Local city information for Arkansas City, KS

Arkansas City is a city situated at the confluence of the Arkansas and Walnut rivers in the southwestern part of Cowley County, located in south-central Kansas, in the central United States. The population was 11,963 at the 2000 census. It is the second most populous city of Cowley County.

The name of this city is not pronounced like the nearby state of Arkansas, but rather as (the final "s" is pronounced). Over the years there has been much confusion about the regional pronunciation of "Arkansas," which locals render as rather than . Throughout much of Kansas, residents use this alternate pronunciation when referring to the Arkansas River, as well as Arkansas Street in the city of Wichita. Very few people from other states, and even much less from the state of Arkansas, use or have ever heard the anglicized pronunciation. Because of this, and for the sake of brevity, Arkansas City is most often referred to as simply Ark City.

White settlers first congregated in the area where Arkansas City now stands in the 1860s. The natives referred to the place as "Nichonka," which roughly translates as "place between the waters" — a reference to the confluence of the Arkansas and Walnut rivers.

The settlers established a town in around 1870, but had difficulty choosing a name; at first they hoped to flatter U.S. Postmaster General John A. J. Creswell (and win a highly-sought-after post office) by naming the town Cresswell in his honor. Unfortunately, numerous other cities had already taken that tack. Next the town fathers, swooning with high expectations for their nascent community, briefly contemplated naming the city Delphi. Walnut City was considered and discarded. Finally, Arkansas City was chosen as the official name of the town.

Though the people of the young settlement believed their community should be the county seat, neighboring Winfield just 10 miles away was given the honor.

Arkansas City grew steadily through the latter part of the 19th century, and enjoyed a population explosion starting in 1891, when thousands of people moved into the area in anticipation of the Cherokee Strip Land Run. It has been estimated that the city's population swelled from 5,000 to 150,000 (most living in temporary encampments) as the nationally-hyped federal land giveaway approached, and shrank back to 5,000 in its aftermath.

The James-Younger Gang of outlaws famously hid out in a cave west of town when they rode through the area.

At the turn of the century, Arkansas City was a rival to Wichita in size and enterprise, boasting several busy rail lines, an elegant opera house, numerous fine hotels, a manufacturing base and a bustling agricultural economy. There was even a famous sanitarium (health spa) at nearby Geuda Springs, served by an electric railway running a triangular route from there to Ark City and Winfield. A popular swimming hole called Paris Lake was located west of downtown; the lake — and the hot springs at Geuda as well — was mired with silt in a flood in around 1919. Nearly 20 years later the WPA would build the Paris Park pool in the same spot. African Americans were not allowed to swim in the Paris Park pool during segregation and used a separate facility colloquially referred to as "the black pool" by local residents.

In 1928, the city's official fall festival, Arkalalah, was inaugurated. This annual event still draws thousands of visitors each October, and features a queen, a carnival, dozens of homegrown fair food vendors and a spectacular parade typically lasting three hours or more. During the 1955 Arkalalah celebration, a retired Santa Fe locomotive was driven on temporary tracks down the city's main street, Summit, to the spot in Wilson Park where it remains today.

The city prospered through much of the 20th century, but by the 1980s, the community was facing economic challenges. The railroads shifted many of their crews to other stops, the old Rodeo meat packing plant closed. In 1991 Total Petroleum was bought by UltraMar Diamond Shamrock, after Total Petroleum was found to be illegally dealing with Iraq and was forced out of the United States. In 1995 UltraMar Diamond Shamrock was purchased by Valero Energy Corporation. Valero began the process of cleaning up the soil and water. By 2003 other large employers in Cowley County, Binney & Smith (Crayola plant) and Winfield State Hospital in nearby Winfield, Montgomery KONE Elevator, Strother Field were also shuttered.

Arkansas City is now home to state-of-the-art meat processor Creekstone Farms Premium Beef LLC which employees over 700 workers. Several smaller manufacturing companies are expanding their operations while new start ups are finding a home in Cowley County due to the great workforce supplied by the two local colleges in the county. Both cities, only eleven miles apart, now have large Wal-Mart stores (A new Wal-Mart Supercenter opened in Ark City in March 2006, and another has been constructed in Winfield); conversely, both towns' movie theaters recently closed and were replaced by a single facility halfway between the cities, just south of the Strother Field industrial park. B & B Theatres donated the two downtown buildings to non-profit organizations in each of the respective communities. The Ark City Burford Theatre and Commercial Building is undergoing a transformation/renovation that will become a new community arts center and gathering space. Construction began in Spring 2006 on the planned downtown revitalization streetscape. In 2006 the local physicians in Arkansas City banded together with the South Central Kansas Regional Medical Center (SCKRMC) board and the City of Ark City to build a new hospital. However, progress is slow moving as financing the construction is found to be difficult to obtain. And now in December 2007, the City Commissioners have decided to not approve the annexation of land just North of Arkansas City to facilitate the construction of a new "Big Box Store"...rumor was that it would have been a Lowe's Home Center. A new Sonic has opened on east side of Summit street.

Ark City is the home of Jodi LeAnn Sanderholm. Justin Thurber was convicted of murdering her in 2008, one of the most high profile murders in the city in recent years.

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