On November 29, 1864, more than a decade before Colorado became a state and long before Kiowa County was formed, a massacre ofNative Americans—a group of old men, women, and children—occurred on Sand Creek that initially was greeted as a victory in theColorado War against hostile Indians; within months, Congressional inquiries revealed a different picture, and a national scandal erupted. It happened in what is now Kiowa County and is known as theSand Creek Massacre.
Territorial GovernorJohn Evans eventually lost his job for his part in setting up the incident, and ColonelJohn Chivington, commander of the U.S. forces, was castigated by theUnited States Congress, and the scandal followed him for the rest of his life. Evans would go on to make significant important contributions to the early Denver community, and while Chivington also made some, his reputation remained tainted, while Evans is still honored today.
The location was not positively identified until 1999, and in 2005, theNational Park Service established theSand Creek Massacre National Historic Site. Currently, the facilities include a small visitor center, two walking trails, signage, and monuments overlooking the massacre site.[4] The massacre site itself is off-limits to visitors.
In the late 1880s, eastern Colorado attracted a lot of attention by farming interests that did not yet know that long-termagriculture was unsustainable in this arid landscape, and therailroads were snaking west across the plains towards the gold fields of theRocky Mountains during theColorado Gold Rush. TheMissouri Pacific Railroad crossed into what would soon become Kiowa County, Colorado, from Kansas in 1887.
Kiowa County, 1898
Several small camps for railroad workers were established just over the border fromKansas, and beginning after the town ofSheridan Lake, new towns and camps were sequentially named, alphabetically, starting with "A" and proceeding westward along the railroad line.
Arden,Brandon,Chivington, Diston,Eads, Fergus, Galatea,Haswell, Inman, Joliet, and Kilburn appeared one after another, some developing into towns, others being only a pipe dream in the eyes of developers. Chivington was intended as a major watering stop for the railroad (a 60-room, $10,000 "crown jewel" hotel was initially built there), but the water was too alkaline to use and the trains instead stopped in Kansas to tank up. The hotel was soon torn down, its materials shipped to other Colorado locations to use in constructing other facilities—a common occurrence in late 19th century Colorado, as boom towns went bust.
Kiowa County was established in 1889, taking its name from the Kiowa Indians who lived in eastern Colorado before the Europeans arrived. Sheridan Lake was the county seat of Kiowa County and was not at first a stop on the railroad line; only after local citizens built a railroad depot and turned it over to the Missouri Pacific did the railroad build a telegraph station and make Sheridan Lake a stop. The county seat moved to rival Eads in 1902.
Agriculture in eastern Colorado collapsed in theDust Bowl days of the 1930s; today mostly dry-land farms and some ranching interests survive. Colorado'sFront Range cities and agriculture interests upstream have acquired most of thewater rights, and thegroundwateraquifers are drying up. Kiowa County faces ever-decreasing water supplies and further economic decline.
It is conceivable that much of the county will eventually revert to its original sparsegrassland andprairie conditions of the pre-1880s.
Today Eads, along the old railroad line, is the largest town in the county. It is the Kiowa county seat, serves the surviving farming and ranching interests, and hosts the county's largest high school. Sheridan Lake does have a combined junior-and-senior high, and still surviving in some form are the towns of Towner, Arlington, Brandon, Chivington, and Haswell.
According to theU.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 1,786 square miles (4,630 km2), of which 1,768 square miles (4,580 km2) is land and 18 square miles (47 km2) (1.0%) is water.[6]
Significant drainage basins in the county areAdobe Creek and Mustang Creek which drain the county'swestern part,Rush Creek andBig Sandy Creek in the central part and Wildhorse, Buffalo, and White Woman creeks in the eastern part. The draws tend to be intermittent, however Adobe, Rush and Big Sandy creeks have small continuous flows during wetter years. Each of these creeks ultimately drains to theArkansas River.[7]
TheGreat Plains Reservoirs south of Eads and along both sidesU.S. Highway 287 are a group of four larger reservoirs and several smaller ones that supply irrigation water to local farms and offer hunting, fishing and wildlife viewing in the Queens State Wildlife Area.[8]
As of the2020 census, the county had a population of 1,446.[14] Of the residents, 24.0% were under the age of 18 and 22.8% were 65 years of age or older; the median age was 44.0 years.[15]
For every 100 females there were 97.0 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 93.1 males. 0.0% of residents lived in urban areas and 100.0% lived in rural areas.[15][16]
Kiowa County, Colorado – Racial and ethnic composition Note: the US Census treats Hispanic/Latino as an ethnic category. This table excludes Latinos from the racial categories and assigns them to a separate category. Hispanics/Latinos may be of any race.
There were 581 households in the county, of which 27.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them and 24.4% had a female householder with no spouse or partner present. About 28.3% of all households were made up of individuals and 15.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.[15]
There were 736 housing units, of which 21.1% were vacant. Among occupied housing units, 72.8% were owner-occupied and 27.2% were renter-occupied. The homeowner vacancy rate was 0.5% and the rental vacancy rate was 9.0%.[15]
As of thecensus[20] of 2000, there were 1,622 people, 665 households, and 452 families residing in the county. Thepopulation density was 1 people per square mile (0.39 people/km2). There were 817 housing units at an average density of 0.457 units per square mile (0.176 units/km2). The racial makeup of the county was 96.12%White, 0.49%Black orAfrican American, 1.11%Native American, 0.06%Pacific Islander, 1.42% fromother races, and 0.80% from two or more races. 3.14% of the population wereHispanic orLatino of any race.
There were 665 households, out of which 28.90% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 57.60% weremarried couples living together, 6.60% had a female householder with no husband present, and 32.00% were non-families. 29.80% of all households were made up of individuals, and 15.20% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.40 and the average family size was 2.97.
In the county, the population was spread out, with 25.90% under the age of 18, 7.30% from 18 to 24, 24.70% from 25 to 44, 24.60% from 45 to 64, and 17.60% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females, there were 100.00 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 97.40 males.
The median income for a household in the county was $30,494, and the median income for a family was $35,536. Males had a median income of $26,136 versus $18,897 for females. Theper capita income for the county was $16,382. About 9.60% of families and 12.20% of the population were below thepoverty line, including 11.50% of those under age 18 and 13.80% of those age 65 or over.
Over six percent of the population wereQuakers–one of the highest percentages in the country.[21]
Kiowa is, like all of the High Plains, an overwhelmingly Republican county. The last Democrat to carry it wasLyndon Johnson in 1964, and since 1980, onlyMichael Dukakis in 1988 –during a major farm crisis brought upon bydrought– has topped 30% of the county's vote for the Democratic Party. The past six Democratic candidates for president have not surpassed 22% of the county's vote, and bothHillary Clinton andJoe Biden barely reached ten percent.
United States presidential election results for Kiowa County, Colorado[22]
