Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Wilmington Township

We’ll email a one-tap link to publish your post. No password, and nothing is public until you click it.
Already a member? Sign in
–Not graded
History · Wilmington Township

44% of Wilmington Township’s homes were built before 1940

2 places in town are on the National Register.

2on the National Register
44%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Photo: Dylan Edwards · CC BY 4.0

What stands out about Wilmington 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 Wilmington Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of Wilmington Township’s homes were built before 1954.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Wilmington Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Wilmington 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 Wilmington Township came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Wilmington Township.

Read it all →

A post office was opened in Wilmington in 1857 and a stone church and school opened in 1870. Wilmington initially hosted 30 houses, two stores, a blacksmith, two doctors, a wagon shop and a hotel. The town met its demise when the Manhattan, Burlingame & Alma Railroad was built through Harveyville. Shortly after many businesses moved away and the population dwindled. The post office closed in 1906 and by 1910 the population had fallen to 69. The school closed in 1950, but still stands today.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

By decade

Wilmington Township, decade by decade

Today2 recent
Wilmington KS2021Wilmington KSWilmington KS School2021Wilmington KS School
On the National Register

2 historic places in Wilmington Township

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

places listed
2
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
2
each building in a district counts

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

Famous people

Famous people close to Wilmington Township

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

See all →
C. D. BatchelorAmerican editorial cartoonist · b. 1888
F
Fred TornedenAmerican long-distance runner · b. 1957
Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners and burying grounds

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

Hamlets and corners on the map
Bradford
1cemetery inside Wilmington Township
Eskridge

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.

Plumb TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townWaterloo TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townRock Creek TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townMill Creek Township2 historic placesnot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townMission Creek TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Wilmington Township’s history

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 (2), 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.