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is a city in Finney County, Kansas, United States. The population was 28,451 as of the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Finney County, and provides the campus of Garden City Community College. It is home to Lee Richardson Zoo, the largest zoological facility in western Kansas. It was depicted in Truman Capote's
and, as county seat, the location of the murder trials. The community boasts more than sixty restaurants and around forty churches, which in both cases cater to a diverse and changing local population.
In February of 1878, James R. Fulton, William D. Fulton and his son, L. W. Fulton, arrived at the present site of Garden City, bringing with them Chas. Van Trump, the county surveyor from Dodge City. Mr. Van Trump had previously surveyed as far as the Point of Rocks, nine miles east of Garden City. From there he started to find the center of old Sequoyah County. They drove up in their wagons and pitched camp not far from where the city pumping plant is currently located. The men were anxious to locate the exact center of the county, fearing they had gone too far west. However, when the engineer found the county lines, they discovered their camp was not one hundred yards from the center, east and west. After completing the survey they went to Larned, Kansas, where the United States Land Office was then located, and on March 16, 1878, William D. Fulton filed on the southeast quarter section 18-24-32, and James R. Fulton filed on the southwest quarter of the same section. The other two quarters in the section were to have been taken by Chas. Van Trump and John A. Stevens, but by mistake their filings were both put on the northeast quarter. Van Trump did not discover the mistake until in the summer, and by that time, Stevens had built a house on the northwest quarter, and held it. A young man at Larned, seeing that the northwest quarter was still vacant, placed a timber claim filing on it, and Van Trump lost out in the townsite deal. Late in 1879, C. J. Jones found the young man who had filed on the northwest quarter and bought his relinquishment for $90 and a gold watch. In this way Mr. Jones became the owner of the northwest quarter of section 18, which is now Jones Addition of the town of Garden City.
The original townsite of Garden City was laid out on the south half of section 18 by engineer Chas. Van Trump. The land was a loose, sandy loam, and covered with sage brush and soap weeds, but there were no trees. Main Street ran directly north and south, dividing Wm. D. and James R. Fulton's claims. As soon as they could get building material, they erected two frame houses. Wm. D. Fulton building on his land, on the east side of Main Street, a house one story and a half high, with two rooms on the ground and two rooms above. This was called the Occidental Hotel. Wm. D. Fulton was proprietor. He often joked that it should have been called the Accidental Hotel, because it was an accident if you got anything to eat. James R. Fulton built a house of two rooms on his land, which joined Main street on the west. This house was sold to D. R. Menke in August, 1878, for a cash consideration and a one-sixteenth interest in the original townsite was given him to establish a store in the building. No other houses were built in Garden City until November, 1878, when James R. Fulton and Mr. L. T. Walker each put up a building. The Fultons tried to get others to settle here, but only a few came, and at the end of the first year there were only four buildings.