Liberal is a city in and the county seat of Seward County, Kansas, United States. It is located in southwestern Kansas, along U.S. Route 54 highway, near the Kansas-Oklahoma state line. Liberal is the home of Seward County Community College.
History
Early settler Seymour S. Rogers built the first house in what would become Liberal in 1872. Rogers became famous in the region for giving free water to thirsty travelers. Reportedly, Liberal gained its name from the common response to his acts of kindness, "That's very liberal of you." In 1885 Rogers built a general store, and with it came an official U.S. Post Office. Rogers named the post office 'Liberal'. After the railroad was built close by, a plan for the town site was created in 1888. A year later the population was around 800.
The city lies approximately southwest of the Cimarron River in the High Plains region of the Great Plains.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which is land and is water.
Climate
Liberal has a semi-arid steppe climate (Köppen BSk) characterized by hot, dry summers, cool, dry winters, and large diurnal temperature variation year-round; relative humidity averages 63%. On average, January is the coldest month, July is the hottest month, February is the driest month and June is the wettest month.
The high temperature reaches or exceeds an average of 80.1 days a year and an average of 16.5 days. The minimum temperature falls to or below on an average of 1.6 days a year. The highest temperature recorded in Liberal was on June 10, 1981; the coldest temperature recorded was on February 27, 1930.
|source 2 = National Weather Service