Teter Rock/Teterville Ghost town

Location:  From Cassoday, go East 12 miles on the county road, turn South at "Teterville" sign.  The smaller Teter Monument is located East 1 mile then South 1 1/4 miles on the West side of the road.  The Greenwood County Historical has some excellent tour guide pamphlets.  See contact below.

Nearest Towns:  Cassoday, Hamilton, Madison, Eureka

Contact:  Greenwood County Historical Society, 120 W. 4th, Eureka, KS  67045  Phone:  316/583-6682

An upended limestone monolith juts unexpectedly up into the endless blue sky of the Flint Hills.  Located at the crest of the highest hill in the area, it's visible for miles in all directions.  The view from the area of the rock is great !

The stone which serves as Teter Rock today, however, is not the original.  It was erected in the 1950's to replace the earlier one which had been used as building materials in the nearby oil-boom town, Teterville.  The original Teter Rock Monument was constructed by James Teter sometime in the late 1870's or early 1880's as a guide for pioneers searching for the Cottonwood River, which drains all the land to the west of the marker.  It seems that homesteaders passing through the area inroute to their claims on the Cottonwood  often became lost in the rolling hills of the area.  (This still happens to greenhorn tenderfoots--like the Flatlander!)   James Teter solved the problem with a simple pile of rocks which lasted until the 1920's.  Today's Teter Rock was erected as a memorial by to him by his descendants.

Just to the north of Teter Rock, the restless prairie wind blows through the scattered remains of a once bustling community, Teterville.  Built during the oil boom of the 1920's, it once had a population of over 600 with two General Stores, a Post Office, and an Elementary School.   Typical of these oil boom towns, it contained mainly "shot-gun" houses which in many cases sprang up over night .  In this case, "over-night" is not just a figure of speech.  Lumber was sometimes stolen from nearby oil derricks, and this made carpentry by cover of darkness a necessity.  Indoor plumbing was generally nonexistent, and drinkable water had to be hauled in from Madison.  Such primitive conditions were endured by the workers and their families in exchange for the good paying jobs of the oil fields.  The Flint Hills had never before, and have never since witness such a rapid influx of both people and wealth.

The wealth, jobs and the town of Teterville itself lasted only as long as there was oil to pump.  Today, this oil heating tank rusts in repose; a silent reminder of busier days on this windswept hill .   Where once children played and workmen worked, cows now graze disturbed only by the occasional visitor to Teter Rock.

Photo (left) shows Teterville in its heyday.  (Photo courtesy of the Greenwood County Historical Society).  The city never incorporated and by the 1960's all the residents had abandoned the area.   Today, only a few scattered foundations remain.

Also in the vicinity of Teter Rock, is a small memorial to a cowboy who died in a blizzard while tending his cattle here in the late 1920's.

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