Hesston, Kansas
Encyclopedia
Hesston is a city in Harvey County
Harvey County, Kansas
Harvey County is a county located in South Central Kansas, in the Central United States. As of the 2010 census, the county population was 34,684. Its county seat and most populous city is Newton. The county is a part of the Wichita Metropolitan Statistical Area which also includes Butler,...

, Kansas
Kansas
Kansas is a US state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south...

, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 3,709. Hesston is home of Hesston College
Hesston College
Hesston College, a two-year college founded in 1909, is located in Hesston, Kansas, United States, north of Wichita. The college has an enrollment of about 450 students who typically come from about 30 states and 30 other countries...

, which has approximately 450 students.

19th century

Hesston was established in 1886 as a village, and began to grow as the Missouri Pacific railroad was expanding westward through the state. By 1912, it had grown into an important shipping and receiving point for farmers throughout the region.

Many of the early settlers were Mennonite
Mennonite
The Mennonites are a group of Christian Anabaptist denominations named after the Frisian Menno Simons , who, through his writings, articulated and thereby formalized the teachings of earlier Swiss founders...

 farmers. In 1909, the Mennonite Church founded Hesston College
Hesston College
Hesston College, a two-year college founded in 1909, is located in Hesston, Kansas, United States, north of Wichita. The college has an enrollment of about 450 students who typically come from about 30 states and 30 other countries...

.

20th century

In 1947, Lyle Yost founded Hesston Manufacturing Company. The company specialized in farm equipment, including self-propelled windrowers and the StakHand hay harvester. In 1974, Hesston Company commissioned its first belt buckles, which became popular on the rodeo
Rodeo
Rodeo is a competitive sport which arose out of the working practices of cattle herding in Spain, Mexico, and later the United States, Canada, South America and Australia. It was based on the skills required of the working vaqueros and later, cowboys, in what today is the western United States,...

 circuit and with collectors. In 1991, the American-based equipment manufacturer AGCO Corporation purchased Hesston Corporation and farm equipment is still manufactured in the city.

In 1981, the Dyck Arboretum of the Plains
Dyck Arboretum of the Plains
The Dyck Arboretum of the Plains is a thirteen-acre botanical garden at Hesston College in Hesston, Kansas. It was established October 11, 1981, to feature native Kansan plants and trees, and now contains more than 600 species of native and adaptable trees, shrubs, wildflowers, and grasses.The...

 was founded at the college; the 13 acre
Acre
The acre is a unit of area in a number of different systems, including the imperial and U.S. customary systems. The most commonly used acres today are the international acre and, in the United States, the survey acre. The most common use of the acre is to measure tracts of land.The acre is related...

 (52,609 m²) arboretum
Arboretum
An arboretum in a narrow sense is a collection of trees only. Related collections include a fruticetum , and a viticetum, a collection of vines. More commonly, today, an arboretum is a botanical garden containing living collections of woody plants intended at least partly for scientific study...

 showcases more than 600 varieties of native vegetation.

A large portion of the town was damaged by an F-5 tornado
March 1990 Central US tornado outbreak
The March 1990 Central US tornado outbreak is a tornado outbreak that affected portions of the United States Great Plains and Midwest regions from Iowa to Texas from March 11 to March 13, 1990...

 on March 13, 1990. Two people lost their lives in this storm.

Geography

Hesston is located at 38°8′21"N 97°25′46"W (38.139097, -97.429550). According to the United States Census Bureau
United States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau is the government agency that is responsible for the United States Census. It also gathers other national demographic and economic data...

, the city has a total area of 2.6 square miles (6.7 km²), all of it land.

Demographics

As of the census
Census
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...

of 2000, there were 3,509 people, 1,227 households, and 904 families residing in the city. The population density
Population density
Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans...

 was 1,353.2 people per square mile (523.1/km²). There were 1,308 housing units at an average density of 504.4 per square mile (195.0/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 94.56% White, 1.48% African American, 0.60% Native American, 0.83% Asian, 1.25% from other races
Race (United States Census)
Race and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the Federal Office of Management and Budget and the United States Census Bureau, are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...

, and 1.28% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.88% of the population.

There were 1,227 households out of which 35.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 64.5% were married couples
Marriage
Marriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found...

 living together, 7.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 26.3% were non-families. 23.7% of all households were made up of individuals and 10.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.52 and the average family size was 2.99.

