Winfield, Kansas
City and county seat
Downtown Winfield in June 2023
Location within Cowley County and Kansas
KDOT map of Cowley County (legend)
Coordinates: 37°14′16″N 96°59′07″W / 37.23778°N 96.98528°W / 37.23778; -96.98528[1]
Country	United States
State	Kansas
County	Cowley
Township	Walnut, Vernon, P.V.
Founded	1870[2]
Incorporated	1873[2]
Named for	Winfield Scott
Government
• City manager	Taggart Wall[3]
Area [4]
• Total	12.51 sq mi (32.41 km2)
• Land	11.14 sq mi (28.86 km2)
• Water	1.37 sq mi (3.55 km2)  10.60%
Elevation [1]	1,139 ft (347 m)
Population  (2020)[5][6]
• Total	11,777
• Density	940/sq mi (360/km2)
Time zone	UTC-6 (CST)
• Summer (DST)	UTC-5 (CDT)
ZIP code	67156
Area code	620
FIPS code	20-79950
GNIS ID	485663[1]
Website	winfieldks.org

Winfield is a city and county seat of Cowley County, Kansas, United States.^[1] It is situated along the Walnut River in South Central Kansas. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 11,777.^[5][6] It is home to Southwestern College.

History

19th century

Winfield was founded in 1870.^[2] It was named for Rev. Winfield Scott, who promised to build the town a church in exchange for the naming rights.^[7][8] The first post office at Winfield was established in May, 1870.^[9] In 1873, Winfield incorporated as a city.^[2]

Railroads

Railroads reached Winfield in the late 1870s,^[2] and finished at Arkansas City in 1881.^[10][11][2] Eventually, a total of five railroads passed through Winfield.^[2]

State mental hospital

In 1881, the State of Kansas established the Kansas State Asylum for Idiotic and Imbecile Youth, temporarily established at Lawrence, but moved to Winfield in 1887/1888, where it served as a dominant local employer for 117 years.^[12][13][14]

Winfield panorama (1910)

20th century

The Winfield-Arkansas City area became an industrial community in the 20th century, manufacturing consumer goods, and eventually aircraft and aircraft parts, while retaining its traditional dominant employer, the Winfield State Hospital.^[15]

On August 13, 1903, 30-year-old Gilbert Twigg, armed with a 12-gauge double-barrelled shotgun, opened fire at a concert, killing six people and wounding at least 25, before killing himself.^[16][17] Three others died in hospitals afterward.

Strother Field

In World War II, Winfield, along with neighboring Arkansas City, became home to a military pilot training base, Strother Field, which remained in operation until the end of the war, bringing several thousand military personnel into the area. After the war, in the early 1950s, the field became the shared municipal airport and industrial park for Winfield and neighboring Arkansas City.^[18][19][15]

Aviation industry

The aircraft manufacturing industry in nearby Wichita (40 mi or 64 km to the north)—one of the world's principal aircraft-manufacturing centers—provided employment for many Winfield residents, directly and indirectly. That opportunity grew substantially in the last half of the century, as General Electric's GE Aviation division, in the late 1940s, began producing engines for Wichita aircraft, and eventually in the 1960s, one of Wichita's principal manufacturers, Cessna Aircraft Company built a factory at Winfield's Strother Field.

Crayola

The Crayola plant, near Winfield, was established in 1952. At the time, it was the only Crayola plant that made paints. The plant made a large part of the jobs in the county. Tours were conducted until 1992, and 5 years later, in 1997, the plant shut down and moved to Pennsylvania. A lot of original crayons and memorabilia can still be seen at the Winfield museum.

Institutions

The Winfield State Hospital and Training Center, established in the community in the prior century to house and confine the mentally ill and developmentally disabled, remained as a dominant local employer throughout the 20th century.^[14][13] Towards the end of the century the (now designated "Winfield State Hospital and Training Center") housed developmentally disabled people. Social, political and legal changes, led to closing of most of the facility in 1998.^[13][12][14] It was gradually turned into the Winfield Correctional Facility.^[20]

Southwestern College grew to become a leading local institution and employer, drawing students from throughout the central United States, and bringing an extra level of intellectual and cultural development and diversity to the community.

Pi Gamma Mu International Honor Society in Social Sciences^[21] was founded at Southwestern College in Winfield in 1924. The international headquarters is now housed at a repurposed Carnegie Library building on Millington Street in downtown Winfield. Pi Gamma Mu is the oldest and preeminent interdisciplinary social science honor society. Its mission is to encourage and promote excellence in the Social Sciences and to uphold and nurture scholarship, leadership, and service.

21st century

In the 21st century, Winfield remained an industrial and institutional town. With the exception of Cessna, most of the area's major employers (some under new names and ownership) continued into the early 21st century.^[15]

Geography

Winfield is situated along the Walnut River at its confluence with Timber Creek. It is located 17 miles (27 km) north of the Kansas-Oklahoma state border at the junction of U.S. Routes 77 and 160. State highway route K-15 follows U.S. Route 77 to the north of the city and U.S. Route 160 to the east. K-360 is a bypass around the southeastern part of the city between U.S. Route 77 and U.S. Route 160. Arkansas City is 13 miles (21 km) south of Winfield along U.S. Route 77, and Strother Field, a general aviation airport, is approximately five miles (8 km) south.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 12.93 square miles (33.49 km²), of which 11.56 square miles (29.94 km²) is land and 1.37 square miles (3.55 km²) is water.^[22]

Climate

According to the Köppen Climate Classification system, Winfield has a humid subtropical climate, abbreviated "Cfa" on climate maps. The hottest temperature recorded in Winfield was 118 °F (47.8 °C) on August 12, 1936, while the coldest temperature recorded was −27 °F (−32.8 °C) on February 13, 1905.^[23]