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Ghost Towns of Kansas: A Traveler's Guide
As soon as the Kansas Territory was opened for settlement in 1854, towns sprang up like mushrooms—first along the Missouri border, then steadily westward along trail routes, rivers, and railroad lines. Many of them barely got beyond the drawing board and hundreds of them flowered briefly and died, victims of the "boom or bust" economy of the frontier and the vagaries of weather, finance, mining, agriculture, railroad construction, and politics.
Ghost Towns of Kansas is a practical guide to these forsaken settlements and a chronicle of their role in the history of Kansas. It focuses on 100 towns that have either disappeared without a trace or are only "a shadowy remnant of what they once were," telling the story of each town's settlement, politics, colorful figures and legends, and eventual abandonment or decline.
The culmination of more than ten years of research, this new book is a distillation of the author's immensely popular three-volume work on the state's ghost towns, now out of print. Condensed and redesigned as a traveler's guide, it is organized by region and features ten maps and detailed instructions for finding each site. Twenty of the towns included are discussed for the first time in this volume. The book also contains more than 100 black-and-white photographs of town scenes.
With this new guide in hand, travelers and armchair adventurers alike can journey back to the Kansas frontier—to places like Octagon City, where settlers signed a pledge not to consume liquor, tobacco, or "the flesh of animals" in order to purchase land at $1.25 per acre from the Vegetarian Settlement Company. Or to Sheridan, a tough, end-of-the-line railroad town where, according to the Kansas Commonwealth, "the scum of creation have congregated and assumed control of municipal and social affairs." At least thirty men were hanged and a hundred killed either in gunfights or by Indians during Sheridan's tumultuous two-year life span. Today the only remainder of Octagon City is a stream named Vegetarian Creek, and "wild and woolly" Sheridan is again a pasture.
Ghost Towns of Kansas is a practical guide to these forsaken settlements and a chronicle of their role in the history of Kansas. It focuses on 100 towns that have either disappeared without a trace or are only "a shadowy remnant of what they once were," telling the story of each town's settlement, politics, colorful figures and legends, and eventual abandonment or decline.
The culmination of more than ten years of research, this new book is a distillation of the author's immensely popular three-volume work on the state's ghost towns, now out of print. Condensed and redesigned as a traveler's guide, it is organized by region and features ten maps and detailed instructions for finding each site. Twenty of the towns included are discussed for the first time in this volume. The book also contains more than 100 black-and-white photographs of town scenes.
With this new guide in hand, travelers and armchair adventurers alike can journey back to the Kansas frontier—to places like Octagon City, where settlers signed a pledge not to consume liquor, tobacco, or "the flesh of animals" in order to purchase land at $1.25 per acre from the Vegetarian Settlement Company. Or to Sheridan, a tough, end-of-the-line railroad town where, according to the Kansas Commonwealth, "the scum of creation have congregated and assumed control of municipal and social affairs." At least thirty men were hanged and a hundred killed either in gunfights or by Indians during Sheridan's tumultuous two-year life span. Today the only remainder of Octagon City is a stream named Vegetarian Creek, and "wild and woolly" Sheridan is again a pasture.
- GenresNonfictionTravelHistory
368 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1988
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
January 10, 2021
“Ghost Towns of Kansas: a Traveler’s Guide” by Daniel Fitzgerald was published by University Press of Kansas in 1988. At the time of publication, Fitzgerald was the Local Records Archivist at the Kansas State Historical Records Society. The book tells the history of 100 towns that either vanished or became near extinct. The histories reflect how the challenges of nature, county-seat election politics/aberrations, armed warfare, and crushing economic forces forced towns to disappear from the late 1860’s thru 1890’s. The book is very well written and fascinating to read. (P)
July 10, 2017
If you like Kansas history, or interested in cities around your own, this is a REALLY interesting read!!
October 6, 2017
Nice summaries of a number of ghost towns in Kansas.
January 14, 2026
A good survey of forgotten places in Kansas. As a native of the state, some I knew about, some I didn't, and some I know they didn't include. I love the old photos.
April 4, 2026
I love reading about the hidden corners of Kansas.
June 23, 2016
A fascinating account of Kansas history! I loved reading about these interesting places and the stories of the people who settled here. What a great read! **I was especially excited when I read that the town of Elgin was founded by Romulus (Rome) Lysurges Hanks who was Abraham Lincoln's cousin!**
March 13, 2018
Interesting reading on the dead and dying towns of Kansas. Quite a few really compelling local histories among the usual tales of failure and the march of progress.
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August 26, 2009K-917.81
November 14, 2015
Some of the towns we have in Kansas are very small to start with. This book talks about 100 ghost towns of Kansas that are no longer here and are now farmland.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews