Towns of Norton County, Kansas

* Towns in Bold Print still have businesses and residents today
If town name is underlined, click on it for additional history and information.
If you have any information on any of the dead towns, please contact the County Coordinator

Name of town	PO Established	PO Discontinued	First Postmaster	Name Changed	Location	Established by	Date Plat Filed	Date Townsite Vacated	Notes	Map
Ailanthus Grove	27 May 1879	08 Dec 1879	John R. Taylor
Alfalfa	13 Feb 1882	16 May 1882	James V. Smith
Almena	10 Jun 1872		David C. Coleman		Almena Township	Lincoln Land Company	07 Jul 1885		moved to a new site north of creek when RR came though	1,2,3,4, 5,6,8,9
Alverd aka Alvord	06 Apr 1900	31 Dec 1900	Frank M. Lockard		Garfield Township					6
Bath	05 Feb 1879	21 Nov 1879	William Dobbie						Wm. Dobbie lived in Sand Creek township
Bell	25 Jun 1879	02 May 1884	Norman C. Workman	To Rockwell City	Garfield Township					2
Billingsville	10 Jun 1872	28 Oct 1872	Nathan H. Billings	To Norton	Orange Township	A "paper town" established by Nathan Billings
Birkville	19 May 1897	30 Jan 1904	William Birkholz		Grant Township					6
Bower	22 Jan 1885	20 Feb 1889	John R. Smith							3
Brett	07 Jun 1880	10 Apr 1882	John T. Pool							3
Brett	18 Feb 1884	18 Oct 1887								3
Cactus	22 Jun 1874	22 Sep 1887	William Grant		Lincoln Township					2,3,5,6
Cactus	28 Oct 1898	14 Oct 1903			Lincoln Township					1,2,5,6
Calvert	01 Sep 1885	31 Oct 1953	James W. Stotts	From Neighborville	Emmett Township					3,4,5,6, 9
Cheeseman	05 Dec 1879	23 Mar 1882	John Wallace						G. N. Cheeseman settled in Modell Township
Clayton - Old					1 mile N. of present site	John Cameron		1888
Clayton - New	31 Mar 1879	?	John Cameron		Noble Township, on Norton Decatur county line	Kansas Town & Land Company	07 Mar 1888			5,6,8,9
Colony									another name for Rockwell City - the Dunkard Colony
Croco	05 Sep 1881	08 Jun 1883	James Blue		Rock Branch Township					2
Dallas	04 Sep 1879	04 Nov 1885	Ira S. Hall	To Oronoque
David	16 May 1887	15 May 1889	David N. Reed
Dellvale	17 Mar 1890	?	Frank E. Gilder	From South Oronoque	Leota Township					4,5,6,8, 9
Densmore	20 Dec 1880	22 Oct 1988	Elizabeth E. Densmore	From West Union	West Union Township	Thomas J. Densmore	10 July 1881		last postmaster Karen Walters, 12 Jul 1980 - 22 Oct 1988	2,3,4,5, 6,7,8,9
Devizes	04 Mar 1874	15 Apr 1926	Reuben Bisbee, Sr.		Rock Branch Township	Reuben & Lucinda Marvin	04 Jan 1890			1,2,3,4, 5,6
Edmond	03 Jun 1879	20 Mar 1993	Albert Weaver	From Port Landis	Solomon Township	03 Sep 1879			last postmaster Karen Walters, 22 Oct 1988 - 20 March 1993	2,3,4,5, 6,7,8,9
Fairhaven aka Fair Haven	30 Jul 1879	29 Feb 1904	Judson C. Wilson		Grant Township					2,3,4,5, 6
Gath	21 Feb 1902	14 Oct 1903	Elizabeth C. Campbell		Grant Township, nearly on Phillips county line
Hanback	04 Mar 1884	31 Dec 1892	Devillo R. Blanding	From Reagle						3
Hedgewood	18 May 1882	?	David E. Stevens		Sand Creek Township					2,3,4,5
Hedgewood	20 Sep 1893	?	William Dobbie		Sand Creek Township					2,3,4,5
Hedgewood	27 Apr 1897	15 Mar 1898	Elizabeth Adams		Sand Creek Township					2,3,4,5
Kyd	circa 1915?				Almena Township, 6 1/2 miles NE of Almena	Robert Kyd			railway station; never had a post office
Lee	08 May 1876	06 Mar 1883	Willis B. Dimmick		Almena Township				first established in Phillips County
Lenora	24 Jun 1874	11 Nov 1874	Ole H. Peterson	from Spring City	Lenora Township	Mr. Sedoris, A. Hendricks		Summer 1876	2 miles west of present Lenora
Lenora	30 Nov 1874		A. Hendricks		Lenora Township	Cornelia Burwell, George W. Hood, C. H. Lansing, L.A. Hendricks	28 Jun 1879, 18 Aug 1879, 13 Sep 1879, 16 Dec 1880			1,2,3,4, 5,6,8,9
Leota	22 Oct 1874	17 Oct 1881	John M. Cooper	From Weston	Orange Township??	I. N. Cope	05 Jun 1879	03 Jul 1882		1
