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History · Onaga

Onaga’s post office opened in 1877, and 43% of its homes were built before 1940

1877first post office
0on the National Register
43%homes built before 1940
2famous people
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Quick answers

How Onaga began

When was Onaga founded?

1877

The Onaga post office opened in 1877, the earliest record of the town by name.

2020 census: 679149 years
Founding year: the first Onaga post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Onaga’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 Onaga are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of Onaga’s homes were built before 1948.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Onaga’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Onaga’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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The story

How Onaga came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Onaga.

Read it all →

Onaga was platted in 1877 by the railroad. Onaga is derived from a Potawatomi personal Indian name (Onago) and was given by Paul E. Havens, President of the Kansas Central Railroad.

The first post office in Onaga was established in December 1877. Onaga originally incorporated as a city by 1881 and reincorporated in 1926.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Onaga, 1877 to 1894

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1877Post officeThe Onaga post office opens
  3. 1883Born hereSi Griffis is born here
  4. 1894Born hereReed Chambers is born here
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

2 famous people were born in Onaga

Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.

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Si GriffisCanadian ice hockey player · b. 1883
Reed ChambersAmerican flying ace · b. 1894

Questions about Onaga’s history

What year was Onaga founded?

The Onaga post office opened in 1877, 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 Wikidata (1), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.