Rogler ranch brings $6.9 million at auction
Historic property covered 4,081 acres in Flint Hills
By Bobbi Mlynar
Monday, October 23, 2006
One of Chase County’s best known ranches sold at auction last week at Cottonwood Falls for a total of $6,919,900. The sale included the historic Pioneer Bluffs house and property near Matfield Green, which had been home to the Rogler family since 1859.
The property was sold by Rogler Inc. and Wayne Rogler Revocable Trust. Emporia State Bank and Trust Company, now ESB Financial, was trustee.
The property included 4,081 acres of grassland, pasture and cropland, and was divided into seven parcels.
“I think the farthest away any one tract was, was a mile,” said Rick Griffin of Griffin Real Estate and Auction of Cottonwood Falls. “Most of it was contiguous or right across the highway.”
Griffin said that interest in the properties ran high.
“We’d been working on it all summer,” Griffin said. “We had calls from all over the United States.”
The sale was held in the community building at Swope Park in Cottonwood Falls with an estimated 380 to 400 people attending.
“A lot of your auctions for real estate are 50 to 100 (people) and sometimes not even that many,” Griffin said.
Buyers of the tracts of land and buildings did not want their names released, Griffin said. Names of the new owners will be available when the property transfers are recorded at the Chase County Courthouse in Cottonwood Falls.
“I can tell you this, that they all had land locally in the county,” he said. “It doesn’t mean it’s all local money, but they’ve owned some local land here, most of them for several years. ...
“I think it’ll keep being used for livestock, I really do. I don’t have anybody saying we’re going to make a hunting preserve or anything like that. I think it’ll be used for livestock and grazing.”
Long history
In Chase County, ranching and Rogler have been synonymous for almost 150 years.
The original property was homesteaded by Charles W. Rogler, who in 1853 at the age of 17 left his family in Asch, Austria, to come to the United States, according to a brief history provided by the auction company.
After spending several years in the eastern half of the U.S., Rogler and a friend walked from Iowa to Kansas. In 1859, Rogler made a home in the Flint Hills on a 160-acre place now known as Pioneer Bluffs. The following year, Charles Rogler’s father, John, and family arrived from Austria during one of the worst droughts in Kansas history. John Rogler settled his claim about two miles south of Pioneer Bluffs.
Charles Rogler continued to develop his homestead and, on his death in 1888, left an estate of 1,800 acres for his five children.
Charles’ youngest son, Henry, continued to develop the Rogler Ranch and, in 1902, acquired the inheritance of his sister, which included the original homestead.
Henry Rogler served six years in the state Legislature as a senator and as a state representative. He received the first Kansas Master Farmer Award in 1927 and, at the time of his death in 1972, he had increased his holdings to 2,720 acres.
Henry Rogler’s son, Wayne, continued the family tradition. He served three terms in the Kansas House and was appointed to fill one term in the Kansas Senate. Wayne Rogler’s involvement in the land and livestock included research done on the ranch until his death in 1993. Wayne Rogler also received the Kansas Master Farmers Award in 1959, as well as numerous other awards from the livestock and agriculture industries.
The seven tracts sold for:
Tract 1: 1,609 acres of cropland including south Fork, balance in grassland, $1,700 an acre, $2,735,300 total.
Tract 2: All grassland, 960 acres, $1,610 an acre, $1,545,600 total.
Tract 3: All grassland, 710 acres, $1,260 an acre, $894,600 total.
Tract 4: All grassland, 495 acres, $1,520 an acre, $752,400 total.
Tract 5: 291 acres with modern home, $610,000 total.
Tract 6: Historic Pioneer Bluffs home on 12 acres, located on Highway 177 about one mile north of Matfield Green, $360,000 total.
Tract 7: Office building in Matfield Green, $22,000.