Norton County, Kansas Extinct Towns

Birkville School

A little hamlet in the eastern part of Norton County, Birkville was a settlement south of Almena. The town was started in about 1897. Steven Cox moved his family to Birkville in 1906. Mr. Dibble, who had worked for E.E. Keckley in Almena and learned the general store business, started a general merchandise store. Some families that lived in Birkville were the Goublet Yost family and the John Duff family. Approximately one-half mile east lived the Karnopp family. East of the store was the blacksmith shop, which Mr. and Mrs. Fisher ran. A Methodist Church and parsonage were north of the general store. With the advent of the automobile, travel to larger communities was much easier, and the store closed. After its post office closed, it received its mail from Norton by rural free delivery. Calvert was the nearest railroad station. The Methodist church burned down in 1913. It was ten miles southeast of Norton, the county seat, two miles south of the present junction of Highway 36 and Highway 60.

Cactus Church.

Cactus was located on Cactus Creek near the eastern boundary of Norton County, about 14 miles from Norton, the county seat. William Grant was the first postmaster. A four-room sod house built in the 1880s on Cactus Creek served as a post office. In 1878, its nearest shipping point was in Ellis, where grain and livestock were shipped. It was on a stage line from Norton to Phillipsburg, from which tri-weekly mail was delivered.  The post office was discontinued on September 22, 1887, and re-established on November 28, 1898. The Cactus post office was always located in a family home. In 1884, a stagecoach ran a mail line from Logan to Norton through the Cactus and Hedgewood Post Offices.  After its post office closed, the inhabitants received their mail by rural delivery from Prairie View, the nearest railroad station. Years later, the Cactus Church was built in 1917 across the road to the north of the Cactus school. It was 15 miles from Norton, the county seat, and 60 from Ellis.

Clayton, Kansas Main Street by Kathy Alexander.

Clayton, Kansas, is a ghost town in Norton and Decatur Counties. The town’s population was 44 as of the 2020 census. Its former business buildings are shuttered and deteriorating. It is located about 17 miles southwest of Norton on Highway K383, south of Highway 36.

Dallas School.

Dallas was settled in 1881 on Prairie Dog Creek. In 1885, it shipped livestock from Lenora, 18 miles distant. It was on the stagecoach route from Lenora to Norton, from which its mail was delivered four times a week. The post office moved to Oronoque when it closed. It was 12 miles southwest of Norton, the county seat.

Densmore Christian Church.

Densmore, Kansas, is a ghost town near the Solomon River in West Union Township of Norton County. The old town still displays several homes and business buildings, many of which have badly deteriorated or fallen. Trees have long overtaken the red-brick Methodist Church, but St. Mary’s Church still stands. The old school has been razed.

Devises General Store.

Devizes was settled in 1872 on Sappa Creek, in the northwest corner of Norton County. In 1878, it had a grist mill, two common schools, a doctor, a Methodist congregation, and a population of 200. Cattle raising was the chief occupation of the settlers. At that time, on the stagecoach line to Hays City and North Platte, Nebraska, its mail was delivered semi-weekly to Reuben Bisbee, the postmaster. The townsite was platted on August 7, 1889. In 1894, it had two doctors, three blacksmiths, a flour mill, two general stores, a broom manufacturer, a shoemaker, Methodist and Baptist congregations, a constable, and a population of 50. It was on the stagecoach line to Norton and Wilsonville, Nebraska, from which the mail was delivered tri-weekly to E.J. Phipps, the postmaster. In 1910, it had a money order post office, was a trading center for that section of the county, and had a population of 48. Wilson City, Nebraska, was the nearest railroad station. It never grew big enough to incorporate. It was about 18 miles northwest of Norton, the county seat, and nine miles from Wilsonville, Nebraska.

Public School in Oronoque, Kansas.

The post office moved from Dallas. Oronoque was located in Leota Township on the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad from Republican, Nebraska, to Oberlin, Kansas. Other than its cemetery, the town is gone today.

Rayville Store.

Rayville was a country hamlet 20 miles northwest of Norton, the county seat, and eight miles northeast of Almena. In 1894, Alamena was its nearest shipping and banking point, and its population was 28. In 1910, with its closed post office, it received mail by rural delivery from Alemena, the nearest shipping point. At that time, its population was ten.