Walton is a city in

Harvey County, Kansas Harvey County is a county located in the U.S. state of Kansas. Its county seat and most populous city is Newton. As of the 2020 census, the county population was 34,024. The county was named for James Harvey, a U.S. senator and the fifth ...

, United States. It is named in honor of one of the 19th century stockholders of

Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway , often referred to as the Santa Fe or AT&SF, was one of the largest Class 1 railroads in the United States between 1859 and 1996. The Santa Fe was a pioneer in intermodal freight transport; at vario ...

.''History of the State of Kansas''; William G Cutler; 1883
/ref> As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 219.

History

Early history

For many

millennia A millennium () is a period of one thousand years, one hundred decades, or ten centuries, sometimes called a kiloannum (ka), or kiloyear (ky). Normally, the word is used specifically for periods of a thousand years that begin at the starting p ...

, 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 ...

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

was inhabited by

nomadic Nomads are communities without fixed habitation who regularly move to and from areas. Such groups include hunter-gatherers, pastoral nomads (owning livestock), tinkers and trader nomads. In the twentieth century, the population of nomadic pa ...

Native Americans. From the 16th century to 18th century, the

Kingdom of France The Kingdom of France is the historiographical name or umbrella term given to various political entities of France in the Middle Ages, medieval and Early modern France, early modern period. It was one of the most powerful states in Europe from th ...

claimed ownership of large parts of

. In 1762, after the

French and Indian War The French and Indian War, 1754 to 1763, was a colonial conflict in North America between Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and Kingdom of France, France, along with their respective Native Americans in the United States, Native American ...

, France secretly ceded

New France New France (, ) was the territory colonized by Kingdom of France, France in North America, beginning with the exploration of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence by Jacques Cartier in 1534 and ending with the cession of New France to Kingdom of Great Br ...

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

, per the Treaty of Fontainebleau.

19th century

In 1802, Spain returned most of the land to France. In 1803, most of the land for modern day Kansas was acquired by the United States from France as part of the 828,000 square mile

Louisiana Purchase The Louisiana Purchase () was the acquisition of the Louisiana (New France), territory of Louisiana by the United States from the French First Republic in 1803. This consisted of most of the land in the Mississippi River#Watershed, Mississipp ...

for 2.83 cents per

acre The acre ( ) is a Unit of measurement, unit of land area used in the Imperial units, British imperial and the United States customary units#Area, United States customary systems. It is traditionally defined as the area of one Chain (unit), ch ...

. In 1854, the

Kansas Territory The Territory of Kansas was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from May 30, 1854, until January 29, 1861, when the eastern portion of the territory was admitted to the United States, Union as the Slave and ...

was organized, then in 1861,

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 ...

became the 34th

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 ...

. In 1872, Harvey County was established within the

, which included the land for modern day Walton. In 1871, the

extended a main line from Emporia through Walton to

Newton Newton most commonly refers to: * Isaac Newton (1642–1726/1727), English scientist * Newton (unit), SI unit of force named after Isaac Newton Newton may also refer to: People * Newton (surname), including a list of people with the surname * ...

,Santa Fe Rail History
/ref> reaching Walton and Newton in July. In 1996, it merged with

Burlington Northern Railroad The Burlington Northern Railroad was a United States–based railroad company formed from a merger of four major U.S. railroads. Burlington Northern operated between 1970 and 1995. Its historical lineage begins in the earliest days of railroad ...

and renamed to the current

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 ...

. Most locals still refer to this railroad as the "Santa Fe". Walton was laid out as a town site in December 1871 by William Mathews. He built a home, and this was followed by a general store and railroad section house. Because of difficulty in perfecting title to the lots, the town-site remained dormant until it was sold to J.F. Watson and he filed a plat of the town in 1876. In 1871, a Kansas one room school, measuring 18 x 20 feet, was built and the first school was held by Mrs. M. J. Sharron. A post office was established in Walton on December 28, 1871, Mrs. E. Peck as Postmistress.

20th century

The New Santa Fe Trail road was routed through Walton in the late 1910s. Initially, the road entered the north side of the city on Walton Ave.1918 Kansas Highway Map; KSDOT.
/ref>1932 Kansas Highway Map; KSDOT.
/ref> The trail became

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 ...

in the late 1930s, when the new highway was routed northeast to southwest parallel to the railroad.

Geography

Walton is near the dividing line between the Cottonwood and

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 ...

basins and near the highest ground in Harvey County. 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.

Area events

* Walton Rural Life Festival, every October.

