K-23 (Kansas highway)

K-23 is a 199.117-mile-long (320.448 km) south–north state highway in the U.S. State of Kansas. It starts as a continuation of Oklahoma State Highway 23 (SH-23) and it runs northward to U.S. Route 83 (US-83) and K-383 near Selden. Along the way it intersects several major east–west highways, including US-54 and US-160 in Meade, US-50 and US-400 in Cimarron, US-56 near Montezuma, K-4 near Healy, and Interstate 70 (I-70) and US-40 south of Grainfield. All but about 1.5 miles (2.4 km) of K-23's alignment is maintained by the Kansas Department of Transportation. The entire section within Cimarron is maintained by the city and a section in Hoxie from Utah Street to Queen Street is maintained by the city.

Before state highways were numbered in Kansas there were auto trails. In Meade K-23 crosses the former Atlantic and Pacific Highway. Then in Cimarron it crosses the former National Old Trails Road, Old Santa Fe Trail, New Santa Fe Trail and Albert Pike Highway. Further north in Dighton it crosses the former Kansas-Colorado Boulevard. Then the overlap with K-4 follows the former Bee Line. By Grainfield, the section that follows old US-40 is the former Golden Belt. A section from Hoxie southward along K-23 follows the former Roosevelt National Highway. Farther north in Hoxie, it crosses the former Kansas White Way and former Blue Line. The northern terminus connects to the former Pikes Peak Ocean to Ocean Highway.

The section of K-23 from Dighton north to Hoxie was first designated as a state highway in 1926, as K-20. By 1927, it was renumbered as K-23 and extended north to the Nebraska state line. By 1931, US-36 in Dresden had become US-83, and US-183 was created and overlapped K-23 from US-83 to Nebraska. By 1932, K-23 was extended from Dighton southward to Meade. Between July 1938 and 1940, US-183 was realigned to go east from Oberlin, at this time K-23 was realigned to follow K-9 west to US-83, then north to Oberlin. This lasted until 1945, when K-23 was truncated to US-83, and US-83 replaced K-23 from here north to Oberlin. In 1961, K-23's southern end was realigned to follow the former K-98 to Meade State Lake then south over a previously unnumbered road to the Oklahoma border.