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History · Highpoint Township

Highpoint Township’s post office opened in 1884, and 67% of its homes were built before 1940

Its Register listings are the Pawnee River Tributary Bridge and the Ness County Bridge FS-450. Below: maps from 1892 on.

1884first post office
2on the National Register
67%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Highpoint Township began

When was Highpoint Township founded?

1884

The Highpoint Township post office opened in 1884, the earliest record of the town by name. Five smaller post offices, Wellmanville (1878), Francis (1879) and Riverside (1879), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

2020 census: 52142 years
Founding year: the first Highpoint Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Highpoint Township’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

Lost villages5 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Highpoint Township, and 1 old place names are still on the map.A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Highpoint Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.On the map since 18923 editions of the USGS map, 1892 to 1985. Watch Highpoint Township change.Old housesHalf of Highpoint Township’s homes were built before 1938.
★ What stands out · Places that used to be

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

Five other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Wellmanville
1878–1909
Francis
1879–1915
Riverside
1879–1920
Domus
1880–1884
Highpoint
1884–1897
18701950today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Riverside
Gone or out of use
Bondurant Oil FieldoilfieldFrancislocaleHighpointlocaleMargheim Oil FieldoilfieldSchaben Oil FieldoilfieldSteffen West Oil FieldoilfieldWellmanvillelocale
3cemeteries and burying grounds inside Highpoint Township
CrandallRiversideSaint John the Baptist

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Help out

Start Highpoint Township’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
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On the map

Highpoint Township on the map, 1892 to 1985

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

Highpoint Township on the 1892 USGS mapHighpoint Township on the 1970 USGS mapHighpoint Township on the 1985 USGS map1892Ness 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 Highpoint Township.

The story so far

Highpoint Township, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Highpoint Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Highpoint Township is a township in Ness County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 census, its population was 52.

Its first post office opened in 1884. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 64 to 52 (-19%).

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

Timeline

Highpoint Township, 1878 to 1928

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1878Post officeThe Wellmanville post office opens
  3. 1879Post officeThe Francis post office opens
  4. 1879Post officeThe Riverside post office opens
  5. 1892On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  6. 20th century
  7. 1909Post officeThe Wellmanville post office closes
  8. 1915Post officeThe Francis post office closes
  9. 1920Post officeThe Riverside post office closes
  10. 1928BuiltPawnee River Tributary Bridge is built
By decade

No old photos in the archives yet

Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
Add from your album
On the National Register

2 historic places in Highpoint Township

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

places listed
2
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
2
each building in a district counts
first listed
1985
Pawnee River Tributary Bridge
Pawnee River Tributary Bridge, built 1928Ness County Bridge FS-450
Structures
Pawnee River Tributary BridgeBuilt 1928
All 2 listings
Ness County Bridge FS-450Structure · listed 2017

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Marena TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townBazine TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townFranklin TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townValley TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townShiley TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townAlexander-Belle Prairie TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Highpoint Township’s history

What year was Highpoint Township founded?

The Highpoint Township post office opened in 1884, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Highpoint Township?

Two places: the Pawnee River Tributary Bridge (listed 1985) and the Ness County Bridge FS-450 (2017).

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 the National Register of Historic Places (2), 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.