Meade County Historical Society

ANNUAL BANQUET

The annual meeting of the Meade county Historical Society was held on Saturday, January 31, 2990, at the Forst Center, Meade. Eighty-seven people gathered for an excellent steak dinner prepared and served by the Men of St. John, the business meeting, and a special speaker who explained the cowboy’s traditional garb.

Joyce & Gregg Knott, Plains, received the Heritage Award for their tireless efforts in preserving Meade County history. Joyce has published two excellent books on the history of Plains. In his presentation Norman Dye remarked, “We know that Joyce had lots of help putting together the history books, but we also know she was the ‘driving force.’ So, we’d also like to recognize Gregg, because living with a ‘driving force’ can’t always be easy.” Joyce Knott accepted the award.

After the business meeting cowboy Don Rowlison was called upon to give his special presentation, but he was nowhere to be found! He did not respond to Norman Dye’s first invitation to come up to the state. Finally, Norman said in a loud voice, “Don? Are you here?” and the bedroll that had been laid out on the state began to move! Somehow, Mr. Rowlison had managed to remove most of his clothing and get into the bedroll without anyone in the audience noticing… when he emerged from the bedroll, the crowd certainly wondered what this man clad only in his bright red unionalls had in mind. But he had a plan. As Mr. Rowlison proceeded to get dressed, he discussed the purpose of each piece of “cowboy garb” and how it benefited the cowboy. At the end of the evening everyone in the audience knew a whole lot more about, not only what the cowboy wore, but about his daily life as well.

Special guest Don Rowlison presented the program, “Out of the Bedroll.” Rowlison, a native of Sheridan County, is a fifth generation Kansan whose ancestors ranched and raised livestock on the High Plains.
	More about Don Rowlison...   Don grew up around local cowboys and began breaking horses for other people at the age of 12 and has always had, and still has horses. After college at K-State, he began working for the State Historical Society with the Archeology Division and later became a staff member of the Historic Sites Division as a Curator of Cottonwood Ranch, State Historic Site near Studley, KS, a late 19th Century ranch started by an Englishman, J. F. Pratt in eastern Sheridan County. During his program he discussed the history and the clothing of the late 1800's cowboy of our region by actually dressing and explaining the items of clothing as he put them on, with some lore and stories worked into the presentation. Don was inducted into the Cowboy Hall of Fame in Dodge City as the 2008 cowboy historian.