Hodgeman County is a

county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

located in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

Kansas Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...

. Its

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 ...

and most populous city is Jetmore. As of the 2020 census, the county population was 1,723. It was named for Amos Hodgman, a member of the 7th Regiment Kansas Volunteer Cavalry.

History

In 1867, Hodgeman County was established and named for Amos Hodgman, member of the 7th Regiment Kansas Volunteer Cavalry. The letter E was later added to the namesake's name. The county was not formally organized until 1879. The Homestead Act of 1862 drew many settlers to the region beginning in the spring of 1877, with only a small amount of wheat sown that year due to hail damage. Crop yields improved in 1878. The county initially had several competing towns vying to become the county seat, including Buckner (present-day Jetmore), which eventually won out. While many small towns, such as Kidderville and Milroy, had sprung up in the early years of the county, only Jetmore and Hanston survived as permanent settlements. By the late 1870s, Hodgeman County had a population of approximately 1,500 people.

Geography

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 county has a total area of , of which (0.04%) is covered by water.

Adjacent counties

* Ness County (north) * Pawnee County (east) * Edwards County (southeast) * Ford County (south) * Gray County (southwest) * Finney County (west)

Demographics

As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2000, 2,085 people, 796 households, and 581 families were residing in the county. The

population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing 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 geog ...

was . The 945 housing units had an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 97.31%

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 ...

, 0.91%

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 Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 0.24% Native American, 0.48% from other races, and 1.06% 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 ...

s or Latinos of any race were 2.69% of the population. Of the 796

household A household consists of one or more persons who live in the same dwelling. It may be of a single family or another type of person group. The household is the basic unit of analysis in many social, microeconomic and government models, and is im ...

s, 34.7% had children under 18 living with them, 65.1% were married couples living together, 4.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 27.0% were not families. About 24.7% of all households were made up of individuals, and 14.2% had someone living alone who was 65 or older. The average household size was 2.58 and the average family size was 3.09. In the county, the age distribution was 29.0% under 18, 4.7% from 18 to 24, 25.2% from 25 to 44, 22.1% from 45 to 64, and 19.0% who were 65 or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females, there were 97.3 males. For every 100 females 18 and over, there were 96.9 males. The median income for a household in the county was $35,994 and for a family was $39,358. Males had a median income of $27,568 versus $21,534 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 county was $15,599. About 10.70% of families and 11.50% 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 11.9% of those under 18 and 7.7% of those 65 or over.

Government

Presidential elections

Hodgeman County is a Republican stronghold. Only six Republican presidential candidates have failed to win the county from 1888 to the present, and no Democrat has to managed to win even a quarter of the county's votes since

Michael Dukakis Michael Stanley Dukakis ( ; born November 3, 1933) is an American politician and lawyer who served as governor of Massachusetts from 1975 to 1979 and from 1983 to 1991. He is the longest-serving governor in Massachusetts history and only the s ...

in 1988. The last Democrat to carry the county was

Jimmy Carter James Earl Carter Jr. (October 1, 1924December 29, 2024) was an American politician and humanitarian who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party ...

in 1976.

Laws

Following amendment to the Kansas Constitution in 1986, the county remained an alcohol-free, or "dry", county until 2004, when voters approved the sale of alcoholic beverages by the individual drink with a 30% food sales requirement.

Education

Unified school districts

* Hodgeman County USD 227

Communities

List of townships / incorporated cities / unincorporated communities / extinct former communities within Hodgeman County.

Cities

* Hanston * Jetmore (county seat)

Townships

Hodgeman County is divided into nine townships. None of the cities within the county is considered governmentally independent, and all figures for the townships include those of the cities. In the following table, the population center is the largest city (or cities) included in that township's population total, if it is of a significant size.

In popular culture

At the beginning of the 1992 film ''

Unforgiven ''Unforgiven'' is a 1992 American revisionist Western film produced and directed by Clint Eastwood from a screenplay by David Webb Peoples. It stars Eastwood as William Munny, an aging outlaw and killer who takes on one more job years after ...

'', the protagonist William Munny, played by

Clint Eastwood Clinton Eastwood Jr. (born May 31, 1930) is an American actor and film director. After achieving success in the Western (genre), Western TV series ''Rawhide (TV series), Rawhide'', Eastwood rose to international fame with his role as the "Ma ...

, is living in Hodgeman County and working as a pig farmer, while attempting to hide evidence of his violent past from all those around him.

References

;Notes

External links

;County *
Hodgeman County - Directory of Public Officials
;Maps * Hodgeman County Maps
CurrentHistoric
KDOT * Kansas Highway Maps
CurrentHistoric
KDOT * Kansas Railroad Maps
Current19961915
KDOT and Kansas Historical Society {{coord, 38, 05, N, 99, 54, W, type:adm2nd_region:US-KS, display=title Kansas counties 1867 establishments in Kansas Populated places established in 1867