Greensburg (Kansas)
| Greensburg | |
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 Location of Greensburg in Kansas
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| Basic data | |
| Foundation : | 1885 |
| State : | United States |
| State : | Kansas |
| County : | Kiowa County |
| Coordinates : | 37 ° 36 ′ N , 99 ° 18 ′ W |
| Time zone : | Central ( UTC − 6 / −5 ) |
| Residents : | 785 (as of 2013) |
| Population density : | 201.3 inhabitants per km 2 |
| Area : | 3.9 km 2 (approx. 2 mi 2 ) |
| Height : | 681 m |
| Postal code : | 67054 |
| Area code : | +1 620 |
| FIPS : | 20-28675 |
| GNIS ID : | 0474258 |
| Website : | www.greensburgks.org |
Greensburg is a city in Kiowa County in the US state of Kansas in the United States with 785 inhabitants (2013). It is the seat of Kiowa County. The place has an area of 3.9 km 2 and is located in the so-called Bible Belt of the United States. Greensburg gained international fame through a severe tornado that devastated around 95 percent of the town on May 4, 2007. Eight people were killed and all churches were destroyed.
Demographics
According to the United States Census 2000, there are 435 families in Greensburg. The population density is 201.3 inhabitants / km 2 . There are 887 residential units (229.8 / km 2 ). 97.01% of the population are white , 0.83% Native American, and 0.06% Asian . 1.59% of the population describe themselves as Hispano or Latino .
There are a total of 730 households in 2000 , of which 23.8% have children. Married couples live together in 53.3% of households, single mothers lived in 6.2% and no families lived in 37.9% of households. Individuals living alone over 65 live in 35.9% of households and 19.9% of households live alone. The average household size is 2.14 people and the average number of people in families is 2.76.
In the population, 21.5% are younger than 18 years, 6.5% between 18 and 24, 20.5 between 25 and 44, 25.2% between 45 and 64 and 26.4 are 65 years of age or older. The average age is 46 years. For every 100 women there are 91.0 men.
The average income of a household is 28,438 dollars and the average income per family is 39,188 US dollars. The income of the male residents, at $ 28,426, is higher than that of the female at $ 20,875. The per capita income reaches $ 18,054. About 8.4% of families (or 12.4% of the population) are below the poverty line , which was 16.6% of those under 18 and 8% of those 65 years of age or older.
Attractions
The largest hand-dug well is in Greensburg . Work on it began in 1887. It was supposed to collect water for the locomotives of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway , as well as the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad . After completion in 1888, the depth was around 35 meters and the diameter around 9.75 meters. The well was used as a water reservoir until 1932. In 1939 the fountain was upgraded to a tourist attraction by allowing visitors to descend to the bottom.
A meteorite weighing around 450 kilograms is also exhibited in the museum belonging to the fountain .
On October 16, 2006, a lighter meteorite was excavated near Greensburg. The investigation of the approximately 70 kilogram heavy object and its surroundings revealed that the Brenham meteorite hit about 10,000 years ago in the Pleistocene and not, as was previously assumed, about 20,000 years ago.
Tornado in May 2007
On May 4, 2007, at around 9:40 p.m. local time ( Central Daylight Time , CEST -7: 00 hours) , the site was hit by a severe tornado with a diameter of around two and a half kilometers. The air vortex completely destroyed at least 90% of the town's houses, including the high school . Eight residents of the county have been confirmed to have died. The county was declared a disaster area by US President George W. Bush . The tornado is classified in the strongest tornado category EF-5, making it the first tornado to have been classified in this way since the Fujita scale was revised . The National Weather Service has estimated the wind speed of the tornado at 205 miles per hour (330 km / h).
TV show
The reconstruction as the first American "Green City" is accompanied as a multi-part documentary on American television by the station Planet Green , a sister of the Discovery Channel . The reconstruction of the city is being carried out according to ecological criteria. An example is the planned power supply for the city with ten 1.25 MW wind turbines and the use of sustainable materials for the buildings. The name of the documentation is that of the city of Greensburg.
Web links
Footnotes
- ↑ CNN : Unusual meteorite found in Kansas , October 16, 2006 (English)
- ↑ Die Welt : Everything Has Gone Except People , May 6, 2007
- ↑ CNN : Survivors sought as more storms threaten Plains , May 7, 2007 (English)