The story
Read it all →How Haven came to be
From Wikipedia’s history of Haven.
Haven was laid out in 1886, and incorporated as a city in 1901. The first post office in Haven was established in 1873.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
C+History
History · Haven
Haven’s post office opened in 1873, and 23% of its homes were built before 1940
More historic than 41% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Below: maps from 1889 on and the census since 1910.
1873first post office
0on the National Register
23%homes built before 1940
1famous people
Quick answers
How Haven began
When was Haven founded?
1873
The Haven post office opened in 1873, the earliest record of the town by name.
First census: 528 in 19102020 census: 1,170153 years
How historic is Haven?
C+
What drives the grade ↓More historic than 41% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Haven post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Haven’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Haven is more historic than 41% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
C+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Haven’s overall grade.
Founding era1873, from the first post office: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC+Homes built before 194023.3% of homes (±2.2) · typical KS town 10.3% · U.S. 8.4%A−National RegisterNo listings counted · typical KS town 5.1 per 10,000 · U.S. 2.4C−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 41%
NewerOlder
Kansas towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical Kansas town has 5.1 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Haven’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (19% of Kansas towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from D to B. The pre-1940 share (±2.2 points) is firm at this size. The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
Founding year: the first post office (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
What stands out about Haven’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
★ What stands out · Help out
Start Haven’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Haven’s history is told.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.People over time
Haven, census by census
Lost half of its people between 1920 and 1930, then more than doubled.
12 censuses, 1910–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Haven’s Wikipedia page.
On the map
Haven on the map, 1889 to 1990
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Haven. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1889Cheney sheet · 1:125,000U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Haven.
From the old history books
What they wrote about Haven in 1917
Passages that mention Haven, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Reno County, Kansas1917 · page 312Read the page →
Read the text
The town of Haven was laid out early in the year 1886. F. \\ . Ash. < W. Peckham. Levi Charles and William Astle made an agreement with the Eagle Townsite Company, of Wichita, whereby two hundred acres of land was purchased on which to build the town by the resident member of this town company. Part of the contract was that the Wichita railroad, now the Missouri Pacific railroad, should be built to Haven, and in consideration of this the Eagle Town Company received fifty-one per cent.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Reno County, Kansas1917Read the page →
Read the text
The Haven Milling Company, with mills located at Haven, has a daily Hour producing capacity of two hundred barrets and a wheat storage capacity of fifty thousand bushels.
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.
Timeline
Haven, 1873 to 1920
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
- 19th century
- 1873Post officeThe Haven post office opens
- 1889
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey - 1898
Born hereHarold D. Smith is born here - 20th century
- 1920CensusPopulation peaks at 1,301
By decade
Haven, decade by decade
Today2 recent
2017
2011Places that used to be
Old corners and places now gone
Haven’s post office has been open since 1873.
Hamlets and corners on the map
Hinmans Mobile Home ParkReynolds Mobile Home Park
Gone or out of use
Haven Airportairport
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Questions about Haven’s history
What year was Haven founded?
The Haven post office opened in 1873, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Haven rank for history?
Haven is more historic than 41% of U.S. towns. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
How old are the homes in Haven?
23% of Haven’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.2 points), against a typical 10% for a Kansas town; the median home was built in 1974.
Memory lane
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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).
From Wikimedia Commons (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.