Brief
History from Kansas State Historical
Society:
Wilson County was one
of the original 33 counties organized by
the Territorial Legislature in 1855,
organized on September
24, 1864, by Henry Opdyke; A. J. and
William Caven; David Johnson; David
Pointer; H. T. Wilson; William Mayes;
Robert
Craig; John Shaffer; George
Cottingham; W. M. Asher; and William
Brown. The county was named for Hiero
Tennant
Wilson, and contains the cities of
Altoona, Buffalo, New Albany, Fredonia,
Benedict, Neodesha and Coyville.
The first churches in
the county were the Methodist, Baptist,
and Christian, but precise dates are
uncertain. They were all
organized in the 1870s. The first
permanent building was the Neodesha
Methodist Church built in 1873. The first
county fair
was held in 1872 in Buffalo. The
fair continues today in Fredonia. It is
believed the first school in the county
was organized
in 1859.
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