Natrona, Kansas, is an extinct town in Pratt County.
This place got its start in the 1880s when Lutheran settlers from Germany began settling in northeastern Pratt County. They had earlier settled in the Ellsworth area after surviving and fleeing the Franco-Prussian War. After birds destroyed their crops near Cheyenne Bottoms, about six Lutheran families relocated south and began homesteading in the Natrona area. Additional families soon followed, and they gathered together in their homes for church services.
Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad.
In 1887, two men from Pratt platted the town of Natrona, and the Chicago, Rock Island, and Pacific Railroad came through.
A post office was established on May 29, 1888.
From the beginning of the settlement, the church established a school to educate its children and maintain their faith and religion.
Later, the congregation began meeting regularly at the Bunker Hill schoolhouse, located two miles northeast of Natrona. Pastor Brauer of Ellinwood and Pastors Lil and Degner of Plevna traveled by horse and buggy to serve the congregation.
Additional families soon followed, and they gathered together in their homes for church services.
The community organized their lives, language, and culture around St. Paul’s Lutheran Church. However, the town never developed beyond a few frame buildings.
Natrona’s post office closed on May 15, 1888.
In August 1900, St. Paul’s Evangelical Lutheran Church at Natrona was officially organized. A constitution was drawn up in German and signed by six charter members of the newly formed congregation. They chose Natrona as the location of the church because the train made regular stops at the Natrona depot, which made it convenient for people from Pratt and Preston to attend.
St. Paul Evangelical Lutheran Church in Natrona, Kansas.
A small, one-room frame church was built and dedicated on May 12, 1901. The first resident pastor was Reverend A.G. Degner.
In September 1902, bids were solicited for a parsonage, a barn, and a pump, totaling $956.66.
On February 25, 1903, the post office was reinstated under the name of Olympia. However, the railroad’s name continued to be Natrona.
In 1908, an addition and steeple with a church bell were built. The entrance was located in the tower, and as was customary at that time, the men took their seats to the left while the women took theirs to the right. The small parochial school building was south of the church.
A special building was erected in 1910 to house the parochial school, which offered a complete curriculum for grades one through eight. For many years, the Catechism, Bible lessons, and class lessons were taught in the German language. That year, the town was still located along the Chicago, Rock Island, and Pacific Railroad and had a population of 25.
The Olympia post office closed permanently in 1914, and the town’s name reverted to Natrona.
During World War I, to keep a lower profile, language teaching was discontinued, and the school was closed.
The school reopened in 1924.
In 1925, the congregation recognized a need for a larger church. They decided to move the original church to the west and remodel it into a two-room school. A new brick church was constructed on the site of the original church at a total cost of $30,000. This church was dedicated on December 18, 1927.
In 1935, the children of Frederich and Rosine Helmke gave the console organ in memory of their parents. The organ was equipped with two manuals and chimes, complete with 451 pipes, at a cost of $ 2,800.
St. Paul Evangelical Lutheran Church in Natrona, Kansas.
The school continued until 1968.
St. Paul’s Evangelical Lutheran Church is still active today.
The old townsite is approximately seven miles southwest of Preston, Kansas, on NE 40th Avenue on the north side of Highway 61.
©Kathy Alexander/Legends of Kansas, July 2025.
Also See:
Sources:
Blackmar, Frank W.; Kansas: A Cyclopedia of State History, Vol I; Standard Publishing Company, Chicago, IL 1912.
St. Paul Evangelical Lutheran Church
Wikipedia