Rayville, Kansas

Awhile back, I wrote a little article about Rayville, Kansas. It was a small town that existed on the Nebraska, Kansas state line south of Southern Valley Jr-Sr. High School. The town was established by the Dutch in 1885 and lasted only 17 years to 1902. Residents once had a general store, a millinery store, blacksmith shop, and a drug store. I found the enclosed picture in an old newspaper of Charles Savage's sod house. The picture was taken in 1939. According to Ward Bundy who lived a quarter mile away from Raysville for 9 years stated that Mr. Savage had a sod house and a store from which he sold gasoline. It was kept in 50 gallon barrels and sold to customers in 5 gallon buckets. With the failure of the railroad to go through the community, the town soon disappeared.