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History · Falun Township

Falun Township’s post office opened in 1870, and 11% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: 2 old photos and papers and maps from 1955 on.

1870first post office
0on the National Register
11%homes built before 1940
2old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Falun Township’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Falun Township began

When was Falun Township founded?

1870

The Falun Township post office opened in 1870, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Dry Creek (1877), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

2020 census: 267156 years
Founding year: the first Falun Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Falun 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 writtenOnly 2 old photos are in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of Falun Township’s homes were built before 1961.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Falun Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Falun Township’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewFalun Cafe 1955: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story

How Falun Township came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Falun Township.

Read it all →

Falun was founded by the Swedish immigrant Erik Fors (or Eric Forsse as he called himself in America). Erik Fors was born in Malung, and emigrated to America in 1850. He participated in The Civil War 1861–1865, and in 1869 he moved to Kansas with about forty other Swedish settlers and founded Falun, after the name of the town neighboring his birthtown called Falun. Some of the Falun residents came directly from Sweden, while others arrived after having lived in Bishop Hill and Galva, Illinois.

In 1886, the Union Pacific Railroad put rails through the township and established a station; the railway was essential for the town's continued development.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Falun Township, 1870 to 1955

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1870Post officeThe Falun post office opens
  3. 1877Post officeThe Dry Creek post office opens
  4. 1887Post officeThe Dry Creek post office closes
  5. 20th century
  6. 1955In the archiveFalun Cafe 1955
  7. 1955On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Falun Township, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1950s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1950s2 items
Falun Cafe 19551955Falun Cafe 1955Falun Kansas group 19551955Falun Kansas group 1955
1960s–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
On the map

Falun Township on the map, 1955 to 1978

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

Falun Township on the 1955 USGS mapFalun Township on the 1978 USGS map1955Falun sheet · 1:24,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Falun Township.

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.

Falun Cafe 1955
Retake this viewFalun Cafe 1955, 1955

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

Retake this view · +15
Places that used to be

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

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

Falun
1870–today
Dry Creek
1877–1887
18701950today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Falun
Gone or out of use
Dry Creeklocale
3cemeteries and burying grounds inside Falun Township
Dry CreekFalunSummit

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.

Spring Creek Township1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townMarquette Township1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townUnion TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townWashington TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townSmoky View Township1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townEmpire TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Falun Township’s history

What year was Falun Township founded?

The Falun Township post office opened in 1870, 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 (2), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.