People in a wagon in Gove County, Kansas.
| Town | Post Office Dates | Additional Information |
| Alanthus | 1887-1917 |
 Alanthus, KS. Cemetery Alanthus was located on the Smoky Hill River in Larrabee Township and was built with plans for the railroad. The post office was established in 1887 with Nathan Burkhead as Postmaster. The town then consisted of a lumber yard, a store, and a livery barn. School District No. 48, called the Alanthus School, was formed in 1888. The school was held in the Congregational Church until a church building was built in 1911. It was called the Grandview Methodist Episcopal Church of Alanthus, Kansas. It was discontinued in 1941. When it never got a railroad, the town died. It was about 18 miles southeast of Gove, the county seat, and 12 miles north of Utica, the most convenient railroad station. |
| Ball | 1907-1926 | A rural post office is about ten miles east of Gove, the county seat, and three miles north of Hackberry. The most convenient railroad station was at Quinter. |
| Campus | 1905-1935 | Located in Grinnell Township, Campus was a station on the Union Pacific Railroad near the county’s northwest corner. First called Elizabeth, its name changed when the post office was established in 1905. The town was platted in 1906, and a church was built there that year. It was organized in 1907 as an English Evangelical Lutheran Church. In its early years, Campus had two general stores, a lumber yard, a blacksmith shop, a farm implement store, a church, a schoolhouse, a depot, an elevator, a stockyard, and five residences. In 1910, it had a money-order post office, telephone connections, general stores, a lumber yard, and a population of 50. The schoolhouse, District No. 57, was organized in 1911. The town then began to decline. It was about 20 miles from Gove, the county seat. |
| Catalpa | 1887-1914 | Catalpa was a rural post office on Indian Creek in Larrabee Township. Pendennis was the nearest railroad station, and Gove was the nearest banking point. It was about 12 miles southeast of Gove, the county seat. |
| Coin | 1900-1917 | Coin was rural money order post office located in the Plum Creek community in Lewis Township. Many settlers were Swedes and other foreigners. The Coin Schoolhouse and Coin Post Office existed for several years in the settlement. The Plum Creek Community also formed a telephone service with a second school called Plum Creek Schoolhouse. The community also had a Farmer’s Union. Campus was the most convenient railroad station. It was about 15 miles southwest of Gove, the county seat. |
| Geil | 1901-1902 | The post office moved to Orion when it closed |
| Goodwater | 1887-1904 | In 1894, Goodwater’s nearest shipping point was in Grainfield, 20 miles distant. Mail was delivered daily to J.F. Matthews, the postmaster and grocer. It was ten miles south of Gove, the judicial seat and banking point. |
| Hackberry-Hackberry Mills | 1879-1888 1898-1931 |
First called Hackberry Mills, a post office opened on September 4, 1879. It was located south of Quinter on Hackberry Creek. Early on, it had a Presbyterian minister, a carpenter, and several livestock men. Its mail was delivered tri-weekly to Van Smith, the postmaster. The nearest bank was in Ellis, and Quinter was the nearest shipping point. The post office name changed to Hackberry on December 23, 1881. The community’s activities centered around the Hackberry School. Its post office closed on July 15, 1888. It reopened on April 11, 1898. Its population in 1910 was 15. A Farmer’s Union was formed in 1916. The post office closed for a final time on March 15, 1931. It was about 14 miles southeast of Gove, the county seat, and 11 miles south of Quinter. |
| Jericho | 1905-1923 | Jericho was a country post office in Larabee Township, 12 miles southeast of Gove, the county seat, and 15 miles from Quinter, its nearest shipping point. |
