Main Street Buildings in Milan, Kansas, by Kathy Alexander.
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.
Kansas City, Lawrence, and Southern Kansas Railroad Timetable.
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, J.R. Ward’s grocery store and Dr. William Cummings’s drug store were built. 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, a district school one mile west was known as Haytop. The school moved to town in 1879, and soon a new building was erected. Mrs. Merrill taught the first term. That same year, Reverend John Harper organized the Methodist Church.
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. Stagecoach lines ran to Wellington and Anthony, and mail was delivered five times a week. Wellington was the usual shipping point and the nearest bank.
Christian Church in Milan, Kansas.
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 $10 shares. Work began early in 1883, and boring continued until it reached a greater depth than any previously reached in this section.
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 taught at the school, which enrolled 62 students.
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 averaged 50 attendees and was led by Reverend I.N. Moffit.
On April 9, 1883, J.D. Carter and Mortimer H. Carter of the firm Carter Brothers opened a bank.
Main Street in Milan, Kansas, 1908.
Milan’s population peaked at 240 in 1910. At the time, the town sat 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 High School closed with school unification in 1959. By the 1970s and 1980s, Milan Grocery was open sporadically, and Opal’s Cafe opened in the 1980s.
Old school in Milan, Kansas, by Kathy Alexander.
Old church in Milan, Kansas, by Kathy Alexander.
The post office closed on November 29, 2011. It was the last open business in the small town.
The Argonia USD 359 public school district serves the community.
Today, Milan still has numerous homes, an old church, named roads, and the Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railroad still runs through the village’s North section. However, its old businesses, the school, and sidewalks are fading.
The old city park in Milan, Kansas. Photo by Kathy Alexander.
Milan is 15 miles West of Wellington, Kansas, on U.S. Highway 160 and South onto Milan Road.
©Kathy Alexander/Legends of Kansas, updated September 2026.
Also See:
Ryan Township Building in Milan, Kansas, by Kathy Alexander.
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
Old tank in Mylan, Kansas, by Kathy Alexander.
Old garage in Milan, Kansas, by Kathy Alexander.