Kill Creek Township, Osborne County, Kansas

Infobox Settlement
official_name = Kill Creek, Osborne County, Kansas
settlement_type = Civil township
nickname =
motto =

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image_

mapsize = 250px
map_caption = Location of Kill Creek, Kansas


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subdivision_type = Country
subdivision_name = United States
subdivision_type1 = State
subdivision_name1 = Kansas
subdivision_type2 = County
subdivision_name2 = Osborne
government_footnotes =
government_type =
leader_title =
leader_name =
leader_title1 =
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established_date =

unit_pref = Imperial
area_footnotes =

area_magnitude =
area_total_km2 = 93.5
area_land_km2 = 93.3
area_water_km2 = 0.2
area_total_sq_mi = 36.1
area_land_sq_mi = 36.0
area_water_sq_mi = 0.1

population_as_of = 2000
population_footnotes =
population_total = 35
population_density_km2 = 0.4
population_density_sq_mi = 1.0

timezone = Central (CST)
utc_offset = -6
timezone_DST = CDT
utc_offset_DST = -5
elevation_footnotes =
elevation_m = 539
elevation_ft = 1768
latd = 39 |latm = 21 |lats = 9 |latNS = N
longd = 98 |longm = 52 |longs = 52 |longEW = W

postal_code_type =
postal_code =
area_code =
blank_name = FIPS code
blank_info = 20-36750GR|2
blank1_name = GNIS feature ID
blank1_info = 0472267GR|3
website =
footnotes =

Kill Creek Township is a township in Osborne County, Kansas, United States. The population was 35 at the 2000 census. Kill Creek was named after the creek that it sits on, which was named after an Indian massacre that occurred there in the 1860's. This might be confused with the Kill Creek located in Johnson County between De Soto and Olathe.

Geography

Kill Creek is located at coor dms|39|21|9|N|98|52|51|W|city (39.352483, -98.881010)GR|1.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the township has a total area of 36.0 square miles (93.3 km²).

History

Kill Creek Township was founded in 1872 when it was partitioned from Liberty Township. In 1880, the western half of Kill Creek Township became Mount Ayr Township. The rural farming community of Kill Creek, situated in the northern part of the township, was for a time a busy stop on the Bull City-Russell Freight Trail. An analysis of census records has shown that it suffered a steady decline in population over the years. Today, it has largely disappeared aside from a small number of residents who live in farmhouses spread throughout the township. The general store and post office are remembered only by a memorial marker where they once stood. The Kill Creek Presbyterian Church, built in 1885, was long the symbol of the community. It closed in 1985 and was torn down in 2006.

Kill Creek is internationally famous as the setting for the classic American book "Sod-House Days: Letters of a Kansas Homesteader 1877-1878," which was first published in 1937 posthumously by Howard Ruede (1852-1925), who lived in the community from 1877 to 1901. Based on letters that Howard wrote from his Kill Creek homestead back to his family in Pennsylvania, the book is sold in some 24 countries around the world and is used as a textbook by over 40 colleges and universities across the United States and Canada. The book celebrates its 70th year in publication in 2007. A 14.5 mile, 20-stop self-guided auto & bicycle tour of the sites made famous in the book is now open to the public.

* Includes area which would become Mount Ayr Township in 1880 (before the 1880 census).

References

* [http://skyways.lib.ks.us/kansas/kansas/genweb/archives/1878/osborne.shtml Kansas State Board of Agriculture, First Biennial Report, Osborne County, 1878]
* [http://osbornecounty.org/index.asp?DocumentID=183 The Creation and Organization of Osborne County, Kansas]
*United States Census Records, 1880 - 1930, at [http://www.ancestry.com Ancestry.com]