Brief History from
Kansas State Historical Society:
Rice County was
organized on August 18, 1871, by Earl
Joslyn; J. Q. Adams; C. S. Lindell; John
A. Carlson; and Andrew
Johnson. Named for General Samuel A.
Rice, killed at Jenkins Ferry, Arkansas,
in the Civil War, the county contains the
cities of Frederick, Bushton, Chase,
Lyons, Raymond, Sterling, Little River,
Alden and Geneseo.
In the spring of 1886
the first college in the county, Cooper
College, was started by a group of state
and local businessmen.
It was named as a memorial to the
late Reverend Joseph Cooper. The name was
changed later to coincide with the town's
name. The first church was the
Sterling Weslyan Methodist organized on
April 21, 1872. The first county fair was
held in
Lyons on October 11, 1901. The first
school district was formed in 1871 and
located in the town of Atlanta, now Lyons.
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