Editing Arkansas City, Kansas (section)

== History ==

===Early history===
{{See also|History of Kansas}}
Present-day Arkansas City sits on the site of an [[Wichita people|ancestral Wichita]] city, [[Etzanoa]], which flourished from 1450 to 1700 and had an estimated population of 20,000.<ref name="kelly">{{cite news |last1=Kelly |first1=David |title=Archaeologists explore a rural field in Kansas, and a lost city emerges |url=https://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-kansas-lost-city-20180819-htmlstory.html |access-date=8 December 2018 |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |date=19 August 2018}}</ref> 

In 1601, New Mexico Governor [[Juan de Oñate]] led an expedition across the [[Great Plains]] and found a large settlement of Indians he called [[Rayado tribe|Rayados]]. They lived along the [[Walnut River (Kansas)|Walnut River]] in the eastern part of Arkansas City. Extensive remains of Indian settlements have been found along {{Convert|6|mi|spell=in}} of the Walnut River.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Wenzl |first=Roy |date=April 24, 2017 |title=Its location a mystery for centuries, huge Indian city may have been found in Kansas |work=The Kansas City Star}}</ref> The Rayados were the ancestors of the Indians later called [[Wichita people|Wichita]]. Wichita settlements from the 18th century are also found a few miles south of Arkansas City on the west bank of the Arkansas River.<ref>Vehik, Susan C. "Onate's Expedition to the Southern Plains: Routes, Destinations, and Implications for Late Prehistoric Cultural Adaptations." ''Plains Anthropologist'', Vol 31, No. 111, 1986, 13–33</ref>

===19th century===
[[Image:"Boomers Camp. Arkansas City, Kan. Waiting For the Strip To Open Mar. 1st, 1893." - NARA - 516453.jpg|thumb|left|[[Boomers (Oklahoma settlers)|Boomer]] camp at Arkansas City waiting for [[Land Run of 1893]] in [[Oklahoma]]]]
European-American settlers first congregated in the area where Arkansas City now stands in the 1860s. 

Settlers established a town in 1870. They had difficulty choosing a name; early names included Adelphia, Creswell, and Walnut City before the present name was chosen.<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 | page=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_5zdAAQAAMAAJ/page/n275 168]}}</ref> The first post office in Arkansas City was established on May 16, 1870.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.kshs.org/geog/geog_postoffices/search/county:CL |title=Kansas Post Offices, 1828-1961 (archived) |publisher=Kansas Historical Society |access-date=6 June 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131009131700/http://www.kshs.org/geog/geog_postoffices/search/county%3ACL |archive-date=October 9, 2013 }}</ref>

In 1877, the [[Florence, El Dorado, and Walnut Valley Railroad Company]] built a branch line from [[Florence, Kansas|Florence]] to [[El Dorado, Kansas|El Dorado]], in 1881 it was extended to [[Douglass, Kansas|Douglass]], and later to Arkansas City.<ref>''Marion County Kansas : Past and Present''; Sondra Van Meter; MB Publishing House; [[LCCN]] 72-92041; 344 pages; 1972.</ref>  The line was leased and operated by the [[Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway]].  The line from [[Florence, Kansas|Florence]] to [[El Dorado, Kansas|El Dorado]] was abandoned in 1942.<ref name="Abandon Railway 1942">[http://www.abandonedrails.com/Florence_to_El_Dorado Railway Abandonment 1942]</ref>  The original branch line connected [[Florence, Kansas|Florence]], [[Burns, Kansas|Burns]], [[De Graff, Kansas|De Graff]], [[El Dorado, Kansas|El Dorado]], [[Augusta, Kansas|Augusta]], [[Douglass, Kansas|Douglass]], [[Rock, Kansas|Rock]], [[Akron, Kansas|Akron]], [[Winfield, Kansas|Winfield]], and Arkansas City.

Arkansas City grew steadily through the latter part of the 19th century, and enjoyed a population explosion starting in 1891, when thousands of people moved into the area in anticipation of the [[Cherokee Outlet|Cherokee Strip Land Run]].

===20th century===
At the turn of the century, Arkansas City was a rival to Wichita in size and enterprise, boasting several busy [[rail transportation|rail lines]], an elegant opera house, numerous fine hotels, a manufacturing base and a bustling agricultural economy. A popular swimming hole called Paris Lake was located west of downtown; the lake&mdash;and the hot springs at Geuda as well&mdash;was mired with silt in a flood about 1919. Nearly 20 years later the WPA would build the Paris Park pool in the same spot.  African Americans were not allowed to swim in the Paris Park pool during the era of [[Racial segregation|segregation]] and used a separate facility colloquially referred to as "the black pool" by local residents.{{citation needed|date=March 2011}}

The Kirkwood Wind Engine Company, a former [[windmill]] manufacturer, was headquartered in Arkansas City near the turn of the 20th century;{{citation needed|date=November 2011}} the now-defunct [[Kanotex Refining Company]] established a [[oil refinery|refinery]] and headquarters in the city in 1917.<ref>{{cite web |first= Aspen |last= Junge |date= June 30, 2010 |url= http://www.kdheks.gov/remedial/articles/refining_history.pdf |title= Refining History |publisher= Kansas Department of Health and Environment |access-date= May 5, 2012 |archive-date= January 27, 2018 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20180127115436/http://www.kdheks.gov/remedial/articles/refining_history.pdf |url-status= dead }}</ref>

