Simcock House

Gordon M. Simcock helped survey the area that became Council Grove, Kansas, and then he chose to make it his home along with his wife, Mary. Gordon opened a highly successful mercantile business that served people along the Santa Fe Trail, as well as nearby Native Americans. The historic home he built in 1857 speaks to his financial success. The evolution of the railroad and the displacement of the Native Americans to the Indian Territory (Oklahoma) led to the decline of his business. Still, two other wealthy entrepreneurs, David Webb followed by W. H. Marks, took ownership of the home after Simcock sold the property: Both Webb and Marks added to the home's square footage, with Marks turning the home into an apartment building. The Marks family owned the historic home until the 1970s, nearly 120 years after Simcock built the house.

One of the earliest homes built in Council Grove, the Simcock House emerged during Council Grove's early settlement and development. Additions to the original block mark three distinct periods of occupation from 1857 to the early twentieth century. Goodson and Mary Simcock served as its first residents after Goodson help survey the area before its incorporation. The couple grew into one of the town's wealthiest residents before his business failed. Another successful retailer, David Webb, purchased the home from the Simcocks, followed by W. H. Marks, whose family owned the home for seventy years. 

Goodson M. Simcock first visited the land now called Council Grove, Kansas, in 1849 while accompanying a government survey party mapping a mail route to New Mexico. He returned to the settlement three years later and worked as a clerk in a store which supplied Santa Fe Trail travelers and local Native Americans from a nearby reservation. In 1854 at the age of 25, Simcock married Mary White of Council Grove. The young couple spent the winter of 1855-56 at Columbia, a settlement southeast of Council Grove. In 1857, however, the Simcocks returned to Council Grove. The couple moved into a log cabin while Goodson also entered into a mercantile business, which he maintained with a partner until 1861 and then on his own until 1873. Also, in 1857, Simcock became one of the organizers and stockholders of the Council Grove Town Company. The territorial legislature approved of the town's incorporation one year later. Five years later, in 1863, Simcock took the position of county treasurer. 

The Simcocks built the historic house sometime around 1860, roughly when the first lots in the city were sold to its residents. The home enjoyed a Greek Revival design commonly found in Kansas homes from the 1850s through the 1870s. The house speaks to Simcock's success in the mercantile business as the city enjoyed a boom during the 1860s, mainly tied the town's position on the Santa Fe Trail. However, the arrival in 1866 of the Kansas Pacific Railroad and its ability to connect people to Denver severely hurt the wagon-freighting business attached to traffic along the Santa Fe Trail. Furthermore, the government displaced local Native Americans (who also supported Simcock's business) by sending them to a new reservation in the Indian Territory. 

Thus, by the late 1860s, Simcock's company nearly collapsed. He became a partner in the operation of the Morris County Mills from 1867 to 1873 and established a branch grocery store in Salina, Kansas. He served as county commissioner in 1869, president of the new Council Grove Savings Bank in 1870, and a private farmer from 1873 to 1875, none of which provided him with the economic success he realized when his mercantile business boomed. Consequently, the Simcocks left for New Mexico in 1875 in an attempt to establish a new mercantile business, but that failed, too. The couple returned to Council Grove in 1879, and Mary died soon after they returned. Goodson Simcock passed away in 1886. Though he once existed as one of the wealthiest men in Council Grove, he died a relatively poor man. Still, his son, Albert, went on to take numerous civic and private jobs in the town and proved instrumental in forging its musical scene. One can still reside on Simcock Street, a testament to the influence of both Goodson and Albert. 

In 1884, two years before Simcock died, he sold the historic house to  a promising Council Grove businessperson named David C. Webb, who had operated a dry goods & clothing store in Council Grove since 1876. By 1883 he had a second store in Strong City and four farms in Morris County. Additionally, he served as director of the Morris County Bank. Webb's purchase of the Simcock house confirms his success as the most considered it a local showplace. Not only did he purchase the lauded home, but he also enjoyed enough wealth to add a one-story stone wing on the east side of the main block to provide two extra bedrooms. Webb moved to Kansas City in 1893. His wholesale mercantile business in that city was the largest of its kind for several years. Webb also had investments in manufacturing and real estate. 

Despite moving, Webb remained the historic property owner until 1902, when he sold it to W. H. Marks, whose family kept the house until the 1970s. W.H. Marks served as one of the county's largest landowners. He also invested in the Council Grove Development Company in an unsuccessful attempt to bring to the city an oil or gas well. Despite that setback, his landowning and business ventures allowed him to evolve into one of Council Grove's most prominent citizens. After acquiring the Simcock House, Marks added a frame second story to the stone wing and two sizeable two-story frame wings to the rear. Marks enlarged the Simcock house to provide rental rooms and apartments; the building became known as the Marks Apartments.

Today, a sign adorns the Simcock House, denoting its place on the old Santa Fe Trail (or Great Praire Highway, as some refer to it in Kansas). And, the "Simcock House" name serves as a reminder of Goodson and his son, Albert, who helped establish and develop the town. As well, Goodson's rise and fall in the mercantile business speaks to the town's transition from one tied to the Santa Fe Trail and nearby Native Americans to one that sought to remain significant in the era of the railroad. After Goodson Simcock's wealth vanished, the house's allure enticed two profoundly, financially successful families to purchase and add to the home. 

Doty, Derrick. "Albert White Simcock." From the Barber's Chair (historical blog). April 18, 2019. https://fromthebarberschair.wordpress.com/2013/03/20/farmers-drovers-bank/.

Epperson, Jason. "The Great Prarie Highway." National Parks Podcasts. January 4, 2020. https://nationalparkpodcast.com/the-great-prarie-highway/.

"Goodson McDonald Simcock." Find a Grave. findagrave.com. Accessed July 16, 2021. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/35240777/goodson-mcdonald-simcock.

"A Rich History." Morris County Historical Society. Accessed July 7, 2021. https://www.morriscountyhistory.com/.

Wortman, Julie A and Dale Nimz. "Nomination Form: Simcock Houe (Marks Apartments)." National Register of Historic Places. nps.gov. 1982. https://npgallery.nps.gov/GetAsset/5001d4a7-9781-4bbf-99e5-46ebe11bece4.