Ghost Towns of Ford County

[Zeb]

I have found several old settlements from old maps of ford county.


The most interesting is about a half mile north of Tee's House on the creek. I have found it with several names. Milroy, Holbrook, and Milbrook. Somewhere on the creek between the Lakeshore Club and 14th street on just north of county line road. This map shows them as two different settlements, and you can see how the names have melted.
Can't seem to find the Milbrook map.
Snyder looks interesting also. Proposed rail line? or maybe there was actually one there??

[TexKan]

That is so interesting! - So Tee do you own land round there? can we come huntin? This just looks like the best hobby to me. It's only a matter of time before I am hooked!!

[HeddaLettuce]

Fascinating! Wouldn't you love to travel back in time and see what these places were like?

[Made in the USA]

Somebody told me a "Spook" lived at 14th and Garnett. I thought they were talking about TEE!! Didn't know there were "Ghosts" out there!

[Zeb]

Ok, if you perfer Abandoned or little known, then that will work too. I shouldn't have mixed paranormal in there with it. Found another just north of Tee calling it Purdyville and another called Buckner.

North of Cimarron, Ravanna was just just north of Kalvesta.

Have you ever heard of Eminence? It surprises me that Ravanna and Eminence were both up for County seat but Kalvesta is the only town to survive.
>>>The communities of Ravanna and Eminence were bitter rivals for the position of county seat. Bat Masterson and twenty deputies from Dodge City were hired to keep the peace during the first election in 1887, in which Ravanna won the honor by thirty-five votes. However, the citizens of Eminence brough suit, alleging the ballot-box had been stuffed. The Kansas Supreme Court agreed, and in 1889 the seat was transferred to Eminence.

In 1892, the Kansas Supreme Court decided Garfield County was illegally organized, having less than the 432 square miles required by the state constitution; it was annexed to Finney County the following year.>>kansashistorymuseum>>>

Ravanna would have been in Gray County (formerly Buffalo County). Eminence would have been in Finney County due north of Ingalls.
Is there anything left of these once thriving towns of our wild west? One of those towns is now a Irsik/Doll Feedyard and home to thousands of cattle. Not sure which.

[Highwayman]

Originally Posted by Zeb

....In 1892, the Kansas Supreme Court decided Garfield County was illegally organized, having less than the 432 square miles required by the state constitution; it was annexed to Finney County the following year.>>kansashistorymuseum>>>....

So that accounts for the panhandle of Finney County.

[Zeb]

True, So that would mean I was wrong. Ravanna probably was in what is now Finney Co.

That Buckner Creek must have been kicking back in the day. Water must have been flowing nice and cool, the only trees around. To see all those little towns that wanted to be back then.

[lurker]

Originally Posted by Zeb

True, So that would mean I was wrong. Ravanna probably was in what is now Finney Co.

That Buckner Creek must have been kicking back in the day. Water must have been flowing nice and cool, the only trees around. To see all those little towns that wanted to be back then.

Those little towns were post offices and often adjacent to township schools. They survived even after the railroads missed them; until RFD. The schools survived until "unification" and busing.

lurker's GGMother taught school in Holbrook during the 1890's. It's about 5 miles west of the Jetmore Racetrack.

[Jeonlyep]

Ravanna has some foundations left marking where it was located, I have the GPS cords to where it is, if I can find them again.

Two Ghost Towns

Ravanna and Eminence were both thriving towns in the 1880's. There was fierce rivalry between the two for the permanent location of the Garfield County seat. During the process, the area was surveyed and found to have less than the 432 square miles required for organization. As a result, the area was annexed to Finney County in 1893 and Ravanna and Eminence eventually died out.

Ravanna - Granite marker on K-156. Located 24 mi E. of Garden City on K-156, 7 mi N. on K-23 & 4 mi E. on Lake Rd. The ruins on the north side of the road (on private property) are what remains of the school house.
Eminence - Located E. on K-156, turn north at first turn after mile marker 21, continue 2 mi to a dead end, E. 1/2 mi, N. 1 mi, 1/4 mi E. to stone school house. The school house is now used as a farm shop. It is on private property.

You can Mapquest Ravanna. But Mapquest doesn't know Eminence.
It does know Wettick, (link) between Dodge and Cimarron. Plus Sayre and Sears.

But I've seen Mapquest miss cities that are still lived in, so I don't know how much faith I give their locations. Benchmarking thru Geocaching.com give some ideas to where old ghost towns were. Thou navigating the website for benchmarks takes more work than it should.

And looking for ghost towns is just hit or miss to find a name in the description of where a benchmark should be.

1/1/1934 by CGS (MONUMENTED) DESCRIBED BY COAST AND GEODETIC SURVEY 1934 4.6 MI E FROM CIMARRON. ABOUT 4.6 MILES EAST ALONG THE ATCHISON, TOPEKA AND SANTA FE RAILWAY FROM THE STATION AT CIMARRON, GRAY COUNTY, ABOUT400 YARDS WEST OF THE STATION AT WETTICK, ABOUT 60 FEET NORTHWEST OF THE NORTH END OF CULVERT 366 B, 12 FEET EAST OF THE CENTER OF A ROAD CROSSING, 43 FEET NORTH OF THE CENTER LINE OF THE MAIN TRACK, AND 30 FEET SOUTH OF THE CENTER LINE OF U.S. HIGHWAY 50 S. A STANDARD DISK, STAMPED E 34 1934 AND ET IN THE TOP OF A CONCRETE POST.

DAryl

[Jeonlyep]

A bit of searching came up with these.

All these links take you to a fun site to play around in.

In the search box, put in your name, see the stats about it. One name at a time.

Ravanna, Kansas, United States [Place] is in Finney County; location is 38°9'35"N 100°22'55"W; elevation is 2,559 feet [SourceGSP]

Sayre, Kansas, United States [Place] is in Ford County; location is 37°41'17"N 100°10'26"W; elevation is 2,665 feet [SourceGSP]

Sears, Kansas, United States [Place] is in Ford County; location is 37°45'45"N 100°6'20"W; elevation is 2,527 feet [SourceGSP]