Emporia, Kansas

**Emporia** is a city in Lyon County, Kansas, United States. It is also the county seat of Lyon County. In 2020, 24,139 people lived there. Emporia is between Topeka and Wichita at the intersection of U.S. Route 50, Interstates 335 and 35 on the Kansas Turnpike. Emporia is also a college town because it has Emporia State University and Flint Hills Technical College.

## History

Emporia was created in 1857. It was named after ancient Carthage, a place known in history as a prosperous center of commerce.

In 1953, Emporia was where Veterans Day was first celebrated in the United States. U.S. Representative Edward Rees introduced legislation in The United States Congress to rename Armistice Day as Veterans Day. President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the bill into law on October 8, 1954.

On June 8, 1974, an F4 tornado hit Emporia. It killed six people, and it injured 200 people. It caused $25 million in damages.

On Sunday, March 6, 1988 a heavily armed gunman walked into the Calvary Baptist Church during services and started shooting.  The gunman was Cheunphon Ji, who was 29 years old. He killed one person and injured four people.

## Geography

Emporia is in east-central Kansas. It is about  southwest of Kansas City,  southwest of Topeka, and  northeast of Wichita. It is on the eastern edge of the Flint Hills. The United States Census Bureau says that the city has a total area of . Of that,  is land and  is water.  The Neosho River goes along the northern part of the city. The Cottonwood River, one of its tributaries, goes along the city's southern edge and of two large city parks, Peter Pan and Soden's Grove.

### Weather

The city gets about 60 rainy days per year. It gets about 59 days with high temperatures of  or higher, and 124 days with low temperatures below freezing. The average temperature in January is , and in July it is . It gets about  of snow every year.

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## People

Emporia is the principal city of the Emporia Micropolitan Statistical Area, which includes all of Lyon and Chase counties.

### 2020 census

The 2020 census says that there were 24,139 people, 9,876 households, and 5,468 families living in Emporia. Of the households, 53.3% owned their home and 46.7% rented their home.

The median age was 32.3 years. Of the people, 67.9% were White, 2.6% were Black, 2.3% were Asian, 0.9% were Native American, 0.1% were Pacific Islanders, 15.0% were from some other race, and 11.2% were two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 28.3% of the people.

### 2010 census

The 2010 census says that there were 24,916 people, 9,812 households, and 5,571 families living in Emporia.

## Economy

Emporia has several big private-sector employers. In the past, a Tyson Foods beef-packing plant employed more than 2,400 workers. Hostess Brands has a bakery in Emporia. Hopkins Manufacturing Corporation, created in Emporia in 1953, makes products for the car market. The Braum dairy store chain, based in Oklahoma City, started in Emporia in 1952 under the name _Peter Pan._ Simmons Pet Food has a multi-acre plant in Emporia that makes wet dog food.

On January 25, 2008, Tyson said it would fire 1,500 workers (more than 60 percent) by March 25, 2008. The company said it needed to move to western Kansas, where the cattle are raised.  The Tyson plant creates almost 10 percent of the local economy.

### Transportation

The city is served by the Emporia Municipal Airport.

#### Bus

LCAT or Lyon County Area Transportation provides bus service in Emporia. It provides fixed-route bus service to the city of Emporia, and paratransit service to the disabled and the rest of Lyon County. The buses are a service of Lyon County. It gets a lot of financial support from the Kansas Department of Transportation. The Greyhound Lines has a bus stop in Emporia.

## Media

The _Emporia Gazette_ is the city's main newspaper. It is published six days per week. The _Gazette_ also publishes a Spanish language monthly newspaper, _La Voz_. Emporia State University publishes a bi-weekly student newspaper, the _Emporia State University Bulletin_.

Emporia is an important place for broadcast media for east-central Kansas. One AM radio station and ten FM radio stations are licensed to and/or broadcast from the city. Emporia is in the Topeka, Kansas television market. One television station, a translator of the Fox affiliate in Topeka, broadcasts from the city.

## Famous people

Famous people who were born in and/or have lived in Emporia include actor R. Lee Ermey, journalist William Allen White, and college basketball coach Dean Smith.

## Related pages

- Great Flood of 1951

## Other websites

- Emporia Area Chamber of Commerce
- Emporia Convention & Visitors Bureau

## Infobox (settlement)

- **name**: Emporia, Kansas
- **settlement type**: City and County seat
- **image skyline**: Downtown Emporia, KS.JPG
- **image caption**: Downtown Emporia (2012)
- **image seal**: City of Emporia, Kansas logo.svg
- **seal size**: 200
- **seal type**: Logo for City of Emporia
- **image map**: Lyon_County_Kansas_Incorporated_and_Unincorporated_areas_Emporia_Highlighted.svg
- **map caption**: Location of Emporia within Lyon County, Kansas, Lyon County and Kansas
- **image map1**: Map of Lyon Co, Ks, USA.png
- **map caption1**: Kansas Department of Transportation, KDOT map of Lyon County, Kansas, Lyon County (:File:Kansas official transportation map legend.png, legend)
- **subdivision type**: Country
- **subdivision name**: United States
- **subdivision type1**: U.S. state, State
- **subdivision name1**: Kansas
- **subdivision type2**: List of counties in Kansas, County
- **subdivision name2**: Lyon County, Kansas, Lyon
- **subdivision type3**: List of townships in Kansas, Township
- **established title**: Founded
- **established date**: 1857
- **established title1**: Platted
- **established title2**: Municipal corporation, Incorporated
- **established date2**: 1870
- **government type**: Council-manager government, Commission-Manager
- **leader title**: Mayor
- **leader name**: Erren Harter
- **leader title1**: City Manager
- **leader name1**: Trey Cocking
- **area total sq mi**: 12.25
- **area land sq mi**: 12.13
- **area water sq mi**: 0.11
- **area total km2**: 31.72
- **area land km2**: 31.42
- **area water km2**: 0.30
- **area water percent**: 0.9
- **unit pref**: Imperial
- **elevation ft**: 1142
- **population as of**: 2020 United States census, 2020
- **population total**: 24139
- **population density sq mi**: auto
- **population density km2**: auto
- **timezone**: Central Time Zone, CST
- **utc offset**: -6
- **timezone dst**: CDT
- **utc offset dst**: -5
- **postal code type**: ZIP code
- **postal code**: 66801
- **area code type**: North American Numbering Plan, Area code
- **area code**: Area code 620, 620
- **blank name**: Federal Information Processing Standard, FIPS code
- **blank info**: 20-21275
- **blank1 name**: Geographic Names Information System, GNIS ID
- **blank1 info**: 485571