Herndon, Kansas Main Street by Kathy Alexander.
Herndon, Kansas, is a small town in Herndon Township, in northeast Rawlins County. As of the 2020 census, its population was 119, and it had a total area of 0.26 square miles, all of which is land.
The Lorenz Demmer family came from Smith Center, Kansas, to claim a homestead in Herndon Township in May 1876. In the spring of 1877, the Mathais Hafner family became the first of many Austrian immigrants to settle in the area.
Herndon was initially called Pesth (named after Pest, Hungary, which later merged to form Budapest) and was laid out under that name in 1878. In the fall of 1879, I.N. George, a pioneer merchant, set up a general store called “George Bros”. A post office was established on October 22, 1879, with Lorenz Demmer serving as the first postmaster. By that time, several businesses had set up shop in the fledgling town, including a drug store, two general stores, and a weekly newspaper.
A year later, the town’s name was changed to Herndon on October 18, 1880, and I.N. George became the second postmaster. He was an admirer of President Abraham Lincoln, and he wanted to name the town Lincoln, but there was already another town with that name in Kansas. So, he chose to name it after Billy Herndon, Lincoln’s law partner.
Vintage Herndon, Kansas Main Street.
A lot of people who settled in Herndon were Austrian-Hungarian immigrants who wanted independence and a homestead of their own.
Herndon, Kansas, Railroad.
The Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad came through in November 1887, and shortly thereafter, a building boom took place.
By the early 1900s, Herndon was a good trading point, and a great deal of business was transacted there. The Catholic Church maintained a church, as well as a sisters’ school, the only one that far out in the northwest. The church was first built in the country, but was afterward moved to town. The work of the church, together with the missions of Rawlins and Cheyenne Counties, was in charge of the Reverend J.B. Glynn, who resided in Atwood. The church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, at Herndon, was a prosperous Catholic congregation. It had a membership of 90 families, or approximately 500 people. Three-fourths of its parishioners were Germans, and the remainder English and Bohemians. The only Sisters school in Northwest Kansas was maintained in connection with this church. Initially, the church was located in the country, but the building was later moved to town. The pastor was Reverend J.B. Glynn of Atwood, who had a number of other missions. From 1892 to 1902, the congregation maintained a resident priest, who also oversaw various missions in Rawlins and Cheyenne Counties.
St. Mary’s Assumption Catholic Church in Herndon, Kansas by Kathy Alexander.
The town’s number of businesses grew, but on December 23, 1905, there was a massive fire, thought to have started by arson, that damaged most of the buildings. Businesses were rebuilt in 1906, and new businesses were started throughout that year.
Herndon was incorporated as a city in 1906.
In 1910, Herndon was a station on the Orleans & St. Francis division of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad, serving as a shipping point of considerable importance. At that time, it had a bank, a money order post office with three rural routes, a weekly newspaper called the Nonpareil, a telegraph, telephone, and express facilities, Catholic and Protestant churches, a flour mill, a hotel, several general stores and implement houses, and a population of 273.
Herndon’s population peaked at 443 in 1940.
The Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad was sold to the Nebraska-Kansas-Colorado Railroad in 1996.
Herndon schools were closed in 2004 through school unification. The Herndon High School mascot was the Herndon Beavers.
Old rural high school in Herndon, Kansas by Kathy Alexander.
Today, the community is served by Rawlins County USD 105 public school district in Atwood, which was formed in 2003 through the consolidation of Herndon USD 317 and Atwood USD 318.
Herdon is located in the Beaver Creek Valley, one of the richest farming sections in the county, approximately 12.5 miles south of the Kansas-Nebraska state border and 15 miles northwest of Atwood, the county seat.
©Kathy Alexander/Legends of Kansas, September 2025.
Also See:
An old business building in Herndon, Kansas, by Kathy Alexander.
Sources:
Blackmar, Frank W.; Kansas: A Cyclopedia of State History, Vol I; Standard Publishing
Fort Hays State University
Herndon, Kansas Facebook
The Topeka Daily Capitol, Topeka, Kansas, October 19, 1902
Wikipedia