Hardtner

History

Hardtner was founded in 1887. It was named for Dr. John Hardtner, a landowner. The first post office in Hardtner was established in July 1887. By 1908 the townspeople had realized that they would need a railroad line to the outside world in order to survive. The town's founder Jacob Achenbach, helped set up a company to build a line east to Kiowa. The line would have to cross the Santa Fe's tracks to link with the Missouri Pacific, the planned connection for Hardtner's line. The Santa Fe's Superintendent was not about to stand for that, so he had his private car block the spot where the lines would cross. A local got word to him that the Hardtner people had about 45 cowboys ready to "riddle his car with bullets" The Superintendent moved his car, and the line was completed. On June 2, 1929, an F2 tornado struck Hardtner, causing minor damage. The tornado tracked 12.2 miles and was notable since it moved very slowly, yielding some of the highest quality photographs of a tornado to that date.

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• Mourning Dove

  Zenaida macroura (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  69
• Red-tailed Hawk

  Buteo jamaicensis (Gmelin, 1788) · Aves
  65
• Turkey Vulture

  Cathartes aura (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  55
• Red-winged Blackbird

  Agelaius phoeniceus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  47
• Eastern Meadowlark

  Sturnella magna (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  42
• Scissor-tailed Flycatcher

  Tyrannus forficatus (Gmelin, 1789) · Aves
  37
• American Kestrel

  Falco sparverius Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  34
• European Starling

  Sturnus vulgaris Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  34