This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Wyandotte County, Kansas" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (July 2023) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Wyandotte County
Consolidated city-county
Wyandotte County Courthouse in Kansas City (2009)
Flag Seal
Location within the U.S. state of Kansas
Kansas's location within the U.S.
Coordinates: 39°07′N 94°43′W / 39.117°N 94.717°W / 39.117; -94.717
Country	United States
State	Kansas
Founded	January 29, 1859; 165 years ago (1859-01-29)
Named for	Wyandot people
Seat	Kansas City
Largest city	Kansas City
Area
• Total	156 sq mi (400 km2)
• Land	152 sq mi (390 km2)
• Water	4.6 sq mi (12 km2)  2.9%
Population  (2020)[1]
• Total	169,245
• Estimate  (2021)[2]	167,046
• Density	1,039.0/sq mi (401.2/km2)
Time zone	UTC−6 (Central)
• Summer (DST)	UTC−5 (CDT)
Congressional districts	2nd, 3rd
Website	wycokck.org

Wyandotte County (/ˈwaɪ.əndɒt/) is a county in the U.S. state of Kansas. Its county seat and most populous city is Kansas City,^[3] with which it shares a unified government. As of the 2020 census, the population was 169,245,^[1] making it Kansas's fourth-most populous county. The county was named after the Wyandot tribe.

History

Wyandot tribe

The county is named after the Wyandot (also Wyandott or Wyandotte) Indians. They were called the Huron by the French in Canada, but called themselves Wendat. They were distantly related to the Iroquois, with whom they sometimes fought. They had hoped to keep white Americans out of their territory and to make the Ohio River the border between the United States and Canada.^[4]

One branch of the Wyandot moved to the area that is now the state of Ohio. They generally took the course of assimilation into Anglo-American society. Many of them embraced Christianity under the influence of missionaries. They were transported to the current Wyandotte County in 1843, where they set up a community and worked in cooperation with Anglo settlers. The Christian Munsee also influenced this area's early settlement.^[5]

The Wyandot in Kansas set up a constitutional form of government they had devised in Ohio. They set up the territorial government for Kansas and Nebraska, and elected one of their own territorial governor.

Other historical facts

The county was organized in 1859.^[6] Tenskwatawa (Tecumseh's brother), "the Prophet", fought at the Battle of Tippecanoe in 1811. He was buried at Shawnee Native American historical site Whitefeather Spring, at 3818 Ruby Ave. Kansas City, which was added in 1975 to the National Register of Historic Places in 1975. The Kansas City Smelting and Refining Company employed over 250 men during the 1880s. The ore and base bullion is received from the mountains' mining districts and is crushed, separated and refined.

The Delaware Crossing (or "Military Crossing"; sometimes "the Secondine") was where the old Indian trail met the waters of the Kaw River. Circa 1831, Moses Grinter, one of the area's earliest permanent white settlers, set up the Grinter Ferry on the Kansas River there. His house was known as the Grinter Place. The ferry was used by traders, freighters, and soldiers traveling between Fort Leavenworth and Fort Scott on the military road. Others crossed this area on their way to Santa Fe.

The Diocese of Leavenworth moved its see from Leavenworth, Kansas to Kansas City, Kansas on May 10, 1947. It became an archdiocese on August 9, 1952.

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the county has an area of 156 square miles (400 km²), of which 152 square miles (390 km²) is land and 4.6 square miles (12 km²) (2.9%) is water.^[7] It is Kansas's smallest county by area.^[8]

Topography

The county's natural topography consists of gently rolling terrain. The Kansas River forms part of the county's southern boundary. The elevation generally increases from south to north as the distance from the Kansas River and Missouri River increases.

Watersheds and streams

This section is missing information about streams. Please expand the section to include this information. Further details may exist on the talk page. (August 2022)

The county is drained by natural creek and stream watersheds of the Kaw River, which is part of the Missouri River basin. It receives plentiful rainfall.

Turkey Creek is a stream spanning Johnson and Wyandotte counties.^[9][10] The creek directly floods several cities in the Upper Turkey Creek Basin, for which the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has developed complicated flood control deployments and ongoing proposals, including major drainage at Rosedale, KCK.^[11][12]

Adjacent counties

• Platte County, Missouri (north)
• Clay County, Missouri (northeast)
• Jackson County, Missouri (east)
• Johnson County (south)
• Leavenworth County (west)

Demographics

Wyandotte County is included in the Kansas City, MO-KS Kansas City metropolitan area.

The 2000 census has 157,882 people, 59,700 households, and 39,163 families residing in the county. The population density was 1,043 people per square mile (403 people/km²). There were 65,892 housing units at an average density of 435 per square mile (168/km²). The racial makeup of the county was 58.18% White, 28.33% Black or African American, 1.63% Asian, 0.74% Native American, 0.04% Pacific Islander, 8.17% from other races, and 2.91% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 16.00% of the population.

By 2007, 48.1% of Wyandotte County's population was non-Hispanic whites. 26.3% of the population was African-American. Native Americans made up 0.6% of the population, Asians 1.8%, and Latinos 21.7%.

There were 59,700 households, of which 32.60% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 42.10% were married couples living together, 17.80% had a female householder with no husband present, and 34.40% were non-families. 28.90% of all households were made up of individuals, and 10.00% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.62 and the average family size was 3.24.

In the county, the population was 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 were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 32. For every 100 females there were 95.40 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.3 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $33,784, and the median income for a family was $40,333. Males had a median income of $31,335 versus $24,640 for females. The per capita income for the county was $16,005. About 12.5% of families and 16.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 23% of those under age 18 and 11.1% of those 65 or older.

Approximately 1.4% of the county's residents take public transportation to work. This is the highest percentage in the state.^[18]

Government

Law

The Wyandotte County Sheriff's Department oversees the Wyandotte County Jail. The Bonner Springs Police Department, Edwardsville Police Department, and the Kansas City Kansas Police Department serve those respective cities in Wyandotte County.

Wyandotte County was a prohibition, or "dry", county until the Kansas Constitution was amended in 1986 and voters approved the sale of liquor by the individual drink with a 30% food sales requirement. Voters removed the food sales requirement in 1988.^[19]

The county voted against the 2022 Kansas Value Them Both Amendment, an anti-abortion ballot measure, by 74% to 26%, outpacing its support of Joe Biden during the 2020 presidential election.^[20]

Local government

In 1997, residents voted to consolidate the municipal government of Kansas City, Kansas and county government of Wyandotte into a single unified government, combining many duplicative public departments. Voters at the time largely decided the municipal government harbored widespread corruption and patronage, and that consolidation with the better run county offered a path toward better public services and increased government transparency.^[21]

Presidential elections