Wilson’s post office opened in 1873, and 56% of its homes were built before 1940
3 places in town are on the National Register, among them two historic districts with 34 buildings between them. Below: 2 old photos and papers from 1880 on.
The Wilson post office opened in 1873, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, Attica (1871) and Bosland (1871), opened inside today’s city and later closed.
2020 census: 859153 years
Founding year: the first Wilson post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
What stands out about Wilson’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The Butterfield Overland Despatch built a stagecoach station one-half mile south of present-day Wilson in 1865. Three years later, the Kansas Pacific Railway built Wilson Station, named after the surrounding township, at the modern town site. In 1871, The National Land Company surveyed and planned the first town there, naming it Bosland in the hopes of attracting the cattle trade. Settlers from Pennsylvania, including some Pennsylvania Dutch, arrived over the following year. The settlement never became a center of the cattle trade, however, and continued to be known as Wilson, a name the U.S. Post Office officially codified in 1873.
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.
Wilson’s post office has been open since 1873. Two other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.
Attica
1871–1871
Bosland
1871–1873
Wilson
1873–today
18701950today
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Questions about Wilson’s history
What year was Wilson founded?
The Wilson post office opened in 1873, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
What is on the National Register in Wilson?
Three places: the Midland Hotel (listed 2002), the Wilson Downtown Historic District #1-Main St. (2004) and the Wilson Downtown Historic District #3-Southside (2004).
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 (5), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (3), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.
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