Who Were These People?

Part 7: Jerry Toles

 Carol Jenkner, Educator

            When asked about the origin of the name of Toles Avenue, most people in Larned will give you a blank look. “Who?” they ask. Ask the right people, those people who like to do some local history research now and then, and you might get, “Jerry Toles? He was one of Larned’s town founders.” A search of cemetery records, comes up empty. A search of early city directories (the earliest one we have is 1886) also comes up empty. Who was this guy and why would Larned name a street after him?

            After a great deal of searching, the most complete answer to the question turned out to be a fairly obscure set of volumes published by Tucker-Vernon Company of Cimarron and Larned, Kansas titled Along The Old Trail: A History of the Old and a Story of the New Santa Fe Trail. One of our volunteers provided excerpts from early newspapers that also gave a great deal of information.

            Jerry Toles arrived in Larned in April 1872 in the company of A.A. Thorpe and R.H. Ballinger from Chicago. He had been in real estate and insurance before coming to Kansas. He was an agent with the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad when he came to Larned and was instrumental in platting the townsite. Toles bought an interest in the Larned Townsite that he later donated to Larned. By November 1875, Jerry Toles was the president of the Valley Bank, the first bank in Larned. Cashiers were reportedly Thomas Edwards and Mrs. Kate McMunn Toles; Mrs. Toles was said to have been the first female bank cashier west of the Mississippi River. He sold the bank around 1878 to a pair of men who were unable to maintain its solvency.

            In 1887 the Toles family left Kansas for California where they first settled in San Diego, later removing to Los Angeles where Jerry Toles was very successful in the banking business. He died at the age of 98 years old, April 3, 1930. Up until that time, it was reported that he was still driving his own car, had recovered from a broken hip, and retained all of his mental facilities.