Elkhart, Kansas

Elkhart is a city in Morton County, Kansas, United States. It is also the county seat of Morton County. The south part of the city is the Kansas-Oklahoma state border. Elkhart is  from the Kansas-Colorado border. In 2010, 2,205 people lived there.

History

Elkhart was created in 1913. It was named after Elkhart, Indiana.

In 1961, the county seat was moved from Richfield to Elkhart.

Geography
The United States Census Bureau says that the city has a total area of . All of it is land.

Weather
Elkhart has a cool semi-arid climate (Köppen BSk). It has dry winters with big temperature differences, and it has hot summers, and it sometimes has a lot of precipitation from thunder showers or storms.

During winter, because western Kansas lies both on the edge of the subtropical anticyclones and in the rain shadow of westerly winds crossing the Rocky Mountains, the region is generally dry: no measurable precipitation fell in Elkhart between 25 December 1903 and 2 April 1904, while monthly precipitation above  has never been recorded during January and is observed fewer than one year in ten during November, December or February. Temperatures can vary greatly during this season: strong chinook winds can drive temperatures above  even in the depth of winter, with  reached on average during six days between December and February, seven during November and eight during March. Nevertheless, cold outbreaks from Canada drive temperatures to or below  on an average of 3.6 nights per winter. The coldest temperature recorded in Elkhart has been  on January 19, 1984, while the hottest winter temperature has been  on February 1, 1963.

In the summer, the climate is generally very hot. It sometime gets thunderstorms. Those storms provide most of the  of precipitation expected during one year.The wettest calendar year has been 1941 with  and the driest 1937 when only  fell.

People

2010 census
The 2010 census says that there were 2,205 people, 856 households, and 571 families living in Elkhart.

Education
Elkhart is served by USD 218 Elkhart. The Elkhart High School mascot is the Wildcats.

Famous people
 Sanora Babb, American writer, came at the age of 11 to attend school for the first time in 1918 with her parents and sister from a farm near the town of Artesia, Baca County, Colorado, following an attempt at homesteading in Lamar, Colorado, as described in her 1970 fictionalized memoir An Owl on Every Post.
 Walter Baker, winner of Olympic medals at the 1952 Summer Olympics and 1956 Summer Olympics.
 Glenn Cunningham, nicknamed the "Elkhart Express", former world record-holder in the mile run and silver medalist in the 1500 meter run at the 1936 Summer Olympics.
 Robelyn Garcia, Professional Women’s Basketball Association (WBA) 4X All-Star and WBA Championship MVP. Collegiate All-American basketball player and College Athletic Hall Of Fame Inductee.
 Darrin Simmons, Cincinnati Bengals special teams coach.

References

Other websites

City
 City of Elkhart
 Elkhart - Directory of Public Officials
Schools
 USD 218, local school district
Historical
 Morton County Historical Society Museum
Maps
 Elkhart City Map, KDOT

1913 establishments in the United States
Cities in Kansas
County seats in Kansas
20th-century establishments in Kansas