Labette County, Kansas Farmers.
More Extinct Towns:
| Town | Post Office Dates | Additional Information |
| Angola | 1887-1971 |
 Old Methodist Church in Angola, Kansas. Located in the Canadian Township of Labette County, Angola, was laid out in 1886 by promoters C.H. Kimball and Lee Clark. The post office moved from Arnold when it opened on January 31, 1887. In 1910, it was on the Missouri Pacific Railroad, had telegraph and express offices, a money order post office, and a population of 100. The Missouri-Kansas & Texas Railroad served the community for many years. However, flooding on the Verdigris River washed out the railroad bridge in the 1970s, and rail traffic was after that rerouted, no longer passing through Angola. Its post office was discontinued on September 16, 1971.  Old Angola school. The old Methodist Church and an old school still stand in the community. Today, Angola is served by Labette County USD 506 public school district headquartered in Altamont. It is 23 miles southwest of Oswego, the county seat. |
| Arnold | 1881-1887 | Arnold was a country post office in Labette County. The post office moved to Angola when it closed. |
| Barton | 1877-1886 | A station on the Parsons & Pacific Railway located on the northeast quarter of section 27, township 33, range 18. The station was also called Penfield. |
| Big Hill | 1868-1871 | Joseph McCormick, David Stanfield, John A. Helpingstine, Thomas Harrison, and Jesse Bishop incorporated a town company on February 22, 1870, to lay off the town of Big Hill. It was a St. Louis and San Francisco Railroad station in Mound Valley Township. |
| Cecil | 1881-1904 | Cecil was a country post office in Labette County. In 1869, Mr. Head put in a small stock of general merchandise, which he continued to sell until the fall of 1870, when it was closed. Allen McNeal established a blacksmith shop in 1871. George Burge opened a store in 1881. From 1885 to 1887, C.W. Fowler had a store connected with the post office. At this point, the Methodists had a church and cemetery. |
| Clymore | 1869-1872 | |
| Creswell | 1870-1871 | |
| Crouse | 1880-1885 | Crouse was a country post office about nine miles southeast of Oswego. D.W. Crouse was the postmaster. |
| Daytonville | 1870-1871 | With the town of Labette having been started in the southeastern part of Liberty Township, some thought that a more desirable location for a town would be farther up Labette Creek. In May 1870, J.F. Newlon, E.K. Currant, Peterson Cherry, and W.H. Porter formed a townsite company and chose a site on the west bank of Labette Creek, below the mouth of Bachelor Creek. A few houses were erected on the townsite, and William H. and John I. Sipple erected a building and opened a store. E.K. Currant built another building and opened a branch of his main store in Montana. There were two or three other business houses. In November 1871, most of the buildings were moved to Parsons. |
| Deerton | 1881-1886 | Named from the abundance of deer in the vicinity, the Willie brothers located this community on the line between Howard and Canada Townships. Soon after, Aaron Humes was appointed postmaster and opened the first store in 1880. Charles M. Keeler followed with another store of general merchandise. Blacksmith shops, a woodworker, and a broom factory were among the industries of this town. The town was moved to Valeda after the railroad was completed through Howard Township in the fall of 1886. The post office moved to Valeda when it closed. |
| Dora | 1869-1886 | Dora was a country post office, with W.H. Goodwin serving as the first master. In the early 1880s, it was on the tri-weekly stage line between Coffeyville and Chetopa, from which the mail was delivered to F.W. Noblett, the postmaster. At that time, it had a Congregational Church. It was 27 miles southwest of Oswego. |
| Elm City | 1886-1907 | Elm City was located on the Missouri Pacific Railroad in Elm Grove Township. Jesse A. Edmundson founded the town after the railroad was built in 1886. The town plat was acknowledged on July 21, 1886. J.F. Shields and J.A. Edmundson erected the first building on the town site, which was occupied by Wilson & Vanbibber and had a stock of general merchandise. Brown & Waugh and Smith & Edmundson soon followed with stocks of notions and groceries; Henry Robinett and N. L. Addis opened blacksmith shops; D. Wilson sold furniture. In 1892, the Christian Church erected a neat-frame building. Before long, a large amount of grain was shipped from this point, and dealers did good business in most of the merchandise lines. In 1900, the railroad discontinued its station. In 1910, it was a grain shipping point with a population of 77. It was 13 miles southwest of Oswego, the county seat, and about two miles east of Edna, where it received its daily mail. |
| Elston | None | On September 8, 1869, a charter was filed incorporating John Elston, John T. Weaver, and others into the Elston Town Company to lay off a town. During that summer, this town experienced quite a growth. The parties composing this company were men of some means who came from Johnson County and wanted to build a town nearer the center of the county than any other town had then been located to make it the county seat. They erected a large hotel and several store buildings and, for a time, had considerable trade. The town seemed to be on the road to prosperity, but its growth was short, and in a few years, not a single building remained to mark the site of this once ambitious place. |
| Fishkill | 1878-1879 | Fishkill was a Memphis, Kansas & Colorado Railroad station in Neosho Township. |
| Gorham | 1875-1878 | |
| Grant | 1876 | The post office was only open for about seven months. |
| Hackberry | 1875-1876 | |
| Idenbro | 1887-1901 | Idenbro was a Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railroad station in Labette Township. It was named for Thomas T. Iden, postmaster. In 1910, its population was 104, and it received its mail from Parsons. It was five miles southwest of Parsons and 15 miles northwest of Oswego, the county seat. |
