Achilles | Atwood | Blakeman | Herndon | Ludell | McDonald
Homesteading in Rawlins County
Ludell
Established first as a post office named Prag in 1876 by A. C. Blume, it became Kelso City after the Kelso brothers opened a store in the area on June 3, 1879. It was also known as Danube in 1880-1881 when the Kelso brothers moved to Atwood. William H. Dimmick laid out the town site and named it for his daughter, Luella, and on May 9, 1881, the name was changed to Ludell.
The Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad built tracks through the town, and Ludell benefited from being a major shipping point in the area. Merchants did well and the town blossomed until the 1930's when the Great Depression occurred. Gradually the town declined during the years following the depression.
The ethnicity of its settlers is unknown.
Sources
Hayden, Ruth Kelley. "The Time That Was: The Courageous Acts and Accounts of Rawlins County, Kansas, 1875-1915". H.F.Davis Memorial Library, Colby Community College, Colby, KS, 1973.
"History of Rawlins County, Kansas". Rawlins County Genealogical Society, 1988.
Fitzgerald, Daniel. "Faded Dreams: More Ghost Towns of Kansas.". University Press of Kansas, 1994.