Kiowa County

Kiowa County was the hunting ground of the tribe of Indians by the same name. The county was named for these Indians and means “principal people”. William Matthewson, the original buffalo Bill, had a personal acquaintance with the Kiowa Chiefs. Matthewson was the first white settler in Wichita and represented the U.S. Government in all the early treaties with the Indians. He claimed that the Kiowa’s hunting grounds were along Mule Creek that flows through southern Kiowa County. The Indians relied on the buffalo in Kiowa County in the early days that numbered around 40,000. The area was known as “Buffalo Land”. Perhaps along this line the expedition of the Spanish under Coronado in 1540 passed, for in describing the country he speaks of the “crooked back oxen” that filled the land.

Kiowa County was formed out of the unorganized Buffalo Land by the Kansas Legislature in 1867, in 1874, the Legislature wiped Kiowa County off the map. They cut it in two pieces and gave the southern part to Comanche County and the northern part to Edwards County. This was brought about in the interest of one of the biggest cattle corporations that ever existed on American soil and was known as the Comanche Pool. For years they were successful in keeping back the man with the plow and grain drill. Eventually they had to succumb to the westward march of the relentless homeseeker and the big ranches faded away and only the story of their success remains

Kiowa County was rehabilitated by the legislature of 1886.