Garden City is a city in and the

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...

of Finney County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 28,151. The city is home to 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 Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who Invention, invent, design, build, maintain and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials. They aim to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while ...

Charles Van Trump. The land was a loose, sandy loam and covered with

sagebrush Sagebrush is the common name of several woody and herbaceous species of plants in the genus ''Artemisia (plant), Artemisia''. The best-known sagebrush is the shrub ''Artemisia tridentata''. Sagebrush is native to the western half of North Amer ...

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 A drought is a period of drier-than-normal conditions.Douville, H., K. Raghavan, J. Renwick, R.P. Allan, P.A. Arias, M. Barlow, R. Cerezo-Mota, A. Cherchi, T.Y. Gan, J. Gergis, D. Jiang, A. Khan, W. Pokam Mba, D. Rosenfeld, J. Tierney, ...

irrigation Irrigation (also referred to as watering of plants) is the practice of applying controlled amounts of water to land to help grow crops, landscape plants, and lawns. Irrigation has been a key aspect of agriculture for over 5,000 years and has bee ...

arrived in Finney County in 1879, with completion of the "Garden City Ditch". The ditch helped to launch an agricultural boom in southwestern 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 A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letter (message), letters and parcel (package), parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post o ...

, 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 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, borough counc ...

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

In October 2016, Gavin Wright, Curtis Allen, and Patrick Stein were arrested by the

FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and Federal law enforcement in the United States, its principal federal law enforcement ag ...

for plotting a bombing attack on a mosque and the housing complex where some of the town's Somali community live. 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 sentenced to 25–30 years in prison.

Geography

Garden City lies on the north side of the

Arkansas River The Arkansas River is a major tributary of the Mississippi River. It generally flows to the east and southeast as it traverses the U.S. states of Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas. The river's source basin lies in Colorado, specifically ...

in the High Plains region of the

Great Plains The Great Plains is a broad expanse of plain, flatland in North America. The region stretches east of the Rocky Mountains, much of it covered in prairie, steppe, and grassland. They are the western part of the Interior Plains, which include th ...

. It is located in southwestern Kansas at the intersection of

U.S. Route 50 U.S. Route 50 or U.S. Highway 50 (US 50) is a major east–west route of the U.S. Highway system, stretching from Interstate 80 (I-80) in West Sacramento, California, to Maryland Route 528 (MD 528) in Ocean City, Maryland, on the Atlantic ...

and U.S. Route 83, Garden City is west-northwest of Wichita, north-northeast of Amarillo, and southeast of

Denver Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...

. According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

, 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 Tornado Alley, also known as Tornado Valley, is a loosely defined location of the central United States and, in the 21st century, Canada where tornadoes are most frequent. The term was first used in 1952 as the title of a research project to st ...

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

There is a Main Downtown and Commercial Downtown. *Main 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. *Commercial Downtown is centered mainly on East Kansas Avenue and on LaRue Road. It is the home of many businesses

Demographics

Garden City is included in the "Garden City, Kansas Micropolitan statistical area", which consists of Finney and Kearny Counties.

2020 census

The 2020 United States census counted 28,151 people, 9,676 households, and 6,679 families in Garden City. 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). The racial makeup was 47.38% (13,339)

white White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

European American European Americans are Americans of European ancestry. This term includes both people who descend from the first European settlers in the area of the present-day United States and people who descend from more recent European arrivals. Since th ...

(33.26%

non-Hispanic white Non-Hispanic Whites, also referred to as White Anglo Americans or Non-Latino Whites, are White Americans who are classified by the United States census as "White" and not of Hispanic or Latino origin. According to annual estimates from the Unit ...

), 5.18% (1,459)

black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...

African-American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...

, 0.88% (249) Native American or

Alaska Native Alaska Natives (also known as Native Alaskans, Alaskan Indians, or Indigenous Alaskans) are the Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Indigenous peoples of Alaska that encompass a diverse arena of cultural and linguistic groups, including the I ...

, 5.29% (1,490) Asian, 0.1% (27)

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...

Native Hawaiian Native Hawaiians (also known as Indigenous Hawaiians, Kānaka Maoli, Aboriginal Hawaiians, or simply Hawaiians; , , , and ) are the Indigenous peoples of Oceania, Indigenous Polynesians, Polynesian people of the Hawaiian Islands. Hawaiʻi was set ...

, 17.35% (4,885) from other races, and 23.81% (6,702) from two or more races.

