Pierceville

History

The Western Trail (a cattle trail) played a part in the founding of this town. The Barton Brothers drove a herd of 3,000 cattle over the trail, and the cattle were the first to feed on the government lands in western Kansas. In the fall of 1872, they came to the area and established a ranch along the Arkansas River. The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway was laying track in southwestern Kansas, and they chose the Barton Ranch as headquarters for the town site. It was named Pierceville in honor of Chas. W. and Carlos Pierce, who were members of the original Atchison & Topeka Railroad company. The post office was established on June 10, 1873, and the town began to grow with a store and dugouts. Then tragedy struck on July 3, 1874. Indians who had been defeated in a fight in Texas were heading north and were looking for settlements along the Santa Fe Railroad. Once they got to Pierceville, they set fire to the store and chased the train that came through the town, firing their arrows at the train and into the windows. It was learned later that this was the same group of Indians who had attacked the German family and killed the parents, a son and a small child before kidnapping the four daughters. The girls were with the Indians during the attack on Pierceville but were rescued later. It was not until 1878 that a house and a store were built and the post office was reestablished on July 24. The town was platted in 1886 and the population was 400. There was a newspaper, hotel and a hardware store. By 1930, the population was 166. Pierceville had a post office with ZIP code 67868, but it was disestablished April 11, 1992. A few houses, a community building, an empty elementary school, a grain elevator, and a church are all that remain of the community.

Geography

According to the Köppen Climate Classification system, Pierceville has a semi-arid climate, abbreviated "BSk" on climate maps.

Most-observed species

• Eurasian Collared-Dove

  Streptopelia decaocto (Frivaldszky, 1838) · Aves
  977
• House Sparrow

  Passer domesticus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  912
• European Starling

  Sturnus vulgaris Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  749
• American Robin

  Turdus migratorius Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  667
• House Finch

  Haemorhous mexicanus (P.L.Statius Müller, 1776) · Aves
  616
• Mourning Dove

  Zenaida macroura (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  557
• Great-tailed Grackle

  Quiscalus mexicanus (Gmelin, 1788) · Aves
  526
• Common Grackle

  Quiscalus quiscula (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  425

Most recent

• M 2.8 — 2018-10-30
  16 km WSW of Bucklin, Kansas