Editing Victoria, Kansas (section)

=== Victoria Colony ===
George Grant was a Scottish entrepreneur who had established wealth and a clientele that counted the British nobility.<ref name=RaishChI>{{cite thesis |last= Raish |first= Marjorie |date= Spring 1937 |title= Victoria, The Story of Western Kansas Town  |url= https://scholars.fhsu.edu/theses/262/ |degree= Masters |chapter= Chapter I Purchase Of The Land |publisher= Fort Hays State University |docket= |oclc= |access-date= 2024-04-07 }}</ref> In 1873, George Grant arrived in Kansas leading a party of 30 young adults and youth of Scottish and English nobility, including some [[Remittance man|remittance men]] sent away by their families to live on stipends. Founding the first of several organized transatlantic settlements in Ellis County, Grant intended to create a [[ranch]]ing community, some lesser nobles of the party hoping to establish large estates in the frontier.<ref name= NRHP1873 >{{Cite web |date=1972 |title= George Grant Villa — National Register of Historic Places Inventory — National Register of Historic Places Inventory — Nomination Form |url=https://npgallery.nps.gov/GetAsset/27adc615-b9d0-4681-8498-07b025f63378 |access-date=2 February 2024 |website=United States Department of the Interior |quote= Grant and his first group of 30 colonists arrived at Victoria station on May 18, 1873. Most were of English or Scottish nobility; some were remittance men, younger sons of English nobility, sent off to America to live on a monthly allowance from the family. Some were the so-called "small farmers" of England who were attracted by the possibilities of huge estates. }}</ref> Notably, this group brought a herd of thoroughbred [[Aberdeen Angus]] cattle, some from [[Victoria of the United Kingdom|Queen Victoria's]] own stock. Including four bulls, this herd is credited with establishing the [[American Angus]] breed.<ref>{{cite book |author1= Valerie Porter |author2=Lawrence Alderson |author3=Stephen J.G. Hall |author4=D. Phillip Sponenberg |year= 2016 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=2UEJDAAAQBAJ |title= Mason's World Encyclopedia of Livestock Breeds and Breeding |edition= sixth |isbn= 9781780647944 |page= 105 |quote= ... Grant brought  [[Aberdeen Angus]] bulls .... }}</ref><ref name= Hewitson>{{cite book |author= Jim Hewitson |year= 1995 |url= https://archive.org/details/tamblakecostoryo0000hewi/page/55/mode/1up |title= Tam Blake & Co.: the story of the Scots in America |location= Edinburgh |publisher= Canongate Books |isbn= 0862415594 |quote= ... all thoroughbreds and some from the Queen's own herd at Windsor. ... The Kansas Pacific Railroad constructed an impressive hotel-depot out on the plains, which became known as The Victoria Manor and served as the headquarters for the colony. |pages= 55–56 }}</ref>

The colony occupied a roughly 10 mile-wide swath land sections from the tracks south to the Smoky Hill River.
With the settlement named Victoria to honor the Queen,<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ODXKhgH3e6AC&pg=PA32 | title=Exploring Kansas Highways | author=Heim, Michael | year=2007 | pages=32| publisher=Exploring America's Highway | isbn=9780974435886 }}</ref> the Kansas Pacific Railroad immediately constructed a relatively elaborate stone station-hotel for the colony.<ref name= Hewitson/><ref>{{cite web |website= Kansas Memory |url=https://www.kansasmemory.org/item/97353 |title= Victoria, Kansas depot |date= 1880 |quote= This photograph shows the Kansas Pacific Railway depot at Victoria, Kansas. The two-story stone structure was originally built by the railroad company as a hotel to accommodate the settlers until they could complete their homes. }}</ref> At Grant's specification, the '''Victoria Manor''' had accommodations befitting gentry waiting for completion of their new homes. The ground floor held a ballroom intended for community gathering. Over 200 Britons arrived in the following years.

