Ellis is a city in Ellis County,

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to th ...

, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 1,958.

History

The Kansas Pacific Railway built a water station at the site of present-day Ellis in 1867 and then purchased the site under the

Homestead Act The Homestead Acts were several laws in the United States by which an applicant could acquire ownership of government land or the public domain, typically called a homestead. In all, more than of public land, or nearly 10 percent of t ...

. Three years later, in 1870, the U.S. Post Office Department opened a

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional ser ...

at Ellis, marking the town's foundation. Kansas Pacific laid out the town in 1873, establishing a depot, a hotel, and a few shops. That same year, settlers from Syracuse, New York, and later from

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border ...

, arrived to work for the railroad. The first church opened in Ellis in 1873, the first school in 1874. Starting in 1875 and for the rest of the 1870s, Ellis was a cowtown, serving as a shipping point for cattle herds from the south. Bukovina Germans began settling in the area in 1886. Ellis incorporated as a city in January 1888. Long ago, Ellis (as well as Hays) was once a

sundown town Sundown towns, also known as sunset towns, gray towns, or sundowner towns, are all-white municipalities or neighborhoods in the United States that practice a form of racial segregation by excluding non-whites via some combination of discriminator ...

, where African Americans were not welcome after dark.

Geography

Ellis is located at (38.936211, -99.559269), at an elevation of 2,120 feet (646 m). Located in northwestern Kansas on

Interstate 70 Interstate 70 (I-70) is a major east–west Interstate Highway in the United States that runs from I-15 near Cove Fort, Utah, to a park and ride lot just east of I-695 in Baltimore, Maryland, and is the fifth-longest Interstate in the co ...

, Ellis is west-northwest of Hays, the

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is in use in Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, Taiwan, and the United States. The equivalent term shire town is used in the US st ...

. It is approximately northwest of Wichita and west of Kansas City. Ellis lies on the western edge of the

Smoky Hills The Smoky Hills are an upland region of hills in the central Great Plains of North America. They are located in the Midwestern United States, encompassing north-central Kansas and a small portion of south-central Nebraska. The hills are a disse ...

region of the Great Plains. Big Creek, a tributary of the

Smoky Hill River The Smoky Hill River is a river in the central Great Plains of North America, running through Colorado and Kansas.Smoky Hill River. (2009). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved July 22, 2009, from Encyclopædia Britannica Online: http://www.br ...

, runs east through the city and has been

dam A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use ...

med to form a long, narrow

reservoir A reservoir (; from French ''réservoir'' ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam. Such a dam may be either artificial, built to store fresh water or it may be a natural formation. Reservoirs can be created in a number of ways, including contro ...

, Big Creek Lake. According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureau is part of t ...

, the city has a total area of , all of it land.

Climate

On average in Ellis, January is the coolest month, and July is both the warmest month and the wettest month. The hottest temperature recorded in Ellis was 110 °F (43 °C) in 2003; the coldest temperature recorded was -24 °F (-31 °C) in 1989.

Demographics

2010 census

As of the 2010 census, there were 2,062 people, 868 households, and 556 families residing in the city. The

population density Population density (in agriculture: Stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geographical ...

was 1,718.3 people per square mile (663.5/km). There were 959 housing units at an average density of 799.2 per square mile (299.7/km). The racial makeup of the city was 97.9%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White o ...

, 0.2%

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

, 1.0% from other races, and 0.8% from two or more races. Hispanics and Latinos of any race were 3.0% of the population. There were 868 households, of which 31.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 52.6% were married couples living together, 4.0% had a male householder with no wife present, 7.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 35.9% were non-families. 31.5% of all households were made up of individuals, and 12.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.32, and the average family size was 2.91. In the city, the population was spread out, with 25.1% under the age of 18, 6.7% from 18 to 24, 26.0% from 25 to 44, 26.7% from 45 to 64, and 15.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38.1 years. For every 100 females, there were 90.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 88.6 males age 18 and over. The median income for a household in the city was $40,682, and the median income for a family was $57,750. Males had a median income of $40,511 versus $25,982 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or total income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. It is calculated by dividing the area's total income by its total population. Per capita i ...

for the city was $22,568. 6.8% of families and 10.9% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for t ...

, including 11.5% of those under age 18 and 13.8% of those age 65 or over.

Economy

As of 2012, 69.3% of the population over the age of 16 was in the labor force. 1.4% was in the armed forces, and 67.9% was in the civilian labor force with 66.5% being employed and 1.5% unemployed. The composition, by occupation, of the employed civilian labor force was: 32.1% in management, business, science, and arts; 24.3% in sales and office occupations; 14.8% in production, transportation, and material moving; 14.5% in service occupations; and 14.2% in natural resources, construction, and maintenance. The three industries employing the largest percentages of the working civilian labor force were: educational services, and health care and social assistance (28.8%); retail trade (14.9%); and construction (11.3%). The cost of living in Ellis is relatively low; compared to a U.S. average of 100, the cost of living index for the community is 81.1. As of 2012, the median home value in the city was $85,300, the median selected monthly owner cost was $1,036 for housing units with a mortgage and $397 for those without, and the median gross rent was $564.

