Meade, KS

Meade is the Meade County seat in southwest Kansas, at the junction of U.S. 54, U.S. 160, and Kansas 23. The 2020 census counted 1,505 residents. Agriculture, ranching, oil and gas, a rural electric cooperative, the county offices, and Meade District Hospital all contribute to the city's working map. Meade USD 226 keeps elementary, junior high, and high school grades in town, while the city also runs a library, swimming pool, municipal airport, and community learning center.

Meade was laid out and incorporated in 1885, during the period when rail and county government were giving the southwest Kansas settlements their permanent shape. The Dalton Gang Hideout occupies the former home of Eva Dalton Whipple, with a 95-foot tunnel, barn museum, and old-west set on the grounds. The Meade County Historical Society Museum sits downtown on Highway 54, and Meade State Lake is twelve miles southwest on K-23. Those places sit alongside school, hospital, city offices, and farm-serving businesses in a county-seat town built around roads and open country.