-Nineteenth Century expedition to this new state of Kansas, an expedition headed by a Swedish clergyman, an expedition to what would go on to become a city named after members of a Chicago coalition of farmers was headed by Olof Olsson.
Thinking About Becoming a Real Estate Developer?
Born in Varmland, Sweden, Olof Olsson studied at Stockholm University, graduating from Sweden’s Uppsala University.
Together with his group of a few hundred Swedes, Olsson headed Kansas. To become a pastor. For his Kansas settlement, Olsson envisioned a community which could be founded upon religion, education, business and farming.
Ten years after Olsson’s arrival – in 1879 – Lindsborg was incorporated as a city.
Lindsborg…
Translated from Swedish to English, Lindsborg is Linden Castle.
The “Lind” in Lindsborg…
Kansas’s “Little Sweden” – with its limestone buildings accentuating Main Street downtown -.is named for four Swedish townsfolk who proved to be instrumental to Lindsborg’s formation. These four men – N. P. Linde, S. P. Lindgren, S. A. Lindell, and J. O. Lindh. The “Lind’s” in Lindsborg.
As the foundation for Lindsborg had been laid, Linde, Lindgren, Lindell and Lindgren were members of Svenska Lantbrukskompaniet. A Chicago company with a Swedish name, Svenska Lantbrukskompaniet translated to English is, First Swedish Agricultural Company.
First Swedish Agricultural Company of McPherson County was organized in 1868 in Chicago.
With the formation of First Swedish Agricultural Company of McPherson County, the new entity’s parent company – Chicago Swedish Company – sent agents to McPherson County to buy land. Land which would be used for farming.
Lindsborg, with its fertile soil, coupled to its location along the Smoky Hill River, was perfect. Farming in Lindsborg took hold.
Olsson’s arrival. Land acquisition by First Swedish Agricultural Conpany. The beginning of Lindsborg. Olsson, Linde, Lindgren, Lindell and Lindh being the forefathers for this new Smoky Valley farming community in Kansas’s wheat belt.
Svensk Hyllingsfest…
Speaking to Lindsborg’s Swedish history, it is fitting to also note Lindsborg’s Swedish present.
“Little Sweden” is home to the Swedish Honoring Festival. Translated from English to Swedish, Swedish Honoring Festival is Svensk Hyllningfest.
Held every two years in Lindsborg, the Swedish Honoring Festival is a biennial celebration of Lindsborg’s Swedish heritage.
Folk dancing. The parade. Musicians. Local artists. Cuisine. Svensk Hyllingfest.
Children in school in Lindsborg start their preparation for Svensk Hyllingfest, beginning in the first grade. As Svensk Hyllingfest is a part of a child’s classroom experience.
And the integration of Swedish culture into classroom curriculum in Lindsborg does not end in the eighth grade. It continues on. Through high school.
High school students in Lindsborg prepare to participate in Svensk Hyllingfest as ambassadors. Selected as Svenska Hyllingfest Swedish Folk Dancers in a four-year ambassadorships program.
As ambassadors, theses students interact with the Lindsborg community. Promoting the continuation of an active Swedish culture in Lindsborg. While erstwhile, continuing their preparation for Svensk Hyllingfest.
A biennial October celebration, Svensk Hyllingfest has been an autumn stalwart in “Little Sweden” for over eighty years.
This October, in just about two months, Svenska Hyllingfest kicks off once again. In Lindsborg.
A city nestled cozily in Kansas’s Smoky Valley. A farming community in the heart of Kansas’s wheat belt.
This city, with a two square mile footprint, and just about 4,000 townsfolk, is Lindsborg. “Little Sweden.”
Lindsborg was settled in 1869 by a group of immigrants from Sweden who ventured into America’s heartland. As the influence of Sweden on Lindsborg traces back to this Kansas City’s origin, to this day, three out of ten of those who call Lindsborg “home” have Swedish heritage.
In the very beginning…
Located in McPherson County on the Smoky Valley Scenic Byway, a late-Nineteenth Century expedition to this new state of Kansas, an expedition headed by a Swedish clergyman, an expedition to what would go on to become a city named after members of a Chicago coalition of farmers was headed by Olof Olsson.
Thinking About Becoming a Real Estate Developer?
Born in Varmland, Sweden, Olof Olsson studied at Stockholm University, graduating from Sweden’s Uppsala University.
Together with his group of a few hundred Swedes, Olsson headed Kansas. To become a pastor. For his Kansas settlement, Olsson envisioned a community which could be founded upon religion, education, business and farming.
Ten years after Olsson’s arrival – in 1879 – Lindsborg was incorporated as a city.
Lindsborg…
Translated from Swedish to English, Lindsborg is Linden Castle.
The “Lind” in Lindsborg…
Kansas’s “Little Sweden” – with its limestone buildings accentuating Main Street downtown -.is named for four Swedish townsfolk who proved to be instrumental to Lindsborg’s formation. These four men – N. P. Linde, S. P. Lindgren, S. A. Lindell, and J. O. Lindh. The “Lind’s” in Lindsborg.
As the foundation for Lindsborg had been laid, Linde, Lindgren, Lindell and Lindgren were members of Svenska Lantbrukskompaniet. A Chicago company with a Swedish name, Svenska Lantbrukskompaniet translated to English is, First Swedish Agricultural Company.
First Swedish Agricultural Company of McPherson County was organized in 1868 in Chicago.
With the formation of First Swedish Agricultural Company of McPherson County, the new entity’s parent company – Chicago Swedish Company – sent agents to McPherson County to buy land. Land which would be used for farming.
Lindsborg, with its fertile soil, coupled to its location along the Smoky Hill River, was perfect. Farming in Lindsborg took hold.
Olsson’s arrival. Land acquisition by First Swedish Agricultural Conpany. The beginning of Lindsborg. Olsson, Linde, Lindgren, Lindell and Lindh being the forefathers for this new Smoky Valley farming community in Kansas’s wheat belt.
Svensk Hyllingsfest…
Speaking to Lindsborg’s Swedish history, it is fitting to also note Lindsborg’s Swedish present.
“Little Sweden” is home to the Swedish Honoring Festival. Translated from English to Swedish, Swedish Honoring Festival is Svensk Hyllningfest.
Held every two years in Lindsborg, the Swedish Honoring Festival is a biennial celebration of Lindsborg’s Swedish heritage.
