Editing Cawker City, Kansas (section)

==History==
Cawker City was founded in 1870.<ref>{{cite book | url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_5zdAAQAAMAAJ | title=Biennial Report of the Board of Directors of the Kansas State Historical Society | publisher=Kansas State Printing Plant | author=Kansas State Historical Society | year=1916 | pages=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_5zdAAQAAMAAJ/page/n348 241]}}</ref> According to tradition, Colonel E. H. Cawker won naming rights for the town with a winning hand at poker.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.hwy24.org/uploads/2/6/1/8/26189167/28_town_names.pdf | title=Origin of Town Names | publisher=Solomon Valley Highway 24 Heritage Alliance | accessdate=9 April 2018 | pages=2}}</ref> Cawker City was incorporated as a city in 1874.<ref>{{cite book | url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_o8X5krq3fP8C | title=Kansas: A Cyclopedia of State History, Embracing Events, Institutions, Industries, Counties, Cities, Towns, Prominent Persons, Etc. | publisher=Standard Publishing Company | author=Blackmar, Frank Wilson | year=1912 | pages=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_o8X5krq3fP8C/page/n297 301]}}</ref>  The first post office in Cawker City was established in June 1870.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.kshs.org/geog/geog_postoffices/search/county:MC |title=Kansas Post Offices, 1828-1961 (archived) |publisher=Kansas Historical Society |accessdate=10 June 2014 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20131009132643/http://www.kshs.org/geog/geog_postoffices/search/county%3AMC |archivedate=October 9, 2013 }}</ref>

The city previously served many families living on small farms. A resident stated that Cawker City had three grocery stores in the 1960s. By 2017 the community had no grocery stores. Many young adults were leaving to find work elsewhere. In the area family sizes decreased and farm plot sizes increased. These factors caused the community's population to decline.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/2017/02/19/516016940/a-thriving-rural-towns-winning-formula-faces-new-threats-under-trump-administrat|title=A Thriving Rural Town's Winning Formula Faces New Threats Under Trump Administration|publisher=[[National Public Radio]]|date=2017-02-19|accessdate=2017-02-25}}</ref>