Editing Sedgwick County, Kansas (section)

==History==
[[File:Stouffer's Railroad Map of Kansas 1915-1918 Sedgwick County.png|thumb|left|1915 railroad map of Sedgwick County]]

===Early history===
{{See also|History of Kansas}}
For many millennia, the [[Great Plains]] of North America was inhabited by nomadic [[Native Americans in the United States|Native Americans]]. From the 16th century to 18th century, the [[Kingdom of France]] claimed ownership of large parts of North America. In 1762, after the [[French and Indian War]], France secretly ceded [[New France]] to [[Spain]], per the [[Treaty of Fontainebleau (1762)|Treaty of Fontainebleau]]. In 1802, Spain returned most of the land to France.

In 1803, most of the land for modern day Kansas was acquired by the United States from France as part of the 828,000 square mile [[Louisiana Purchase]] for 2.83 cents per acre. In 1848, after the [[Mexican–American War]], the [[Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo]] with [[Spain]] brought into the United States all or part of land for ten future states, including southwest Kansas. In 1854, the [[Kansas Territory]] was organized, and in 1861 Kansas became the 34th U.S. state.

===19th century===
{{See also|History of Wichita, Kansas}}
Sedgwick County was founded in 1867, and named after [[John Sedgwick]], who was a [[Major general (United States)|major general]] in the [[Union Army]] during the [[American Civil War|Civil War]].<ref>{{cite book | url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_5zdAAQAAMAAJ | title=Biennial Report of the Board of Directors of the Kansas State Historical Society | publisher=Kansas State Printing Plant | author=Kansas State Historical Society | year=1916 | pages=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_5zdAAQAAMAAJ/page/n312 205]}}</ref>

In 1887, the [[Chicago, Kansas and Nebraska Railway]] built a branch line north–south from [[Herington, Kansas|Herington]] to [[Caldwell, Kansas|Caldwell]].<ref name="Rock Island Rail History">{{Cite web |url=http://home.covad.net/~scicoatnsew/rihist4.htm |title=Rock Island Rail History |access-date=April 18, 2011 |archive-date=June 19, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110619230000/http://home.covad.net/~scicoatnsew/rihist4.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref>  This branch line connected Herington, [[Lost Springs, Kansas|Lost Springs]], [[Lincolnville, Kansas|Lincolnville]], [[Antelope, Kansas|Antelope]], [[Marion, Kansas|Marion]], [[Aulne, Kansas|Aulne]], [[Peabody, Kansas|Peabody]], [[Elbing, Kansas|Elbing]], [[Whitewater, Kansas|Whitewater]], [[Furley, Kansas|Furley]], [[Kechi, Kansas|Kechi]], [[Wichita, Kansas|Wichita]], [[Peck, Kansas|Peck]], [[Corbin, Kansas|Corbin]], [[Wellington, Kansas|Wellington]] and Caldwell. By 1893, this branch line was incrementally built to [[Fort Worth, Texas]]. This line is called the "OKT". The [[Chicago, Kansas and Nebraska Railway]] was foreclosed in 1891 and was taken over by [[Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railway]], which shut down in 1980 and reorganized as [[Oklahoma, Kansas and Texas Railroad]], merged in 1988 with [[Missouri Pacific Railroad]], and finally merged in 1997 with [[Union Pacific Railroad]]. Most locals still refer to this railroad as the "Rock Island".

===20th century===
Sedgwick County was the setting for the murders committed by the BTK strangler from 1974 until 1991.{{citation needed|date=March 2011}}  [[Dennis Rader]], an employee of the Sedgwick County city of [[Park City, Kansas|Park City]] was arrested in early 2005 after he began sending incriminating letters taunting the police in 2004. He had not been heard from since 1979.{{citation needed|date=March 2011}} Ken Landwehr of the [[Wichita Police Department]] led the task force which captured Rader, setting a new standard of serial crime detection in the process, which is still studied by police departments across the world. Rader is serving 10 life sentences at the El Dorado Correctional Facility in [[El Dorado, Kansas|El Dorado]].{{citation needed|date=March 2011}}