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race was 54.05% (15,217) of the population. Of the 9,676 households, 39.0% had children under the age of 18; 47.5% were married couples living together; 25.2% had a female householder with no spouse or partner present. 25.1% of households consisted of individuals and 8.4% 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 percent of those with a bachelor's degree or higher was estimated to be 10.0% of the population. 28.5% of the population was under the age of 18, 11.6% from 18 to 24, 26.5% from 25 to 44, 22.0% from 45 to 64, and 11.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 31.6 years. For every 100 females, there were 99.1 males. For every 100 females ages 18 and older, there were 100.1 males. The 2016-2020 5-year

American Community Survey The American Community Survey (ACS) is an annual demographics survey program conducted by the United States Census Bureau. It regularly gathers information previously contained only in the long form of the United States census, decennial census ...

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 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 ...

, including 19.6% of those under the age of 18 and 16.1% of those ages 65 or over.

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 White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 4.4% Asian, 2.8%

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 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 Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

for the city was $20,066. About 7.1% of families and 12.5% of the population were below the

, including 18.5% of those under age 18 and 6.0% of those age 65 or over. In the 2020 census, the Hispanic population of Garden City totaled 53.1 percent of the total population. Garden City is one of three cities in Kansas, along with Dodge City and Liberal, which has an Hispanic-majority population.

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 National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...

, "some say" the residents may speak up to 40 different languages; at least 27 were spoken. The 2020 census found that 53.1 percent of the city's population was Hispanic. 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 Kansas State University (KSU, Kansas State, or K-State) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university with its main campus in Manhattan, Kansas, United States. It was opened as the state's land-grant coll ...

).
Garden City: Meatpacking and Immigration to the High Plains – Dr. Janet E. Benson
"

University of California, Davis The University of California, Davis (UC Davis, UCD, or Davis) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Davis, California, United States. It is the northernmost of the ten campuses of the University ...

. Retrieved February 25, 2017. After the

Fall of Saigon The fall of Saigon, known in Vietnam as Reunification Day (), was the capture of Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam, by North Vietnam on 30 April 1975. As part of the 1975 spring offensive, this decisive event led to the collapse of the So ...

in 1975 immigrants from

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...

began coming to Garden City. Garden City Catholics sponsored an initial group of Vietnamese immigrants that year. More Vietnamese came in the 1980s during a wave of immigration, and Lao people also came with them. Dr. Janet E. Benson of

stated that perhaps about half originated from Wichita as they had lost work during industry layoffs there. The second group of Vietnamese were less educated than the first, and they were more likely to be Buddhist as opposed to being Christian. In their home country they had originally done agricultural and/or fishing work. By the late 1980s many Mexican immigrants replaced Vietnamese immigrants who had moved away from Garden City as they accumulated enough capital to seek employment elsewhere.

Economy

The economy of Garden City is driven largely by agriculture. There are several feedlots and grain elevators located in and around the city. Additionally, an ethanol plant, Bonanza Bioenergy was built in 2007 by Conestoga Energy Partners which uses 19.6 million bushels of grain. As of 2012, 73.9% of the population over the age of 16 was in the labor force. 0.0% was in the armed forces, and 73.9% was in the civilian labor force with 71.5% being employed and 2.4% unemployed. The composition, by occupation, of the employed civilian labor force was: 23.8% in production, transportation, and material moving; 23.5% in management, business, science, and arts; 21.9% in sales and office occupations; 19.2% in service occupations; and 11.5% in natural resources, construction, and maintenance. The industries employing the largest percentages of the working civilian labor force were educational services, health care, and social assistance (20.4%); manufacturing (19.3%); and retail trade (15.0%). The cost of living in Garden City is relatively low; compared to a U.S. average of 100, the cost of living index for the city is 81.6. As of 2012, the median home value in the city was $103,400, the median selected monthly owner cost was $1,159 for housing units with a mortgage and $455 for those without, and the median gross rent was $665.

Top employers

According to Garden City's 2021 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report, the top employers in the city are:

Government

Garden City is a city of the first class with a commission-manager form of government. The city commission consists of five commissioners elected

at-large At large (''before a noun'': at-large) is a description for members of a governing body who are elected or appointed to represent a whole membership or population (notably a city, county, state, province, nation, club or association), rather tha ...