Area attractions

* Kansas Historical Marker - ''Red Turkey Wheat'', on north side of US-50 near the northeastern city limits.

Demographics

2010 census

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 2010, there were 235 people, 93 households, and 69 families residing in the city. 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 . There were 105 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 93.2%

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 ...

, 0.4%

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 ...

, 5.1% Native American, 0.4% Asian, and 0.9% 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 were 6.0% of the population. There were 93 households, of which 30.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 58.1% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

living together, 10.8% had a female householder with no husband present, 5.4% had a male householder with no wife present, and 25.8% were non-families. 23.7% of all households were made up of individuals, and 9.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.53 and the average family size was 2.88. The median age in the city was 40.9 years. 21.7% of residents were under the age of 18; 8.5% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 21.7% were from 25 to 44; 30.7% were from 45 to 64; and 17.4% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the city was 57.0% male and 43.0% female.

2000 census

As of the

of 2000, there were 284 people, 109 households, and 79 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 118 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 95.42%

, 1.41%

, 1.06% Native American, 1.06% from other races, and 1.06% from two or more races.

or Latino of any race were 3.87% of the population. There were 109 households, out of which 42.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 56.0% were

living together, 10.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 27.5% were non-families. 23.9% of all households were made up of individuals, and 7.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.61 and the average family size was 3.10. In the city, the population was spread out, with 32.0% under the age of 18, 8.5% from 18 to 24, 33.8% from 25 to 44, 16.9% from 45 to 64, and 8.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 31 years. For every 100 females, there were 129.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 114.4 males. As of 2000 the median income for a household was $34,375, and the median income for a family was $39,500. Males had a median income of $30,781 versus $18,882 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 $16,679. About 9.1% of families and 11.1% 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 ...

, including 16.5% of those under the age of eighteen and none of those 65 or over.

Government

The Walton government consists of a mayor and five council members. The council meets once a month. * City Hall, Police Department, Fire Department, 122 Main St. * US Post Office, 301 S 2nd Ave.

Education

Primary and secondary education

The community is served by

Newton USD 373 Newton USD 373 is a public unified school district headquartered in Newton, Kansas, United States. The district includes the communities of Newton, North Newton, Walton, McLain and nearby rural areas. Schools The school district operates th ...

public school district. Walton students of junior and high school ages attend school in

. *

Walton Rural Life Center Walton Rural Life Center was an agricultural charter elementary school in Walton, Kansas, United States,Murphy, Kevin (2013-02-16)"Farm Theme Boosts Enrollment in Rural Kansas School." ''Reuters.com''. Retrieved 2016-04-24.Meyer, Gene (2013-06-05 ...

, 500 West Main Street, a charter elementary school,

Grades Grade most commonly refers to: * Grading in education, a measurement of a student's performance by educational assessment (e.g. A, pass, etc.) * A designation for students, classes and curricula indicating the number of the year a student has reach ...

Pre K– 4. Walton High School was closed through school unification. The Walton High School mascot was Walton Wildcats.

Library

* Walton Community Library, 122 Main St.

Film

Using Agriculture to Spur Achievement : The Walton 21st Century Rural Life Center, 2011, U.S. Department of Education filmed a documentary at the Walton 21st Century Rural Life Center charter elementary school in November 2010. The crew also interviewed farm families, teachers, students, and community members. The resulting video will be featured on their website, highlighting the center as a best practices model of innovation in education.

Media

Print

* ''

Hillsboro Free Press The ''Hillsboro Free Press'' is a local weekly newspaper from Hillsboro, Kansas Hillsboro is a city in Marion County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 2,732. The city was named after John Hill ...

'', free newspaper for greater Marion County area. * ''

The Newton Kansan ''The Newton Kansan'' is an American newspaper published three days per week (excluding major holidays) in Newton, Kansas. It is owned by CherryRoad Media. The paper covers Harvey County, including the cities of Newton, Burrton, Halstead, He ...

'', regional newspaper from

. * ''

The Wichita Eagle ''The Wichita Eagle'' is a daily newspaper published in Wichita, Kansas, United States. Originating in the early 1870s, shortly after the city's founding, it is owned by The McClatchy Company and is the largest newspaper in Wichita and the surr ...

'', major regional newspaper from Wichita.

Radio

Walton is served by numerous

radio stations Radio broadcasting is the broadcasting of audio signal, audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a lan ...

of the Wichita- Hutchinson listening market area, and

satellite radio Satellite radio is defined by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU)'s ITU Radio Regulations (RR) as a '' broadcasting-satellite service''. The satellite's signals are broadcast nationwide, across a much wider geographical area than te ...

