Pardee, one of the oldest settlements of Atchison county, is located in the southern part of the county, about 3 miles south of Farmington, the nearest railroad point, and 10 miles southwest of Atchison. The first settler was Caleb May, who located there in Oct., 1854, and was president of the town company which had the site surveyed in the spring of 1857. It was named in honor of Rev. Pardee Butler (q. V.), who preached the first sermon there in the winter of 1857. The postoffice, which had been established at Ocena in 1855, was moved to Pardee in 1858, at about the time that the first store was opened. In 1874 a mill was erected and at that time there were 2 stores, 2 churches and a population of about 100, but as no railroad was ever built to the town it never grew up to the expectations of its founders.