CS Knowledge Base

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.^[3] Its county seat is Olathe.^[4] 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.^[5] In 2008 the same magazine had ranked Olathe 11th.^[6]

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.

Johnson County was a prohibition, or "dry", county until the Kansas Constitution was changed in 1986.^[7]

The county has a total area of 480.15 square miles (1,243.6 km²). Of this, 476.78 sq mi (1,234.9 km²) (or 99.30%) is land, and 3.37 sq mi (8.7 km²) (or 0.70%) is water.^[8]

Official sites

• Johnson County
• Johnson County History
• Johnson County Library
• Johnson County Genealogical Society and Library Archived 2013-05-25 at the Wayback Machine
• Frontier Military Historic Byway^{[permanent dead link]}

Additional information

• Blue Skyways Archived 2012-05-11 at the Wayback Machine
• Kansas Statistical Abstract Archived 2005-10-28 at the Wayback Machine

Maps

• Johnson County Map Archived 2011-11-24 at the Wayback Machine, KDOT
• Kansas Highway Map Archived 2020-11-28 at the Wayback Machine, KDOT
• Kansas Railroad Map Archived 2020-12-11 at the Wayback Machine, KDOT
• Kansas School District Boundary Map Archived 2012-04-03 at the Wayback Machine, KSDE