Garfield Township, Finney County, Kansas

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Garfield Township
Township
Map highlighting Garfield Township, Finney County, Kansas.svg
Location within Finney County
USA Kansas location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Finney Township
Location within the state of Kansas
Coordinates: 38°07′54″N100°26′33″W / 38.13167°N 100.44250°W / 38.13167; -100.44250 [1]
Country United States
State Kansas
County Finney
Area
 • Total
431.14 sq mi (1,116.65 km2)
 • Land430.75 sq mi (1,115.64 km2)
 • Water0.39 sq mi (1.01 km2)  0.09%
Elevation
[1]
2,641 ft (805 m)
Population
 (2020)
 • Total
345
 • Density0.801/sq mi (0.309/km2)
Time zone UTC-6 (CST)
 • Summer (DST) UTC-5 (CDT)
FIPS code 20-25600 [1]
GNIS ID 485251 [1]

Garfield Township is a township in Finney County, Kansas, United States. [1] As of the 2020 census, its population was 345. [2]

Contents

History

Presidential Elections Results [3]
Year Republican Democratic Third Parties
1892 59.7%10240.4% 69
1888 62.2%22535.6% 1292.2% 8

Historically the Garfield Township was organized as Garfield County in 1887. In 1893, the Kansas Supreme Court ruled that the county was illegally organized for not having the required 432 square miles (1,120 km2) of area, and the county was annexed to Finney County, forming the current township. The population at the 1890 census was 881. [4]

Garfield County was created by an act of the Kansas state legislature on March 23, 1887. It consisted of what is now the eastern portion of Finney County north of Gray County. The county was named after President James A. Garfield, who had been assassinated six years earlier.

The brief history of the county was marked by a bitter and sometimes violent rivalry between two towns, Ravanna and Eminence, over which would serve as county seat. During a vote on this issue held in 1887, Bat Masterson and twenty deputies from Dodge City were sent to the county to keep the peace. Ravanna won the election by just 35 votes. Eminence immediately challenged the results, claiming a construction crew working on Ravanna's new $10,000 courthouse (nicknamed the "Great White Elephant") had illegally cast 60 votes using names of dead men who were not Ravanna residents. [5] The Kansas Supreme Court agreed, and in 1889, the county seat was transferred to Eminence.

Ravanna countered by hiring surveyors who determined that the county had less than the minimum of 432 square miles (1,120 km2) required for the formation of a county under Article 9 of the Kansas State Constitution. In 1892, the Kansas Supreme Court ruled that Garfield County had indeed been illegally organized in the first place. On March 18, 1893, it was annexed to neighboring Finney County. [5]

Both Ravanna and Eminence are now ghost towns.

Geography

Garfield Township covers an area of 431.14 square miles (1,116.6 km2) and contains no incorporated settlements.

According to the USGS, it contains two cemeteries: Eminence and Garfield.

Garfield Township is also a home to number of ghost towns.

Demographics

The population was 345 as of the 2020 census, with 122 total housing units. [2]

Historical population
CensusPop.Note%±
1890 881—
1900 363−58.8%
1910 857136.1%
1920 716−16.5%
1930 81714.1%
1940 539−34.0%
1950 64118.9%
1960 583−9.0%
1970 479−17.8%
1980 342−28.6%
1990 326−4.7%
2000 3311.5%
2010 288−13.0%
2020 34519.8%
U.S. Decennial Census [4]

Sources

References

Further reading


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