Marion County Information

The County of Marion was established in 1855.
It was named in honor of American Revolutionary War hero, Francis Marion of South Carolina.
Marion Centre was chosen as the county seat in the August 1865 election. 

The original boundaries of the County were divided into three townships, Marion, Cedar and Santa Fe.   
The original western boundary of Marion County reached the Kansas-Colorado border.
The present boundary lines were finally decided upon in 1872 and contain twenty-four townships.
Marion County encompasses a total of 954 square miles.

 
[Stouffer's Railroad Map of Kansas, 1915-1918]

The city of Marion is the county seat.

Marion County has a large Mennonite population.
It was the immigration of Mennonites from Russia in 1874 with their purchases of vast acreages of government and railroad land which encouraged the early development of the county.  Along with the Mennonite immigration, large purchases of land by William Scully of Illinois, between 1870 and 1885 for tenant farming, also encouraged early settlement.
[Sources: Excerpted from Marion co. government site, kansapedia, and wikipedia]



Cities
Burns (previously known as St. Francis) * Durham (previously known as Durham Park) * Florence *
Goessel (previously known as Gnadenfeld) * Hillsboro (previously known as Hill City) * Lehigh * Lincolnville *
Lost Springs * Marion (previously known as Marion Centre) * Peabody (previously known as Coneburg) * Ramona * Tampa

Unincorporated Communities
Antelope * Aulne * Canada * Eastshore (CDP) * Marion County Lake * Pilsen (CDP)

Ghost Towns
Marion County contained early communities that have long since been abandoned.
Some of those were:

Creswell (or Cresswell), east of Goessel
Elk, northeast of Marion (straddled Chase County border)
Fred, between Peabody and Hillsboro
Kuhnbrook * Morning Star * Strassburg
Youngtown, northeast of Marion

Hampson, station, approximately 5 miles south of Florence.
Horners (Honner), station and cattle pens, approximately 3 miles northeast of Peabody.
Jacobs, northwest of Lost Springs.
Oursler, station and tiny community.
Quarry, station and limestone rock quarry, approximately 5.5 miles north of Marion.
Wagner, southwest of Florence.
Waldeck, station, cattle pens, and tiny community.
Watchorn, 5 miles east of Peabody - Oil Town

~ plus numerous Mennonite villages ~

SEARCH OUR SITES

Submit an Obituary to Us
for any of our county sites.

Contact Us
(No Research Requests Please!)



We also have mailing lists set up so that you can read about updates,
discuss your families and connect with other researchers who are looking in the same area as you.