Brief
History from KSHS:
Stevens
County was organized on August 3, 1885, by
H. B. Kelly; Charles and Orin Cook; C. B.
Freese; A, M. Donald;
William Harklerodes; J. C. Harris;
W. C. Rathbun; and Frank Kroh. Containing
the cities of Hugoton and Moscow, the
county was named for Thaddeus
Stevens.
One of the more famous
county seat wars occurred between Hugoton
and Woodsdale. Woodsdale utilized the
services of
Samuel N. Wood as their attorney to
acquire the county seat. When Wood was
stopped by a mob in 1888 on his arrival
violence occurred. It was not until
the use of the militia, the installation
of martial law, and new elections were
held that the
county seat was finally determined
to be Hugoton in 1891. Wood was finally
killed by one of the feuding factions.
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