. See ''

Media in Wichita, Kansas Media may refer to: Communication * Means of communication, tools and channels used to deliver information or data ** Advertising media, various media, content, buying and placement for advertising ** Interactive media, media that is inte ...

''.

Television

Walton is served by over-the-air ATSC

digital TV Digital television (DTV) is the transmission of television signals using digital encoding, in contrast to the earlier analog television technology which used analog signals. At the time of its development it was considered an innovative adv ...

of the Wichita- Hutchinson viewing market area,Wichita-Hutchinson TV market.
/ref>

cable TV Cable television is a system of delivering television broadcast programming, programming to consumers via radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted through coaxial cables, or in more recent systems, light pulses through fibre-optic cables. This ...

, and

satellite TV Satellite television is a service that delivers television programming to viewers by relaying it from a communications satellite orbiting the Earth directly to the viewer's location.ITU Radio Regulations, Section IV. Radio Stations and Systems ...

. See ''

''.

Infrastructure

Transportation

A major highway US-50 and a railroad

pass through Walton. US-50 was originally the New Santa Fe Trail and roughly parallels the

. The

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 ...

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 ...

stops in nearby

twice each day and provides passenger rail service to

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

and

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

. See Newton station.

Utilities

* Internet ** DSL is provided by

CenturyLink Lumen Technologies, Inc. (formerly CenturyLink, Inc.) is an American telecommunications company headquartered in Monroe, Louisiana, which offers communications, network services, security, cloud solutions, voice and managed services through it ...

. ** Wireless is provided by Pixius Communications (wireless),

Verizon Verizon Communications Inc. ( ), is an American telecommunications company headquartered in New York City. It is the world's second-largest telecommunications company by revenue and its mobile network is the largest wireless carrier in the ...

(cellular). ** Satellite is provided by

HughesNet Hughes Network Systems, LLC is an American telecommunications company that specializes in providing satellite-based communication services for consumer and enterprise markets. It is headquartered in Germantown, Maryland and provides satellite ...

StarBand StarBand was a two-way satellite broadband Internet service available in the U.S. from 2000–2015. StarBand ceased operations effective September 30, 2015 citing increased competition from other internet providers. The StarBand satellite Internet ...

WildBlue Viasat, Inc. (formerly stylized as ViaSat) is an American communications company based in Carlsbad, California, with additional operations across the United States and worldwide. Viasat is a provider of high-speed satellite broadband services an ...

. * TV ** Satellite is provided by

DirecTV DirecTV, LLC is an American Multichannel television in the United States, multichannel video programming distributor based in El Segundo, California. Originally launched on June 17, 1994, its primary service is a digital Satellite television, s ...

Dish Network DISH Network L.L.C., often referred to as DISH, an abbreviation for Digital Sky Highway, is an American provider of satellite television and IPTV services and wholly owned subsidiary of EchoStar Corporation. The company was originally establ ...

. ** Terrestrial is provided by regional

stations. * Telephone ** Landline is provided by

. ** Cell Phone is provided by

. * Electricity ** City is provided by

Westar Energy Evergy, Inc. is an American investor-owned utility (IOU) with publicly traded stock with headquarters in Topeka, Kansas, and in Kansas City, Missouri. The company was formed from a merger of Westar Energy of Topeka and Great Plains Energy of K ...

. ** Rural is provided by Flint Hills RECA. * Natural Gas ** Service is provided by KMGA, billed by City of Walton. * Water ** City is provided by Harvey County RWD #1, billed by City of Walton. ** Rural is provided by Harvey County RWD #1. * Sewer ** Service is provided by City of Walton. * Trash ** Service is provided by

Waste Connections Waste Connections, Inc. is a North American integrated waste services company that provides waste collection, transfer, disposal and recycling services, primarily of solid waste. It has operations in both the United States and Canada. Its he ...

, billed by City of Walton.

Notable people

:''See also List of people from Harvey County, Kansas'' * Guy Hawk,

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 ...

,Kansas Legislators Past & Present
/ref> Banker

References

External links

*
Walton - Directory of Public Officials
League of Kansas Municipalities
Walton - Community Library

Topo Map of Newton / North Newton / Walton area
USGS {{Authority control Cities in Kansas Cities in Harvey County, Kansas Wichita, KS Metropolitan Statistical Area Populated places established in 1871 1871 establishments in Kansas