Fargo Springs
The first town in Seward County,
Fargo Springs was named for C. H. Fargo, owner of a boot and shoe
house in Chicago. Mr. Fargo owned land in the area of Seward County.
There were several springs southwest of the town, hence the name
Fargo Springs. It was also known as the "Springs". The
town site was surveyed on May 20, 1885 by the Southwestern Land
and Town Company.
Seward County's first election
was held on August 5, 1886 for the county seat. Fargo Springs
won over Springfield, a town 3 miles north of the "Springs".
Springfield's citizens were bitter about the loss, and another
election was held in November 1887 which was once again won by
Fargo Springs. Like other county seat wars in Western Kansas,
this one went to the Kansas Supreme Court 10 months later; the
court ruled in favor of Springfield. (See Springfield
for a more detailed story.)
Eventually it came down to the
railroad deciding the fate of these two bitter rivals. The Kansas
Southern Railroad (later known as the Rock Island) had originally
planned to build their tracks westward and either town could have
become an important railroad town. Instead, the railroad built
the tracks southwest to Liberal, probably because of the county
seat war.
Fargo Springs was abandoned about
a year after the railroad made its decision.
The ethnicity of its settlers is
unknown.
Sources
Seward County Historical Society,
Inc. "Seward County Kansas". Liberal, KS: K. C. Printers,
1979.
Fitzgerald, Daniel. "Ghost
Towns of Kansas". Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1988.
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