Hodgeman County was created in 1868 by an act of the Kansas Legislature; it was organized eleven years later in 1879. The county was named for a Seventh Cavalry officer, Captain Amos Hodgman. Notice that there is no E in the last name. The county's name came about because of a typographical error in which someone added the E on the piece of legislation naming the boundaries.

Settlers began arriving in the 1870's with most of them homesteading in the eastern part of the county. By 1879, the population was 1500.

An election for the county seat took place on November 4, 1879. The towns competing for the right to be the county seat were Marena, Fordham (later Orwell), Hodgeman Center (temporary county seat) and Buckner. The election was won by Buckner by a majority of forty-four votes. Buckner later became Jetmore in 1882.

A colony of African-Americans from Kentucky arrived in Hodgeman County in 1878. They settled northeast of Buckner and most of them stayed through the 1890's. Beersheba, which had been a part of Garfield County (now part of Finney County), was a Jewish Agricultural colony founded in 1882.

Sources

Raser, Margaret Haun and Ina Rumford. "A History of Hodgeman County". Hodgeman County Centennial Committee, 1961.