Overland Emigrant and Freight Train, Operated by Sprague & Digan, leaving West Main Street, Atchison, Kansas, April 1, 1866, en route to the Far West.
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Atchison County Map, 1899
St. Patrick Catholic Church in Atchison County, Kansas by Kathy Weiser-Alexander.
More Extinct Towns (See Below)
With its proximity to Missouri, Atchison County, Kansas was one of the first to be populated in Kansas Territory. Immediately, the fight between pro-slavery advocates and abolitionists began as settlers from both sides rushed into Kansas in an attempt to establish the state with their own politics. Some of the first in Atchison County were a party from Iatan, Missouri, who took claims in the vicinity of Oak Mills in June 1854. The following month, a larger group of settlers and those who would become the founders of the county flooded into what would become Atchison. Settlements soon sprang up all over the county, but, like other new territories, only the strongest would survive to the present time. Some of these old extinct towns would be very difficult to find, but for the many signs posted by the Future Farmer’s of America years ago. Though the signs placed by students of long ago are very helpful in determining the sites of these “lost” settlements, they haven’t been maintained over the years and are sometimes unreadable.
More Extinct Towns:
| Town | Post Office Dates | Additional Information |
| Brownlee | 1885-1887 | |
| Burnside | 1857-1858 | |
| Cow Island | N/A | Also called Isle au Vache, this was an Island in the Mississippi River where once stood Cantonment Martin.
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| Dalbey | N/A | |
| Eden | 1858-1900 | Located in the northern portion of the county on Independence Creek, it was about five miles east of Huron. The post office was located on various farms in the area. The post office was discontinued upon the establishment of free rural delivery service in 1900. In 1910 the population was 20. |
| Hawthorne | 1891-1900 | |
| High Bridge | 1888-1900 | A hamlet in the southeastern part of Atchison County, it was located about 10 miles south of Atchison.
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| Invermay | 1882-1897 | |
| Locust Grove | 1862-1887 | The post office moved from Mount Pleasant.
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| Noll | 1899-1900 | A small situated on the Missouri River about five miles below Atchison.
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| Ocena, aka: Oceana | 1855-1858 | The post office moved to Pardee in August 1858.
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| Parnell | 1883-1923 | Situated on both the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad and the Missouri Pacific Railroad, the town was platted in December 1883. The station was named for a hero of the Civil War, James L. Parnell, a private soldier in the Thirteenth Kansas volunteer infantry, who was killed during the skirmish at Haare Head, Arkansas on August 4, 1864. Parnell was the original settler on the townsite and was one of the first citizens of Atchison County to respond under President Abraham Lincoln’s call of July 1862. It was located seven miles southwest of Atchison. In 1910, it had only a population of 12. |
| Plum Grove | 1862-1868 | The post office moved to Oak Mills in January 1868.
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| Port William | 1856-1860 | Located in Walnut Township, the settlement was situated on the Missouri Pacific Railroad.
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| Saint Nicholas | 1859-1863, 1868-1873 | The post office moved to Cummingsville in December 1873.
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| Shannon | 1882-1941 | A small village located on the Missouri Pacific Railroad about nine miles west of Atchison on the Parallel Road. It was platted by G. W. Sutliff in February 1883. It had a population of 50, one store building, in which the post office was located, a few residences, a railroad station, and a small elevator in 1910. |
| Spencer | 1860-1867 | |
| Todd | 1897-1900 |
Compiled by Kathy Weiser/Legends of Kansas, updated July 2020.
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