[logo:Kansas Heritage Group]  Kansas History Web Sites  Hays,
Kansas History  The city of Hays was founded in 1867 as the
southern branch of the Union Pacific Railroad worked its way
west. Hays City was named after Fort Hays (founded in 1865 as
Ft. Fletcher, renamed in 1866), which was in turn named for
Alexander Hays, a Union General killed during the Civil War.
Hays was a rough and tough town in its early years, at one time
sporting 37 liquor establishments. Many notable people lived
here, including the Custers and the 7th Cavalry, Will Bill
Hickok, and William F. Cody, who acquired his nickname of
Buffalo Bill by furnishing buffalo to feed the railroad workers
in Hays.  In "Following the Guidon", Elizabeth Custer described
Hays City in 1869 as " a typical Western Place. The railroad but
just reached here, the 'roughs' who fly before civilization, had
not yet taken their departure."  By the mid 1870's Hays began to
become more "civilized". The 'roughs' had left and the farmers
were arriving. In 1876 a grou