Folk dancing. The parade. Musicians. Local artists. Cuisine. Svensk Hyllingfest.
Children in school in Lindsborg start their preparation for Svensk Hyllingfest, beginning in the first grade. As Svensk Hyllingfest is a part of a child’s classroom experience.
And the integration of Swedish culture into classroom curriculum in Lindsborg does not end in the eighth grade. It continues on. Through high school.
High school students in Lindsborg prepare to participate in Svensk Hyllingfest as ambassadors. Selected as Svenska Hyllingfest Swedish Folk Dancers in a four-year ambassadorships program.
As ambassadors, theses students interact with the Lindsborg community. Promoting the continuation of an active Swedish culture in Lindsborg. While erstwhile, continuing their preparation for Svensk Hyllingfest.
A biennial October celebration, Svensk Hyllingfest has been an autumn stalwart in “Little Sweden” for over eighty years.
This October, in just about two months, Svenska Hyllingfest kicks off once again. In Lindsborg.
July 27, 2025
Daniel Boone, Benjamin Franklin and the oldest restaurant west of the Mississippi River – Council Grove, Kansas
What is so very interesting about our nation’s history can be discovered through historical connections we make between famous Americans, and quite often, places we frequent. Or, places we visit. Or, in my case, the restaurant which serves the best bread pudding.
One of my – How did this come to be? – started off as an affinity for bread pudding. Bread pudding in Council Grove, Kansas. Bread pudding served at Hayes House 1857.
Hayes House 1857, Daniel Boone, Benjamin Franklin and Council Grove.
Council Grove’s origin…
In the earliest part of our nation’s 19th Century, in what would – 29 years later – go on to become the Territory of Kansas, in 1825, westward-focused American settlers had been eager to identify quicker (and better) trade routes. With this impetus for expanding trade to the west in mind, a treaty in 1825 had been negotiated between United States commissioners and the Osage Indians. Negotiated in a section of the Great Plains where frontiersmen gathered. Rested. And congregated. Before continuing on…west.
In the early part of our 19th Century in what today is Kansas, as United States trade – and as United States trade routes – were being expanded to the west, one 1825 treaty entered into by the United States with Indians – the Osage Indians – grew what would go on to become one of the most famous passageways – passageways, trails, routes, roads and/or highways… – in all of United States history.
This trail…a 900-mile United States trade route.
This trail…starting out in a small town, 100 miles to the east of Kansas City, Missouri.
This trail…its origin, a small town which had been founded by European setters in 1816.
This trail…beginning in that small Missouri town – to the east of Kansas City – which had been named for one of the United States’ Founding Fathers.
This trail…which one would, at that time, start their travels on in Franklin, Missouri.
Franklin, Missouri…a town named for one of the United States most famous Founding Fathers, Benjamin Franklin.
This trail…ultimately arriving in, Santa Fe, New Mexico.
This famous trail we are speaking to? The Santa Fe Trail.
The treaty between United States commissioners and the Osage Indians extended our Santa Fe Trail to the west. Through a section of what would later go on to become, the Territory of Kansas. Later becoming, the State of Kansas.
This treaty entered into between United States commissioners and the Osage Indians – in 1825 – was centered upon a destination point for frontiersmen traveling west. At the “Grove.”
In 1825, there was no incorporated United States town through which this section of the Santa Fe Trail had been extended.
In 1825, there was no organized territory through which this section of the Santa Fe Trail had been extended.
This 1825 treaty – extending the Santa Fe Trail though a most-scenic part of the largest tall grass prairie in the United States, the Flint Hills – focused on an area in the Plains where travelers gathered their wagons. They’d form wagon trains. And they’d head west. From the “Grove.”
We are referring to an area in Kansas’s Flint Hills which was at that time – to the Osage Indians, and to frontiersmen – simply known to be, the “Grove.”
The “Grove.” Named for a grove of trees.
This 1825 extension of the Santa Fe Trail would wind along – what had been at that time – simply, the main street in the “Grove.”
The unincorporated territory in which this section of the Santa Fe Trail had then been extended – in 1825 – would go on to become a formal United States Territory. In 1854. This territory would go on to become the Territory of Kansas.
This grove of trees would go on to become an incorporated United States city. Twenty-six years after the Territory of Kansas became the State of Kansas in 1861. The grove of trees would go on to become…Council Grove.
Council Grove was incorporated as a city in Kansas in 1887.
And that old main street in the “Grove.” Our old main street would go on to become …Main Street. In Council Grove.
Which brings us to our link between the “Grove,” the Santa Fe Trail, Council Grove and…Daniel Boone.
But first…Seth Hayes.
Hayes house ( lower case “h”) started serving American pioneers three years after the Territory of Kansas was incorporated as a United States territory.
In 1857, Hayes’ house originally started out as a Santa Fe Trail trading post. A Santa Fe Trail trading post coupled to a Santa Fe Trail restaurant. Located – then, and now – on the Santa Fe Trail.
With its historical position, quite literally, on the Santa Fe Trail, the Hayes was started by Seth Hayes.
Seth Hayes. Founder of Council Grove, Kansas.
Seth Hayes. Rancher. Tavern owner. Trader. Publisher.
Seth Hayes, who grew up in the Kansas City, Missouri neighborhood of Westport.
The original Hayes house? Well, the original Hayes house that Seth Hayes built next to the Neosho River wasn’t actually a house. The original Hayes house was in fact a log cabin. A log cabin which functioned as Seth Hayes’ home – I.e.:. where Seth Hayes lived with his adopted daughter, a freed slave. And as a Santa Fe Trail trading post.
Thinking About Becoming a Real Estate Developer?
The trading post built by Seth Hayes in the “Grove” was a business venture headed by a relative of his, A.G. Boone.
A.G. Boone…grandson of Daniel Boone.
Seth Hayes…great-grandson of Daniel Boone.
One of my – How did this come to be? – started off as an affinity for bread pudding. Bread pudding in Council Grove, Kansas. Bread pudding served at Hayes House 1857.
Hayes House 1857, Daniel Boone, Benjamin Franklin and Council Grove.
Council Grove’s origin…
In the earliest part of our nation’s 19th Century, in what would – 29 years later – go on to become the Territory of Kansas, in 1825, westward-focused American settlers had been eager to identify quicker (and better) trade routes. With this impetus for expanding trade to the west in mind, a treaty in 1825 had been negotiated between United States commissioners and the Osage Indians. Negotiated in a section of the Great Plains where frontiersmen gathered. Rested. And congregated. Before continuing on…west.
