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History · Downs

Downs’ post office opened in 1879, and 35% of its homes were built before 1940

Its Register listings are the Downs Carnegie Library and the Downs Missouri Pacific Depot.

1879first post office
2on the National Register
35%homes built before 1940
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Downs began, and where its name came from

When was Downs founded?

1879

The Downs post office opened in 1879, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Violet (1879), opened inside today’s city and later closed.

2020 census: 800147 years

How did Downs get its name?

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

Founding year: the first Downs post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Name: Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.The full story ↓

What stands out about Downs’ 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 are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of Downs’ homes were built before 1955.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Downs’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Downs’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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The story

How Downs came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Downs.

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, 1879 to 1906

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1879Post officeThe Downs post office opens
  3. 1879Post officeThe Violet post office opens
  4. 1879Post officeThe Violet post office closes
  5. 1885Born hereFrancis Schmidt is born here
  6. 20th century
  7. 1906BuiltDowns Carnegie Library is built
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.

Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
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On the National Register

2 historic places in Downs

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

places listed
2
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
2
each building in a district counts
first listed
1987
Downs Carnegie Library
Downs Carnegie Library, built 1906Downs Missouri Pacific Depot
Buildings
Downs Carnegie LibraryBuilt 1906
Downs Missouri Pacific DepotBuilding

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Places that used to be

Lost post offices and burying grounds

Downs’s post office has been open since 1879. Another post office, Violet, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Downs
1879–today
Violet
1879–1879
18701950today
1cemetery inside Downs
Downs

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

Questions about Downs’ history

What year was Downs founded?

The Downs post office opened in 1879, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Downs?

Two places: the Downs Carnegie Library (listed 1987) and the Downs Missouri Pacific Depot (2001).

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 Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (2), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.