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History · Sycamore Township

Sycamore Township’s post office opened in 1896, and 22% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1959 on.

1896first post office
0on the National Register
22%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Sycamore Township began

When was Sycamore Township founded?

1896

The Sycamore Township post office opened in 1896, the earliest record of the town by name. Five smaller post offices, Sternerton (1871), Crane (1879) and Lay (1887), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

2020 census: 805130 years
Founding year: the first Sycamore Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Sycamore Township’s past

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

Lost villages5 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Sycamore Township, and 3 old place names are still on the map.A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Sycamore Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Five other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Sternerton
1871–1891
Crane
1879–1905
Lay
1887–1896
Radical
1888–1893
Larimer
1890–1905
Sycamore
1896–today
18701950today
Hamlets and corners on the map
CraneLe HuntSycamore
Gone or out of use
Brethren ChurchchurchFarm Ridge SchoolschoolPeebler SchoolschoolRadical SchoolschoolRich Valley SchoolschoolSimpson ChurchchurchSternertonlocale
4cemeteries and burying grounds inside Sycamore Township
Farm RidgeKroneRadicalSimpson

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

Help out

Start Sycamore Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Sycamore 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

How Sycamore Township came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Sycamore Township.

Read it all →

Sycamore was founded when the railroad was first built through the area.

The post office, established as Lay in 1887, was renamed Sycamore in 1896. It has a post office with the ZIP Code 67363.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Sycamore Township, 1871 to 1959

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1871Post officeThe Sternerton post office opens
  3. 1879Post officeThe Crane post office opens
  4. 1887Post officeThe Lay post office opens
  5. 1891Post officeThe Sternerton post office closes
  6. 1896Post officeThe Lay post office closes
  7. 20th century
  8. 1905Post officeThe Crane post office closes
  9. 1959On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Sycamore Township, decade by decade

Today1 recent
Map of Montgomery Co, Ks, USA2005Map of Montgomery Co, Ks, USAMap
On the map

Sycamore Township on the map, 1959 to 1979

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

Sycamore Township on the 1959 USGS mapSycamore Township on the 1979 USGS map1959Sycamore 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 Sycamore Township.

Stories next door

History across the town line

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

West Cherry TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townIndependence14 historic placesADrum Creek Township2 historic placesnot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townIndependence Township2 historic placesB+Louisburg Township1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Sycamore Township’s history

What year was Sycamore Township founded?

The Sycamore Township post office opened in 1896, 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 (1), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.