Stafford, an incorporated city of the third class in Stafford county, is the largest town in the county. It is located at the junction of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe and the Missouri Pacific railroads, 9 miles southeast of St. John, the county seat. It has new and substantial buildings, the wide streets are clean and shady. It is lighted by electricity, has waterworks, public library, 2 banks, a flour mill, grain elevators, a steam plow works, disc harrow works, sled works, 2 weekly newspapers (the Courier and the Republican), hotels, department stores, professional men, telegraph and express offices and an international money order postoffice with two rural routes. Stafford was founded in 1878. It had grown to be quite a village in 1882, when it was completely destroyed by a cyclone. The sod buildings were replaced within a year by frame, stone and brick structures, and the town has continued to prosper. It was a candidate for the county seat, which was permanently located at St. John in 1882. Stafford was incorporated in 1885 with a population of about 700. The population in 1910 was 1,927.