Runnymede was touted by an Irish promoter as a planned community in Kansas to wealthy Irish and Great British families in the United Kingdom as a place in a "dry" state where their sons could come to begin a career as gentlemen farmers. Begun in 1888, the speculative though impressive scheme essentially collapsed within four years. The livery stable burned down in 1890. Other buildings were moved two miles (3.2 km) south close to the new constructed rail line. In 1891, the centerpiece of the town, a hotel, was partly disassembled and moved into the recently opened Cherokee Strip in Alva, Oklahoma in 1893. It remains in use there today, thanks to a successful local effort at restoration.[2]Runnymede's church was moved to Harper, Kansas in 1893, where it now serves as a museum.
A post office was opened in Runnymede in 1879, and remained in operation until it was discontinued in 1944.[3]
The community was named after Runnymede in England.[4]
^On August 8, 1891 Taylor (as W. Deane Tanner) sailed to New York from Liverpool on the RMS Umbria with F. J. S. Turnly, per passenger lists. Taylor's arrival at Runnymede was noted (as Tanner) in the Harper Sentinel on August 28, 1891. In a 1914 Hollywood interview, Taylor briefly discussed his time spent at Runnymede. "William D. Taylor: Actor, Athlete, and Irishman", Movie Pictorial, 6 June 1914.
Miller, Nyle H. (Spring 1975). "An English Runnymede in Kansas". The Kansas Historical Quarterly. XLI (1). Topeka, Kansas: The Kansas State Historical Society: 22–62. Retrieved May 31, 2020.
Miller, Nyle H. (Summer 1975). "An English Runnymede in Kansas—Concluded". The Kansas Historical Quarterly. XLI (2). Topeka, Kansas: The Kansas State Historical Society: 183–224. Retrieved May 31, 2020.
McNeal, T. A. (1922), "The Kansas Runnymede", When Kansas was Young, New York: The Macmillan Company, pp. 57–61
Way, Herbert W. L. (1912), "With Kansas Cattle Punchers; Farming a Desert", Round the World for Gold: A Search for Minerals from Kansas to Cathay, London: Sampson, Low, Marston & Co., Ltd., pp. 3–27 Written by a former resident of Runnymede.