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History · Spearville

Spearville’s post office opened in 1877, and 25% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1892 on, and the census since 1880.

1877first post office
0on the National Register
25%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Spearville’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Spearville began

When was Spearville founded?

1877

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

First census: 156 in 18802020 census: 791149 years
Founding year: the first Spearville post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Spearville’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.On the map since 18923 editions of the USGS map, 1892 to 1984. Watch Spearville change.Old housesHalf of Spearville’s homes were built before 1960.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Spearville’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Spearville’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 viewSpearville, Kansas: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
On the map

Spearville on the map, 1892 to 1984

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

Spearville on the 1892 USGS mapSpearville on the 1972 USGS mapSpearville on the 1984 USGS map1892Spearville 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 Spearville.

The story

How Spearville came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Spearville.

Read it all →

The land for the townsite of Spearville was deeded by the Santa Fe to the Arkansas Valley Town Company in March 1873. Spearville was built on an area along a section of the Santa Fe Trail called Dry Ridge. The town was named for Alden H. Speare, railroad director and president of the town company. The city name appeared as both Spearville and Speareville until the 1890s, when local newspapers settled on the spelling of the town's name.

Spearville's first permanent residents were the Santa Fe section foreman, Jonas Stafford, and his family, who settled in Spearville in January, 1875. Stafford's wife and daughters opened an eating house, mainly for the accommodation of the section hands.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Spearville, 1877 to 1910

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1877Post officeThe Spearville post office opens
  3. 1892On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  4. 20th century
  5. 1910In the archiveSpearville, Kansas
By decade

Spearville, decade by decade

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

1910s1 item
Spearville, Kansasc. 1910Spearville, Kansas
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
Today4 recent
Windmills at2009Windmills atSpearville Wind Energy Facility 553085021 b8a45172a0 o2007Spearville Wind Energy Facility 553085021 b8a45172a0 oSpearville Wind Energy Facility 553084783 35a87dd952 o2007Spearville Wind Energy Facility 553084783 35a87dd952 oKSMap-doton-Spearville2004KSMap-doton-Spearville
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.

Spearville, Kansas
Retake this viewSpearville, Kansas, c. 1910

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

Retake this view · +15
People over time

Spearville, census by census

020040060080018801900192019401960198020002020Peak: 813

Between 156 and 813 people in every census since 1880.

14 censuses, 1880–2020.

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

Questions about Spearville’s history

What year was Spearville founded?

The Spearville 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 →
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 (5), 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.