The state hospital that was Winfield’s biggest employer for 117 years
The Kansas institution for children with disabilities moved to Winfield in the late 1880s and dominated local employment for more than a century.
By Wade Ellison
Ask an older Winfield family where a grandparent worked, and there is a good chance the answer is the state hospital.
In 1881, Kansas set up an institution for children with developmental disabilities. It started temporarily in Lawrence and moved to Winfield in 1887 and 1888. Under various names, later Winfield State Hospital, it was the town’s dominant employer for 117 years.
During the 20th century the Winfield and Arkansas City area also became an industrial community, making consumer goods and later aircraft and aircraft parts. The hospital remained the steady employer underneath all of that.
Its long run is a big part of why Winfield grew the way it did, and its closing changed the local economy.