Long Branch	26 Feb 1875	10 Feb 1882	Christ F. Bender		on Long Branch Creek, Rock Branch or Crystal Township??					1
Lookout				To Norcatur				"The new town is called Norcatur instead of Lookout." Norton Champion, 23 July 1885	called Lookout by the RR because it was built high on the "divide"
Modell	21 Mar 1878	17 Jul 1882	John W. Langford		Modell Township
Neighborville	15 Feb 1875	10 Apr 1882	Abraham Bieber	To Calvert	Emmett Township					1
New Elam aka New Elm	11 Feb 1879	20 Sep 1880	Austin Miller	To Almelo	Almelo Township
Almelo	20 Sep 1880	15 Mar 1901	Hartog Meiberger aka Meibergen	From New Elam; to New Almelo	Almelo Township		18 Apr 1879	early 1880's	built around the sod stockade at New Elm
New Almelo	05 Jul 1902	29 Apr 1905		from Almelo	Almelo Township				grew up around the Catholic Church	2,3,4,5, 6,8,9
New Almelo	31 Oct 1917	?				Bishop John F. Cunningham	November 1905			2,3,4,5, 6,8,9
Norcatur	30 Oct 1885	?	Jonathan D. Riggs		in Decatur County				Norcatur's cemetery is in Norton County	4,6,9
Norton	28 Oct 1872	PO still exists Jul 2001	Edward M. Newell	From Billingsville	Center/Orange Township					1,2,3,4, 5,6,8,9
Norton Center	?	?		To Reedtown
Orange	24 Nov 1890	31 Aug 1891	Elizabeth A. Tyler
Oronoque	04 Nov 1885	15 Oct 1934	William T. Campbell	From Dallas	Leota Township	Lincoln Land Co.	10 Aug 1885			3,4,5,6, 8,9
Parma	13 Apr 1899	15 Dec 1899	Lizzie Hart						Dan & Lizzie Hart homesteaded in Solomon Twp
Port Landis	24 Jun 1874	03 Jun 1879	Evan S. Purviance	To Edmond	on border Solomon/ Modell townships	O. M. Dannevik, Fred A. Barlow				1
Rayville	16 Feb 1885	15 Apr 1889	George W. Rhamy		Almena Township near NE state line					3,4,5,6
Rayville	19 Dec 1889	31 Dec 1902			Almena Township near NE state line					3,4,5,6
Reager	18 May 1916	29 Sep 1923	James B. Shepherd			A. L. Hicks, Henry Westerman	never			9
Reagle	28 Aug 1882	04 Mar 1884	Joseph M. Miller	From Wilmot, NE To Hanback	Harrison Township					2
Redd	26 Mar 1883	18 Aug 1886	Mary C. Rule		Leota Township?					3
Reedtown	?	?		From Norton Center	Orange Township?	Shelby D. Reed
Rockwell City	02 May 1884	30 Jan 1904	William Rockwell	From Bell	Garfield Township			Abt 1885		3,4,5,6
Seth	?	?			Emmett Township	David F. & Ida H. McFarland	13 Sep 1887		a railway station; probably never had a post office	4,6
Slater Post Office (attempted)	about 1885				1 1/2 miles east of Oronoque, Leota Township			10 Aug 1885
Smithton	18 Apr 1884	18 Nov 1886	Oliver P. Smith		Harrison or Aldine Township					3
South Oronoque	?	?		To Dellvale	Leota Township	John K. & Phoebe E. Gray	18 Sep 1888
Spring City	about 1874	about 1874		To Lenora	Lenora Township				2 miles west of Lenora
Tucket	03 May 1881	04 Dec 1882	Erasmus D. Rountree		Noble Township					2
Wakeman	27 May 1879	26 Oct 1881	John P. Bozarth							3
Wakeman	17 Nov 1881	27 Oct 1887								3
West Union	24 Jun 1874	20 Dec 1880	Alfred J. Coleman	To Densmore	West Union Township, 2 1/4 miles east of Densmore					1
Weston	?	?		To Leota	Orange Township??	I. N. Cope, M. A. Morrison, Dr. Green, Nora Weaver

Maps showing locations:
1 - 1878 Norton County
2 - 1883 Norton County
3 - 1893 Kansas Map - Columbian Worlds Fair Atlas
4 - 1895 Norton County
5 - 1897 Kansas Map - The Century Atlas
6 - 1900 Norton County Atlas
7 - 1917 Norton County Atlas (4 townships in SE corner only)
8 - 1935 Norton County Plat Map
9 - 1972 Atlas of Norton County

Other sources of information used in compiling this table were:
Baughman, Robert W., "Kansas Post Offices"
Bower, D. N., "Seventy Years in Norton County, Kansas"
Lockard, F. M., "The History of the Early Settlement of Norton County, Kansas"

Post Offices near Densmore

The first post office near Densmore was the West Union Post Office. It was established 24 June 1874 with Alfred J. Coleman as postmaster.

