Dwight, Kansas Main Street by Kathy Alexander.
Dwight, Kansas, is a small town in Morris County. As of the 2020 census, the city’s population was 217, and its total area was 0.37 square miles, all land.
Vintage Dwight, Kansas.
Dwight got its start when the Chicago, Kansas & Nebraska Railroad decided to extend the Rock Island System west from Topeka in 1887.
At that time, developers purchased land and platted the town of Dwight, which was named for Dwight Rathbone, who donated land for the Methodist Episcopal Church. The community was settled when the railroad was built, and a post office was established in March 1887. The Chicago, Kansas, & Nebraska Railway was foreclosed in 1891 and taken over by Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railway.
By the turn of the century, Dwight had developed into a trading and shipping point in the northeastern part of Morris County.
Dwight was incorporated as a city of the third class in 1905.
An old bank building in Dwight, Kansas, by Kathy Alexander.
In 1910, Dwight had a bank, a money order post office with two rural routes, express, telegraph, and telephone service, Christian, Methodist, Episcopal, and Presbyterian churches, good public schools, and was the principal trading and shipping point in the northeastern part of the county. At that time, it had a population of 298.
Dwight schools were closed through school unification. The Dwight Rockets won the Kansas State High School boys’ class BB basketball championship in 1966 and 1967. The community is now served by the Morris County USD 417 public school district, headquartered in Council Grove.
The Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railway shut down in 1980 and was reorganized as the Oklahoma, Kansas, and Texas Railroad. It merged with the Missouri Pacific Railroad in 1988.
Hot Iron Bar in Dwight, Kansas by Kathy Alexander.
The town’s population peaked at 365 in 1990.
The Missouri Pacific merged with the Union Pacific Railroad in 1997. Today, the Union Pacific Railroad continues to operate through the community.
The Swartz School Museum, which once stood about 2.5 miles southwest of town, is now located on Main Street.
Dwight is located about 17 miles northwest of Council Grove.
Swartz School Museum in Dwight, Kansas by Kathy Weiser-Alexander.
©Kathy Alexander/Legends of Kansas, updated May 2025.
Also See:
Extinct Towns of Morris County
Santa Fe Trail Through Morris County
Sources:
Blackmar, Frank W.; Kansas: A Cyclopedia of State History, Vol I; Standard Publishing Company, Chicago, IL 1912.
Dwight, Kansas
Wikipedia