In the city the population was spread out with 24.6% under the age of 18, 14.3% from 18 to 24, 23.5% from 25 to 44, 18.0% from 45 to 64, and 19.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females there were 93.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 86.9 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $42,585, and the median income for a family was $51,474. Males had a median income of $39,891 versus $26,424 for females. The per capita income
Per capita income
Per capita income or income per person is a measure of mean income within an economic aggregate, such as a country or city. It is calculated by taking a measure of all sources of income in the aggregate and dividing it by the total population...

 for the city was $18,138. About 3.9% of families and 5.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 5.6% of those under age 18 and 4.9% of those age 65 or over.

Government

The Hesston government consists of a mayor and five council members. The council meets the 2nd Monday of each month at 6PM.
  • City Hall, 115 E Smith.

Primary and secondary education

Hesston is part of Unified School District
Unified school district
A unified school district or unit school district is a school district which includes both primary school and high school under the same district control....

 460.

Print

Newspaper
  • Hesston Record, local newspaper in Hesston.
  • The Newton Kansan
    Newton Kansan
    The Newton Kansan is a newspaper that serves Newton and Harvey County, Kansas. The Kansan is published daily .The paper was founded as a weekly in 1872 and converted to a daily circulation in 1886...

    , regional newspaper in Newton
    Newton, Kansas
    Newton is a city in and the county seat of Harvey County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 19,132. Newton is located north of Wichita and is included in the Wichita metropolitan statistical area...

    .
  • The Wichita Eagle
    The Wichita Eagle
    The Wichita Eagle is a daily newspaper published in Wichita, Kansas. It is owned by The McClatchy Company, which publishes 31 other newspapers, including The Kansas City Star.It is the largest newspaper in Wichita, Kansas and the surrounding area....

    , major regional newspaper in Wichita
    Wichita, Kansas
    Wichita is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kansas.As of the 2010 census, the city population was 382,368. Located in south-central Kansas on the Arkansas River, Wichita is the county seat of Sedgwick County and the principal city of the Wichita metropolitan area...

    .

Radio

Hesston is served by numerous radio stations of the Wichita
Wichita, Kansas
Wichita is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kansas.As of the 2010 census, the city population was 382,368. Located in south-central Kansas on the Arkansas River, Wichita is the county seat of Sedgwick County and the principal city of the Wichita metropolitan area...

-Hutchinson
Hutchinson, Kansas
Hutchinson is the largest city in and the county seat of Reno County, Kansas, United States, northwest of Wichita, on the Arkansas River. It has been home to salt mines since 1887, thus its nickname of "Salt City", but locals call it "Hutch"...

 listening market area, and satellite radio
Satellite radio
Satellite radio is an analogue or digital radio signal that is relayed through one or more satellites and thus can be received in a much wider geographical area than terrestrial FM radio stations...

. See Media in Wichita, Kansas.

Television

Hesston is served by over-the-air ATSC
ATSC
ATSC standards are a set of standards developed by the Advanced Television Systems Committee for digital television transmission over terrestrial, cable, and satellite networks....

 digital TV
Digital television
Digital television is the transmission of audio and video by digital signals, in contrast to the analog signals used by analog TV...

 of the Wichita
Wichita, Kansas
Wichita is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kansas.As of the 2010 census, the city population was 382,368. Located in south-central Kansas on the Arkansas River, Wichita is the county seat of Sedgwick County and the principal city of the Wichita metropolitan area...

-Hutchinson
Hutchinson, Kansas
Hutchinson is the largest city in and the county seat of Reno County, Kansas, United States, northwest of Wichita, on the Arkansas River. It has been home to salt mines since 1887, thus its nickname of "Salt City", but locals call it "Hutch"...

 viewing market area, cable TV by Allegiance Communications
Allegiance Communications
Allegiance Communications is an American provider of cable TV, broadband Internet, and VOIP telephony services to rural and mid-size markets in Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Texas...

, and satellite TV
Satellite television
Satellite television is television programming delivered by the means of communications satellite and received by an outdoor antenna, usually a parabolic mirror generally referred to as a satellite dish, and as far as household usage is concerned, a satellite receiver either in the form of an...

. See Media in Wichita, Kansas.

Infrastructure

Transportation

Interstate I-135 and highway US 81 pass through Hesston.

Hesston is serviced by a branch of the Kansas and Oklahoma Railroad
Kansas and Oklahoma Railroad
The Kansas and Oklahoma Railroad is a shortline railroad operating in the western United States.The tracks Kansas and Oklahoma operate on include the Kansas City-Colorado main line formerly operated by the Missouri Pacific and later Union Pacific railways....

 operating between McPherson
McPherson, Kansas
McPherson is a city in and the county seat of McPherson County, Kansas, United States, in the central part of the state. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 13,155. The city is named after Union General James Birdseye McPherson, a Civil War general...

 and Newton
Newton, Kansas
Newton is a city in and the county seat of Harvey County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 19,132. Newton is located north of Wichita and is included in the Wichita metropolitan statistical area...

