Early day Hamlin, Kansas Main Street.
| Town | Post Office Dates | Additional Information |
| Arnold | 1897-1898 | |
| Baker | 1882-1933 | In June 1882, Baker was established by the Missouri Pacific Railroad. It was named for the Baker family, the original owners of the town site. It was located eight miles south of Hiawatha. |
| Buncomb | 1870-1871 | The post office moved to Saint Francis. |
| Carson/Sawin’s Store | 1857-1898 | D. McFarland and others laid out the town in 1856. In 1857, the name changed from Sawin’s Store to Carson. Carson was the first post office established in Walnut Township, and M.L. Swain was the first postmaster. In 1885, the post office was located in a farmhouse. At that time, Hiawatha was the nearest railroad point and bank location, from which a stagecoach delivered tri-weekly mail. Livestock and produce were shipped, and Evangelical and Congregational churches and a district school were nearby. It was six miles west of Hiawatha. |
| Claytonville | 1857-1882 | Claytonville was laid out in November 1856 by George E. Clayton and others on a townsite of 320 acres. It soon had 15 families and a store established by G. E. Clayton in August 1857. However, no city officers were elected. It was briefly the county seat. By the early 1880s, the town site had become farmland. |
| Cleo | 1885-1897 | |
| Comet | 1881-1894 | The post office moved from Discord. In 1885, its mail was delivered semi-weekly to W E. Sawyer, the postmaster. At that time it had a blacksmith, a general store, a physician, and a population of 50. It sipped livestock and grain from Netawaka, its nearest shipping point. It was 18 miles southwest of Hiawatha, the county seat, and nine miles north of Netawaka. |
| Coss | 1885-1887 | |
| Discord | 1874-1881 | The post office moved to Comet. |
| Emmett | 1881-1882 | |
| Eyerton | 1881-1882 | The post office moved to Everest when it closed. |
| Frinkville | 1878-1883 | |
| Grand Prairie | 1870-1888 | |
| Hamlin | 1857-1973 | The original site of Hamlin was two and a half miles south of its current location. As of the 2020 census, its population was about 35. There are still a few scattered homes and buildings in the area. |
| Jonesville | 1879-1885 | |
| Mannville | 1871-1876 | |
| Marak | 1870-1882 | Francis Marak, Sr., the senior member of the Marak & Sons mercantile, started their first store at the Marak post office in Washington Township in January 1874, where they continued the business until July 1882, when their father sold out. Afterward, the Marak Brothers moved to Everest and started a new mercantile. |
| Mercier/Germantown | 1897-1972 | Germantown, in Mission Township, was a station on the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad. In 1910, it had a money order post office, was the trading point for the surrounding country, and had a population of 50. The name changed from Germantown to Mercier on July 22, 1918. It was ten miles southwest of Hiawatha. |
| Mission Centre | 1877-1882 | The post office moved to Willis. |
| Mount Roy | 1857-1858 1871-1882 |
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| Nohart | 1859-1860 | The post office moved to Nebraska. |
| Padonia | 1857-1933 | An extinct town in Padonia Township. Amazingly, this tiny place that has been extinct for so long still has grain silos, a couple of buildings, and a few area homes. It is located five miles north of Hiawatha. |
| Pierce Junction | 1888-1914 | A station at the junction of the Missouri Pacific and Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroads in the southeast corner of the county, it was located 15 miles from Hiawatha. It has telegraph and express offices and a post office. The population in 1910 was 26 |
| Pony Creek | 1858-1861 | |
| Randall | 1864 | The post office order of change was rescinded. The post office was open for less than two weeks. |
| Reserve | 1882-1983 | Reserve got its start as a station on the Missouri Pacific Railroad. It was named for its location on a former Sac & Fox Indian reservation. A post office was established on October 5, 1882. In 1910, it was still located on the Missouri Pacific Railroad. At that time, it had a bank, two churches, several well-stocked retail stores, telegraph and express offices, a money order post office with one rural route, and a population of 270. In the following decades, the population gradually dropped, and the post office closed on March 8, 1883. As of 2020, it has a population of about 80, and it is the headquarters of the Sac and Fox Nation of Missouri in Kansas and Nebraska. It is about ten miles north of Hiawatha and a mile and a half south of the Nebraska-Kansas border. |
| Saint Francis | 1871-1872 | The post office moved from Buncomb. |
| Springs | 1896-1902 | In 1910, Springs had a hotel and a general store and received its mail by rural delivery from Sabetha, the nearest shipping point. At that time, it had a population of 20. It was located about 12 miles northwest of Hiawatha. |
| Tyler’s | 1864-1878 | Named for John S. Tyler, postmaster. Tyler was a member of the Albany Colony from New York in 1857. It is located at the crossing of Grasshopper Creek, two miles west of Fairview. |
| Ununda | 1864-1871 | |
| Willis | 1882-1960 | Willis, Kansas, is a ghost town in Mission Township of Brown County. Though it showed much promise in its early days, it is a shell of its former self today. |
©Kathy Alexander/Legends of Kansas, updated October 2024
Also See:
Sources:
1884-1885 Official Kansas State Gazetteer and Directory, R. L. Polk & Co., Detroit, MI
Blackmar, Frank W.; Kansas: A Cyclopedia of State History, Vol I; Standard Publishing Company, Chicago, IL 1912.
Connelley, William E.; A Standard History of Kansas and Kansans, Lewis, Chicago, 1918.
Cutler, William G; History of Kansas; A. T. Andreas, Chicago, IL, 1883.
Kansas Post Office History