Potwin is a city in Butler County,

Kansas Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...

, United States. It is named after the town site land owner Charles Potwin. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 421.

History

Early history

For many

millennia A millennium () is a period of one thousand years, one hundred decades, or ten centuries, sometimes called a kiloannum (ka), or kiloyear (ky). Normally, the word is used specifically for periods of a thousand years that begin at the starting p ...

, the

Great Plains The Great Plains is a broad expanse of plain, flatland in North America. The region stretches east of the Rocky Mountains, much of it covered in prairie, steppe, and grassland. They are the western part of the Interior Plains, which include th ...

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

was inhabited by

nomadic Nomads are communities without fixed habitation who regularly move to and from areas. Such groups include hunter-gatherers, pastoral nomads (owning livestock), tinkers and trader nomads. In the twentieth century, the population of nomadic pa ...

Native Americans. From the 16th century to 18th century, the

Kingdom of France The Kingdom of France is the historiographical name or umbrella term given to various political entities of France in the Middle Ages, medieval and Early modern France, early modern period. It was one of the most powerful states in Europe from th ...

claimed ownership of large parts of

. In 1762, after the

French and Indian War The French and Indian War, 1754 to 1763, was a colonial conflict in North America between Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and Kingdom of France, France, along with their respective Native Americans in the United States, Native American ...

, France secretly ceded

New France New France (, ) was the territory colonized by Kingdom of France, France in North America, beginning with the exploration of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence by Jacques Cartier in 1534 and ending with the cession of New France to Kingdom of Great Br ...

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

, per the Treaty of Fontainebleau.

19th century

In 1802, Spain returned most of the land to France. In 1803, most of the land for modern day Kansas was acquired by the United States from France as part of the 828,000 square mile

Louisiana Purchase The Louisiana Purchase () was the acquisition of the Louisiana (New France), territory of Louisiana by the United States from the French First Republic in 1803. This consisted of most of the land in the Mississippi River#Watershed, Mississipp ...

for 2.83 cents per

acre The acre ( ) is a Unit of measurement, unit of land area used in the Imperial units, British imperial and the United States customary units#Area, United States customary systems. It is traditionally defined as the area of one Chain (unit), ch ...

. In 1854, the

Kansas Territory The Territory of Kansas was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from May 30, 1854, until January 29, 1861, when the eastern portion of the territory was admitted to the United States, Union as the Slave and ...

was organized, then in 1861

became the 34th

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

. In 1855, Butler County was established within the

, which included the land for modern day Potwin. Potwin was incorporated as a town on April 8, 1885. This land, owned by Charles Potwin, whereby the town received its name, became a station for the

Missouri Pacific Railroad The Missouri Pacific Railroad , commonly abbreviated as MoPac, was one of the first railroads in the United States west of the Mississippi River. MoPac was a Class I railroad growing from dozens of predecessors and mergers. In 1967, the railroad o ...

, instigated by William I. Joseph, known as the Father of Potwin. Joseph came from

West Virginia West Virginia is a mountainous U.S. state, state in the Southern United States, Southern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States.The United States Census Bureau, Census Bureau and the Association of American ...

and, as more settlers arrived, became interested in a railroad to serve the area. After much diligent pursuit, the station was built and Joseph, a land agent for Charles Potwin, began development of a town site around the Potwin station. He opened a land office where the Potwin grocery now stands. A post office was established in Ayr (an extinct town) on July 12, 1875, but it was moved to Potwin on September 22, 1885. It quickly grew, including some businesses and houses from nearby community of Plum Grove.

20th century

During half of the twentieth century, Potwin enjoyed the prosperity of oil fields in the

Mid-Continent oil province The Mid-continent oil field is a broad area containing hundreds of Petroleum reservoir, oil fields in the U.S. states of Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas. The area, which consists of various geological Stratum, strata a ...

. In 1920, John (Jack) Vickers (1891–1940) built the Vickers Oil Refinery in Potwin. He got his start in oil fields in Butler County, commencing with the lease on the Parris Farm 10 miles north of Potwin, production reached 16,000 barrels a day during the 1950s. In 1964, distressed economic conditions shut down the oil processing facilities. The company was sold to Swift & Company and the remaining operations were closed in 1970, and later demolished. In 1934, Vickers built a large mansion (named "Vickridge") east of Wichita (now in the city limits), which his estate later become the current site of Kapaun Mt. Carmel High School. In 1961, Frederic Remington High School was built immediately north of Brainerd. Leading up to this new school,

Whitewater Whitewater forms in the context of rapids, in particular, when a river's Stream gradient, gradient changes enough to generate so much turbulence that air is trapped within the water. This forms an unstable current that foam, froths, making t ...