In the early part of our 19th Century in what today is Kansas, as United States trade – and as United States trade routes – were being expanded to the west, one 1825 treaty entered into by the United States with Indians – the Osage Indians – grew what would go on to become one of the most famous passageways – passageways, trails, routes, roads and/or highways… – in all of United States history.
This trail…a 900-mile United States trade route.
This trail…starting out in a small town, 100 miles to the east of Kansas City, Missouri.
This trail…its origin, a small town which had been founded by European setters in 1816.
This trail…beginning in that small Missouri town – to the east of Kansas City – which had been named for one of the United States’ Founding Fathers.
This trail…which one would, at that time, start their travels on in Franklin, Missouri.
Franklin, Missouri…a town named for one of the United States most famous Founding Fathers, Benjamin Franklin.
This trail…ultimately arriving in, Santa Fe, New Mexico.
This famous trail we are speaking to? The Santa Fe Trail.
The treaty between United States commissioners and the Osage Indians extended our Santa Fe Trail to the west. Through a section of what would later go on to become, the Territory of Kansas. Later becoming, the State of Kansas.
This treaty entered into between United States commissioners and the Osage Indians – in 1825 – was centered upon a destination point for frontiersmen traveling west. At the “Grove.”
In 1825, there was no incorporated United States town through which this section of the Santa Fe Trail had been extended.
In 1825, there was no organized territory through which this section of the Santa Fe Trail had been extended.
This 1825 treaty – extending the Santa Fe Trail though a most-scenic part of the largest tall grass prairie in the United States, the Flint Hills – focused on an area in the Plains where travelers gathered their wagons. They’d form wagon trains. And they’d head west. From the “Grove.”
We are referring to an area in Kansas’s Flint Hills which was at that time – to the Osage Indians, and to frontiersmen – simply known to be, the “Grove.”
The “Grove.” Named for a grove of trees.
This 1825 extension of the Santa Fe Trail would wind along – what had been at that time – simply, the main street in the “Grove.”
The unincorporated territory in which this section of the Santa Fe Trail had then been extended – in 1825 – would go on to become a formal United States Territory. In 1854. This territory would go on to become the Territory of Kansas.
This grove of trees would go on to become an incorporated United States city. Twenty-six years after the Territory of Kansas became the State of Kansas in 1861. The grove of trees would go on to become…Council Grove.
Council Grove was incorporated as a city in Kansas in 1887.
And that old main street in the “Grove.” Our old main street would go on to become …Main Street. In Council Grove.
Which brings us to our link between the “Grove,” the Santa Fe Trail, Council Grove and…Daniel Boone.
But first…Seth Hayes.
Hayes house ( lower case “h”) started serving American pioneers three years after the Territory of Kansas was incorporated as a United States territory.
In 1857, Hayes’ house originally started out as a Santa Fe Trail trading post. A Santa Fe Trail trading post coupled to a Santa Fe Trail restaurant. Located – then, and now – on the Santa Fe Trail.
With its historical position, quite literally, on the Santa Fe Trail, the Hayes was started by Seth Hayes.
Seth Hayes. Founder of Council Grove, Kansas.
Seth Hayes. Rancher. Tavern owner. Trader. Publisher.
Seth Hayes, who grew up in the Kansas City, Missouri neighborhood of Westport.
The original Hayes house? Well, the original Hayes house that Seth Hayes built next to the Neosho River wasn’t actually a house. The original Hayes house was in fact a log cabin. A log cabin which functioned as Seth Hayes’ home – I.e.:. where Seth Hayes lived with his adopted daughter, a freed slave. And as a Santa Fe Trail trading post.
Thinking About Becoming a Real Estate Developer?
The trading post built by Seth Hayes in the “Grove” was a business venture headed by a relative of his, A.G. Boone.
A.G. Boone…grandson of Daniel Boone.
Seth Hayes…great-grandson of Daniel Boone.
July 20, 2025
A man named Strong, Strong City, Kansas and BNSF
…for the next time you see one of those long BNSF freight trains chugging along the tracks. Whether you see one of those BNSF freight trains in Los Angeles. Or in New York City. Or in Dallas. Or in Chicago. The next time you see one of those BNSF freight trains, you can think about a town located along the Flint Hills Scenic Byway in Chase County, Kansas. You can think about Strong City. Population, 388.
Five years after the Kansas Territory was first organized… Two years prior to Kansas becoming our 34th U.S. State…Chase County, Kansas was born. That year? 1859.
Twenty-two years after that – in 1881 – the railroad in the United States entered Chase County, Kansas. The Chase County town which was the benefactor of this rail extension in Kansas had been Cottonwood.
Thinking About Becoming a Real Estate Developer?And in Cottonwood, a new train station was built. That new train station – built in 1881 in Cottonwood – became, the Cottonwood Station.
The very next year – in 1882 – the town of Cottonwood would change its name. Becoming, Strong. Later becoming, Strong City.
Our Strong City name took hold much, much later. Sixty-three years later, to be precise. In 1945.
Strong City…
Yet, let’s go back to the beginning of it all. To the very beginning of Strong City’s – then, Strong’s – imprint on U.S. rail.
The beginning, which brings us to a New Englander. A New Englander, who was born in Vermont. A New Englander by the name of William Barlow Strong. W.B. Strong. As W.B. Strong is where our Strong City-BNSF connection begins.
W.B. Strong. Our namesake for Strong. Our namesake for Strong City. W.B. Strong. W.B.Strong, the man on whom a petition had been set forth to change a Chase County town’s name. From Cottonwood to Strong.
When that railroad – the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway – was extended into Cottonwood in 1881, W.B. Strong served as president at Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway.
The year the Cottonwood Station first opened- in 1881 – would be the same year W.B. Strong took over the reins at Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway. As president. Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway. ATSF, for short.
Expanding on from the opening of that Cottonwood Station in 1881, under W.B. Strong’s leadership, ATSF significantly grew its train routes. To cover 7,000 miles. 7,000 miles of Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway routes. Throughout the United States.
Headed by W.B. Strong, Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway went on to become part of what is today the largest railroad in the United States. ATSF’s growth spurt coincided with the opening of that Cottonwood Station. In our Chase County town that would go on to bear W.B. Strong’s name. In Cottonwood. Later becoming, Strong. Later becoming, Strong City.
