Altamont, Kansas Main Street.
Altamont, Kansas, is a small town located in Mt. Pleasant Township at the geographic center of Labette County. As of the 2020 census, the city’s population was 1,061, and it had a total area of 1.66 square miles, of which 1.64 square miles is land and 0.02 square miles is water.
When this place got its start in the fall and winter of 1869, it was initially called Elston. At that time, it stood about two and a half miles east of the present site of Altamont. A post office opened on May 18, 1870. The school district soon organized, and a school building was erected in 1872. Internal dissension among its population strangled the town in its early years, and it was moved piecemeal to other surrounding towns. Its post office closed briefly on June 11, 1873, but was reopened on August 19, 1873.
The post office was moved 2.5 miles west on February 1, 1875, and the name was changed to Altamont after Altamont, Illinois, with Mrs. Jane Huston as Postmistress.
St. Louis and San Francisco Railroad.
Several years later, the construction of the St. Louis and San Francisco Railroad began through the area in 1879, providing a boost to the community. When it was complete, Altamont became a station and became a point from which considerable shipments of grain, etc., were made. A fertile agricultural region surrounded the town, supporting fair and stable trade.
By the summer of that year, a townsite was laid out by a town company, of which I.N. Hamilton was president. Scott Noble erected a dwelling in the fall of 1879, and Ben Jones built a home in the winter of 1879-1880.
In March 1880, Jones, Burns & Wright opened a general store, and about the same time, S.J. and W.R. Hurshberger started the second general store. McCormick started a shoe shop, and L.F. Baker started a blacksmith shop.
The Presbyterian Church was erected in the fall of 1880. At about the same time, a new schoolhouse was built, and the old one was sold and reconstructed into a residence.
In January 1881, M.V.B. Watson built a store room, in which he opened a stock of general merchandise, and in April, H.C. Blanchard started a similar establishment. E.M. Rockwood and James Daniels began a dry goods business the same month. The Walters Brothers opened a livery barn in the fall of 1881, which they soon afterward sold to J. A. Jones. G.E. Brassfield started a general store, which he changed within about a year to a hardware store, then to a grocery store.
A business building in Altamont, Kansas, by Kathy Alexander.
The Avenue Hotel was built in the summer of 1881 by Samuel Shoup, who first ran it as the Shoup House and then as the Avenue Hotel. The Altamont House was built in the winter of 1881-1882 and opened for the reception of guests in the spring of 1882 by J.J. Giles.
The only manufacturing establishment in Altamont was the Altamont steam flouring mill, which was built and put into operation on December 14, 1881. These mills were built and owned by M.A. Renner and D. Reed. The building was a two-story frame structure and contained three runs of buhrs, propelled by a 35-horsepower engine.
By 1882, the school district had a population of about 100.
In the summer of 1882, C. & S. Bonebrake began dealing in groceries, queensware, boots, and shoes; and Jones opened a shoe shop, and in August, J.C. Murphy and M. Jones began business dealing in hardware. In September, C.S. Newlon and G. Bush opened a drugstore. A Methodist Church was built in the fall. There are also Baptist and Christian societies, which had no church buildings. Later in the fall, H.E. Hammer and Dr. Lake also began the sale of drugs, which they closed out in a few months. Mrs. Jane Huston then started a drug store, but soon closed out her stock to Newlon & Bush and began handling confectionery.
Buildings in Altamont, Kansas by Kathy Alexander.
Altamont was incorporated in 1884, and the following officers were chosen: Mayor, H.C. Blanchard; police judge, L.W. Cram; councilmen, R.B. Gregg, W.M. McCoid, D. Reid, C.S. Newlon, and A.J. Garst; city clerk, W.F. Hamman.
In 1910, Atamont was incorporated and was still on the St. Louis & San Francisco Railroad. At that time, it had banking facilities, a weekly newspaper, express and telegraph offices, and an international money order post office with three rural routes.
Altamont’s population peaked in 2000 at 1,092.
The community is served by the Labette County USD 506 public school district, headquartered in Altamont.
Altamont is about 12 miles west of Oswego.
Business buildings in Altamont, Kansas, by Kathy Alexander.
©Kathy Alexander/Legends of Kansas, updated December 2025.
Also See:
Sources:
Blackmar, Frank W.; Kansas: A Cyclopedia of State History, Vol I; Standard Publishing Company, Chicago, IL 1912.
Cutler, William G.; History of Kansas; A. T. Andreas, Chicago, IL, 1883.
Wikipedia