County Past
Home › Kansas › Riley County

Riley County, Kansas

Historic newspapers, landmarks, and county history layers for genealogists and local historians.

—newspaper titles
—digitized titles
45historic places
—earliest paper
1855formed
71,959pop. 2020
22cemeteries
—CW battlefields

At a glance

Summary

The National Register of Historic Places includes 45 listed properties in the county, first listed in 1971. Most listings are in or near Manhattan, Manhatten.

Summary generated automatically from the source data on this page.

Newspapers

Library of Congress

Newspaper directory data for Kansas is not yet loaded on this site. Browse Riley titles at the Library of Congress.

National Register of Historic Places

NPS NRHP

30 of 45 listings mapped; some locations are restricted by NPS to protect sensitive sites.

45 listed properties
PropertyCityTypeListed
Alten-Peak HouseManhattanBuilding2025
Anderson HallManhattanBuilding1980
Avalon, TheManhattanBuilding2019
Bethel A.M.E. ChurchManhattanBuilding2012
Bluemont Youth CabinManhattanBuilding2014
Community HouseManhattanBuilding2006
Dawson’s Conoco Service StationManhattanBuilding2021
Downtown Manhattan Historic DistrictManhattanDistrict2007
Elliot, Mattie M., HouseManhattanBuilding1995
First Christian ChurchManhattanBuilding2022
First Congregational ChurchManhattanBuilding2008
Fitz, Leslie A., HouseManhattanBuilding2005
Forrester, F. B., HouseManhattanBuilding2021
Goodnow HouseManhattanBuilding1971
Grimes HouseManhattenBuilding1997
Hartford HouseManhattanBuilding2019
Houston and Pierre Streets Residential Historic DistrictManhattanDistrict2009
Houston, Samuel D., HouseManhattanBuilding2007
Hulse-Daughters HouseManhattanBuilding2007
Ingraham, Jesse, HouseManhattanBuilding2014
KSAC Radio TowersManhattanStructure1983
Kansas Farm Bureau HeadquartersManhattanBuilding2026
Kimble, Francis Byron (Barney), HouseManhattanBuilding2015
Landmark Water TowerManhattanStructure2017
Lyda-Jean ApartmentsManhattanBuilding2004
Manhattan Carnegie Library BuildingManhattanBuilding1987
McFarlane-Wareham HouseManhattanBuilding2004
Persons Barn and GranaryManhattanBuilding2009
Pioneer Log CabinManhattanBuilding2020
Platt, Jeremiah, HouseManhattanBuilding1981
Rex Arms ApartmentsManhattanBuilding2025
Riley County CourthouseManhattanBuilding2005
Rocky Ford SchoolManhattanBuilding2012
Runyon, Damon HouseManhattanBuilding2004
Second Baptist ChurchManhattanBuilding2012
Seven Dolors Catholic ChurchManhattanBuilding1995
Strasser HouseManhattanBuilding2010
Ulrich, Robert, HouseManhattanBuilding1978
Viking Manufacturing Company BuildingManhattanBuilding2022
Walters, Daniel and Maude, HouseManhattanBuilding2012
Wharton, E. A. and Ura, HouseManhattanBuilding1995
Wolf House Historic DistrictManhattanDistrict2019
Woman's Club HouseManhattanBuilding1980
Young Buck SiteManhattanSite2015
Yuma Street Historic DistrictManhattanDistrict2023

Source: National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Property links open NRHP nomination files at the National Archives.

County formation

Newberry AHCB

Riley was formed in 1855 (1855-08-25) from unknown / original county.

RILEY created by Kansas Territory from non-county area.

Source: Newberry Library, Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.

Population by decade

Census

Riley County population from 1860 to 2020 (Census historical series).

72k37k1,2241860188019201940196020002020
1860188019001920194019501960198020002020
1,22410,43013,82820,65020,61733,40541,91463,50562,84371,959

Sources: U.S. Census Bureau historical county population (Forstall 1790–1990) and public-domain / CC0 county population series through 2020.

Cemeteries & historical places

USGS GNIS

22 cemeteries and 0 historical populated places (ghost towns / former settlements) recorded in USGS GNIS for this county.

Cemeteries — 22 of 22 listed
NameLatLon
Ashland Cemetery39.11019-96.61556
Bala Cemetery39.30512-96.93419
Bellegarde Cemetery39.5507-96.65541
Catholic Cemetery (historical)39.47192-96.76478
Crooked Creek Cemetery39.43668-96.84809
Fancy Creek Randolph Cemetery39.51498-96.75689
Hohman Cemetery39.34894-96.71888
Kansas Veterans Cemetery at Manhattan39.13568-96.68569
Leonardville Cemetery39.37997-96.85937
May Day Cemetery39.49583-96.93057
Mill Creek Cemetery39.33512-96.77295
Ogden Cemetery39.12259-96.71068
Peach Grove Cemetery39.54968-96.81104
Pleasant Valley Cemetery39.13628-96.46482
Rebekah Independent Order of Odd Fellows Home Cemetery39.15343-96.65619
Riley Cemetery39.28788-96.81302
Rose Hill Cemetery39.515-96.71724
Saint John's Cemetery39.4813-96.84915
Saint Patricks Cemetery39.12348-96.72124
Shanks Cemetery39.17494-96.8413
Sunset Cemetery39.18139-96.59274
Swede Creek Cemetery39.53675-96.70796

Source: USGS Geographic Names Information System (public domain). Cemeteries from the 2021 NationalFile archive; historical places from GNIS HistoricalFeatures topical extract.

Historical markers

HMdb link

Marker text and photos from the Historical Marker Database (HMdb) are not embedded here. HMdb allows non-commercial reuse with attribution, but commercial/compensated use needs written permission; this is a commercial site, so we only link out.

Search HMdb for Riley County, Kansas

Terms: hmdb.org/copyright.asp. Linking is encouraged by HMdb.