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History · Elk Falls

Elk Falls’ post office opened in 1870, and 42% of its homes were built before 1940

Its Register listing is the Elk Falls High School Gymnasium. Below: maps from 1885 on and the census since 1880.

1870first post office
1on the National Register
42%homes built before 1940
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Elk Falls began

When was Elk Falls founded?

1870

The Elk Falls post office opened in 1870, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 513 in 18802020 census: 113156 years
Founding year: the first Elk Falls post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Elk Falls’ 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 Elk Falls are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.On the map since 18854 editions of the USGS map, 1885 to 1985. Watch Elk Falls change.Mapped building by building3 fire insurance maps, 1893 to 1905, drew every building in Elk Falls.Old housesHalf of Elk Falls’ homes were built before 1954.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Elk Falls’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Elk Falls’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
On the map

Elk Falls on the map, 1885 to 1985

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

Elk Falls on the 1885 USGS mapElk Falls on the 1962 USGS mapElk Falls on the 1979 USGS mapElk Falls on the 1985 USGS map1885Sedan 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 Elk Falls.

Every building

Elk Falls, building by building, 1893–1905

Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.

Elk Falls fire insurance map, 1893, sheet 11893Sheet 1 of 1
Edition
Sheets
BrickWoodStone

Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

The story

How Elk Falls came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Elk Falls.

Read it all →

The first European-American house was built at Elk Falls in 1870, and a post office was opened that same year. Elk Falls was named for a waterfall on the Elk River, near where the town developed. Two early settlers in the rural community were the widow Prudence Crandall (who took back her maiden name after her husband died), an educator from Connecticut who had established the Canterbury Female Boarding School in the 1830s for African-American girls and young women; and her brother Hezekiah. They both died here and were buried in the town cemetery.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Elk Falls, 1870 to 1894

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1870Post officeThe Elk Falls post office opens
  3. 1885On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  4. 1894Born hereByron F. Johnson is born here
By decade

Elk Falls, decade by decade

Today1 recent
KSMap-doton-Elk Falls2004KSMap-doton-Elk Falls
On the National Register

1 historic place in Elk Falls

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

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts
first listed
2024
Elk Falls High School Gymnasium
Elk Falls High School Gymnasium
Buildings
All 1 listings
Elk Falls High School GymnasiumBuilding · listed 2024

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

People over time

Elk Falls, census by census

010020030040050018801900192019401960198020002020Peak: 513

Between 107 and 513 people in every census since 1880.

14 censuses, 1880–2020.

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

Questions about Elk Falls’ history

What year was Elk Falls founded?

The Elk Falls post office opened in 1870, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Elk Falls?

One place: the Elk Falls High School Gymnasium (listed 2024).

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 (1), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (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 Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.