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Watertower in Kinsley Kansas 4-5-2008Photo: Dave Coon · CC BY 2.0
–Not graded
History · Kinsley Township

17% of Kinsley Township’s homes were built before 1940

Its Register listing is the Kinsley Civil War Monument. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1889 on, and the census since 1880.

1on the National Register
17%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Kinsley Township’s archive · credits on each photo

What stands out about Kinsley 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 1985. Watch Kinsley Township change.Boom and bustPeaked at 2,479 in 1950; 1,456 people lived here in 2020.Lost villages2 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Kinsley Township, and 1 old place names are still on the map.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Kinsley Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Kinsley 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 viewPhillips 66 gas: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
On the map

Kinsley Township on the map, 1889 to 1985

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

Kinsley Township on the 1889 USGS mapKinsley Township on the 1892 USGS mapKinsley Township on the 1972 USGS mapKinsley Township on the 1985 USGS map1889Kinsley 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 Kinsley Township.

People over time

Kinsley Township, census by census

05001,0001,5002,0002,50018801900192019401960198020002020Peak: 2,479

Peaked at 2,479 in 1950; 1,456 people lived here in 2020.

15 censuses, 1880–2020.

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

The story

How Kinsley Township came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Kinsley Township.

Read it all →

The community was originally called Petersburg, and under the latter name laid out in 1873. It was later renamed Peter's City. The majority of the community's first residents were from New England, especially Massachusetts, and were originally drawn by the New England Homestead and Colonization Bureau, and it was called the "New England colony" or "Massachusetts colony." In 1873, the settlement was renamed Kinsley after the Boston capitalist Edward Wilkinson Kinsley, who agreed to build a church if the community was named after him.

The first post office in Kinsley was established under the name Peters in April 1873. The post office was renamed Kinsley in January 1874.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Kinsley Township, 1877 to 1979

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1877Post officeThe Fitchburgh post office opens
  3. 1878Post officeThe Fitchburgh post office closes
  4. 1878Post officeThe Nettleton post office opens
  5. 1889On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  6. 20th century
  7. 1917BuiltKinsley Civil War Monument is built
  8. 1917Post officeThe Nettleton post office closes
  9. 1950CensusPopulation peaks at 2,479
  10. 1979In the archivePhillips 66 gas
By decade

Kinsley Township, decade by decade

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

1970s1 item
Phillips 66 gas1979Phillips 66 gas
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
Today7 recent
MidwaySignKinsley2023MidwaySignKinsleyPalace Theater NRHP 05000006 Edwards County, KS2021Palace Theater NRHP 05000006 Edwards County, KSKinsley, Kansas 1998 AT&SF 3424 and a red automobile2013Kinsley, Kansas 1998 AT&SF 3424 and a red automobileWatertower in Kinsley Kansas 4-5-20082008Watertower in Kinsley Kansas 4-5-2008Midway AT&SF 3424 and a motorcycle2008Midway AT&SF 3424 and a motorcycleMap of Edwards Co, Ks, USA2005Map of Edwards Co, Ks, USAMapKSMap-doton-Kinsley2004KSMap-doton-Kinsley
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.

Phillips 66 gas
Retake this viewPhillips 66 gas, 1979

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

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

1 historic place in Kinsley Township

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

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts
first listed
2008
Kinsley Civil War Monument
Kinsley Civil War Monument, built 1917
Objects
Kinsley Civil War MonumentBuilt 1917

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

Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners and burying grounds

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

Fitchburgh
1877–1878
Nettleton
1878–1917
18701950today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Nettleton
3cemeteries and burying grounds inside Kinsley Township
HillsideOld KinsleySaint Nicholas

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.

North Brown TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townWayne TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townLogan TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townTrenton Township1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townGarfield Township1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Kinsley Township’s history

What is on the National Register in Kinsley Township?

One place: the Kinsley Civil War Monument (listed 2008).

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 (8), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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.