Editing Hugoton, Kansas (section)

==History==
[[File:Hugoton, Kansas (1891).jpg|thumb|left|Hugoton, 1891]]
Settlers from [[McPherson, Kansas|McPherson]] established a settlement in what was then west-central [[Seward County, Kansas|Seward County]] in 1885.<ref name=Butler>{{cite web |last=Butler |first=Ken |title=Kansas Blood Spilled Into Oklahoma |date=31 Jul 2005 |url=http://skyways.lib.ks.us/genweb/stevens/haymeadow.html |access-date=2009-12-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090419075715/http://skyways.lib.ks.us/genweb/stevens/haymeadow.html |archive-date=2009-04-19 }}</ref><ref name=StevensCo>{{Citation |contribution=Stevens County |title=Kansas: a cyclopedia of state history, embracing events, institutions, industries, counties, cities, towns, prominent persons, etc. |editor-last=Blackmar |editor-first=Frank W. |volume=2 |pages=764–766 |place=[[Chicago]] |publisher=Standard |year=1912 |contribution-url=http://skyways.lib.ks.us/genweb/archives/1912/s/stevens_county.html |access-date=2009-12-06}}</ref> They originally named this settlement Hugo in honor of [[French people|French]] writer [[Victor Hugo]], but then changed its name to Hugoton to distinguish it from [[Hugo, Colorado]].<ref name=Hugo>{{cite book |title=History of Kansas Newspapers |page=304 |place=[[Topeka, Kansas]] |publisher=[[Kansas Historical Society|Kansas State Historical Society and Department of Archives]] |date=1916 |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofkansasn00kansuoft/page/304/mode/2up}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Gannett, Henry |url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_9V1IAAAAMAAJ |title=The Origin of Certain Place Names in the United States |publisher=Govt. Print. Off. |year=1905 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_9V1IAAAAMAAJ/page/n162 163]}}</ref> Hugoton's first church, Hugoton United Methodist, was also the first in Stevens County and was founded in 1886; it is still active as of 2019.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.umc.org/find-a-church/church/68386|title=Hugoton United Methodist Church (Hugoton, KS) - Find-A-Church |last=Communications |first=United Methodist |website=The United Methodist Church |language=en |access-date=2019-07-10}}</ref> The first post office in Hugoton was established in April 1886.<ref>{{cite web |title=Kansas Post Offices, 1828-1961 |url=http://www.kshs.org/geog/geog_postoffices/search/page:1/county:SV/sort:txt_postoffice_name/direction:asc |publisher=Kansas Historical Society |access-date=23 June 2014}}</ref>

In 1886, the [[Kansas Legislature]] reestablished the surrounding area as Stevens County, and [[John Martin (Governor of Kansas)|Gov. John Martin]] designated Hugoton as the interim county seat. This set off a violent [[county seat war]] with nearby [[Woodsdale, Kansas|Woodsdale]]. Hugoton became the permanent county seat in 1887, but the conflict continued, culminating in the [[Hay Meadow Massacre]] of 1888.<ref name=StevensCo/> Woodsdale founder and attorney [[Samuel Newitt Wood]], heavily invested in the conflict for the county seat, was assassinated by James Brennen, one of the men involved in the Hay Meadow Massacre, outside the Hugoton courthouse on June 23, 1891.<ref>{{Cite web |website=Kansapedia - Kansas Historical Society |url=https://www.kshs.org/kansapedia/samuel-n-wood/17866 |title=Samuel N. Wood |access-date=2019-07-10}}</ref>

During the 1890s, economic decline drove many residents to leave for newly opened territories in the [[Southwestern United States|American Southwest]], and the population declined significantly.<ref name=StevensCo/> The [[Santa Fe Railway]] reached Hugoton in 1913, which spurred growth.<ref name=Hugo/><ref>{{cite web |title=Stevens County Kansas Genealogy |url=http://skyways.lib.ks.us/genweb/stevens/index.html |access-date=2009-12-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110505014633/http://skyways.lib.ks.us/genweb/stevens/index.html |archive-date=2011-05-05}}</ref> [[Natural gas]] was discovered southwest of the city in 1927, leading to the development of the [[Hugoton Natural Gas Area]] and the transformation of Hugoton into a major center of natural gas extraction.<ref>{{cite web |title=Stevens County, Kansas |work=Kansapedia |publisher=[[Kansas Historical Society]] |url=http://www.kshs.org/kansapedia/stevens-county-kansas/15349 |access-date=2011-05-02}}</ref>

Hugoton reportedly served as a temporary home for infamous criminals Bonnie and Clyde.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://stevenscounty.advantage-preservation.com/ |title=Search For |website=Stevens County Library|access-date=2019-07-09}}{{failed verification|date=June 2022}}{{fcn |date=January 2024}}</ref> They lived in the unincorporated areas near Hugoton, assuming the aliases of Jewell and Blackie Underwood. Jewell operated a cafe, Jewell's Cafe, and Blackie reportedly worked on area farms. Locals believed they ran a bootlegging operation out of the cafe.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.hdnews.net/article/20101230/NEWS/312309833|title=Stevens County: 1969 Hutch News interview with Claude French about Bonnie and Clyde|website=The Hays Daily News|language=en |access-date=2019-07-01}}</ref> Clyde was officially in prison during the time they are claimed to be in the Hugoton area,<ref>{{Cite book|title=Bonnie and Clyde: a biography|last=Hendley, Nate |date=2007 |publisher=Greenwood Press|isbn=9780313338717 |location=Westport, Conn.|oclc=80360895}}</ref> but locals still insist Jewell and Blackie were Bonnie and Clyde. Receipts from Jewel's Cafe were found in the duo's vehicle after their deaths in a 1934 shoot-out.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Bonnie and Clyde |url=https://vault.fbi.gov/Bonnie%20and%20Clyde |website=FBI |language=en-us|access-date=2019-07-09}}</ref>

In the mid-1930s, Hugoton, along with much of Kansas and parts of other nearby states, suffered the effects of the [[Dust Bowl]], which ravaged the Great Plains in waves between 1934 and 1940.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.weather.gov/oun/events-19350414|title=The Black Sunday Dust Storm of April 14, 1935|last=US Department of Commerce|first=NOAA|website=weather.gov|language=EN-US|access-date=2019-07-10}}</ref> Southwest Kansas was hit particularly hard between 1932 and 1936.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.kansasmemory.org/item/209526|title=Dust clouds rolling over the prairies, Hugoton, Kansas - Kansas Memory |website=kansasmemory.org|access-date=2019-07-10}}</ref> The famous [[Black Sunday (storm)|"Black Sunday" dust storm]] that marks the naming of the Dust Bowl as a geographic area encompassing most of the mid-United States and affecting the entire country, hit Hugoton and neighboring towns in multiple counties and in Oklahoma early on April 14, 1935.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.history.com/topics/great-depression/dust-bowl|title=Dust Bowl|website=history.com|access-date=2019-07-10}}</ref>