The first building in Cawker City was a house built by E.H. Cawker in 1872. The town was incorporated on March 20, 1874, and grew quickly. Soon Cawker City had mills, banks, churches, an opera house and a city auditorium. By 1880, the town's population was at its peak, at 2,000.
Soon, Cawker City had full-time train service. In 1884 a new high school building was built, replacing the one built in 1871. The local women took over the men's library club in 1884, storing the books in the Hesperian Library, which now houses a museum.
After its peak, the population slowly began to fall. Water was installed in the town in 1930. The High School still standing today was built in 1948. Soon, as happened to many Kansas towns, the last passenger train came to Cawker City in 1960. Today, Cawker City is a small town with around 600 people, but still has all of the qualities you would expect in a town.
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