WaKeeney

History

James Keeney, a land speculator in Chicago, purchased land at the site of modern-day WaKeeney from the Kansas Pacific Railway in 1877. He and business partner Albert Warren formed Warren, Keeney, & Co., surveyed and plotted the site in 1878, and established a colony there in 1879. They named the colony WaKeeney, a portmanteau of their surnames, and billed it as "The Queen City of the High Plains", advertising and holding celebrations to attract settlers. The colony grew rapidly, but crop failures drove settlers to leave in 1880 as quickly as they had come. By 1882, all that was left were "five poorly patronized retail stores". Years later, Volga Germans began settling the area. WaKeeney became the county seat in June 1879 and was incorporated as a city in 1880.

Geography

WaKeeney is located at (39.024467, -99.881972) at an elevation of 2,447 feet (746 m). Located in northwestern Kansas at the intersection of Interstate 70 and U.S. Route 283, it is northwest of Wichita, east-southeast of Denver, and west of Kansas City. WaKeeney lies in the High Plains region of the Great Plains approximately north of Big Creek, a tributary of the Smoky Hill River. A small tributary of Big Creek flows south from near the center of the city. WaKeeney has a humid continental climate (Köppen Dfa), experiencing hot, humid summers and cold, dry winters. On average, January is the coolest month, and July is both the warmest month and the wettest month. |source 2 = National Weather Service }}

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• House Sparrow

  Passer domesticus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  245
• Western Meadowlark

  Sturnella neglecta Audubon, 1844 · Aves
  218
• Great-tailed Grackle

  Quiscalus mexicanus (Gmelin, 1788) · Aves
  195
• Mourning Dove

  Zenaida macroura (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  187
• Eurasian Collared-Dove

  Streptopelia decaocto (Frivaldszky, 1838) · Aves
  162
• American Robin

  Turdus migratorius Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  160
• Red-winged Blackbird

  Agelaius phoeniceus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  147
• European Starling

  Sturnus vulgaris Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  122

Most recent

• M 3 — 2026-09-28
  2 km SSW of Bogue, Kansas
• M 2.5 — 2026-09-28
  9 km S of Bogue, Kansas
• M 2.5 — 2026-06-16
  9 km SW of Natoma, Kansas
• M 2.9 — 2026-02-02
  7 km N of Hays, Kansas
• M 2.9 — 2025-11-29
  5 km SW of Kirwin, Kansas
• M 2.8 — 2025-11-06
  10 km SSW of Stockton, Kansas