Ransomville, Kansas, coal mine.
Ransomville, Kansas, an extinct town in Franklin County, was a coal-mining camp in the county’s southwest.
In 1880, J.H. Ransom examined the quality of coal at this site and, after comparing it with coal at Fort Scott and Carbondale, leased 40 acres from E.M. Bartholow and sank a shaft. Afterward, he purchased 320 acres and established a store. When a post office was established on February 1, 1881, he was appointed postmaster, and the town was named for him.
Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad sign board in Ransomville, Kansas. Photo by H. Killam, 1959.
In the early 1880s, the town consisted of about 35 small frame cottages occupied by miners, a store, the post office, and a school. It was situated on the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad.
By 1886, Ransom had opened at least five shafts, each 50 feet deep, yielding about 1000 tons of coal a month. His coal production exceeded that of all other mines in the county combined. Sixty men were employed.
In 1910, Ransomville had a money order post office, telegraph and express facilities, a public school, and a population of 125.
James H. Ransom died in September 1914, and the mines closed the same year. The post office closed on June 30, 1915.
Today, the old townsite is a farm located about two miles northeast of Williamsburg, at the intersection of U.S. Highway 50 and Hamilton Road.
©Kathy Alexander/Legends of Kansas, updated December 2025.
Also See:
Extinct Towns of Franklin County
Sources:
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.
Franklin County History
Franklin County History Club