Natrona is an
unincorporated community
An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...
in
Pratt County, Kansas
Pratt County is a county located in the U.S. state of Kansas. Its county seat and largest city is Pratt. As of the 2020 census, the county population was 9,157. The county was named for Caleb Pratt, a U.S. soldier who died in the Battl ...
, United States.
It is located six miles northeast of
Pratt
Pratt is an English surname. Notable people with the surname include:
A–F
* Abner Pratt (1801–1863), American diplomat, jurist, politician, and lawyer
* Al Pratt (baseball) (1847–1937), American baseball player
* Andy Pratt (baseball) (bor ...
along NE 40th Ave on the north side of
Highway 61.
History
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany, the country of the Germans and German things
**Germania (Roman era)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...
-speaking
Lutheran
Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched ...
settlers hailing from
Saxony
Saxony, officially the Free State of Saxony, is a landlocked state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, and Bavaria, as well as the countries of Poland and the Czech Republic. Its capital is Dresden, and ...
began settling in northeastern Pratt County in the 1870s, moving south from around
Ellsworth after their crops were eaten by birds.
The town of Natrona was platted in 1887, and the life of the local German-speaking community centered around St. Paul's Lutheran Church located in the town after its construction in 1901.
The original one-room church was moved and a new brick church, which continues to operate in the 21st century, built on its former site.
The town had a population of 25 in 1910 and is located along the
Chicago, Rock Island, and Pacific Railroad
The original Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad (CRI&P RW, sometimes called ''Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railway'') was an American Class I railroad. It was also known as the Rock Island Line, or, in its final years, The Rock.
At ...
.
Natrona briefly had a post office, from 1888 until 1890.
Natrona was briefly renamed Olympia in 1903 and the post office was reinstated under that name but the Olympia post office closed permanently in 1914 and the town's name reverted to Natrona.
Education
The community is served by
Pratt USD 382 public school district.
References
Further reading
External links
* Pratt County maps
CurrentHistoric
KDOT
Unincorporated communities in Pratt County, Kansas
Unincorporated communities in Kansas
{{PrattCountyKS-geo-stub