Alexander and Margaret (Dickson) Garrett were the first settlers to put down roots in what was first El Paso and was renamed Derby, Kansas. In 1869, the area was considered Indian Territory (Osage Trust Lands) and had many transient traders, trappers…
El Paso Cemetery sits on a slight hill in the center of Derby but was once surrounded by farmland and was about a mile southeast of the growing settlement. In 1878, the cemetery opened, 9 years after the Garrett family staked a claim near the bank of…
On July 11, 1871, J. Hout Minnich and John Hufbauer filed a town plat for El Paso in Sedgwick County, Kansas. It established streets from Madison to Kay and from Water Street to Georgie Avenue, and business boomed.
In March 1924, this red brick building opened as the third school at this site. It had 10 classrooms, study hall, small office, two modern lavatories and a gymnasium/auditorium. From 1924 to 1953, this was the only public school in town; high school…