Emergency Crime Scene and Biohazard Cleanup in Herndon, KS

Herndon is a small city in Rawlins County in far northwestern Kansas, sitting only about 12.5 miles south of the Nebraska state line.

Herndon was originally laid out in 1878 under the name Pesth, after Pest, Hungary — the city that later merged with Buda to form Budapest — reflecting the many Austrian-Hungarian immigrants who settled the area.

The town was renamed Herndon in honor of William H. Herndon, the law partner and biographer of Abraham Lincoln, and it was incorporated as a city in 1906.

The Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad reached Herndon in November 1887, sparking a building boom that made it an important shipping point for surrounding farms.

Herndon's population peaked at 443 people in the 1940 census, and the 2020 census counted just 119 residents living in 55 households.

Herndon covers only about a quarter of a square mile of land in the Beaver Creek country of the High Plains.

Every five years Herndon hosts the Herndon Ox Roast, a day-long festival with a parade, pit-smoked beef, cow patty bingo, an outhouse race and a Main Street dance that draws thousands of visitors.

Herndon students now attend school in Atwood through Rawlins County USD 105, a district formed in 2003 when the Herndon and Atwood districts consolidated; the old Herndon High School teams were the Beavers.

Forest Service artist Rudolph Wendelin, best known as the illustrator behind Smokey Bear, came from Herndon.