Business buildings in Hepler, Kansas, courtesy of Google Maps.
Hepler, Kansas, is a tiny town in Walnut Township in the northwest part of Crawford County. As of the 2020 census, the city’s population was 90, and its total area was 0.77 square miles, of which 0.76 square miles is land and 0.01 square miles is water.
The first settler here was John Vietz. A town company was formed in January 1871, composed of B.F. Hepler, of Fort Scott, President; T.H. Annable, Secretary; George A. Crawford, Treasurer. The first Board of Trustees was B. F. Hepler, Annable, S. Pratel, E.C. Hays, and A. Pratel. The town was named after its founder, B.F. Hepler, president of the company that laid out the town.
Railroad depot in Hepler, Kansas.
Located on the Missouri, Kansas, $ Texas Railway, it was a trading point for the northwest part of Crawford County and the southwest part of Bourbon County and a shipping port for cattle, grain, and farm products. The good quality of the soil surrounding the town for miles in every direction made this an excellent place for handling produce. Here, butter, eggs, and poultry found a ready market and were shipped to other points.
J.N. Strawn started a general country store but sold out in a short time to John Vietz, who filled it with general merchandise.
A post office was established on June 2, 1871, with J.N. Strawn serving as the first postmaster.
Among those who settled here in 1871-72 were the following: J.N. Strawn, Sebo Vietz, Thomas Sparks, Dennis Moran, and Isaac Stevens.
A comfortable school building was erected in 1873, and Mr. William G. Little was employed to teach the first school.
Attkisson store in Hepler, Kansas.
By 1874, John Vietz’s business had so increased that another large adjoining room was built. Here, nearly every kind of merchandise could be found.
Reverend A. Jackson preached the first sermon in 1875.
The Methodist Episcopal Church society erected a church on Main Street in 1880, costing about $2,500, and the Christian denomination built a church in 1882, costing $2,000.
William D. Wright started The Hepler Leader, a seven-column folio weekly paper, on January 4, 1883.
Hepler was incorporated on April 11, 1887.
In 1910, Hepler was still a station and shipping point on the Missouri, Kansas, and Texas Railroad. At that time, it had telegraph and express facilities, telephone connections, hotels, a bank, churches, good public schools, several good mercantile houses, a money order post office with two rural routes, and the Enterprise weekly newspaper. Its population peaked that year at 276.
Main Street in Hepler, Kansas, 1908.
An old business building in Hepler, Kansas by Kathy Alexander.
In the following decades, the community’s population gradually fell.
Today, the community’s rich agricultural traditions still surround it, but the schools, stores, and restaurants have closed.
Each year, during the 4th of July holiday, the small town experiences a significant population boom for two nights during the annual Hepler Ruritan Club Rodeo. For nearly fifty years, one of the most unique and entertaining events in the region, Hepler residents have banded together to put on a grand celebration complete with two nights of rodeo, live music, a downtown parade, and fireworks.
The community is served by School District 248, headquartered in Girard, Kansas.
Hepler is about 15 miles northwest of Girard, the county seat, and nine miles northeast of Walnut.
A church in Hepler, Kansas by Kathy Alexander.
©Kathy Alexander/Legends of Kansas, April 2025.
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.
Explore Crawford County
Hepler Facebook
Home Authors; A Twentieth Century History and Biographical Record of Crawford County, KS, Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago, IL, 1905
Wikipedia
Business building in Hepler, Kansas by Kathy Alexander.