Discreet Biohazard Cleanup Near North Speed Speed, KS

Speed is a city in Phillips County in north-central Kansas, located on the north bluffs of the Solomon River about ten miles southwest of Phillipsburg, the county seat.

Speed was first established as Big Bend, named for the big bend in the North Solomon River; its first settlers arrived in 1874 and the town of Big Bend was platted on October 8, 1887.

The community was renamed Speed when its post office reopened under that name on March 28, 1895, honoring James Speed, who served as U.S. Attorney General under Presidents Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson.

In 1910 Speed was on the Missouri Pacific Railroad and had a bank, a weekly newspaper called the Clarion, a grain elevator, a hotel, several stores, and a population of 225.

Speed was incorporated on January 2, 1928, but began losing population in part after an oil refinery opened in nearby Phillipsburg in 1939, and its post office closed on December 30, 1964.

The 2020 census counted 37 people in Speed — exactly the same as in 2010, when the city had 16 households — on 0.15 square miles.

In 2008, the Hot Wheels 40th Anniversary Cross-Country Road Trip held a special event in Speed, Kansas, one of only six stops in the United States.

Speed is served by the Phillipsburg USD 325 public school district.