Researching Robert

 

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Inman, Kansas

by Jim Potter

By the time Richard and Anna Borchart moved to Inman, Kansas, in 1896, with Arthur, their firstborn, the town welcomed residents and guests to shop on its main street using raised wooden sidewalks.  Allowing customers to keep their feet high and dry helped encourage shoppers to visit the Borchart shoe shop.

During wet weather, streets in towns with poor drainage resembled pig pens. Dedicated shoppers accepted wet and muddy shoes, but it was detrimental to attracting customers or growing a community. Most Inman property owners in the 1890s accepted the personal expense of building raised wooden sidewalks. When in good repair, the structures were safe and inviting.

In 1894, the City of Inman passed a detailed ordinance holding property owners responsible for the building of wooden sidewalks. In the downtown area, the walks were to be “eight feet wide, using two inch lumber laid cross-ways on four stringers of 2×6 …”¹

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Richard and Anna immigrated from Germany in 1894, arriving in Haven, Kansas, in November. When they relocated to Inman, its population was 320 people, comparable in size to Haven. Both towns relied on the railroad to boost their economy. The Wichita and Colorado Railway put Haven on the map in 1886. The following year, the Great Rock Island Railway began service from Inman to Hutchinson.

The 1895 state census listed three organized churches in or near Inman: Mennonite, 130 members; Evangelical, 130; and Lutheran, 30.

Regretfully, Richard’s footprint in Kansas was brief before his accidental death at age thirty-nine in 1899. During his five years in Kansas, there’s not much of a paper trail, but I’m always hopeful that something new—actually, old—will turn up.

I’m still looking for clues as to where Richard and Anna lived between their arrival in Haven and their relocation fifteen months later to Inman.

Two questions I’d like answered are: 1) Did Richard and Anna live with or near Robert and Martha in Haven before they relocated to Inman? and 2) Prior to their move to Inman, did the newly arrived immigrants assist Robert in his successful shoemaking business?

In December 1894, one brief note in the Haven newspaper may imply that Richard and Anna were living in Colwich, just eighteen miles from Haven. I can’t find them in the 1895 Kansas Census, but I did locate Robert, Martha, their children, and two servants living in Haven.

On Feb. 24, 1896, when the Borcharts moved to Inman (originally named Aiken in 1887), there was at least one other harness and shoe repair shop. It was run by H. W. Johnson. He regularly advertised his business during 1895 and 1896. Johnson quit advertising six months after the Borcharts moved to Inman.

In 1897, Richard and Anna moved from living in their shoe shop in Inman to a home outside the city limits. Most likely, this was a sign of success, optimism, or a need for more living space, not financial failure. At the time, the Borcharts had one child, Arthur, 2, with Robert, their second child, on the way.²

Henry W. Janzen moved his harness and shoe shop from his farm outside of Inman to town in March 1898. After relocating his business, I imagine the Bocharts faced a greater challenge to turn a profit.

Like Richard Borchart’s brother, Robert, H. W. Janzen invested in promoting his business. Janzen became a steady, reliable advertiser in the Inman Review. He would have been stiff competition, especially since he had roots in the Inman community dating back to 1875 when he and his wife, Annie, immigrated from Russia. In Janzen’s 1906 obituary he was described as “… our faithful, good natured and warm hearted shoemaker…”³

Besides a subscription to the Inman paper in 1896, I haven’t discovered a single paid advertisement in the newspaper during the three years the Borcharts were open for business. Since Richard, in Haven, continually displayed powerful promotions, I wonder if Richard’s lack of advertising was due to a lack of funds.

I’ve found one newspaper article reporting that Robert and Martha Borchert of Haven visited Richard and Anna Borchert (Borchart) in Inman.⁴ Six months later, Richard was dead.

 

A newspaper obituary stated: “The deceased left a wife and three little children in almost destitute circumstances. This is very sad, owing to the fact the wife is not strong, almost an invalid, with no relative in the United States.”⁵ 

 

 

 

 

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^{1. The Inman Review (Inman, KS), Sept. 21, 1894, 8.}

^{2. The Inman Review (Inman, KS), March 5, 1897, 1.}

^{3. The Inman Review (Inman, KS), June 8, 1906,1.}

^{4. The Inman Review (Inman, KS), Oct. 14, 1898, 1.} 

^{5. McPherson Freeman (McPherson, KS), May 12, 1899, 5.}

To visit McPherson (KS) Public Library’s website, use this link – https://macpl.org/

To visit McPherson (KS) Public Library‘s Facebook page, use this link – https://www.facebook.com/mcphersonpublic/

To visit Inman Museum‘s Facebook page, use this link: https://www.facebook.com/inmanksmuseum

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