List of ghost towns in Kansas

This is an incomplete list of ghost towns in the state of Kansas.

Causes
There are many reasons as to why a community becomes abandoned (or nearly abandoned).
 * Transportation – With the development of major highways and interstates, people were willing to travel farther for goods and services causing local businesses in smaller towns to lose customers and ultimately close. The more businesses that close the more people are apt to want to move away to a bigger town.  Transportation has played a major role in settlement in Kansas.  As traffic from the Oregon and Santa Fe Trails increased, towns boomed along them.  When railroads were established towns developed along the tracks or even moved to where the tracks were.
 * Politics – In Kansas, the political atmosphere was highly divided. Towns were either pro-slavery or abolitionist.  When Kansas became a free state in 1861, pro-slavery towns died out.  Survival of a town also depended on if it won the county seat.  Towns that were contenders for the county seat and lost typically saw most, if not all, of their town die out.
 * Lack of employment – Towns that catered to a specific industry like coal mining or military housing were boom towns that quickly died when their markets collapsed. Some towns were abandoned in the 1930s during the Dust Bowl period which mainly relied on agriculture.
 * Eminent domain / flood control – Since 1951, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers have sought to control floods through the building of dams along rivers and the resulting outcome is a town having to be moved or abandoned and demolished.
 * Environmental degradation – remnants of lead and zinc mining can cause soil contamination that can render entire communities uninhabitable; e.g. Treece.

List
List of ghost towns in Kansas, which aren't incorporated cities or unincorporated communities:

Allen County

 * Cofachique
 * Octagon City

Anderson County

 * Hyattville

Atchison County

 * Mount Pleasant
 * Pardee

Butler County

 * Oil Hill
 * Plum Grove
 * Wingate

Chase County

 * Elk
 * Ellinor
 * Homestead
 * Hymer
 * Thurman

Cherokee County

 * Treece

Cheyenne County

 * Calhoun
 * Jaqua
 * Lawnridge
 * Marney
 * Orlando

Clark County

 * Lexington

Clay County

 * Broughton
 * Browndale

Cloud County

 * Como
 * Macyville
 * Sibley
 * Yuma

Cowley County

 * Floral
 * Wilmot

Decatur County

 * Bassetville
 * Decatur
 * Hawkeye
 * Hooker
 * Jackson
 * Lund
 * Sheffield
 * Shibboleth
 * Stephen
 * Vallonia

Doniphan County

 * Geary

Douglas County

 * Belvoir
 * Franklin
 * Lapeer
 * Louisiana
 * Media
 * Prairie City
 * Twin Mound
 * Weaver

Elk County

 * Cave Springs
 * Fiat
 * Upola

Ellis County

 * Chetolah
 * Easdale
 * Hog Back
 * Mendota
 * Rome
 * Smoky Hill City
 * Stockrange
 * Turkville

Ellsworth County

 * Terra Cotta

Finney County

 * Eminence
 * Ravanna

Franklin County

 * Appanoose
 * Forrest Home
 * Garlington
 * Greenwood
 * Minneola
 * Norwood
 * Ohio City
 * Pleasant Hill
 * Silkville

Geary County

 * Alida
 * Pawnee

Gove County

 * Alanthus
 * Hackberry
 * Jerome

Graham County

 * Fargo
 * Happy
 * Houston
 * Kebar
 * Millbrook
 * Olean
 * Roscoe
 * Togo
 * Turnerville
 * Whitfield
 * Wild Horse

Greeley County

 * Astor

Greenwood County

 * Teterville
 * Thrall
 * Utopia

Harper County

 * Albion

Harvey County

 * Annelly

Haskell County

 * Santa Fe

Jewell County

 * Dentonia

Labette County

 * Mortimer

Leavenworth County

 * Delaware City

Lincoln County

 * Bacon
 * Bayne
 * Cedron
 * Herman
 * Lone Walnut
 * Milo
 * Monroe
 * Orbitello
 * Orworth
 * Paris
 * Pinon
 * Pleasant Valley
 * Pottersburg
 * Rosette
 * Topsy
 * Towerspring
 * Union Valley
 * Woodey
 * Yorktown

Linn County

 * Hail Ridge

Logan County

 * McAllaster
 * Sheridan

Marion County

 * Elk
 * Gnadenau
 * Hampson
 * Oursler
 * Waldeck
 * Watchorn

Marshall County

 * Bigelow
 * Irving

Mitchell County

 * Blue Hill
 * Buel
 * Coursens Grove
 * Elmira
 * Saltville
 * Victor
 * Walnut Grove
 * West Asher

Montgomery County

 * Le Hunt

Morris County

 * Comiskey

Neosho

 * Ladore

Norton County

 * Bower
 * Brett
 * Cactus
 * Devizes
 * Fairhaven
 * Hanback
 * Hedgewood
 * Rayville
 * Rockwell
 * Smithton
 * Wakeman

Osborne County

 * Banks
 * Bristow
 * Cheyenne
 * Delhi
 * Deliverance
 * Dial
 * Emley
 * Forney
 * Free Will
 * Handy
 * Pleasant Plain
 * Potterville
 * Roundmound
 * Twin Creek
 * Vincent
 * Yoxall

Ottawa County

 * Vine Creek

Phillips County

 * Crow
 * Dickeyville
 * Goode
 * Jimtown
 * Luctor
 * Matteson
 * Myrtle
 * Pleasant Green
 * Powell
 * Wagnerville
 * West Cedar

Rawlins County

 * Achilles
 * Beardsley
 * Beaverton
 * Burntwood
 * Celia
 * Chardon
 * Gladstone
 * Greshamton
 * Mirage
 * Rawlins
 * Rotate

Reno County

 * Kent

Republic County

 * Sherdahl
 * White Rock

Rice County

 * Crawford
 * Galt

Rooks County

 * Adamson
 * Alcona
 * Amboy
 * Chandler
 * Cresson
 * Earnest
 * Frankton
 * Gould City
 * Highhill
 * Hoskins
 * Igo
 * Laton
 * McHale
 * Motor
 * Nyra
 * Portage
 * Slate
 * Sugarloaf
 * Survey
 * Rockport

Rush County

 * Belfield
 * Brookdale
 * Fenton
 * Flavius
 * Hampton
 * Hutton
 * Lippard
 * Olney
 * Pioneer
 * Ryan
 * Saunders
 * West Point

Russell County

 * Bayne
 * Blue Stem
 * East Wolf
 * Fay
 * Forest Hill
 * Greenvale
 * Hawley
 * Jack
 * Kennebec
 * Success
 * Winterset
 * Woodville

Seward County

 * Arkalon

Shawnee County

 * Richland

Sheridan County

 * Adell
 * Alcyone
 * Chicago
 * Lucerne
 * Museum
 * Mystic
 * Phelps
 * Sheridan
 * Ute
 * Violenta

Smith County

 * Cora
 * Anderson
 * Clifford
 * Corvallis
 * Covington
 * Crystal Plains
 * Custer
 * Germantown
 * Hardilee
 * Jacksonburg
 * Judson
 * Ohio
 * Troublesome
 * Twelve Mile
 * Tyner
 * Uhl

Stevens County

 * Woodsdale

Sumner County

 * Bushnell
 * Cleardale
 * Doster
 * Ewell
 * Metcalf
 * Roland
 * Sumner City

Thomas County

 * Copeland
 * Cumberland
 * Kuka
 * Otterbourne
 * Quickville

Trego County

 * Banner
 * Bosna
 * Cyrus
 * Wilcox

Wabaunsee County

 * Vera

Washington County

 * Strawberry

Wichita County

 * Farmer City