Burrton | Halstead
| Hesston | Newton
| North Newton | Sedgwick
| Walton
Homesteading in Harvey County
Prentice, Noble Lovely. "History of Kansas". Winfield,
KS: E. P. Greer, 1899.
There are five areas in Harvey County
with ethnic heritage. Newton, North Newton, and Hesston all have
close ties to the Mennonite migration into south central Kansas
in the 1870s and 1880s. Halstead also was the location of Mennonite
settlement but to a lesser extent than the first three. A fourth
community, McLains, seems to have had something of a Swedish heritage
at its founding in the 1880s. However, it is most probable that
the citizens who settled there came from other Swedish communities
in the nation. McLains does not exist anymore as a town but there
is a small settlement there, including a grain elevator and a
fertilizer distributor.
Newton, and to a lesser extent Halstead,
also have Mexican populations. Newton is a sizable culture center
for the Mexican population due to the presence of the Burlington
Northern Santa Fe Railroad facilities here. Newton was at one
time a major point on the Santa Fe and thousands of Mexican laborers
came here to work for the railroad. In time, many became permanent
residents and second and third generation family members still
work for the railroad.
Perhaps the most ethnic characteristic
of Harvey County is the Mennonite influence. Bethel College, a
private liberal arts institution, is a Mennonite school. So also
is Hesston College, a two year institution, at Hesston. The headquarters
of the Mennonite Church is located here. It was the Mennonite
settlers who introduced Turkey Red Hard winter wheat to the state.
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Library & Museum
P.O. Box 4, 203 N. Main Street
Newton, KS 67114
(316)283-2221
e-mail: info@hchm.org
http://www.hchm.org
Sources
Information from Roger N. Wilson
of the Harvey County Historical Society
More Information about
Harvey County
Founded after a period of rivalry
between Newton and Wichita which was fueled from Newton's Texas
cattle business and its railroad hub. Newton was just inside
the borders of Sedgwick County in 1871, and in August, Sedgwick
County voted in bonds worth $200,000 to finance a railroad extension
to Wichita. The residents of Newton were only too happy to let
Wichita deal with the cattle.
Talk of creating a new county began,
and petitions were circulating in the Newton area in December
1871. The bill creating the new county passed in the Kansas
Legislature on February 29, 1872. It was named Harvey County
in honor of the governor, James M. Harvey. Newton was named
the temporary county seat.
An election for the permanent county
seat was held a short time later with the choices being Newton
and Sedgwick City. Sedgwick City won, but there were more votes
then there were residents of the county! The county commissioners
threw out the ballots and named Newton as the county seat by
default.
In March 1873, a bill was passed
annexing Walton Township, previously of Marion County, to Harvey
County. Also, a courthouse was not built until 1907 because
the bond issues kept getting voted down because some residents
were not happy about the county seat being in Newton. So until
then, the county offices were housed in various buildings.
Sources
Smurr, Linda C. ed. Harvey
County History. Texas: Curtis Media Corporation, 1990.
