After the war, in the early 1950s, the field became the shared municipal airport and industrial park for Winfield and neighboring Arkansas City.

[18][19][15] The aircraft manufacturing industry in nearby Wichita (40 mi or 64 km to the north)—one of the world's principal aircraft-manufacturing centers—provided employment for many Winfield residents, directly and indirectly.

That opportunity grew substantially in the last half of the century, as General Electric's GE Aviation division, in the late 1940s, began producing engines for Wichita aircraft, and eventually in the 1960s, one of Wichita's principal manufacturers, Cessna Aircraft Company built a factory at Winfield's Strother Field.

Tours were conducted until 1992, and 5 years later, in 1997, the plant shut down and the paint making equipment was moved to Pennsylvania.

[14][13] Towards the end of the century the (now designated "Winfield State Hospital and Training Center") housed developmentally disabled people.

[20] Southwestern College grew to become a leading local institution and employer, drawing students from throughout the central United States, and bringing an extra level of intellectual and cultural development and diversity to the community.

Pi Gamma Mu International Honor Society in Social Sciences[21] was founded at Southwestern College in Winfield in 1924.

The international headquarters is now housed at a repurposed Carnegie Library building on Millington Street in downtown Winfield.

Pi Gamma Mu is the oldest and preeminent interdisciplinary social science honor society.

Its mission is to encourage and promote excellence in the Social Sciences and to uphold and nurture scholarship, leadership, and service.

With the exception of Cessna, most of the area's major employers (some under new names and ownership) continued into the early 21st century.

[11] The original branch line connected Florence, Burns, De Graff, El Dorado, Augusta, Douglass, Rock, Akron, Winfield, Arkansas City.

[2] In 1881, The Kansas Constitution stated that the care, treatment, and education of the handicapped were responsibilities of public residential institutions.

Accordingly, the Kansas State Asylum for Idiotic and Imbecile Youth was temporarily established at Lawrence, moving to Winfield in 1887.

For the next 117 years, it served as a dominant local employer, housing and confining those with mental problems from throughout the state of Kansas.

[33] In 1942, as America entered World War II, Winfield, along with neighboring Arkansas City, began development of a shared municipal airport.

[18][19] In 1953, the airport reverted to shared control of Winfield and Arkansas City, and became a major industrial center for both communities, which it remains to the present.

[18][15][19] In 1951, at Strother Field, GE Aviation—an aircraft-engine division of General Electric—began producing General Electric J47 jet engines for U.S. military aircraft (notably the Boeing B-47 Stratojet intercontinental bomber, built primarily in Wichita, and also built by Douglas Aircraft at Tulsa in neighboring Oklahoma).

[18] With the end of the Korean War, the GE factory switched to overhauling jet engine parts and accessories.

During those years, several hundred business jets, from around the world, flew into Strother Field to be serviced directly at the GE facility.

[38] The Winfield State Hospital and Training Center, established in the community in the prior century to house and confine the mentally ill and developmentally disabled, remained as a dominant local employer throughout the 20th century, housing and confining those with mental problems from throughout the state of Kansas—housing up to 1,492 "patients" at its maximum in 1952.

[14][13] Towards the end of the century the (now designated "Winfield State Hospital and Training Center") housed developmentally disabled people.

Changing social and political attitudes, and SCOTUS decisions, and conservative political economics (developmentally disabled persons supported in the community cost the state $25,000 annually, versus $130,000 for confinement in the Winfield facility), led to the gradual closing of most of the facility—over heated protests from residents' families and local community leaders.

[20] With the exception of Cessna, most of the area's major employers (some under new names and ownership) continued into the early 21st century.

[15] The Strother Field municipal airport remains the site of the area's principal industrial park, employing thousands.

[15][19] In 2010, the Keystone-Cushing Pipeline (Phase II) was constructed west of Winfield, north to south through Cowley County, with much controversy over tax exemption and environmental concerns (if a leak ever occurs).

Further, Rubbermaid would invest $26.6 million to expand its operations, beginning construction of a 500,000-square-foot distribution center next to its factory.

[15] Creekstone Farms beef processing plant, in neighboring Arkansas City, Kansas, employed over 600 in early 2017.

Crowds have exceeded 15,000, arriving from around the nation—with hundreds of the bluegrass and acoustic music enthusiasts camping, socializing and "jamming" at the site for weeks before the festival begins.