How Yates Center began, and where its name came from
When was Yates Center founded?
1876
The Yates Center post office opened in 1876, the earliest record of the town by name. Three smaller post offices, Bath (1861), Chellis (1869) and Kalida (1871), opened inside today’s city and later closed.
First census: 350 in 18802020 census: 1,352150 years
How did Yates Center get its name?
Yates Center was named for Abner Yates, the original owner of the town site, who donated an entire block around the courthouse, land for the churches, a city park, and a lot each for the first two children born in the town.
How historic is Yates Center?
A
More historic than 86% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Yates Center is more historic than 86% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its age pulls it down.
A
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Yates Center’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 Yates Center’s 283 sits above most of its state (99% of Kansas towns have fewer) while its 36 historic buildings outnumber those of 83% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from B+ to A+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±6.8 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 Yates Center’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Yates Center was founded in August 1875. It was named for Abner Yates, the original owner of the town site, who donated an entire block around the courthouse, land for the churches, a city park, and a lot each for the first two children born in the town. Yates Center is the only town in Kansas to be selected as a county seat before there was a house or inhabitant within its boundaries.
Over thirty buildings in downtown Yates Center, centering on Courthouse Square, are included in the Yates Center Courthouse Square Historic District.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
People over time
Yates Center, census by census
Peaked at 2,306 in 1920; 1,352 people lived here in 2020.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Yates Center’s Wikipedia page.
Questions about Yates Center’s history
What year was Yates Center founded?
The Yates Center post office opened in 1876, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Yates Center rank for history?
Yates Center is more historic than 86% 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 Yates Center?
4 listings: 3 buildings, among them the Woodson County Courthouse (listed 1985, the first), and 1 historic district, the Yates Center Courthouse Square Historic District, with 33 contributing buildings. 36 historic buildings in all.
How old are the homes in Yates Center?
39% of Yates Center’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.8 points), against a typical 10% for a Kansas town; the median home was built in 1951.
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 (3), Wikidata (3), the National Register of Historic Places (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.
2011
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