Edson | Eustis
| Gandy | Goodland
| Itasca | Kanorado
| Ruleton | Sherman
Center | Voltaire
Homesteading in Sherman County
Voltaire
The town of Voltaire was started by
a group of people from Atwood (Rawlins County) on June 15, 1885.
It was named for the French writer and philosopher. A post office
opened on September 10th of that year in the general store owned
by Ira Garver. By August of 1886, Voltaire had reached its peak
with a population of 143 and about 45 buildings (businesses and
houses).
However, the town of Eustis had been
named the temporary county seat, and that was the beginning of
the end for Voltaire. Since Voltaire was established on government
land, the laws stated that a certain number of individuals had
to reside there, and general improvements had to be made to their
properties before the land could officially become the town site.
So during the winter of 1886, a man and his family were hired
to stay in Voltaire until the next spring when the settlers came
back, while the townspeople spent the winter in Atwood. The Great
Blizzard of 1886 came through the area, and it was a deadly one
for the early settlers of Sherman County. Shortly after that winter,
the town of Voltaire began to decline. In 1889, the town's post
office was closed and the Kansas Legislature vacated the town.
The ethnicity of its settlers is not
known.
Sources
"They Came to Stay".
Sherman County Historical Society, 1980.
Fitzgerald, Daniel. "Ghost Towns of Kansas, A Traveler's
Guide". University Press of Kansas, 1988.
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