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St. Mary's Catholic ChurchSt. Mary's Catholic Church · Photo: Ammodramus · CC0
–Not graded
History · Sterling Township

22% of Sterling Township’s homes were built before 1940

Its Register listing is the St. Mary's Catholic Church.

1on the National Register
22%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory

What stands out about Sterling 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 Sterling Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of Sterling Township’s homes were built before 1949.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Sterling Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Sterling 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
The story so far

Sterling Township, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Sterling Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Sterling Township is a township in Hodgeman County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 census, its population was 99.

Its population held steady between the last two censuses: 101 in 2010, 99 in 2020.

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

Timeline

Sterling Township, 1885 to 1904

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1885Post officeThe Orwell post office opens
  3. 1888Post officeThe Orwell post office closes
  4. 20th century
  5. 1904BuiltSt. Mary's Catholic Church is built
By decade

No old photos in the archives yet

Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
Add from your album
On the National Register

1 historic place in Sterling Township

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

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts
first listed
2015
St. Mary's Catholic Church
St. Mary's Catholic Church, built 1904
Buildings
St. Mary's Catholic ChurchBuilt 1904

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

Famous people

Famous people close to Sterling Township

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

See all →
Willie Cauley-SteinAmerican basketball player · b. 1993
I
Ignatius Jerome StreckerCatholic archbishop · b. 1917
Gary PattersonAmerican college football player, college footb… · b. 1960
M
Moe WernerAmerican football coach · b. 1932
R
Rick DvorakAmerican football defensive end · b. 1952
G
Glee S. Smith, Jr.American lawyer and politician · b. 1921
Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners and places now gone

Another post office, Orwell, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Hamlets and corners on the map
Orwell
Gone or out of use
Hanston-Oppy Southeast Oil FieldoilfieldLippoldt Oil FieldoilfieldSaw Log Creek Oil Fieldoilfield

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). 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.

Marena TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townWheatland Township1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townSawlog Township1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townJackson TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Sterling Township’s history

What is on the National Register in Sterling Township?

One place: the St. Mary's Catholic Church (listed 2015).

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 the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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.