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History · Downs Township

25% of Downs Township’s homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1889 on and the census since 1880.

0on the National Register
25%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

Where Downs Township’s name came from

How did Downs Township get its name?

Downs Township was named for William F. Downs, a railroad official from Atchison.

Name: Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.The full story ↓

What stands out about Downs 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 Downs Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.On the map since 18894 editions of the USGS map, 1889 to 1985. Watch Downs Township change.Boom and bustPeaked at 1,508 in 1920; 800 people lived here in 2020.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Downs Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Downs 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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On the map

Downs Township on the map, 1889 to 1985

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

Downs Township on the 1889 USGS mapDowns Township on the 1893 USGS mapDowns Township on the 1971 USGS mapDowns Township on the 1985 USGS map1889Caldwell 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 Downs Township.

People over time

Downs Township, census by census

02004006008001,0001,2001,4001,60018801900192019401960198020002020Peak: 1,508

Peaked at 1,508 in 1920; 800 people lived here in 2020.

15 censuses, 1880–2020.

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

The story

How Downs Township came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Downs Township.

Read it all →

Downs had its start in the year 1879 when the Central Branch Railroad was extended to that point. It was named for William F. Downs, a railroad official from Atchison. Downs became an incorporated town in December of the same year. In 1910, the city had a population of 1,427. Business included two newspapers, a public library, flour mills, grain elevators, and an opera house.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Downs Township, 1882 to 1954

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1882Post officeThe Perth post office opens
  3. 1889On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  4. 20th century
  5. 1920CensusPopulation peaks at 1,508
  6. 1954Post officeThe Perth 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.

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Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Another post office, Perth, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Hamlets and corners on the map
Perth
Gone or out of use
Perth Oil Fieldoilfield
3cemeteries and burying grounds inside Downs Township
BethanyChicaskiaSacred Heart

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

Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Wellington4 historic placesA−Falls TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townJackson TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townOsborne TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townChikaskia TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Downs Township’s history

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 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.