Government

Ellis has a mayor-council form of government with a

city council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, rural counc ...

consisting of six members. The

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well ...

and all council members are elected for two-year terms. The council meets on the first and third Mondays of each month. Ellis lies within Kansas's 1st U.S. Congressional District. For the purposes of representation in the

Kansas Legislature The Kansas Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Kansas. It is a bicameral assembly, composed of the lower Kansas House of Representatives, with 125 state representatives, and the upper Kansas Senate, with 40 state senators. ...

, the city is located in the 40th district of the

Kansas Senate The Kansas Senate is the upper house of the Kansas Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. State of Kansas. It is composed of 40 senators elected from single-member districts, each with a population of at least 60,000 inhabitants. Members ...

and the 110th district of the

Kansas House of Representatives The Kansas House of Representatives is the lower house of the legislature of the U.S. state of Kansas. Composed of 125 state representatives from districts with roughly equal populations of at least 19,000, its members are responsible for crafti ...

Education

Primary and secondary education

Unified School District A unified school district (in the states of Arizona, California, Kansas and Oregon) or unit school district (in Illinois), in the United States of America, is a school district that generally includes and operates both primary schools (kindergarten ...

388 is based in Ellis and operates two public schools in the city: *Washington Grade School ( Grades K-6) *Ellis High School (7-12) The

Roman Catholic Diocese of Salina The Diocese of Salina ( la, Dioecesis Salinensis) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church covering thirty-one counties in Kansas. The counties included in this diocese are Cheyenne, Sherman, Wallace, Logan, Tho ...

oversees one Catholic school in Ellis: St. Mary Grade School (Pre-K-6). The Ellis Railroaders have won the following Kansas State High School championships: * 1985 Boys Track & Field - Class 3A * 2009 Girls Track & Field - Class 2A *2016 Speech - Class 2A *2017 Speech - Class 2A *2018 Speech - Class 2A

Infrastructure

Transportation

and U.S. Route 40 run concurrently east-west immediately north of Ellis. Kansas Highway 247 (K-247) runs north-south from I-70 to 3rd Street in northern Ellis.

Union Pacific Railroad The Union Pacific Railroad , legally Union Pacific Railroad Company and often called simply Union Pacific, is a freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Paci ...

operates one freight rail line, the Kansas Pacific (KP) line, through Ellis. It runs east-west through the city.

Utilities

The city government's Public Works department is responsible for sanitation, sewer maintenance, and water provision and distribution. Midwest Energy, Inc. provides electricity to local residents. Eagle Communications and Golden Belt Telephone provide landline telephone service and offer cable television. Most residents use

natural gas Natural gas (also called fossil gas or simply gas) is a naturally occurring mixture of gaseous hydrocarbons consisting primarily of methane in addition to various smaller amounts of other higher alkanes. Low levels of trace gases like carbo ...

for heating fuel; service is provided by Midwest Energy, Inc.

Media

''The Ellis Review'' is the local newspaper, published weekly. Ellis is in the Wichita-Hutchinson, Kansas television market.

Culture

Points of interest

Ellis is the site of Walter P. Chrysler Boyhood Home and Museum. Chrysler, founder of the Chrysler Corporation, grew up in Ellis. When he was 17, he began his career working in the railroad roundhouse, where he became a machinist's apprentice and developed his expertise for metal working and machinery. In the summer of 1993, the Chrysler Corporation recognized Chrysler's hometown by sponsoring a parade and Chrysler festival, attended by several members of the Chrysler family. A prototype

Dodge Viper The Dodge Viper is a sports car that was manufactured by Dodge (by SRT for 2013 and 2014), a division of American car manufacturer FCA US LLC from 1992 until 2017, having taken a brief hiatus in 2007 and from 2010 to 2012. Production of the two- ...

was loaned to the museum for one year. Founded in 1994, the Ellis Railroad Museum features items and photographs from Ellis's railroading past. A model train exhibit is also on display. Outside the museum is a miniature railroad that runs on a one-mile (1.6 km) loop track, called the BK&E Railroad. This stands for the "Buddy King and Ellis Railroad", named for its primary donor the late Francis "Buddy" King, a former mayor of Ellis who died in office in 1994.

Notable people

Notable individuals who were born in and/or have lived in Ellis include: * Martha L. Addis (1878-1942), jeweler in Topeka *

Walter Chrysler Walter Percy Chrysler (April 2, 1875 – August 18, 1940) was an American industrial pioneer in the automotive industry, American automotive industry executive and the founder and namesake of American Chrysler Corporation. Early life Chrysler wa ...

(1875-1940), founder of the Chrysler Corporation

Gallery

Historic Images of Ellis
Special Photo Collections at

Wichita State University Wichita State University (WSU) is a public research university in Wichita, Kansas, United States. It is governed by the Kansas Board of Regents. The university offers more than 60 undergraduate degree programs in more than 200 areas of study in ...

Library Image:Ellischurch.jpg, The Bukovina Society of the Americas (2007) Image:Ellishome.jpg, A Victorian house in Ellis (2007) Image:Ellisbigcreek.jpg, Big Creek Lake (2007)