. It meets on the first and third Tuesday of each month. The commission sets goals and policy for the city, approves the city budget, and directs the

city manager A city manager is an official appointed as the administrative manager of a city in the council–manager form of city government. Local officials serving in this position are referred to as the chief executive officer (CEO) or chief administ ...

. Annually, the commission selects one member to serve as

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, 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 responsibilitie ...

who then presides over commission meetings. The city manager implements policies set by the commission and administers the city's operations, departments, and employees. As the

, Garden City is the administrative center of Finney County. The

county courthouse A courthouse or court house is a structure which houses judicial functions for a governmental entity such as a state, region, province, county, prefecture, regency, or similar governmental unit. A courthouse is home to one or more courtrooms, ...

is downtown, and all departments of the county government base their operations in the city. Garden City lies within Kansas's 1st U.S. Congressional District. For the purposes of representation in the Kansas Legislature, the city is located in the 39th 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 about 73,000 inhabitants. Members o ...

and the 122nd and 123rd districts 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 craftin ...

Education

Colleges

Garden City Community College (GCCC) is a fully accredited community college. GCCC is a member of the

Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference The Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference (KJCCC) is a college athletic conference that is a member of the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA). As of 2007, the KJCCC was home to more than 3,000 student-athletes in the 19 ...

(KJCCC), one of the conferences in the

National Junior College Athletic Association The National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) is the governing association of community college, state college, and junior college athletics throughout the United States. Currently the NJCAA holds 24 separate regions across 24 states ...

(NJCAA).

Primary and secondary

The community is served by Garden City USD 457 public school district, which operates Garden City High School.

Infrastructure

Transportation

and U.S. Route 400, both east–west highways, meet U.S. Route 83, a north–south highway, in the southeast part of the city. A U.S. 50

business route A business route (or business loop, business spur, or city route) in the United States is a short special route that branches off a parent numbered highway at its beginning, continues through the central business district of a nearby city or to ...

continues west from the intersection into the city. U.S. 50, U.S. 400, and U.S. 83 run concurrently around the city's eastern and northern fringe. Northwest of the city, U.S. 50 and U.S. 400 continue west while U.S. 83 turns north. South of the city, a U.S. 83 business route splits off from the main highway and enters the city as Main Street. Downtown, it intersects the U.S. 50 business route, and the two run concurrently north out of the city, terminating northwest of the city at the junction of U.S. 50 and U.S. 83. Garden City is also the western terminus of K-156 which enters the city from the northeast. Garden City was located on the National Old Trails Road, also known as the Ocean-to-Ocean Highway, that was established in 1912. Finney County Transit operates City Link, a

public transport bus service Public transport bus services are generally based on regular operation of transit buses along a route calling at agreed bus stops according to a published public transport timetable. History of buses Origins While there are indications o ...

with four routes in the city, as well as a

minibus A minibus, microbus, or minicoach is a passenger-carrying motor vehicle that is designed to carry more people than a multi-purpose vehicle or minivan, but fewer people than a full-size bus. In the United Kingdom, the word "minibus" is us ...

paratransit Paratransit (also community transport in the United Kingdom, or intermediate public transport) is a type of public transport service that supplements fixed-route mass transit by providing individualized rides without fixed routes or timetables. P ...

service. Bus service is provided daily eastward towards Wichita by BeeLine Express (subcontractor of

Greyhound Lines Greyhound Lines, Inc. is an American operator of Intercity bus service, intercity bus services. Greyhound operates the largest intercity bus network in the United States, and also operates charter and Amtrak Thruway services, as well as interci ...

). Garden City Regional Airport is located approximately southeast of the city. Used primarily for

general aviation General aviation (GA) is defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) as all civil aviation aircraft operations except for commercial air transport or aerial work, which is defined as specialized aviation services for other ...

, it is connected to the

American Airlines American Airlines, Inc. is a major airlines of the United States, major airline in the United States headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, within the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, and is the Largest airlines in the world, largest airline in the ...

network via American Eagle regional service to

Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport Dallas Fort Worth International Airport is the primary international airport serving the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex and the North Texas region, in the U.S. state of Texas. It is the largest hub for American Airlines, which is headquartere ...

under the

Essential Air Service Essential Air Service (EAS) is a U.S. government program enacted to guarantee that small communities in the United States, which had been served by certificated airlines prior to deregulation in 1978, maintain commercial service. Its aim is ...

program. Three rail lines serve Garden City: the La Junta Subdivision of the

BNSF Railway BNSF Railway is the largest freight railroad in the United States. One of six North American Class I railroads, BNSF has 36,000 employees, of track in 28 states, and over 8,000 locomotives. It has three Transcontinental railroad, transcontine ...

