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Munjor Becomes a Town

Address:
Munjor, KS 67601
Telephone Number: 785.628.1970
Second Telephone Number: 785.625.5397

About this Exploration:

Munjor was founded in August 1876 by German immigrants who came from Obermonjour, Russia, a small village along the Volga River. Their ancestors had come from Germany following the end of the Seven Years War and settled along the Volga area at the invitation of Catherine the Great in 1763. A manifesto issued by Catherine invited Germans to settle along this vast steppe region, with promises of land, freedom of self government, freedom from military conscription, religious freedom and several other enticements to encourage them to develop this land and build communities along the Volga River. In 1874 the reigning Czar began to remove the privileges Catherine had promised. The German communities along the Volga formed a scouting party of five men to find out about available land in the United States.

In 1875 these men traveled to Kansas and Nebraska and reported back that the farmland was suitable for their needs. In the summer of 1876 a group of colonists left Russia, arrived in New York, and then proceeded by train to Topeka, Kansas. They reached Herzog (Victoria) east of Hays in late July. After remaining in Herzog for several days, they moved about two miles south and six miles east to a place near Big Creek. After two months at this location they established the town site where Munjor now stands. They used whatever they could find to build their first homes that summer, including saplings and trees from the nearby creek and prairie sod to build dugouts and "Semlinkas" (sod homes). The next year they built a wood frame church that measured 41 feet by 20 feet. Other immigrant groups arrived in Munjor in November 1876, September 1877, and July 1878.