Kansas Forest Service (Northwest District Fire Office)

About forestry service, 67564, Olmitz, KS, US, Kansas

Stockton is a city in and the county seat of Rooks County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 1,480. == History == === 19th century === Stockton was founded in 1872. A large share of the first settlers were cattle dealers, or stockmen, and they named their new home Stocktown, or as it soon became known, Stockton. Stockton was incorporated as a city in 1879. Stockton is located on the natural trail up the valley of the South Solomon River and where the military supply trail from Fort Kearney, Nebraska, to Fort Hays, Kansas, crossed the South Solomon River. Stockton survived and grew during the thirteen years from founding until the arrival of the railroad in 1885. Stockton was once a sundown town, where African Americans living in Nicodemus were not welcome after dark. === 20th century === Stockton was featured in British author Tony Parker's 1989 book Bird, Kansas for which he transcribed tape recorded interviews with local residents. == Geography == According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 2.23 square miles (5.78 km2), all land.