, which runs southeast–northwest, and the two lines of the Garden City Western Railway, of which the city is the southern and eastern terminus.

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak (; ), is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates intercity rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...

uses the La Junta Subdivision to provide passenger rail service; Garden City is a stop on the ''

Southwest Chief The ''Southwest Chief'' (formerly the ''Southwest Limited'' and ''Super Chief'') is a Amtrak Long Distance, long-distance passenger train operated by Amtrak on a route between Chicago and Los Angeles through the Midwest and American Southwest ...

'' line.

Health care

Garden City is served by St. Catherine Hospital. The Southwest Kansas Surgery Center, Heart Center, Cancer Center and Maternal Child Center provide additional employment, as do several other health-related businesses.

Media

The '' Garden City Telegram'' is the local newspaper, published six days a week. Along with Dodge City, Garden City is a center of broadcast media for southwestern Kansas. Two AM radio stations and seven FM radio stations, including one of the two flagship stations of High Plains Public Radio, broadcast from the city. Garden City is in the Wichita-Hutchinson, Kansas television market, and four television stations are licensed to or broadcast from the city. These stations include

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

-affliated KSNG, ABC-affiliated KUPK, and FOX-affiliated KAAS-LP, all of which are satellite stations of their respective affiliates in Wichita. The fourth station, KGCE-LD, is a sister station of KDGL-LD in Sublette, Kansas.

Culture

Arts and music

Garden City Arts is a non-profit organization. Its gallery offers 10 to 12 exhibits per year along with internships and educational programming. In recent years, an annual music festival called the Hillside Sessions has taken place at an historic structure which over the decades has been a barn, an industrial atelier and a dance hall. An annual music festival called the Tumbleweed Festival is held over a weekend in late August every year at Lee Richardson Zoo. Usually performers are a mix of local talent and acts brought in by the festival board.

Points of interest

Initially named by its developers "The Big Dipper", Garden City's "The Big Pool" is larger than a 100-yard football field, holds 2.2 million gallons of water and is large enough to accommodate water-skiing. Originally hand-dug in 1922, a bathhouse was added by the

Works Progress Administration The Works Progress Administration (WPA; from 1935 to 1939, then known as the Work Projects Administration from 1939 to 1943) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to car ...

during the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

, and local farmers used horse-drawn soil-scrapers to later enlarge the pool. The pool hosts 50-meter Olympic swimming lanes, three water slides, and a children's pool with zero-entry depth. The pool employs a minimum of 14 lifeguards, two slide assistants, three admission clerks, two concession workers and a pool manager on duty each day. Advertised for years as "The World's Largest, Free, Outdoor, Municipal, Concrete Swimming Pool", the pool has been known to count up to 2,000 patrons during the summer months. In order to finance improvements made in recent years, an admission fee is now charged. In 2020 the Big Pool was renovated and re-branded as Garden City Rapids. Several large water slides and a lazy river were added. Located inside Finnup Park, the pool is co-located with Finney County Historical Museum and Lee Richardson Zoo, the largest zoological facility in western Kansas, housing more than 300 animals representing 110 species. Walking tours are free to the public; there is a charge for driving into the zoo. A few miles from Finnup Park, the Big Pool and Lee Richardson Zoo is the Buffalo Game Preserve, with one of the largest herds of bison in the world. The Windsor Hotel, built downtown in 1887 by John A. Stevens, was known as the "Waldorf of the Prairies" because of its lavish quarters. Among its early guests were

Eddie Foy Edwin Fitzgerald (March 9, 1856 – February 16, 1928Cullen, Frank; Hackman, Florence; and McNeilly, Donald. ''Vaudeville, Old and New: An Encyclopedia of Variety Performers in America''. Routledge Press, September 2006, . pp. 406–410), ...

, Lillian Russell,

Jay Gould Jason Gould (; May 27, 1836 – December 2, 1892) was an American railroad magnate and financial speculator who founded the Gould family, Gould business dynasty. He is generally identified as one of the Robber baron (industrialist), robber bar ...

and

Buffalo Bill Cody William Frederick Cody (February 26, 1846January 10, 1917), better known as Buffalo Bill, was an American soldier, bison hunter, and showman. One of the most famous figures of the American Old West, Cody started his legend at the young age o ...

