Homesteaders Find Free Land in Kansas

By Susan Lahey
Published on January 1, 2007
article image
ILLUSTRATION: GRIT MAGAZINE STAFF
Map showing the location of Marquette, Kansas.

The author shares the story of fifty families who found free land in Kansas from watching a television ad.

Marquette, Kansas — Tammy Young was watching television at her home near Riverside, California, about an hour east of Los Angeles, when she saw an ad about a town in Kansas that was giving away land. Young, her parents, and her daughters, ages 11 and 13, got in the car and headed for the Smoky Hills of south-central Kansas.

The town is Marquette, a village of brick storefronts and old homes where a big Saturday night event means the stores stay open until 9 p.m. and somebody wins a $100 gift certificate.

Young and her family are among about 50 families that have responded to the offer of free land in Kansas, a free building lot for anyone who would build a home and live in it for at least a year.

The land giveaway, a takeoff of the 1862 Homestead Act that brought about a million settlers to Kansas, has increased Marquette’s population from 527 people in 2000 to nearly 700 now. And it has brought a whole lot of attention to the town.

“We’ve gotten oodles of publicity,” says Mayor Steve Piper. “I’ve done some 20 television interviews and been on national TV six times. For a town this size, that’s unheard of.”

Online Store Logo
Need Help? Call 1-866-803-7096