Editing Cherryvale, Kansas (section)

==History==
[[Image:Santa Fe Route Map 1891.jpg|thumb|left|1891 [[Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway]] route map from ''Grain Dealers and Shippers Gazetteer''.]]
Cherryvale was founded on the land of the [[Osage Nation|Osage Indians]] who were pushed out by veterans of the [[American Civil War]] looking for land. The first white man to purchase property and settle here was Mr. Abe Eaton, who later sold it to the Kansas City, Lawrence & Southern Kansas Railroad which then became the Leavenworth, Lawrence & Galveston Railway, and eventually came under the control of the [[Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway]], which operated the line for much of the 20th century. The town site was platted by the railroad in 1871.<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/n319 323]}}</ref> It was named Cherryvale from its position in the valley of Cherry Creek.<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/n350 243]}}</ref>

Between 1871 and 1873, at least eleven people vanished in the vicinity of an inn and general store operated by the [[Bloody Benders|Bender family]] about eight miles ({{convert|8|mi|disp=out}}) northeast of Cherryvale.  Following the disappearance of the Benders in 1873, it was discovered that they had apparently murdered a number of travellers.  Between eight and eleven bodies were discovered buried on the premises.  Governor [[Thomas A. Osborn]] offered a reward of $2,000 for the apprehension of the Benders, but they were never found.<ref>[http://www.kshs.org/kansapedia/bender-knife/10106 "Bender Knife".]  [http://www.kshs.org/ Kansas Historical Society.]  Retrieved May 6, 2016.</ref><ref>Potter, Tim.  [http://www.kansas.com/news/article1121436.html "The Bloody Benders: 140-year-old crime scene still fascinates today".]  [http://www.kansas.com/ ''Wichita Eagle''.]  August 24, 2013.  Retrieved May 6, 2016.</ref>

The main part of the town was destroyed by fire in 1873, but was soon rebuilt, and in 1880 Cherryvale became a city of the third and afterwards of the second class. Natural gas, which is used as a factory fuel and for street and domestic lighting, was found here in 1889, and oil several years later.<ref name=EB1911>{{cite EB1911|wstitle=Cherryvale|volume=6|page=85}}</ref>

The city is currently the headquarters for the [[South Kansas and Oklahoma Railroad]], a shortline that runs 511 miles of track in Kansas and Oklahoma. The railroad, owned by WATCO, painted locomotive [[EMD SD40-2]] number 4158, in the high school's colors of blue and white in 2011, and the unit is stationed at the [[Intermodal freight transport|intermodal]] switchyard, completed 2013, north of Cherryvale.