xxxMr. Andrews’ parents came to Chase County in 1886 and settled in the Lamar community. On their arrival there was a small village consisting of a general store owned by Hec Pairan, a flour and feed store owned by Dave Kingery, and the blacksmith shop owned by Ike Nicholson.
xxxThe outstanding feature of this community was a large frame house painted white, with a red roof. This homestead was owned by A.S. Allen. This possession gave him a position of being an aristocrat.
xxxGeorge Hill, a nearby homesteader, made weekly trips to Haigler after freight for his and Mr. Kingery’s stores, that every effort was being made to establish a post office at his store and a mail route conducted by George Hill, the freighter. He emphasized that if we could get a established post office and a mail route that would supply us with mail once a week, obviously we would have a modern up-to-date town and community. The one great obstacle was the aristocrat Allen, the man who lived in the painted frame house. Allen insisted the town and the post office be named Allendale and that he would act as postmaster and would also supply the mail carrier. Mr. Pairan wanted the post office in his store. He also coveted the position as postmaster, and believed that George Hill should be the carrier. Mostly, the post office and town should be named Lenox, not Allendale.
xxxA celebration was held to commenorate Kingery and Hill’s victory. A great future was predicted for the Lenox and many establishments sprung up almost over night. Alas, this great adventure was short-lived. In less than a year Lincoln Land Co. bought a section of land two miles east of Lenox and started another town named Lamar. Every business place in Lenox moved to Lamar, leaving Mr. Allen sitting alone on the prairie. Lenox and Allendale were only a memory. At one time Lamar had three general stores, two hardware stores, two drug stores, bank, hotel, restaurant, two livery barns, lumber yard, two implement stores, two newspapers, and the first resident physician in the county.