In 2014, I came across a fascinating series of 64 articles published in 1918 and 1919 in the Springfield Democrat Herald. The author, editor, and publisher of the series, Sam Konkel—known locally as “The Writer”—was more than a mere chronicler of events. He had been there, living and working as the editor of one of two newspapers in the boomtown of Old Boston, Colorado, from 1887 to 1889. Like nearly everyone else, Konkel fled the town during the infamous “siege of Boston” in the spring of 1889. But years later, he returned to the area, purchased the local paper in 1913, and began writing his reflections on the town’s short, tumultuous history. His firsthand accounts, coupled with dozens of contemporary newspaper clippings, provide the foundation for what would eventually become the book Old Boston: As Wild As They Come.

The origins of Boston, Colorado, can be traced to a group of speculators from Ashland, Kansas who saw an opportunity to capitalize on the booming land market in Southeast Colorado. Their goal was simple: establish a new town that would serve as the county seat for a soon-to-be-created county, build it up quickly, and sell land at inflated prices to settlers eager to stake their claim in the West.

By late 1886, Boston had been platted and the first lots were sold to eager buyers. The Clark County Republican (Ashland, Kansas) reported on the frenzy surrounding Boston’s establishment, noting, “One company composed of Judge Jennings, Treasurer Darroch, and others located the town of Boston last fall and gave it something of a boom”​. The founders of Boston wasted no time in promoting their town, advertising it widely across Kansas and other states. They promised fertile land, a prime location for railroads, and an inevitable rise in property values.

Sam Konkel, in his series “Person’s Stories and Incidents of Old Boston and the Old Days,” explicitly states that the town of Boston was founded on November 26, 1886, during a blizzard. He recounts that the very first tents were pitched and the initial lumber arrived on the ground on this specific date. Konkel notes that “Colorado style, the snow flurry was soon over,” and within a few days, numerous carpenters and helpers were actively working on a variety of business buildings clustered around a central point

This timeframe for Boston’s rapid establishment in late 1886 is largely supported by contemporary newspaper accounts:

An article in The Leader-Democrat from December 4, 1886, already mentions Theodore Wenckens “contracting and building” in Boston, with “houses springing up like magic”

Another article also notes that J. W. Beatty, a civil engineer, had “completed the survey and plat of Boston”, indicating significant prior planning and ongoing development.

The Ashland Weekly Journal on December 17, 1886, reported that the city of Boston, Colorado, was “but two weeks old” at the time their informant left.

This suggests a founding around early December, closely aligning with Konkel’s November 26th date. This article also provides details on the early boom, stating there were 150 inhabitants and “eight business houses completed or under roof and 12 more under erection or contracted for”.

A letter published in the Fowler City Graphic on December 30, 1886, stated that the “first house was started on Sunday four weeks prior to the day following our arrival there”

, which would place the initial building activity in late November or early December.

The Clark County Republican on February 18, 1887, references this early start, noting that “One town company composed of Judge Jennings, Treasurer Darroch and others located the town of Boston last fall and gave it something of a boom”. This explicitly corroborates Konkel’s general timeline for the town’s beginning.

A. Hughes, president of the Atlantis-Boston Town Company, was reported by The Leader-Democrat on December 18, 1886, to be experiencing a “wonderful boom” in his town.
Konkel himself explains that the town was initially intended to be called Atlantis, but its name was changed to Boston, and he became involved with the Atlantis Town company in September 1886, making arrangements to join the town and start a newspaper the following March.

Despite the challenging initial conditions of the blizzard, construction progressed swiftly.

A well was started almost immediately at the intersection of the two main streets, though it took until the spring to be completed and have a windmill installed. Konkel further details that building operations were pushed so rapidly that by the first of March 1887, seventy houses, primarily businesses, had been built, giving Boston the appearance of a “real town”. This rapid growth was characterized as a “genuine old-fashioned boom” by Charlie Herron, who returned from Boston in late December 1886.

The following provides a detail report on the startup of Boston:   Ashland Weekly Journal (Ashland, Kansas) 17 Dec 1886, Fri Page 3 —BOSTON. Now that excitement in regard to the new city of Boston, Col., is at its height and scores of our people are flocking to that part of the state to take claims and invest in city property, perhaps a few words of explanation may not be amiss.  Our information is received from a gentleman who has been there, and consequently knows what he is talking about, and therefore is far more reliable than everybody’s’ says so. 

