Studley 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 ...

Sheridan County, Kansas Sheridan County is a county located in the U.S. state of Kansas. Its county seat is Hoxie. As of the 2020 census, the county population was 2,447. The county was named in honor of Philip Sheridan, a Union general during the Civil War. His ...

, United States, approximately 16 miles east of Hoxie along

U.S. Route 24 U.S. Route 24 or U.S. Highway 24 (US 24) is one of the original United States Numbered Highways of 1926 which runs east and west for most of its routing. It originally ran from Pontiac, Michigan, in the east to Kansas City, Misso ...

. It is on the eastern edge of the county in Valley Township, bordering Graham County. It was named after the

Studley Royal Park Studley Royal Park is an estate in North Yorkshire, England. The site has an area of and includes an 18th-century landscaped garden; the ruins of Fountains Abbey; Fountains Hall, a Jacobean mansion; and the Victorian St Mary's church, desig ...

, in England.

History

The Lincoln-Colorado Railway (which became part of 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 ...

) came through the area in 1888 and opened a station. A post office was opened in Studley in 1889, and remained in operation until it was discontinued in 1994. Prior to 1894, the post office there was called Skelton. Abraham Pratt, an immigrant from England, is usually credited as the founder of Studley, and he built his

Cottonwood Ranch The Cottonwood Ranch is a historic site near Studley in Valley Township, Sheridan County, Kansas, United States. The ranch is now preserved as a Kansas State Historic Site. The ranch was built by Abraham Pratt, an Englishman who first came t ...

to the west of the hamlet. With Pratt's English roots, the community was named after

in England. In 1910 it had a population of 75, but like many small western Kansas communities, its population has since declined, down to a population of 33 in the early 21st century.Kansas: A Cyclopedia of State History
p. 782 (1912) (encyclopedia entry on the "hamlet", misspelled as "Stidley") The community's grade school closed in the 1960s (part of the state unification plan), and its last grocery store closed in the 1970s. The 99-mile Plainville- Colby branch of the Union Pacific Railroad which passed through Studley was abandoned in 1998.Surfact Transportation Board Decision, Docket No. AB-33, March 21, 1997
STB.gov, Retrieved 23 October 2017The Plainville Branch
Abandonedrails.com, Retrieved 23 October 2017

Education

The community is served by Hoxie USD 412 public school district.

References

External links

Official community website

Union Pacific Depot in Studley (c. 1910-15)
Kansas Historical Society
Union Pacific Depot in Studley (c. 1950-65)
Kansas Historical Society * Sheridan County maps
CurrentHistoric
KDOT {{Authority control Unincorporated communities in Sheridan County, Kansas Unincorporated communities in Kansas

History

Education

References

Further reading

External links