Garden City is a city in and the county seat of Finney County, Kansas, United States. The city is home to the Garden City Community College and the Lee Richardson Zoo, the largest zoological park in western Kansas.
History
In February 1878, James R. Fulton, William D. Fulton and W.D.'s son, L.W. Fulton, arrived at the present site of Garden City.
The original townsite was laid out on the south half of section 18 by engineer Charles Van Trump. The land was a loose, sandy loam and covered with sagebrush and soap weeds, but there were no trees. Main Street ran directly north and south, dividing William D. and James R. Fulton's claims. As soon as they could get building material, they erected two frame houses. William D. Fulton building on his land, on the east side of Main Street, a house one story and a half high, with two rooms on the ground and two rooms above. This was called the Occidental Hotel. William D. Fulton was proprietor. No other houses were built in Garden City until November 1878, when James R. Fulton and L.T. Walker each put up a building. The Fultons tried to get others to settle here, but only a few came, and at the end of the first year there were only four buildings.
19th century
Charles Jesse Jones, later known as "Buffalo" Jones, arrived in Garden City for an antelope hunt in January 1879. Before Jones returned home, the Fulton brothers procured his services to promote Garden City, and especially in trying to influence the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad to put in a switch station. The railroad agreed to place its station at Garden City. In the spring of 1879, more people began arriving to homestead in the area. During the years of 1885–1887, a rush was made for Western Kansas, and a settler arrived for every quarter section. The United States Land Office also located at Garden City, and people went there to make filings on their land. Lawyers also arrived in Garden City. I.R. Holmes, the agent for the sale of lands of the ATSF, and Holmes' partner, A.C. McKeever, in 1885 sold thousands of acres of railroad and private land.
21st century
On Friday October, 16 2016, Gavin Wright, Curtis Allen, and Patrick Stein were arrested by the FBI for plotting a bombing attack on a mosque and the housing complex where some of the town's Somali community live. The three men were charged in federal court with threatening to use weapons of mass destruction, namely explosives. All three defendants were found guilty in April 2018 and were sentenced to 25–30 years in prison.
Geography
Garden City lies on the north side of the Arkansas River in the High Plains region of the Great Plains. It is located in southwestern Kansas at the intersection of U.S. Route 50 and U.S. Route 83, Garden City is west-northwest of Wichita, north-northeast of Amarillo, and southeast of Denver. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , all land. It is the most remote city in America with a population over 25,000.
Climate
Garden City has a semi-arid steppe climate (Köppen: BSk) with hot, dry summers and cold, dry winters. On average, January is the coldest and driest month, July is the hottest month, and June is the wettest month.
The high temperature reaches or exceeds an average of 73.7 afternoons a year and reaches or exceeds an average of 15.6 afternoons per year. The minimum temperature falls below the freezing point on an average of 148.2 mornings per year and to or below on 4.1 mornings each year. The hottest temperature recorded in Garden City was on July 13, 1934, while the coldest temperature recorded was on February 12, 1899, 1948. On the days of April 30–May 1, 2017, the town was hit by a late-spring snowstorm which caused power outages and damaged almost every tree in town. Many tree limbs and some trees were downed because of it and the women's clinic had its roof collapse into the building, ultimately leading to its demolition in 2018.
Neighborhoods
- Downtown is centered on Southern Main Street. The Windsor Hotel and the police station are among the tallest buildings, and there are many other historic buildings in the area. Most of the businesses in the main downtown area are locally owned and operated.