Kansas Ghost Towns: Wonderly, KS
1903 Plot map overlayed on a current google satellite map.
By Larry Billinger
A Map Mystery
In Kansas, there’s a mystery town called Wonderly. It’s a place that almost got lost in history. I’m trying to find its story, following old train tracks on maps. Wonderly and station stop, Hallville, are both on there, but the internet can’t seem to find out how they’re connected. The only hints are in some really old papers.
Echoes of Old Times
Looking at these old maps and stories is like listening to echoes from the past. They tell us Wonderly was close to a big railroad. But why these towns were there, nobody knows.
The Little We Know
We know Wonderly was a tiny place by the railroad, not far from a city called Salina. It was small, but it was connected. In 1910, only 20 people lived there. It must have been a close group of neighbors in Wonderly.
Reference: Wonderly – KS-Cyclopedia – 1912 (ksgenweb.org)
