In 1869, a middle-aged Frenchman from Bordeaux by the name of Ernest Valeton de Boissière (1811-1894) purchased 3500 acres of prairie in Franklin County, Kansas - his dream to create a silk producing community. De Boissière imported silk worms, planted Mulberry trees and built a three story home with 60 rooms for 40 French families. These were
les miserables Victor Hugo wrote about, workers oppressed by low wages and high prices in France.
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| Silkville home, circa 1870's, photo H.W. Barker |
De Boissière's silk would gain national attention and win prizes at several expositions, but the community disappeared, the victim of cheap silk from China.
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| Silk Culture in Kansas |
The house burned down and today, all that remains is a one
room schoolhouse off of old highway 50. If you look closely at the
image above, you can see a white haired de Boissière standing in the
doorway of the schoolhouse.
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| old Silkville schoolhouse |
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| Silkville school, winter 2014 |
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| Silkville schoolhouse, November 2013 |
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| Silkville schoolhouse, spring 2012 |
By 1892 the dream was gone and de Boissière gave donated the home and land to an orphanage. He returned to France where he died in 1894.
Original image of old Silkville school from Kansas Memories. Read more about
Ernest de Boissiere.
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