St. Ann’s Catholic Church in Olmitz, Kansas, by Kathy Alexander.
Olmitz is a small town in Barton County, Kansas. As of the 2020 census, its population was 90.
Peter Brack, his brothers, and their mother, along with several native Austrians, located here and formed a settlement in the early 1880s. A post office was established on April 11, 1881, and Peter Brack established the first store.
Austrian Catholic and Volga German families settled in and around the new settlement in the following years. The town was laid out in 1885 and named after the city of Olomouc in Austria-Hungary, which is the Czech Republic today. The same year, C.M. Kreiser established a store.
St. Ann’s Catholic Church was founded on May 9, 1889, and continues to serve today.
In 1910, Olmitz was on the Missouri Pacific Railroad and was one of the larger villages of the county. At that time, it had a bank, three general stores, three grain elevators, a hotel, hardware stores, and other retail establishments. It also boasted a telegraph, express offices, and a money order post office with two rural routes. Its population peaked that year at 200.
St. Ann’s Parochial School in Olmitz, Kansas, by Kathy Alexander.
In 1903, St. Ann’s Parochial School was established for grades one through eight, with the Sisters Adorers of the Most Precious Blood from Wichita providing the teaching staff.
Unfortunately, both the church and school burned in 1913 and were rebuilt.
High school classes began at the Parochial School in 1927 and ended with the graduating class of 1949. Until 1976, the school still provided classes for grades one to eight. Afterward, due to a shortage of teaching sisters, St. Ann’s was informed that the Precious Blood Community could not provide teaching sisters for the following year. After much soul-searching and many hours of considering alternative solutions, the parish closed the school.
Though it has a small population, Olmitz still has a post office. It is located 16 miles northwest of Great Bend.
©Kathy Alexander/Legends of Kansas, updated October 2024.
A tidy home in Olmitz, Kansas, by Kathy Alexander.
Also See:
Extinct Towns of Barton County
Sources:
Blackmar, Frank W.; Kansas: A Cyclopedia of State History, Vol I; Standard Publishing Company, Chicago, IL 1912.
Fort Hays State University
Great Bend Tribune
Simons, John; A History of Early Day Barton County, Kansas, Thesis, Kansas State Teachers College of Emporia, 1971.
Wikipedia