Article XII provided that the money received from the sale of shares should be used to secure a tract of land two miles square, on or near the Santa Fe trail, and to defray the expenses of surveying and laying out a municipality to be known as “Council City.”
Article XIV stipulated that one lot out of every fifty should be given for school purposes, and the management should have the power to donate other lots for the establishment of institutions “appropriate to an orderly, virtuous, temperate and refined American community.”
Immediately after the organization was perfected a committee of seven men—citizens of New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio—visited Kansas to select a site for “Council City,” and after exploring the territory for several weeks decided upon a tract between Dragoon and Switzler creeks, in what is now Osage county, a short distance south of the present city of Burlingame. About the same time a circular was issued by the company, stating that the object was “to found in Kansas a large and flourishing city, one that would claim the attention and patronage of all interested in the growth and prosperity of that territory.”
Council City was laid out with streets 75 feet wide and avenues 150 in width. The lots were 75 by 150 feet, and there were several tracts ranging from 10 to 50 acres each reserved for parks. A small party of settlers arrived late in Oct., 1854, and a few of the more energetic set to work to make Council City a reality, but the majority were disappointed by the prospect. Other settlers came in the spring of 1855, but the metropolis never met the expectations of its projectors, and after a precarious existence of a few months it disappeared from the map.
Americus, an incorporated city of the third class in Lyon county, is a station on the Missouri, Kansas & Texas R. R., 9 miles northwest of Emporia, the county seat. It has a bank, a weekly newspaper, churches of various denominations, good public schools, etc. Its location in the rich valley of the Neosho river gives it a good local trade and makes it an important shipping point. The population in 1910 was 451. Two delivery routes emanates from its money order postoffice and supply mail to the surrounding rural districts, and the town is provided with express and telegraph offices and has telephone connection with Emporia and other cities.
Ames, a village of Shirley township, Cloud county, is a station on the Missouri Pacific R. R. 12 miles east of Concordia, the county seat. It has a money order postoffice with one rural delivery route, express and telegraph service, some good mercantile houses, and in 1910 reported a population of 120.
Amiot, a village of Reeder township, Anderson county, is a station on the Missouri Pacific R. R., 16 miles northwest of Garnett, the county seat, and not far from the Coffey county line. The population in 1910 was 40. Amiot has a money order postoffice, and is a trading and shipping point for that section of the county.
