Get ready for our
GRAND RE-OPENING!

 Summer 2020
Celebration of Towanda

MUSIC & RIBBON CUTTING

FOR MORE INFORMATION
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Towanda, Kansas

"Meads Ranch"

The town and township lie tucked in the pleasant valley of the Whitewater River, and take their name from the Osage Indian term "many waters." First settler was C. L. Chandler, a returning '49er from the California gold fields who built his cabin in 1858. Towanda township was one of the first four in the make up of Butler County--the largest in Kansas. 
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In 1870, Rev. Isaac Mooney, frontier preacher and community builder, platted ten acres for a townsite. The village quickly became a trade center on the Emporia-Wichita wagon road and a division point for two stage lines. Towanda gained wide fame in 1919, when giant oil gushers were drilled on rockey Shumway land at the town's eastern doorstep by Gypsy Oil Company and the Trapshooters group.​

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 Coverage Area Of The Towanda Area
​Historical Museum 

The Towanda Area Historical Museum covers the northwest corner of Butler County from Towanda Township north and west to the respective county lines.  This are is very close to the original Towanda Township covered before it was divided into the 8 townships in 1872-1874.

This area includes the townships of:
Fairmount, Clifford, Milton, Plum Grove, Murdock, Fairview, Benton and Towanda.

The townships encompass the towns of:
Towanda, Potwin, Elbing, Whitewater, Benton

And the former towns of:
Midian, Palmyra, Pendell, Edgecomb, Murdock, Cariboo, Holden, Brainard, Ayr, Plum Grove, Amador, Ovo, Nellens Worth, Reddens and more...

Indian Tribes of the Area

James Mead

Rev. Issac Mooney