Sharon Springs was originally called Eagle Tail after the name of the creek running through the townsite, and traces its beginnings to 1869 when the railroad was being constructed across Wallace County. In 1886, the name was changed to Sharon Springs after the town in Schoharie Co., New York, from which the founders came.
On the 1880 US Census, there are four Volga German men recorded as living in Wallace, working for the railroad, but it is believed that none of them ever really settled in the county. As early as 1922, there were Volga German families living in Wallace County and in the 1930s, a number of Volga German families moved to Wallace County, most from Ellis and Trego Counties in Kansas.
For many decades, there was also a Mennonite community in Wallace County, Kansas.
The following Volga German families are known to have settled in and around Sharon Springs:
Appelhanz from Rothammel
Basgall from Rothammel
Befort from Katharinenstadt
Bieker from Katharinenstadt
Blehm from Kratzke
Bohl from Huck
Brack from Schönfeld
Dechant from Pfeifer
Deines from Kratzke
Denning from Herzog
Depperschmidt from Schönchen
Dietz from Kratzke
Dinkel from Herzog
Dorzweiler from Katharinenstadt
Dreiling from Herzog
Engel from Ober-Monjou
Fabrizius from Kratzke
Foos from Friedenfeld
Funk from Hussenbach
Herl from Wittmann
Kinderknecht from Mariental
Leiker from Ober-Monjou
Mader from Kamenka
Mai from Kratzke
Meis from Katharinenstadt
Pfannenstiel from Ober-Monjou
Pope from Schönfeld
Rohn from Yagodnaya Polyana
Rohr from Mariental
Roth from Kamenka
Rudell from Kukkus
Scheuerman from Yagodnaya Polyana
Schmidt from Pfeifer
Stegman from Pfeifer
Stramel from Marienfeld
Urban from Kamenka
Wasinger from Herzog
Wertz from Yagodnaya Polyana
Zimmerman from Schönchen
- Brent Mai
- The History of Wallace County, Kansas (1991).
Sharon Springs City Cemetery (findagrave.com)
Sharon Springs (Wikipedia)
Sharon Springs, Kansas
(view from south)