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| This schoolhouse closed in 1935. |
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The school is among the remaining buildings in the town with a
population of zero. The one remaining home has sat vacant for several years.
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| Inside the old school. Frantz Betschart said he went to 4-H club meetings here before it closed for good. |
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| The old general store. |
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The post office building still stands. Raymond Lunsford had
pulled it back off the road, but someone still came and stole its insides,
including the boxes. Acres had a post office from 1909 to 1954.
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| Someone also stole the merry go round at the school. All that remains is this pole. |
It was first dubbed Manning Station in 1887 – named after the
conductor of the train, according to a Clark County
history book.
The name changed to Acres in 1889 when it was discovered there
was a railroad station by the same name on the line from Great
Bend to Scott
City, according to a
writings of Isaiah Burket, one of the county’s earliest pioneers. A woman who
was heading to the other Manning found herself in Clark County,
instead.
“Stepping from the train at this little flag station, she looked
about and said ‘Nothing but Acres,’ and from that day the place has been known
as Acres,” Burket wrote.
Acres had the freight train to move cattle, grain, feed and coal
and a passenger train to carry people, groceries and mail. The first post
office was established in 1909, according to the Kansas State Historical
Society.
Businesses included a hotel, general store, lumberyard and
blacksmith. There also were at least a couple elevators at Acres.
The 1910 census reported a population of 30.
