Editing Andover, Kansas (section)

==History==

===19th century===
[[File:Stouffer's Railroad Map of Kansas 1915-1918 Sedgwick County.png|thumb|left|1915 railroad map of Sedgwick County]]
When the Kansas territory was first mapped, the original Andover area was called '''Minneha''' (native american name).  Later it was changed to '''Cloud City'''.<ref>{{Cite web |title=About Andover {{!}} Andover, KS - Official Website |url=https://www.andoverks.com/613/About-Andover#:~:text=The%20City%20of%20Andover%20was,town%20from%20the%20ground%20up. |access-date=2024-01-21 |website=www.andoverks.com |archive-date=February 22, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240222103318/https://andoverks.com/613/About-Andover#:~:text=The%20City%20of%20Andover%20was,town%20from%20the%20ground%20up. |url-status=live }}</ref>

The first Euro-American settlement in Bruno Township was in February 1869, when Vincent Smith arrived on Dry Creek (2 miles east of Andover Road on 21st Street). He filed his claim on May 10, 1869. Other early settlers began to arrive in spring 1870, and soon all the land was claimed. The first Bruno Township election was held April 9, 1872. The first township officers were N.B. Daniels, Trustee; Jacob Brown, Treasurer; J.D. Reber, Clerk; Isaac Newland and Samuel Reed, Justices of the Peace; William Riser and Isaac Stroup, Constables. Bonds totaling $18,000 were issued for the extension of the [[Frisco Railway]] through Bruno Township. The railway was completed in 1880.{{citation needed|date=March 2011}}

G. M. Pattison homesteaded the land that became the original plot on which Andover was built. In August 1872, Pattison was given title to this property. In February 1876, the land was sold to Mr. and Mrs. Ephraim Waggoner.{{citation needed|date=March 2011}}

Andover's first church was what is known today as the [[United Methodist Church]]. The church started as a Sunday school in 1873.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Cutler |first=William G. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xlAMAQAAMAAJ |title=History of the State of Kansas, Containing a Full Account of Its Growth from an Uninhabited Territory to a Wealthy and Important State ...: Also, a Supplementary History and Description of Its Counties, Cities, Towns, and Villages ... |last2=Andreas |first2=Alfred Theodore |date=1883 |publisher=A.T. Andreas |isbn=978-0-598-27697-1 |pages=1447 |language=en |access-date=June 20, 2024 |archive-date=June 20, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240620163411/https://books.google.com/books?id=xlAMAQAAMAAJ |url-status=live}}</ref>

The original post office was established at Minneha (an extinct town) in November 1877. A branch was moved to Cloud City in March 1880. That same year, the Cloud City post office was renamed Andover.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.kshs.org/geog/geog_postoffices/search/county:BU |title=Kansas Post Offices, 1828-1961 (archived) |publisher=Kansas Historical Society |access-date=5 June 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131009125851/http://www.kshs.org/geog/geog_postoffices/search/county%3ABU |archive-date=October 9, 2013 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.kshs.org/geog/geog_postoffices/search/page:2/county:BU |title=Kansas Post Offices, 1828-1961, page 2 (archived) |publisher=Kansas Historical Society |access-date=5 June 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131009184935/http://www.kshs.org/geog/geog_postoffices/search/page%3A2/county%3ABU |archive-date=October 9, 2013 }}</ref> Andover was named after [[Andover, Massachusetts]].<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.epodunk.com/cgi-bin/genInfo.php?locIndex=4429 | title=Profile for Andover, Kansas | publisher=[[ePodunk]] | access-date=5 June 2014 | archive-date=June 6, 2014 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140606214014/http://www.epodunk.com/cgi-bin/genInfo.php?locIndex=4429 | url-status=live }}</ref>

In January 1880, Mr. and Mrs. Waggoner deeded {{convert|40|acre|m2}} to Charles Glancey. Mr. Glancey platted the original townsite in February 1880. The legally established townsite was known as Cloud City, named after Mr. Cloud, a railroad engineer. He helped build the St. Louis–San Francisco Railroad through town. The name of the town was changed from Cloud City to Andover on June 7, 1880, when Mr. Cloud had a "falling out" with residents of the area.{{citation needed|date=March 2011}}

