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History · Protection

Protection’s post office opened in 1884, and 45% of its homes were built before 1940

Its Register listing is the Protection High School. Below: 1 old photo or paper from 1913 on.

1884first post office
1on the National Register
45%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Protection’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Protection began

When was Protection founded?

1884

The Protection post office opened in 1884, the earliest record of the town by name.

2020 census: 498142 years
Founding year: the first Protection post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Protection’s past

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

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 1 old photo is in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of Protection’s homes were built before 1951.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Protection’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewProtection, Kansas (1913): stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story

How Protection came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Protection.

Read it all →

Protection was founded in 1884. Popular support for a protective tariff in the 1884 presidential election caused the name to be selected. The first post office in Protection was established on August 27, 1884.

The town became nationally and internationally known via radio and television in 1957, when the National Polio Foundation chose it as the center for the free distribution of Salk vaccine shots for polio. It then became 100 percent protected.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Protection, 1884 to 1930

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1884Post officeThe Protection post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1913In the archiveProtection, Kansas (1913)
  5. 1930BuiltProtection High School is built
By decade

Protection, decade by decade

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

1910s1 item
Protection, Kansas (1913)1913Protection, Kansas (1913)
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
Today1 recent
KSMap-doton-Protection2004KSMap-doton-Protection
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.

Protection, Kansas (1913)
Retake this viewProtection, Kansas (1913), 1913

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

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

1 historic place in Protection

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
2
each building in a district counts
first listed
2005
Protection High School
Protection High School, built 1930
Buildings
Protection High SchoolBuilt 1930

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Famous people

Famous people close to Protection

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

See all →
Eddie SuttonAmerican college basketball player and coach · b. 1936
S
Sandra SeacatAmerican acting teacher and actress · b. 1936
Wes SanteeAmerican distance runner · b. 1932
Earle TaylorAmerican football player · b. 1891
E
Everette Lee DeGolyerAmerican geophysicist and philanthropist · b. 1886
L
Leland ShafferAmerican football player · b. 1912
Places that used to be

Places now gone

Protection’s post office has been open since 1884.

Gone or out of use
Protection Municipal Airportairport

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

Questions about Protection’s history

What year was Protection founded?

The Protection post office opened in 1884, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Protection?

One place: the Protection High School (listed 2005).

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 (2), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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.