Titan Tow & Repair works all of Pottawatomie County, Kansas, 24 hours a day: Westmoreland, the county seat, plus Wamego, St. Marys, Onaga and the farm roads between them. Heavy, medium and light-duty towing, winch-outs, recovery and roadside truck and trailer repair all run out of our yard in Liberty, Missouri, along US-24 and K-99.
US-24 is the east-west highway through Pottawatomie County. It runs west from St. Marys to Wamego, where the Kansas River flows along the south edge of town, and on into Manhattan, which spills over the county line from Riley County. At Wamego it crosses K-99, which heads north through Louisville toward Westmoreland, the county seat. The county's west side meets Riley County along the old course of the Big Blue River, dammed to make Tuttle Creek Lake. Several towns owe their spot to the railroad: the railroad platted Onaga, Havensville grew up when the tracks came through, and St. George picked itself up and moved to meet its line.
Wamego is the working center. It has an alfalfa processing plant and the Solar Turbines factory owned by Caterpillar, and the broad river valley around it grows alfalfa, sweetcorn, maize and wheat, with cattle on the rocky pastures in the hills, so expect farm trucks and trailers on the same roads as through traffic. Tuttle Creek Lake is a state park that draws campers to the west side of the county. Off US-24 and K-99, give us the road name or number, the last town or crossroad you passed, and which highway you turned off.
| County | Pottawatomie County, Kansas |
|---|---|
| County seat | Westmoreland |
| Main roads | US-24, K-99, US-24 and K-99 junction at Wamego |
| Towns covered | 11 |
| Hours | 24 hours a day, every day |
| Dispatched from | 2751 Liberty Landing Rd., Liberty, MO |
| Dispatch | (816) 888-8732 |
Westmoreland, the county seat, is reached from Wamego on K-99 by way of Louisville. The town was platted in 1871 and named for Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania. Westmoreland Elementary is here, and the town shares the Rock Creek school district with St. George. On K-99 between here and Wamego, tell us whether you have passed Louisville yet.
Wamego stands where US-24 crosses K-99, with the Kansas River along the south edge of town, east of Manhattan and west-northwest of Topeka. It has an alfalfa processing plant and the Solar Turbines factory, so freight comes into town as well as through it. Visitors come for the Dutch Mill in the city park, the Oz Museum and OZtoberFEST on the first weekend of October.
St. Marys is on US-24 west of Topeka and east of Wamego, and the city runs over the line into Wabaunsee County. It grew up around St. Mary's Mission, and the Pottawatomie Indian Pay Station, built in 1855, still stands. The Immaculata Church, one of the largest churches in Kansas, is here, along with St. Mary's Academy and College and the Kaw Valley school district.
St. George sits between Manhattan and Wamego, east of the first and west of the second. It was platted in 1857 and later moved to sit on the new railroad when it arrived. St. George Elementary is in town, while the high school it shares with Westmoreland, Rock Creek, stands roughly halfway between the two towns.
Onaga was platted by the railroad in 1877, and Paul E. Havens, president of the Kansas Central Railroad, chose its name from a Potawatomi personal name. It lies west of Holton and north of Wamego, and its school district, Onaga USD 322, also serves Havensville and Wheaton.
Olsburg is north of Manhattan on the Pottawatomie side of Tuttle Creek Lake, near Tuttle Creek State Park. Swedes built most of it in the late 1870s, and it is named for pioneer Ole Thrulson; the post office spelled it Olesburgh until 1887. It is in the Blue Valley school district. If you are towing a camper to or from the lake, tell us which side of the water you are on.
Belvue sits east of Wamego on the way toward St. Marys and belongs to the Wamego school district. It was laid out in 1871. Louis Vieux, the businessman and Potawatomi tribal councilman who ran the Oregon Trail crossing on the Vermillion River near Louisville, left all of Belvue to his wife and children in his will.
Emmett lies north-east of Wamego and south-west of Holton, and it is named for the Irish nationalist Robert Emmet. Its post office opened in 1905. The town's own high school closed with school unification, and its students now go to St. Marys Jr/Sr High in the Kaw Valley district.
Louisville is on K-99 between Wamego and Westmoreland. Founded in 1857 as Rock Post, it lost the county seat race to St. George and then Westmoreland, and shrank once the Union Pacific went through Wamego instead. East of town was the Vermillion Crossing of the Oregon Trail, run by Louis Vieux, whose family cemetery sits on a hill near the river.
Havensville, west of Holton, got its start when the railroad was built through the area, and it carries the name of Paul E. Havens, the railroad man who also named Onaga. It is in the Onaga school district. If you stop on a road out this way, say whether you are nearer Havensville or Onaga.
Wheaton is a very small town north of Wamego, served by the Onaga schools. Its post office opened under the name Leghorn, took the Wheaton name in 1883 and closed in 1992, so local mail runs through another town's post office. Give us the road and the nearest farm or crossroad along with any address.
Manhattan reaches over the line into Pottawatomie County; the city is described in the Riley County section.
Often, yes. Titan Tow & Repair sends its mobile service truck out US-24 to St. Marys and Wamego, and a lot of what stops a truck, such as an air leak, a dead battery, a tire, a sensor or a brake fault, can be fixed on the shoulder. Tell us which way you were heading, whether you are east or west of St. Marys, and what the truck did before it lost power. If it sounds like a tow instead, we say so on the phone and send a heavy wrecker rather than making two trips.
Give us K-99. Titan Tow & Repair runs that road north from Wamego, where it crosses US-24, through Louisville to Westmoreland, the county seat. Say which direction you were heading, whether you have passed Louisville yet, and what you can see nearby, such as a farm, a crossroad or a creek. If you have turned off onto a county road, give that road's name or number and the last crossroad as well, so we do not waste time on the wrong stretch.
