When the four Ohio villages of East Bredeick, West Bredeick, Section 10 and Howard incorporated in 1851 they became the first community called Delphos in the United States. But not the last. There are four other communities, existing and ghost towns, named Delphos in the United States. Let’s visit them.
Delphos, Kansas
The village was founded near the Solomon River by two brothers, Daniel and Levi Yockey, who came to Kansas about 1865 from Delphos, Ohio. Levi settled on a creek that came to be called Yockey Creek and his brother Daniel settled about one half mile to the north. In 1869, W.A.Kizer purchased the land on which Delphos is now located and the following summer he and Mr. Spears laid out the town and a public park. Levi Yockey served as postmaster in the late 1860’s when mail arrived once a week by horseback. By 1879 mail was arriving daily. The village was served by two stagecoach lines.
In 1879 half the town was destroyed by a tornado. It was in this same year that a newspaper was started in the town: the Delphos Herald.
The Delphos high school closed in 1967 due to consolidation. The school’s nickname was Maroons and their mascot was a lion. School colors were maroon and gold.
Grace Bedell Billings, as an eleven year old growing up in New York in 1860, wrote to presidential candidate Abraham Lincoln and suggested he grow a beard to improve his appearance. Lincoln replied that he’d make no promises but within a month he was sporting a chin full of whiskers. Grace later moved to Delphos with her husband George Billings, a homesteader to Kansas who later became the first cashier at the Delphos State Bank. A monument to her accomplishment was erected in the Delphos town square in 1966. Grace passed away in 1936 and is buried in Delphos Cemetery.
In 1971 a UFO was sighted and landed on a farm near Delphos. The craft left the family with strange disabilities and left a ring of glowing soil. The experience has never been explained.
Delphos, Kansas is located in north central Kansas about 25 miles north of Salina. The 2010 census showed a population of 359.
Delphos, Iowa
When the Leon, Mount Ayr and Southwestern Railroad extended to Grant City, Missouri, in September of 1880, the town of Borneo was laid out. Mike Rush sold his store and post office in Delphi [present-day Maloy] around the year 1879 and moved east to the town of Borneo along the new railroad. The town of Borneo was then renamed Delphos on November 18, 1880. Rail service ran through Delphos from 1880 to 1945. Four trains ran through the village each day, two freight and two passenger trains. The conductor would telegraph the station in Delphos on how many passengers or freight employees would need lunch that day and when the train arrived at the station the lunches would be waiting at the station or at the local boarding house. A post office was opened in 1880 and was discontinued in 1993. In 1896 the first telephone was installed in George Wright’s residence. By 1900 the entire village was connected to the Delphos switchboard. The consolidated school closed in 1961 and the Christian Church and Baptist Church are no longer open and both buildings abandoned.
The town is located in southern Iowa, just north of the Missouri border. The 2010 census showed the population of Delphos, Iowa at 25.
Delphos, New Mexico
In New Mexico, Delphos was established when the Pecos Valley and Northeast Railroad, which was later purchased by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad, crossed the state in the late 1890’s. It is believed it was named after Delphos, Ohio but there are no records on who named it and why. Dryland farms in the area produced enough grain to establish grain elevators and cattle feeding pens. A post office was commissioned in Delphos in 1905 and operated until 1940 when nearby Portales acquired the mail routes.
Delphos, New Mexico is a ghost town today with nothing remaining but a DELPHOS sign on the railroad right of way signifying the location of the rail switch.
Delphos was located on the AT&SF Railroad and Highway 70 between the New Mexico towns of Portales and ELIDA!! Yes, Elida!!
Delphos, California
A final ghost town, Delphos, California is located in Colusa County on Delphos Road just north of Williams, California. A grain elevator and a small house with a barn are all that exist there today.
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