Goodland 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 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 ...

of Sherman 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 the ...

, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 4,465. It was named after

Goodland, Indiana Goodland is a town in Grant Township in Newton County, Indiana. The population was 1,043 at the 2010 census. History Goodland was laid out in 1861. The town was named from the quality of its soil. A post office has been in operation at Goodlan ...

. Goodland is home to

Northwest Kansas Technical College Northwest Kansas Technical College is a public technical college in Goodland, Kansas, United States. The college offers 14 different programs ranging from diesel technology to medical assistant. The college also offers certificates and associate ...

History

One of the earliest pieces of recorded history relating to Goodland concerns the Kidder Massacre. On July 2, 1867, a detachment of the

2nd Cavalry Regiment (United States) The 2nd Cavalry Regiment, also known as the 2nd Dragoons, is an active Stryker infantry and cavalry regiment of the United States Army. The Second Cavalry Regiment is a unit of the United States Army Europe and Africa, with its garrison at ...

was massacred; second lieutenant Lyman S. Kidder in command of the party, a sergeant, a corporal, eight privates and an Indian guide lost their lives. They were carrying dispatches for Lieutenant Colonel

George Custer George Armstrong Custer (December 5, 1839 – June 25, 1876) was a United States Army officer and cavalry commander in the American Civil War and the American Indian Wars. Custer graduated from West Point in 1861 at the bottom of his class, ...

. Later, Custer found evidence of a running battle along Beaver Creek, which led to a ravine where the remains were found. They had been killed by

Cheyenne The Cheyenne ( ) are an Indigenous people of the Great Plains. Their Cheyenne language belongs to the Algonquian language family. Today, the Cheyenne people are split into two federally recognized nations: the Southern Cheyenne, who are enroll ...

and/or

Sioux The Sioux or Oceti Sakowin (; Dakota language, Dakota: Help:IPA, /otʃʰeːtʰi ʃakoːwĩ/) are groups of Native Americans in the United States, Native American tribes and First Nations in Canada, First Nations peoples in North America. The ...

Indians. In 1886, there were four communities vying to become county seat for Sherman County: Itasca, Voltaire, Sherman Center and Eustis. A man named Clark showed up in the county in 1887 proposing to create a new town to settle the dispute. The new town was to be named Goodland. A vote for the county seat was held among the county population and Goodland won with 872 of the 1495 votes cast while with Eustis received 611 and Voltaire received 12. Citizens of Eustis declared that the votes were unfair but the state department said that nothing could be done as all the voting was complete. The

Supreme Court of Kansas The Kansas Supreme Court is the highest judicial authority in the state of Kansas. Composed of seven justices, led by Chief Justice Marla Luckert, the court supervises the legal profession, administers the judicial branch, and serves as the State ...

considered various proceedings but did not change the outcome of the vote. Eustis refused to yield the county records it held until January 13, 1888, when an armed group from Goodland seized the records and sent them to the new county seat. Goodland sprang up around the

Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad The Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad (CRI&P RW, sometimes called ''Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railway'') was an American Class I railroad. It was also known as the Rock Island Line, or, in its final years, The Rock. At the end ...

that had been built through it. The town was named after

Geography

Goodland is located at (39.3508330, −101.7101722) at an elevation of 3,681 feet (1,122 m). It lies on the south side of the Middle Fork of Sappa Creek, part of the

Republican River The Republican River is a river in the central Great Plains of North America, rising in the High Plains (United States), High Plains of eastern Colorado and flowing east U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline ...

watershed, in the

High Plains High Plains refers to one of two distinct land regions: * High Plains (United States), land region of the western Great Plains *High Plains (Australia) The High Plains of south-eastern Australia are a sub-region, or more strictly a string of adja ...

region of the

Great Plains The Great Plains (french: Grandes Plaines), sometimes simply "the Plains", is a broad expanse of flatland in North America. It is located west of the Mississippi River and east of the Rocky Mountains, much of it covered in prairie, steppe, an ...

. Located at the intersection of

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

and K-27 in northwest Kansas, Goodland is roughly east of the

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

state line, 176 miles east-southeast of

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

, northwest of Wichita, and west of

Kansas City The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more ...

. 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 the ...

, the city has a total area of , of which is land and is water.

Climate

Goodland's climate is officially classed as

humid continental A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers and freez ...

