Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Its Register listings are the Fowler Swimming Pool and Bathhouse and the Hotel Bunyan. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1892 on, and the census since 1910.
The Fowler post office opened in 1885, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Gilbert (1883), opened inside today’s city and later closed.
Fowler was named for George Fowler, the original owner of the town site.
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Fowler’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Fowler. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Fowler.
Peaked at 778 in 1950; 534 people lived here in 2020.
12 censuses, 1910–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Fowler’s Wikipedia page.
From Wikipedia’s history of Fowler.
Fowler was laid out and platted in 1886. It was named for George Fowler, the original owner of the town site.
Fowler was a shipping point on the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Fowler, cut from the printed page as they were published.
They are as follows: The Adams bridge, just north of Meade, on Road No. 72; cost $1,776. Prior to this time a wooden biidge had stood here. The Pinnick bridge, on Road No. 3, about a milewestof Fowler, at a cost of $1,500. The Watt bridge, on Road No. 63, across ('rooked Creek, north of Fowler, at a cost of $1,448. The Fanchar bridge, across Sand ('reek, on Road No. 39, Logan Township, at an original cost
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Fowler City was surveyed, platted and dedicated by George Fowler, owner of the Land, which was a part of the northwest quarter of Section 6, Township 31, Range 26 ; plat tiled May 1st. 1NN0. Various additions have since been made to this town. Fowler City was duly organized and incorporated, and nourished for a time, but finally, as the country gradually depopulated, it became dormant, and so remained for many years
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.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archiveMemorial Day parade, Fowler, Kansas (1919)
BuiltFowler Swimming Pool and Bathhouse is built
Born hereTim Huelskamp is born hereOne decade in the archive so far: the 1910s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Fowler’s page.
Retake this view · +15The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Fowler’s post office has been open since 1885. Another post office, Gilbert, opened and closed inside today’s town.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
The Fowler post office opened in 1885, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Two places: the Fowler Swimming Pool and Bathhouse (listed 2009) and the Hotel Bunyan (2025).
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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 (2), 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 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.