Strong City. The Chase County town named after our railroad executive, W.B. Strong.
Whenever we see a freight train, we no doubt will see the letters “BNSF” on those freight cars. And on those, once-steam, now diesel or electric, engines. BNSF is our modern-day evolution for Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway.
Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway went on to merge with Burlington Northern Railroad in 1995. Out of this merger, we had, Burlington Northern & Santa Fe Railway.
Later becoming, simply, BNSF.
The prevalence of those BNSF freight trains we see throughout the United States…transporting goods from the West Coast to the East Coast. From the Midwest into Canada. From the Midwest into Mexico. The prevalence of those BNSF freight trains we see…we see those BNSF freight trains, arguably, as the modern day result of the expansion-oriented mindset which had been espoused by the man whose name is forever linked to our Chase County town. W.B. Strong. Our namesake, for Strong City.
In the late 19th Century, then-Cottonwood, later becoming Strong and later still, becoming Strong City, had a population of, between, a few hundred to one thousand people. Strong City’s population today is just about where it had been in its earliest days. A few hundred people.
Just as our Strong City forefather – W.B. Strong – laid the late 19th Century “tracks” for a company which would go to become the largest rail company in the United States – with over 32,000 miles of track, across 28 U.S. States – Strong City would proceed to make a second notable contribution to the freight-by-rail system we now have.
Beginning in the late-19th Century, Strong quarries supplied large quantities of the stone which had been used for U.S. railway expansion. While at the same time, Strong stonemasons handled a good deal of the stone-work which had been necessary in order for that that late-19th Century/early-20th Century rail expansion to take place.
While Strong stonemasons performed according to their names – as stonemasons, handling stone-work for railroads – Strong stonemasons extended their contributions to the growth of late-19th Century/early-20th Century rail in the U.S. beyond their stone-work. In fact, Strong stonemasons went on to enter into numerous phases of late-19th Century/early-20th Century railroad construction. Far beyond stone-work.
The laying of track. Building the bridges on which track was laid. Building train stations. Roadhouses.
Each being one such category of railroad construction that Strong stonemasons placed their signatures upon.
So…our Chase County town of 300-or-so residents, located a little less than a two hour’s drive west of Kansas City. Our Chase County town can be thought of whenever we do see one of those BNSF freight trains.
W.B. Strong. Strong. Later becoming, Strong City. Strong stonemasons. United States rail. BNSF.
For me, it’s quite difficult, moreso, impossible, to see a freight train and to not think about those picturesque drives I’ve taken, oh so many, many times, along Highway 177 in Kansas. Onto Main Street. Along the Flint Hills National Scenic Byway. Into…Strong City.
Strong City. Our Chase County town of 300-or-so people which has left its not so-little-at-all “Strong City signature” – in more ways than one – on U.S.cargo, shipped by rail. Thinking About Becoming a Real Estate Developer?
Five years after the Kansas Territory was first organized… Two years prior to Kansas becoming our 34th U.S. State…Chase County, Kansas was born. That year? 1859.
Twenty-two years after that – in 1881 – the railroad in the United States entered Chase County, Kansas. The Chase County town which was the benefactor of this rail extension in Kansas had been Cottonwood.
Thinking About Becoming a Real Estate Developer?And in Cottonwood, a new train station was built. That new train station – built in 1881 in Cottonwood – became, the Cottonwood Station.
The very next year – in 1882 – the town of Cottonwood would change its name. Becoming, Strong. Later becoming, Strong City.
Our Strong City name took hold much, much later. Sixty-three years later, to be precise. In 1945.
Strong City…
Yet, let’s go back to the beginning of it all. To the very beginning of Strong City’s – then, Strong’s – imprint on U.S. rail.
The beginning, which brings us to a New Englander. A New Englander, who was born in Vermont. A New Englander by the name of William Barlow Strong. W.B. Strong. As W.B. Strong is where our Strong City-BNSF connection begins.
W.B. Strong. Our namesake for Strong. Our namesake for Strong City. W.B. Strong. W.B.Strong, the man on whom a petition had been set forth to change a Chase County town’s name. From Cottonwood to Strong.
When that railroad – the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway – was extended into Cottonwood in 1881, W.B. Strong served as president at Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway.
The year the Cottonwood Station first opened- in 1881 – would be the same year W.B. Strong took over the reins at Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway. As president. Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway. ATSF, for short.
Expanding on from the opening of that Cottonwood Station in 1881, under W.B. Strong’s leadership, ATSF significantly grew its train routes. To cover 7,000 miles. 7,000 miles of Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway routes. Throughout the United States.
Headed by W.B. Strong, Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway went on to become part of what is today the largest railroad in the United States. ATSF’s growth spurt coincided with the opening of that Cottonwood Station. In our Chase County town that would go on to bear W.B. Strong’s name. In Cottonwood. Later becoming, Strong. Later becoming, Strong City.
Strong City. The Chase County town named after our railroad executive, W.B. Strong.
Whenever we see a freight train, we no doubt will see the letters “BNSF” on those freight cars. And on those, once-steam, now diesel or electric, engines. BNSF is our modern-day evolution for Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway.
Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway went on to merge with Burlington Northern Railroad in 1995. Out of this merger, we had, Burlington Northern & Santa Fe Railway.
Later becoming, simply, BNSF.
The prevalence of those BNSF freight trains we see throughout the United States…transporting goods from the West Coast to the East Coast. From the Midwest into Canada. From the Midwest into Mexico. The prevalence of those BNSF freight trains we see…we see those BNSF freight trains, arguably, as the modern day result of the expansion-oriented mindset which had been espoused by the man whose name is forever linked to our Chase County town. W.B. Strong. Our namesake, for Strong City.
In the late 19th Century, then-Cottonwood, later becoming Strong and later still, becoming Strong City, had a population of, between, a few hundred to one thousand people. Strong City’s population today is just about where it had been in its earliest days. A few hundred people.
Just as our Strong City forefather – W.B. Strong – laid the late 19th Century “tracks” for a company which would go to become the largest rail company in the United States – with over 32,000 miles of track, across 28 U.S. States – Strong City would proceed to make a second notable contribution to the freight-by-rail system we now have.
Beginning in the late-19th Century, Strong quarries supplied large quantities of the stone which had been used for U.S. railway expansion. While at the same time, Strong stonemasons handled a good deal of the stone-work which had been necessary in order for that that late-19th Century/early-20th Century rail expansion to take place.
