City of Greensburg, KS
2008 Distinguished Kansan

The City of Greensburg was established in 1886 and was named for stagecoach driver D.R. "Cannonball" Green, who was instrumental in the organization of Greensburg. The town still bears his name and he was elected Kiowa County's first representative in the Kansas legislature in 1889.

Greensburg is home to the world's largest hand dug well. Work had begun on the well in 1887 to provide water for the steam engines of the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe and Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroads. When the well was completed in 1888 it was 109 feet (33m) deep and 32 feet (9.8 m) in diameter. The well was used as the town's water supply until 1932. In 1939 it was opened as a tourist attraction allowing visitors to descend to the bottom of the well. The adjacent museum displayed a 1000–pound Pallasite Meteorite until the museum fell down around the meteorite during the 2007 tornado that destroyed the town. The Well was not destroyed, and the meteorite was found in the rubble of the museum and moved to a temporary home until the museum is rebuilt.

The night of May 4, 2007 a EF-5 Tornado left the town of Greensburg and its residents devastated. Today, the community has banned together to rebuild a "green" Greensburg.