[1] It is named for its location at the point where the course of the Arkansas River bends east then southeast.

Prior to American settlement of the area, the site of Great Bend was located in the northern reaches of Kiowa territory.

Living in sod houses and dugouts, they worked as buffalo hunters since trampling by bison herds precluded crop farming.

[10] In 1871, the Great Bend Town Company, anticipating the westward construction of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad, founded Great Bend at a site roughly three miles west of Fort Zarah on the Santa Fe Trail.

The railroad reached Great Bend in July 1872, and an election at about the same time declared the town the permanent county seat.

[10] In 1876, the Kansas Legislature extended the legal "dead line" restricting the presence of Texas cattle 30 miles west of Barton County.

[11] Over the following decades, Great Bend continued to grow and modernize, becoming a center of area commerce.

This was despite two disasters which struck the city: a downtown fire in 1878 and a smallpox outbreak in 1882 which resulted in a brief quarantine.

The base served as training facility for B-29 bomber aircraft personnel during World War II.

In 1973, the Fuller Brush Company relocated its production facilities to Great Bend, becoming one of the city's major employers.

Despite a modest decline in population in recent decades, Great Bend continues to serve as a commercial center for central Kansas.

[18] Cheyenne Bottoms, a large inland wetland, is located approximately 6 miles (9.7 km) to the northeast.

[23] The 2020 United States census counted 14,733 people, 6,136 households, and 3,690 families in Great Bend.

[36] Agriculture is the predominant industry in Great Bend, and its grain elevators are visible from miles away.

The four industries employing the largest percentages of the working civilian labor force were: educational services, health care, and social assistance (27.3%); retail trade (11.9%); manufacturing (9.8%); and arts, entertainment, recreation, and accommodation and food services (9.8%).

[36] Great Bend Public Schools, Barton Community College, and CUNA Mutual Retirement Solutions are the city's three largest employers.

[46] Great Bend was located on the National Old Trails Road, also known as the Ocean-to-Ocean Highway, that was established in 1912.

[47] Great Bend Municipal Airport is located approximately 2 miles (3.2 km) west of the city.

[50] Waste water is treated and recycled at the city's Wastewater Treatment Facility and then emptied into the Arkansas River.

The Great Bend Tribune is the city's daily newspaper with a circulation of over 6,200 copies.

[57] Both are satellite stations of their respective affiliates in Wichita as Great Bend is part of the Wichita-Hutchinson, Kansas television market.

Located in the north-central part of the city, Brit Spaugh Park includes the Great Bend Zoo, the Wetlands Aquatic Center, two softball fields, horseshoe courts, picnic areas, playgrounds, a skateboarding area, and a BMX track.

Veteran's Park is located in the northwestern part of the city and includes an 18-hole disc golf course, a fishing lake with limited boating, sand volleyball, ballfields, a playground, and walking trails.

[60][61] The Club at StoneRidge, located on the northern edge of the city, includes a private, 18-hole golf course that opened in 1940.

[62] From 1947 to 1989, Great Bend was the home of the Argonne Rebels Drum and Bugle Corps.

[63] Greyhound racing got its start in the United States in the bottoms in 1886 during a formal coursing event.

[67] In 2016, the Great Bend Boom played as members of the Independent level Pecos League.

[70] Notable individuals who were born in and/or have lived in Great Bend include jazz singer and pianist Karrin Allyson (1963– ),[71] co-inventor of the integrated circuit (IC) and 2000 Nobel Prize laureate in physics Jack Kilby (1923–2005),[72] and 1952 gold medal-winning U.S. Olympic basketball player John Keller (1928–2000).