Located near the Missouri River, the one-time boom town, five miles north of Atchison, once boasted 3,000 people. Numerous steamboats stopped there, unloading freight and passengers on their way up and down the Missouri. As with many river towns on the Missouri River, Doniphan collapsed during the Civil War for a number of reasons. They were unable to attract a railroad. They were isolated. A depression in 1857 eventually left them financially bankrupt.
I first visited Doniphan in 1974. There are some navigation items to note. First of all, the river road that runs to Doniphan from Atchison literally crosses the old bed of the Missouri in the last 2 or 3 miles before arriving in Doniphan. This was the Missouri River of the 1850s. The channel has changed but it is easy to see where the old channel was. The river road that runs through what is left of Doniphan was actually the primary main street. Many of the side streets still exist as gravel roads. The town runs at least a mile further.
I have a hard time visualizing a town of 3000 people. I can visualize a town of maybe 500-700, which is still significant but not the size promoted in early accounts. A schoolhouse exists now, but it is not the original schoolhouse. It is on the main street. The cemetery is very remarkable but it is hard to find. Take a gravel road up a high hill about 1.5 miles into town off of main street. It is not easy to find but worth it. It is totally deserted. It sits on a beautiful bluff where you can see for miles. The old Catholic church is just as hard to find but it can be seen on the left side of main street about a half mile into the town. Check out the carvings on the soft brick. It is usually locked, which is sad because in 1974 it was deserted and unlocked all the time. It is not in good shape, and it won't be around much longer without restoration.
The Kuchs Store existed in 1974, and another adjoining building. They are gone but they were nearly gone in 1974. There are no steamboat buildings left, no original stores, it's all gone and empty. But stores existed immediately when you enter main street. The old railroad depot for a railroad that existed many years after the boom town was prosperous. In 1974 it was there, now it's not.
A few old homes exist from the 1850s, but not many. Vestiges of the 1850s town are few and far between. It is worth a visit, though, and it is a haunted, lonely, lost place. It might be worthwhile for those looking for artifacts to concentrate on the exact point where the road meets the bluff. This would've been the steamboat landing.
Doniphan could very well have been the Atchison of the region. As luck would have it, things didn't work out after 1861.
Doniphan County is a lost county with many deserted towns. Doniphan is a great one to start with as you tour many of the deserted back roads.
