Cheyenne County is the northwestern county of Kansas, and the only remaining unorganized one of the northern tier. It was created by the Legislature of 1873, and takes the name of a hostile band of Indians.
The first district school taught in the county was at Kepferle, in the northeastern part of the county. The term ended March 13, 1882, A. M. Brenaman, Deputy County Superintendent and Deputy Clerk of the District Court, was the teacher. He had ten pupils. A Sunday-school was organized on Sunday, April 3, 1882, L. R. Heaton officiating as Superintendent; there were twenty persons in attendance upon this first Sunday-school in Cheyenne County. Mr. Brenaman has a drug store at Wano, the centrally located town of the county, which is on a mail route to Wallace, on the Kansas division of the Union Pacific, and to Collinsville, which is on the Burlington & Missouri River Railroad in Nebraska, Kepferle being on this route.
Mr. Ehorst was the first man to introduce fine-blooded sheep in the county. Fine specimens of coal have been found on Cherry Creek, west of Wano. In July, 1880, there were eleven actual tillers of the soil in the count, and three cattle ranches. Mr. Bingleman had 5,000 head of cattle and twenty hands; Mr. Davenport, 2,500, and six hands; Mr. Buck, 2,000, five hands.
In 1880 Cheyenne County had two post offices, one post road and one store; in 1881 it had two more post roads, and the weekly was changed to a semi-weekly mail. Two fields of corn were raised, which produced 1,000 bushels; 2,000 acres were fenced, 100 acres tilled, and 100 acres broken. Source: Cutler's History of the State of Kansas
County Seat: St. Francis
Date organized: 1886 (established March 20, 1873)
County History:
Cutler's History of the State of Kansas, (Unorganized at the time of the Publishing)
Historic Landmarks, State, National:
- Arikaree Breaks
- Cathedral on the Plains in Victoria, Kansas.
- Howard T. Sawhill Memorial Park in St. Francis, Kansas.
- Cheyenne County Courthouse in St. Francis, Kansas.
County Historical Society:
Cheyenne County Historical Museum (785) 332-2504 West Highway 36, St. Francis, KS 67756
History of St. Francis, Kansas
Websites about the county: