The Only Bird City in America

Bird City, Kansas - 1885 - 2011

        Benjamin Bird, son of Jesse and Leadicia Raye Bird, was born April 16, 1833 at Elizabethtown, Hardin County, Kentucky.  It was in this area that he grew to manhood and married June 21, 1859, to Amanda Virginia Snail, a native of the state of Virginia.  Family tradition relates that Benjamin and Amanda resided on a plantation near Danville, Kentucky where their three daughters Lila, Fannie and Ella "Nellie" were born. 

    During the Civil War, Benjamin was a member of the Union Intelligence Service.  He was, at some time, arrested and was sent to Andersonville Confederate Prison in Georgia. 

     Though there is no available explanation as to why Amanda happened to be in Washington, D. C., family tradition also states, very clearly, that she was "holding Nellie on her lap at the Ford Theatre, in Washington, when Lincoln was killed.

     Sometime during the 1863/1864 period, the young family left the Danville area, going north by underground railway, "through the Northern lines into Missouri."  They made their new home at St. Joseph, Missouri, where Benjamin was to be engaged in the mercantile business for nearly twenty years. 

     In 1882, Benjamin became a business associate of Tootle, Wheeler and Motter Company, leading wholesalers, in the ranching business.  It was this association which led him, that year, to become a resident of Benkelman, Nebraska where, as General Manager of the Northwestern Cattle Company, he assisted E. L. Marney, President and C. H. Darby, Secretary in the administration of said company, whose ranching headquareters were located on the, then vacant, Morse claim in Section 5, Township 1 S., Range 37 W., in Cheyenne County, Kansas.

     With the open rangeland gradually decreasing, Mr. Bird, trying to maintain some sense of security, turned to more progressive methods of farming and added a prime bull breeding stock to the Northwestern interests.  He possessed a special fondness for quality horses, and since the area was becoming populated and farmers were needing strong horses, he, according the the Benkelman Chronicle, purchased a quantity of well-bred "Wyoming and Montana mares, which, in turn, were bred to registered Northwestern stallions."

     The lands of the Northwestern Cattle Company, in time, came to be known by the settlers as the Bird Ranch.  Mr. Bird, respected by the local citizenry, was a sophisticated gentleman, always appearing in fine clothing, seated on his specially designed English, cushioned saddle, riding a beautiful horse.  When a city was platted in 1885, on land utilized by the "Bird Ranch," it was given the name of Birdton, but in a very short time, the name was changed to "Bird City."  Mr. Bird promoted the interests of the new city from its beginning until he moved to Oklahoma in the 1890's. 

Resource:  Early Bird City, Cheyenne County, Kansas