Johnson County, Kansas

Johnson County (county code JO) is a county in northeast Kansas. The county is part of the Kansas City metropolitan area. It contains many of the richer suburbs of Kansas City. As of the 2020 census, 609,863 people lived there.  Its county seat is Olathe. The most populous city is Overland Park.

In 2010, Money magazine ranked Overland Park 7th and Shawnee 17th in its list of the 100 Best Cities in the United States in which to live.  In 2008 the same magazine had ranked Olathe 11th.

History

Johnson County is named for Thomas Johnson. It was one of the first counties in the Kansas Territory in 1855. The well known gunfighter Wild Bill Hickok lived in the county for a time. He was the constable of Monticello Township in 1858. Johnson County was the site of many battles dealing with slavery during Bleeding Kansas.

The county was mostly rural until the early 20th century. There was a large amount of urban development from 1914 though  World War II.  After the war, the development grew even greater.

Laws
Johnson County was a prohibition, or "dry", county until the Kansas Constitution was changed in 1986.

Geography
The county has a total area of . Of this,  (or 99.30%) is land, and  (or 0.70%) is water.

Adjacent counties
 Wyandotte County (north)
 Jackson County, Missouri (east)
 Cass County, Missouri (southeast)
 Miami County (south)
 Franklin County (southwest)
 Douglas County (west)
 Leavenworth County (northwest)

Cities and towns

Incorporated cities
Name and population (2020 Census):https://data.census.gov
 Overland Park,* 197,238
 Olathe, 141,290 (county seat)
 Shawnee,* 67,311
 Lenexa,* 57,434
 Leawood,* 33,902
 Gardner, 23,287
 Prairie Village,* 22,957
 Merriam,* 11,098
 Mission,* 9,954
 Spring Hill, 7,952
 Bonner Springs 7,837 (also in Wyandotte County and Leavenworth County)
 Roeland Park,* 6,871
 De Soto, 6,118
 Fairway,* 4,170
 Mission Hills,* 3,594
 Westwood,* 1,750
 Edgerton, 1,748
 Lake Quivira,* 1,014 (also in Wyandotte County)
 Westwood Hills,* 400
 Mission Woods,* 203

*Cities included in Shawnee Mission. The main Shawnee Mission post office is in Mission.

Unincorporated places
 Bonita
 Clare
 Ocheltree
 Stanley
 Stilwell

Townships
Johnson County was divided into nine townships. Two of these no longer exist. They were made part of independent municipalities. All of the cities are considered governmentally independent. They are not included in the census numbers for the townships.

Sources: 2020 U.S. Gazetteer from the U.S. Census Bureau; Census Data Explorer from the U.S. Census Bureau. Township  FIPS  Populationcenter Population(2020)  Populationdensity/km² (/sq mi) Land areakm² (sq mi)  Water areakm² (sq mi)  Water % Geographic coordinates Aubry  03225   4,650  54 (140)  86 (33)  1 (0)  1.29%   Gardner  25450   2,593  35 (92)  73 (28)  1 (0)  1.40%   Lexington  39800   1,497  11 (29)  133 (51)  4 (2)  3.03%   McCamish  43625   980  9 (24)  104 (40)  1 (0)  0.79%   Monticello  47950   -  -  -  -  -  - Olathe  52600   894  34 (88)  26 (10)  0 (0)  0.70%   Oxford  53825   2,027  283 (732)  7 (3)  0 (0)  4.35%   Shawnee  64525   -  -  -  -  -  - Spring Hill  67650   2,004  35 (89)  58 (22)  1 (0)  1.11%  

References

Other websites

Official sites
 Johnson County
 Johnson County History
 Johnson County Library
 Johnson County Genealogical Society and Library 
 Frontier Military Historic Byway
Additional information
 Blue Skyways 
 Kansas Statistical Abstract 
Maps
 Johnson County Map , KDOT
 Kansas Highway Map , KDOT
 Kansas Railroad Map , KDOT
 Kansas School District Boundary Map , KSDE

Category:1855 establishments in Kansas Territory