Editing Cheyenne County, Kansas (section)

==History==
{{See also|History of Kansas}}

===19th century===
In 1854, the [[Kansas Territory]] was organized, then in 1861 [[Kansas]] became the 34th [[U.S. state]].

Cheyenne County was established by an act of the state legislature on 1873-03-06,{{sfn|Blackmar|1912a|p=325}} which defined the original borders of the county as: {{blockquote|Commencing where the east line of range 37 west, intersects the fortieth degree of north latitude; thence south with said range line to the first standard parallel; thence west with said parallel to the west line of the State of Kansas; thence north with the state line to the fortieth degree of north latitude; thence east with said parallel to the place of beginning.{{sfn|Blackmar|1912a|p=327}}|}}
The county was surveyed the following year, and its first settlers arrived in 1879.{{sfn|Blackmar|1912a|p=325}}

Early settlement was in and around Wano, the "T" ranch (the county's first cattle ranch) being established {{convert|9|mile|km}} from there in 1876, and Jacob Buck and the families of A. M. Brenaman, L. R. Heaton, a man named Bateman all settling around the area.{{sfn|Blackmar|1912a|p=325}}
Brenaman was the first postmaster at Wano post office, established on 1880-08-23.{{sfn|Blackmar|1912a|p=325}}
The first storekeepers opened their store the following month, with the first school being Kepferle, and the first school district established on 1881-12-03.{{sfn|Blackmar|1912a|p=325}}
A dedicated school building, for 10 pupils, was donated by F. J. Graham and opened on 1882-01-10.{{sfn|Blackmar|1912a|p=325}}
By 1886 there were 5 school districts.{{sfn|Sims|Wheeler|1887|p=127}}

The name Wano was an Anglicization by the settlers of the Spanish word "[[wikt:bueno#Spanish|bueno]]" meaning "good".{{sfn|Blackmar|1912a|p=326}}
It was not only the name of the post office but of its first newspaper, the ''Wano News'', also run by Brenaman.{{sfn|Blackmar|1912a|p=326}}
Like the county's second newspaper, the ''Echo'', the ''News'' was short lived and only had 5 issues.{{sfn|Blackmar|1912a|p=326}}
Later newspapers were the ''Cheyenne County Rustler'', established on 1885-07-03 and originally published in Wano and later St Francis; the ''Frontiersman'', the ''Cheyenne County Democrat'', and the ''Bird City News'', all published in Bird City;{{sfn|Blackmar|1912a|p=325}}{{sfn|Sims|Wheeler|1887|p=127}} and the ''Plaindealer'' published in St Francis.{{sfn|Mohler|Sims|1889|p=68}}

Independent county government was finally established in April 1886, by proclamation of Governor [[John Martin (Governor of Kansas)|John A. Martin]] in response to a petition from the previous month.{{sfn|Blackmar|1912a|p=326}}
The appointed county commissioners were J. M. Ketcham, W. W. McKay and J. F. Murray; with B. W. Knott as the county clerk.{{sfn|Blackmar|1912a|p=326}}
Martin originally proclaimed Bird City as the county seat, as an initial temporary arrangement.{{sfn|Blackmar|1912a|p=326}}{{sfn|Sims|Wheeler|1887|p=124}}
An election for the county seat and for elected county and township officers was held in May 1886,{{sfn|Denison|1886}} and Wano was chosen as county seat.{{sfn|Denison_a|1886}} However, that first election was tainted by voter fraud and later voided by a judge.{{sfn|Denison|1887}} The current county seat of St. Francis was eventually chosen by an election in February 1889{{sfn|Denison|1889}} and later approved by act of the state legislature on in February 1891.{{sfn|Blackmar|1912a|p=326}}