Oak Mills, Kansas Sign by Kathy Weiser-Alexander.
Oak Mills, Kansas, once located in Walnut township along the Missouri River in southeast Atchison County, is now an extinct town.
The site was originally home to a Kanza Indian village. Later, in the 1740s, French fur traders built Fort Cavagnial several miles to the south. The first American settlers came in June 1854 from Iatan, Missouri, making the settlement one of the earliest in Atchison County. It gained a post office in January 1868.
It was a busy little town during the years of river traffic and because it was a station on the Missouri Pacific Railroad. In 1880, it had a blacksmith, a general store, and a physician. At that time, it shipped grain and wood, and its mail was delivered daily to John Davitz, the postmaster. Its population was 70.
In 1910, its population was 86, and it still had several stores.
The post office closed its doors in March 1945.
Ruins of the stone jail in the extinct town of Oak Mills, Kansas, by Kathy Alexander.
Today, nothing remains of Oak Mills but a sign erected by the Future Farmers of America, one crumbling stone building, and the sounds of the trains that still rumble through the old site. Oak Mills was located about ten miles southeast of Atchison on the River Road.
It was 38 miles from Kansas City, Missouri, and ten miles from Atchison, the county seat and nearest bank location.
©Kathy Alexander/Legends of Kansas, updated October 2024.
Reader’s Comments: Kathy — I came upon the Legends of Kansas website yesterday and sure enjoyed some of the pictures that you must have taken just this last month. We just went to Atchison County, Kansas, yesterday to do some genealogy research, and after getting back home, I got on the computer and happened on your website. I thought it was very nice.
We have been doing research in the Oak Mills area. My wife’s grandfather and great-grandfather lived in that area from about 1880 to 1910. Her grandfather was born in Oak Mills in 1898. Her great-grandfather and his family showed up on the 1880 census as living in the Oak Mills area. That picture you took of the stone building is what’s left of the jail. We have a couple of pictures showing some of the other buildings located there, including the John Davitz General Store. We think my wife’s great-grandfather was buried somewhere behind this building in an unmarked grave. I don’t really know for sure, but that is what the family history indicates from other family relatives. We discovered a land record at the courthouse yesterday and think we know where it once lived near the Oak Mills area.
Anyway, I thought the website was interesting with current pictures of some of the area communities in Atchison County. Please continue to keep up the good work.
Sincerely, Bob Graham, June 2, 2010
Also See:
Extinct Towns of Atchison County
Sources:
1880 Kansas State Gazetteer and Business Directory
Blackmar, Frank W.; Kansas Cyclopedia, Standard Publishing, 1912
Kansas Post Office History