While Strong stonemasons performed according to their names – as stonemasons, handling stone-work for railroads – Strong stonemasons extended their contributions to the growth of late-19th Century/early-20th Century rail in the U.S. beyond their stone-work. In fact, Strong stonemasons went on to enter into numerous phases of late-19th Century/early-20th Century railroad construction. Far beyond stone-work.
The laying of track. Building the bridges on which track was laid. Building train stations. Roadhouses.
Each being one such category of railroad construction that Strong stonemasons placed their signatures upon.
So…our Chase County town of 300-or-so residents, located a little less than a two hour’s drive west of Kansas City. Our Chase County town can be thought of whenever we do see one of those BNSF freight trains.
W.B. Strong. Strong. Later becoming, Strong City. Strong stonemasons. United States rail. BNSF.
For me, it’s quite difficult, moreso, impossible, to see a freight train and to not think about those picturesque drives I’ve taken, oh so many, many times, along Highway 177 in Kansas. Onto Main Street. Along the Flint Hills National Scenic Byway. Into…Strong City.
Strong City. Our Chase County town of 300-or-so people which has left its not so-little-at-all “Strong City signature” – in more ways than one – on U.S.cargo, shipped by rail. Thinking About Becoming a Real Estate Developer?
July 13, 2025
Types Of Lumber
Framing lumber – I.e.: dimensional lumber – is the lumber used by builders in new home construction when, as our category foretells, we are talking about framing the new home. Framing the home and lumber…which brings us to an acronym. SPF.
SPF. Spruce. Pine. Fir. This grouping, an attractive combination of strength and affordability. Spruce, pine and fir. More commonly referred to as SPF. The types of lumber builders use for different elements of framing.
Spruce, pine and fir are milled together. By milling SPF, you end up with standard dimensions of lumber – 2 x 4’s, 4 x 4’s and 2 x 6’s.
Let’s look at the “F” in our SPF – fir. Douglas fir.
Douglas fir is a type of lumber which is a core component in new home construction. Builders use Douglas fir for joists, posts and beams. Yet, not for trusses.
Southern Yellow Pine – when using pine for this specific application – is the preferred pine when it comes time for trusses. Although the “S” in our SPF – spruce – would more typically be used by builders for trusses. Moreso, than Southern Yellow Pine.
Spruce is known for its structural benefits. Hence, the use of spruce for trusses. Spruce is also known for its keen aesthetics.
While spruce is used in load-bearing capacities – I.e.: for trusses (as well as for floor joists and wall studs) – spruce is also used for interior finishes. Paneling. Molding. Trim. Spruce takes paint and stain quite well. Hence, the utilization of spruce for interior finishes.
Let’s look at the pricing of spruce…
One 1 x 3 x 16 board of spruce can be purchased by builders at, in the range of, $8.00/piece. While one piece of 1 x 4 x 16 spruce would be priced, in the range of, $10/piece.
In regard to the flooring, the trim and the cabinetry going into the new home, builders utilize a hardwood. Commonly, builders will use oak.
There are several reasons why oak is not used by builders for framing. First off, oak tends to be pricier than SPF. While the (general) higher cost of oak – as compared to SPF – makes oak cost prohibitive when it comes time to frame the new home, cost is not the only reason homes are not framed with oak. Nor the main reason.
Oak has a tendency to split when nailed. So framing and oak? Quite simply, that’s just a bad “marriage.”
Let’s look, for a moment, into how much lumber a builder will need in order to build a home…
To construct one 4,000 square foot home, a builder will typically use between 20,000 to 25, 000 board feet of lumber. Which brings us to the “F” in our SPF – fir. Douglas fir.
Douglas fir is one of the strongest – and the most durable – woods available to builders. This combination of strength and durability makes Douglas fir the optimal choice for builders when it comes time to frame the home.
Douglas fir possesses exceptional dimensional stability. Furthermore, Douglas fir is not prone to warp. Nor to twist. Douglas fir…great for framing.
Let’s look, for a moment, at lumber prices…
For flooring, trim and cabinetry, builders like oak. So how much does oak cost? Well, that depends.
4/4 Red Oak, 1-99 board feet, is priced in the range of $5.00/board foot. Which means, Red Oak would be classified as a rather inexpensive type of oak.
Whereas Red Oak is a rather inexpensive type of oak, 4/4 Spessart Oak, 1-99 board feet, will range in price from between $22/board foot to $25/board foot. As compared to Red Oak, Spessart Oak would then be classified as a rather expensive type of oak.
Spessart Oak – consisting of a fine texture – is a white oak found in the Spessart Forest in Germany.
Red Oak is native to Canada – Nova Scotia and Ontario – as well as to the United States – Georgia, Mississippi, Nebraska and Oklahoma.
The new home the builder builds will, more likely than not, have oak cabinets. So, the type of cabinets the builder selects – combined with the type of oak used for those cabinets – will correlate to cabinet quality. And to cost. For example, using the two aforementioned types of oak – Red and Spessart – Spessart Oak cabinets will be more costly than Red Oak cabinets.
We examined the cost of oak. As the type of oak – ranging from $5.00/board foot for Red Oak to $22 to $25/board foot for Spessart Oak – is determinative of the builder’s costs, in regard to his or her utilization of oak. As then so too will be the type of lumber used – in this case, oak – when it comes to the price of the home. Once construction of the home is complete.
So let’s now look at SPF once again. This time, let’s look at the “P” – pine. And let’s look at the price of pine.
The price of pine has a range. From mid-$2.00/board foot. To a high of $3.00/board foot.
For example…
Builders can order 4/4 Eastern White Pine at a price of $2.50/board foot.
While Poplar – a different type of pine – is more expensive. Poplar can be ordered by builders at $3.75/board foot.
When building the home, White Pine and Poplar would be used for decorative elements. For interior trim. As well as for paneling.
So let’s look at framing. And lumber costs. For our 4,000 square foot home.
4 x 4 Douglas fir will range in price from $10.00/board foot to $16.00/board foot.
Let’s use a Douglas fir price of $15.00/board foot for our new 4,000 square foot home. And let’s say the builder needs 25,000 board feet of Douglas fir to build that new home.
25,000 board feet of Douglas fir – at a price of $15/board foot – would give us a total lumber cost of $375,000.Thinking About Becoming a Real Estate Developer?
