September 19, 2017
This is “Our Past Is Present” from the Geary County Historical Society.
In the early
1900s, Junction City’s Charles Henry Manley was known as a newspaper editor, a
real estate broker, a poultry fancier and was described as a “man of
leisure.” In September 1907, he held his
annual chicken sale in the Ballinger Feed Store on Jefferson Street. It was not generally known that during the
previous spring, Mr. Manley decided to make a little money on the side and so
he ventured into the chicken business.
He sent several hundred poultry breeders all over the nation a message
that if they sent him some of their best eggs, he would give them free
advertisement for a month in the Republic
newspaper. Breeders of chickens believed
in advertising and by the next train the eggs started to arrive. On one
shipment, an express wagon was filled and the express charges were $26.00. Manley paid the bill without hesitation,
because he knew he was going to get his money back in the end. Manley made an additional agreement with some
of the farmers who provided eggs, that half of the chicks hatched after
September 1 were to be his. The following week after the agreement had been
made, the finest bunches of chickens ever seen in this part of the state were
sold to fancy breeders at good prices.
Breeders from surrounding towns attended the sale and secured a select
lot of high-grade fowl. Mr. Manley had
proven himself to be successful at his part-time job of… raising chickens.
And… that’s
today’s story on “Our Past Is Present” from the Geary County Historical
Society.
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