Garden City is a city in and the county seat of Finney County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 28,151. The city is home to the Garden City Community College and the Lee Richardson Zoo, the largest zoological park in western Kansas.
History
In February 1878, James R. Fulton, William D. Fulton and W.D.'s son, L.W. Fulton, arrived at the present site of Garden City.
The original townsite was laid out on the south half of section 18 by engineer Charles Van Trump. The land was a loose, sandy loam and covered with sagebrush and soap weeds, but there were no trees. Main Street ran directly north and south, dividing William D. and James R. Fulton's claims. As soon as they could get building material, they erected two frame houses. William D. Fulton building on his land, on the east side of Main Street, a house one story and a half high, with two rooms on the ground and two rooms above. This was called the Occidental Hotel. William D. Fulton was proprietor. No other houses were built in Garden City until November 1878, when James R. Fulton and L.T. Walker each put up a building. The Fultons tried to get others to settle here, but only a few came, and at the end of the first year there were only four buildings.
Following a sustained drought, irrigation arrived in Finney County in 1879, with completion of the "Garden City Ditch". The ditch helped to launch an agricultural boom in southwestern Kansas.Exhibit, Finney County Historical Museum, Garden City, Kansas
19th century Charles Jesse Jones, later known as "Buffalo" Jones, arrived in Garden City for an antelope hunt in January 1879. Before Jones returned home, the Fulton brothers procured his services to promote Garden City, and especially in trying to influence the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad to put in a switch station. The railroad agreed to place its station at Garden City. In the spring of 1879, more people began arriving to homestead in the area. During the years of 1885–1887, a rush was made for Western Kansas, and a settler arrived for every quarter section. The United States Land Office also located at Garden City, and people went there to make filings on their land. Lawyers also arrived in Garden City. I.R. Holmes, the agent for the sale of lands of the ATSF, and Holmes' partner, A.C. McKeever, in 1885 sold thousands of acres of railroad and private land. The Knights of Reciprocity were organized in Garden City in 1890.
The streets of Garden City were crowded with horses, wagons, buggies and teams of oxen. Long lines of people stood out in the weather awaiting mail at the post office, and there was always a crowd in front of the land office. During the height of the boom the town had nine lumber yards. Lumber was hauled in all directions to build up inland towns and to improve the nearby homesteads. Thirteen drug stores were in operation, and the town had two daily newspapers. Nearly everyone used kerosene lamps, and a few were placed on posts on Main Street. There was no city water works, so all depended on shallow wells, which were strongly alkaline. Passenger trains of two and three sections arrived daily, loaded with people, most of whom got off at Garden City.
The first issue of The Garden City Newspaper appeared April 3, 1879. Three months after the paper was established, the editor stated, "There are now forty buildings in town." When the first telephone line was built, trees were growing on both sides of Main Street. These interfered with the wires, but local residents knew the value of trees in Western Kansas would not allow them to be cut, and the telephone poles were set down the center of the street. The first long-distance telephone service from Garden City was a line long, built in 1919.
20th century
In the 1970s, Garden City's city council allowed the building of a meatpacking plant. This invigorated the economy. New residents arrived, but even with population growth the unemployment rate was only about 3% in 2017. Many of the new arrivals were immigrants from outside the United States (Myanmar, Somalia, Vietnam, and other places, particularly Mexico and Latin America), such that over 48% of the 2010 population was Hispanic, and less than 40% of the population was non-Hispanic white.
21st century On Friday October 16, 2016, Gavin Wright, Curtis Allen, and Patrick Stein were arrested by the FBI for plotting a bombing attack on a mosque and the housing complex where some of the town's Somali community lives. The three men were charged in federal court with threatening to use weapons of mass destruction, namely explosives. All three defendants were found guilty in April 2018 and were each sentenced to 25–30 years in prison.
Geography Garden City lies on the north side of the Arkansas River in the High Plains region of the Great Plains. It is located in southwestern Kansas at the intersection of U.S. Route 50 and U.S. Route 83, Garden City is west-northwest of Wichita, north-northeast of Amarillo, and southeast of Denver. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , all land. It is the most remote city in America with a population over 25,000.
Climate Garden City has a semi-arid steppe climate (Köppen: BSk) with hot, dry summers and cold, dry winters. On average, January is the coldest and driest month, July is the hottest month, and June is the wettest month.
The high temperature reaches or exceeds an average of 73.7 afternoons a year and reaches or exceeds an average of 15.6 afternoons per year. The minimum temperature falls below the freezing point on an average of 148.2 mornings per year and to or below on 4.1 mornings each year. The hottest temperature recorded in Garden City was on July 13, 1934, while the coldest temperature recorded was on February 12, 1899, 1948.