, who stayed in the presidential suite on the third floor. The Windsor, which closed in 1977, is owned by the Finney County Preservation Alliance. The hotel is four stories high, or about tall. The Finney County Preservation Alliance is working with New Communities LLC of Denver, Colorado to renovate the hotel into a 65-room boutique hotel with restaurant and bar on the ground floor.

In popular culture and the arts

Garden City is depicted in

Truman Capote Truman Garcia Capote ( ; born Truman Streckfus Persons; September 30, 1924 – August 25, 1984) was an American novelist, screenwriter, playwright, and actor. Several of his short stories, novels, and plays have been praised as literary classics ...

's '' In Cold Blood''. Billie Jo Spears' 1969 ''Billboard'' country hit song "Mr. Walker, It's All Over" is about a young woman from Garden City who moves to New York City to become a big-city secretary and quickly becomes disenchanted.

Sports

Garden City is home to the Garden City Wind baseball team, which plays in the

Pecos League The Pecos League of Professional Baseball Clubs is an independent professional baseball league headquartered in Houston, which operates in cities in desert mountain regions throughout California, New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, ...

. Garden City is also home to the Garden City High School Buffaloes. The school offers football, basketball, soccer, wrestling, track and field, baseball, softball, tennis, and swimming. Garden City is a part of the 6A level of sports in the state of Kansas. The Buffaloes have had success in wrestling, winning eleven state titles. The school has had success in football as well, winning the state championship in 1999. The football team at Garden City Community College won the NJCAA National Championship in 2016. The college sponsors teams in 14 sports. The teams are known as the Broncbusters, often shortened to the Busters. The colors are seal brown and gold.

Notable people

Notable individuals who were born in or have lived in Garden City include novelist Sanora Babb, jazz pianist Frank Mantooth, former

Governor of Colorado The governor of Colorado is the head of government of the U.S. state of Colorado. The governor (United States), governor is the head of the Executive (government), executive branch of Government of Colorado, Colorado's state government and is cha ...

Roy Romer Roy Rudolf Romer (born October 31, 1928) is an American politician who served as the 39th Governor of Colorado from 1987 to 1999, and subsequently as the superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District from 2000 to 2006. Romer was a ...

, professional football players Thurman "Fum" McGraw and Hal Patterson and successful professional boxers Victor Ortiz, Antonio Orozco, and Brandon Rios.

Sister cities

* Ciudad Quesada, Costa Rica * Oristano,

Sardinia Sardinia ( ; ; ) is the Mediterranean islands#By area, second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, and one of the Regions of Italy, twenty regions of Italy. It is located west of the Italian Peninsula, north of Tunisia an ...

, Italy

Gallery

File:Downtown Garden City, KS IMG_5935.JPG, Downtown Garden City File:Finney County, KS, Public Library IMG_5873.JPG, The Finney County

Public Library A public library is a library, most often a lending library, that is accessible by the general public and is usually funded from public sources, such as taxes. It is operated by librarians and library paraprofessionals, who are also Civil servic ...

in Garden City File:Former State Theater, Garden City, KS IMG_5936.JPG, Defunct State Theatre in downtown Garden City File:Community Congregational Church, Garden City, KS IMG_5878.JPG, Community

Congregational Church Congregationalism (also Congregational Churches or Congregationalist Churches) is a Reformed Christian (Calvinist) tradition of Protestant Christianity in which churches practice congregational government. Each congregation independently a ...

in Garden City File:St. Thomas' Episcopal Church, Garden City, KS IMG_5872.JPG, St. Thomas' Episcopal Church in Garden City File:Pleasant Valley School, Garden City, KS IMG_5928.JPG, The former Pleasant Valley School has been relocated to Finnup Park in Garden City. File:Garden City, KS, Western Railway Co. train IMG_5912.JPG, The Garden City Western Railway Company train on display in Finnup Park File:Garden City, Kansas aerial view.jpg, Aerial view of Garden City

References

External links

City of Garden City

Garden City - Directory of Public Officials

Finney County Convention and Visitors Bureau

"How a meatpacking plant changed one Kansas town 40 years ago and left a Colorado community behind"
- KSNW tv
Garden City map
KDOT {{Authority control Cities in Kansas County seats in Kansas Cities in Finney County, Kansas Micropolitan areas of Kansas Populated places established in 1878 Kansas populated places on the Arkansas River 1878 establishments in Kansas