Dorrance

Dorrance is located in the eastern part of Russell County and is a rural farming community.

The area has been crossed by Indian hunters, wagon trains of settlers and gold seekers. The old "Butterfield Overland Dispatch Trail" was just one half mile south of the present site of Dorrance. A marker has been placed there. In June of 1867, the Kansas Pacific Railroad tracks reached Dorrance, bringing German, English, Irish, and other immigrants, who had accounted for much of the town's modest growth by 1870.

A prairie fire almost destroyed the entire business district of Dorrance on March 27, 1879. The town was named after a Mr. Dorrance, who was the railroad superintendent at that time.