Florence, the third largest town in Marion county, is located in the southeast part of the county in Doyle township, where Doyle creek joins the Cottonwood river, and at the division point of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe R. R. It is 11 miles southeast of Marion the county seat, and is a thriving little city, with a live Business Men's association to help out the general growth and prosperity. Building stone in commercial quantities is quarried in the vicinity, and most of the buildings in the town are of this material. There are city waterworks, banks, a newspaper (the Florence Bulletin), and all lines of mercantile enterprises. The town is supplied with telegraph and express offices and an international money order postoffice with two rural routes. The population in 1910 was 1,168.

The territory about Florence was the earliest settled in the county, but it was not until the railroad came through in 1870 that the town was platted. It was the first town in the county to have a railroad. It was incorporated as a city of the third class in 1872. The first newspaper was the Florence Pioneer, established in 1871 by W. M. Mitchell.