Wabaunsee County, Kansas

Wabaunsee County, Kansas
Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Newbury, 2009
Map of Kansas highlighting Wabaunsee County
Location in the state of Kansas
Map of the United States highlighting Kansas
Kansas's location in the U.S.
Founded 1859
Seat Alma
Largest city Alma
Area
 • Total 800 sq mi (2,072 km2)
 • Land 794 sq mi (2,056 km2)
 • Water 5.3 sq mi (14 km2), 7%
Population
 • (2010) 7,053
 • Density 8.7/sq mi (3/km²)
Congressional district 1st
Time zone Central: UTC-6/-5
Website wabaunsee.kansasgov.com

Coordinates: 38°58′N 96°11′W / 38.967°N 96.183°W

Wabaunsee County (standard abbreviation: WB) is a county located in the U.S. state of Kansas. As of the 2010 census, the county population was 7,053.[1] Its county seat is Alma.[2] The county was created by the territorial legislature of Kansas Territory on March 25, 1859,[3] and was named for a chief of the Potawatomi Indians.[3]

Wabaunsee County is part of the Topeka, KS Metropolitan Statistical Area.

History

19th century

1915 Railroad Map of Wabaunsee County

For millennia, the land now known as Kansas was inhabited by Native Americans. In 1803, most of modern Kansas was secured by the United States as part of the Louisiana Purchase. The first white settlers in the area were said to have been a band of outlaws known as the McDaniel Gang.[3]

In 1854, the Kansas Territory was organized and Wabaunsee County was created by the territorial legislature on March 25, 1859.[3] The name used since 1859 is derived from the Potawatomi "Wah-bon-seh", meaning "dawn of day" literally, and it was the name of the chief of the Potawatomi Indians.[3] Originally, the county was named Richardson, after William P. Richardson, a congressman from Illinois, who introduced the first Kansas and Nebraska Bill in the House of Representatives, which made certain Indian lands territories in 1854.[4]

Also in 1854, the Beecher Bible and Rifle Church was established by a group of free-staters, who had rifles shipped to the church to be used in the free-state effort in boxes marked Bibles.[3] Captain William Mitchell, Jr., a seaman who joined the Beecher Bible and Rifle Colony that settled in Wabaunsee, played an important role in the county settlement and with the underground railroad.[3]

The county's first church, Wabaunsee Church of Christ, was founded in June of 1857.[3]

In 1861 Kansas became the 34th U.S. state, entering the union as a free state.

The first railroad to be built through Wabaunsee County was the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe in 1880.[5] In 1887, the Chicago, Kansas and Nebraska Railway built a main line from Topeka to Herington.[6] This main line connected Topeka, Valencia, Willard, Maple Hill, Vera, Paxico, McFarland, Alma, Volland, Alta Vista, Dwight, White City, Latimer, Herington.

20th century

A massive drought beginning in 1930 resulted in a series of dust storms that lasted until 1941. The drought combined with the onset of the Great Depression, forced farmers off the land. This ecological disaster caused an exodus of many farmers to escape from the hostile environment of Kansas.[7][8] As the world demand for wheat plummeted, rural Kansas became poverty-stricken. The state became an eager participant in such major New Deal relief programs as the Civil Works Administration, the Federal Emergency Relief Administration, the Civilian Conservation Corps, the Works Progress Administration, which put tens of thousands of Kansans to work as unskilled labor.[9] Republican Governor Alf Landon also employed emergency measures, including a moratorium on mortgage foreclosures and a balanced budget initiative.[10] The Agricultural Adjustment Administration succeeded in raising wheat prices after 1933, thus alleviating the most serious distress.[11]

Law and government

Wabaunsee County was a prohibition, or "dry", county until the Kansas Constitution was amended in 1986 and voters approved the sale of alcoholic liquor by the individual drink with a 30% food sales requirement.[12]

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 800 square miles (2,100 km2), of which 794 square miles (2,060 km2) is land and 5.3 square miles (14 km2) (0.7%) is water.[13]

Adjacent counties

Demographics

Historical population
Census Pop. %±
18601,023—
18703,362228.6%
18808,756160.4%
189011,72033.9%
190012,8139.3%
191012,721−0.7%
192011,424−10.2%
193010,830−5.2%
19409,219−14.9%
19507,212−21.8%
19606,648−7.8%
19706,397−3.8%
19806,8677.3%
19906,603−3.8%
20006,8854.3%
20107,0532.4%
Est. 20137,0510.0%
U.S. Decennial Census[14]
1790-1960[15] 1900-1990[16]
1990-2000[17] 2010-2013[1]
Age pyramid

As of the census[18] of 2000, there were 6,885 people, 2,633 households, and 1,958 families residing in the county. The population density was 9 people per square mile (3/km²). There were 3,033 housing units at an average density of 4 per square mile (1/km²). The racial makeup of the county was 97.24% White, 0.46% Black or African American, 0.49% Native American, 0.15% Asian, 0.06% Pacific Islander, 0.60% from other races, and 1.00% from two or more races. 1.86% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.

There were 2,633 households out of which 33.50% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 64.30% were married couples living together, 6.30% had a female householder with no husband present, and 25.60% were non-families. 23.00% of all households were made up of individuals and 10.80% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.57 and the average family size was 3.01.

