Garden City, Kansas

Garden City is a city in and the county seat of Finney County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 26,658. The city is home to Garden City Community College and the Lee Richardson Zoo, the largest zoological park in western Kansas.

History
In February 1898, James R. Fulton, William D. Fulton and W.D.'s son, L. W. Fulton, arrived at the present site of Garden City.

The original townsite was laid out on the south half of section 18 by engineer Charles Van Trump. The land was a loose, sandy loam, and covered with sagebrush and soap weeds, but there were no trees. Main Street ran directly north and south, dividing William D. and James R. Fulton's claims. As soon as they could get building material, they erected two frame houses. William D. Fulton building on his land, on the east side of Main Street, a house one story and a half high, with two rooms on the ground and two rooms above. This was called the Occidental Hotel. William D. Fulton was proprietor. No other houses were built in Garden City until November 1878, when James R. Fulton and L. T. Walker each put up a building. The Fultons tried to get others to settle here, but only a few came, and at the end of the first year there were only four buildings.

Following a sustained drought, irrigation came to Finney County in 1879, with completion of the Garden City Ditch. The ditch helped to launch an agricultural boom in southwestern Kansas.

Economic boom
Charles Jesse Jones, later known as "Buffalo" Jones, came to Garden City for an antelope hunt in January 1879. Before Jones returned home, the Fulton brothers procured his services to promote Garden City, and especially in trying to influence the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad to put in a switch station. The railroad agreed to place its station at Garden City. In the spring of 1879, more people began coming to homestead in the area. During the years of 1885-1887, a rush was made for Western Kansas, and a settler arrived for every quarter section. The United States Land Office also located at Garden City, and people came there to make filings on their land. Lawyers also arrived in Garden City. I. R. Holmes, the agent for the sale of lands of the ATSF, and Holmes's partner, A. C. McKeever, in 1885 sold thousands of acres of railroad and private land.

The streets of Garden City were crowded with horses, wagons, buggies, and ox teams. Long lines of people stood out in the weather awaiting mail at the post office, and there was always a crowd in front of the land office. During the height of the boom the town had nine lumber yards. Lumber was hauled in all directions to build up inland towns, and to improve the nearby homesteads. Thirteen drug stores were in operation. The town had two daily newspapers. Nearly everyone used kerosene lamps, and a few were placed on posts on Main Street. There was no city water works; so all depended on shallow wells, which were strong of alkali. Passenger trains of two and three sections arrived daily, loaded with people, most of whom got off at Garden City.

The first issue of "The Garden City Newspaper" appeared April 3, 1879. Three months after the paper was established, the editor stated, "There are now forty buildings in town." When the first telephone line was built, trees were growing on both sides of Main Street. These interfered with the wires, but local residents knew the value of trees in Western Kansas would not allow them to be cut, and the telephone poles were set down the center of the street. The first long distance telephone service from Garden City was a line nine miles (14 km) long built in 1902.

Geography
Garden City is located at 37.97528°N, -100.86417°W at an elevation of 2,838 feet (865 m). It lies on the north side of the Arkansas River in the High Plains region of the Great Plains. Located in southwestern Kansas at the intersection of U.S. Route 50 and U.S. Route 83, Garden City is approximately 192 miles (309 km) west-northwest of Wichita, 204 miles (329 km) north-northeast of Amarillo, and 255 miles (411 km) southeast of Denver.

According to the United States Census Bureau, Garden City has a total area of 8.5 square miles (22.1 km²), all of it land.

Climate
Garden City has a semi-arid steppe climate (Köppen BSk) with hot, dry summers and cold, dry winters. The average temperature in Garden City is 54 °F, and the average relative humidity is 62%. Temperatures exceed 90 °F an average of 69 days a year and drop below 32 °F an average of 141 days a year. On average, Garden City experiences 37 rainy days a year. Precipitation averages 18.87 inches (479 mm) per year, and snowfall averages 19.4 inches (493 mm) per year. On average, January is the coolest month, July is the warmest month, and May is the wettest month. The hottest temperature recorded in Garden City was 108 °F in 2003; the coldest temperature recorded was -22 °F in 1984.

Neighborhoods
There is a Main Downtown and Commercial Downtown.


 * Main Downtown is centered on Southern Main Street. The Windsor Hotel and the police station are among the tallest buildings.


 * Commercial Downtown is centered mainly on Eastern Kansas Avenue. It is the home of many businesses such as Wal-Mart, Sam's Club, Sears, Target, J.C. Penney, Dollar General, Staples, Home Depot, Hibbett Sports Hastings and IHOP.

Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there were 28,451 people, 9,338 households, and 6,760 families residing in the city. The population density was 3,334.1 people per square mile (1,287.8/km²). There were 9,907 housing units at an average density of 1,161.0 per square mile (448.4/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 30.80% White, 1.49% African American, 1.06% Native American, 3.55% Asian, 0.09% Pacific Islander, 22.28% from other races, and 2.73% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 65.00% of the population.

There were 9,338 households out of which 43.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 56.4% were married couples living together, 10.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 27.6% were non-families. 22.1% of all households were made up of individuals and 7.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.99 and the average family size was 3.51.

In the city the population was spread out with 32.6% under the age of 18, 11.6% from 18 to 24, 31.0% from 25 to 44, 16.6% from 45 to 64, and 8.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 29 years. For every 100 females there were 102.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 101.6 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $37,752, and the median income for a family was $43,471. Males had a median income of $29,343 versus $21,247 for females. The per capita income for the city was $15,200. About 9.9% of families and 14.3% of the population were below the poverty line, including 17.7% of those under age 18 and 12.8% of those age 65 or over.

