Catharine, KS

Catharine is a census-designated place in Catherine Township, Ellis County, Kansas, United States. The 2020 census counted 113 residents. Volga German immigrants founded and settled Catharine in April 1876, naming it after Katharinenstadt, the town they came from in Russia. Katharinenstadt was the economic center of the German colonies in Russia and, as a result, Catharine's settlers were initially wealthier than those of other Volga German settlements in the area. A newcomer can read Catharine through the overlap of its older landmarks, surrounding geography, and current places. For a newcomer, Catharine comes into focus through those concrete links among its past, landscape, and current routines. Catharine lies on the eastern side of North Fork Big Creek, part of the Smoky Hill River watershed, in the Smoky Hills region of the Great Plains.