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History · Brownell

Brownell’s post office opened in 1888, and 33% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1893 on, and the census since 1930.

1888first post office
0on the National Register
33%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Brownell’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Brownell began

When was Brownell founded?

1888

The Brownell post office opened in 1888, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Vansburgh (1880), opened inside today’s city and later closed.

First census: 207 in 19302020 census: 23138 years
Founding year: the first Brownell post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Brownell’s past

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

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 1 old photo is in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Brownell’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewBrownell, Kansas: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story

How Brownell came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Brownell.

Read it all →

Brownell was a station on the Missouri Pacific Railroad. The community was named for Mr. Brownell, a railroad official.

The first post office in Brownell was established in 1880, but the post office was called Vansburgh until 1888.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Brownell, 1880 to 1900

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1880Post officeThe Vansburgh post office opens
  3. 1888Post officeThe Vansburgh post office closes
  4. 1888Post officeThe Brownell post office opens
  5. 1893On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  6. 20th century
  7. 1900In the archiveBrownell, Kansas
By decade

Brownell, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1900s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1900s1 item
Brownell, Kansasc. 1900Brownell, Kansas
1910s–1990snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
Today1 recent
KSMap-doton-Brownell2005KSMap-doton-Brownell
On the map

Brownell on the map, 1893 to 1980

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

Brownell on the 1893 USGS mapBrownell on the 1980 USGS map1893Ellis sheet · 1:125,000

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

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Brownell, Kansas
Retake this viewBrownell, Kansas, c. 1900

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Brownell’s page.

Retake this view · +15
People over time

Brownell, census by census

010020019401960198020002020Peak: 211

Between 23 and 211 people in every census since 1930.

10 censuses, 1930–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Brownell’s Wikipedia page.

Places that used to be

Lost post offices

Brownell’s post office has been open since 1888. Another post office, Vansburgh, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Vansburgh
1880–1888
Brownell
1888–today
18801950today

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

Questions about Brownell’s history

What year was Brownell founded?

The Brownell post office opened in 1888, 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 →
Start a conversation
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 Wikimedia Commons (2), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), 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.