List of ghost towns in Kansas

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Arvonia, Kansas, located southeast of Reading, Kansas on the shoreline of Melvern Lake

This is an incomplete list of ghost towns in the state of Kansas. Many of the sites listed here are on private property and may be dangerous or illegal to visit. Inquire with local authorities or property owners for access to these places.

Classifications[]

There are many factors and reasons as to why a community becomes abandoned (or nearly abandoned).

  • Transportation – With the development of major highways and interstates, people were willing to travel farther for goods and services causing local businesses in smaller towns to lose customers and ultimately close. The more businesses that close the more people are apt to want to move away to a bigger town. Transportation has played a major role in settlement in Kansas. As traffic from the Oregon and Santa Fe Trails increased, towns boomed along them. When railroads were established towns developed along the tracks or even moved to where the tracks were.
  • Politics – In Kansas, the political atmosphere was highly divided. Towns were either pro-slavery or abolitionist. When Kansas became a free state in 1861, pro-slavery towns died out. Survival of a town also depended on if it won the county seat. Towns that were contenders for the county seat and lost typically saw most, if not all, of their town die out.
  • Industry/employment – Towns that catered to a specific industry like coal mining or military housing were boom towns that quickly died when their markets collapsed. Some towns were abandoned in the 1930s during the Dust Bowl period which mainly relied on Agriculture.
  • Schools – Schools can serve as a place of civic pride. Towns that lose their local school to consolidation can no longer root for their home team. When a school district is closed and students moved to another district, the remaining abandoned school just adds insult to injury.
  • National economic depressions - There have been several economic depressions and recessions that have wiped towns off the map. As people lose their jobs or have to move because of another job, towns lose population.
  • Eminent domain / flood control – Since 1951, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers have sought to control floods through the building of dams along rivers and the resulting outcome is a town having to be moved or abandoned and demolished.
  • Environmental degradation – remnants of lead and zinc mining can cause soil contamination that can render entire communities uninhabitable; e.g. Treece, Kansas.[1]

List[]

List of ghost towns in Kansas, which aren't incorporated cities or unincorporated communities:

Allen County[]

Anderson County[]

Atchison County[]

Butler County[]

Chase County[]

Cherokee County[]

Cheyenne County[]

  • Calhoun
  • Hourglass
  • Jaqua
  • Lawnridge
  • Marney
  • Orlando

Clark County[]

Clay County[]

Cloud County[]

Cowley County[]

Decatur County[]

Doniphan County[]

Douglas County[]

Ellis County[]

Ellsworth County[]

Finney County[]

Franklin County[]

Geary County[]

  • Alida
  • Pawnee

Gove County[]

  • Alanthus
  • Hackberry
  • Jerome

Graham County[]

Greenwood County[]

Harper County[]

Harvey County[]

  • Annelly

Jewell County[]

Leavenworth County[]

Lincoln County[]

  • Bacon
  • Bayne
  • Cedron
  • Herman
  • Lone Walnut
  • Milo
  • Monroe
  • Orbitello
  • Orworth
  • Paris
  • Pinon
  • Pleasant Valley
  • Pottersburg
  • Rosette
  • Topsy
  • Towerspring
  • Union Valley
  • Woodey
  • Yorktown

Linn County[]

Logan County[]

Marion County[]

Marshall County[]

Mitchell County[]

Montgomery County[]

  • Le Hunt

Morris County[]

  • Comiskey

Norton County[]

Osborne County[]

Ottawa County[]

Phillips County[]

Rawlins County[]

Reno County[]

Republic County[]

Rice County[]

Rooks County[]

Rush County[]

Russell County[]

Seward County[]

Shawnee County[]

  • Richland

Sheridan County[]

  • Adell
  • Alcyone
  • Chicago
  • Lucerne
  • Museum
  • Mystic
  • Phelps
  • Sheridan
  • Ute
  • Violenta

Smith County[]

Stevens County[]

Sumner County[]

Thomas County[]

  • Copeland
  • Cumberland
  • Kuka
  • Otterbourne
  • Quickville

Trego County[]

Wabaunsee County[]

  • Vera

Wichita County[]

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ NY Times, https://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/20/magazine/last-ones-left-in-treece-kan-a-toxic-town.htm

External links[]

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