A trading post which sold all types of merchandise was the first known business in Andover. The first hotel was operated in 1881 by J. C. Lines. The front part of the hotel was a [[general store]] operated by G. W. Harris.{{citation needed|date=March 2011}}

In 1882, the Richland schoolhouse was moved to the present Meadowlark Elementary School location at a cost of $2,000 and became the city's first school. Professor Haskin was the first principal and enrollment was 86 students.<ref name=":1" />

Early businesses during the 1882–83 period were a hotel, a grocery and lumber company, a shoemaker, a business that handled livestock, coal and grain, a general store, a meat market, two other grocery stores, and the railway agent. In 1883, the population of Andover was about 150 people. The first passenger train went through Andover in 1885 and the last passenger train in October 1960.{{citation needed|date=March 2011}}

The best known{{Citation needed|date=June 2016}} historical event was a train robbery at 10:00 P.M., on July 17, 1898. After being forced to flag the train, Depot Agent S.B. McClaren escaped and ran to the nearby [[Methodist Church]]—where an ice cream social was being held—to spread the alarm. Will Belford, 28 years old, was shot while trying to stop the bandits and died five weeks later. The robbers escaped, but were captured on August 12, 1898, in [[Maize, Kansas]]. Both were tried in [[Butler County, Kansas|Butler County]] Court. Sam Smith was charged with first-degree murder and hanged. Thomas Wind was charged with second-degree murder and sent back to prison.{{citation needed|date=March 2011}}

===20th century===
The class of 1914 was the first class to graduate from [[Andover High School (Andover, Kansas)|Andover High School]]. The class of four students to receive diplomas were Josie Boyer, Virgil Grier, Ola Peacock, and Perry Hiskin. The school itself started in the fall of 1909 as a consolidated school which had been formed by combining four school districts, and qualified as an accredited high school.{{citation needed|date=March 2011}}

Andover did not incorporate into a third class city until February 4, 1957. The population of the city proper was 166. Up until this time, Andover was a small [[Unincorporated area|unincorporated community]] surrounded by farmland. Homes began to spring up south of the original townsite.{{citation needed|date=March 2011}}

At the first city election on April 2, 1957, Hugo Epp won by one vote over Charles Clay for the position of [[mayor]]. The form of [[government]] is mayor-council, with the mayor elected every four years, and five council members at large every two years. Robert Dodge was elected Police Judge. Councilmen elected were Roy Allison, Orland Wolf, Ual Baker, Roger Moore and Clair Mohler.{{citation needed|date=March 2011}}

A major annexation in 1968 not only increased the area of the city, but the population grew from 500 to 2,000.{{citation needed|date=March 2011}}

The first Greater Andover Days Celebration was held in 1967.<ref>{{Cite web |title=About GAD {{!}} Andover, KS - Official Website |url=https://www.andoverks.com/895/About-GAD#:~:text=The%20First%20Greater%20Andover%20Days,through%20a%20shared%20festival%20experience. |access-date=2024-03-22 |website=www.andoverks.com |archive-date=March 22, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240322212610/https://www.andoverks.com/895/About-GAD#:~:text=The%20First%20Greater%20Andover%20Days,through%20a%20shared%20festival%20experience. |url-status=live }}</ref>

Andover has two golf courses within a mile of each other and one in the southernmost part of the city that, in 2005–2006, was rated the 43rd best golf course in the country by ''Golf Digest''.<ref>{{Cite journal|date=May 2005|title=America's 100 Greatest Golf Courses|journal=Golf Digest|volume=56|issue=5|pages=1|via=EBSCOhost}}</ref>

====1991 tornado====
{{Main|1991 Andover tornado}}
[[File:Andover91tordamg.JPG|thumb|right|Damage from the 1991 tornado.]]
On April 26, 1991, an [[Fujita scale|F5]] [[1991 Andover tornado outbreak#Haysville–McConnell AFB–Andover, Kansas|tornado]] left a trail of destruction through parts of [[Kansas]], including south [[Wichita, Kansas|Wichita]] and Andover. Widening to nearly one-half mile, with winds over {{convert|260|mi/h|km/h|abbr=on}}, the deadliest blow was to Andover. The twister ripped through the town, killing 13 people. A third of the 4,300 residents were left homeless. Over 300 homes, 10 businesses and two churches were destroyed. The Golden Spur Mobile Home Park and the St. Vincent De Paul Catholic Church were leveled. It was rated F5; had the tornado hit the heart of Wichita the death toll would likely have been higher.

