Alden, one of the thriving towns of Rice county, is located in Valley township, on the main line of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe R. R., about 10 miles southwest of Lyons, the county seat. It has telegraph and express offices, a money order postoffice with one rural delivery route, a bank, telephone connection with the surrounding towns, a good graded public school, and is a trading and shipping point of considerable importance. The population in 1910 was 275.