(

Koppen Koppen is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Dan Koppen (born 1979), American football offensive lineman * Erwin Koppen (1929–1990), German literary scholar * Luise Koppen (1855–1922), German author * Wladimir Köppen (1846� ...

''Dfa''); although it only just misses a

semi-arid A semi-arid climate, semi-desert climate, or steppe climate is a dry climate sub-type. It is located on regions that receive precipitation below potential evapotranspiration, but not as low as a desert climate. There are different kinds of semi-ar ...

(''Bsk'') classification and is also close to a wet-summer continental climate (''Dwa''). Winters are generally cold and dry, summers hot and moderately wet. The average temperature for the year is 51 °F (10 °C) with temperatures exceeding 90 °F (32 °C) an average of 50 days a year and dropping below 32 °F (0 °C) an average of 159 days a year. Due to its higher elevation, Goodland experiences stronger wind and higher snowfall totals than other locations in Kansas. Wind speed averages . On average, Goodland receives 19.75 inches (502 mm) of precipitation annually, and snowfall averages 41.9 inches (1,064 mm) per year. On average, January is the coolest month, and July is both the warmest month and the wettest month. The hottest temperature recorded in Goodland was 111 °F (44 °C) in 1940; the coldest temperature recorded was −27 °F (−33 °C) in 1989.

Demographics

2010 census

As of the

census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses incl ...

of 2010, there were 4,489 people, 1,985 households, and 1,161 families residing in the city. The

population density Population density (in agriculture: 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 term.Matt RosenberPopul ...

was . There were 2,395 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 93.0%

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 on ...

, 0.7%

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 ...

, 0.4% Native American, 0.4%

Asian Asian may refer to: * Items from or related to the continent of Asia: ** Asian people, people in or descending from Asia ** Asian culture, the culture of the people from Asia ** Asian cuisine, food based on the style of food of the people from Asi ...

, 0.1%

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, 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 the original p ...

, 3.3% from

other races Other often refers to: * Other (philosophy), a concept in psychology and philosophy Other or The Other may also refer to: Film and television * ''The Other'' (1913 film), a German silent film directed by Max Mack * ''The Other'' (1930 film), a ...

, and 2.1% from two or more races.

Hispanic The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad. The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to Vic ...

Latino Latino or Latinos most often refers to: * Latino (demonym), a term used in the United States for people with cultural ties to Latin America * Hispanic and Latino Americans in the United States * The people or cultures of Latin America; ** Latin A ...

of any race were 11.0% of the population. There were 1,985 households, of which 27.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 44.2% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognized union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children, and between t ...

living together, 10.0% had a female householder with no husband present, 4.3% had a male householder with no wife present, and 41.5% were non-families. 36.0% of all households were made up of individuals, and 15.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.21 and the average family size was 2.85. The median age in the city was 40 years. 22.7% of residents were under the age of 18; 10.1% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 22.2% were from 25 to 44; 25.9% were from 45 to 64; and 19% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the city was 49.3% male and 50.7% female.

2000 census

As of the census of 2000, there were 4,948 people, 2,085 households, and 1,259 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,127.1 people per square mile (435.2/km). There were 2,410 housing units at an average density of 549.0 per square mile (212.0/km). The racial makeup of the city was 93.35% White, 0.42% African American, 0.32% Native American, 0.24% Asian, 0.12%

, 4.53% from

, and 1.01% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 9.03% of the population. There were 2,085 households, out of which 27.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 50.5% were married couples living together, 7.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 39.6% were non-families. 32.4% of all households were made up of individuals, and 16.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.31 and the average family size was 2.95. In the city, the population was spread out, with 23.3% under the age of 18, 13.9% from 18 to 24, 23.3% from 25 to 44, 21.5% from 45 to 64, and 18.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females, there were 103.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 100.6 males. As of 2000 the median income for a household in the city was $31,356, and the median income for a family was $38,309. Males had a median income of $28,589 versus $20,798 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 $17,105. About 9.7% of families and 12.1% 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 11.4% of those under age 18 and 8.1% of those age 65 or over.

