Elk City started as the location of 3 trading posts from 1868 to 1869 when a Postoffice was established in the town. Two years later the Elk City school had 42 students and fifteen years the enrollment had grown to 380 students. The city was the birthplace of the governor of Kansas from 1931 to 1933 and he later became Secretary of War during the second administration of Franklin D. Roosevelt. The Elk City Reservoir, State Park and Wildlife area, which is located Southeast of the city offers visitors a chance for hunting, fishing, camping, boating, swimming, bird watching and hiking. Take note anglers; the lake is known for its record catfish