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History · Highland Township

The history of Highland Township

Below: 3 old photos and papers, maps from 1893 on, and the census since 1860.

0on the National Register
0.0%homes built before 1940
3old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Highland Township’s archive · credits on each photo

What stands out about Highland 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 3 old photos are in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.On the map since 18933 editions of the USGS map, 1893 to 1985. Watch Highland Township change.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Highland Township’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
2 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Date a photo1 archive item has no date. Guess the decade.+2Retake an old viewBAPTIST CHURCH THAT IS 100 YEARS OLD IN…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
On the map

Highland Township on the map, 1893 to 1985

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

Highland Township on the 1893 USGS mapHighland Township on the 1966 USGS mapHighland Township on the 1985 USGS map1893Washington 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 Highland Township.

The story

How Highland Township came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Highland Township.

Read it all →

The Highland Township was started with the founding of the Iowa and Sac & Fox Mission State Historic Site by Reverend Samuel Irvin and Reverend William Hamilton in 1837. The mission was sponsored and funded by the Presbyterians. The Founders plan behind the town was to make it an educational town and in 1857 when the town was laid out a spot was chosen for the future university. Samuel Irvin established the first Highland Community College Building Irvin Hall with the building being built in 1858. The college was chartered and founded in 1858 and has gone through eight name changes over the course of its history.

In 2011 Highland became the self proclaimed Snowflake City of Kansas

ChaptersShort summaryEarly historyThe Highland Town CompanyHighland University

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Highland Township, 1884 to 1988

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1884Post officeThe Gaskill post office opens
  3. 1893On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  4. 20th century
  5. 1903Post officeThe Gaskill post office closes
  6. 1974In the archiveBAPTIST CHURCH THAT IS 100 YEARS OLD IN HIGHLAND, KANSAS, NEAR TROY, IN THE EXTREME NORTH…
  7. 1988In the archiveBank (1908), Main Street
By decade

Highland Township, decade by decade

2 decades in the archive, from the 1970s to the 1980s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1970s–1980s2 items
BAPTIST CHURCH THAT IS 100 YEARS OLD IN HIGHLAND, KANSAS, NEAR TROY, IN THE EXTREME NORTHEAST CORNER OF THE STATE. IT..…1974BAPTIST CHURCH THAT IS 100 YEARS OLD IN HIGHLAND, KAN…Bank (1908), Main Street1988Bank (1908), Main Street
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
Date unknown1 to date
Highland Junior College, Irvin HallDate?Highland Junior College, Irvin Hall
Today2 recent
Old Train Depot2008Old Train DepotKSMap-doton-Highland2004KSMap-doton-Highland
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.

BAPTIST CHURCH THAT IS 100 YEARS OLD IN HIGHLAND, KANSAS, NEAR TROY, IN THE EXTREME NORTHEAST CORNER OF THE STATE. IT..…
Retake this viewBAPTIST CHURCH THAT IS 100 YEARS OLD IN HIGHLAND, KANSAS, NEAR TROY, IN THE EXTREME NORTHEAST CORNER OF THE STATE. IT..…, 1974

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

Retake this view · +15
People over time

Highland Township, census by census

02004006008001,000190019502000Peak: 1,012

Between 120 and 1,012 people in every census since 1860.

17 censuses, 1860–2020.

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

Places that used to be

Lost post offices, places now gone and burying grounds

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

Gone or out of use
Gaskilllocale
2cemeteries and burying grounds inside Highland Township
GaskillSilver Cliff

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.

Farmington TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townLowe Township1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townFranklin TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Highland Township’s history

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 (4), the Library of Congress (1), Wikidata (5), Wikipedia, 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.