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Kansas Counties

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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.

Stafford County, Kansas

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

County Seat: St. John
Year Organized: 1879
Square Miles: 788

Court House:

209 N Broadway
County Courthouse
Saint John, KS 67576-0000

Etymology - Origin of County Name

County seat St. John. In memory of Lewis Stafford, Captain of Company E, First Kansas Infantry, who was accidentally killed at Young's Point, La., January 31, 1863.

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

County History

Stafford County, in the southwestern section of the state, is the third county north of the Oklahoma line, and its western border is about 175 miles east of Colorado. It is bounded on the north by Barton county; on the east by Rice and Reno; on the south by Pratt, and on the west by Edwards and Pawnee. The legislature of 1870 defined the boundaries of Stafford county and named it in honor of Capt. Lewis Stafford, of the First Kansas infantry. In 1875, in an effort to obliterate it, the legislature gave a portion to each of three surrounding counties, Pawnee, Barton and Pratt. However, a strip 6 miles wide and 12 miles long remained and was still called Stafford. In 1879 the supreme court decided that the act of the legislature dividing the county was unconstitutional and the original boundaries were restored.

Geography

The general surface is rolling prairie, well adapted to cultivation. Bottom lands average one mile in width and comprise 15 per cent. of the area. The native timber is limited to a few cottonwoods along Rattlesnake creek, which is the principal stream. It enters in the southwest, flows northeast across the center of the county and leaves at the northeast corner. There is plenty of building stone, clay for bricks and gypsum, and a salt marsh is in the northeast.

Stafford county is mostly flat country with occasional clumps of grass-covered sand dunes. The eastern part has marshy areas that are home to millions of waterfowl. The gentle North Fork of the Ninnescah river meanders across the southeast quadrant.

The AT&SF railroad and highway US-50 run across Stafford county, serving Zenith, Stafford, St. John, and Macksville. Highway US 281 runs north-south though the middle. The Missouri Pacific had track from Radium, in northwest Stafford county through Seward, Hudson, Stafford, and Neola but it has been abandoned.

Most of the economic life of the county involves cattle, winter wheat, or petroleum.

The main square in St. John seems like it should have a courthouse on it, but doesn't. Instead, the courthouse is on the southeast corner of the square with an angled facade facing the square. Notice the older Dillon's store on the north side of the square; its style gives a glimpse of past retail fashion.
The Quivira National Wildlife Refuge is a 22,000 acre wonderland for birdwatchers.
The Ida Long Goodman library in St. John is a good model for smaller Kansas towns. By combining the city and school district libraries, both are better than either could be alone.
Hudson is the home of a famous flour mill and is a lively, prosperous little town. Tours of the Stafford County Flour Mills can be arranged; call (620) 458-4121.
Zenith has a tan brick church and school (abandoned), grain elevator, and RR tracks.
Neola, in the southeast corner, is kind of a sad place nestled in a sandhill area beside rusting, weed-grown tracks. There's almost nothing left of the dreams and sweat invested there.
Curtis Cafe in Stafford has hundreds of picture puzzles (assembled) mounted on the walls.

Neighboring Counties:

Barton County (north)
Rice County (northeast)
Reno County (east)
Pratt County (south)
Edwards County (west)
Pawnee County (west)

Cities and Towns:

- Albano	township
- Byron	township
- Clear Creek	township
- Cleveland	township
- Douglas	township
- East Cooper	township
- Farmington	township
- Hayes	township
- Hudson	city	Incorporated Area
- Macksville	city	Incorporated Area
- North Seward	township
- Ohio	township
- Putnam	township
- Richland	township
- Rose Valley	township
- Seward	city	Incorporated Area
- South Seward	township
- St. John (County Seat)	city	Incorporated Area
- Stafford	city	Incorporated Area
- Union	township
- West Cooper	township
- York	township

County Resources:

Stafford County - KS-Cyclopedia - 1912

County Resources

The history of our nation was a prolonged struggle to define the relative roles and powers of our governments: federal, state, and local. And the names given the counties, our most locally based jurisdictions, reflects the "characteristic features of this 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."