History of the City of Perry

Hope came on March 3, 1871, with Perryville being incorporated as a third class city. The first mayor was soon elected, N. G. Stark, and the city’s name changed to Perry, to showcase its incorporation. By this point, Perry had a population of 600, two general stores, one grocery, one barber shop, two blacksmiths, one boot and shoe shop, one depot, one grist mill, one harness shop, two hotels, one livery stable, one lumber yard, one meat market, one millinery shop, one print shop, and one wagon shop. This was all great for the community, however, this was the start of a rather long hardship for Perry. It wasn’t put on record until 1892 that Perry had been incorporated. This incorporation was meant to be the big boom Perry needed, it ended up being the limiting factor to the city’s success.

Things began to worsen for Perry, with grasshoppers, two financial panics and extreme weather, beginning in August of 1874. All the wheat and various other crops had just been harvested, being ready to bundle and sell. Near the end of one average day a large cloud of grasshoppers darkened the sky. They ate everything from crops, to trees, wood implements, sides of businesses and several articles of clothing, and were so bad, they even halted trains. Then as suddenly as they came in, the grasshoppers disappeared, leaving hardly any crops behind. It was too late to re-plant leaving farmers to suffer for the year. The grasshoppers weren’t the only creatures wreaking havoc on Perry. Livestock would often escape and wander through the city, eating whatever they could reach. They became such a nuisance, that once they were corralled and sent back, the city fined the owner of the livestock.

  It wasn’t just the all the creatures and animals, people soon became a pest to the community as well. Since it was illegal to play ball within city limits, children would throw rocks, jump off/on moving trains, and stood in front of oncoming trains just for entertainment. This soon changed with several ordinances from the city and demands from KPR. With the kids playing on the tracks, the adults, mostly men, were out at the saloons and billiards, getting drunk, and disrupting the community in the dead of night. This was soon hindered by the Kansas Prohibition Act of 1879 and 1880. This didn’t get repealed until 1933. Let’s just say, that didn’t stop nor slow the consumption of alcohol.

Between all these issues, there were two financial depressions that plagued Perry. The first major one to hit came in October of 1873. Economic problems were starting to wreak havoc in Europe, that soon prompted the collapse of the Jay Cooke and Company, which was the largest bank in the US at this time. With that, the Coinage Act of 1873 depressed the value of silver, causing setbacks in mining interests, and soon investments were being sold off quick, mostly affecting the railroad and industry workers. This was soon coined The Long Depression and lasted until March 1879 when the Specie Payment Resumption Act passed. The next financial depression began in 1882, with the notable Panic of 1884, where gold reserves had depleted to such an extent, all investments were halted. It wasn’t until 1885 that things began to level out once again. These panic hindered any business growth in Perry, causing the local economy to dwindle and become weak.

  With the financial depressions seemingly to stop, Perry was hit yet again with another set of unfortunate circumstances. Perry had been building back from the previous financial crises, when in June 1893, a tornado hit east of Perry, wrecking farms and taking the lives of 11 people. 10 years later, the Kansas River breached its banks, flooding the entire area. This had been the biggest flood since that 1844. Perry could not seem to catch a break.

For a new city, how much more could it handle before it became too much?