Sudan Grew Where the 77 Ranch Met the Rails

Before Sudan had a hotel, gin, or bank, its ground had already changed hands. It began as county school land, then became part of the 77 Ranch owned by S. B. Wilson and Wilson Furneaux.

The railroad gave the settlement its spine. Santa Fe completed a branch through the area in 1913, and Sudan began developing in 1917 and 1918. Land company manager and postmaster P. E. Boesen suggested the town's name in 1918.

A gin opened in 1922, a bank in 1923, and a grain elevator in 1925. Sudan incorporated that same year. Those milestones trace a farm town assembling around the line: ranch land underneath, rails down the center, and trade filling in around them.