Most of Towanda was built recently: 10% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1987. Its Register listing is the Towanda Masonic Lodge No. 30 A.F. and A.M.. Below: old-book passages.
Founding year: the first Towanda post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Towanda’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Towanda is more historic than 41% of U.S. towns. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
C+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Towanda’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 Towanda’s 6.0 sits near the middle of its state (49% of Kansas towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C to B−. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±3.6 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
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 Towanda’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Towanda was established in 1870 and incorporated in 1905. Towanda is an Osage-language name meaning "big village".
An F4 tornado devastated the town on March 31, 1892, killing at least nine people and injuring 60.
In 2010, the Keystone-Cushing Pipeline (Phase II) was constructed a few blocks west of Towanda (immediately west of SW River Valley Rd), running north to south through Butler County. With much controversy over tax exemption and environmental concerns (if a leak ever occurs).
he purchased from J. R. Mead, the old Indian trader, the land lying south of Main street, upon which the town of Towanda now stands, and homesteaded the land north of Main street, moving thereon in 1870. In 1871 he platted and laid out the town site.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Butler County Kansas1916 · page 546Read the page →
Read the text
The Mosiers came to Kansas and located in Towanda township, Butler county, in the spring of 1868, and the father bought a place about a mile west of where the town of Towanda is now located, and here they began life under primitive conditions common to a new and unsettled
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
Towanda, 1860 to 1958
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Hanks Mobile Home ParkPine Ridge Manufactured Housing Community
1cemetery inside Towanda
Towanda
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Questions about Towanda’s history
What year was Towanda founded?
The Towanda post office opened in 1860, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Towanda rank for history?
Towanda 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.
What is on the National Register in Towanda?
One place: the Towanda Masonic Lodge No. 30 A.F. and A.M. (listed 2004).
How old are the homes in Towanda?
10% of Towanda’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.6 points), against a typical 10% for a Kansas town; the median home was built in 1987.
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 (2), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.
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2010