Kiowa
This town was started as a trading
post for the buffalo hunter and the Indians in 1874. It was originally
located about four miles northwest of the present town site. W.
E. Campbell, a trail driver living in Wichita, established a ranch
on land that was part of the Cherokee Strip claimed by both Kansas
and Oklahoma. The controversy was settled after a treaty in 1866.
The lands were put up for sale by the government, and Dr. John
Hardtner of Illinois purchased a large portion of the strip in
Barber County. Mr. Campbell began ranching the land and purchased
some of it in 1884.
After hearing rumors that the railroad
was going to build through Old Kiowa, Mr. Campbell went to Topeka
to make a deal to have the railroad built through a new town site
located on the west end of his ranch, about 5 miles from Old Kiowa.
The New Kiowa Town Company was established on August 2, 1884,
and it purchased about 5,000 acres from the west end of Mr. Campbell's
ranch with the town site called New Kiowa placed on the western
most edge.
By August of the next year, there were
1,000 residents, and on August 6, the first train stopped in New
Kiowa.
A petition was presented to the District
Court asking to change the name of New Kiowa to Kiowa on September
15, 1890. The post office and the railroad already had the names
of Kiowa. The judge ordered the name change from New Kiowa to
Kiowa.
Carry Nation's first smashed saloon
in 1900 was in Kiowa.
The ethnicity of its settlers is unknown.
Sources
Barber County History Committee.
"The Chosen Land: A History of Barber County, Kansas."
Dallas, TX: Taylor Publishing Company, 1980.
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