In the county the population was spread out with 26.70% under the age of 18, 6.20% from 18 to 24, 26.70% from 25 to 44, 24.80% from 45 to 64, and 15.60% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females there were 102.50 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 101.30 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $41,710, and the median income for a family was $47,500. Males had a median income of $31,629 versus $23,148 for females. The per capita income for the county was $17,704. About 5.80% of families and 7.30% of the population were below the poverty line, including 8.40% of those under age 18 and 7.90% of those age 65 or over.

Education

Unified school districts

Communities

2005 KDOT Map of Wabaunsee County from KDOT (map legend)

Cities

Unincorporated communities

Townships

Wabaunsee County is divided into thirteen townships. None of the cities within the county are considered governmentally independent, and all figures for the townships include those of the cities. In the following table, the population center is the largest city (or cities) included in that township's population total, if it is of a significant size.

Sources: 2000 U.S. Gazetteer from the U.S. Census Bureau.
Township FIPS Population
center		 Population Population
density
/km² (/sq mi)		 Land area
km² (sq mi) 		Water area
km² (sq mi) 		Water % Geographic coordinates
Alma 01375 Alma 1,137 11 (28) 104 (40) 0 (0) 0% 39°1′8″N 96°17′33″W / 39.01889°N 96.29250°W
Farmer 23125 119 1 (2) 172 (66) 0 (0) 0.07% 38°55′37″N 96°18′44″W / 38.92694°N 96.31222°W
Garfield 25850 Alta Visa 590 5 (13) 118 (45) 0 (0) 0.09% 38°51′44″N 96°27′20″W / 38.86222°N 96.45556°W
Kaw 36150 242 2 (6) 110 (42) 2 (1) 1.55% 39°10′16″N 96°9′46″W / 39.17111°N 96.16278°W
Maple Hill 44525 Maple Hill 930 5 (13) 190 (73) 1 (0) 0.55% 39°4′43″N 96°0′52″W / 39.07861°N 96.01444°W
Mill Creek 46725 Lake Wabaunsee 293 2 (4) 192 (74) 1 (0) 0.43% 38°53′23″N 96°11′23″W / 38.88972°N 96.18972°W
Mission Creek 47300 495 2 (6) 209 (81) 0 (0) 0.04% 38°55′49″N 96°3′0″W / 38.93028°N 96.05000°W
Newbury 50275 Paxico / McFarland 1,045 5 (13) 203 (78) 0 (0) 0.06% 39°3′44″N 96°11′18″W / 39.06222°N 96.18833°W
Plumb 56800 Harveyville 640 5 (13) 129 (50) 0 (0) 0.17% 38°47′56″N 95°58′36″W / 38.79889°N 95.97667°W
Rock Creek 60650 84 0 (1) 171 (66) 0 (0) 0.05% 38°46′58″N 96°18′15″W / 38.78278°N 96.30417°W
Wabaunsee 74250 Wabaunsee 455 3 (7) 172 (66) 2 (1) 1.05% 39°6′57″N 96°18′21″W / 39.11583°N 96.30583°W
Washington 75800 83 1 (1) 148 (57) 0 (0) 0.02% 38°57′49″N 96°25′14″W / 38.96361°N 96.42056°W
Wilmington 79525 Eskridge 772 5 (13) 150 (58) 0 (0) 0.03% 38°49′54″N 96°6′14″W / 38.83167°N 96.10389°W

See also

Information on this and other counties in Kansas

Other information for Kansas

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "State & County QuickFacts". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved July 29, 2014.
  2. ↑ "Find a County". National Association of Counties. Retrieved 2011-06-07.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 Wabaunsee County, Kansas, Kansapedia. (accessed July 27, 2013)
  4. ↑ Wabaunsee County History.
  5. ↑ Blackmar, Frank Wilson (1912). Kansas: A Cyclopedia of State History, Volume 2. Standard Publishing Company. p. 853.
  6. ↑ Rock Island Rail History
  7. ↑ Timothy Eagan, The Worst Hard Tim : the Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl (Houghton Mifflin, 2006)
  8. ↑ Craig Miner,Next Year Country: Dust to Dust in Western Kansas, 1890-1940 (2007)
  9. ↑ Peter Fearon, "Kansas History and the New Deal Era," Kansas History, Autumn 2007, Vol. 30 Issue 3, pp 192-223
  10. ↑ Donald R. McCoy, Landon of Kansas (1966)
  11. ↑ Peter Fearon, "Regulation and Response: Kansas Wheat Farmers and the New Deal," Rural History, Oct 2007, Vol. 18 Issue 2, pp 245-264
  12. ↑ "Map of Wet and Dry Counties". Alcoholic Beverage Control, Kansas Department of Revenue. November 2006. Retrieved 2007-12-28.
  13. ↑ "US Gazetteer files: 2010, 2000, and 1990". United States Census Bureau. 2011-02-12. Retrieved 2011-04-23.
  14. ↑ "U.S. Decennial Census". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved July 29, 2014.
  15. ↑ "Historical Census Browser". University of Virginia Library. Retrieved July 29, 2014.
  16. ↑ "Population of Counties by Decennial Census: 1900 to 1990". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved July 29, 2014.
  17. ↑ "Census 2000 PHC-T-4. Ranking Tables for Counties: 1990 and 2000" (PDF). United States Census Bureau. Retrieved July 29, 2014.
  18. ↑ "American FactFinder". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved 2008-01-31.

Further reading

External links

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