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History · Timken

Timken’s post office opened in 1888, and 17% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1889 on, and the census since 1940.

1888first post office
0on the National Register
17%homes built before 1940
2old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Timken’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Timken began

When was Timken founded?

1888

The Timken post office opened in 1888, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 170 in 19402020 census: 38138 years
Founding year: the first Timken post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Timken’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 2 old photos are in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.On the map since 18894 editions of the USGS map, 1889 to 1985. Watch Timken change.Old housesHalf of Timken’s homes were built before 1956.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Timken’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Timken’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old view1940 Census Enumeration District Descri…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
On the map

Timken on the map, 1889 to 1985

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

Timken on the 1889 USGS mapTimken on the 1891 USGS mapTimken on the 1966 USGS mapTimken on the 1985 USGS map1889Larned 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 Timken.

The story

How Timken came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Timken.

Read it all →

Timken was named after a land speculator, Henry Timken, who purchased land in which he believed that the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad would be building. When Henry Timken sold the land to the railroad, one of the conditions was that the town was named after him. During the year to follow a lumber mill, railroad depot, grocery store, and even a bowling alley would be established in the town. The town was settled mainly by immigrants from Czechoslovakia, Bohemia and Moravia.

A post office was opened in Timken in 1888, and remained in operation until it was discontinued in 1996.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Timken, 1850 to 1889

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1850In the archive1940 Census Enumeration District Descriptions - Kansas - Rush County - ED 83-1, ED 83-2, …
  3. 1880In the archive1940 Census Enumeration District Maps - Kansas - Rush County - ED 83-1 - ED 83-23
  4. 1888Post officeThe Timken post office opens
  5. 1889On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Timken, decade by decade

2 decades in the archive, from the 1850s to the 1880s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1850s–1880s2 items
1940 Census Enumeration District Descriptions - Kansas - Rush County - ED 83-1, ED 83-2, ED 83-3, ED 83-4, ED 83-5, ED …18501940 Census Enumeration District Descriptions - Kansa…1940 Census Enumeration District Maps - Kansas - Rush County - ED 83-1 - ED 83-2318801940 Census Enumeration District Maps - Kansas - Rush…
1890s–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
Today2 recent
KSMap-doton-Timken2005KSMap-doton-TimkenMap of Rush Co, Ks, USA2005Map of Rush Co, Ks, USAMap
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.

1940 Census Enumeration District Descriptions - Kansas - Rush County - ED 83-1, ED 83-2, ED 83-3, ED 83-4, ED 83-5, ED …
Retake this view1940 Census Enumeration District Descriptions - Kansas - Rush County - ED 83-1, ED 83-2, ED 83-3, ED 83-4, ED 83-5, ED …, 1850

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

Retake this view · +15
People over time

Timken, census by census

010019401960198020002020Peak: 170

Between 38 and 170 people in every census since 1940.

9 censuses, 1940–2020.

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

Questions about Timken’s history

What year was Timken founded?

The Timken post office opened in 1888, 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 (4), 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.