Established on March 20, 1873, Seward
County went through several boundary changes. It was expanded
on February 22, 1883, to include Kansas (now Morton), Stevens
and part of Meade Counties. On March 13, 1885, Meade County was
re-established, then on February 20, 1886, Morton and Stevens
Counties were re-established. The name of the county was in honor
of William H. Seward, a senator from New York and a leader of
the anti-slavery wing of the Whig Party.
Many of the early settlers arrived
in Seward County after traveling from their former homes in the
eastern and midwestern states. Some were of Irish, German and
English descents.
Like a number of other Kansas counties,
there was a county seat war. The now defunct towns of Fargo Springs
and Springfield were involved in a bitter fight which along with
the county seat war in neighboring Stevens County saw a number
of deaths, including the Sheriffs of both Seward and Stevens Counties.
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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