| Jerome | 1886-1943 | Jerome was located on the Smoky Hill River in Jerome Township. The town was founded in 1886. One of the first settlers was the Whitehair family, who came from Jerome, Idaho, and called the new town Jerome. J.L. Cook was the first merchant, and E.B. Miller built the first hotel. By July 1886, the town boasted two general stores, a blacksmith shop, a restaurant, a livery stable, a hotel, a drugstore, a real estate office, and many dwellings. The post office was established on December 27, 1886. The town was platted in 1887. The Town Company included Andrew Whitehair, his brother, and C.E. Casley. In 1887, School District No. 13 was organized. The Smoky Hill Globe newspaper started the same year, but it only lasted until the following year. The Wesleyan Methodists and the Methodist Episcopalians met at different times in the schoolhouse. In 1894, Jerome’s mail was delivered daily to J.B. Daniels, the postmaster. At that time, it had a hotel, a grocery store, a general store, a hardware store, and a population of 23. The closest banking point was in Gove, 12 miles distant, and its nearest shipping point was in Shileds, ten miles away. The population in 1910 was 12. Jerome was a flourishing community until the Gove County Aerial Gunnery Range was established in the southwest part of Gove County. The government took over in 1943, and the people had to move out, and the buildings were sold. The post office closed on May 31, 1943. |
| Lisbon | 1889-1890 | |
| Lulie | 1880-1882 | In 1878, Lulie was a small place that shipped livestock from Buffalo Park, 14 miles distant. |
| Monument | None in Gove County |
 Monument Station. Monument was established in 1865 as a stage station in Gove County and later became a military post. The troops and post office were moved 35 miles northwest on June 24, 1868, to a site in Logan County, previously called Antelope Station, where the post office continued to operate until September 25, 1868, as Monument. |
| Orion | 1902-1943 | Orion was located in Gaeland Township, =centered around a crossroads. It was named after a schoolteacher, Justin Orion McBurney, who taught at the Orion School in District No. 22. The district was organized in 1887. The Methodist Church was built in 1898. The post office moved from Geil and opened in Orion on June 11, 1902. Orion was never a platted town. A sizeable two-story building housed a large store and the post office, and the Lutheran congregation held services on Sundays on the second floor. In 1910, it had a money-order post office and a population of 30. The town died when the Gove County Aerial Gunnery Range was established nearby in 1943. Its post office closed on August 31, 1943. It was 11 miles west of Gove, the county seat, and 13 miles southwest of Grinnell, the nearest shipping point. |
| Pyramid | 1888-1891 | Pyramid was platted in 1888 in Lewis Township just southeast of the Monument Rocks. The Pyramid Post Office was established on April 25, 1888. It closed less than three years later. |
| Sarah | 1881-1884 | A country post office in the northeast of Gove County, it was on the stagecoach route from Buffalo Park to Ness City, from which the mail was delivered semi-weekly to S. C. Walters, the postmaster. It was seven miles south of Buffalo Park, the nearest railroad point. |
| Teller | None | The town of Teller, named for Willard Teller, was located in Larrabee Township near the Smoky Hill River. It was established in 1887. The expectation of a railroad along the Smoky prompted the town’s establishment. Teller never had a post office but did have a store, a blacksmith shop, and a few dwellings. In 1890, Teller became a ghost town. |
| Tiffany-Sloey-Mahan | 1880-1894 | Tiffany was located on Castle Rock Creek, and a post office was established on June 7, 1880. At that time, its mail was delivered semi-weekly from Buffalo Park to W.W. Walkey, the postmaster. Cattle raising was its primary interest. On September 7, 1883, the town’s name was changed to Mahan. On January 8, 1885, the town’s name was changed to Sloey. On March 12, 1890, the town’s name reverted back to Tiffany. In 1894, Buffalo Park was the nearest shipping point, from which the mail was delivered tri-weekly to William W. Walkey, the postmaster. The post office closed on November 15, 1894. It was six miles east of Gove, the county seat, and 13 south of Buffalo Park. |
| Tweed | 1901-1913 | A country post office in Gove County, Tweed was located on the Smoky Hill River, about 20 miles southwest of Gove, the county seat, and 15 miles north of Healy in Lane County, the nearest shipping point. It had one general store and received its mail daily. |
| Valhalla | 1903-1921 | A country post office on the Smoky Hill River, 16 miles southeast of Gove, the county seat, and ten miles north of Pendennis, Lane County, the nearest shipping point. |
| Winifred | 1904-1907 |
Gove County, KS, Map by L.H. Everts & Co., 1887.
©Kathy Alexander/Legends of Kansas, December 2024.
Also See:
Sources:
Harrington, W.P.; History of Gove County, Kansas, Gove City, 1930.
Blackmar, Frank W.; Kansas: A Cyclopedia of State History, Vol I; Standard Publishing Company, Chicago, IL 1912.
Fort Hays State University
Kansas Post Office History