GARFIELD
PAWNEE ST.
Garfield City of
GRANT ST.
67
2ND ST.
3RD ST.
PORTER ST.
SHERMAN ST.
SHERIDAN ST.
1ST ST.
56
4TH ST.
5TH ST.
A
bell now hangs in the Garfield City Park. That bell has an interesting, and presidential, story. But, first some background. The first settlers of Garfield came from Ohio, not Sweden, as was once believed. The Swedes came a few years later. In January 1873, two months after Pawnee County was organized by proclamation of Gov. James Harvey, members of the Ohio colony filed on about 30 pieces of land near the present site of Garfield, then known as Camp Criley. Camp Criley was established in the late summer of 1872 as a supply station for workmen building the Santa Fe Railroad. It was named for Capt. J.D. Criley, superintendent of
the construction. In March 1873, the advance guard of the Ohio colony arrived. During the summer of 1873,
others joined the growing settlement on the Arkansas River. The first religious services were held in the town that
CITY COUNCIL
City Departments
OTHER SERVICES
Mayor – Eldon Meckfessel 620-569-2317
City Clerk – Linda Meckfessel 620-569-2373 City Treasurer – Evalina Craig 620-569-3442 Fire Chief – Robert Meckfessel 620-569-2373 City Maintenance Supervisor – C.J. Wilder
Sewer City of Garfield 620-569-2373
Council Members Councilman – Bill Philo 620-569-2373 Councilman – Tom Naugle 620-569-2373 Councilwoman – Denise Hoch 620-569-2382 Councilman – Robert Hoch 620-569-2382 Councilman – Kevin Ford 620-569-2538 The City Council meets at 7:00 p.m. on the first Monday of each month at the City Building, 217 3rd Street home@gbta.net
Utilities Electric Midwest Energy 800-222-3121 Gas Kansas Gas Service 800-794-4782
Post Office 213 Third 620-569-2210 Supervisor C.J. Wilder Recycling Larned Industrial Park East of town off K-156 620-285-8555 Tuesday, Thursday 12:30 p.m.-3:30 p.m. Saturday 9:00 a.m.-Noon
summer, the Methodists forming a Sunday school class and the Congregationalists organizing a church. Later a Union Sabbath school was established. The Swedish Evangelical Lutheran Church was organized in 1879. But, the founders changed the name of the town from Criley to Garfield in honor of James A. Garfield, the congressman from their old district in Ohio, and later president of the United States. When Mr. Garfield was informed of this honor, he wrote that he would present a bell to the first church erected in the town. The bell hung in the Congregational Church from 1875 to 1959 and is now part of a monument in the City Park. The park also features a bandstand-style gazebo. Trash Service Pawnee Sanitation 620-285-7780 Animal Control Lonnie Able 620-569-2484 Medical Care Pawnee Valley Community Hospital 923 Carroll 620-285-3161
Police Department, 911 Dispatches out of Larned Zip Code 67565
