Winfield, Kansas

Winfield is a city in and the county seat of Cowley County, Kansas, United States. It is situated along the Walnut River in south central Kansas. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 11,777. It is home to Southwestern College.

Winfield was founded in 1870. It was named for Rev. Winfield Scott, who promised to build the town a church in exchange for the naming rights. The first post office at Winfield was established in May 1870. In 1873, Winfield incorporated as a city.

Railroads reached Winfield in the late 1870s, and finished at Arkansas City in 1881. Eventually, a total of five railroads passed through Winfield.

In 1881, the State of Kansas established the Kansas State Asylum for Idiotic and Imbecile Youth, temporarily established at Lawrence, but moved to Winfield in 1887/1888, where it served as a dominant local employer for 117 years.

The Winfield–Arkansas City area became an industrial community in the 20th century, manufacturing consumer goods, and eventually aircraft and aircraft parts, while retaining its traditional dominant employer, the Winfield State Hospital.

On August 13, 1903, 35-year-old Gilbert Twigg, armed with a 12-gauge double-barrelled shotgun, opened fire at a concert, killing six people and wounding at least 25, before killing himself. Three others died in hospitals afterward.^{[citation needed]}

In World War II, Winfield, along with neighboring Arkansas City, became home to a military pilot–training base, Strother Field, which remained in operation until the end of the war, bringing several thousand military personnel into the area. After the war, in the early 1950s, the field became the shared municipal airport and industrial park for Winfield and Arkansas City.

The aircraft-manufacturing industry in nearby Wichita (40 mi or 64 km to the north)—one of the world's principal aircraft-manufacturing centers—provided employment for many Winfield residents, directly and indirectly. That opportunity grew substantially in the last half of the century, as General Electric's GE Aviation division, in the late 1940s, began producing engines for Wichita aircraft, and eventually in the 1960s, one of Wichita's principal manufacturers, Cessna Aircraft Company built a factory at Strother Field.