Xenia ( ) is an
unincorporated community
An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either hav ...
in
Franklin Township,
Bourbon County, Kansas
Bourbon County (county code BB) is a county located in Southeast Kansas. As of the 2020 census, the county population was 14,360. Its county seat and most populous city is Fort Scott.
History
Early history
For many millennia, the Great Pl ...
, United States.
History
Settling in the Xenia area in 1856, the year after Bourbon County was organized in 1855, were John Van Syckle, Samuel Stephenson and Charles Anderson.
John Van Syckle and his father laid out Xenia's village plat in 1858. The community was named after
Xenia, Ohio
Xenia ( ) is a city in southwestern Ohio and the county seat of Greene County, Ohio, United States. It is east of Dayton and is part of the Dayton Metropolitan Statistical Area, as well as the Miami Valley region. The name comes from the Greek ...
. The younger Van Syckle opened the village's first store, offering general merchandise.
Xenia gained a post office on November 29, 1858, when the Peru (Linn County) post office was moved to Xenia. Peru, which is now a ghost town, had a post office from August 5 to November 29, 1858. As well as being Xenia's first merchant, John Van Syckle became Xenia's first postmaster.
The first church building was built in 1876 by the Methodists.
In 1878, Franklin township was Bourbon County's fourth-most populous, at 1,474. The county seat of Fort Scott had 5,081 residents. Scott Township had 2,036. Marion Township, just south of Franklin in the county's west end, had 1,676.
In 1910, Xenia had a money-order post office and population of 115. Xenia Post Office closed Aug. 31, 1926.
[Robert W. Baughman's Kansas Post Offices, May 29,
1828-August 3, 1961, published by the Kansas Postal History Society, an affiliate of the Kansas Historical Society.]
Geography
Located at an altitude of 1,047 feet (317 m),
it lies in Bourbon County's northwest corner, along
K-65, west of the confluence of the
Little Osage River
The Little Osage River is an U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed May 31, 2011 tributary of the Osage River in eastern Kansas and western Missouri in the United States. ...
and
Limestone Creek
Limestone Creek is long with a drainage area of , and is a tributary to the Tennessee River. The river rises in Lincoln County, Tennessee, and flows south into Madison County, Alabama before flowing through Limestone County, Alabama, where ...
, about 18 miles northwest of
Fort Scott.
References
Further reading
External links
Grand Lodge of Kansas A.F.&A.M.Xenia Baptist Church* Bourbon County maps
CurrentHistoric
- KDOT
{{Authority control
Unincorporated communities in Bourbon County, Kansas
Unincorporated communities in Kansas