Liberal

History

Early settler Seymour S. Rogers built the first house in what would become Liberal in 1872. Rogers became famous in the region for giving free water to thirsty travelers. Reportedly, Liberal gained its name from the common response to his acts of kindness, "That's very liberal of you." In 1885 Rogers built a general store, and with it came an official U.S. Post Office. Rogers named the post office 'Liberal'. After the railroad was built close by, a plan for the town site was created in 1888. A year later the population was around 800. Drought caused some farmers to give up and look for more fertile territory; however, when the nearby Indian Territory was opened, more settlers headed to the cheap land that would become Oklahoma. Natural gas was discovered west of town, in what would become part of the massive Panhandle-Hugoton Gas Field, in 1920. Oil was discovered southwest of town in 1951. In 1963 the largest helium plant in the world, National Helium, was opened.

Geography

Liberal is located in southwestern Kansas at the intersection of U.S. routes 54 and 83. Liberal is north-northeast of Amarillo, Texas, west-southwest of Wichita, and southeast of Denver, Colorado. The city lies approximately southwest of the Cimarron River in the High Plains region 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. Liberal has a semi-arid steppe climate (Köppen BSk) characterized by hot, dry summers, cool, dry winters, and large diurnal temperature variation year-round; relative humidity averages 63%. On average, January is the coldest month, July is the hottest month, February is the driest month and June is the wettest month. The high temperature reaches or exceeds an average of 80.1 days a year and an average of 16.5 days. The minimum temperature falls to or below on an average of 1.6 days a year. The highest temperature recorded in Liberal was on June 10, 1981; the coldest temperature recorded was on February 27, 1930. |source 2 = National Weather Service }}

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• Mourning Dove

  Zenaida macroura (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  406
• Great-tailed Grackle

  Quiscalus mexicanus (Gmelin, 1788) · Aves
  348
• Eurasian Collared-Dove

  Streptopelia decaocto (Frivaldszky, 1838) · Aves
  297
• European Starling

  Sturnus vulgaris Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  297
• Western Kingbird

  Tyrannus verticalis Say, 1823 · Aves
  243
• House Sparrow

  Passer domesticus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  237
• Western Meadowlark

  Sturnella neglecta Audubon, 1844 · Aves
  223
• Killdeer

  Charadrius vociferus Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  217

Largest nearby schools

• Liberal Sr High
  High · Liberal · 1,353 students · 15.4:1 ratio
• Sunflower Elementary School
  Elementary · Liberal · 582 students · 26.5:1 ratio
• Eisenhower Middle School
  Middle · Liberal · 559 students · 14:1 ratio
• Cottonwood Elementary School
  Elementary · Liberal · 498 students · 15.1:1 ratio
• Seymour Rogers Middle School
  Middle · Liberal · 496 students · 12.7:1 ratio
• Prairie View Elementary School
  Elementary · Liberal · 401 students · 13.4:1 ratio
• MacArthur Elementary School
  Elementary · Liberal · 391 students · 14.5:1 ratio
• Meadowlark Elementary School
  Elementary · Liberal · 379 students · 13.5:1 ratio