Falun is a

census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counte ...

(CDP) in southwestern

Saline County, Kansas Saline County is located in the U.S. state of Kansas. Its county seat and largest city is Salina. As of the 2020 census, the county population was 54,303. The county was named after the Saline River. History Early history For many mill ...

, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 83. It lies southwest of Salina and northwest of Lindsborg at the intersection of Forsse and Hedberg roads, approximately 7.5 miles west of Interstate 135, or about eight miles west of Assaria. It lies next to an abandoned railroad.

History

Falun was founded by the Swedish immigrant Erik Fors (or Eric Forsse as he called himself in America). Erik Fors was born in

Malung Malung is a locality and the seat of Malung-Sälen Municipality, Dalarna County, Sweden, with 5,126 inhabitants as of 2010. Overview Malung is home to Malungs Folkhögskola, two kilometers south of the town centre. Specialized courses include f ...

, and emigrated to America in 1850. He participated in The Civil War 1861–1865, and in 1869 he moved to Kansas with about forty other Swedish settlers and founded Falun, after the name of the town neighboring his birthtown called

Falun Falun () is a city and the seat of Falun Municipality in Dalarna County, Sweden, with 37,291 inhabitants in 2010. It is also the capital of Dalarna County. Falun forms, together with Borlänge, a metropolitan area with just over 100,000 inhabit ...

. Some of the Falun residents came directly from Sweden, while others arrived after having lived in Bishop Hill and Galva, Illinois. The first post office in Falun was established in 1870. In 1886, the

Union Pacific Railroad The Union Pacific Railroad is a Railroad classes, Class I freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Pacific is the second largest railroad in the United Stat ...

put rails through the township and established a station; the railway was essential for the town's continued development. In the following year the residents of Falun decided that their numbers had grown sufficiently for them to establish a church. The first pastors for this new church were Rev. Carl A. Swenson, who would visit one Sunday a month, and Mr. Carl G. Norman, who was the regular pulpit supply. It has a

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letter (message), letters and parcel (package), parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post o ...

with the ZIP code 67442.

Geography

Falun's elevation is 1,348 feet (411 m), and it is located at (38.6711171, -97.7594855).

Demographics

Falun is a part of the

Salina micropolitan area The Salina, Kansas micropolitan area, as defined by the United States Census Bureau, consists of two counties in Kansas, anchored by the city of Salina. As of the 2010 census, this micropolitan statistical area (MSA) had a population of 61,697 ...

. The 2020 United States census counted 83 people, 45 households, and 39 families in Falun. The population density was 74.8 per square mile (28.9/km). There were 46 housing units at an average density of 41.5 per square mile (16.0/km). The racial makeup was 87.95% (73)

white White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

European American European Americans are Americans of European ancestry. This term includes both people who descend from the first European settlers in the area of the present-day United States and people who descend from more recent European arrivals. Since th ...

(87.95%

non-Hispanic white Non-Hispanic Whites, also referred to as White Anglo Americans or Non-Latino Whites, are White Americans who are classified by the United States census as "White" and not of Hispanic or Latino origin. According to annual estimates from the Unit ...

), 1.2% (1)

black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...

African-American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...

, 3.61% (3) Native American or

Alaska Native Alaska Natives (also known as Native Alaskans, Alaskan Indians, or Indigenous Alaskans) are the Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Indigenous peoples of Alaska that encompass a diverse arena of cultural and linguistic groups, including the I ...

, 1.2% (1) Asian, 0.0% (0)

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...

Native Hawaiian Native Hawaiians (also known as Indigenous Hawaiians, Kānaka Maoli, Aboriginal Hawaiians, or simply Hawaiians; , , , and ) are the Indigenous peoples of Oceania, Indigenous Polynesians, Polynesian people of the Hawaiian Islands. Hawaiʻi was set ...

, 0.0% (0) from other races, and 6.02% (5) from two or more races.

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race was 4.82% (4) of the population. Of the 45 households, 11.1% had children under the age of 18; 82.2% were married couples living together; 4.4% had a female householder with no spouse or partner present. 8.9% of households consisted of individuals and 2.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.9 and the average family size was 1.9. The percent of those with a bachelor’s degree or higher was estimated to be 0.0% of the population. 20.5% of the population was under the age of 18, 4.8% from 18 to 24, 19.3% from 25 to 44, 42.2% from 45 to 64, and 13.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 49.1 years. For every 100 females, there were 97.6 males. For every 100 females ages 18 and older, there were 106.2 males.

Education

The community is served by Smoky Valley USD 400 public school district.

Notable people

* U. Alexis Johnson (1908-1997), United States diplomat; was born in Falun.

References

External links

Saline County website
{{Authority control Census-designated places in Saline County, Kansas 1870 establishments in Kansas Populated places established in 1870