Town file
Great Bend, Kansas
Great Bend, Kansas (Barton County, Kansas) is the town in one episode of Small Town Murder, the comedy true-crime podcast: episode 446, "The Carnival Mafia" (2 December 2023). This episode of Small Town Murder Express is set in Great Bend, Kansas, a town of 14,864 people in the middle of the state.
- Town
- Great Bend
- County
- Barton County
- State
- Kansas
- Country
- USA
- Episodes
- 446
- Approximate location
- 38.360, -98.800
Episode 446 / 2 December 2023 / 70 min / express
The Carnival Mafia
"James says 'This is in Great Bend, Kansas', in dead central Kansas, a little under two hours from Wichita" about 0:03:40
The case: Murders of Alfred and Pauline Carpenter (July 2018). Read the case file.
The figures, as told in 2023
- Population
- 14,864
- Median household income
- 48,465
- Median home value
- $99,000
History, in brief
- Before American settlement the area was in Kiowa territory (as heard) and was first claimed by France as part of the Louisiana territory. about 0:05:53
- The first settlers from the states arrived in 1870 and lived in sod houses and dugouts, working as buffalo hunters. about 0:06:09
- The railroad came through and the town was named Great Bend because the Arkansas River turns eastward there. about 0:06:39
- A downtown fire in 1878 and a smallpox outbreak in 1882 that led to a quarantine of the town. about 0:06:56
- In 1886 local speculators began looking for petroleum; by 1930 oil and gas had brought money to the county, with more than three thousand wells producing in the 1930s. about 0:07:16
- The oil later dried up and there was some military activity in the area. about 0:07:37
The reviews read out
5 stars
"Barton Community College is wonderful; the writer completed an ADN in nursing there and is now doing an online RN to MSN programme."about 0:07:49
5 stars
"Great Bend has been the reviewer's and husband's home for 20 plus years and they love it."about 0:08:38
3 stars
"A nice sized town but the reviewer grew up there, does not like it and is ready to leave."about 0:08:49
3 stars
"Seemingly from a child: does not wish to live there when old enough to live alone."about 0:09:20
2 stars
"Moved there 20 years ago; residents want growth and jobs but the governing body blocks things unless it benefits them or their golf buddies."about 0:09:33
Nearest Small Town Murder towns
- Hutchinson, Kansas52 miles
- Kingman, Kansas62 miles
- Newton, Kansas82 miles
- Wellington, Kansas107 miles
- Guide Rock, Nebraska121 miles
- Oakley, Kansas122 miles
Everything here is as told in the episode, on the date it went out; figures and places may have changed since. Endings are covered: open an episode and use the spoiler switch to read them.