Historical Directory of Kansas Towns [R]

Radley--Crawford; named for H. H. Radley, secretary of the Girard
Coal Company;

Ragle-- 
Rago--Kingman; 
Ramona--Marion; C.R.I.P. R.R. 1887
Ramsey--Butler; A. C. Ramsey, rancher
Randall--Jewell; Townsite owner
Randolph--Riley;  
Ransom--Ness; 
Ransomville--
Rantoul--
Rapp--Osage; Rapp brothers, ranchers

Ravanna--Finney; 
Formerly named Cowland; located in the L-shaped part of Finney 
County formerly named Garland County. The town folded. 

Raymond--A.T.S.F. R.R.
Reading--A.T.S.F. R.R.
Reager--Norton; William Wesley Reager, pioneer
Reamsville--Smith; David Reams, pioneer; 
Red Oak--
Redfield--Bourbon; Dr. John S. Redfield, physician
Redstone--Cloud; 
Reece--Greenwood; named for William Smith Reece, a pioneer
Englishman who raised fine horses on his "Burnt Creek Ranch";
Reeder--
Reid--
Reno--Leavenworth 

Republic City
Republic--
Republican City--Clay;
Reserve--Brown; 
Rest--Wilson; Benedict Branch of Santa Fe R.R,; 
Reveille-- 
Rexford--Thomas; Jacob Rexford, pioneer; 
Rice--Cloud; 
Richfield--Morton; 
Richland--Shawnee; 

Richman--Franklin; John C. Richman, pioneer

Richman Hill--
   I am looking for Richman Hill, Kansas where my grandmother lived in 1886.
   [Shirley Tallackson (tallack@micron.net) contributed this information)]

Richmond--Franklin 
Richmond--Nemaha; 1854; first county seat of Nemaha County; P.O.
1855, James Thompson, postmaster; founded by Cyrus Dolman;
Riley--
Riley Center--
Rishel (aka Redwood)--Dickinson; C.R.I.P. R.R. 1887
Rising Sun--Jefferson; founded in 1857 by Joseph Haddox; located
on the north bank of the Kansas River across from Lecompton;
Riverton--
Riverview--

Ro(d)gersville--Doniphan; P.O. 1857-59, Emerson Van B. Ro(d)gers,
postmaster; 2 m. north of Troy on old Calif. road on land owned
by Frank Laroff in 1916.
Robinson--Brown 

Rock Creek--A.T.S.F. R.R.
Rock Spring--Ellsworth; K.P. R.R.
Rock--Sumner; A.T.S.F. R.R.
Rock-a-By--Coffey; P.O. named Strawn; M.K.T. R.R.
Rockford--Bourbon;
Rockton--Wabaunsee; 
Rockwell--Cherokee; S.L.S.F. R.R.

Roeland Park--
Rolla--Morton; Santa Fe Trail Jornada Route;

Rome--Ellis; Across the street from the Fort Hays State University; 
Buffalo Bill Cody was a co-founder of Rome in 1867; Rua Whitten was 
born there in 1879; 
Rome--Sumner; 
Root--Howard Branch of Santa Fe R.R.;

Roper--Wilson; named for a Missouri Pacific engineer.
Rosalia--Butler; located east of El Dorado; a pioneer named the 
post office Rosalia after his wife;
Roscoe--

Rose Hill--Butler; 
My Grandparents Hannah Ellen Yeager and
   Thomas Robert Hall were married in Rose Hill, KS in 1889 at the Yeager
   Homestead. Grandma was born in Indiana. Grandpa in Iowa. I am not sure
   when they moved to Kansas but Grandpa T.R. Hall moved to Kansas with
   his dad Merriman Boramon Stevenson (M.B.S.) Hall. His 2nd wife was
   Alcinda Hedges, mother of my Grandpa Hall. He had a brother William;
   1/2 brother Joseph who lived in Douglas, Ks. The Hall boys had one of
   first general stores on Stone St. Believe that is name of it. I have
   looked and looked and so have my cousins but can't come up with
   parents of Gr. Grandpa Merriman Hall who was born in Knox County, Ohio
   Dec. 27, 1819. On a census in says his parents were born in Maryland.
   If anyone has any leads or suggestions, I surely would appreciate
   hearing from you or even if you don't have info. would like to meet
   new cousins. Always. God Bless each of you. Barbara Bay Dewing My
   mother was Elma MaY Hall who married Chester Guy Bay in Stroud, OK.
[Barbara Dewing (hannah@wavecomputers.net) contributed this information.]

Rosedale--Wyandotte; town now in Kansas City; named by railroad 
promoters for the abundance of roses along the track.

Rosemont--Osage; 
My grandmother, Mary Ledoska Laws, came to Kansas from Illinois as a six year
old in 1876.  This was the same year that my grandfather arrived in New York
from London, a 22 year old wood and steel engraver.  After working in St.
Louis and Kansas City a number of years, he decided to join some investors
and found their own town.  In 1887 they built a thriving Kansas town,
Rosemont, in Osage Co., that they dreamed would one day be larger than
Kansas City.  It had the Missouri-Pacific Railroad, a train station, a
post office, a newspaper, a long two story building with 5 large stores
downstairs, a hotel with 24 rooms upstairs, and a town hall.  I have a
picture of it, and a map showing it laid out in blocks with street names, a
church, and they were building a school.  I have a fascinating flyer that was
sent across the country giving a glowing description of Kansas, and
Rosemont's promise to have employment for 500 men in two years.  Telling of a
need for skilled and unskilled labor saying "Come one, come all."  They had a
typhoid epidemic and a number of people died.  Then Feb. 22, 1906 the main
building caught fire, and burned to the ground.  The one thing they did not
have was a fire department.  My grandfather still owned the land and had
built a large home several blocks away.  He felt obigated to the families
still living in the area, so he built a very large general store near his
home and ran it until his death in 1928.  The post office was not closed
until 1913, and Rosemont remained on the map until the 1940's, when my Dad
discovered my grandmother was paying city taxes on farm land.  Although the
town was destroyed over 90 years ago, people in the area still have annual
Rosemont reunions.  There were more than fifty people, mostly descendants of
the original residents, there a year ago, people came from many different
states.  [This information was contributed by Jean Suman (JSuman@aol.com)]

Ross--  Howard Branch of Santa Fe R.R.;
Rossville--Shawnee; Oregon Trail; K.P. R.R.;
Rotterdam--Jewell; 
Round Prairie--
Roxbury--McPherson 
Rubens--
Ruleton--Sherman; J. E. Rule, merchant
Runnymede--Harper; 
Rush Center--
Russell Springs--Logan; Smoky Hill Trail; "Cowchip Capitol of the World"
Russell--Russell; established in the early 1870's by a colony of
70 settlers from Ripon, Wisconsin; K.P. R.R. 1867.
Ryansville--