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History · Elmdale

Elmdale’s post office opened in 1873, and 53% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: 6 old photos and papers, maps from 1898 on, and the census since 1880.

1873first post office
0on the National Register
53%homes built before 1940
6old photos & papers
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Elmdale’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Elmdale began

When was Elmdale founded?

1873

The Elmdale post office opened in 1873, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Middle Creek (1862), opened inside today’s city and later closed.

First census: 95 in 18802020 census: 40153 years
Founding year: the first Elmdale post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Elmdale’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

Old housesHalf of Elmdale’s homes were built before 1938.Boom and bustPeaked at 253 in 1910; 40 people lived here in 2020.
★ What stands out · The story

How Elmdale came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Elmdale.

Read it all →

In 1806, Zebulon Pike led the Pike Expedition westward from St Louis, Missouri, of which part of their journey followed the Cottonwood River through Chase County near the current city of Elmdale.

In 1854, the Kansas Territory was organized, then in 1861 Kansas became the 34th U.S. state. In 1859, Chase County was established within the Kansas Territory, which included the land for modern day Elmdale.

In 1871, the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway built a main line east–west through Elmdale. In 1873, a post office was relocated from Middle Creek (an extinct town), to the rail community of Elmdale. Elmdale was incorporated in 1904.

In 1916, Camp Wood YMCA was built about 1.5 miles south of Elmdale.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

People over time

Elmdale, census by census

010020018801900192019401960198020002020Peak: 253

Peaked at 253 in 1910; 40 people lived here in 2020.

13 censuses, 1880–2020.

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

Timeline

Elmdale, 1862 to 1974

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1862Post officeThe Middle Creek post office opens
  3. 1873Post officeThe Elmdale post office opens
  4. 1877Post officeThe Middle Creek post office closes
  5. 1889Born hereLyle Tayo is born here
  6. 1893In the archiveMap elk chase kansas
  7. 1898On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  8. 20th century
  9. 1910CensusPopulation peaks at 253
  10. 1911In the archiveElmdale, Kansas (1911)
  11. 1974In the archiveDR. AND MRS. KARL MENNINGER ATTENDING THE SECOND ANNUAL TALLGRASS PRAIRIE NATIONAL PARK C…
By decade

Elmdale, decade by decade

3 decades in the archive, from the 1890s to the 1970s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1890s–1910s2 items
Map elk chase kansas1893Map elk chase kansasMapElmdale, Kansas (1911)1911Elmdale, Kansas (1911)
1920s–1960snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
1970s4 items
DR. AND MRS. KARL MENNINGER ATTENDING THE SECOND ANNUAL TALLGRASS PRAIRIE NATIONAL PARK CONFERENCE HELD AT ELMDALE... -…1974DR. AND MRS. KARL MENNINGER ATTENDING THE SECOND ANNU…DR. E. RAYMOND HALL, THE FOUNDER OF THE MOVEMENT FOR A TALLGRASS PRAIRIE NATIONAL PARK, TALKS TO A WOMAN AT THE... - NA…1974DR. E. RAYMOND HALL, THE FOUNDER OF THE MOVEMENT FOR …REAR WINDOW OF A CAR SHOWS A "SAVE THE TALLGRASS PRAIRIE" STICKER. THE DRIVER WAS ATTENDING THE SECOND ANNUAL... - NARA…1974REAR WINDOW OF A CAR SHOWS A "SAVE THE TALLGRASS PRAI…SOME OF THE STUDENTS CAMPED OUT WHILE ATTENDING THE SECOND ANNUAL TALLGRASS PRAIRIE NATIONAL PARK CONFERENCE HELD AT...…1974SOME OF THE STUDENTS CAMPED OUT WHILE ATTENDING THE S…
1980s–1990snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
Today5 recent
House in2017House inHouse in Elmdale 012017House in Elmdale 01Nightmare in2011Nightmare inDetailed map of2010Detailed map ofMapKSMap-doton-Elmdale2004KSMap-doton-Elmdale
On the map

Elmdale on the map, 1898 to 1985

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

Elmdale on the 1898 USGS mapElmdale on the 1985 USGS map1898Cottonwood Falls 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 Elmdale.

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Elmdale, Kansas (1911)
Retake this viewElmdale, Kansas (1911), 1911

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Elmdale’s page.

Retake this view · +15
Places that used to be

Lost post offices

Elmdale’s post office has been open since 1873. Another post office, Middle Creek, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Middle Creek
1862–1877
Elmdale
1873–today
18601940today

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

Help out

Finish Elmdale’s story

Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
2 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewElmdale, Kansas (1911): stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10

Questions about Elmdale’s history

What year was Elmdale founded?

The Elmdale post office opened in 1873, 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 (11), 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) 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.