Richland is currently a

ghost town A ghost town, deserted city, extinct town, or abandoned city is an abandoned settlement, usually one that contains substantial visible remaining buildings and infrastructure such as roads. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economi ...

in southeastern

Shawnee County, Kansas Shawnee County is located in northeast Kansas, in the central United States. Its county seat and most populous city is Topeka, the state capital. As of the 2020 census, the population was 178,909, making it the third-most populous county ...

, United States.

History

In October 1854, Charles Matney settled in the area that was to become Richland, near the confluence of Camp Creek with the

Wakarusa River The Wakarusa River is a tributary of the Kansas River, approximately long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed March 30, 2011 in eastern Kansas in the United States. It drain ...

. In 1857 a post office was opened north of town and a schoolhouse was constructed, out of logs, on the northeast corner of Matney's land. Richland eventually became the center of a rich agricultural region and its businesses included a bank, a barber shop, a church, two blacksmiths, two doctors, a pharmacy, several lodges, a hotel and a general store. in the early 1870s, Richland became a station on the St. Louis, Lawrence and Denver Railroad however the railroad would be short lived and the railroad stopped running in 1894. By the 1890s the population had come close to 300 with more businesses including a lumber yard, two millinery shops and an ice cream parlor, among others. Richland also established a newspaper, ''Argosy'', in 1893 and it included local news but also news about nearby communities including Twin Mound, Overbrook and Clinton. In the summer of 1894,

Laura Ingalls Wilder Laura Elizabeth Ingalls Wilder (February 7, 1867 – February 10, 1957) was an American writer, teacher, and journalist. She is best known as the author of the children's book series ''Little House on the Prairie'', published between 1932 and 1 ...

passed through Richland with her husband and daughter. Wilder noted in her diary, based on the friendliness of the townspeople, that " emay come back here if we do not like it there n Missouri">Missouri.html" ;"title="n Missouri">n Missouri" In October 1903, Richland started its annual Richland Street Fair which featured parades, games and talent shows. In 1949, Georgia Neese Clark was appointed by President Harry S. Truman">Georgia Neese Clark Gray">Georgia Neese Clark was appointed by President Harry S. Truman as

Treasurer of the United States The treasurer of the United States is an officer in the United States Department of the Treasury who serves as the custodian and trustee of the federal government's collateral assets and the supervisor of the department's currency and coinage pr ...

which she served until 1953. By 1967, Clinton Lake (Kansas), Clinton Lake was becoming more of a reality. Some businesses in Richland moved one mile north of the construction site naming the new "town" New Richland Corners and the farewell street fair was held in July 1967, however the next year the Richland Fair Association held one more final fair. The post office closed in 1969 and the last of the town was leveled in 1974. Today little remains of Richland, only the ruins of some buildings, fragments of paved streets, and the cemetery. Most of town site was located on land owned by the

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers The United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) is the military engineering branch of the United States Army. A direct reporting unit (DRU), it has three primary mission areas: Engineer Regiment, military construction, and civil wor ...

U.S. Geological Survey The United States Geological Survey (USGS), founded as the Geological Survey, is an agency of the U.S. Department of the Interior whose work spans the disciplines of biology, geography, geology, and hydrology. The agency was founded on March ...

quadrangle maps show the original location to be at 38.887699, -95.528589, at elevation 900 ft., and COE brochure says Flood Control Pool is at 903.4 ft.

Notable people

The birthplace of

Georgia Neese Clark Gray Georgia Neese Clark Gray (January 27, 1898 – October 26, 1995) was an American actress and banker who served as the 29th treasurer of the United States from 1949 to 1953, and was the first woman to hold that office. Early life Georgia Neese was ...

, the first female

References

External links

* Shawnee County maps
CurrentHistoric
KDOT {{Shawnee County, Kansas Former populated places in Shawnee County, Kansas Ghost towns in Kansas

History

Notable people

References

Further reading

External links