Grant brought British architect [[Robert William Edis]] to the colony to design his manor house and to lay out his dream town. Grant's Villa became a historic landmark, but the ultimate Victoria plat was an unprepossessing 3 by 3 grid of square blocks.<ref>{{Cite web |date=1972 |title= George Grant Villa — National Register of Historic Places Inventory — Nomination Form |url=https://npgallery.nps.gov/GetAsset/27adc615-b9d0-4681-8498-07b025f63378 |access-date=2 February 2024 |website=United States Department of the Interior |quote= An important London architect, R. W. Edis, was brought to lay out plans for a city worthy of the name Victoria. He also designed various buildings, including Grant's own home. }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title= Standard Atlas of Ellis County, Kansas |page= 26 |year= 1905 |publisher= Geo. A. Ogle & Co. |url= https://www.kansasmemory.org/item/209418/page/29 |access-date= 2024-02-05 }}</ref><ref name= VictOrgPlt /> Grant also directed the construction of the St. George Episcopal church, a stone building. Completed in 1877, this was the first church built in the county.<ref name=StGeorgeFirstChurch>{{cite book |url=http://www.kancoll.org/books/cutler/ellis/ellis-co-p5.html#VICTORIA  |title= William G. Cutler's History of the State of Kansas | publisher= A. T. Andreas, Chicago, Illinois |author=Cutler, William G. | year=1883 | pages=Ellis County, part 5, Victoria |quote= The first church in the county was built by this colony in 1877. It was intended for Episcopal services, nearly all of the colony holding the faith of the established church of England. }}</ref><ref name=GrantBurial/>

Many of the colonists, however, were reputed for being more interested in sports and dancing than in raising livestock, hiring overseers to manage some estates.<ref>George Grant Villa. "Hired overseers managed most of the estates, ..."</ref> The home families of the remittance men learned of this and reduced the stipends, driving these colonists to leave. Having lost his fortune, Grant's sudden death in 1878<ref name= Hewitson/> accelerated the departure of others of the colony. Some returned to [[United Kingdom|Britain]]; others left for [[South America]].<ref name=Victoria1>{{cite web | title = Homesteading in Ellis County - Victoria | work = Kansas Heritage Project | publisher = [[Fort Hays State University]] | url = http://www.fhsu.edu/library/ksheritage/Victoria/ | access-date = 2010-01-31}}</ref><ref name=Pfeifer>{{cite web | last = Pfeifer | first = Mary | title = History of Victoria | publisher = City of Victoria | date = 2000-08-02 | url = http://www.skyways.org/towns/Victoria/history.html | access-date = 2010-01-31}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | title = Victoria | publisher = [[Kansas Historical Society]] | url = http://www.skyways.org/history/victoria.html | access-date = 2010-01-31}}</ref> Grant was buried before the steps of the St. George Church, which would never be [[Dedications in the Church of England|consecrated]]. After Grant's death, the Victoria townsite was platted in 1880 by remaining colonists, particularly Margarat Grant Dunan, niece, caretaker, and executor of the George Grant estate.<ref name= VictOrgPlt >{{cite web |title= Victoria Original Plat |date= 1880 |publisher = City of Hays / Ellis County / GIS Division |website= Geospatial Data Portal |url= https://www.geodataportal.net/plats/VictoriaOriginal.pdf |access-date= 2024-02-08 }}</ref><ref name=GrantBurial>{{cite book |url=http://www.kancoll.org/books/cutler/ellis/ellis-co-p2.html#GENERAL_HISTORY  |title= William G. Cutler's History of the State of Kansas | publisher= A. T. Andreas, Chicago, Illinois |author=Cutler, William G. | year=1883 | pages=Ellis County, part 2, General History |quote=  ... a handsome stone church ... In 1879, the originator of the scheme, George Grant, died, and his remains are interred in front of St. George's Chapel at Victoria, ... }}</ref><ref name=StGeorgeFirstChurch/>

Today, the platted church grounds are a largely unoccupied cemetery with a monument to Grant's contribution to American Angus breeds.<!-- Next trip I'll photograph the monument installed by Pete Felten, Jr. -->

While most of the English left, certain Scottish families remained, notably the descendants of Grant as well as the Philips, four of whom served as Mayor of Hays.

[[File:VictoriaKanasaVolgaGermanStatue.jpg|thumb|left|Commemorative statue of a Volga German pioneer family in Victoria (1997)]]