Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Greenleaf Township

We’ll email a one-tap link to publish your post. No password, and nothing is public until you click it.
Already a member? Sign in
–Not graded
History · Greenleaf Township

Greenleaf Township’s post office opened in 1877, and 56% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1889 on, and the census since 1880.

1877first post office
0on the National Register
56%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Greenleaf Township’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Greenleaf Township began

When was Greenleaf Township founded?

1877

The Greenleaf Township post office opened in 1877, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 316 in 18802020 census: 415149 years
Founding year: the first Greenleaf Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Greenleaf 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 1 old photo is in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.On the map since 18894 editions of the USGS map, 1889 to 1983. Watch Greenleaf Township change.Old housesHalf of Greenleaf Township’s homes were built before 1938.Boom and bustPeaked at 916 in 1890; 350 people lived here in 2020.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Greenleaf Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Greenleaf 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 viewGreenleaf Kansas Farmyard: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
On the map

Greenleaf Township on the map, 1889 to 1983

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

Greenleaf Township on the 1889 USGS mapGreenleaf Township on the 1894 USGS mapGreenleaf Township on the 1968 USGS mapGreenleaf Township on the 1983 USGS map1889Marysville 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 Greenleaf Township.

The story

How Greenleaf Township came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Greenleaf Township.

Read it all →

Greenleaf was founded in 1876. It was incorporated in 1880. Greenleaf was named for A. W. Greenleaf, the treasurer of the Central Branch Union Pacific Railroad. The post office at Round Grove, Kansas; which had been known at various times as Prospect Hill and Hopper, was moved to Greenleaf when the railroad missed the settlement.

A tornado hit Greenleaf on September 25, 1973. The tornado demolished 42 homes, 26 businesses and took the lives of two children.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Greenleaf Township, 1889 to 1978

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1889On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  3. 1890CensusPopulation peaks at 916
  4. 20th century
  5. 1978In the archiveGreenleaf Kansas Farmyard
By decade

Greenleaf Township, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1970s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1970s1 item
Greenleaf Kansas Farmyard1978Greenleaf Kansas Farmyard
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
Today1 recent
KSMap-doton-Greenleaf2005KSMap-doton-Greenleaf
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.

Greenleaf Kansas Farmyard
Retake this viewGreenleaf Kansas Farmyard, 1978

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

Retake this view · +15
People over time

Greenleaf Township, census by census

02004006008001,00018801900192019401960198020002020Peak: 916

Peaked at 916 in 1890; 350 people lived here in 2020.

15 censuses, 1880–2020.

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

Famous people

Famous people close to Greenleaf Township

Nobody well known was born in Greenleaf Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
Joe VoglerAlaskan politician · b. 1913
Alice HausmanAmerican politician · b. 1942
D
Dorothy ThomasAmerican author and diarist · b. 1898
H
Henry Pomeroy MillerAmerican politician and lobbyist · b. 1883
Sharon SchwartzAmerican politician · b. 1940
G
Glen H. ThomasAmerican architect · b. 1889
Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Kimeo TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townLinn TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townBarnes TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townLogan TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Greenleaf Township’s history

What year was Greenleaf Township founded?

The Greenleaf Township post office opened in 1877, 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, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia) 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.