Geary County, Kansas: History and Information

Geary County, Kansas

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

County Seat: Junction City
Year Organized: 1855
Square Miles: 377

Court House:

200 E 8th Street
County Courthouse
Junction City, KS 66441-0000

Etymology - Origin of County Name

Organized in 1855 as Davis County, which name was given for Jefferson Davis--United States Senator and Secretary of war--who became President of the Southern Confederacy. The Legislature changed the name to Geary in 1869, in honor of John W. Geary, who was Territorial Governor of Kansas from 1856 until March, 1857. County seat, Junction City.

Demographics:

History

Geary County, originally called Davis, is located in the northeastern part of the state, being in the third tier of counties south of Nebraska and in the fifth west from the Missouri river. It is bounded on the north by Riley county, east by Riley and Wabaunsee, south by Morris and Dickinson, and west by Dickinson and Clay. It is irregular in shape, contains 407 square miles, and is one of the 33 counties created by an act of the first territorial legislature in 1855 it was organized at the time of its creation and named "Davis" in honor of Jefferson Davis, who was at that time secretary of war. By act of the Kansas legislature of Feb. 28, 1889, the name was changed to Geary, in honor of John White Geary, third territorial governor of Kansas. An attempt was made by the act of March 11, 1893, to change the name back to Davis, provided a majority of the people of the county favored the proposition, but the majority was against the change and the name Geary remains.

Geography

The east and central portions of the county are rough and hilly along the streams but the southeastern and western parts are undulating prairie. The county is well watered by the Republican and Smoky Hill rivers, which unite near Junction City to form the Kansas river.

Neighboring Counties:

Riley County (north)

Wabaunsee County (east)

Morris County (south)

Dickinson County (west)

Clay County (northwest)

Cities and Towns:

- Blakely

township

- Grandview Plaza

city

Incorporated Area

- Jackson

township

- Jefferson

township

- Junction City (County Seat)

city

Incorporated Area

- Lyon

township

- Milford

city

Incorporated Area

- Smoky Hill

township

- Wingfield

township

County Resources:

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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Geary County, Kansas

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

Etymology - Origin of County Name

Demographics:

History

Geography

Neighboring Counties:

Cities and Towns:

County Resources:

County Resource Guide