Economy
The economy of Garden City is driven largely by agriculture. There are several feedlots and grain elevators located in and around the city. Additionally, an ethanol plant was built in 2005 by Conestoga Engineering which uses 19.6 million bushels of grain. Some of the largest employers located in Garden City include Tyson, Garden City Public Schools, and St. Catherine Hospital.

Health Services
Health services account for a large share of employment. Garden City is served by St. Catherine Hospital. Additionally, the Southwest Kansas Surgery Center, Heart Center, Cancer Center, and Maternal Child Center provide additional employment, as well as several other health-related businesses.

Transportation
U.S. Route 50 and U.S. Route 400, both east-west highways, meet U.S. Route 83, a north-south highway, in the southeast part of the city. A U.S. 50 business route continues west from the intersection into the city. U.S. 50, U.S. 400, and U.S. 83 run concurrently around the city's eastern and northern fringe. Northwest of the city, U.S. 50 and U.S. 400 continue west while U.S. 83 turns north. South of the city, a U.S. 83 business route splits off from the main highway and enters the city as Main Street. Downtown, it intersects the U.S. 50 business route, and the two run concurrently north out of the city, terminating northwest of the city at the junction of U.S. 50 and U.S. 83. Garden City is also the western terminus of K-156 which enters the city from the northeast. Garden City was located on the National Old Trails Road, also known as the Ocean-to-Ocean Highway, that was established in 1912.

Finney County Transit operates CityLink, a public transport bus service with four routes in the city, as well as a minibus paratransit service.

Garden City Regional Airport is located approximately 8 miles (13 km) southeast of the city. Used primarily for general aviation, it hosts one commercial airline under the Essential Air Service program.

Three rail lines serve Garden City: the La Junta Subdivision of the BNSF Railway, which runs southeast-northwest, and the two lines of the Garden City Western Railway, of which the city is the southern and eastern terminus. Amtrak uses the La Junta Subdivision to provide passenger rail service; Garden City is a stop on the Southwest Chief line.

Print
Garden City has one daily newspaper, The Garden City Telegram. The first issue of "The Garden City Newspaper" appeared April 3, 1879. The paper was renamed in the 1900s.

Radio
AM

FM

Points of interest


Initially named by its developers "The Big Dipper", Garden City's "The Big Pool" is larger than a 100-yard football field, holds 2.2 million gallons of water, and is large enough to accommodate water-skiing. Originally hand-dug in 1922, a bathhouse was added by the Works Progress Administration during the Great Depression, and local farmers used horse-drawn soil-scrapers to later enlarge the pool. The pool hosts 50-meter Olympic swimming lanes, three water slides, and a children's pool with zero-entry depth. The pool employs a minimum of fourteen lifeguards, two slide assistants, three admission clerks, two concession workers and a pool manager on duty each day. Advertised for years as "The World's Largest, Free, Outdoor, Municipal, Concrete Swimming Pool", the pool has been known to count up to 2,000 patrons when open during the summer months. In order to finance improvements made in recent years, admission is now $1 per person, with an added dollar fee for use of the slide.

Located inside 110 acre Finnup Park, the pool is co-located with Finney County Historical Museum and Lee Richardson Zoo, the largest zoological facility in western Kansas, housing more than 300 animals representing 110 species. Walking tours are free to the public; there ia a $3 charge for driving into the zoo.

A few miles from Finnup Park, The Big Pool and Lee Richardson Zoo is the Buffalo Game Preserve, with one of the largest herds of bison in the world.

The Windsor Hotel, built downtown in 1887 by John A. Stevens, was known as the "Waldorf of the Prairies" because of its lavish quarters. Among its early guests were Eddie Foy, Lillian Russell, Jay Gould, and Buffalo Bill Cody, who stayed in the presidential suite of the third floor. The Windsor, which closed in 1977, is owned by the Finney County Preservation Society. The hotel is four stories high, or about 50 ft. tall.

Garden City Plaza is a strip mall in the recently renovated commercial downtown district. It includes a Sears, Dollar General, Riddles Jewelry, Buckle, RadioShack, Tradehome Shoes, Subway, J.C. Penney, Gamestop, Verizon Wireless, KFC, Taco Bell, and Lone Star Steakhouse & Saloon.

In literature
Garden City is depicted in Truman Capote's In Cold Blood.

Notable people

 * Kendall Carl Campbell, U.S. Naval Reserve aviator
 * Webster Davis, 30th Mayor of Kansas City, Missouri
 * John Doll, businessman, politician
 * Mark Fox, basketball coach
 * Buffalo Jones, frontiersman, conservationist, co-founder of Garden City
 * Gene Krug, baseball player
 * Fum McGraw, Hall of Fame college football player
 * Frank Mantooth, jazz pianist and arranger
 * Fred Myton, screenwriter
 * Victor Ortíz, boxer


 * Hal Patterson, football player
 * Chuck Reed, 64th Mayor of San Jose, California
 * Brandon Rios, boxer
 * Roy Romer, 39th Governor of Colorado
 * William Howard Thompson, U.S. Senator from Kansas
 * Ray Watson, U.S. Olympic track and field athlete
 * John Zook, football player

Sister cities

 * 🇨🇷 Ciudad Quesada, Costa Rica
 * 🇮🇹 Oristano, Sardinia, Italy