Officially published in July 2025, “Derby Kansas…two different cities” was the culmination of years of work by current Derby Historical Society President Butch Ewing, digging into the city’s past to tell an accurate story.
“I think this is something that’s been needed for a while,” Ewing said. “Derby’s history has always been a couple sentences of verbal stuff that’s handed down for generations.”
While the new book — now on sale at the Derby Historical Museum for $15 — may not be loaded with entertainment value, Ewing noted that was not the goal. The book was created to be more of a historical reference, since there has not been an authoritative written history of Derby.
Ewing stated in the book’s forward that the few written historical accounts of Derby that do exist were researched, along with many other references, to create “Derby Kansas…two different cities.” However, efforts truly began when Ewing first started writing blogs for the museum’s website.
“Basically, it was born out of the 170 blogs that I wrote over a three-year period of time,” Ewing said. “I thought the blog would be a good way to share [the city’s] historical information.”
“Derby Kansas…two different cities” was officially published and released on July 1.
COURTESY/DERBY HISTORICAL MUSEUM
First volunteering fully with the museum in 2018, Ewing launched both the blog and the museum’s website at the end of 2019, which he continued on a (mostly) weekly basis through early 2022. The more time he helped the museum, particularly with the blogs, the more interested he became in Derby’s history.
This marks Ewing’s first published book, though he has many years of experience in the graphic communication industry — which made the process like “old hat.” Additionally, he said the basis of the blogs made the writing process pretty quick. Most of the time was spent on formatting.
Personally, Ewing and his family first moved to the Derby area in 1949, so he had some exposure to Derby’s history as it was being made, but he truly got hooked while volunteering with the museum.
“When I got interested in the history, the more I dug the more interesting it got,” Ewing said. What I tried to do was kind of give a picture of what that original town looked like.”
Opening with a look at the region’s history and early Indian tribes that called the area home, the book then quickly gets into the tale of “two different cities” — El Paso and Derby.
Founded officially in 1871, the new book looks into the history of El Paso (the city’s original name) and its quick growth to 200 residents before remaining mostly unchanged for 70 years. The city limits (from Madison to Kay Street and Georgie to Water) stayed primarily the same, with the business district located between Washington and Main Street and one paved road through town — Highway K-15.
The former plat of El Paso is shown within the current Derby city limits, with the new book touching on the history of both.
COURTESY/DERBY HISTORICAL MUSEUM
Then, in 1950, expansion started to pick up again thanks to Boeing’s increasing production efforts and the establishment of McConnell Air Force Base. An official name change to Derby followed in 1956 — with Ewing’s book debunking some of the previously held beliefs behind that decision and the role the railroad played in it.
Completing his first book, Ewing said plans are already in the works for a second that will include more of the details on Derby’s founding families that were part of the initial blogs.
Future plans are also to offer book sales — which will act as a fundraiser for the museum —online, as well as hold a signing event.
Providing an official written account of Derby’s history, Ewing said there could be many surprises for readers in the new book, which could also be enticing.
“Since there was so little Derby history that was even talked about, the surprising thing is going to be that the verbal history that was shared for generations was flawed,” Ewing said. “I hope that can generate some interest.”
