Wilsey, Kansas Main Street by Kathy Alexander.
Wilsey, Kansas, is a tiny town in Elm Creek Township in south-central Morris County. As of the 2020 census, its population was 139, and its total area is 0.28 square miles. It is also an extinct town, as it no longer has a post office.
The first settlers in the area were Mr. and Mrs. Matson B. Otis, who moved from Strawn, Kansas, in the summer of 1871, to a homestead 12 miles west of Council Grove on 80 acres. In time, their land would directly adjoin the north boundary of the future town site of Wilsey. Mr. Otis dug a well, constructed a 16-foot square house, and built a sod stable directly to the west. Other early residents were the Berry, Kinkel, and Watkins families.
John D. Wilsey, originally from Ohio, acquired a 160-acre plot on August 25, 1873.
When this settlement first began, the post office moved from Hill Spring and reopened under the name of Mildred on December 12, 1878
Several families settled in the area before the townsite of Wilsey was created, including William H. Pirtle, W.C. Gardner, Dr. Walker, Henry W. Riegel, Andrew Yakle, and George W. Coffin.
John D. Wilsey founded and promoted a new townsite, which would eliminate most of those long trips to Council Grove. Area residents generally welcomed his plans. Working hard to promote the new community that was to bear his name, John Wilsey, met with George W. Coffin, Matson Otis, and Henry Vorse, Sr., on the night of May 14, 1884, to draw a plat and to name the streets. The following day, May 15, 1884, the town of Wilsey was born as the four men and a surveyor named Tyler began laying out the lots. When the work was completed, the original town included 20 blocks, with one block serving as a park around which the business section was to be built. Thus, Wilsey became the fifth town in Morris County following Council Grove, Parkerville, White City, and Dunlap.
Wanting the town to progress rapidly, Wilsey took action to ensure that it did. He visited the businessmen throughout the county and offered to give lots to those who relocated or began a new enterprise in his town. He then gave sites to several individuals. He also gave lots to the Christian Church congregation and promised the Methodists and Presbyterians free lots when they organized congregations.
On May 23, 1884, the town’s name was changed from Mildred to Wilsey. That year, the Missouri Pacific Railroad came through and established a station.
Missouri Pacific Railroad at Wilsey, Kansas.
Vintage Wilsey, Kansas.
An old business building in Wilsey, Kansas, today, by Kathy Alexander.
By the turn of the century, the town had evolved into a shipping point for a large agricultural area, and its population grew, peaking at 374 in 1907.
Wilsey was incorporated in 1910. That year, it was still on the Missouri Pacific Railroad, had a bank, a weekly newspaper called the Warbler, a flour mill, a grain elevator, a hotel, telegraph and express offices, and a money order post office with two rural routes, and its population peaked at 350. It was the shipping and receiving point for a large agricultural area, and large quantities of grain, livestock, and produce were handled every year.
After the Great Depression, Wilsey began to suffer. The bank went broke in the early 1930s, and the newspaper ceased publication later in the decade.
However, the small community maintained well into the 1950s and 1960s. Its business district included two grocery stores, two restaurants, a drug store, a lumberyard, a hardware store, two service stations, and a mechanic shop. Its population in 1960 was 224.
On December 8, 1964, the school board members of Council Grove, Dwight, and Wilsey voted unanimously to unify their school districts, which became District No. 417, headquartered in Council Grove. In the spring of 1967, the district encouraged students from Wilsey and Dwight to transfer to Council Grove in the fall, and so many did that Wilsey became the smallest high school in the state in 1967-68 with just 18 students. Then, in January of the following year, the district board decided to close Wilsey Rural High School. Consequently, the seven 1968 graduates became the school’s final class after 53 years. During that time, nearly 700 students graduated.
Afterward, the grade school was relocated to the high school building.
Wilsey’s post office closed on September 27, 1997.
In 2002, the U.S.D. 417 board closed the grade school in Wilsey.
Today, the community is served by Morris County USD 417 public school district, headquartered in Council Grove.
Wilsey is 12 miles west of Council Grove, the county seat.
Old Wilsey, Kansas High School by Kathy Alexander. The former high school now houses the Wilsey Bible School, which is located about 11 miles southwest of Council Grove.
Compiled and edited by Kathy Alexander/Legends of Kansas, updated May 2025.
Also See:
Extinct Towns of Morris County
Sources:
Blackmar, Frank W.; Kansas: A Cyclopedia of State History, Vol I; Standard Publishing Company, Chicago, IL 1912.
Wikipedia