The Buhler post office opened in 1888, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Hamburg (1888), opened inside today’s city and later closed.
First census: 486 in 19202020 census: 1,325138 years
How historic is Buhler?
B+
More historic than 67% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Buhler post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Buhler’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Buhler is more historic than 67% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its age pulls it down.
B+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Buhler’s overall grade.
Kansas towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical Kansas town has 5.1 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Buhler’s 13.1 sits above most of its state (70% of Kansas towns have fewer) while its 2 historic buildings outnumber those of 60% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from B− to A−. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±7.9 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
Founding year: the first post office (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
What stands out about Buhler’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Buhler was primarily inhabited by Mennonite families that had emigrated from Russia during the 1880s.
In September 2012, the City of Buhler received a letter from the Freedom from Religion Foundation regarding a complaint about perceived constitutual violations about the city seal having a cross in it. In November 2012, the city stated that every legal opinion it had received indicated the city has no supportable case in the event that it was sued to legally force the removal of the seal. If the city lost, it would be obligated to pay all the legal fees of the prevailing party. The city decided to hold a contest in January 2013 to redesign the city seal without specific reference to religion.
Passages that mention Buhler, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Reno County, Kansas1917 · page 314Read the page →
Read the text
Buhler is located in the northeastern part of the comity in the German settlement. The plat of the townsite was filed in May, 1914. The town is the center of the actiyities of the German population of the northeastern part of the county. It has a fine mill, good schools and churches and a very prosperous bank.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
The Buhler Milling Company, with their mill located at Buhler, haa capacity for producing five hundred barrels of flour a day and a wheat storing capacity of one hundred thousand bushels.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Timeline
Buhler, 1888 to 1947
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
People over time
Buhler, census by census
Between 486 and 1,358 people in every census since 1920.
11 censuses, 1920–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Buhler’s Wikipedia page.
Places that used to be
Lost post offices and burying grounds
Buhler’s post office has been open since 1888. Another post office, Hamburg, opened and closed inside today’s town.
Buhler
1888–today
Hamburg
1888–1888
18801950today
2cemeteries and burying grounds inside Buhler
Buhler MunicipalThiessen Family
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Questions about Buhler’s history
What year was Buhler founded?
The Buhler post office opened in 1888, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Buhler rank for history?
Buhler is more historic than 67% of U.S. towns. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
What is on the National Register in Buhler?
One place: the Wall-Ratzlaff House (listed 1992).
How old are the homes in Buhler?
25% of Buhler’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±7.9 points), against a typical 10% for a Kansas town; the median home was built in 1962.
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).
From Wikimedia Commons (1), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
2011