Hugoton is an ordinary (H5) chondrite found in Stevens County, Kansas, in 1935. It was identified by H. H. Nininger, who had recently given a presentation on meteorites at a local high school. The talk was attended by the son of the finder, who invited Nininger to visit the Lynch family farm and examine the large rock buried in a field. The rock had repeatedly caught on the plow while working the field, and small pieces had been dislodged. Upon further investigation, Nininger determined it to be an ordinary chondrite meteorite, and the remaining 749 lb rock was excavated. In total, 350 kg (771 lb) of Hugoton were recovered from the field.
When Nininger’s meteorite collection was acquired by ASU in 1961, Hugoton’s main mass was transferred to the Center for Meteorite Studies in Tempe, AZ and displayed as a touchable specimen in the Dietz Geology Museum, then located in the Bateman Physical Sciences F-Wing building. When the Center was relocated to the Interdisciplinary Science and Technology Building IV (ISTB4) in 2012, Hugoton was carefully packed up for transport using a forklift and experienced move team.
There was, however, no suitable display case for the very heavy stone, so it was archived and stored until this year, when it made it’s triumphant return to the spotlight. Now located by a large window in the northeast corner of ISTB4, the meteorite is again visible to passersby and visitors to the Center’s meteorite collection.
