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History · Reading Township

Reading Township’s post office opened in 1870, and 31% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1885 on and the census since 1880.

1870first post office
0on the National Register
31%homes built before 1940
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Photo: Bhall87 · CC BY-SA 3.0
Quick answers

How Reading Township began

When was Reading Township founded?

1870

The Reading Township post office opened in 1870, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 120 in 18802020 census: 443156 years
Founding year: the first Reading Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Reading 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 Reading Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.On the map since 18854 editions of the USGS map, 1885 to 1985. Watch Reading Township change.Boom and bustPeaked at 358 in 1920; 181 people lived here in 2020.Old housesHalf of Reading Township’s homes were built before 1960.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Reading Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Reading Township’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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On the map

Reading Township on the map, 1885 to 1985

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

Reading Township on the 1885 USGS mapReading Township on the 1894 USGS mapReading Township on the 1972 USGS mapReading Township on the 1985 USGS map1885Eskridge 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 Reading Township.

People over time

Reading Township, census by census

010020030040018801900192019401960198020002020Peak: 358

Peaked at 358 in 1920; 181 people lived here in 2020.

14 censuses, 1880–2020.

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

The story

How Reading Township came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Reading Township.

Read it all →

In 1863, by Act of Congress and similarly by an act of the State of Kansas, the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway was granted 3,000,000 acres of Kansas land on the condition that it would build a continuous line to the western border of Kansas by March 1, 1873. On Oct. 30, 1868, construction began at Topeka. By Sept. 14, 1870, the first Santa Fe train reached Emporia, fifteen miles past the present site of Reading. James Fagan, agent for the railroad lands, and T. J. Peter and M. S. Sargent, who represented the railroad interest, organized a town company, with James Fagan as president. The land was owned by McMann & Co., of Reading, Pennsylvania. The town was platted on sixty acres of Section 3, Township 18, Range 13, and called it Reading, after Reading, Pennsylvania. In summer 1870, the town site was surveyed.

Chapters2011 tornado

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

By decade

Reading Township, decade by decade

Today4 recent
The old jail in Reading Kansas, Oct. 20122012The old jail in Reading Kansas, Oct. 2012Reading Kansas community center and grain elevator2012Reading Kansas community center and grain elevatorReading Bank & Post Office2009Reading Bank & Post OfficeKSMap-doton-Reading2004KSMap-doton-Reading
Places that used to be

Old burying grounds

3cemeteries and burying grounds inside Reading Township
Mount CalvaryPhillipsReading

Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Fremont TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townBarclay Township1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townJackson TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townIvy TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townWaterloo TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townArvonia Township3 historic placesnot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Reading Township’s history

What year was Reading Township founded?

The Reading Township post office opened in 1870, 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 Wikimedia Commons (4), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia) 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.