By: Hannah Gideon
Introduction-
Russell Kansas, a small, beautiful city full of surprises around each corner. A city with rich roots in the oil and agriculture field. It’s a place that also houses many, including myself. Despite its small size, it contains every single asset of commonwealth.
Health-
‘Health’ is a very important thing to have in any community. Russell has a hospital called Russell Regional Hospital. This is very important to have because the nearest hospital is 30 minutes away.
Spirituality-
Throughout Russell, there are many different churches. The most awe-striking one would be St. Mary Queen of Angels Catholic Church. It has beautiful sights inside and out and you are able to spot it from a mile away. Overall, Russell has tons of places to practice your ‘spirituality’.
Water Cycle-
Oh no! It started to rain! Wait… maybe that is a good thing? You see, we do not get a whole bunch of rain here, so we are sure to enjoy every inch we get!
Wildlife & Natural World-
Wilson lake is known to be one of the most beautiful lakes here in Kansas. Many people head there over the hot and humid weekends to cool off. We get many travelers in Russell because of the lake. After all, we do have four amazing hotels here! The lake also contains many gorgeous views there and that’s what makes it the perfect example of ‘Wildlife & Natural World’.
Renewable Energy-
Believe it or not, we have a couple of examples of ‘renewable energy in Russell. We have wind farms to the East of Russell and a soon-to-be solar farm 3 miles East of the city. I believe it will be pretty cool to have more ‘renewable energy’ around!
Leisure & Recreation-
Pheasants.. wild turkeys.. ducks… deer…
Those are a few animals that hunters love to hunt during fall. We are well known for our hunting community and the wildlife near our city. Sometimes almost all of our hotels end up booked out because of that! I mean, who doesn’t love their deer jerky?
History-
Back in the day, this small community was well known for the oil around the town. It made the community wealthy and as a result, a small city was eventually born. Every 10 years, we have a massive celebration for the anniversary of Russell. It is called Pariesta and the last one was during the summer of 2021. We even have a historical society here that plays a big part in that celebration. They have an outstanding OC intern whose name is Emerson Nichols. I highly recommend checking her blogs out!
Foodshed-
These lands are also homes to many farmers and gardeners. Towards the north side of town, we have tons of cattle due to the hilly lands. Everywhere else is typically farmland on the outside of the city limits because it has flatter lands. We even have farmers’ markets every Friday at 5 pm!
Education-
Usd 407 is the school system in Russell, Kansas. It includes Simpson Elementary (pre-k-1st grade), Bickerdyke Elementary (2nd-5th grade), Ruppenthal Middle School (6th-8th grade), and Russell High School (9th-12th grade).
Arts & Culture-
Deines Cultural Center, the place for many artists and minds alike. It is always nice to go up there to view the masterpieces of artists around the community. It helps spread creativity around the place!
Soil & Mineral Cycle-
As mentioned before, Russell is known to be an agricultural and oil city. Both have massive parts to do with the ‘soil & mineral cycle’.
Sense of Place-
Home. That is the first word that comes to mind when I think of Russell. The community is really the people who make Russell a ‘sense of place’. We have many friendly and witty people here and they make this wonderful place a joy to live in.
Summary-
Russell has a bright past and even brighter future! We have many moving here because of the commonwealth assets in our community. Ultimately, each and every one of the ‘slices’ of commonwealth makes one full ‘pie’! Yes, many of them can be improved like our foodshed and making it more locally based, but you always need to make improvements to have a good community. I am very glad my family decided to make that move exactly 4 years ago today, July 13th, to come here!
Thank you for reading and have a great summer!