The city is situated on a section of land in Los Animas count, level as house floor, in one of the most beautiful sections in Colorado, 32 miles from Richfield, the county seat of Morton county Kansas; 15 miles from the national cattle trail on the Kansas and Colorado line, which is three miles wide.  And 135 miles east of Trinidad the county seat of Los Animas county.  This is a very large county being 135 miles long and 40 miles wide.  From the distance between Trinidad and Boston it will be seen they are at the extreme ends of the county, and it is now the intention of those interested in the east end to rent the county in twain and make a new county of the east end and with Boston as the county seat and best of all, this plan does not seem to meet with much if any opposition from people of the western end.  At the time our information left Boston there were 150 inhabitants and yet the city was at that time but two weekends old.  As to buildings there were 8 business houses completed or under roof and 12 more under erection or contracted for.  Residence houses are few and far between just as present, but that will be attended to later on.  Messrs. Parks and Brooke have located city property, and have in process of erection what will be the largest building in town for business purposes. They have also filed on homestead and timber claims.  Many others from here are doing likewise, and are all united in the opinion that Boston will be a second Ashland ere long. 

Thirty miles south form Boston is located Mineral city, where coal in abundance is being mined.  To better advertise this place, those interested in the mines are freighting black diamonds to Boston and depositing in the middle of the street, where it is free to everybody.  How does that strike you?   

Prospects of a railroad are good, and all everybody’s relations are crazy to go to the “Hub” Outside of our own beautiful city the new one may be “the best” but our advice to people is to stay right where they are, and put their faith in the old adage “a rolling stone gathers no moss.” 

Detailed Timeline of the establishment of Boston, Colorado

June 1886:

• Butte City, another town in the East-End of Las Animas county, Colorado, is started. However, it reportedly had less than half a dozen houses built before being abandoned and its structures moved to Minneapolis in Summer 1887.

July 1886:

• Sam Konkel (The Writer) is laying sod for a barn when two rigs with four people inquire about the country and a township corner, presumed to be looking for a townsite.

August 1886:

• About a month after Konkel’s encounter, the town of Boston is projected, and necessary steps are taken to acquire land for the townsite.

September 1886:

• Frank Jennings, secretary of the Atlantis Town company, visits Sam Konkel in Richfield, Kansas. He explains their plans for a new town in Colorado, three miles west of Konkel’s location. Initially named “Atlantis,” it was changed to “Boston.” Jennings invites Konkel to join them, offering interests in the town to avoid county seat fights like those in Kansas.
• Konkel agrees to join the town in the spring and start a newspaper in exchange for certain interests.

November 1886:

• November 26, 1886: Amidst a blizzard, the first tents are pitched and the first lumber arrives on the ground in Boston, Colorado. Construction of business buildings begins rapidly around a common center.
• A well is immediately started at the intersection of the two main streets of Boston.
• Houses are “springing up like magic” in Boston, and Theodore Wenckens is heavily involved in contracting and building.
• J.W. Beatty, a civil engineer from Johnson City, completes the survey and plat of Boston.
• Within two weekends of its founding (around mid-December), Boston has 150 inhabitants.
• The town has 8 business houses completed or under roof, and 12 more are under erection or contracted for.
• Messrs. Parks and Brooke have located city property and are building what will be the largest business building in town. They have also filed homestead and timber claims.
• Abe Hummer files a timber claim and homestead in Boston, Colorado.

December 1886:

• December 4, 1886: Theodore Wenckens is actively contracting and building in Boston. J.W. Beatty has completed the survey and plat of Boston.

