Editing Colby, Kansas (section)

==History==
In 1882, a [[post office]] was established near the center of Thomas County. Area homesteaders lived under harsh conditions in sod houses, creating demand for a town to provide lumber and other provisions to incoming settlers. J.R. Colby, a local land assessor and [[preacher]], obtained a patent to establish the town in April [[1884]], and land was acquired for the town site three miles north of the post office in March 1885. The following month, the [[Secretary of State of Kansas|Kansas Secretary of State]] issued the Town Charter. [[John Martin (Governor of Kansas)|Kansas Gov. John Martin]] named Colby the county seat in 1885, and the city was [[municipal corporation|incorporated]] in 1886. The [[Union Pacific Railroad]] reached the city in 1887, and the [[Rock Island Railroad]] followed the next year.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://oasisontheplains.com/beourguest/history-a-overview | title=History | publisher=City of Colby, Kansas | access-date=27 June 2014 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140704004528/http://oasisontheplains.com/beourguest/history-a-overview | archive-date=4 July 2014 }}</ref>

In 1941 the St. Thomas Hospital was built as part of the Works Progress Administration plan to build hospitals. This was one of 130 new hospitals to be built with these funds, it was one of two built in Kansas alone. Within the last couple of years, it was renovated to apartments under the name St. Thomas Historic Residences.
<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.kshs.org/natreg/natreg_listings/search/prop:/city:colby/county:TH/arch:/category:/submit:SEARCH|title=National and State Registers of Historic Places - Kansas Historical Society|access-date=28 December 2016}}</ref>
 
[[Interstate 70 in Kansas|Interstate 70]] reached Colby in 1965, stimulating the growth of a local [[hospitality industry]].<ref>{{cite web | title = Thomas County - History & Overview (County Info) | publisher = Colby Chamber of Commerce | url = http://oasisontheplains.com/beourguest/history-a-overview | access-date = 2009-11-19 | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140704004528/http://oasisontheplains.com/beourguest/history-a-overview | archive-date = 2014-07-04 }}</ref>