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History · Elbing

Elbing’s post office opened in 1887, and 17% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1889 on and the census since 1920.

1887first post office
0on the National Register
17%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Elbing began

When was Elbing founded?

1887

The Elbing post office opened in 1887, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Worth (1886), opened inside today’s city and later closed.

First census: 230 in 19202020 census: 226139 years
Founding year: the first Elbing post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Elbing’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 Elbing are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Shrank, then grewLost half of its people between 1920 and 1950, then more than doubled.On the map since 18894 editions of the USGS map, 1889 to 1985. Watch Elbing change.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Elbing’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Elbing’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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People over time

Elbing, census by census

0100200192019401960198020002020230 in 1920Low: 98

Lost half of its people between 1920 and 1950, then more than doubled.

11 censuses, 1920–2020.

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

On the map

Elbing on the map, 1889 to 1985

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

Elbing on the 1889 USGS mapElbing on the 1894 USGS mapElbing on the 1957 USGS mapElbing on the 1985 USGS map1889Newton 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 Elbing.

The story

How Elbing came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Elbing.

Read it all →

In 1887, the Chicago, Kansas and Nebraska Railway built a branch line north–south from Herington through Elbing to Caldwell. It foreclosed in 1891 and was taken over by Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railway, which shut down in 1980 and reorganized as Oklahoma, Kansas and Texas Railroad, merged in 1988 with Missouri Pacific Railroad, merged in 1997 with Union Pacific Railroad. Most locals still refer to this railroad as the "Rock Island".

ChaptersEarly history19th century

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

From the old history books

What they wrote about Elbing in 1916

Passages that mention Elbing, cut from the printed page as they were published.

to homestead entry, and hence there was not as many homesteaders in our township as in other townships. The township has seven miles of railroad, being a branch of the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad Company. The town of Elbing is an enterprising little place, consisting of a bank, of which…
History of Butler County Kansas1916 · page 154Read the page →
Read the text

to homestead entry, and hence there was not as many homesteaders in our township as in other townships. The township has seven miles of railroad, being a branch of the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad Company. The town of Elbing is an enterprising little place, consisting of a bank, of which Herman Jackson is president, and D. C. Crosby is cashier ; two general stores, a hardware and implement store, lumber yard, together with a postoffice, blacksmith shop and other lines of business and all seem prosperous. More live stock is shipped from this

Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Rochester, Fulton county, Indiana, March 22, 1876. In 1878 he bought and settled on the northwest quarter of section 3, which he made his home until February 27, 1916, when he met death by being run down by a Rock Island passenger train at Elbing, Kan. Peter Dyck, Abraham Regier, J. W. Regier and B…
History of Butler County Kansas1916 · page 153Read the page →
Read the text

Rochester, Fulton county, Indiana, March 22, 1876. In 1878 he bought and settled on the northwest quarter of section 3, which he made his home until February 27, 1916, when he met death by being run down by a Rock Island passenger train at Elbing, Kan. Peter Dyck, Abraham Regier, J. W. Regier and Bernhardt Regier came from Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, in 1885. These people were the nucleus of the Mennonite German settlement which has extended at this time to almost one-third of the present township. They are among our best citizens and have some

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

Elbing, 1886 to 1920

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1886Post officeThe Worth post office opens
  3. 1887Post officeThe Worth post office closes
  4. 1887Post officeThe Elbing post office opens
  5. 1889On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  6. 20th century
  7. 1920CensusPopulation peaks at 230
By decade

Elbing, decade by decade

Today3 recent
Welcome to Berean Academy2018Welcome to Berean AcademyDetailed map of2010Detailed map ofMapKSMap-doton-Elbing2004KSMap-doton-Elbing
Places that used to be

Lost post offices and places now gone

Elbing’s post office has been open since 1887. Another post office, Worth, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Worth
1886–1887
Elbing
1887–today
18801950today
Gone or out of use
Elbing Elementary Schoolschool

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

Questions about Elbing’s history

What year was Elbing founded?

The Elbing post office opened in 1887, 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 (3), Wikipedia, 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.