Woodsdale is a

ghost town A ghost town, deserted city, extinct town, or abandoned city is an abandoned settlement, usually one that contains substantial visible remaining buildings and infrastructure such as roads. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economi ...

in Stevens County,

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 ...

, United States. It was involved in a

county seat war A county seat war is an American phenomenon that occurred mainly in the Old West as it was being settled and county lines determined. Incidents elsewhere, such as in Michigan, Appalachian Ohio, and West Virginia, have also been recorded. As ...

with

Hugoton Hugoton is a city in and the county seat of Stevens County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 3,747. History Settlers from McPherson established a settlement in what was then west-central Seward ...

during the 19th century.

History

Woodsdale was laid out in 1886 near the geographical center of the county, with the hope of locating the county seat there. Samuel Newitt Wood and I. C. Price developed the town and it was named after the former. Its post office was established November 11, 1886, and the town incorporated April 11. 1887. Following the bloody county seat contest in which the governor had to send in two National Guard companies, and which Woodsdale lost to Hugoton, Woodsdale declined. The post office closed March 31, 1915, and there are now no traces of the town remaining. It was located two miles east of Hugoton and six miles north at the intersections of sections 11, 12, 13, & 14.

Notable person

Mabel Walker Willebrandt Mabel Walker Willebrandt (May 23, 1889 – April 6, 1963), popularly known to her contemporaries as the First Lady of Law, was an American lawyer who served as the United States Assistant Attorney General from 1921 to 1929, handling cases concern ...

was born in Woodsdale.

History

Notable person

See also

References

Further reading