Gorham Map
Gorham is a city in Russell County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 334.
Beaten to the settlement of Wilson, Kansas by Bohemian colonists, German settlers from Philadelphia and Lancaster, Pennsylvania established a community on the Kansas Pacific Railway at the future site of Gorham in April 1872. Elijah Dodge Gorham, a settler from Illinois, gave the town its name when he platted it in 1879. Seeking to create a local trading center, he formally established the town in July 1886, gave land for a Catholic Church and cemetery, and started several businesses including a general store, grain elevator, post office, lumberyard, and a coal yard. Additional grain elevators and a stockyard subsequently opened, establishing Gorham as a farming community.
The discovery of oil deposits in Russell County transformed the local economy in the 1920s. Companies including Texaco, Stanolind, and Sohio started operations in the area, stimulating Gorham's growth. A brick school building was built in 1922 followed by a second building in 1930 and another in 1949. Gorham incorporated as a city in 1941. By 1944, it had a diverse business community, two oil field production companies, and public schools. From the 1950s to the early 1980s, the city expanded further through the development of residential additions.
Nearby cities include Hays, Paradise, Bunker Hill, Victoria, Russell.