Chautauqua 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.

19th century

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 1854, the Kansas Territory was organized, then in 1861 Kansas became the 34th U.S. state. Chautauqua County was created by an act of the Kansas legislature on June 1, 1875 by the division of Howard County into Elk County (the northern half) and Chautauqua County (the southern half). At the time of its creation, the county's population was about 7,400.

The first white settlers in the area that became Chautauqua County arrived in July 1868.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 645 square miles (1,670 km²), of which 639 square miles (1,660 km²) is land and 5.9 square miles (15 km²) (0.9%) is water.

Adjacent counties

Major highways

Sources: National Atlas, U.S. Census Bureau

Demographics

As of the U.S. Census in 2000, there were 4,359 people, 1,796 households, and 1,235 families residing in the county. The population density was 7 people per square mile (3/km²). There were 2,169 housing units at an average density of 3 per square mile (1/km²). The racial makeup of the county was 93.83% White, 0.30% Black or African American, 3.58% Native American, 0.07% Asian, 0.05% Pacific Islander, 0.34% from other races, and 1.84% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.35% of the population.

There were 1,796 households out of which 26.20% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 57.30% were married couples living together, 7.90% had a female householder with no husband present, and 31.20% were non-families. 29.40% of all households were made up of individuals and 16.40% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.34 and the average family size was 2.87.

In the county, the population was spread out with 23.40% under the age of 18, 6.10% from 18 to 24, 20.90% from 25 to 44, 25.20% from 45 to 64, and 24.30% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 45 years. For every 100 females there were 93.60 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.20 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $28,717, and the median income for a family was $33,871. Males had a median income of $25,083 versus $21,346 for females. The per capita income for the county was $16,280. About 9.00% of families and 12.20% of the population were below the poverty line, including 15.80% of those under age 18 and 10.60% of those age 65 or over.

Law and government

Although the Kansas Constitution was amended in 1986 to allow the sale of alcoholic liquor by the individual drink with the approval of voters, Chautauqua County remained a prohibition, or "dry", county, until 2008' when a county wide ballot measure was approved to allow individual liquor sales with a 30 percent food requirement

Unified school districts

Cities

Townships

Chautauqua County is divided into twelve 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.