• December 7, 1886 (Tuesday): J.W. Taylor, William Simpson, S.W. Brandon, and C.E. Beaty depart for New Boston, Colorado, on a land-seeing trip.
• December 9, 1886 (Thursday): J.J. Jennings (John Jennings) arrives in Boston, Colorado, from Coldwater, Kansas, but departs for Coldwater the next day due to illness, as the “diet of the Bostonians hardly agreed with his delicate condition.”
• December 15, 1886 (Wednesday): A Hummer returns from Boston, Colorado.
• December 17, 1886 (Friday): Johnny Tindall and Will McClure leave Ashland, Kansas, for Boston, Colorado, to work as carpenters. Boston is described as the “new Eldorado of Colorado.”
• December 18, 1886 (Saturday): Abe Hummer returns from Boston, Colorado, having filed a timber claim and homestead.
• A. Hughes, president of the Atlantis-Boston Town Company, visits and reports a “wonderful boom” in Boston.
• Ed Allen, a “hide drummer” from Wichita, visits Boston and is “infatuated” with the town, planning to erect a building there.
• Frank Abbott and others leave for Boston, Colorado.
• S.W. Gould and Tom Butler plan a trip to Boston, Colorado.
• P. Theodore Wenkens, the “rustling contractor of Boston town,” is purchasing lumber for several building contracts.
• S.N. Konkle (Sam Konkel) of Colorado is in the city (Richfield, Kansas).
• William Simpson, of Wood & Simpson insurance firm in Ashland, Kansas, visits an office in Richfield on his way home from Boston, where he had been prospecting.
• Mrs. P.A. Hill travels to Boston to open a restaurant and boarding house.
• December 20, 1886 (Monday): Ed Allen visits Boston.
• December 22, 1886 (Wednesday): Henry, Ed Hugh, and Dan Ryan, accompanied by Ed. White and John Horn, return from a trip to Boston and Butte City, Colorado.
• December 25, 1886 (Saturday):Will J. Darroch of Boston is in town (presumably Richfield) to resupply his restaurant.
• Oscar Lee is in Boston from Sunday.
• E.E. Jennings, son of Judge Jennings, spends time in Frisco, Kansas; he is a young attorney.
• December 29, 1886 (Wednesday): E.C. Murray, William Simpson, J.W. Taylor, Robert Berry, Emmett Bailey, Samuel Manning, and Ed. Hire depart for New Boston, Colorado.
• December 30, 1886 (Thursday): A report from a “gentleman who has been there” states that Boston is 32 miles from Richfield, Kansas, 15 miles from the national cattle trail, 135 miles east of Trinidad, and has 150 inhabitants despite being only “two weekends old.” It mentions 8 completed business houses and 12 more under construction. Prospects for a railroad are good. Coal is being mined 30 miles south at Mineral City and transported to Boston streets. The Atlantis-Boston Town Company (with A. Hughes as president and Frank Jennings as secretary and business manager) is pushing the town’s development.
• December 31, 1886 (Friday): Charlie Herron returns from Boston and reports that water has been struck at 58 feet, and the town is experiencing a “genuine old-fashioned boom.”
• The sons of Judge Jennings are all in Boston, where they have “struck it rich.”

Spring 1887:

• The well at the intersection of Boston’s main streets is completed, and a windmill is installed.
• Konkel joins the town and starts a newspaper (in March).

March 1, 1887:

• Seventy houses, mostly businesses, have been built in Boston, giving it the appearance of a “real town.”

February 18, 1887:

• News circulates about a potential “long and bitter fight” between Boston and Vilas City, another newly located town in Las Animas county, Colorado. Boston was located by a company including Judge Jennings and Treasurer Darroch. Vilas City, located 8 miles from Boston, is backed by a 25-member company (including Tim Shields, Sam Sisson, H. Chapman) planning a large hotel and other buildings.

Spring 1889:

• Sam Konkel, along with everyone else, leaves Boston after the siege/shoot out/gunfight of Boston.

1905:

• Sam Konkel returns to the area.

1913:

• Sam Konkel buys the local newspaper in Springfield Colorado

1918-1919:

• Sam Konkel writes the 64-article series “Person’s Stories and Incidents of Old Boston and the Old Days” for the Springfield Democrat Herald. Portions of this series became the book “Old Boston: As Wild as They Come.”

2014 (approximate):

• The author of this post discovers Sam Konkel’s 1918-1919 article series and begins scanning and transcribing them to begin the soon to be book, “Old Boston: As Wild As They Come,”
  

