Elkhart, Kansas

Elkhart is a city in Morton County, Kansas, United States.^[4] It is also the county seat of Morton County. The south part of the city is the Kansas-Oklahoma state border. Elkhart is 8.5 miles (13.7 km) from the Kansas-Colorado border. In 2020, 1,888 people lived there.^[3]

Elkhart, Kansas
City and County seat
Morton County Court House (2009)
Location within Morton County and Kansas
KDOT map of Morton County (legend)
Coordinates: 37°0′11″N 101°53′40″W[1]
Country	United States
State	Kansas
County	Morton
Founded	1913
Incorporated	1913
Named for	Elkhart, Indiana
Area [2]
• Total	2.05 sq mi (5.32 km2)
• Land	2.05 sq mi (5.32 km2)
• Water	0.00 sq mi (0.00 km2)
Elevation [1]	3,596 ft (1,096 m)
Population  (2020)[3]
• Total	1,888
• Density	920/sq mi (350/km2)
Time zone	UTC-6 (CST)
• Summer (DST)	UTC-5 (CDT)
ZIP code	67950
Area code	620
FIPS code	20-20350
GNIS ID	2394655[1]
Website	City website

History

Elkhart, circa 1905

Elkhart was created in 1913.^[5] It was named after Elkhart, Indiana.^[6]

In 1961, the county seat was moved from Richfield to Elkhart.^[7]

Geography

The United States Census Bureau says that the city has a total area of 2.05 square miles (5.31 km²). All of it is land.^[2]

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 2 inches or 50.8 millimetres 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 80 °F or 26.7 °C even in the depth of winter, with 70 °F or 21.1 °C 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 0 °F or −17.8 °C on an average of 3.6 nights per winter. The coldest temperature recorded in Elkhart has been −22 °F or −30 °C on January 19, 1984, while the hottest winter temperature has been 87 °F or 30.6 °C on February 1, 1963.

In the summer, the climate is generally very hot. It sometime gets thunderstorms. Those storms provide most of the 18.9 inches or 480 millimetres of precipitation expected during one year.The wettest calendar year has been 1941 with 29.74 inches or 755.4 millimetres and the driest 1937 when only 9.03 inches or 229.4 millimetres fell.

Climate data for Elkhart, Kansas (1971-2000; extremes since 1900)
Month	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Year
Record high °F (°C)	83 (28)	87 (31)	91 (33)	96 (36)	104 (40)	110 (43)	110 (43)	108 (42)	105 (41)	96 (36)	91 (33)	85 (29)	110 (43)
Average high °F (°C)	45.1 (7.3)	50.6 (10.3)	58.6 (14.8)	68.1 (20.1)	77.8 (25.4)	88.9 (31.6)	93.4 (34.1)	90.9 (32.7)	82.3 (27.9)	71.6 (22.0)	56.3 (13.5)	46.9 (8.3)	69.2 (20.7)
Average low °F (°C)	18.3 (−7.6)	22.2 (−5.4)	29.9 (−1.2)	38.9 (3.8)	49.0 (9.4)	58.9 (14.9)	64.2 (17.9)	62.7 (17.1)	54.0 (12.2)	41.1 (5.1)	28.9 (−1.7)	20.6 (−6.3)	40.7 (4.8)
Record low °F (°C)	−22 (−30)	−18 (−28)	−18 (−28)	8 (−13)	21 (−6)	33 (1)	45 (7)	43 (6)	25 (−4)	6 (−14)	−7 (−22)	−18 (−28)	−22 (−30)
Average precipitation inches (mm)	0.54 (14)	0.44 (11)	1.38 (35)	1.67 (42)	2.75 (70)	2.50 (64)	2.82 (72)	2.74 (70)	1.69 (43)	1.11 (28)	0.78 (20)	0.48 (12)	18.9 (481)
Average snowfall inches (cm)	5.5 (14)	4.4 (11)	4.9 (12)	1.2 (3.0)	0.2 (0.51)	0.0 (0.0)	0.0 (0.0)	0.0 (0.0)	0.1 (0.25)	1.0 (2.5)	1.6 (4.1)	3.4 (8.6)	22.3 (55.96)
Average precipitation days (≥ 0.01 inch)	3.3	3.1	5.2	5.4	7.8	7.4	7.3	6.9	5.2	3.7	3.6	3.1	62
Average snowy days (≥ 0.1 inch)	2.3	2.0	1.5	0.4	trace	0.0	0.0	0.0	trace	0.2	1.0	1.9	9.3
Source 1: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administriation[8]
Source 2: National Weather Service Dodge City[9]

People

Census	Pop.		%±
1920	1,160		—
1930	1,485		28.0%
1940	902		−39.3%
1950	1,132		25.5%
1960	1,780		57.2%
1970	2,089		17.4%
1980	2,243		7.4%
1990	2,318		3.3%
2000	2,233		−3.7%
2010	2,205		−1.3%
2020	1,888		−14.4%
U.S. Decennial Census

2020 census

The 2020 census says that there were 1,888 people, 729 households, and 469 families living in Elkhart. Of the households, 69.3% owned their home and 30.7% rented their home.

The median age was 41.1 years. Of the people, 75.1% were White, 1.2% were Asian, 0.7% were Native American, 0.7% were Black, 0.3% were Pacific Islanders, 10.2% were from some other race, and 11.8% were two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 23.5% of the people.^[3][10]

2010 census

The 2010 census says that there were 2,205 people, 856 households, and 571 families living in Elkhart.^[11]

Education

Elkhart is served by USD 218 Elkhart. The Elkhart High School mascot is the Wildcats.^[12]

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.