
Doell, and councilmen were Paul Baumgartner, S. 2 North Newton's original post office was located on the lower level of Bethel College's Administration Building.
NEWTON KANSAN ZIP
Residents had originally wanted to call the new city "Bethel" after Bethel College, but couldn't because another Kansas town already carried the college's namesake.Īlthough there was no visible division between Newton and North Newton, each city grew up with is own post office, separate postal zip code, its own city government and law enforcement agencies. Roosevelt's New Deal grants and establish sewer lines between Newton and North Newton. Thus, residents incorporated North Newton in order to take advantage of one of then President Franklin D. "There was no provision for jump annexing," he said, explaining that, at the time, land north of 12th Street in Newton was mostly undeveloped and rural. "Newton didn't want to take on any more area in those days, in the Depression years," Schmidt recalled. Federal funds were available, but only to incorporated municipalities. There was no sanitary system of sewage disposal on campus. Schmidt, a former mayor of North Newton, said sewer problems spurred community leaders to incorporate the city. As the college grew, so did the community, which continued to be closely associated with the college and the General Conference Mennonite Church.Īlthough the college was founded in 1887 and a public water system installed in 1912, it wasn't until September 20, 1938, that North Newton actually incorporated as a city. The community's residents were mostly people associated with the college. After Bethel College was chartered in 1887, a primarily Mennonite community began building around the campus. North Newton grew up around Bethel College. With its natural limestone exterior, the Administration Building is now a National Historic Landmark at the center of a growing campus and cultural center. David Goerz, a Mennonite immigrant and Newton businessman, surveyed the open prairie in what is now North Newton in preparation for Bethel College's first structure, the Administration Building. In the late 1880's a group of Mennonites felt there was a need for a church college. The Sixth Principal Meridian was used to plot lands settled by Mennonite immigrants. The Sixth Principal Meridian cut through central Kansas and provided the point of departure for plotting railroads, homesteads, and townships. Twelve meridian lines were established north and south across the U.S. The Great Plains of the United States were mapped by federal surveyors to provide a legal basis for property ownership. Among the settlers were large numbers of Mennonites from Prussia (now Poland) and Russia, and others from Pennsylvania, Illinois, Germany, and Switzerland. During the 1870's and 1890's, opportunities in the new frontier attracted many settlers from Europe seeking a better life.
