White Cloud’s post office opened in 1855, and 26% of its homes were built before 1940
2 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 67 buildings. Below: 11 old photos and papers, maps from 1884 on, and the census since 1860.
The first post office at White Cloud was established in July, 1855.
In 1857, the town site was purchased by John Utt and Enoch Spaulding, two land promoters from Oregon, Missouri, who then sold lots in the town. White Cloud prospered by taking advantage of steamboat traffic on the nearby Missouri River.
In 1913, ten-year-old Wilbur Chapman of White Cloud gained widespread publicity after raising and selling a pig for $25, which he donated to the American Mission to Lepers. An obelisk-shaped monument was installed in front of the Community Christian Church in White Cloud in Chapman's honor.
Passages that mention White Cloud, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Doniphan County, Kansas, history and directory for 1868-91868 · page 286Read the page →
Read the text
As yet the Missouri River affords the only channel of commerce to White Cloud ; but the surveyed route of the Atchison and Nebraska Railroad passes through the town, and the railroad company promise to have the cars running over the road to the Nebraska line, before the close of the year 1868. Her futm*e, therefore, seems bright, and she bids fair to remain one of the richest and most thriving localities in the magnificent county of Doniphan.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Gray's Doniphan County history. A record of the happenings of half a hundred years1905 · page 128Read the page →
Read the text
"The bluffs above White Cloud slid down upon the railroad track. The depot at Wathena was swept away entire.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Doniphan County, Kansas, history and directory for 1868-91868 · page 283Read the page →
Read the text
north, forming a junction with the St. Joseph and Denver City Railroad at Troy ; thence northwest, touching the Missouri River again, near the mouth of Wolf River, and following the river to Iowa Point, and from thence along the foot of the bluffs, to White Cloud, and thence into Nebraska. This will give us about thirty miles of railroad running north and south through the most fertile portion of the State, and there is not much doubt that the road will be speedily completed, as it is em-
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
White Cloud, 1855 to 1974
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
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.
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.
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
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 (10), the Library of Congress (1), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (2), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) 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.
1974
1974
1974
1974
1974
1974
1974
1974
1974