Abandoned Towns
A white one-story schoolhouse with a cupola, a columned porch and a ramp, at dusk, April 2016

Railroad and road town · Farm and ranch town

Bazaar

One of the oldest settlements in Chase County, named for a Pennsylvania shop, that grew into the state's largest railroad cattle-shipping point in the Flint Hills pasture country. Trucks took the cattle trade after 1956; a few homes, a church and the old schoolhouse remain beside K-177 and the railroad.

38°16′19″N 96°32′07″W · ≈1,220 ft

Photo: Art davis, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Lived in · a few homes

Bazaar is a small unincorporated community, not an attraction. Legends of Kansas (updated May 2026) says no businesses are left, a few homes stand and the Methodist church still holds services; the old schoolhouse is used as a community center. The newest dated photo we found is of the schoolhouse in April 2016. Homes are private: see the town from its streets and K-177.

Overview

Cattle cars in the Flint Hills

Bazaar in the early 1900s: a church, scattered houses and a dirt street on the open prairie
Bazaar in the early 1900s: a church, scattered houses and a dirt street on the open prairie · Photo: Unknown author, Wikimedia Commons, Public domain

Bazaar sits in the tallgrass of the Flint Hills about 7 miles south of the US 50 exit at Strong City, on Rock Creek. Settlers arrived on Rock Creek in March 1856, and in 1860 the post office took the name Bazaar after a shop Martha Leonard had owned back in Pennsylvania. In 1876 the town was renamed Mary in her memory, and two years later it went back to Bazaar.

The railroad made it. The Santa Fe arrived in 1887 and the town moved to the tracks. Ranchers shipped cattle off the surrounding grass, and by about 1921 Bazaar was the largest railroad cattle-shipping point in Kansas, sending 1,800 to 2,000 cars of stock a year. It had about 100 people in 37 homes, gas stations, a barbershop, a restaurant, a boarding house and three saloons, and its depot ran around the clock.

Then trucks came. After the Kansas Turnpike opened in 1956, the cattle went by road. The school closed into Cottonwood Falls in 1965, the depot came down in 1970 and the post office closed in 1974. Bazaar was never incorporated. The BNSF main line and K-177 still run through, and some cattle still leave by rail.

Timeline

From Rock Creek settlement to railroad stockyard

  1. Settlers including Jonah and Martha Leonard and Bernard McCabe take up land on Rock Creek in March, about half a mile west of the present town.
  2. Martha Leonard dies on November 11, the first known death of a white settler in Chase County.
  3. A post office opens on April 16, named Bazaar after a shop Martha Leonard had kept in Pennsylvania. A log-slab schoolhouse is built.
  4. A large stone schoolhouse is finished; it also serves as the community hall.
  5. The post office and town are renamed Mary, for Martha Leonard, on July 20, 1876, and go back to Bazaar on March 19, 1878.
  6. The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe reaches the area and the town moves to the railroad, its present site.
  7. Bazaar has 75 people, two stores, a telephone exchange, a garage, a lumberyard and express and telegraph offices.
  8. A new schoolhouse, costing about $4,000, is dedicated on November 9.
  9. The peak: about 100 people in 37 homes, and the largest railroad cattle-shipping point in Kansas, with 1,800 to 2,000 cars of stock a year.
  10. The rail line is extended south to El Dorado.
  11. On March 31 an airliner carrying football coach Knute Rockne crashes a few miles southwest of Bazaar, killing everyone aboard.
  12. A Rock Creek flood puts four feet of water through town; residents clean up and rebuild.
  13. The Kansas Turnpike opens on October 25, and trucks take over much of the cattle traffic.
  14. The Bazaar school is consolidated with Cottonwood Falls.
  15. The depot is torn down.
  16. The post office closes on April 26.

On the ground

What stands in Bazaar

The Bazaar schoolhouse, April 2016
The Bazaar schoolhouse, April 2016 · Photo: Art davis, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Legends of Kansas, in its May 2026 update, says no businesses remain, and that a few homes, the Methodist church, which still holds services, the schoolhouse and the cemetery are still there. The schoolhouse, a white frame building with a cupola and a columned porch, was photographed in April 2016; it serves as the community center. An undated directory entry describes one original business building and a few houses. Wikipedia says Bazaar still serves as a rail depot for local cattle ranching, with BNSF's Southern Transcon main line and K-177 running north and south through it.

