Ness County, Kansas, Courthouse Postcard

"Ness County, Kansas, Courthouse" by Catherine Sherman. A life-size bronze statue of Noah V. B. Ness stands in front of the Ness County Courthouse in Ness City, Kansas. The courthouse was built in 1917. The county was organized in 1873 with its county seat in Ness City, which was named by the Kansas Legislature in honor of Ness, corporal of Company G, Seventh Kansas Cavalry. Ness died Aug. 24, 1864, at Abbeyville, Miss., of wounds received in action, August 19, 1864, during the Civil War. Dedicated in June 2000, a plaque on the statue states: "This statue is in memory of Noah Ness and all of the brave men who fought to keep this country free." The sculptor was Harold T. Holder of Kremlin, Oklahoma. Of Kansas' 105 counties, 33 were named for Civil War soldiers. Another Ness County resident was the famous botanist George Washington Carver, who homesteaded near Beeler, where he built a sod house. Two years later he sold the farm to pay for his college education.