Independence is a city in and the county seat of Montgomery County, Kansas, United States. It was named in commemoration of the Declaration of Independence. Independence Community College is located here.
History
The Osage Indians had settled much of southeast Kansas over the course of the 1830s and 40s and sold land claims over the course of the 1860s to incoming American homesteaders and moved into Indian Territory (present-day Oklahoma) where they became settled farmers, selling their whole remaining claim to the United States government in 1870 for $1.25 an acre.
Independence was settled on land that was purchased from the Osage Nation in September 1869 by George A. Brown for the price of $50. Brown originally called the townsite Colfax after Schuyler Colfax, vice president under President Ulysses S. Grant. On August 21, 1869 a group of Oswego, Kansas men led by R. W. Wright settled there with the intent to make Independence the county seat. E. E. Wilson and F D. Irwin opened the first store in October 1869, naming it Wilson & Irwin Groceries. Independence was designated county seat in 1870.
On April 17, 1930 the city was the first to use a permanent lighting system for an exhibition baseball game: it was held between the Independence Producers and House of David semi-professional baseball team of Benton Harbor, Michigan. The Independence team won with a score of 9 to 1 before a crowd of 1,700 spectators.
Miss Able, a rhesus monkey, was born at Ralph Mitchell Zoo. Miss Able along with Miss Baker, a squirrel monkey, became the first monkeys that the United States used in its space program to fly in space; they returned alive on May 28, 1959.
Geography
Independence is located along the Verdigris River just south of its confluence with the Elk River. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which, is land and is water.
Climate
Independence has a humid subtropical climate (Köppen Cfa) characterized by hot, humid and unpleasant summers, and chilly though extremely variable winters. Precipitation is heavy in summer due to frequent incursions of very moist air from the Gulf of Mexico: as much as fell on May 27, 1984 and a maximum daily fall of can be expected in an average calendar year. The wettest month has been June 2007 when was reported, whereas July 1935 saw a mere . The winters are drier and cold, although temperatures in winter are very erratic, ranging from an average of four afternoons in the three winter months above to an average of three mornings below . Winters are much drier than the summer, with November 1986 and October 1952 seeing not even a trace of precipitation.
Overall the wettest calendar year has been 1908 with – although the incomplete year of 2007 likely had more than this – and the driest 1952 with only .
|source 2 = National Weather Service