Williamstown, KS

Williamstown is a census-designated place in southeastern Jefferson County, Kansas, United States. The 2020 census counted 96 residents. Williamstown is located south of the junction of US-24 and US-59. In 1825, the U.S. Government built a stone house for Chief White Plume, the Kaw chief from the band known as the Half-breeds. In the early years of Williamstown's settlement, three particularly brutal murders were committed there. The perpetrators were never found. The old Williamstown Elementary closed in 2009 and children currently attend schools in Perry and Lecompton. The through line in Williamstown is the way its history and present-day settings remain visible on the same map. Williamstown makes the most sense through those concrete details, with its history still visible in the settings people use today. Williamstown was founded in 1865 in the Kansas River valley near the Kansas Pacific Railway and on the banks of Stone House Creek by local property owners Mapes, Williams & Moore.