Readers Write

Dear Bart and Stockton friends,

I have been looking through a folder of newspaper clippings that my grandmother saved. Within this folder I have found one of the articles related to the Stockton Castle, former residence of Enos and Eliza Good (Note, we always believed their last name was spelled “Goode” with a trailing “e,” however this may be incorrect). The article is from the Salina Journal dated September 23rd, 1962. (Article is located elsewhere in this issue.) We seem to remember that there were other articles that our grandparents and aunt had saved on this subject, but as yet this is the only one we’ve found in the remaining records we have that is specifically on this subject.

Previously I have sent you a couple pictures of myself as a young boy standing beside the remains of the house. After reviewing the article and its pictures, it appears that the timeframe is about the same in those pictures as in the article. However as I remember it, there was less of the house still standing when I was there as compared to what is shown in the ’62 article (the pictures in the ’62 article may have been taken a bit earlier, which I believe is the case). I also remember that one or more of these articles was what inspired me to pester my dad into taking me out to see the remains of the old house. I know that after returning from that foray, there was discussion and some sadness among our family members that the old house had deteriorated so badly and that nothing was being done to preserve any of the remains of the house or its contents. This would be a recurring theme and discussion when my dad visited Stockton and his friends in the following years.

Over the years my sister and I heard my grandmother, aunt, and father talk about the house and the Goode family. We are confident that Judge and Betty Skinner actually knew the Goode family members. I also remember my dad saying he could easily walk there from the Skinner residence on North Cedar, basically by walking almost straight west across Dibble Creek. About the article specifically, I remember our folks saying the information in this article was just not true. To be more accurate, it was “overzealous journalistic grand-standing for the purpose of selling newspapers!” That’s not an exact quote, but pretty darn close to it. It was at this point that I seem to remember them stating that there had been previous articles which contained much more relevant information about the house and family. Within the clippings we do have, there are also some histories of the local Kan sas communities including Stockton; perhaps there is a mention of the “castle” in one or more of those articles (which I have not yet re-reviewed). Perhaps a dip into the past on this subject would be an interesting article for the Yesteryear section of the Stockton Sentinel. I seem to remember seeing an article or book that shows much more of the south facing façade still standing.

Best regards to all,

Bill Skinner Lakeside, Texas