SPF. Spruce. Pine. Fir. This grouping, an attractive combination of strength and affordability. Spruce, pine and fir. More commonly referred to as SPF. The types of lumber builders use for different elements of framing.
Spruce, pine and fir are milled together. By milling SPF, you end up with standard dimensions of lumber – 2 x 4’s, 4 x 4’s and 2 x 6’s.
Let’s look at the “F” in our SPF – fir. Douglas fir.
Douglas fir is a type of lumber which is a core component in new home construction. Builders use Douglas fir for joists, posts and beams. Yet, not for trusses.
Southern Yellow Pine – when using pine for this specific application – is the preferred pine when it comes time for trusses. Although the “S” in our SPF – spruce – would more typically be used by builders for trusses. Moreso, than Southern Yellow Pine.
Spruce is known for its structural benefits. Hence, the use of spruce for trusses. Spruce is also known for its keen aesthetics.
While spruce is used in load-bearing capacities – I.e.: for trusses (as well as for floor joists and wall studs) – spruce is also used for interior finishes. Paneling. Molding. Trim. Spruce takes paint and stain quite well. Hence, the utilization of spruce for interior finishes.
Let’s look at the pricing of spruce…
One 1 x 3 x 16 board of spruce can be purchased by builders at, in the range of, $8.00/piece. While one piece of 1 x 4 x 16 spruce would be priced, in the range of, $10/piece.
In regard to the flooring, the trim and the cabinetry going into the new home, builders utilize a hardwood. Commonly, builders will use oak.
There are several reasons why oak is not used by builders for framing. First off, oak tends to be pricier than SPF. While the (general) higher cost of oak – as compared to SPF – makes oak cost prohibitive when it comes time to frame the new home, cost is not the only reason homes are not framed with oak. Nor the main reason.
Oak has a tendency to split when nailed. So framing and oak? Quite simply, that’s just a bad “marriage.”
Let’s look, for a moment, into how much lumber a builder will need in order to build a home…
To construct one 4,000 square foot home, a builder will typically use between 20,000 to 25, 000 board feet of lumber. Which brings us to the “F” in our SPF – fir. Douglas fir.
Douglas fir is one of the strongest – and the most durable – woods available to builders. This combination of strength and durability makes Douglas fir the optimal choice for builders when it comes time to frame the home.
Douglas fir possesses exceptional dimensional stability. Furthermore, Douglas fir is not prone to warp. Nor to twist. Douglas fir…great for framing.
Let’s look, for a moment, at lumber prices…
For flooring, trim and cabinetry, builders like oak. So how much does oak cost? Well, that depends.
4/4 Red Oak, 1-99 board feet, is priced in the range of $5.00/board foot. Which means, Red Oak would be classified as a rather inexpensive type of oak.
Whereas Red Oak is a rather inexpensive type of oak, 4/4 Spessart Oak, 1-99 board feet, will range in price from between $22/board foot to $25/board foot. As compared to Red Oak, Spessart Oak would then be classified as a rather expensive type of oak.
Spessart Oak – consisting of a fine texture – is a white oak found in the Spessart Forest in Germany.
Red Oak is native to Canada – Nova Scotia and Ontario – as well as to the United States – Georgia, Mississippi, Nebraska and Oklahoma.
The new home the builder builds will, more likely than not, have oak cabinets. So, the type of cabinets the builder selects – combined with the type of oak used for those cabinets – will correlate to cabinet quality. And to cost. For example, using the two aforementioned types of oak – Red and Spessart – Spessart Oak cabinets will be more costly than Red Oak cabinets.
We examined the cost of oak. As the type of oak – ranging from $5.00/board foot for Red Oak to $22 to $25/board foot for Spessart Oak – is determinative of the builder’s costs, in regard to his or her utilization of oak. As then so too will be the type of lumber used – in this case, oak – when it comes to the price of the home. Once construction of the home is complete.
So let’s now look at SPF once again. This time, let’s look at the “P” – pine. And let’s look at the price of pine.
The price of pine has a range. From mid-$2.00/board foot. To a high of $3.00/board foot.
For example…
Builders can order 4/4 Eastern White Pine at a price of $2.50/board foot.
While Poplar – a different type of pine – is more expensive. Poplar can be ordered by builders at $3.75/board foot.
When building the home, White Pine and Poplar would be used for decorative elements. For interior trim. As well as for paneling.
So let’s look at framing. And lumber costs. For our 4,000 square foot home.
4 x 4 Douglas fir will range in price from $10.00/board foot to $16.00/board foot.
Let’s use a Douglas fir price of $15.00/board foot for our new 4,000 square foot home. And let’s say the builder needs 25,000 board feet of Douglas fir to build that new home.
25,000 board feet of Douglas fir – at a price of $15/board foot – would give us a total lumber cost of $375,000.Thinking About Becoming a Real Estate Developer?
July 5, 2025
Boston, a hill, limestone, abolitionists plus one rendering from a cartoonist…Lawrence, Kansas
Lawrence, Kansas was founded by a group of New England abolitionists. Abolitionists who were intent on establishing a new community where people of all races would be free. Culminating in Lawrence’s determination to ensure that Kansas – then…a territory – would be admitted to the United States as a “free state.”
Lawrence was founded in 1854. Seven years prior to Kansas becoming the 34th State.
Nine years after the founding of Lawrence – in 1863 – then-Kansas Governor Thomas Carney signed a bill into law creating the second state university in Kansas. This university was to be built on 40 acres – the University of Kansas. Founded in 1864.
This university for Kansas – the second university within the Sunflower State – was to be constructed on Hogback Ridge. Hogback Ridge in Lawrence. Hogback Ridge, later becoming, Lawrence’s Mount Oread.
The relevance to Mount Oread? And to Mount Oread’s role in that which Lawrence is most famous for? This can be found under our feet.
Three years after Governor Carney signed into law the bill which would establish a Kansas university in Lawrence, classrooms at the University of Kansas first opened. This Lawrence university first started out as a preparatory school. With fewer than 100 students.
Back to Mount Oread…
Mount Oread – that section of Lawrence on which KU was built – sits on a bed of limestone.
Limestone is chalk rock. Chalk rock – transposed – becomes rock chalk.
Hence, our famous, Rock Chalk Jayhawk.
Rock chalk. Chalk rock. Chalk rock sits below KU’s classrooms as the – quite literally… – as the foundation of the university.
