Wyandotte County, Kansas
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 Other Kansas Counties | |
| County seat | Kansas City |
| Largest city | Kansas City |
| Area —Total —Land —Water —% water | 156 mi²; 403 km² 151 mi²; 392 km² 4 mi²; 11 km² 2.76% |
| Population —Total (2000) —Density | 157,882 1043/mi²; 403/km² |
| Established | |
| Time zone | Central : UTC-6/-5 |
Wyandotte County (standard abbreviation: WY) is a county located in the state of Kansas. As of 2000, the population is 157,882. Its county seat is Kansas City, Kansas,6 with which it shares a unified government.
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Geography
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 403 km² (156 mi²). 392 km² (151 mi²) of it is land and 11 km² (4 mi²) of it is water. The total area is 2.76% water.
Adjacent counties
- Platte County, Missouri (north)
- Clay County, Missouri (northeast)
- Jackson County, Missouri (east)
- Johnson County, Kansas (south)
- Leavenworth County, Kansas (west)
See also: List of counties in Kansas
Demographics
As of the census² of 2000, there are 157,882 people, 59,700 households, and 39,163 families residing in the county. The population density is 403/km² (1,043/mi²). There are 65,892 housing units at an average density of 168/km² (435/mi²). The racial makeup of the county is 58.18% White, 28.33% Black or African American, 0.74% Native American, 1.63% Asian, 0.04% Pacific Islander, 8.17% from other races, and 2.91% from two or more races. 16.00% of the population are Hispanic or Latino of any race.
There are 59,700 households out of which 32.60% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 42.10% are married couples living together, 17.80% have a female householder with no husband present, and 34.40% are non-families. 28.90% of all households are made up of individuals and 10.00% have someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size is 2.62 and the average family size is 3.24.
In the county the population is spread out with 28.50% under the age of 18, 10.40% from 18 to 24, 29.50% from 25 to 44, 19.90% from 45 to 64, and 11.70% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 32 years. For every 100 females there are 95.40 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 91.30 males.
The median income for a household in the county is $33,784, and the median income for a family is $40,333. Males have a median income of $31,335 versus $24,640 for females. The per capita income for the county is $16,005. 16.50% of the population and 12.50% of families are below the poverty line. Out of the total population, 23.00% of those under the age of 18 and 11.10% of those 65 and older are living below the poverty line.
History
THE WYANDOTS
Wy1899.gif
The Frenchmen in Canada preferred to call them Hurons and they were on earth when the shores of New England and Canada were first sighted by white men. They were a powerful nation more than two centuries before Kansas was on the map as a territory or state. They were a dominant factor in the wars along the shores of the Great Lakes for nearly one hundred years before the Declaration of Independence was framed. They were leaders in the great confederation of Indians that tried in vain to turn back the tide of immigration to their hunting grounds, and for many years they waged war against the Americans to make the Ohio river the boundary between the United States and Canada.
The Wyandots were good warriors, and when they lost they knew how to be good quitters. They accepted the white man's civilization, discarded ancient customs, and embraced the teachings of the Christian missionaries. They became first and foremost among the civilized Indians of America.
The coming of the Wyandots to this Kansas country, in 1843, brought an end to centuries of Indian savagery. Out of the chaotic conditions of the past came a new order of things. They built houses, erected churches and established schools. They welcomed the white settler, took him into partnership and founded an organized state of society.
The Wyandots brought with them from Ohio a constitution and a stock of ideals of self-government founded on ideas of justice and equity. Here in Wyandotte county they set up the first territorial government Kansas and Nebraska ever had, and they picked a man from their council to act as governor. They were here at the framing of the Wyandotte constitution, and after they saw the job was finished they helped to adopt it and to bring Kansas into the Union as a state.
As the Wyandots were leaders among the Indians of the east, so they became leaders of the people of the west when Kansas was in the making. Through all of the sixty-eight years that have passed since first they came, they, or their descendants, have helped in every stage of the development of Kansas, of Wyandotte county, of its cities and towns and of its people's interests.
Truly the Wyandots, by their conduct and their achievements, present an example of a nation of Indians repaying, with interest many times compounded, every care bestowed on them, every effort made for their uplifting, by their pale face brothers and sisters.
Now, only a little more than fifty years after this great and glorious Indian nation dissolved its tribal relations, the original name has come into disuse. Our county is called "Wyandotte" the French way of spelling. The Indian name has been stricken from the charter of the city that grew up from the old Wyandot village. And with ruthless hand and an absence of feeling it is proposed to destroy the historic old Huron cemetery in the heart of Kansas City, Kansas, where are buried many of the greatest Indian statesmen and civilians America has ever known.
The county was finally organized in 1855.
Tenskwatawa (Techumseh's brother), "the Prophet", fought at the Battle of Tippecanoe in 1811. He was buried at Shawnee Native American historical site Whitefeather Spring (located at 3818 Ruby Ave., Kansas City, which was added in 1975 to the National Register of historical places).
The Kansas City Smelting and Refining Company employed over 250 men around the 1880s.. The ore and base bullion is received from the mining districts of the mountains and is here crushed, separated and refined.
Cities and towns
Other
Education
Unified school districts
- Turner USD 202
- Piper USD 203
- Bonner Springs USD 204
- Kansas City USD 500
External links and references
- William G. Cutler's "History of the State of Kansas (http://www.kancoll.org/books/cutler/wyandotte/wyandotte-co-p1.html)". 1883. A. T. Andreas, Chicago, IL.
- "Historic Preservation (http://www.wycokck.org/planning/histmap.htm)". Kansas City, Kansas, Urban Planning & Land Use
- Sween, "Argentine Pictures (http://www.ku.edu/heritage/for_nancy/cards1.htm)". Interactive Genealogy. Pictorial History of Wyandotte County, KS.
- "Historical Wyandotte County (http://www.ku.edu/heritage/towns/kansascity.html)". Kansas Heritage, Kansas Community Network.
- "Wyandotte County (http://skyways.lib.ks.us/counties/WY/)". Kansas State Library.
- "Views of the Past (http://www.kckpl.lib.ks.us/kscoll/lochist/views/views.htm)". Kansas City, Kansas Bicentennial Commission.
- Sween, "Bonner Springs and Edwardsville (http://members.aol.com/Sftrail/bonner/index.html)". Virtual Bonner Springs, KS.
