Sharon, Kansas Business Buildings by Kathy Alexander.
Sharon, Kansas, is a small town in Sharon Township of Barber County, Kansas. As of the 2020 census, the city’s population was 147, and its total area was 0.29 square miles.
The Reverend A.H. Mulkey came to Medicine Lodge in March 1879, representing a Christian Colony of over 50 families. The next month, he founded the town of Sharon as a Christian Colony whose members were of the Christian Church. It was named after the fertile valley mentioned in the Bible. Sharon is a Hebrew name meaning “plain”. The townsite was initially in the northeast part of the present city.
A post office was established on November 30, 1880.
Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad depot in Sharon, Kansas, 1931.
After the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad was built in 1885, the town was moved to its present site in 1886-1887.
A bank was established in 1893.
In 1910, Sharon was an incorporated city of the third class and was still a station on the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad. At that time, it had a bank, a church, several retail stores, telegraph and express offices, a money order post office with two rural routes, and a population that peaked at 350.
Elbert Rule, of Gold Rule Filling Stations, built the Opera House, grocery, drugstore, and Department Store.
In August 1944, a fire caused by burning trash behind the buildings destroyed a portion of Sharon Main Street. The structures that burned were the Knights of Columbus building and one owned by E.S. Rule. The buildings were in the Southwest block and housed a cream station and beer parlor. Although the buildings did not burn to the ground, spectators say it was about the same as a total loss. Some damage was done to a few other buildings.
The 1963 School Unification Acts mandated state thresholds for enrollment and geographic valuation to streamline resources. In a highly rural region like Barber County, this led to the eventual closure of multiple local high schools and the consolidation of elementary districts. Communities that previously maintained their own Class B high schools and local school boards—including Hazelton, Hardtner, Sharon, Isabel, Lake City, and Sun City—were gradually absorbed or closed. The Sharon Cardinals won the Kansas State High School boys’ Class B basketball championship in 1935 and the 8-Man football championship in 1977.
Sharon, Kansas, old high school.
Sharon’s High School closed in 1987.
Wisner Library in Sharon, Kansas by Kathy Alexander.
The Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad merged on December 31, 1996, with the Burlington Northern Railroad to form the BNSF Railway.
Today, the community is served by Barber County North USD 254 public school district in Medicine Lodge.
Country singer Martina McBride was raised on a farm outside of Sharon.
Sharon is located nine miles East of Medicine Lodge.
©Kathy Alexander/Legends of Kansas, November 2026.
Grain elevator in Sharon, Kansas by Kathy Alexander.
Also See:
Sources:
Blackmar, Frank W.;Â Kansas: A Cyclopedia of State History, Vol. I; Standard Publishing Company, Chicago, IL 1912.
Fort Hays State University
KSGenWeb
Kansas Reflector
Travel Kansas
Wikipedia