{{Short description|Ghost town in Seward County, Kansas}} {{Use American English|date=June 2025}} {{Use mdy dates|date=July 2023}} {{Infobox settlement |name = Arkalon, Kansas |settlement_type = Ghost town
<!-- Images --> |image_skyline = Train of packhorses in Arkalon, Kansas (circa 1880-1889).jpg |image_caption = A pack train of burros in front of the bank in Arkalon (circa 1880–1899)
<!-- Maps --> |image_map = |map_caption = |image_map1 = Map of Seward Co, Ks, USA.png |map_caption1 = KDOT map of Seward County (legend) |pushpin_map = Kansas#USA |pushpin_label = Arkalon |pushpin_label_position = right <!-- the position of the pushpin label: left, right, top, bottom, none -->
<!-- Location --> |coordinates_footnotes = <ref name="GNIS">[https://geonames.usgs.gov/pls/gnispublic/f?p=gnispq:3:::NO::P3_FID:484534 Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) details for Arkalon, Kansas; United States Geological Survey (USGS); October 13, 1978.]</ref> |coordinates = {{coord|37|8|35|N|100|48|27|W|region:US-KS_type:city_source:GNIS|display=inline,title}} |subdivision_type = Country |subdivision_name = United States |subdivision_type1 = State |subdivision_name1 = Kansas |subdivision_type2 = County |subdivision_name2 = Seward |subdivision_type3 = Township |subdivision_name3 =
<!-- Established --> |established_title = Founded |established_date = 1888 |established_title1 = Platted |established_date1 = 1888 |named_for = Arkalon Tenney
<!-- Area --> |area_footnotes = |area_total_sq_mi = |area_land_sq_mi = |area_water_sq_mi = |unit_pref = Imperial
<!-- Elevation --> |elevation_footnotes = <ref name="GNIS"/> |elevation_ft = 2618
<!-- Population --> |population_footnotes = |population_as_of = |population_total = 0
<!-- General information --> |timezone = CST |utc_offset = -6 |timezone_DST = CDT |utc_offset_DST = -5 |postal_code_type = ZIP code |postal_code = |area_code_type = Area code |area_code = 620 |blank_name = FIPS code |blank_info = 20-02290 <ref name="GNIS"/> |blank1_name = GNIS ID |blank1_info = {{GNIS 4|484534}} <ref name="GNIS"/> |website = }}
'''Arkalon''' is a ghost town in Seward County, Kansas, United States. It was located northeast of Liberal on the west side of the Cimarron River.
==History== After the Chicago, Kansas and Nebraska Railway built through the area in 1888, a townsite sprang up and platted in 1888.<ref>{{cite book|last=DeArment|first=Robert K.|title=Ballots and Bullets: The Bloody County Seat Wars of Kansas|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rb6p6VxgctUC&pg=PA203|year=2006|publisher=University of Oklahoma Press|isbn=978-0-8061-3784-1|page=203}}</ref> The town was named '''Arkalon''' for Arkalon Tenney, the father of the first postmaster of the town, Hosea Eugene Tenney.<ref name="rits">[https://web.archive.org/web/20160506130502/http://www.rits.org/www/structures/cimarron/cimarron106.html Sampson of the Cimarron and Arkalon history; rits.org]</ref> A post office called Arkalon was established in 1888 and remained in operation until 1929.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.postalhistory.com/postoffices.asp?state=KS | title=Post Offices | publisher=Jim Forte Postal History | accessdate=6 April 2016}}</ref>
The ''Arkalon News'' newspaper was published from April 1888 until December 1892.<ref name="rits"/> In 1891, a one-room school house was opened for children.<ref name="rits"/><ref>[http://www.kansasmemory.org/item/228192 Photo of Arkalon Schoolhouse in Arkalon between 1910 and 1930; Kansas Historical Society.]</ref> A large stockyard was erected for shipping cattle to market. While the nearby river held promise for the early settlers, they soon found that the bottom land next the Cimarron River was too sandy for farming and flooded too often. By the 1920s most of the early settlers had left, leaving only the railroad and stockyards behind.<ref name="rits"/>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==Further reading== {{See also|Seward County, Kansas#Further reading|l1=List of books about Seward County, Kansas}}
==External links== ;Historical photos * [https://www.kansasmemory.org/item/212346 Custer Store between 1890 and 1910], Kansas Historical Society * [https://www.kansasmemory.org/item/228192 Arkalon Schoolhouse between 1910 and 1930]
;Historical railroad trestle - "Samson of the Cimarron" * [https://web.archive.org/web/20160506130502/http://www.rits.org/www/structures/cimarron/cimarron106.html Samson of the Cimarron and Arkalon history], rits.org * [https://www.kansastravel.org/cimarron.htm Samson of the Cimarron], kansastravel.org * [https://web.archive.org/web/20160420011156/http://www.leaderandtimes.com/index.php?option=com_content&id=7793:mighty-samson-bridge-nears-73rd-birthday&Itemid=40 Mighty Samson Bridge nears 73rd birthday], leaderandtimes.com
{{Seward County, Kansas}}
Category:Landforms of Seward County, Kansas Category:Ghost towns in Kansas