Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Ellis, Idaho


 * The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review).  No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was keep. &spades;PMC&spades; (talk) 05:33, 6 July 2021 (UTC)

Ellis, Idaho

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This is something of a test case, as there are a number of Idaho "communities" like this one: an active post office with no town. In most cases that post office is in an isolated store; in this case, it's possible that the second building which used to be here was a store, but I haven't been able to find anything about it, or indeed anything at all about here other than that there used to be two buildings, and one of them is the post office. Now, my searching was sorely hindered by the commonness of the name and by an Ellis Creek, but still, I came up with nothing. And therefore I move on to the other problem: there's no reliable source for calling this a "community" or any kind of settlement or anything at all besides a post office, and I don't think simply having a post office in a place makes it notable, an issue we've already been through for 4th class POs. Even the notion that it's a former town is supposition with the sourcing we have. If this article is deleted, there are so far about four other similar cases, with possibly a few more to be found. Mangoe (talk) 02:41, 29 June 2021 (UTC)
 * Note: This discussion has been included in the list of Idaho-related deletion discussions.  CAPTAIN RAJU (T) 08:53, 29 June 2021 (UTC)
 * Note: This discussion has been included in the list of Geography-related deletion discussions.  CAPTAIN RAJU (T) 08:53, 29 June 2021 (UTC)


 * Delete communities set up in rural and camping areas to provide access to the service, even if they still exist today, and not default notable all by themselves.John Pack Lambert (talk) 15:37, 30 June 2021 (UTC)
 * Keep. The USGS lists Ellis as a populated place and my 1960 World Book Encyclopedia lists Ellis as a town with a population of 10, while Davis' Encyclopedia from 1909 gives it a population of 20. WP:GEOLAND is thus satisfied: "Populated, legally recognized places are typically presumed to be notable, even if their population is very low. Even abandoned places can be notable, because notability encompasses their entire history." It does seem as though Ellis is abandoned, but notability is not temporary. I was able to expand the article, using serious reference works. It would be quite odd to delete the info here, while reference works like World Book and Davis' Encyclopedia have noted the community. What are we doing deleting content other encyclopedias contain? Firsfron of Ronchester  20:52, 30 June 2021 (UTC)
 * Keep, mainly per Firsfron. This is a reminder of why Wikipedia has a gazetteer function in the first place, since major print encyclopedias have included them long before Wikipedia was around. If Ellis is significant enough to merit inclusion in a major print encyclopedia like World Book, it seems like it's significant enough for us to cover it. As far as other coverage goes, I was able to find this article about the fate of the town's former store and cafe, along with several articles about the fish hatchery in the area, so it's not just a post office (or wasn't always, anyway). TheCatalyst31 Reaction•Creation 03:25, 1 July 2021 (UTC)
 * Keep, the sources uncovered above showcase that this was a populated place, not just a post office in the middle of nowhere, and therefore it passes WP:GEOLAND. Devonian Wombat (talk) 23:55, 4 July 2021 (UTC)


 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.