===21st century===
In 2000, Andover passed a bond issue allowing the school system to double in size. Andover grew to two high schools, two middle schools, and 4 elementary schools. Andover High School and Andover Middle School both use the Trojans as their mascot, sporting blue and white for their colors. Andover Central High School and Andover Central Middle School are the newer of the schools, established in 2001. Their mascots are the Jaguars and school colors are black and gold. Both schools have outstanding athletic, academic, music, drama, and art programs. Both programs are also crosstown rivals of each other. {{citation needed|date=March 2011}}

Six schools; Cottonwood, Meadowlark, Robert Martin, Wheatland, Prairie Creek, and Sunflower have been the Elementary buildings serving the community. In 2005, Andover residents approved in bond election to build three additional elementary schools. The first of which, Robert Martin Elementary, which was named after Robert M. Martin, moved from a shared building with Meadowlark into a new location in the fall of 2007. The remaining two new buildings opened in the fall of 2008 as Wheatland Elementary and Prairie Creek Elementary.{{citation needed|date=March 2011}}

In 2005, Andover passed a sales tax increase to contribute to the building of a new Andover Public Library. The new Library was constructed at Andover's Central Park, ground breaking was in late summer 2007.{{citation needed|date=March 2011}}

====2022 tornado====
[[File:Andover, Kansas EF3 damage April 2022.jpg|thumb|right|A home destroyed by the 2022 tornado.]]
{{See also|2022 Andover tornado}}

On the evening of April 29, 2022, an [[Enhanced Fujita scale|EF3]] tornado caused major damage to a [[YMCA]] branch in Andover, tossed vehicles, destroyed numerous buildings. Three people sustained minor injuries, while three indirect injuries also occurred during the cleanup after the storm.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ksn.com/weather/weather-stories/storm-damage-reported-in-andover/|title=Tornado causes damage in Andover|date=April 30, 2022|access-date=April 30, 2022|archive-date=April 30, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220430043059/https://www.ksn.com/weather/weather-stories/storm-damage-reported-in-andover/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="NWS1">{{cite report|via=National Weather Service in Wichita, Kansas|title=Preliminary Damage Assessment of EF-3 for Sedgwick and Butler County Tornadoes|url=https://mesonet.agron.iastate.edu/wx/afos/p.php?pil=PNSICT&e=202204302201|publisher=Iowa Environmental Mesonet|date=April 30, 2022|accessdate=May 1, 2022}}</ref> Prairie Creek Elementary School of [[Andover USD 385]] was damaged and would not open again until the following school year began in August 2022.<ref>{{cite web |title=Heavily damaged elementary school won't reopen this spring, Andover district says |url=https://www.kansas.com/news/weather/tornado/article260946597.html | work=[[The Wichita Eagle]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220501030041/https://www.kansas.com/news/weather/tornado/article260946597.html |archive-date=May 1, 2022 |date=April 30, 2022 |url-status=live}}</ref>

The tornado was on the ground for 21 minutes, from 8:10 p.m. until 8:31 p.m., and traveled {{Convert|12.5|mile|km}}.<ref name="NWS1"/><ref>https://web.archive.org/web/20220501030043/https://www.kansas.com/latest-news/gwggk7/picture260942957/alternates/LANDSCAPE_1140/andover.tornado.map.jpg 2022 Tornado Damage Map; The Wichita Eagle.</ref>  It started in eastern [[Sedgwick County, Kansas|Sedgwick County]], then traveled northeast into [[Butler County, Kansas|Butler County]] through the eastern part of Andover, then continued northeast to about SW 60th Street. It damaged 21 residences in Sedgwick County and more than 1,000 buildings in Butler County.<ref>{{Cite news | url=https://www.kansas.com/news/weather/tornado/article260935682.html | title=Andover tornado reached farther north than thought; 1,000-plus buildings affected | first1=Matthew | last1=Kelly | first2=Amy Renee | last2=Leiker | work=[[The Wichita Eagle]] | date=April 30, 2022 | accessdate=May 1, 2022}}</ref>