Jurisdiction: Ellinwood is located in Barton, [BT], County just north of the Arkansas River.
Highway 56 and
the Santa Fe railroad pass through town. Ellinwood was on the Santa Fe Trail, the trail that played a critical
role in the westward expansion of the United States and was an important two-way avenue for commerce and
cultural exchange.
The town is named for Capt. John Ellinwood, chief civil engineer and surveyor for the AT&SF, who camped
near here in the fall of 1871. The town's first merchant, George M. Jackson, laid out the town in the spring of
1872 and began selling whiskey and tobacco. The railroad reached Ellinwood that summer, and growth was rapid,
reaching 400 by 1878.
Ellinwood is of German heritage which is shown by the architecture of the Main Street buildings and the Underground
Tunnels of yesteryear. The tunnels remain of greatest interest to tourists.
Ellinwood lies in the middle of the Cheyenne Bottoms and Quivira Wildlife Refuge, both natural wetlands that
attract nature lovers and hunters.
