St. Marys, formerly known as St. Mary's mission, one of the leading incorporated cities of Pottawatomie county, is located in the extreme southeastern part of the county on the Kansas river and the Union Pacific R. R., 25 miles from Westmoreland, the county seat, and 24 miles from Topeka. St. Mary's College, one of the leading Catholic institutions of higher learning, is located here and is the most important institution in the town. There are 2 weekly newspapers and a college monthly, 3 banks, grain elevators, brick, tile and cement works, and a number of well stocked stores. St. Marys is an important shipping point for grain, live stock, fruits and produce. It has express and telegraph offices and an international money order postoffice with two rural routes. The population in 1910 was 1,397.

St. Marys was the first point in the county to be settled. The Catholic missionaries came in 1848 and built a mission for the education and spiritual instruction of the Pottawatomie Indians. The town was not laid out until 1866. B. H. Bertrand was the original promoter. In 1869 Mr. Bertrand, Dr. Luther R. Palmer and Dr. H. C. Linn made an addition to the town and the next year another addition was added by Dr. Palmer, Adelaide Bertrand and John D. Lasley. A third addition was also made in June of that year. St. Marys has been very unfortunate in the matter of fires, having experienced four destructive ones, the first on Dec. 6, 1872, the second in Feb., 1879, in which the main building of the college was burned, the third in Oct., 1884, and the last on Dec. 13, 1884, in which Alva Higby lost his life and $45,000 worth of property was destroyed.