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Forsyth Library > Kansas Heritage > Kearny County Prentis, Noble
Lovely. "History of Kansas". Winfield, KS: E. P. Greer, 1899.
The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad (ATSF) got a federal
land grant in 1864 to build a railroad and get it to the Kansas-
Colorado border by January 1, 1873. They barely made it by
finishing the rail line on December 28, 1872. The county was
blocked out and named by the legislature the following year
(1873), but was not officially organized until March 27, 1888.
It was originally organized as a municipal township of Ford
County in 1879, and in 1883 was divided between Sequoyah
(Finney) and Hamilton Counties. Finney County was formed in 1884
with the land of the eastern half of the original Kearny County
and all of Sequoyah County. All of the old Kearny County land
was detached from Finney County in 1886 and then united with
Hamilton to become Hamilton County. Finally, on March 27, 1888,
Kearny County was organized as