Turkville 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 ...
in
Buckeye Township,
Ellis County, Kansas
Ellis County is a county located in the U.S. state of Kansas. Its county seat and most populous city is Hays. As of the 2020 census, the county population was 28,934.
The county was named for George Ellis, a first lieutenant of the Twelfth ...
, United States.
It is located approximately 14 miles north of
Hays.
History
Settlers from
Tennessee
Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...
founded Turkville in 1876. They were
Baptists
Baptists are a Christian denomination, denomination within Protestant Christianity distinguished by baptizing only professing Christian believers (believer's baptism) and doing so by complete Immersion baptism, immersion. Baptist churches ge ...
, and they established the first Baptist church in Ellis County. Most were the extended family of their pastor, Rev. Allen King.
Turkville was issued a post office in 1875. The post office was discontinued in 1918. The population in 1910 was 40.
Geography
Turkville is located at (39.1033441, -99.2456550) at an elevation of 1,837 feet (561 m).
It lies on the north bank of the
Saline River in the
Smoky Hills
The Smoky Hills are an upland region of hills in the central Great Plains of North America. They are located in the Midwestern United States, encompassing north-central Kansas and a small portion of south-central Nebraska.
The hills are a diss ...
region of the
Great Plains
The Great Plains is a broad expanse of plain, flatland in North America. The region stretches east of the Rocky Mountains, much of it covered in prairie, steppe, and grassland. They are the western part of the Interior Plains, which include th ...
.
Turkville is approximately east of
U.S. Route 183
U.S. Route 183 (US 183) is a north–south United States highway. The highway's northern terminus is in Presho, South Dakota, at an intersection with Interstate 90. Its southern terminus is in Refugio, Texas, at the southern intersection ...
in far north-central Ellis County, roughly north-northeast of
Hays, the county seat.
[
]
Education
The Turkville elementary school was closed in 1967.["To Close Turkville School This Year", Plainville Times, August 10, 1967, p. 1.]
Transportation
Saline River Road, an unpaved county road, runs east–west through Turkville.[
]
References
Further reading
External links
* Ellis County maps
CurrentHistoric
KDOT
Former populated places in Ellis County, Kansas
Former populated places in Kansas
{{EllisCountyKS-geo-stub