, Potwin, Brainerd, Elbing, Furley, Countryside, and Golden Gate schools merged to form a joint rural high school. Heated opposition between Whitewater and Potwin occurred during the discussion for the location of the new high school. Rural voters pushed for a centralized location in neither town. A public vote was passed to build the new school near Brainerd. From 1960s to 1980s, a

Titan II The Titan II was an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) developed by the Glenn L. Martin Company from the earlier Titan I missile. Titan II was originally designed and used as an ICBM, but was later adapted as a medium-lift space ...

intercontinental ballistic missile An intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) is a ballistic missile with a range (aeronautics), range greater than , primarily designed for nuclear weapons delivery (delivering one or more Thermonuclear weapon, thermonuclear warheads). Conven ...

site was located north of Potwin. The site was one of eighteen overseen by the 381st Strategic Missile Wing at

McConnell Air Force Base McConnell Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base located four miles (6 km) southeast of the central business district of Wichita, a city in Sedgwick County, Kansas, United States., effective 2007-12-20 The airbase was named in ...

Wichita, Kansas Wichita ( ) is the List of cities in Kansas, most populous city in the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Sedgwick County, Kansas, Sedgwick County. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population of the city was 397, ...

. The Titan II near Potwin likely contained a 9 megaton W-53 nuclear warhead.

21st century

In 2010, the Keystone-Cushing Pipeline (Phase II) was constructed along the east city limits of Potwin, north to south through Butler County, with much controversy over tax exemption and environmental concerns (if a leak ever occurs). A pumping station named ''Burns'' was built two miles north of Potwin, and new power lines were built from a high-voltage line 0.3 mile east of De Graff. In an unusual technical glitch, a farmstead approximately four miles northeast of Potwin became the default

geolocation Geopositioning is the process of determining or estimating the geographic position of an object or a person. Geopositioning yields a set of Geographic coordinate system, geographic coordinates (such as latitude and longitude) in a given map datum ...

of 600 million

IP address An Internet Protocol address (IP address) is a numerical label such as that is assigned to a device connected to a computer network that uses the Internet Protocol for communication. IP addresses serve two main functions: network interface i ...

es when the Massachusetts-based digital mapping company MaxMind changed the putative

geographic center of the contiguous United States The geographic center of the United States is a point approximately north of Belle Fourche, South Dakota at . It has been regarded as such by the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey and the U.S. National Geodetic Survey (NGS) since the a ...

from 39.8333333,-98.585522 to 38.0000,-97.0000. Later, the default geolocation was changed to the middle of Cheney Reservoir in Kansas.

Geography

According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

, the city has a total area of , all land.

Climate

The climate in this area is characterized by hot, humid summers and generally mild to cool winters. According to the

Köppen Climate Classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...

system, Potwin has a

humid subtropical climate A humid subtropical climate is a subtropical -temperate climate type, characterized by long and hot summers, and cool to mild winters. These climates normally lie on the southeast side of all continents (except Antarctica), generally between ...

, abbreviated "Cfa" on climate maps.

Demographics

2020 census

The 2020 United States census counted 421 people, 168 households, and 113 families in Potwin. The population density was 1,791.5 per square mile (691.7/km). There were 195 housing units at an average density of 829.8 per square mile (320.4/km). The racial makeup was 90.74% (382)

white White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

European American European Americans are Americans of European ancestry. This term includes both people who descend from the first European settlers in the area of the present-day United States and people who descend from more recent European arrivals. Since th ...

(89.07%

non-Hispanic white Non-Hispanic Whites, also referred to as White Anglo Americans or Non-Latino Whites, are White Americans who are classified by the United States census as "White" and not of Hispanic or Latino origin. According to annual estimates from the Unit ...

), 0.48% (2)

black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...

African-American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...

, 2.14% (9) Native American or

Alaska Native Alaska Natives (also known as Native Alaskans, Alaskan Indians, or Indigenous Alaskans) are the Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Indigenous peoples of Alaska that encompass a diverse arena of cultural and linguistic groups, including the I ...

, 0.0% (0) Asian, 0.0% (0)

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...

Native Hawaiian Native Hawaiians (also known as Indigenous Hawaiians, Kānaka Maoli, Aboriginal Hawaiians, or simply Hawaiians; , , , and ) are the Indigenous peoples of Oceania, Indigenous Polynesians, Polynesian people of the Hawaiian Islands. Hawaiʻi was set ...

, 0.95% (4) from other races, and 5.7% (24) from two or more races.

