Hill City, KS

Hill City is the Graham County seat, founded in 1876 and named for W. R. Hill, the land agent who promoted settlement in the county. Graham County’s first seat was Millbrook, but a tornado destroyed that town in 1887; Hill City took the county seat in 1888. That history still sits in the courthouse-centered layout, with county offices and local businesses giving the city a role bigger than its population. U.S. 24 runs through the community, connecting Hill City to the farm and ranch country around it.

Hill City’s other signature is oil. The Oil Museum on the west side of town traces Graham County’s petroleum industry, while the Graham County USD 281 schools keep elementary, junior-high, and high-school life in the city. Two major tornadoes passed near town in 2005 and 2011, reminders of how exposed the High Plains can be. City Park and a roadside camping park give travelers a place to pause, and the county seat’s courthouse, museum, schools, and churches make Hill City the practical center of a wide square county.