Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Cedar Point

We’ll email a one-tap link to publish your post. No password, and nothing is public until you click it.
Already a member? Sign in
–Not graded
History · Cedar Point

Cedar Point’s post office opened in 1862, and 41% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: 5 old photos and papers, maps from 1957 on, and the census since 1880.

1862first post office
0on the National Register
41%homes built before 1940
5old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Cedar Point’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Cedar Point began

When was Cedar Point founded?

1862

The Cedar Point post office opened in 1862, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 113 in 18802020 census: 22164 years
Founding year: the first Cedar Point post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Cedar Point’s past

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

Boom and bustPeaked at 190 in 1920; 22 people lived here in 2020.Old housesHalf of Cedar Point’s homes were built before 1953.
★ What stands out · People over time

Cedar Point, census by census

010020018801900192019401960198020002020Peak: 190

Peaked at 190 in 1920; 22 people lived here in 2020.

12 censuses, 1880–2020.

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

The story

How Cedar Point came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Cedar Point.

Read it all →

In 1806, Zebulon Pike led the Pike Expedition westward from St Louis, Missouri, of which part of their journey followed the Cottonwood River through Chase County near the current city of Cedar Point.

In 1854, the Kansas Territory was organized, then in 1861 Kansas became the 34th U.S. state. In 1855, Marion County was established within the Kansas Territory, which included the land for modern day Cedar Point.

In 1862, Cedar Point was founded. The first post office in Cedar Point was established in 1862.

ChaptersEarly history19th century

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Cedar Point, 1862 to 1957

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1862Post officeThe Cedar Point post office opens
  3. 1893In the archiveMap elk chase kansas
  4. 20th century
  5. 1920CensusPopulation peaks at 190
  6. 1933In the archiveDetail of door and cave entrance on west side of smokehouse - Henry E. Williams Farmstead…
  7. 1957On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Cedar Point, decade by decade

2 decades in the archive, from the 1890s to the 1930s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1890s1 item
Map elk chase kansas1893Map elk chase kansasMap
1900s–1920snothing 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
1930s4 items
Detail of door and cave entrance on west side of smokehouse - Henry E. Williams Farmstead, Smokehouse, Southeast of Res…1933Detail of door and cave entrance on west side of smok…Detail of grain bin, interior of converted chicken house, looking west - Henry E. Williams Farmstead, Converted Chicken…1933Detail of grain bin, interior of converted chicken ho…Detail of inscription on ceiling of cave beneath smokehouse, looking east - Henry E. Williams Farmstead, Smokehouse, So…1933Detail of inscription on ceiling of cave beneath smok…Detail of small closet-like enclosure, interior of smokehouse first story, looking west - Henry E. Williams Farmstead, …1933Detail of small closet-like enclosure, interior of sm…
1940s–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
On the map

Cedar Point on the map, 1957 to 1985

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

Cedar Point on the 1957 USGS mapCedar Point on the 1985 USGS map1957Cedar Point sheet · 1:24,000

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

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.

Detail of door and cave entrance on west side of smokehouse - Henry E. Williams Farmstead, Smokehouse, Southeast of Res…
Retake this viewDetail of door and cave entrance on west side of smokehouse - Henry E. Williams Farmstead, Smokehouse, Southeast of Res…, 1933

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

Retake this view · +15
Help out

Finish Cedar Point’s story

Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewDetail of door and cave entrance on wes…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10

Questions about Cedar Point’s history

What year was Cedar Point founded?

The Cedar Point post office opened in 1862, 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 (5), Wikidata (1), 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.