Lincoln County, Kansas
In the early years of Lincoln County’s history, settlers suffered the threat and violence of Indian attacks. Lives were impacted and even lost in Lincoln County and surrounding areas during those years.
Lincoln County Kansas, organized in 1870, was named for Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States. In 1871 a petition asking for an election was denied by officials. In 1872, an election was finally held in which Lincoln Center, now known as Lincoln, won over the previous county seat Abram.
The Indian raids of the 1860s and 1870s withheld settlement of the county. In 1868 a detachment of the Seventh U. S. Cavalry under Colonel Willian Benteen was stationed in the county to offer protection. In the same year two young girls were found starving in the county by Spillman Creek. Their father, Aaron Bell, had been captured in Mitchell County. Individuals were killed near Lincoln Center and Spillman Creek in 1869.
The state-wide suffrage movement had experienced a setback with a loss in 1876. Around 1879, women in the town of Lincoln chose to pick up the fight for suffrage once again.
Lincoln County contains properties on the National and State Registers of Historic Places. Lincoln Carnegie Library established in 1914, was one of the libraries Andrew Carnegie and the Carnegie Corporation and their work with public libraries helped establish. A site of Native American Rock Art is located within the county. The Lincoln County petroglyph site is part of a nomination containing 30 total sites, 29 petroglyphs and one pictograph, across the state. The Lincoln County Courthouse finished in 1900, was a courthouse built to replace the 1873 one that burned down in 1898.
Quick Facts
| Date Established: | February 26, 1867 |
| Date Organized: | October 4, 1870 |
| County Seat: | Lincoln |
| Kansas Region: | North Central |
| Physiographic Region: | Smoky Hills |
| Scenic Byways: | Post Rock |
| Courthouse: | September 6, 1900 |
Timeline
1860 - 1870 - Indian raids affect settlement
1867 - Lincoln County is established on February 26, 1867.
1870 - Lincoln County is organized.
1872 - Lincoln becomes the county seat.
1879 - The women of the town of Lincoln pick up their fight for suffrage.
1899 - 1911 - William Reeder served as a U.S. Congressman from the county
More on Lincoln County
- National and State Register
- Kansas Historical Markers
- Kansas Memory
- Archives Catalog
- Counties Database
- Lincoln County Government
Sources
- Lincoln Carnegie Library
- Kansas Rock Art
- Lincoln County Courthouse
- Kansas Collection of Books, Lincoln County
- Brief History of Lincoln County
Entry: Lincoln County, Kansas
Author: Kansas Historical Society
Author information: The Kansas Historical Society is a state agency charged with actively safeguarding and sharing the state's history.
Date Created: February 2010
Date Modified: August 2023
The author of this article is solely responsible for its content.
