Friday, January 1, 1869 / Categories: History History of the City of Fulton Fulton, Kansas, a tiny town in northeast Bourbon County, was established in 1869. As of the 2020 census, its population was 165. Town founders included B. P. McDonald, O. Chanute, T. C. Myer, and C. A. Morris. The town was first called Osaga for the Little Osage River that runs north of the town. Ben Ivens established the first business house. William H. Green, a Missouri native, opened a general merchandise store. Green first came to Kansas in 1863. He first located at Fort Lincoln a few miles west of Fulton and opened a general merchandise store known as Knowles & Green. In 1864, a detachment of General Sterling Price’s army took the place and burned all the buildings but one, including his store and property. After returning to Missouri for several years, he returned to Fulton in 1869. Later, Green would serve as a Kansas Representative and be admitted to the Kansas bar as an attorney. In 1869, George White had also begun dealing in grain and lumber and would later become the first railroad station agent for the Kansas City, Fort Scott & Gulf Railroad. A post office was established on December 1, 1869. A schoolhouse was erected in 1870. Osaga was incorporated as a city of the third class on January 23, 1874. On April 6, 1876, the town and the post office were renamed Fulton after the town of Fulton, Illinois. This was because Osaga, owing to the similarity to the name Osage, was causing goods and mail to be delivered to improper addresses. By the early 1880s, the town boasted several general merchandise stores. There were also two druggists, three grain elevators, a grist mill, three hotels, a school building, and a population of 350. A two-story, four-room stone school building was built in 1882 for $ 3,500. The same year, a large one-story frame Methodist church was completed. The Catholics also had a flourishing congregation, with a small but neat frame church building. Fulton’s population peaked in 1890 at 506. By 1910, Fulton was a shipping point on the St. Louis and San Francisco Railroad and was one of the largest towns in Bourbon County. However, its population had dropped to 416. By the mid-1910s, the community began discussing the possibility of a new and bigger school. The 1882 school building remained standing and served as space for elementary classes but was eventually demolished in 1935. That year, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) built a new gymnasium and auditorium with salvaged stone from the old building. The property functioned as a combined high school and grade school until 1966, when the high school consolidated with Fort Scott. The elementary school later closed in 1978. The building then became the Fulton Community Center. In the meantime, the population of Fulton continued to drop. By 1993, the Presbyterian and Catholic churches closed. The post office closed on April 30, 2005. Today, Fulton is called home to only about 112 people. The town is located about 13 miles north of Fort Scott. Next Article Storm Siren Testing 31