Editing Harvey County, Kansas (section)

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

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

In 1871, the [[Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway]] extended a main line from [[Emporia, Kansas|Emporia]] to Newton.<ref name="Santa Fe Rail History">[http://kansasheritage.org/research/rr/santafe.html Santa Fe Rail History]</ref> The next year, in 1872, Harvey County was founded from portions of McPherson, Marion, and Sedgwick counties, and named in honor of the fifth [[Governor of Kansas]], [[James M. Harvey (politician)|James M. Harvey]], with Newton designated the county seat.<ref>{{cite book|title=History of the State of Kansas: Containing a Full Account of Its Growth from an Uninhabited Territory to a Wealthy and Important State|url=https://archive.org/details/historyofstateof00andr|year=1883|publisher=A. T. Andreas|page=[https://archive.org/details/historyofstateof00andr/page/772 772]}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Blackmar |first=Frank Wilson |url=https://www.ksgenweb.org/archives/1912/h/harvey_county.html |title=Kansas: A Cyclopedia of State History, Embracing Events, Institutions, Industries, Counties, Cities, Towns, Prominent Persons, Etc. ... with a Supplementary Volume Devoted to Selected Personal History and Reminiscence |date=1912 |publisher=Standard publishing Company |language=en}}</ref>

The first settlers arrived in 1869, and by 1871, there was already significant pressure to organize a new county in what was then the northern portion of Sedgwick County, an effort which succeeded in 1872. The early years of Harvey County's government were dogged by persistent public discontent over missing records and financial irregularities, but by the mid-1870s confidence in the county's government was restored and the county grew rapidly, particularly with the arrival of large numbers of [[Mennonites|Mennonite]] settlers in 1872.<ref name=":0" />

The county developed quickly, with churches, schools, and businesses established within a few years of its founding. Despite early hardship from prairie fires, storms, and the devastating grasshopper plague of 1874, Harvey County rebounded with strong agricultural output and infrastructure improvements. The county's abundant water resources, fertile farmland, and natural materials like gypsum and limestone further strengthened its economy. By 1910, Harvey County had a population of 19,200 and no public debt, a rare achievement among Kansas counties at that time.<ref name=":0" />