Butler County, Kansas facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Butler County
County
Butler County Courthouse in El Dorado (2011)
Location within the U.S. state of Kansas
Kansas's location within the U.S.
Country	United States
State	Kansas
Founded	August 25, 1855
Named for	Andrew Pickens Butler
Seat	El Dorado
Largest city	Andover
Area
• Total	1,447 sq mi (3,750 km2)
• Land	1,430 sq mi (3,700 km2)
• Water	17 sq mi (40 km2)  1.2%
Population  (2020)
• Total	67,380
• Estimate  (2021)	67,889
• Density	47.1/sq mi (18.2/km2)
Time zone	UTC−6 (Central)
• Summer (DST)	UTC−5 (CDT)
Area code	316
Congressional district	4th

Butler County is a county in the U.S. state of Kansas and is the largest county in the state by total area. Its county seat is El Dorado and its most populous city is Andover. As of the 2020 census, the county population was 67,380. The county was named for Andrew Butler, a U.S. Senator from South Carolina who coauthored the Kansas–Nebraska Act.

History

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.

In an unusual technical glitch, a farmstead about 4 miles northeast of Potwin became the default site of 600 million IP addresses (due to their lack of fine granularity) when the Massachusetts-based digital mapping company MaxMind changed the putative geographic center of the contiguous United States from 39.8333333,-98.585522 to 38.0000,-97.0000.

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the county has an 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.

Adjacent counties

Major highways

Sources: National Atlas, U.S. Census Bureau

• Interstate 35
• U.S. Route 54
• U.S. Route 77
• Kansas Highway 96
• Kansas Highway 177
• Kansas Highway 196
• Kansas Highway 254

Demographics

Population pyramid based on 2000 census age data

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

Education

College

• Butler County Community College in El Dorado

Unified school districts

• Bluestem USD 205
• Remington USD 206
• Circle USD 375
• Andover USD 385
• Rose Hill USD 394
• Douglass USD 396
• Augusta USD 402
• El Dorado USD 490
• Flinthills USD 492

School district office in neighboring county

• Peabody–Burns USD 398
• Central USD 462

Private schools

• Berean Academy in Elbing

Communities

2005 map of Butler County (map legend)

List of townships / incorporated cities / unincorporated communities / extinct former communities within Butler County.

Cities

Unincorporated communities

† means a community is designated a Census-Designated Place (CDP) by the United States Census Bureau.

Ghost towns

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.

See also

In Spanish: Condado de Butler (Kansas) para niños