Editing Chetopa, Kansas (section)

==History==
The community began as an [[Osage Nation|Osage]] village, named after its Chief Chetopah, whose name in the Osage language signifies "four lodges," was an advocate of peace, the leading chief of the Little Osage tribe, and one of the chief counselors of the Osage Nation.<ref>[http://digital.library.okstate.edu/Chronicles/v033/v033p145.pdf Reminiscences of a trader in the Osage Country, James Edwin Finney written down by Joseph B. Thoburn] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110523222151/http://digital.library.okstate.edu/Chronicles/v033/v033p145.pdf |date=May 23, 2011 }}</ref>

In 1847 a trading post to exchange goods with the [[Osage Nation]] was established here by Larkin McGhee.  By the time of McGhee's arrival there were three other Euro-American families plus two families with a Euro-American husband and a Cherokee wife at Chetopa.  There were also many Osage there.<ref>[http://skyways.lib.ks.us/genweb/archives/labette/1901/20-26.shtml transcription from the History of Labette County by Nelson Case] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090707025259/http://skyways.lib.ks.us/genweb/archives/labette/1901/20-26.shtml |date=2009-07-07 }}</ref>

Chetopa was the site of a September 18, 1861 battle between the 6th Kansas Cavalry under the direction of [[James G. Blunt]] and pro-slavery raiders led by [[John Allen Mathews]], whose wife was an Osage and was culturally identified with the Osages.<ref>[http://www.kansasmemory.org/item/210774 Kansas Memory entry on Mathews]</ref>

The first post office in Chetopa was established in April 1867.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.kshs.org/geog/geog_postoffices/search/page:1/county:LB | title=Kansas Post Offices, 1828-1961 | publisher=Kansas Historical Society | accessdate=12 June 2014}}</ref>  In 1880, Postmaster J.M. Cavaness petitioned the removal of the ending “h” in the original spelling to become '''Chetopa'''.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.krwa.net/lifeline/1011/058.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=2015-11-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304135923/http://www.krwa.net/lifeline/1011/058.pdf |archive-date=2016-03-04 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Chetopa was the destination of the [[Nevada and Minden Railway]], completed in 1886.<ref name=Case/>  The town attracted that line, which ran southwest from [[Nevada, Missouri]] through [[Pittsburg, Kansas]], when it donated land for right-of-way and year/depot purposes.<ref name=Case>{{cite web|url= https://cdn.website-editor.net/020d9c979f77483189db333592c7de7f/files/uploaded/History%2520of%2520Labette%2520County%252C%2520Kansas%2520%25201893.pdf |title=History of Labette County, Kansas, p.226|publisher=Nelson Case, Crane & Company, 1893|accessdate=November 9, 2021}}</ref>  Much of the trackage has since been abandoned.<ref name=Bridge>{{cite web|url= http://johnmarvigbridges.org/Coffeyville%20Rail%20Bridge%20E.html |title=Coffeyville Rail Bridge (East) |publisher= John Marvig Railroad Bridge Photography|accessdate=November 10, 2021}}</ref>