Manhattan’s history is
mostly unwritten
The public archives hold only 4 old photos of Manhattan. The rest are in attics, shoeboxes and the historical society. Help start the collection.
The story
from WikipediaRead it all ↗Before settlement by European-Americans in the 1850s, the land around Manhattan was home to Native tribes. From 1780 to 1830, it was home to the Kaw people, also known as the Kansa. The Kaw settlement was called Blue Earth Village (Manyinkatuhuudje), named after the river which the tribe had named the Great Blue Earth River, today known as the Big Blue River, which intersected with the Kansas River near their village. Blue Earth Village was the site of a large battle between the Kaw and the Pawnee in 1812.
The Kaw tribe ceded ownership of this land in a treaty signed at the Shawnee Methodist Mission on January 14, 1846.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Timeline
built from the dates on the items belowStart Manhattan’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Manhattan’s history is told.
0 of 10 decades since 1900 have photos 🔁Retake an old viewRocky Ford Dam, Big Blue River, R…, 1866: stand where they stood+15 📦Share a family photoSign in to add one+10Famous people from Manhattan
See all 52 →
Manhattan, decade by decade
41 historic places in Manhattan
Manhattan has 41 listings on the National Register, and they protect 162 historic buildings, because Houston and Pierre Streets Residential Historic District alone counts 61.
Where they are
Architectural styles
When they were listed
Listed 1971Goodnow House
Listed 1978Robert Ulrich House
Listed 1980Woman's Club House
Listed 1981Jeremiah Platt House
Listed 1987Manhattan Carnegie Library Building
Listed 1995Mattie M. Elliot House
Listed 1995E. A. and Ura Wharton House
Listed 1995Seven Dolors Catholic Church
Listed 1997Grimes House
Listed 2004Lyda-Jean Apartments
Listed 2004McFarlane-Wareham House
Listed 2004Runyon, Damon House
Listed 2005Leslie A. Fitz House
Listed 2005Riley County Courthouse
Listed 2006Community House
Listed 2007Samuel D. Houston House
Listed 2007Hulse-Daughters House
Listed 2008First Congregational Church
Listed 2009Houston and Pierre Streets Residential Historic District
Listed 2010Strasser House
Listed 2012Bethel A.M.E. Church
Listed 2012Second Baptist Church
Listed 2012Daniel and Maude Walters House
Listed 2015Francis Byron (Barney) Kimble House
Listed 2017Landmark Water Tower
Listed 2021Dawson’s Conoco Service StationListed 1980Anderson HallListed 2007Downtown Manhattan Historic DistrictListed 2014Bluemont Youth CabinListed 2014Jesse Ingraham HouseListed 2019Wolf House Historic DistrictListed 2019Avalon, TheListed 2019Hartford HouseListed 2020Pioneer Log CabinListed 2021F. B. Forrester HouseListed 2022First Christian ChurchListed 2022Viking Manufacturing Company BuildingListed 2023Yuma Street Historic DistrictListed 2025Alten-Peak HouseListed 2025Rex Arms ApartmentsListed 2026Kansas Farm Bureau HeadquartersThen & now
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as Rocky Ford Dam, Big Blue River, Rocky Ford Power Company, Riley County (1866) and it appears here side by side.
🔁 Retake this view · +15Stories next door
nearby towns’ historyFrom Wikimedia Commons (1), the Library of Congress (3) and the National Register (2). Images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.