Farm scene in Ness County, Kansas.
| Town | Post Office Dates | Additional Information |
| Alicuri | 1879-1882 | |
| Ashland | 1875-1883 | |
| Bedrock | 1880-1882 | |
| Bonnie Doon | 1880-1887 | |
| Bright | 1879-1880 | |
| Buda-Newby | 1879-1895 | The town’s name changed from Newby to Buda on March 3, 1882. |
| Challacombe | 1880-1897 | William B. Challacombe began this place, where he kept 100 acres in feed crops and carried 130 head of high-grade short-horns and 15 horses. He came here in 1878 from the paying-tellers desk of a prominent Leavenworth, Kansas bank, and surrounded by a refined, cultivated family, pursued the even tenor of a stockman’s life on one of the finest ranches in Ness County. Challacombe was a station on the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad. It was eight miles west of Ness City, |
| Clarinda | 1878-1882 | N.C. Merrill established the town of Clarinda. The community was located on the northeast quarter of Section 24, Town 18, Range 24. It was surveyed on March 25, 1879, by Thomas R. Peck, the surveyor of Trego County. Clarinda had a newspaper called the Pioneer. The town also had a general store, a hardware store, a doctor’s office, a drugstore, and a hotel. However, it soon became evident that there was no water. Later, the town was literally demolished in a windstorm. |
| Cold Springs | 1879-1884 | |
| Cowboy | 1884-1889 | |
| Danby | 1880-1905 | Danby was a rural hamlet about ten miles northeast of Ness City, the county seat, and seven miles south of Brownell, the nearest railroad station, from which its mail was received by rural delivery after its post office closed. |
| Drake | 1880-1890 | |
| Dryden | 1880-1882 | |
| Fairplay | 1884-1887 | |
| Forrester | 1879-1894 | |
| Francis | 1879-1915 | Francis, in Highpoint Township, had a money order post office, a general store, and was a trading center for the neighborhood in 1910. At that time, the population was 20. Ness City and Bazine were the nearest railroad stations. It was about 12 miles southeast of Ness City, the county seat. |
| Franklinville | 1884-1901 | |
| Harold-Shiloh | 1878-1891 | The town’s initial name was Shiloh. It was changed to Harold on September 15, 1886. The town was vacated in 1905. |
| Highpoint-Domus | 1880-1897 | The town’s initial name was Domus. It changed to Highpoint on May 7, 1884. |
| Kansada | 1879-1900 | |
| Laird | 1909-1924 | |
| Leffel | 1882-1886 | |
| Manteno | 1880-1914 | A country post office, Manteno, was located on Guzzlers Gulch Creek, 15 miles southwest of Ness City, the county seat. In 1910, the community had a post office and a population of 25. |
| Nevada | 1885-1887 | Established in 1879. |
| Nonchalanta-Candish | 1886-1930 | This town was initially called Candish. A church and a hotel were constructed, along with other businesses. The name changed to Nonchalanta on May 16, 1887, and construction on a bank began that year. A school was completed by 1888. By 1890, many businesses had left with the cancellation of a planned railroad. In 1910, it had a post office, served as a trading point, and had a population of 69. It was located 15 miles southwest of Ness City, the county seat, and ten miles south of Laird, on the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad, the nearest shipping point. |
| Riverside | 1879-1920 | A country hamlet, Riverside was located in Highpoint Township on the Pawnee River, about 15 miles southeast of Ness City, the county seat, and 13 miles from Hanston, the nearest shipping point.
The community looked out upon one of the loveliest valley views in the country. The clear, swift waters of the Pawnee flow by the town, and the water supply is excellent. The farm country is fair and fertile, and good crops were raised. Many of the farmers were Germans who built lovely, cozy stone homes, barns, and sheds, as well as thrifty orchards, groves, and livestock. Riverside had a neat little hotel kept in capital shape by Mrs. H.C. Williamson. The pioneer merchant, J.B. Whitley, began general trade here in 1885, two years before the town was laid out, and built up a large and prosperous business. In 1910, it had a money order post office and a population of 40. Riverside was 15 miles southeast of Ness City. ‘ |
| Rogersville | 1879-1880 | |
| Saint Sophia | 1879-1883 | The post office moved to Utica after it closed. |
| Sauce | 1881-1883 | |
| Saunders | 1886-1895 | |
| Seabury | 1880-1884 | |
| Sidney | 1877-1888 | Sidney was laid out north of the junction of the South Fork with the main Walnut Creek on June 6, 1879. The Sidney Town Company was organized in July 1879; E.M. Bill was President; R.B. Linville, Vice President; H.S. Bell, Secretary; and A.F. Gardner, Treasurer. In April 1880, it was made the temporary county seat. |
| Sodville | 1885-1887 | |
| Southwell | 1886-1893 | |
| Spencer | 1879-1880 | |
| Templeton | 1885-1887 | |
| Vernon | 1879-1883 1886 |
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| Waring | 1888-1894 | |
| Wellmanville | 1878-1909 | Wellmanville was a country hamlet in High Point Township about 20 miles southeast of Ness City, the county seat, and ten miles south of Bazine, the nearest shipping point and the post office from which it received its mail. |
©Kathy Alexander/Legends of Kansas, September 2025.
Also See:
Sources:
Blackmar, Frank W.; Kansas: A Cyclopedia of State History, Vol I; Standard Publishing Company, Chicago, IL 1912.
Handbook of Ness County, Kansas; C.S. Burch Publishing Company, Chicago, 1887.
Kansas Post Office History