Twelve Mile, Kansas

Twelve Mile, Kansas
Ghost town
Twelve Mile Location within the state of Kansas Show map of Kansas Twelve Mile Twelve Mile (the United States) Show map of the United States
Coordinates: 39°37′28″N98°38′01″W / 39.62444°N 98.63361°W / 39.62444; -98.63361
Country	United States
State	Kansas
County	Smith
Elevation	1,634 ft (498 m)
Population
• Total	0
Time zone	UTC-6 (CST)
• Summer (DST)	UTC-5 (CDT)
ZIP code	785
GNIS ID	482616 [1]

Twelve Mile is a former rural unincorporated community in Smith County, Kansas, United States.

History

Twelve Mile was issued a post office in 1874. The post office was discontinued in 1894. ^[2] Joe Gledhill was one of the early residents of the area and its longtime postmaster. ^[3] A stone marker was placed on Gledhill's homestead in 1939 by his son Arthur "commemorating the settlement of Twelve Mile Valley and the establishment in 1874 of the Twelve Mile post office in the home of Joseph Gledhill." ^{[4] [5]} According to a narrative written by Arthur Gledhill in the 1930s, settler L.G. Stone was the first of a party of 65 who came from New Haven, Connecticut to settle in the Twelve Mile community. Stone first came in the spring on 1871 as an advance scout of the area, and the full group came in 1872. ^{[6] [7]}

An 1882 local newspaper item described Twelve Mile as "not a town" but a "scope of country" named after a local large creek, and the "best settled and best improved portion of Smith county," containing two "good stone churches" and a "good frame school house." ^[8]

In 1940, the Christian Science Monitor published a piece by Reuben H. Markham, who grew up in the community. He wrote about a recent visit to Twelve Mile, mourning the passing of the community he once knew, but recognizing it as a nationwide trend of rural depopulation in the United States. ^[9]

References

1. "Twelve Mile, Kansas", Geographic Names Information System , United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior
2. "Kansas Post Offices, 1828-1961". Kansas Historical Society. Retrieved January 2, 2018.^{[ dead link ]}
3. (29 July 1920). Death of Pioneer Settler of Twelve Mile, Smith County Journal
4. Kansas Historical Notes, Kansas Historical Quarterly, August 1941, Vol. 10, No., 3, p. 334
5. Homestead of J. Gledhill, Historical Marker Database, Retrieved 30 December 2025
6. (7 December 1939). Tells Story of First Settlers, The Downs News
7. (9 April 1908). Settlement of Twelve Mile, Downs Times
8. (9 November 1882). Twelve Mile, The Whisperer
9. (15 August 1940). They've Left Twelve Mile With Only Memories Behind, Portis Independent (reprint of Monitor article)