Butler County, Kansas

Early history

For many millennia, the Great Plains of North America was inhabited by nomadic Native Americans. From the 16th century to 18th century, the Kingdom of France claimed ownership of large parts of North America. In 1762, after the French and Indian War, France secretly ceded New France to Spain, per the Treaty of Fontainebleau. In 1802, Spain returned most of the land to France, but keeping title to about 7,500 square miles.

In 1803, most of the land for modern day Kansas was acquired by the United States from France as part of the 828,000 square mile Louisiana Purchase for 2.83 cents per acre. In 1848, after the Mexican-American War, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo with Spain brought into the United States all or part of land for ten future states, including southwest Kansas. In 1854, the Kansas Territory was organized, then in 1861 Kansas became the 34th U.S. state.

19th century

In 1855, Butler County was founded. It was named in honor of a U.S. Senator from South Carolina, Andrew Butler (1796–1857), who was one of the authors of the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 and a strong advocate of Kansas becoming a slave state.

In 1877, the Florence, El Dorado, and Walnut Valley Railroad Company built a branch line from Florence to El Dorado, in 1881 it was extended to Douglass, and later to Arkansas City. The line was leased and operated by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway. The line from Florence to El Dorado was abandoned in 1942. The original branch line connected Florence, Burns, De Graff, El Dorado, Augusta, Douglass, Rock, Akron, Winfield, Arkansas City.

In 1887, the Chicago, Kansas and Nebraska Railway built a branch line north-south from Herington to Caldwell. This branch line connected Herington, Lost Springs, Lincolnville, Antelope, Marion, Aulne, Peabody, Elbing, Whitewater, Furley, Kechi, Wichita, Peck, Corbin, Wellington, Caldwell. By 1893, this branch line was incrementally built to Fort Worth, Texas. This line is called the "OKT". The Chicago, Kansas and Nebraska Railway was foreclosed in 1891 and was taken over by Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railway, which shut down in 1980 and reorganized as Oklahoma, Kansas and Texas Railroad, merged in 1988 with Missouri Pacific Railroad, and finally merged in 1997 with Union Pacific Railroad. Most locals still refer to this railroad as the "Rock Island".

21st century

In 2010, the Keystone-Cushing Pipeline (Phase II) was constructed north to south through Butler County (near Potwin, Towanda, Augusta, Douglass), with much controversy over tax exemption and environmental concerns (if a leak ever occurs). A pumping station named Burns was built 2 miles north of Potwin, and new power lines were built from a high-voltage line 0.3 mile east of De Graff.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 1,447 square miles (3,750 km²), of which 1,430 square miles (3,700 km²) is land and 17 square miles (44 km²) (1.2%) is water. It is the largest county by area in Kansas.

Major highways

Sources: National Atlas, U.S. Census Bureau

Demographics

Butler County is part of the Wichita, KS Metropolitan Statistical Area.

As of the U.S. Census in 2000, there were 59,482 people, 21,527 households, and 16,059 families residing in the county. The population density was 42 people per square mile (16/km²). There were 23,176 housing units at an average density of 16 per square mile (6/km²). The racial makeup of the county was 94.94% White, 1.38% Black or African American, 0.91% Native American, 0.40% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 0.66% from other races, and 1.69% two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.25% of the population.

There were 21,527 households out of which 37.90% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 62.60% were married couples living together, 8.30% had a female householder with no husband present, and 25.40% were non-families. 21.90% of all households were made up of individuals and 9.40% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.67 and the average family size was 3.13.

In the county, the population was spread out with 28.60% under the age of 18, 8.30% from 18 to 24, 28.80% from 25 to 44, 21.70% from 45 to 64, and 12.60% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females there were 100.90 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 98.80 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $45,474, and the median income for a family was $53,632. Males had a median income of $38,675 versus $26,109 for females. The per capita income for the county was $20,150. About 5.40% of families and 7.30% of the population were below the poverty line, including 9.00% of those under age 18 and 6.40% of those age 65 or over.

Government

Butler 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.

Presidential elections

Like of most of Kansas's counties, Butler county is solidly Republican. In 2008, John McCain carried the county by a nearly two-to-one margin over Barack Obama. Since at least 1992, no Democratic candidate has received more than 40% of the county's vote. The last Democratic candidate to carry the county was Jimmy Carter in 1976.

Unified school districts

Private schools

College

Townships

Butler County is divided into twenty-nine townships. The cities of Augusta and El Dorado are considered governmentally independent and are excluded from the census figures for the townships. 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.