Last updated: May 25, 2011 November 23, 1988 Kirtley Post Office
opens for business in the Spring 1889 by Kathy McDaniel,
contributing writer In the spring of 1889 people from Iowa and
Wisconsin began settling near the Nebraska line northeast of
Lusk. They went to a post office along the railroad track at the
Voorhees ranch south and west, now known as the Cockerham ranch
for their mail. The community was called Pleasant Ridge. People
took turns going for the mail for the community, which was
fourteen miles away. In the spring of 1895, Miss Mary Steer
(according to her diary) circulated a petition around the
community for signatures to send to the "proper" Washington
authorities for the establishment of a post office, to be called
Pleasant Ridge. The petition was signed by Mr. and Mrs. Andrew
Christian, Mr. and Mrs. Chris Christian, Mr. and Mrs. Jacob
ZumBrunnen, Miss Mary Steer, Grandma Sutton, John Sutton and Mr.
and Mrs. S. L. Kirtley. Later in the summer, Mrs. Kirtley was
notified that the post office had