Homesteading in Stevens County

Moscow

The Moscow Town Company founded the town site on June 6, 1887. By mid 1888, there was a newspaper and a hotel. The name originally had been Mosco, an abbreviation of Moscoso, who was one of the men in Coronado's expedition. However, much to the dismay of the townsfolk, the post office added a "w" when a post office was established on April 28, 1888.The town began to decline in the 1890's because of the drought, and soon there were no buildings. The post office was moved from one homestead to another to keep the mail route going.

The Charles Stull family filed a homestead claim on land near the Old Moscow town site in 1905. A family member took over the post office a few years later and moved it to the Stull homestead. A small store was added to the post office by Charles Stull.

In 1912-1913, the Santa Fe Railroad built tracks through Stevens County, and the store was moved to a new town site by the tracks seven miles northwest of the old town of Moscow. The new town took the name of Moscow after the post office moved there.

The ethnicity of its settlers is unknown.

Sources

Thomson, Edith Campbell. "History of Stevens County Kansas." Edith Campbell Thomson, 1967.