History :

The current town of Victoria was originally established as two distinct communities. The first was Victoria, named after Queen Victoria, founded by 38 Scottish immigrants under the leadership of George Grant. The area was surveyed and platted in 1873. It was the hope of the immigrants to bring British agricultural methods and a genteel way of life to America. They failed in both respects. They did however bring the Aberdeen Angus cattle to the area. Most of the immigrants returned to Scotland within a few years. George Grant remained in the Victoria area and was buried in front of the St. George Episcopal Chapel. His grave can still be viewed on the northeast corner of 1st Street and an unnamed vacated street.

The original town site of Victoria was area generally south of today's railroad tracks and east of Main Street. Victoria's birth as a town site is closely tied to the construction of the Kansas Pacific Railroad through the area. A memorial on the south side of town marks the graves of six track workers killed near here by Cheyenne Indians in 1867 while working on the new rail line.