Stull, Kansas

Stull is an unincorporated town in Douglas County, Kansas, United States located 10 miles west of Lawrence and 13 miles east of Topeka.

History

Originally called the Deer Creek Community, the area was settled mainly by people of German ancestry, mainly Pennsylvania Dutch. By 1857, six families were living in the vicinity. Descendants of the original founders still reside in the community. In 1859, the settlers organized the Evangelical Emmanuel Church and by 1867 the members had collected enough funds to construct a stone church on land donated by Jacob Hildenbrand for that purpose and a cemetery. Until 1908 the sermons were preached in German.

The Stull Church of Christ was started in 1907 and by 1913 a frame church was built in town. A post office was established on April 27, 1899 and was named Stull after the first and only postmaster Sylvester Stull. The post office was discontinued in 1903. In the early 1920s, Stull nearly had a bank and an electric railway was to be extended past Lawrence to Emporia but for one reason or another the plans never materialized.

In the early 20th century, Stull suffered through two tragedies. A young boy was found burned to death after his father had finished burning a field and a man was found hung from a tree after going missing.

tull Cemetery

The cemetery located in Stull has gained an amount of dubious recognition due to various urban legends referring to the Devil, the occult, and as being a supposed gateway to Hell. The old Evangelical Church, built in 1867, was torn down in March 2002. Local police have discouraged curiosity seekers from entering the cemetery, especially on Halloween, and some people have been arrested for trespassing there.

Urge Overkill released "Stull EP" in 1992 which features the church and a tombstone from the cemetery on the cover.

References

*"Soil of Our Souls" by Martha Parker and Betty Laird, Parker-Laird Enterprises 1976.
*http://www.lawrence.com/news/2004/oct/26/stull