Our chant? Rock Chalk? That chant – originating in the chalk rock of limestone found in Lawrence’s Mount Oread – was originally a slogan used by the university’s science club. A science club slogan.
Let’s go back to that group of New Englanders who established Lawrence…
Those New Englanders who first established Lawrence were not so much a loosely-aligned abolitionist group at all. No, Lawrence’s forefathers were actually an organized company. This company? The New England Emigrant Aid Company.
The New England Emigrant Aid Company had been a Boston-based transportation company. Established to transport those who opposed slavery into this new Kansas Territory out west.
As abolitionists, the idea espoused by the New England Emigrant Aid Company went along these lines…
Through New England Emigrant Aid Company’s transportation of anti-slavery immigrants who would settle – en masse – in the new Kansas Territory, the politics within the Kansas Territory would then favor the abolishment of slavery. Not the expansion of slavery. Abolitionists.
As such, with sentiment taking hold in the new Kansas Territory which frowned upon the institution of slavery, Kansas would then (ideally) choose to join the United States as a free state. Not as slave state. Which it indeed did. in 1861.
Rock chalk. That’s about limestone. Limestone underneath the KU campus.
And after Rock Chalk we find…Jayhawk.
Rock chalk…limestone. So, how about the Jayhawk part of our slogan?
Any conversation one has about the Jayhawk part of this famous slogan from Lawrence brings us back to Lawrence’s idea for Kansas to join the Union as a free state. To efforts undertaken by the New England Emigrant Aid Company. And to Lawrence’s abolitionist “DNA.”
Prior to Kansas becoming a state in 1861, Kansas abolitionists battled pro-slavery factions. Factions who were intent on seeing Kansas join the Union as a slave state. Not as a free state. Those Kansas abolitionists we are referring to here were known as jayhawkers.
During the 1860’s, jayhawkers were not only found in this new Kansas Territory. No, jayhawkers could also – at that time – be found throughout the Midwest. All the way down to Texas. The abolitionist movement of the 1860’s…native to the Midwest. Jayhawkers.
Yes, jayhawkers are most closely aligned with the State of Kansas. The Kansas Jayhawks. This is attributed to the Bleeding Kansas era. The period of violent conflict over the issue of slavery which took place prior to the outbreak of the Civil War.
Between 1854 and 1859, murder, violence, the destruction of property and total mayhem took hold in Eastern Kansas and Western Missouri. Bleeding Kansas.
Kansas and abolitionists. Lawrence and Kansas’s university. The University of Kansas and jayhawkers.
The University of Kansas officially adopted the Jayhawk as the school’s mascot in the year 1923.
That duck-like bird we now know to be our KU Jayhawk? No, there is no winged-jayhawk bird flying over the beautiful prairies of Kansas. No, there is no winged-jayhawk bird which has ever flown over those beautiful Kansas prairies.
That famous duck-like bird we find under 16 Final Four banners in Allen Fieldhouse? That bird is an artistic creation.
The most famous abolitionist logo in the history of sports can be traced all the way back to 1912.
In 1912 Henry Malloy was a cartoonist working for The University Daily Kansan – KU’s newspaper.
Henry Malloy – in 1912 – drew a picture of one shoe-wearing bird. And released his picture of his shoe-wearing bird in The University Daily Kansas. Our first jayhawk.
In 1923, eleven years after Henry Malloy created that very first jayhawk cartoon rendering, two KU sophomores – Jimmy O’Bryon and George Hollingbery – created the rendering more-closely based on the duck-like bird we find today in Allen Fieldhouse.
Boston…
Abolitionists…
A hill…
Limestone…
A cartoonist…
Two college sophomores…
Lawrence, Kansas.Thinking About Becoming a Real Estate Developer?
Lawrence was founded in 1854. Seven years prior to Kansas becoming the 34th State.
Nine years after the founding of Lawrence – in 1863 – then-Kansas Governor Thomas Carney signed a bill into law creating the second state university in Kansas. This university was to be built on 40 acres – the University of Kansas. Founded in 1864.
This university for Kansas – the second university within the Sunflower State – was to be constructed on Hogback Ridge. Hogback Ridge in Lawrence. Hogback Ridge, later becoming, Lawrence’s Mount Oread.
The relevance to Mount Oread? And to Mount Oread’s role in that which Lawrence is most famous for? This can be found under our feet.
Three years after Governor Carney signed into law the bill which would establish a Kansas university in Lawrence, classrooms at the University of Kansas first opened. This Lawrence university first started out as a preparatory school. With fewer than 100 students.
Back to Mount Oread…
Mount Oread – that section of Lawrence on which KU was built – sits on a bed of limestone.
Limestone is chalk rock. Chalk rock – transposed – becomes rock chalk.
Hence, our famous, Rock Chalk Jayhawk.
Rock chalk. Chalk rock. Chalk rock sits below KU’s classrooms as the – quite literally… – as the foundation of the university.
Our chant? Rock Chalk? That chant – originating in the chalk rock of limestone found in Lawrence’s Mount Oread – was originally a slogan used by the university’s science club. A science club slogan.
Let’s go back to that group of New Englanders who established Lawrence…
Those New Englanders who first established Lawrence were not so much a loosely-aligned abolitionist group at all. No, Lawrence’s forefathers were actually an organized company. This company? The New England Emigrant Aid Company.
The New England Emigrant Aid Company had been a Boston-based transportation company. Established to transport those who opposed slavery into this new Kansas Territory out west.
As abolitionists, the idea espoused by the New England Emigrant Aid Company went along these lines…
Through New England Emigrant Aid Company’s transportation of anti-slavery immigrants who would settle – en masse – in the new Kansas Territory, the politics within the Kansas Territory would then favor the abolishment of slavery. Not the expansion of slavery. Abolitionists.
As such, with sentiment taking hold in the new Kansas Territory which frowned upon the institution of slavery, Kansas would then (ideally) choose to join the United States as a free state. Not as slave state. Which it indeed did. in 1861.
Rock chalk. That’s about limestone. Limestone underneath the KU campus.
And after Rock Chalk we find…Jayhawk.
Rock chalk…limestone. So, how about the Jayhawk part of our slogan?
Any conversation one has about the Jayhawk part of this famous slogan from Lawrence brings us back to Lawrence’s idea for Kansas to join the Union as a free state. To efforts undertaken by the New England Emigrant Aid Company. And to Lawrence’s abolitionist “DNA.”
