Back to Johnson County, KS - Localities pageLenexa - city sponsored site
Lenexa - Cutler's History of Kansas
Lenexa - Platted in 1869 and incorporated in 1907, the townsite was originally part of Squire Charles Alfred Bradshaw's 160-acre fruit farm. Formation of the city followed the arrival of the Kansas City-Fort Scott-Gulf Railroad. Railroad officials negotiated with Bradshaw for right-of-way through his property for a station site.
The name Lenexa was derived from the Indian name Na-Nex-Se and assigned to the Sherman Post Office in July of 1869, as a special tribute to Mrs. Na-Nex-Se Blackhoof, the second wife of Shawnee Indian Chief Blackhoof. Chief Blackhoof was one of five principal Shawnee chiefs involved in the signing of the April 5, 1854 Treaty with the United States Government, in which Shawnees ceded 1,000,000 acres of ground to the government for 60 cents per acre.
Many German, Swiss, and Belgian families came to the Lenexa community from eastern states and Europe. In the 1930's Lenexa was known as the "Spinach Capital of the World" for the prolific crops cultivated here by the Belgian farmers.
Lenexa's population at the time of incorporation was just 362. By 1930 the population had only increased to 452 and to 803 in 1950. Growth was steadier over the next 20 years and by 1970 Lenexa's population was 5,242. Then something rather amazing happened during the next 20 year record setting period and by 1990 Lenexa grew to a population of 33,844, making it the fastest growing city in the State of Kansas.
Transcribed from a brochure published by the Lenexa Historical Society.
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Monticello - Cutler's History of Kansas
Monticello - Towns of Yesteryear
Monticello - During the territorial period, the northern portion of Johnson County was inhabited by Shawnee Indians. A few white traders came to the area prior to white settlement and married Indian women. Three of these men adopted by the Shawnee tribe were Isaac Parish, Samuel Garrett, and John Owens.
The county was not opened to settlement by whites until 1857, when the town of Monticello, named after Thomas Jefferson's home, was laid out by the town company. Among those who moved to Monticello were J. M. Reed, proprietor of a large hotel, and Rich & Rively, operators of a dry goods store. The settlers constructed the first school in the area about a mile west of town, and the federal government established a post office in January 1858.
"Wild Bill" Hickok was just twenty-two years old when he was elected constable of Monticello, and the townspeople often saw him patrolling the streets. It was his first job as a lawman and apparently not too difficult, for there were complaints that he spent most of hist time either playing cards or target shooting at bottles. He was constable at Monticello for two years and boarded with John Owens, a farmer in the area.
In 1858 Monticello had a population of 250 people, and the city limits extended just west of the present cemetery. The townspeople named the main street Cherry Street after the many cherry trees that grew in and around the town. According to most newspaper accounts, there were at least eight business buildings in town.
- from Faded Dreams. More Ghost Towns of Kansas by Daniel C. Fitzgerald. Published 1994 by the University Press of Kansas.
The town was laid out in June, 1857 by a town company nine miles north of Olathe. The first store was opened in 1857 and the first school in the vicinity ws taught in 1857 about a mile west of town. The post office was established either January 15, 1858 or in 1865. A large hotel was built when the town was laid out but it burned down in 1862. A tornado in 1858 destroyed many of the buildings, but the people soon rebuilt. A school was opened in town in 1865. A Methodist Church was built in 1880 one and a half miles southwest of town. Monticello ws one of the most prosperous and promising towns in the county and at one time it was looked upon as the probable county seat. Locality alone was the cause of its defeat, as at the time of the election, it was far ahead of it's competitors in general business and local importance. It was just too far from the center of the county. It's post office was discontinued January 4, 1871 and re-established April 5, 1871. It was finally discontined May 15, 1905.
- from Ghost Towns of Johnson County, Kansas, published 1973 by Laura Steed, published 1973.
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Olathe - city sponsored site
Olathe Community website
Kansas Heritage Olathe site
Olathe - Cutler's History of Kansas
Olathe - In the spring of 1857, a young man rode out of the little village of Chillicothe, situated three miles west of the present town of Shawnee in Johnson County, with the idea of locating a town near the center of the county. The man was Dr. John T. Barton, a native of Albermarle, VA, and a graduate of Philadelphia medical school, who had come west in 1850 with an appointment as physician to the Shawnee Indians.
In 1856 and 1857, the Shawnees were giving up tribal title to their Kansas lands. Dr. Barton rode to the center of Johnson County and staked a claim to two quarter sections.
"It was early spring," he later told friends. "The prairie was covered with verbena and other wild flowers. I kept thinking the land was beautiful and that I should name the town 'Beautiful'."
