Category: Business

Haysville was once known as the “Peach Capital”. Some of the area orchards were…

Cain
Hurley
Nelson
Blood
Hancock
Nicholson

Local residents suggest the orchards may have closed due to the following…
With unpredictable weather (like early warm temps and late frosts) it became just to risky of a crop. This at a time when modern transportation probably made it faster and cheaper to ship them in from places with better growing climates.
Bad ground water from the oil companies pumping in salt water to increase oil production.

Sources at the KSU John C. Pair Horticultural Center also add the following reasons…

Possibly not salt water being pumped into the ground but salt veins in the earth.
A glut on the market at one time during the peak time when there were a lot of peaches.

Another problem was that at one time a lot of the growers switched to two varieties of Peaches called Topaz and Loring but, those two varieties proved to be very poor performers for this area.

From a Kansas City Times article dated May 25th 1972…

Haysville, Kan.—Haysville or­chardmen plagued by freezes, hail and adverse peach crops have turned to raising hogs. The April 1 freeze destroyed nearly all the peach crop. Hail last year did much damage to the peaches. Not since 1967 have the orchards produced what owners consider a bumper peach crop. For years Haysville has been recognized as the peach capital of Kansas. “We’re just getting more diversified, for this peach crop will let you down sometimes,” explained John Garner, manager of Nicholson’s Orchards. Gerald Blood said winter kill da peaches motivated him to start a 1,000-head hog operation a year ago. “There is a great need for market hogs in Kansas,” Blood asserted.

The Sun-Times. Began publication in 2007.

The Haysville Sun. Began publication in 2007. At first it was a competitor of the Haysville Times and later purchased the Haysville Times to become the Sun-Times.

The Haysville Times.

The Daily Reporter.

The Haysville Register

The Haysville Herald. Circa 1950s.

The Haysville Pioneer

Keyword: newspaper

Located in Grandlane Shopping Center. Founded by Fred Cohlmia.

Grocery store located at 420 E Grand.

Haysville Hardware & Lumber was originally located on the s/w corner of Grand and S. Main. For a period was located in the stand-alone bldg at the south end of Grandlane Shopping Center but later moved back to the original location where they expanded. The building was destroyed in the 1999 tornado and the business never reopened.

Photo notations courtesy of Rick Baker.

706 E. Grand.

Ad from 1980 Haysville map.

A Mobilgas and later Champlain service station at 620 E. Grand. Originally owned by Ray Farney then later taken over by his brother John and then John’s son Jerry. The station has since been Unruh, Blackburn automotive, Trudos Automotive.
Below is a 1953 flyer for the station.