Hays is a city and the county seat of Ellis County, Kansas, near the intersection of Interstate 70 and U.S. Highway 183. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 20,013. Hays is home to Fort Hays State University and the Hays Larks, champions of the Jayhawk Collegiate League for most of the 21st century.
History
The city of Hays was incorporated in 1867, close to the site of Fort Hays. In the early days, Hays was a wild and lawless town, filled with saloons and dance halls. Wild Bill Hickok served as sheriff for a few months in 1869, but left town the next year after a brawl with troopers from the fort. Summing up her impression while her husband, George Custer, was encamped near Fort Hays, Elizabeth Custer said, "there was enough desperate history in that little town in one summer to make a whole library of dime novels." Between August 1867 and December 1873, there were over 30 homicides in and around Hays. Hays developed the reputation as one of the most violent towns on the Kansas frontier. The original Boot Hill was located in Hays. Mrs. Custer noted in her diary in the summer of 1869 that there were already 36 graves in the cemetery called "Boot Hill". The Hays Boot Hill is the oldest west of the Mississippi.
By the mid 1870's, the "end of the tracks" moved on and with it went the teamsters, railroad workers, soldiers and famous characters of the day. Hays City gradually quieted down and began serving as a point of arrival for immigrants, most notably a group of ethnic Germans from the Volga region of Russia. These immigrants were descendants of Germans who had traveled to Russia in response to a manifesto of Catherine II the Great.[3] She promised the immigrants freedom of religion, tax exemption, freedom from military duties, and free land. Eventually, later Czars began to break these promises. Dissatisfied by the new policies, the Volga Germans sent a scouting party to the United States. In central Kansas, they found land suitable for farming similar to their lifestyle in Russia. The first Volga-German settlers arrived in Hays in February 1876. Several communities were eventually formed in the Hays area, retaining many of the differences in dialect, food and family that each community had previously formed in Russia.
Geography
Hays is located at 38°52′46″N 99°19′20″W / 38.87944°N 99.32222°W / 38.87944; -99.32222 (38.879399, -99.322277)[4] in the Smoky Hills region of north-central Kansas. Big Creek, a tributary of the Smoky Hill River, runs through the southwestern part of the city.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 7.6 square miles (19.7 km²), all of it land.
Climate
Annually, Hays experiences extremes of heat and cold. Winters tend to be cool with lows in upper teens and highs around 40. But, large deviations from these temperatures are regularly experienced, with temperatures dropping below 0 F a few days in the year. Summertime, in sharp contrast, is hot with highs around, and often exceeding, 90 F, and several days of triple-digit temperatures in July and August. Hays is classified as part of Kansas' semi-arid climate, receiving approximately 20 inches of rainfall per year. Hays average temperatures from weather.com
| Weather data for Hays, Kansas, USA |
| Month |
Jan |
Feb |
Mar |
Apr |
May |
Jun |
Jul |
Aug |
Sep |
Oct |
Nov |
Dec |
| Record high °F (°C) |
79
(26) |
88
(31) |
97
(36) |
107
(42) |
106
(41) |
114
(46) |
117
(47) |
115
(46) |
111
(44) |
101
(38) |
90
(32) |
83
(28) |
| Average high °F (°C) |
39
(4) |
46
(8) |
55
(13) |
66
(19) |
75
(24) |
86
(30) |
92
(33) |
90
(32) |
81
(27) |
70
(21) |
53
(12) |
43
(6) |
| Average low °F (°C) |
15
(-9) |
20
(-7) |
29
(-2) |
40
(4) |
51
(11) |
61
(16) |
66
(19) |
64
(18) |
54
(12) |
41
(5) |
27
(-3) |
18
(-8) |
| Record low °F (°C) |
-26
(-32) |
-26
(-32) |
-23
(-31) |
6
(-14) |
17
(-8) |
36
(2) |
38
(3) |
36
(2) |
24
(-4) |
9
(-13) |
-6
(-21) |
-20
(-29) |
| Precipitation inches (mm) |
0.52
(13.2) |
0.65
(16.5) |
1.98
(50.3) |
2.18
(55.4) |
3.15
(80) |
2.59
(65.8) |
3.76
(95.5) |
2.93
(74.4) |
1.62
(41.1) |
1.38
(35.1) |
1.22
(31) |
0.65
(16.5) |
| Source: The Weather Channel[5] 6 Nov 2009 |
Demographics
| Historical populations |
| Census |
Pop. |
|
%± |
| 1870 |
320 |
|
—
|
| 1880 |
850 |
|
165.6% |
| 1890 |
1,242 |
|
46.1% |
| 1900 |
1,136 |
|
−8.5% |
| 1910 |
1,961 |
|
72.6% |
| 1920 |
3,165 |
|
61.4% |
| 1930 |
4,618 |
|
45.9% |
| 1940 |
6,385 |
|
38.3% |
| 1950 |
8,625 |
|
35.1% |
| 1960 |
11,947 |
|
38.5% |
| 1970 |
15,396 |
|
28.9% |
| 1980 |
16,301 |
|
5.9% |
| 1990 |
17,767 |
|
9.0% |
| 2000 |
20,013 |
|
12.6% |
As of the census[2] of 2000, there were 20,013 people, 8,230 households, and 4,674 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,635.9 people per square mile (1,018.1/km²). There were 8,772 housing units at an average density of 1,155.3/sq mi (446.2/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 95.43% White, 1.09% Asian, 0.79% African American, 0.24% Native American, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 1.43% from other races, and 0.98% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.63% of the population.
Ellis County attracted nearly 1000 Volga German immigrants in the 1870s; for the 2000 census, over 45% of Hays residents identified their ancestry as German.
There were 8,230 households out of which 27.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 45.9% were married couples living together, 8.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 43.2% were non-families. 32.1% of all households were made up of individuals and 10.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.30 and the average family size was 2.96.
In the city, the population was spread out with 21.5% under the age of 18, 22.2% from 18 to 24, 24.6% from 25 to 44, 18.5% from 45 to 64, and 13.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 30 years. For every 100 females there were 94.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.6 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $31,501, and the median income for a family was $45,552. Males had a median income of $30,022 versus $21,793 for females. The per capita income for the city was $18,565. About 6.7% of families and 14.9% of the population were below the poverty line, including 9.6% of those under age 18 and 9.6% of those age 65 or over.
Transportation
The Hays Regional Airport provides commercial air service to Kansas City and Denver via Great Lakes Airlines.
Media
Print
Hays has one daily newspaper, The Hays Daily News, and one weekly newspaper, The Ellis County Star.[6][7]
Radio
The following radio stations are licensed to Hays:
AM
FM
Television
The following television stations are licensed to Hays:
Notable natives and residents
- Wild Bill Hickok
- Frances Tilton Weaver, a pioneer of women in the legal profession
- Gerald Seib, editor of The Wall Street Journal, held by Iran on suspicion of being a spy
- Childhood hometown of billionaire Philip Anschutz.
- Current home of 1st District Congressional Representative Jerry Moran.
- Tony Roth, Assistant/Defensive Line coach for the Colleyville Heritage High School Panthers
- Geoff Coughlin, Leading innovator in Motorhomes
- V.E. Barney Gagelman, Founder, Hays State Bank; Owner, Gagelman Motors, and President of the Kansas Motor Car Dealers Association; Trustee, Fort Hays State College; Chairman, Coronado Council, Boy Scouts of America.
- Pete Felten, local artist
References
External links
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