Cottonwood Falls

History

For many millennia, the Great Plains of North America was inhabited by nomadic Native Americans. From the 16th century to 18th century, the Kingdom of France claimed ownership of large parts of North America. In 1762, after the French and Indian War, France secretly ceded New France to Spain, per the Treaty of Fontainebleau. In 1802, Spain returned most of the land to France. In 1803, most of the land for modern day Kansas was acquired by the United States from France as part of the 828,000 square mile Louisiana Purchase for 2.83 cents per acre. In 1854, the Kansas Territory was organized, then in 1861 Kansas became the 34th U.S. state. In 1859, Chase County was established within the Kansas Territory, which included the land for modern day Cottonwood Falls. The first settlement in the area of Cottonwood Falls was in 1854, when an Indian trader named Seth Hayes founded a cattle ranch on the Cottonwood River close to the mouth of Diamond Spring Creek. The area around the town was organized as Chase County in 1859, and Cottonwood Falls was designated the temporary county seat. Other early settlers arrived in Cottonwood and surrounding lands in 1856 to 1858. The first post office in Cottonwood Falls was established in 1858. In 1873 the city's French Renaissance style Chase County courthouse was built; at roughly the same time, the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway reached Cottonwood Falls area. Through the late 19th and early 20th centuries the area around the city was mainly divided into farms and cattle ranches. In 1931, a Transcontinental & Western Air flight crashed ten miles south of Cottonwood Falls near the community of Bazaar, killing all eight on board, including University of Notre Dame football coach Knute Rockne. A monument to the crash is…

Geography

Cottonwood Falls is located at (38.368159, -96.542918), in the scenic Flint Hills of the Great Plains. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which is land and is water. The climate in this area is characterized by hot, humid summers and cool to cold winters. According to the Köppen Climate Classification system, Cottonwood Falls has a humid continental climate (Dfa) using the 0 °C (32 °F) isotherm, or a humid subtropical climate (Cfa) using the -3 °C (26.6 °F) isotherm. The hottest temperature recorded in Cottonwood Falls was on July 18, 1936, while the coldest temperature recorded was on February 13, 1905. |source 2 = National Weather Service }}

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• Turkey Vulture

  Cathartes aura (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  952
• Eastern Meadowlark

  Sturnella magna (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  855
• American Crow

  Corvus brachyrhynchos C.L.Brehm, 1822 · Aves
  795
• Northern Cardinal

  Cardinalis cardinalis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  778
• Killdeer

  Charadrius vociferus Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  705
• Dickcissel

  Spiza americana (J.F.Gmelin, 1789) · Aves
  642
• Mourning Dove

  Zenaida macroura (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  628
• Barn Swallow

  Hirundo rustica Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  585