Government

Goodland utilizes a council-manager style of government. Five commissioners are elected at large. A mayor is elected from among the commission to serve ceremonial purposes and chair the commission meetings. The commission is responsible for appointing a city manager, who handles the day-to-day operations of the city. Goodland has a full-time police department that provides 24/7 law enforcement coverage within the city limits. The city also boasts its own power plant, which ensures that citizens can access electricity even if outside power sources become unavailable. The National Weather Service maintains a full-featured Weather Forecast Office in Goodland with doppler radar and a 19 County Warning Area (CWA) including three counties in eastern

, three counties in southwest

Nebraska Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the southwe ...

and 13 counties in northwest

. Aviation forecasts are created for two sites: Goodland, Kansas, and

McCook, Nebraska McCook is a city in and the county seat of Red Willow County, Nebraska, United States. The population was 7,446 at the 2020 census. History McCook was platted in 1882 when the Burlington and Missouri River Railroad was extended to that point. I ...

. The office also has a fire weather and hydrologic program. The surface observation program is limited to the supplemental climatological observations. The office supports approximately 75 observers in the cooperative observer program. The office employs 22 people.

Education

Goodland, Kansas Carnegie library from S 1

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 ...

352 operates three

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichkei ...

schools in the city: * West Elementary School (

Grades Grade most commonly refers to: * Grade (education), a measurement of a student's performance * Grade, the number of the year a student has reached in a given educational stage * Grade (slope), the steepness of a slope Grade or grading may also r ...

from

pre-kindergarten Pre-kindergarten (also called Pre-K or PK) is a voluntary classroom-based preschool program for children below the age of five in the United States, Canada, Turkey and Greece (when kindergarten starts). It may be delivered through a preschool ...

to 2) * North School (3–6) * Goodland Junior Senior High School (7–12)

Colleges and universities

Media

''The Goodland Star-News'' is the city's sole newspaper, published twice weekly. Four radio stations are

licensed A license (or licence) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit). A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another party (licensee) as an element of an agreeme ...

to and/or broadcast from Goodland.

KLOE KLOE (730 AM) is a radio station that serves western Kansas from the town of Goodland, Kansas. The station's format is described as sports. Severe weather is also covered. The station carries an extensive schedule of high school football and ...

broadcasts a

full service Full service or Full Service may refer to: * Full-service radio, a wide range of programming * Full Service Network, a communications company Entertainment * "Full Service", a song by the New Kids on the Block from their album ''The Block'' * F ...

News News is information about current events. This may be provided through many different Media (communication), media: word of mouth, printing, Mail, postal systems, broadcasting, Telecommunications, electronic communication, or through the tes ...

Talk Talk may refer to: Communication * Communication, the encoding and decoding of exchanged messages between people * Conversation, interactive communication between two or more people * Lecture, an oral presentation intended to inform or instruct ...

format on 730 AM. KKCI plays a

Classic Rock Classic rock is a US radio format which developed from the album-oriented rock (AOR) format in the early 1980s. In the United States, the classic rock format comprises rock music ranging generally from the mid-1960s through the mid 1990s, primar ...

format, broadcasting on 102.5 FM. KWGB, which is licensed to

Colby, Kansas Colby is a city in and the county seat of Thomas County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 5,570. History In 1882, a post office was established near the center of Thomas County. Area homesteaders li ...

, broadcasts from Goodland on 97.9 FM, playing a

Country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, while the ...

format. Licensed to Goodland, KGCR broadcasts on 107.7 FM from near

Brewster, Kansas Brewster is a city in Thomas County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 291. History Brewster was named for L.D. Brewster, a railroad official. Brewster was a station and shipping point on the Chicago ...

, playing a

Christian Contemporary Contemporary Christian music, also known as CCM, Christian pop, and occasionally inspirational music is a genre of modern popular music, and an aspect of Christian media, which is lyrically focused on matters related to the Christian faith and s ...

format. Goodland is in the Wichita-Hutchinson, Kansas television market.

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

affiliate

KBSL-DT KBSL-DT (channel 10) is a television station licensed to Goodland, Kansas, United States, serving northwestern Kansas as an affiliate of CBS. Owned by Gray Television, the station maintains a news bureau and advertising sales office on West 31st ...

, a satellite station of

KWCH-DT KWCH-DT (channel 12) is a television station licensed to Hutchinson, Kansas, United States, serving the Wichita area as an affiliate of CBS. It is owned by Gray Television alongside CW affiliate KSCW-DT (channel 33), and maintains studios on 3 ...

in Wichita, is licensed to Goodland and broadcasts on digital channel 10. Due to Goodland and the rest of Sherman County observing Mountain time, prime-time television programming airs from 6 to 9 p.m., instead of 7 to 10 as is normal in the Central time zone.

