Terra Cotta is 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 ...

Ellsworth County, Kansas Ellsworth County is a county located in the U.S. state of Kansas. Its county seat and most populous city is Ellsworth. As of the 2020 census, the county population was 6,376. The county was named after Fort Ellsworth. History Early his ...

, United States.

History

A post office was opened in Terra Cotta in 1878, and remained in operation until 1913. Initially a shipping station for sand and clay in 1867, Terra Cotta was named for the red clay in the surrounding hills, "colored earth". The town of 15-20 people added a grocery store, an elevator, a lumber yard, and a hotel. A cheese factory and blacksmith shop were built, but the majority of the population (around 75 at the highest) were farmers and ranchers. The family of Charles Andrew Gill and Sylvania Headley Gill moved to Terra Cotta in the fall of 1880. The obituary of their son Delbert Franklin Gill states that he received his education at the Terra Cotta school. At a convenient location along the

Kansas Pacific Railway The Kansas Pacific Railway (KP) was a historic railroad company that operated in the western United States in the late 19th century. It was a federally chartered railroad, backed with government land grants. At a time when the first transcontin ...

in 1885, Terra Cotta housed several stockyards. Between 1886 and 1912, more cattle were shipped from Terra Cotta and neighboring Brookville than from any other place between Kansas City and Denver. A series of hardships sealed the fate of this small town. The hotel was burned down by wildfire in 1887. A local recession drove many families and businesses away the next year. Although in population decline, the

Union Pacific Railway 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 ...

built a new depot in 1900. By 1910, only 20 people lived in the town, and the post office closed in 1913. Today, only the railroad tracks remain of the townsite, as the depot was moved to Ellsworth as part of a museum complex.

References

External links

* Ellsworth County maps
CurrentHistoric
KDOT Unincorporated communities in Ellsworth County, Kansas Unincorporated communities in Kansas Ghost towns in Kansas {{EllsworthCountyKS-geo-stub

History

See also

References

Further reading

External links