Cattle towns
In the 1860s and 1870s, cattle drives from Texas ended at Kansas railheads such as Abilene, Wichita, Ellsworth and Dodge City. By the postcard era those days were over, but the towns traded on their Wild West past, and postcards of their streets, landmarks and later re-creations are collected. Early real photos of these towns' streets and businesses are more interesting than later tourist cards.
Wheat
Kansas became one of the great wheat states, and the harvest was a major event. Real photo cards show harvest crews, headers, threshing machines, steam engines and later combines, wagons lined up at elevators and wheat piled on the ground in bumper years. These harvest scenes are popular with agricultural collectors.
Grain elevators and depots
Grain elevators rose beside every railroad line, and towns grew around them. Real photos of elevators, depots, trains and main streets in small Kansas towns are what most Kansas town collectors seek, because many towns were photographed only a few times.
Homesteads and sod houses
Settlers on the treeless plains built houses of sod, and families posed proudly in front of them. Real photo cards of sod houses, dugouts and early homesteads are historically significant and collected.
Oil and gas
Natural gas and oil booms in southeastern Kansas and later around El Dorado and elsewhere produced boom towns, derricks and refineries. Real photos of oil fields and boom town streets are collected.
Weather
Tornadoes, floods and dust storms struck Kansas towns, and real photographers recorded the damage. The Dust Bowl years of the 1930s are documented in western Kansas. Event real photos from identified towns are valued.
Places and subjects to look for
- Former cattle towns: Abilene, Dodge City, Wichita, Ellsworth and Caldwell.
- Wheat country: harvests, elevators and depots across central and western Kansas.
- Southeast Kansas: oil, gas, coal and zinc mining towns.
- The capital: Topeka's capitol and streets.
- River and border towns: Atchison, Leavenworth and Kansas City, Kansas.
- Forts: Fort Riley, Fort Leavenworth and the old frontier posts.
Railroads and Harvey Houses
The Santa Fe, Union Pacific, Rock Island and Missouri Pacific crossed Kansas, and the Fred Harvey Company began its famous chain of railroad restaurants at Topeka. Depot real photos and Harvey House cards are collected.
Real photos versus printed views
Printed views of the capitol and larger cities are common. Real photos of small towns, harvests, homesteads and events were made in small numbers by local photographers and carry most of the value in a Kansas collection.
What is common
Printed views of Topeka, Wichita and later chrome tourist cards of Dodge City's Boot Hill are plentiful.
Exaggeration postcards
Kansas was a center of the exaggeration postcard craze of the early twentieth century, with trick photographs of giant ears of corn, enormous grasshoppers and wagons loaded with oversized produce. Photographers such as William H. Martin, who worked in Ottawa, Kansas, made some of the best-known examples. These humorous real photos are collected, and makers and subjects matter. See exaggeration postcards.
Why Kansas town cards matter
Many small Kansas towns have shrunk or disappeared as farms consolidated and railroads closed branch lines. A real photo of a busy main street or depot may be the best surviving record of a community that is now much smaller, which is why Kansas local historians and collectors value them.
Schools, churches and immigrant communities
Kansas drew settlers from many places, including Volga German, Swedish, Czech and Mennonite communities, and their churches, schools and towns appear on real photo cards. Lindsborg's Swedish heritage, the Mennonite settlements around Newton and Hillsboro, and the stone churches of Ellis County are distinctive subjects that interest both local and ethnic-heritage collectors.
Questions about Kansas postcards
Are Dodge City postcards valuable? Early real photos of streets and businesses are more collectible than later Boot Hill tourist cards.
Are Kansas wheat harvest postcards collectible? Yes, especially real photos of crews and machines.
Are sod house postcards worth anything? Real photos of sod houses and homesteads are historically significant and collected.
Do you buy Kansas collections? Yes, complete collections from anywhere in the state, by mail.