Township 3 is a

township A township is a form of human settlement or administrative subdivision. Its exact definition varies among countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, this tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Canad ...

Rooks County, Kansas Rooks County is a county located in the U.S. state of Kansas. Its county seat is Stockton, and its largest city is Plainville. As of the 2020 census, the county population was 4,919. The county was named for John Rooks, a private in Compa ...

, United States. Stockton is the largest population center in Township 3.

History

Rooks County was established with four townships: Bow Creek, Lowell, Paradise and Stockton. That number increased to seven by 1878 and twenty three in 1925. The twenty three townships were in place until 1971 when the number was reduced to the current twelve townships. Township 3 was formed from Rooks County townships Farmington and Stockton in 1971, pursuant to Kansas Statute 80-1110. That statute allowed for the dissolution of townships, while assigning those territories to contiguous townships. Bow Creek flows through Township 3, then on to

Kirwin Reservoir Kirwin Reservoir is a reservoir in Phillips County, Kansas, United States. It is located next to the city of Kirwin in northern Kansas. The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation built it and continues to operate it for the purposes of flood control and a ...

in Phillips County. Dibble Creek, labeled as Stockton Creek on early maps, flows into

South Fork Solomon River The South Fork Solomon River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed March 29, 2011 river in the central Great Plains of North America. The entire length of the river lies i ...

Farmington Township

Farmington Township was established in 1878 from parts of Bow Creek and Lowell townships. Farmington was a double township until Lanark Township was created from the eastern half of Farmington Township in 1879. Farmington Township was named by Elam Bartholomew for

Farmington, Illinois Farmington is a city in Fulton County, Illinois, Fulton County & Peoria County, Illinois, United States. It is north of Canton, Illinois, Canton, west of Peoria, Illinois, Peoria, southeast of Galesburg, Illinois, Galesburg, and northeast of Mac ...

. Elam Bartholomew moved to Farmington Township (then part of Bow Creek Township) in 1874. Bartholomew authored two books, ''The Fungus Flora of Kansas'' and ''North American Plant Rusts'' based on research he conducted while living in Farmington Township. Sternberg Museum’s herbarium is named for Elam Bartholomew.

Stockton Township

Stockton was one of the four original Rooks County

civil townships A civil township is a widely used unit of local government in the United States that is subordinate to a county, most often in the northern and midwestern parts of the country. The term town is used in New England, New York, as well as Wisconsin ...

, along with Bow Creek, Lowell and Paradise. The original Stockton Township was 12 miles north-to-south (two survey townships). The eastern border was with Lowell Township, nine miles (1-1/2 survey townships) from the Osborne County line. The western border was the Graham County line, making Stockton 21 miles (3-1/2 survey townships) in width. Stockton Township originally included territory that would become Alcona, Belmont, Hobart, Richland, Rush and the western halves of Greenfield and Iowa townships.

References

Townships in Rooks County, Kansas Townships in Kansas {{RooksCountyKS-geo-stub