| Iuka | 1866-1869 | |
| Kingston | 1878-1886 | Kingston was established in the summer of 1877 by the erection of a flour mill by Eastwood & Reamer. Soon after, Mr. Jones started a blacksmith shop; Thomas Bruner put in a drug store; Aaron Humes a broom factory; Anderson & Weaver a general merchandise store; C.W. Campbell was postmaster and physician; S.E. Ball was the only lawyer. In 1879, the engine was sold out of the mill and was not put in again. The place continued to be more or less prosperous until the construction of the railroad through the southern portion of the county in 1886 when it was abandoned and united with Edna. |
| Lake Creek | 1870-1872 | |
| Laneville | 1884-1920 | Laneville, a country post office in Labette County, was on the St. Louis & San Francisco Railroad in Neosho Township. It was located after the railroad was built. In 1910, its population was 20, and it had one store. It was 12 miles north of Oswego, the county seat. |
| Mathewson-Strauss | 1878-1914 |
 Strauss Depot in Mathewson, Kansas, 1959. The plat for Mathewson, on the Neosho River, was made in 1879. William Downs erected a building in which he lived and kept a store and the post office. The railroad’s name was Strauss. The next store building was built by G.W. Watson and C. Hamilton, who put in a fair stock of goods and did a good business until McCune was started. Then, they moved to that town, leaving only one storehouse in Matthewson. In the early 1880s, it was on the Memphis, Kansas & Colorado Railroad. In 1910, it was on the St. Louis & San Francisco Railroad and had a population of 25. It was 12 miles north of Oswego, the county seat, and ten miles east of Parsons. |
| Minerva | 1874-1892 | |
| Montana | 1866-1918 | Montana, Kansas, is an extinct town in Montana Township of Labette County. In January 1866, a town company founded the town of Montana, and S.S. Watson, the town company’s president, proved the first claim. |
| Mortimer | 1883-1902 1906-1907 |
Mortimer was platted by Emanuel Mortimer in 1883. It was a St. Louis & San Francisco Railroad station in Osage Township of Labette County. It was located 23 miles northwest of Oswego, the county seat, and about 12 miles west of Parsons, from which place it received daily mail after its post office closed. |
| Neola | 1868-1870 | Gilbert Martin, John N. Watson, David C. Lowe, Julius S. Waters, Charles A. Kelso, Benjamin A. Rice, and others were incorporated to lay off the town. The charter was filed in the office of the Secretary of State on December 24, 1867. The town never had much more than one store and a blacksmith shop. The post office moved to Labette when it closed. |
| Ripon | 1870-1884 1886-1891 |
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| Snow Hill | 1876-1884 | Snow Hill was a post office in Howard Township, in the southwest corner of the county, established in 1877. |
| Stevens | None | The charter of Stevens was filed on February 23, 1874, incorporating Alfred Large, Jonas Clark, L.M. Bedell, and others with authority to locate a town. The plat was filed in March 1874. The community was incorporated as part of the city of Chetopa afterward. |
| Stover-Debolt | 1883-1895 |
 Stover Railroad Sign. The city’s name changed from Stover to Debolt on July 16, 1884, and then back to Stover on January 28, 1886. It was a station on the St. Louis and San Francisco Railroad. J.N. Santee owned a store, a blacksmith shop by G. W. Brock, and H.M. Debolt ran a sawmill and was engaged in the grain business. |
| Sylvan Dale | 1876-1892 | Sylvan Dale was located in the north part of the county, 12 miles west of Parsons, on Big Hill Creek. It once had a Methodist, an Evangelical, and an Episcopal Church. |
| Timber Hill | 1869-1879 | A company consisting of Alexander W. King, Mahlon A. King, J.H. Beatty, and others was incorporated on April 12, 1869, to lay off the town of Timber Hill in the southeastern part of Osage Township. In about the middle of September 1869, George W. Blake and William Blake opened a store and continued to sell goods until the spring of 1871, when they closed and moved to their farms. |
| Trenton | 1872-1875 | |
| Valeda | 1886-1968 | In December 1875, School District #51 was formed, and the first schoolhouse was an old store building bought and moved from Parker. In 1886, this building was sold, the district’s boundary was changed, and the schoolhouse site was changed and placed at Valeda, which had just been started. The Excelsior Town and Mining Company owned the site. The plat was filed in 1886. The first building was a merchandise store erected by Stone & Willie. Dr. Kenworth opened the first drugstore. A new schoolhouse was erected in 1886. The same year, the post office was moved from Deerton and opened in Valeda on September 3, 1886. In 1910, Valeda was located on the Missouri Pacific Railroad in Howard Township. There was a money order post office with one rural route, an express office, and a population of 100. It was 29 miles southwest of Oswego. |
| Wilsonton | 1887-1914 | Located on the Parsons & Pacific Railway line, Wilsonton was in Labette Township. It was surveyed in August 1887, and Samuel Jameston started the first store in the spring of 1888. Mrs. Ella B. Wilson was the town’s proprietor and devoted much energy to its development and upbuilding. The distribution of the Wilsonton Journal provided its principal advertising. In 1910, Wilsonton was a station on the Missouri Pacific Railroad, had a post office, some local trade, and a population of 20. It was about midway between Mound Valley and Parsons and about 15 miles northwest of Oswego, the county seat. |
©Kathy Alexander/Legends of Kansas, December 2024.
Also See:
Sources:
Blackmar, Frank W.; Kansas: A Cyclopedia of State History, Vol I; Standard Publishing Company, Chicago, IL 1912.
Case, Nelson; History of Labette County, Kansas, Biographical Publishing Co., Chicago, Ill. 1901.
Cutler, William G; History of Kansas; A. T. Andreas, Chicago, IL, 1883.
Kansas Post Office History