The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was redirect‎ to Olive Township, Decatur County, Kansas. BusterD (talk) 03:25, 20 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Vallonia, Kansas[edit]

Vallonia, Kansas (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views) – (View log | edits since nomination)

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Yet another post office, probably; there's perhaps a little bit more to this one on the maps and aerials, though searching produced naught but the Vallonias in other states and the genus of snails. Mangoe (talk) 22:52, 20 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]

• Note: This discussion has been included in the deletion sorting lists for the following topics: Geography and Kansas. Skynxnex (talk) 23:09, 20 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]
• Delete - I was unable to locate any source supporting this was ever a populated place. Magnolia677 (talk) 23:33, 20 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Keep - This was a tough one. User:James.folsom suggested this source. You'll see that some of the names listed at that source, are the same people in Vallonia Cemetery.

Also listed in the cemetery is Maurice Garland Foley. Foley's obituary said "he lived most of his life in the Vallonia and Kanona communities".

• More people born in Vallonia.
• A land transfer from four men living in Vallonia, Kansas. Interesting, the men's names are also on the cemetery list.
• A wedding at a residence in Vallonia.
• A funeral for a doctor who's family "lived in the Vallonia neighborhood for several years". --Magnolia677 (talk) 12:27, 21 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]

• Comment It definitely was a populated place "https://sites.rootsweb.com/~ksdechp/directories/18841885gazdir.html". The local paper has regular mentions of goings on in the place. It's still known today according to the paper. Though some of that is because there continued to be school with that name. The bulk of the news articles are during the time the place had post office. I'm still researching. I'm almost Certain Uncle G will deposit a bunch of info here soon.James.folsom (talk) 00:00, 21 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]
  • I have been neglecting Polk's for Kansas, given Gannett and Blackmar. Interestingly, Vallonia isn't in the 1904 Polk's. I don't doubt the rootsweb site, but I tend to be wary of transcriptions. Uncle G (talk) 13:31, 21 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]
  • Comment It's not clear to me that Vallonia was a town rather than just a name for the rural area served by that post office (and related functions like the cemetery). The cemetery is located in Olive Township, but the school is listed here as serving Roosevelt Township. Normally I'd say to merge this article about a rural gathering point into the article about the township it served, but it's not obvious to me which of the two it'd go with if it were merged into one. Leaning keep just based on that, but idk really

    Jbt89 (talk) 20:30, 21 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]

    • @Jbt89: If you look at this map, and switch the map to "USA topo", you'll see that the border of the two townships, Olive and Roosevelt, passes through the town and cemetary. Magnolia677 (talk) 20:57, 21 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]
      • That's a reconstructed map, based upon computer data sets. It's not actually a contemporary original map. There's an original (Rand McNally) map in the belowmentioned Report that puts the Vallonia post office (which the Report states to be a post office) very roughly on the border of Olive and Harlan Townships. Interestingly, Vallonia disappears off the map (on page 111) and from the list of post offices (on page 116) in the next Biennial Report. Uncle G (talk) 12:36, 22 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]
• I have it as a post office in Olive Township per the 1886 Fifth Report of the Kansas State Board of Agriculture. Gannett's 1889 Gazetteer does not have this at all, nor does Blackmar's 1912 Cyclopedia, supporting the claim that this was little more than a post office that closed in 1887, just as the sole good source in the article says, and that school. They'd have it if it were a town or a village.

  For future AFD discussions which I know are coming for the Template:Decatur County, Kansas "unincorporated communities" and purported ghost towns, all of the Blackmar-verifiable post offices are in Decatur County, Kansas#Post offices.

  Uncle G (talk) 06:01, 21 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]

• Comment Here's an example of it being phrased as just a post office https://www.newspapers.com/article/oberlin-herald-post-office-or-town/139274290/. There are many more examples that phrase it as a place. Jbt89 point is valid, as the way these post offices were discussed in the papers makes it's hard to tell if they were in towns or not.James.folsom (talk) 23:15, 21 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Relisted to generate a more thorough discussion and clearer consensus.
Please add new comments below this notice. Thanks, Star Mississippi 03:09, 28 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]

• Merge into Olive Township, Decatur County, Kansas. Seems like this is the name of a short-lived post office and of a vaguely-defined rural region centered on that post office / cemetery. Olive Township best, though imperfectly, approximates that rural area. This place is not notable on its own. Jbt89 (talk) 22:29, 31 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]
  • Delete. I've copied the single unique sentence from this article to the Olive Township article. It's fully redundant now.Jbt89 (talk) 05:06, 7 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]
• Delete or merger to township I've learned and shared alot about these post offices and the relationship they have with people. I've synthesized more about understanding how the newspapers deal with this stuff as well. Actual towns and cities in the 19th century are covered more extensively than these "postal communities". Examples are that a town will publish meetings minutes, public notices, town news, there will town clerks and other people mentioned in the papers. In this case as is with many others, they are mentioned in the paper in the form of letters from a self designated person. And maybe you see the occasional "Joe bob lost a valuable horse at Vallonia", They only say this because that post office is the only land mark that is universally understood, and it's where they get their mail. In one instance someone wrote in that the postoffice had changed names, and just like flipping a switch that persons letters were from the new name. This wouldn't happen if it it was a town.James.folsom (talk) 20:42, 4 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Relisted to generate a more thorough discussion and clearer consensus.
Please add new comments below this notice. Thanks, The Wordsmith^{Talk to me} 22:03, 6 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

• Redirect to Olive Township, Decatur County, Kansas. Given it's use as location in sources from the time the post office was extant a redirect rather than a delete makes more sense to me. Eluchil404 (talk) 02:38, 8 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

  I'm good with that redirect too. Jbt89 (talk) 03:49, 11 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Relisted to generate a more thorough discussion and clearer consensus.
Relisting comment: Final relist.
Please add new comments below this notice. Thanks, The Herald (Benison) (talk) 05:07, 14 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

• Redirect to Olive Township, Decatur County, Kansas, in case my position wasn't clear above. Jbt89 (talk) 21:13, 15 February 2024 (UTC)[reply]

The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.