Extinct Towns of Sheridan County

Catholic Church in Angelus, KS.

German families settled Angelus on the Saline River in Solomon Township in 1881. St. Paul’s Church was built shortly after they arrived, and a school had been built by 1891. In 1910, it was a trading center for that part of the county and had a population of 30. Campus and Grinnell were the nearest railroad stations on the Union Pacific Railroad. St. Paul’s Church has been a mission parish since 1973. Its spire can be seen for miles around. The town also has an old school that is used as a barn today. Angelus is about 20 miles southwest of Hoxie, the county seat.

Chicago’s church and school stood in 1965.

Located in Adell Township, the community was named after Chicago, Illinois, because it was the busiest place in the area. A joint post office, stagecoach stop, and general store opened in 1880, but the post office only lasted until 1887. A church built in 1910 lasted until the early 1960s and the local school closed in 1954.

Seguin, Kansas Church, about 1905.

The town of Seguin, in Logan Township, started as a work camp named Gerona in 1887. It was built by the Union Pacific Railroad on the Salina-Oakley branch line, and in 1888, a depot was built. The story goes that there was a foreman named Quinn, and when questions came up about work or where to get a drink, the response was, “See Quinn.” Eventually, the settlement became known as “See Quinn” and later changed to Seguin. A general store opened on April 10, 1890, and it is thought that the post office moved into the store. In 1910, it had a money-order post office and a population of 11. Over the years, businesses included a creamery, a shoe shop, and two elevators. The elevators have had the most economic impact on the town. By 1976, the population was 33, a decrease of 18 from the 1960s when it was at its highest. Sequin was ten miles west of Hoxie, the county seat.

Two-room school in Studley, KS.

Skelton was a British settlement founded by Abraham Pratt in 1878 when he came to America from England. The people who founded Studley were sheep ranchers in England, so they began raising sheep here in their new home in Kansas. John Fenton Pratt built the Cottonwood Ranch between 1885 and 1896, incorporating English architecture into his home. The ranch is a historic site in Kansas today. 

Presbyterian Church in Tasco, Kansas,  about 1950.

Founded in 1888 in Valley Township as a station for the Union Pacific Railroad, this town was first called Guy. Located at the junction of the Sand Creek and the South Fork of the Solomon River, it was named after the son of Charles E. Perkins, who purchased a piece of government land in the area. Guy was the trading center for the new homesteaders who filed their claims on government lands. The town’s name was changed from Guy to Tasco on June 15, 1923. Though never incorporated, Tasco was a lively town in the 1920s.  People moved to bigger communities in the following decades, and its post office closed in 1953. Tasco was located eight miles east of Hoxie.