Bird CIty | Jaqua | St. Francis

Homesteading in Cheyenne County

St. Francis

The Wano post office was established in the trading post of A.M. Brenaman on August 23, 1880. A bank, Citizens State Bank, was organized in Wano on April 14, 1887, but later in the year, buildings were being moved to a new location one and one half miles southeast of Wano. This new location was named Francis in honor of Francis Emerson, brother of A.L. Emerson who surveyed the site. The Saint was added to the name later.

By June 1, 1888, the post office had relocated to St. Francis and there were a good number of businesses, new and old (that had been moved from Wano). The first train arrived on July 8 of that year. St. Francis continued to grow and by April 9, 1903 when the county commissioners approved incorporating it into a third class city, the town had three hundred residents.

The ethnicity of its settlers is unknown.

Sources

Cheyenne County Historical Society, ed. "The History of Cheyenne County, Kansas" Published by the Curtis Media Corporation, 1987.