Udall, Kansas

Udall is a city in Cowley County, Kansas, United States. In 2020, 661 people lived there. History The first post office in Udall was built in September 1879. J.M. Napier and P.W. Smith Bought a ten-acre area of land from I.N Nelson in 1879. Udall was planned out in 1881 by Napier and Smith. It was named after English author Cornelius Udall. 1955 tornado On May 25, 1955, the deadliest tornado to ever hit Kansas hit Udall at 10:35 p.m. The town was destroyed by an 1,300 yd (0.74 mi) wide F5 tornado. Every building within the city limits was hit, including the grain elevator, water tower, old grade school, new high school, city hall, three churches. The water tower had been knocked over and the streets were flooded. Vehicles were thrown hundreds of yards and destroyed. 77 people died. 270 people were injured. 192 buildings (170 homes) were destroyed. Around 50% of families had one or more members of their families who died in the tornado. Before hitting Udall, there were no warnings issued by the Weather Bureau. Unknown to them, the same tornado-producing thunderstorm had just hit the city of Blackwell, Oklahoma, where 20 people died and 250 were injured. Geography The United States Census Bureau says that the city has a total area of 0.55 square miles (1.42 km2). All of it is land. People 2020 census The 2020 census says that there were 661 people, 263 households, and 177 families living in Udall. Of the households, 69.2% owned their home and 30.8% rented their home. The median age was 38.1 years. Of the people, 88.2% were White, 3.2% were Native American, 0.5% were Pacific Islanders, 0.2% were Black, 0.2% were Asian, 1.2% were from some other race, and 6.7% were two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 3.6% of the people. 2010 census The 2010 census says that there were 746 people, 289 households, and 203 families living in Udall. Education Udall is part of Udall USD 463 public school district. References More reading County History of Cowley County Kansas; D.A. Millington / E.P. Greer; Winfield Courier; 162 pages; 1901. (Download 16MB PDF eBook) Kansas History of the State of Kansas; William G. Cutler; A.T. Andreas Publisher; 1883. (Online HTML eBook) Kansas : A Cyclopedia of State History, Embracing Events, Institutions, Industries, Counties, Cities, Towns, Prominent Persons, Etc; 3 Volumes; Frank W. Blackmar; Standard Publishing Co; 944 / 955 / 824 pages; 1912. (Volume1 - Download 54MB PDF eBook), (Volume2 - Download 53MB PDF eBook), (Volume3 - Download 33MB PDF eBook) Other websites City of Udall Photos from 1955 tornado damage Archived 2013-11-19 at the Wayback Machine