Early day, Traer, Kansas.
Traer, Kansas, is an extinct town on Beaver Creek in Finley Township, of Decatur County, Kansas.
This place began one mile West of its present location and was named Connersville. A post office was established in Connersville on April 21, 1875.
On July 10, 1880, School District number 14 was formed. In 1881, school was held in a dugout about 3/4 mile West of Traer.
On March 5, 1883, Connersville’s post office closed.
Afterward, the town was moved a mile East and was renamed Traer after the city of Traer, Iowa.
A new post office was established in Traer on June 25, 1883, with Jesse W. Crouse as postmaster.
The first school building was a one-room sod house, measuring 18 by 30 feet, built in 1884. This building was used for school, church, Sunday school, voting, and other gatherings.
In 1885, Traer received its mail by a tri-weekly stagecoach between McCook, Nebraska, and Atwood, Kansas. At that time, its nearest shipping point was on the Burlington & Missouri River Railroad in McCook, Nebraska. It had a livestock dealer, a flour mill, a wagonmaker, and a carpenter.
At some point, Traer became a stop on the Burlington & Missouri River Railroad. A Topeka, Kansas newspaper reported: “Wheat shipments out of Traer for the last crop so far aggregate 80 carloads, or about 120,000 bushels. It is the largest business the Burlington & Missouri River Railroad has handled here in the town’s history. There have also been 15 cars of hay shipped out. The cream industry amounts to 120 cans monthly, and 200 cases of eggs are sold.”
German Lutheran Church in Traer, Kansas.
Traer was surveyed and platted in March 1888.
In 1896, the school had 40 students under one teacher. The next year, it had 47 students.
The earliest church in Traer was built in 1904 and used until 1917.
In 1907, the new frame schoolhouse was built.
In 1910, Traer was on the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad, 10 miles northwest of Oberlin, the county seat. It was the receiving and shipping point for a large agricultural district, had several grain dealers, a grain elevator, several stores, telegraph and express offices, a money order post office, and a population of 200.
A High School course was added to the school in 1912-1913 with one instructor and four students enrolled.
In later years, Traer, like Cedar Bluffs, suffered from economic changes.
Traer, Kansas School.
Another school building was constructed between 1936 and 1938. Built of native rock, it had four school rooms, an office, an auditorium, and two toilet rooms equipped with showers. The building was constructed entirely by Works Progress Administration labor and completed on November 17, 1938.
Traer’s post office closed on November 25, 1971.
Today, Traer is unincorporated.
The community is served by the Oberlin USD 294 public school district.
©Kathy Alexander/Legends of Kansas, July 2026.
Also See:
Extinct Towns of Decatur County
Sources:
Blackmar, Frank W.; Kansas: A Cyclopedia of State History, Vol. I. Standard Publishing Company, Chicago, IL, 1912.
Decatur County, Kansas
RootsWeb – 1
RootsWeb – 2
Wikipedia