Milan, Kansas – Ghostly in Sumner County

Milan, Kansas, in Sumner County, is a tiny ghost town on the Chikaskia River. As of the 2020 census, its population was 56, and its total area was 0.13 square miles, all land. The town is also extinct, as it no longer has a post office.

Located in the western central part of the county in Ryan Township, a post office was established on February 15, 1875, in a little stone house three-quarters of a mile southwest of the present town. It was named after Milan in Italy.

The town was built mainly in 1879 in anticipation of the arrival of the Kansas City, Lawrence & Southern Kansas Railroad. Its first building was the general store of W.R. Moffit, the second was the grocery store of C.A. Pitts, and the third was a saloon. In addition to these buildings, J.R. Ward’s grocery store and Dr. William Cummings’s drug store were erected. Dr. William Cummings was the first physician, R.C. Lowery the first blacksmith, and M. Harper the first liveryman.

Before the town was laid out, there was a district school one mile west known as Haytop. The school was moved to town in 1879, and before long, a new building was erected. Mrs. Merrill taught the first term. The same year, the Methodist Church was organized in 1879 by Reverend John Harper.

In the spring of 1880, the post office was moved to the town and located in I.D. Moffit’s store and Moffit was appointed as postmaster.

Milan was laid out in the fall of 1880. The 40-acre townsite comprised land belonging to J.L. Pitts, Roland Hankins, and Fred Robson. It was surveyed that year when the Kansas City, Lawrence & Southern Kansas Railroad reached this point.

That year, Milan had a saloon, a doctor, blacksmiths and wagonmakers, a feed stable, a saloon, a livery, a general store, a dry goods and grocery store, a physician, and a justice of the peace. Stages rant to Wellington and Anthony, and mail was delivered five times a week. Wellington was its usual shipping point and location of the nearest bank.

The Christian Church was established in March 1881, with a membership of 23.

The Sumner County Coal Company was formed on December 3, 1881, to bore for coal near Milan. Its capital was $20,000, divided into shares of $10 each. Work began early in 1883, and boring continued until a greater depth than any yet reached in this section was attained.

The post office became a money order office on August 7, 1882, and L. K. High built the first hotel in the fall of 1882. At that time, Milan also had three general stores, a hardware store, a drug store, a millinery store, a lumber and coal yard, a shoe shop, three doctors, two blacksmiths, two livery stables, and a population of 100. N. Leach was the teacher at the school, with an enrollment of 62.

The Methodist Church building, measuring 28 by 45 feet, began construction in December 1882 and was completed in 1883 for $1,400. The church membership was 38, and meetings were held every second Sabbath.

The Union Sabbath School had an average attendance of 50 and was in charge of Reverend I.N. Moffit.

On April 9, 1883, J.D. Carter and Mortimer H Carter of the firm Carter Brothers opened a bank.

Milan’s population peaked at 240 in 1910. At that time, the town was located on the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad. It had a bank, a mill, a grain elevator, several good retail stores, telegraph and express offices, and a money order post office with two rural routes.

In the following decades, the population gradually fell. Milan’s High School was closed through school unification in 1959. By the 1970s and 1980s, Milan Grocery was open sporadically, and Opal’s Cafe was open for business in the 1980s.

The post office closed on November 29, 2011. It was the last open business in the small town.

The community is served by the Argonia USD 359 public school district.

Today, Milan still has numerous homes, an old church, named roads, and the Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railroad still runs through the north section of the village. However, its old businesses, the school, and sidewalks are fading.

Milan is 15 miles west of Wellington, Kansas, on U.S. Highway 160 and south onto Milan Road.

©Kathy Alexander/Legends of Kansas, updated July 2024.

Also See:

Every Place in Kansas

Kansas Ghost Towns

Sumner County Extinct Towns

Sumner County, Kansas

Sources:

1880-1881 Kansas State Gazetteer and Business Directory
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.
Wikipedia