Biohazard and Crime Scene Remediation in Russell, KS

Russell is the county seat and most populous city of Russell County in central Kansas, with a population of 4,401 in the 2020 census.

Russell began as Fossil Station: the Butterfield Overland Despatch built Fossil Creek Station there in 1865, and the Kansas Pacific Railway built its own Fossil station in 1867.

In April 1871, a colony of settlers from Ripon, Wisconsin — the 'Wisconsin Colony' — established a permanent settlement at Fossil Station and renamed it Russell after the county; the townsite was surveyed that spring and held about 200 people by year's end.

Russell was incorporated in 1872 and named provisional county seat, then won a two-year dispute with neighboring Bunker Hill to become the permanent county seat in 1874.

Russell County itself was named for Captain Avra P. Russell of the Second Kansas Regiment, who was killed at the Battle of Prairie Grove, Arkansas, in December 1862.

Russell is the hometown of U.S. Senator Bob Dole, who was born and raised there and kept it as his official residence throughout his career — the town drew national attention in the mid-1990s when both Dole and fellow Russell-raised senator Arlen Specter campaigned for the presidency.

The Fossil Station Museum in downtown Russell displays artifacts of Russell County history dating back to the mid-1800s, and the city also has an Oil Patch Museum reflecting the area's oil industry.

Russell sits along Interstate 70 at its junction with U.S. Highway 281 in central Kansas.

The first Russell County fair was held in Russell in 1874, a tradition that continues at the 4-H grounds in the city.

The first school in Russell was taught in 1871 by Mrs. A. H. Annas, and the town's first newspaper, the Western Kansas Plainsman, was established in 1872.