Advertising in The Sutton Register January 11, 1890

This collection of the advertising in The Sutton Register newspaper on January 11, 1890 give a snapshot of the business picture of Sutton at that time.

City and County Officers - 1899

 These were the Clay County and Sutton city officers at the beginning of 1899.

Sutton in Review - 1898

This brief snapshop of Sutton appeared in this 1898 newspaper.

J.M. Gray added a second story to his residence in 1892?

This excerpt from the Sutton newspapaer The Advertiser-News in 1892 indicates that J.W. Gray added a second story to his residence. Gray owned the house on North Way Avenue that houses part of the Sutton Historical Society. This is evidence that the house began as a one-story building. A surprise to us.

1897 History of Clay County from The Harvard Courier Newspaper

This major history of Harvard and Clay County was published by The Harvard Courier newspaper on November 20, 1897.

Sutton Ads in The Advertiser-News

The Advertiser-News was an early Sutton newspaper. This collage of local ads appeared in that paper in November 1897.

Sutton''s First Bicycle Party - 1897

The Sutton News reported the first bicycle party in Sutton in their October 15, 1897 issue:

Clay County Teachers in 1897

The annual Clay County teachers institution received a full story in the Edgar Post on July 30, 1897. The article lists teachers who attended, which likely is a list of the teachers of Clay County in 1897, or at least nearly all of them.

The article about the institute follows our list.

Sutton's 1897 Officials, Churches, Lodges

In 1897, 125 years ago, The Sutton News newspaper ran this directory in the left column of the front page every week. 

We have a list of the city and county officials, the churches in Sutton, and the list of "sivic" societies - the lodges and other organizations, though today we'd call the civic societies. 

I suspect that the German Congregational church did not meet at 1:30 AM on Sundays. Surely a type that likely meant 10:30

The A.O.U.W. lodge was the Ancient Order of United Workmen which, like many of the early lodges of the time began as a mutual insurance company before the commercial insurance industry developed.

The I.O.O.F. was the International Order of Odd Fellows which was an active organization for years. My father, Clarence Johnson was one of the last five members when the state organization representatives showed up at their Monday night meeting and closed them down. The lodges letters are visible on their old building on Sutton's south end, west side. 

Note that there were two G.A.R. lodges in Sutton.

Missing on this list and appearing later were the Royal Highlanders, another insurance-based lodge that originated in Aurora. Sutton was Chapter 11 of that lodge - the Dundee Castle Lodge. We have an article about them at this link:   Royal Highlanders 

A New Masthead for Clay Center's Newspaper in 1897

The Clay County Patriot was an early newspaper in Clay Center. The paper presented a new masthead in January 1897 which illustrated the image the publisher wanted the name to provide.

The Patriot was later renamed The Clay County Republican.

1890s Businesses in Sutton

The Sutton Register and The Sutton News were competing newspapers in town during a long stretch in the early days of Sutton.