Alonzo Dexter, Founding Father of Clay Center, was born June 3rd, 1833 in Windsor, Vermont. After his parents died when he was young, he moved to Massachusetts, Iowa, then became a miner in California.
At 29, he had mined more than $35,000 in gold ($1.1 million today) and traveled east to Kansas. he purchased as much as 4,000 farm acres for 65 cents each. (About $20/acre today.) He helped file for the nearby town to be named Clay Center and had the streets platted.
Alonzo had multiple siblings move to the area, including John, 13 years his senior, who built the town’s first house and dug a well.
Alonzo returned to California at least three more times, including an attempt to re-establish his fortune. He came up empty in his second mining stint.
Alonzo opened a general store and built and ran a flour mill. He also helped build a stone courthouse in 1868. Alonzo donated the land for the current courthouse (built in 1901); its predecessor sat in the northeast corner of the same lot.
He was also instrumental in bringing power to the city, using water power with his dam to provide the fuel.
Floods took out the dam (twice), then once the mill burned. He lost much of his fortune when a fire destroyed his brand new home. Listed as “the finest residence in all northern Kansas,” he buried the rubble, later using it to complete his 1876 dam. Debris was found from the home at 8th and Clarke when the land was excavated to build Clay Center High School in 1909. Today, Presbyterian Manor sits on the same lot.
He also mortgaged much of his land to purchase more goods for the store, which supplied necessities to newcomers with no money. More than $18,000 in goods was given out on credit ($360,000 today); it’s estimated that less than 20% of it was repaid.
Throughout his life, Alonzo was married to two Emmas. The first, Emma Dunbar, died in March of 1883. They had one son, Alonzo H., who did not survive infancy. He married the second, Mrs. Emma Hanway, in July of that year. The latter was caught being unfaithful; the same day she was put on a train out of town. Alonzo filed for divorce the following day and Hanway was not mentioned publicly again.
Siblings Elizabeth “Betsy” and Aaron died in Clay County and John passed away in Riley County. The youngest, Alonzo died at his niece, Irene Swenson’s home in 1912.
In his later years, Alonzo was given residence in the Courthouse and was named as custodian or superintendent. He was also known to play music on the steps as children walked home from school.
In addition to the courthouse square, Alonzo donated the Garfield school grounds and Dexter park to the community.
Research by Susan Hammond and the Clay County Museum
