LeLoup is an unincorporated community in Franklin County

Franklin County, Kansas

Franklin County is a county located in East Central Kansas, in the Central United States. As of the 2010 census, the county population was 25,992. Its county seat and most populous city is Ottawa...

, Kansas

Kansas

Kansas is a US state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south...

, United States located 11 miles northeast of Ottawa

Ottawa, Kansas

Ottawa is a city situated along the Marais des Cygnes River in the central part of Franklin County, located in east-central Kansas, 50 miles southwest of Kansas City, Mo., in the central United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 12,649. It is the county seat and most populous...

 and 7 miles southwest of Wellsville

Wellsville, Kansas

Wellsville is a city in Franklin County, Kansas, United States. The town site of Wellsville was laid out in the fall of 1864 by Messrs, Shoot, Root, and Wells of Chicago. The town was named after Mr. Wells of the company. The population was 1,606 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Wellsville is...

.

History

LeLoup was founded in 1870 after the Santa Fe Railroad laid tracks through the area. The town was originally named Ferguson after Robert Ferguson, who built the first house in the area. The town was renamed LeLoup after a French traveler got off at Ferguson and mistook a coyote

Coyote

The coyote , also known as the American jackal or the prairie wolf, is a species of canine found throughout North and Central America, ranging from Panama in the south, north through Mexico, the United States and Canada...

 for a wolf and began shouting "le loup". The town then voted to change the name to LeLoup.

Today, LeLoup is a quiet country town about a mile and half north of I-35

Interstate 35

Interstate 35 is a north–south Interstate Highway in the central United States. I-35 stretches from Laredo, Texas, on the U.S.-Mexico border to Duluth, Minnesota, at Minnesota Highway 61 and 26th Avenue East. Many interstates used to have splits or spurs indicated with suffixed letters , but I-35...

on Tennessee Road.

Further reading

• Fitzgerald, Daniel. Ghost Towns of Kansas 6. 2009.