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History · Perry Township

34% of Perry Township’s homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1886 on and the census since 1870.

0on the National Register
34%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

Where Perry Township’s name came from

How did Perry Township get its name?

Perry Township was named for John D. Perry, the President of the Kansas Pacific Railroad.

Name: Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.The full story ↓

What stands out about Perry Township’s past

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

Lost villages5 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Perry Township, and 2 old place names are still on the map.A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Perry Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.On the map since 18865 editions of the USGS map, 1886 to 1990. Watch Perry Township change.
★ What stands out · Places that used to be

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

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

Ridgeway
1858–1900
Center Ridge
1871–1894
Centre Ridge
1871–1894
Cookville
1879–1904
Ridge
1894–1904
18501940today
Hamlets and corners on the map
CookvilleNorth Ridge
Gone or out of use
Center Ridge SchoolschoolHopewell SchoolschoolMound Valley SchoolschoolOtter Springs SchoolschoolPrairie Flower SchoolschoolRidgewaylocaleRose Oil FieldoilfieldSouth Maple Grove Schoolschool
1cemetery inside Perry Township
Oliver

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

Help out

Start Perry Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Perry 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
On the map

Perry Township on the map, 1886 to 1990

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

Perry Township on the 1886 USGS mapPerry Township on the 1894 USGS mapPerry Township on the 1971 USGS mapPerry Township on the 1985 USGS mapPerry Township on the 1990 USGS map1886Fredonia 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 Perry Township.

The story

How Perry Township came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Perry Township.

Read it all →

Perry got its start in the year 1865 following construction of the railroad through the territory. It was named for John D. Perry, the President of the Kansas Pacific Railroad.

The first post office in Perry was established in October 1866.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Perry Township, 1858 to 1900

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1858Post officeThe Ridgeway post office opens
  3. 1871Post officeThe Center Ridge post office opens
  4. 1871Post officeThe Centre Ridge post office opens
  5. 1886On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  6. 1894Post officeThe Center Ridge post office closes
  7. 1894Post officeThe Centre Ridge post office closes
  8. 20th century
  9. 1900Post officeThe Ridgeway post office closes
By decade

Perry Township, decade by decade

Today3 recent
Perry, Kansas2024Perry, KansasPerryKS2009PerryKSKSMap-doton-Perry2004KSMap-doton-Perry
People over time

Perry Township, census by census

02004006008001,00018801900192019401960198020002020Peak: 929

Between 319 and 929 people in every census since 1870.

15 censuses, 1870–2020.

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

Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Center TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townLogan TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townNeosho Falls TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townColfax TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Perry Township’s history

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 Wikimedia Commons (3), Wikidata (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.