The historic maps below show the town in its valley. The 1898 Cottonwood Falls sheet puts Bazaar on the Santa Fe line beside Rock Creek, with Birley to the west. The 1955 Hutchinson sheet shows Bazaar on the Santa Fe beside the highway, with Birley and the Camp Wood Boy Scout camp nearby. The 1985 Emporia sheet marks a small grid of streets at Bazaar with a quarry to the north.

  • The 1917 schoolhouse, now a community center
  • The Methodist church, still in use
  • Bazaar Cemetery
  • A few homes
  • The railroad, still used to ship some cattle
USGS topographic map of Bazaar with K-177, the railroad and Rock Creek
USGS The National Map, topo. Bazaar between K-177 and the railroad.
Aerial view of Bazaar: a few houses, trees and roads beside the railroad among pastures
Aerial imagery, same area. A few houses and trees by the tracks.

Historic maps

Bazaar on USGS maps, 1898–1985

Crops from the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection, centered on the townsite. Each sheet shows what surveyors mapped that year; compare them with today's topo and aerial on this page.

USGS topographic map around Bazaar, 1898
Cottonwood Falls sheet, 1898, 1:125,000 · U.S. Geological Survey, public domain · catalog record

Map & directions

Getting there

Bazaar is on K-177 in southern Chase County, about 18 miles north of the Kansas Turnpike exit at Cassoday and 7 miles south of the US 50 exit at Strong City (Wikipedia). Both routes below follow K-177 and end on Mill Avenue in the town.

USGS topographic map from Cottonwood Falls south along K-177 to Bazaar

Base map: USGS The National Map (public domain). Routes: OSRM on © OpenStreetMap contributors data (ODbL), computed October 2026. Times assume dry roads.

From Cottonwood Falls8.0 miabout 13 min
  1. From Friend Street, turn right on Walnut Street (K-177) and follow it south.7.4 mi
  2. Turn left on Sharps Creek Road.0.5 mi
  3. Turn left on Mill Avenue into Bazaar.0.1 mi
Google Maps directionsApple MapsOpenStreetMap

Road and safety notes

  • K-177 runs through Bazaar; the last half mile is on town streets.
  • Bazaar is lived in. Homes are private; the church and schoolhouse are community buildings, not museums.
  • The routes are computed from OpenStreetMap and haven't been driven by us.

Photos

Bazaar in photos

Visitor reports

Been to Bazaar?

Been there lately? Tell the next visitor what you found: whether you could get in, the state of the road and what's still standing. Photos are welcome. We read every report before it appears here.

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Nearby

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Straight-line distance from the townsite to other mapped sites in our Kansas index.

Sources

Sources and credits

  1. Kathy Alexander, "Bazaar, Kansas", Legends of Kansas, updated May 2026: the 1856 settlement and settlers, Martha Leonard, the post office names and dates, the schools of 1860, 1874 and 1917, the 1887 railroad and move, 75 people in 1910, the 1921 peak and cattle cars, the 1951 flood, the 1965 consolidation, the 1974 closing, what remains.
  2. "Bazaar Depot," Chase County Centennial, 1872–1972, via KSGenWeb: the 1887 station, the largest cattle-shipping point in the state, the 1923 extension to El Dorado, round-the-clock service, the turnpike of October 25, 1956, the depot torn down in 1970.
  3. Wikipedia, "Bazaar, Kansas", retrieved October 29, 2026: post office dates, the BNSF line and K-177, cattle still shipped by rail, the 1931 Rockne crash, the distances to Cassoday and Strong City, coordinates.
  4. ghosttowns.com, "Bazaar", read October 29, 2026: fact sheet, the cattle-shipping history, one original business building and a few houses, road, best time and climate.
  5. Photos: Wikimedia Commons, credited below each one. Elevation: USGS 3D Elevation Program point query. Routes: OSRM on OpenStreetMap data, October 29, 2026. Historic maps: USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection. Not field-checked.

Photo and map credits