Editing Sheridan County, Kansas (section)

===19th century===
In 1802, Spain returned most of the land to France while keeping title to about 7,500 square miles. In 1803, most of the land for [[History of Kansas|modern day Kansas]] was acquired by the United States from France as part of the 828,000 square miles [[Louisiana Purchase]] for 2.83 [[Penny (United States coin)|cents]] per [[acre]].

In 1854, the [[Kansas Territory]] was organized, then in 1861 [[Kansas]] became the 34th [[U.S. state]]. In 1873, the remaining unorganized western part of the state was divided into 22 new counties, including '''Sheridan County'''.<ref name="laws1873">[http://www.ksgenweb.org/archives/county/map9.html Transactions of the Kansas State Historical Society, 1903-1904] (1904)</ref>  Sheridan County was then organized in 1880, with the county seat at Kenneth.<ref name="history">Cutler, William G. [https://web.archive.org/web/20030327205221/http://www.kancoll.org/books/cutler/sheridan/sheridan-co-p1.html History of the State of Kansas] (1883)</ref>  After it became apparent in 1886, that the railroad line coming to the area would run south of Kenneth to the new town of Hoxie, the residents of Kenneth accepted an offer to get new lots in Hoxie (and move their buildings at no expense), and the county seat transferred to Hoxie. The Lincoln-Colorado railroad line opened through the county in 1888, and formally became part of the [[Union Pacific Railroad]] in the late 1890s.