Peabody, the second largest town in Marion county, is located in Catlin and Peabody townships on Doyle creek, and at the junction of the Atchinson, Topeka & Santa Fe and the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific railroads, 17 miles south of Marion, the county seat. It is one of the most progressive little cities in Kansas. It has electric lights, waterworks, fire department, opera house, a public library occupying a neat stone structure built for the purpose, a creamery, a wind-mill factory, 2 banks, and one weekly newspaper (the Peabody Gazette). Some of the largest shipments of hogs and cattle in the state are made from this point. The town is supplied with express and telegraph offices and has an international money order postoffice with five rural routes. The population according to the census of 1910 was 1,416.

The first settlement in the vicinity of Peabody was made in 1870, in anticipation of the railroad which came through the next year. The town was platted in June, 1871, and named in honor of F. H. Peabody, of Boston, formerly president of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad company, who built a fine library building and donated it to the city. F. H. Hopkins was made postmaster in Feb., 1871, and until July carried the mail to and from Florence. By that time regular trains were running. The first number of the Peabody Gazette was issued by J. P. Church in 1873. The Shaft, a weekly publication, had been established by W. H. Morgan in 1871. Mr. Morgan later combined the two under the name Gazette, which is still published. The organization of the town as a city of the third class took place in 1879. The Marion County Agricultural Association located its fair grounds at Peabody about 1880.