Timeline

1800-1850

1802

First white hunter, Jacob Pursley, crossed through the area on his way to New Mexico.

1821

Commerce begins on the Santa Fe Trail. (read more)

1823

Wells Fargo station built at 5707 Nieman in Shawnee to connect Fort Leavenworth to Fort Scott to Fort Gibson

1825

Establishment of Shawnee reservation in Kansas.

1828

Shawnee Indians settled the area of present day Shawnee

1829

Rev. Thomas Johnson and wife came to the area and first son, Alexander S. Johnson was first white person born here in 1832.

1830

Original Shawnee Mission was established by the Methodists near Turner.

1832

birth of Alexander Johnson, son of Rev Thomas Johnson, who would later help establish Shawnee as a town

1833

Jonathan Meeker brought the printing press to Kansas. He published the Shawnee Sun, first Indian paper.

1834

First book published in Johnson County published at the Shawnee Baptist Mission.

1835

Jotham Meeker, working for the Shawnee Baptist Mission, publishes the first newspaper in Kansas - the Siwinowe Kesibwi, in English the Shawnee Sun. (read more)

1838

Forced relocation of the Potowatomi tribe results in the Trail of Death. (read more)

1843

First territorial jail built by Chris Fangro. It is now reconstructed at Shawnee Town.

1851-1900

1854

Territory of Kansas organized.

1855

Johnson County created and named after Rev. Thomas Johnson.

1856

Among those who settled in the county during this year were the following persons, on the Free-state side: Thomas E. Milhoan, William Williams, Rynear Morgan, William Holmes, Dr. Irving Jaynes, J.D. Allen, J.C. Forrest, and L.F. Bancroft; and on the Pro-slavery side, Dr. J.B. Morgan, Col. J.T. Quarles, T.H. Ellis, A. Slaughter, James H. Nounan, C.C. Catron, W.S. Gregory, Johnathan Gore, A.J. Turpin, Dr. Shuck and M.T. Wells.

1856

Battle of Bull Creek takes place about one-half mile northeast of present day Edgerton. The battle included such personalities as General James H. Lane and “Wild Bill” Hickok.

1856

Shawneetown originally platted and served as the home of the first territorial legislature and county seat

1857

De Soto was founded.

1857

Gardner is founded. (read more)

1857

Olathe is incorporated. (read more)

1857

First settlement in Shawnee, formerly known as Gum Springs. (read more)

1857

Spring Hill is named and surveyed. (read more)

1857

Voting improprieties occur in Oxford Township, become known as the Oxford Fraud. (read more)

1858

Lanesfield is founded. (read more)

1858

First county fair in Johnson County and in Kansas held at McCamish. (read more)

1859

Present Johnson County boundary established.

1859

Olathe became county seat of Johnson County

1861

Kansas admitted to the Union as a free state.

1861

On October 22, the first of eight raids through Johnson County by William Quantrill occurs in Gardner. In the next year, raids occur in Olathe and Shawnee, and in 1863 Quantrill and his raiders burned Shawnee to the ground. (read more)

1863

After the Lawrence Massacre by Quantrill's raiders, Kansas Governor Thomas Carney formed the 15th Kansas Regiment to defend the Kansas-Missouri border. Olathe was made a regular military post and company K was assigned to this location.

1863

Established to assist the county's indigent population, the Johnson County Poor Farm opens at what is now 119th and Ridgeview. (read more)

1864

Price's Raid through Missouri and Kansas and the Battle of Westport. (read more)

1865

The Kansas and Neosho Valley Railroad Company was organized in Olathe by Kersey Coates. (read more)

1866

The Kansas School for the Deaf moves to Olathe from Baldwin City, where it was started by Philip A. Emery five years earlier. (read more)

1868

St Joseph Catholic Church started in Shawnee

1869

A bond issues passed in the town of Lanesfield to build a new school. (read more)

1869

The Missouri River, Fort Scott & Gulf Railroad purchases the town site which will become Lenexa. (read more)

1870

In Edgerton the railroad is completed and the station is named Edgerton after the chief engineer. (read more)

1873

The first Johnson County Grange is organized in Gardner. (read more)

1886

A petition with fifty signers was filed with the district court providing that Gardner should become an incorporated town of the third class.

1870

First train station was built in Campbelltown, now Merriam.

1880s

Hyer Boot Company began in Olathe

1881

The Kansas State Supreme Court ruled in The Board of Education in the City of Ottawa vs. Elijah Timmon that first class cities (i.e., a population greater than 15,000) were the only cities that could legally establish separate schools for African American students. (read more)

1884

John P. Saint John, Kansas Governor from Olathe, accepted the nomination from the Prohibition Party to run for President.

1898

The first Old Settlers' Day celebration is held in Olathe. The event was originally known as the Old Settlers' Reunion. (read more)

1901-1950

1902

De Soto established a mail route.