During the 1920s, Arkansas City had an active group of [[Ku Klux Klan]]. The group was mostly concentrated in south-central and south-east Kansas.  The state took action to shut down the group, and most Klans disbanded by 1927.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20031019130216/http://kancoll.org/khq/1974/74_3_sloan.htm Kansas Battles the Invisible Empire: The Legal Ouster of the KKK from Kansas during 1922-1927; Kansas State Historical Society; 1974.]</ref>

In 1928, the city's official fall festival, Arkalalah, was inaugurated. This annual event still draws thousands of visitors each October, and features a queen, a carnival, dozens of homegrown fair food vendors and a spectacular parade typically lasting two hours or more. During the 1955 Arkalalah celebration, retired [[Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway|Santa Fe]] steam locomotive 2542 was dedicated in Wilson Park, where it remains today.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://arkansascity.advantage-preservation.com/search?k=dedication&st=1466&co=1464&i=f&d=10/26/1955-10/27/1955&bcn=1&m=between|title=Digital Archives of the Arkansas City Public Library|work=Arkansas City Daily Traveler}}</ref>

The city prospered through much of the 20th century, but by the 1980s, the community was facing economic challenges. The railroads shifted many of their crews to other stops, the old Rodeo meat packing plant, which for a short time was Morrell Meats, closed. The only passenger train that served the city, [[Amtrak]]'s [[Lone Star (Amtrak train)|Lone Star]], was discontinued. In 1996 Total Petroleum closed their refinery in Ark City with a loss of 170 jobs. By 2003 other large employers in Cowley County closed operations. The [[Binney & Smith Inc.|Binney & Smith]] ([[Crayola]]) plant closed with a loss of 400 jobs. Winfield State Hospital and Gordon Piatt Industries were closed in nearby Winfield with a combined loss of 973 jobs. Montgomery KONE Elevator and Central Plains Book Manufacturing at nearby Strother Field were also shuttered.{{citation needed|date=March 2011}}

===21st century===
Arkansas City is now home to state-of-the-art meat processor Creekstone Farms Premium Beef LLC which employs over 1100 workers. Several smaller manufacturing companies are expanding their operations while new start ups are finding a home in Cowley County due in part to the workforce supplied by the two local colleges in the county. Both cities, only {{Convert|11|mi}} apart, now have large [[Wal-Mart]] stores (a new Wal-Mart Supercenter opened in Arkansas City in March 2006, and another has been constructed in Winfield, Kansas); conversely, both towns' (in Arkansas City&mdash;the Burford, the Howard, and the Crest) movie theaters recently closed and were replaced by a single facility halfway between the cities, just south of the Strother Field industrial park. B & B Theatres donated the two downtown buildings to non-profit organizations in each of the respective communities. The Ark City Burford Theatre and Commercial Building is undergoing a transformation/renovation that will become a new community arts center and gathering space. Construction began in spring 2006 on the planned downtown revitalization streetscape.{{citation needed|date=March 2011}}

In 2006, the local physicians in Arkansas City banded together with the South Central Kansas Regional Medical Center (SCKRMC) board and the City of Arkansas City to build a new hospital, which opened in March 2011.<ref name=wicheagle01>{{cite news|last=Siebenmark|first=Jerry|title=New hospital to open in Ark City|url=http://www.kansas.com/2011/03/13/1760942/new-hospital-to-open-in-ark-city.html|access-date=June 25, 2011|newspaper=The Wichita Eagle|date=March 13, 2011}}</ref>

In 2010, the [[Keystone Pipeline|Keystone-Cushing Pipeline]] (Phase II) was constructed west of Arkansas City, north to south through [[Cowley County, Kansas|Cowley County]], with much controversy over tax exemption and environmental concerns (if a leak ever occurs).<ref>[http://www.gpace.org/news/marion-county-commission-calls-out-legislative-leadership-on-pipeline-deal/ Keystone Pipeline – ''Marion County Commission calls out Legislative Leadership on Pipeline Deal''; April 18, 2010.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111022015437/http://www.gpace.org/news/marion-county-commission-calls-out-legislative-leadership-on-pipeline-deal/ |date=October 22, 2011 }}</ref><ref>[http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2010/dec/10/transcanada-inspecting-keystone-pipeline/ Keystone Pipeline – ''TransCanada inspecting pipeline''; December 10, 2010.]</ref>

In recent years, there have been proposals to extend [[Amtrak]] passenger rail service for the ''[[Heartland Flyer]]'' from [[Oklahoma City, Oklahoma|Oklahoma City]] to [[Newton, Kansas|Newton]] with new stops in Kansas at Arkansas City and [[Wichita, Kansas|Wichita]], but it has not been approved yet.<ref>{{Cite web |date=September 17, 2021 |title=Heartland Flyer Extension |url=https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/d3271f075cae42139e0b3ef7f5060ae7 |access-date=January 29, 2023 |website=storymaps.arcgis.com |publisher=Amtrak Connect Us}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Could Kansans soon hop a train to Texas? Billions in federal funding might mean yes. |url=https://www.cjonline.com/story/news/state/2023/01/30/heartland-flyer-passenger-rail-train-service-could-come-to-kansas/69856310007/ |publisher=Topeka Capital-Journal |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230203215148/https://www.cjonline.com/story/news/state/2023/01/30/heartland-flyer-passenger-rail-train-service-could-come-to-kansas/69856310007/ |archive-date=February 3, 2023 |date=January 30, 2023 |url-status=live}}</ref>