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Homesteading in Barton County
Hoisington
Established first as a homestead township in 1876, settlers began to arrive to farm the land. In 1886, the Colorado-Kansas (later Missouri Pacific) Railroad was building tracks in the area, and the local settlers formed a group to purchase land for the purpose of creating a new settlement.
The new town, situated 10 miles north of Great Bend, was named after Andrew Jackson Hoisington, a businessman in Great Bend. After the railroad came, Hoisington became a shipping point for horses and cattle. A stockyard, three livery stables and as many as eight saloons and seven gambling houses were built as the town grew. It became the second largest town in Barton County.
The ethnicity of its settlers is unknown.
Sources
Harrington, Marge, Compiler. Barton County: Golden Heartland of Kansas. Great Bend: Great Bend Tribune, 1996.