Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Mertilla 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 · Mertilla Township

Mertilla Township dates to 1873, and 35% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: 3 old photos and papers from 1912 on.

1873founded
0on the National Register
35%homes built before 1940
3old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Mertilla Township’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Mertilla Township began

When was Mertilla Township founded?

1873

Mertilla Township dates its founding to 1873 (Wikidata). Its post office opened in 1884.

2020 census: 196153 years
Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1884.The full story ↓

What stands out about Mertilla Township’s past

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

Lost villages6 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Mertilla Township, and 1 old place names are still on the map.A history waiting to be writtenOnly 3 old photos are in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of Mertilla Township’s homes were built before 1946.
★ What stands out · Places that used to be

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

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

Rainbelt
1884–1888
Carthage
1885–1887
Joash
1885–1895
Mertilla
1885–1916
Helvetia
1886–1888
Jasper
1888–1912
18801950today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Missler
Gone or out of use
CarthagelocaleHelvetialocaleJoashlocaleMertillalocaleRain Beltlocale
1cemetery inside Mertilla Township
Mertilla

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

Help out

Start Mertilla Township’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 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 viewBirds eye view Meade, Kans: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story

How Mertilla Township came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Mertilla Township.

Read it all →

In 1873, Meade County was established. The first permanent settlement in the county was established in 1878 at Meade City, 12 miles north of the city of Meade. Pearlette was settled shortly thereafter in 1879 by a company of sixteen families from Zanesville, Ohio led by John Jobling. The railroad first entered the country in 1887, ending a decade in which supplies had to be hauled from Dodge City.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Mertilla Township, 1873 to 1912

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1873
    FoundingMertilla Township is established
  3. 1884Post officeThe Rainbelt post office opens
  4. 1885Post officeThe Carthage post office opens
  5. 1885Post officeThe Joash post office opens
  6. 1887Post officeThe Carthage post office closes
  7. 1888Post officeThe Rainbelt post office closes
  8. 1895Post officeThe Joash post office closes
  9. 20th century
  10. 1912In the archiveBirds eye view Meade, Kans
By decade

Mertilla Township, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1910s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1910s2 items
Birds eye view Meade, Kans1912Birds eye view Meade, KansPostcardBirds eye view Meade, Kans1912Birds eye view Meade, KansPostcard
1920s–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
A history of Meade County, KansasDate?A history of Meade County, KansasBook
Today3 recent
KSMap-doton-Plains2004KSMap-doton-PlainsKSMap-doton-Meade2004KSMap-doton-MeadeKSMap-doton-Fowler2004KSMap-doton-Fowler
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.

Birds eye view Meade, Kans
Retake this viewBirds eye view Meade, Kans, 1912

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

Retake this view · +15
Stories next door

History across the town line

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

West Plains TownshipIts storyC+Crooked Creek TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townMeade Center Township1 historic placeA−Montezuma TownshipIts storyCLockport TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townSeward TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Mertilla Township’s history

What year was Mertilla Township founded?

In 1873, according to Wikidata. Mertilla Township’s post office opened in 1884.

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 (6), 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.