, where it connects to the BNSF Railway
BNSF Railway
The BNSF Railway is a wholly owned subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., and is headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas. It is one of seven North American Class I railroads and the second largest freight railroad network in North America, second only to the Union Pacific Railroad, its primary...

.

Utilities

  • Internet
    • Wired is provided by Cox Communications
      Cox Communications
      Cox Communications is a privately owned subsidiary of Cox Enterprises providing digital cable television, telecommunications and wireless services in the United States...

       (cable), CenturyLink
      CenturyLink
      CenturyLink, Inc. is a United States telecommunications firm, headquartered in Monroe, Louisiana. The company, founded as Central Telephone & Electronics Corporation in 1968, later changed its name to Century Telephone Enterprises, Inc. in 1971, and then was called CenturyTel, Inc. from 1999 to 2010...

       (DSL).
    • Wireless is provided by Keyon Communications (wireless), Pixius Communications (wireless), AT&T
      AT&T
      AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications corporation headquartered in Whitacre Tower, Dallas, Texas, United States. It is the largest provider of mobile telephony and fixed telephony in the United States, and is also a provider of broadband and subscription television services...

       / Sprint
      Sprint Nextel
      Sprint Nextel Corporation is an American telecommunications company based in Overland Park, Kansas. The company owns and operates Sprint, the third largest wireless telecommunications network in the United States, with 53.4 million customers, behind Verizon Wireless and AT&T Mobility...

       / Verizon (cellular).
    • Satellite is provided by HughesNet, StarBand
      StarBand
      StarBand is a two-way satellite broadband Internet service available in the U.S.. StarBand Communications Inc. was initially a joint venture between Gilat Satellite Networks, EchoStar and Microsoft, and the StarBand service was launched in 2000. StarBand Communications filed for Chapter 11...

      , WildBlue.
  • TV
    • Cable is provided by Cox Communications
      Cox Communications
      Cox Communications is a privately owned subsidiary of Cox Enterprises providing digital cable television, telecommunications and wireless services in the United States...

      .
    • Satellite is provided by DirecTV
      DirecTV
      DirecTV is an American direct broadcast satellite service provider and broadcaster based in El Segundo, California. Its satellite service, launched on June 17, 1994, transmits digital satellite television and audio to households in the United States, Latin America, and the Anglophone Caribbean. ...

      , Dish Network
      Dish Network
      Dish Network Corporation is the second largest pay TV provider in the United States, providing direct broadcast satellite service—including satellite television, audio programming, and interactive television services—to 14.337 million commercial and residential customers in the United States. Dish...

      .
    • Terrestrial is provided by regional digital TV
      Digital television
      Digital television is the transmission of audio and video by digital signals, in contrast to the analog signals used by analog TV...

       stations.
  • Telephone
    • Landline is provided by CenturyLink
      CenturyLink
      CenturyLink, Inc. is a United States telecommunications firm, headquartered in Monroe, Louisiana. The company, founded as Central Telephone & Electronics Corporation in 1968, later changed its name to Century Telephone Enterprises, Inc. in 1971, and then was called CenturyTel, Inc. from 1999 to 2010...

      .
    • Cell Phone is provided by AT&T
      AT&T
      AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications corporation headquartered in Whitacre Tower, Dallas, Texas, United States. It is the largest provider of mobile telephony and fixed telephony in the United States, and is also a provider of broadband and subscription television services...

      , Sprint
      Sprint Nextel
      Sprint Nextel Corporation is an American telecommunications company based in Overland Park, Kansas. The company owns and operates Sprint, the third largest wireless telecommunications network in the United States, with 53.4 million customers, behind Verizon Wireless and AT&T Mobility...

      , Verizon.
  • Electricity
    • City is provided by Westar Energy
      Westar Energy
      Westar Energy is an investor owned electric utility headquartered in Topeka, Kansas. Westar is the largest electric company in Kansas, serving 687,000 residential, commercial and industrial customers in the eastern third of the state. Westar Energy generates more than 27,000,000 megawatt-hours of...

      .
    • Rural is provided by Westar Energy
      Westar Energy
      Westar Energy is an investor owned electric utility headquartered in Topeka, Kansas. Westar is the largest electric company in Kansas, serving 687,000 residential, commercial and industrial customers in the eastern third of the state. Westar Energy generates more than 27,000,000 megawatt-hours of...

      .
  • Natural Gas is provided by City of Hesston.
  • Water
  • Sewer is provided by City of Hesston.
  • Trash is provied by Waste Connections, billed by City of Hesston.

Further reading


External links

City
Schools
Attractions
Historical
Maps
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