
Harvey County Kansas is part of a 5 county Metro Area with 650,000 people, the largest anchored in the state of Kansas. It is located in Harvey County which is an agricultural and small manufacturing county with 34,361 people. Newton is included in the Wichita metropolitan statistical area (MSA). According to the Köppen Climate Classification system, Newton has a humid subtropical climate, abbreviated "Cfa" on climate maps. The climate in this area is characterized by hot, humid summers and generally mild to cool winters. Highway 50 runs past the White House in Washington, DC through Newton, Kansas and continues on to Sacramento, California. It passes through Newton, Kansas and is known as "Main Street." U.S. Highway 81, also known as the Meridian Highway, stretches from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada to Mexico City, Mexico through Central and South America. The city is in the central portion of the continental United States. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 12.60 square miles (32.63 km 2), all of it land. Newton is located at coordinates 38.0466779, -97.3450365 in the state of Kansas. The shooter, identified as Excel employee Cedric Larry Ford, was then killed by responding police officers. On February 25, 2016, Newton was the site of the first of several related shooting incidents, which culminated in a mass shooting at an Excel Industries building in nearby Hesston that left three people dead and twelve others injured. Most locals still refer to this railroad as the "Santa Fe". The BNSF continues to be a large industrial taxpayer although its impact as an employer has decreased in the past decade. In 1995, the Santa Fe merged with the Burlington Northern Railroad, and is now known as the BNSF Railway. Newton served as the Middle Division dispatching headquarters for the "Santa Fe" until the mid-1980s, when all dispatching for the Chicago to Los Angeles system was centralized in the Chicago area. 20th century ĭuring World War II, the Newton airport was taken over by the US Navy as a secondary Naval Air Station, and the main runway was extended to over 7,000 feet (2,100 m). Shortly after incorporation of the city in 1872, the Newton city council passed an ordinance prohibiting the running at large of buffalo and other wild animals. In 1872, the western terminal for the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway and the railhead for the Chisholm Trail were established here. Because of this incident, Newton became known as "bloody and lawless-the wickedest city in the west.". The incident began with an argument between two local lawmen, Billy Bailey and Mike McCluskie. In August 1871, there was a Gunfight at Hide Park, in which a total of eight men were killed. The city was founded in 1871 and named after Newton, Massachusetts, home of some of the Santa Fe stockholders. The town soon became an important railroad shipping point of Texas cattle. In 1871, the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway extended a main line from Emporia westward to Newton by July 1871. In 1854, the Kansas Territory was organized, then in 1861 Kansas became the 34th U.S. In 1803, most of modern Kansas was secured by the United States as part of the Louisiana Purchase. For millennia, the land now known as Kansas was inhabited by Native Americans.
