I.A. Garver Store, in Voltaire, Kansas, in about 1886.
Voltaire, Kansas, was an old town in Sherman County. It is gone today.
This place was founded by R.W. Bradshaw, L.M. Harwood, L.H. Cromwell, and S.T. Lloyd from Atwood in Rawlins County on June 15, 1885. It was named for the French writer and philosopher.
A post office opened on September 10, 1885, in the general store owned by Ira Garver, who became the postmaster. His stock of groceries was unsurpassed, and his clothing department was outstanding. The second newspaper in the county was the Voltaire Advertiser, founded in December 1885 by Ernest J. Scott. Major Rufus R. Edwards had one of the finest grocery stores in the county.
By that time, there was such an influx of new settlers in the county that the population was sufficient for county organization. The citizens of Voltaire tried to organize before the newer settlers in the southwest part of the county were eligible to vote, hoping to have their town made the county seat.
O.T. McCormick was appointed as the census taker and was asked to expedite the count for an election by mid-September. However, he submitted his results on August 30. Residents of Voltaire speculated that his delay was due to receiving several lots in Eustis. The census reported a population of 2,820, including 975 householders. To delay the organization, the Eustis men claimed there were fewer than 400 voters in the county. However, their petition to the governor asking that Eustis be made the county seat had 2,500 signatures. The opponents of Eustis claimed that hundreds of these names belonged to residents of adjoining counties, but this claim was not proven, and Eustis was designated as the temporary county seat.
Itasca soon moved to Shermanville, which was later called Sherman Center.
By August of 1886, Voltaire had reached its peak with a population of 143 and about 45 buildings. At that time, an effort was made to get Voltaire to move as well, and the Voltaire newspaper strongly favored joining forces against Eustis and making Sherman Center the county seat. About half of the people of Voltaire moved. On November 8, 1886, the voters of Sherman County held an election to decide which town would serve as the temporary county seat: Sherman Center or Eustis. Those who had remained in Voltaire sided with Eustis, which won by 61 votes.
Voltaire, Kansas School District #25.
That was the beginning of the end for Voltaire. Since it was established on government land, the law required a certain number of individuals to reside there and make general improvements to their properties before the land could officially become the townsite. During the winter of 1886, a man and his family were hired to stay in Voltaire until the next spring, when the settlers returned, while the townspeople spent the winter in Atwood. The Great Blizzard of 1886 swept through the area, killing many of the early settlers in Sherman County. Shortly afterward, the town of Voltaire began to decline. The town’s post office was closed in 1889, and the Kansas Legislature vacated the town.
Voltaire was about five miles north of Goodland along Highway 27.
©Kathy Alexander/Legends of Kansas, January 2026.
Also See:
Extinct Towns of Sherman County
Sources:
Fitzgerald, Daniel C.; Ghost Towns of Kansas: A Traveler’s Guide, University Press of Kansas, 1988
Fort Hays State University
Kansas Post Office History