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History · Altory Township

Altory Township’s post office opened in 1881

Below: maps from 1951 on.

1881first post office
0on the National Register
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Quick answers

How Altory Township began

When was Altory Township founded?

1881

The Altory Township post office opened in 1881, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, Altory (1881) and Kanona (1887), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

2020 census: 16145 years
Founding year: the first Altory Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Altory Township’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Altory Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages2 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Altory Township, and 1 old place names are still on the map.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Altory Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Altory Township’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
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Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners and burying grounds

Two other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Altory
1881–1887
Kanona
1887–1955
18801950today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Kanona
2cemeteries and burying grounds inside Altory Township
Big TimberKanona

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

The story so far

Altory Township, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Altory Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Altory Township is a township in Decatur County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 census, its population was 16.

Its first post office opened in 1881. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 18 to 16 (-11%).

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

Timeline

Altory Township, 1881 to 1955

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1881Post officeThe Altory post office opens
  3. 1887Post officeThe Altory post office closes
  4. 1887Post officeThe Kanona post office opens
  5. 20th century
  6. 1951On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  7. 1955Post officeThe Kanona post office closes
By decade

No old photos in the archives yet

Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
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On the map

Altory Township on the map, 1951 to 1985

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Altory Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Altory Township on the 1951 USGS mapAltory Township on the 1965 USGS mapAltory Township on the 1985 USGS map1951Kanona sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Altory Township.

Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Center TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townJennings TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townGarfield TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townRoosevelt TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Altory Township’s history

What year was Altory Township founded?

The Altory Township post office opened in 1881, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
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Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →

From U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.