RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
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Outdoor Activities ...

As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).

When in Windom, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Windom and the surrounding area.

  • Astronomy & Satellites ...
    • Whether using binoculars, a small telescope or the naked-eye, the Heavens-Above website can help you to find your way around the night-time sky. In addition to detailed sky charts, their website will help you find planets, asteriods, comets, satellites and their tracks across the sky.
    • To give accurate results, Heavens-Above requires the latitude and longitude of your location. As a starting point, when we link to Heavens-Above, we pass this GPS location for Windom:
    • 38.383661, -97.909910
    • Once you're on the Heavens-Above website, you can improve its accuracy by giving a more precise longitude and latitude as your actual position.
    • The Heavens-Above Website, centered on Windom
  • Waymarking ...
    • Looking for somewhere out of the ordinary? Find a unique place and want to share it with others? Then it's time to visit Waymarking.com:
    • Waymark.com

Communities Also Named Windom ...

We found twelve communities that share the name Windom.

Within Kansas, the name Windom is unique.

Beyond Kansas, we know of another twelve communities that are located throughout in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Indiana
      • Martin County
      • This Windom is located in Martin County and lies 600 miles [965.6 km]<1> to the east of the Windom that is located in McPherson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Martin County community of Windom.
    • Michigan
      • Lenawee County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<2> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Michigan community of Windom [Lenawee County].
    • Minnesota
      • Cottonwood County
      • This Windom is located in Cottonwood County and lies 405 miles [651.8 km]<1> to the north northeast of the Windom that is located in McPherson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Cottonwood County community of Windom.
    • Missouri
      • Saint Louis County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<2> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Missouri community of Windom [Saint Louis County].
    • New York
      • Erie County
      • This Windom is located in Erie County and lies 1,045 miles [1,681.8 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Windom that is located in McPherson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Erie County community of Windom.
    • North Carolina
      • Yancey County
      • This Windom is located in Yancey County and lies 877 miles [1,411.4 km]<1> to the east of the Windom that is located in McPherson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Yancey County community of Windom.
    • Oklahoma
      • Payne County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<2> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Oklahoma community of Windom [Payne County].
    • Pennsylvania
      • Lancaster County
      • This Windom is located in Lancaster County and lies 1,153 miles [1,855.6 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Windom that is located in McPherson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Lancaster County community of Windom.
    • Texas
      • Fannin County
      • This Windom is located in Fannin County and lies 349 miles [561.7 km]<1> to the south southeast of the Windom that is located in McPherson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Fannin County community of Windom.
    • Washington
      • Lewis County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<2> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Washington community of Windom [Lewis County].
    • West Virginia
      • Mineral County
      • This community is historic<3> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the West Virginia community of Windom [Mineral County].
      • Wyoming County
      • This Windom is located in Wyoming County and lies 889 miles [1,430.7 km]<1> to the east of the Windom that is located in McPherson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Wyoming County community of Windom.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Windom ...

As we travel, we always see a community with a name that gives pause. While there are names which are interesting or familiar, some catch our attention or strike our fancy. We always wonder about such a name. If time permits and the community is not too far, we'll usually try to make a side-trip.

  • Frederick
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Frederick have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Frederick
    • Frederick is located in Rice County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 18 people
  • Groveland
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Groveland. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<5>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Groveland
    • Groveland is located in McPherson County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Groveland
    • From Windom to Groveland
  • Jenkins
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Jenkins have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jenkins
    • Jenkins is located in McPherson County
  • Little River
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
  • Lyons
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lyons have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lyons
    • Lyons is located in Rice County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 3,433 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Lyons <6>
  • Mitchell
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Mitchell. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<5>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mitchell
    • Mitchell is located in Rice County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Mitchell
    • From Windom to Mitchell
  • Willowbrook
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Willowbrook have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Willowbrook
    • Willowbrook is located in Reno County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 85 people
  • Yankee Run
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)

How Far From Windom to ...

We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers, Almanacs & Directories that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a city such as Windom to various places of note, such as the White House.

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Windom and extending to:

  • McPherson, which is the Seat of McPherson County, lies 13 miles [20.9 km]<1> to the east. If you could walk a straight line from Windom to McPherson, with an average speed<7> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take 6 hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take four to five hours.
  • Topeka, which is the State Capital of Kansas, lies 128 miles [206 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than three hours, a buggy would take 5 days and walking would take 8 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,123 miles [1,807.3 km] to the east (E). Driving would take over two days, a buggy would take 44 days and walking would take 64 days.
  • The shortest distance<8> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,725 miles [10,822.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,474 miles [12,028.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<10>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,370 miles [8,642.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<11>

Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Windom. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.

The official website for McPherson County: www.mcphersoncountyks.us/

The official website for State of Kansas: https://portal.kansas.gov/

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Windom) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Windom. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 38.3837, Longitude: -97.9099    
<2>If we encounter the name of what might be a community, our methodology is to add that name to our Gazetteer as a placeholder. As we find more information about that community, it will be added to our Gazetteer.

Just as a reminder: Our definition of a community is rather broad and includes those places (or areas) where several families lived and had a name which identified that place. For example, you might hear somebody say that they are going over to Mile's to see Pete ... Mile's is just a gas station and a couple of homes at the crossroads. While it might not be on the map, everybody in the area knows it by that name.

Places of interest include buildings at a crossroad, several families clustered in a hollow or maybe the location of a way station. It also includes places like mines, lumber camps, ferry crossings, etc. The community might still exist, is now gone or only existed for just a short period of time.

Also keep in mind that Windom could have been on the original document by mistake, misspelled, the original/alternate name of a community that we've listed elsewhere or was placed in the wrong county. Sometimes a post office or train station would have a different name than the community where it's located, so two names might be referring to the same community - we're working to straighten it all out.
<3>We use the term 'Historic' broadly and it generally means that the community no longer exists. However, it can also mean that the community might still exist, but was significantly larger or had a more 'official' existence in the past than it does now. Unfortunately our sources of data have proven to be unreliable. If you can provide us with more specific information about Windom, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<4>The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required.
<5>An 'estimated' location is one where we have been given GPS coordinates, but are unable to verify the accuracy of those coordinates. That said, we have some confidence that we have placed the marker near the actual location. A typical reason for being unable to verify a location is that it might be on private property or maybe historic and gone without an obvious trace.
<6>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<7>While we have tried to pick reasonable speeds, the rate of travel is very theoretical - obstacles like fences, hills, lakes, river crossings and rest stops have been ignored. When we say 'Days' of travel, we're assuming 8 hours of travel per day.
<8>The shortest line can be visualized by stretching a string on a Globe from Point A to Point B - this is known as a Great Circle Route. Where you might expect the shortest route from Windom to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East.
<9>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 321.285 degrees.
<10>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 318.757 degrees.
<11>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 314.443 degrees.









 

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This page was last modified/updated: 21 Apr 2025