Early history

For many millennia, the Great Plains of North America was inhabited by nomadic Native Americans. From the 16th century to 18th century, the Kingdom of France claimed ownership of large parts of North America. In 1762, after the French and Indian War, France secretly ceded New France to Spain, per the Treaty of Fontainebleau.

19th century

In 1802, Spain returned most of the land to France while keeping title to about 7,500 square miles. 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 miles Louisiana Purchase for 2.83 cents per acre.

In 1854, the Kansas Territory was organized, then in 1861 Kansas became the 34th U.S. state. In 1873, the remaining unorganized western part of the state was divided into 22 new counties, including Sheridan County.^[3] Sheridan County was then organized in 1880, with the county seat at Kenneth.^[4] After it became apparent in 1886, that the railroad line coming to the area would run south of Kenneth to the new town of Hoxie, the residents of Kenneth accepted an offer to get new lots in Hoxie (and move their buildings at no expense), and the county seat transferred to Hoxie. The Lincoln-Colorado railroad line opened through the county in 1888, and formally became part of the Union Pacific Railroad in the late 1890s.

20th century

The population of Sheridan County grew in the early 20th century and peaked in 1930 at 6,038 residents. Since then the population has steadily declined, as part of the general depopulation of the Great Plains.

The rail line stayed in operation in Sheridan County until 1998. After flooding east of Plainville in the 1993 floods damaged the line, the railroad concluded it would not be cost effective to rebuild, and the entire line from Plainville to Colby was abandoned by 1998.^[5][6]

Adjacent counties

• Decatur County (north)
• Norton County (northeast)
• Graham County (east)
• Gove County (south)
• Thomas County (west)

Presidential elections

Sheridan County is overwhelmingly Republican. Since Michael Dukakis in the heavily drought-influenced 1988 election won almost 39 percent of the county's vote, no Democratic presidential candidate has topped 22 percent, and in 2016 Hillary Clinton’s share plummeted into single figures.

Laws

Although the Kansas Constitution was amended in 1986 to allow the sale of alcoholic liquor by the individual drink with the approval of voters, Sheridan County has remained a prohibition, or "dry", county.^[15]

Unified school districts

• Hoxie USD 412

Cities

Unincorporated communities

Ghost towns

Townships

Sheridan County is divided into fourteen townships. None of the cities within the county are considered governmentally independent, and all figures for the townships include those of the cities. In the following table, the population center is the largest city (or cities) included in that township's population total, if it is of a significant size.