Culture

Attractions

An 80-foot high reproduction of

Vincent van Gogh Vincent Willem van Gogh (; 30 March 185329 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionism, Post-Impressionist painter who posthumously became one of the most famous and influential figures in Western art history. In a decade, he created about 2 ...

's painting 3 Sunflowers in a Vase was erected in 2001 by artist

Cameron Cross Cameron may refer to: People * Clan Cameron, a Scottish clan * Cameron (given name), a given name (including a list of people with the name) * Cameron (surname), a surname (including a list of people with the name) ;Mononym * Cam'ron (born 1 ...

. After the installation suffered damage from exposure to the weather, Cross returned in 2012 to repaint the piece using a brighter palette. The High Plains Museum includes a replica of the "gyrocopter", a commercially unsuccessful powered

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attributes ...

built in Goodland. After the company formed to build the machine disbanded, it was awarded a

patent A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A p ...

in 1912, believed to be the first United States patent for a rotary-winged aircraft.

In popular culture

*In L.E. Howel's novel, ''Planetfall'', Goodland is the hometown of astronaut Karla Dawson and is a featured location in the story. *In T.D. Shields' novels, "Into Shadow" and "Into Light," Goodland is the site of the new national capital after Washington D.C. (among many other cities) is destroyed by war and climate change. *"Goodland" (2014) directed by Josh Doke is set in a fictional rendering of the town and is shot primarily in and around the City of Goodland. *Goodland is mentioned along with other small Kansas towns in issue 37 of the Vertigo comic book series "The Sandman".

Notable people

Notable individuals who were born in and/or have lived in Goodland include: *

Milo Baughman Milo Ray Baughman, Jr. (October 7, 1923 – July 23, 2003) born in Goodland, Kansas, was a modern furniture designer. Baughman designed for a number of furniture companies starting in the mid-1940s until his death, including Mode Furniture, Gle ...

(1923–2003), furniture designer *

Brook Berringer Brook Warren Berringer (July 9, 1973 – April 18, 1996) was an American quarterback for the University of Nebraska football team in the mid-1990s. Berringer came to Nebraska from Goodland, Kansas, and played a backup role to Tommie Frazier. He wa ...

(1973–1996), football quarterback for

University of Nebraska A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, the ...

* John Delehant (1890–1972), U.S. federal judge * Harry Felt (1902–1992),

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage o ...

Admiral *

Mike Friede Michael Gordon Friede (born September 22, 1957) is a former American football wide receiver who played two seasons in the National Football League (NFL) with the Detroit Lions and New York Giants. He was drafted by the Lions in the third round of ...

(1957- ), football wide receiver * Dave Jones (1947– ), football wide receiver *

Tinker Keck Tinker "Ty" Keck (born August 10, 1976 in Colby, Kansas) is a Hollywood fitness trainer, former NFL defensive back for the New York Giants and XFL's Los Angeles Xtreme and former actor. High school years Keck attended Colby High School in Col ...

(1976– ), actor and former NFL for the

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. ...

and football player for

University of Cincinnati The University of Cincinnati (UC or Cincinnati) is a public research university in Cincinnati, Ohio. Founded in 1819 as Cincinnati College, it is the oldest institution of higher education in Cincinnati and has an annual enrollment of over 44,00 ...

Marla Luckert Marla J. Luckert (born July 20, 1955) is the chief justice of the Kansas Supreme Court appointed by Governor Bill Graves on November 20, 2002, and sworn on January 13, 2003. Personal life Marla J. Luckert was born in Goodland, Kansas. At Washbu ...

(1955– ),

Kansas Supreme Court The Kansas Supreme Court is the highest judicial authority in the state of Kansas. Composed of seven justices, led by Chief Justice Marla Luckert, the court supervises the legal profession, administers the judicial branch, and serves as the sta ...

justice * Charles Sparks (1872–1937),

U.S. Representative The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they c ...

from Kansas * Deanell Tacha (1946– ), U.S. federal judge

References

External links

City of Goodland

Goodland - Directory of Public Officials

USD 352
local school district

Part of the

Big Easel The Big Easel is an installation art piece, created by Canadian artist Cameron Cross, and located in the town of Emerald in Central Queensland, Australia. Overview Erected in 1999, and unveiled in October of the same year, the installation art ...

Project
Goodland city map
KDOT {{Authority control Cities in Kansas County seats in Kansas Cities in Sherman County, Kansas Populated places established in 1887 1887 establishments in Kansas