Walker is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...

in Herzog Township,

Ellis County, Kansas Ellis County (county code EL) is a county located in the U.S. state of Kansas. As of the 2020 census, the county population was 28,934. Its county seat and most populous city is Hays. Ellis County is the official German Capital of Kansas. ...

, United States. It is located between Hays and Russell, along old Hwy 40 on the north side of I-70. Walker has 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 ...

with ZIP code 67674.

History

Settlers from

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

founded Walker in 1872. They likely named the settlement for Robert J. Walker, the 4th Territorial Governor of Kansas. From 1876 to 1878, they were joined by

Volga German The Volga Germans (german: Wolgadeutsche, ), russian: поволжские немцы, povolzhskiye nemtsy) are ethnic Germans who settled and historically lived along the Volga River in the region of southeastern European Russia around Saratov ...

immigrants and Plattdeutsch-speaking

Germans , native_name_lang = de , region1 = , pop1 = 72,650,269 , region2 = , pop2 = 534,000 , region3 = , pop3 = 157,000 3,322,405 , region4 = , pop4 = ...

from Ohio and

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia ...

who settled in the area. The first post office in Walker opened in 1873, closed temporarily in 1876, and then reopened in 1878. St. Ann's Church was built and dedicated in 1905. The community's first school was built in 1893, followed by a second building in 1925. The school has since closed but remains in use as a community center. In 1942, the

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cl ...

built Walker Army Airfield northwest of Walker. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, thousands were stationed at the airfield, mostly for training in operation of the Boeing B-29 Superfortress bomber aircraft. The military closed the base in 1946. Construction of

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 ...

reached Walker in 1966, passing immediately south of the community.

Geography

Walker is located at (38.8672339, -99.0759271) at an elevation of 1,942 feet (592 m). It lies approximately 1.5 miles (2.3 km) west of Walker Creek, part 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 ...

watershed, in 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. Walker is immediately north of

roughly 13 miles (21 km) east 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 ...

Transportation

Walker Avenue, a paved county road, runs north–south through Walker, intersecting

and U.S. Route 40, which run concurrently east-west, immediately south of town. The old alignment of U.S. 40, now a paved county road, runs northeast–southwest through Walker. The Kansas Pacific (KP) line of the

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 ...

runs northeast–southwest through Walker, parallel to the old alignment of U.S. 40.

References

External links

* Ellis County maps
CurrentHistoric
KDOT {{Authority control Unincorporated communities in Ellis County, Kansas Unincorporated communities in Kansas

History

Geography

Transportation

See also

References

Further reading

External links