Editing Newton, Kansas (section)

===19th century===
[[File:Stouffer's Railroad Map of Kansas 1915-1918 Harvey County.png|thumb|left|A 1915 railroad map of [[Harvey County, Kansas|Harvey County]]]]
[[File:Newton Milling & Elevator Company - photo - 00066249.jpg|thumb|left|1905 Warkentin Mill]]

For millennia, the land now known as Kansas was inhabited by [[Native Americans in the United States|Native Americans]]. In 1803, most of [[History of Kansas|modern Kansas]] was secured by the United States as part of the [[Louisiana Purchase]]. In 1854, the [[Kansas Territory]] was organized, then in 1861, [[Kansas]] became the 34th [[U.S. state]]. In 1872, Harvey County was founded.

In 1871, the [[Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway]] extended a main line from [[Emporia, Kansas|Emporia]] westward to Newton by July 1871.<ref name="Santa Fe Rail History">[http://kansasheritage.org/research/rr/santafe.html Santa Fe Rail History]</ref> The town soon became an important railroad shipping point of Texas cattle.<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/n357 367]}}</ref>

The city was founded in 1871 and named after [[Newton, Massachusetts]], home of some of the Santa Fe stockholders.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.hchm.org/History.html |title=Harvey County History |access-date=2012-04-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120207072924/http://www.hchm.org/History.html |archive-date=2012-02-07 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

In August 1871, the [[Gunfight at Hide Park]] occurred, in which eight men were killed. The incident began with an argument between two local lawmen, [[Billy Bailey (Gunfight at Hide Park)|Billy Bailey]] and [[Mike McCluskie]]. Because of this incident, Newton became known as "bloody and lawless—the wickedest city in the west."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://krex.k-state.edu/dspace/bitstream/handle/2097/15686/JessicaSmith2013.pdf|first=Jessica|last=Smith|publisher=[[Kansas State University]]|title=Morality and Money: A Look at how the Respectable Community Battled the Sporting Community over Prostitution in Kansas Cowtowns, 1867-1885|year=2013}}</ref>

In 1872, the western terminal for the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway and the railhead for the [[Chisholm Trail]] were established here.  Shortly after incorporation of the city in 1872, the Newton city council passed an ordinance prohibiting the running-at-large of buffalo and other wild animals.<ref>[http://www.kansasmemory.org/item/208628 Route of the Chisholm cattle trail in Kansas; Kansas Historical Society, 1960s.]</ref>