Welcome to Silica ...
Although we found mention of Silica during our research, we have little information about it.<1> We believe that Silica had a post office at one time. We have done a cursory search and haven't been able to find any evidence that the community still exists..
We've added Silica to our Gazetteer with the hope that we can develop more information. If you can help us with Silica, please Contact Us.
The location of Silica has been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (ie- the GNIS).<2>
While we don't have a date for the founding of Silica, you might consider that their post office opened in 1893.
Silica is 1,790 feet [546 m] above sea level.<3>.
Time Zone: The area where we believe that Silica might be (or was) located is in the Central Time Zone (CST/CDT) and observes daylight saving time
We believe that Silica would be found within the (620) area code.
Communities Also Named Silica ...
Using our Gazetteer, we found that there are two Kansas communities named Silica: This one is located in Rice County and the other is located in Phillips County.
Beyond Kansas, there are 11 communities that are also named Silica - they are located in British Columbia, Kentucky, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia and Wisconsin.
For more information, see our Tidbits & Trivia Page for Silica.
Communities near Silica ...
We have created a list of 10 communities that are near Silica.
- Great Bend
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Great Bend
- Great Bend is located in Barton County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 14,901 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Great Bend <4>
- Lyons
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lyons have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lyons
- Lyons is located in Rice County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 3,433 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Lyons <4>
- Sterling
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the southeast)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sterling
- Sterling is located in Rice County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 2,176 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Sterling <4>
- Ellinwood
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Ellinwood have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ellinwood
- Ellinwood is located in Barton County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 1,932 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Ellinwood <4>
- Claflin
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Claflin
- Claflin is located in Barton County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 593 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Claflin <4>
- Chase
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the east) - Holyrood
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Holyrood have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Holyrood
- Holyrood is located in Ellsworth County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 409 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Holyrood <4>
- Bushton
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the north) - Alden
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Alden have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alden
- Alden is located in Rice County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 139 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Alden <4>
- Lorraine
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
To Help With Your Genealogy Research ...
We have a couple of sections for those tracing their genealogy.
We created a list of cemeteries that are in the area around Silica. Our list includes the location of those cemeteries and we provide an overhead view. See our Cemetery List for Silica.
Using the information from an 1895 Atlas, we've created a list of communities that were in the area of Silica. Our list includes information such as whether the 1895 community had a post office or railroad service. See our List of 1890's Communities around Silica.
We also have a detailed list of newspapers that have been published in the area around Silica. See our Newspapers Page for Silica.
TripAdvisor Tourism Pages for Silica ...
Looking for more information about Silica? A wonderful source is the TripAdvisor website. We always start with the TripAdvisor Tourism page, where you can read an overview with links that will help you find lodging, restaurants and attractions.
While we are unaware of a Tourism page that is specific to Silica, there are neighboring communities that do have Tourism pages. A map of those communities can be found with our TripAdvisor Page for Silica.
Adding Silica to Our Gazetteer ...
We originally found mention of Silica in both the FIPS-55 and the GNIS. For more information, see the FIPS and GNIS Codes sections on our Miscellaneous Page.
From our notes, the earliest published mention we've found for Silica was in the document titled List of Post Offices from Cameron Blevins and Richard Helbock.<5>
From that list, the Silica post office opened in 1893.
We also found Silica on a map titled Rand McNally Map of Kansas (1911).
For more details, see References and Mentions for Silica.
Off-the-Road Links ...
The official website for Rice County: www.ricecounty.org/
The official website for State of Kansas: https://portal.kansas.gov/
Footnotes ...
| <1> | If we encounter the name of what might be a community, our methodology is to add that name to our Gazetteer. For example, we might find a sentence like "He went south past Silica and then turned west". While Silica could be some kind of landmark, we think that it's more likely to be a community. We've added Silica as a placeholder with the hope that we'll be able to add more information in the future. Just as a reminder: Our definition of a community is rather broad and includes those places (or areas) where several families lived and had a name which identified that place. For example, you might hear somebody say that they are going over to Bird Creek to see Pete ... Bird Creek is just a gas station and a couple of homes at the crossroads. While it might not be on the map, everybody in the area knows it by that name. Places of interest include buildings at a crossroad, several families clustered in a hollow or maybe the location of a way station. It also includes places like mines, lumber camps, ferry crossings, etc. The community might still exist, is now gone or only existed for just a short period of time. Also keep in mind that Silica could have been on the original document by mistake, misspelled, the original/alternate name of a community that we've listed elsewhere or was placed in the wrong county. Sometimes a post office or train station would have a different name than the community where it's located, so two names might be referring to the same community - we're working to straighten it all out. |
| <2> | The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required. |
| <3> | The elevation is an estimate for the area around Silica - it will be higher in some places and lower in others. |
| <4> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <5> | A copy of their list with background information can be found at: https://cblevins.github.io/us-post-offices/data-biography/ |