On 20 December 1880 the office name was changed to Densmore. The first postmaster/mistress at Densmore was either Elizabeth E. Densmore or Thomas J. Densmore, depending on which source you consult.

Other postmasters/mistresses at Densmore include:

Charles T. Nicholas - info from descendant Delbert Nicholas
Nora Mullen - appointed about 1922; served to retirement on 01 March 1952.
Henry J. Lohrmeyer - acting postmaster from Mar - Nov 1952; appointed postmaster in November 1952; served to retirement, 04 April 1980.
Karen Walters - appointed 12 July 1980; served to close of office on 22 October 1988.

Rural letter carriers include:

Seigle Nicholas - info from descendant Delbert Nicholas
Jesse Y. Bauguess - served about 40 years, 1910 - 1950?
Homer H. Bernard - appointed 17 April 1950, transferred 24 April 1976 due to route consolidation
Lawrence Hake - 24 April 1976 to 28 Feb 1980 - carrier from Lenora office; routes consolidated to include part of Densmore route.
Max Donahey - 24 April 1976 to 28 Feb 1980 - carrier from Logan office; routes consolidated to include part of Densmore route.
Lawrence Hake - 28 Feb 1980 - ? - routes consolidated again, only one carrier for Densmore route

Substitute carriers from 1950 to 1976 include:

Alma Kitzke
Cecil Roeder
Bill Noone

I have heard stories that when Nora Mullen was postmistress, the Densmore post office was located in the Mullen store on the south side of Densmore's main street. I have, as yet, been unable to confirm this. Sometime after the Densmore bank closed in 1936, the post office was moved into the old bank building, where it remained until its close on 22 October 1988. The Densmore area is now served by the Lenora Post Office, some 15 miles west.


Densmore Post Office, 04 Dec 1980	Densmore Post Office, July 2000

Another post office established near Densmore was the Hedgewood Post Office. It was established 18 May 1882 with David E. Stevens as first postmaster. David Ezra Stevens was the first settler in Sand Creek township, according to Lockard*. His homestead was on Big Timber Creek in Sec 3, T 4 S, R 22 W. Other postmasters were William Dobbie and Elizabeth Adams. Hedgewood was discontinued 15 March 1898 and mail was then sent to the Fairhaven Post Office. There is a photo of the D. E. Stevens homestead/post office in the Bowers* book.

Fairhaven Post Office [also spelled Fair Haven] was established 30 July 1879 on the NE quarter of Sec 1, T 3 S, R 21 W (Grant Township), according to Bowers*. J. [Judson] C. Wilson was appointed postmaster and Mariah Wilson deputy postmaster. Fairhaven Post Office was discontinued 29 Feb 1904 and mail was sent to Densmore.

Cactus was another area post office.
22 June 1874 - established with William Grant, first postmaster. Lockard* says he served for seven years. He came to Norton County in 1873 and settled on Cactus Creek.  A rider from Phillipsburg to Norton carried the mail to the Grant home for distribution.
1881 - unknown postmaster
22 September 1887 - Cactus Post Office discontinued
28 November 1898 - re-established
14 October 1903 - discontinued

According to an article from the Logan Republican, the Cactus post office was always located in a family home. In 1884 a stagecoach ran a mail line from Logan to Norton by way of Cactus and Hedgewood Post Offices. Leaving Logan at 7 am and arriving at Norton at 12 noon on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, it would return the same day, leaving Norton at 2 pm and arrive in Logan at 7 pm. One of the sod houses that served as the Cactus Post Office was a four room house built in the 1880's on the section just north of the first post office on Cactus Creek. More research is necessary to pinpoint the location of this house, and the owner/postmaster. The J. H. Scott family lived in this sod house after the post office was moved to another home. It had a pigeon hole compartment in the east wall of the living room with doors that opened from both inside and outside for the mail.

*Lockard - "The History of the Early Settlement of Norton County, Kansas" ©1894 by F. M. Lockard
*Bowers - "Seventy Years in Norton County, 1872-1942" ©1942 by D. N. Bowers