Founding year: the first Nickerson post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Nickerson’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Nickerson is more historic than 74% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its age pulls it down.
B+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Nickerson’s overall grade.
Kansas towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical Kansas town has 5.1 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Nickerson’s 10.0 sits near the middle of its state (64% of Kansas towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C+ to A. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±8.5 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
Founding year: the first post office (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
What stands out about Nickerson’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Nickerson was laid out in 1872 when the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway was extended to that point. The community was named for Thomas Nickerson, president of the railroad company at the time. The first houses were built at the site in 1875. Nickerson was incorporated as a city in June of 1879. In 1875, a schoolhouse was erected. The Nickerson Argosy newspaper was established in 1878 by Sargent & Brown. A wooden bridge was completed across the Arkansas River in 1879. The first set of city officials were: Mayor, Dr. L. A. Reeves; council, M. McCormick, C. S. Morse, J. O. Smith, H. R. Nickerson; police judge, O. O. Olmstead; treasurer, C. F. Heath; clerk, A. H. Jackson; marshal, J. D. Reed; justice of the peace, N. Bolte.
Passages that mention Nickerson, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Reno County, Kansas1917 · page 310Read the page →
Read the text
The original townsite of Nickerson was laid out one mile east of its present location in 1875. A depot was built on the old townsite in 1872 and the name of Nickerson was given to it. In the fall of 1872 the railroad company erected a house for the use of their section foreman. In the fall of 1874 a school house was built to accomodate the children of the settlers who had taken land close to Nickerson and in August, 1875, A.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
mised with the railroad and some of the school districts suffered heavily by the refusal of the company to allow the improvements to be made. At another time, in later years, the Santa Fe showed its disposition to dictate to the settlers, when it moved its shops from Nickerson to Newton. This action was largely because of the effect of an election held in Nickerson, when the company's small local official resented the action of the voters of Nickerson, and the company declared they would make the grass growon the streets of Nickerson. They never succeeded in their attempt. They
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Timeline
Nickerson, 1873 to 1894
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
People over time
Nickerson, census by census
Peaked at 1,662 in 1890; 1,058 people lived here in 2020.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Nickerson’s Wikipedia page.
Places that used to be
Old corners
Nickerson’s post office has been open since 1873.
Hamlets and corners on the map
Sunview Mobile Home Park
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Questions about Nickerson’s history
What year was Nickerson founded?
The Nickerson post office opened in 1873, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Nickerson rank for history?
Nickerson is more historic than 74% of U.S. towns. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
What is on the National Register in Nickerson?
One place: the Anna Richardson-Brown House (listed 2023).
How old are the homes in Nickerson?
54% of Nickerson’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±8.5 points), against a typical 10% for a Kansas town; the median home was built in 1938.
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).
From Wikimedia Commons (6), 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), the USGS Geographic Names Information System, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
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