Butler County, Kansas

Butler County History, Geography, Demographics, Cities and Towns, and Education

Etymology - Origin of County Name

Butler County is named for Sen. Andrew Pickens Butler (1796-1857) of South Carolina. Senator Butler was an ardent proslavery advocate although he had voted for the Kansas-Nebraska Act, perhaps thinking like many others that Kansas would become a slave state and Nebraska a free state.

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

County History

Butler County was one of the 33 original counties created by the "Bogus Legislature" composed of pro-slavery Missourians, border state ruffians and the fraudulently elected. A later Free State legislature allowed the name to remain unchanged. One account states that they thought Butler County was named after Massachusetts politician and later Union Army General, Ben Butler.

Butler County, Kansas' largest, is mostly rolling grass-covered hills with broad river valleys winding through them. Elevations range from 1625 feet on the east Flint Hills escarpment down to 1148 feet in the Walnut River valley.

Petroleum production and refining is still the major factor in the county's economy. Farming and ranching are also important, and the state correctional facility and light industry are growing segments.

Since the early days, the regional economy had been focused on farming and ranching. This would all change when, in the fall of 1915, a cable tool drilling rig owned by Wichita Natural Gas began to drill an oil well on the John Stapleton farm north of town. Day after day the tools stomped their way into the solid earth until at a depth of 670 feet oil was discovered. Word spread like a wind-whipped prairie fire and the black gold rush was on.

Butler's economy changed almost overnight. Lease prices for land skyrocketed as men sought riches from deep within the earth. New shops and businesses were built to meet the demands of thousands of incoming workers.

The company owned towns of Oil Hill, Midian, Gordon, Browntown and others prospered. Oil Hill and El Dorado grew and by 1918 their population totaled almost 20,000. In a single year, more than 28 million barrels of crude oil were produced.

Geography

It is a prairie county but has considerable land of a slightly rolling character. The surface in the western part is principally "bottom" land and rolling prairie. The eastern part is in many places broken and rough. The river and creek bottoms comprise about one-fifth of the area and are from a mile to two miles in width. The timber belts along the streams range from a quarter of a mile to a mile in width, the principal varieties being oak, walnut, hickory, mulberry, sycamore, elm and hackberry. The principal streams are the Whitewater, in the northwest part of the county, which joins the Walnut at Augusta. These two streams have a number of tributaries, the most important of the Whitewater being Henry, Wentworth, Bakers, Rock and Meadow creeks; those of the Walnut the Cole, Durechon, Satchels, Bemis, Bird, Turkey, Four Mile, Little Walnut, Eight Mile and Muddy creeks.

Limestone is abundant and extensive quarries have been developed, from which large quantities of stone are shipped to nearby cities. Gypsum has been found in small quantities in the western part of the county. Coal is found in thin layers in some places but has never been mined extensively.

There is a little waste land, as the soil is rich and deep, adapted to the growth of almost every variety of grain and fruit.

Neighboring Counties:

• Northeast: Chase County
• East: Greenwood County
• Southeast: Elk County
• South: Cowley County
• Southwest: Sumner County
• West: Sedgwick County
• Northwest: Harvey County; Marion County

Cities and Towns:

County Resources:

Butler County - KS-Cyclopedia - 1912