Ragsdale, J. M. (d. 1930)

Evening Kansan-Republican obituary: 1930 Mar 12 p. 8

Birth date:

text of obituary:

J. M. Ragsdale

Miss Ethel Ragsdale received a telegram at noon today telling of the death of her uncle J. M. Ragsdale which occurred this morning at Columbus, Montana. The message was from her cousin Thad V. Ragsdale and in it he said that Mrs. Ragsdale will arrive in Newton about four o'clock Friday.

The news did not come as a surprise as Mr. Ragsdale had been very ill for some time and there was little hope of his recovery. He was the last of the Ragsdale brothers to go. In the eighties, the name meant "progress and ambition" to Newton and for years the three story building known as the Ragsdale Opera House stood on the corner of Main and Broadway as a monument to the enterprise of J. M. Ragsdale and his brother T. P. Ragsdale. There are still many people in Newton who knew him and who will extend to his family their sympathy. The only members of the family now living in Newton are Miss Ethel Ragsdale and her sister, Mrs. Walter Deschner.