Auburn, Kansas
| Auburn, Kansas | |
|---|---|
| City | |
Downtown Auburn (2008)
|
|
 Location within Shawnee County and Kansas |
|
 KDOT map of Shawnee County (legend) |
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| Coordinates: 38°54′24″N 95°49′0″W / 38.90667°N 95.81667°WCoordinates: 38°54′24″N 95°49′0″W / 38.90667°N 95.81667°W | |
| Country | United States |
| State | Kansas |
| County | Shawnee |
| Government | |
| • Mayor | Tim Cochran |
| Area | |
| • Total | 0.64 sq mi (1.66 km2) |
| • Land | 0.64 sq mi (1.66 km2) |
| • Water | 0 sq mi (0 km2) |
| Elevation | 1,083 ft (330 m) |
| Population (2010) | |
| • Total | 1,227 |
| • Estimate (2014) | 1,217 |
| • Density | 1,900/sq mi (740/km2) |
| Time zone | CST (UTC-6) |
| • Summer (DST) | CDT (UTC-5) |
| ZIP code | 66402 |
| Area code | 785 |
| FIPS code | 20-03250 |
| GNIS ID | 0479054 |
Auburn is a city in Shawnee County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 1,227.
In July 1854, John W. Brown came to this area and found it highly suitable for a homestead. He acquired 800 acres (3.2 km2) through bartering with local Indians. He built a large brick farmhouse and later returned home to Missouri to tell his family and friends about the area. Some returned with him. In 1856, Mr. Brown along with M. C. Dickey, Loring Farnsworth and Henry Fox pre-empted 320 acres (1.3 km2) for the purpose of a town. They christened it Brownsville, although the name was changed in the 1860s due to the fact there was another city with the same name. This was before the introduction of postal codes. It was located on the California Road and work began at once on the many buildings needed in a town of Brownsville's size. Two daily stage lines brought mail and people to the town and business was very good.
Robert Simmerwell was a missionary to the Indians in Auburn. He originally served as a missionary among the Pottawatomie Indians in Michigan Territory, while he apprenticed to a blacksmith and attended school at night. He later came to the Baptist Shawnee Mission on Pottawatomie Creek in eastern Kansas. In 1848 the government set up a new mission a few miles west of Topeka. In a three-story stone building with twelve rooms, boys and girls were given instruction in the manual arts, as well as in reading, writing, arithmetic, and religious subjects. In the fall of 1854, he and his wife had retired from active work in the Pottawatomie Mission, to homestead on 160 acres (0.6 km2)southwest of the town.
In the 1850s, the city grew fast, and was often referred to as a "boom town". It was one of the largest in the state, and nearly became the state capital. However, Auburn was cast aside as an option, as the railroad bypassed the city. Topeka was chosen to be the capital because it had the railroad and an important ferry site along the Kansas River. The population dwindled, but continued to hover around 100 for many decades.
A description of the town from a 1912 volume of Kansas: A Cyclopedia of State History is as follows:
Auburn, a money order post office of Shawnee county, is in the township of the same name, about 15 miles (24 km) southwest of Topeka and 8 miles (13 km) west of Wakarusa, which is the nearest railroad station. It is a trading center for that section of the county, has Baptist, Methodist and Presbyterian churches, telephone connection with Topeka and other adjacent points, and in 1910 reported a population of 72. Two rural free delivery routes start from the Auburn office and supply daily mail to the farmers of the vicinity.
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