Yoder (Reno County, Kansas, USA)
Yoder, Kansas, a village (pop. ca. 100 in 1959; 742 in 2000), the center of a large Amish and Mennonite community, named after Eli M. Yoder, the son of an Old Order Amish Mennonite bishop of Maryland, who in 1870 homesteaded in Reno County, Kansas, about 12 miles southeast of Hutchinson. In 1886 the Missouri Pacific R. R. Company built a track connecting Hutchinson and Wichita, which crossed the northeast corner of the Yoder farm, separating about 5 acres from the rest of the farm. On this corner plot Yoder built a general store and a post office. This was the origin of the village. In 1883 Christian Miller of Shelby County, Illinois, bought a farm about 2 miles east of Yoder; in the following years other families arrived, making Yoder the center of the Amish community. Jonas D. Bontrager was chosen as preacher in 1885, and as bishop in 1887. By 1918 there were four Amish congregations with perhaps 80 to 90 families. In 1943 a naval air base established one mile west of Yoder, covering four sections of land, caused a number of Amish and Mennonite families to move away. There were in 1955 about 50 Amish families in the community, making two congregations.
On 18 April 1919, the Yoder Mennonite Church (MC) was organized with 65 charter members, almost all of Old Order Amish background, and L. O. King as pastor. In the same year a meetinghouse 40 x 60 ft. was built one mile north of Yoder; the meetinghouse was enlarged and remodeled in 1952.
| Author(s) | Harry A Diener |
|---|---|
| Date Published | 1959 |
Cite This Article
MLA style
Diener, Harry A. "Yoder (Reno County, Kansas, USA)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. 1959. Web. 18 Dec 2024. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Yoder_(Reno_County,_Kansas,_USA)&oldid=170376.
APA style
Diener, Harry A. (1959). Yoder (Reno County, Kansas, USA). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 18 December 2024, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Yoder_(Reno_County,_Kansas,_USA)&oldid=170376.
Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 4, p. 1004. All rights reserved.
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