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Kansas Counties

Kansas has 105 counties, the sixth-highest total of any state. No Kansas county has two words in its name. Wyandotte County and the city of Kansas City operate as a unified government, and Greeley County and the city of Tribune are in the process of converting to a similar system.

Ford County, Kansas

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

County Seat: Dodge City
Year Organized: 1873
Square Miles: 1099

Court House:

100 Gunsmoke Street
County Building
Dodge City, KS 67801-4456

Etymology - Origin of County Name

Named in honor of Colonel James H. Ford, of the Second Colorado Cavalry, and Brevet Brigadier-General of the United States Volunteers.

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

History

Ford County, located in the southwestern part of the state, is in the second tier of counties north of the line dividing Kansas from Oklahoma, and the fifth county east from the Colorado state line. It is bounded on the north by Hodgeman county, east by Edwards and Kiowa, south by Clark and Meade and west by Gray, and has an area of 1,080 square miles. Ford county was created by the act of 1867, which provided for the division into counties of all the unorganized part of the state east of range 26 west, and was named in honor of Col. James H. Ford of the Second Colorado cavalry. It was not organized until 1873.

Geography

The surface of the county is generally level. Practically all the bottom land in the county is the valley of the Arkansas river, which varies from one to two miles in width and comprises about one-tenth of the area of the county. There is very little native timber, and what there is consists of narrow belts along the streams. The cottonwood is the most numerous, but hackberry, walnut and cedar are found. The Arkansas river enters the county about 8 miles south of the northwest corner, flows southeast nearly to the eastern boundary and thence northeast into Edwards county. Its most important tributary is Mulberry creek. Saw Log creek, a branch of the Pawnee, flows through the northern section. Magnesian limestone of good quality exists near Dodge City, and sandstone is found in the bluffs along the Arkansas river. Gypsum is common in the northern portion, along Saw Log creek. Winter wheat, barley, oats and corn are the leading grains, Kafir corn, alfalfa and sorghum are extensively raised, and the county ranks high in live stock.

Neighboring Counties:

Hodgeman County (north)
Edwards County (northeast)
Kiowa County (east)
Clark County (south)
Meade County (southwest)
Gray County (west)

Cities and Towns:

- Bucklin	city	Incorporated Area
- Concord	township
- Dodge	township
- Dodge City (County Seat)	city	Incorporated Area
- Ford	city	Incorporated Area
- Grandview	township
- Richland	township
- Royal	township
- Sodville	township
- Spearville	city	Incorporated Area
- Wheatland	township
- Wilburn	township

County Resources:

Ford County - KS-Cyclopedia - 1912

County Resource Guide

Counties: US Map

The history of our nation can be seen as a prolonged struggle to define the relative roles and powers of our governments: federal, state, and local. And the names we've given our counties, our most locally based jurisdictions, reflects the "characteristic features of our country!"

But age, size and colorful names of our counties isn't the only reason to explore counties' role in American history, or the history of county government itself. In fact, the story of county government reflects the larger meanings of American history.

Today's counties are the most flexible, locally responsive and creative governments in the US. They are the most diverse, varying in size, population, geography, and governmental structure. In their politics and policies, they express a 1990's political slogan "Think globally, act locally."

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