On the way home, he asked Capt. Joseph Parks, the head chief of the Shawnees: "What, in Shawnee language, would you call two quarters of land covered with wild flowers? In English we would say it was 'beautiful'." Parks replied: "We would say it was olathe" - the Indian pronunciation having an explosive last syllable.
Barten then asked the same thing of the Indian interpreter, Dave Daugherty, and was advised that " 'olay-the' did mean beautiful, but the English pronunciation shifted the accent to the second syllable.
" 'Olathe' it shall be then," said Dr. Barton. He then went to the Lecompton land office for the purpose of entering the town site, but found that he could not do so as an individual. Accordingly, he organized the Olathe Townsite Corporation, comprised of himself as president, A. G. Boone, Charles Osgood, R. B. Finley, William Fisher, Jr., and Henry Jones. The first election was held in April, 1858.
On September 6, 1862, William Clark Quantrill made his raid on Olathe, crossing the border from Missouri after dusk, with more than 150 men, burning two houses enroute, and arrived in defenseless Olathe at midnight. He ordered his men to take immediate possession of the town - "don't let a man escape." The guerillas spread over the town, entered every house, marched the men to the public square and surrounded them with a guard, and began systematic looting. Every business house was broken open and goods taken. Private houses were thoroughly searched and looted and valuables appropriated; two newspaper plants were demolished, the town was riddled, and six men killed.
Owing to the border warfare and the poor protection given to Olathe, its growth was hindered from the time of Quantrill's raid to the close of the war. There were very few women and no churches or Sunday schools in all the county outside the Shawnee Indian mission. Morality was at a discount, local government was imperfectly organized and loosely run, laws and courts were ignored. Business languished and the majority of business houses stood empty. It wasn't until after the war that Olathe began to flourish again, with an influx of settlers, both farmers and merchants. Today it stands as the county seat of Johnson County.
- from Olathe Centennial Arrows to Atoms 1857-1957.
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DeSoto - Cutler's History of Kansas
DeSoto - Kansas Heritage County Cam Visits DeSoto, KS
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Edgerton - Cutler's History of Kansas
Edgerton - City website
Edgerton - Located in the southwest corner of Johnson County, Edgerton was incorporated in 1883. It was previously called Martin City or Martinsburgh. Sometimes Edgerton is confused with the nearby defunct town of Lanesfield.
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Gardner - Cutler's History of Kansas
Gardner - City website
Gardner - "The junction of the Oregon and Santa Fe Trails served as a stopping point for many of the pioneers who traveled the country in search of prosperity and a home in the mid to late nineteenth century. Gardner Kansas was settled in 1857 by people who recognized the potential of the area. In 1870 the railroad was established, contributing to Gardner’s role as a transportation point for goods and services. The citizens' commitment to hard work and pride fostered a strong sense of community." (Source: City Website)
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Leawood - city sponsored site
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Merriam - city sponsored site
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Mission - city sponsored site
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Mission Hills - city sponsored site
Mission Hills - In 1912 the J.C. Nichols Company built the first house on the northwest corner of 59th Street and State Line Road where there had once been a log cabin used by the Indian agency as a headquarters and home. When the developer first envisioned this new residential area, he said, "A high goal is set for its future that will make Mission Hills the most distinguished of American garden suburbs." Nature had provided wooded hills, meandering streams, lofty plateaus and pleasant valleys. The area was nationally acclaimed as a model for high character development. It has continued to be a city of beautiful homes and gardens.
(Source: city website)
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Overland Park - Chamber of Commerce website
Overland Park - City website
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Prairie Village - city sponsored site
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Roeland Park - city sponsored site
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Shawnee - city sponsored site
Shawnee - Cutler's History of Kansas
Shawnee - In 1854 the Kansas Territory was opened for settlement. The newly repossessed territory was sold by the government to the incoming home-seekers. Shawneetown (later shortened to Shawnee) was platted soon after in 1856. One of the State's earliest towns, Shawnee was also the site of the first territorial legislature, and home to the first territorial governor. Located at the intersection of early military and territorial roads leading to the Santa Fe Trail, Shawnee also became the first county seat of Johnson County. In 1862, Shawnee found itself in the middle of Civil War border struggles. The town was virtually destroyed, when it was burned and looted by southern guerillas led by William Quantrill just months before his infamous raid on Lawrence. After the County offices moved to Olathe in 1866, Shawnee became a small farm market center. During the 1950's, the population began to grow as people began moving away from congested urban areas to the smaller outlying towns. People quickly discovered the merits of the City and the population has continued to grow ever since, more than tripling in the last three decades.
(Source: City website)
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Spring Hill - Cutler's History of Kansas
Spring Hill - City website
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Monrovia - Towns of Yesteryear
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Ocheltree - Cutler's History of Kansas
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Pasadena - Towns of Yesteryear
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Home page for Kansas State Library for donating space for many KSGenWeb pages.