Panhandle Was Built by the Railroad and Cattle Drives

The Southern Kansas Railway reached what is now Panhandle in 1888. The town was originally called Carson City. It quickly grew with cattle pens that could hold as many as 65,000 head waiting to ship east. Early settlers also collected buffalo bones left from the great hunts and shipped them to fertilizer plants.

When Carson County organized in 1888, the town became the county seat. The Carson County Square House Museum in Panhandle preserves one of the oldest houses in Carson County and artifacts from early settler life on the High Plains. The museum is accredited by the American Alliance of Museums and has received an Award of Merit from the American Association for State and Local History. It is a good first stop for anyone wanting to understand what shaped this part of the Panhandle.