Railroad sign in the extinct town of Selma, Kansas.
Anderson County, Kansas by L.H. Everts & Co., 1887.
More Extinct Towns:
| Town | Post Office Dates | Additional Information |
| Amiot/Mineral Point | 1862-1951 | This settlement was first called Mineral Point on account of a mound supposed to contain minerals. It was first formed in about 1856. The first Fourth of July celebration for the western part of the county was held here in 1857, and a military company was formed the same day with 31 members. The town’s name was changed to Amiot on April 5, 1905. In 1910, it was a station on the Missouri Pacific Railroad, not far from the Coffey County line. At that time, it was a trading and shipping point with a population of 40. It was located about 16 miles northwest of Garnett. |
| Bush City/Haskell | 1880-1956 | The name was changed to Bush City on April 19, 1921. |
| Canton | 1858-1866 | Canton was located and surveyed in 1857 by B. Tyler as a rival to Garnett. For about two years, it was occupied and some improvements made, but when Garnett secured the county seat in 1859, Canton was soon abandoned. |
| Cherry Creek | 1861-1867 | |
| Cherry Mound | 1875-1882 | |
| Como | 1881-1887 | The post office moved to Northcott. |
| Delmont | 1870 | The post office was only open for about eight months. |
| Elizabethtown | 1859-1883 | In 1859, this town was located, surveyed, and platted. The town was founded by Joseph Price, Thomas J. Day, and James A. Dorsey, who formed the Town Company. A store was soon opened by W. Stubblefield & Co. However, when the railroad came through for the first time, it was built through the nearby town of Colony, and Elizabethtown soon died out before it ever got started. All that remains of it today is the Ozark #1 Cemetery. For years, it also had an old one-room schoolhouse, but it deteriorated and fell down over the years. Often called Liztown by the locals, it was located about 3-4 miles southeast of Colony. |
| Emerald | 1869-1895 1897-1903 |
The first church was made of logs in 1861, followed by one of stone. |
| Equity | 1883-1894 | The post office was moved from Rich. |
| Glenloch | 1887-1913 | |
| Indian Valley | 1861 | The post office was only open for about eight months. |
| Lawn | 1899 | The post office was only open for about eight months. |
| Lone Elm | 1879-1956 | Located in Lone Elm Township of southeast Anderson County, it is officially an extinct town because it no longer has a post office. However, as of the 2020 census, its population was 27. |
| Mont Ida/Mount Ida | 1880-1944 | The name changed from Mount Ida to Mont Ida on February 9, 1881. |
| Northcott | 1887-1906 | The post office moved from Como. |
| Ozark | 1862-1885 | The post office moved to Kincaid. |
| Redes | 1858-1864 | |
| Reeder | 1882 | The post office was only open for about eight months. |
| Rich | 1872-1883. | The post office moved to Equity. |
| Rosyvale | 1860-1862 | |
| Selma | 1887-1956 | Selma was established in Anderson County at the junction of the Kansas, Nebraska, and Dakota and the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railways in 1887. As it no longer has a post office, it is officially an extinct town today. |
| Shannon/Cedar Bluff | 1857-1860 | The county seat was established in Cedar Bluff in 1856. In 1857, the town was surveyed by Dr. Preston Bowen, with public parks and with the expectation of its remaining the county seat. More improvements were made, and county buildings commenced. On April 3, 1858, the town’s name was changed to Shannon in honor of Governor Wilson Shannon. However, when the county seat was removed to Garnett in 1859, the townsite was soon abandoned. The post office closed on September 13, 1860, and the townsite became part of a farm. |
| Springfield | 1858-1860 | |
| Sugarvale/Sugar Valley | 1871-1900 | The name changed to Sugarvale on September 28, 1894. |
| Walker/Mount Gilead | 1857-1866 | Soon after the town of Greeley was laid out, Mount Gilead was surveyed on the opposite side of the Pottawatomie River as a rival town. On about September 1, 1857, the Pottawatomie Town Company was organized. On September 11, Rufus Gilpatrick, the president of the town company, presented a plat of a town named Pottawatomie to a notary public. However, the name of the town was afterward changed to Mount Gilead. A sawmill was built, and soon nearly all that existed of Greeley, including the post office, was moved to the new town, which grew rapidly for some time. The town’s name was changed from Mount Gilead to Walker on May 20, 1861. However, procuring water to the site was difficult, and it was soon abandoned. By the early 1880s, all that was left was one building used as a granary. |
© Kathy Alexander/Legends of Kansas, updated November 2023.
Also See:
Sources:
Anderson County Historical Society
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.
Kansas State Historical Society – Post Offices