Fargo Springs, Kansas, in about 1890.
When this place was established, it was called Harwoodville when a post office opened on July 27, 1885. The name was changed to Fargo Springs on December 22, 1885, in honor of C H. Fargo, owner of a boot and shoe house in Chicago, Illinois, who also owned land in Seward County.
There were several springs southwest of the town, which gave the town its name, Fargo Springs. It was also known as the “Springs”. The townsite was surveyed on May 20, 1885, by the Southwestern Land and Town Company.
Seward County’s first election was held on August 5, 1886, for the county seat. Fargo Springs won over Springfield, a town three miles north of the “Springs”. Springfield’s citizens were bitter about the loss, and another election was held in November 1887, which was once again won by Fargo Springs. Like other county-seat wars in Western Kansas, this one went to the Kansas Supreme Court ten months later, and the court ruled in favor of Springfield.
Fargo Springs, Kansas – County Seat
Eventually, it came down to the railroad deciding the fate of these two bitter rivals. The Kansas Southern Railroad, later known as the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad, had initially planned to build its tracks westward, and either town could have become an important railroad town. Instead, the railroad built the tracks southwest to Liberal, probably because of the county seat war. Fargo Springs was abandoned about a year after the railroad made its decision. The post office closed on June 15, 1888.
The post office reopened under the name of Fargo on March 13, 1906. In 1910, Fargo had a rural money order post office and was near the line of the proposed Garden City, Gulf & Northern Railroad. It was about 23 miles north of Liberal, the county seat, and 15 miles from Arkalon, the most convenient railroad station.
©Kathy Alexander/Legends of America, October 2025.
Also See:
Sources:
Blackmar, Frank W.; Kansas: A Cyclopedia of State History, Vol I; Standard Publishing Company, Chicago, IL 1912
Fort Hays State University
Historical Marker Database
Kansas Post Office History