Editing Sabetha, Kansas (section)

== History ==
[[File:Sabetha, KS (1913).jpg|thumb|left|Sabetha as seen in 1913]]
The town's settlement began circa 1854, with a name reportedly derived from the word "[[Christian Sabbath|Sabbath]]", the day the first settler arrived.<ref name="settle1">Hrnicek, Alice (15 September 1982). [https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=M_FeAAAAIBAJ&sjid=Q1QNAAAAIBAJ&pg=1705,1983311&dq= Business, farming strengthen town], ''St. Joseph Gazette'', pg. C1.</ref> Sabetha was incorporated as a city in 1874.<ref>{{cite book | url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_Qi9cXyTWt9EC | title=Kansas: A Cyclopedia of State History, Volume 2 | publisher=Standard Publishing Company | author=Blackmar, Frank Wilson | year=1912 | pages=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_Qi9cXyTWt9EC/page/n601 617]}}</ref>

On the evening of [[Tornado outbreak of June 13, 1998|June 13, 1998]], an [[Fujita scale|F2 tornado]] damaged much of the downtown, but no casualties were reported.  The downtown area received little warning as the tornado struck less than 1 minute after the tornado siren began to sound.<ref name="torn1">(15 June 1998). [https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=TpEzAAAAIBAJ&sjid=NekFAAAAIBAJ&pg=6211,2529808&dq=sabetha&hl=en Twister rips up downtown Sabetha], ''Lawrence Journal-World'', Page 1B</ref>  The tornado, which touched down half a mile west of the Sabetha City Hall, caused serious damage to two blocks of the town, with 18 buildings in the downtown area being damaged, five (including the city hall building) to near "the point of loss". The tornado lifted about half a mile east of City Hall. Damage to the city hall building amounted to $2 million, and additional damage to homes and vehicles away from downtown occurred due to tornado-toppled trees and branches away from the tornado's center along with strong straight-line winds.<ref name="5653912r">{{cite report|title=Kansas Event Report: F2 Tornado|url=https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/stormevents/eventdetails.jsp?id=5653912|publisher=National Centers for Environmental Information|date=1998|accessdate=February 25, 2017}}</ref>