Lost Springs, one of the historic points in Marion county, is an incorporated town located in Lost Springs township, on the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific and the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe railroads 18 miles north of Marion, the county seat. It has a bank, telegraph and express offices, and a money order postoffice with two rural routes. All the regular lines of business activity are represented, and one of the largest mills in this section of Kansas is located here. There is a hotel and livery stable for the accommodation of travelers. According to the census of 1910 there were 276 inhabitants.

The springs for which the town was named, a noted camping place on the Santa Fe trail, are about 2 miles west of the depot. Many explanations have been given as to why they were called Lost Springs, none of which are authentic enough to bear repetition. These springs were known to the earliest travelers on the trail, and this was a camping point. The first historical mention of this place was by Josiah Gregg in his work, "Commerce of the Prairies," written in 1845. In his table of distances he places it 175 miles west of Independence, and 15 miles west of Diamond Springs, the previous stopping place. A trading post was established there in 1859 by J. H. Costello and a partner, Joshua Smith, who six months afterward sold out to Costello. Some time during the Civil war a detachment of soldiers was ordered up from Mississippi to guard the Santa Fe trail, and Corporal Fred Sucksdorf, with a few men, was stationed at Lost Springs. In 1908 a large granite boulder was set up to mark the trail at Lost Springs. The usual inscription was cut on the stone and a fitting ceremony attended the occasion. In 1904 the town of Lost Springs was incorporated as a city of the third class.