Cast of Characters

• Sam Konkel (The Writer): The author of the “Person’s Stories and Incidents of Old Boston and the Old Days” series (1918-1919), which became the book “Old Boston: As Wild as They Come.” He was the editor of one of the two newspapers in Old Boston from 1887-1889. He left Boston in 1889 after the siege but returned to the area in 1905 and bought a local newspaper in 1913. He camped near the future Konkel ranch in 1886 and was approached by Frank Jennings to join the Atlantis Town Company.
• Theodore Wenckens (P. Theodore Wenkens): Described as “the jolly Dutchman” and a “rustling contractor.” He was actively involved in contracting and building houses in Boston during its early boom in late 1886.
• J.W. Beatty (C.E. Beaty): A civil engineer from Johnson City who completed the survey and plat of Boston in late 1886. He was also part of a land-seeing trip to New Boston in December 1886.
• J.J. Jennings (John Jennings): A person who traveled from Coldwater to Boston in December 1886 but quickly left due to a “severe illness” and not agreeing with the “diet of the Bostonians.” He is another son of Judge Jennings.
• Abe Hummer (A Hummer): Traveled to Boston in December 1886 and filed on a timber claim and homestead, returning to Coldwater by December 18th.
• Johnny Tindall: One of two “energetic, wide-awake and go-ahead boys” from Ashland, Kansas, who left for Boston in December 1886 to work as a carpenter.
• Will McClure: The other “energetic, wide-awake and go-ahead boy” from Ashland, Kansas, who left for Boston in December 1886 to work as a carpenter.
• Mr. Parks: Along with Mr. Brooke, he located city property in Boston and was in the process of erecting what would be the largest business building in town in December 1886.
• Mr. Brooke: Along with Mr. Parks, he located city property in Boston and was in the process of erecting what would be the largest business building in town in December 1886.
• A. Hughes: President of the Atlantis-Boston Town Company. He reported a “wonderful boom” in Boston in December 1886. He was involved in the development of Ashland and Richfield prior to Boston.
• Ed Allen: A “jolly hide drummer” from Wichita who visited Boston in December 1886, became “infatuated” with the town, and intended to erect a building there. Known for his entertaining personality.
• Frank Abbott: Left for Boston, Colorado, with others in December 1886.
• S.W. Gould: Traveled to Leoti and planned a trip to Boston, Colorado, with Tom Butler in December 1886.
• Tom Butler: Accompanied S.W. Gould and planned a trip to Boston, Colorado, in December 1886.
• Mrs. P.A. Hill: Moved to Boston in December 1886 to start a restaurant and boarding house.
• Will J. Darroch: Of Boston, he was in town (presumably Richfield) in December 1886 to resupply his restaurant. He is also mentioned as “Treasurer Darroch” and a member of the company that located the town of Boston.
• Oscar Lee: Traveled from Boston to Richfield in December 1886.
• Judge Jennings: Mentioned as a “gallant” figure, whose “sons” are all in Boston and have “struck it rich.” He was part of the company that located the town of Boston.
• E.E. Jennings: A son of Judge Jennings and a “young attorney of more than ordinary ability.” He spent some days in Frisco, Kansas, in December 1886.
• Henry Ryan: Part of the “Ryan quartette,” he returned from a trip to Boston and Butte City in December 1886.
• Ed Hugh Ryan: Part of the “Ryan quartette,” he returned from a trip to Boston and Butte City in December 1886.
• Dan Ryan: Part of the “Ryan quartette,” he returned from a trip to Boston and Butte City in December 1886.
• Ed. White: Accompanied the Ryan quartette and John Horn on a trip to Boston and Butte City in December 1886. He was from the Frisco stage line.
• John Horn (Mr Horn): Accompanied the Ryan quartette and Ed. White on a trip to Boston and Butte City in December 1886. He was from Pratt Center.
• E.C. Murray: Left for New Boston, Colorado, with several others in December 1886.
• Robert Berry: Left for New Boston, Colorado, with several others in December 1886.
• Emmett Bailey: Left for New Boston, Colorado, with several others in December 1886.
• Samuel Manning: Left for New Boston, Colorado, with several others in December 1886.
• Ed. Hire: Left for New Boston, Colorado, with several others in December 1886.
• Charlie Herron: Returned from a trip through Morton county and Colorado in December 1886, reporting a “genuine old-fashioned boom” in Boston and that water had been struck.
• Henry Savioe (Spelled “Savoy” by Sam Konkel): The “First White Man Met” by Sam Konkel and his party after they crossed the Kansas-Colorado line. He was tracking his horses and later became part of the East-End Settlement’s history, with his career ending in tragedy in Old Boston.
• Wm. Simpson (William Simpson): An individual who went on a land-seeing trip to New Boston, Colorado, in December 1886. He was also a member of the insurance firm Wood & Simpson in Ashland, Kansas, and visited Richfield after prospecting in Boston. He later started for New Boston again in late December 1886.
• J.W. Taylor: An individual who went on a land-seeing trip to New Boston, Colorado, in December 1886. He later started for New Boston again in late December 1886.
• S.W. Brandon: An individual who went on a land-seeing trip to New Boston, Colorado, in December 1886.
• Tim Shields: A member of the company that located Vilas City, a rival town to Boston.
• Sam Sisson: A member of the company that located Vilas City, a rival town to Boston.
• H. Chapman: A member of the company that located Vilas City, a rival town to Boston.