Prior to Kansas becoming a state in 1861, Kansas abolitionists battled pro-slavery factions. Factions who were intent on seeing Kansas join the Union as a slave state. Not as a free state. Those Kansas abolitionists we are referring to here were known as jayhawkers.
During the 1860’s, jayhawkers were not only found in this new Kansas Territory. No, jayhawkers could also – at that time – be found throughout the Midwest. All the way down to Texas. The abolitionist movement of the 1860’s…native to the Midwest. Jayhawkers.
Yes, jayhawkers are most closely aligned with the State of Kansas. The Kansas Jayhawks. This is attributed to the Bleeding Kansas era. The period of violent conflict over the issue of slavery which took place prior to the outbreak of the Civil War.
Between 1854 and 1859, murder, violence, the destruction of property and total mayhem took hold in Eastern Kansas and Western Missouri. Bleeding Kansas.
Kansas and abolitionists. Lawrence and Kansas’s university. The University of Kansas and jayhawkers.
The University of Kansas officially adopted the Jayhawk as the school’s mascot in the year 1923.
That duck-like bird we now know to be our KU Jayhawk? No, there is no winged-jayhawk bird flying over the beautiful prairies of Kansas. No, there is no winged-jayhawk bird which has ever flown over those beautiful Kansas prairies.
That famous duck-like bird we find under 16 Final Four banners in Allen Fieldhouse? That bird is an artistic creation.
The most famous abolitionist logo in the history of sports can be traced all the way back to 1912.
In 1912 Henry Malloy was a cartoonist working for The University Daily Kansan – KU’s newspaper.
Henry Malloy – in 1912 – drew a picture of one shoe-wearing bird. And released his picture of his shoe-wearing bird in The University Daily Kansas. Our first jayhawk.
In 1923, eleven years after Henry Malloy created that very first jayhawk cartoon rendering, two KU sophomores – Jimmy O’Bryon and George Hollingbery – created the rendering more-closely based on the duck-like bird we find today in Allen Fieldhouse.
Boston…
Abolitionists…
A hill…
Limestone…
A cartoonist…
Two college sophomores…
Lawrence, Kansas.Thinking About Becoming a Real Estate Developer?
July 1, 2025
Considering poured concrete for your backyard project?
Poured concrete comes about through the placement of liquid concrete in a wood pre-built form. Poured concrete contents? Cement, which is mixed with water, sand and gravel…shaped. As this mixture of cement, water, sand and gravel is poured into your form.
You’ll want to strengthen your poured concrete. How do you do this?
To strengthen your poured concrete, you can use steel rods in your form. These steel rods are rebar.
Why use rebar?
Poured concrete – with rebar – is stronger than poured concrete without rebar.
Rebar provides reinforcement. Thus, rebar reduces the likelihood of a cracked concrete surface in the future.
The curing process of poured concrete – I.e: hardening – can take several days. In some cases, up to a few weeks. The amount of time it takes to cure your poured concrete is dependent upon several conditions. One of those conditions being, the weather.
Once your poured concrete has been cured, the form is then removed. The concrete structure you end up with is ready for its role in your hardscaping project.
I’m thinking about going with poured concrete, while pavers are still an idea that I am considering…
At the onset, selecting pavers for your backyard hardscaping project would be a bigger hit to your wallet than poured concrete would be. Short term. Over time, the higher up-front cost you will incur by going with pavers over poured concrete can be weighed against the lower maintenance costs you will incur, by using pavers. In comparison to poured concrete.
The lower costs you will benefit from by going with pavers is due to the fact that pavers are more durable than poured concrete. Pavers are able to incur more wear-and-tear. Pavers hold up better with extreme changes in temperature.
For example…
In parts of the country which are prone to freeze-thaw cycles – I.e.: the Midwest and the Notheast – pavers will be able to aptly withstand those stark changes in temperature. More so than poured concrete. Which makes where you live one factor to consider when choosing between poured concrete and pavers.
Concrete is prone to crack. And stain.
Cracks or stains in your concrete – in most cases – can be repaired. However, when concrete does crack, a full replacement of your concrete surface is a possibility. And, if so, an expensive one at that.
Whereas with pavers, if you do incur surface damage, you will be able to replace the damaged individual paver. Or, the pavers.
Factors to consider as you embark upon your next backyard project. Thinking About Becoming a Real Estate Developer?
You’ll want to strengthen your poured concrete. How do you do this?
To strengthen your poured concrete, you can use steel rods in your form. These steel rods are rebar.
Why use rebar?
Poured concrete – with rebar – is stronger than poured concrete without rebar.
Rebar provides reinforcement. Thus, rebar reduces the likelihood of a cracked concrete surface in the future.
The curing process of poured concrete – I.e: hardening – can take several days. In some cases, up to a few weeks. The amount of time it takes to cure your poured concrete is dependent upon several conditions. One of those conditions being, the weather.
Once your poured concrete has been cured, the form is then removed. The concrete structure you end up with is ready for its role in your hardscaping project.
I’m thinking about going with poured concrete, while pavers are still an idea that I am considering…
At the onset, selecting pavers for your backyard hardscaping project would be a bigger hit to your wallet than poured concrete would be. Short term. Over time, the higher up-front cost you will incur by going with pavers over poured concrete can be weighed against the lower maintenance costs you will incur, by using pavers. In comparison to poured concrete.
The lower costs you will benefit from by going with pavers is due to the fact that pavers are more durable than poured concrete. Pavers are able to incur more wear-and-tear. Pavers hold up better with extreme changes in temperature.
For example…
In parts of the country which are prone to freeze-thaw cycles – I.e.: the Midwest and the Notheast – pavers will be able to aptly withstand those stark changes in temperature. More so than poured concrete. Which makes where you live one factor to consider when choosing between poured concrete and pavers.
Concrete is prone to crack. And stain.
Cracks or stains in your concrete – in most cases – can be repaired. However, when concrete does crack, a full replacement of your concrete surface is a possibility. And, if so, an expensive one at that.
Whereas with pavers, if you do incur surface damage, you will be able to replace the damaged individual paver. Or, the pavers.
Factors to consider as you embark upon your next backyard project. Thinking About Becoming a Real Estate Developer?
Ted Ihde author of “Thinking About Becoming A Real Estate Developer?”
Today, a real estate developer and a licensed real estate broker, Ted graduated Summa Cum Laude from Bloomfield College.
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