Cowboys in Finney County, Kansas, about 1895.
Eminence
Ravanna
| Town | Post Office Dates | Additional Information |
| Amazon | 1893-1896 | |
| Arapahoe | 1885-1886 | |
| Beersheba | None | A Jewish colony east of Ravanna, Beersheba was one of several Jewish agricultural colonies in America and one of seven in Kansas. It was founded in 1882 by Rabbi Issac M. Wise of Cincinnati, Ohio. By 1890, however, most of them had left the county. |
| Billow | 1886 | A post office was authorized for over a month but was never established. |
| Canyon | 1904-1909 | A small hamlet situated in the valley of the north fork of the Pawnee River, about 25 miles northeast of Garden City. When the post office closed, mail was delivered by rural delivery from Ravanna. |
| Clawson | 1886-1888 | Clarance F. Parker started Clawson in about 1875. It had a store, and he was the postmaster. It was located about 7.5 miles east of Ravanna along the Pawnee River. |
| Eminence-Cuyler | 1883-1942 | This place was first called Cuyler when a post office opened on May 7, 1883. This village, located in Garfield Township, was located on the Pawnee River, 25 miles northeast of Garden City. The town’s name was changed to Emminence on June 3, 1887. In 1910, it had a money-order post office with one rural route, a good local trade, and a population of 92. It was located about 18 miles north of Charleston, the nearest railroad station. |
| Essex | 1886-1918 | Essex was located on a small tributary of the Pawnee River in the Pawnee Valley, one of the most beautiful and fertile regions in the state. It was on the proposed line of the Kansas Air Line Railroad, which would connect the main line of the Denver, Memphis & Atlantic Railway running southwest into the coal fields of Colorado. In its early years, Essex had a hotel, a general store, a printing office, a real estate office, a blacksmith shop, a lumber yard, a canning outfit with a 2000-can capacity, and a large sorghum mill. In 1910, Essex was a money order post-hamlet with a population of 28. Charleston was the nearest railroad station. Essex was 18 miles northeast of Garden City, 15 miles from Ravanna, and 14 miles from Pierceville. |
| Felix | 1880-1884 | Located in Garfield Township, Felix was in the center of a cattle range that was patronized largely by cattlemen. It received its mail from Garden City twice weekly. |
| Friend | 1887-1992 | An unincorporated community in Terry Township of Finney County. It is also officially an extinct town, as it no longer has a post office. Today, the tiny town still has a grain elevator, several silos, and a few buildings. |
| Hatfield/Whitson | 1886-1892 | The name changed from Whitson to Hatfield.Hatfield on August 20, 1887. |
| Hendricks | 1886-1888 | |
| Imperial | 1888-1932 | In 1910, Imperial was a country post office with tri-weekly mail in Garfield Township with a population of 20. It was 23 miles northeast of Garden City and 19 miles southwest of Dighton, in Lane County, which was the nearest railroad station. |
| Kalvesta | 1886-1998 | Kalvesta is an unincorporated community in Finney County, Kansas. It is also officially an extinct town, as it no longer has a post office. |
| Knauston | 1886-1906 | Knauston was located in the northwest part of Finney County in 1885 by a man named Knaus from Knobnoster, Missouri. He was the postmaster and operated a general store. At that time, it had a few houses and a building which was used for school and church purposes. During the blizzard of 1886, the citizens had to abandon their homes and live in the church to conserve fuel. In 1910, Knauston was described as a hamlet located 16 miles northwest of Garden City and 10 miles in the same direction from Alfalfa, the nearest railroad station. At that time, Its mail was distributed from Garden City by rural route. |
| Leeser | None | Jacob Warshawski brought his father and about a dozen other Russian Jewish families from New York to settle Leeser in 1886. It was named for Rabbi Isaac Leeser, who was the editor of a popular Jewish magazine, Occident. Many of the inhabitants were related. A blizzard in 1886, a tornado in 1887, and a drought beginning in 1888 led to its demise. By 1890, it was gone. |
| Lorenz | 1887-1889 | Lorenz was located in the southeast corner of Garfield Township. It had a post office and several places of business during the boom years of 1886-1888. |
| Loyal-Pansy-Pattenville | 1880-1881 1882-1899 |
This place was first called Pattenville but was changed to Pansy on November 28, 1881. The name was changed again on March 3, 1882, to Loyal. |
| New Buffalo | 1879-1881 | Established in Buffalo County. |
| North Bend | 1889-1890 | |
| Pierceville | 1873-1874 1878-1892 |
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| Pitt | 1892-1896 | |
| Plymell | 1886-1894 1918-1925 |
Still has an active church, and an old elementary school still stands. It is located on U.S. Route 83, 11 miles south of Garden City. |
| Ravanna-Cowland-Mason | 1979-1922 | The name changed from Mason to Cowland on February 15, 1883. The name changed from Cowland to Ravanna on September 25, 1886. In 1910, it had a country post office and a daily stage to Garden City. It was located on the Pawnee River, 28 miles northeast of Garden City and 22 miles north of Cimarron, the nearest shipping point. |
| Tennis | None | Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad station south of Friend; named for B. M. Tennis, general manager of the Garden City Western Railway. It was 13 miles north of Garden City. |
| Terryton-Vernon | 1886-1904 1905-1923 |
This place was first called Vernon, but the town’s name was changed on May 21, 1886, to Terryton. In 1910, it was described as a country post office in Pleasant Township with a stage line to Garden City and a population of 28. |
©Kathy Alexander/Legends of Kansas, updated October 2023.
Also See:
Sources:
Blackmar, Frank W.; Kansas: A Cyclopedia of State History, Vol I; Standard Publishing Company, Chicago, IL 1912.
Blanchard, Leola Howard; The Conquest of Southwest Kansas, Wichita Eagle Press, 1931.
Larson, Sara C.; The Lost Towns of Finney County, Transactions of the Kansas Academy of Science, Vol. 66, No. 3, Autumn, 1963.
Finney County by the Kansas Historical Society, 1950
Kansas Post Office History