Editing Garden City, Kansas (section)

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

In February 1878, James R. Fulton, William D. Fulton and W.D.'s son, L.W. Fulton, arrived at the present site of Garden City.<ref name="http">{{cite web | title = Garden City History | url =http://www.gardencity.net/info/history/garden/| format =English | access-date =2009-03-13}}</ref>

The original townsite was laid out on the south half of section 18 by [[engineer]] Charles Van Trump. The land was a loose, [[sandy loam]] and covered with [[sagebrush]] and soap weeds, but there were no trees. Main Street ran directly north and south, dividing William D. and James R. Fulton's claims. As soon as they could get building material, they erected two frame houses. William D. Fulton building on his land, on the east side of Main Street, a house one story and a half high, with two rooms on the ground and two rooms above. This was called the Occidental Hotel. William D. Fulton was proprietor. No other houses were built in Garden City until November 1878, when James R. Fulton and L.T. Walker each put up a building. The Fultons tried to get others to settle here, but only a few came, and at the end of the first year there were only four buildings.<ref name="http"/>

Following a sustained [[drought]], [[irrigation]] arrived in Finney County in 1879, with completion of the "Garden City Ditch". The ditch helped to launch an agricultural boom in southwestern Kansas.<ref>Exhibit, Finney County Historical Museum, Garden City, Kansas</ref>

===19th century===
Charles Jesse Jones, later known as "Buffalo" Jones, arrived in Garden City for an antelope hunt in January 1879. Before Jones returned home, the Fulton brothers procured his services to promote Garden City, and especially in trying to influence the [[Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad]] to put in a switch station. The railroad agreed to place its station at Garden City. In the spring of 1879, more people began arriving to homestead in the area. During the years of 1885–1887, a rush was made for Western Kansas, and a settler arrived for every quarter section. The [[United States Land Office]] also located at Garden City, and people went there to make filings on their land. Lawyers also arrived in Garden City. I.R. Holmes, the agent for the sale of lands of the ATSF, and Holmes' partner, A.C. McKeever, in 1885 sold thousands of acres of railroad and private land.<ref name="http"/> The [[Knights of Reciprocity]] were organized in Garden City in 1890.

The streets of Garden City were crowded with horses, wagons, buggies and teams of oxen. Long lines of people stood out in the weather awaiting mail at the [[post office]], and there was always a crowd in front of the land office. During the height of the boom the town had nine lumber yards. Lumber was hauled in all directions to build up inland towns and to improve the nearby homesteads. Thirteen drug stores were in operation, and the town had two daily newspapers. Nearly everyone used kerosene lamps, and a few were placed on posts on Main Street. There was no city water works, so all depended on shallow wells, which were strongly alkaline. Passenger trains of two and three sections arrived daily, loaded with people, most of whom got off at Garden City.<ref name="http"/>

The first issue of ''The Garden City Newspaper'' appeared April 3, 1879. Three months after the paper was established, the editor stated, "There are now forty buildings in town." When the first telephone line was built, trees were growing on both sides of Main Street. These interfered with the wires, but local residents knew the value of trees in Western Kansas would not allow them to be cut, and the telephone poles were set down the center of the street. The first long-distance telephone service from Garden City was a line {{convert|9|mi|km|spell=in}} long, built in 1919.

===20th century===
[[File:Kansas - Garden City through Guinnel - NARA - 23940107 (cropped).jpg|thumb|right|Garden City in 1943]]
[[File:Garden-city-water-tower.jpg|thumb|Garden City Water Tower (2019)]]
In the 1970s, Garden City's [[city council]] allowed the building of a meatpacking plant. This invigorated the economy. New residents arrived, but even with population growth the unemployment rate was only about 3% in 2017. Many of the new arrivals were immigrants from outside the United States (Myanmar, Somalia, Vietnam, and other places, particularly Mexico and Latin America), such that over 48% of the 2010 population was Hispanic,<ref name="wwwcensusgov"/> and less than 40% of the population was non-Hispanic white.<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 [transcript] |author=Frank Morris |date=February 19, 2017 |work=Weekend Edition |publisher=National Public Radio |access-date=February 21, 2017}}</ref>

=== 21st century ===
In October 2016, Gavin Wright, Curtis Allen, and Patrick Stein were arrested by the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]] for plotting a bombing attack on a mosque and the housing complex where some of the town's [[Somalia|Somali]] community live.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news|url=http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2017/12/a-militias-plot-to-bomb-somali-refugees-in-garden-city-ks.html|title=A Militia's Plot to Bomb Somali Refugees in a Kansas Town|last=Pressler|first=Jessica|date=December 12, 2017|work=New York Magazine|access-date=2017-12-31|language=en |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240910102247/https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2017/12/a-militias-plot-to-bomb-somali-refugees-in-garden-city-ks.html |archive-date=2024-09-10}}</ref> The three men were charged in federal court with threatening to use weapons of mass destruction, namely explosives.<ref>{{cite web |title=Attack on Somalis in Kansas thwarted, feds say |url=http://www.cnn.com/2016/10/14/us/mosque-attack-thwarted-kansas/ |publisher=CNN |date=October 16, 2016 |access-date=October 16, 2016 |first=Ralph |last=Ellis |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161018074856/http://www.cnn.com/2016/10/14/us/mosque-attack-thwarted-kansas/ |archive-date=2016-10-18}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Terrorist plot by militia group in Kansas thwarted |url=http://www.kansas.com/news/state/article108279072.html |work=The Wichita Eagle |date=October 14, 2016 |access-date=October 16, 2016 |first1=Tim |last1=Potter |first2=Amy Renee |last2=Leiker |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161018103232/http://www.kansas.com/news/state/article108279072.html |archive-date=2016-10-18}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Alleged Garden City bombing plot revealed |url=http://www.gctelegram.com/news/local/alleged-garden-city-bombing-plot-revealed/article_4ab7fcfa-f5f8-5f71-ab7e-3a6d18ea34c4.html |work=The Garden City Telegram |date=October 14, 2016 |access-date=October 16, 2016 |first=Jonathan |last=Shorman |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181120220944/http://www.gctelegram.com/4ab7fcfa-f5f8-5f71-ab7e-3a6d18ea34c4.html |archive-date=2018-11-20}}</ref> All three defendants were found guilty in April 2018 and were sentenced to 25–30 years in prison.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.usnews.com/news/us/articles/2019-01-25/3-militia-members-face-sentencing-in-kansas-bomb-plot|title=Militia Members Get Decades in Prison in Kansas Bomb Plot|last=Hegeman|first=Roxana|date=January 25, 2019|work=U.S. News & World Report|access-date=2019-04-21|language=en |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190126224007/https://www.usnews.com/news/us/articles/2019-01-25/3-militia-members-face-sentencing-in-kansas-bomb-plot |archive-date=2019-01-26}}</ref>