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race was 4.75% (20) of the population. Of the 168 households, 32.7% had children under the age of 18; 44.6% were married couples living together; 27.4% had a female householder with no spouse or partner present. 29.2% of households consisted of individuals and 14.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.8 and the average family size was 3.4. The percent of those with a bachelor’s degree or higher was estimated to be 12.6% of the population. 22.6% of the population was under the age of 18, 9.7% from 18 to 24, 24.5% from 25 to 44, 23.8% from 45 to 64, and 19.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39.4 years. For every 100 females, there were 99.5 males. For every 100 females ages 18 and older, there were 102.5 males. The 2016-2020 5-year

American Community Survey The American Community Survey (ACS) is an annual demographics survey program conducted by the United States Census Bureau. It regularly gathers information previously contained only in the long form of the United States census, decennial census ...

estimates show that the median household income was $41,618 (with a margin of error of +/- $9,667) and the median family income was $43,750 (+/- $12,064). Males had a median income of $39,115 (+/- $3,013) versus $27,250 (+/- $12,459) for females. The median income for those above 16 years old was $33,125 (+/- $8,498). Approximately, 7.8% of families and 7.2% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including 9.9% of those under the age of 18 and 15.3% of those ages 65 or over.

2010 census

As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2010, there were 449 people, 181 households, and 130 families residing in the city. The

population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...

was . There were 205 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 92.2%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 0.2%

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 1.3% Native American, 0.7% Asian, 2.2% from other races, and 3.3% from two or more races.

or Latino of any race were 5.6% of the population. There were 181 households, of which 30.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 55.8% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

living together, 9.9% had a female householder with no husband present, 6.1% had a male householder with no wife present, and 28.2% were non-families. 24.9% of all households were made up of individuals, and 11.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.48 and the average family size was 2.94. The median age in the city was 39.4 years. 25.2% of residents were under the age of 18; 8.2% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 24.1% were from 25 to 44; 28.5% were from 45 to 64; and 14% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the city was 49.9% male and 50.1% female.

2000 census

As of the

of 2000, there were 457 people, 187 households, and 123 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 208 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 95.40%

, 1.53% Native American, 0.22% Asian, and 2.84% from two or more races.

or Latino of any race were 0.88% of the population. There were 187 households, out of which 33.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 53.5% were

living together, 8.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 34.2% were non-families. 28.3% of all households were made up of individuals, and 17.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.44 and the average family size was 2.95. In the city, the population was spread out, with 26.0% under the age of 18, 9.0% from 18 to 24, 28.0% from 25 to 44, 21.9% from 45 to 64, and 15.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females, there were 100.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 94.3 males. The median income for a household in the city was $39,091, and the median income for a family was $42,500. Males had a median income of $31,544 versus $18,375 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

for the city was $18,254. About 4.7% of families and 8.3% of the population were below the

, including 6.8% of those under age 18 and 8.6% of those age 65 or over.

Education

The community is served by

Remington USD 206 Remington USD 206 is a public unified school district headquartered in Whitewater, Kansas, United States. Depending on the historic use, it may also have the word "Whitewater" either before or after "Remington". The district includes the com ...

public school district. The Remington High School mascot is a Bronco. * Frederic Remington High School north of Brainerd. * Remington Middle School in

. * Remington Elementary School in Potwin. Potwin High School was closed through school unification. The Potwin High School mascot was Greyhounds.

Media

Print

* '' The Newton Kansan'', regional newspaper from Newton. * '' Butler County Times-Gazette'', regional newspaper from

El Dorado El Dorado () is a mythical city of gold supposedly located somewhere in South America. The king of this city was said to be so rich that he would cover himself from head to foot in gold dust – either daily or on certain ceremonial occasions � ...

. * ''

The Wichita Eagle ''The Wichita Eagle'' is a daily newspaper published in Wichita, Kansas, United States. Originating in the early 1870s, shortly after the city's founding, it is owned by The McClatchy Company and is the largest newspaper in Wichita and the surr ...

'', major regional newspaper from Wichita.

Radio

Potwin is served by numerous

radio stations Radio broadcasting is the broadcasting of audio signal, audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a lan ...

of the Wichita- Hutchinson listening market area, and

satellite radio Satellite radio is defined by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU)'s ITU Radio Regulations (RR) as a '' broadcasting-satellite service''. The satellite's signals are broadcast nationwide, across a much wider geographical area than te ...

. See '' Media in Wichita, Kansas''.

Television

Potwin is served by over-the-air ATSC

digital TV Digital television (DTV) is the transmission of television signals using digital encoding, in contrast to the earlier analog television technology which used analog signals. At the time of its development it was considered an innovative adv ...

of the Wichita- Hutchinson viewing market area,

cable TV Cable television is a system of delivering television broadcast programming, programming to consumers via radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted through coaxial cables, or in more recent systems, light pulses through fibre-optic cables. This ...

, and

satellite TV Satellite television is a service that delivers television programming to viewers by relaying it from a communications satellite orbiting the Earth directly to the viewer's location.ITU Radio Regulations, Section IV. Radio Stations and Systems ...