Maple Hill, Kansas
Maple Hill is a great town that is growing! This small Flint Hill community is just two miles north of Interstate 70 and just minutes from the state capital, Topeka. In 2014 Maple Hill was home to 621 residents.
Maple Hill offers wonderful opportunities for education. Maple Hill Elementary, a part of the consolidated Mill Creek Valley school district is just a short distance from the middle school, junior high and high school in this consolidated school system. The Maple Hill community is also home to St. Vianney’s Catholic School (K-8).
As a rural Kansas community they work hard to preserve those things that make small towns a treasure. Business and Community are very important. Maple Hill Kiwanis, Maple Hill Senior Center and 4-H are all active organizations.
Sunset Ridge Development has been developing the west side of Maple Hill with beautiful and affordable homes. A great senior citizens center sits on the east side of Main Street serving meals daily and offering a variety of activities! On the edge of this wonderful community businesses are relocating and expanding! Maple Hill is home to the Flint Hills Smokehouse, serving great BBQ and a menu full of favorites. Maple Hill is also the headquarters for Stockgrower’s State Bank, a superb and supportive community bank. A wonderful little shop, The Walking Turtle, is filled with fantastic paintings, pottery, drawings and other artisan works. Right next door is a new boutique, The Mesa Collection, drawing in customers from across the country! Additionally the Maple Hill area is host to several successful businesses including construction, insurance, grocery market, auction services, real estate, auto repair and towing, accounting services, livestock production, fuel and more!
The beginning of Maple Hill is intertwined with the Potawatomi Indian Reservation. In 1848 the Jesuits tried to convince the Indians that a better location was on the north side of the Kansas River, but some stayed on the south side. Therefore the government built grist mills on Mill Creek to assist the Indians in milling grain. With these mills came the first white men of mostly French descent. Maple Hill’s name arouse from a small grove of maple trees on a knoll near the Waterman’s house. Rufus Waterman was one of the first settlers of the area. The next ten years (1870) Maple Hill formed a solid settlement with ranching and farming. In 1874 Santa Fe Railway officials and their families moved into the area. Like much of the West, Maple Hill anticipated the arrival of the railroad and interest in land and prices soared. W.J. Tod built his ranch into a world known cattle ranch. The ranch was originally owned by Mr. Fowler. Tod brought several families from his native Scotland to work on the ranch then after a few years they would buy their own farms. Thus Maple Hill became a Scottish community.
Indeed today Maple Hill remains true to its beginnings enjoying a rich ranching history. Stop by for a look around- you will be glad you did!