Emergency Biohazard Cleanup Services in Canton, KS

Canton is a city in McPherson County in central Kansas — the Kansas Canton, in McPherson County, not the far larger Canton, Ohio, though it was named after the Ohio city by an early settler who came from there.

Canton sprang up after the railroad was built through the area in 1879, quickly growing to more than 300 inhabitants; it was platted in 1879 and incorporated in 1880.

The 2020 census counted 685 people in 283 households in Canton, which covers just half a square mile.

Canton is famous for its twin water towers, painted "HOT" in red and "COLD" in blue in 1956 at the suggestion of local real estate agent Mrs. M. D. Fisher as a tourist attraction — even though both tanks actually hold water at the same ambient temperature.

Canton is known as the Gateway to Maxwell Wildlife Refuge, a 2,574-acre preserve of native prairie six miles north of town where about 200 bison and 50 elk roam free under the management of the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks; seven concrete buffalo statues stand along Canton's Main Street to promote the refuge.

The McPherson County Fair has been held at the county fairgrounds in Canton since 1948.

The Santa Fe Trail ran southeast of Canton from 1821 to 1866, and two DAR markers near town — one at Jones Cemetery east of Canton and another south of town — mark the historic route.

Canton students attend Canton-Galva USD 419; Canton and Galva unified their schools in 1972 to form Canton-Galva High School, home of the Eagles — before unification, Canton High School's teams were the Tigers.

Canton's Canton Township Carnegie Library is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

In 2008 Canton became an unlikely national punchline when comedian Stephen Colbert, running a gag about "crappy" Cantons on The Colbert Report, jokingly bestowed the title on Canton, Kansas — prompting Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius to invite him to spend a night in Canton's historic jail before he apologized on air.