Garden City is located in Tornado Alley and receives a share of storms every spring. On June 23, 1967, an F3 tornado struck the north side of Garden City, killing one person and damaging more than 400 homes. On the days of April 30–May 1, 2017, the town was hit by a late-spring snowstorm which caused power outages and damaged almost every tree in town. Many tree limbs and some trees were downed because of it and the women's clinic had its roof collapse into the building, ultimately leading to its demolition in 2018.
Neighborhoods
Downtown is centered on Southern Main Street. The Windsor Hotel and the police station are among the tallest buildings, and there are many other historic buildings in the area. Most of the businesses in the main downtown area are locally owned and operated.
Demographics
Garden City is included in the "Garden City, Kansas Micropolitan statistical area", which consists of Finney and Kearny Counties.
2020 census As of the 2020 census, Garden City had a population of 28,151, with 9,676 households and 6,679 families.
The median age was 31.6 years. 28.5% of residents were under the age of 18, 11.6% were between 18 and 24, 26.5% were from 25 to 44, 22.0% were from 45 to 64, and 11.4% were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 100.9 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 99.9 males age 18 and over.
99.9% of residents lived in urban areas, while 0.1% lived in rural areas.
There were 9,676 households in Garden City, of which 39.0% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 47.5% were married-couple households, 19.6% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 25.2% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 25.2% of all households were made up of individuals and 8.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.7 and the average family size was 3.4.
The population density was 2,580.3 per square mile (996.3/km). There were 10,431 housing units at an average density of 956.1 per square mile (369.1/km); 7.2% of housing units were vacant, with a homeowner vacancy rate of 1.5% and a rental vacancy rate of 7.4%.
+ Racial composition as of the 2020 census Race Number Percent Hispanic or Latino (of any race) 15,217 54.1% White 13,339 47.4% Two or more races 6,702 23.8% Some other race 4,885 17.4% Asian 1,490 5.3% Black or African American 1,459 5.2% American Indian and Alaska Native 249 0.9% Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander 27 0.1%
2016–2020 American Community Survey
The 2016–2020 5-year American Community Survey estimates show that the median household income was $56,274 (with a margin of error of +/- $3,895) and the median family income was $71,853 (+/- $7,240). Males had a median income of $39,207 (+/- $1,491) versus $22,940 (+/- $2,511) for females. The median income for those above 16 years old was $32,112 (+/- $1,863).
Approximately, 9.3% of families and 13.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 19.6% of those under the age of 18 and 16.1% of those ages 65 or over. The percent of those with a bachelor's degree or higher was estimated to be 10.0% of the population.
2010 census As of the 2010 census, there were 26,658 people, 9,071 households, and 6,355 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 9,656 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 74.7% White, 4.4% Asian, 2.8% African American, 0.9% American Indian, 14.2% from some other race, and 2.9% from two or more races. Hispanics and Latinos of any race comprised 48.6% of the population.
There were 9,071 households, of which 43.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 49.6% were married couples living together, 6.5% had a male householder with no wife present, 13.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 29.9% were non-families. 24.0% of all households were made up of individuals, and 19.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.88, and the average family size was 3.45.
The median age was 29.9 years. 31.2% of residents were under the age of 18; 11.6% were between ages 18 and 24; 26.0% were between 25 and 44; 22.2% were between 45 and 64; and 9.0% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the population was 49.8% male and 50.2% female.
The median income for a household in the city was $47,975, and the median income for a family was $54,621. Males had a median income of $33,873 versus $27,304 for females. The per capita income for the city was $20,066. About 7.1% of families and 12.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 18.5% of those under age 18 and 6.0% of those age 65 or over.
Ethnic groups In 2017, Albert Kyaw, a translator of the Garden City Public Schools, stated that Garden City was the most ethnically diverse community in the state of Kansas. That year, according to Frank Morris of National Public Radio, "some say" the residents may speak up to 40 different languages; at least 27 were spoken. As of the 2020 census, 54.1 percent of the city's population was Hispanic, making Garden City one of three cities in Kansas, along with Dodge City and Liberal, with a Hispanic-majority population.
Hispanics and Latinos, including immigrants, came to Garden City beginning in the 1980s due to the establishment of meatpacking plants and partially due to plant management deliberately recruiting them. Many educational institutions for adults were teaching Hispanic immigrants after they had asked for amnesty for having illegally immigrated.Benson, Janet E. (Kansas State University). "Garden City: Meatpacking and Immigration to the High Plains – Dr. Janet E. Benson." University of California, Davis. Retrieved February 25, 2017.