From Silver Lake Township’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers
How Silver Lake Township began, and where its name came from
When was Silver Lake Township founded?
1855
The Silver Lake Township post office opened in 1855, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1868. Another post office, Kingsville (1873), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
First census: 159 in 18702020 census: 1,942171 years
How did Silver Lake Township get its name?
Silver Lake Township was named from the lake upon which it was situated.
How historic is Silver Lake Township?
C+
More historic than 41% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Silver Lake Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Wikidata: 1868. Name: Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Silver Lake Township’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Silver Lake Township is more historic than 41% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
C+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Silver Lake Township’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 Silver Lake Township’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (19% of Kansas towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from D to B−. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±19.3 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date; Wikidata’s 1868 falls in the same era, so the grade doesn’t depend on which one is used.
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 Silver Lake Township’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Silver Lake was founded in 1868. It was named from the lake upon which it was situated. In the spring of 1871, the city of Silver Lake was incorporated.
In 1911, a new six room brick school building replaced the original two room structure and the first high school class was organized. In 1928, that building became the elementary school. In 1952, the high school burned and a new high school was completed in 1953. In 1961, a new elementary school was completed.
In 1928, a two-lane hard-surfaced road was completed through the city. It was later known as US Highway 40 and later became US Highway 24.
What they wrote about Silver Lake Township in 1905
Passages that mention Silver Lake Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Shawnee County, Kansas1905 · page 51Read the page →
Read the text
Silver Lake Township — Located north of the Kansas River, directly east of Rossville township, and extending north to the Jackson County line. Soldier Creek runs through the township from the northwest to the southeast corner. The Union Pacific Railroad and the Kansas River are along its southern boundary. The township was detached from Soldier township March 16, 1868. The first white settlers were men employed as instructors for the Kaw Indians. Maj. Robert W. Cummings and Thomas Huffaker were on the ground as early as 1835, but there was no settlement of conse-
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
Silver Lake Township, 1873 to 1958
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
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.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Silver Lake Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1952Silver Lake sheet · 1:24,000
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Silver Lake Township.
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.
Retake this viewHistoric American Buildings Survey Douglas McCleery, Photographer June 1958 EXTERIOR VIEW- NORTH FACADE - Indian Agency…, 1958
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Silver Lake Township’s page.
The Silver Lake Township post office opened in 1855, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1868.
How does Silver Lake Township rank for history?
Silver Lake Township is more historic than 41% 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.
How old are the homes in Silver Lake Township?
23% of Silver Lake Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±19.3 points), against a typical 10% for a Kansas town; the median home was built in 1972.
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 (4), 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 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.
1958
1958
2009
