Terryton, Kansas, is an extinct town in Pleasant Township of Finney County. This community was first called Vernon when a post office was established on April 22, 1886. However, less than a month later, the name changed to Terryton on May 21, 1886. It was named for Porter D. Terry, a real estate speculator from New York. He had capital and grand visions for the future of his town, which he founded during the boom of 1885-86.
It was the halfway station between Garden City and Scott City on the Cannonball Stage line. There was a stage barn where they kept eight horses for change on the route. Four stages came in daily. With Hank and Bronks as drivers, they put them through from Scott City to Garden City in five hours.
Stagecoach
Young and Jeffrys were in the grocery business; George W. Morse advertised provisions, glassware, and flour; Porter Terry operated a real estate and livestock exchange; J. M. Dunn had a general store. There was a comfortable hotel, drug store, livery stable, and a lumber yard. W. E. Coutant published a newspaper called The Enterprise during 1886-87. The name changed to The Eye in 1888, with B. L. Stephenson as editor. It lasted until 1889. The “Old Kentucky Home,” where residents attended Sunday School and church services were held, was a half-mile north of Terryton.
The townsite was on several projected railroads and had great expectations. For three or four years, Terryton flourished, but a drought drove many homesteaders away and destroyed the hopes of Porter Terry.
In 1910, it had a country post office, a stage line to Garden City, and a population of 28. The Garden City, Gulf & Northern Railroad passed about two miles to the west, and Tennis, four miles northwest, was the nearest railroad station.
Finney County, Kansas Map by L.H. Everts & Co., 1887.
Its post office closed on September 15, 1923. It was located 16 miles north of Garden City.
©Kathy Alexander/Legends of Kansas, September 2023.
Also See:
Extinct Towns of Finney County
Sources:
Blackmar, Frank W.; Kansas: A Cyclopedia of State History, Vol I; Standard Publishing Company, Chicago, IL 1912.
Blanchard, Leola Howard; The Conquest of Southwest Kansas, Wichita Eagle Press, 1931.
Finney County by the Kansas Historical Society, 1950