1903

Grant Conser established the first phone company.

1904

County-wide free rural delivery of mail was established. (read more)

1905

William B. Strang Jr. started construction on the Kansas City and Olathe Electric Railway (the "Strang Line"), that would connect Johnson County and Kansas City, Missouri. It was completed three years later.

1907

Caenen Castle was built on Johnson Drive by Belgium immigrant Remi Caenen.

1909

Olathe Public Library opens.

1910

Olathe High School central building is completed. (read more)

1910

The Shawnee Golf Club, originally known as the Elm Ridge Golf and Country Club, becomes Johnson County's first golf course. (read more)

1913

George Hodges from Olathe becomes governor of Kansas.

1915

In an effort to provie recreational opportunities to purchasers of his plots of land, entrepreneur William Strang begins to offer motion picture viewing on the side of his barn in Overland Park. (read more)

1915

The third history of the area was printed by Ed Blair of Spring Hill

1925

The first paved highway between Kansas City and Olathe was completed. (read more)

1927

Development at Lake Quivira begins with the construction of a dam. (read more)

1930

First Mission grocery store opened

1934

Dr. A. S. Reece begins building a community hospital in Gardner, the first in Johnson County. Prior to this time, the closest hospital for Johson Countians was Saint Luke's, in midtown Kansas City, Missouri. (read more)

1938

Lawrin, a racehorse owned by Herbert Woolf of the Woolf Brothers clothing business, wins the Kentucky Derby. (read more)

1940

The Strang Line ceases operation.

1941

the Shawnee Drive-In Theater opens. (read more)

1941

Prairie Village platted by J. C. Nichols. Development of the subdivision was halted the next year through 1946 owing to World War II.

1942

Sunflower Ordnance Works established near De Soto. (read more)

1942

Olathe Naval Air Station was built outside Olathe

1948

Leawood incorporated as a city.

1948

African American students boycotted the Walker School in Merriam because of the disparity in conditions of the segregated school buildings. Students were taught in private homes, and the issues resulted in a Kansas State Supreme Court case the following year. (read more)

1951-2000

1951

A July flood of the Kansas River devasated north central Johnson County, southern Wyandotte County, and the West Bottoms area of Kansas City, Missouri. (read more)

1951

Roeland Park becomes a city

1953

Citizens Library Committee opened a volunteer library in the Old Dunbar School in Shawnee.

1954

Kansas City Power and Light built an all-electric model home in Prairie Village showcasing the latest technologies.

1954

Westview Elementary school opened in Olathe

1955

The Johnson County Library opens a facility at Shawnee Mission Parkway and Antioch, current location of the Antioch branch.

1956

A $1.1 million bond proposal is passed to create the Shawnee Mission Park system. (read more)

1956

Antioch Park opened as the first major park in Johnson County

1957

Shawnee becomes city of second class

1959

Official opening celebration for Interstate 35 is held in Olathe. (read more)

1961

Native Johnson County son John Anderson, Jr. becomes Kansas governor. He would become known for his strong position on criminal cases, in particular when he denied clemency for the two men convicted of the murders detailed in Truman Capote's In Cold Blood.

1962

Metcalf South Shopping Center began construction

1967

Metcalf South Mall opened.

1968

Voting machines were used for the first time in a Johnson County election.

1969

A 140-year-old tradition ends in Johnson County as schools consolidate as the Shawnee Mission School District after the passage of state legislation. (read more)

1970

Theater in the Park begins in Antioch Park. (read more)

1972

Johnson County Community College opened its campus at College and Quivira in Overland Park. (read more)

1973

Corporate Woods office park begins construction

1975

Oak Park Mall opened.

1979

Olathe Public Library dedicated a new building at its current location

1980

Olathe South High School under construction

1990

Shawnee Civic Centre is built

1992

Olathe East High School opens

1994

All-electric model home built by Kansas City Power & Light in 1954 is moved to the Johnson County Museum of History site at 63rd and Lackman in Shawnee and opened as a museum.

1996

Garmin International moved their operations to Olathe

1997

Great Mall of the Great Plains opened at 151^st and I-35

2001-current

2001

Overland Park ranked as the #1 kid friendly city in the nation by kidfriendlycities.org.

2001

Olathe’s population hits 100,000

2003

Countryside merged with Mission, KS; Olathe was ranked the 8^th fastest growing city in the nation by the U.S. Census Bureau.

2005

127th Street Overpass began construction

2005

Olathe was named the seventh-most digitally-savvy, cutting-edge city in the nation among cities with a population of 75,000-124,999 by the 2005 Digital Cities Survey.

2006

Bass Pro Shop moves into Olathe at 119th and I-35

2007

Overland Park ranked by National Geographic Adventure Magazine as one of the top 50 cities to live and play

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