Finney County, Kansas Map by L.H. Everts & Co., 1887.
Known by three different names in its early history, Loyal, Kansas, in Finney County, was first called Pattenville. A post office was established in old Buffalo County on March 1, 1880, with Adam S. Van Patten as the appointed postmaster.
The post office’s name was changed to Pansy on November 28, 1881, with David Goddard as postmaster.
The name of the office was changed to Loyal on March 3, 1882, with Martha Hoadley as postmistress. After July 6 of that year, the mail route from Garden City increased its trips to twice weekly.
Loyal was a popular trading point and community center for several years. It was a typical village of pioneer days, with a general store, a blacksmith shop, and a schoolhouse, which was also used for church and social gatherings. The Garfield County Journal began in Loyal on July 1, 1887, and lived until 1889. The newspaper boosted the upper Pawnee Valley that abounded in water, good soil, grasses, and building materials.
The post office was discontinued on September 15, 1899. Nothing of the old town remains today.
Also See:
Extinct Towns of Finney County
Sources:
Blanchard, Leola Howard; The Conquest of Southwest Kansas, Wichita Eagle Press, 1931.
Larson, Sara C.; The Lost Towns of Finney County, Transactions of the Kansas Academy of Science, Vol. 66, No. 3, Autumn, 1963.
Finney County by the Kansas Historical Society, 1950