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History · Mount Ayr Township

Mount Ayr Township’s post office opened in 1874, and 36% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1896 on.

1874first post office
0on the National Register
36%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Mount Ayr Township began

When was Mount Ayr Township founded?

1874

The Mount Ayr Township post office opened in 1874, the earliest record of the town by name. Four smaller post offices, Mount Ayr (1874), Pleasant Plain (1878) and Banks (1880), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

2020 census: 15152 years
Founding year: the first Mount Ayr Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Mount Ayr 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 writtenNo old photos of Mount Ayr Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages4 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Mount Ayr Township.On the map since 18963 editions of the USGS map, 1896 to 1985. Watch Mount Ayr Township change.Old housesHalf of Mount Ayr Township’s homes were built before 1953.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Mount Ayr Township’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Places that used to be

Lost post offices, places now gone and burying grounds

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

Mount Ayr
1874–1895
Pleasant Plain
1878–1894
Banks
1880–1888
Mountayr
1900–1902
18701950today
Gone or out of use
BankslocalePleasant Plainlocale
2cemeteries and burying grounds inside Mount Ayr Township
Mount AyrPleasant Plain

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

On the map

Mount Ayr Township on the map, 1896 to 1985

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

Mount Ayr Township on the 1896 USGS mapMount Ayr Township on the 1978 USGS mapMount Ayr Township on the 1985 USGS map1896Osborne 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 Mount Ayr Township.

The story so far

Mount Ayr Township, in brief

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

Mount Ayr Township is a township in Osborne County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 census, its population was 15.

Its first post office opened in 1874. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 37 to 15 (-59%).

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

Timeline

Mount Ayr Township, 1874 to 1896

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1874Post officeThe Mount Ayr post office opens
  3. 1878Post officeThe Pleasant Plain post office opens
  4. 1880Post officeThe Banks post office opens
  5. 1888Post officeThe Banks post office closes
  6. 1894Post officeThe Pleasant Plain post office closes
  7. 1895Post officeThe Mount Ayr post office closes
  8. 1896On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
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.
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Famous people

Famous people close to Mount Ayr Township

Nobody well known was born in Mount Ayr Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
B
Bruce GoffAmerican architect · b. 1904
Dale DodrillAmerican football player · b. 1926
E
Edward L. KesselAmerican biologist · b. 1904
Elsie Lincoln BenedictAmerican psychologist · b. 1885
Joe MillerAmerican politician in Alaska · b. 1967
B
Brent CollinsActor · b. 1941
Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Kill Creek TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townRound Mound TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townTownship 1Its storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townSumner TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Mount Ayr Township’s history

What year was Mount Ayr Township founded?

The Mount Ayr Township post office opened in 1874, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
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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 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.