The story
Read it all →How Dearing came to be
From Wikipedia’s history of Dearing.
The first post office in Dearing was established in January 1888. Dearing was incorporated in 1909.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
–Not graded
History · Dearing
Dearing’s post office opened in 1888, and 25% of its homes were built before 1940
Below: maps from 1886 on and the census since 1910.
1888first post office
0on the National Register
25%homes built before 1940
1famous people
Quick answers
How Dearing began
When was Dearing founded?
1888
The Dearing post office opened in 1888, the earliest record of the town by name.
First census: 250 in 19102020 census: 382138 years
Founding year: the first Dearing post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
What stands out about Dearing’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
★ What stands out · Help out
Start Dearing’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Dearing’s history is told.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.On the map
Dearing on the map, 1886 to 1990
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Dearing. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1886Independence sheet · 1:125,000U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Dearing.
From the old history books
What they wrote about Dearing in 1903
Passages that mention Dearing, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Montgomery county, Kansas1903 · page 82Read the page →
Read the text
Wayside, Dearing and Crane N\'ayside is a station and postollii-e between Bolton and Havana on the Southwestern. Dearing is a station and hamlet five miles west of Cort'eyville on the Denver. Memphis & Atlantic division of the Missouri I'acific. and the jmint of junction with the main line runining north. It has a jiostottice and store. Crane is a station on the Southern Kansas division of the Santa Fe. five miles northwest of Independence. It has a jKist office and coiitntry store.
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
Dearing, 1886 to 1906
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
- 19th century
- 1886
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey - 1888Post officeThe Dearing post office opens
- 20th century
- 1906Born hereNate Barragar is born here
By decade
Dearing, decade by decade
Today1 recent
2005People over time
Dearing, census by census
Between 249 and 475 people in every census since 1910.
12 censuses, 1910–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Dearing’s Wikipedia page.
Questions about Dearing’s history
What year was Dearing founded?
The Dearing 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.
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 (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.