Farlington, Kansas Townsite by L. H. Everts & Co., 1887.
Farlington, Kansas, is a small town in Sherman Township of Crawford County. The population was 68 at the 2020 census. It is also an extinct town, as its post office is long closed.
Farlington was laid out with the building of the Kansas City, Fort Scott, & Gulf Railroad in 1869. The townsite was very attractive as the railroad company planted a grove of several hundred acres of catalpa trees on the hill west of the town. The railroad also formed a large artificial lake by the grade of the railroad across a rocky ravine. Swan Lake covered about 100 acres and supplied water for railroad purposes and stock water, and it abounds with excellent fish.
A post office was established on July 14, 1870, with Eugene D. Farley as the first postmaster.
Railroad depot in Farlington, Kansas.
By the early 1880s, the town had several substantial business houses, a good schoolhouse, and a Baptist Church organization, which erected an elegant church edifice near the depot in 1882. There was also a wagon shop and a blacksmith shop, and the town was a considerable shipping point for coal, which was mined in the vicinity.
By the early 1900s, Farlington was situated on the St. Louis and San Francisco Railroad. At that time, it was a good trading point with good schools, churches, a post office, and other business places. By this time, the grove of catalpa trees had grown into a magnificent forest, from which large quantities of excellent timber was cut for railroad ties, fence posts, etc. Here also is a large artificial lake, formed by the grade of the railroad across a rocky ravine. The lake covers about one hundred acres, and supplies water for railroad purposes and stock water, and abounds with excellent fish.”
Farlington, Kansas Town Hall, courtesy Google Maps.
In 1910, it had a money order post office with one rural route, telegraph and express service, some good general stores, Christian and Methodist churches, and a population of 211.
In the following decades, its population declined, and its post office closed permanently on January 8, 2018.
Though its schools and businesses are long gone, Farlington still has an active Methodist Church and numerous homes, and the railroad still operates through the community. Its early-day Swan Lake is mostly dried up. However, Crawford Lake and State Park are just a few miles to the north.
Farlington is located near K-7, eight miles north of Girard.
©Kathy Alexander/Legends of Kansas, updated April 2025.
Methodist Church in Farlilngton, Kansas, courtesy of Google Maps.
Also See:
Extinct Towns of Crawford County
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.
Home Authors; A Twentieth Century History and Biographical Record of Crawford County, KS, Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago, IL, 1905.
Wikipedia